February Check-n-chat: Bada$$ B!tches do it with barbells
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Wow, seeing some great numbers out there. Great work, ladies!
I so did not want to get up this morning. But, I did and got a good session in.
Squat - 95 lbs 5x5
Bench - 65 lbs 5x5
Row - 80 lbs 5x5 - thinking I'm going to need to repeat this weight or I'll start losing form. It was difficult today.0 -
Anyother question - doing my DL when I'm headed back to the floor I'm getting a ripple twinge down my left side about 4" away from the spine...I've watched several videos trying to get the right form, and I know how to lift from the floor without hurting my back, but this does worry me a bit. Any advice? I was thinking it was just my left side being weaker, but now I'm wondering if I'm using my back too much for the return to the floor.
I'd say this is a pretty good indication that you're relying on your back when you're setting it down. Maybe put on some lighter weights and just practice your form a bit... you should be using your legs to set down the bar just as you do to lift it up. Maybe ask a trainer or someone at the gym to watch your form and give you some tips? That way you'll be able to lift heavier weights more easily.0 -
Oh my gosh!! You all ARE bada$$!!! You look amazing and I can't believe how much you're lifting!!! I was feeling good about my numbers this morning...
45 lb row
55 hack squat (i do this at home and have no squat rack)
65 dead (i do 5x5 because i like them, so lighter weight...is this bad to do??)
Now I see how much stronger I will get once I get further along in the program (this is week 5 for me). You all rock!!! I hope to be able to lift that much in my future.
AND...speaking of hack squats...they work the crap out of my back!!!! Is that supposed to happen or is my form wrong??
In regards to your deads.....as you progress in weight it is really not a good idea to do 5x5. What Mehdi recommends, and what many of us do here is progress as the program is designed, however do 3-4 warmup sets at progressively increasing weight
That way you still get to do a crap pile of deads while still progressing but not being as tough on your body! 0 -
Thanks for the pats on the back Ladies :flowerforyou:0
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Oh my gosh!! You all ARE bada$$!!! You look amazing and I can't believe how much you're lifting!!! I was feeling good about my numbers this morning...
45 lb row
55 hack squat (i do this at home and have no squat rack)
65 dead (i do 5x5 because i like them, so lighter weight...is this bad to do??)
Now I see how much stronger I will get once I get further along in the program (this is week 5 for me). You all rock!!! I hope to be able to lift that much in my future.
AND...speaking of hack squats...they work the crap out of my back!!!! Is that supposed to happen or is my form wrong??
In regards to your deads.....as you progress in weight it is really not a good idea to do 5x5. What Mehdi recommends, and what many of us do here is progress as the program is designed, however do 3-4 warmup sets at progressively increasing weight That way you still get to do a crap pile of deads while still progressing but not being as tough on your body!
great idea!! thanks!0 -
Zoreena.....I actually just did a deload on my rows for form as well and that has helped for sure. Did you look on the SL site for some tips and written form discussion?
I'm going to go back down to 60lbs and get the form kicka$$ before I go back up again.0 -
Zoreena.....I actually just did a deload on my rows for form as well and that has helped for sure. Did you look on the SL site for some tips and written form discussion?
I'm going to go back down to 60lbs and get the form kicka$$ before I go back up again.
Good plan!0 -
Hi I am Lisa,
I have been doing stronglifts now for at least 10 weeks. Here is what I am lifting:
Squats: 115
Bench: 92.5
Barbell Row 75
OHP: 67
Deadlift 185
Some things I have learned that have really helped me, is that it is really important to wear a belt when I squat and deadlift. My husband told me this when I first began, but I was very subborn and didn't for the first 7 weeks. I started getting back pain from doing squats. The belt has really helped, I have no more back pain and it makes my squats so much easier. Also make sure you look up in the horizan when you squat and not look up at the ceiling. Someone at the gym told me to look at the ceiling that this would help my form. I learned that is not correct and you could hurt yourself by getting dizzy. This also hurt my back it was bad advice!
Also, some people have mentioned that they put there weights on top of weights to do barbell rows and deadlifts. I find that to be a pain too! My squat rack at the Y is like a cage. It has a bottom that you can adjust. I adjust it to where you are suppose to lift from. It makes it so much easier than stacking it on weights!
