Daily check-in: December why you started!

krokador

Ha. Well, I didn't know what else to say. So. Remember... December. It's as close to a good pun I could come up with! Sorry!

Today was Bench 5/3/1 day!

100x5
112.5x3
125x1
130x1
135x1
140x1 -- and it felt like I could've kept going up with the singles but I didn't have infinite time here so I called it in
100x9

Then decided, since I only wanted to go in 4 times this week, to throw in the rows here
87.5x5
100x3
110x6
95x9

Moved on to GBB 22 (only 3 days left, woo!)

8 min AMRAP
- kneeling jump x3 (on 45, 25 bumper plates and an ab mat)
- goblet squat x5 @ 40lbs
- submax close grip push-ups. Program calls for dips, but the dip bars were taken and after 10 minutes of trying to set-up the rings I gave up. And I can't do bench dips as it screws with my shoulders

I got about 8 rounds in, about 6 reps per round of push-ups. Not too shabby considering

5 min AMRAP
power KB snatch TGU - managed 8 per side. KB was 20lbs

5 min AMRAP
- bear crawlf 10ft and back (6)
- walking lunges with the 20lbs KB. First 4 rounds were front rack on 1 side, last one was goblet. (5)

I will enjoy my epsom salts bath, hehe. Thinking 2 days off until I go in for deadlifts. OR I'll go in for OHP first then go for deadlifts. No soccer tonight so my recovery should be okay, but my legs are still hurtin' from yesterday's squats. 1RMs take a different toll on ya than volume alone does, I gotta say!

meglo91

Yay, someone started the thread!

Today was my first day back after a week-long rest to try to rehab my right shoulder, which is angry at me. Sadly, my shoulder is not much better after resting, which makes me think it's a strain that will take a while to heal. So might as well lift! (Carefully.)

I de-loaded 10% as recommended after my week of rest, and I'm glad I did because my form was much better than it would have been otherwise. So:

Squats - warmups then 5x5@125 lbs. Working on getting my *kitten* to the grass on these.
Bench - warmups then 5x5@95 lbs. Suuuupeer easy feeling, even accounting for the de-load. I think the rest week + extra food from the holiday is the reason.
Rows - warmups then 5x5@85 lbs. Meh. Easier than normal. We'll see how I feel on Friday when I go up to 90.

Then I ran a 13:30 1.5 mile. Obviously not my fastest (which is about 12:30 in my thinner days) but not bad considering it came at the end of sweaty weightlifting.

It's nice to be back.

@Krokador, daaaammmmn with that bench!

ScientificExplorerGirl

My fifth workout (yay!):

Squats: 5 x 6 @ 40 lbs
BenchP: 5 x 6 @ 35 lbs
BRow: 5 x 6 @ 45 lbs.

I will go up on reps on squats and BP until I can go up on the weight. The row is still okay for me but I decided to go up on reps to keep everything at 5 x 6!

SouthernDaisy4

First day of SL. First time in the weight room without someone to hold my hand. So, the biggest win was making myself go in and do it. Second was the baby not freaking out in daycare so I could get the whole workout in.

So, per SL W1D1/A

5X45 bench
5X65 rows
5XB/W squats.

Previously, the trainer had me benching 85, so the 45 was easy.

The rows weren't bad. He taught them to me on our last session and we used 65#, so no surprises there. I can definitely tell my left bicep is weaker than my right. I notice when I bench too. I think some DB accessory work will be in order next week.

The squats...oh, the squats... I had to play some mental hardball to even do them. Even then I did B/W squats in the corner.

I do have a few questions.
On the rows, do you anything to bring the height of the bar up? My trainer didn't have me do that but all the videos and examples have big burly guys picking up ginormous plates. Do we still set them all the way down if we are working with small plates? That seems like it would be rough on the back.

With squats, is it OK to widen your stance? If I do, I can break parallel after about 3X5 warm up sets. My trainer wouldn't let me, is a wider stance bad or dangerous? I know we are supposed to test in between workout days, but are B/W squats to work on form/depth OK?

Anyway, the hardest part is over, next time will be easier.

LazyFoodie

December started off awesome for me this morning. After struggling on the lifts for a while, I think all the Thanksgiving overeating really helped me because everything felt easy breezy today. The lifts were feeling super hard even after my deload last week but today they were amazing. Good to know my 5,000 calorie day on Saturday didn't go to waste...

