July workout check-in thread - Don't July about your PR
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Also too lazy to log my workouts. :-) I am not as busy as you other folks by far and yet I don't feel like I have time. (Applying to jobs is kind of one of the toughest job?)
Leaving in 9 days to go to my sister's wedding for 5 days so I'll be in unsure-gym equipment and schedule land and I happen to be failing or near failing on almost all of my lifts so I won't be increasing on anything but DL until afterwards I don't think. :-) Gonna get gain confidence on my form at:
Sq- 120lbs (stop favoring right leg!)
OHP- 65 (stop...nearly killing myself and making sure I'm only using forward hip motion and no bounce. which is still cheating?)
DL- 135+ (focus on using hips)
Bench- 80 (watch more videos and read up more on form)
Row- 75-80 (stop hating on it so much and just increase the damn weight already 'cuz it ain't ever gon' feel good)
I've done 5x5 in some non-injury-inducing way with all of these except ohp, but something ain't right about them. Will be concentrating on putting the weight through my heels on my squat like you suggested, @ladyDL! Also for the bench press I can't get my feet flat on the ground in a comfortable stable way. Will need to work on this I bet in order to increase the weight.0 -
@jcdoerr I did, lots of food and wine, but I got back to reality today.
B today while in the rack next to a guy who appeared to be a powerlifter considering he was squatting 365lbs, benched 315lbs, and used wraps on his knees, wrists, and elbows along with a strap 0.o
Squats: 120lbs 3x5.
OHP: kept its at 45lbs 3x5
DL: 140lbs 1x5
Probably will keep them there for the week since it felt easy today but I had the holiday to thank for that (FOOD!)0 -
Twinged the lower right side of my back on Tuesday of last week (last rep of dead lifts), so Sunday was my first day back lifting heavy again. I could feel it on squats, and I think that is why I struggled a bit on my sets. Also, my form is tweaked a tiny bit, so still getting used to that.
Squats: @150 5, 5, 4, 3, 4 lots of safety rail hitting and reloading the bar, lol
Bench: @95 5x5
Row: @95 5x5, that deload really helped me, I'm back up to stall weight and feeling good
Today I did a quick circuit with my trainer, and taught swim from 10-6. I am aiming to hit the gym tomorrow, but gotta see how I'm feeling upon waking up because tomorrow is DL. I have ordered an Inzer belt, which I think is really going to help my performance on squats and dead lifts. It's gonna be hell waiting for 3 weeks.0 -
Wow, I guess I better catch up on my check-ins.
July 1st: Stronglifts 5x5 (A): Squats = warmup + 5x5@100#, Bench Press = warmup + 3x5@80#, failed on my 4th set and only managed 4 without a spotter, continued with my last set of 5 with a spotter, Barbell row = warmup + 5x5@70#. I also walked the dog for a quick 11 minutes and did a little 4 minute workout that included pushups, incline situps, jumping jacks, 1 minute plank, 1 minute jumping rope and a sun salutation (something my kids and I do together).
July 2nd: 34 minutes on the elliptical
July 3rd: Stronglifts 5x5 (B): Squats = warmup + 5x5@100#, OHP = warmup + 5x5@50#, Deadlifts = 1x5@95#
July 5th: 1 hour 27 minute hike near our cabin in the mountains and using a lot of upper body strength to drive around a 4wheeler on a very rocky and rutted road/path
July 6th: 29 minutes hike near our cabin and again a lot of upper body strength steering our 4wheeler crawling over rocks and ruts
Today: Stronglifts 5x5 (A): Squats = warmup + 5x5@100#, Bench press = warmup + 5x5@80#, Barbell rows = warmups + 5x5@70# and 10 minutes walking on treadmill at 3.5mph pace.0 -
Heeey, newbie here... may I come in?
I started SL yesterday and god it felt tough! I didn't think I was "that" weak but I was determined to push through the whole workout, even if that meant I had to stop sometimes to rest a bit between each rep. If I felt I didn't do it right, I repeated that again, so I ended logging all 5 sets of 5 reps:
Workout A:
- Squats (in the crappy Smith Machine as it's the only thing on my gym...): 5x5 @ 20kg (I am working on my depth for this as I have always had a real trouble with squats because of my non-existent flexibility so I have to open the hips like A LOT to be able to go deeper (almost sumo squats... haha). I realised though that it became really hard to go up again, but I did it, eventually.
