Cyprian said:

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Ah cool, I didn't think to check Texags for this before. I found this program online. I was doing another beginning program the last two months, made some good fat loss progress, but I wasn't very satisfied with my strength gains.

Anyhow, I officially started on this today, looks like a good way to make gains. The app makes it nice and simple. I'll try to check in here once in a while.

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What program did you use for fat loss?

Jetpilot86 said:

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Cyprian said:

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Ah cool, I didn't think to check Texags for this before. I found this program online. I was doing another beginning program the last two months, made some good fat loss progress, but I wasn't very satisfied with my strength gains.

Anyhow, I officially started on this today, looks like a good way to make gains. The app makes it nice and simple. I'll try to check in here once in a while.

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What program did you use for fat loss?

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NROL - Fat Loss I

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://tntman.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/nrol-fat-loss-1-a-b.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjgguG2h_fRAhXpy1QKHSH5D2kQFggaMAA&usg=AFQjCNHEf8nd-lxMNZsJSRKfCko6GodsKQ&sig2=82lRruXvxLZser5p33B5QQ

Looks like high rep, low weight. May try somthing like this to get some fat off for morale purposes, then Circle back to SL. Thanks

Just to check in...

I am now a big fan of Jim Wendler's programs and after about a year off I'm back in the weight room. Using Wendler's Boring but Big template, I've went through one cycle at 40%. Just adjusted my maxes and upped the assistance work to 50%.

If you enjoyed stronglifts, but are looking for something new, I can't recommend his book enough. The guy is very blunt, but is very informative. Makes things very simple, and his program is extremely adaptable. You can just www.blackironbeast.com to calculate one of Wendlers workouts, but if you haven't read his book, you'll be a little lost on the process part of the lifts.

https://www.amazon.com/Simplest-Effective-Training-System-Strength/dp/B00686OYGQ/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Z8YM6F5F9P3C3D4X9RN9

He also has a ton of articles on T-Nation that are good reads. His "Boring But Big 3 Month Challenge" is similar to what I am using now.

My work gym only has a smith machine...worth doing this or just going to the PPL program?

Smith Machine is not ideal but I suppose it could suffice. Free weights would be better of course.

No bars at the gym...just 5-60 pound sets of dumbbells. Not enough weight

A lot of work can be done with dumbells if that is what you have.

When in hotel gyms with them, I grab a pair and do a squat, calf raise, and Arnold press as 1 Rep. 3 x 15 of those will work everything but chest. Fast.

I took a couple of weeks off at the first of the year - my body needed a break.

I realized that I'd starting reaching failures in most of my lifts (OHP, BP, and DL), and, even when I wasn't dropping reps, I was needing 5-7 minutes between sets. At that point, my highest completed 5x5 sets were:

SQ: 370
BP: 210
ROW: 215
OHP: 140
DL: 355

I was at or just past the PRs I'd set during my first run through SL 5x5, but workouts were taking me almost 2 hours with all the time I needed between sets. So, I decided to switch everything to 3x5 and did a pretty big deload on most of the lifts.

I'm now at:

SQ: 345 3x5
BP: 205 3x5
ROW: 205 3x5
OHP: 145 3x5
DL: 335 3x5

I also cut out some of the (rather extensive) warmup sets from the app. I now typically do any warmup multiples of 45, until it gets below 5 reps for a warmup set, and then follow the app - with the exception of OHP and DL, where I can still feel fatigue limit my reps (one repaired and one un-repaired shoulder on the OHP, and grip strength on DL). On those, I just do what feels necessary that day.

TL;DR: Weights got heavy, had to switch to 3x5 to keep workouts at a "I get to eat dinner with my wife" duration.

Crazy seeing how differently balanced some people are.

Your squat hit 370 but bench only 210. My bench currently exceeds that but even 270 on squat seems almost unattainable. I cannot imagine 370.

I definitely get the "still eat dinner with my wife" line. If I do all the warmup sets, and work sets as advertised, and stay focused, I'm not getting out of there in less than 1.5 hours, with adequate rest time. Even the slightest distractions? Forget about it. And I work out at home. Going to a gym would make it substantially worse. Tough to do with kids also.

