Daily Check-in: Time March-es on
Replies
-
Thanks for the advise on the bench everyone! Today was deadlift day:
Squat: 5x5 - 105 lbs
OHP 5,5,5,5,3 - 60 lbs
Deadlift 1x5 - 170 lbs
Didn't have time for any accessory work today but am going to try to make it to a 5:15 spin class as I'm travelling for work the next few days and probably won't be able to work out (although I DID pack my gear) hoping the 2-a-days don't kill me!0 -
I met with a personal trainer today for my free session after 6 months at the gym.
We didn't lift any weights because of my back :-( and sadly I have been at work for about an hour now and I can already tell my back is going to be miserable.
4x side plank
4x standard plank
lots of lunges
lots of stretches
a side twisty thing with a resistance band
All in all I was happy with the session. I appreciated the push (but not too hard) and then at the end she made a teeny tiny comment about PT packages and then shook my hand and said thanks for the opportunity. She also said to text her if my back hurts tomorrow so she can offer assistance.
She recommended I pretty much start over with weights and nothing with a barbell until my back is 100%. Not sure what my plan is yet. The thing I loved most about 5x5 was the ease of use. I only had to know (and perfect) 5 moves. Other plans seem to have you running all over the gym.
Looks like this is the direction I will be heading for soon anyway. Any suggestions of where to start? I have looked at bodybuilding.com but it seems a bit overwhelming.0 -
Yesterday was workout A, and it was definitely better than last week.
Squats: increased to 5x5 @ 95#, after adding more warmup sets at lower weight. Felt pretty good, but I'll stick here for at least one more workout.
Bench: 5x5 @ 65# - I got my hubby to check my form, since this felt so wobbly last time. He recommended moving my grip out about a thumb's length from where the knurling (is that the right word?) starts on the bar. I guess my grip really was too close before, because this felt much more solid. I'm still going to stay at 65# for my next workout to make sure my form is where it needs to be.
Rows: 5x5 @ 70# - felt good, but I'll probably stay here for at least the next workout to fine-tune my form.
This week, I'm really focusing on my diet, as I know I haven't been on point lately. I'm going to aim for 1600 calories on non-lifting days, 1750 on lifting days, and one day at maintenance (should be about 2100) over the weekend. Hopefully this will get the scale moving a little bit again.0 -
Still lifting but not just 5 x 5 However after a couple of weeks not training and a few before that being hit and miss I was back at it this morning. One of my lifts currently is an American Deadlift, 3 sets of 5, I geneally hit about 60kg for this but today the rack was in use so I figured I would do regular deads at 50kg. Set 1 - this is easy I should have used more weight, set 2 - hey my grip is getting better, but losing form a bit! set 3 - 1 rep, 2 rep, 3 rep.... and I just could not get that bar off the floor again lol!
It amazes me how a weight that is easy for the first set can so quickly become unliftable!
For my squats I deloaded to 40kg and worked my form a bit. I may stick with that for a few weeks and increase volume as I felt a bit uneven.
My bench went well though - it's incline and I could see myself in the mirror, my arms were all pumped and I looked like a real bada$$ (Well I thought I did anyway) Obviously working my triceps hard there as when I finished the skin over them was bright red
0 -
Went in for my (sad and pathetic) attempt at the scaled (further) version of 15.2. It's basically 2 rounds every 3 minutes of 6 OH squat @ 45lbs and 6 pull-ups. + 2 reps per round every 3 minutes as long as you get the reps in.
I had all my resistance bands as assistance (~80lbs with knee in, maybe 100 with foot in) for the pull-ups and decided to go for 55lbs for the OH squat so I could snatch it up easier on the first rep. (35lbs bar + 10lbs bumpers)
Had to drop my foot in on the 2nd round of 8 pull-ups because I wasn't making it in time. And i finished during the next round 2 pull-ups short. But it's not like I could've pushed past it. While the OH squats I banged without rest and fairly quickly, pull-ups are a HUGE weakness and I just couldn't get another rep even with my max assistance
Final score of 95. Puts me in 2068th place and the scaled workout still calls for unassisted pull-ups, too. Ew. lol
Finished with a fun little set-up I titled "Clean the ladder". EMOTM until failure, 1 rep of a full clean @ 75lbs + 1 per round. Fell 1 short of completing the 7th minute, which makes it 27 cleans total in 7 minutes. Not too shabby.
