“Does the CIA have you pushing too many pencils?”
I hope you all gained five pounds yesterday. This may be an abbreviated week for some of you, but it is still PR Friday nonetheless. At the very least you can detail your eating PR’s from yesterday.
Remember, these are the PR’s you set this week in lifting, eating, or gaining weight. If you’re a more advanced lifter, then you might just highlight your training week since PR’s will be less frequent.
As for me, I clean and jerked 150 twice on Tuesday (PR), squatted 460 for three sets of five on Wednesday, and failed on my last rep of pressing 210 for three sets of five (had never pressed this but will consider it a PR when completing all the sets). I weighed in at 226.5, which is the heaviest I have ever been — got a few more pounds to gain to get to the upper limit of my weight class. Oh, and yesterday I watched an abnormal amount of Battlestar Galactica.
———-
I have been coaching a 14 year old kid named Colton for a couple of months. He walked in as a quiet, 122 pound boy who had a decent bench press (he was repping 135). 35 pounds later he is a pretty strong 157 pound pain in the ass who will talk smack to the majority of people in the gym (although probably not up to Greyskull standards).
Colton has squatted 235 for three sets of five, pressed 110x5x3, and benches 165x5x3. He will compete at the state meet in January with us, and will be close to hitting the qualifying total for national level competitions in his age and weight class.
In the following video, he pulls 285 for a set of five. He could probably stand to keep the low back locked in the first few reps, but the last few reps are typical of a heavy set of five. Nice work nonetheless.
PR””s this week (3 sets of 5 other than deadlift):
Squat: 315 (http://www
form tips welcome, side angle is also on my vimeo)
Bench: 225
Press: 150* (missed last rep of last set, but still a 5 rep PR, never pressed 150 for more than 2 reps before)
Deadlift: 325 (going for this after work)
I am assuming you are using the method of squatting that we teach at the seminars/gym/books.
Your eyes are high, you knees cave in at the bottom, and you are standing up with your quads because you are lifting your chest. The knees caving in loosens up the adductors and possibly the hamstrings which are vital to hip drive.
Look down, shove your knees out hard, and push your ass out of the bottom hard.
–Justin
Today I hit a box squat PR of 375 X 12. This is the heaviest weight I have had on my back since I herniated my L5-S1 in late February. My previous best set of 12 was 345X12 which I set a little over a month ago. My previous best set with 375 was 6 or 7 back in the beginning of 2009.
Yesterday I hit a bodyweight PR of 95kg. I””m currently living in the Netherlands and have been this entire fall semester. Food is pricey here and a drum of protein powder equals out to over $100 American. So I””m pretty pleased with the 5kg gain I””ve made this season off nothing but whole food.
If you””ve ever read anything about Mariusz Pudzianowski””s diet, you know that he””s a big fan of chocolate candy for energy. If you paid attention to Dave Tate””s log earlier this year (the guy who wrote the ””secret to gaining weight”” article) you””d know that he would throw down M&Ms and Mike & Ikes before and during training when he wasn””t dieting.
I””ve tried all sorts of powders and “xplosive” pre-workout supplements. And I””ve got to say, it””s hard to beat a Toblerone Bar and a ””legal in Europe only”” Bullit Energy Drink for a pre-workout energy boost when putting on weight is a priority.
How much does milk cost there?
–Justin
PRs:
Squat 225x5x3
BP 205x5x3
Press 145x5x3
DL 315×5
PC 155x3x5
Chins still hanging @ 9,8,7
But most importantly, I became an adult male today! 201 lbs!!!
YES! Somebody needs to hold a Bigmitzvah for you.
–Justin
6”2″ and went from 189 to 207 in 30 days.
My wife had a serious discussion on how disgusting it is to watch me eat so much food, and guzzle milk. I consider that a PR.
I”ve been reading the site from the beginning, but this is my 1st time posting. Been on gomad & linear strength program for 5 weeks.
Starting stats:
45 years old, 6”00 tall, weight 180
All one lift max efforts:
deadlift 380
squat 275
shoulder press 150
bench press 180
front squat 220
power clean 180
Current stats & prs this week:
weight 198
deadlift 1 x 390
back squat 1 x 305 (30# improvement in 5 weeks!)
power clean 5 x 180
Only god knows how many calories were eaten yesterday, but it must have been around 7000.
Wish i knew how to train like the kid in the video when i was 14, hes gonna be a beast.
Grambo: looks like your knees turn in on every rep
Just read an article on BB.com that says kids under fifteen or so shouldn”t lift, and only very light thereafter.
Just where the fuck do they get their “experts” from?
All I ever see there is guys going from 250# to 150# because “I got teased at school”
Try putting another 50# of muscle on and see who teases you then, son!
Anyway, this site is awesome.
