First month on the Stronglifts Program: DONE!

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

I’m looking at my actual workouts for February and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how I’m doing. So far I’ve been able to do my Stronglifts workout thrice a week as recommended, with one or two exceptions where I had to adjust my workout schedule due to time conflicts:

I love that my gym time is always so short… I spend only around 30 to 45 minutes per session. I’m always so surprised everytime I reach the end of my workout because I find it so hard to believe that I’m done. I even have time to train with my former varsity team after I finish lifting!

The only challenge I encountered with Stronglifts was that I initially had some trouble computing the starting weights per lift. However, I’ve been able to resolve that with adjustments in the load progression plan. My work weights will be aligned by my next workout, which will most likely be in March–I have a work-related trip to Bicol tonight and I will be staying there for the whole week. No work outs for me until I get back. It’s just as well, given that yesterday I hit my first stall on the program with the Overhead Press. This work trip will give my muscles a rest they probably need. I’ll get 5×5 on the OHP next time.

Looking forward to my second month with Stronglifts!

Workout – February 25, 2012

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Barbell Squat:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
20 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 3 reps – PR!

I couldn’t even finish ONE set of shoulder presses using my work weight of 40 lbs… I don’t know if I should be frustrated or what…

Barbell Deadlift:

10 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
60 lb x 5 reps
80 lb x 5 reps – PR!

Shoulder Dislocation:

5 reps
5 reps
5 reps
5 reps
5 reps

K-Star’s Pre-squat Hip Opener

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

In my quest to learn as much as I can about proper form and technique when doing compound lifts, I discovered an awesome blog called Mobility WOD. This blog is run by Kelley Starrett, DPT, a Crossfit coach based in San Francisco. Mobility WOD is full of awesome posts on how to improve our flexibility and range of motion, and brings to light a lot of things we take for granted in terms of our ability to move. For the past couple of workouts I have been doing the hip-opening exercise shown in the video below as a precursor to the Squat, and I can sense the improvement in my squatting motion.

Workout – February 22, 2012

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Barbell Squat:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
20 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps – PR!
35 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps

Barbell Bench Press:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps – PR!
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps

Pendlay Row:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
55 lb x 5 reps – PR!
55 lb x 5 reps
55 lb x 5 reps
55 lb x 5 reps
55 lb x 5 reps

Workout – February 21, 2012

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Barbell Squat:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps

Barbell Bench Press:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
20 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps
35 lb x 5 reps

GRRRAAAAHHH this was supposed to be an Overhead Press!!! I was so distracted last night that I didn’t know what I was doing. alskdjfhghfjdksla. Now I have to make up for it in the next session.

Barbell Deadlift:

10 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
70 lb x 5 reps

Taekwondo:

0:30:00 || drills

Updated Stronglifts Plan

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Ok this isn’t really a major change to the Stronglifts 5×5 program, I’m just adding more warm-up sets to my lifts as mentioned the other day. Up until my last workout, my SL 5×5 workout plan had looked like this:

Yeah, it's color-coded because I'm OC like that.

Prior to doing my work lifts, I only did two rounds of warm-ups consisting of one set of five reps. I somehow don’t think that this is enough for my muscles to go on with, so I’m changing the format of the warm-up rounds to look like this:

Yup, still color-coded for the benefit of my sanity.

So starting tomorrow I will be doing three warm-up rounds per lift, consisting of different numbers of sets, depending on the weight. “Warm up 1″ will be done with the lightest weight (three sets of five reps), “Warm up 2″ will be done with a heavier weight (still 3×5), and “Warm up 3″ will be done with the closest weight to my work sets (only one set of five reps this time). This will be the format of all my warm-up rounds, with the exception of the Deadlift. For this I will only be doing one set of five reps per warm-up round.

I might tweak this plan again in the future but for now I’ll see how this goes. I’m just basing my changes on gut feel at the moment.

Workout – February 18, 2012

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Barbell Squat:

30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps – PR!
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps

Barbell Bench Press:

30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps

Pendlay Row:

30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps – PR!
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps

Hmm. Methinks I should add more warm-up sets to my lifts.

Workout – February 17, 2012

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Barbell Squat:

10 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press:

10 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
15 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps – PR!
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps

Barbell Deadlift:

30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
60 lb x 5 reps – PR!

Shoulder Dislocation:

5 reps
5 reps
5 reps
5 reps
5 reps

Workout – February 15, 2012

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Barbell Squat:

25 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps

Barbell Bench Press:

30 lb x 5 reps
30 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps
40 lb x 5 reps

Pendlay Row:

20 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps – PR!
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps

Workout – February 12, 2012

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Inday Iskariray

Barbell Squat:

25 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps
45 lb x 5 reps

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press:

10 lb x 5 reps
10 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps – PR!
25 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps
25 lb x 5 reps

Barbell Deadlift:

20 lb x 5 reps
50 lb x 5 reps – PR!

Inday Iskariray

An Iska's journey to health and fitness.

Monthly Archives: February 2012

First month on the Stronglifts Program: DONE!

Workout – February 25, 2012

K-Star’s Pre-squat Hip Opener

Workout – February 22, 2012

Workout – February 21, 2012

Updated Stronglifts Plan

Workout – February 18, 2012

Workout – February 17, 2012

Workout – February 15, 2012

Workout – February 12, 2012