April Check in & Chat - Spring into the Squat Rack
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@klrabob- That's awesome progress!0
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Dani, thanks for the reply several pages back. I also have mine set to the fat2fit radio calculation. Or at least I thought I had it set correctly until I looked at Heybales spreadsheet and realized how how active I really am! I had myself in the lightly active category when I am at the back end of the moderately active category so I have been eating a couple hundred calories less than I need to.
Tameko, Thanks for your reply as well! I do not know anything about the BMF either. But I imagine it is about the same as the fitbit. I really have not paid that much attention to the thing when I am at home. I usually forget about it until late in the afternoon and then check to see what all I have done or not done for the day. Again, I was surprised at how active I really am, and that is why I thought the thing might be completely overestimating what I was burning.
I am not going to argue about upping my calories if you think increasing it 200 will make a difference.
I realize the whole fitness and nutrition takes a bit of tweaking and patience, I guess I just needed some confirmation that I need to up my calories when I thought I was eating pretty darn good as it was! I eat a lot more than my husband does and he just gives me strange looks when he sees that I am still getting smaller when I eat as much as I do.
The scale has also not moved nearly as much as it has in the past since I started lifting heavy but I have seen a decrease in inches so I am still happy.
I have a question.
What is classified as lifting heavy? What may be heavy to some may not be heavy to others. So I was just wondering how it is decided if you are lifting heavy or not?
I also completed workout 16 today
Did 15 minutes fast walk for warm up cardio
then squat warms ups were 2 sets of 5 at 45, then 2 sets at 80 then 1 set at 100
Work Weight for Squats was 120 - that was just WOW!
OHP - warm up with 2 sets of empty bar at 45 then 1 set at 50 and then work weight of 55
Deadlift - 150 - good gracious that was heavy!
Then did 3 circuits of push-ups(10), lunges w/ 25 lb plate overhead (10 each leg) and planks (1min 10 sec)
Then went to the kitchen and ate everything in my lunchbox! I was starved!0 -
I was pointed this way by some lovely lady the other day so that I can join in with sharing awesomeness!
Just got home from a great session and I squatted 62.5kg all 5x5 (with awarmup of 20kg 1x5 and 40kg 1x5)
The boyf said he was impressed at my depth
Also.. he thinks I've got ages to go before failure 
whoo!!
OHP on the other hand.... my worst nightmare! MY NEMESIS!!!! 27.5kg will not shift! I''m going to try it one more time on saturday morning and then probably deload. I always do better on Saturday, it's the start of my workout week and there's almost a whole extra rest day in between than the other workout days
But I'm super happy with my squats and my deads of 70kg today yay! 0 -
Dudes, dudes, dudes...I mean ladieeeeeeees!
I am so gonna beat my OHP stall...Have split up my routine, am working a Wendler split for 6 days a week (yeah I know I know)...tried 39 kg (85.8 lbs) today with my lat, back, shoulder, bicep, rotator cuff split day and hoo ha! it was pretty sweet and easy (took advice about resting longer between sets) This month is gonna see an up in my upper body lifts I just know it, watch this space...42.5 kg (93.5 lbs) is my PR that I stalled at previously.
Yeah am doing advanced lifting routines now and have upped my calories so the deficit is not killing me at the end of the week. Doing 3 heavy full body workouts was wearing me out. It is only Monday and workout one done and dusted, but I feel this is going to be the way forward for me now. Also going running on Thurs with the Mudder trainees in the new gym, a short and sweet 5 km. Glad I decided to up the cals. : )0 -
Heavy Lifting - Lifting as heavy as you can (within reasonable ranges) for relatively lower reps. It isn't a particular number.
Basically it means that you get fatigued from the WEIGHT and not from the repetitions.
So, if I can lift something 20 times before I get tired, that's not heavy lifting for me, because the stop point there was endurance related and not strength related. If someone else can only lift the same weight 8 times before they are exhausted, it IS heavy for them even though it isn't heavy for me.
Its about lifting relative to your own strength.
Nexus - woah, 6 days? Do you only do 4 big lifts or do you do more? Wendler is the routine that helped me break through my OHP stall - I made great gains there.
