April Progress
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I've now had occasion to stall on everything except deadlifts (which tomorrow will be bodyweight), however I think that will be happening soon due to grip strength.
I don't mind failing and having to do the same weight or deload, I see it as an opportunity to get fully comfortable with that load and work on form. I've intentionally repeated a weight too if I completed all my reps but it felt a bit precarious. This is what I'll be doing with squats tomorrow (finally hit 100 lbs, yay!)
I'm going to invest in some washers or something to use as fractional plates, because going up 5 lbs on the upper body stuff is overly challenging right now.0 -
Been a rough two days for some reason. I forced myself to go ahead and work out tonight. I fixed my form for the bench. Feet are now on the floor and surprising everything felt good. I thought it would be awkward. Squat form is straightening out, too. So, despite my general, idon'twannadothis attitude, it was a decent workout.0
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That is a good attitude. I will try to remember to think of t that way.I've now had occasion to stall on everything except deadlifts (which tomorrow will be bodyweight), however I think that will be happening soon due to grip strength.
I don't mind failing and having to do the same weight or deload, I see it as an opportunity to get fully comfortable with that load and work on form. I've intentionally repeated a weight too if I completed all my reps but it felt a bit precarious. This is what I'll be doing with squats tomorrow (finally hit 100 lbs, yay!)
I'm going to invest in some washers or something to use as fractional plates, because going up 5 lbs on the upper body stuff is overly challenging right now.0 -
Been a rough two days for some reason. I forced myself to go ahead and work out tonight. I fixed my form for the bench. Feet are now on the floor and surprising everything felt good. I thought it would be awkward. Squat form is straightening out, too. So, despite my general, idon'twannadothis attitude, it was a decent workout.
Did you feel kinda good after though? Usually I don't want to but I feel good after I do it.
Badger - 100 lbs, yay!0 -
So was off for a week exactly but I dove in and did the next weight on squats but maintained on benches and went up on rows. did them all but going to redo both the squats and the benches. Squats due to inconsistant form and benches due to grinding through 2 or 3 of the sets.
Squats 115
Bench 90
Rows 85
Realized that it might actually be important to do the Pendlays the way they are shown vs what I was doing which was letting them hit the ground and then come right back up instead of letting the muscles stop firing and then exploding up again. Made a difference, I think. I also did it thumbless and that kept me from curling my wrists at the top! Yay! I can be trained!!!
Today my teres are screaming along with hams and glutes so I'd say form was mostly correct!!!0 -
Today is going to be a rough day. I started a 5k running class, which has me do practice runs 3x/wk. I can't really run, so after my run last night my lungs were screaming and I am sore and exhausted today. Pathetic considering my running time totaled 23 minutes, lol. Being the first week of doing both running and lifting (instead of lifting alone) I'm really cognizant of my increased need for recovery time. I'm debating taking a day off today but I'm not sold either way. I would otherwise be taking my rest day on Sat or Sun.
As for eating, I recently upped to 1500 PLUS exercise cals. Between my long walks with the dog and running/lifting, I'm burning 400-500 a day, so a total intake of 1800-2000 lately, and so far it hasn't hampered my weight loss. I'm 5'4" and 135 lbs. I'm trying to be more strict about my protein intake and aim for between 125-150g/day to aid with muscle sparing.0 -
So was off for a week exactly but I dove in and did the next weight on squats but maintained on benches and went up on rows. did them all but going to redo both the squats and the benches. Squats due to inconsistant form and benches due to grinding through 2 or 3 of the sets.
Squats 115
Bench 90
Rows 85
Realized that it might actually be important to do the Pendlays the way they are shown vs what I was doing which was letting them hit the ground and then come right back up instead of letting the muscles stop firing and then exploding up again. Made a difference, I think. I also did it thumbless and that kept me from curling my wrists at the top! Yay! I can be trained!!!
Today my teres are screaming along with hams and glutes so I'd say form was mostly correct!!!
Sounds like a great day!
