Total Beginner - SS log + I want to be a beast asap

[rrluthi]

Let me introduce myself: I'm 29 and have never worked out seriously before. I'm very weak especially in my upper body. I saw a picture of myself on my birthday this October and realized I want to try to change my body completely. I've always been soft physically. I mean I was very active when I was younger and played sports, but after baseball when my teammates would lift, I would be studying and playing video games.

My current stats: 6 feet exactly, 186. 17-18% bodyfat. When I first started, on Nov 2, I was 195, 25% body fat. My goals are maintain to maintain my bodyweight or increase it, but get down to 10% bodyfat, and be a lot stronger. My natural body type is somewhere between meso and endomorph. Maybe more endomorph. I have no trouble gaining. I can eat more in one meal than most can in a day. I always maintained a decent appearance by starving myself periodically. Terrible, I know, and probably a big reason I'm so weak.

I cleaned up my diet big time and am limiting myself to a very moderate 4 beers a week. but this isn't the diet forum!

My current lifts at 5RM are: Bench 130, Squat 145, Dead 225, Press 85, Row 125. My goals for when I turn 30 are to bench 225 5x, to Squat 295 5x, and to Deadlift 365. I am not sure how realistic this is. I would be very happy benching over my body weight, and squatting 1.5 times my bodyweight. My first day benching I could barely get 115 off the rack, my 5RM was only like 95.

I had no program at all when I first started. I was the guy at the gym wandering from machine to machine with no idea what to do, but I was going in 5-6 days a week. I was kind of afraid of freeweights, so I mostly ended up doing cardio stuff. I kept doing a lot of research though, and bought Starting Strength based on recommendations I found online. First couple workouts I just tried to figure out where I was at and tried to learn the lifts. Then I found some cool spreadsheets that people had designed to go with it, and so I made myself a beginner program. I love it so far. I look forward so much to my lifting days.

I am currently on workout 5. Last night was a workout A:

Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 145 PR

Bench Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 130 PR

Deadlifts: I was supposed to only go up to 185, but I felt really good and tried the alternate grip...
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 115
warmup: 1x3 - 155
working sets: 2x5 - 185 PR
working set: 1x5 - 225 PR

I know I won't continue to set PR's every workout, but I want to take advantage of my beginner status while I can. I'm getting into decent shape now. I do 30 minutes of rowing + 30 minutes of bike 2 times a week on my non lifting days. Can I start doing assistance stuff like pullups and dips yet? Curls? haha.

 

[JDid23]

Let me introduce myself: I'm 29 and have never worked out seriously before. I'm very weak especially in my upper body. I saw a picture of myself on my birthday this October and realized I want to try to change my body completely. I've always been soft physically. I mean I was very active when I was younger and played sports, but after baseball when my teammates would lift, I would be studying and playing video games.

My current stats: 6 feet exactly, 186. 17-18% bodyfat. When I first started, on Nov 2, I was 195, 25% body fat. My goals are maintain to maintain my bodyweight or increase it, but get down to 10% bodyfat, and be a lot stronger. My natural body type is somewhere between meso and endomorph. Maybe more endomorph. I have no trouble gaining. I can eat more in one meal than most can in a day. I always maintained a decent appearance by starving myself periodically. Terrible, I know, and probably a big reason I'm so weak.

I cleaned up my diet big time and am limiting myself to a very moderate 4 beers a week. but this isn't the diet forum!

My current lifts at 5RM are: Bench 130, Squat 145, Dead 225, Press 85, Row 125. My goals for when I turn 30 are to bench 225 5x, to Squat 295 5x, and to Deadlift 365. I am not sure how realistic this is. I would be very happy benching over my body weight, and squatting 1.5 times my bodyweight. My first day benching I could barely get 115 off the rack, my 5RM was only like 95.

I had no program at all when I first started. I was the guy at the gym wandering from machine to machine with no idea what to do, but I was going in 5-6 days a week. I was kind of afraid of freeweights, so I mostly ended up doing cardio stuff. I kept doing a lot of research though, and bought Starting Strength based on recommendations I found online. First couple workouts I just tried to figure out where I was at and tried to learn the lifts. Then I found some cool spreadsheets that people had designed to go with it, and so I made myself a beginner program. I love it so far. I look forward so much to my lifting days.

I am currently on workout 5. Last night was a workout A:

Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 145 PR

Bench Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 130 PR

Deadlifts: I was supposed to only go up to 185, but I felt really good and tried the alternate grip...
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 115
warmup: 1x3 - 155
working sets: 2x5 - 185 PR
working set: 1x5 - 225 PR

I know I won't continue to set PR's every workout, but I want to take advantage of my beginner status while I can. I'm getting into decent shape now. I do 30 minutes of rowing + 30 minutes of bike 2 times a week on my non lifting days. Can I start doing assistance stuff like pullups and dips yet? Curls? haha.

nice lifts so far in such little time man.. they will only continue to improve. When are you turning 30? Those goals definitely seem hard, but doable if you have enough time and your diet is good enough.

