I'm doing SS and have these exact same problems. My bench is so weak compared to where I've been in the past & what I see other people that I just want to jump up in weight; it's taking a lot of will power to just stay steady and keep good form.
My gym's got some pretty big clamps for holding the weights on the bar, I wonder if those might be a pound or so, I could use those to micro-weight.
It's recommended that when doing power cleans you break it up into smaller sets (5x3) because it is a much more technical lift and form can really disintegrate as you get deeper into those sets.
It's also much smarter to start at a ridiculously low weight (like practically even the bar itself) because it calls for such rapid weight increases. But you know that already
Also, in general the notation for lifts is sets x reps x weight. 3x5x180 is 3 sets of 5 reps at 180lbs. I'm mentioning that because for a second I thought you were doing 5 sets of 3 reps of power clean, but you're not. So when I said 5x3, I mean 5 sets of 3 reps.
Nice job. Take it steady on the injuries though.
I used to use a pair of adjustable ankle weights like these on the bar.
Wow, this is a really good basic program. I'm not sure why I haven't come across it in its official form before.
You seem to have the right idea about staying within yourself at first to avoid injuries and setbacks blackkeys, good job. Don't worry too much about the smaller weight increments either. On these bigger lifts it isn't that big of a deal percentage wise to bump it up 5 pounds instead of 2.5 pounds.
And please, don't be afraid to ask a total stranger for a spot. If they say no, so what? Just bash the jerk over the head with an EZ curl bar when he starts his next set of cable curls.
ah, ok ,I'll change my notation around.
I think I'll do 5 sets of 3 for power cleans, instead of 3 sets of 5.
Also, knees feel good today.
I think weights aren't very exact in the gym either. Like those 45lbs plates have a little give each way. So I wouldn't sweat very minimal increases on large compound lifts.
Rippetoe's Starting Strength is very particular about linear progression so the goal is to increase the weight every workout, even if it's only by adding 2.5 lbs. to a lift. This becomes esp. important when you get stuck at a certain weight.

Personally, without microplates I'm having a hard time making progress with my overhead press because 100 lbs. is okay for me but 105 lbs. is not quite there. I wouldn't mind having an in-between.
Yeah, right now for me, deadlifts and squats are not hard to add 5 pounds at a time to. Bench and overhead press are hard for me jump like that.

How explosive is your overhead press?
I don't know if I would call it explosive, but it's as explosive as it's going to get until I start struggling at the end of a set and I have to push through a sticking point. Keep in mind that this is all done with zero leg movement whatsoever -- doing it with leg movement to help you get it up would make it a push press or something along those lines and would make it more explosive.
I'm not consciously using leg power, but I'll have someone check. Just wondering, because my last workout was a bit more explosive than before.
UPDATE!

I forgot to post my stats in the OP. I'm about 5'9", 215 lbs. Pretty thick guy with most of my fat on my manboobs and gut.

My overhead presses were done without leg power. I moved up five pounds today, and hit a sticking point about halfway through the motion. It's probably because I had so much momentum last time, and didn't have to actually push through that part.

Anyways, here's today. Woke up late, drank a glass of milk and OJ before the workout.

3/22
S: 185x5x3. Last rep was hard.

P: 110x5x3. Hit a sticking point a couple times, but was able to push it through and lockout each rep. Gets a little squirrely when you can barely put it up. I did Overhead Press on tuesday, and did it today because the benches were in use, for curl exercises no less.

DL: 190x5x1. The down portion of the lift is getting too hard to do while maintaining a straight back. I think I'll just let go of it about 4 inches off the ground from now on. Thoughts?

I have barely touched the assistance exercises, which are dips and pullups. I'm not even sure I can do a pullup. I've done dips like twice, and couldn't do a set of 8. Anyone wanna make wagers on how many pullups I can do next workout?

Drank two scoops of Optimum nutrition double rich chocolate w/milk postworkout. Tastes good.

