My Training Log: Nerdy Weakling

[nerdyweakling]

It was out of my control, but I missed my workout Monday. I never miss workouts so it didn't feel good. I just did my Monday workout today (wednesday), since the program said never do workouts two days in a row (I was going to do it Tuesday morning, then another Wednesday night, but figured better to just miss the workout and move on).

The good news is that I squatted 200 with relative ease, amazing myself. The bar here at Duke does feel thinner than the one I was using at a gym in New York, but they both should weigh 145 as olympic bars...so my lifts went well, I just missed Monday. Hoping its not a big deal, since it is highly unlikely I'll miss another one over the next 6 weeks to finish this up.

It felt great squatting 200. I felt that my form was bad for a few of them, and I had to constantly be conscious of how I was squatting, but other than that it felt great since in the past I would never have thought about squatting this much weight.

 

[nerdyweakling]

Just to give people an idea, here are two pictures of me. I was underweight before due to the digestive issues, but none the less you can see the muscle that SL has helped me put on. As my brother said, my biceps have gone down but everything else has gone up and I am just 'bigger'. I think the program really helps you hit everything.

I think the angle makes me look more muscular than I am, but overall the changes I have made on the program after 6 weeks have been great. I was doing an impression of Kramer of Seinfeld for family in the 2nd picture, just fyi.

 

[zedhed]

Yeah bro sometimes life just plain gets in the way.
O hell yeah bro! You look waaaay better in the second pic. Looks like you gained 10 maybe even 15 lbs in that one bro.
Nice work bro, keep it up!

 

[nerdyweakling]

Thanks. Its not the best comparison because that photo is from a while back, and before I lifted at all, but it is more or less the change I have seen. Thanks for the encouragement...its been great to see results on the 5 x 5, I am definitely not missing the overloaded 4 day split I did before.

 

[zedhed]

Yep bro the 5x5 is a dam hard program to beat.
Am glad your seeing the results that you are working for.
Keep at it bro!

 

[nerdyweakling]

Had a good workout yesterday. For the first time ever I had a rep where I felt like I wasn't going to be able to push the weight no matter what...my mind was thinking 'can my body do it', and my body was just struggling and seemingly going nowhere. It was the 5th rep of my 4th set of squats. So I was a bit cautious on my 5th set but had no problems. I have a slight cold so I wonder if that didn't have something to do with it. It wasn't a comfortable feeling struggling to get the weight up and honestly wondering if I was going to be able to get it back up...

Be that as it may, I was sure I'd have to deload around 200 lbs and I just squatted 210 yesterday none the less. Tomorrow I am up to 215. I overhead pressed 90 but felt like I will have some trouble next week with 95...might be close to lifting 95 a few weeks in a row and potentially deloading. I had read that overhead press is usually the first to require this.

All in all still going strong. A previous knee pain that I struggled with for months has gradually disappeared with the squat regimen.

 

[nerdyweakling]

Squatted 215 today but if I were a betting man I'd bet I can't complete the 5x5 squats Friday @ 220lbs.

Nothing has gotten me as exhausted as the SL 5x5, especially Squat, Bench Press & Row days like today. I used to leave the gym sore and tired, but not too tired. With this program I leave without any soreness, but extremely tired. I used to feel like I could always squeeze out another exercise if I really had to, but with this program when I finish up I am really finished. I just saunter out of the gym like a lost, drugged up guy who has no energy left...what kills 90% of me is the squat, I am guessing b/c I am lifting higher weights in it and also b/c it involved my entire body. Bench is a little tiring but I feel like I have a lot more room to go before I reach a peak.

 

[nerdyweakling]

Came across this video series on squats, which has a lot of positive reviews.

So You Think You Can Squat? Part 1 and 2

I didn't know I should be looking 30 degrees or so above my line of sight...and there were a few other rules in here that I was unaware of. Going to focus on this 'checklist' of things during my warm up sets Friday, and worksets, to hopefully improve my form and be able to do the 220.

 

[zedhed]

Is that the one with Tate?
If it is you just hit a gold mine bro.
Cant go wrong with Mr. Tate!

 

[nerdyweakling]

I followed Tate's tips and it went well. I squatted 120 but on my fourth set could only do 4 reps. I should have been able to do 5, but when I focused on sticking my but out on the way down I must have had bad form, b/c the weight kind of pushed my upper body forward and I expelled more energy than usual on that set. I wasn't going to fall over or anything, but clearly my form was bad. On my 5th set when I didn't focus as much on sticking my but out (I think I did it right), I got all 5 sets done. I could probably go to 225lbs next set, but want to play it safe since technically I didn't do the 5x5 I don't want to get in over my head. So I plan on doing 220 5x5 next workout.

I usually go in the morning, but today had to go at 7pm. The gym was packed, and first I had to wait for 2 guys doing squats and they literally went down maybe 4-5 inches. Nowhere near parallel. I don't get why someone would ever do squats or any exercise without first finding out the absolute basics. What was worse was I had to wait for them to finish before I a squat rack opened up. Later on a guy came over, well-built, and started doing forearm curls in the squat rack. It was like the guy on here w/ the signature "stop doing bicep curls in the squat rack". I didn't know that actually happened...he was using like 10's on each side so he didn't need the help, he was just inconsiderate of people who actually wanted to squat. So overall I felt like a bit of a misanthrope during my workout but whatever. Point is I did it and it went pretty well.

Out of curiosity, a guy that does that and is pretty well built as a lifter is either 1) great genetics, 2) chemical help, or 3) started with something like 5x5 and now is fine tuning, right?