Anyhow. I'm 34 and have zero weightlifting experience. Just a lot of HIIT here and there along with some cycling. Nothing serious or lifestyle caliber. Discovered starting strength and strong lifts and have been hooked like I never imagined. I've been on the program for 8 months now.

In December I had to stop for a month to recover from surgery but at that time my PR were

Squat 290 5x5 (started at 135)
Bench 240 5x5 (started at 135)
OHP 140 5x5 (started at 65)
Row 190 5x5 (started st 135)
DL 320 1x5 (started at 135, and actually sprained my SI joint on first workout attempt, yes I was quite the weak lolfat)

I am happy with the progress I made initially and just started back up a couple weeks ago. I'm about 70-80% where I was previously. The deadlift and rows held their strength the best and I'm back at those numbers but I am struggling MIGHTILY on bench and squat.

Started experiencing some bigtime plateau on bench and OHP before the surgery and really couldn't figure out how to break through. Recovery time at my age is not what it was as a teenager. My goals for January 2018 were to be using 365 for squat, 405 for deadlift, 315 for bench, and 185 for OHP. IM thinking those are unrealistic goals now but I'll put in the work regardless

I just finished week 6 on this program. I'm loving it so far. Before I started stronglifts I hadn't touched heavy weights in about 6 years. Before that I had a regular routine and was happy with my strength.

I thought I was starting stronglifts too light, but I was wrong. After the reality check of the first week, I have enjoyed concentrating on form and the slow increase of weight each workout.

Today I hit:
Squat - 215
OH Press - 105
Deadlift - 215
On OH, I lost count on the last set and thought I had my first failure. I went back and did a sixth set and pushed through all 5 reps....so I actually did 555565.

On Monday I will go for:
Squat - 220 (really can't wait to hit 225)
Bench - 180
Row - 140

Weights are definitely getting heavy, but what I like most is the motivation to get back to the gym for the next workout to see if I can hit all reps.

meant to be a thumbs up!

What weights did you start with?

I started from the bottom and just hit the following after 7 weeks:

Squat: 130
Bench: 85
Row: 95
OH Press: 75
Deadlift: 165

Still really enjoying it so far.

I started at
Squat 135
bench 135
row 95
oh press 65
dl 135

Quick update, still making inching my way up, making progress:

Squat - 160
Bench - 110
Deadlift - 195
OH Press - 95
B Row - 110

I'm enjoying the simplicity of it a lot.

It may be time to start this up again. I seem to be in a rut working out.

Cyprian said:

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Quick update, still making inching my way up, making progress:

Squat - 160
Bench - 110
Deadlift - 195
OH Press - 95
B Row - 110

I'm enjoying the simplicity of it a lot.

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Awesome

aggie1906 said:

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It may be time to start this up again. I seem to be in a rut working out.

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Look into Wendler's 5/3/1 program also. The book is only $10 on ebay and there are free workout generators out there. It's neat because it gives you a chance to "PR" every time you lift. Which creates a nice way to compete with yourself.

irish pete ag06 said:

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aggie1906 said:

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It may be time to start this up again. I seem to be in a rut working out.

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Look into Wendler's 5/3/1 program also. The book is only $10 on ebay and there are free workout generators out there. It's neat because it gives you a chance to "PR" every time you lift. Which creates a nice way to compete with yourself.

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My problem with that is safety. I work out in my garage without a spotter 95% of the time. It's fine for squats or DL, but bench can be scary.

But I will look in to. Thanks.

aggie1906 said:

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irish pete ag06 said:

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aggie1906 said:

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It may be time to start this up again. I seem to be in a rut working out.

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Look into Wendler's 5/3/1 program also. The book is only $10 on ebay and there are free workout generators out there. It's neat because it gives you a chance to "PR" every time you lift. Which creates a nice way to compete with yourself.

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My problem with that is safety. I work out in my garage without a spotter 95% of the time. It's fine for squats or DL, but bench can be scary.