5x5 100lb squats after deloading to 90lbs last week and working my way back. I think I kept really good form on all of them and didn't need more than a 2 min rest in between.
5x5 60lb OHP. I was super surprised at how light these felt.
1x5 150lb deadlifts. I was only supposed to do 140 after a deload last week but I was feeling so strong and good after my 115lb warmup, i just went for the 150. It was awesome.

Junkemail, congrats on doing your first solo workout! Some gyms have plates that are the same size regardless of the weight. It sounds like your gym doesn't have those, but might be worth a search. Mine does not so I stack some bigger plates on the ground (45 or 35lb ones) until I get to the right height. This is my least favorite part of doing the Stronglifts. Someone told me to just stack on top of dumbbells so I don't have to mess around with the heavy plates but I tried it and the surface area just seemed too small for me.

SouthernDaisy4

nancy274 wrote: »

Junkemail, congrats on doing your first solo workout! Some gyms have plates that are the same size regardless of the weight. It sounds like your gym doesn't have those, but might be worth a search. Mine does not so I stack some bigger plates on the ground (45 or 35lb ones) until I get to the right height. This is my least favorite part of doing the Stronglifts. Someone told me to just stack on top of dumbbells so I don't have to mess around with the heavy plates but I tried it and the surface area just seemed too small for me.

Thanks! I asked my trainer about them at some point and he said they didn't have them. I haven't seen anything that looks like that, though I can see how it might not be obvious to the casual observer what it is. Is the right height where you can pick up the bar while parallel to the ground?

MissHolidayGolightly

@Junkemail, for rows and deadlifts without the rubber plates that are a uniform height, I rest the bar on boxes, pins in the power cage, or other weights to match the height I'd get from the 45 plates.

How wide is your stance with squats currently? I keep my feet about shoulder width apart with my toes angled outwards about 30 degrees. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121577721 Here's an embedded video of Rippetoe teaching form that may help.

TravelsWithHuckleberry

@SouthernDaisy (aka Junkemail? - wonder why I'm seeing a different user name?) --

According to Starting Strength (book by M. Rippetoe), "an excessively wide stance causes the adductors to reach the end of their extensibility early, and excessive narrowness causes the thighs to jam against the belly. Both of these problems prevent you from reaching proper depth."

I've been playing with my form and definitely noticed that a narrower stance than I used to use helps with depth, and has taken some of the pressure off my angry adductor. I'm working with a similar stance to MissHoliday (which is also what Starting Strength suggests).

With that said... Everyone is going to squat differently:

The Best Kept Secret Why People Have to Squat Differently

C.

coltsgirl311

I posted my workout from this morning at the end of November's check in since this one wasn't up yet, but I think I'll post it again here, just because lifting felt really great this morning!

Workout A:
Squats: 80 lbs 5x5
Bench: 55 lbs 5x5
Rows: 55 lbs 5x5

I'll plan to go up on all of these next workout.

SouthernDaisy4

@ MissHolidayGolightly: thank you. I was DL 135 with my trainer using the 45s so I think I will just stay at 135 since it's what I am used to, but not increase for a few sessions and see how it goes. I was pulling from the floor with 65 on the rows. Next time I'll stack some plates or use the corner of the short box that people jump up onto (whatever that is called).

Thank you for the link. I'll check it out.

My stance is a little wider than shoulder width and my feet are turned slightly out. I can work on keeping them shoulder width and see if the depth is the same.

SouthernDaisy4

@ Crabada -my screen name change seems to have finally updated. Whoo hoo!

Thanks for the reply and for the article. Interesting point about the variations in skeletal structure.

MissHolidayGolightly

@southern hope it helps. Nothing wrong with playing around with your stance without weight to get a feel for it.

I just did a workout. Had to get creative with gym timing because of the post turkey crowd! It's the season...

Squat 95 5x5 going up to 100 Wednesday.
OHP 45 5x5. Think I'll stick with 45 for a bit. Was easy ish at first then I started losing form.
Dead 135 2x5. Did two because it felt good. Am ready to go up. The guy next to me was cleaning 245. Knocked my badassery down a peg ;-)

Edit: I feel especially good about this workout because I showed up. I am running on an hour or two of sleep. Insomnia and anxiety hit me bad last night :-/ Hoping I'm out like a light tonight.