- Bench press: 5x5 @ 20kg (again, on a few instances the bar would not go up and would move a lot (boyfriend to the rescue) but I didn't let it go so after resting a bit in the bench, I would repeat the sets until I got the 5 full ones each time.
- Barbell row: 5x5 @ 30kg (this one was probably the toughest, I think I was knackered already, after more than an hour, and because my gym does not have power racks, they were far too low. I tried to put some plates to make it a bit higher but I'm super short so i don't know if I got anything from this specific exercise...)
I have to say that it all felt really heavy but I did push to do everything as I could and would refuse to use one of the small fixed weights barebells :P I'm not sure I'd be able to increase by that much next work out (tomorrow). I'm aware of the Smith Machine and how bad it is and I have spotted a weight rack on the gym which has the fixed barbells on it, I might ask if I can use that as a squat/power rack because the height is perfect for me (I think I know the answer but hey ho, maybe it gets "emptied" all of a sudden :P). Otherwise, I might get my boyfriend to help me get the bar on the shoulders and do them in the air, but I suppose this is NOT an option when the weight is increased by a lot.
My boyfriend did record me on my second set of squats. I know I went deeper on sets 4 and 5 because I struggled big time to go up after, so I might post this in the form check area, although I don't even think you can call that squats...
Anyway, it feels sore today around the biceps, quads and BUM! I plan to do cardio on my days off-lifting but today it's going to be a very relaxed swim to get ready for tomorrow
Thank you all for reading, you are AMAZING!0 -
DRAAMA-LLAMA IN THE GYM TODAY. Our gym is a commercial Retro and the bench press racks don't have safety catches. So some guy was training bench and, since his usually posse of spotters wasn't around, moved over to a SQUAT RACK (1 of only 2) to continue his workout. Now, I have mad respect for the guy for benching 450lbs, but it was just rude to do that, sorry, although I understand the reasons why.
So I, being as polite as I could, didn't do a complete workout, giving the small group of very angry people waiting a chance to use my squat rack.
Squats: 145lbs 2x5, 155lbs 1x3
OHP: 55lbs 1x3 (this was my warm up, but also when I realized the backlog of people near me, so I just cut it short)
Deadlift: 165lbs 1x50 -
Hi, can I join in this thread?
I started yesterday.
I just did the basic starting weights.
Squats were easy, form was good.
But I have some questions coming up about these -
Bench- never done it before. Got stuck and a nice muscle man had to come to my rescue. I tried the "roll of shame" but that scared me a little. The whole thing is scary- like I'm gonna drop it on my face at some point. Luckily, for my last set my DH was finished with his jog and came to help me so I felt safe enough to finish 5 reps. He said my form looked good.
Bench question 1- I am short with short legs. I cannot reach the floor. I use the little foot stool that's built into the bench but then it's not really how it looks on Mehdi's video. But that was the only way I could be strong enough for the routine.
Bench question 2- my wrists hurt quite a bit after. I tried the tips on the SL site, but does anybody have other ideas?
Barbell row- I used a 60lb small barbell, but it's too close to the floor. My belly was touching my thighs. We have this platform at the gym I can use next time, but then how do I return the barbell to the floor on each rep?
Thanks!0 -
I last posted on 6/27 before leaving for vacation. I'm backkkkk.
I did two of the bodyweight routines @krok suggested while I was away. I still can't do a real push up. I haz a sad. :sad:
Towards the end of vacation, I was getting antsy and missed lifting (never thought I'd hear myself say that lol!), so despite the fact that I knew the only planet fitness within driving distance of the vacation house had no squat rack or olympic barbells, I just HAD to get some sort of workout in. Man did that gym SUCK. I wouldn't even call it a gym. They had no pre-weighted bars, and literally half of the dumbbells were missing. Where did they go? I wanted to send out a search party for them. Certainly no one else in that gym was using them... they were just missing. I was able to do:
-65lb dumbbell goblet squat 5x5 (they didn't have anything heavier than 65#...)
