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Remember Remember the Lifts of November
Replies
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TheHobbit2017 wrote: »canadianlbs wrote: »TheHobbit2017 wrote: »
Moved over to my new setup.
Can you describe the kind of problem you're having in any more detail? there are some things about ways of taking the grip that might help, but it depends what the issue feels like to you.
and all this grip talk reminded me that i came home yesterday with a small, stupid brag. i'd like to think i'm the only lifter anyone's ever seen who uses hook grip when doing front squats
Hi sorry I just saw this reply
It was on the deadlift I was having grip issues. I will try chalk on my next lift to see if that helps and perhaps the under/over hand thing.
I use reverse grip for my deadlifts. It takes a little getting used to. I make sure that I switch which hand is over in which hand is under every set. It's easier for me to have my right hand under and left hand over so when I switch to the other way it throws me a little but I want to make sure that I stay balanced. Even with using the reverse grip it's starting to get a little difficult when I left 200 pounds or more so I think I'm going to get some chalk and try that out.2 -
More "cardio" today.
10x yoke carry (250), sled drives (110), sandbag carry lunges.
Someone luckily unloaded the sandbag a little... but adding in the lunge bit, it still sucked. But I could clean and carry it the way He actually wants me too. Instead of having to boost the clean with a knee assist like I've been doing.
I've noticed on both these, and split squats, that trying to get/keep balance and stability with the wonky ankle with these 1 leg movements sucks bad. But I'm noticing this not because I notice the ankle being sore, that comes later. No, I am noticing because my lower back on that side starts screaming at me. I must end up doing strange things with my hip in attempts to compensate for the ankle.
The sled drives are still awkward and ugly. Doesn't help that the weight on the sled is more than my current bench weight.
The yoke carry added 20lbs again. Definitely noticed that 20... but I like the 250 carries more than the 230 pushes.
4x50second planks.
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overhead press \o/ i seem to be chugging right along on this little-and-often workout format - one main lift per time, most of the time, and it seems to be sort of resolving itself into an upper/lower split type of format over the course of the week.
picked press today because i did squats yesterday so deadlift was out. and bench was my most recent workout, on thursday iirc. i've skipped one workout, so that everything's now aligned with the squats and this is a two-triples week.
the triples weren't easy, i have to admit. little bit sad BUT everything went up and kept going up even if it did stall, so it's just a matter of deeping the depth that's already there. and this is only the third workout of nine, so i'm going to trust the process and count on my rarrrrgh getting under me in the next one or the one after it. i did them wearing street boots instead of my usual shoes too, not that im' making excuses or nuth'n here. but . . . still military.
i did the rows as well at 70, and added the 'pump' sets for press, 2x6 and 1x7 with 45. decided to let the deadlifts go for some other day. i have deads and bench left as Must Do for this week, and i guess there'll be room for more squats in there somewhere if i feel like it.
the rows were funny. i was in a non-usual centre and i had the short bar. i thought it felt terribly skinny, so after three or four that-was-way-easy sets, honesty just made me go over and ask the attendant. we ended up weighing it with the plates on and concluded that it was just 25. so i called those four sets a 'warmup', added two chips and started all over again. i guess finding 65 completely easy gave me enough confidence to start from square one. something about 'it's just another five pounds' kind of thing. skipped the hypertrophy though.1 -
Sheiko 32!
The peak cycle/pre-meet prep has begun. Day 1 is super easy because the next lifting session is basically max testing on all three. Only used the belt tonight when I added in an overload since hadn't done those in a while.
squat 1x3 @ 108, 1x3 @ 129, 2x3 @ 155, 3x2 @ 165
overload with belt 255 for count of 20
bench 1x3 @ 65, 1x3 @ 75, 2x3 @ 88, 3x2 @ 95
cable abs 3x10 @ 80
I also got lucky in that I have Wednesday off from work. So I will be able to lift and figure out my food for the test day without having to factor that in. It's still going to take a while so might try and lift late just because will make things easier but not quite sure yet. We'll see how things go Wednesday.2 -
. . . so here's a little morale booster, for the people who hadn't seen me obsessively math this before.
if you think that you're not doing much, count how many individual reps you did at a lift and multiply that by the weight that you used. the results usually give just about anyone new respect for themselves.
say you ohp with the 30 lb bar. assuming you're doing stronglifts, then 25 reps times thirty pounds is still seven hundred and fifty pounds you pushed over your head and locked out. not even counting whatever you did to warm up
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I’ve found the biggest moral booster for me is when u have 2 workouts with failure (this example for OHP), you go into the last try on the 3 workout thinking you are going to fail and have to reload only to smash it! That’s when I really started to trust 5x5 2
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I miss going to the gym
Past few days have been stuff like "3 rounds NOT for time of 20 min ice, 20ish minute heat, take an ibuprofen and massage a bit, with a set or 2 of tiger balm rubbing throughout the day".
