Daily Chat Thread
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SuperMel - yay for profile pictures
Dawn - I hope you go to your meet, it would be super exciting to be in a "world" competition!!
Aigre - Yeah, I'm UK, I post after my lunchtime gym when I'm back at work - you must be posting early morning
Played around with my squat again - uploaded to the Eat, Train, Progress form check thread again... one of these days I'll be happy!
Squats was literally all I did at the gym today, didn't want to take a long one so I can watch the football0 -
Dawn - looking forward to the next meet...it will be interesting now that you know the format a bit better, and very exciting as it is such a biggie!!
I'm geared up for the match too, Stephie - thankfully our bosses are most accommodating and our big screens that we have in our offices for financial news are all going to be on the game. Hubby managed to rota himself an afternoon off, - perks of being the manager. We have one lone Welshman in the office.....who is very passionate about his homeland. Come 3.45 he will either be the only one smiling, or keeping himself very quiet!
My workouts have been very mixed up this week! But the main thing is that I am enjoying them! As you know, it is often difficult to get on the squat rack at my gym, so I have often been going in armed with "plan B" so that I don't get too frustrated.
This week, I've included a circuit training session, 2 body combat classes, and a couple of "proper" lifting sessions. Also still managing to walk briskly for 2 or 3 miles before work, and again at lunchtime, so that helps maintain a deficit.
Foodwise, I'm loving the meal prep and the Joe Wicks "Lean in 15" meals. The whole family is enjoying them, and I'm very happy to have found something that works for us all. It doesn't feel like "diet" food - portions are huge, healthy fats are used, flavours are amazing and I think this is probably the healthiest we have ever eaten as a family, so I will certainly be keeping on with it. His new book is out today...hubby is bringing a copy home for me (he is manager of a book store...convenient!!!!) and I never thought I would be so excited for a cook book haha!!!
In other news, my broken finger is still dodgy. I keep forgetting and then knock it or try and grip the wrong way, and aaarrrrggghhhh! Such a small thing, but the inconvenience is sooo out of proportion!0 -
Checked my weight this morning. 133. Not bad with diet break, move and yesterday's lunch being two Sprinkles cupcakes ( canceled delivery meant we had cupcakes in the apartment). Goal for weight is to get under 130, hopefully by mid July.1
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Not bad at all, Dawn, and hurrah for cupcakes!
I went to the gym this morning - mixed it up (again) and did a HIIT and GVT session - 2 HIIT rounds of 6 then 10x10 of squats and 10x10 of lunges. My squats were at 50kgs which was quite tough by rep 100! Mind you, once I reminded myself that it's not really that long since I was over the moon at doing 50kgs for just 1 set of 5, I was pleased at how far I have come. I used it as an opportunity to go deeper and really focus on smooth lifting rather than brute force!
Burpees, though, in the HIIT part.....I will NEVER look good doing those. Ever.
No planned exercise for me this weekend - we are off to London as it is my daughter's birthday (22, where did THOSE years fly to?) so will do plenty of walking then off to a gig at Wembley Stadium tomorrow night where we will undoubtedly be on our feet for several hours!
Have a good one, everybody!0 -
Kimi - are you on the body coach plan? The HIIT, GVT sounds like it that program is a killer!
Hope you enjoyed the football!0 -
Not following it to the letter, but basically yes. I don't subscribe to the formal plan, but I do love his food....as do my family so we have the books and i subscribe to his YouTube channel etc. I really like his approach to.the whole thing.
As for the football.... Well.....roller coaster, or what!!0 -
Happy Friday, everyone!
Kimi - I don't even know what GVT is? 100 squats, wow! I thought at first that must be a typo but OMG. I would be ecstatic at one set of 5@50 kg.
Stephie - Yes, I usually workout at around 5 am, then get to the office around 7:30 or 8. Then post while I'm having a cup of tea (that's British of me, right?) Too funny! My brother lived in UK for many years (Edinburgh, Leicester, Belfast) and sometimes uses British expressions like 'on the regular'
Supermel - Awesome picture! So cute!
Dawn - yum, cupcakes! You must be able to read your hunger signals pretty well to go through all that without gaining.
Anyway, yesterday was a rest day, but today I got up and ran 2.1 miles. My achilles tendon is tweaking a bit so I wanted to keep it easy.
Two things that made me pretty psyched:
1) playing with my son last night, he wanted to me to show him an "exercise". So I showed him a few knee pushups. Then I tried a real one. I wasn't able to do it, but the eccentric portion was nice and slow and controlled and I could sort of imagine that one day I could. I've never been that close before!