I then did some hollow swings and hanging knee raises (10/9 and 10/10 I reckon) but my grip was toast. I also tried to monkey bar around but no dice. I also established my baseline for the push-up and recline row work I'll be doing as my No Matter What sets in order to improve (17 push-ups, 11 rows. My back was pretty taxed at that point though).
It's like this bodyweight stuff needs to be rebuilt every time I stop doing it consistently for more than a week
@symba You could do DB circuits. With a bench. Seated OHP, bent over rows supported on the bench (or incline chest supported rows), and maybe goblet squats or lunges depending on how those feel. Maybe bench press if you back doesn't complain too much (you can put your feet up on the bench to remove tension from the lower back altogether). And body weight stuff. Does your gym have a TRX? You can get pretty creative with those, too. Without having to hop from machines to machines. Anyways, machines have a tendency to isolate too much, and the last thing you need with a lower back injury is to stop working the stabilizers altogether.0 -
Today's workout:
Squats: 1x5 @ 45; 1x5 @ 65; 1x5 @ 95; 5x5 @ 120 - easy, although my hips and lower back were tight. I have to find a way to work yoga in on Sundays so I'm a bit more open when I lift on Monday mornings.
OHP: 4x5 @ 60; 1x4 @ 60 - another failure at 60. Boo.
DL: 5x5 @ 145 - love having the big plates on!!
Did knee raises - 3x8; and back extensions - 3x8 with a 25-pound plate.0 -
I haven't been recording my workouts here much. I've deloaded a lot in an attempt to get lower on squats and get more out of my lifts. Today was pretty good.
Squats-2x5@45 warmup,5@65 warmup, 5x5@100
OHP 2x10@25, 5x5@45
Deadlift-5@145
Good mornings-2x10@45
Bulgarian lunges-10@25
Curls-2x10@25
Tricep dips-2x10@20
Hip thrusters-10@25
Pull up work-walk the plank-5@bodyweight (I didn't have much in the tank at this point0 -
Ugh, reps 7 to 9 of all my sets for both bench and squats were grinders. I've decided I much more prefer higher weight and lower reps. Pandora was sucking something fierce today, too, which didn't help my lifting. At. All. I have 5 different stations that I like for lifting/working out and all five were playing crap.
Squats - 4x9 @ 150lbs
Bench - 4x9 @ 95lbs
It was so nice and warm today - got up to 70F with a breeze. I walked Ralphie twice today; it's time to start getting in the habit of morning walks again since it's no longer below freezing at 5:30am.
0 -
My first post. I have been doing SL 5x5 just over three months. I didn't go up according to the prescribed weights but have been going much slower to prevent injury. I made it to 145lbs on squats, 80lbs on benchpress, and 60lb on rows today. I also did my usual 10 minutes of cardio before and 20 after along with stretching. Great Day!0
-
Good job all!
I have been off lifting and Zumba for a fortnight...ugh!
Had to de-load today. Not too bad...
Looking forward this weekend to the Bataan Memorial Death March - very sobering!0 -
I feel like I haven't check in for a while! Thursday was cardio. I took Friday off and Sat/Sun I don't work out. I finished my diet break and went back to deficit Sunday. Felt good to lose a pound+ of water fluff in a day.
Squat/Bench/Row today at 90, 75, and 60 all 5x5. All felt pretty good except those darn rows. And I closed the night with about 20 minutes on the treadmill.0 -
YAY lifting day! I look forward to lifting, it's my favorite time of the day.
Squats 5x5 140lbs
Bench 5x5 75lbs
Rows 5x5 75lbs - hard and annoying. I've learned the form on the other lifts, why is this one still being a PITA? debating repeating this weight.
Also did 2 sets of 45lb front squats and 1x1 unintentional 135lb deadlift (ugg, clean up yer weights! I couldn't get the plate off the bar so I gave up and deadlifted it to the squat rack.)0 -
50 minutes of DDP Yoga (Diamond Cutter) in the books. I keep forgetting I have those videos. Pretty decent sweat for an active recovery day! 0
-
Squats: 2x5 @ 45, 1x5@ 85, 5x5@125. Going to move up to 130 and try that next.
Bench: 2x5@45, 5x5@75. Scared to move back to 80 after I almost got smooshed by the bar at 80 last time. Will likely stick to 75 once more.
Barbell row: 5x5@90.
Inverse row: 3x8
This lady was in the weight room today just absolutely yammering away about people that were being hired and fired at her company, and how they couldn't find people who were a good fit and yadda yadda...and I feel qualified to work there after her 30 minute rant!0 -
Up early for working out is going well. Deadlift 1 day.
