Cleans with a pvc pipe to learn form is a good idea.  I think that I will do that for a few weeks while I see if the squats and deadlifts aggravate my knee at all.  If my knee feels good and I feel good about my clean form, then I will start do them.

Today SS:
Warmup:
2 rounds of 10 airsquats, 10 pushups, 3 pullups
Light versions of squat and overhead press

Workout:
3 x 5 Squats @ 115
3 x 5 Standing overhead press @ 75 lbs. (no wonder I have such a hard time with handstands, I have wussy shoulders)
3 x 5(really was 5,4,3) Weighted pullups @ 15 lbs.

I had problems with the weighted pullups because there is not a good place to do pullups at my gym.  The pullup machine has all sorts of grips except straight ones and I kept banging my knees on the vertical supports.  I tried doing the pullups on a lifting cage, but my grip became the limiting factor because I was hanging on a flat edge that required an open grip.

Weight: 206 lbs.

I am convinced ur metabolism and/or hypothalamus is fucked up in that you have satiety issues

Just playing, of course, but ygood job on the GOMAD....are you finding it difficult to eat meals in addition to the milk?

Also, be careful on drinking it too fast -- many people (self included) tended to go overboard and drink too fast and had...bad experiences as a result

That made me laugh, it instantly brought to mind two gossips talking behind people's back.
Gossip 1: So, what's the deal with that Davies guy?
Gossip 2: He has... satiety issues.


I think that will be interesting to see how that works for you compared to how it works for me.  The reason I say that is that I have hardly ever done any weight lifting and I know that you have done quite a bit.  Hopefully it will work well for both of us.

Today's exercise:
Warmup:
2 rounds of 10 squats, 5 pushups, 3 pullups.
Light versions of squat, benchpress, and deadlift

Workout:
3 x 5 squat @ 125
3 x 5 benchpress @ 135
3 x 5 deadlift @ 135

for fun I 4 muscle ups on the pullup assist machine with 100 lbs. of assistance.  The platform gets me to just below the transition area so I have to do the transition and dip part on my own.  The weight assist just helps me have a little more momentum.  I think I might add this to my A workout and keep dropping weight until I can through the transition purely on my own generated power.

I also found a way I can do my weighted pullups.  I just stick the bar on one of the smith machine to the top rung.  It is a little low, but if I bend my knees I can hang down all the way.

Here is a problem maybe someone can help me with.  My gym does not have any squat racks.  So I have been using a smith machine for the squat and as I add more weight, this is really starting to bug me.  The smith machine's path is not totally straight up, it is at a slight angle.  Should I do the squats so that the bar move forward as I go up, or so that the bar goes backward as I go up?  Or should I forget squats on the smith machine and do leg press instead?

Weight: 206
Waist at bellybutton: 34 inches
Approximate Body Fat: 13%

You might want to consider changing gyms LOL

Here's what I've been doing that has been working wonders for my legs
1) Cleans
2) Thrusters

Leg presses are good, but they don't translate into real-life, functional movement. You can do thrusters with 40 lb dumbells, and work your explosive leg power together with your shoulders and your entire core

Cleans + Jerk is also awesome. I've been doing very little squatting lately. Not that that's a good thing, but I've been doing a lot of CLeans, Thrusters and Deadlifting to keep leg power up. THey will also help your explosiveness... I'm sure Chris will elaborate more on this

Unfortunately, for practical purposes such as time and money, I don't really have any other gym options at the moment.  I am okay with doing the pullups off of the smith machine.  It is mainly the squat situation that is bugging me.  All the other exercises I don't have any problem doing.  I was thinking maybe I could try a front squat, because the bench press benches have wide racks or alternatively I could see if I could get away with doing taking a barbell inside the smith machine cage and racking on the smith machine hooks. Or I can complain to the management until they put in a squat rack.

Yeah, I am going to have find a way to get a rack.  I am not really lifting too heavy on the squat right now, but I will need to find something better before I get to too heavy.

I am visiting family for thanksgiving so I don't have access to gym so I will not be doing any SS until monday.  Thanksgiving day my wife, who is training for a half marathon, and my brother-in-law where running a 5k and on the spur of the moment I decided I would run it too.  I haven't done any running or jumping for about a month because I have been having knee problems.  Initially I was going to try to run with my brother-in-law, but my knee started hurting after about 200 meters, so I dropped back and ran with my wife and helped her run a post-children 5k p.r. of 33:28 (avg. 10:52 minute miles).  It was a lot of fun just to help my wife do well and not feel any pressure to run fast.  My knee hurt a little bit, but today it actually feels really awesome.  If it keeps feeling like this for a few days, I might try a few precisions and box jumps and see how that goes.

Today, I probably won't work out, but I did go to a running store with gait analysis and get some new shoes.  They told me that the shoes I have been wearing were designed to be stability shoes for people who over-pronate.  Using their video gait analysis they showed me that I have a neutral foot strike and that my shoes may have been causing me to unnaturally supponate which may be one source of my knee problems.

Yesterday I did workout B of SS.

Warmup:
2 rounds of 10 squats, 5 pushups, 3 pullups.
Light versions of squat, benchpress, and deadlift

Workout:
3 x 5 squat @ 140
3 x 5 benchpress @ 140
3 x 5 deadlift @ 145

Weight: 208
Waist at bellybutton: 33.5 inches
Approximate Body Fat: 12%

I decided to make a nice chart so to help track my progression towards my goals of having my bench, squat, and deadlift at or above body weight, overhead press at 75% body weight, and weighted pullups at 25% bodyweight.