Super Skinny stronglift log.

[GreenNeedle]

I recently decided that it was about time I actually tried hard to look like a normal fella.  I am 43.  About 1.82m (5ft 10"ish) and have never weighed more than 60kg.  To gauge how that looks my hip bones stick out a lot and my ribs are all visible.  No body fat at all, although my abs are as hard as a rock, probably from cycling and f*rting.

 

I'm pretty lazy, ADHD/Autism sufferer that pretty much survives on an OMAD diet without ever trying to.  Too lazy to eat, always find something else to do or a distraction etc.  I am pretty fit though, cycle everywhere, don't drive etc. (Wife is a "pfft, meh" type. lol)

 

I thought it would be "fun" to keep a log as I assume most people are coming to this from a different angle and for anyone that is coming from that angle maybe I can actually do it and build this body up to something much more normal.  Not that it really bothers me.  It did when I was a kid but adulthood does make you feel more comfortable not being that Adonis.

 

So I started on Wednesday (but not stronglifts) last week (23rd Jan.)  No big details on exact food intake but my wife wanted to go on the KETO diet so I cook that up and put a portion of oven chips or more rice on top for me.  They are all about 400 calories before I add another 2 or 300 on top.

 

Day 1 - I wake up and have my normal coffee, sweetener instead of sugar as we don't have sugar in the house.  Weight (guessing because I didn't weigh) is normally in the 57 to 59kg range.) For breakfast I had a bowl of Honey nut cornflakes full to the brim and whole fat milk to just short of the brim.  A pot noodle for lunch and a keto++ meal for evening.  That works about circa 1500 calories  Because I do find it hard to eat I intended to have a blended shake for 11s and either mid afternoon or evening.

 

These shakes are 1 cup rolled oats, 2 heaped teaspoons peanut butter, 1 banana and full milk to fill up 500ml (so about 350ml milk)  Roughly 600 calories each shake and that pushes me up to somewhere in the 2700 calorie region.  Doesn't sound a lot when you hear what some eat on these weight loss TV shows but then it is double or more what I have eaten for 20 years (bar the odd kebab binge on a night out

 

On this first day I did all sorts of silly exercises with some 4.5kg dumbells that I saw on youtube.  Nothing planned, no real research, just went at it and kept going until my body ached all over.  Silly I know but the next post will correct that (of sorts.)

 

I should add the abs are still getting plenty of f*rt exercise with those shakes

 

Just a couple of pics to show a starting point.  These are from 2009 on holiday in Portugal.  I don't get photographed that much

[GreenNeedle]

Day 2 was no exercising and the same sort of calorie intake as the first day.  I should add that come main meal time  on the first day as well as day 2 (and 3,4,5) I was stuffed.  Really struggling to eat that main meal and on a couple of days in this first week I was falling asleep very early in the evening (sometimes before the meal) knackered from exercise OR from just being so full.  I forgot to weigh myself in the morning. doh and I didn't remember to weigh myself when I wake up until Monday 28th so at this point I had no idea if I was up or down.  All I knew is I could hardly move my arms, my sides ached, my shoulders ached, thank god it was a rest day.  My legs were fine but then they are pretty well stamina'd from cycling.

 

Day 3 - My arms were still really sore and everything else aching but I researched on the internet if I should train or not.  And the internet as always helpful provided me with "yes you should, no you shouldn't."  Useless asking the internet for advice most of the time (no offence meant there  ) however I came across this forum as well as the stronglifts page.  It might have been from this forum or another site that mentioned stronglifts.  I was however determined to not give up on this after only a few days so while I ate breakfast and through drinking shake into my lunchtime pot noodle I looked at the stronglifts program, tried to understand it, looked at the instructions for each move and worked out how I could do it with dumbbells.

 

And then I tried Day 3 (Friday) with the 4.5kg.  The sore arms started not to be so sore and the same with the aches however I found that 5 x 5 with a pair of 4.5kg dumbells was very very easy.

 

Oh well, weekend is here, 2 days of rest for the remaining aches and pains (that did come back a bit after the exercise.) 

[GreenNeedle]

So we are at day 6 - Monday 28th.  I remember to weigh myself.  63.3kg.  Wow, I think to myself.  This in itself gives me a bit of a gee up.

