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that graph is awesome, Aigre! is it an online tool somewhere?!?!
PMagnag...where do you store all those weights?!? A home gym sounds so decadent!
Is it your birthday, Dawn? if "yes", Happy Birthday to You!0 -
Happy birthday Dawn!! Enjoy!! Cupcakes and sushi sounds celebratory!!
Pmag-so good to see you!! Yay on the home gym! That's a lot of weight to move and store! Good job!
I did Zumba this morning before church! It was fun, but not very hard. Sweat a lot and better than sitting on my tush! Not too shabby! And scale back down a bit which is a relief. Whew!0 -
Julie, I also have long thick hair, and I try to only wash it twice a week. I have magenta ombré colour so it washes out a bit with each shampoo. I use dry shampoo in between washes, or wash only my side bangs. I work out five days a week so once a week I usually resort to a hat of some sort. It's a struggle!
Damnit. I wrote a whole bunch and it didn't post properly
Aigre, love that graph! I just finished Stage 8 of Strong today so will start 9 on Tuesday. 8 was a killer. I was sore pretty much every day! How do you do so much weight for the SLRDL? Barbell or dumbell? I finished with a 30# DB for them today and could barely hold on to it for the entire 12 reps.
Happy birthday Dawn! Hope the cupcakes were delicious!
Pmag, nice on the home gym. I am building my own to hopefully start using in Nocember when my gym membership expires. My boys are old enough that I could easily lift in the basement while they have some screen time, but I can't leave them at home while I go to the gym, and my husband works wonky and long shifts. How heavy did you go for dumbells? I was thinking 50# would work for me.
I bought a shirt about five years ago, before I got pregnant with my second son. It was always a bit too tight so I never wore it. I weigh ten pounds more today than I did then, but now the shirt fits perfectly. So crazy!0 -
Good work Julie!
Happy Birthday Dawn
Pudding - yep the scale is not a reflection of where we are at. Glad you can enjoy the shirt.
I don't know how I managed it but did DL day this afternoon (and upped weight for reps) after a 12 hour night, 2 hours sleep and then back to work for the morning. So glad I went - was tough but made me feel better. And scale weight was better than anticipated considering I usually bloat after being up all night.
Man I hope I sleep well tonight. Back on call for 48 hours in the morning
I love my job, but jeez it's hard getting my body through the irregular hours whilst training to increase strength AND cut body fat at the same time! Taking the supplements (just fish oil, magnesium and glucosamine) to help my body through these times injury free. 0 -
Happy Monday, everyone!
Dawn - Happy Birthday! Sushi and cupcakes sounds like a wonderful day!
Jo - you are right that I need another goal that is not scale based. Otherwise I will be a little lost when I do get to my goal weight. I don't really love competing for fun, honestly, so it hasn't entered my mind to sign up for a race or whatnot. Right now I want to be able to squat 100 lbs and deadlift my body weight (I'm really close to this one). So we'll see in the future! Great job getting to the gym on no sleep! No wonder you have had so much success, since you are consistent and dedicated! What is your eventual body fat % goal?
Pmagnafit - nice! I love my home gym. Hope you like it! It makes my compliance so much easier
Beeps - the graph is a screen grab from trendweight.com. I weigh in every day and it syncs from my Fitbit. Very useful to be able to focus on the trend and not the individual day. It is set up to work with a Wifi scale but I just use a regular old Tanita and manually log it.
Julie - I wash my hair every other day. I would need to anyway since it's on the thin side. I have a crazy looking shower cap for the days I don't wash my hair. My head doesn't get as sweaty with weights as it does with cardio, so I time my hair washing for those days. Good job on the Zumba! The thing I like about cardio is that any given moment doesn't feel all that hard, but added up gives you some nice benefits.
Pudding - yeay for Stage 9! I do the SL RDLs with the barbell. So I can hold it with both hands. There is an illustration in the book, I think. My grip is *kitten*. I remove the safeties from my rack and just use the barbell there.
Anyway, I am still sore from my workout on Saturday. I did manage to get out yesterday for a 5 mile run, though. But my quads, hamstrings, and glutes are still hurting today. So today is a rest day. Will try to get out for a quick walk at lunch to get some blood flowing to my poor legs.