-50lb OHP 5x5 USING A CURL BAR. The horror. They had literally no other bars. I also loaded a 45# plate on each side of the curl bar ::shudders:: and deadlifted it for 2x5. I honestly don't think anyone in the gym even knew what I was doing when I did the DL, so no planet fitness lunk alarm was pulled. :drinker:
Skipped the gym yesterday morning because I only had a few hours of sleep Sunday night and wanted to sleep in. I cancelled my PF membership as soon as I returned from vacation on Sunday, because while I was away, the new gym 5 minutes from my house finally opened after a long awaited grand opening!!! I already purchased a membership, and went there this morning for the first time and did workout A:
-Squat: Warmup, then as I got to a 115lb warmup, I struggled to do a set of 5. I squatted 140 on 6/27. This sucked. I did 115 for 5x5 total, and almost failed and dropped the bar on set 4. Boooo.
-BP: Warmup then 70lb 5x5. I was at 80lb 5x5 before vacation, took it easy today in case I couldn't go any higher.
Row: 60lb 5x5... kept weight the same from last time.
Also cleaned and pressed 55lb for 2x4 OHP from the floor after I finished rows, just to practice them.
I'm glad to be back!! The new gym was soooo nice. No silly rules, and I was the only person in the entire place when they opened at 5am this morning.0 -
I'm a bit of a noob at this, but I started 5x5 on the 1st, So I have done a workout July 1, 3, 5, and 7th. I wasn't throwing around super heavy weight because 1) I'm not strong enough yet 2) I don't have enough plates
y'all are awesome though! I can't wait to get up there to triple digits!
Starting points on the 1st:
Squat 40lbs
OHP 45lbs
DL 55lbs
Row 30lbs
Bench 30lbs
Current place:
Squat 55lbs
OHP 45lbs (this is hard!! I tried doing 50, but did 5/4/5/5/5)
DL 65lbs
Row 35lbs
Bench 35lbs0 -
@maryetamfp welcome!
@KaterinaTerese sorry you didn't get your full workout in. Sounds like a whole lot of drama for sure!
@noaecker welcome, so great to see some more newbies around here!
@willrun4bagels, welcome back from vacation! Sounds like you made do but I'm sure it feels great to be able to do your full routine without complications!
@doowop713, welcome! Congrats on your first successful week!0 -
I'm a bit of a noob at this, but I started 5x5 on the 1st, So I have done a workout July 1, 3, 5, and 7th. I wasn't throwing around super heavy weight because 1) I'm not strong enough yet 2) I don't have enough plates
y'all are awesome though! I can't wait to get up there to triple digits!
Starting points on the 1st:
Squat 40lbs
OHP 45lbs
DL 55lbs
Row 30lbs
Bench 30lbs
Current place:
Squat 55lbs
OHP 45lbs (this is hard!! I tried doing 50, but did 5/4/5/5/5)
DL 65lbs
Row 35lbs
Bench 35lbs
Welcome to all the newbies!
@doopwop, I'd suggest resting longer between your OHP sets if you got 54555. And I'm talking about a good couple minutes as opposed to 30 seconds to 1 minute. You are doing great! 0 -
My check-in is as follows:
I don't like the knurling on the bar I used today.
Dumbbell shoulder presses feel so weird now. Arms are too freeeeeeeee0 -
Workout A for me yesterday.
Squats - 5x5 @15kg form was much better and getting deeper so will keep adding weight at last
Bench - 5/4/5/4/5 @22.5kg 3rd fail so deload next time
Rows - 5x5 @25kg form felt off, I felt it in my knees, but I feel fine today so couldn't have been too bad
I did my bench press in the rack because I felt so unsafe before. I don't think it's a problem at my gym since there is usually plenty of equipment for the amount of people there. Feeling much more comfortable and less intimidated in the weights area now.
A question about row form...How wide should feet be? Similar to squat or narrower?0 -
Hi, can I join in this thread?
I started yesterday.
I just did the basic starting weights.
Squats were easy, form was good.
But I have some questions coming up about these -
Bench- never done it before. Got stuck and a nice muscle man had to come to my rescue. I tried the "roll of shame" but that scared me a little. The whole thing is scary- like I'm gonna drop it on my face at some point. Luckily, for my last set my DH was finished with his jog and came to help me so I felt safe enough to finish 5 reps. He said my form looked good.
Bench question 1- I am short with short legs. I cannot reach the floor. I use the little foot stool that's built into the bench but then it's not really how it looks on Mehdi's video. But that was the only way I could be strong enough for the routine.
