Big Bear: Cant hold me down forever
 

So... for the past 5 weeks I have been sidelined by my first major injury (not lifting related!!!) I had a vulvulous intestine, and had to get surgery. Last Weds, my doctor cleared me to return to regular duty...so now I am back! I still favor my abdominal region, but I think its more psycological..as I lift and get back into it, that will fade! My plan is to run the Starting Strenght 3x5 program for about a month..just to get my body used to moving weight again, reimplant proper form on the big lifts in my head (flexibility in my abs is the only issue I see hampering me..so I must get the form back down before I get 100% back into it), and get my (hopefully fast) muscle memory gains back!!! I will not be as worried about weight lifted right off the bat as much as proper form and getting back in shape...when I start my DC routine again that when the weight gets heavy...my split will be Mon, Weds, Fri: Cardio...Tues, Thurs, Sat: Weights...give or take..im not going to get bent out of shape about missing or flip flopping days just yet...im a "newbie" haha...without further adue...

Starting Weight: 188 (lost about 18 lbs during injury time)
Today was Cardio: 30 mins elliptical jog

Awesome, look forward to following along. Good luck

bigbear's got a journal.....YES! I will be following along.

lol yeah Commander...i had one in the past to track myself while I was deployed...but got away from it. I like the feedback everyone gives when you journal here, so I figured I would give it another go for my rehab....

FIRST WORKOUT BACK!!!!
-found out I did not lose as much strenght as I initially thought, and yes..I WILL BE SORE TOMORROW!!!
*working sets are starred, everything else is a warm up

Squats
135x10
185x8
*205x5,5,5
Bench
115x12
135x10
*160x5,5,4
Deadlift (legs were dead from squatting, I imagine this lift will dramatically increase as my conditioning gets back up there)
135x8
185x7
*225x5

DONE!

-notes: Ironically bench seemed to be the most taxing on my abs...i guess im not quite ready for the vaccuum yet...lol, thats why i only got 4 reps on the last set..not ready to risk a hernia quite yet!! haha

they are solid figures for getting back into things, hope all goes well for you.
For you warmups you might be better off doing less reps. when i did starting strength for example benching 160 working weight id do;
barx5repsx2
77x5x1
110x3x1
138x2x1
*160x5x3

It is much less taxing but warms you up better by doing multiple sets rather than more reps. i still use this type of warmup routine now for all of the major compound lifts when im working for strength. for all the exercises i start off with the bar, except DL, which i start on 110lbs or 15Kg per side.

thanks greg..ill take that into consideration

Missed my cardio yesterday, work took me out early...and when I get home from work, its family time

Squats:
135x8
185x4
215x4
*195x5,5,5
BB Sh. Press:
95x5
*105x5,5,5
BB Row:
115+x5,5,5

DONE!!

Notes: the "+" means I need to bump up the weight next time for sure
-I didnt realize squatting this often HURTS!!! haha, my working set was a bit lower today because my whole body was still pretty sore from Tuesdays workout...ill get over it!
-Ill start adding aux. lifts (dips, Pushups, pullups, etc) eventually..no need for now though

No cardio again...o well, im lean and still in the rebuilding phase...

Squats:
Barx8x2
135x3
185x3
205x5,5,5
Bench:
135x4
155x4
185x5,5,5
Deadlift:
135x5
185x3
205x3
245x5

-kept most warmup reps lower
-big jumps in my bench and deadlift...squatting 3 days a week is slowing the big jumps and keeping me sore...finally started to progress again after the second workout negative squat performance...not quite as sore anymore

tomorrow is my off day then cardio monday to try and get that back on track

Cardio: 30 min elliptical...12 % incline...level 12-20 resistance

thats an impressive jump in bench. did you change your form at all? Keep up the hard work.

by the way, your thread about 3x5 convinced me to give it another go after two DC blasts. I'm really happy how much stronger I am after not working in this rep range for several months.