Neck is feeling a bit better. Still quite stiff when turning my head over to either side (more so the right side, though), but I can check my dead angles when driving so it's progress xD
Also been dealing with stressful stuff so sleep hasn't been great, but I think I may be good to go tomorrow. Squats & bench should be okay, we'll have to see if I can handle maybe high rep, low weight 1-arm rows to complete the triad. Definitely off the oly lifts and anything that could yank on my neck/shoulders (lesigh, no rower, boo! Takes away the only cardio machine I don't completely loathe! And also very little KB work) until this is resolved and solidified.1 -
Hey ladies....I'm still around. Sort of. I think I'm going to basically take November off from the boards. I'm getting into the gym sporadically but everything has gone to hell. My dad is in the hospital with a poor prognosis (as in, weeks to months left), my siblings and I have to start talking about hospice, and I'm heading out of state to see him at the hospital tomorrow. On top of that, I had a chemical pregnancy last week (very early miscarriage) and got to spend a few hours at the ER for that. So....this is a sucky month. I'm at about my one year anniversary of lifting, but any and all workout related goals are now on the backburner for the moment. I'll be back when I can.
Good month title, Hanlonsk. That's exactly the one I was thinking of using when I had the presence of mind to post regularly! See you guys all in December.1 -
to amy and krok. and anyone else having a hard time right now. 0 -
I'm so sorry Amy. We just recently went through a rough diagnosis and hospice with my father-in-law. It sucks. Try to take care of yourself and come back when you are ready.1
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@amyinthetardis1231 - sorry to hear about your dad and your chemical. Sometimes everything just sucks Hoping everything goes as well as possible in the coming weeks.....
@krokador neck pain is sooo annoying. I was in a car accident 20 years ago and learned to look over my left shoulder when parking on the right side because to this day I still have a hard time looking over my right shoulder. I feel like Joan Cusack in the neck brace in 16 Candles.....
@canadianlbs I like your weights math. I'll take it a step further - I just think that in June I weighed 205 and I dragged my whole body around all day every day!
My day at the gym:
I'm failing on some of my lifts now - it's been 6 weeks so I'm thinking I need to deload.
Squats 1x5@75. 5x5@95
I had gotten up to 115 and failed repeatedly on 120 last week and now I went back to 95 and it still seemed hard - although I did feel like I got deeper than usual (maybe just a bit past parallel)
Bench 5x5 @ 75 (failed one rep on three sets - just didn't get down all the way to my chest)
I have to find out what to do if I fail and drop the weight on my chest. My gym is empty when I go - like EMPTY. Like, the owner is napping in the spin class room empty. I don't want to die stuck under 75lbs. That would be pathetic.
Row 5x5@100 (failed one rep)
Lat pulldown 5x5@85
Tricep rope pull down 5x5@30
I think I need to ease up on the weight and go for form and more reps. I'm not feeling good after a workout this past week - I'm feeling beat up and headachey.
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K, so this is long... and probably makes limited amount of sense... so please feel free to ignore.
@jayemes - regarding squats and weight- I actually find deload on squats very useful for that very reason. when I spend time at a weight where parellel is questionable. If I take a week and do light weight (back to the bar even) and work on *kitten* to grass in the truest sense and work up to where *kitten* to grass is tough, and do my 5x5 there.... then my depth on my heavy weights is soooo much better. Last time I did that was when trainer was on vacation for 10 days. He came back and asked me wtf I had done while he was gone, because my depth was sooo different.
Regarding benching alone and bailing... before trainer days most of my lifting was done at home, alone, or in gyms where I don't know anyone while traveling. I did a lot of work on this idea myself.
Ideas that I came across frequently:
1. Don't clip plates
2. Safeties
3. Practice at lower weights
4. Caution
I utilize most of these- except for #1. That one doesn't work for me. The idea being if you fail the lift, you can tip the bar, and dump the weight, and get it off you. If I'm close to my limit on bench, one arm may or may not track behind the other, or bar path may be not be real straight, even if I complete the press. So, what I found, is without clips if I'm fighting for a rep, the weight shifts, and makes it MORE likely I will fail. But it works well for lots of people.
2. At home I have a power cage, and at travel gyms I would move a bench into the cages, and I do my best to set the bars so I can still get full depth, but the bar is RIGHT there. If that doesn't work, I would err on the side of caution, and set so ya catch the safety, even if it's high.
