Deadlift: 80 kg

I’ve reached an important milestone: 80 kg. I don’t think I ever lifted anything that heavy. Today I did it 7 times in a row, which translates to a 1RM of 96 kg! Here are the working sets from today’s workout:

• Squat: 62.5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Bench press: 52.5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Deadlift: 80 kg × 7 reps × 1 sets

I restarted the squat at 60 kg, and today’s weight seemed much more appropriate. The form was much better than last time. The bench press also felt just right, considering I don’t have a power rack and need some margin of safety. I’m not sure I could have done another rep.

And the deadlift felt great of course; so great I added a couple of reps to the set. 80 kg is, apart from being a cool milestone, the first weight I could do using two rubber weights on each side (20 + 10). Next milestone is my body weight, which is currently around 85 kg.

Deadlift: 77.5 kg

Not sure if working out today was a good idea. I didn’t sleep enough last night and had a fairly stressful day at work, so I felt tired even before I started. But I want to have some regularity and I’ve already had two days off.

• Squat: 70 kg × 4 reps + 60 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Press: 27.5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Deadlift: 77.5 kg × 5 reps × 1 sets

It was clear as I reached my squat target weight of 70 kg that I would not be able to perform the reps safely, so I quit after 4 reps and lowered the weight to 60 kg. I had trouble getting the back angle right and I wasn’t sure why, so I figured I could just as well lower the weight substantially and work on the form. But even 60 felt really heavy today.

The press felt easy. I think I could have done 30 kg with no problem. Also glad to make a new personal best in the deadlift. Looking forward to attempt 80 kg next time.

Deadlift: 75 kg

Despite the huge setback described previously, I’ve decided to keep going. So yesterday, I had my first workout in almost two weeks. It was also the first time I had the workout after work, in the evening. If I could choose I’d workout around noon, but from now on, that will be a luxury granted only on week-ends. Working out in the evening was okay, despite me feeling weary and tired before. Whatever I’ve said before, evening workouts is the way to go.

Due to the setback I considered lowering the weight somewhat rather than going for three new personal bests. But I finally decided to go for the personal bests anyway. If I failed, it would be understandable. If I succeeded, it would be very motivating. And I succeeded, except for one single rep:

• Squat: 67.5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Bench press: 52.5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets (minus 1 rep in the last set)
• Deadlift: 75 kg × 5 reps × 1 sets

This gave me new hope. It means that my strength has not diminished as quickly as my weight. And deadlifting 75 kg at 83.6 kg is after all more impressive that doing it at 86.8 kg. Using the standard formula for calculating 1 RM, I should now be ready to lift my body-weight!

The squats was really heavy though. I had to pause after every 1 or 2 reps. And bench press was okay until the last set, where I couldn’t complete the last rep. I think I should have rested a little more in between, but had an appointment later in the evening and had to rush it somewhat (lesson learned: never have an appointment shortly after your workout). I haven’t actually timed a workout yet, but each workout session appears to take well over an hour, not counting preparation and post-workout routines.

Major disruptions

I got sick on September 12, and have been off training for almost two weeks now. A few things coincided, I believe. Two days at a large conference (where you probably find at least a few sick people), a few days with too little sleep, and then a heavy workout the day before I got sick.

Getting sick was a scenario I had anticipated as a likely disruption, and possible end to this project. And it has been the most difficult challenge yet. Apart from not being able to train, getting sick meant I lost my appetite. With both training and eating routines ruined, it wasn’t long until I started skipping meals altogether (as I used to), which caused a sudden drop in weight.

Today I’m back at 83.6 kg (more than 3 kg lower than my max weight). It’s extremely disappointing and demoralizing. Apparently, the “muscle gains” I made was just retained water or something. They disappeared much quicker than they came – about four times quicker…

So, how do I continue from here? Why even bother if I’ll lose all my gains every time I get sick?

Deadlift: 72.5 kg

Three new personal bests from today’s workout:

• Squat: 65 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Press: 25 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Deadlift: 72.5 kg × 5 reps × 2 sets

This week I only got one proper workout. One good workout a week is a lot better than none, and probably enough to advance at this level, but I hope to make room for at least one more workout during the week. I’ll keep trying having my workouts in the morning on work days.

Squat felt easier today than last time. I practiced going deeper in my warmup sets. Press felt easy too, but my height makes it impossible to press with any weights on indoors. I’ll have to move to an apartment with better ceiling height. In the mean time, I’ll do press with slightly bent knees (without using the legs in the lift of course). No particular comments on the deadlift.

Workouts meets work

I always knew that going back to work would be the biggest challenge to my regular workouts. Especially as I aim to workout in the morning. I tried yesterday, but only finished my squats before I had to leave for work.

These early bird habits are still new to me, and I’m still figuring out when I need to do what in my morning routine. So here follows an attempt at structuring my mornings.

New early bird schedule

As long as I work at the main office, I need to leave home at 08:30. I estimate I need 30 minutes for hygiene and dressing and 45 minutes for breakfast (yes, I mean a real breakfast). So, on off days, I will rise at 07:15. On training days, I probably need to rise an hour earlier, at 06:15.