You may want to add some quicker-absorbing carbs to your post-workout shake. It's necessary for a number of reasons, including spiking your insulin levels, restoring your depleted glycogen stores, and helping your body get out of a catabolic state.

pre, during, post nutrition information. Of particular note is the claim that pre-workout nutrition being more important than post-workout. Interesting. Also seems to be backed up here.
You may want to add some quicker-absorbing carbs to your post-workout shake. It's necessary for a number of reasons, including spiking your insulin levels, restoring your depleted glycogen stores, and helping your body get out of a catabolic state.

pre, during, post nutrition information. Of particular note is the claim that pre-workout nutrition being more important than post-workout. Interesting. Also seems to be backed up here.
This program looks a little like the one Bill Starr advocated in "The Strongest Shall Survive". You can probably find most if not all of the stuff in there for free on the interwebs now but its worth the read if you're bored or just like that kinda stuff.

Also, check out this video if you're having trouble with squat form or anything like that.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...81301858251744

Good luck with your goals
You may want to add some quicker-absorbing carbs to your post-workout shake. It's necessary for a number of reasons, including spiking your insulin levels, restoring your depleted glycogen stores, and helping your body get out of a catabolic state.

pre, during, post nutrition information. Of particular note is the claim that pre-workout nutrition being more important than post-workout. Interesting. Also seems to be backed up here.
Thanks for that link. I've got dextrose, whey, and casein coming in the mail soon.
I believe madcow's bill starr 5x5 site has the same program. This program is also recommended in Starting Strength under the programming section, for intermediate lifters. I'm still gaining every workout, so I'll stick with Starting Strength until I hit a wall. Thanks for the link.

How are you planning on using these? Dextrose + whey pwo shake? Casein before bed? meal replacements? what? Give me a layout of your daily meals just cause I'm curious. Also what % bf? What ratios in the shakes will you be using?

Finally most important question of all, did you find a good/reliable site where you ordered all 3?

The 45 LB plates in my gym are sooo awesome, they're from the 80's and they're old school thick rimmed iron. Anyways, one day me and my partner decided to weigh them for whatever reason, and they turned out to weigh 46.5 LBS.

Which meant our bench presses were 10 LB stronger than what we thought.

Well, the whey and dextrose is for post-workout in a 2:1 ratio dex/whey (in grams, not volume of scoop). I picked that up from guids, skunk et al. The casein is for before bed, and possibly other times not near a workout.

My eating is not very consistent, but it consists of mostly grocery food. I eat homemade sandwiches pretty often, as well as eggs. I don't eat fast food very often, but when I do, it's usually something decent like subway. I drink a decent amount of milk (skim), probably two gallons a week. Diet soda is a staple in my diet. I've been eating almonds for snacking recently instead of buying baked chips or something. I also eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches pretty often.

What's my bodyfat? I have no idea, but it's probably near the obese range. I don't really care much at this point though. I plan on doing some HIIT to lose fat and look better, but I don't want to disrupt the progress I'm seeing in my lifting right now.

I ordered from bulknutrition.com, I'll let you know whether it's reliable when I receive my order.

The trainers are generally the biggest douches about bad gym manners. (there are exceptions I'm sure). I hope your friend dropped the bar on her head.

I felt like interrupting her stupid little training session. I'll say something to the manager if it happens again. The dudes are pretty good about waiting to walk by me doing deadlifts in the narrow footpath between machines.

11/05
Chins: 3
Pullups: 2, 2, 2

11/06
Went surfing. I still suck hard. Almost got hit in the face with my fins. I thought a dolphin was going to attack me, it leaped out of the water in my direction going really fast. Help mommy!

an hour and a half later went to the gym.

Got down into a full bodyweight squat, and lifted a short 20 lb barbell over my head a few times. Kinda unflexible, or maybe I need a wider grip. There's no way I can do an overhead squat with the bar right now.

Bench Press:
6x95
3x135
2x165
3x5x180
Last rep sloooooow

Deadlifts:
5x135 //my back/hip or something started to hurt
3x185
2x205
5x240
Felt good by the end. I think I was just hyperextending my back. At 135# I worked on straightening my back more. My buddy says I lift with my back too much. I'll have to take a video and get feedback.

Chinups:
3, 2

Dips
2x8 @ bodyweight.