Glwerth -- you don't need to squat that low. Unless you plan to be an olympic lifter, then its more important as its an assistance for that. Otherwise to get the full benefit of the exercise, anywhere at or below parallel is ok. I used to do my warmups all the way down and then my work weight at a higher angle. That way you get the best of both worlds.0 -
Glwerth -- you don't need to squat that low. Unless you plan to be an olympic lifter, then its more important as its an assistance for that. Otherwise to get the full benefit of the exercise, anywhere at or below parallel is ok. I used to do my warmups all the way down and then my work weight at a higher angle. That way you get the best of both worlds.
Thanks.
I've been having terrible knee pain and this is my next step toward trying to manage/eliminate it. So, maybe I'll follow your example and do warmups all the way down and work at the higher angle!
I find it terribly funny that I've never had a knee problem until I started exercising regularly.0 -
<---- Bicep as of today! I think it is so awesome to see at the amazing arms!
jstout, your arms are AWESOME. So great to see your hard work paying off. 0 -
Speaking of successful, I finally broke past a 185 deadlift, 192.5. I almost just went for 200 but I chickened the hell out. I think I could have done it but I thought it would be really discouraging if I didn't, and I *knew* I could do 192.5. Sometimes its about the small wins, yanno. I'll do it next month.
Tameko, this is very impressive! Sounds like your mental block would be the only thing holding you back from 200. Like you said, start fresh on a new day and just go into it being all, "eff yeah, I got this."0 -
So, I am really excited. I just squatted 100 pounds for 5X5 and it wasn't even hard!
I originally thought that 100 might be my max when I was looking at Stronglifts, since I have a bad knee and since FM makes me a lot more of a weenie in the gym than I used to be. My hesitation was that I didn't think I could gain much strength, not compared to what others could do, and that I would max out pretty fast.
Well fast forward two months and my knee is so much better I can hardy believe it, and I OWN 150 pound deadlifts and 100 pound squats.
I don't feel great, don't get me wrong. I haven't taken two days off in a while and I am feeling my lack of recovery, but mentally I am doing the happy dance!0 -
Ges - 100 lbs - that's awesome! You DO own that!0
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Just started SL's today. Sooo, here are my stats.
54 years old
152 pounds
5'4"
Worrkout A
Squats 45lbs 5x5
Benchpress 45lbs 5x5
Barbell Row 45lbs 5x5
Looking forward to posting. Any advice is welcome.0 -
Well I took a photo of my strong lifts app workout tonight. I wanted to put it on here but I couldn't figure it out so I will have to tell you instead. Not as exciting from my end but that's the way it goes.
You do need to know that I turned 51 today and by coincidence the workout session number was 51 as well! Spooky music!!!
Squats: 135 lb stayed
Bench: 90lb 55442 Went up from 87
Row: 90lb Went up from 87
Welcome new people and congratulations on the awesome lifts Ges and Tomeko!
I know I'm not getting everyone just checking a few.0 -
Well I took a photo of my strong lifts app workout tonight. I wanted to put it on here but I couldn't figure it out so I will have to tell you instead. Not as exciting from my end but that's the way it goes.
You do need to know that I turned 51 today and by coincidence the workout session number was 51 as well! Spooky music!!!
Squats: 135 lb stayed
Bench: 90lb 55442 Went up from 87
Row: 90lb Went up from 87
Welcome new people and congratulations on the awesome lifts Ges and Tomeko!
I know I'm not getting everyone just checking a few.
Happy Birthday Lassie!!0 -
Just popping by to say HI! I have nothing beneficial to add to the convo lol.
Hope everyone had a great Monday!0 -
Happy birthday Fisher!!!
I worked out then came home to watch UofM lose. :sad: I made an awesome dinner during timeouts and half time then a giant spider appeared and interrupted my fun. I went to get a shoe as it was really giant (not just my inner arachnaphobe exaggerating,) and when I came back it was gone. Hopefully my cat ate it! Had to move my whole operation upstairs to my bf's computer (with smartphone game coverage during the move:laugh: )
Did some squats at 115 3x5 to get back into the groove of back squats. 105 bench 3x5, and 85 rows 3x5. I also did 14 toe pushups today post rows. \o/ And I had time for 30 minutes of cardio since I'm not doing 5x5 anymore. \o/
So overall a good day. =D0 -
I'm back to low weight on my squats. Why? You ask....OK, you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway.
