Calling all Women Lifters

sbilyeu75

Bumping our thread

Does anyone have lifting goals for this year?

I would love to DL 200lb and have a decent bench. I have a long ways to go, I haven't worked my way up to a bench press on New Rules of Lifting. Another goal is to be able to do at least 5 pull ups.

Anyone else

Mine isn't necessarily lifting goals. But this year, I want to run a 5k, do the Warrior Dash, either lose 20 lbs. or 2 pant sizes (either one) and get to 25% body fat.

Gogo76

Bumping our thread

Does anyone have lifting goals for this year?

I would love to DL 200lb and have a decent bench. I have a long ways to go, I haven't worked my way up to a bench press on New Rules of Lifting. Another goal is to be able to do at least 5 pull ups.

Anyone else

I only have a body fat % goal - I want to be at or below 20% body fat by June 1st. It is going to be really hard, but I am gonna bust my butt to try and make it! At the beginning of December I was at 24.8% and I haven't had it measured since. I usually measure every two months or so.....

Gogo76

This morning, I was doing dead lifts and my left wrist started to hurt on one side in the front up into the meat of my palm under my thumb. I checked to make sure was wasn't over gripping my weights. It stopped hurting a couple minutes after I stopped. Does any one have any idea what caused it and how I can prevent it from happening again?

Sorry hun, never had this happen.

guardup

This morning, I was doing dead lifts and my left wrist started to hurt on one side in the front up into the meat of my palm under my thumb. I checked to make sure was wasn't over gripping my weights. It stopped hurting a couple minutes after I stopped. Does any one have any idea what caused it and how I can prevent it from happening again?

Do you use lifting straps?

Did it hurt on the inside of the wrist (the thumb side) or the outside (the pinkie side) or top (where you wear a watch) or the bottom (where you check your pulse)?

What kind of pain? Sharp and sudden or dull and achey? Did you get any tingling?

Now that its later in the day, do you still feel anything from it? How about when you lift something substantial?

It could be a variety of issues... but if it went away rather quickly and you don't notice any residual problems... and you are able to do the same exercise without any pain... it may have been a cramp.

If there are residual issues, I would suggest immediately icing it and treating it as a strain. If you have any swelling or clicking in your wrist as you move it, or the pain is current even when you don't do anything with it, I would highly suggest seeing a doctor. You may have done something more serious.

If you use wraps, check your wraps to see if they were not cutting in to your wrist. I use Versa Gripps to protect my wrists from excessive strain and because they are a ton easier to apply than straps. They are expensive, but in my opinion, well worth it.

Let me know how it feels.

guardup

Bumping our thread

Does anyone have lifting goals for this year?

I would love to DL 200lb and have a decent bench. I have a long ways to go, I haven't worked my way up to a bench press on New Rules of Lifting. Another goal is to be able to do at least 5 pull ups.

Anyone else

My goal is to hit 15% body fat this year. It's going to be interesting... I am at 18% right now and going from 18 to 15 is supposed to be quite a challenge to do while maintaining muscle mass.

However, I don't compete, so if I don't make it, no big deal. I will go by how I feel. Right now, I am very happy with my body... my strength has hit new levels and my over all health is outstanding. I just love trying to see where I can go with what I've got.

guardup

This morning at the gym:

guardup

Wow. That photo came out much larger than I intended. Sorry about that.

I wanted to post it to make my point that you don't need to work arms more than once a week to get shredded arms. I do core exercises every day - which USE my arms. I only do arms once a week.

I'd rather save my "juice" for my core exercises than blast my arms every other day and have my core exercises suffer.

millerll

Holy crap, Meghan! I'd kill for those arms! Any chance you'd share your routine with me? I also work arms once a week, but I'm not getting near those results. I'm also around 18% BF, so maybe I could learn a few tips.

As for my goals - totally derailed. I've been having lower back pain, and the specialists I've seen want me to cut out deadlifts, squats, leg presses and running. I can live without the running as it was buggering up my knee anyway, but I'm pretty pissed about the others. I just hit a 250 DL and I'd hoped to get to 300 before the summer was over, but now I just don't know.

They want to give me a steroid shot to reduce the nerve inflammation and see if that helps. Maybe I'll be able to resume later this year, but for now, nada. And of course, my MRI was clear, so there's no smoking gun there. At least I don't need surgery, but still......pfffftt. :grumble:

Hope you meet your goals!

guardup

Holy crap, Meghan! I'd kill for those arms! Any chance you'd share your routine with me? I also work arms once a week, but I'm not getting near those results. I'm also around 18% BF, so maybe I could learn a few tips.

