Day 1

First day of my Starting Strength program and GOMAD. The diet wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, I just need to figure out how to spread the milk out over the day better, I ended up having to drink 3 cups before bed. Also need to add some more real food in, wasn't sure how that would go initially, but after day 1 I know what to change.

Weight: 154 lb

Diet for today was:
1: 2 strips of bacon, 4 eggs, 2 c milk
2: 3 c milk
3: regular turkey sub w/lettuce, tomatoes, etc. 1/2 cookie
4: 2 c milk
5: 2 c chocolate milk (pre-workout)
6: 2 c chocolate milk (post-workout)
7: 8 oz. ground beef, asparagus, 2 c milk
8: 3 c milk

SS Workout 1:
Warm-up: 1000m row - 4:30
Squat: 45 - 2x5, 95 - 1x5, 135 - 1x5, 185 - 3x5
Bench Press: 45 - 2x5, 95 - 1x5, 155 - 3x5
Deadlift: 135 - 2x5, 185 - 1x5, 225 - 1x5
Pull-ups: Bodyweight +25 - 2x7

Workout wasn't too bad. The squats were probably the hardest part, but my legs are just going to take a few days to get used to weighted squats, I haven't had them in my workout in a while. Probably going to be sore tomorrow, but I'm going to hit the foam roll a few times tomorrow so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Thanksgiving

Ended up running in a 5k Thanksgiving morning. I wasn't registered or anything so I stopped short of the finish, estimated about 3 miles total run. Time was 22:07 (7:32, 6:49, 7:45). The first mile was slow because there were at least 1000+ people in the race, so the start and first 1/4 mile I was weaving in and out of people trying to get going. I'm going to use this time to calculate my baseline PFT, combined with the 20 pull-ups I can do now and 100 crunches, this gives me a score of 275 (lower than I got last time...definitely need to shape up on the run).

This time gives me an idea of how much work I have to do. The course was pretty hilly, and I think I suffered there, so that's something I'm going to concentrate on. Also, my kneecap has been bothering me, not sure if it's from hitting it or what...but it's been pretty sore, and usually it gets worse after running. I'm going to take the next couple weeks off from running while I work on Starting Strength, hopefully giving the knee a chance to heal up a bit.

I was sore after the run as well...but I foam-rolled my legs when I got home, and they felt 100x better. This foam rolling thing is no joke, I can definitely notice a big difference in my muscle recovery between when I do and don't roll them

Nov 25 CFT

Just got back from the gym where I tested my Crossfit total. This is what I'm going to be using as a baseline for my progress while on Starting Strength. Didn't realize the gym was closing early for Thanksgiving, so I ended up having to rush through, but it didn't affect my numbers much

Squat: 45 2x5, 95 1x5, 135 1x5, 185, 205, 225, 235 (fail) Only tried 235 once, didn't really have time to do anymore, but I doubt I could have gotten it.

Press: 45 1x5, 75 1x3, 95, 115, 120. This was pretty hard...no way I could have gone any higher

Deadlift: 135x5, 185x3, 225, 275, 295, 305. Maybe could have gone a little higher, but I didn't want to push it

CFT: 650 (225, 120, 305)

Overall I'm very pleased with these numbers. I've been doing strictly bodyweight exercises for the past ~2 months, and none of my ME lifts have really suffered as a result. I'm planning on running the Marine Corps PFT either Saturday or Sunday depending on my work schedule, and I'll post those results as soon as I've got them

Starting Strength Program

After reading through Starting Strength and Practical Programming, and some other materials, I've decided I'm going to start out with a basic Starting Strength Program...for at least a month. On Jan 1 I'm going to see how my gains are coming along, and re-evaluate my progress from there.

For the first month, my schedule will be as follows:

Week 1
Monday: Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5, Chin-ups 2x8 (adding weight as necessary)
Wednesday: Squat 3x5, Press 3x5, Power Clean 5x3, Dips 2x8 (adding weight as necessary)
Friday: Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5, Chin-ups 2x8 (adding weight as necessary)

Week 2
Monday: Squat 3x5, Press 3x5, Power Clean 5x3, Dips 2x8 (adding weight as necessary)
Wednesday: Squat 3x5, Bench Press 3x5, Deadlift 1x5, Chin-ups 2x8 (adding weight as necessary)
Friday: Squat 3x5, Press 3x5, Power Clean 5x3, Dips 2x8 (adding weight as necessary)

During the week, I'll be following a basic GOMAD (gallon of milk a day) diet, aiming for at least 4500 calories a day to start out, possibly adding more as my gains slow down.

Depending on how I'm progressing at the end of this month, and how I feel like I'm recovering, I'll consider supplementing with some Met-Con work, or other running...basically a shift towards a CFWF type program

First Day

My training plan thus far has consisted mainly of bodyweight exercises, varying from Crossfit-type metcons to structured PT at RSS Wilmington. As of December 1, I'm going to be changing over to a Starting Strength/CFWF type program (still debating as to which one), along with a GOMAD diet. I'm planning on keeping this up for ~2 months in an effort to build some strength and maybe put on some mass if possible.

This week I'm going to do some tests on myself to establish baseline fitness levels, allowing me to better track progress during my strength phase.

Basically, I'm going to run a regulation Marine PFT: consisting of max rep pull-ups, max crunches (2 minutes), and a 3 mile run. I'm assuming this score will suffer over the course of my strength phase, because it's likely I won't be running as much. As of October 17, when I reported to MEPS, my PFT was a 277 (18 pull-ups, 100 crunches, 20:04 run)

Additionally, I'm going to test my Crossfit Total: consisting of max effort attempts on Squat, Press, and Deadlift. As of September 7, the last time I tested this, my total was 655 (245 Squat, 115 Press, 295 Deadlift). I doubt I'm going to duplicate this on my test, because I haven't done much weight training in the past couple months, but we'll see.

Introduction

The following is a way for me to keep track of my progress towards OCS for the Marine Corps. As of today I have my application in and am basically just waiting for further information. My intent is to participate in OCC-204, from June 2010 to August 2010.

I'm going to be doing my best to log all my workouts/nutrition, with the hopes that this can help me structure my programming, and keep track of progress. I hope this will also provide a resource for anybody else with similar goals