 

Same diet as usual, although get distracted doing some work and have to stop myself to cram in breakfast and shake, then have lunch later than usual before getting out some proper dumbbells which then have 7.5kg added to them.  That makes them 8.1kg each.

 

I do the full Wednesday set with the barbells and it is pretty easy TBH.  All the aches and pains had disappeared before I started but it's awkward trying to do barbell exercises with dumbells so I'm straight on the internet and buy a 7ft bar + 20kg extra weights.

 

Day 7 is a rest day (Tuesday) but I weigh myself in the morning and the scales read 63.7kg.  Steadily increasing here.

 

It is day 8 as I type this so will type up the whole lot tomorrow as I haven;t done my exercise yet

[GreenNeedle]

Firstly I should add in what I forgot to add earlier.  On Friday last week when realising dumbbells weren't going to work for this.  So I ordered a Barbell and 2x10kg weights.  I already have 4x2.5kg and 4x1.25kg which were with the barbells.  The Barbell and weights arrived yesterday.

 

Also on Monday I realised that I was going to need a bench to press with that had a "stack" position so I bought one of those as well which hasn't arrived yet and might not by Friday when Bench press is due again.

 

So to get up to date.  It is day 8.  This morning I weighed in at 64.3kg so still going up.  No changes to the diet.  2 shakes +3 meals a day.  I did down a bottle of red wine last night though so that will be another 600 calories or so.

 

I weighed the bar before I started and it comes in at 8.1kg. I'll round that to 8kg.

 

I have also been reading through the internet and so did some warm ups, stretches and 2 sets with just the bar first. (Bar with 18kg for the dead lift.)

 

I am still doing week 1 and will move onto week 2 next week so today I did:

Squat = 18kg - Bar + 10kg (2x2.5kg on each side.)  All 5 x 5 done with no problems, will move up to 20.5kg on Friday

OHP = 18kg - Bar + 10kg.  This was harder,  A bit wobbly at times but completed all 5 x 5, so I will stay on 18kg next time and see if it is easier (Monday.)

Dead lift = 38kg.  I found this reasonably easy but I think I was using my back which is pretty strong.  I need to research a bit because I get confused whether I should be using my back to lift this or if it is supposed to be the legs.  Either way it was quite easy so I will move up to 43kg on Monday.

 

So 1 week on the diet has seen my weight increase somewhere in the 5kg region.  I can definitely see an increase in my calf size probably from the squats every day.  Early days though and 1 week completed (ignoring the 2 last week with the 4.5kg barbells.)

[GreenNeedle]

Day 9 and it is rest day.  Some minor aches since the first "barbell" session but nothing like soreness.  Weight this morning was 64.5kg.

[GreenNeedle]

This is day 10 although for ease I'll call it end of week 1 seeing as the first week was with little fitness weights.

 

Bench with rack arrived yesterday as did the other 60kg weights I ordered so I now have 95kg + an 8kg bar.  Maybe some will chuckle at that but at this point, the weight I am on that looks a long way off.  I don't mind stalling along though and taking way over the 12 weeks.  I will get there eventually.

 

Weighed in at 64.0kg this morning so lost half a kilo yesterday somehow.  Maybe because I missed 1 shake.

 

Today's sets completed.  Squats are still no problem so will advance.  Bench press wasn't a problem either so will advance there too.  Barbell Row was very hard though.  Did all 5 sets but was a struggle so will stall on that one.  If I stall next week I might go down a bit in weight until I find it manageable and then start moving up again.

 

Looking forward to my 2 day rest after that.

 

Current weights as follows:

Squat - 20.5kg

Bench - 18kg

Row - 28kg

OH Press - 18kg

Dead lift - 38kg

 

Unsurprisingly from the "fitness" weights I started with and onto the dumbells, and only just starting with the barbell, my progress chart is all going upwards at the moment

 

Now on to researching form on these things extensively.

[The Battle Chef]

Outgrowing your weight set is a pretty good feeling to have, enjoy it when you get there

[GreenNeedle]

2 hours ago, Rusk said:

Outgrowing your weight set is a pretty good feeling to have, enjoy it when you get there

 

Long way to go till I reach that point.  Judging from the struggle with OHP and Rows it seems the strong back I thought I had is actually just a strong lower back.  hence why I can do the others OK (yes it is a low weight.)  The Rows struggle today was all in the upper back region.  Would not surprise me if my squats weight overtakes my rows weight before my upper back gains enough strength.