Here are some pictures of my home gym. This is a spare bedroom in my house (former owners used it as an office, I think). It's about 10x12. DH put down a foam interlocking floor over the hardwood which is great for planks and stuff, but was unstable for squats/etc so I cut out the part just under the rack.
I have a Power rack/bar/weights which includes a chin up bar, a TRX knock off, and Powerblock dumbbells. The treadmill was my DH's from high school, so is old and creaky and slow. The bench is lightweight and I think I bought it from Walmart ages ago. It's due for an upgrade next. The rack is set up for RDLs in the photo. Hope this helps you all who are thinking of home gyms!
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Yep, Beeps, yesterday was my birthday. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. The sushi and cupcakes were nice and helped accommodate for the fact I had to work. Not only did I have a full shift but we were short staffed. Usually we have a cashier, someone in wine&spirits, a cosmetics person and a few people on the floor to help cover breaks and when there are lines. Last night the "floor" was just me. So, I had to cover all the stuff and try to do other tasks. But just need to make it through tonight then I get three days off in a row.
Nice looking gym, Aigre.0 -
Dawn-sorry work was crazy busy, but glad your celebration was fun!
Aigre-thanks for the pic and visual! I'd love a home gym, but no where to put one for now. Finding fun cardio seems to be the key for me! I do better with classes or being out in nature. My head gets sweaty on lifting days as much as cardio days . I hate washing my hair! Long and damaged. Actually, it's the drying and styling that bugs me, but I'll get over it 
. Dry shampoo helps a lot!
Dang Jo! On little sleep you bested your Dl? Insane!!! Good job!! Hope it's a quiet night!
Pudding-love that the scale is up but that shirt fits!! I need to remind myself of this too! The scale doesn't know everything. Cool hair! My girls want to do ombré like that! Younger wants the silver color!
Yes, I'm normally a 2-3x/week hair washer, and love my shower cap! I use a lot of dry shampoo on workout days! Lol! But it gets the job done! Just a hassle!
Doing well, scale coming back down! Dropped cals a bit yesterday and am gonna rotate them this week. Lifted this morning, doing great! Feeling good and making progress is fun! Crazy volleyball season is upon us, both girls playing school ball, one varsity, and I'm babysitting 3 days this week too! Crazy!
Have a good one!0 -
Aigre - awesome set up! I would LOVE my very own rack :-)
Upper body and combat done today. Starting to feel like this cut is hard work. My body is not enjoying. Am going to try and jiggle my macros a bit to see if that helps. I'm giving myself another 7 weeks and then will see where I'm at (hopefully start eating more again!). My gym runs an 8 week challenge which I'm not part of, but I've decided to hijack the latest one just from a timeframe and accountability perspective. I've told the trainer I'm doing it but in my own way on the side. I will use the daily FB posts about it as reminders to keep me on track.0 -
Ooh, I have even more home-gym envy now!
I also have Doms on Doms......did "leg day" on Saturday - 10x10 squats @ 50kgs then 10 x 10 lunges EACH LEG ie 200 in total, with a 12 kg kettlebell in front of me to keep my back straight. Rest day needed on Sunday, then did a kettlebells class on Monday morning - it was a bank holiday here in the UK, so I managed to do a class that I am normally not able to do because it only runs when I am at work - thoroughly enjoyed it, and she wrote out the sequence for me so I can do it myself. Then did chest and back day - 10x10 chest press (couldn't get the rack) @25kg and 10x10 each side single arm rows with the 12kg kettlebell (did the first 3 sets with the 16kg bell but knew I couldn't maintain form.
I did, for the first time ever, proper pull ups - 2 of them unassisted! I was so excited it is unbelievable!!! Need to work on these now - I want to get really badass at them!
So, I really am feeling it now - another rest day today, much appreciated!
Jumped on the scales - have lost the weight I put on while away in Norway last week so that is pleasing - also body fat % down from 37.6% in June to 30.5% today - now I know that these scales are not likely to be the MOST accurate in the world, but it is certainly encouraging.
I feel like I'm doing okay! However, two weeks in Florida coming up may put paid to some of that - ah well, I've never been to the US, and may never get there again, so I will enjoy and not worry about such things! The gym etc will be there when I get back
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Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Kimi - look at you with all your traveling! Florida is gorgeous, where in Florida are you going? Great workouts! Fantastic about the pull ups! Still a dream for me.