Cheers
Andre
@ Justin
Milk costs a little under a Euro per liter. One Euro costs you $1.50 plus the fees for exchanging currency and using another bank””s ATM. Remember, a gallon is about 3.8 liters. Post workout I””ve been downing a liter of chocolate milk. Chicken Breasts, Hamburger, and Eggs are the staples of my protein intake.
I knew one morning the bulking gods had smiled upon me when I cracked open 5 eggs and every single egg was a double yolker.
Do they feed the chickens uranium?
–Justin
Monday I squatted 365x3x5, heaviest I had ever had on my back previously was 355. Pulled 375 for 5 as well, heaviest for reps previously was 365 for a double. The saturday previous I hit a press of 165x3x5.
Then I went to the in-laws and didn”t lift wednesday, lifted today at a 90s small Anytime Fitness. Managed 5×5 with 315 on squat (no belt) and 5×5 press with 145.
Looking forward to getting back to my gym and setting some new PRs this week. BW is around 230, getting stronger but may need to curb the carbs a hair to reign in these lovehandles.
Pulled 495×1 this week (previous PR 485) and had a dream I gained 12 pounds last night. Unfortunately the scale only showed about 2, but I”ll take it.
6”2 hoping to hit the 200lb barrier tomorrow on the scales!
Took a deload on my squats on monday but looks like I should soar past my 260 plateau and hit 3 plates without problems provided the food keeps coming
Pulled a 335 deadlift for a 4 reps but rep 5 looked more like a barbell shrug given the hitching – should have no problem hitting it on wednesday though hopefully
The quote is from the Predator, Arnold to Action Jackson.
Ding ding.
-Justin
weighed in today at 228.6 (@ 6”3″). still working towards 240 without having to buy new jeans.
got food poisoning last week so and i missed a leg day, so i”ll just combine the two weeks PRs:
press: 165x3x5
deads: 395x1x5
squat: 345x1x5
bench: 255x3x5
chin-ups: 3×7 while holding a 50lb dumbbell
@ Penn: prices over here depend a lot of where you buy it. Buy your food in the cheaper (but not per se worse) supmermarkets, like ”Aldi” or ”Lidl”. That will save you a lot! If you are a student and live close to or on a campus, you probably buy your food at ”Albert Heijn”. That”s the most expensive one ;-)
Also: if you buy milk, buy the big bottles (2 liters). We have taxes on packaging, so that will save some money.
If you are a student: where do you study?
Greetings from Rotterdam,
@ FlyingDutchman
Ha. Love your handle. I”m training at Ed Van Amsterdam”s gym right now and his nickname is the flying Dutchman.
I”m studying at UvA in Amsterdam.
I haven”t shopped around much and always go to
C-1000 since it”s so close to my apartment. The biggest they have is 1.5 liters.
Are there many serious lifters in Rotterdamn with you who are interested in getting 70s big? I know the Dutch used to have quite a presence in the World”s Strongest Man. But everyone in the gyms here is 100% about aesthetics and doesn”t care about the weight on the bar. Maybe I”m just at a bodybuilder”s gym.
Get big, man.
305 1rm Squat after my SS working set!
265 1rm Bench before SS Working set.
375X3 Dead during my SS set! Was supposed to be 5 but I failed! I am a pussy :(
250# 20 rep squat
230# Bench
360# Deadlift
157# BW
.
Didn”t think the pull was going to workout too well, but no hitching at all. It was a good day
First time posting here.Been watching the site for a few weeks and it inspired me to start Starting strength and gomad, after I lost 12 pounds from swine flu!!!
Current numbers after 3 weeks:
BW:202# @ 5”11
Squat:285 5×3
DL:325 5×1
Bench:210 5×3
Press:155 5×3
Thanks again for the site guys, its helped me out of my 90s small crossfit funk!!!
I posted last night, but it is worth repeating. Woke up yesterday at 228, later that night I was 236, which is a bw PR for me. Woke up at 233, but I have enough leftovers and time to replay Thanksgiving today. Will shoot for 240 today.
Coming off of the flu so I made a small reset on weights. But still powercleaned 110kg easily while warming up for DL on wed, which is a PR. Need to get Rip s dvd, cause I know my powerclean form is shit, felt like I have quite a bit left on the table if I learn form.
@ Penn: Amsterdam, b0000hhh!! ;-)
I”m training in the University Gym (really cheap), so most visitors are skinny students who think they get big by training once a month…But my training buddies are also fanatic. We all started this college year, so we”re not that big yet, but things are going well!
And Rotterdam is THE sports city of The Netherlands, so yes, there are also a lot of lifters over here. Also the best boxing schools, if you”re into that ;-)
C-1000 is average…Another tip: if you have made a few Dutch friends, ask them if one of their parents has a ”Macro pas”. There”s a Macro in Amsterdam too. That”s a big wholesaler, it will save you a lot if you buy a lot of meat over there at once!
