Couch to 5k - The Beginning

I'll write up about my Starting Strength experience in one of the next posts. Today I wanted to share my experience with Couch to 5k so I can start updating this blog with more current content instead of history. Couch to 5k is a 9 week program designed to ease you into running, you can read up on it and see the details of each week here.

August 22nd, I'd taken a few weeks off from weight lifting and thought I'd give running (very slow running) another try.

Strong Lifts 5x5

November 10, 2010 – January 7, 2011

The Strong Lifts program consisted of the following, it has since changed a bit, you can check their site here.

Workout A

Squat 5x5

Bench Press 5x5

Barbell Rows 3x12

Workout B

Squat 5x5

Overhead Press 5x5

Dead lift 1x5

These alternated every other day and I kept a M-W-F schedule. Each lift started at 45 lbs except for the dead lift which I started at 60 lbs. I would add 5 lbs weight the next time I did that exercise when I was able to complete the 5 sets of 5 reps.

The only thing I didn't have was a squat rack, so I ended up doing front squats instead. I had terrible form on this having never done squats before and still being inflexible. This lead to me resetting the weights back to the starting weight on December 14^th, and a knee injury on January 7^th that kept me from exercising regularly until April 4, 2011.

Here's my starting and highest reached lifts for these couple of months (all in pounds)

Start

Squat 45

Bench Press 45

Overhead Press 45

Barbell Rows 45

Dead lift 60

Highest reached

Squat 65

Bench Press 73.6

Overhead Press 55

Barbell Rows 70

Dead lift 105

Weight wise, I varied from 138 lbs starting to 148 lbs at my heaviest. Each work out I had 54g of whey protein and my appetite had gone up a bit.

January 31, 2011^t – March 31, 2011

I did some lifting along the same SL5x5 program during these months 2 to 4 times a month without the squats or dead lifts. I added body weight squats back in the last half of March. At the end of March I finally decided I could get back to lifting. This time I got a squat rack so I could do proper back squats and changed to the Starting Strength 3x5 Practical Programming Novice Program since it looked a bit easier for me.

Weightlifting - Month One

October 14, 2010 – November 10, 2010

I had researched Strong Lifts 5x5 (SL5x5) and Starting Strength, I decided on SL5x5 since I already had most of the equipment needed. In the shape I was in I didn't think I could just jump into that program so I started out with random exercises I knew from my younger years.

I know this combination likely serves no real benefit other than getting my body somewhat used to exercise again. Here's what I did for most of the month. Each day the same exercises except for the last few days I replaced the side lat raises with body weight squats and butterflies with planks. I added more weight when I felt I could handle it.

5 sets of 5

Bench press, butterfly, curl, side lat raises, tricep curls.

As you'll see in the copy of my log I started out very light. The last thing I wanted to do was injure myself alone in my basement doing this and have to stop before I really got started. At this time my back's pretty inflexible, getting on and off the bench became an extra exercise. I had to slide off the side of the bench, get on my knees, then get up. I think about that and my first month and laugh now. You'll see in the log Dymatize and Whey Drink, in the last few days of this month I started drinking Dymatize Xpand pre workout and Whey Protein post workout for supplements.

Date		Weight lbs	1	2	3	4	5	Difficulty/Comments
10/14/10	Bench	16	5	5	5	5	5	extremely easy
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	5	5	5	5	5	5	easy
138.8 lbs	Curl	16	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
	Side Lat Raise	5	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
	Tricep Curl	16	5	5	5	5	5	easy
10/16/10	Bench	25	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
10:30:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5	easy
138.4 lbs	Curl	20	5	5	5	5	5	very easy
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5	easy
	Tricep Curl	20	5	5	5	5	5	easy
10/18/10	Bench	41	5	5	5	5	5
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
140.0 lbs	Curl	25	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	25	5	5	5	5	5
10/20/10	Bench	40	5	5	5	5	5
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
139.4 lbs	Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5	Do again
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5	Do again
10/23/10	Bench	40	5	5	5	5	5
07:40:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
138.2 lbs	Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5
10/25/10	Bench	40	5	5	5	5	5
06:30:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
138.2 lbs	Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	31	5	5	5	5	5
10/28/10	Bench	46	5	5	5	5	5	Tough at last set
06:00:00 PM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
140.2 lbs	Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5	Tough at last set
	Tricep Curl	39	5	5	4	4	4
11/01/10	Bench	46	5	5	5	5	5	Increase
06:30:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
135.4 lbs ?	Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5
	Side Lat Raise	8	5	5	5	5	5
	Tricep Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5
11/06/10	Bench	56	5	5	5	5	5
09:00:00 AM	Butterfly	8	5	5	5	5	5
135.4 lbs	Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5	Increase
Dymatize 16oz	Squat	0	10	10	10	10	10
	Tricep Curl	39	5	5	5	5	5	Increase
11/08/10	Bench	56	5	5	5	5	5
06:45:00 AM	Plank	30 sec	2	2	2	2	2	(2 reps of 30 seconds each set)
137.4 lbs	Curl	44	5	5	5	5	5
Dymatize 16oz	Squat	0	10	10	10	10	10
	Tricep Curl	44	5	5	5	5	5
11/10/10	Bench	61	5	5	5	5	5
06:51:00 AM	Plank	30 sec	2	2	2	2	2
136.7 lbs	Curl	49	5	5	5	5	5
Dymatize 16oz	Squat	0	5	5	10	10	10
	Tricep Curl	49	5					2 Scoops Whey Drink after w/o

Next I start Strong Lifts 5x5.