My first "Starting Strength" workout

[Wolfram]

After reading the faq and this forum for a while and posting my workout for critique I decided to give Starting Strenght a try.

My old workout routine was low set, high rep (2x12 mostly) and with many machine assited/isolated excercises. Here's a link: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...=1#Post12260909

The straight forward no-nonsense attidude of SS appealed to me, plus it seems to be the defacto accepted standard for you guys.

So I get down to the gym, which is actually a squash club, and there's a WISPA tournament going on. Lots of young, fit honeys from all over the world running around in tight squash skirts.

But I don't have time to dawdle. I change clothes and go upstairs where the weight-room is located.

Warmup: 10 mins elliptical on level 8.
I usually do 10 mins of level 10-12(full) when I use the elliptical for warmup but I didn't want to risk tiring my legs. I've also seen that some guys do shorter warmups, like 3 mins. Is 10 mins too long? I've barely started sweating at that point.

1. Squats: 3x5x135
I've never done real squats before, only the sled. I had no idea what weight to use so I just slapped on two plates on the bar and tried it out (I usually do 2x12x270 on the sled). My form was probably not great, but I think I did ok. I've been studying videos of the "goblet-squat, potato-sack-squat" guy and that helped. At first the weight seemed pretty light but by the end of the 3rd set my form was starting to get shaky so I guess 135 is a good starting place. One thing I noticed is that when I get in the hole I'll have a hard time keeping my feet flat on the ground. The inner edge of the foot (from the big toe to the heel) will start to push up just a little bit. Is that something I need to fix? I do manage to keep my weight on my heels though.

Bench press: 1x5x110, 1x3x135, 2x5x120
I was doing this exercise already in my old program, albeit at a higher rep count. I got a bit overambitious in the second set so I decided to do two more sets at what I think is a comfortable weight for me atm. I don't have a spotter and I've always sucked in upper body strength. Hopefully that'll get better.

Deadlift: 1x5x135, 1x5x175
This one was completely new to me so I had no idea what to expect. I also was pretty clueless on my form, and wasn't quite sure how much I should bend my knees, or if I should mainly use my back. The first set was way to easy, so I decided to add some weight and do another one. I finished that one pretty easily as well though I did feel it working a bit more.

Pull-ups: 1x8x20(neg), 2x8x16(neg)
After the first 3 main exercises were done I hardly felt tired or winded at all. Is this normal? When I did my old program I would often be extremely winded and just sit down and relax for 2-3 minutes just to catch my breath. So I added some extra pull-ups. This is another weak area of mine and I have to use negative assistance to finish more than 1-2 reps. I have no idea how much the plates weigh so I just put in the number of plates used.

Immediately after the workout I was having a few doubts as to the effectiveness of it. I didn't feel as exhausted like I did after my original workout or a game of squash etc. But then I started getting this kind of "glow" in my legs. After showering I watched the finals in the womens squash tournament, which lasted about 30 minutes. I probably should have eaten something right away because when I get to my car my body is pretty much howling for nutrition. And the glowing in my thighs continues. Damn, that's a nice feeling.

The next day I have light muscle soreness. All in all this seems like a cool program and I'm gonna stick to it. It's much more satisfying to pull a load of heavy [censored] from the floor and lift it in the air than pulling on some wires/cables in a girly machine. I love doing the squats, because I was really afraid of them at first and didn't think I could go down so low without having knee problems, but apparently I can. I'll have to see how my knees feel after a month of this though.

So, did I do this right? Am I supposed to be more tired after the workout? How many auxiliary workouts should I be doing after finishing the 3 basic ones (like pull-ups/dips/abs)? And why is there only 1 set of deadlifts? I don't get that.