Daily check-in: December why you started!
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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.0 -
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.0 -
@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!)
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@threnjen -- totally with you about the importance of food. And Happy Birthday tomorrow! Mine's Thursday.0
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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!0 -
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!0 -
Happy birthday threnjen! Have fun at Disneyland. Try the beignets at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney!0
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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
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Workout A (Wed)
Dumbbell Sidebends - 5 x 10 - 40
Bench press - 5 x 5 - 110
Squats 5 X 5 - 205
Deadlifts 1 x 5 - 1700 -
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 :-D0 -
Happy birthday to you ladies (today and tomorrow!
)
I was on Workout B today:
Squats 5x5 85 lbs. These felt pretty tough but I think I will try to move up to 90 lbs next time.
OHP 5x5 55 lbs. The last rep on the last two sets was rough, I arched my back way too much getting that last rep up, so will be repeating this weight. They felt pretty good other than that though.
Deadlift 1x5 95 lbs. This felt kind of tough but I think I will move up to 100 at least and maybe the full 10 lbs to 105 next time.0 -
Hi krokador: thanks for introducing me to squat cleans. I just watched a few videos and am going to give them a try. What would you recommend--1 x 5 @ 40 lbs to start?
I am at home--I have 2+ hour commute daily to work and back so going to a gym just doesn't seem to fit into my day. I'll take a look at the squat stands and see if it's something we can manage (money and space issues, mostly space). I would like to get a cage at some point. Would the stand also work for the bench press?
And, happy birthday MissHolidayGo....!0 -
ScientificExplorerGirl wrote: »Hi krokador: thanks for introducing me to squat cleans. I just watched a few videos and am going to give them a try. What would you recommend--1 x 5 @ 40 lbs to start?
I am at home--I have 2+ hour commute daily to work and back so going to a gym just doesn't seem to fit into my day. I'll take a look at the squat stands and see if it's something we can manage (money and space issues, mostly space). I would like to get a cage at some point. Would the stand also work for the bench press?
And, happy birthday MissHolidayGo....!
I'm pretty sure you can adjust the height on those stands so yes, it would probably work for bench press. You don't have any safeties on these but it could be a good compromise seeing as they do take little space and can be moved out of the way when not needed.
If you don't have bumper plates you might want to do hang cleans. I would start with singles instead of a longer set. Cleans are an explosive lift, so you want to be 1) properly warmed up and 2) as fresh as possible doing them. If you have a broomstick or a pvc pipe or something really light you can practice with, see if you can get the form down first. Once you get the hang of the move, go for something like 8 singles, but only 45-60s rest between each. Every minute on the minute works really well with these:)
Happy Birthday/Anniversary to everyone who,s celebrating! It really seems to be birthday season! lol0 -
Squat 100 5x5 and was fine.
Bench 75 5x5 which was a struggle but I think it's because I haven't benched in a while. Going to try 80 next time. Every time I get to 80, something comes up and I can't lift for a while or I chicken out so I'm going to attempt it, dang it!
Row 55 5x5 and was fine. Usually start to struggle one I get to 65.
P.S. Freakum Dress is a great song to lift to :-D0 -
Happy birthday(s) Ladies.
@ Threnjen LOL @ "throwing yourself at it like a lost lover". My relationship with it is more of a stalker... All furtive glances and wistful stares...
I actually did get in there today though, but for OHP not squats.
Today was W1D2/B and is defintely my favorite.
Squats,5X B/W again while I work in form. And yeah, still in the back corner with the mirror and something to hang onto if I need it.
OHP, I claimed the cage for these since it was empty and while the weight is light enough to get up to my chest, I wanted to get use to the cage since I will need it later for squats and OHP. Take the mystery and fear out of it and all that. I think I did them right, though I think they felt a little soft/loose. I'll have to watch that.
Deadlifts, 5X45, 5X90 for warm ups, pulled from the bench. 5X135 from the floor. This was the first time I had pulled from the floor. My trainer had me pulling 135 from the bench. The interesting part was loading those big azz 45s onto the bar. A dude was walking towards me as I was fighting it onto the bar when I managed and he did an about face. LOL. I wouldn't have been offended since I was getting some "WTF is she doing?" side eye lols from the guys. It didn't bother me, but I was a little amused at myself. The lifts went well and I think my form was pretty good.
Day two - Definitely less intimidating than Day 1.
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Happy birthday MissHoliday!
All my lifts were relatively good today. A little shaky on the 5x5 105 squats so I'll probably stay there on Friday and chickened out on the last 5th rep for 77.5 bench presses because the 4th one felt really hard and I didn't want to have to attempt my first roll today.
Biggest win is that I finally figured out what is likely causing my neck to stiff up and hurt sometimes when I sleep after lifting. I realized I've been overextending my neck while doing rows and deadlifts to look at the mirror which is pretty far away. Hopefully focusing on keeping my neck neutral and not worrying about looking at my form in the mirror will make the neck issue go away. Plus the rows felt great without seeing myself in the mirror.0 -
You're all kicking so much *kitten* already this month! Great job!
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Today was Deadlift day:
Standard Deadlifts- 3X5@200lbs
Straight Leg Deadlifts- 3X5@145lbs
Romanian Deadlifts (Pause Reps on all)- 3X5@135lbs
Glute Bridges- 3X8@145lbs
Glute and Leg machine work- (went light with the accessories)- Glute- 3X8@105lbs
- Calf Extension- 3X8@205lbs
- Leg Curl- 3X8@90lbs
- Hip Abduction- 3X8@205lbs
Finished with foam rolling and yoga stretches
Total workout time: 2 hours 15 minutes0 -
Workout B-Wednesday
Squat-warmup w/bar, 5x5@105
OHP 5x5@45
Deadlift5@140 (10 lbs over body weight), 5@115
Lunges w/30lb bar
Romanian split lunges w/30 lb bar
Bicep curls 20@30 lbs
10 push-ups
Walking for warm up & cool down, stretching0 -
I warmed up with Power Core class.
Squats: 5x5 @ 95
Bench: 5,5,4,5,5 @ 90 ( 3rd fail so I de-load to 80 next time )
Rows: 5x5 @ 65 (These are starting to get hard.)
And because I had time today...
Leg Press: 5x5 @180
Assisted Pullups: 5x5 -50 pounds
Dips: 3x5 -50 pounds
Alternating Bicep Curls 3x10 @ 15lb
I notice a lot of people doing warm up sets. I did 1x5 clean lifts with an empty olympic bar today to warm up before my stronglifts. I am wondering if I should devote more time to warm up sets. The basic exercises are starting to take a while to get through, especially with fails and hard sets that require more recovery time between sets.0
