Getting My Back Back

Starting Strength Program

2011-10-22T16:24:00.000-04:00

April 4, 2010 - July 24, 2010

After pretty much three months off from my slight knee injury the first week of January I got back to lifting with the following program. It's the Starting Strength Practical Programming Novice Program. The one with chin ups/pull ups instead of the power cleans since I didn't think my back could handle that. You can read more about it using the link on the sidebar. Basically, this was the workout:

Monday

3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating)
Chin-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

Wednesday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press / Bench Press (Alternating)
1x5 Deadlift

Friday
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press / Press (Alternating)
Pull-ups: 3 sets to failure or add weight if completing more than 15 reps

This would be my workout for the next four months. There were times I had to de-load to work though plateaus and minor injuries, these came about once a month. So far, this portion had been the most rewarding and fun of the exercising I had done.

Below are the stats, for the pull ups and chin ups I'll use my start and highest from my best set.

Start
Squat 45
Bench press 45
Overhead press 45
Deadlift 115
Chin Ups 3
Pull Ups 2
Bodyweight: 144.4

Highest
Squat 105
Bench press 85
Overhead press 70
Deadlift 135
Chin ups 9
Pull ups 6
Bodyweight 147.8

So, now for my back. During this time I had gotten progressively better until I started adding more weights on the squats. My back seemed to be in the best condition on the days I was squatting around 80 pounds. Getting up to over 100 pounds was a nice accomplishment, but staying around 80 pounds wound up being best for me at the time. I didn't take down the exact date, but during this time I was able to sit up like a normal person to get off the bench instead of "falling" off to the side. July 24th was my last day of this portion, mostly due to heat and somewhat laziness I suppose. I had then taken a couple weeks off with the unexpected result of my back starting to feel really great. Being able to lay down in bed or on the couch and roll over without effort or pain.

October 22nd now and I'm looking forward to getting back to lifting in the next month or so. I've been doing the Couch to 5k running program since August 22nd trying to work up my cardio and stamina. My back feels good now except for first thing in the morning, but getting up isn't a problem and the pain is gone in no time once I'm moving around. There's still work to do.

More Running and a Hopefully Short Rest

2011-10-13T06:03:00.000-04:00

I finished up the week of Sept. 26th with two more days of running the Week 3 times of C25k. On Oct. 3rd and 5th I did the Week 3 plan again and on Friday the 7th I attempted Week 4 and failed.
Read more »

Couch to 5k - The Beginning

2011-09-27T22:30:00.004-04:00

I'll write up about my Starting Strength experience in one of the next posts. Today I wanted to share my experience with Couch to 5k so I can start updating this blog with more current content instead of history. Couch to 5k is a 9 week program designed to ease you into running, you can read up on it and see the details of each week here.

August 22nd, I'd taken a few weeks off from weight lifting and thought I'd give running (very slow running) another try.

Strong Lifts 5x5

2011-09-24T14:18:00.000-04:00

November 10, 2010 – January 7, 2011

The Strong Lifts program consisted of the following, it has since changed a bit, you can check their site here.

Workout A

Squat 5x5

Bench Press 5x5

Barbell Rows 3x12

Workout B

Squat 5x5

Overhead Press 5x5

Dead lift 1x5

These alternated every other day and I kept a M-W-F schedule. Each lift started at 45 lbs except for the dead lift which I started at 60 lbs. I would add 5 lbs weight the next time I did that exercise when I was able to complete the 5 sets of 5 reps.

The only thing I didn't have was a squat rack, so I ended up doing front squats instead. I had terrible form on this having never done squats before and still being inflexible. This lead to me resetting the weights back to the starting weight on December 14^th, and a knee injury on January 7^th that kept me from exercising regularly until April 4, 2011.

Here's my starting and highest reached lifts for these couple of months (all in pounds)

Start

Squat 45

Bench Press 45

Overhead Press 45

Barbell Rows 45

Dead lift 60

Highest reached

Squat 65

Bench Press 73.6

Overhead Press 55

Barbell Rows 70

Dead lift 105

Weight wise, I varied from 138 lbs starting to 148 lbs at my heaviest. Each work out I had 54g of whey protein and my appetite had gone up a bit.

January 31, 2011^t – March 31, 2011

I did some lifting along the same SL5x5 program during these months 2 to 4 times a month without the squats or dead lifts. I added body weight squats back in the last half of March. At the end of March I finally decided I could get back to lifting. This time I got a squat rack so I could do proper back squats and changed to the Starting Strength 3x5 Practical Programming Novice Program since it looked a bit easier for me.

Weightlifting - Month One

2011-09-21T20:48:00.001-04:00

October 14, 2010 – November 10, 2010

I had researched Strong Lifts 5x5 (SL5x5) and Starting Strength, I decided on SL5x5 since I already had most of the equipment needed. In the shape I was in I didn't think I could just jump into that program so I started out with random exercises I knew from my younger years.

