Background

I've lurked here on and off since discovering two plus two earlier this year and playing a couple forum mafia games here. I decided to get a gym membership on the first of this month and to do starting strength since it was recommended in the stickied post on this forum.

I used to play sports (soccer and lax) in high school, and played a little club lax and ran while I was in college. The summer between my freshmen and sophmore years I did P90x (or the workouts from it anyway, my diet was pretty meh) in an effort to look better. I continued lifting and running on and off throughout college but never really focused on one or the other and partied a lot so I plateaued pretty early.

After college I upped my alcohol consumption and quit exercising entirely until I was about 225lbs (I'm 6'2, tomorrow I'll be 26 years old). In January of 2015 I quit drinking (not so much for physical health reasons although that was a secondary reason) and started to lose some weight even though my diet consisted entirely of Raisin Canes and McDonalds. In December of 2015 i started running and eating better on and off. I was weirdly resistant to getting a scale and actually weighing myself for a while, so the earliest weigh in I have is from May 2nd of this year where I weighed in at 194lbs. On 8/29 after doing a decent amount of cardio and dieting over the summer (though i was pretty bad for June) I was at 182.4 lbs. I'd decided that once I got reasonably skinny I'd start lifting weights and bulking a little, which brings me to here.

Plan and Goals

Mostly I just want to get stronger. Aesthetics are a secondary concern, I figure once I get strong I can either decide to keep going in that direction or cut and look better or whatever. Still I did work hard to get a lot of that weight off and don't want to gain too much belly fat 'needlessly' so i'm trying to avoid super unhealthy foods (candy, potato chips, etc).

The plan is to do SS exactly as it says in the book with Power Cleans and all. The owner of the gym I started at on Thursday was nice enough to look at my form on OHP, Squat, Bench and DL and has said he'll show me how to PC when I get to that so I'm good there. I've been very fortunate to have sustained no major injuries in my life thus far so I don't have to program around that.

Right now I'm working out Thursday/Saturday/Monday. Thursday is the only day I'm a little crunched for time as I can get to the gym at around 5:40 and need to be out of there around 7:15 or so. Not a huge problem as long as the waits aren't terrible.

Food

Per the above, I'm trying to avoid junk food, but am otherwise not stressing about fat too much. I bought a bunch of whole milk with the intention of doing GOMAD, but have found that to be pretty tough with my schedule unless I'm going to make myself sick. I'm shooting for around 4000 calories per days including a half gallon of whole milk. I've got some whey protein powder which I mix in there too to try and get 180g of protein per day. I read somewhere a long time ago that the liver can only process roughly 20g of protein per hour and everything else is peed out. I was going to ask if that were true, googled it myself, and see that it's not. So yeah benefits of writing this already!

This Log

I'm writing this mostly because I think it will motivate me to continue working out, plus I'd hope to get input from other people on the board about what I should be doing better. And who knows maybe one day I'll meet the fitness chick of my dreams and inform her that yes, I am the UpsideDownChuck of internet fame, and this'll help me get laid. A boy can dream. Without further ado, I'm going to post my results from the first two workouts along with questions and thoughts I had.

09/01

Squat:
2x5x45
1x5x75
1x3x105
3x5x125

Squats felt pretty good. Portland, where I live, is pretty hilly so I had a little leg strength already from my running. Biggest issue was gripping the bar as I have some shoulder flexibility issues. Had to grip very wide but was able to get into proper low bar position (owner looked at it and said it was good). Depth seemed good and focused on keeping the bar over mid foot.

OHP:

2x5x45
1x5x65
1x1x85 (tried to go up too much, failed on second rep)
1x5x75
1x4x75
1x5x70

So yeah this one got hard sneaky fast. What's the proper thing to do when I miss a rep on the second set like that, should I drop down in weight for the third set and actually try to get 5 reps or keep the weight the same knowing I'll probably miss? Also I have to do OHP again tomorrow. Should I do the same weight until I can do 3 sets of 5 or should I try to increase? My inclination is to do the former.

