Mike's Starting Strength and GOing MAD

[Michael Weinbeck]

I'm trying to get a good, strong base to take off from with CF. SS + GOMAD looks like a protocol I can wrap my head around. I plan to stick with it for at least 8 weeks, hopefully longer. I'm subbing pull-ups for power cleans because, according to Coach Rippetoe, I'm a wuss. (He actually uses a different word, but I don't want to risk getting booted for my first post.)

Here's where I'm starting:
29 y/o male
155 lbs, 5'10"
15in neck, 30in waist
Squat PR 210x10 (~280 1RM)
Bench Press PR 155x10 (~207 1RM)
Deadlift PR 215x10 (~287 1RM)
Pull-up PR 190x10 (~253 1RM)
Press PR 105x6 (~122 1RM)

Here's my first workout (A), 5/20/2010:
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x70, 1x3x105, 1x3x140, 3x5x175
Bench 2x5x45, 1x5x75, 1x3x105, 1x2x135, 3x5x155
Deadlift 2x5x75, 1x3x115, 1x2x165, 3x5x195

And workout #2 (B), 5/25/2010:
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x70, 1x3x105, 1x5x140, 3x5x170*
Press 3x5x45, 1x5x60, 1x5x75, 3x5x90
Pull-up 2x5x45**, 1x5x100**, 1x4x125**, 1x3x155 (bw), 3x5x190 (bw+35)

*I don't know why I lowered the SQ weight or even if I did for sure, but that's what the log says, so... yeah. They didn't feel all that light anyway, so I'll just build up from here. If I'm really up to 275 in 7 weeks, I won't regret it.
**These were pull-downs because the assistance machine was occupied.

That's all until the next W/O. I hope somebody else reads this and comments as they see fit. Thanks!

Mike

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #3 (A), 5/25/2010:
Bench 2x5x45, 1x5x75, 1x3x110, 1x2x140, 3x5x160
Deadlift 2x5x135, 1x5x155, 3x5x195*,**
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x70, 1x3x110, 1x2x145, 3x5x175*

*I goofed again on both DL and SQ and repeated the same weight as last time for the 3x5.
**I had to fudge the warmup sets because I was sharing the rack with a guy who was nice enough to help me change the plates, and I didn't want to make him keep switching out all those 2.5s and 5s.

Next time, I WILL remember to up all the weights.

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #4 (B), 5/27/2010:
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x75, 1x3x110, 1x2x150, 3x5x180
Press 2x5x45, 1x5x50, 1x3x65, 1x5x80, 3x5x95
Pull-up 1x5x45, 1x5x105, 1x4x155 (~bw), 1x3x165, 2x5x190, 1x5x195, 1x4x195 fail

I forgot to up the weight on pull-ups until I was 2 working sets in. I keep looking at my previous numbers and thinking I need to repeat them, but I think I'm getting better at following the program.

Squats felt hard already. Isn't it a little early for that? Maybe I started too heavy? I think I could have done maybe 190 for as many reps/sets, but that would have felt REALLY hard. I'm not in love with the idea of having to reset squats 2 weeks into the program.

But I suppose I'll do what I have to do.

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #5 (A), 5/31/2010:
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x75, 1x3x115, 1x2x155, 3x5x185
Bench 2x5x45, 1x5x75, 1x3x115, 1x2x140, 3x5x165
Deadlift 1x10x95, 1x4x125, 1x2x185, 3x5x205

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #6 (B), 6/2/2010:
Squat 1x10x45, 1x5x95, 1x3x130, 1x2x155, 2x5x190, 1x4x190 (fail on #5)
Press 2x5x45, 1x5x55, 1x3x70, 1x5x85, 3x5x100
Pull-up 1x5x155 (~bw), 2x8x180, 1x6x180 (fail on #7)

I was pretty wiped out from a few nights of bad sleep, so the squat failure didn't surprise me. Rip says that in cases like this it's OK to still add weight, but I wonder if I should just do my next WO at 190 again since the squats have been feeling heavy anyway.

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #7 (A), 6/4/2010:
Squat 1x10x45, 1x5x80, 1x3x120, 1x2x155, 3x5x190*
Bench 1x10x45, 1x5x85, 1x3x115, 1x2x150, 2x5x170, 1x4x170 (fail on #4), 1x3x170
Deadlift 1x10x135, 1x5x185, 1x5x215

*I made it through the squats, but I noticed that they got shallower with every set. I'm going to try to get video of tonight's WO so I can get some critique. I may have to bump the weights back and focus on strict form while I progess. I really don't want to cheat myself.

On the up side, the deadlifts still feel easy.

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #8 (B), 6/7/2010:
Squat 1x10x45, 1x5x95, 1x3x115, 1x2x155, 3x5x195
Press 1x10x45, 1x5x55, 1x3x70, 1x2x85, 3x5x105
Pull-up 1x10x155 (~bw), 1x7x180, 1x5x180, 1x6x180, 1x5x180, 1x6x155, 1x7x155

Squats didn't feel TOO bad this time, and they looked pretty good too. Hopefully last week's difficulty was just due to inadequate rest.

Does my log format suck?

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #9 (A), 6/9/2010:
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x85, 1x3x120, 1x2x170, 3x5x200
Bench 1x10x45, 1x5x85, 1x3x120, 1x2x155, 3x5x175
Deadlift 1x5x95, 1x5x135, 1x5x185, 1x5x215

Bench was hard, but at least I got it. Deadlifts were easy, but I misread my log again. Maybe I'll up the weight by 20# next time, just this once...

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #10 (B), 6/11/2010:
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x85, 1x3x120, 1x2x175, 3x5x205
Press 2x5x45, 1x5x60, 1x3x75, 1x2x90, 3x5x115
Pull-up 1x11x155 (~bw*), 1x8x180, 1x7x180, 1x5x180, 1x5x155

*I don't know if my body weight is still 155. The scale at this gym is useless. Next time I go to the gym that has a real scale, I hope to find that I'm in the 160 range.

[Michael Weinbeck]

Workout #11 (A), 6/13/2010:
Squat 2x5x45, 1x5x85, 1x3x125, 1x2x165, 3x5x210
Bench 2x5x45, 1x5x95, 1x3x125, 1x2x160, 3x5x180
Deadlift 1x10x135, 1x7x185, 1x5x205, 1x5x225