Off day

• 07:15 Breakfast
• 08:00 Hygiene/dressing
• 08:30 Leave home

Training day

• 06:15 Breakfast
• 07:00 Weightlifting
• 08:00 Hygiene/dressing
• 08:30 Leave home

This is unheard of in my life up until now. I always had difficulty keeping these habits for a long time. This will be as much a challenge to me as starting and sticking to a weight lifting routine.

Wednesday’s workout

During the workout yesterday morning I did the following working sets:

• Squat: 62,5 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets

It’s a new best again, and this time, it felt like it. I had to pause at every other rep. I wasn’t paying much attention to form however. Since there are so much to think about in terms of technique in the squat, I figure there’s no other way than to let it improve gradually by focusing on different aspects one at a time.

Deadlift: 70 kg

What a workout!

• Squat: 60 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Bench press: 50 kg × 5 reps × 3 sets
• Deadlift: 70 kg × 5 reps × 1 set

Entangled in theory

I had planned to workout yesterday, but spent all day watching weightlifters on YouTube instead. And today I felt  the urge to really work on my technique rather than have a proper workout. I’m a thinker, not a stinker. I tend to get stuck in the theory of lifting weights, instead of lifting weights. That has always been a big reason why I’ve quit (or not even started) in the past. And here I was again feeling the urge to learn proper form before lifting weights.

And yes, proper form is important, but having regular workouts is the most important thing. I mustn’t let the theory replace the lifting this time. Rather than spending time to work explicitly on form, I should work on my technique in my warmup sets and then simply concentrate on lifting in my working sets.

First time above 86 kg

Before I describe today’s workout experience, I should say that my weight was 86.2 kg this morning – first time above 86 kg. I weigh myself almost every day, at the same time between morning pee and breakfast. I’m a little concerned about the reliability of my scale though. It locks in the weight after a few seconds, and appears to remember the last weight if you weigh yourself multiple times, which is cheating. I can tell, because the second time it arrives at the final weight much faster. But nontheless, I have seen a steady increase lately, with new highs several times a week! The scale has a resolution of 0.2 kg.

Today’s workout

I tend to feel a bit fearful as I start lifting. And after 4 days off and the backpain from last workout in memory, my self-confidence had dropped extra low today. So I remained at 60 kg in squat today, and had planned to drop the weight to 60 kg in deadlift too (previous max was 67.5 kg).

I filmed myself this time, which was very useful. The setup in my bedroom doesn’t allow for any good camera angles, but it’s far better than nothing. I could tell for instance that I need to go slightly deeper in the squat. Back angle and straightness in the deadlift looked okay.

In the bench press, I raised to 50 kg, which felt surprisingly easy for a personal best. Then, as I did my 1 set of 60 kg in the deadlift, I felt that I could do much more, and raised to 70 kg. So I actually did 2 working sets of deadlift today. Therefore, I crusched my record of total weight lifted. New max is 4375 kg.

Seven weeks

Last Thursday I celebrated 7 weeks of regular weight lifting and improved nutrition. I’m also happy to say I’ve gained 3 kg during this time, which means I weigh 85.4 kg today. Surprisingly, this puts me right in the middle of the normal healthy range on a BMI chart! But I still look skinny.

Unfortunately, my lower back felt sore in the wrong kind of way after last workout, so I skipped the workout on Friday. I may have done something wrong when deadlifting. A friend who’s into sports suggested I’d stretch before working out and recommended a particular stretch exercise which I had just seen by chance in a video on the deadlift.

Is stretching any good?

I’ve been trying to find anything written or said about stretching in the Starting Strength (SS) forums or videos, but cannot find any advice on it. The impression is that stretching is actively discouraged within the SS community. Apparently, the idea is that the warmup sets provide all the stretch you need in exactly the right places.

Well, that would be wonderful. I accept that aerobic warmups are unnecessary before weightlifting if you do warmup sets with increasing weights. But I’m not convinced that stretching before weightlifting is bad, or unnecessary. Not that I currently do much stretching, but I think I ought to do some. I want to learn a set of stretching exercises targeted at specific lifts, and do them to increase my body’s readiness to the heavy lifts, and to increase flexibility overall.

Turns out I got Alan Thrall on my side. Alan is a gym owner in California and a YouTube weightlifting guru. I’ve come accross his videos numerous times when looking for lifting advice, and always find him thrustworthy. See his recommended smörgåsbord of stretching exercises here.

Increasing weight once a week

I’m going to lower the weight in the deadlift and work on the form for a while. There’s no rush. I’m not going to add 390 kg of weight to the barbell in my first year of training anyway (i.e. the recommended increase of 2.5 kg per workout × 3 workouts per week × 52 weeks in a year). Even increasing 2.5 kg per week adds up to an unrealistic 130 kg in a year.

For now, I’ll try to increase the weight in every exercise at least once a week. I won’t have the pressure on me to increase the load in every exercise in every workout, but if i feel like I can increase the weight in the next workout, I’ll certainly do it. And when I can’t increase the weight, I’ll increase something else instead, like adding more reps or sets, until I’m ready to increase the weight.

I understand the reasoning behing increasing the load once per workout. Newbies like me wants to see results fast and in the beginning, strength (or rather muscle control) increases fast. But there’s no way the increase in strength and muscle control can keep up with the suggested increase in load for very long, when you’re adding 7.5 kg per week. That is to set yourself up for failure. My gains may be sub-optimal, but they are better than anything I’ve achieved in the past.