May Progress
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7th session last night. Proud of myself for sticking with something so long. I usually do something 3 or 4 times, mess up my schedule, lose all motivation, and start looking for the next "cool thing" to try.
Perhaps I am still doing this because I see improvement so quickly. I went from the "weak little girl with the bad knees and pile of excuses" to the "girl who did 25 squats yesterday with 70 pounds across her shoulders". That doesn't sound like a lot to some of you who can almost double that, but for me it is a HUGE deal!
Anyways, yesterday was 70/55/55 squat/bench/row.
Almost failed on the last bench but JUST squeaked it out!0 -
this is why it's so darned confusing... and everyone has a different posture. I think the last pendlay row video posted of the girl doing them, her shoulders were a little higher (like mine). I'll definitely hinge more at the hip and lower my shoulders... My scapular muscles are probably my weakest and this will definitely help me get my unassisted pull ups.0
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this is why it's so darned confusing... and everyone has a different posture. I think the last pendlay row video posted of the girl doing them, her shoulders were a little higher (like mine). I'll definitely hinge more at the hip and lower my shoulders... My scapular muscles are probably my weakest and this will definitely help me get my unassisted pull ups.
Here is a good one! Of a women doing one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44LJqZX5aIY 0 -
It does say just rows. The SL report/pdf is kind of annoying to get through and doesn't explain everything very well, but it's definitely pendlay rows.
That's good to know. I didn't realize the one he was describing was actually the Pendlay (I though the Pendlay was something different). Turns out I've been doing the right one (though my form appears to be a little off, need to bend more), but logging it wrong.0 -
ok, I thought it would be funny for us gals to have a thread to make fun of Mehdi, just because of how testosteroni and male-centric his site and his emails are. Do you think we need a thread?
Like, Mehdi, if you think your genetics are lousy you should see my scrawny wrists!
I would so go for that! I thought the same thing when I saw his site, and decided that I'd take the 12 week challenge and write in to him saying something along the lines of "hey Mehdi! We girls can do this, too, and check out our progress!" In the meantime, it'd be nice to laugh about his male-centricity. :laugh:0 -
I took video this morning of my row and squat
Q and Rae already advised the row maybe to lower my shoulders?
http://youtu.be/jrKFLYEf_Zc
this is my back squat. I'm still clean & jerking the bar to rack it.
http://youtu.be/JL37n8NAybI
It's great to see these videos so thanks for sharing! I seem to have a much narrower grip on the rows (still outside my knees, so perhaps my stance is more narrow) and my elbows are closer to my body. I feel very solid in this stance, just noticing a difference for my own self study. I just looked at a few other videos online and noticed that most people prefer the winder grip so I may try it next time to see how it feels. Interesting!
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Okay May for me....Squat is at 165, Bench press is 100, row is 100, OHP is 75, deadlift 155. Although I think I hyper extended my back last deadlift session so yeah now back pain! At any rate these are my stats for May thus far.
Amazing! That's great progress.0 -
I took video this morning of my row and squat
Q and Rae already advised the row maybe to lower my shoulders?http://youtu.be/jrKFLYEf_Zc
this is my back squat. I'm still clean & jerking the bar to rack it.http://youtu.be/JL37n8NAybI
It's great to see these videos so thanks for sharing! I seem to have a much narrower grip on the rows (still outside my knees, so perhaps my stance is more narrow) and my elbows are closer to my body. I feel very solid in this stance, just noticing a difference for my own self study. I just looked at a few other videos online and noticed that most people prefer the winder grip so I may try it next time to see how it feels. Interesting!
I think I keep my elbows closer to my body too, and they sort of move behind me instead of out. I am still not sure if this is right or not!0 -
You should! Although he might revoke your membership! The inner circle is for guys who actually get it:)ok, I thought it would be funny for us gals to have a thread to make fun of Mehdi, just because of how testosteroni and male-centric his site and his emails are. Do you think we need a thread?
Like, Mehdi, if you think your genetics are lousy you should see my scrawny wrists!
