Ryan Mac's SS mass gain log

[ryan mac]

Sadly I've been at this strength and conditioning thing for far too long. Ultimately I had not reached the levels to which I aspired. Jan 1, 2008 I did my first ever CF workout. Over the following 7 months I improved in strength, lean muscle, flexibility, durability, mental fortitude and determination. I learned a great deal more information during that 7 month period in large part to CF principles, but I also picked up Starting Strength very early on. I had seen SS utilized by many to achieve new levels of strength. I felt like it was an intelligent move so that I could develop my technique in the important lifts. I believe I have enough knowledge at this point to do a true strength/mass building phase.

Please, if you have any suggestions or recommendations feel free to point them out at any time.

I will first start by putting in logs from the beginning of my program which started on August 4th, 2008.

Vitals:
Male 36 years old
Cyclist, mountain and road
Hockey player
A lovely supporting wife
Father of two 5yr daughter, 1yr son
182lbs
6'2"


Aug. 4th
Sport comments: Starting Strength:

Squat
45x10
95x10
135x5
155x5x3

Press
45x5x2
65x5
75x5
85x5
90x5x3

Dead
135x5x2
185x5
225x3
265x5


Aug. 7th
Squat
45x5x2
65x5
95x5
115x5
135x5
160x5x3

Bench Press
45x5x2
65x5
95x5
115x5
135x5
150x5x3

Power Clean
45x5x2 (hang)
95x3x2
105x5
115x3
120x5x3

Aug. 9th
Planks
90sec front
90sec L side
90sec R side
120sec stability ball

Squat:
65x5x3
85x5x2
105x5
135x5
150x5
165x5x3 work set

Press:
45x5x2
65x5
75x5
85x5
90x3
95x5x3 work set

Dead:
135x5x2
185x5
205x5
225x3
255x3
275x5 work set (hard)

Aug. 11th
Squat
45x5x3
75x5x2
115x5
140x5
160x5x3

Bench Press
45x5x3
65x5x2
95x5
135x5
150x3
160x5x3

BW back extension
x5
x5
x5
x5
x5

Strict Pull ups
x5
x5
x5
x5
x5

Aug. 13th
Plank FR 1:45
L side 1:45
R side 1:45
Stability ball front plank 2:00

Snatch practice:
PVC 5x2
15lb bar 5x2

Squat:
45x5x3
75x5x2
115x5
135x5
155x3
175x5x3 (missed the last rep, of the last set)

Press
45x5x3
65x5x2
75x5
85x5
95x3
100x5x3

Clean
45x5x2 (hang)
65x5x2
95x5
115x5
135x5x3

Out of town from Aug. 14th - 17th

Aug. 18th
Squat : *reset the weight on this*
45x5x3
75x5x2
95x5
115x5
135x5x3

Bench Press
45x5x2
65x5x2
95x5
115x5
150x3
165x5x3

Pull Ups
bw x 6
bw x 6
bw x 6

Back Extension
bw x 10
bw x 10
bw x 10

[Allen Yeh]

Welcome to the board.

What does your nutrition look like at this point?

[ryan mac]

Thanks for the welcome.

Currently i'm eating mostly paleo. I have a relatively good grasp of nutrition, but I want to optimize this cycle. So any recommendations, criticisms or comments are welcome.

My goal is to eat between 4,500 to 5,000 calories per day. Shooting for 200+ grams of protien daily. I only started logging my nutrition yesterday, but you can check here for details.

I plan to make up the majority of my daily calories with the following food units:
Steak/pork/chicken (with a focus on steak)
eggs
olive oil
flax oil
broccoli (this gets a category all to itself. I eat it 3 times a day usually)
fresh fruit
fresh veggies
64oz of milk per day
almonds/cashews
ice cream

Ryan

[ryan mac]

Today I was up at 6am. Unfortunately I didn't sleep well last night. Getting my sleep cycles sorted is one of my biggest challenges on this program.

Squats: (I recently reset the weight on this)
145x5x3 (work set)

Press:
105x5x3
this is getting heavy, I hope to go up for a few more weeks

Dead Lift:
280x5x1
this is also very heavy for me. Maybe with my increased volume of calories, I can continue to go up. I'll try to add 5lbs next week

Over all pretty good workout. Particularly with the lack of sleep. Focus on rest and recovery until my next work day.

[Allen Yeh]

Sounds like a good nutritional plan to me. Keep an eye on it as you progress.

Any supplements? Fish oil, ZMA...etc?

[ryan mac]

Originally Posted by Allen Yeh

Sounds like a good nutritional plan to me. Keep an eye on it as you progress.

Any supplements? Fish oil, ZMA...etc?

Fish oil. Yes.

ZMA. Never heard of it. Does it actually work? I'll check into it tonight.

[ryan mac]

Well. I felt pretty good on my weekly ride. Legs felt strong.

I should have decided NOT to ride the second lap as it interferes to much with my strength training. I paid dearly for the mistake. I wrecked pretty hard on this lap and it is likely going to affect all my presses for some time. The shoulder is very sore. It's superficial, but it's a deep bruise. Maybe even a hematoma.

[Stephen Brown]

I have a hard time believing that the second lap will be bad for your training. The crash however...


First the milk allergies, now the bike crashes. Being healthy is eating you up.

[ryan mac]

Originally Posted by Stephen Brown

I have a hard time believing that the second lap will be bad for your training. The crash however...


First the milk allergies, now the bike crashes. Being healthy is eating you up.

Hey brownie. Glad to see you over here.......bashing me.

You may in fact be right. I don't know for sure. But it has become apparent to me, that recovery is critical for gains. Particularly for us older lifters. I don't think riding my mountain bike, single speed at that, would be considered recovery between my workouts.

I am trying to increase weight with each workout. I need maximum strength to do so. I will continue to play around with the riding angle but I won't allow it to compromise my workouts. They are the focus at this time.

As far as the shoulder......it is already much better (lots of icing). Today was bench press and I had absolutely NO ill affects. Overhead is still quite painful. It's just a deep bruise to the lateral deltoid if I were a betting man.


Today's SS log
Squat: the weight felt on the light side, but the last couple of reps were difficult. No real threat of missing though
160x5x3

Bench Press: still going up in weight here. It's very heavy but I was still able to complete all reps. I will continue until I fail.
175x5x3

Strict PU's
BWx7x3

Back Ext:
BWx15x3

Super happy with this workout. Pleased that the heavy squat sets felt light enough on my back. Hopefully I can continue to go up for a while.

[ryan mac]

It was tough times getting out of bed this morning. But I persevered. As you might guess, this didn't have me optimistic about my lifts. As mentioned many times over, preconceived notions are usually wrong, whether good or bad. So the lifting went well.

Squat: These are still feeling good. I plan to continue to go up in weight. It would be great if I could hit 200+ before I stall.
185x5x3

Press: It didn't surprise me that I couldn't complete the work sets. I will probably re-set this weight. I kept the weight and reduced the reps
120x3x3

Dead: I was feeling good, so I went up 10lbs from the previous WO. I wanted to hit 300lbs
300x5

The weight is still accumulating, both body and bar. I will just keep chuggin' along.