Jo - nice work! I can't imagine you have much to lose at this point.
Julie - haha, half the time I put my wet hair up into a clip and call it done!
Dawn - hope you enjoy your time off
Today was Stage 9, Workout B, Week 1
Windmills - trouble figuring these out, but think I did 5 on each side with an 8 lb dumbbell
OHP drop sets - 1x5@33 lbs (warm up), 1x7@45 lbs, 1x6@40 lbs, 1x5@35 lbs
Chin ups - 1x3, 1x2 with resistance band assist
RFESS - 2x6@35 lbs
Bench press - 2x6@60 lbs
SL RDL - 2x6@60 lbs
When I do upper body exercises, I don't get much DOMS. I just fail the reps when I get tired and I never get that sore. Lower body, however, I can keep going for a long time and really overdo it if I am not careful. Wonder why that is.0 -
Thanks for all the good wishes
Wow, cross fit is expensive. I can't recall how much it was here in Oz when I looked but I remember thinking it wasn't worth it.
Aigre - another stage is always good to shake things up. I do not miss the SLDL!
Julie - haha yes, I'm a little one - but wasn't always. I started this journey at 75kgs (165lbs).
I'm sure if I had a rack at home I would be squatting better by now.
To those struggling with the scales and/ or progress - I feel that - while I am no expert - having gotten to my goal weight, maintained this for a number of years (up/ down as intended) and increased my strength I may have some words of advice. First up, consistency is key. Both in regards to training and eating. Choose a goal. Stick to one program to get you there. Evaluate frequently (3 mthly works for me). Modify the program as required.
KNOW what your maintenance calories are. Without knowing this, how can you know if you are in deficit etc? Start this by taking an educated guess - online calculators are useful for this. Eat that amount and record how much you weigh on a daily basis for at least 3 months. Yes, boring, but so informative. Our weight varies with our monthly cycles so you want to see what the trend is, not the daily difference. Why keep guessing? FIGURE IT OUT. Then adjust accordingly.
Then factor in goals. If goal is weight loss, eat at deficit and KNOW your calorie burn. MFP way over estimates for me so I used a HR monitor to work it out to start with. Now I know how much I can eat without even having to factor in my workouts - I aim for the same almost every day because my activity is pretty similar each day. And anyway, would certainly be the same over any given week. So if it helps to keep it simple, don't count exercise cals and just use the weight monitoring to decide a daily intake amount.
Frequent review is paramount - this year I dropped my calorie requirement because my job changed and is less physical. I had to factor this in to my plan. Now I want to cut some more body fat so I have dropped my cals again. It took a while to notice a difference (about 6 weeks) but now I'm 9 weeks in and in that time have lost 2% body fat and can SEE the change. Note that my scale weight has only changed a fraction.
It really is about gathering all the info (which takes time) and then using it effectively to achieve your goals. Constant evaluation is crucial, but swapping eating/ exercise plans every few months is only going to make you go back and forwards without really knowing what works.
Jo- congrats on the DL PR and you sound like my ETP coaches. The number one indicator of success is adherence to the chosen program. I don't do well with restrictions so I love my program because there aren't any I used to count my exercise cals and "Earn" my meals. No more. Now that I'm cal/carb cycling, food is just fuel. You are so right about weighing yourself for a short amount of time to learn your cycles. I hate hearing women freak out about a five pound gain. IT'S NOT FAT!! You don't gain fat overnight like that. Did you work out hard yesterday? (water/glycogen) Are you ovulating or are Pre-menstrual? (even more water) What was your salt intake this week? (yup, water) Bonus, I'm down five pounds (difference between highest weight and lowest weight) and down 2 inches WITHOUT cutting cals.!!! Jo, you may get a kick out this. It's my trend sheet. Crap ton of data, if you're into data If you can't see it, then the coaches have the share blocked, But there's a graph for everything, weight, macros, cals, water, sleep, sodium, burn. I don't track everything because I don't need more things in my life to be neurotic about.
Listen to Jo Ladies, she knows of what she speaks. I will add that not all deficits are equal. If you are eating below what your body requires to stay alive, then your deficit isn't doing you ANY good. My daily deficit comes from the weight room and LISS (Low intensity steady state) FAt burning galore. My average daily intake is Maintenance.0 -
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Had a totally rad weekend at Cranks around the campfire mountain bike jamboree...which ended in a family trip to urgent care.
