Daily Report 2015-05-25

FitStrongHealthy

Hey everyone,

I had a pretty fun weekend. Went on a 4 hr. kayaking trip yesterday and got a nice tan, plus a good workout. Stuck at work today so I hope everyone else, who gets a holiday today, is enjoying it.

Got a strength circuit planned for this afternoon and it's time to up my weights again so I'm really excited about that .



Have a good day everyone.

~ Kris

lsabeIIe

Hi everybody,

I took it VERY easy exercice wise last week and this weekend but I don't feel bad about it. It felt right. I think tomorow I will get back to it.

On the other hand, I was experimenting with calories and I went lower than usual and it showed on the scale.

I'm getting to a point where I'm not sure about what to do with my body. I'm closer to goal weight but there are still some things that bothers me. I carry "fat" mostly in my upper body, arms, back, belly. I feel like I will have to get my weigth quite low if I want that to go away. Actually, I have no idea really. I'm not "obsessed" about it, it's more like curiosity, "what would I look like ?". I never saw myself "lean", I was chubby as a child and I grew up like that. I was always the "chubby strong builded" girl/woman. Now, what do I do ?

I guess the best thing I should do is to keep on doing strength training + cardio and keeping calorie deficit until I'm pleased with how I look.

What do you do for your strength ? I have dumbells (up to 20lbs) and I do bodyweights exercices (I like convict conditionning very much). I do things likes pushups, rows, bridges, handstands, one legged squats, hanging leg raises etc, etc. But I don't have barbells.

I'm wondering, "Am I lifting heavy enough ?" loll. I mean, my bodyweight still feels quite heavy to me. I'm 5'6 and 155 lbs. When I do a push up, am I lifting heavy ? eheh because, pushups on my toes are still hard for me. I can do 3 sets of 10 but I give it all to do that!!

The thing is, I read everywhere on MFP forum from women with great bodies "I lift heavy things".

(Confession time) I never told you that but... ( I'll try to make a long story short) in 2012, I spent a year as an "hermit", totally survival style, with nothing but, ropes, tarps, handtools, lighthers, candles, etc. deep in the forest. It was sooooo tough, sooo harsh, yet the most amazing experience. (might look weird but It was a dream, it was the best time of my life and now all I want is going back to that... and I will but anyhow...) About, "lifting heavy things". When I was there, I had to make everything. I was carrying 16 feet long huge logs on my shoulders. I spent days making myself a firepit and chimney I was carrying enormous rocks, so damn heavy ! I was of course splitting wood all the time, carrying buckets of water, again, super heavy while climbing a hill or in the mud! I had to dig "refrigerator", pit latrine. And I was doing those things ALL THE TIME. Everyday single day, day after day. So about "lifting heavy things" I thougth I would know a chapter on that... yet, that didn't gave me a nice body. (Now, oddly enough, I know I was still consuming to much calories, I didn't knew back then. Too much fat, meat, flour, sugar, nuts... not bad things, just too much of it. I realy was a typical case of " I ate more that I thougth I was".) My point is... I always thought of myself as a very strong woman. But I'm not so sure anymore. hahaha! I mean, what does it mean "lifting heavy" ? Was I ? Am I ?

Now that I am in the confort of a house in a nice little city. How do I lift heavy ? I'm not planning on joining a gym. So maybe I should get barbells ?

Anyway, I would be happy to hear your thoughts on that.

FitStrongHealthy

I'm going to be honest with you, I skimmed through most of it but I did get the gist of the post. I have a question about your dumbbells, are they fixed dumbbells or can you easily change the weight on them?

If they're fixed dumbbells and you'd only like to use fixed dumbbells, I'd suggest getting a set that goes up to 75-100 lb (34 - 45 kg). If they're adjustable dumbbells (you use plates to change the weight of the dumbbells) I would just buy some more plates so you can go higher with your weight.