TravelsWithHuckleberry

MissHolidayGolightly wrote: »

Dead 135 2x5. Did two because it felt good. Am ready to go up. The guy next to me was cleaning 245. Knocked my badassery down a peg ;-)

1. Yay for Big Girl Plates + more next time! That's so rad!

2. And no comparing yourself to some dude! He's probably been lifting for 20 years or whatever. You are still a total bada$$!

xo,
C.

canadianlbs

SouthernDaisy4 wrote: »

First day of SL. First time in the weight room without someone to hold my hand. So, the biggest win was making myself go in and do it.

congrats about this. seriously, it's so scary and strange when you first go in there . . . but most gyms are so neat once you get past the stagefright stage and start to get settled down

Do we still set them all the way down if we are working with small plates? That seems like it would be rough on the back.

yes, it is rough on mine. and/or i have to add so much knee bend to get low enough with a parallel back, my hamstrings hate me and i keep bumping the bar on my knees. anything that works for you to bring the bar to a more ergonomic height will work fine. i kludge up a new arrangement every time i have to do the damned things.

With squats, is it OK to widen your stance?

ymmv, and maybe i hope for your sake it will. but mine with squats was that i started out using strictly vanilla form, exactly the way i was told i 'must' do . . . and then kept adjusting and tweaking it as various aspects of it turned out to not work well for me. i now squat fairly narrow and with parallel feet, which breaks quite a few of the things that i was initially told were the 'rules' . . . but i'm slowly getting stronger instead of slowly hurting myself. if it really isn't feeling right for you even after a few more sessions, don't be afraid to push back at the trainer and make him come up with constructive ideas.

if you watch others at your gym, you'll see pretty soon there's a wide variety of ways people squat. eventually you'll find your own style as well.

Anyway, the hardest part is over, next time will be easier.

DawnEmbers

Went after work, so didn't get done till after midnight but overall not too bad minus a couple points. Short warm up, foam roll, etc and a few warm up sets before squat and bench.

Squat - 5x5 @ 80
Bench - 5x5 @ 70
Row - bleh. 1x4 at 95, 4x5 at 65

barbell bench - 1x8 @ 17.5 and 2x8 @ 20

Yeah. Most went pretty well. Bench was good with just a smidge of struggle at the very end. The row, I tried to set it up like I did the deadlift with the 45's under to get the bar up higher but it was a workout just getting the 4 45's off the bar first. I could almost do the touch at each rep with 25's on it but it was too heavy. Dropped to 10's as they were easy to find in the moment. It was too light but also too small so I did the 4 sets without the touch ground (or stack of weights) part. And it was after midnight after working 8 hours on my feet. Plus I lost an earring back trying to rearrange plates and my earbud pulled out when it got caught on something. Still had the earring, just not the back. But at least Bench and Squat are feeling good and progressing. The row, I just can't seem to feel confident enough in the motion of it yet. It annoys me even more than the struggle to add weight to the OHP.

krokador

SouthernDaisy4 wrote: »

[...]

I do have a few questions.
On the rows, do you anything to bring the height of the bar up? My trainer didn't have me do that but all the videos and examples have big burly guys picking up ginormous plates. Do we still set them all the way down if we are working with small plates? That seems like it would be rough on the back.

With squats, is it OK to widen your stance? If I do, I can break parallel after about 3X5 warm up sets. My trainer wouldn't let me, is a wider stance bad or dangerous? I know we are supposed to test in between workout days, but are B/W squats to work on form/depth OK?

You know, everyone hates the rows and gets really hung up on touching the ground and whatnot... It really doesn't make that big a difference if you do normal bent over rows than if you do Pendlay rows. You'll actually be able to move more weight with the former. And even then, while I do have access to bumper plates, when I warm-up I actually do sets with 45 and 55 (the smaller bumper is 10lbs xD). I just let the bar hang at the bottom there and it is fine. Still wakes up them lats. You just have to control the descent more than you would if you were dropping to the ground.

Or, y'know, just do regular bent over rows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hbnw_wJ5-0

Wider stance on squats is okay to a certain extent, some people are just built that way. In my case, I was doing them with my feet out ~2inches past shoulder width and toes pointed out about 30 degrees like I'd seen those guys that do powerlifting suggest on youtube and I was pretty strong in that position. However it put too much sheer force on my knees and eventually i started having issues. The physio that took a look at my knee told me to bring my stance in much closer, keep my feet parallel and never go past 90 degrees. I ignored the last part but did bring my feet a bit closer in (although not as narrow as he instructed me either because I couldn't get any depth out of such a narrow stance) and have my toes barely out now. I also moved to a high bar squat and have been doing a lot better. I never woulda thought of doing that though if it hadn't been for him.