I would so go for that! I thought the same thing when I saw his site, and decided that I'd take the 12 week challenge and write in to him saying something along the lines of "hey Mehdi! We girls can do this, too, and check out our progress!" In the meantime, it'd be nice to laugh about his male-centricity. :laugh:0 -
You should! Although he might revoke your membership! The inner circle is for guys who actually get it:)ok, I thought it would be funny for us gals to have a thread to make fun of Mehdi, just because of how testosteroni and male-centric his site and his emails are. Do you think we need a thread?
Like, Mehdi, if you think your genetics are lousy you should see my scrawny wrists!
I would so go for that! I thought the same thing when I saw his site, and decided that I'd take the 12 week challenge and write in to him saying something along the lines of "hey Mehdi! We girls can do this, too, and check out our progress!" In the meantime, it'd be nice to laugh about his male-centricity. :laugh:
I will be. I'll have to post my message and his response, if I get one. 0 -
I finally got 5x5x70 on the overhead press! It's funny, I've never considered myself upper body strong, always thought my lower body was stronger (like most women). But my lifting partner is male (he'd never lifted before starting with me 8 weeks ago). I'm keeping up with him and even passing him on the upper body stuff but he now squats 30lbs MORE than I do.
So I'm now at:
Squats: 130
Bench: 100
Rows: 95
Overhead Press: 70
Deads: 1650 -
Damn! Nice progress, Rae.
I think I may not be lifting for a few days. I don't know what I did to my lower back, but it hurts like mother effer today. I should have stayed home in bed because it is the worst sitting down... today sending shooting pains down through my legs. But, I get this like 2-3 times a year and I have no idea why (maybe it's my posture, or stress/tension), so it should be ok in a few days after some rest. I hope my progress doesn't suffer too much because of it.0 -
Bench was a huge success last night at 70 lbs. Last time, it was ridiculous how difficult 70 lbs was...I very much failed it. Weird. But my rows were terrible. I'm wondering if I should deload some to work on my form.
Squats are still meh...but I think I'm not in danger of injuring myself, so I'm gonna add a bit of weight. I think my heels aren't coming up, per se, just that my foot is rotating inward. I need to keep my knees pointed out to help prevent that.
Overhead Press is my favorite exercise. I did 60 lbs on Sunday...onto 65 lbs tomorrow night. woot!0 -
_GlaDOS, it might be SI joint stuff. I pulled mine out of alignment with some crappy deadlift form several weeks ago, and that's what it felt like. There are some articles online to help you rehab it, but the best thing I found were two different yoga workouts that were designed to help that stuff. Hope it feels better soon though, it sucks!0
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Well, some of you ladies totally put me to shame. My overheads totally suck.
Today:
Squats: 85 lbs 5x5 (I stalled slightly at 80 and now moving on)
Overhead: 50 lbs, 3/3/3/2/2 and damn they felt hard. I should feel fairly good about it, as I started at 30 lbs, and finally got 5x5 on the big girl bar last time, but damn, I feel weak when I do that.
Deads: 85 lbs, 1x5 (and 2 lighter warm up sets) [I started really light on deads to work on form, but now that deads and squats are the same weight, I'll keep them in parity for a time.]0 -
I'm going through SL withdrawls! I swear when my 5K is over I'm going to be ridiculous and go lift just to get it out of my system. Addicting! Three days and counting. lol!0
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Thanks, Dot. That kind of sounds like it, but it just started hurting randomly yesterday morning, but I haven't lifted in days so I don't think I did anything to it lifting. It's been getting worse today, though. :ohwell: So I'm definitely going to rest and stretch when I can.0
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I'm all hurty too!! Last week I think I strained my traps doing squats. I've taken two workouts off and couldn't even squat the bar today. I can do other things but it hurts to pull my shoulder blades back...:(. I've rested,stretched,rolled,and iced. I think I'll try heat next and then try again next Monday. Boo...because I feel like I'm starting over after I have to rest...:(0
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I've decided to stick with the SL program but on days I'm crunched for time just focus on doing 3 sets of 5 reps and upping weight.
Today at the end of my 110 lb squats I did 1 rep of 135 which I've been looking forward to due to the "big plate" factor.
I'm starting to kinda love bench. I never would have guessed that.