155 x5, 175 x 3 195 x 2
Front squats 3x8 empty bar to work on form
And finally 10/8/6/4/2
Db snatch 20 lbs
Lunges 10 lbs each hand
Burpee squats
0 -
Cardio
Couch to 5k, week 2 day 3.
Next I need to make playlist for week 3.0 -
Wasn't in the mood to lift today, so did a 3mi run. Also set a new time record for myself. 11.75min/mi including several strenuous uphill sections. I know that time is laughable, but my previous record is 12min/mi so it's an improvement for me 0
-
Just the basics today
Workout A (Tues)
Overhead Press, Barbell - 5 x 5 - 75
Barbell Row, Bent Over - 5 x 5 - 105
Squats 5 x 5 - 175
0 -
Hey all
Taken two days off in a row this week - all those 220lb deadlifts took it out of me on Sunday, plus I have a wee one who is refusing to sleep at night at the moment *yawn*0 -
too tired to lift. like, seriously. i'm taking r.a. meds again just on the chance some of this stuff that's been going on is a flare, and it does seem like it's helped. but bleagh this stuff makes me feel sick when i'm not used to it. and feeling barfy makes me feel feeble too.
i did some bathroom-cubicle-wall hangs and a bunch of stretching and a set of 10 semi-pushups off the bike rack before heading home, and i'm done. there have been random bodyweight squats and i may throw in a few planks before bedtime tonight, but sometimes half the battle with strength training is knowing when not to push it.
and with fecking immune disorders, of course.
0 -
Felt great today but was a little worried as I was really uncoordinated during my jump rope warm-up and I was getting at 15.3 (scaled version, obviously. 14 min AMRAP 50 wall balls @50 and 200 single under. Muscle-ups are still waaaay ahead of my skillset. And I'm lucky if I can get 5 DUs in 5 minutes. One day!).
Turns out I'm more relaxed when I'm already fatigued and I didn't stumble *that* much. Got to 700 reps. Missed a good number of wallballs, not used to them and my throws were a little too vertical at times.
Rounded out that session with:
- Pendlay rows 3x5 @ 105lbs
- 6 rounds of a superset of 1-2 heavy snatch pulls and 4 slow negative romanian deadlifts with 105, 115x3, 120 and 125
Threw in some push-ups, recline rows, hanging hollow swings and just random stretches in-between sets. Sometimes you gotta take it a little easier and have fun with it! Nice little sesh considering I did NOT want to be up at 5AM when the alarm went off!0 -
Last night was workout B
Squats: 5x5 @ 95# (I think I'll do this one more time before I move up to 100#)
OHP: 5,4,4,4,2 @ 50# (Yeah! Can't believe I got that many reps with added weight, when I couldn't even do the bar a few weeks ago!)
DL: 1x5 @ 125# (This finally felt heavy. I might have to do this again before moving up, or maybe only add 5# next time.)
I hope I'm just having a bad week, but I'm really starting to feel like I'm hitting a wall. Everything just felt so heavy last night, and my knee keeps preventing me from doing extra cardio. I'm also super bloated for some unknown reason this week, so I can't even see the visible changes I was able to see over the last few weeks. I guess I need to just be patient and keep doing what I'm doing, but sometimes I wonder if I'm doing enough (or maybe I just want to be able to do more than I can physically do right now). /end whine-fest ;p0 -
Workout B:
Squats - 2x5 @ 28.5, 1x5 @ 36.12, 1x5 @ 45, 5x5 @ 60
Overhead Press - 1x5 @ 19.13, 5x5 @ 30.5
Deadlifts - 1x5 @ 100 lbs
Sumo Squats - 5x5 @ 45
I was thinking the same thing last night @Andi_1977, and I'm only at 30.5, lol.
Last night was *huge* improvement from last week. I even had some energy left for sumo squats, which I desperately need to get rid of the mountains and molehills on my inner thighs. Might move the sumo squats at the end of squats so I don't have to reset...0 -
I haven't checked in since last Friday! I had a long weekend and wasn't thinking about checking in. I logged and all that, just didn't come here. So here's the fast version:
Saturday - 60 minute bike ride (about 9 miles - a few stops at stores to pick up things I need and toss them in my backpack).
Sunday - Walked 30 min (leisure stroll with the man), Lifts: 2x5x45, 1x5x75, 5x5x110 squats; 5x5x65 rows, 5x5x85 bench.