The whole hip bounce business that the book teaches is a little strange to me but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Mostly I focus on trying to 'throw' myself forward under the bar when it's going up. And on flexing my quads, glutes and abs throughout.

Deadlift:

1x5x135
1x5x165
1x5x195
1x5x215

I can get into the right starting position, but have some issues with my hips shooting up too fast when I start the pull, at least according to the owner. The nature of doing only one work set means I don't get a ton of practice. The owner's paid attention to what I'm doing and has suggested I 'sit into it' more so as to keep my back straighter. I've tried to follow this and when I do I can feel it in my upper back muscles more, which I think is good, but I also feel a teensy bit off balance, like I might fall backwards.

I was sore in certain parts of my upper back on Friday which I thought was a good sign, but I think some of it is a bruise from where the bar sits on my back when I'm squatting.

09/03

Today I worked out with a buddy of mine that referred me to the gym I'm at. He's a reasonably big guy so I figured he probably knew some stuff, but a lot of what he's told me disagrees with both SS and the internet in general. I may or may not be working out with him in the future.

Squat:

2x5x45
1x5x75
1x4x95
1x2x115
3x5x135

Nothing too exciting here. These were reasonably challenging. Feel good about my squats.

Bench:

1x5x45
1x5x75
1x5x105
1x5x145
1x4x145
Some weird 'fail set' my buddy insisted I do at 155

My friend kept insisting I should be doing more reps at lower weight along with coming to the gym 5 times per week and doing more isolation work. I think he's more focused on hypertrophy, at least as I understand it, and less on strength. That's fine as far as it goes but it's my desire to do SS as written until I see a really compelling reason to deviate. Anyway, after my second set he insisted I put 10 more lbs on the bar and do another set. I was pretty sure I'd fail on that and did on the first rep, he sort of spotted me just enough that I could slowly move the bar up, and then we did that 4 more times. By the end it didn't feel like I was even pushing it that much, although then again I know he cant lift 155 from that spotting position so I was clearly doing something. Anyway, I'm going to be more firm with him in the future.

I think when I next bench, which'll be Thursday, I'll try to do 3x5x145 with good form and without the spotter touching the bar so I can check off that and focus on my form. I had some issues with losing tension in my shoulders and on the first set my neck tensed up a little which I don't think is good.

Deadlift:

1x5x135
1x5x165
1x5x185
1x5x205
1x5x225

At this point my friend had left. The deadlift platform at this gym is set up right between the bench and an incline bench, and when both are in use it's impossible to do deadlifts. (I think in general the incline bench doesn't see a lot of use so hopefully this won't be a big problem). Again, the owner chastised me for having my legs and hips go up too soon, and I did some more reps focusing on sitting into it. I was able to feel it in my upper back a little more when I did that. Largely these haven't been super tough and I've never felt like I'm going to fail a rep, I'm trying to get the form down before I go super heavy since I don't want to hurt my back.

I've found in general with this stuff that proprioceptive cues are better than trying to mimic a movement I saw in a picture or had described to me. One video I saw recommended trying to imagine the bar is fixed in place and focus on pushing the floor down. Don't know if that's correct or not but it does make sense to me.

Do not GOMAD or half GOMAD
Do not eat 4k cals a day

Everyone that does/did that on this forum that was not underweight regrets it and you are not underweight

Eat normal for a month or 2 w/ high protein only then you can think about upping cals imo

Happy birthday.

It sounds to me you're starting with weights that are too heavy. I don't think you should be coming anywhere near failure on any sets in the first week of the program. You just won't be able to keep up with the progression of the program like that and you will just stall. Also a good opportunity to work on form while the weight is still reasonably light.

Your friend sounds like the typical bro. Don't let him brospot you on the benchpress. It's not helpful. Tell him to leave the bar alone unless you're truly stuck.