3. Take the empty bar, set up for bench hit the bottom of your press... and practice rolling it down "roll of shame" I believe is the common term. If you have done it before, you won't panic as much the first time you actually have to do it. And, yes, I've done it for real... a few times.
4. This one is hard.... ego gets in the way of this one. But I try to be VERY sure I will make the lift at the weight before I would do it. Sometimes this means making a judgement call you don't want to mid set, because the next rep "might" not happen. Or staying at a lower weight and adding reps. Or many different versions.
Today was my bench day. Trainer managed somehow to take all of the fun out of my favorite day.
I knew we were off to a rough start when warmup was superset 4x 10 push-ups, and 15 70lb rope face pulls. -like really? Push-ups? - on the bright side, it's been so long since I've tried push-ups turns out I can do real ones, let alone 4 sets of 10
Dumbbell bench press
There were 5 sets, first two we used 35s, last three we used 30s. I think reps were 8, 8, 15, 15, 11 but don't hold me to that
Floor press
3x8 @95. My note on the sheet was "kind of-lots of help". These were rough this was the start of muscles I don't know I have, or don't know how to use, and coordination issues
Then we did what he called Tate press w/dumbbells - if you care for visual I hope google knows this name because I can't describe-
15 w/15s, 7 w/ 20s, 11 w/20s. (Kinked my wrist funny on rep 8 of middle set)
Then a "French press" same hope as above.
3x6-8 w/20s if I got less than 10, I got to finish with 10 regular dumbbell presses
Then 4x15 bench leg raises was the core work. Apparently, I am doing these in "two steps" but I am, doing them well enough I need to do the "next level." Which in demonstration I can see a difference, but was not something I could make a mind muscle connection on at all. So after many attempts, and my attempt to explain that issue being so inarticulate everyone in the gym was rolling in laughter we got a plan b. We did 3 sets where I did 5 "reverse" reps - start with legs up, butt off the bench, and lower legs, without butt coming down. And then 10 of what I had been doing. Level of success was questionable, and everyone else struggled as well... as trainers "cues" kept consisting of things like "legs up" and "no butt!!! No butt!!!" And ab work is nearly impossible when you are crying laughing.
So... yeah... a bench day, with no barbell bench, and had push-ups, and lots of coordination and brain to muscle issues .... who does that??2 -
I have to find out what to do if I fail and drop the weight on my chest.
Here's a video that shows what to do if you fail on bench without a spotter.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bench+press+roll+of+shame&view=detail&mid=1F78F39FA8641CF706761F78F39FA8641CF70676&FORM=VIRE&PC=U316
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Hugs to those having a bad time at the moment. Keep with it peeps things will get better xx
Training wise had another PT session yesterday. Was mainly bear complex trying to get some cardio into weight session ready for my fun run next Sunday. We did a pyramid bear complex. 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 17.5, 15, 12.5, 10kg respectively with sprint intervals between each set. Definately dead after that lot and was then killed off with some plank variations. Shoulders feeling the burn! (Worked out at 112 presses & 112 squats over the varying weights)0 -
I have to find out what to do if I fail and drop the weight on my chest.
Here's a video that shows what to do if you fail on bench without a spotter.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bench+press+roll+of+shame&view=detail&mid=1F78F39FA8641CF706761F78F39FA8641CF70676&FORM=VIRE&PC=U316
Ha! I think I might've shared that same video a few years ago. Matt does fitness is a funny entertaining guy (although I can only watch so many of his day of eating videos. Guy is really lean, yet he keeps eating a TON of junk food and complains it's hard for him to bulk! UUUUGH! Unfair genetics!)0 -
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Whale... I went to the gym. Bit backwards to be honest. I wanted to want to be there, but the sentiment never reached the motivation nerve so to speak. Not a bad session, I guess. I didn't get hurt, so that's a plus. It also was far from great.
Squats 45x3x5 playing with bar position and trying to see if I can squat without straining my neck. I ended up with a slightly lower position than usual (too low means I'd have to completely overhaul my groove, and my wrists weren't happy today, either).
65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125x3
145x5, 155x5, 165x3, 175x3
those would've been my work sets on the last week of the program I was on. 175 rep 3 was a grinder, I won't lie. I'd normally do those after squat snatches, too. So meh.
Bench 45x8, 65x5, 85x5, 95x5, 105x3, 115x3x3
The movement itself wasn't bothering my neck, but pressing my head and upper back into the bench wasn't comfortable.