As for my goals - totally derailed. I've been having lower back pain, and the specialists I've seen want me to cut out deadlifts, squats, leg presses and running. I can live without the running as it was buggering up my knee anyway, but I'm pretty pissed about the others. I just hit a 250 DL and I'd hoped to get to 300 before the summer was over, but now I just don't know.

They want to give me a steroid shot to reduce the nerve inflammation and see if that helps. Maybe I'll be able to resume later this year, but for now, nada. And of course, my MRI was clear, so there's no smoking gun there. At least I don't need surgery, but still......pfffftt. :grumble:

Hope you meet your goals!

Ew. Steroid shot. Have your tried ice, massage and ibuprofen first?

I had lower back problems for many years. Then I found an excellent physical therapist who gave me exercises to do. I was able to bring myself back to a very good level of fitness. Still do the exercises today.

I don't deadlift more than my body weight. I do high reps SLOWLY and watch my form carefully. I am very careful about any exercises that have to do with my back and knees. If I am going to do any lifting of any weights over my body weight, I do them on machines.

I also don't run. I walk. A lot. Running bothers my knees and the balls of my feet. I can get an excellent cardio workout and calorie burn walking at 4 to 4.5 miles an hours. When I want a change of pace, I walk at the mall during crappy weather and I run up the stairs.

As for my arms, I do almost twice as many back exercises as I do chest exercises. I focus much of my efforts on protecting my spine and posture with as many exercises as I can find. Almost all back exercises incorporate the biceps. I also love chin ups and enjoy getting creative with how I do them.

Once a week, I do arms and I work my biceps like I work all of my muscles... from the top, middle and bottom (using varied angles of curls) as well as twist curls and reverse curls. Key ideas here: FULL RANGE OF SLOW MOTION. Lower your weights until you are able to do your reps with a full range slowly. No swinging, no rocking the hips, no projecting the elbows out.

Also, I change up my grip. I do a close grip, wide grip, reverse grip, hammer grip and try the cable pulls with with ropes to pull. This hits the different heads (long and short) on the bicep. I switch between bar and dumbells each week.

For my triceps, I pretty much do the same thing but in reverse. For my forearms, I do isolated wrist curls and reverse curls. I also go without straps on my light lifting days to force me to use those muscles.

Hope this helps.

HollyMac20

Hi Ladies,

Joining the thread to pick up a few tips. I have lifted on and off through the years, but have become someone of a cardio junky in the last year or so. I love self weight excerices like push ups and chin ups, but know I need more. I had a gym membership forever, but found I would rome around and not know what to do. I have found P90X to be a great guide. It is like having a trainer every time I lift. My goal is to do at least arms one day and legs one day for now. Then I am sure I will bump it up.

For the P90X'ers, if you were to do one upper body workout a week what would it be? Then what would be your second?

millerll

Holy crap, Meghan! I'd kill for those arms! Any chance you'd share your routine with me? I also work arms once a week, but I'm not getting near those results. I'm also around 18% BF, so maybe I could learn a few tips.

As for my goals - totally derailed. I've been having lower back pain, and the specialists I've seen want me to cut out deadlifts, squats, leg presses and running. I can live without the running as it was buggering up my knee anyway, but I'm pretty pissed about the others. I just hit a 250 DL and I'd hoped to get to 300 before the summer was over, but now I just don't know.

They want to give me a steroid shot to reduce the nerve inflammation and see if that helps. Maybe I'll be able to resume later this year, but for now, nada. And of course, my MRI was clear, so there's no smoking gun there. At least I don't need surgery, but still......pfffftt. :grumble:

Hope you meet your goals!

Ew. Steroid shot. Have your tried ice, massage and ibuprofen first?

I had lower back problems for many years. Then I found an excellent physical therapist who gave me exercises to do. I was able to bring myself back to a very good level of fitness. Still do the exercises today.

I don't deadlift more than my body weight. I do high reps SLOWLY and watch my form carefully. I am very careful about any exercises that have to do with my back and knees. If I am going to do any lifting of any weights over my body weight, I do them on machines.

I also don't run. I walk. A lot. Running bothers my knees and the balls of my feet. I can get an excellent cardio workout and calorie burn walking at 4 to 4.5 miles an hours. When I want a change of pace, I walk at the mall during crappy weather and I run up the stairs.

As for my arms, I do almost twice as many back exercises as I do chest exercises. I focus much of my efforts on protecting my spine and posture with as many exercises as I can find. Almost all back exercises incorporate the biceps. I also love chin ups and enjoy getting creative with how I do them.