How did you get to 4k calories? Did you use some kind of calculator? If you did that's fine but keep weighing yourself often and adjust calories if needed.

post vids

Ok that's good to know. I was a little sad when I first read this since I'd been enjoying indulging my inner fat kid, but I also sort of suspected this was too good to be true. (Also eating twice as much can be sneaky expensive and I'd been trying to figure out how to make that work with my budget). Glad to find that out now and not after I'd gained too much weight.

How do I figure out what weight is right? In the case of OHP the warm up set I did at 65 felt pretty easy and I'm skeptical I'd get much of a work out doing that or lighter. For the bench, again the warm up set I did at 105 felt fairly light (though in this instance there's a lot more room between that and my work set so maybe I can find a good in between set).

yeah that's more or less where I'm at there.

If you're asking how I tallied them, basically just knowing roughly how much each meal was to the nearest 50 and adding it up, trying to hit 2700 + 1280
from the half gallon of milk. So for today that would be:

Bowl of cereal: 150 (breakfast 8am)
3x whey protein shakes, consumed at various points in the day (10 am, 1pm, 5pm) ( 3x150 = 450
1 Hungry Man frozen dinner: 600 (lunch 11:30pm)
1 half tub greek yogurt: 450 (around 2pm)
1 macaroni and cheese with ham and broccoli mixed in: 500 (around 430pm)
1 salmon and argulua sandwhich: 400 (730 pm)

brings me to 2550 so far today and then I've had I'd guess roughly 3/8 of a gallon of whole milk including that used for the milk, protein shakes and mac+cheese . I'd planned to eat an apple or something along with the rest of the milk but will hold off.

If you're asking how I decided that 4000 sounded right that was just from reading the book and various internet things. Sounds like that's more for people who are skinnier. It was not based off any kind of personal calculator.

I'll take some on my phone when I go tomorrow.

.

Revised Food Goals

Googled TDEE calculator and got the following stats. My calories needed for maintenance at different levels of exercise are:

Sedentary: 2256
Light Exercise: 2585
Moderate: Exercise: 2914

I'd imagine my weight lifting puts me between Light and Moderate, and am thinking I need around 3000 calories per day. Does that sound reasonable?

09/05

On rAv's advice I am lowering my weights to about 80% of what I was lifting previously. These feel pretty light but I guess that's ok.

Squat:
2x5x45
1x5x75
1x5x96
3x5x115 (80% of 155 which is what I was previously going to do today)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvHDoU9OLsk

Not a whole lot to say here. Depth wasn't quite as low as I thought it was but I think it basically looks fine.

OHP:
2x5x45
1x5x55
3x5x60 (80% of 75)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHw4C5pBXTg

Hip Bounce feels awkward but for the most part I think I'm keeping my knees locked. Looks like maybe I'm laying back more than I should?

Deadlift:

5x5x135

This was the worst and I took a bunch of videos and tried to improve my form between each one. I decided not to go up in weight til I'd fixed my form at low weights. I definitely see what they mean about back rounding here, and am not sure what to do to fix it. In general I'd think after the set, ok I know reps 1 and 3 sucked but 2 and 4 felt alright, and then I'd look at it and that might be the case but the opposite might also be true. Towards the very end I had some success (I think) thinking about squeezing my shoulders together like I would do before a bench press and holding that posture throughout.

Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hje_eLJqdrE
Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ObhgFwxLJI
Video 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZAvFLy7pkU
Video 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctBsCf6AMt0

There's 4 videos because one of them my phone fell over

3k calories sounds more reasonable.

You have some issues with the lifts you posted. Keep in mind I'm no expert but imo:

Squat:
-Depth, most reps are high
-Your walkout and starting positions will cost you at higher weights. You walk out with pretty bent knees and hips and that will sap energy before you even start your reps. Walk out and get into starting position as straight up as possible.
-Looks like you may be looking down too much. Try to fix on a point on the ground maybe 10 feet in front of you. I know I like to avoid squatting in front of a mirror and needing to look at myself, but seeing you squat in a power rack you can just set the pins the other way around and face the room maybe.