Greetz,
@ FlyingDutchman,
Thanks for the shopping tips. I”ll have to check out Rotterdam if I get any time. I”ll be leaving soon. I really want to make my way over to either leeds to see Andy Bolton”s gym or to London and see Dorian”s gym.
First time poster etc
Did a brief period of lifting over summer, before breaking off to run a marathon. PR”s were
SQ:122.5 kg/270 lbs
BP:100 kg/ 220 lbs
DL:140 kg/ 305 lbs
SP:57.5 kg/ 126 lbs
Weak I know. Waiting on a tendon problem to heal in my arm, in the mean time am trying the fabled 20 rep squats, 3 times a week. Will post progress, or my obituary.
Yesterday, I bought a whole chicken for something to graze on.
Awesome work Colton!!
PRs
Hit 100kg BW! Weight”s adding slowly these days
Squat 130kg
Dead 157.5kg
Press 67kg
Bench 95kg
PC is still stuffing me around. I keep leaning back while catching it.. Any ques to fix this?
PRs
Squat – 300# x 3 x 5
Press – 130# x 3 x 5
DL – 365# x 1 x 5
Only PR this week was that I worked up to a top set of 3 PC for 164 lbs., bodyweight around 155 lbs. Definitely have more in me as I learn to hit a bit lower receiving position a bit quicker (and not split my damn feet for receipt of the bar!). Hopin”” to get this PC progression moving again, 5x3x155 lbs. had me stuck but I think it was mental. Anyway, vid of PC session here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBfrETkysWY
Tear it apart! Justin your feedback is very welcome especially.
This angle is not very good, but I am pretty sure the bar is too far away from your shin when you are setting up, thus the bar is out in front of the middle of your foot. This means your butt may be a bit low which will be problematic when the weight is actually heavy.
With the increasing weight, you will like racking the bar better in your fingers instead of keeping it tight in your fist.
When you got to 70 kilos, you had a propensity to widen your stance when you landed. Land in your same foot prints.
Other than that, it looks pretty good. Except for the whole “weighing 155 pounds” thing.
–Justin
This week:
SQUAT 330 for 5/5/5 PR!
DEADS 418 for 5 PR!
PRESS 170,5 for 5/5/4 failed again..
BENCH 236,5 for 5/3/x failed..
Eating has been shait. No excuses!
Back to work!
Bodyweight finally hit 200 yesterday after fluctuating between 199 and 196 all last week. Still increasing on everything…will hit PR on squat and deadlift next week.
Squat 275x5x3
Bench 240x5x3
Press 170x5x3
Deadlift 285×5
Justin, on Colton””s set of deads, is the amount of time between reps okay for a heavy set of 5? Also, nice choice on the music, Muse is awesome.
Not technically. I realized this after he did the first rep, but didn’t want to throw off his groove. He hasn’t been deadlifting for very long, so I wasn’t terribly worried about it. The next time he pulls I plan on having him do it though.
–Justin
@ Paul Sousa
Rippetoe recommends resetting for each rep on the deadlift.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=timdonahey#p/u/27/ql-N9hAuxNs
I didn’t watch the video, but Rip recommends doing that for a beginner.
–Justin
I squatted 313 on Tuesday for a 13# PR. Probably could have had 318 but my spotters were a bit inexperienced and grabbed the bar way too early.
Colton is gonna be a monster.
PR Friday: Pressed 195X5X3 weight is between 230-235.
Awesome coaching Justin and great work Colton!!
my left bicep/brachialis(not sure which one but it feels more like the brachialis(near elbow insertion) has been pretty sore after squats since last week(couldnt do bench this week), im not sure what it could be from besides messing around with cleans while teaching class, my palms are on top, no thumbs, elbows up etc. has any one ever seen this? i thought it may be from squeezing hands in while pushing the bar into my back. its getting better but im just lookin for an explanation in case its my squat form.
Thanks for the feedback Justin. For some reason I was under the impression that you wanted to land in slightly more of a toes out squat stance receiving the bar than the “pulling” stance you start in, presumably to create a habit so that if/when you wanted to squat clean, your feet would already be in good position (obviously my wide-ass foot position was wayyy beyond this, a habit I will be fixing). However reviewing SS, lo and behold it does say stomp the feet into their footprints.
And yes, it looks like I have the bar away from my shins more than I would for example in a deadlift (which is how SS teaches it), but I”ve found that starting with the bar much closer, it was getting away from me and I had to jump forward to receive it. However, may be this is indicative of another problem, like not finishing the pull at the top, not necessarily a result of having the bar “too close.” I will play with it.