Got in over 3 hours of riding Saturday, plus a two-hour very strenuous night hike, countless hours walking around the campground. Sunday, my two-hour tour took 3.5 hours after I crashed on an embankment, shot my bike into the woods and twisted my knee. Finished the loop Dr. Checked it out, it's just swollen to hell but otherwise fine. (feels so much better already) My husband did not fare as well. He crashed on Saturday breaking a rib and badly bruising his "bad shoulder." The Dr. didn't know what to make out of his x-ray he has so much hardware in there from a REALLY bad crash seven years ago. She couldn't tell what was old and what was new. HE did 70 miles of trail AFTER his crash and claimed the STRAVA KOM for the designated loop. Long story short, I'm in a knee brace and he's in a sling. We are both out of the gym for at least a week. Also, nothing hurts until you STOP moving. (He lead my loop Sunday broken rib and all and nobody could keep up with him still. Quite annoying actually. This is why I stopped riding with him, lol In reality, I only get to ride five days a year because my youngest hates it.)
I burned over 5k calories during the activities plus walking and normal activities. My weight was up the next morning, we'll blame glycogen and lactic acid. I ate WELL OVER maintenance just to fuel my activity for the weekend but I didn't fuel correctly. I was far too low on protein. I was down .5 this morning eating at maintenance yesterday and today. Still feel a little bloated. Tomorrow is a low day. Going to try to get in some swimming while I can still do it outside, and it's gentle on the knee.
I also hate cardio. That whole asthma thing. My coaches are crazy for LISS anyway you can get it. There's a daily step competition going now. I don't use an activity tracker and don't intend to either. I'll use my phone to get a daily average when I'm back at work full-time. I use Map My Walk when I actually go for long walks and hikes, and I have a computer on my bike for speed and mileage. Really I just do my three days in the gym, one day of Zumba if I have the energy (just because it's fun) and then just fun stuff on the weekend, very low intensity (walking, kayaking, hiking etc.) only on the weeks I have the energy. We all know that 20 minutes of HIIT and an hour of walking tend to work out to be about the same. The LISS is supposed to be Great for fat burning which is my current goal. We'll see how much success I have when I add more in September.
Cross-Fit around here is also expensive and a bit too much like a "club." The least I've seen in $85/month for small group. I'll stick to my $25/month LA Fitness. We have a pool and unlimited classes. I'm good. Though that home gym looks KILLER. I need a power rack for my basement
Ok, I'm going to shut up now. Happy lifting ladies.0 -
Sam-you totally rock!, thank you for sharing all of that awesome info!I I took notes! You've inspired me to try this approach and I've been enjoying it so far! I didn't join the forum, yet. But I've read the book and read the posts online too. We're the same height and similar weight and you've given me so much hope!! Sounds like an exciting weekend! I laughed at your family visit to the dr! Hope Dh and you feel great again soon! glad you're resting this week! (My husband broke his collar bone and messed up his rotator cuff mountain biking a few years ago - we trail ride now and call it good!)
Kimi-impressive!! 10x10 at that weight! Wha? Crazy! No wonder you're sore!! I'm sore form 5x5!! Go girl! Impressive all the way around!! You'll have a great visit! There is a lot to do in FL, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the beach too! It's funny, our visit to Europe was our "once in a lifetime" trip, it's funny to hear you refer to FL as your equivalent.
You guys are all doing so well!! So proud and impressed!!
I rested today, but lift tomorrow. Great session yesterday and really pleased with my progress and more importantly my form lately! My squat is much, much better and such a huge relief!! 1 -
Aigre-I also get much more doms with lower body than upper, funny. You're doing great!!
Jo-I agree, sounds like you're pretty darned lean! Not sure how steep a cut you're doing, but hope it starts going a little better for you. Eating is good . 0 -
Kimi - nice work on the pull ups. And all of the other stuff too.