Press:
-Bar sitting probably slightly too low in the starting position. Try placing it higher almost on your collar bones. Right now your elbows start behind the bar which is less powerful and makes it harder to have a straight bar path. Your elbows should start just slightly in front of the bar.


-Try to be as tight as possible. Squeeze the hell out of quads, glutes, core, lats/upper back and even biceps

DL:
-Your most important issue is severe lower back rounding. This is mostly due to lack of tightness when pulling. Before you pull you have to tighten the lats, squeeze the chest up, brace your core (google valsalva manoeuvre) All of this sets the back and protects your spine. You have to keep this tightness though all of the rep so also when you're lowering the weight, don't let go of everything at the top.

My DL sucks, so I can't comment with authority, but your set-up is quite bad and makes the entire pull all loose. Read the SS chapter on DL, it should help out.

In my experience, the proper set-up should be naturally uncomfortable.

Keep your chest up, don't round your back. your shoulders are a little forward, they should be over the bar.

Also, every rep after the first one decays in form. Look at the bar path on your 2nd-5th rep: it looks like a banana.Maybe your shins are angling, cant tell from the vid. But you need to take your time and make sure your body is tight and your back is not rounded.

Would not recommend doing 5x5 deadlifts in general.

Until you know enough to reason a different opinion, you should follow this deadlift setup:

Rip's Deadlift Setup

1. Take your stance, feet a little closer than you think it needs to be and with your toes out more than you like. Your shins should be about one inch from the bar, no more. This places the bar over the mid-foot – the whole foot, not the mid-instep.

2. Take a deep breath.* Take your grip on the bar, leaving your hips up. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

3. Drop your knees forward and out until your shins touch the bar. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR.

4. Hard part: squeeze your chest up as hard as you can. DO NOT MOVE THE BAR. This establishes a "wave" of extension that goes all the way down to the lumbar, and sets the back angle from the top down. DO NOT LOWER YOUR HIPS – LIFT THE CHEST TO SET THE BACK ANGLE.

5. Squeeze the bar off the floor and drag it up your legs in contact with your skin/sweats until it locks out at the top. If you have done the above sequence precisely as described, the bar will come off the ground in a perfectly vertical path. All the slack will have come out of the arms and hamstrings in step 4, the bar will not jerk off the ground, and your back will be in good extension. You will perceive that your hips are too high, but if you have completed step 4 correctly, the scapulas, bar, and mid-foot will be in vertical alignment and the pull will be perfect. The pull will seem "shorter" this way.


You need to maintain a solid position on the way down, and you need to do the above setup EVERY REP, even if you have to release the bar and stand up until you can feel it.

Awesome, thanks for all the feedback. I worked out today after work and tried to incorporate all the advice from above (as well as what I'd gotten from reading SS closely) with I hope mostly positive results.

Anyway results and videos:

Squat:
2x5x45
1x5x75
1x5x105
3x5x125

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ_XhYXKP_M

Depth was still higher than I think it needs to be. For some reason I think I'm a lot lower in my head than I actually am in viewing the vid. This vid was taken by some dude on my second workset, I didn't think to explicitly tell him to capture my feet, though he does eventually, and I didn't want to impose by asking him or someone else to record another set.

Bench:
1x5x45
1x5x75
1x5x95
3x5x115

Video1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFiWXOx_iQk
Video2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJn8D5UFirE

On rAv's prior advice I lowered this as well to 80% of what I think I can do 5 reps of. As far as I can tell my form is fine. Took two videos

Deadlift:

2x5x135
1x5x165

Video1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpQQhGpTjdM
Video2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXIEj46xA-M
Video3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln6pFQXGUpA

Really tried to follow the set-up instructions exactly and then focus on keeping chest up and forward throughout the pull. I think this went better than last time but not sure if it is all the way where I need to be. In watching the video it seems like there's a little curve at the end of my back, butt I think that might just be the shape of my butt, not sure because my shirt is very large. First set my shoulders were too far forward so I tried to fix that on subsequent. Weight still feels light but I want to get form down before doing anything heavy.