You don't have to have a barbell to lift heavy, it helps but if you don't have the space for one and a bench and a squat rack then I wouldn't waste my money on it for now. Now if it's something would like to invest in though, then I say go for it.

Lifting heavy basically means lifting at your max. My heaviest right now is 25lb (11kg), but when I was sick for a week that drained a lot out of me and I couldn't go straight back to lifting that much so I slowly worked my way back up to that, which I'll be back at that weight tonight when I change my weights out. Lifting heavy is different for everyone, your heaviest is not going to be my heaviest.

Lifting is all about lifting as heavy as you can and progressively getting heavier. That's how results are made, by continually challenging yourself and your body to push the limits.

I'm impressed with your hermit life though, I bet if you had had a better idea of portion sizes that you would have been one hot ripped momma coming out of those woods .

lsabeIIe

Well thanks a lot Kris. This is good advices.

My dumbbells are ajustables. I have a total of 32 lbs in plates and the bars are 4 lbs each, so the total is 40lbs (2 dumbbells of 20lbs each). I think they are from Walmart so I guess I could buy more plates there.

The reason I'm thinking about barbells would be for things like squats and deadlifts. I don't have enough weight right now to challenge myself.

I might sound stupid here but what do you mean exactly by "my heaviest right now is 25lbs" ? Heaviest for what ?
I mean, there is many things we do with weights.

I can really see how lifting can get pretty addictive, upping the weigth, seeing the results. etc.

FitStrongHealthy wrote: »

I'm impressed with your hermit life though, I bet if you had had a better idea of portion sizes that you would have been one hot ripped momma coming out of those woods .

I often think of that myself but I know I'll get the chance again soon.
I wish I had your bow skills for hunting !

FitStrongHealthy

What I mean by "my heaviest right is 25 lbs," is that 25 lbs is the heaviest I can lift that still isn't too heavy but I still get a challenge during my workouts and I can complete all the moves with good form. I could probably lift 30 to 45 lbs, but it would be much more of a struggle for me and I probably wouldn't finish my workout and my form would be terrible.

Deadlifts and squats can be done with dumbbells as well. I usually hold me dumbbells like I would a barbell during my squats or deadlifts, it's a little weird at first but you get used to it. But like I said before, if you have the room for a squat rack and barbell in your home I would go for it.

It's good that they're adjustable, because you can usually buy a set of 40 lb plates anywhere (without the mini barbells of course).

FitStrongHealthy

On the bow hunting, it's not that hard to get started. You can go to any certified bow shop and they'll set you up with a bow that's perfect for you. They'll help you work on your form and stance, show you how to shoot, and get your draw length perfect for you. You can even pick out cute accessories that will help make the bow quieter and faster . I can get a bit pricey though, but in my opinion it's worth cause it's fun and it puts food in my freezer.

lsabeIIe

Ok, I see. I wasn't sure because personnaly, even if I find it's a pain to change the weight (especialy adjustables dumbbells) during my "sessions". At some points, I dont have the choice if I want to keep everything challenging because the difference between the weight I can lift doing squats or rows in comparison to, lets say, triceps kickbacks or flies really is a BIG difference.

I think I will look around for barbells and bench press. It's actually quite commun to see people who wants to get rid of theirs because they aren't using it... or selling it very cheap.

As for the hunting, I will have to look into that. It really seems like a good investment. Do you need a hunting license ? Here in canada I know that trapping isn't legal everywhere but I don't know about bow hunting.

FitStrongHealthy

It can be get a bit annoying changing the weight in between sets, but after a while you'll get good at it and can change them in seconds lol . Yeah I'd definitely try to find them used before I bought any brand new, just make sure they're in good condition first.

I'd check with your local hunting laws, here in my state I get a $50 license that allows me to rifle hunt, bow hunt, turkey hunt, and trap. Everywhere is different though, I know some areas require you purchase tags each hunting season that limit the amount of game you can bag. They don't do that here, but I wish they did.