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.