Once a week, I do arms and I work my biceps like I work all of my muscles... from the top, middle and bottom (using varied angles of curls) as well as twist curls and reverse curls. Key ideas here: FULL RANGE OF SLOW MOTION. Lower your weights until you are able to do your reps with a full range slowly. No swinging, no rocking the hips, no projecting the elbows out.

Also, I change up my grip. I do a close grip, wide grip, reverse grip, hammer grip and try the cable pulls with with ropes to pull. This hits the different heads (long and short) on the bicep. I switch between bar and dumbells each week.

For my triceps, I pretty much do the same thing but in reverse. For my forearms, I do isolated wrist curls and reverse curls. I also go without straps on my light lifting days to force me to use those muscles.

Hope this helps.

Thanks so much for the tips. I haven't used ice or masssge, but I want to try massage soon. They sent me for physical therapy - exercises, laser, and electrical stimulation - but it didn't do diddly. The tests definitely show some nerve deficit, and I have tingling down the back of my leg, so it's not just muscular.

I do all my sets slowly with careful attention to form. I DL twice my bodyweight, and I had hoped to take up squatting again, which I usually do with about 1.5 times my BW, if not more. I do a similar arm workout as you - maybe I need to add more sets. I currently do about 3 sets of 2 or 3 different exercises per muscle group. I start at 10 reps, then up the weight for 8, then same for 6 or until failure. Once I can do the heaviest weight for 6 good clean reps, I up the weight again. The exception is I do 21s for biceps - 3 sets of 7 reps, one set bottom to halfway, one set of halfway to top, one set of full range of motion. I've gotten great results from that, but not near what you're getting. Oh, well, maybe I'm just genetically programmed to have scrawny arms!

I'm not keen on the shot, but the doc thinks it'll relieve the inflammation long enough for the nerve to heal. I might not need another one. We'll see. Good luck!

JoyousRen

I love reading this thread even though I don't post often. You all give me inspiration to keep lifting!

mmtiernan

Bump for later!

ceebs9

I plan on following this thread. I love lifting heavy weights. I'm an avid Crossfitter who wants to make some serious improvements, especially any overhead lifts. Joined this site to work on my nutrition, but can't figure out how to log my Crossfit workouts. Guess it's not that important, but I'd love to be able to do it. I LOVE seeing women who aren't afraid to lift!

guardup

I plan on following this thread. I love lifting heavy weights. I'm an avid Crossfitter who wants to make some serious improvements, especially any overhead lifts. Joined this site to work on my nutrition, but can't figure out how to log my Crossfit workouts. Guess it's not that important, but I'd love to be able to do it. I LOVE seeing women who aren't afraid to lift!

That's great to hear!

One bit of advice... when lifting or pulling from overhead... make sure you can see you hands in your peripheral vision while looking straight ahead. The shoulder is not designed to lift heavy loads directly over the head and can ruin your connective tissue over time. Unless you plan on competing in Power Lifting, just stick with slightly angled overheads. You will still get the same upper chest and shoulder sculpt.

ceebs9

Thanks. I have had shoulder issues in the past and my trainers are aware and are very strict about my form. There's also a great website...mobilitywod.com that gives some excellent exercises and stretches, not just for shoulders, but for everything. Check it out if you have any issues.

guardup

I found some excellent free weight training vids on YouTube with a woman who seems to know her stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO_CNYidOw0

When viewing the video, look over to the right and you will see a long list of other vids she made. From her body type, I bet she is a professional figure competitor.

guardup

I plan on following this thread. I love lifting heavy weights. I'm an avid Crossfitter who wants to make some serious improvements, especially any overhead lifts. Joined this site to work on my nutrition, but can't figure out how to log my Crossfit workouts. Guess it's not that important, but I'd love to be able to do it. I LOVE seeing women who aren't afraid to lift!

Welcome aboard!

I don't go by the MFP log amounts for my exercise. I use the function, but I enter the amount of calories burned based on what BodyBugg tells me. I find that often MFP way overstates the calorie burn or in some cases, understates it.

IE: Yesterday I shoveled A LOT of snow for 1.5 hours. MFP wanted to give me 645 calories. BodyBugg told me it was only 323 calories. Keep in mind that BodyBugg is considering my BMR... so what I am logging is my total extra calorie burn above my BMR. But my point is that MFP is trying to give me TWICE the number of calories! That's not a way to lose or maintain weight.

On the other side, MFP wants to only give me 208 calories for 60 minutes of Strength Training. However, I routinely burn 350 calories an hour according to BodyBugg.

I would be tempted to say that it probably all balances out... except that I Strength Train 5-6 days a week. So that differential adds up.

