Daily Chat Thread
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Aigre - Thanks. :-)
Jo - Have fun. I'd like to find a more powerlifting focused gym but can't do the ones that are like 100$ a month like a couple I've seen in the general area. Meets are fun so you should check them out, you might have fun. Nice to have goals too.
Samntha - Have fun at Zumba!
Morning shift both yesterday and today. Didn't care for today as I spent almost all of it up front at the register. I do better when I can move around, work on freight and such. My left knee got a little cranky today from being near the registers for so long. Then went to gym, which took me almost 50 minutes to drive there due to traffic. Plus side, didn't sleep much but got some writing done last night. Haven't been writing fiction much lately but trying to adjust my time usage and priorities. Also, put food in slow cooker so was able to have some chicken. We don't have meat much (sister only has it rarely and other roommate is vegetarian) and haven't gone through the process of having apartment people look at the oven yet. Now I'm kinda tired but maybe I'll get some writing in before going to bed early. I don't work until afternoon tomorrow at least but Sun-Tues it's back to 7 am shifts.
Bench Day
band pull aparts - 3x10
bench - 2x8 @ 45, 1x8 @ 65, 4x5 @ 90
chin ups - 2, 2, 1, 1
cable curls - 3x10 @ 30
face pulls - 3x8 @ 35
bent over row - 3x8 @ 80
Bench is getting better. Am at the weight I was supposed to use at the start of this cycle so can start moving forward and work down to smaller reps and higher weights. I'm doing bench 2 days a week so won't increase each time but hopefully it helps since it's hard to increase on the upper body lifts. Need to do chin ups more cause not making progress at this point and maybe do them as part of warm up for bench or something. Hoping to switch to pendlay rows in the future but might have to wait until I get a better gym as the stacked plate setup isn't great in this small space and limited equipment location. Talked again about trainer session and they supposedly called but I can't always answer my phone and no one left a message. Might set up for Saturday as it's my next day off though. We'll see.0 -
*sigh* I'm following the Joe Wicks 90 day programme - mainly for the food side of things rather than the exercise, but it is getting me good results, and I am enjoying it, so sticking with it quite happily. There are three cycles - cycle 1 focusing on HIIT training and calorie deficit, cycle 2 introduces 4 day split weight training with more carbs, etc.
Many people, when they move to cycle 2, have never done weights before. That's ok, we all started somewhere, and many of us had only done cardio before. I'm in a couple of facebook groups for this plan which are generally quite good and full of questions such as "I need to work out at home, what weights will I need to buy" type things.
One woman said that she had been told by her online "coach" to buy a barbell/dumbbell set that goes up to 50kgs, and this woman came into the group to say surely she would never need to lift that sort of weight. This was followed by several people saying they use 2kg and 4kg dumbells....
I said that I only started lifting in October, had tears and tantrums when I couldn't curl even 2kgs, yet now I was squatting 75kgs. I explained the SL programme that I used, and said that although I know I lift reasonably heavy compared with many, it is only a few months since I looked at 50kgs and thought "I'll never be able to do that". So it is progressive, and never say never.
So....cue lots of "lol, bet she's thinking of lbs not kgs" and "haha, she thinks she's superwoman, yup must be lbs, 75kg is 11 and a half stones".
YES. I CAN LIFT THAT MUCH. AND I'M STILL A BEGINNER! - there really is still an issue with women thinking they will get bulky if they lift big and because they want to "tone up" they are opting for the lower weights. If only they'd read the programme they've signed up to (and spent money on) they'd get it, surely!
Rant over.
Anyway - squat 77.5kgs today - only 3 reps after my 5x5 @ 75kgs but a new PR for me and something to work on for the next few weeks!
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Hahaha Kimi - some just don't want to be informed. I've long since moved past trying to explain, but still cringe at the people using tiny dumbbells to lift. I mean come on, your freaking handbag weighs more!
