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morethenjustmum

Hi All I'm Laura and today was my first day.
I have been working out at home for a few months after being slightly, exercise wise. inactive for a few years and many babies.
I made it a goal of mine to get really strong and found so many super awesome ladies talking 5x5 so I decided I was goona giver.
I out grew my dumbells at home and joined a gym earlier this week.

Today I went in and while I am a little uneasy working out in front of people decided to suck it up. I have a meeting with a trainer next week to work on form and help me get used to the racks and cages and such. In the mean time I used some dumbells, I surprised myself today , I could bench press with a 20lb in each hand and squatted with the same, I rowed with 40 lbs but I felt like I could go higher which I well and soon.

I feel really proud of myself and am very excited to to do 5x5 and get strong and push myself.

Now on to some nooooob questions. lol

whats the priority form or weight , my gut says form, am I right.

those nifty bars with the weight on permanently , is the weight on each end the total for the bar or each side? I figured they might be a good option for me till I can use the big girl bar

also I warmed up with a combo of my bike ride to the gym 15 mins and 20 on the elliptical when I got there ( cause it was a bit cold out this morning) what do you guys do.

annnnd last one

what does everybody do between , on days off. I don't want to go nuts but I'd like to do yoga on the weekends , flexibility is an issue I want to work on and I have been taking a zumba class one day a week and it is so fun I'd like to keep at it.
Any opinions on that?

Thanks for reading. And any feed back is welcome , have a great day

viglet

Welcome! I am not uber active here but I can tell you there is a wealth of knowledge and some really great folks!


I will try and answer the questions I have knowledge on.

whats the priority form or weight

Personally, form. I really really am afraid of getting hurt, so I would rather just stay at a lower weight until it feels "right".

warmed up with a combo of my bike ride to the gym 15 mins and 20 on the elliptical when I got there ( cause it was a bit cold out this morning) what do you guys do.

One warm up that I do before every lift is with a broomstick. I think it is called a dislocation exercise . It has REALLY helped me on my squat arm form.
http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/

And then I just work my way up with weights. I have a 15lb bar and depending on the move, I start off with that or put the weights on to start off with 45lbs. Then I increase it. For example, if my squat is 125lbs, I squat with 45lbs, then 85lbs, then 105lbs. Thats just what I personally do, not sure if it is right though.

what does everybody do between , on days off.

I TRY to get at least 30 min of cario 3 times a week. I do hiit some days, elliptical, jog or just go for walks. I guess whatever floats your boat. And sometimes I do elliptical after a lift. Depends on my energy level. I always try and listen to my body!

Welcome!!! Feel free to add me!!

Edit: Also wanted to add that I do a lot of stretches after my lifts now. I was finding that I was feeling a lot of lower back pain and the stretching really helped.

LishieFruit89

Welcome!!

Many babies? Ouch! But congrats!

whats the priority form or weight , my gut says form, am I right.
ALWAYS form.
NEVER EVER sacrifice form for weight.
Becuase you'll hurt yourself.

those nifty bars with the weight on permanently , is the weight on each end the total for the bar or each side? I figured they might be a good option for me till I can use the big girl bar
It's the weight of the whole thing.
Those things are great for warms ups for OHP and row once you hit the bar

also I warmed up with a combo of my bike ride to the gym 15 mins and 20 on the elliptical when I got there ( cause it was a bit cold out this morning) what do you guys do.

I warm up with some cardio (5-10 minutes of the bike or arc trainer) then move to the weight room.
Once I'm there, I do a set of ten squats without any weight.
Then I do 2x5 for squats with a weight about 50% of my working weight(WW)
I do 2x5 warm up for deadlifts, I do 1x10 with the bar warm up for bench, 1x10 with 50% WW for both OHP and rows.
I'm not doing SL though.

annnnd last one

what does everybody do between , on days off. I don't want to go nuts but I'd like to do yoga on the weekends , flexibility is an issue I want to work on and I have been taking a zumba class one day a week and it is so fun I'd like to keep at it.
Any opinions on that?

So you'd end up with 3 days of SL, a day with zumba, and a day with yoga? OR two days with yoga?
Sounds perfect.
Yoga will definitely help with lifting and recovery.

Edit to add: I forgot to tell you what I do!
I'm doing ICF 5x5 (which is like SL but with accessories). I also try and run on the in between days.
But I'm still working my way back from injuries and sometimes there's a mind game for me so I don't always hit all of my workouts. I do my best to make them up if I skip them in the morning by going after work.
But some time this summer, I'm probably going to have to drop lifting to twice a week and/or switch programs since I plan on running a half marathon