Blood, Sweat, and Chalk - Rediscovering Iron and Myself

[sleepingdog]

This is my second lifting log here. I came to the realization that the old log was just that, old news. There was a lot from my very beginnings of real lifting, and that's great. I feel like I'm on a new path now. I don't know if it's a better path yet, but that's part of the journey, finding out. My first go round actually started on my last deployment, so it's only fitting that my new beginning should start in a similar fashion. I hope that this time, when it's time to pack my bags and return to the real world, that I manage to hold onto the passion I'm feeling for lifting right now. I'm fortunate to have the privilege of, not just lifting, but lifting with such a support group behind me. I know that the people who follow me will be proud of what I do, I just hope that I can do something great for myself as well.

Today was the start of a "Starting Strength" style routine. I think the name holds a lot of weight with my current goals, as I'm coming back to the iron game after some serious slacking, and I feel a fresh start is in order. I had a great workout, and I'm seeing great potential already, so long as my gains are as linear as I hope they will be. Food will be my biggest hold up, as I've been finding it difficult to force feed myself the needed amounts of food without crossing the line between worthwhile/junk foods at the dining facility. Time is also sometimes a factor occasionally. There are days where I just cannot get out of work to lift, and after a 16 hour day, will do as much harm as good by lifting. I'll start this new log off right, with a link to the old log for any that are interested, and my first workout.

Jerod's Log

[Fazc]

Good luck SD.

[sleepingdog]

I thought I should also add a little background for those I have not had a chance to converse with.

I'm 29 years old. I'm happily married with two children ages 4 and 2. I'm into classic cars, restoring classic bikes, shooting, and spending as much time out in the wild as possible. I've been in the military in one form or another since I was 17. Some of that time has been spent in the Naval Reserve, so I've also held a wide variety of other jobs as well. I took weight training in high school because I was one of the youngest in my class, a late bloomer, and naturally small. I had hoped to use weights to become stronger, larger, and more respected by so-called peers. Unfortunately, high school weight training is not always filled with quality training, and I wound up sucked into the weider box black hole for the next decade. I started lifting in earnest when I met a real power lifter in Kuwait, just a short time before a base meet. He gave me some pointers, put me onto some online resources, and away I went. I won that meet in my weight class weighing 180.0lbs. Being overly ambitious, I opened too high on my squat, only 10lbs shy of my gym PR. Nerves and everything else caught up to me under the bar and I bombed it twice, and got a no-go on my third attempt for depth. It didn't really get me down though. I went on to bench 290lbs, and deadlift 365, winning both of those, and the overall for my weight. The competition was pretty sparse, only two guys, one of which quit when he realized how much weight would be required to win. It was a great experience though, and I never would have guessed how absolutely draining a meet could be. I've been lifting since then, however, it's been spotty and without direction. I recently deployed again to Afghanistan and decided to get my ass back in gear. I borrowed an HIIT weights program to shed some of the blubber I had accumulated, got the results I wanted, and now I'm ready to SFW again. Without furthur delay, here was day 1.

2/4/13

Squat
45x5
45x5
100x5
150x3
200x2
250x5
250x5
250x5

Bench
45x5
45x5
120x5
165x3
215x2
240x5
240x5
240x5

Deadlift
115x5
115x5
165x3
235x2
275x5
275x5 Oops
275x5 Oops

I had not intended to F with the routine, but I got a massive caffeine headache during my bench warmup that pretty much ceased all thinking. I'm really glad that I had pre-filled my log book with my intended workout, otherwise I would not have been able to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. The "Oops" deads were not supposed to be done. I couldn't think straight, and was wondering why the other two movements had 3 work sets and deads only had one. Turns out, that was intentional in the program. I DID get some good pulls in, good form, not too much strain. So I might continue with the extra work sets for as long as I can.

The headache came from stupidity today. I was having my 3rd cup 'o joe since lunch, and realized it was time to hit the gym. So I did what I had been planning, loaded 10oz of water with THREE FRIGGIN SCOOPS of PWO, chugged it and ran. About halfway through my workout I got the most blinding headache I've had in a long, long time without the aid of alcohol or illness. Anyways. Thats it for today.

178.6lbs@15.4%BF (bio-impedance scale guesstimate)


As I'm writing this, I see the "similar threads" at the bottom of the screen and realize I have unconsciously ripped off the title. I thought it sounded a bit too creative for me to come up with on my own. Hope no one is offended, cuz I like it, and I'M KEEPIN IT!

[Hunterace]

New log !

[markievicz]

Squat, bench ,deadlift, i like it

Nice start.

[sleepingdog]

2/5/13 Day two (B day)

Squat
45x5
45x5
100x5
150x3
200x2
255x5
255x5
255x5

OHP
45x5
45x5
70x5
90x3
110x2
135x5
135x5
135x5

Power Clean
45x5
45x5
70x5
90x3
110x2
135x5
135x5
135x5

For never having done the power cleans, I think I managed to emulate the videos I watched pretty well. On top of that, it only took ading smoe weight to the bar to figure out how to really drive with heels/hammies for momentum so that my shoulders were only doing some of the work as opposed to trying to flip the bar up with just the shoulders. Definitely felt these a little in my hamstrings, and I liked it. After this program, I'm probably going to keep this exercise as a regular member of the family.

OHP... My how I hate thee.. I don't know whether to push through these, or go see a doc. When I OHP, there's a catch, and a click in my left shoulder. Absolutely no pain associated, not during, not after. It's not tighter on that side, or weaker after working, it just clicks. I really don't know whether I should even be concerned. Anyone else have a "clicky" joint? It doesn't do it with just the bar, or no weight, only once I start getting 70-90-110lbs.

Squats today were "work", but uneventful. I think the weights I chose for this deload were about as spot on as I could have hoped for. I'm not really feeling any after effects in the legs from squatting yet. I'm so used to getting at least a tiny bit of DOMS, at least enough to let you know which muscles were hit last time. I'm not getting any at the moment.

There's a mini-meet, Tshirts for 1000/1100/1200 totals, coming up on the 22nd. Trying to decide whether to screw with my workout schedule to do this, or say screw it. Right now I'm leaning towards not going. The training itself is currently more rewarding than a tshirt I can't even wear right now anyways.

As always, feedbacks, comments, slander are all welcome here. Leave your mark on my log and my training experience.

[BendtheBar]

There's a mini-meet, Tshirts for 1000/1100/1200 totals, coming up on the 22nd. Trying to decide whether to screw with my workout schedule to do this

Have you competed before? Sorry I couldn't remember...

Any thoughts of just training as normal up to a week before the meet, and then just going for it?

Keep killing it.

[sleepingdog]

I did one meet on base in Kuwait. This isn't so much a competition between people as it is a day where you can show what you can do, and get a tshirt for bragging rights. They do it for bench press every other sunday, 300 club 350, 400.

I'm just leaning towards not interrupting training for a tshirt. Just doesn't feel important in the grand scheme. It won't be the last time it's done either. We'll see what the next two weeks bring.

[Hunterace]

Great work SD! Might be fun to do the meet though. You shouldn't need to alter your workouts, cept maybe go lighter the week of or take off. Keep workin hard!

[EliteDreams]

Sound like an awesome guy. Cars & guns & strength! Just don't OD on caffeine.