I wish you the best of luck and will definitely follow your training!

 

[rrluthi]

I will be 30 next October at the end of the month. So I've got 10 months about. I'm really excited about the progress I'm making right now, but I know it will slow down pretty soon. Probably switch to a 5x5 program at that point. And hey, at least the double chin is already gone

 

[JDid23]

I will be 30 next October at the end of the month. So I've got 10 months about. I'm really excited about the progress I'm making right now, but I know it will slow down pretty soon. Probably switch to a 5x5 program at that point. And hey, at least the double chin is already gone

5x5 is a great idea!!!! I think you're okay to add dips and chins... You can add curls if you really want, but it's not recommended as chins and rows will be hitting your biceps as well.

 

[rrluthi]

Wasn't feeling that good, and only had about 36 hours to recover from my last workout, not the full 48. But I got through it. Today was a workout B:

Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 150 PR

Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
working sets: 3x5 - 85 PR

Barbell Rows:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x3 - 85
warmup: 1x2 - 115
working set: 3x5 - 125 PR

I was too tired after to want to do dips or pullups. Took about 45 minutes from start to finish and I was done.

 

[OneBreath]

Nice progress in just 2 months. Definitely milk the Starting Strength before going to a weekly periodization like 5x5.

Your goals in that timeframe are 110% doable. Don't for a second think otherwise.

Since you are using sound principles (rather than a bodypart bodybuilding split) the only thing that will hold you back is diet. Definitely post your eating if you want. The mods and mentors will help you all along the way.

 

[rrluthi]

Today I was visiting family so I got a guest pass at the gym local to here - it's called Kennedy Nautilus and they barely had any weights, just nautilus equip. I had to wait for the only squat rack before I could get started.

Back to a workout A:

Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 155 PR

Bench Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 135 PR

Deadlifts: This time I stuck to the same weight using double overhand grip instead of alternate, which made it a lot harder.
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 115
warmup: 1x3 - 155
working sets: 1x5 - 185
working set: 1x5 - 225 PR (overhand grip)

Finished with 2 sets of 20 pushups and 10 minutes of rowing on the concept 2.

 

[JDid23]

Today I was visiting family so I got a guest pass at the gym local to here - it's called Kennedy Nautilus and they barely had any weights, just nautilus equip. I had to wait for the only squat rack before I could get started.

Back to a workout A:

Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 150 PR

Bench Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 95
warmup: 1x5 - 115
working sets: 3x5 - 135 PR

Deadlifts: This time I stuck to the same weight using double overhand grip instead of alternate, which made it a lot harder.
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 115
warmup: 1x3 - 155
working sets: 1x5 - 185
working set: 1x5 - 225 PR

Finished with 2 sets of 20 pushups and 10 minutes of rowing on the concept 2.

nice workout! however, it said you got the same lifts you did on squat/deads your last workout as you did this workout.

Regardless, nice numbers to start out with- they'll only go up

 

[rrluthi]

You are right, I just realized that. I believe I just copied / pasted haha, and forgot to change the #'s. Oh and on the deadlifts I did use the same weight, difference was how I gripped the bar. normal grip is much harder than alternating grip, at least it seems so for me.

 

[rrluthi]

Found a real weightlifting gym local to my parents, and got a 3 day pass which should get me through to the end of my vacation. I ate well yesterday and this morning, so I felt pretty good.

The press and bench press are by far my weakest lifts, and I have trouble progressing on those 2 at the same rate as the others.

Squats:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 115
warmup: 1x5 - 135
working sets: 3x5 - 160 PR

Press:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x5 - 75
working sets: 1x5, 1x3, 1x2 - 90 PR
working set: 1x5 - 85

I had to drop down 5 lb to finish the presses. I started to fail on the 4th rep of the 2nd set of 90. I wasn't sure how to complete the workout so I did a couple push presses, but didn't count them. I did 3 good reps, rested, did 2 more, and then decided to drop weight.

Barbell Rows:
warmup: 2x5 - 45
warmup: 1x5 - 65
warmup: 1x3 - 85
warmup: 1x2 - 115
working set: 4x5 - 130 PR

Also I felt good so I did 3 sets of Gluteal Ham Raises, one bodyweight, one with a 25 lb plate, and one with a 35 lb plate. These were angled slightly up on the stand, so not as difficult as a true horizontal GHR. Also did 4 sets of seated calf raises. Finished off with 30 minutes light cardio on the bike.