Stage 6 Questions (optional stage)
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austelle, did you hold yourself for 20 secs or lower yourself slowly for 20secs?
Great numbers by the way
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I held myself up there for 20 secs and then slowly lowered myself down. Is that not right?0
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You are supposed to lower yourself over the 20secs. I had a trainer check me and show me how.
I AM DONE!!!!!! Stage 6 in the bag.
6B5 stats:
Reverse lunge: 2x10 20lbs
two point row: 2x10 20 lbs
Push press: 2x10 40 lbs
Back ext: 2x10 25lbs
Reverse incline crunch: 2x10 level 3
The weights actually felt a little light since we had to use the weight from 6B2 I also thought that level 3 on the reverse crunch would be too easy, but man, by the time to get to #10 you are just plain done. PS: I love the back ext. It is now my favorite glute exercise.0 -
hmmm....too bad, I thought I was such a rockstar with that belt on! I'll correct and try again on Thursday. Congrats on finishing Stage 6!0
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Sorry, really didn't mean to bust your bubble. Hanging for 20 is serious business too, and your first numbers are great. You ARE a rockstar.0
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Austelle - welcome!
Sam - great job finishing up!! I wish I had a back extension thing - I love it but don't have access to one.
I'm starting back up with A3 tomorrow after 2 weeks off trying to recover from a cold. Hopefully I can still do it! :-)0 -
A3 done this morning!
Neg chinup - still can't get past 15 seconds
lat pull down - 80 lbs
split squat - 75 lbs
pushup - with pause of 2-3 seconds. those are tough!!0 -
Hi all,
Did A2 yesterday--was happy to go up in most things. Though I didn't improve in the negative pull-up, possibly because I was stung by a bee on my right hand and it hurt!
So that was about 12 seconds
Lat pull-down, 90 lbs.
Split squat, 90 lbs.
Push-ups, still doing them on the floor, with the pause...I hate those *kitten* too, Jennie!0 -
Finally starting Stage 6 tonight! I finished up Stage 5 on Monday and I felt pretty good about my progress, I got up to 120 lbs on the lateral pulldown. I'm most nervous about the negative chin up, I'll have to figure out the assist machine thing. Plus I'm 5'2" so hopping up to a bar isn't easy! The rest of it looks pretty straightforward. I'm actually happy about having pushups in there again. I was doing 10 reps with my feet on the Bosu ball, but my sister said reverse it and hold the Bosu ball with my hands so I'm gonna try that. Then I'll do some cardio for half an hour afterwards. I'll report back with results tomorrow!0
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completed B3 today and had to down a bit in weights on some things. My arms are really sore from yoga and Workout A on Tuesday and probably mostly from taking 2 weeks off from lifting.
one arm lunges - 30 lbs
one arm row - 30, 35, 40 lbs
push press - 30 lbs - this one is really hard on my shoulders don't know if I can make it to 35 lbs at all
prone cobra - 60 seconds holding 15 lbs
incline crunch - level 5 on the bench (not sure what angle this is)
I've noticed recently that if I really make the effort to engage my back muscles when doing most of these lifts, it really helps. I have a lot more strength when using my back muscles.0 -
I got my first Stage 6 workout in on Wednesday! And my underarms and triceps are STILL SORE!
I ended up needing to use 50 lbs in counterweights on the chin up assist machine, but that seems in line with what I have been able to do with the lateral pulldowns. I weigh around 160 and I could do 120 lbs for that, so 40-50 lbs of counterweight equals that out. I did for the full 20 seconds tho.
The rest of the exercises were pretty straight forward. I didn't hold anything back for the barbell split squats and used 95 lbs including the barbell, haha. I did pushups with my hands on a Bosu ball, good lordy those are hard! It uses your core muscles like nothing else! i dropped down to 100lbs on the underhand pulldowns since there was the 4 seconds to raise the bar.
I'm planning to do Workout B today but I forgot my book! I'm going to google the exercises I'm not familiar with on the workout list and hopefully that covers it. They seem pretty generic.0 -
Trayn, that's awesome--20 secs already and counterweights! I'm such a wuss with the negative pull-ups--can barely stay up 12 secs. And I banged the hell out of my chin trying to get up to the chin up bar (was using the one on the chin-up assist machine), so now I have a lovely lump and nice big cut to show for my pains. But while waiting between sets of the split squat, I had a revelation--I could totally use the squat rack instead--just set the barbell a little higher than for squats and lower myself from that. Can't wait to try that next time... (Only thing--it's even more exposed to the gym than the chin-up assist machine, and I'm super self-conscious when attempting this move, perhaps because I'm not great at it...but oh well, I'll suck it up!)
