Welcome @kserres. Awesome lifting stats!

ooo more posting. This is great and I can't wait to post after tomorrow's workout already. Great to see everyone here, lifting away.

@missholiday It's a big gym and wasn't really crowded, just more than I expected in the lifting section. Saturday night was less busy but last night there were a few college age groups working out. The cardio section was pretty empty though. And I still didn't have to wait too long, unlike last time I did deadlifts at my gym and had to wait over 15 minutes for the guys to get done with whatever they were doing. Just had to change up and do squats second instead of first but I find I like them so not worried I'll skip out. Though next time I hope for the cage instead. We'll see if I can give the 100 a try tomorrow or not.

So I kept my promise to myself that I would workout tonight since I missed this morning. Completed workout B:

Squat 5x5 @ 60 lb
OH press 5x5 @ 40 lb
Deadlift 1x5 @ 85 lb

Then I finished up with 15 min on the elliptical.

Hey all!

Wow been busy in here! I took some time off as I got a cold and have been going through some personal stuff. Too about eight days off and Mehdi suggests a 10% deload for a rest period longer than a week so:

Squat 5x5 @ 145lbs
OHP 5x5 @ 55lbs
Deadlift 1x5 @ 177lbs

Then some front squats and Bulgarian split squats - far out feeling those today

Welcome to all the newbies xx

Welcome new members! Really appreciate everyone who takes the time to log their lifts - so inspiring and educational. Hope to be getting to the gym this morning...

I was on Workout A this morning:
Squats 95 lbs 5x5. Form was a bit sloppy on the 5th set, so I am repeating this weight next time.
Bench 60 lbs 5x5. I had planned to move up to 65 today but I am having returned issues with my right arm. Back to the doc I guess. Grr!
Rows 60 lbs 5x5. Same as above; had planned to move to 65 but want to be careful of the arm.

I tried a couple Romanian deadlifts, but I think I prefer good mornings. I like holding the bar and weight on my shoulders rather than letting it hang using my arms.

I usually don't eat before my morning workouts and have felt fine, generally. But,my OHP & bench have been weak and not progressing much. Today I had a kefir/fruit smoothie with protein powder and I felt stronger on the OHP. I ate about an hour before lifting.

Workout A today
10 min walk warmup on treadmill
Squat-warmup @45, 5@65, 5x5@115 (felt heavy but I completed them all)
Bench press-5@45, 5@50, 5x5@60 (tough for the last couple of sets but I did it!)
Rows-5x5@65
DB triceps 2x10@15
Romanian DL (because I love DL) 2x10@30
Sumo DL 2x10@40
Lunges 10@40
2x10 ab machine press

The gym wasn't too bad for middle of day today. Cardio was a busy section and had to do different order for lifts because squat area was busy at times, but overall, managed to get things done despite there being more people than 11 pm. Felt good except bench. Not sure if going before work is any better as I don't eat a lot of food in morning but I haven't spent 6-8 hours on my feet either. hmm We'll see, as I'll have to try out different times and *kitten*, plus it's almost january and the busy gym may get busier.

Bench - 1x5 @ 80, such a fail, then 4x5 @ 75 and barely made the last couple of reps.
dumbbell accessory bench - 3x8 @ 20, pretty easy but still tiring since right after struggle with bench
Squat - 5x5 @ 100 - so heavy, I'm going to repeat it next time
Row - 5x5 @ 75 - felt easy enough till the very last set, did over in deadlift area this time up off ground.


Despite fail at bench, it felt pretty good. Rows though, I'm still not sure I get enough range of motion. I don't feel anything and try to pull back but it's like my chest gets in the way. But I'll keep trying on them. Hope to get up to those 45's some day. No ground touch this time but maybe if I get to the 35's and some plates on the floor I'll get closer.

Now to eat food and get ready for my extra shift I am covering today.

Llamapants86 wrote: »

I have not been doing so well lately, really lazy, full of excuses just blah.

My eating has been awful, my tracking starts off well and then I binge in the evening and am too embarrassed to record it. I know it is just me using food to deal with some work stuff and I want to get back into my groove but I seem to want the comfort more than that. So I am just going to eat reasonably during the day and allow myself my comfort at the end of the day. I start going back to my therapist next week and I need that support before I can work on my food issues. I did however, promise myself I would get back to lifting. My deload week last week turned into a rest week. I found that deload week was really hard to want to do.