2) I put on some dress pants today that I bought and wore before I got pregnant with my son in 2010. They are a size 8. Woohoo!1 -
GVT is German Volume training. Catchy title hey!! Basically you pick one exercise and instead of 5x5 or whatever, you do 10x10....with less recovery time in between. Usually 60 secs recovery.
The weights will be lower because the reps and sets are greater but boy do you feel it at the end!
Generally one main exercise plus some accessories, so squats, beach, deadlifts etc will all be on different days.
It's not long ago that I couldn't do 50kg squats at all, either....but they do come! Now I generally use 60kgs for my warm up and feel amazing! for the 10x10 I did 50kgs. May try 52.5kgs next week.....but it is very different to 5x5 so must not get carried away!!!
You will get there!!0 -
@AigreDoux that's awesome on all accounts! I have a love-hate relationship with pushups. They are SO HARD!
@kimiuzzell Ouch on the finger. I broke my pinky once and it was stiff for such a long time after it healed!0 -
Kimi - thanks and hope you have a fun weekend.
Aigre - I actually don't follow hunger cues at all. I can go between hunger and nauseated in a matter of minutes, so I've never really been able to rely on the cues. In fact, around the move I was eating out more and more treats due to getting together with coworkers since won't see them again until I go get my stuff for the bigger apartment we hope to get this summer.
Went to the gym today instead of last night because after 11 pm just didn't feel like doing anything but going home. I am glad inventory is today, so that stuff will be done for this year. Things will be a little more normal Sunday, when I work again. Trying out the app for 5/3/1 though didn't put my accessories on that one. Didn't follow exact cause some of the recommended numbers weren't manageable with the available plates but got close enough.
10 minute warmup on elliptical
Squats
warmup - 2x10 @ 45, 1x6 @ 95, 1x3 @ 110
1x5 @ 120
1x5 @ 135
amrap 155 1x7
leg press 3x8 @ 225
good morning 3x8 @ 95
sumo deadlift 1x6 @ 135 and 2x5 @ 175
A sort of plus about lifting at a general, commercial gym is that any heavy lifting seems like a lot to some of the other people. Different location than the first time I lifted, though same as the OHP day. More people there being mid-day and had two women comment on my squat weight (which was the 155 this time). It's a bit of an ego boost. That and when mentioning the meet and such, one made a comment about how I probably only weight around 100. pfftt. In my range for how short I am but not quite. lol. Though, it's quite a change from weighing over 200 to having someone in LA think I weighed 100. Ego boost indeed.
Now to get busy on other things. I finally got another video up on youtube and I have one more to upload in a couple of days. Need to figure out what I'll film next. Always something to do.0 -
Hi everyone - busy crazy week so I haven't checked in lately. Sounds like all good things going on though.
Beeps - glad to hear the surgery is moved.
Dawn - your lifting workouts sound awesome!
Kim - I have never heard of the GVT. Way to go!
Aigre - Size 8? Woo hoo!
I have a question for you guys. I know it makes me sound like a control freak - but I have officially finished Phase 1 in the Strong series. So I should be doing the Ramp workout tomorrow. (my lifting days are Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday). But since we are going on vacation on Tuesday through Friday and I won't be at our regular gym - just the small hotel gym - I am considering doing something different for this week. Then starting Phase 2 on the following Saturday. How does that sound? I'm sure I'm just overthinking it...haha!
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It was my daughter's birthday at the weekend so we went to London. I've not tracked food - there was little point as we had some rather fancy stuff that didn't look much on the plate (volume wise) but was amazingly delicious, and probably had a whole load of calories! Who cares! We did a load of walking as the weather was superb, so I'm just offsetting one against the other and ticking it off as another weekend of memories made.
Today I was back in the gym - I did 5x5 and squat my bodyweight for the first time - 72.5 kgs for the full 5 sets. Chuffed to bits. Even the fact that I failed at my BP weight didn't stop me grinning my way back to the changing room!
No time for accessories or HIIT etc, and a busy week means I am not sure what I will be able to do and when, but I'll endeavour to stay on track both food wise and exercise wise....
Have a good week everyone!0 -
Kimi - YES! what an incredible squat achievement, good going! (I am green with envy!)
Tch - good work on finishing stage 1, I always start a new stage on a new week (even if it means messing around at the gym for a few sessions before the next stage kicks in).
Just back from gym:
Squats: 5x5 @ 50kg
Bench press: 5x5 @ 35kg
Pendlay row (from bottom of cage): 5x5 @ 35kg
Onwards and upwards!
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Good morning! Monday again!