Other than that, A3 went well! I'm so frigging hungry all the time, though. I've been trying to keep my calories down to 1600 to TRY to lose these 15 lbs. of fat that WILL not budge, but haven't been very successful. Argggh. Heading out for Mexican food date night now, and I'm sure the inevitable tequila cals won't help my cause. OH well.0 -
00Trayn - great workout!
Dandelion - I get you on the always hungry. Me too - ALWAYS!! Makes it hard to lose weight.0 -
A4 done today. Got 20 seconds on the first negative chin up, then 15 sec, then 10 sec. I think I didn't do as well because of yoga yesterday. My back was really sore this morning before my workout.0
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Forgot to check in after my first Workout B, and I did my second Workout A yesterday. I realized after checking my book for Workout B that I did the 2 point rows wrong, I held a weight in each hand and did them together instead of one arm at a time, no wonder why they were hard! Now i know for next time, haha.
Workout A wasn't too bad the second time around. I use the chin up assist machine, so I had set 44 lbs on that instead of the 50 lbs I used last time. It's not additional weight added, it makes it a bit easier so I'm not supporting my entire body weight. I'm hoping to use less weight every time I do it until I'm completely under my own body weight. I weight 160-ish, so it's still a lot of weight for me to support unassisted.
I did the pushups with my hands on the Bosu ball and those are actually getting easier! I can get my chest all the way down to the surface of the ball platform and do 10 of them without too much trouble. Next time I do Workout A, it calls for 6 pushups per set and I'm going to try them with the one second hold at the bottom. Those are gonna hurt!
I also went up to 100 lbs for the barbell lunge squat things. I really feel those in my butt!0 -
trayn - sounds like things are going well. Great job!
I finished w/o 4B today and can't wait to move on next week. I've really liked this Stage, but I should have been done weeks ago if I was doing it like I had planned. I actually should be done with Stage 7 according to my plan, but I'll get there soon enough.
one armed lunge - 35lbs
one armed row - 45 lbs
push press - 30 lbs (cannot go up on this one at all)
prone cobra - holding 17.5lbs for 45 seconds
incline reverse crunch - on level 6 (greater than a 45 degree angle)0 -
Hi! Sorry, I've been busy and haven't been keeping up. But sounds like you're doing well, Trayn and Jen! I did A4 today. I'm loving this stage and I'm kind of bummed I only have three more workouts. I'm tempted to do a couple of extras, because I feel like I really am gaining a lot of strength. And I like that it's short, so I can do cardio after (I say that....but I've bailed on the cardio the past two times!). Anyway, I'm going to be sad to get to S7 in a way... I don't feel like I'm one stage away from total goddess mode, for one thing!0
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Hang in there ladies. Id on't know how, but I managed to loose a pound during this stage woo hoo!0
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Did my fourth A workout last night and finally managed to get to 20 seconds on the negative chin up! I have to say I am so glad I decided to do this stage. For the first time I really feel like I can see my arms looking stronger and more defined.
I'm also starting to get concerned about what to do once the program is done. I want to get back to running and focus on weight loss but I don't want to lose strength. I'm just not sure what to do, I don't have the slightest idea how to design my own program!0 -
Hi ladies - I start S6 on Monday. I'm excited, but a little scared of the negative chinups. I'll be doing them on a chinup assist machine too. I weigh 182, and I can pull down 105 lb. (wide-grip) on the lat pulls and get that handle lower than my chin, so I'm guessing I might need to use 75 lb. or so of assistance at first. Do you just get in the full up position and hang as long as you can before lowering (slowly)? Or do you try to lower gradually (up to 20 sec.)?
For those who have finished Stage 6, could you do an unassisted chinup or pullup by the end (if you couldn't before)?0 -
Finished my final Stage 6 workout today! Don't really feel much stronger after this Stage, especially since I couldn't go up in weights very much, but I'm going to attempt a pull-up/chin-up this afternoon, so we'll see. I really did enjoy this stage though.
Karen - Welcome! I think you'll really like this stage!0 -
Karen, I'm starting 6 on Monday too! I finished 5 last Friday, but haven't been able to workout this week due to dental work, so starting 6 on Monday, and I'm a bit nervous! I don't have a clue how to start with the negative chin-up business!
