Ugh epic fail on my pull-ups this morning. Back to the drawing board and watching video's on ways to modify. Or perhaps I need to get another resistance band that is provides even more resistance. This was definitely a blow to my fitness ego though, I must say :sad:

I sat my butt down on my bench just a little bit ago and used my Olympic bar resting on my squat rack to pull myself up. Worked like a charm. And after about 10 reps or so I was really starting to feel it. So I figure I start there and just add reps until those muscles back there are developed enough to pull more of me than just my upper body weight.

I'm going to do a pull-up one of these days! You start where you start, eh?

Brilliant idea. I was wondering how I would start chin ups.

Another vote for negatives. That's how I've been training for my dips and pulls and chins - I use a chair to get up to the bar, then slowly lower myself. And remember - those muscles have to be trained for both strength and movement, just like every other muscle. It WILL happen, with time and effort. I know you already know that, but I have to say it to myself all the time, so I figured you might no mind hearing it again, either.
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Oh for sure I think I'm going to try Dani's idea for next workout....see how I feel and then go from there. The problem is that my ceiling is not super high and I don't know that my rack can handle kipping up.....so we'll have to see how this goes :indifferent:

Squat day for me and I hit a nice PR - 185x2 so that was nice. I also went on to pistols in sets of 2 (Each leg) and was suprised how much easier it is now (I dunno why I was suprised, makes sense) then back when I was actually working on it.

Ugh epic fail on my pull-ups this morning. Back to the drawing board and watching video's on ways to modify. Or perhaps I need to get another resistance band that is provides even more resistance. This was definitely a blow to my fitness ego though, I must say :sad:

I sat my butt down on my bench just a little bit ago and used my Olympic bar resting on my squat rack to pull myself up. Worked like a charm. And after about 10 reps or so I was really starting to feel it. So I figure I start there and just add reps until those muscles back there are developed enough to pull more of me than just my upper body weight.

I'm going to do a pull-up one of these days! You start where you start, eh?

Thanks for this! Sounds like a good way for me to start too.

So I went to Yarmouth, Maine this weekend to support my friend who was doing an Ironman distance triathlon as an Alzheimer's fundraiser. She killed her PR time by an hour or so and raised over $13,000. She's an awesome person, she's a personal trainer and has her own studio. Anyone can PM me if you want her info .

Workout B this morning -
Squats 5x5 @155
OHP - 1x5@75,80,85, 1x4 @90
DL-1x5 200

I had posted I DL'd 200 last week. My math was wrong. It was actually 190. I had done 195 for a few weeks in a row. When I thought I was doing 200, I was thinking what a bad-a$s mofo I was since it seemed lighter than the previous weight. DUH, it was! 200 feels much much heaver than 190 or even 195. I had a few long pauses between reps, but I'd still count it as 5x5.

LWood- It's Cleo the Rio Cleo actually isn't my name; it was my cat's name. And subsequently, that name evolved into Cleo the Rio, kind of like it was her title. Because all cats are some sort of royalty or at least deserving of a title!

I am so impressed with your progress, ladies! I love reading the successes here because they inspire me so, and when you struggle, I know that I am not alone.

I also love seeing some women in their 50's, thank you. I turn 50 in a week and a half!


I trained yesterday morning but haven't had time to come tell you all about it!

Squats 95 3X5 This is my new working weight. (down from 120 which was down from 135!) and I am just going to accept it and start adding 2.5 pounds each time now. I will also do 80% on the mid day, i.e.: Tuesday 97.5. Thursday 78.0 Saturday 100. This is something that Rippetoe mentioned in Pratical Programming as a modification to do when you are moving towards intermediate workouts, and I saw it mentioned in a thread on the Starting Strength forums when I was looking for help for my older, becoming-more-intermediate body.

OHP 45 3X5 I am going to start progress from here 1 pound at a time. Previously I was working at 56 pounds before I lost the plot due to overtraining. This is 80% of that number and although it feels a bit light, that is the point, actually.

Deadlift 125 1X5 This still feels light, but I will add 5 pounds next time instead of 10. I was stalled out at 150 previously, and this is about an 80% deload from there.

Well, I'm all smiles and happiness today - got my stitches out this morning and the doc said I could lift again, just to stop if I felt any pulling at the wound site. WOOT! Needless to say I had worn my workout clothes to the doctor's office in anticipation of a green light

And then I got to the gym, and learned just how much my 15 day break cost me in terms of strength. I was reading Nia Shanks' 28 things she has learned from lifting article, and one of them was that you need to check your ego at the door. Yep. That is some truth right there.