I know this combination likely serves no real benefit other than getting my body somewhat used to exercise again. Here's what I did for most of the month. Each day the same exercises except for the last few days I replaced the side lat raises with body weight squats and butterflies with planks. I added more weight when I felt I could handle it.

5 sets of 5

Bench press, butterfly, curl, side lat raises, tricep curls.

As you'll see in the copy of my log I started out very light. The last thing I wanted to do was injure myself alone in my basement doing this and have to stop before I really got started. At this time my back's pretty inflexible, getting on and off the bench became an extra exercise. I had to slide off the side of the bench, get on my knees, then get up. I think about that and my first month and laugh now. You'll see in the log Dymatize and Whey Drink, in the last few days of this month I started drinking Dymatize Xpand pre workout and Whey Protein post workout for supplements.

Date		Weight lbs	1	2	3	4	5	Difficulty/Comments
10/14/10	Bench	16	5	5	5	5	5	extremely easy
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	5	5	5	5	5	5	easy
138.8 lbs	Curl	16	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
	Side Lat Raise	5	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
	Tricep Curl	16	5	5	5	5	5	easy

10/16/10	Bench	25	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
10:30:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5	easy
138.4 lbs	Curl	20	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5	easy
	Tricep Curl	20	5	5	5	5	5	easy

10/18/10	Bench	41	5	5	5	5	5
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
140.0 lbs	Curl	25	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	25	5	5	5	5	5

10/20/10	Bench	40	5	5	5	5	5
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
139.4 lbs	Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5	Do again
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5	Do again

10/23/10	Bench	40	5	5	5	5	5
07:40:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
138.2 lbs	Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5

10/25/10	Bench	40	5	5	5	5	5
06:30:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
138.2 lbs	Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5

10/28/10	Bench	46	5	5	5	5	5	Tough at last set
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
140.2 lbs	Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5	Tough at last set
	Tricep Curl	39	5	5	4	4	4


11/01/10	Bench	46	5	5	5	5	5	Increase
06:30:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
135.4 lbs ?	Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5

11/06/10	Bench	56	5	5	5	5	5
09:00:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
135.4 lbs	Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5	Increase
Dymatize 16oz	Squat	0	10	10	10	10	10
	Tricep Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5	Increase

11/08/10	Bench	56	5	5	5	5	5
06:45:00 AM	Plank	30 sec	2	2	2	2	2	(2 reps of 30 seconds each set)
137.4 lbs	Curl	44	5	5	5	5	5
Dymatize 16oz	Squat	0	10	10	10	10	10
	Tricep Curl	44	5	5	5	5	5

11/10/10	Bench	61	5	5	5	5	5
06:51:00 AM	Plank	30 sec	2	2	2	2	2
136.7 lbs	Curl	49	5	5	5	5	5
Dymatize 16oz	Squat	0	5	5	10	10	10
	Tricep Curl	49	5					2 Scoops Whey Drink after w/o

Next I start Strong Lifts 5x5.

An Overview of Where I Was, Where I Am, and How I Got Here

2011-09-20T18:32:00.000-04:00

I'm 37 years old now, 5'11”, average weight around 140#, smoker for 20+ years, haven't had any good exercise since my early 20's. I've always been slim but now I've got this gut that sticks out a ways. Working in IT at a desk for 13 years now, working over time at the old job and having been on call 24/7 didn't leave much room for exercise or anything. In early 2010 the job changed and I had a lot more free time.

Now, where this pain came from. Summer of 2009 at my old job I did a lot of setting up and tearing down of computers and CRT monitors, which I was likely lifting the wrong way and my body was in no way ready for that. This combined with my not so great sitting posture started my year + of back pain. The pain was all muscular, mostly in the lower back and neck. This made it difficult to get in to and out of bed, I wasn't comfortable laying down anywhere. And swiveling half my body to check for oncoming traffic because my neck and back didn't want to turn that way in the morning was pretty annoying too.

In October 2010 I decided to try to get better with exercise. I started with weight lifting. I had no set program at first, I just did the same exercises I did on my own when I was younger. After that, I started Strong Lifts 5x5, tried running, had an injury to my knee, came back to do one of the Starting Strength 3x5 lifting programs for about four months. Today, my back pain is pretty much gone but the neck pain is still there. Getting out of bed in the morning and sitting up from laying on my back has gotten much easier. So far it's working, but I've still got a way to go.

I didn't see any doctor or have a personal trainer and I don't want to take pain killers stronger than the over the counter stuff. Though I'd suggest seeing a doctor and/or trainer if you want to do this right and avoid the little injuries I got that kept me from exercising for a time. I'm just stubborn and wanted to do this on my own. I may still join a gym and get some professional advice in person instead of the Internet and DVD's.

At the time of this post I'm working on a running program called Couch to 5K to improve my cardio and likely cut down or quit smoking. (It's also making my gut shrink!) Once that is done I'll go back to lifting 3 times a week and try to put on some good weight. I kept records of every day I exercised, the next few posts I'll go in to some detail about the past year.