Help!

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Hey, guys, I posted this in the main forum but then it just suddenly occurred to me I should be posting it here.

So, I started SL today but majorly fail. And not the good type of fail, too.

My squats:

My form was off and I struggled to do 5X5 with even just the bar. I had people watched me do squats with dumbbells and lighter barbell (just once) before and they said the form is good. Is the bar too heavy for me then?

My bench press:

What I managed was just 3X3.

I have never done heavy-lifting with a barbell before. Do you guys think I should ditch SL first and train with a lower weight before starting it sometime in the future?

Did anyone else have this problem when they started? Or am I the only gooey marshmallow? :sad:

Replies

  • roxylola
    roxylola Posts: 540 Member
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    How do you know your squat form was off? If the same folk said it was good told you then they have something to compare with and may be correct.

    Benchpress is hard for girls so I would not be ashamed at all with 3x3.

    That said I would maybe think about reducing the weight to something you feel is achievable so that you can work in some progress over your first few weeks. If the gym has preloaded bars try those. I started with 12.5kg preloaded bar for my OHP and worked my way up to 20kg as I could not get all my reps in at 20kg.

    Heavy is relative to you. The important thing is to establish good form and to make progress you are happy with safely.
  • lwoodroff
    lwoodroff Posts: 1,431 Member
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    and try to get some video - it's hard to give advice from text!
  • trosewine
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    Start with lower weights! When you did the squats with dumbbells, were you holding 20lbs in each hand? If not, you probably need to work up to the weight of the bar.

    I started OHP and Bench and Rows with the static pre-loaded bars. Or use the lighter barbell and go from there.

    Failure can teach, but success feels better - go for it!
  • runningforicecream
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    Thanks guys. I think I will try my lifting with lighter fixed weight bar first and then move on up. I was just afraid because it seems everyone here has no problem with lifting the starting weight on their first workout.
  • catfive1
    catfive1 Posts: 529 Member
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    I started with lower weights. Doesn't take too long to progress to the olympic bar (except for OHP).