Edit- we're almost the same weight too, thought that was funny:)0 -
The negative chin ups are a bit intimidating, but I'd really suggest just jumping up there and trying one. On my machine at home, I can only do about 85lbs on the lat pulldown, but I was able to do a negative chin up for about 10 seconds and I weigh almost double that amount at 150lbs. Then if you think you need to use the assist machine, go ahead. But you don't know what you can do until you try.0
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Finished my final Stage 6 workout today! Don't really feel much stronger after this Stage, especially since I couldn't go up in weights very much, but I'm going to attempt a pull-up/chin-up this afternoon, so we'll see. I really did enjoy this stage though.
Karen - Welcome! I think you'll really like this stage!
Thanks -- I'm dying to know if you were able to do your full pullup or chinup last week?The negative chin ups are a bit intimidating, but I'd really suggest just jumping up there and trying one. On my machine at home, I can only do about 85lbs on the lat pulldown, but I was able to do a negative chin up for about 10 seconds and I weigh almost double that amount at 150lbs. Then if you think you need to use the assist machine, go ahead. But you don't know what you can do until you try.
In my gym - I'm not sure how I'd get myself up to the handles without the assist machine. They're at the top of the cable station, and maybe I could slide a bench under there? But I think at least for this week, I'm going to try using the assistance machine with as little assistance as possible. I tried it Friday just to get the hang of it (no pun intended) and was able to do chin-ups with 85 lb. assistance, so maybe I can do the negatives with less assistance?
I overslept today, so I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Avalynsmom - that is a funny coincidence that we weigh about the same. Good luck starting S6 today! 0 -
Sorry, I forgot to report back on my chinup attempt - I wasn't able to do one from a full hanging position. I did do one with my arms starting at a 90 degree. I'm definitely going to keep working on it.0
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Well finished workout B today, man I am SO sore this week! I don't think my upper body/torso has ever been this sore! I don't think it helped that I took over a week off from working out entirely, but that was unavoidable, as I've had lots of dental work done lately!
I did full on unassisted negative chin ups on Monday. The assisted machine at my gym is weird and doesn't have any "normal" positions for my hands, so I figured using the smith machine with the bar at the top was my best bet. I took about 10-13secs to get down, it was HARD! That whole workout was rough and I'm still sore!
Today's workout was tough cause I was so sore from Monday, but I did 30lb dumbbells for everything, 25lbs held out for the back extensions, and had the incline bench at about 30 degrees for my situps. The hardest to finish with the push press, reps 8-10 were HARD, but again, still so sore from Monday, and playing catch up from missing so much working out!
Overall, at this moment, I think I kind of like this stage! I do like that it's shorter, I overslept 30 mins this morning and still got out of the gym at "normal" time! I add 15mins of treadmill intervals at the end of my workouts:)
GL to everyone still trucking along!0 -
Jennie -- congrats on the chinup from 90 degrees! That's awesome!!!
Avalynsmom - I did B today too. I definitely like A better, but my arms were like jello yesterday, and still noticeably sore today. It definitely made the push presses & 1-shoulder reverse lunges tough. I had an easier time with the rows though. I am in AWE that you can do back extensions with 25 lb. held overhead. I can do 12.5 lb. for 4 reps, but had to drop back to 10 lb. to get 10 reps out. Even then, I had to pause after 5 reps.
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Good morning - I just have a silly question about stage 6 for anyone who might see this. In Workout A, there are barbell split squats. If I understand them correctly though, they look & feel to me like stationary lunges, but with a barbell on my shoulders instead of dumbbells in my hands. So why on earth is it called a split squat & not a static lunge? Am I doing them wrong? What am I missing?0
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Hi Karen...
I think the main difference is the position of your back leg.... the static lunge is on the floor... split squat (bench height) should be much higher. This question was also brought up in Stage 4... static lunge rear foot elevated (which would be on a step).
Yes... I'm already lurking in here.... :laugh:0 -
Hi Karen...
I think the main difference is the position of your back leg.... the static lunge is on the floor... split squat (bench height) should be much higher. This question was also brought up in Stage 4... static lunge rear foot elevated (which would be on a step).
Yes... I'm already lurking in here.... :laugh:
Michelle - I love that you're lurking here. I lurked in Stage 7 last week. :happy:
And I completely understand your answer as it relates to the *Bulgarian* split squat, where the rear foot is nice & high on a weight bench for stages 2 & 4. But for stage 6, the *barbell* split squat shows both feet on the ground, more like the "static lunge, rear foot elevated" from stages 2 & 4 -- only without the elevation. So I'm left confused why the stage 6, workout A move isn't just called a "barbell static lunge" - see what I mean?0
This discussion has been closed.