11/7
PU 3
CU 2, 2

11/8
early morning session, which usually means I don't eat much before the workout. bleh
Press:
8x45
5x65
3x95
2x105
3x5x115

Power Cleans:
Warmup @ 95 lbs
3x115
5x3x135

Chinups:
2, 2

Dips:
2x8

Workout after work. Ate a banana 30 minutes before workout, pure genius. Gave me energy even though I hadn't eaten for about 5 hours.

Bench Press:
5x135
3x165
3x5x185
Sweet, 45 and a 25. I'm pretty sure I'll be unable to add five pounds next time. Should I stay at current weight and get more comfortable, or add five pounds and fail? Form errors are getting magnified, I get out of the groove on a rep more often.

Deadlifts:
5x135
3x185
3x200
2x235
5x250!
Makes me happy. Bar nearly slid out of my hand by the time I was lowering the bar. I need to work on grip bad.

Chinups:
3, 1, 2. I was a little tired, my biceps were fatigued for some reason. probably deadlifts.

Dips
2x8 @ bodyweight.

Worked on hang clean form with the empty bar. I stood straight, knees locked out, then slightly bent both knees and back, jumped and racked the bar. Pretty good form. However, I am having trouble lowering it more than that and "hitting" the same spot on my leg on the pull.

Then I did some grip work, loading a barbell with 235# and just holding it in my fingers for as long as possible. Pretty sure I got a SWEET pump.

Press:
8x45
5x65
3x95
5x120, 4x120, 5x120
Missed the last rep on the 2nd set. I think I just kinda messed up my breathing by not staying in a rhythm. I will stay at this weight next time, I can definitely do it though.

Power Cleans:
Warmup w/empty bar, hang cleans
3x95
2x3x115
3x135
2x3x115
I wanted to focus on form so I dropped the weight. I have good form (at least it feels like it) with this weight. 135# is a little slower and I think form suffers. My buddy is struggling with this lift, and he is considering alternating rows and power cleans, I will probably do that, or on row days do light power cleans.

Chinups:
3, 2
I haven't been making any progress really. Bleh. These suckers are hard to do when you're a fatty.

Dips:
2x8

Bench Press:
5x95
5x135
3x175
3x5x190

Deadlifts:
5x135
3x185
1x205
1x245
5x255
Grip was solid throughout all reps. The grip work definitely helped. BTW I use only a double overhand grip. I'm going to try and stay with this grip style as long as possible.

Chinups:
4! ZOMG, then I kinda supersetted a neutral grip pullup w/my dips. Didn't go too well as I only got one rep.

Dips
2x8

Did 3 OHS's with the bar. Nice. When I first hold the bar, I feel tenseness is my left manboob/arm area. I went down slowly first time, bar went further behind me and I relaxed, and then was able to do 2 more. I'm pretty flexible in my shoulder, I think I just need to acclimate my shoulder to the weird position.

Press:
5x65
3x95
3x5x120

Power Cleans:
5x95
5x3x120
I'm just going to consider the last workout a reset and jump 5 pounds from here on out.

Chinups:
4, 3
Progress!

Dips:
12, 8
not really good at estimating my capabilities for high reps across multiple sets. First set wasn't near failure, last set I was about to fail.

good workout, worked real quick. Kinda liked that.

Bananas are such a good source of energy. I eat one before a workout and I'm good to go.

Press:
3x5x120

Power Cleans:
8x95
5x3x140
Considering staying at this weight. The last set was kinda sluggish. I got them up fine, I just wasn't too happy with the way it got done. So, should I stay or should I go (up)?

Overhead Squat:
3x45

Chinups:
3, 3
will do some later today

Dips:
2x8

I know it's not strictly according to the program, but something I've found to help in spots like this is next week I'll do

1x5x145
2x5x140

then the week after that do 3x5x145

Another trick is to move that exercise to the first thing you do in the gym when you're fresh. Also take extra rest before that last set.Deadlifts:
6x135
5x185
5x225

Bench Press:
8x95
5x135
3x5x180

Chinups:
3, 3,
will do some pullups later today.

Dips
2x10Overhead Squat:
6x45
5x55

Press:
3x5x120
eh, I messed up somewhere. I think today should have been 125. Oh well, felt good to put this up relatively easily.

