Stage 1
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7B Last night:
Deadlift: made it up to 105#
Shoulder Press: still stuck at 15# boo
Lat Pull: after being stuck at 40# for weeks, 50# was a piece of cake last night and I did my third set at 60# (only 4 reps though)
Lunges: last set at 30#
Swiss ball: three sets of 15 using 10# medicine ball over head plus 40 more at body weight
I have not made a firm decision on AMRAPS yet. I may do them all in one night then take s few days off before Stage 2.0 -
Just finished week 1 and wondering if the pain in my quads and glutes ever goes away... lol0
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Don't feel bad about the bar. You aren't the only one struggling with the weight on this. For some reason I can do 85lb Romanian deadlifts, but only squat 35lbs.
Oh, I also have an old back injury. Take care of your back, and it will take care of you. :-) Form and safety first, weight last. You'll get there.
Whoa! I bow down to your mighty hamstrings. I've always avoided romanian dead lifts thanks to a few overeager sets when I first started lifting and being completely unable to get out of bed! LOL I suppose they'll be in the plan sometime... hopefully by then my hamstrings will be able to match their might!0 -
Haha! They're just powered by my mighty (big) butt! Lol!0
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Haha! They're just powered by my mighty (big) butt! Lol!
:laugh:
thanks for the laugh this early in the am!!0 -
Haha! They're just powered by my mighty (big) butt! Lol!
:laugh:
thanks for the laugh this early in the am!!
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7B completed today. NO lower left quadrant pain!!!
Deadlift 80 lbs
shoulder press graduated to 10 pounds
wide grip lat pull 60 lbs (last week I was able to do 72 ...... I couldn't get the bar pulled down today)
lunges 12.5> 15 pounds
crunches 5 lb ball over head0 -
Just finished week 1 and wondering if the pain in my quads and glutes ever goes away... lol
I just finished week 1 also and was wondering the same thing!!!0 -
yes it will. The first week going from never doing weights to squatting a 45 lb. bar -- yes I noticed that! ha! but subsequent increases of 5# each time and I have never been sore again. (just exhausted, but not sore). 0
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Been away for a week and haven't done lifting since last Monday!
I need to figure out what day I'm on and get back to it tomorrow... partly dreading it and partly excited about it :happy:0 -
I did 6A yesterday and realized partway through that I was supposed to start doing 3 sets with workout 5A. Doh! I'm sort of glad I didn't see it because I would have been scared to raise some of the weights if I'd had to do them 3 times. I might do an extra round between workout 6B and 7A so I can get the 3 sets of 10 reps more solid before moving on to 3 sets of 8 reps.
As for AMRAPs, if I do them, I think I'll use my workout 2A/2B numbers instead of 1A/1B because I was clueless on how heavy I could handle at first and I could have done more than 15 reps on a lot of the weights so it won't say much if I can do 30 now. But by 2A/2B, I was at least close to the max weight I could handle. I was still easily upping a lot of them until the 3rd time around. I try to raise everything at least a little but I've been stuck at the shoulder press 15 lbs each side for a few times now and passing 70 lbs at the seated row isn't happening quickly either. I do get a kick out of warming up the squats/deadlifts with only the oly bar because it feels like I could throw it around almost now and it scared me at first.
Does anyone else have issues with abdominal diastasis (usually from pregnancy)? I did physical therapy to shrink mine after my 2nd son was born -- the PT was 4 years ago now -- and I got the abdominal separation down from 3 finger-widths to under 1. Then when my 3rd was born, it wasn't nearly so bad. But I noticed that when I do swiss ball crunches I can feel the separation widening and things coming through the opening, which freaked me out. My PT had me pull my abs together (using a towel) while doing crunches and I suppose I could do that again. For the time being, I'm doing planks instead of the Swiss ball crunches because that doesn't produce the same problem. But does anyone else deal with this?0 -
Re-posting this here because no one replied to my original post :ohwell:
So I started NROL4W last Wednesday, and I'm about to do workout B today. I do have a few questions though:
- I felt a little sore in my upper body after the day 1 workout, but not in my lower body, so I'm wondering if I should increase the weight resistance already, for squats and step-ups? and by how much at a time? Some history: before this, I was doing body pump classes 1-2 times a week for 2.5 months (and lots of Zumba) and had upped my resistance weight slightly while doing the classes, but I never recorded the progress really. But, I am also prone to overdoing it with the weights and assume I can do more than my body is capable of (quite opposite of what Lou says in the book, I guess I "think like a dude" in that respect lol) Last time this happened, I had pretty intense DOMS in my quads for 5 full days after doing too much in a lifting class, so I'm nervous about this but still want to see progress and results.