In short, it's worth playing around with stance at lower weights and see what's comfortable for you. Also, iwarming up with bw squats is just fine as long as you don't tire yourself out. It takes me 15 minutes of mobility work before each of my workouts to be able to perform the movements right. I'm one stiff 27yo xD

Say, I feel like people have answered these questions over and over and over again. What say we start a web page and an exercise FAQ thread to go along with it? Like, a small wiki, maybe? If posts were editable past 1 hour we could keep it in here, but these forums are stupid. lol

logg1e

I wouldn't know how to do that Krok, but it sounds like an idea worth trying.

Welcome and congratulations to new posters.

December absolutely rocks

I lifted at 8am this morning rather than at 6am, and I left the gym feeling invincible.

Squats 6,6,6,6,6 @ 101lb (Definitely going up next time)
Bench 5x5 @ 56lb. Yes. 56lb. Not 46lb like I've been telling you all through November. Thought that barbell was heavy. So chuffed with myself and I did them without a spotter. I then did 3 @ 61lb just to see if I could.
Stupid rows 5,5,5,5,5 @ 62.5lb

SouthernDaisy4

Thanks for the replies, Krokador and Canadianlbs! This gives me lots to work with.

SkepticalOwl

Had a great day in the gym today. I've been eating way over maintenance the past few days due to Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving leftovers, and now being on vacation at an all-inclusive resort (with a really good gym, btw). I figure I'm going to eat what I want and lift, lift, lift. Funny, I'm actually enjoying it now that I'm not cutting any more :-).

Today's workout:
Squats: 5@115, 4x5@95 -- so the hotel gym has 35 lb plates and I thought they were 25 lbs so I did my first set with 20 lbs more than I should have. Felt really hard and form was ugly, but 95 lbs felt great afterwards. This was a huge confidence booster for me. I've been having a hard time mentally with the idea of triple digits, now I think I'll be ok at 100 next time.
BP: 5x5@70 -- felt easy after several days of struggling with this one, including s roll of shame last time I tried it. Let's hear it for food!
Rows: 5x5@75 -- I do straight-up bent over rows, not Pendlays. I was struggling so much with form that it just didn't seem worth it.

Accessories:
weighted incline sit-ups: 12@25,30,35
Hip thrusters: 3x12bw
Cable crunches: 3x12@7 plates (whatever that is)
DB curls: 3x10@15

symba1130

No lifting to report today . I did a 5k on the treadmill instead. I have an outdoor 5k with my SIL and some friends on Sunday and I haven't run much since July (Started SL5x5 in August) so I thought this week I would try and warm up a little.
The honest truth is I will be happen to cross a finish line, even if its walking. My cold is kicking my butt and its not supposed to be above freezing the day of the race.
Most of all I am looking forward to a fun time with my girls!

MissHolidayGolightly

crabada wrote: »

MissHolidayGolightly wrote: »

Dead 135 2x5. Did two because it felt good. Am ready to go up. The guy next to me was cleaning 245. Knocked my badassery down a peg ;-)

1. Yay for Big Girl Plates + more next time! That's so rad!

2. And no comparing yourself to some dude! He's probably been lifting for 20 years or whatever. You are still a total bada$$!

xo,
C.

Haha yes! I use the rubber plates so the 45s look like tires. It feels great to come back after de-loading significantly.

I think it's really inspiring seeing someone execute really technical lifts with a ton of weight. It's just funny lifting significantly less next to them :-) I feel like a kid impersonating mommy. It was like the time I was benching with my cookie plates next to my 6'3" 300 lb. friend who was benching, like, all the 45s in the gym.

Also, I slept like a baby last night, thank goodness! I'm back to feeling like myself.

katro111

Bench day!
5 @ 50, 62.5, 75, 87.5, only got 4 @ 102.5. Wah wah wah. Then 10 @ 75.
12, 15, 15 @ 67.5

Threw in some OHP since we're going on vacay Thursday and I'm not sure what I'll be able to do in the morning before our flight and probably won't be lifting heavy until we come back. 10, 11, 12 @ 50lbs.

threnjen

Oh I sucked so bad today!! Blagghh! I just did NOT eat enough today before working out. I didn't get to the gym until 3:30 and all I'd eaten was a Quest bar and a yogurt. Bad idea, bad bad bad

No elliptical warmup. I should have, but the cage was free and I have a REALLY hard time securing it lately, so I flung myself at it like a lost lover.