Power Cleans:
5x95 (hang cleans)
1x3x145
4x5x135

Chinups:
4, 3, 3

Dips:
2x10

Overhead Squat:
2x55 (failed 3rd rep)
5x45
5x55
5x60
6x65

woo!

Some guy was watching me do the OHS and was smirking, not sure if he was thinking "that's cool", or "whatthehellishedoing?".

Very nice, love the OHS. Looks like your chins are progressing well too.

Yeah, very pleased with the chins and the overhead squats. I'm really disappointed in power cleans. I should probably be able to do more, but I think I'm just not good enough at them. Perhaps I need to be catching heavier weights at a deeper knee bend. As I have currently been doing them I am basically upright.

wow my middle back muscles are so sore. I didn't even know there were muscles there. I think I'm going to keep on doing these (light) as long as my knee feels good afterwards. I feel like this lift forces you to have good form. I'm pretty sure my form is better than with back squats.

Here's an excel spreadsheet I made to track my progress. Bench press and deadlift progression are really nice. Chinups are showing a general uptrend (number of reps corresponds to the max amount of reps I'm able to perform in one set during any given workout).

http://files-upload.com/files/671323...egth%20log.xls

Bench Press:
5x95
3x135
2x175
3x5x195
Felt pretty good.

Deadlifts:
5x135
3x185
1x210
1x245
5x260
Really hard. Grip started to give a little on the last rep. I was pretty close to missing a rep too. I definitely couldn't do 5 more pounds. I'm also considering substituting something for deadlifts on friday to let my back recover. I'm pretty sure I could use a little break. Although every time I feel that way in other lifts I am able to progress, so who knows.

I want to break 300 by christmas. Doable?

Chinups:
3, 3, 2.5
will do some pullups later today.

Dips
2x10
think I'm gonna get a dip belt and add weight

my butt area kinda hurts sometimes, especially if I squat down. I think I will skip power cleans and deadlifts for at least this week, and then see how I feel. Probably just stick to upper body tomorrow and friday.

Pretty sure it's from too-heavy deadlifts.

took the holiday week off. I was pretty tired and getting near sticking points anyways.

Today was kinda light, I might just start back up from these weights, and drop 20 lbs on bench press and 35 lbs on deadlift for my other workout.

Press:
8x65
5x85
3x5x100

Power Cleans:
8x95
5x3x115

Chinups:
3, 3

Dips:
8, 8

Did some facepulls as well.

blah, missed thursday's workout.

Press:
3x5x115

Power Cleans:
8x95
5x3x135

Overhead Squat:
4x3x45
Is it correct to kinda feel like you are pinching your shoulder blades back together? I mean as sort of a teaching cue to myself.

Bench Press:
3x5x175

Chinups:
3, 3, 2

Dips:
2x8

For overhead squats think "active shoulders". Put your hands over your head and tighten everything around your shoulders - your hands should move up a couple inches. Do that at all times when you are holding the bar, it will make a stable platform.

thx yo. Pushing up is a good cue. "active shoulders" doesn't really mean anything to me. Tense is probably a better word for most people I'd think. Head forward is good too.

Also, a little bit of arm rotation is possible in the locked out position, should my elbows be pointing a certain direction?

Watch the entire video, if you didn't. I remember a couple of gems in there, but it may be that you need to already know to begin with.

Your shoulder blades are 1) pulled back and 2) down and your shoulders are 3) actively pressing 4) up with your 5) head through the window and 6) your elbows will be locked out-- 7) and out.

It all works together. "active shoulders" are "in your ears." Well, kinda. Consider the bottom of the pullup. Even though you are at full extension. Your elbows are a bit soft and your shoulders are not relaxed-- even when you hang, to do it safely, you must keep them tense. That is a variation on the same theme of keeping them active.

I don't know if this is helping...

One of the good cues I learned for the Turkish Getup is to imagine "pushing through your shoulders". That is you imagine the flex coming all the way from your torso, through your shoulders and through your arms. eg. you are actively moving the shoulders towards the weight to carry it with your muscles. At the same time the shoulders should be in the pocket, which means scaps backs.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about the shoulders thing during pullups while I was OHS'ing. I think I'll add a few pounds next time to get a little more feedback on bar position throughout the movement.