No gym for me today. Was tired after long day at work yesterday but made myself do combat. Glad I did as was called in for birth last night and am expecting to have the same tonight. Have come home today, power napped and got up to make my eldest's birthday cake - he will be 13 this weekend!! He is having a sleepover tomorrow so cake needed to be done. Dreading them all keeping me up tomorrow night when I will be in full-on zombie mode.
Bench day with PT booked tomorrow too - could be interesting
I love the birthdays but it always seems so stressful. Though it's just bad timing I think with heavier workload and uni assignments due (and not written). I am pretty sure that this time next week I will be feeling much more capable and organised!
Smash out some lifting for me ladies!1 -
kimiuzzell wrote: »*sigh....
So....cue lots of "lol, bet she's thinking of lbs not kgs" and "haha, she thinks she's superwoman, yup must be lbs, 75kg is 11 and a half stones".
YES. I CAN LIFT THAT MUCH. AND I'M STILL A BEGINNER! - there really is still an issue with women thinking they will get bulky if they lift big and because they want to "tone up" they are opting for the lower weights. If only they'd read the programme they've signed up to (and spent money on) they'd get it, surely!
Rant over.
Anyway - squat 77.5kgs today - only 3 reps after my 5x5 @ 75kgs but a new PR for me and something to work on for the next few weeks!
Fairest rant in the land. Congrats on the PR!1 -
kimiuzzell wrote: »*sigh....
So....cue lots of "lol, bet she's thinking of lbs not kgs" and "haha, she thinks she's superwoman, yup must be lbs, 75kg is 11 and a half stones".
YES. I CAN LIFT THAT MUCH. AND I'M STILL A BEGINNER! - there really is still an issue with women thinking they will get bulky if they lift big and because they want to "tone up" they are opting for the lower weights. If only they'd read the programme they've signed up to (and spent money on) they'd get it, surely!
Rant over.
Anyway - squat 77.5kgs today - only 3 reps after my 5x5 @ 75kgs but a new PR for me and something to work on for the next few weeks!
Fairest rant in the land. Congrats on the PR!
Thanks, on both counts!!0 -
Happy Thursday, everyone!
Dawn - awesome bench work!
Samntha - Hope you had fun at Zumba! I've never tried group classes.
Kimi - I so enjoyed reading your rant, and ironically I just did sets of 77 lb squats today
I agree that there is still misinformation about exactly how much muscle it requires to "bulk up" and how much is achievable for most women. I think for a long time I was in denial about how much muscle I had (very little) and how much different that was from where I wanted to be (medium). I don't want you to minimize the fact that squatting 77 kgs after less than a year is freaking awesome, though! And took a lot of hard work and dedication on your part!
Anyway, did Strong, Stage 8, Workout A #3, Combo 1 today
Suspended Jackknife 1x10, suspended pike 1x8
Squats 1x5@49 lbs, 1x5@77 lbs, 1x4@77 lbs, 1x3@77 lbs
Inverted row - TRX, 2x8
Reverse Lunges - 2x8@60lbs Geez, this stage has a ton of lunges
Pushups - 2x8 off bench
SL hip thrust - 2x8
Squats felt good and I think looked ok on video. Onwards!0 -
Wow guys, I am useless.
Havnen't been to the gym in over a week - argh - I promise, promise I will get there on Monday!
Kim - Like you, I'm squatting 75kgs in a year ish (think I signed up to the gym in October 2015). It's very possible, and they should not be dimishing your achievements like that. I used to be on some of those bodycoach support groups on FB but had to delete as there was too much *posts picture of chocolate/icecream, "oops, guess who's off the wagon"* and others talking about squatting 10kg or whatever. Bah.
Aigre - watched your squat, looked excellent!
Jo - hope your birth's went smoothly!
Dawn - good to see you back in the gym
Sam - Hope you enjoyed zumba
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That's the thing...whether we are lifting 10 lbs, 10kgs or 100lbs or 100kgs, I would like to think I would appreciate what they are doing and not make such assumptions either way. We're all different, with different builds, injuries we're recovering from, available times to lift due to work and families etc, so there is no "norm" other than for ourselves. However, we do have the common ground, surely, of wanting to improve, get fitter, get stronger, leaner etc?