Bench question 2- my wrists hurt quite a bit after. I tried the tips on the SL site, but does anybody have other ideas?
Barbell row- I used a 60lb small barbell, but it's too close to the floor. My belly was touching my thighs. We have this platform at the gym I can use next time, but then how do I return the barbell to the floor on each rep?
Thanks!
Hi and welcome! I am quite new as well and if you read earlier posts I was feeling the same about bench press last week. Very nervous and sure I was going to drop it on my face. I experienced the same as you where someone had to rescue me from under the bar. Last night I did my bench in the squat rack which meant when I failed, I could put the bar down on the supports. Much better.
I don't have any ideas about sore wrists, but I'm sure someone here will.
For the barbell rows, I rest the bar on an aerobic step and lift and lower it to that instead of the floor.0 -
Hi, can I join in this thread?
I started yesterday.
I just did the basic starting weights.
Squats were easy, form was good.
But I have some questions coming up about these -
Bench- never done it before. Got stuck and a nice muscle man had to come to my rescue. I tried the "roll of shame" but that scared me a little. The whole thing is scary- like I'm gonna drop it on my face at some point. Luckily, for my last set my DH was finished with his jog and came to help me so I felt safe enough to finish 5 reps. He said my form looked good.
Bench question 1- I am short with short legs. I cannot reach the floor. I use the little foot stool that's built into the bench but then it's not really how it looks on Mehdi's video. But that was the only way I could be strong enough for the routine.
Bench question 2- my wrists hurt quite a bit after. I tried the tips on the SL site, but does anybody have other ideas?
Barbell row- I used a 60lb small barbell, but it's too close to the floor. My belly was touching my thighs. We have this platform at the gym I can use next time, but then how do I return the barbell to the floor on each rep?
Thanks!
Bench #1: For all matters of performing the exercise, you could have your feet up on the bench and still perform it correctly. It's actually less stressful on the lower back that way, but you have less leverage and strength due to not having "leg drive" off the floor. If your bench has a platform down at the feet you can use that as well. Unless you plan on competing in a powerlifting meet it's not much of an issue at all!
Bench #2: Make sure you keep the bar into your palm, even more towards the heel of the hand than the fingers. Wrap that thumb around and SQUEEZE the heck out of it. Letting your hands go slack is how you'll 1) drop the bar if it ever happens and 2) hurt your wrists because of the weight shifting on your arm. I made the mistake of not having my arm fully engaged doing skullcrushers and hurt my wrist in august last year, and it only recently stopped giving me grief all the time. Don't let that happen to you!
Rows: Try to get the bar to rest somewhere around mid-shin height. Whatever the plates touch down at that level is what you should return it to on each rep. Basically, you have to pull without momentum or stretch reflex to perform a pendlay row, is all. If you really can't do it, bent over rows are just as good though, long as you don't bounce the weight around to get it up
Hope that answers your questions a bit! Welcome to the group! =D0 -
Woohoo! Everyone's kickin some booty with these workouts! Keep it up!!
Did Workout A last night. I switched it to 3x5 due to the fact that I'm taking 5 or more minutes between squat sets and 3 to 5 minutes between everything else and I'm almost up to 2 hours per workout. !!! Too long. Sorry. Went down to 3x5 and it still took me over an hour (just barely over an hour, but I rushed in 10 reps of an accessory move at a completely too light weight just because I really wanted to do some accessory lifts).
Squat - 3x5 @152.5lbs
Bench - 3x5 @ 85lbs
Row - 3x5 @ 82.5lbs
SLDL - 1x10 @ 82.5lbs
I'm going to keep squats @ 152.5lbs for one more workout and rows @ 82.5lbs for one more workout. Bench I feel totally confident moving up on, though, so 87.5lbs watch out - I'm comin' for ya!0 -
Hi, can I join in this thread?
I started yesterday.
I just did the basic starting weights.
Squats were easy, form was good.
But I have some questions coming up about these -
Bench- never done it before. Got stuck and a nice muscle man had to come to my rescue. I tried the "roll of shame" but that scared me a little. The whole thing is scary- like I'm gonna drop it on my face at some point. Luckily, for my last set my DH was finished with his jog and came to help me so I felt safe enough to finish 5 reps. He said my form looked good.
