Gamefreak501s training log & form check - Stronglifts 5x5

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

Gamefreak501

Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2003
Posts
8,030
Location
Bedfordshire
Hi everyone,

I found a gym a walk up the road from me - it's small, it's cheap but has everything I need for a Stronglifts program: 5 foot and 6 foot olympic bars, good selection of weights, 2x power cages.

I will be doing Workout A on days one and three and workout B on day 2.

-------------------------------------

Workout A

BB Squats; 5x5
Flat benchpress; 5x5
Barbell row; 5x5

Workout B

BB Squats; 5x5
Overhead Press; 5x5
Deadlift 1x5

--------------------------------------
Today I did Workout A:

BB Squats: 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5
Flat Benchpress: 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5
Barbell Row: 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5, 50kgx5

I intentionally stuck to the same weight for a few reasons – mainly so I could video my form on each set and so I could ease myself back into lifting having taken a break for around 2 years due to life and a now ex-girlfriend getting in the way of it. I didn’t take long rest breaks between sets because the working sets were light - but if I felt a bit tired, I did spend a few seconds catching my breath.

Here are some poorly shot videos of my first ever Strong lifts session. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

BB Squat Form Check

https://youtu.be/Zvo6rjb-K0Y

BB Bench press form check

https://youtu.be/XJpHXY7i2Gw

Heres to a brand new program and diet :)

Had a protein shake after the workout and will be having a roast in the next half hour.

Plan is to have a good combination of protein/fats/carbs in my diet every 3-4 hours, which means I will be eating 5 medium sized meals a day and a last bedtime snack (probably half a pot of cottage cheese). I'll go in to diet specifics on my next post here.

I did find the squats, despite the low weights noticeable when I left the gym and started walking back home haha!
 
Thanks for your replies.

Really sorry about that, videos should now be viewable. Managed to also lose my master car keys as well today. Not a good day Haha!

I didn't realise that I had to alternative workout a/b as well - I'll do so now that I've been advised, thanks :)

I did 3-4 warm up sets with just the bar before I recorded, didn't want to use too much space on my phone or on youtube.

Here is what my meals were today

Breakfast

Orange juice
Porridge with s/s milk
Wholemeal toast with blueberry soft cheese

Post workout

1 scoop Pharma whey with s/s milk

Lunch

Chicken roast with potatoes and veg

4pm meal

Chicken curry with white rice

Dinner

Beef steak with chips and veg

Bedtime snack

200ml glass of semi-skimmed milk
 
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More tension in your core, keep your back tight and knees out on the descent.

You are coming baxkcup using your bqck and what seems to be a fair bit of quad as a result of rocking forward in the hole...
 
Thanks for your reply mrthingyx,

I didn't realise my form was quite that bad, so thanks for pointing that out! I watched a few videos on squat form and they also confirm what you've posted. Room for improvement then!

I'll video my next squat exercises as well so that I can see my form improvements.
 
Thanks for your replies Cookeh and mrthingyx,

I think if I widen my stance a little more it will give my knees and hips a little more movement, something I learned with my roller derby training as well.

Really bad doms today haha - especially on my quads and chest. A little bit on my traps. I forgot how difficult steps and getting out of office chairs is! I'm walking round like...I won't say ha ha

Todays meals:

Breakfast

Porridge with s/skimmed milk and pharma whey
Wholemeal toast, with soft cheese
100ml of orange juice

Morning snack

Apple
Handful of salted cashew nuts
Wholemeal sandwiches with Salmon & soft cheese

Lunch

Coronation chicken fillet with salad
Chinese chicken and leek soup
Orange

Afternoon snack

White pasta with tomato sauce, chicken and black olives

Dinner

Chicken with tomato and onion sauce and veg

Late dinner

Whole pepperoni pizza because I'm still very hungry and my portions have been quite small all day. I may need to bolster my breakfast somewhat. As of just now, started feeling the doms in my arms now haha.
 
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you could try tracking what you eat with myfitnesspal or similar, even if you don't have a calorie target in mind you might find the breakdown of carbs/protons/fat helpful to monitor
 
mrthingyx said:
Why would you want to take your quads out of it? ;)

Gamefreak - it isn't that bad at all! There are just some improvements to be made. :)
Click to expand...

Obviously not entirely. My thought was that utilising glutes/hips/hamstrings more generates the strongest position. If I've misunderstood, or indeed missed something, please do tell me :) Removing them entirely would be daft as that would turn the squat into a good morning and no-one wants that.

Gamefreak, diet wise, seems a bit low on carbs to me? Carbs are essential to recovery and indeed muscular growth.
 
Thanks for your replies,

I did have a diet plan in an excel spreadsheet so I might need to refer to that to keep my diet in check. I'm going to see if MyfitnessPal is good for android as well.

I'm going to have 3 weetabix biscuits to bolster my carbs for the day as a bedtime snack, hopefully it's enough for the day! Ideally I should be having brown bread/rice/pasta with each snack or small meal I have and might explain why I am very hungry today.
 
Cookeh said:
Obviously not entirely. My thought was that utilising glutes/hips/hamstrings more generates the strongest position. If I've misunderstood, or indeed missed something, please do tell me :) Removing them entirely would be daft as that would turn the squat into a good morning and no-one wants that.

Gamefreak, diet wise, seems a bit low on carbs to me? Carbs are essential to recovery and indeed muscular growth.
Click to expand...

No sweat, dude. :D

Quads for squatting are awesome. Nirvana (for high bar) is the perfect balance between the quads and posterior chain. It depends what the lifter is trying to achieve...

Admittedly, I am biased because I am a weightlifter and do not have any value to derive from hip-dominant (low bar) squatting. :)
 
I can also vouch for MyFitnessPal as well. Very useful app.

Today I managed the following:

219g Protein
3350 kcals
401g Carbohydrates
86g total fats broken up as 27g saturated, 10g poly, 20g mono, 0g trans.

Not bad going really. I think 247g/day of Protein is my absolute highest though, based upon my current body weight of 165 lbs.

I think my carb ratio needs to be higher.

If the pie chart is anything to go by:

49% carbs, 24% fats, 27% protein, though it's not labelled.

I'm celebrating a friends birthday today, but will be training tomorrow night without fail :-)
 
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Hi all,

I had a late night at work yesterday and the evening before was also far too busy as well.

But I managed to get this lot done:

Workout B

BB Squats: 5x5 @ 50kg

BB Over head press 5x5 @ 30kg

BB Deadlifts 1x5 @ 60kg

The weights are a bit all over the place here; but I've never, ever done over head presses before and even 30kg with a 6ft Olympic bar felt a little heavy, but I pushed on and kept my form in check.

The deadlifts are a ludicrously low weight, but it forces good form if I do a lower weight. I can always add weight on next week.

Workout A will be my last session for this week - I'll probably go on Saturday.

Come next week, I'll add 5kg to each exercise.
 
Looking good - macro breakdown looks decent too :) I'd stick to adding 2.5kgs to the OHP though, its one of the harder exercises to progress in and pushing it too quickly could either compromise your form or introduce plateaus early.
 
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