 

Anyway it is a marathon not a sprint and I have a big pile of weights to look at over that period   

[The Battle Chef]

1 hour ago, GreenNeedle said:

 

Long way to go till I reach that point.  Judging from the struggle with OHP and Rows it seems the strong back I thought I had is actually just a strong lower back.  hence why I can do the others OK (yes it is a low weight.)  The Rows struggle today was all in the upper back region.  Would not surprise me if my squats weight overtakes my rows weight before my upper back gains enough strength.

 

Anyway it is a marathon not a sprint and I have a big pile of weights to look at over that period   

Guaranteed your squat will out-pace your row.  Squat & deadlift are the 2 biggest lifts you can develop.  Rows are awesome though, I'll always do them.

 

[Mikey Fitpants]

How are you learning correct technique for your exercises? 

[GreenNeedle]

11 hours ago, Mikey Fitpants said:

How are you learning correct technique for your exercises? 

 

I am watching lots of youtube videos.  At the moment the ones that I find clearest to follow are the David Lloyd ones.  I put them up on youtube on the big telly in front of me and try to "emulate" them.  They also show from the side and from the front through the video so I can try and copy a bit better.  I do have loads more videos bookmarked but they tend to be guys that are pushing a lot more weight so it is a bit hard to copy with the low weight I am currently at.

 

I initially was just following the pictures on the stronglifts site but they aren't overly clear (to me at least):

 

 

 

 

[Mikey Fitpants]

That's great then. Being safe certainly when starting out with weights is important. Correct form is really critical to avoid injuries. Good stuff

[GreenNeedle]

Onto week 2 of the stronglifts speadsheet

Weight on Saturday, Sunday and today was 64.5kg so I seem to have balanced out there and I am struggling to take any more calories in.  I feel stuffed all the time

 

Squat today was 23kg - No problem moving on to the next weight*

OHP was 18kg as previous but today was no problem so moving onto the next weight.

Deadlist was 43kg and again no problems so moving on with that too.

 

*I didn't add up my weight options very well and using all my little weights I can't actually make up 25.5kg so I will have to move on to 28kg on the squat!!!  I have ordered another 2 x 2.5kg ( I already have 4 x 1.25kg) so I can make each weight correctly.  I can't see a problem though with that weight on the squat as it is the easiest of all of the 5 "lifts" for me.

[The Battle Chef]

The blender is your friend when it comes to getting extra calories.  

 

There are plenty of mass gaining supplements on the market (of varying quality) or you can make your own with protein powder, oats, peanut butter and the like.

[Mikey Fitpants]

5 minutes ago, Rusk said:

The blender is your friend when it comes to getting extra calories.  

 

There are plenty of mass gaining supplements on the market (of varying quality) or you can make your own with protein powder, oats, peanut butter and the like.

That's good advice. If you're looking to bulk up then supplements and shakes etc. are your friend. Whey or collagen protein powder is a really good idea, and like Rusk says you can have a go at making your own versions. There's tons of ideas on the internet. You need plenty of protein in your system for your body to use during the recovery process that happens over the next day or so after lifting. Remember - the magic actually happens over the next couple of days while your body is resting and repairing itself, the workout is just ripping your muscle fibres apart. So make sure you are nourishing your body well during the recovery phase.

[The Battle Chef]

4 hours ago, Mikey Fitpants said:

That's good advice. If you're looking to bulk up then supplements and shakes etc. are your friend. Whey or collagen protein powder is a really good idea, and like Rusk says you can have a go at making your own versions. There's tons of ideas on the internet. You need plenty of protein in your system for your body to use during the recovery process that happens over the next day or so after lifting. Remember - the magic actually happens over the next couple of days while your body is resting and repairing itself, the workout is just ripping your muscle fibres apart. So make sure you are nourishing your body well during the recovery phase.

Just a caveat to add:  The supplement industry is notorious for having zero oversight and zero regulation.  If you buy SuperDuperMassGainz500 or whatever and it claims to have 2000mg of MegaAmine per scoop, there is no guarantee that your scoop will have anything close to that.  I'd always advocate shopping at a store where they employees do NOT get commission from sales, or buying the raw ingredients and blending your own.

 

[GreenNeedle]

 

5 hours ago, Rusk said:

The blender is your friend when it comes to getting extra calories.  