- I am not crazy about doing the reverse lunge and twist warmup. I was really unsteady and there isn't enough room for me to do it in my gym walking, I have to remain in one spot. I also have issues with my hip/thigh joints, so lunges make me nervous in general. Does anyone know of a substitute warmup I can do instead, which will work the same muscles?
- Do any of you try to gauge your calorie burns while lifting? I use a HRM for cardio, and I do know that using it for strength training is not accurate. Is there ANY way to find out what I burn while lifting?
Thanks, all advice welcome smile
I have genetic hip joint issues and a recent hip injury. I just did three months of physical therapy, and consistently my therapist would make me do reverse lunges, off a step platform. Initially I was very unsteady and would fall over (that was honestly the case with most standing exercises he had me do), so I would do them next to something that I could lightly touch to help steady myself while I did them. I still find them to be a generally awkward exercise, but my balance is much better now and I can do them freestanding. And all those awkward little exercises have left my hip joints better supported and in less pain than ever before in my life.0 -
I did 6A yesterday and realized partway through that I was supposed to start doing 3 sets with workout 5A. Doh! I'm sort of glad I didn't see it because I would have been scared to raise some of the weights if I'd had to do them 3 times. I might do an extra round between workout 6B and 7A so I can get the 3 sets of 10 reps more solid before moving on to 3 sets of 8 reps.
As for AMRAPs, if I do them, I think I'll use my workout 2A/2B numbers instead of 1A/1B because I was clueless on how heavy I could handle at first and I could have done more than 15 reps on a lot of the weights so it won't say much if I can do 30 now. But by 2A/2B, I was at least close to the max weight I could handle. I was still easily upping a lot of them until the 3rd time around. I try to raise everything at least a little but I've been stuck at the shoulder press 15 lbs each side for a few times now and passing 70 lbs at the seated row isn't happening quickly either. I do get a kick out of warming up the squats/deadlifts with only the oly bar because it feels like I could throw it around almost now and it scared me at first.
Does anyone else have issues with abdominal diastasis (usually from pregnancy)? I did physical therapy to shrink mine after my 2nd son was born -- the PT was 4 years ago now -- and I got the abdominal separation down from 3 finger-widths to under 1. Then when my 3rd was born, it wasn't nearly so bad. But I noticed that when I do swiss ball crunches I can feel the separation widening and things coming through the opening, which freaked me out. My PT had me pull my abs together (using a towel) while doing crunches and I suppose I could do that again. For the time being, I'm doing planks instead of the Swiss ball crunches because that doesn't produce the same problem. But does anyone else deal with this?
Oh ya, don't do crunches! It does make diastasis recti worse! I used to do them like crazy until a doctor who happened to be watching me at the gym came over and told me to stop. She saw my "ridge" (you know what I mean) poking out and came right over.
It's ok anyway, crunches are not the key to a 6-pack, it's the squats and deads!0 -
2B workout today and I can deadlift 25kg (woohoo!) with almost no struggle, so upping it next time. And apparently I have a 'perfect form', according to my trainer :bigsmile:
my biggest weakness is shoulder press, but I expected it - my lower body has always been way stronger than my upper body. I can only do 3kg each hand and that with a big struggle at the end of a second set.0 -
So this is what I did today, my first workout. I used dumbbells, our barbell comes tomorrow.
Squats: 25 lb db
Push ups - against counter 30 degree angle
DB Rows - 25 lb
Step up - used second stair at home with a 20 lb baby because he wouldn't site down.
Reverse crunch
Does that look pretty,wimpy?0 -
I completed workout 2A over the weekend and will be doing 2B tonight! The soreness still hasn't gone away, though it has eased up a bit. I am not looking foward to the lunges!
Since I suprised myself during my first A workout by being able to do all the push ups, I tried doing the "T" push ups instead and they were tough! It was much harder to keep myself stable than I imagined. I know that technically since the number of reps goes down for my next A workout I should theoretically add weight but I'll probably just try to do them slow and with good form, since I probably looked like a mess doing them before!0 -
So this is what I did today, my first workout. I used dumbbells, our barbell comes tomorrow.
Squats: 25 lb db
Push ups - against counter 30 degree angle
DB Rows - 25 lb
Step up - used second stair at home with a 20 lb baby because he wouldn't site down.
Reverse crunch
Does that look pretty,wimpy?
