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Dposey's Rippetoe Journal

Dposey

New member
Hey everyone.

I've decided to create a journal to help keep track of my progress on Rippetoe's beginner's lifting program.

Stats: Age 18, 6', 177 pounds, 20% BF

Background: I've been lifting for around 4 months, most of it being done incorrectly. I just recently came off of a 4-day split that, while I felt helped me get accustomed to the major lifts, didn't really do much. I wasn't feeling like I was making much progress by doing each body part only once a week. That's why I'm using this program which was recommended to me by a few members and that I've read a lot about afterwards. Once I stop progressing I'll take a week to recover (Still lifting, but light) and then I'll transition into the SF 5x5.

Goals: I want to gain strength and muscle mass while at the same time keeping my body fat in check. 20% (Possibly 18%, it was taken with calipers and I have a lot of loose skin from previous weight loss) is a little high and if I can lower it while simultaneously building muscle that would be great. For this reason I'm going to be doing light cardio 2-3 days a week for 10-20 minutes at a time. I'll be joining the Air Force in the summer and I want to use all the time before that to gain as much strength/muscle as I can while keeping below the weight limit (197) to enlist. After I get out of basic training and into a routine I'll jump right back into it.

Diet: This is where the program will differ the most. I'm not the 140 pound kid the program is geared towards and I won't be eating as such. I will be taking in around 3200 calories a day, with tons of protein and fats kept under 100g. It's a clean diet consisting mostly of oatmeal, chicken, milk, eggs, cottage cheese, peanut butter, small amounts of bread and wheat rice, and whey protein. I also take multi-vitamins daily. If I see that I'm losing weight or stalling then I'll toss in a couple more eggs/glasses of milk/scoops of peanut butter here and there.

Program:

Workout A

3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift/Power Clean 5x3,alternate every workout ''A''

Workout B

3x5 Squat
3x5 Military Press
3x5 Chinups
3x8 Weighted hyperextensions/ Good mornings

For major lifts I'll try to add weight every workout, and I'll warm-up using 5 sets of light weight, working up to the work sets. For chin-ups I'll be using the assistance machine because I can't do them yet on my own. I'll also be adding in abwork on Mondays/Wednesdays and direct armwork on Fridays. All weight will be in pounds.

Tuesdays/Thursdays will be light cardio days, and Saturdays might be used for working on my grip and a little interval training. If this proves to be too taxing then I'll tone it down a bit. These are just some things I'll want to be doing in the SF 5x5 so I'm going to start them out now. Ok, enough rambling, to the first workout!

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Monday 2/13/06 - Week One - Day One
Workout A (Deadlift)

Squats:
Bar x Warm-up x 2
95 x 5
115 x 3
130 x 2
145 x 5
145 x 5
145 x 5
Got them all fairly easy.

Bench Press:
Bar x Warm-up x 2
85 x 5
100 x 3
115 x 2
125 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5
These were a little harder than I had anticipated, but still went well.

Deadlift:
Bar x Warm-up x 2
95 x 5
105 x 3
120 x 2
135 x 5
These were awesome! Really got the form down. I felt the contraction of my glutes/hamstrings and I knew I had it. They just felt right.

Accessories:
3 sets of abwork

Comments:
The first workout went very well. I started with weight that was roughly 10% less than my estimated 5RM, and I really focused on my form. I went deep on squats and deadlift form was great. Bench form needs a little improvement as sometimes I feel unbalanced. I'm going to focus more next time on keeping my shoulder blades together and slightly arching my back. I was a little tired because I only got a little less sleep than usual (7 hours vs. 8-9) and I had PE today. After the break we'll probably start swimming so I won't have to worry about running the mile affecting my lifting. I also did some high intensity interval training yesterday as well as a little shoulders, and I think it affected my bench. No more of that, I'm only doing interval training on Saturday so I'll have a full two days of rest before lifting. Other than that, real good workout, I hope I can stay on this for at least a month or two!
 
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nice work out dude.. what are your goals.. in terms of how much weight do u wanna be at at a certain time period.. by that i mean gaining lean weight not fat.. and post your goals on the big three(squat bench dead)..

this program is very suitable for u.. u look like u have a lot ahead of u too.. so remember they key is to eat big and lift big to get big.. good luck.. i'll be interested to see how this works for u instead of me.. i think you'll be able to gain more than me..
 
My short-term goal is to get to around 190/195 pounds this summer with no more than 15% BF. Eventually (Way in the future) I want the same 400+ bench and 500+ squat/dead that everyone else wants, but I'd be happy with a 200+ bench and 300+ squat/dead by the end of the year. It's going to take a lot of work, but I'm learning more every day and I'm up for the challenge.

Thanks for the suggestions and the encouragement carlsuen! I'll definitely try to eat big, I'm going to be monitoring my weight every week to make sure I don't go into caloric deficit. I read your Rippetoe journal and it looks like you had a good run but, like me, you started off at a high weight and didn't make as much progress as the raw beginner would. I'm thinking that I might be able to stay on a little longer than you, but no more than a couple months. We'll see though, maybe I'll be able to keep up with the increases longer. Can't wait for that 5x5 anyway. By the way, good luck with yours! :D
 
dude.. your weights are not at all high.. u have at least another 2-3 months before you start stalling..

say how much weight do u intend to increase everywork out? 5lbs? 2.5?
 
Gonna try to increase all the major lifts by 5 pounds every workout. Once that starts to become harder (Especially for bench/push press) I'll start to increase by 2.5 pounds. I'm going to make some of those 1.25 pound chain weights for each side when I get the chance to go to Home Depot.

Oh, and I didn't mean that my weights were high, but rather that my body weight is high compared to 140 pounds, I should have worded it differently. My weights are pretty damn low, so hopefully you're right and I'll have a good 2-3 months of increases. That's the plan!
 
IMO you are starting this program PERFECTLY. I am very excited to see what happens.

A guy on another forum started this program but quit in two weeks - I was very dissappointed by his lack of attention span :rolleyes: .
 
Thanks guys, and a quick question on push presses for Wednesday's workout. I'm going to start them at 70 pounds (Light I know, I think my 5RM at the moment would be 80 pounds. Gotta build them shoulders up!). Should I go bar x 5 x 2, 50 x 5, 55 x 3, 60 x 2, and then 70 x 5 for the three work sets? Or should I drop a couple of the warm-up sets/reps? Let me know your opinion. Really psyched about this!
 
Nice to see you get this under way,you seem to have a good grasp of the program and your goals in general.I am in the same situation as you in regards to body composition,want to get stronger/bigger but already at a highish bodyfat with not much room to bulk.Just give it time and the fat will decrease in time with a good diet and decent lifting program.In regards to your query on warm-ups I would do about 2-3sets before the worksets and leave it at that,but thats just my opinion.

Good luck,I will see how this goes :)
 
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