Monday - 60 minutes walking outside (about 3mph for 3 miles) and 20 minutes of lazy volley ball with the kids
Tuesday - Lifts: short warmup and then 2x5x45, 1x3x75, 5x5x110 squat; 5x5x65 OHP, 1x5x110 deadlift
Today - nothing yet, but planning a 3 mile walk outside at lunch time (3.5 mph is my guess).
Carry on, champs - you guys are rockin it!0 -
I was on Workout B today.
Squats, 5x5@105 lbs. I had been struggling with 95 and 100 over the past few weeks, but tried 105 lbs today, and they actually felt pretty good! I think I will repeat 105 on Friday to not push myself too fast.
OHP, 5x5@55 lbs. These were, not exactly easy, but felt pretty good! I did a 6th rep on a couple of sets, and those reps were hard. I really hope I can get 60 lbs next time!
Deadlift, 2x5@105 lbs. These were pretty easy (which is why I did 2 sets - haha). I will go up next time.
I did some calf raises and lunges in between sets, also did good mornings, 3x10 @ 55 lbs.
Finished off with ~4 miles on the treadmill. All in all, it was a pretty good workout! I'm glad I sucked it up and made myself get up at 4:15 this morning. 0 -
@coltsgirl311 your comment about squats gives me hope! I know some days just feel better than others, and I probably haven't gotten enough sleep this week, but my last few workouts have really "messed with my head" a little. I guess I need to just be patient, push myself (safely and within reason), and eventually I'll be surprised at my increases too!0
-
@coltsgirl311 your comment about squats gives me hope! I know some days just feel better than others, and I probably haven't gotten enough sleep this week, but my last few workouts have really "messed with my head" a little. I guess I need to just be patient, push myself (safely and within reason), and eventually I'll be surprised at my increases too!
I have had a heck of a time moving up on lifts! I was up to 135 on squats at one point, but my form was crap, so I made myself deload and work on form, and it has been slow going getting back up in weight. However, I do not want to hurt myself, and so I try not to beat myself up when I need to stay on the same weight for more than one session.
Others have said that if you can't increase in weight, try increasing # of reps (maybe do 5x6 or 5x7 sets at a weight you can do). I have been trying that with OHP because I cannot get over the 55 lb hurdle.
0 -
Much better workout today than Monday! Felt much more "in the zone."
Squats: 5x7 @ 160lbs
Bench: 5x7 @ 100lbs (still grindy on reps 6 and 7 of sets 3, 4, and 5)0 -
i wasn't sure if i should go today or or rest one more day, but in the end i did and it worked out really well. i'm happy. workout a, with extras.
squats: 2x5@45, 2x5@55, 1x5@65, 5x5@75.
back still ticking, but shoulders much more level and i did all those warmup sets because i was trying to locate a form that didn't cause it. think i may have a track to follow with that. been forgetting to point the nipples at the ground
. also think i've been overkilling it on the depth and putting myself into buttwink turf, so i tried to keep that more under control. 75 felt pretty easy really and i'm getting so much better at holding the bar up with my delts/traps/all that. but i'm not ready to push any limits with squatting right now.
** just gonna mention though . . . my legs are like rocks. i tend to forget this kind of thing because i'm so used to it now, but thinking back to my form when i first started out the most impressive change is how solid my legs have gotten with squats. i can't remember the last time 'cave-in' was even a thing in my mind. my legs just go down and then they come up again, like it ain't no thing. don't even think about needing to keep my knees tracking over my toes anymore, because that's just what knees do.**
bench press: 2x5@45, 2x5@55, 5x5@60
yay, a 5lb increase. go me. felt pretty good and i liked my form quite a lot. definitely felt my left rear shoulder muscles working to control the descents, which is exactly the kind of thing that i'm looking for.
rows: 5ormaybe6@5@50. 50 was easily manageable, but i was in the gym with the fixed-weight bars that only increment by 10lbs, and 60 was too heavy for me to keep my form right. much better symmetry in my shoulders, and probably the happiest i've been with rows yet.
i meant to do some one-sided farmer's carry circuits as part of the asymmetry project, but then i kind of, well uh well . . . forgot.
and then since the rows had been light but i didn't want to do any more of them, i did 3 sets of 8-12 ohp @30lb so as to give myself a 3-dimensional shoulder workout. well, closer to 8 than 12, but it counts as accessory work.
@threnjen, your run is great. calling it 'laughable' is just . . . laughable. being able to sustain the kind of effort that running takes for as long as that is impressive to me, i don't even care what kind of distance you covered in it.0
This discussion has been closed.