I would suggest that if you really want to track your calorie burn for Crossfit, invest in a BodyBugg or other calorie burn tracker. I am in the minority on this site in that I do NOT endorse an HRM because it has been my experience (and others) that an HRM is terribly inaccurate for determining calorie burn. However, it is accurate if you wish to track your Heart Rate.

ceebs9

Thanks Meghan. I know a few people who have used the BodyBugg. I'm honestly not that concerned about the calories burned. I'm pretty much where I want to be size-wise, although I'd like to lower my body fat a bit. I'm just taking the calorie suggestions on here and realizing that I need more than what they tell me. This site gives me a good general idea of whether or not I'm over or under eating.

My lifts have gone up a bit in the last few months so I'm happy. My cardio endurance seems to be slipping though. Always something to work on, huh?

aprilshowers13

Meghan, Nice arms!!

I was dreading going to the gym today at 11:30am because I thought there would be a large lunch crowd. But to my surprise, there wasn't alot of people in the free weight area. My favorite squat rack was empty I'm feeling good about todays workout.

guardup

Meghan, Nice arms!!

Thank you.

Had an awesome workout today. My friends from the fire dept. and police dept were there and we talked while lifting. We all ride motorcycles so its fun to complain about the New England weather while waiting for spring.

Finally over my injured shoulder/chest muscle. Did sets of 50 push ups and 15 chin ups as well as lots of oblique work. Went home with that excellent post workout buzz.

I sometimes imagine that when I retire I will just be a gym rat. I'll spend 3 hours a day at the gym every morning. And then start my day doing whatever it is I want to do in retirement.

That would be life. :happy:

sbilyeu75

[/quote]

Finally over my injured shoulder/chest muscle. Did sets of 50 push ups and 15 chin ups as well as lots of oblique work. [/quote]

SETS OF 50???? **** the bed Charlie Brown. I've just been proud to be able to do sets of 10. I have yet to be able to do a chin up.

guardup

Finally over my injured shoulder/chest muscle. Did sets of 50 push ups and 15 chin ups as well as lots of oblique work. [/quote]

SETS OF 50???? **** the bed Charlie Brown. I've just been proud to be able to do sets of 10. I have yet to be able to do a chin up.
[/quote]

Keep at it and you will get there. Build up slowly to it. Ironically, my chin ups and push ups drastically increased when I took a break from doing them and focused on training just the muscle groups involved in those activities.

I used to bench press my body weight regularly. Now I just stack on 115lbs and do sets of 12-15. I rotate in 45lb. dumbbells once a week to make sure I'm not cheating one side (easy to do with barbells).

Not only have I gotten more definition, by my ability to do pushups skyrocketed. I am going to switch them up because 50 reps is too time consuming. So I am going to start with my palms closer to my rib cage to engage the triceps more. Can only do 12 or so reps of these. They burn like mad.

If you have a Gravitron machine or other pull up / chin up / dip assist machine, use it! It's very good as long as you keep yourself challenged... set the assist so that you are reaching failure by the 10th rep.

sbilyeu75

If you have a Gravitron machine or other pull up / chin up / dip assist machine, use it! It's very good as long as you keep yourself challenged... set the assist so that you are reaching failure by the 10th rep.

We have an assisted chinup/dip machine at the gym, but I found I cheated with it. I believe my NROL4W will get into chin ups. I'll probably start with the 1/2 chin ups.

I've not benched in awhile. I was only at 75lbs. The last time I did it.

guardup

At the gym, I sometimes have women come over and ask me how they can get as much muscle and definition as I have. I try to give them some simple advice. But when they walk away, I feel like they don't really get it.

Definition is simple: Lower Body Fat.

Muscle is simple: Train to failure.

It is very rare for me to see another woman at the gym train to failure. I generally see them come in, grab some weights, and do 15 or so reps... barely breathing hard... do a few exercises... and walk out in under 45 minutes.

The woman who are a little more serious are breaking a sweat. But they are not getting to failure.

To better explain this for people new to lifting: Failure is when you are doing your last rep and you CANNOT lift the weight any further without assistance. I do not mean that you don't *want* to lift the weight and further - we all experience that about 2-3 reps before failure - I mean that not matter how hard you push and COMMAND your body to lift the weight, it cannot. NOTE: Don't do this without a spotting partner unless you are on a machine that has a safety mechanism for failure.

THIS is what triggers significant muscle growth.

And then, after you have reached total failure, have you Spotter help you do reverses. For example, in Pull Ups, the spotter would help lift you up to the pull up flex position and you lower your body under your own control.

Doing this to failure will send major signals to your body.