 

There are plenty of mass gaining supplements on the market (of varying quality) or you can make your own with protein powder, oats, peanut butter and the like.

 

4 hours ago, Mikey Fitpants said:

That's good advice. If you're looking to bulk up then supplements and shakes etc. are your friend. Whey or collagen protein powder is a really good idea, and like Rusk says you can have a go at making your own versions. There's tons of ideas on the internet. You need plenty of protein in your system for your body to use during the recovery process that happens over the next day or so after lifting. Remember - the magic actually happens over the next couple of days while your body is resting and repairing itself, the workout is just ripping your muscle fibres apart. So make sure you are nourishing your body well during the recovery phase.

 

3 hours ago, Rusk said:

Just a caveat to add:  The supplement industry is notorious for having zero oversight and zero regulation.  If you buy SuperDuperMassGainz500 or whatever and it claims to have 2000mg of MegaAmine per scoop, there is no guarantee that your scoop will have anything close to that.  I'd always advocate shopping at a store where they employees do NOT get commission from sales, or buying the raw ingredients and blending your own.

 

 

I think it is the blender that is doing me in. lol.  I am making up my own shakes that have 1 cup of oats, 2 teaspoons of peanut butter, a banana and filled up with whole milk.  About 600 calories per shake.  The problem is that I have become far too used to just having an evening meal and nothing else  

 

I am trying to have one about 11am in between breakfast and lunch and then one about 2-3pm between lunch and dinner.  I may be better having that second one late evening because I really struggle to eat the evening meal, feeling bloated.  Like tonight.  I had about 10% of my meal and had to put the rest aside to eat later.

 

I think I need to buy some new jeans as well.  They are all far too tight round my lower gut now and the groin is "chafing" me to bits

[Mikey Fitpants]

That does sound like a substantial shake.

[GreenNeedle]

3 hours ago, Raiden18 said:

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I am underweight not over weight!!  I would think my BMI would be at the absolute bottom end of healthy for my age and height if not below healthy weight.  So I am trying to gain, not lose.

 

And I'm being polite despite suspecting this is a spam message

[GreenNeedle]

So week 2 Wednesday. Tuesday and today I weighed 65.1kg when I got out of bed.  So am moving upward.

 

Squats.  had to move up 5kg due to being short on smaller weights (they are on order.) so it was 28kg.  Managed the squats reasonably easy but I don;t have a squat rack so was harder to get the bar onto my back.  Anyway the actual squats were easy enough so will move up to 30.5kg but have to work out something for putting the bar at "rest" so I can pick it up standing.

 

Bench Press was 20.5kg and that was fine so moving on to 23kg next time.

 

Rows I moved up from last time despite finding it hard and it was really a struggle again at 30.5kg.  My upper back just does not have enough strength in it.  I am going to move back down to 28kg next time and might even drop again and again if I still find it hard until I can actually do it properly, maintaining proper form.  Once I find a weight I can maintain proper form then I can move up from there.

 

So progress is being made, just the row being held back because of my lack of upper back strength.

[GreenNeedle]

Just to add on to the post above r.e. BMI.  The NHS calculator comes up with the following based on my height, age, race, gender etc:

 

"Healthy weight range for your height: 58.6kg - 79.2kg"

 

So as stated above my starting weight (which is normally 57-59kg) would tie into the statement above of me bordering the bottom of the "healthy" teetering into the "unhealthy underweight" region.  Currently at 65.1kg I am firmly in the healthy weight region at this point in time.

 

 

 

 

[Defining]

Posterior muscles (ie. back & ass mostly ) are often underdeveloped, especially since most people sit too much, and they aren't the vanity muscles that folks can see in the mirror. Fortunately, both glutes & most of your back muscles can often see better hypertrophy results with slightly lighter weights, so long as you are ensuring that you really FEEL the contraction during the lift, and practice a slow eccentric portion. You may also want to look at something like inverted rows rather than BB rows - personally, I've found that it's much easier to target the back instead of compensating with my arms with the former rather than the latter.

 

Your lower body lifts (DL, squat, lunges, hip thrust, etc) will most definitely outstrip the numbers for your upper body lifts long term - the muscles are MUCH bigger!