Had a bit of a tough weekend, workout-wise. My husband was working all weekend, and my ankle just wasn't feeling quite right. So I didn't exercise on Saturday even though I had planned a 4 mile run.
Yesterday I did Strong, Stage 6, Workout A, #5
Spiderman -2x8 each side
Standing cable chop - 2x12@35 lbs
Deadlift - 4x4@114 lbs
Bench press - 4x4@ 60 lbs
Suspended lunges - 4x4@16 lbs
Dead stop row - 4x4@35 lbs
Skipped intervals due to silly ankle.
Again skipped planned run this morning. Hoping to do Strong again tomorrow minus intervals and then maybe back to running on Wednesday.
I didn't log on Saturday. I probably ate at maintenance. Yesterday I did log and felt like my deficit was appropriate. Somehow this morning the scale was up 4 lbs. I know it's probably just water weight, etc., but man it was discouraging. Especially in combination with doing less exercise and maybe eating a little more, just feels like I've fallen off the wagon or something!
Kim - that's some awesome squatting! Wow!
Dawn - your lifts really are great, no wonder people are commenting!
Sherry - I wouldn't start a new stage and do only one workout before a vacation either!
Stephie - I may copy you and upload a video I took of myself deadlifting to see if my form is correct, I am rather sure it isn't.0 -
Ok I posted my deadlift video on Eat, Train, Progress, so if any of you have any feedback I would love to hear it! 0
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Aigre - I agree with sidesteel about the shrug at the end - it kind of looks like you're rolling your shoulders back to fully extend? But ideally they'd already be pulled back and down so they wouldn't be able to roll backwards.
It seems a little like you're pulling the weight up rather than thinking of pushing the floor away?
I feel it in my bum and hamstrings when I use mark rippetoe's set up (bar over laces, reach down without bending knees, then bend knees until shins hit the bar, flatten back, push ground away and stand up). He has some good you tubes. However you do definitely feel it in your low back, that's just part of deadlifts! As long as it's just normal soreness there's nothing to worry about 0 -
tch and agrie - Thanks. I'm getting back into the swing as it's helpful having a program to follow now instead of meandering. Hopefully numbers go well until I start the peak cycle attempt. We'll see.
Oh and for the last week after stage 1, it's whatever you want. I did the ramp thing, I believe, but didn't care for it much. I remember my deadlift didn't improve but I'd done SL before NROLFW, plus 15 reps is too many for deadliest in my opinion so at that point I just wanted to be done with the set. I have trouble with current AMRAP sets because I might be able to do more but don't wanna, so makes my 1 rep max estimates a little off.
Went to gym after work yesterday and combined the bench press and deadlift into one session. Only did a couple accessories because sister was going to be home soon and right now we only have one key. Applies to bigger apartment place today, so we'll see if we get it. Fingers crossed.
Bench
warm up - 2x8 @ 45, 1x5 @ 55, 1x5 @ 65
1x5 @ 70
1x5 @ 80
1x8 @ 90
(the 1rm estimate was a little closer for bench than the others from the AMRAP)
Deadlift
warm up - 2x5 @ 135
1x5 @ 145
1x5 @ 170
1x7 @ 190
Didn't follow the warm up to the apps recommendations.
bicep curls 3x8 @ 42.5
tricep pushdown 3x8 @ 30
Cable machine here felt heavier than back in oregon. *shrugs*
Tomorrow, think I will go before work and do the OHP day. We'll see. I work 3-11 pm. New schedule should be up too, which would be nice to see. Need to work more than 3 days a week but the transfer was going through when they were working on the current schedule. Also, hunting for extra income.
Posting video on youtube today too. Did the Bro style eating video couple days ago, so today I'm posting my pre-LA physique. Not that I get many views but working on things.
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Ooops. Switch that. 30 for bicep curls and 42.5 for tricep push down.0
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Did a bodycombat class before work this morning - was a tiny bit late so snuck in during the warm up.
Normally, I get there early and make a beeline for a spot in front of the "thin" mirror - I believe that all dance/exercise studios that have a wall of mirrors for you to face whilst going through your agony of whatever class, are like the fun house at the fair - some that make you short and fat, and some that make you tall and skinny.
Due to my lateness, I couldn't get to the "thin" mirror.....so I had to steel myself to concentrate on not looking at the reflection.
Then I noticed that despite standing in front of a different section, I still looked alright......and I realised that it is not the mirror that makes me appear slimmer, but it is actually that I AM slimmer!
(I still believe that there are some gym mirrors that have been transported from dismantled fun fairs all over the country, but hey......!)0 -
Yay, kimi!1