Stephie, I know what you mean.....I'm one of the rebels. I refuse to call things "cheat days" "bad" days, "being good".....some days I stick to the plan, some days not so much. I have a cappuccino every single day, sometimes two and, shock horror, I still go out and have pimms in the garden on the rare summers evenings we get. Life is too short!! But I do find it suits me, and I've discovered a lot of yummy healthy meals in the process. And I've lost 8kgs so I'll stick with my way of doing it :-)
Gosh, you can tell I'm hormonally challenged right now lol!!!!!1 -
Kimi - absolutely I have no problem with whatever someone else is doing if it works for them (and life is too short!) but those same people were the ones complaining about getting no results... their excuse is "it's the weekend" or whatever, but if you treat Friday - Sunday as the weekend that's nearly half your week - YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET RESULTS IF YOU CHEAT FOR HALF YOUR WEEK. Gah. Those people made me angry.
Also I wanted their food.
And a cappucino a day is not a cheat, it's a necessity 0 -
Haha, yes....caffeine is the lifeblood or something. I'd be a danger to society if it were withdrawn from me!!!
I do think it is sad when they don't accept that this is just the first 90 days. I still think a lot of them see it as a short term fix and will go back to whatever things they miss at the end of it, and so will be right back where they started. Some are saying "I don't want to spend money on weights for just 3 months".....no, because hopefully you will want to keep improving yourself for the rest of your life, so you will get your money's worth!
I need to go home.....that cappuccino is calling me lol!
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Hey girls!! I'm with the coffee lovers, my drug of choice!
You are all doing great! And the thing I like about lifting is I only compare myself with myself, I try not to compare to others around me. It's hard, but rewarding!!!
I'm back to Stronglifts 5x5. It suits me where I am right now in life, simple, easy to stick with and will give me progress. It had me deload quite a bit but I'm focusing on form while I build back up to where I was. in also working on pull ups and whts in addition.
Back down most of my recent gain. Had to go back to low carb to curb my appetite and get all my protein in. Feeling a bit better from more protein this week.
Diagnosed with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's and just had a brain MRI today (pituitary). I have been really struggling with weight gain and impossible losing for a while and thought something was off. My numbers are really low, so I'm waiting to see an endocrinologist now. Hope she's good!
I'm trying to keep up, but clearly doing a bad job. I'll check in when I can. Life is chaotic but good, babysitting 2 littles twice a week, niece (23) and her BF just moved to town, niece living with us, nearly done the foster care approval process and will get a placement sometime, and the kids started a new online school that is aggravation and exhausting! So, I'm off to the races! Hope you're all well!1 -
mmmm coffee. Also, for anyone curious, the m&m flavor that won was in fact, CoffeeNut. Though the chili one didn't sell well, so not surprised it lost. Was really between honey and coffee for the flavored peanut m&m candies.
Julie - Sounds hectic but understandable. Keep up when you can but focus on what ya gotta do. Take care of you too. I did like SL and it's a useful program.
Kimi - sounds interesting but yeah, it's amazing the misconceptions still going strong or the altered perceptions some people have surrounding lifting. Never know what you might be capable of if you don't try. I do remember still thinking how heavy 135 lb squat was and it seemed so out of range. Now, it's almost weird when someone is impressed by that since it's usually a warm up or de-load. Perception is ever changing.
Stephie - tis okay. You have other uses besides the gym.
I was going to squat today but got lazy this morning in the midst of the 5 day work week, so I will go tomorrow. Did make progress last night in writing, so that's a plus. Finally finished the first rough draft of a YA novel. Now, I can set it aside and work on something else. Scale weight isn't making progress this week as it's still doing it's fluctuation thing and almost that time of month or should be at any day now. Still working on getting more protein but at least had some chicken last night since I used my slow cooker while I was at work. Have been bad about grocery shopping on this low budget so it's all last minute pick and eat things. It's on the list of things to work on.1 -
TGIF, everyone! I love coffee but more than one cup at a time gives me heartburn.