1 arm staggered stance supported DB row (I don't know if these have a shorter name, lol). Plan was to work up to the point where I couldn't get 8 reps in a set (without cheating)
25x15, 30x12, 35x12, 40x10, 45x9, 50x7
I also want to eat ALLL THE THINGS right now. Ugh. Yeah, there goes my plan to try and lose some weight. Screw it. I'll get back to normal when i get back home.0 -
Squats
10x45 lb
5x75 lb
5x5 120 lb.
These felt pretty good. I feel like my depth is good but I still am feeling like I'm leaning forward a bit and would like to get more upright, if that makes sense. So, I'm gonna work on that.
Bench
10x45 lb
5x5 85 lb
These were fairly easy. I will try for 5x5 90 lb next time since I will have a spotter then.
Row
I deloaded down to 75 lb on these so I could work on form. They felt good.
5 assisted pull ups. I used the medium band so I don't know how much assistance that gives. I think I will work up to 10 with the medium band and then go to the small band.0 -
Well... I apparently looked totally unenthusiastic and unimpressed with strong man cardio tonight. Lots of folks commented that I did not look like I had the feels tonight. So krok apparently I was in your camp on that today.
10 times - trap bar farmers carries down AND back (205), sled rows (180), and kettle bell straddle walks down AND back (100) yes we have escalated things. The 205 was really 205, sheet said 185, but was told to put the 25s on like the bar doesn't actually weigh 65 ugh. And down and back apparently meant I had to set it down at each end, not turn around with it. We apparently know what part of that is hard for me. But, I did this without chalk which gives me hope.
I also watched a girl set a gym record on bench for 145lbs... unfortunately for me that means she is in my weight class, and my only real shot at "the board" just got 5lbs further away. Although, if I don't stop eating all the food, I will end up in the next class, which has someone who is benching essentially 200lbs, and I won't need to even think about ever setting that one, which would take the pressure off, right?1 -
all this all-the-food stuff . . . i held myself to only three sandwiches at this lunchtime thing at work yesterday, and i've been pining for that fourth one that i didn't take ever since then.
actually went into somebody's desk and foraged a granola bar today (she had offered while she was still there, but still). and then i ate about a third of my teammate's dinner when she turned out to also be working stupidly late. i guess you can't stave off the hungries forever.
had my deadlift shoes with me, but didn't lift. the ride home and a zillion little secretive physio drills on my bad hip will have to count as my lifting today. i will say though, i really think that left glute area is thickening up under the influence. that's not vanity; it's medical. it's still got a long way to go before it matches the right, and i have told myself i have to get a little further than this before i risk it doing bridges. still, it's nice to know i may be doing something worthwhile.0 -
My pull-up assistance band came yesterday. The green one so should help me start my journey to being able to do a pull up unassisted! Hubby looked at me like I was mental and likened it to a catapult. I’m sure he thinks he’s ganna find me with legs dangling down from the ceiling3
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Max Day
Calories didn't go quite how I had initially intended. Had plenty of caffeine earlier but couldn't decide what I wanted to eat. Ended up having just under 1000 calories before going to the gym after 8 pm. Did decent despite that factor though ate a little closer to lifting than usual and stomach wasn't quite sure it cared for that. Managed to film squat and deadlift cause they are in the same area but still haven't figured out how to get video of bench.
The goal for today was to attempt 100-105%.
Squat
1x8 @ 45
1x3 @ 108
2x3 @ 129
2x2 @ 155
belt
1x2 @ 175
1x1 @ 195
1x1 @ 215
1x1 @ 219
1x1 @ 225 - PR
Bench
1x3 @ 65
1x3 @ 75
2x2 @ 88
1x2 @ 99
1x1 @ 115
1x1 @ 125
1x1 @ 126 PR
Deadlift
1x3 @ 135
1x2 @ 159
2x2 @ 186
belt
1x1 @ 215
chalk
1x1 @ 239
1x1 @ 265
1x1 @ 169
1x1 @ 275 PR
Had half a fireball cupcake once I got home. Roommate made them couple of days ago. Kind of funny is I'm doing a bench focused program and managed to increase squat & deadlift by 10 lbs but bench was only a 1 lb increase so far. But I managed to grind out the 126 and usually I can't do a grind on bench. The calories today with the previous two days being low probably didn't help. Bench seems a little easier affected by things than the other two. Overall, not bad results and looking forward to how the meet goes in a few weeks.3 -
Set myself a target today of testing my max weight keeping good form for 12 reps of each 5x5 move.
SQUATS - warm up at 20kg x 12, 40kg x 12 x 3 all great form
BENCH - warm up at 20kg x 12, 25kg x 12 (easy), 30 x 12 x 2, 30kg x 11 (last one was just too much)
OHP - 20kg x 8, 20kg x 9, 20kg x 10 (seemed to gain strength with each set)
ROW - warm up at 20kg x 12, 30kg x 12 x 3.
