zak42

Sunday, got my last workout of the challenge in, Squat @145, Bench @85, DL @195. Wrap up Main Goal : Loose weight: I lost 9lbs during the challenge, not dropping quite as fast at it was, I'm sure i'm eating more now that i'm not calorie counting, but that's a perfectly acceptable rate of weight loss. 1. Eat Paolo - Went fine, couple of pre-planned non-paleo events, otherwise on everything on track. A 2. Starting Strength - Started off ok, but didn't get the rest day targets met most times, not fully back into the swing of things since the knee pain. C- 3. Become a supple leopard. I read a few chapters of the book, but need to read more, and didn't get as far as actually doing anything from the book, so a giant F there. Have mixed feelings about the results, definitely could of done more towards to the goals, but the main one i really care about is the weight loss, and that's still trucking along. Overall, i'll be generous with myself and give it a C-

Knee seems to be feeling better, did a steady 20min row in the week which went ok, and got back under the bar today, dropped the weights down and just did squats & OHP. even after dropping squats down from 175 to 145, legs still feel like jelly, hopefully I'll be back into the swing of things soon.

I try to limit to one piece of fruit a day, sometimes that works out sometimes it doesn't. banana's are on the upper end of the sugar scale, you might want to look around for some other options.

I lost 54lb's in 6 months by switching to eating paleo and adding some exercise. Frankly the exercise doesn't make much difference, 80%+ is down to what you're eating.

Thanks SD, things not going as well as I'd hoped. I was getting some pain in my left knee and i decided it'd be better to take it easy until it was feeling better, so i haven't lifted in about a week or so now. I haven't had any pain for a few days now so should be getting back into things soon. Will probably ramp up just adding one new thing per workout so i can workout what causes it if it comes back again. (the rowing is new to me, so i wonder if its related to that). Weight continues to slowly go down, and am making progress on reading the book, so that's the main thing for now.

Good stuff, thanks everyone.

I decided before sat's workout to do a light squat day every 3rd workout and see if that'd help. Squat : 145lb BP : 120lb only got 2 rep on the first set, dropped down to 105lb to do the last 2 sets. DL: 255lb only got 3 reps again, so will be deloading on this & BP next time around. Got some good feedback on OHP & PC need to work on incorporating that. Read a couple of chapters of the book on bracing & torque, need to work through some of the exercises.

Am also watching Jimbo's switch to 5/3/1 with much interest, squatting heavy (for me) 3 times a week is beating the hell out of me.

Tues & Weds - rest days, walking, tues was a bit under target, but wednesday I made it past 10k. (also got my 2013 total from fitbit > 1100 miles walked!) Thurs Workout Squat 180lb - felt much better than last time i did this weight, so that's good. OHP - 60lb - seem to be doing better at not leaning back too much, I also felt an odd sensation, like someone sticking a pin in my shoulder while lifting. Had this a couple of times now, need to work out if i need to worry about it. PC - 65lb - usual PC woes. I got it together enough to video an OHP & PC set, and posted a form check. Hopefully I can get some good feedback there. Also, last week, i worked through a couple of articles on squat depth, and ended up trying the squat with the heals raised (on something) and i was able to squat much much deeper, so this is apparently a calf/ankle mobility problem that i need to work on. Speaking of which, i did read the intro & first chapter of the book last night. Its a big book, but hopefully i get can through it and start making some improvements soon. Eating paolo is going fine, although i really wanted apple pie last night for some reason, fortunately i didn't give in. Made slow cooker pork ribs today, which were delicious!.

Thanks SD, I'll check that out.

Power Clean I'm struggling with where the rack position is, I don't seem to have whatever muscle it is that the bar is supposed to be resting on at the end and always end up with it in my fingers, what am i missing? OHP I had trouble before with overextending my back, and leaning back more & more after each rep, I also sometimes get this odd sensation in left shoulder (about 1-2" above the shoulder blade) where it feels like someone is sticking a pin in me as the bar is traveling up, anyone know what that is? What else am i doing wrong? Thanks!

Awesome!