Bench question 1- I am short with short legs. I cannot reach the floor. I use the little foot stool that's built into the bench but then it's not really how it looks on Mehdi's video. But that was the only way I could be strong enough for the routine.
Bench question 2- my wrists hurt quite a bit after. I tried the tips on the SL site, but does anybody have other ideas?
Barbell row- I used a 60lb small barbell, but it's too close to the floor. My belly was touching my thighs. We have this platform at the gym I can use next time, but then how do I return the barbell to the floor on each rep?
Thanks!
Bench #1: For all matters of performing the exercise, you could have your feet up on the bench and still perform it correctly. It's actually less stressful on the lower back that way, but you have less leverage and strength due to not having "leg drive" off the floor. If your bench has a platform down at the feet you can use that as well. Unless you plan on competing in a powerlifting meet it's not much of an issue at all!
Bench #2: Make sure you keep the bar into your palm, even more towards the heel of the hand than the fingers. Wrap that thumb around and SQUEEZE the heck out of it. Letting your hands go slack is how you'll 1) drop the bar if it ever happens and 2) hurt your wrists because of the weight shifting on your arm. I made the mistake of not having my arm fully engaged doing skullcrushers and hurt my wrist in august last year, and it only recently stopped giving me grief all the time. Don't let that happen to you!
Rows: Try to get the bar to rest somewhere around mid-shin height. Whatever the plates touch down at that level is what you should return it to on each rep. Basically, you have to pull without momentum or stretch reflex to perform a pendlay row, is all. If you really can't do it, bent over rows are just as good though, long as you don't bounce the weight around to get it up
Hope that answers your questions a bit! Welcome to the group! =D
Thanks so much for taking the time to help me!0 -
I feel like such a flake!
(but not really and you'll see why)
I did SL ONCE, and I am now abandoning it. I was waiting for almost two months to start SL (I had various interruptions). So Monday I finally began. My DH came along and he saw a small group with a trainer doing a special program called Strong IV Life. It's a new initiative at my gym. It's very small groups that do very similar stuff to SL, although somewhat more varied. So my DH talked to the trainer who manages the program and last night he gave us an intro class. He is very well educated and based on all the research I've been doing for the last 6 months, I can tell he knows what he's doing. Additionally, having someone professional watch over us and correct us is very valuable.
After the class ended came that awkward moment of 'so how much is this gonna cost'. We had a number in mind that was like, if it costs this much we will have a serious dilemma. What it actually cost is not even half of what we feared, so very very affordable. We still have to make changes to our budget, but it's a good change. I committed to cooking lunch so we don't buy lunch out every day. That should help us break even, and have additional control over our diets.
Lastly, I really wanted to do a program together with my DH since he's also my best friend, and I decided it was the right thing even if I feel a bit like a flake.
I will keep posting my progress here. but it will probably be a little different.0 -
@maryetamfp welcome!
@KaterinaTerese sorry you didn't get your full workout in. Sounds like a whole lot of drama for sure!
@noaecker welcome, so great to see some more newbies around here!
@willrun4bagels, welcome back from vacation! Sounds like you made do but I'm sure it feels great to be able to do your full routine without complications!
@doowop713, welcome! Congrats on your first successful week!
Thanks!! Looking forward to many more!0 -
I'm a bit of a noob at this, but I started 5x5 on the 1st, So I have done a workout July 1, 3, 5, and 7th. I wasn't throwing around super heavy weight because 1) I'm not strong enough yet 2) I don't have enough plates
y'all are awesome though! I can't wait to get up there to triple digits!
Starting points on the 1st:
Squat 40lbs
OHP 45lbs
DL 55lbs
Row 30lbs
Bench 30lbs
Current place:
Squat 55lbs
OHP 45lbs (this is hard!! I tried doing 50, but did 5/4/5/5/5)
DL 65lbs
Row 35lbs
Bench 35lbs
Welcome to all the newbies!
@doopwop, I'd suggest resting longer between your OHP sets if you got 54555. And I'm talking about a good couple minutes as opposed to 30 seconds to 1 minute. You are doing great!
Thanks for the warm welcome! I think I will have to take more than the time recommended. That is a good suggestion. Thanks!! :flowerforyou:0