But I will look in to. Thanks.

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Yeah. Good call. I typically don't go to failure.

rshackelford said:

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Crazy seeing how differently balanced some people are.

Your squat hit 370 but bench only 210. My bench currently exceeds that but even 270 on squat seems almost unattainable. I cannot imagine 370.

I definitely get the "still eat dinner with my wife" line. If I do all the warmup sets, and work sets as advertised, and stay focused, I'm not getting out of there in less than 1.5 hours, with adequate rest time. Even the slightest distractions? Forget about it. And I work out at home. Going to a gym would make it substantially worse. Tough to do with kids also.

Anyhow. I'm 34 and have zero weightlifting experience. Just a lot of HIIT here and there along with some cycling. Nothing serious or lifestyle caliber. Discovered starting strength and strong lifts and have been hooked like I never imagined. I've been on the program for 8 months now.

In December I had to stop for a month to recover from surgery but at that time my PR were

Squat 290 5x5 (started at 135)
Bench 240 5x5 (started at 135)
OHP 140 5x5 (started at 65)
Row 190 5x5 (started st 135)
DL 320 1x5 (started at 135, and actually sprained my SI joint on first workout attempt, yes I was quite the weak lolfat)

I am happy with the progress I made initially and just started back up a couple weeks ago. I'm about 70-80% where I was previously. The deadlift and rows held their strength the best and I'm back at those numbers but I am struggling MIGHTILY on bench and squat.

Started experiencing some bigtime plateau on bench and OHP before the surgery and really couldn't figure out how to break through. Recovery time at my age is not what it was as a teenager. My goals for January 2018 were to be using 365 for squat, 405 for deadlift, 315 for bench, and 185 for OHP. IM thinking those are unrealistic goals now but I'll put in the work regardless

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Just looking at your numbers and I can deadlift 320x5, but the rest of my lifts are a lot lower than yours (like 30-60lbs). I'm no where close. Funny how that works out.

hurricanejake02 said:

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Early on, and without the warm-up sets... Yeah, it's a 30-40 minute workout.

My workout today had 7 sets of warm-ups just for squats.
5x45
5x45
5x95
5x135
3x185
2x225
1x265

All before 5x5 at 290.

Three warm-up sets for OHP:
5x45
5x45
3x85

And then 5x5 at 125.

And five warm-up sets for DL:
5x135
5x185
5x225
3x265
1x285

And then 1x5 at 305.

Plus three sets of pull-ups to failure.

I was moving pretty quick, and not taking much time more than it takes to change out plates between warm-up sets, but as the weight gets heavier, I often need closer to 3 minutes between sets to keep proper form. Tonight's workout easily took over an hour, and I workout at home without any of the interruptions out delays of a public gym.

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When you are doing like 45 lbs or light weights just do 10-15 reps... then like 7-8... then heavy work sets.

My high school weightlifting coach would give us rep schemes similar to the following with a specified percentage. He switched it up every workout and I don't know what his method was, but I do similar going high to low reps with low to high weigh.

Reps: (lower reps = more weight)
12, 10, 8, 6, 3, 6, 3
12, 10, 10, 5, 2, 2
12, 9, 12, 6, 3, 2

I've never seen anything that had rep schemes like the ones he gave us, I wonder where he got them, but they worked.

Those look like the Body For Life rep scheme.

Been getting back into this the last few weeks. Time is a little limited so I dropped to 3x3 when it started getting heavy.

Current #s
Squat: 355
Bench: 265
Row: 185
OH Press: 185
Deadlift: 355

Quick update on my progress.

I hit 300 on squat for 5x5, and my recovery time just started to become brutal. Reached a point to where I was just useless, even after taking 3 days off. So, as the literature recommends I switched to the Madcow program and it has helped a lot. The first 4 weeks are a deload, and I'm on week 3 right now. I know part of my problem is not getting enough sleep. Two babies at home just make it difficult to rest plenty. I get plenty of food and protein in my diet, but even on the absolute best of best days I will get maybe 4-5 hours of sleep total. I have also not slept more than 3 consecutive uninterrupted hours in close to 6 months at any point. So I know that is likely the biggest thing hindering my recovery time. As the kids get older I expect that to improve.

