Day 244

Whelp, I've finally started a new program to makeup for the slow progress that I was getting with 5-3-1. This will be working alongside what I was doing for 5-3-1 for my bench and overhead press...especially since I have no real desire to have massive man-arms! I like my skinny, yet muscularly defined arms and I want to keep it that way. Any way to fight that dreaded 2 wave goodbye...aka the flappy, fatty arm old women get...is what I'm looking at maintaining.

This new program is great, but I am also only making my way into week three as of right now. I keep getting told that it's going to get much harder, but right now I would like to remain positive. So far so good...minus the soreness, but hey it hurts so good!! 

5-3-1 Round 2

Since 5-3-1 is doing it's job of healing up injuries, this workout is staying for a little while. I haven't had problems with my hip in quite a while which makes for great lifting days. Unfortunately, I'm not getting the fast progress I was seeing with Starting Strength; so, this is creating a bit of frustration for me on this end. 

Everything seems to be healed up and a new program is in the works for my squatting and dead lifting days. The next post will best show what I've got going on these days and where I'm at in regards to progress. Thankfully I am injury-free and hope to remain this way!!

Buh Bye Starting Strength, Hello 5-3-1!

From Starting Strength came 5-3-1 starting on the last day of February. I was dealing with a hip flexor problem, and this was going to be my golden ticket to getting back in the game. It was meant to regain the strength I had gained, especially in terms of my squat, by starting me off at a much lower max for healing.

5-3-1 has been a decent program, especially when dealing with injury, but I am getting a bit frustrated weekly due to the fact that I only squat 1 day a week. On Starting Strength I was handling 3 times a week, so this is easier, but very irritating.

The End of an Era!

I've been terrible about updating this thing over the past few months, but I have been keeping track of all my progress through excel spreadsheets. I have an accurate depiction of what I have done since late December until the beginning of March on this chart. This information is the exact same as what those previous blog updates stated, but now its much easier to see what I did, when I did it. 

Progress is a great thing, but eventually the starting strength program had its toll on my hip flexors. I since moved onto a program called 5-3-1 to heal up while still gaining strength. It's progress wasn't as grand as that with starting strength, but backtracking was necessary. I'll have that program in my next post!

Day 191

Whelp, I've missed several posts over the past month. I got a little sick somewhere in there, celebrated a 22nd birthday, had several midterm exams, but still managed to workout. My deadlift is around 185 lbs at 3X5, with a max at 205 lbs YAY! Bench is right around 75 to 80 lbs at 3X5. Overhead press has stalled around 65 to 70 lbs at 3X5. And poor squats have also stalled at 150lbs for 3X5 due to hip flexor problems. So the program is getting a change up.

Day 155

Finally made the move up to 150! The squats actually felt really good, and my hip flexor is doing well. It took a while to warm up and get full flexibility in it, but once I did the weight went down and up pretty smoothly.

Squats:
45--1 set, 5 reps
65--1 set, 5 reps
95--1 set, 5 reps
115--1 set, 5 reps
135--1 set, 5 reps
150--3 sets, 5 reps
Bench Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
75 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps


Things are looking up!! I'm hoping I can keep moving up in weight for a little while longer!! 

Day 153

We kept my squat at 145 lbs this workout again just for safe measure. Wouldn't want to hurt myself when I'm making so much progress :) I got to deadlift today as well. That is steadily moving up too. I enjoy deadlift for the most part, aside from the hook grip.


Squats:
45--1 set, 5 reps
65--1 set, 5 reps
95--1 set, 5 reps
115--1 set, 5 reps
145--3 sets, 5 reps

Overhead Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
67 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps


Deadlift:
142 lbs--1 set, 5 reps


There are a few warm up deads I lifted, but its just tedious to list them all. But yahoo my dead is almost up to my squat now! Ready to move up to 150 lbs on squat Saturday!

Day 151

Kept the squat at 145 lbs again this workout, just cause I have no clue what I did to my hip. I think it might be the hip flexor, so I was able to warm it up really well and get all my squats in for 145 lbs. Here's what I did:


Squats:
45--1 set, 5 reps
65--1 set, 5 reps
95--1 set, 5 reps
115--1 set, 5 reps
145--3 sets, 5 reps

Bench Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
70 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps


Everything is still moving up, but thing are definitely starting to get more and more difficult as time progresses. Pretty good workout!

