Starting today! How do you like your new shape?

lavendy17

Well, genetics ultimately determines your shape - where you store fat, where fat comes off of first, how dangerous your curves will be, etc. so can't really make any promises on that front. If you're eating at a deficit, then you will not increase your current muscle mass (fat loss should be occurring which will make your muscles more visible, but they will not grow bigger - it's an optical illusion that often gets misconstrued as "bulky"). However, for me personally, I love what lifting has done and continues to do for my body. Everything feels firmer. I feel stronger. I am stronger. My butt looks fantastic. Lifting for me just brings out whatever shape I am naturally under all my fat, which is again, pre-determined by genetics. I'll always be busty no matter what my body fat percentage is and having muscle definition in general makes me feel good about myself.

^^All of this except I'm not busty lol!

I write this as I'm sitting in my office at work flexing my arms right now..... I like to feel the muscles in my arm hahaha I hope I'm not the only one that does this.

I LOVE the changes to my body!! I have been at it for about 4.5 months, and my butt is rising, stomach flattening, shoulders looking firmer--more straight across. But my arms--my gosh! I am like Christiano Ronaldo now with my mirror obsession--It really is embarassing how much I love my arms. Still a little jiggly on the underside, but not enough to make me buy a dress or a shirt with sleeves for the summer--LOL......

Give the program a go--you can always slow down or stop, if you dont like what's going on with your own self... But I bet you will!! Good luck.

Your changes sound awesome! Kudos!

redheadmommy

Thanks for all the honest replies. I guess what you say @canadianlbs about keeping an eye on how I look and then going from there is a good idea.

@redheadmommy, I'm not an expert but I think in the squats, if your quads are getting worked- possibly you're not hitting parallel? I think squats work your glutes and core, at least from what I gather watching Mehdi's videos.

I have ****ty form in some moves, but squat is definetly not one of them. I go waay below parallel. Actually I got a couple of complement about my squat form because I go lower than anybody in my gym. I literally almost hit the floor with my butt. I also tried wider stance , because some personal trainer suggested it. At the end of the day, it is genetic. Squat is great full lower body exercise that works on everything , but some muscle respond to it faster than others. The meanwhile my Strong curves book arrived and it really opened my eyes about glutes. I strongly recommend BTW.

Also the truth to be told, from spring to fall I commute by bike (45 minutes one way). Moreover I pull my toddler and my kindergartener behind me until about half way. This is the first year I have a double trailer with 2 kids, so that is quite a bit of load increase from before. (Kids, trailer, backbacks together are 120lb or more) .
I know the biking is partially responsible about my unwanted quad increase this year. Also different people have different expectation / preference what they want to look like. I personally I do not want to look like Elisa Frisoni ( italian cyclist) and I am heading into that direction.
The good things is, muscle takes time to grow. After a few months you can review your progress and if things heading into direction that is not welcomed, program can be changed/ tweaked etc. Form me that time have come. I need/ want more arms/ upper body than Stronglift alone can give me and I want less quads than 3 heavy squatting generates. If you peak into the check in threads, you will see that most women tweaked the original SL 5x5 program after a few months.
It is a great base / beginner program to heavy lifting. It doesn't mean you have to keep do it unchanged for years.

randomtai

Thanks for all the honest replies. I guess what you say @canadianlbs about keeping an eye on how I look and then going from there is a good idea.

@redheadmommy, I'm not an expert but I think in the squats, if your quads are getting worked- possibly you're not hitting parallel? I think squats work your glutes and core, at least from what I gather watching Mehdi's videos.

I have ****ty form in some moves, but squat is definetly not one of them. I go waay below parallel. Actually I got a couple of complement about my squat form because I go lower than anybody in my gym. I literally almost hit the floor with my butt. I also tried wider stance , because some personal trainer suggested it. At the end of the day, it is genetic. Squat is great full lower body exercise that works on everything , but some muscle respond to it faster than others. The meanwhile my Strong curves book arrived and it really opened my eyes about glutes. I strongly recommend BTW.

Also the truth to be told, from spring to fall I commute by bike (45 minutes one way). Moreover I pull my toddler and my kindergartener behind me until about half way. This is the first year I have a double trailer with 2 kids, so that is quite a bit of load increase from before. (Kids, trailer, backbacks together are 120lb or more) .
I know the biking is partially responsible about my unwanted quad increase this year. Also different people have different expectation / preference what they want to look like. I personally I do not want to look like Elisa Frisoni ( italian cyclist) and I am heading into that direction.
The good things is, muscle takes time to grow. After a few months you can review your progress and if things heading into direction that is not welcomed, program can be changed/ tweaked etc. Form me that time have come. I need/ want more arms/ upper body than Stronglift alone can give me and I want less quads than 3 heavy squatting generates. If you peak into the check in threads, you will see that most women tweaked the original SL 5x5 program after a few months.
It is a great base / beginner program to heavy lifting. It doesn't mean you have to keep do it unchanged for years.

So it was the biking and not the squats... ok.

gixbr

Speaking of husbands- mine is trying to talk me out of this program.
1. He is concerned that I might hurt myself. I am going at it alone, no spotters. But if I take it slow and educate myself on proper form, I should be OK, no? (Review SL again and again and post form check videos....)
2. We started trying to grow our family and he says that when I'm preggers I'll have to stop. I guess that's true (is it?!?), but we'll climb that bridge when we get to it, right?

1- I was so afraid to hurt myself when I started. I did my first row and already thought I shouldn't be doing that. But I kept going anyway, watching videos on youtube and reading about form has helped me tons. I'm not afraid of hurting myself anymore, I know my limits and I don't push them too hard if I don't have a spotter (my husband) around. I felt a lot of pain on my lower back in the beginning but now I don't anymore, I work on my form every single workout. It's an ongoing process, you will love it

2- I was thinking about that a while ago and I remember looking up online and reading a few articles. From what I gathered, basically you are working out just to keep SOME of the strength you gained, but you are not supposed to push yourself too hard. It also depends how fit you are when you get pregnant.