Dan's Transformation - Page 7

tensdanny · Wed, April 15th, 2009, 11:38 PM

Damnit! I'm ticked off at myself for missing that last set of presses. It's getting hard, but I need to get stronger and become mentally tougher and overcome it. I think it was a lack of carbs today (maybe had ~100g, it was a mostly protein filled day).

Spartan12 · Wed, April 15th, 2009, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Per the girlfriend getting on my case, I'm thinking of dropping about 400 calories off of my diet per day.

Why?

tensdanny · Thu, April 16th, 2009, 12:47 PM

'cause when you date a girl for six years you just don't want to hear nagging about being fat.

When you're 250 pounds, they don't like it when you say I'm going to bulk!

tensdanny · Fri, April 17th, 2009, 08:23 PM

Yikes! Workout on hold temporarily. Family member passed away.

tensdanny · Sat, April 18th, 2009, 09:54 PM

Had a good, hard workout today. Learned I don't have great deadlift form on the really heavy sets(for me).

I'm debating whether I should scale back and try to get perfect form, or keep charging ahead? It has been mentioned here that one can reap the benefits of the deadlift without necessarily having perfect form as its such a big move.

tensdanny · Sun, April 19th, 2009, 07:19 PM

Today was my 21st day of starting strength.

Squat warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 90
warmup 1x3 140
warmup 1x2 185
working sets 3x5 235

Press warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 65
warmup 1x3 80
warmup 1x2 100
working sets 3x5 120

Pendlay Row warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 90
warmup 1x3 115
warmup 1x2 140
working sets 5x3 170

So far, I've failed on deadlifts once, one bench once, and then on press once. I went back and nailed the workout the next time up.

I'm about the exact same weight as I started, so that is excellent news.

Pete5 · Sun, April 19th, 2009, 10:28 PM

You're making tremendous progress over all areas of your training.

tensdanny · Sun, April 19th, 2009, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete5

You're making tremendous progress over all areas of your training.

Thanks man! I'm very appreciative of you introducing me to starting strength. It's really been a great program so far. This has been without a doubt one of the best experiences of my life.

tensdanny · Tue, April 21st, 2009, 03:53 AM

I think I have 5-6 more weeks of SS, don't remember the exact amount.

After that, I'm going to begin cutting pretty hard core and will be following the Zone diet (16 blocks) with Paleo diet foods. Should be an interesting experience to say the least.

Dieting is harder during the summer because of everything that is going on, plus I'll be working some long hours for a start-up company and taking a summer class, so it will be a full schedule to say the least.

I just bought a food scale to measure out my portions.

I also just bought a myotape to do bi-weekly or monthly measurements.

For my primary resistance training, I'm going to continue following the SS procedure as I really like the structure and the challenging nature.

I'm thinking about doing this work 2 days a week to really improve my VO2 max, become much better conditioned (I sweat all the god damn time and I hate it, getting in much better shape on a cardiovascular level will hopefully help with this), and ultimately burn a hell of a lot of fat.

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

20 sec boxing
10 sec rest

* 7 minute rest *

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

20 sec burpees
10 sec rest

* 8 minute rest *

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

20 sec power clean and press
10 sec rest

tensdanny · Tue, April 21st, 2009, 09:17 PM

I'm itching to get back in the gym. This 3 day break has been the longest consistent break I've had in weeks, due to my schedule altering workout days.

Also, I'm noticing some serious ability to flex back muscles that I never had before. Nice!

tensdanny · Thu, April 23rd, 2009, 11:25 PM

This was a really hard day of lifting. Struggled on bench and dead. Squats went fine but were taxing.

I really need to improve my deadlift strength.

Squat warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 95
warmup 1x3 140
warmup 1x2 190
working sets 3x5 240

Bench Press warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 90
warmup 1x3 125
warmup 1x2 160
working sets 3x5 180

Deadlift warmup 2x5 115
warmup 1x3 175
warmup 1x2 250
working set 1x2 295

tensdanny · Fri, April 24th, 2009, 11:00 PM

Moving is a bitch, but I feel like I work my glutes and hammies harder carrying furniture down 3 flights of stairs than I do when I do deadlifts and squats.

Hmmm

However, I'm stoked to be out of my apartment. Last year I moved in with two good guys, and before I knew it they turned into deadbeat roommates. One spent 11 straight months collecting unemployment not doing anything but making a mess of the house and playing video games all the day. The other was better, but he recently lost his job and doesn't do any thing but play video games either.

What a boring life.

tensdanny · Sat, April 25th, 2009, 08:31 PM

Holy shit, my whole body is incredibly drained and sore today from moving. I had help with the bed and dresser, but I did the book case three stories, and my desk three stories myself.

I was making noises I've never heard myself make from breathing. A high pitched gasp almost. My heart felt like it was going to explode.

After about 20 trips up and down the three flights, I'm almost done. I completely sweat through my clothes last night.

I'm skipping todays workout as my arms and back are burning. That was a million times tougher than a day of SS!!!!!

tensdanny · Wed, April 29th, 2009, 12:02 AM

Ready to get back down to business tomorrow. It's been a very stressful, chaotic week.

tensdanny · Wed, April 29th, 2009, 08:40 PM

Felt very good to get back into the gym today. My wrist was absolutely killing me for some reason before I even started lifting. Not sure what thats all about.

I redid my last workout in SS since I took a week off. I crushed it.

I'm not on my normal comp due to moving so I don't have my spreadsheet, but I did some warmups, then did...

squat
3x5 @ 245

bench
3x5 @ 180

deads
3x5 @ 245

I have lowered the weight on the deads to really hunker down on the form, and to improve my grip strength by holding the weight longer and doing more sets. I was really stalling so I figured I'd try something different.

tensdanny · Fri, May 1st, 2009, 08:45 PM

Had a good workout today. Squats are becoming very taxing and I have a hunch my linear progression is almost up for the time being.

I need to lose a ton of fat. I would have so much better stamina!

Warmups as usual, then

3x5 @ 250 squat

3x5 @ 120 overhead press

3x5 @ 175 pendlay row

tensdanny · Sun, May 3rd, 2009, 02:29 AM

I'm incredibly sore today. Not sure if its because I've switched from boxers to compression shorts and am now squatting well below parallel, or if its a lack of sleep.

The muscles that are sore are my hamstrings and glutes.

Walking around Chicago for 6 hours today didn't help. Then again, my girlfriend was extremely sore by the end of the day too.

Hopefully a good night of sleep tonight will result in a healed body for tomorrow's workout.

xclutch · Sun, May 3rd, 2009, 05:28 PM

Those are all with barbells right?

In the other thread, I thought you pressed 120 lb dumbbells... i was like damn...

tensdanny · Sun, May 3rd, 2009, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xclutch

Those are all with barbells right?

In the other thread, I thought you pressed 120 lb dumbbells... i was like damn...

No, no way. That's a ton to press. I'm trying to follow Rippe's advice as close as possible, and thus I only use dumbbells.

tensdanny · Sun, May 3rd, 2009, 07:54 PM

Today I was feeling wicked strong and it showed in the gym. I had a ton of quality food this morning and it helped go the distance.

I did squats 3x5 @ 255 (breaking body weight barrier - goal 2)

I did bench 3x5 @ 185

I did deadlifts 1x5 @ 315, and while it was hard as hell and required putting the bar down and taking about a 10 second break, I made all 5 reps. They had horrible form, though. I think I was just burned out before, because this was a nice increase for me.