Dawn, congrats on finishing the novel! That's a big accomplishment! Are you going to try to get it published?
Julie - hope adjusting the thyroid helps! It should, I think.
Kimi and Stephie - you are too funny! I had no idea there was such a big following, and I guess I didn't really read the book I bought cause I didn't realize there was a diet and exercise plan. I just read the recipes. I have seen his videos on IG. He has a lot of energy and a funny sounding voice.
Anyway, out early this morning for a run. Starting to stay dark later into the AM. At 5:15 it was dark, but still so hot, 78 degrees and high humidity. I don't know if it was the heat/humidity or the squats yesterday but I struggled through the 2.5 miles. Hopefully Sunday will be cooler, but it's not forecasted to be. Bring on fall!0 -
AigreDoux, yes he has a massive following. For me, it is a sensible approach and one that fits in with what I was already doing, and the food is fab so the rest of the family are happy too. Quick, easy and full of flavour.... Superb. But, oh, some people make me want to scream, lol!!! I do get a fair bit out of the groups, I have to say otherwise iI would just leave them....perhaps I just got hyper hormonally sensitive!!
Anyway... Tfi Friday!! Did a 20 mins HIIT session before work...I still felt yesterday's squats in my legs. Rest day tomorrow and then in the gym on Sunday.
We're off to Norway on Friday for a long weekend.... Really really looking forward to that 0 -
Samntha – She’s not concerned about my weight. I just mentioned that I’d been going to the gym since Feb and had changed my diet but haven’t seen any weight changes. That’s when she made the suggestion. By the way, way to go on your pushup challenge!
Dawn – nice workouts. “What body part do you want to focus on?” That’s a marketing question if I ever heard one. Of course people want to “spot-treat” their bodies, but that’s not how it works. I LOVE my crockpot and my pressure cooker! Pressure cooker is a lifesaver when I don’t have a lot of time. Congrats on getting you draft finished up.
Aigre – That’s so awesome about your brother! I hope he gets the house!!
Leslie – Welcome! I’m on Stage 3.
BBC – Sorry about your pain. Hopefully you can find a way to minimize it. I can’t imagine having to deal with that kind of pain day in and day out.
I’ve seen some nice workouts scrolling through what I missed Good work everyone! Funny rants too!
Restarted NROLFW Stage 3 on Tuesday. Go me! I started a few pounds lighter than where I left off, just to make sure I didn’t hurt myself after a couple weeks of not doing much in the way of lifting. I have been keeping busy though. I hit the gym a few times to do some cardio and some HIIT and went on a 70 mile road bike ride last Saturday. I got severe leg cramps in my quads at about 42 miles, pushed through to 50 miles (stopped lots!). Luckily I met up with a guy who was taking the route slow and steady so I buddied up with him and we made it the last 20 miles together. I probably wouldn’t have finished if we hadn’t ridden together. After the ride, I determined my road bike isn’t geared for the kinds of hills we were hitting (which weren’t bad, but were just enough to exhaust my muscles). I’ll be taking my hybrid or my NEW (!!!!!) cyclocross bike on the next road ride I do. I also hurt the back of my foot on that ride. Foot slipped off the pedal, pedal hit the back of my sandaled foot. It’s super bruised up still, but it’s healing.
For those of you who have completed NROLFW stage 3, RDL with barbell bent over row. I’m SO confused on this lift. Does it go deadlift up, bent over row x 6, deadlift down for one set; or does it go deadlift up, bent over row, deadlift down x 6 for one set?
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But why oh why does the body coach have to wear those super dorky white sneakers and high white socks that look like they belong on the feet of an 80 year old who needs orthotics???
The recipes that I've made are pretty easy and very tasty. I just can't get into the guy himself 1 -
Zumba was fun on Wednesday even if my friend stood me up. I could have been in the weight room. I crushed the routine and my body hated me afterwards. I do Zumba for fun, not really fitness though it burns crazy calories.