Friday : 10k steps Saturday: Squats, OHP & PC aka the workout that leaves me sad because i suck at it so much. Squats at 170lb went fine. OHP i haven't done for a while, I'd been having trouble with over extending my back while doing them, i dropped the weight back down to 55lb and tried to concentrate on keeping my lower back tight & straight, but even at that lower weight, i still found myself leaning back more after each rep. Power Clean: 65lb. I get the explosive power from the floor part of PC, but really struggle with the final rack position, i just don't seem to have to whatever muscle it is you're supposed to catch/rack the bar on for these, and end up with the bar in fingers. I know i'm doing these wrong, so haven't been moving up the weight, but i can't work out what to do. Sunday: 20 minute row, didn't leave me quite the mess my first row did, so thats good. Monday: Squat / BP / DL. Squats at 175lb went ok, BP at 120lb was pretty ugly and i ended up only getting 4 reps in the last set. DL at 255lb, these were really tough, i only got 3 reps. Todays workout took almost 2 hours, and other recent ones have been in the same 1.5 - 2 hour range. I'm sure the calorie deficit is making the recovery worse, adding to the problems. Not sure what to do, goto 2 lifts per workout, or 2 workouts/week or something else. Feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the number of things i need to sort out here. And the supple leopard book is still sat on the shelf, need to fix that and start reading it this week.

Thanks all. Bit of a rough start, schedule chaos monday & tuesday meant i didn't work out, and i didn't walk enough, but things picked up from there, Wednesday i got in my first 20 minute row, legs were like jelly when i'd finished, didn't think i was pushing that hard, definitely deceptive. And today turned into a double woot day, first my weigh in was at 233.8, so 50Lbs lost!, and then deadlifts were at 245, first DL's over bodywieght!, good day. Squat: 165lb, Bench: 115lb, Deadlift: 245lb.

Good to hear the shoulder's feeling better.

Awesome progress, you got this!. If you're doing SL, i assume you've already seen this shoulder exercise? http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/

Main Goal: Loose Weight! Things started back in the summer at 284Lb, todays weigh in is 236 and my eventual goal is to get to 200. I've been doing starting strength since sept, and having been a desk jockey for 25 years shows in the lack of mobility and the subsequent form issues. Todo list 1. Eat Paolo - continue to eat paleo at a calorie deficit. I've stopped calorie counting, I seem to be fairly well into the swing of paleo, will start tracking food/calories again if weight loss stalls. 2. Starting Strength - 3 days a week SS workouts, with walking or moderate rowing on rest days. 3. Become a supple leopard. ok, first I'll have to read becoming a supple leopard. I have some basic stretching & mobile exercises that I've been doing, but this is as much an alien concept to me as lifting was, so i really need to read the book and improve here, I have multiple issues affecting pretty much all lifts, so need to concentrate on form & mobility and not worry too much about getting the weights up at this point.

Thanks everyone, it feels great, I also just put together 3 bags of clothes that are now way too big for me that I'm going to donate.

Awesome, congrats!

You got this Jimbo!

Looking good Jimbo, will be interested to hear how your recovery driven changes work out.

Got my shit together at the end, got 10k steps wednesday, workout on thursday and 10k steps today. Not too bad overall, bit of a hiccup in the middle. am ready for it to stop being dark at 5pm.

I've had the aria scale for a while, and love it. The fitbit website doesn't do any decent trending of the data, but you can use trendweight.com and it can get data from fitbit & withings, and show a much more useful view of the your weight over time.

Friday : 10k then things came off the rails somewhat. Saturday: a 2 hour errand ended up taking all day screwing my schedule, 4500 steps ugh Sunday: supposed to be workout day, but not feeling very well, skipped the workout and only got 8k steps Monday: 6k steps Tuesday: workout Wednesday: Will hopefully get back on track today.

Monday: Workout day Tuesday: 9k steps, close but no cigar. Wednesday: 10k! (i got out for a decent morning walk before all the chaos started) Thursday: workout day Looking better than before, so thats good!, it helps that its been unseasonably warm this week.