DEADLIFT - warm up at 30kg x 12, 40kg x 12 x 2
CHIN UP (green band assist) - 12 reps
PULL UPS (green band assist) - just able to lift myself about 10cm x 12 reps.
Results I’m more than happy with given that just 12 months ago getting up from a chair was ripping my stomach muscles apart!2 -
So, I had to roll out from under the bar on bench press for the first time today. It was easy enough to do.
I went and did the boot camp class and then afterwards I wanted to see if I could go higher than 85 lbs on bench. I couldn't find the 2.5 lb weights so I put on 85 lb and did 3 reps just to make sure I was feeling it. Then, I went up to 95 lb and just did one rep. Then, I tried 105 lb but I wasn't able to get it and I had to do the roll of shame. 2 -
So my gym is having a "free week" which meant that instead of it being totally empty at 10:30, there were 6 people there and it irritated me.
Even so, I persisted
Squats 1x5@85. 5x5@100. These felt good and I felt strong. I had hit a wall at 115 and failed and then fell apart, so I'm glad I dropped back to 75-85-95 for a few days. Now I'm feeling better about progressing again.
Overhead press 5x5@45. I was really happy about this because a few weeks ago I couldn't do 45 at all, but all 5x5 felt strong
Deadlift 1x5@155. I did it, but that was tough. I may stay at 155 because I feel like my form wasn't 100% - I need to video it next time but I think the weight was coming too far off my legs and hanging in space a bit....
5x5 straight leg dips
So question for the experts (which is anyone here but me)
Is there any benefit to NOT increasing the weigh but just increasing reps? I feel like I'm hitting weights now that I'm going to fail (and have failed) and I really really don't want to hurt myself. Would it make any sense to just increase reps/sets for a bit until I feel stronger? Doing deadlifts 2x5@155 has to be good for something right? Or more squats at this weight instead of increasing? I'm still losing weight and I'm still eating at a deficit so I'm not gaining any muscle mass here - just looking to not lose it while I'm losing the pounds.
Thoughts? Feelings? Brilliant perceptions??2 -
Is there any benefit to NOT increasing the weigh but just increasing reps?
i'm doing that with this hepburn programme. it's worked especially well for me on the upper-body stuff. to answer your question: yes, it's completely legit as a way of 'progressing' your 'overload'.
you could also try two other things if this is your first time lifting seriously: take a week off and just rest/recover/eat, and go back. or keep going, but take a 'deload'. i.e. back up a bit on the weight and keep going. both are ways of backing away so as to take a new run at the weight that you're finding challenging.
my workout: deadlifts. BLEAH, that's all. they went BLEAH.
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Oh my goodness... today was a day. Like I am supposed to get off at 4, but I schedule trainer days for 6 because I truly have no control and things happen. Today things happened to the extent I missed trainer date. I still went, expecting to end up with another cardio day. But he could apparently tell there was some energy to work with, so we started down the sheet.... then another gal got there who also was planning to deadlift.... so he asked us if we wanted to have a "deadlift buddy" tonight. So that is what we did....
Super set- 10x 45lb good mornings, 6 pull ups w/big purple band assist, 12 face pulls @70
The pull ups technically progressed, not because they were supposed to, but because my stool to get my foot into the band was nowhere to be seen. So, I improvised and put a dumbbell on its end for a step... but I could only get a knee into the band that way. - I was informed that's when I am supposed to ask for help, but let's just say I was not far enough into the workout to be in an asking for help mood.
Deadlifts- I'm not sure I remember how this went but we will try. We essentially threw my plan out the window and kinda followed other girl's. She was working up to a PR of 285 (like twice her body weight)
135x6, 165x3, 185x1, 205x1?, 215x1, 220x1, 225x1!!!!, 2xfail@230, 1xfail@230,
3? Maybe 4? X2@205
So not only did I blow LAST WEEKS PR out of the water.... but I did lots of work AT last week's pr. And unlike usual failed weights for deadlift, where I can't even get it off the ground... I got 230 off the ground each time... just NOT high enough to be able to grind it the rest of the way. So we have added like 45 lbs to my deadlift max in like 2 weeks???? Which seems insane, but apparently something clicked.
Then I don't even have a name for the accessory stuff we did following other girls sheet... but I didn't move the pin- so, I was keeping up relatively well with a girl who can pull 60lbs more than me, which gives me hope.
Abs were called windshield wipers... and FML is all I have to say on that.3
This discussion has been closed.