I had my husband read up on squats in Starting Strength. He informed me that I'm doing it all wrong. I have been only going to parallel and he's encouraging me to go all the way down. According to the book, it will help with my knee pain. So, I'm back to about 65 pounds but going all the way down. It seems pretty light, but I'm really concentrating on form.
It happens. I'm having to do the same thing because I filmed myself last week doing squats and my butt tuck was off the charts. I had to ask my husband to coach me. Amazing how a couple small off things can throw off an entire movement. That's what you get when you work out in your garage without feedback except what you "think" or "sense" you're doing. I "thought" my bar path was vertical. Oh no, it was actually swooping cause I was leaning way too much forward. Awesome. I will be filming myself more often now for sure! Should have done it a lot sooner! Jeez! I'm also incorporating front squats into my new routine to teach myself to squat more upright and keep my spine better aligned because I have this mental fear of leaning too far back and falling backwards that I have to overcome.
Hoping to correct this crap within the week as I'm resetting weights and going back to 3x5 with a slow and steady progression. I'm pretty sure upping those reps somehow messed with my form, which used to be pretty decent. Oh well. Them's the breaks.
On the upside, hubs was of the opinion that I could probably squat twice the amount I was squatting, and he told me to quit being afraid of my own strength (that's what you get when you marry a former Marine ... zero babying and brutal honesty :laugh: ).
I guess it's one thing to know what form is supposed to look like, and another thing to watch yourself doing it and wondering "well, well, well, what do we have here, and how did that happen?" :blushing:
On a more positive note, my OHP is looking really good. Maybe I'll just stick to those and forget about squats. Hahaha. Not.
@Fisherlassie -- happy birthday !! You're rocking it !!
@dafoots -- I'm excited that you started! Just ... make sure you get form checks, somehow, by somebody, especially at the beginning.
Awesome numbers, ladies!0 -
Happy birthday Robin!0
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Happy birthday Robin!0
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Happy birthday fisherlassie!
Everyone is doing so well!!! Bravo, bravo!! :bigsmile:
I'm just over here spinning wheels and Zumbaing with one arm! :laugh:
I'm gonna do some squats with weight tomorrow :happy:0 -
I'm back to low weight on my squats. Why? You ask....OK, you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway.
I had my husband read up on squats in Starting Strength. He informed me that I'm doing it all wrong. I have been only going to parallel and he's encouraging me to go all the way down. According to the book, it will help with my knee pain. So, I'm back to about 65 pounds but going all the way down. It seems pretty light, but I'm really concentrating on form.
It happens. I'm having to do the same thing because I filmed myself last week doing squats and my butt tuck was off the charts. I had to ask my husband to coach me. Amazing how a couple small off things can throw off an entire movement. That's what you get when you work out in your garage without feedback except what you "think" or "sense" you're doing. I "thought" my bar path was vertical. Oh no, it was actually swooping cause I was leaning way too much forward. Awesome. I will be filming myself more often now for sure! Should have done it a lot sooner! Jeez! I'm also incorporating front squats into my new routine to teach myself to squat more upright and keep my spine better aligned because I have this mental fear of leaning too far back and falling backwards that I have to overcome.
Hoping to correct this crap within the week as I'm resetting weights and going back to 3x5 with a slow and steady progression. I'm pretty sure upping those reps somehow messed with my form, which used to be pretty decent. Oh well. Them's the breaks.
On the upside, hubs was of the opinion that I could probably squat twice the amount I was squatting, and he told me to quit being afraid of my own strength (that's what you get when you marry a former Marine ... zero babying and brutal honesty :laugh: ).
I guess it's one thing to know what form is supposed to look like, and another thing to watch yourself doing it and wondering "well, well, well, what do we have here, and how did that happen?" :blushing:
On a more positive note, my OHP is looking really good. Maybe I'll just stick to those and forget about squats. Hahaha. Not.
@Fisherlassie -- happy birthday !! You're rocking it !!
@dafoots -- I'm excited that you started! Just ... make sure you get form checks, somehow, by somebody, especially at the beginning.
Awesome numbers, ladies!
Thanks!
Good to know I'm not alone in my um...regression, I guess? But getting form right is a good thing.
So, did your husband suggest you squat all the way or a bit less than full?
I fear front squats, not sure why. But, I totally hear you on the fear of falling over backward!
I work out at a gym, but it's one with no staff present most of the time, so I also have no feedback unless I ask husband to watch.0
