Starting Stronglifts (Advice please)

[pb75]

I think using straps is cheating personally! on a serious note just think you are not developing your grip strength properly when using them. Maybe when you get to 150-200kg and you cannot develop your grip any more but I would go as high as possible before considering using straps. I used to use them and i lifted just as much using the chalk.

[FLuke~]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I just opened my bottle of liquid chalk and it is still liquid..... a brown liquid. I gave it a quick shake and it seems to be back to normal. Hopefully it will help with my grip, and be kinder to my hands. The deadlift yesterday tore my hands to pieces and has given me instant calluses!

[pb75]

Ouchee! Might be worth wearing some gloves for a while until your hand heals...liquid chalk will stop the bar moving and tearing your hands in the long run.

[FLuke~]

Forgot to post his up, I got distracted as I have a lot going on at the moment. We have decided to move house, but no need to go into that now. Needless to say we are a little busy and if my journal goes quiet for a little while it is probably because im moving or haven't found a new gym yet.

03/02/12

Squats 70Kg I'm happy about this it's still going up and although 67.5 was difficult on wednesday, two days later 70 was comfortable. opefully it will continue to shoot upwards, its great motivation to have this going up. As long as one lift is going up its easy to want to go back to the gym.

Bench Press 55Kg Finally managed to complete 55Kg, last time i needed a spotter to help me out in the last few reps but this time I managed to complete it all. Sore chest afterwards though and I'm not really looking forward to next time.

Seated row 12 plates managed to conplete this without too much trouble, great workout for my biceps too.

I didn't do calf raises this time as my legs were really tired from my last workout, which doesn't make sense as I managed to squat more. I'm going to pretend I have magic creatine and thats why.
Appaently my gym might be open tomorrow so I will go down and get a workout if I can.

Also I have gained weight, 1.3Kg or so! my diet has stayed the same as when I was losing weight so could this be water from creatine? I'm going to get a pair of skin fold calipers as soon as possible so I dont have to use the scales anymore. If only they were sold here.....

[FLuke~]

Okay, another day another trip to the gym.

05/02/12

Squats 75Kg I think I must have meant to add 2.5Kg but added it to both sides instead I really couldn't focus today. Although my brain seemed unable to engage, luckily my muslces could and I managed to complete all sets. It wasn't too dificult either, I only found it hard in the last two reps of the last two sets so still some room for improvement next time.

OHP 40Kg Again I meant to put 37.5 on the bar but wasn't paying attention again and put 40. I noticed before I started but decided to do it anyway and managed to complete all sets again, only really struggling on the last few reps of the last sets. I was pretty surprised by this as its quite a difference from the other day. Had some guy come over and tell me I should do clean and jerk instead and then watch me while he waited for the squat rack. This might have helped a little, nobody wants to fail lifting tiny little weights with somebody watching.

Deadlift 95-115Kg Did three sets of five here, one to warm up, one at 105 then decided I could go heavier and did a last one at 115. My grip really gave out at 115 though I had to put the bar down twice because I was going to drop it. I also forgot the chalk but luckily I at least had some gloves to protect them a little.

Calf Raises 65Kg Did two sets of five then a set to failure which was about 15 reps.

Holding 45Kg plates Yeah not really sure what to call this but some guy in the gym said it would help with my grip. The plates have little holes in them to make them easier to put on the bar so I put my gloves on and put a strap on the other side to protect my fingers. It still really really hurt and left blue marks in my hands for a little while afterwards. I managed to hold the plates for 62 seconds which seemed to impress this guy as it was slightly longer than him. Anyway I think I will do this with the 50Kg dumbells at the end of the workout with deadlift in it from now on. It really destroyed my forearms and my whole arms and shoulders were pretty tired afterwards. Hopefully it will help with my grip strength so I don't get held back by my grip when my deadlift goes up.

Questions

When should I start to use a belt for the deadlift? I feel like the weight is getting heavy now and I should use one soon. I definately don't want to injure my back and not be able to go to the gym for a while.

Any tips for improving my grip? Will holding the 50Kg dumbells be good for this or is there a better way?

What is the best way to train your calfs? I'm doing 5x5 at the moment but I seem to remember it saying somewhere that high reps was better for training such a dense muscle. Is this true should I do 3x15 or something else instead?

I will put some research into these things myself but I'm always open to advice from anywhere. I think the creatine is having some effect, I've been on it about ten days with beta-alanine and I think this might be helping my recent gains. If it takes longer to help out then the placebo effect will do, I don't care which as long as I am lifting more.

Thanks for reading, see you on tuesday with another log.