Over head press is so difficult for me. I feel like I have been stuck at 67 for weeks now!
I am looking forward to getting to 95 bench press so I can use the 25 lb weights.and squating 135 so I can use the 45lb weights RAWWWR! Love looking like a BAD *kitten*$!! hehe
All of you are so inspirational, thank you!!0 -
Oh my. I missed so much fun yesterday. I was chilling on the couch with an array of frozen vegetables on my leg. It was fun! Going to have to take a few days/week off lifting :sad: so everyone had better post their numbers :laugh: Today was supposed to be workout B which is my favorite. Boooo. I'm bored as heck so be prepared for a novel of post.
Vette- I do have some gems! Well for me. I lift alone, and have a hard time on the bench press knowing where I'm at since I can't see myself. She suggested when you lie on the bench have the bar at eye level, that way if you start lifting too "high" you'll hit the rack. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I didn't know it! I've spent weeks on google trying to figure out if foam rolling "hurt so good" when you first start or just hurt. I recently got one and in some places it "hurt so good-" like a deep tissue massage, but other places it was straight painful, and I wanted to cry tree tears. She said just hurting was pretty normal, and the other co-owner gets nauseous when he foam rolls sometimes. Not sure that's really a good commercial for foam rolling though.
It's awesome you're so close to squatting your weight. That's my goal...for the year!
Extraordinary- Thanks for your wishes. The first time I pulled 135 I had to switch out the plates. I mean. That's the bada$$iness of doing any 135 lift. For the few workouts after that I would just add plates to 35lbs, but 35lb plates aren't at a bad height for me. So as we hear so often on MFP; listen to your body.
Sarahz- Your cheekbones are looking fab in your new avatar too. Woooo.
jarrettd- Great use of bamf. One bada$$ point for you.
Fairy- Get well soooooooooooooooooon. :flowerforyou: If you haven't noticed we all hate to take lifting breaks. Lol. I think it speaks to how bada$$ lifting is that it's a workout we all want to get back to ASAP after time out.
Nexangelus- I want to be like you when I grow up (as a lifter.) I love hearing your weights. Gives me something to shoot for.
Darwin- I'm pretty sure penis straws make or break a bachelorette party.
Julie- Welcome. Weight and measurements often go up the day or two after lifting. This is why I do my check ins Monday morning and lift MWF night.
Vegas- I am so jealous of your squat. Great numbers! Not jealous of your thumb, but I'd send you a batman band-aid if it would help. The caped crusader makes everything better. Sometimes I get a little light in the head after deadlifts, but its normally when my eating patterns are different than normal. I'd try to mess around with your pre-gym snack time, and see if that helps. Like if it's too close you're body is trying to digest, and then blood is in your intestines instead of your head. Or you're eating too far away, and your blood sugar is low. Or you're dehydrated. Or a billion other things. Or you don't care and just wanted to make sure death wasn't immanent I just like to have a series of mini science experiments if something is feeling off during a workout. Do they make lab coats for trees?
Alwyn- I always grunt during OHP. Then when I'm resting I glare around the gym as if daring people to think badly of my grunts. RAWR
Kate- You are totally badass as well. I forgot the filter was off and kept putting dollar signs. I think 5x5 for deadlifts are fine as long as you're not to the point where they are hard yet. (You'll know it when you get there!) I was adding 10lbs/workout happily dead lifting away and then one day I was like, "whoa I actually felt that dead lift in my muscles!" If you told me I had to 5x5 I would have cried. Also what Vegas said.
Hi Lisahotmom- Welcome. I swear belts are so controversial. I'm not to a level of lifting where I would need one yet, so I'm not sure how I feel about them!0 -
You ladies are totally bada$$ and I love being here...
so RAAAAWR!!