09/10/2016

Worked out this morning, focusing mainly on depth on the squat and keeping my back tight on the DL. I think it went ok.

Squat:
2x5x55
1x5x85
1x4x105
3x5x135

Video1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpgD2cm_CUM First workset
Video2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUq1odfSN9E Second workset

So it turned out this barbell was 55 lbs and not 45, which I didn't realize until towards the end of my warm-ups. As such I did fewer warm-ups then I might have liked. Anyway, I think the depth is a lot better on these, particularly the second set. Weight feels good, sadly this squat rack was not reconfigurable to face away from the mirror. Realized it pays to make sure the barbell is centered correctly left to right and to get a firm grip on it so it doesn't move around on my back (i think it may have been to low at one point?)

Press:
2x5x45
1x5x55
1x5x65

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfUtBtP74Gk I think the secondworkset?

Seems pretty good,tried to keep tight as suggested.

Deadlift:

2x5x135
1x5x165
1x5x185

I think my form is improving, although I need to be better about staying tight on the way down and resetting my form completely if I lose that tightness. Maybe get my shoulders back a little too. Weight feels light and back feels fine, but I want to make sure I have this right before going up to higher weights.

Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cxHLPP4Oyk (second set at 135lbs)
Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp5K3PEGoK4 (165 lbs)
Video 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sqB5JGIIWE (185 lbs)

Anyway, thanks for all the advice and such so far, it's been good to catch this stuff early and try to work on it since I know it would be harder to correct if I practiced wrong for an extended period of time

Deadlifts: Improving, but still plenty to work on. Your hips are still rising as you engage the pull, which means they are slightly too low in your starting position and/or you are getting loose (you are definitely getting loose). You need to keep everything tight so that your chest rises at the same time as your hips do when engaging the pull from the floor. You also need to maintain good form on the way down - it should be the reverse of the motion. Here is one set of mine from quite a while ago now.

Squats: you aren't ever tight, right from unracking the bar to any point during the rep. I would concentrate a lot on core bracing, where you pull your sternum to your pelvis whilst expanding outwards. I think Duffin has a reasonable tutorial. This should be applied in all lifts. Done right, your back should never round, but I also think you are descending too fast and too deep. You need to learn a good movement pattern, and slower is definitely better until you've got it down.

Bench press: Watch "so you think you can bench" on youtube. Every day.

I started SS about a month ago and I ate too little for the first two weeks, it was a disaster. I started eating 3200 kcal or more september first and it has helped recovery a ton, adding weight feels a lot easier too.

I drink like half a liter or a liter of whole milk a day and eat quite a bit of nuts. Rest of my diet is pretty standard, not really counting my macros but I assume I get a reasonable amount of protein. Avg kcal seems to about 3500 (including weekend drinking). it's summer though so I also do the occasional run or tennis game

Granted I'm only 11 days in but I don't seem to be gaining weight. At 6'1 and 200 pounds I wasn't underweight for sure, there's some belly fat.

Not sure if this matters or is relevant but just sharing. I guess the point is, eating too little is way worse than eating a bit too much, in my experience at least, so I err on the side of eating more.