Max numbers as of today are a lot like they were previously
Squat 297.5
Bench 240
OHP 135
Row 190
Deadlift 335

The volume/weight of Madcow is remarkably less than SL, but it allows you to keep your numbers heading in a positive direction, and still be able to function. Oh how I wish I had started compound heavy lifts in my early 20's. I see guys my age pulling 600-700 on DL and benching 315+ for reps and it sometimes feels like I missed the bus on this one. But...as mentioned, I'll keep putting the work in and see how high I can go

Quote:

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my recovery time just started to become brutal.

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I wonder why that is. This is one program where I don't seem to get sore or if I do it is minor compared to other programs I've done.

aggie1906 said:

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Quote:

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my recovery time just started to become brutal.

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I wonder why that is. This is one program where I don't seem to get sore or if I do it is minor compared to other programs I've done.

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My recover time between sets got to be brutal once my squat got over 350lbs - why I switched to 3x5 despite not having met the requisite number of failures the program called for.

I found that I'd start to get sore two days after a workout, but as long as I didn't skip the subsequent workout, I was good. If I skipped, I got a lot more sore than if I didn't.

hurricanejake02 said:

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aggie1906 said:

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Quote:

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my recovery time just started to become brutal.

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I wonder why that is. This is one program where I don't seem to get sore or if I do it is minor compared to other programs I've done.

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My recover time between sets got to be brutal once my squat got over 350lbs - why I switched to 3x5 despite not having met the requisite number of failures the program called for.

I found that I'd start to get sore two days after a workout, but as long as I didn't skip the subsequent workout, I was good. If I skipped, I got a lot more sore than if I didn't.

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Good info.

I faced the same problem when it got heavy. I got kids and usually only lift at night or on weekends so I dropped to 3x3.

aggie1906 said:

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Quote:

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my recovery time just started to become brutal.

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I wonder why that is. This is one program where I don't seem to get sore or if I do it is minor compared to other programs I've done.

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Most likely candidate is lack of rest. As in sleep. Infant and toddler at home. Wife and I working pseudo-opposite shifts meaning one of us is at work and the other alone with the little ones most the time. I only get maybe 4 hours of sleep a night. Often frequently interrupted also. I'm sure if I got a solid 6-8 hours a night I'd be singing a different tune

rshackelford said:

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aggie1906 said:

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Quote:

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my recovery time just started to become brutal.

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I wonder why that is. This is one program where I don't seem to get sore or if I do it is minor compared to other programs I've done.

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Most likely candidate is lack of rest. As in sleep. Infant and toddler at home. Wife and I working pseudo-opposite shifts meaning one of us is at work and the other alone with the little ones most the time. I only get maybe 4 hours of sleep a night. Often frequently interrupted also. I'm sure if I got a solid 6-8 hours a night I'd be singing a different tune

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I hear ya man. Been in that scenario a lot lately. Sleep is crucial, man. I say adjust the reps because being sore all the time is not healthy nor gets you any stronger.

Sleep definitely plays a big part.
Eat a lot of carbs immediately after your workout and see if that helps.

stretching and foam rolling after tough leg workouts really helps recovery.

I don't think he is having problems falling asleep, he is having problems staying asleep because of the kids.

Correct. I'm so exhausted all the time I can sleep on cue.

Picked this up again - this time brought my wife along. She doesn't have a lot of power lifting experience but has done a lot of beachbody videos. I'm shocked at her progress once she got the form down on her squats.

She's really enjoying it but working out at the gym is getting difficult - we have a big difference on weights and only one squat rack.

Thanks for keeping the thread going.

This is when you approach the idea of buying your own cage and setting up a home gym.

SACR said:

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This is when you approach the idea of buying your own cage and setting up a home gym.

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It is a game changer and well worth the investment imo.

I had a ton of failures tonight but I'm also hitting personal bests.

Squat 3/1/- of 395
OHP 3/3/3 of 195
DL 3 of 395