Finally, you”re right, on sets where my hands don”t leave the bar, I have naturally been keeping the hook grip the entire time, including racking. Considering the fact that you CJ exactly twice what I can PC, I will defer to your judgement that it will be beneficial in the long run to rack with just fingers vs. keeping the hook.
And after this weekend, 155 lbs. will be nothing but a memory. Thanks again man.
@ Schactler –
I had a similar problem, approaching the bottom of a heavy squat and on the way out of the hole, I was bearing down on the bar with my hands unconsciously. It caused a pretty wicked elbow pain after each set. It wasn”t so much that my elbows were dropping; they were staying in the same place, just being stressed by my hands pushing down on the top of the bar. I have fixed it to a large degree by obviously first checking that my elbows are up the entire time, but then I had my lifting partner give me a “hands up” or “elbows up” cue coming out of the bottom of the squat. This causes me to think about not squeezing down with my hands, and as a result I kind of lift my fingers off the bar a little and it helps relieve that pressure. I think this actually allowed me to keep my elbows themselves up better, and released that unnecessary pressure pushing down on the bar. It also helped me finish the squat better, believe it or not, it feels easier coming up. Most importantly, elbow pain is minimal now. Give it a try, may or may not help but I”m willing to bet you”re bearing down on the bar at the bottom. PS sorry for writing an essay haha.
@ sk3er – I do reset my grip and make sure I am set properly before each rep, but I was curious about how he stands up in between reps and the amount of time. Not at all a critique of it, just curious as my sets get heavier and what is considered okay.
PR Friday – 87 kilos as of this morning. Up from 70 kilos at the beginning of this year.
After my Thanksgiving dinner failed to deliver on Thursday, I was still hoping to PR my press. I managed to get 150# up for one full set, then failed on the third rep of the second set.
I reset way low on my squats to fix my form, so I guess you can count the 175 I did today as a 5RM PR.
I didn”t deadlift today because the gym I go to has those horrid 12-sided weights.
This was at a body weight of 187; I am 5”9″ tall.
5”11″, 215#
On the linear progression and the numbers just keep going up…
Squat: 270 3×5 (PR)
DL: 315 3×5 (PR)
Press: 150 3×5 (PR)
Bench Press: 245 3×5 (PR)
Just woke up for a little pre-breakfast dinner and made a discovery I”m so excited about I”d like to share it with yallz:
Gravy works just as well if not better on a turkey sandwich as mayo.
PRO TIP: Cranberry sauce is good for the urinary tract.
A day late but PR”s:
Squat 225x5x3
Press 115x5x3
Powerclean 135x3x5
Bench 175x5x3
Deadlift 300x5x1
Doing linear progression on CFWF. I know, pretty weak for a 29 yr old @ 208, but doin” work to get the strength up to where they should be with BW!
PR weight gain
5 lbs on Thanksgiving
bw=210 on Wed
bw=215 on Fri
Gained 20 lbs in 5 weeks
bw=195 on 2009.10.16
bw=215 on 2009.11.27
Justin and Mikemc59 — thanks for the form tips.
Definitely have to work on driving the knees out. My adductors were pretty sore the day after this set, maybe I need to get on the yes/no machine.
I think I figured out my problem, watching my videos, I think I am letting the weight push me down at the bottom, trying to get a few more inches of depth, which makes my knees slide forward/in when I push out. I will focus on keeping max hamstring tension and driving with the ass/hips next time.
Quick question on food; I”m on legs only training at the minute, would any of you bother cutting intake at all until full range of exercises can be done or just forge ahead with abusing the buffet? Cheers
new poster
chick, 4”11, 150+, novice on a linear progression
slow week
Press 100x4x2, 100x3x1
Current numbers
squat 185x5x3
BP 105x5x3
DL 205x5x3
Press 100x4x2
PR for BW 291 up from 265 @ 6”6″ 11/2/9. I”m thinking paleo + milk to help slow BF down. Also PR for squat 270x5x3 up from 185 11/2/9. Bar speed slowing a bit.
Back Squat: 290 x 3s x 5r
Bench: 202.5 x 3s x 5r
Deadlift: 410x 1s x 5r
Bodyweight: 275
It”s awesome to see everyone here making gains.
Well, hello Carmen!
jp
I hit a wight PR… up to 194lbs. 88kgs. from 86 from two weeks ago. The heaviest I”ve ever been. Also the strongest. My gut”s a bit spongier than I”d like but I feel massive… considering that at the beginning of september I was 169, I”m pretty happy.
New PR for me in the gym yesterday.
Unassisted Deadlift(No squat/dl suit, wrist-wraps or belt) of 685.
Kind of depressing though, as that means my PR DL of 700 with a squat suit and belt means im only getting 15lb. of carryover :(
Oh well, new squat suit is in the mail.
Edit: My new Titan Velocity DL (not squat) suit is in the mail