Note that working to failure means MUSCLE PAIN the next few days. You should not work that muscle group until the muscle pain is lessened. Some say to not work it until the pain is gone. Since I am over the age of 40, that would mean working a muscle group about once a month.

Stretch and massage after working to failure. Stretch and massage again each day after.

The funny thing is how often I have women ask me how to get muscle and definition... but they don't want to "bulk up" or get "too much muscle". I have to smile at this statement. It takes TONS OF WORK and an extremely high level of determination, ferocious focus and PAIN to get to the size of the women they are thinking about. That's kind of like saying that you don't want to take up jogging because you don't want to be able to run a marathon in under 2.5 hours.

Trust me, getting that kind of muscle is NOT achieved by going to the gym and working a hard sweat 3-4 times a week for an hour or so.

Don't worry about it. Get in there. Train hard and eat smart. You'll get the body you want.

sbilyeu75

I completely agree. When I started going to the gym, I was doing the 12-15 reps. I started looking into the Max-OT program but I wasn't really confident in myself to do the exercises. I did not start showing change until I started lifting in the 4-6 rep range.

I definately need to lose body fat, but that's more diet than anything.

guardup

I completely agree. When I started going to the gym, I was doing the 12-15 reps. I started looking into the Max-OT program but I wasn't really confident in myself to do the exercises. I did not start showing change until I started lifting in the 4-6 rep range.

I definately need to lose body fat, but that's more diet than anything.

One thing to note is that you want to use Periodization with your weight lifting routine so that you do not reach Adaptation - which is where your body adapts to the load you are using and your gains level out.

This means that you want to do heavy weights with low reps for 4-6 weeks and then swap out with higher rep loads for a period. Also, within a given week, I go from 3 rep max sets one day to 10-12 rep sets on the same muscle group later in the week.

Change up your routine regularly and you will maximize your results.

taradyan08

I've starting The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I've found I have most problems with my grip. I thought about getting Versa Gripps but they are awfully pricey. I tried some straps but they just seemed to make it worse.

I'm having the most problems getting into a 40-30-30 ratio. I'm always over on carbs and under on protein. That's just something I'm going to have to refine.

I use VersaGripps. Yeah, they are pricey. But they are AMAZING. They are so simple to grab the bar... just slip the leather under and your hand over.. grab the leather... and lift. No wrapping or adjusting or smelly cotton. And I've had the same pair for over a year now with no significant signs of wear and tear. That's impressive considering the amount of lifting I do.

I would suggest doing a protein supplement if you are having problems with protein. I do a 25% ratio for protein because after research I discovered that my body size simply cannot absorb more than 150 grams a day. Even at my lifting routine, I stick to 120 grams. I do whey protein... Jarrow all natural. Would love to find a Whey Protein Isolate that is all natural because I am lactose intolerant.

I also do a lot of chicken, salmon, tuna and soy products for extra protein.

Have You tried All Natural Elite Isolate by Dymatize? no artificial flavors, sweetners or colors plus its an isolate!! The whole Elite brand taste amazing even better than Syntha-6 or Muscle Milk and way healthier!!

aprilshowers13

I definately need to lose body fat, but that's more diet than anything.

Same here. I say that I'm dieting but I'm not. I'm always over on cals. I don't remeber it being this hard when I first started.

sbilyeu75

I've starting The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I've found I have most problems with my grip. I thought about getting Versa Gripps but they are awfully pricey. I tried some straps but they just seemed to make it worse.

I'm having the most problems getting into a 40-30-30 ratio. I'm always over on carbs and under on protein. That's just something I'm going to have to refine.

I use VersaGripps. Yeah, they are pricey. But they are AMAZING. They are so simple to grab the bar... just slip the leather under and your hand over.. grab the leather... and lift. No wrapping or adjusting or smelly cotton. And I've had the same pair for over a year now with no significant signs of wear and tear. That's impressive considering the amount of lifting I do.

I would suggest doing a protein supplement if you are having problems with protein. I do a 25% ratio for protein because after research I discovered that my body size simply cannot absorb more than 150 grams a day. Even at my lifting routine, I stick to 120 grams. I do whey protein... Jarrow all natural. Would love to find a Whey Protein Isolate that is all natural because I am lactose intolerant.

I also do a lot of chicken, salmon, tuna and soy products for extra protein.

Have You tried All Natural Elite Isolate by Dymatize? no artificial flavors, sweetners or colors plus its an isolate!! The whole Elite brand taste amazing even better than Syntha-6 or Muscle Milk and way healthier!!

I've tried the Elite version. It was ok, but it had a chemical after taste. Check for Acesulfame Potassium or Acesulfame K in the ingredients. That is how they sweeten the Elite version.