If all 15 reps were tough, sounds like it was just right. 0 -
So this is what I did today, my first workout. I used dumbbells, our barbell comes tomorrow.
Squats: 25 lb db
Push ups - against counter 30 degree angle
DB Rows - 25 lb
Step up - used second stair at home with a 20 lb baby because he wouldn't site down.
Reverse crunch
Does that look pretty,wimpy?
I love how ingenious you are! (the baby) That's a good one. 0 -
So this is what I did today, my first workout. I used dumbbells, our barbell comes tomorrow.
Squats: 25 lb db
Push ups - against counter 30 degree angle
DB Rows - 25 lb
Step up - used second stair at home with a 20 lb baby because he wouldn't site down.
Reverse crunch
Does that look pretty,wimpy? I love how ingenious you are! (the baby) That's a good one.
Super smart! I'm totally going to do that with my kids today. 0 -
I squatted the oly bar today for the first time. Woohoo!
Unfortunately, I wasn't as pleased with my form, so I will be working on that more before pushing the weight.0 -
So this is what I did today, my first workout. I used dumbbells, our barbell comes tomorrow.
Squats: 25 lb db
Push ups - against counter 30 degree angle
DB Rows - 25 lb
Step up - used second stair at home with a 20 lb baby because he wouldn't site down.
Reverse crunch
Does that look pretty,wimpy? I love how ingenious you are! (the baby) That's a good one.
Super smart! I'm totally going to do that with my kids today.
,He just nursed during both sets. It was too funny.0 -
So this is what I did today, my first workout. I used dumbbells, our barbell comes tomorrow.
Squats: 25 lb db
Push ups - against counter 30 degree angle
DB Rows - 25 lb
Step up - used second stair at home with a 20 lb baby because he wouldn't site down.
Reverse crunch
Does that look pretty,wimpy?
If all 15 reps were tough, sounds like it was just right.
Squats not too hard, but barbells comes tomorrow. The rows were very hard!0 -
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((,He just nursed during both sets. It was too funny.))
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So you burned a LOT of calories :laugh:0 -
So technically on Wednesday I will be done with my 16 workouts in stage 1. I am planning to go another 8 because I feel like I just recently figured it all out. Know what I mean?0
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So technically on Wednesday I will be done with my 16 workouts in stage 1. I am planning to go another 8 because I feel like I just recently figured it all out. Know what I mean?
I definitely know what you mean. I will finish stage 1 this week, too. I'm going to take the next week off, then do some extra stage one workouts before I start stage 2.0 -
Mmm. I just did 2B.
Pretty nice.
I noticed my lunge balance was greatly improved from last time, so I must be doing something right! 0 -
Does anyone have any idea of how to increase the weights for the step ups? I need to up my weights I think, but the handheld dumbbells only go up to 10kg? I don't want to step up with a long bar across my shoulder - I'd struggle to get more than 25kg over my head anyway!
Also, how high are you all stepping?0 -
Does anyone have any idea of how to increase the weights for the step ups? I need to up my weights I think, but the handheld dumbbells only go up to 10kg? I don't want to step up with a long bar across my shoulder - I'd struggle to get more than 25kg over my head anyway!
Also, how high are you all stepping?
Currently about 14 inches.
You can get dumbells heavier. We have 35lb upstairs. I believe that's somewhere around 15-16 kg? The gym has up to 100+ lbs.0 -
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my biggest weakness is shoulder press, but I expected it - my lower body has always been way stronger than my upper body. I can only do 3kg each hand and that with a big struggle at the end of a second set.
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Shoulder presses are my biggest weakness too. Particularly my left shoulder. Frustrating! But, even that's improved during the stage, so hang in there--it will get better!
To the poster who asked about how high the step should be--your hip thigh should be at a right angle to your body when your foot is up on the step--I use an aerobics step with 5 risers. Some people go higher, though. And as for raising the weights--I found heavier kettle bells in my gym. I tried the bar on my shoulders, but (like you) I found it nearly impossible to raise over my head! Kind of scary, actually.
So, I'm techically onto the AMRAPs this week. But....I think I'm just going to do another workout for A and B and skip the AMRAPs. I'll post my results at the end of the week. Then I'm definitely taking a rest week before moving onto stage 2!0 -
8A completed today :bigsmile:
Increased several
squats 45 > 50 pounds
pushups 36 inch > 24 inch step
seated row 96 >108 (only could do one set at 108 . dropped back down to 96)
set ups 24 inch step and 24 pounds (decreased weight last time so I could increase height)
jack knife no problems0
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