What was a disaster about it? Assuming SS is your first program and you're a novice at strength training, there should be linear gains for a reasonably long time on maintenance or a small deficit of calories. Beginner gains are mostly neuromuscular anyway.

it was a significant deficit i'm afraid, but main problem was just being really tired. getting back from the gym and being able to go about your day rather than having 0 energy is such a quality of life improvement

09/12/2016

Due to RL time commitments I had to work out later in the day than usual. While I'm not sure how this affected my energy levels (largely I felt fine) I was a little rushed towards the end because my gym closes at 10pm. Anyway,

Squat:

2x5x45
1x5x65
1x5x85
1x4x105
1x3x125
3x5x145

Video1 (Workset 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HImLR3FeSCo
Video2 (Workset 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqo3bYfBbfk
Phone ran out of storage space five seconds into workset since I'd forgotten to delete last workout's videos.

These went okish. I think I could stand to lower myself even slower and improve consistency of depth, some were a little high. My big takeaway from the Duffin video was to breathe in through the belly such that chest expands horizontally (not vertically) and belly expands sideways as though i were inflating my love handles. This proved more difficult under the bar than it was at my office. Think it was an improvement over last time but I guess we'll see.

Bench Press:

3x5x45
1x5x65
1x5x85
1x5x105
1x5x115
3x5x125

Video 1 Empty bar (I did not actually do any reps here as I had leg cramps): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzBWEuPWZjY

Video 2 65: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saR7Rptsd_0
Video 3 105 then 115: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnu685cIT2o (I forgot to turn off video between wu sets)
Video 4 125: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt44OW9Mx6I

The big issue here I had was leg cramps. I couldn't seem to get my legs into the position prescribed by the video without getting bad cramps in my hamstring, calves and hip abductors(?, outside of hip).

Some takeaways I had from the so you think you can bench series were:
1) Select grip width such that humerus is parallel to ground at bottom. I think my starting grip width was too narrow.
2) Pinch shoulder blades back as though you were pulling a band apart
3) Position feet such that maximum weight is on upper back. Only front of foot should be touching the ground
4) Drive your heels towards the ground
5) Pull the bar apart and grip tightly.
6) Unrack the bar with your lats

1 and 5 are doable for me, I think. 6 should be although I'm not positive I'm doing it right. 2 I can get on the first rep but seems to fall apart over course of set, especially if I try to breathe at some point. 3, and by extension 4, are really difficult for me at the moment because I was getting bad cramps up and down my leg when I tried to do that. I tried to do some stretching to alleviate that, but as mentioned above I was running out of time with the gym closing, and eventually just had to bang out my worksets with my feet just kind of hanging out in their natural position.

Anyway,

Deadlift:

2x5x135
1x5x165
1x5x185
1x5x200

Videos (video'd them all in above order):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGakMPrw-VY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJK0KKASlWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4CAFyEp4Mk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6iaDjGek9M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mcsl_EgLCA

These started out good I think. Main change I focused on was doing the breathing as prescribed by Duffin. Some reps were not so good, I think I mainly need to be better about forcing myself to reset once I'm out of position. Some of that was I was rushing to finish by 10 which is probably not advisable.

Anyway, I wanted to reiterate my thanks for the help I've received in this thread. It's been really good to get this feedback and I appreciate the time y'all have spent looking at my videos.

09/15/2016

Okish lifts today. On rewatching my videos from last time I realized my DL form was really not that good. Only went up five pounds on that today and focused on improving that. I think I succeeded but my squats and press were pretty meh. Also I forgot to bring my weightlifting shoes today.

Squats:
2x5x45
1x5x75
1x5x95
1x4x115
1x2x135
3x5x155

WS1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDU33ziEQ8Y
WS2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCYekA8vNgM
WS3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msD4Nvj_SdA

Depth was a little inconsistent. When I missed it it was only (I think) by a hair. For the most part I just wasn't feeling all that aggressive/focused/psyched up which I think hurt me. I tried to focus on breathing/bracing as per Duffin. Could have focused on eye gaze a little more. The rack that can be configured to not face the mirror was in use when I was doing these sadly.