Aigre, my head coach wears a turkey hat. Actually, he does it on purpose to get folks attention while they're scrolling through their feeds. When he just wants to say something quick, no hat, a follow-up to a video or answering quick questions, baseball hat, really important totally new information, turkey hat. He completely changed the carb cycle rhythms. That was a turkey hat day. Today, no hat, he went on a two minute rant about people requesting reviews of their logs who are complaining about results BUT AREN'T FOLLOWING THEIR PROGRAMS. Who would pay someone good money for performance coaching and then NOT do what their coach is suggesting. If my results aren't good enough, I have nobody to blame but myself. I had a few days where I wasn't adhering to my program very well. Water weight went up, and I generally felt like crap, my blood sugar even went a little nutty. Fast forward, all "green numbers" (hitting my macros) for three days, weight went way down, bloating way down, energy way up. Amazing how that works.
One reason why I've always loved this forum, even though we started out doing basically the same thing, we evolved to other strength training techniques and programs. We do what we feel comfortable doing, and we still support each other in a judgement free zone. ETP is also very positive which also is helping to keep me motivated. I know I sound like a commercial, but this program is more about repairing people's relationships with food: the crazy low calorie people, the no carb people, the super strict haven't eaten cake in a year and then go on a bender people. I had a donut today. It was in my macros, zero guilt. There are no "good days", "bad days", or "cheat days." There is no "good food" vs. "bad food," or "good carbs" vs "bad carbs" (though there are fast carbs vs slow carbs or complex vs simple) There is no such thing as "eating clean." There is only food and food is energy.
I'm fighting with myself today. I REALLY need to go do my strength training today. However, we spent yesterday at the water park and I'm a little shot. The place was empty, very short lines, and the heat index was close to 100F. Basically I spent five hours carrying a 20lb tube up five flight of stairs REPEATEDLY. Definitely dehydrated. Real feel outside now is 100F and it's sucking the energy out of me. I haven't even washed dishes today. Ok, I'm going to stop making excuses and go put on my gym clothes. TTYLSuperMelinator wrote: »Samntha – She’s not concerned about my weight. I just mentioned that I’d been going to the gym since Feb and had changed my diet but haven’t seen any weight changes. That’s when she made the suggestion. By the way, way to go on your pushup challenge!
Restarted NROLFW Stage 3 on Tuesday. Go me! I started a few pounds lighter than where I left off, just to make sure I didn’t hurt myself after a couple weeks of not doing much in the way of lifting. I have been keeping busy though. I hit the gym a few times to do some cardio and some HIIT and went on a 70 mile road bike ride last Saturday. I got severe leg cramps in my quads at about 42 miles, pushed through to 50 miles (stopped lots!). Luckily I met up with a guy who was taking the route slow and steady so I buddied up with him and we made it the last 20 miles together. I probably wouldn’t have finished if we hadn’t ridden together. After the ride, I determined my road bike isn’t geared for the kinds of hills we were hitting (which weren’t bad, but were just enough to exhaust my muscles). I’ll be taking my hybrid or my NEW (!!!!!) cyclocross bike on the next road ride I do. I also hurt the back of my foot on that ride. Foot slipped off the pedal, pedal hit the back of my sandaled foot. It’s super bruised up still, but it’s healing.
For those of you who have completed NROLFW stage 3, RDL with barbell bent over row. I’m SO confused on this lift. Does it go deadlift up, bent over row x 6, deadlift down for one set; or does it go deadlift up, bent over row, deadlift down x 6 for one set?
Melinator, you sound like an avid rider, cyclocross is no joke, you know better than to wear sandals on a bike, lol. Congrats for not giving up and completing the ride. Toes clips are great for setting proper foot position for long rides. Best to have a pro "fit" done for that. I kid you not, if you can have a "fit" done, those long rides will be a little less painful. They make sure your rig in configured properly for optimal power output and less pain. (I could never do more than 50 miles, so your a hero.
For the combo BOR/ RDL, you can definitely set from the floor and deadlift into starting position, OR if you have a rack set, you can set the height to starting position (mid thigh) and go from there. The rack at my gym has the from supports. I can usually set the bar in there.