I have a quick question about what you said with the rows (for anyone to answer, really):
I remember reading that the grip was supposed to be the same for the bench press as for the row, that they were supposed to be "same but opposite" movements. Would thumbless grip throw that off at all? I think my wrists curl at the top, too, and if a thumbless grip is a good mod, it would be nice to try - I'm just wondering if it affects anything else at all? I guess, at some point when you get to really heavy weights, a thumbless grip might get tricky in terms of grip strength.0 -
Been a rough two days for some reason. I forced myself to go ahead and work out tonight. I fixed my form for the bench. Feet are now on the floor and surprising everything felt good. I thought it would be awkward. Squat form is straightening out, too. So, despite my general, idon'twannadothis attitude, it was a decent workout.
Did you feel kinda good after though? Usually I don't want to but I feel good after I do it.
Badger - 100 lbs, yay!
I didn't have that usual work out high but I was really satisfied that I did it anyways. It feels good to be fixing form issues.0 -
Today is going to be a rough day. I started a 5k running class, which has me do practice runs 3x/wk. I can't really run, so after my run last night my lungs were screaming and I am sore and exhausted today. Pathetic considering my running time totaled 23 minutes, lol. Being the first week of doing both running and lifting (instead of lifting alone) I'm really cognizant of my increased need for recovery time. I'm debating taking a day off today but I'm not sold either way. I would otherwise be taking my rest day on Sat or Sun.
As for eating, I recently upped to 1500 PLUS exercise cals. Between my long walks with the dog and running/lifting, I'm burning 400-500 a day, so a total intake of 1800-2000 lately, and so far it hasn't hampered my weight loss. I'm 5'4" and 135 lbs. I'm trying to be more strict about my protein intake and aim for between 125-150g/day to aid with muscle sparing.
Wow! I'm the same height as you and your are 5lbs more than I was in HS. But I had 0 upper body strength and only really musculare in abs, and thighs, maybe calves. What's your goal weight? I always figured I was about 10lbs oveweight in HS, but like I said that was w/out musles in arms and back so maybe 120 is unrealistic for me.
Oh and if you have access, swimming will work your aerobic capacity with out punishing your joints if that is an issue for you.0 -
So was off for a week exactly but I dove in and did the next weight on squats but maintained on benches and went up on rows. did them all but going to redo both the squats and the benches. Squats due to inconsistant form and benches due to grinding through 2 or 3 of the sets.
Squats 115
Bench 90
Rows 85
Realized that it might actually be important to do the Pendlays the way they are shown vs what I was doing which was letting them hit the ground and then come right back up instead of letting the muscles stop firing and then exploding up again. Made a difference, I think. I also did it thumbless and that kept me from curling my wrists at the top! Yay! I can be trained!!!
Today my teres are screaming along with hams and glutes so I'd say form was mostly correct!!!
Sounds like a great day!
I have a quick question about what you said with the rows (for anyone to answer, really):
I remember reading that the grip was supposed to be the same for the bench press as for the row, that they were supposed to be "same but opposite" movements. Would thumbless grip throw that off at all? I think my wrists curl at the top, too, and if a thumbless grip is a good mod, it would be nice to try - I'm just wondering if it affects anything else at all? I guess, at some point when you get to really heavy weights, a thumbless grip might get tricky in terms of grip strength.
I don't think thumbless on rows caused any issues. I kept standard grip on benches, my wrists are sore but I'm certain that was from trying to let the bar drop more on squats and bending my wrists there too much.0 -
So was off for a week exactly but I dove in and did the next weight on squats but maintained on benches and went up on rows. did them all but going to redo both the squats and the benches. Squats due to inconsistant form and benches due to grinding through 2 or 3 of the sets.
Squats 115
Bench 90
Rows 85
Realized that it might actually be important to do the Pendlays the way they are shown vs what I was doing which was letting them hit the ground and then come right back up instead of letting the muscles stop firing and then exploding up again. Made a difference, I think. I also did it thumbless and that kept me from curling my wrists at the top! Yay! I can be trained!!!
Today my teres are screaming along with hams and glutes so I'd say form was mostly correct!!!
Sounds like a great day!