FIRST day of my new cycle:
Workout B
Squats 3x5 @ 135 - I could probably have gone higher, but I'm wanting to work up going ATG instead of just below parallel, so it may be a while before I see 175 again.
OHP 665@ 72.5 - OOPs, I had done 75 pounds last time. That's what I get for leaving my notes at home.
Deadlifts 1x5 @ 175 - I did 1x1's until it felt challenging, then just stayed there. I'll probably go up on these 10 lbs until I hit my previous PR. Maybe.

Then I did some accessory stuff. I tell you what - Farmer walks and waiter carries make great finishers all by themselves!

Last workout was on Friday - crazy busy weekend with too much driving and eating!

Squat: 135lbs 5x5 - may try a small increase next time, but not sure as I'm still not getting quite low enough!
OHP: 45 lbs 5x5 - still hard! I finally bought some 1 lb weights - will try adding these next time.
Deadlift: 135 lbs 1x5 Felt not too bad. I have been raising the barbell on two aerobics steps - platform only, no risers - my hamstrings are so tight that my form goes to heck if I lift from the floor, even with the big plates on. Nia Shanks seems to think this is ok, so I'm sticking with it for now.

Joanne

Kira - Yeah for stitches being out!!!!

Grandmoo - I'm 5'2" and bounce between 128 and 130. Sometimes it feels like there are no strength gains, but then you hit the next set and think "Wow, I just did that!"

Well, not a heavy lifting day for me, but an interesting day at the gym none the less. Today consisted of a 2 mile run and then some core and shoulder work. I decided to bunch up pullups, parallel bar leg lifts, one arm cable lat raises, and pikes. Well, I get started and three young college age girls come into the area. I had first set my water bottle and towel down on a mat and had set up the exercise ball for the pikes next to them. Well, I lost the spot to one of the girls so I went over when I was ready for the pikes and grabbed my stuff and the exercise ball and moved to an unoccupied area next to the dip bars. So I get through 2 rounds of the set and get into the third round. I'm doing my lat raises and one of the girls comes over and just takes the exercise ball. In my head I just thought "That B* just stole my ball!" but I said nothing. So I finish my lat raises and they (yes all 3 of them are doing the same exercise in tandem) are still doing some form of glute bridge with the ball and instead of standing over there waiting for them to finish, I went to the other place I knew a ball was and finished my last set of pikes. I think I was more upset that she didn't even have the courtesy to check that I was done with it. I would have let her use it even if I wasn't done yet.

But despite my ball getting snatched up by someone else, I got a good workout in and was happy to get all 5 pullups in for the 3 sets with minimal kicking on the last few reps.

Then because I was not paying too much attention I did this by mistake:
bench press 3 x 27.5kg (60lbs) - and then because I was still being dumb after thinking this is heavy and I have crap form
I deloaded to 3x 25kg (55lbs)
And then the penny dropped along with some more weight and I finished with 3 x 20kg (44lbs)
This should have been my 5xx @ 17.5kg (38lbs) bench press

I've done this same thing before! I couldn't understand why it felt so heavy and then realised I had 10kg more on than I should've. You'd think that as a mathematician I'd be able to work out how different size plates add up.

@tameko --- I find pistol squats highly intimidating ... maybe some day ...

@cleo -- awesome numbers as usual !!

@Elaine -- hey, welcome back, lady! My deadlifts went to crap by like 30 pounds simply by not doing them for a few weeks. It's fine. You'll be back up there in no time!!

Bench - 70 lbs - 5x5 (this one is kind of tough, so I pretend that I'm pressing the bar into my ex's face and it gets oh so much easier-lol)

What a fabulous idea! After reading your post, I briefly I considered putting my ex's picture on my garage ceiling, but I don't want to ruin the ceiling. LOL All in good fun though. Also, welcome!!

@Joanne -- fractionals is where it's at for upper body lifts; I'm sure you'll come to love those 1 lb weights for all kinds of reasons.

@daisy -- I have broken math days too. It happens. I forgot to add plates to one side before and then wondered why my squats were so uneven. Haha. No sweat!


I finally hit 90 lbs on squats today! Which might not seem like a lot but it's been a glass ceiling for me of sorts. For one, I didn't have enough small plates, and for two, I haven't been pushing squats for some weeks now. So those 90 pounds today felt really hard, and really good.

As it turns out, if you don't train deadlifts for a few weeks, they go to crap and mock you. So I'm going to have to add those back into the rotation and save the stiff-legged ones for finishers and/or complex days.

Anyhoo, I'm torn between seriously starting Stronglifts or Starting Strength right now and training for our September competition in earnest, or skipping September's competition and spend the next year working on core stability along with endurance and going slower on the weight increase so I can actually lift something to speak of at next year's meet (or whenever they do it again).

Decisions, decisions ...