Trying to get back to a regular lifting schedule as last week it was thrown off a fair amount. Since I didn't do deadlift on Sunday, decided to get back to the upper/lower thing I had going. So, while I didn't have work today, after being lazy and eating not the best choices, I drive over to the gym for upper body day. Tried out the trainer's CTE plan (which he was there if I had any questions and asked me if I was trying it out). Did my own warm up, then timed on 4 lifts: bench press, assisted chin up, tricep pushdown and seated row. It went pretty well. Didn't accomplish much else today but that's okay as I have two more days off from work. Still need to do the birthday thing since we were going to maybe check out some places in Korea town but that might not happen until Thursday. Today, I mostly was lazy and that's okay. My feet needed it though still managed a 30 minute jog at the gym too.
band pull aparts 3x10 and chin up attempts on smith machine 3x2
bench warm up - 2x10 @ 45 and 1x8 @ 65
Timed for 1 minute:
bench - 14 @ 80
assisted chin up - 7 @ 40
tricep pushdown - 22 @ 30
seated row - 16 @ 70
Then did half the reps per set going from one to the next, so it was 7 reps @ 80 for bench, 4 @ 40 for assisted chin up, 11 @ 30 tricep pushdown and 8 @ 70 seated for. Did that for 3 sets.
cable bicep curl - 3x8 @ 30
one arm db row - 3x8 @ 35
30 minute jog on treadmill
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Well yesterday and today were supposed to be lifting days, so obviously I got sick
It's a really horrible cold and now I feel so bad because my little one had this over the weekend and I just gave her some calpol (baby medicine if you don't have calpol in the states!) and made her do loads of things.
Poor little lamb she must have felt awful, because I feel atrocious
You're all doing great, and Jo you have inspired me to get my nutrition back under control. When everything gets stressful the first thing that disappears is any nutritional control.
Kimi - pullups - INCREDIBLE. Well done! That is still a lifelong dream of mine
Dawn - glad to see you back at it
Aigre - Lovely set up and good work on stage 9, so close to the end now!
Sam - thanks for all the info, you sound like you have this down! Hope you and your hubs get well soon!!
Apologies to others, my brain isn't functioning right now 0 -
Samntha - oh, those graphs look so fun! [exposing my dorkiness] I know you've said that you are at maintenance/recomp, but does ETP help you lose weight as well if you choose to? Sorry you and your husband got injured! Hope you feel better soon.
Dawn - Nice workout! Very interesting strategy with the minute timing.
Julie - yeay for figuring out your squat!
Stephie - ugh, it is the worst being sick! I don't know about your sweet baby, but mine always seem to weather it so much better than I do, so hopefully she didn't feel that badly this weekend. Hope you both are on the mend soon!
5 am run in the dark, 3.2 miles. Ran around a corner and almost right into a skunk. Stopped dead in my tracks and started backing up as it just looked at me, then eventually it ran off into the woods. Thank goodness as it would have been difficult to explain getting sprayed by a skunk at work.0 -
Thanks for all the nice comments re pull ups! I did two more today, but as I had just done arms day, I really didn't find it so easy - plus, I knew I could do it, so I wasn't quite so relaxed about it I expect. But still, I'm well on my way to improving!
Happy belated birthday, Dawn!
Hugs to those who have poorly ones, and congrats to those who are getting their lifting "thang" going!
I did arms today - a couple of sets of Kettlebell/Mountain climber/press up hiit sessions, then 10x10 barbell curls - 15kgs is HARD by about set 4!! And 10x10 tricep exercises - trying to work out which is best for me, so did 2 sets of dumbbell pull over things, laying down - 3 sets of overhead tricep extensions seated on the bench, and then 5 sets of skullcrushers. I know I worked. That's all I know!
Re Florida - we're doing a week in Kissimee to do the theme parks then heading to Naples for a week that will hopefully be a little less chaotic. We're very much looking forward to it, although I gather the rain has arrived this week, so jolly well want it to take a hike before we arrive!
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YEs, ETP can be for weight loss. You tell them what your goals are. IF they don't agree with your goals they will talk to you about it. Everything is very personal...except the rhythm. Everybody is on a rhythm, that's the only standard.
Here's some philosophy is song form for the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWASeaYuHZo
"Often times, the world both directly and indirectly tells us that we shoudn't be happy with ourselves if we don't fit certain beauty standards. Scars to your beautiful is a reminder that beauty isn't only one look, shape, size, or colour. It isn't always tangible. It comes in an endless amount of forms and we need to recognize that." Love yourself. We're all on the quest for self-improvement, just do it for the right reasons.0