I have a quick question about what you said with the rows (for anyone to answer, really):
I remember reading that the grip was supposed to be the same for the bench press as for the row, that they were supposed to be "same but opposite" movements. Would thumbless grip throw that off at all? I think my wrists curl at the top, too, and if a thumbless grip is a good mod, it would be nice to try - I'm just wondering if it affects anything else at all? I guess, at some point when you get to really heavy weights, a thumbless grip might get tricky in terms of grip strength.
its not quite the same - the bar should lay in the crease of your fingers and hand for the row, like a deadlift grip. The motion is the same but opposite but the grip is slightly different.
Irridia - that sounds like a great workout - 90 lb bench!0 -
2nd workout on stronglifts and it felt pretty good. I still need to get different shoes.
When I was doing Starting Strength I was doing sumo deadlifts, but last night I tried to do a true deadlift. Only 85 lbs but I think it went pretty well and I will be able to up the weights next time.0 -
Yesterday I deadlifted my bodyweight, 135 lbs. I felt like a real badass, and my adrenalin was high. Because I'm a sucker for punishment I did 5 sets. My grip is definitely starting to fail, so I think I'm going to start going up by 5 lbs instead of 10 on the deadlifts.
I finally nailed all 5 sets of overhead presses with 55 lbs. I also re-did 100 lbs on the squats and it felt less tenuous than the last time. After all the comments on this forum about squatting ATG I paid closer attention to my hip engagement, and opted to squat below parallel but not ATG. Seemed ok, but I'll need some time to adjust.
My left hip is really starting to bother me full time. It used to be only with squats, now I feel it pretty much all the time. I think I've got a bit of tendonitis in there somewhere. I've been icing it and using the foam roller, but other than having to stop for a couple weeks and lose ground, I'm not sure there's anything more I can do for it.0 -
Great job on your progress everyone!
Friday I did 65 Squat, 55 Bench and 70 Rows. Yay!0 -
Badger, take a week off! It won't hurt your progress. I know it's hard but you'll feel so much better.
I've been busy not lifting. I overslept on Friday and just did eliptical. I think I will do one more day of 100 lb squats and then up to 105. I can totally do more weight for 1RM stuff but for 5x5? My form tends to dissolve. But I want to buck up before I enter this powerlifting competition that's happening in June. I suddenly feel an urgency which may be a good thing for training.0 -
I did day 3 and went up a little.
Squat 75 bench 55 rows 50
I hurt my knee on squats but I think it is because of my running shoes making me go forward on my toes. I might try barefoot. Any reason not too?0 -
I did day 3 and went up a little.
Squat 75 bench 55 rows 50
I hurt my knee on squats but I think it is because of my running shoes making me go forward on my toes. I might try barefoot. Any reason not too?
I've heard barefoot is best. Make sure your knees stay pointed out. That's how I've been hurting mine. I've even started pointing my toes out a little more.0 -
I did day 3 and went up a little.
Squat 75 bench 55 rows 50
I hurt my knee on squats but I think it is because of my running shoes making me go forward on my toes. I might try barefoot. Any reason not too?
I've heard barefoot is best. Make sure your knees stay pointed out. That's how I've been hurting mine. I've even started pointing my toes out a little more.
Yep. I go barefoot.
I'm finding my lower back hurts this morning. I think it's from the rows. I think one of the reasons I can't increase weight is because my form sucks so much. So I took some videos and deloaded last night, but still... lower back pain. :ohwell: I will watch some videos today and try to figure out what's wrong.
My squats are increasing though! And I am taking videos to make sure I'm keeping my form. :happy:0 -
Jess - maybe your butt is up too high on the rows? natural position for me feels like a deadlift but apparently that puts my butt up in the air too high. I could imagine that causing lower back pain.
asjerven - I do it all barefoot and I like it, all the padding in shoes adds so much weirdness.
I skipped my workout on Sat - we had so many errands to do and cleaning around the house that it just wasn't going to happen.0 -
So I'm back up to over body weight (165) on Deads after doing a deload due to rounding back. But I was at 185 with the round back. I also deloaded my squats to switch to lowbar and am getting back up to that weight as well. I'm doing 115lbs, I stopped at 125 on high bar and it was getting really ****ing hard. 115 feels nice with the low bar.0