Friday is Deadlift Day and I'm psyched!0 -
I have SL again tomorrow. Its squat/row/press day. I like chest presses, hate rows. I am really enjoying the program, just started a week ago, but have yet to be sore afterwards??? Maybe that will come with higher weights???0
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Last night I had my first session with a new PT at the gym (my old trainer kept standing me up).
I LOVED him.
He had me doing compound heavy lifts... he was excited because he'd never had a woman come and ask him to help her lift heavier. He said he'd never even seen a woman in the weights section doing deadlifts.
I felt really empowered by him being there, and he upped every single weight I'd done previously.0 -
Squats. 90
Bench. 75
Rows. 80
Everything felt good tonight. I was a little surprised since I had missed a couple of workouts.0 -
Squats 80 pounds
Bench press 65 pounds
Row 55 pounds
Everything was good, only increased on the squat and some guy said the squats looked good and deep, he thought I had a good program and he knows cuz he used to wrestle.0 -
I'd like to join in to keep track. You ladies are where I want to be, in about a year it feels like! I start this week and have done 2 sessions so far. Wasn't sure about the weights so starting low!
W1/S1
-Squat: 20 lbs
-Bench: 20lbs.
- Row: 20 lbs
Weight was too light so need to up the bench and rows tomorrow. Will try 30.
W1/S2
-Squat: 30lb
-OHP: 30lb
-Dead: 60lb
Squat was ok but I'm trying to sort my form out so will stay on 30 for the next session and see how it is. Next jump is to 40 so want to make sure I'm ready. OHP was a challenge and the last set was really tough. Will do 30lb again next time before trying to move to 40. Dead was a case of figuring out what I could do. Started with 30, used it as a warm up as it was too light. Then a set at 40, 50 and finally 60. I was tired by then so I left it at the one set of 60. I think I could push more though. Will try 70 with the proper bar next week.
So, that's my weak assed first week
Onwards and Upwards. 0 -
Last night I had my first session with a new PT at the gym (my old trainer kept standing me up).
I LOVED him.
He had me doing compound heavy lifts... he was excited because he'd never had a woman come and ask him to help her lift heavier. He said he'd never even seen a woman in the weights section doing deadlifts.
I felt really empowered by him being there, and he upped every single weight I'd done previously.
A good trainer makes all the difference in the world! That's great you found someone you feel comfy with who can show you the ropes! Will help you in the long run with form. Woohoo!0 -
I have a hard time keeping track of my weights. I have it written down at home, but I believe it was something like this:
squats 85
bench 55
rows ?70
I have a hard time with the rows. I dont feel like my form is good with the pendlay rows. i tried putting plates down but that didnt seem to help. I just feel like I could hurt my back doing them. I may do regular rows.
Or should I drop back on the weight to get good form on the pendlay? What is benefit of pendlay over regular more upright row??0 -
first solo workout in a while for me, and i was able to push past my OHP failure from last week.
kept my squats at last session's weight to dial in form (which felt really good this time) and *maybe* because i've become a bit accustomed to having a lifting partner to spot me and yell at me to push out that last rep when i'm tired. (good kind of yelling, just for the record)
added 5 to my DL (i think i will only add 5# increments from here on out, it's feeling pretty heavy on those last couple reps).
so current 5x5 stats are:
Squat 120
OHP 65
DL 1400 -
Had my 3rd session tonight. Found the squats tough, I'll be staying on 30 for the next session at least, working on form at the moment too. My quads are in bits! Press and Row seemed fine, so will try 40lb next time.
W1/S1
Squat: 30lb
Bench: 30lb
Row 30lb0 -
I just want to encourage everyone to not be afraid to up the weight. Make sure you have your form right but if you don't fail on a set move up, even if you don't think you'll be able to do it. First of all you may surprise yourself and get it done but most of all we don't need to be afraid to fail. When we fail, we overload the muscle and our cns, that's when growth and strength gains occur (may be broscience, I don't have reasearch to back it up
) I just think we need to get past the nerves and the idea that failure is a bad thing.
Eta: I'm loving all the progress reports!!! AND all the new lifters!0 -
thanks for the reminder, I need to challenge myself each time but I think I am scared and don't want to fail.0