Press:

2x5x55
1x5x66
3x5x70

WS1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH5XFNcjmVY
WS2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rugtgorrY
WS3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFN8Nmrrclk

Tried to focus on keeping tight and breathing per Duffin. The hip bounce continues to be confusing to me and seems to mess up my tightness a little. I also am trying to position my elbows forward of the bar, as instructed by rAv, which is hard for me unless I'm going to basically put the bar against my throat. I think I need to take a closer grip. I for some reason thought the opposite earlier today and too a wider grip on the second two worksets, but that appears to have been backward. Also I didn't realize this barbell was 55 lbs and not 45 until I'd started my third warmup set, hence the weird numbers.

Deadlifts:

1x5x135
1x5x165
1x3x185
1x5x205

Pretty happy with how these went. The biggest issue for me I think is the eccentric part. I overthink "doing the action in reverse" and don't end up with my hips in the right spot. In one instance I think I ended up not even putting it down over midfoot and had to correct that. On the whole I think the two things I need to improve are 1) Getting better at that part and 2) When I do screw up the eccentric, force myself to actually stop and reset my stance instead of just continuing.

WU1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28pwf6Hbvvc
WU2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6iTGyehsOA
WU3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY9DlUXuI7A
WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irTt5AeKiDw

Also there's a typo in the log on 09/10, I did 3 worksets for press, not 1. All at 65 and for 5 reps.

not doing pull ups is a huge mistake

Huh, ok. The book says to do DL's every other workout starting week2, which given that I reset after my first two workouts starts about now. However it has me alternating PowerCleans with Deadlifts at first and only rolling out chinups later. Anyway, I went camping this weekend and had to move Saturdays lifts to today. The plan is to also move Monday's to Tuesday, and then resume the normal shedule of Thur/Sat/Mon on Thursday.

Anyway, this workout marked my first attempt at power cleans, which I'll talk about below. They were very tricky.

Squats:

2x5x45
1x5x75
1x5x105
1x4x125
1x2x145
3x5x165

Video1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWKWAsYAvw
Video2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE24mgQpOsE
Video3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqFYq4hKMnM


These went ok. First set looked a little high, on video so I tried to squat lower on the second and third. On the second the bar felt like it was a little loose on my back. I'm trying to descend slower and keep a big breath in.

Bench:

2x5x45
1x5x65
2x5x85
1x3x105
3x5x130

Video 1: Forgot to turn on camera for first workset
Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLwJ7C_Np8s
Video 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ANyjHdtLo

Switching to 5 lb jumps to keep weight low while still trying to get form from SYTYCB down. No leg cramps this time so I could do the foot positioning.Tried to keep back tight and arched. In watching the videos, it looks like I lose a little tightness almost right off the bat. Which is weird because I was thinking about pulling the bar apart the whole time. I find it a little tricky to actually pretend I'm pulling a band apart, as it shows in the video, when i'm pulling myself into the air on the bar. So maybe I'm not getting my traps set right in the beginning? Weight felt fine.

Powercleans

Stuff with the empty bar.
A bunch of individual reps supervised by the owner of the gym. Did roughly ~10 total but not in succession per se so I'm not sure I'd call it a set of 10. Did these at 75lbs (15 lb bumper plates smallest they had)
1x3x75

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6qY7uaLk0k

At the end my back was feeling pretty tired so I attempted to do one set of 5 so I could get something on film. I missed two reps though. Mostly I think I'm overthinking it I'm trying to jump from exactly the point where it's on my upper thigh, but sometimes I screw that up and jump too late or do a sort of weakish noncommital jump. I look forward to trying these again now that I sort of know what they're about. I will be reading more on them over the next few days. I have tried to read the SS chapter on PC's and watch videos online but when I hadn't actually ever done them before it all seemed a little abstract. I feel like I have a better sense of what to pay attention to.

Anyway, these have been a lot more technical than I thought they were, both powercleans and lifting in general. I feel like I'm making some progress though. I need to be better about getting enough sleep and maybe eating some more. When I get busy it's easy to miss snack times and then I'm behind on calories.