7.4 done today

Squats - 85lbs
DB squat - 20 lb
shoulder press - 15lb (think I can go up on this one next time)
step ups - 45 lbs (only did 8 on the last set)
lat pulldown - 50 lbs (pretty sure I can go up in this one too)

heather - Nice work!

Thanks, Jennie & Agthorn! I thought the workout #2 was a bit less difficult on me, and it is probably due to the fact that I didn't push myself with the weights as much. Here is what I did for workout 2:

barbell incline bench press: 57 lbs.
bent over row: 57 lbs.
dumbbell squat (heals raised): 30 lb. dumbbells
db shoulder press: 20 lb. dumbbells
step-up: 40 lb. curlbar
pull-over: 40 lb. curlbar

I sub the bent over row and the pull-over since I do my workouts at home. I know I could have done more weight on the bench press and bent over row, but I was holding myself back to reserve a bit of strength for the rest of the workout. Is this how you ladies are doing it??

Karen -
I had my hubby spot me for the first set of incline bench presses, but after that I told him I was ok without it. I think that since it is at the beginning of the workout, and since we are not pushing ourselves to the limit, it is not as dangerous. I have to remind myself to conserve strength & energy during the first part of the workout in order to make it through the 4 sets of 14-20 reps.

So, I have one workout left and I'm not going to do it. I'm done. I just don't want to and avoiding my workouts is not doing me any good.

Good luck to you all!!

Heather & Jennie - thanks for the advice on the barbell bench.

Jennie - congrats on finishing!!!

Heather - I'm going to try all 6 before I decide whether to repeat them. Why are you putting off the last 4 - do you not like them?

Ouch! I hope your neck feels better soon!

Well, WO1 kicked my *kitten*. Big time! I had to use less weight than I expected on most of it, and those 30-second rests are killer! Some of them I may have taken 45-60 just to be able to breathe & finish. I also had to take 5-second mental breaks mid-set to get myself through at least 15 reps. I went into it planning to do max reps on everything, but before I was even done with the first circuit I realized that wasn't going to happen. LOL.

Squat: 2x8 - 75 lb.

Elevated Static Lunge: 30 lb. (15 lb./hand) x15/leg -- started with 17.5/hand, but yeah, couldn't even do 15 reps on both legs with that.

Pushups: Smith 5th peg x15 (had to raise it to the 6th peg to get 15 reps on the 4th circuit)

RDL: 65 lb. x15 (maybe x20 on some sets - I lost count a few times counting by fives, so when I wasn't sure if I'd done 10 or 15, I did 5 more to make sure I did at least 15).

DB bent-over rows: 50 lb. (25 lb./hand) -- tried 30 lb./hand because I finished stage 6 with 45-50 lb. for the 1-hand dumbbell rows, but after about 6 reps knew 30's were too much & dropped. Finishing 15 reps with 25's was still a *****.

I thankfully did not feel like I was going to vomit, but I do feel like I'm going to be sore from head to toe tomorrow!

Yes, definitely sore on Saturday (mainly in hamstrings & chest). Less yesterday, and only a little sore in my hamstrings still today for 7.2:

Bench: 1x8x45, 1x8x55
Row: 2x8x100
Heel-plate squat: 1x15x50, 3x15x45
Shoulder press: 1x15x40, 1x15x35, 2x15x30
Step-up: 4x30x40 (15 on each leg)
UH Lat Pull: 1x15x85, 1x15x80, 2x15x75*

Total weight (sets x reps x weight): 800 + 3000 + 1425 + 2025 + 4800 + 4725 = 16,775 lb. moved. :happy:

*Underhand lat pulls were especially humbling, since I was working with 120 lb. on them in stage 6. I'll be happy if I can work my way back to 100 for such high reps.

Oh, and I definitely had to take some rests longer than 30 seconds. I tried to only take longer between circuits, but ended up taking a little longer before some of the step-ups too. And for the last 2 circuits, I rested 10-15 seconds between legs on the step-ups too.

Heather - that happened to me on a push press in Stage 6, where my arm started rotating backward & I just had to drop the weight on the floor & switch to a lighter one. Luckily, I wasn't hurt doing it, but after that, I switched back from push presses to straight old shoulder presses.

7.3 today:

Deadlift: 2x8 with 95 lb.
Elevated static lunge: 3x40 (20/leg), 1x30 (15/leg), all with 30 lb. (15/hand)
Pushup: 2x20, 2x15 all 5th peg on Smith
BB RDL: 2x20, 2x15 all with 65 lb.
DB bent row: 2x20, 2x15 all with 50 lb. (25/hand).

Plus #plankaday 1:00 (soooooo much harder after I lift - on a rest day yesterday, I held 2:20!).

Not counting any weight for pushups, I moved 14,070 lb. of iron today, and I was thrilled to use mostly the same weights as 7.1, but increase to 20 reps on my first 2 circuits. :happy:

How awesome to be able to say you were close to 10 tons moved today, Karen!!!

I completed stage 7 on Saturday and am jumping right into NROL4abs tonight. I didn't lose a pound, or an inch, but am happy with my arms, thighs, and the beginning signs of a 6-pack. Hopefully a bit of a calorie deficit and the switch up of moving to the abs workouts will continue to show strength gains and maybe get my measurements down a bit.

Wholly cow I am sore! I took a week off between stages and did 7 yesterday. I think I need to lower some of my weights. I honestly did not think I was going to make it. My legs were killing me during the workout and are super sore today. What is everyone going to do next once it is over?

I just finished my 2nd round of Stage 7, and found a method I really liked for pushing the weights in this stage. Since it called for 15-20 reps on the circuits, I'd start with a weight you can do 15 times, and use that, then the next workout, try for the same weight but 20 reps. Then increase weight but go back to 15 reps, then same weight but 20 reps. This worked nicely for me, and here are my start/end weights after 2 rounds:

Barbell Squat: 65 --> 95 lb.
Barbell Bench: 45 --> 65 lb.
Seated Row: 100 --> 120 lb.
Deadlift: 95 --> 115 lb.

Static Lunge: 30 lb. (x15) --> 35 lb. (x20)
Pushup: Smith 5th peg --> Smith 4th peg (10 reps, then finished on 5th)*
RDL: 65 (x15) --> 80 lb. (x20)
DB Row: 50 (x15) --> 55 lb. (x20)**

Plate Squat: 45 (x15) --> 50 lb. (x20)**
Shoulder Press: 30 lb. (x15) --> 35 lb. (x20)**
Step-Up: 40 (x15) --> 45 lb. (x20)**
Underhand Lat Pulldown: 75 (x15) --> 85 lb. (x20)

*From before Stage 7, I could do 1 full pushup on the floor, and at the end (independently, not in the circuits), I could do 10 on the floor!

**For anything using 2 dumbbells, I'm listing the total weight, not the weight of each DB.

I might do cardio the rest of this week, but after that, I think I'm going to repeat stage 6 and work on being able to do an unassisted chin-up. Then, I'll probably read NROL-Abs and/or NROL-Supercharged and might try one of those. Or I might just repeat Stage 1 before I decide what's next.

Anyone out there on Stage 7? Just started yesterday.

I am starting stage 7 tomorrow. I am so excited to start the last stage. I just finished stage 6 yesterday but was thinking about jumping right into stage 7 due to all the gluttony that the holidays brought.