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Aigre- Thanks. Many of the novels, I would like to have published in the future but from first draft it's hard to say how long before it will be ready. Although I have more experience so it won't take quite as long as the one I'm just now submitting, which I started the first draft around 10 years ago. I still have to do research, rewrites and edits. This one in particular will require research since it's not fantasy so set in "real world" along with one character having a medical condition that will require accuracy. I'm also not planning to self-publish when it comes to the YA or Speculative Fiction novels, so have to go through the submission process too, which takes time, but maybe some day there will be published works.
Super - I really should learn to use the pressure cooker. It's my sister's so I haven't dappled yet but will in the near future. And thanks.
Sam - the heat sounds brutal but water park must have been fun. I need to go to one some day. Would be nice to have a better experience now that I'm not "obese" as I never enjoyed the couple of parks we went to growing up due to my weight. Some day I'll go to one, maybe not until next summer but we'll see.
Well, yesterday I was lazy and stayed home but was right about the monthly cycle as it started right before I went to work. Cramps aren't too bad right now at least. I stayed in bed a little later then planned this morning but still went to the gym. It was busy being mid day. Also, for the first time had a guy ask to work in on squats. He wasn't much taller than me so we just changed the weights between sets. Mine were the heavier sets as he's just getting back into lifting and working his way up. We chatted a little and after my deadlifts he took over the bar for pendlay rows. Was nice having a brief interaction while still getting stuff done.
squat - 2x10 @ 45, 1x8 @ 95, 1x8 @ 135, 2x6 @ 145 and 2x5 @ 155 with belt
overload - 215 for 20 count
pause squat - 1x6 @ 95 and 1x5 @ 105 for 8 count
sumo deadlift - 1x6
Actually looked at the excel sheet I have for my attempt at the peak cycle. On deadlift and squat I'm on week 8 but just getting to the weights for week 1 on bench. So, I wrote done what was supposed to happen on week 3 and did those for today. Will work my way from here and try to look at the required weights before going to to the gym. Does help to follow those programs.
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Holy leg day Dawn. Glad to hear that your self-confidence is growing along with your strength
I did in fact go to the gym today. I'm just going ahead and make it official: I LOVE lifting on LOW days! You save up that energy from the days before and then just crush your workout. It was hotter than Hades. You know it's going to be bad when you start sweating AS you walk into the gym. Throughout my workout, I needed one of those teenagers to come wipe my sweat off the floor like at the volleyball games. I moved up weights on ALL of my lifts from last week. I also enjoyed watching the "Bros" eyes bug out when I threw up 30#dbs on the bench and did 175# front squats. Bonus!
Side plank pulldown 2x12@17.5lbs
SLRDL 2x12@25dbs, 1x12@30dbs
DBBP 2x12@25dbs, 1x12@30dbs
Front Squat 1x12@70, 2x10@70
I needed a spot, up from 65, major core engagement
One-arm cable row 3x12@35lbs
Went to exhaustion but could still breath.0 -
Good for you guys!
Sam-great job! What's a "low" day? Carbs, cals? Curious about your eating plan and probably missed you posting about it, sorry!
Dawn-good for you finishing your novel!! Woohoo! Great lifting of course, even on a full week!
Supermel-long bike ride lady! Wtg! Good for you getting back to stage 3!!
Aigre-the heat is killing me too! AZ is rough! Good for you braving it though!
Kim-Great job and enjoy Norway!! Jealous, wish I could go to Norway for the weekend.
I'm down 5-6 lbs this week back to LC. Sticking around 50-60g carbs this week has helped me nail and exceed my protein goal each day. I'm satisfied and not hungry all the time, well fueled and lifting well, and feeling pretty good. I've been dragging for months and gaining weight despite a decent deficit, so this is kinda extra fabulous for me! Not sure I'll stay LC for months on end, but for now I'm happy. It IS how I lost my 120 lbs, but I wasn't budging weight LC so I transitioned away from it a few years ago.
Happy weekend all! I lift tomorrow 1
