ExRx.net

Hello all, My name is Steve, or Red for short.
I am beginning this log as a means to track my progress (i hope i progress) in my upcoming attempt at rebuilding the body, strength and liveliness i once had.

But first, some current info about my person:
I am 19 years young and six foot, one inch tall. I have experience lifting for the better part of four years, although i have spent a great deal of that time learning and spinning my wheels. as of today, I sit at a whopping, but extremely lean (4-6% bf), 160 lbs, having just come off of a long period of severe depression and disordered eating. In a matter of a year and a half, i had managed to lose forty pounds from my frame. I used to play football in highschool, and was a healthy, energetic, 200lb powerhouse of a linebacker. However, due to a number of issues, i now resemble a skeleton and do not posses the energy, strength or physique i once had.

Rather it just be spring time, or things are finally going just right enough in my life, but i feel an overwhelming urge to bust my butt in the gym and rebuild what i once had. I no longer wish to feel puny, drained and weak. If i can work hard enough and eat enough, i figure i have a shot at increasing my metabolism to what it once was and regain some spryness, for i have not felt highly energetic for a long time. Even if i don't reach my goals very quickly, at least i will be in the gym again, which would do me some good i think.

My goals are to at least match what some of my lifts were in high school (i am more in it for power lifting than body building), which, as best as i can remember are: Military press: 135 x 5, Bench: 250 x1 (i have long arms), Leg press: no number, but i used to push the entire stack at my high school with little effort. All of this was at a body weight of around 200 lbs.

Currently, i am taking the weekend off from the third week of my first cycle of 5,3,1. I am following a four day split: Monday: F. Squats, Tuesday: Overhead Pressing, Wed: off/ cardio, Thurs: Deadlift, Fri: Bench, Sat: off, Sun: cardio.
For quite some time, i was just going to the gym and doing whatever i felt like (spinning wheels) and it has been nice this month to follow a program. In addition to this, i am following wendler's boring but big for assistance to try and build up some mass so i can move some heavier weights again.

The hardest part for me will be the eating aspect for gains. I have just come off a long period of deprivation, and i am sure my stomach has shrunk. It has been difficult to eat a lot, but i am working on it, and hopefully won't let it stall my progress.

The way i have come to see it is: I am nineteen years old, and enjoy being active. I am not very active lately because i have felt like crap and my body has basically been eating itself down to the stick figure i am now. I don't want this anymore, so i am going to take advantage of my young age, free time (college Student) and know how to fix that problem.

I thank the moderators for allowing me to keep a log on this forum in order to help track my progress and keep my accountable on my journey to rebuild Big Red (was once my nickname, i am a ginger).

To those of you who have taken the time to read this, cheers! and wish me luck.

Sure, I wish you luck!

Welcome to ExRx, and welcome back to training.

You're free to do it any way you like, but most of us keep just the journal information in this thread, then start a thread in the "Journal Discussion" section. Then most people won't interrupt your training log with comments.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Thank you very much for the warm welcome.

or let us know if you just dont want input at all.



I think you are.



something is not adding up, or you were an elite lifter prior to starving down for a year
I sucked at life the better part of 20 years, I support your efforts to turn around. Having lifting to focus on is a good partner. But, not long lasting if the cause or your ability to deal with it still remains
I am not a doctor.

The main driving force in hang cleans should come from your hips. It doesn't mean you won't feel it in your quads, but the snap should come from your glutes.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Wow, that doesn't look like a deload day to me! Looks pretty demanding. And how did you get all of that in within just an hour? Are you sure that your watch didn't stop partway through?

Do you want to start a comments thread? I can easily move all the posts here that are of a comment nature for you. That would keep your journal just as a journal. When you look back at your workouts, you won't have to scroll all of our pontification.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Well, i had been lifting erratically with no real aim while i was loosing weight, and have managed to maintain some muscle mass and strength, besides, i have spent a good deal in the past practicing good form with my lifts (except the olympic lifts). I have always had a problem with planned deloads and in general i like to be intensive in the gym and still have a good deal of conditioning. It just seems that if i have the energy, i am compelled to use it. Although, at this point, and after what i have been through, perhaps it would be better to take it easy and really focus on recovery, rather i feel i need it or not. I guess i am just somewhat excessive, i always have been, but my body may not be in the best condition to handle that type of work?

Also, i messed up when typing the weights for the front squats, sorry: i had 25's and 5's on, not 45's and 5's, so it would be like 105 lbs. just a typo, sorry. Also, those sets were breathers.

And i am more than open to any comments, if you would like me to set up discussion thread, i would more than appreciate your guy's input and advice.

I have never had any coaching, but i think my problem may be that i catch the bar too far in front of me, maybe that is why i feel it in the quads more?

Please give me any comments and advice you may have.

If the bar is too far apart from your body, it's more stress on your core and back muscles.
One thing I came wonder is; How low do you catch the bar? If you do a very deep front squat while cleans, then it has lots of possibilities to wear out your quads also. Hang cleans don't involve too much squats at the hinge phase, since there's no particular knee movement. The movement should come from hips like stu said. It's the catch phase that I think we should look at.

EDIT: I should still note that one head of the quadriceps femoris does in fact flex the hip joint, but I don't think that's really important here.

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Prove the impossible!

As you can see, I moved all of the posts except the actual log entry.

When I said that it doesn't look like a deload, I was reacting with the perspective of knowing how much you lift on ordinary lifting days. Maybe it really is a reduction in load or volume from what you usually do.

You need to decide for yourself whether, when and how you deload. Doing 5/3/1 by the book means an intensity deload every 4th week. But you can deload in many other ways, and on any schedule that you feel is right for you. As I was starting to type this, I realized that I haven't done a formal deload for weeks. I've added an extra rest day here or there, and deloaded a particular lift for a single day a time or two. To be honest, I don't feel like I'm any worse off at the moment, compared to when I was doing 5/3/1, and doing it by the book! I want to do some maxes in the next few weeks, and I'll definitely deload for a week or so prior to that.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

It may be that i flex my knee instead of hinging properly at the beginning of the movement. I will play around with it again today to see if i can improve my form a bit.

Yeah, normally i would hit my 5,3,1 lifts and then the 5x10 with 50% of the training max, Plus two or three accessories and back work everyday. Perhaps i got a little overzealous working up to a heavy single on the cleans, but i am used to the volume.