 

Also, while BMI is a really useful tool for population data, on an individual basis you may prefer to track progress with girth measurements (ie. tape measure for limbs, hips, waist, etc.) - it will give you a better/more accurate trend over time for where you're seeing progress. It can also help you to make sure that the weight you're gaining is mostly  muscle, not just some extra padding around the middle. Getting in enough protein (1g/lb of bodyweight/day) in addition to a gentle caloric surplus (10-15% extra over TDEE) can aso help mitigate fat loss while adding muscle.

 

Well done on your consistent workout thus far! Slow & steady wins the race and all that jazz.

[GreenNeedle]

11 hours ago, Defining said:

Posterior muscles (ie. back & ass mostly ) are often underdeveloped, especially since most people sit too much, and they aren't the vanity muscles that folks can see in the mirror. Fortunately, both glutes & most of your back muscles can often see better hypertrophy results with slightly lighter weights, so long as you are ensuring that you really FEEL the contraction during the lift, and practice a slow eccentric portion. You may also want to look at something like inverted rows rather than BB rows - personally, I've found that it's much easier to target the back instead of compensating with my arms with the former rather than the latter.

 

Your lower body lifts (DL, squat, lunges, hip thrust, etc) will most definitely outstrip the numbers for your upper body lifts long term - the muscles are MUCH bigger!

 

Also, while BMI is a really useful tool for population data, on an individual basis you may prefer to track progress with girth measurements (ie. tape measure for limbs, hips, waist, etc.) - it will give you a better/more accurate trend over time for where you're seeing progress. It can also help you to make sure that the weight you're gaining is mostly  muscle, not just some extra padding around the middle. Getting in enough protein (1g/lb of bodyweight/day) in addition to a gentle caloric surplus (10-15% extra over TDEE) can aso help mitigate fat loss while adding muscle.

 

Well done on your consistent workout thus far! Slow & steady wins the race and all that jazz.

 

I haven't really taken measurements because I'm not particularly interested in the numbers per se.  I am just aiming at a more "toned up" end result rather than any kind of satisfaction with a measurement or pride in how much was on the last bar.  In that if I am happy with how things look yet the bar only has 50kg on it then I would be looking to maintain rather than continually increase.   I know that won;t happen at 50kg but you get what I mean.  I understand some want to push things and see how far they can go but this isn't for me.  I don;t really see it as a sport or competition for my purposes, just an ends to a means.  It is quite interesting to see what I can and can't do, but there will come a point when I look in the mirror and think "That's as far as I want to go."  I'm not really expecting (or wanting to be honest) to push on to look like I could be in a 90s Coca Cola advert.

 

The only measurements I do know is that my chest was (probably still is) 32 inches / 81cm.  Waist is always a hard one for me because my true waist (where a woman would say her waist is at the thinnest part) is 26 inches whereas my jeans are 30 inches because men wear their trousers right on the hip.   So if I were female I would virtually have supermodel stats at the moment  5' 10" and  32-26-30.

 

Being at high school in the mid to late eighties and because of the timing (Band Aid / Live aid) I was nicknamed by some friends (in what they thought was friendly humourous way) Ethopian seeing as that was very current.  I tend(ed) to veer away from wearing shorts as well because some people of my age would call me "Crazy legs crane" after the cartoon that used to be on all the time.

 

An easy guide for some to work on is that Levis 510s on me are slim.  Levis 511s are quite loose.  Not baggy but not slim like they should be.

 

I put tended rather than tend because as I've matured I became much more comfortable with myself and don't particularly care what others say these days.  Bothered me a lot when I was young though   Maybe I am still bothered seeing as I am doing this. lol.  Its more for me these days though than other to see.

 

I will look into "inverted rows."

 

I was wondering though.  Does it matter what order I do the lifts in?  Stronglifts always has Squats first and the barbell row last.  Is there any reason I can't do the rows first while my body is fresh and the squats last seeing as they are the easiest for me?

[The Battle Chef]

44 minutes ago, GreenNeedle said:

 

I was wondering though.  Does it matter what order I do the lifts in?  Stronglifts always has Squats first and the barbell row last.  Is there any reason I can't do the rows first while my body is fresh and the squats last seeing as they are the easiest for me?

 

There is no reason why you cannot.  In the Greyskull LP (Another popular beginners routine), squats/deadlifts are done last for the very reason you stated.  I hate doing squats first.
 

[Mikey Fitpants]

I quite like doing squats first 

 

Well done GreenNeedle, it all sounds like you are getting on really well. Good stuff