June 6, 2011 Workout Summary

This is my first workout of the SL 5x5 Program. There was nothing really special about this workout.  No personal records, just easing into the program.

Squat
I completed 5x5 at 135 lbs.  My 1x5 max was 165 lbs.  Since I'm doing 5 sets instead of just 1, I knew that I would need to lower the weight pretty significantly.  After performing the sets, I think that was a good starting point.  I don't feel like I was too far off of my 5x5 max.  The last set was plenty challenging.  I almost regret starting that high because my legs were killing me the next day.  It was okay though, because as you'll see in my next couple posts, I was able to continue with my progression in weight.

Bench
I completed 5x5 at 145 lbs. Here, I knew my 1x5 max was 155 lbs, so I decided to go for 145 lbs.  This almost turned out to be a mistake because I was really pushing on the last rep.  Again, my chest hurt pretty bad the next day.

Rows
I completed 5x5 at 60 lbs. I had only done rows on the machine which goes against all the ideals of weight and strength gain.  So I didn't have a starting weight.  I chose to go with 60 lbs, because no one was using the 60 lb bar, and I wanted to start really low so that I could work on my form.  These reps were a piece of cake and I had no soreness the next day.  I'm excited to keep going up on these.  I think the form will be easy as I go up in weight because I have to keep my knees pretty far forward with the low weight.  With a higher weight, I should be able to push my butt back farther. I need to work on my flexibility for this lift.

Abs
I am doing abs every workout for that six-pack.  I was dumb enough to do these on the machine which I later decided was unacceptable so I'm not counting anything for abs today.

Calf Raises
Again, I did these on a machine so I'm not counting anything.  I'll do seated calf raises next time so that I can load exact plates.  The machine only allows increments of 20 which is of no use to someone who wants to go up by 5 or 10 pound increments.

Body Weight
I weighed in at 154.6 pounds right after the workout.  This is actually pretty good for me.  I'm been hovering around 152, so I was actually pretty happy to see 154 on the scale.