:glasses:0 -
Bahaha Tree you kill me :laugh: That just might be the longest post yet in one of our monthly threads! I loved every minute of it though :happy:
Question in regards to what you wrote about the bench tips and lifting to high. WTF do you mean by that? :laugh: I don't understand how you can bench too high so clearly I'm missing something :huh:
I hope you feel better soon :flowerforyou:
Oh and BTW....my *kitten* is screaming at me because of all the badassery that happened this morning. This is good though as it means I am one day closer to having a Chive-worthy *kitten* :bigsmile:0 -
so much to read.....oh my.
wannabeahotmom - lotsa controversial stuffs in your post! On the "so you think you can squat" videos on youtube, they actually talk about where you're supposed to look, they actually tell you on there that you shouldn't look at the horizon (straight ahead). I look up and I haven't had any back pain from it.
Same with belts - I don't think any ladies here wear belts? We do deload and work on form though -
Vegas!!! You are seriously lifting some crazy *kitten* numbers!!!! Way to go chica!!!
Tree - I always want to use a tree reference with you. Call you pine one day, maye spruce, redwood....the majestic oak. So many names....but I'd feel like a super huge dork.
So anyways.....feeling kinda down actually, just had a call from my family that a bunch aren't coming to my wedding. I'm seriously starting to feel like a bridezilla here - so happy one minute, breaking down in tears the next.....WHY DIDN'T WE ELOPE???????
I'm feeling stressed. So therefore I lift and drink out of penis straws.
Here's my numbers today -
Squatty squat 1x5 95 1x5 100 2x5 110 1x5 115 - My goal is do 120 next time which will be A PERSONAL RECORD! (i like caps today).
rows 5x5 70
benchpress 5x5 70 - I would have tried 75 were there anyone else there to ask to spot me. Alas....twas only pre-pubescent lads.
I think I need a bottle of wine tonight.0 -
By too "high" on bench I meant like too far towards your head, which can make for sad shoulders.
I fly my dork flag high! No pun or reference is too cheesy for me. I wear wayfarers so I feel it balances things out. Don't want people thinking I'm too cool :glasses: :bigsmile:0 -
Tameko I went for years without actually going barefoot. I would even wear my Birkenstocks to go to the bathroom in the night. I was so heavy and my arches were so weak and everything hurt so much back then. Now that we do aikido I am barefoot on the mat at the dojo and my feet have gotten much stronger. I do wear shoes most of the time but I'm not obsessive about it any more.
I was just thinking how much I miss aikido. Unfortunately I felt my sensei was handing out belts just to earn more money, and most of us weren't actually earning them (I was working on my brown when I left, and I had only been there about a year). Of course, that was about five years ago, so I guess I could have found another dojo since then, but I never did.
I finally had a workout that kicked my *kitten*. I tried squats at 65lbs, but my form was lacking, so I dropped down to 60. I'll be there for the week and then assess. For some reason I thought I had made it to 85 when I hurt my knee, but I was only to 65, so I've been too ambitious in adding 10lbs per week. So, I'll stick with adding 5 per week and making sure my form stays clean. Tried OHP at 52.5 and kind of made it through two sets. And DL finally felt difficult! Actually had to rest before moving the bar back to the squat rack to unload. My legs feel like jello. Finally! I've killed my upper body before, but nice to have finally killed the bottom half. Woohoo!
Brown belt in one year is very fast! We are coming up on two years. We started in the "parent" class which means we move through the levels with colored belts just like the kids. My son is blue belt and my husband and I are green belts. In the Adult class we are all white belts. It is too bad you didn't find another dojo. I think there really is a big difference between them. Our sensei is amazing. He is such a good example for our son. It's never too late!! ; )0 -
Well I'm back at it today!! I did a little workout today with just the bar on everything. (Squat, Bench, row) It felt really good to use my back in a nice gentle way. I didn't even feel sad or discouraged. I will work my way up and I'm sure it won't take too long ...Right?0
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Super busy today, not much time, seems like everyone is doing good.
So re: Belts.
Belts are not fundamentally bad. But the reason you see a lot of negativity about them, is that a) people use them improperly and b) people don't learn proper form, they just jam a belt on and hope that helps. And, it will, but you're missing out on all the core stabilization development you'd be getting without one.
You SHOULD learn to develop your ability to stabilize your spine without the belt. Normal and 'recommended' usage, for those getting up to squat numbers that require a belt, would be to do your lighter work without a belt and only put on the belt for your sets that are like 75-80% of your 1rm and up.