[hodi]

Hanging from a pull-up bars pretty good for grip, otherwise keep with the deads it will go up. Use mixed grip when it gets impossible. I'm liking the liquid chalk too.

[Bokers]

Hangs and rows (DB & BB) are good for your grip. You want to be pinching the weights to strengthen your grip not using the holes

As for a belt, you don't need one. Just make sure your form is tip top and your all good.

[FLuke~]

07/02/12

Squats 80Kg Added another 5Kg to my squat today which is good even if I ripped my trousers doing it. Wasn't actually that hard either, just a bit difficult towards the end.

Bench 60Kg Managed to add another 5Kg here too, I was really amazed by this as I struggled with 55 a few days ago but now 60 really wasn't that hard. I think if I try 65 next time it will be really difficult towards the end but I think I can do it. My bench is something that hasn't really gone up recently so to see it shoot up is fantastic, I can't wait to do it again.

Bent Bover Row 45-50Kg Finally decided to stop using the machine and just do a bent over row. Started on about 35 expecting it to be a reasonable weight like before but it was so easy. I jumped up to 45 and still a bit easy so I moved on to 50 and did 4 sets there. I'm so happy about my workout today everything went really well.

Calf Raises 65Kg Instead of my normal 5x5 here I did 3x10 just a bit of a changeup really but I think higher reps are better for dense muscles like the calves. I'll continue to look into it.

Overall a great workout, I'm so happy that I lifted more than ever before. I can't wait until my next one to see what I can lift on my other workout. I think the creatine and Beta-alanine must be causing some of this as there are rather large jumps in weight for some lifts. I'm creeping up on my goals, I think the one I want most is the 100Kg bench.

Thanks for the advice guys, I have a chin up bar at home so I will give it a go. Think I might still try to hold the dumbells after my deadlift day I actually quite like that and its a nice bit of variation instead of calf raises.

EDIT:

I thought I would update this workout as I remembered to bring my heartrate monitor. It was the cheapest one I could find as I had a limited budget when I bought it. It's still pretty accurate apart from the max heart rate which often seems to be ridiculously high.

Time: 1:07:35 Usually I am gone in an hour, this was the longest I have spent there.
Average Heart Rate: 127BPM (64% MHR)
Calories: 636
Max Heart Rate: 186 BPM (94% MHR)
Min Heart rate 72 BPM (36% MHR)

Hopefully somebody will find this interesting, I will add this info in when I remember to take it with me.

[FLuke~]

Just realised I have been an idiot. I include the weight of the bar, as i'm lifting that too, in the weight of my lifts. Somebody told me the bars were 6 feet and therefore were 15Kg, they have always been on the rack or bench so I never questioned it, but yesterday I decided to check and stood one up and it towered over me at 7 feet making it 20Kg! This is why my OHP has been so difficult, that extra 5 makes a huge difference. So if it seems like many of my lifts have gone up a lot this week its because I'm adding on 5Kg extra free thats been on there the whole time.

09/02/12

Squats 87.5Kg

OHP 47.5Kg Failed on the second rep of the second set and dropped the weight to 45Kg. Was pretty easy from then on.

Deadlift 125Kg No problems here apart from the fact I cant hold on to the bar for more than two reps.

11/09/12

Squats 90Kg No problem with the weight at all, I put the last set up to 100Kg and completed that without any problems either so I will start there next time.

Bench Press 70Kg This was really hard as it was another jump up from last time. Managed to get the first 4 sets done but the last one I needed a little help from a spotter to complete three of the reps.

Barbell Row 55Kg Fairly good workout here too, last few I couldn't quite lift high enough so will repeat this weight again.

Deadlifts 1 Rep Max 160Kg I am happy about this it shows how much my grip is behind my deadlift but I think it's a reasonable achievement for 2 months of working out and only about a month lifting over 50Kg (due to training at home with limited weights).

I'm moving house in just over a week and am going away to exmouth again so I don't know when I can make the gym next. Hopefully soon though because I'm really looking forward to deadlifting 200Kg, I think I need to set a new target for my squat too, 135Kg I think is 1.5x body weight. My OHP is getting close to target too, I am going to be annoyed if I cant find a gym and my lifts go down.

Edit:

I almost forgot I brought my heart rate monitor to the gym yesterday.

Time: 1:12:32 Alittle longer than I wanted but had to wait around for a spotter.
Average heart rate: 123bpm 62% MHR
Calories: 631
Max Heart Rate: 192 97% MHR (Not sure how much I trust this as it seems high)
Min Heart Rate 72 35% MHR

[hodi]

Haha I had the opposite problem when I started with my home kit, turned out my 7ft was 17.5kg so I was weaker than I thought! Excellent lifts dude. Race you to 200kg by the time I move down?