Squats - warmup bar for a while and stretches with the bar, then 2x5@75, 5x5@80. The two sets at 75 were an accident as I just failed at math and thought I had 80 on the bar. I was pretty tired halfway through the 80s and they felt REALLY heavy but I was determined and so proud I finished. I think I have done 80 once before but it was a while ago. I may try 85 on Thur, we will see.
Accessories - planks between sets

Bench - absolute suck. By the time I got to the bench I was already so tired and hungry, WTH?? Last time I benched I did 65... that was a no go this time. I could barely lift the bar up with 65. I was sure I would drop it. Did 1x5@55 and decided I could manage 60. Did 5x5@60 with a couple extra reps. It was so hard though.
Accessories - leg raises while holding up the bar 4x10, hip popups 4x15

Rows - I've kind of lost patience with getting the bumper bars for the olympic bar so I can do Pendlays. I have to walk over to the trainer area to get them then all the way back across the gym to the bar (I know, wah wah) and it's just overly inconvenient. I just used the static 70lb bar to do bent over rows. Surely it's not THAT much different. I'm not sure if this is a new weight or not... I have totally lost track on rows, it has been so long.
Accessories - after the rows I used the bar to do a couple sets of romanian deadlifts, but I was pretty tired and only did maybe 10 total.

18 minutes on row machine. I was thinking about food the ENTIRE TIME.

Then I stopped at Subway on the way home for my favorite ham, egg and cheese and when I got home I basically inhaled it without even tasting it lol

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am NOT going to pig out but I AM going to eat a little more than usual so that on Thursday I can have a better lift. ESPECIALLY because we are leaving on vacation on Sat (and there will be no gym there), so Thur is my last opportunity for a kickass lift session before we go.

TravelsWithHuckleberry

@Threnjen -- Considering what you'd (not) eaten, your workout sounds pretty awesome to me! Great job!

Where are you going for vacation? (And Happy Birthday!)

SkepticalOwl

@threnjen -- totally with you about the importance of food. And Happy Birthday tomorrow! Mine's Thursday.

threnjen

Happy birthday to us!

We (hubby, two minions and I) are going to Disneyland with our besties (hubby, wife, and their two minions). It's going to be awesome. We absolutely love Disneyland so it is not just for the kids

I need to make sure I eat enough tomorrow. I guess it's not a bad problem to have that I have such good willpower nowadays. I just really really want a good lift session on Thur more than anything!

ScientificExplorerGirl

Happy birthday threnjen and SkepticalOwl (tomorrow)!

My lifts today went okay:
Squats 5 x 7 @40 lbs
BP 5 x 5 @ 40 lbs
Deadlift 1 x 5 @ 65 lbs

I started thinking about my squats. I know if I had a rack, I could easily increase in weight. My problem is getting the bar up and over onto my back (safely). I wonder if there are any lifts I could do to increase strength in arms/shoulders? I was thinking about clean and press or something similar?

Hope everyone has a great day!

LazyFoodie

Happy birthday threnjen! Have fun at Disneyland. Try the beignets at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney!

krokador

ScientificExplorerGirl wrote: »

Happy birthday threnjen and SkepticalOwl (tomorrow)!

My lifts today went okay:
Squats 5 x 7 @40 lbs
BP 5 x 5 @ 40 lbs
Deadlift 1 x 5 @ 65 lbs

I started thinking about my squats. I know if I had a rack, I could easily increase in weight. My problem is getting the bar up and over onto my back (safely). I wonder if there are any lifts I could do to increase strength in arms/shoulders? I was thinking about clean and press or something similar?

Hope everyone has a great day!

The power clean would definitely allow you to get the weight up to your shoulders, but you'll quickly run into a wall on the pressing strength even if you learn the jerk to get the bar onto your back I'm afraid. Unless you start doing front squats. But then you might as well do squat cleans and work on that explosive power (and hey, as a bonus, you could drop the rows! lol). I wouldn't do 5 sets of 5 of cleans though.

I forget, are you at a gym or home? You could probably find a squat stand if a rack is too expensive (something like this: http://69.167.146.124/template.php?p=catalog&action=display_prod&cat=Related Products&sub=&prod=530) And if you're at a gym and they can't even invest in something like that, they really suck

perseverance14

Workout A (Wed)

Dumbbell Sidebends - 5 x 10 - 40

Bench press - 5 x 5 - 110

Squats 5 X 5 - 205

Deadlifts 1 x 5 - 170

MissHolidayGolightly

SkepticalOwl wrote: »

@threnjen -- totally with you about the importance of food. And Happy Birthday tomorrow! Mine's Thursday.

Mine's Thursday, too! Happy birthday everyone :-D