Day 148

Whelp this week just ended on a pretty sad note. I was warming up for squats and just strained a muscle in my left thigh using only 65 lbs. It was such a bummer! I'm pretty mad about it actually, but I am hoping that it will be better after the two rest days I have lined up. Good stretching and massaging of that muscle should help, so thats what I'm going to be up to the next two days. Heres what I was able to do this evening:

Squats:
45--1 set, 5 reps
65--1 set, 5 reps
95--1 set, 5 reps
115--1 set, 5 reps
145--2 sets, 5 reps

Overhead Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
65 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

I wasn't able to finish the squats at 145. It really makes me mad, but that muscle just wouldn't let me do it. It was a struggle the entire time. So just out of rational thinking, I made myself stop short so that I don't make things worse. I will have to squat the 145 again on Tuesday so that sucks. But the good news is that I was able to get good enough depth to get that bounce back. Hopefully I can continue going that low so that I get some help with bringing that weight back up.

Day 146

Thursday are still proving to be pretty sucky. After a decent squat on Tues at 135 lbs, this squat today just was difficult in comparison and it's only a 5 lb difference. I need to work on the depth to try and go a little lower so that I hit that sweet spot that helps me bounce back up.

Squats:
45--1 set, 5 reps
65--1 set, 5 reps
95--1 set, 5 reps
115--1 set, 5 reps
140--3 sets, 5 reps

Bench Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
67 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Deadlifts:

67 lbs--1 set, 5 reps

111 lbs--1 set, 5 reps

133 lbs--1 set, 5 reps

All in all, not a bad workout. The bench went pretty good and the squats need some work. I'm going to focus on finding that bounce next workout. But in good news, my deadlift is now over my body weight and its almost caught up to my squat!!

Day 144

Today I finally moved up to using the 45's!!! Not gonna lie, I'm pretty ecstatic! It's about time I got up to those guys. And to my surprise, the squat was actually really easy. I'm no longer sore, which is great, and the lifts are getting decently easy...somehow haha! But here's what I did today:

Squats:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
65 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
95 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
115 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
135 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

 Overhead Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
60 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

I'm super excited that I'm finally using the 45's! You have no idea!! Yahoo! What a great day!!

Day 141

I didn't lift today only because I'm with the fam on a 3 day ski trip in Steamboat Springs! We've never skied here  before so it's been a blast. Several hours of non-stop boarding should still count as a workout though because it is pretty tiring. Thankfully, the lifting has definitely helped with my boarding, especially in terms of how long I can go without losing my legs. I'm very glad I've been doing all this after seeing how its really helped my boarding and how it's made that much more enjoyable! :)

Day 139

I'm finding that working out on Thursdays might be my hardest day of the week only because I'm so run down towards the end of the week. Other than that, it was actually a pretty decent workout. Everything keeps moving up as I'm supposed to do and hopefully I'll be squatting a pretty respectable weight in not time! This is what I did today:


Squats:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
65 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
95 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
115 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
130 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps
Overhead Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
55 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Deadlift:
Bar + 30 kilos = 45+66 = 111 lbs--1 set, 5 reps


The deadlift is still a fun workout, but I don't enjoy it as much as squatting. Who knows if that will change, but for now I just like how my legs and butt are looking haha!

Day 137

We started school up again this week. So far my schedule works out just right for me to squeeze into the rec center between my classes on Tues/Thurs, which is really convenient! I'm still moving up in weight and I'm hoping that this semester won't be as stressful as the last so that it doesn't affect my lifting. Here's what I did this afternoon:

Squats:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
65 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
95 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
125 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Bench Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
60 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

The squats are starting to get a little more difficult with each workout, but the good news is that the soreness is finally starting to wear off! I'm really enjoying this Starting Strength routine I think :)

Day 134

Finally the weekend, but I'm still really sore. Stretching is helping, but not near enough. I'm ready to be over this soreness that's going on! But I got another decent workout in, and still without the chinups. I need to get on that, but I just hate the things in all honesty. Here's what I did today:

Squats:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
65 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
95 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
120 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Overhead Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
50 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Overhead press just sucks in general, but I'm still able to do it decently. I'm slightly dreading the 5 additional pounds every workout. The squats though are coming along just great!

Day 132

I moved the weight up on the squat again, as I'm supposed to which is good. I'm really really sore at this point, but constantly reassured that it will go away soon. Not a bad workout and I also deadlifted today which was fun! Here's the lifts for the day:

Squats:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
65 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
95 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
115 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Bench Press:
45 lbs--1 set, 5 reps
55 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Deadlift:
Bar + 20 kilos = 45+44 = 89 lbs--1 set, 5 reps

I enjoy deadlifting, but not as much as squatting...here's to the booty!

Day 130

I caught the stomach flu over break so I didn't workout for a good week or so. I got back on the schedule and had a decent workout, now that I know exactly what and how to do it all. After some warm-up sets heres what I did:

Squats:
110 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

Overhead Press:
50 lbs--3 sets, 5 reps

I'm not doing chin ups at the moment, but hopefully I'll be up for doing those again soon.