For the person that was struggling before putting on a belt (forgot who it was) -- At the very least, I'd recommend you start doing your warmup sets without the belt. Ideally, I'd recommend you deload and learn to squat without one. Depending on what you're doing this for of course, but for me and I think most of the ladies here, we value the squat as a movement because it hits SO many muscle groups at once, both small and large. I also think your squat number is lagging a bit more than I would expect behind your other lifts, which makes me think there's something you could improve (probably hip drive , that's the biggest possible issue)
For everyone else - if you get to the point that you feel like you need a belt to increase your weights, its probably time to move to an intermediate program and try that before you buy a belt. Unless you're one of the rare people who do very well on 3x5 forever - but most people find that straight sets at that volume is too much and they start to burnout.
And for a useful bit of information: Partial valsalvas!
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/breathing-during-weight-training.html0 -
Super busy today, not much time, seems like everyone is doing good.
So re: Belts.
Belts are not fundamentally bad. But the reason you see a lot of negativity about them, is that a) people use them improperly and b) people don't learn proper form, they just jam a belt on and hope that helps. And, it will, but you're missing out on all the core stabilization development you'd be getting without one.
You SHOULD learn to develop your ability to stabilize your spine without the belt. Normal and 'recommended' usage, for those getting up to squat numbers that require a belt, would be to do your lighter work without a belt and only put on the belt for your sets that are like 75-80% of your 1rm and up.
For the person that was struggling before putting on a belt (forgot who it was) -- At the very least, I'd recommend you start doing your warmup sets without the belt. Ideally, I'd recommend you deload and learn to squat without one. Depending on what you're doing this for of course, but for me and I think most of the ladies here, we value the squat as a movement because it hits SO many muscle groups at once, both small and large. I also think your squat number is lagging a bit more than I would expect behind your other lifts, which makes me think there's something you could improve (probably hip drive , that's the biggest possible issue)
For everyone else - if you get to the point that you feel like you need a belt to increase your weights, its probably time to move to an intermediate program and try that before you buy a belt. Unless you're one of the rare people who do very well on 3x5 forever - but most people find that straight sets at that volume is too much and they start to burnout.
And for a useful bit of information: Partial valsalvas!
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/breathing-during-weight-training.html
Tameko as usual you sum up the whole belt topic incredibly well. I narrowly avoided this debate as my man friend is a big believer in them (probably because the "bro's" at the gym are) and he is encouraging me to start using one only so that I can lift more. :huh: I'm progressing fine without one....sooooo......why on earth would I use one :laugh: I have also read that if you injure yourself while wearing a belt that the injury will usually be worse than without a belt. Meh, I'm not closed to it but really at the numbers I'm putting up I really don't think that its necessary at this point! For some reason I'm also thinking that I just read in the SL archives that Mehdi recommends going the way of the belt if you have stalled at least 3 times on squat, but not before then. I could be wrong about that being where I read that info though!0 -
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/breathing-during-weight-training.htm
Tameko - That article was amazing. It finally explained the breathing technique in a way I can understand! I have been struggling with breathing in deep (I was filling my chest - not my stomach) and stabilizing my spine using IAP. Just tell me to push out like I am trying to push out a poop makes everything click! :laugh:0 -
Whoop! A banner day to report -- at least for me.
Today was a B day, my fav. too (what is it about deadlifting?)
Squat: 80 #
OHP: 46 # (s t u c k)
Deaelift: 100 #!! Whoop! Felt so good!
@ fisherlassie:45# sounds like a welcome break, despite my excitement over progress. Just keep doing what you're doing. Can I just say I covet your squat cage?? I even covet the carpet under it. Basement floor is cold and hard for crunches.0 -
Doh! I think we need a poll on squat gaze.
Rippetoe says NOT to look up! Mehdi looks down! I do something just below the horizon, I guess. I wonder if it's the difference between a high bar and low bar squat. If you do a high bar your body will be naturally straighter and looking up makes more sense.
Lots of other reply-worthy stuff but I just got home from my Women's Tri Club's kick off meeting and I'm beat. I will say that I also find Tree hilarious. <falls asleep at keyboard.....z.zzzzzzzz>0