I know how you feel; I went through a few weeks of evening binges without logging because I felt guilty. I felt even worse because I was half-assing my lifts, too. Stay strong llamapants! We can get through the bullsh*t and come out better for it!

crabada wrote: »

And no workout for me tonight. Sore throat started last night, sneezing has just started, so I'm going to bed early to try to nip this in the bud. Grrr.

really glad you did that - not that you sneezed, but that you went to bed. never know, maybe sleeping to get rid of the cold will secretly make you even stronger at the same time.

i went tonight; the 100lb honeymoon is wearing off a little. went okay, but less stellar than on monday, the day when i Ate Everything, All Bleeding Day Long. plus, very crowded gym so i skipped some of my usual startup stuff just for the sake of a shot at the rack.

squats: 2x5@65, 1@5@95, 3x5@100, 1x5@95, 1x5@100. new warmup weight is 20lbs more than my previous 45lb convention, and i was aiming for 1 set at 95 and then the next four at 100. just didn't have it after i'd done the third one at the high weight, so i went back down to 95 for the 5th set. and then i did another one at 100 from sheer stubbornness. i just wasn't as strong today as i was on monday and i probably felt the lack of proper warmup/stretching as well. my form wasn't seriously terrible, but it wasn't as good either.

ohp: this one's good news. 2x12@30lb to warm up, before squatting even. then when i was finished with squats i hung onto the rack like a packrat and did my ohp there. 1x7@45, then 5x5@50. i had intended to do 7x7 with teh lower weight, but it would have been like driving at 50 in rush-hour traffic; selfish and antisocial. so i went for higher weight for the sake of the shorter and fewer sets. was surprised to actually do 50lbs. still trying to get the finer details of form figured out. no-one TELLS you what those things are in the ohp. i think my best set was the one where i actually got the bar onto my front delts before kicking off with the reps. i'm not sure if it's kosher form because i had to put my elbows out in front of the bar and kind of bring my shoulders forwards as well to do it. but i was stronger like that, for a fact.

pulldowns: nice. i've been neglecting this a little, but i put in the time today as a shoulder rehab thing. 22.5 pounds on the double-cable (i think that's 45 on just single cables). i did sets of 8-12 at the three grip widths close, midbar and bar ends. working totally for smoothness and comfortable shoulder joint position through every pull, trying to hit a lot mroe of the rear-side rotator cuff muscles and less of the front. and i did two super-sets of that before the deadlifts.

deadlifts: whoo-hoo. i'll just cut to the chase: in amongst all my warmup and deloaded reps, i did my working set of 5 (actually 6, maybe even 7) at my own bodyweight again. big-girl errything, 135 pounds. before and after and around all of that, i did a whole bunch of additional reps at weights ranging from 65lbs up all the way to 115. form form form form, always the form. i'm finding my dl form is still hit and miss, so i keep meaning to go in there some day and squat nice and light, and then spend an entire handful of hours, pretty much just doing deadlift homework.

maybe on saturday. or maybe not, idk.

Feeling a bit brighter each day.

Squat 5x5 @ 145lbs
Bench 4x5 1x4 @ 85lbs
Row 5x5 @ 80lbs

Done and done

Workout B

Squats-5@45, 5@95, 5x5@115
OHP-4@55, 5@55, 3x5@50
Deadlift-5@150(difficult, form felt off), 5@70


Good mornings-2x10@45, 2x10@55 (first time doing these, love them)
Romanian deadlift 10@70

Squat rack area was empty today so I commandeered it ;-) it's really starting to feel like I need to work out at home. The squat rack safeties are high up and I cannot do low squats unless I get out of the rack completely. It's pretty tight in that area, too. Leg press machine right near it, feels cramped. I do deadlifts there, too and there are no low racks for loading weights for DLs. I usually put the lower weights on the bar, pick it up and move to the floor, then put on the big plates. It feels awkward to me.

Squat 115 5x5 which was hard. Funny how on 110 was easy on Monday and also how I mentioned how 110 felt easier than the previous 105. I'm blaming that damn cycling class I went to. Will repeat 115 on Friday and see how it goes. This is about the time it gets hard for me so I'll probably try to up my squat weight weekly instead of every workout.

OHP 50 5x5 and it wasn't bad. I threw in a couple extra reps, too. I started doing these and I got swarmed with men doing clean and presses. I was like, "Sure guys, way to one up me." They then started jump roping (like the speed whip kind) while I was deadlifting. I was terrified I was going to lose an eye or a limb or at least my hair.

Which brings me to deadlift, 155 1x5 plus an extra for funsies and another one with a double overhand grip. I then had to put my plethora of weights away which was a workout in itself. I had a plethora because the clean and pressers took the 45s so I had to use multiple 25s and other small ones and I couldn't put away my warm up plates because of the whipping obstacle course.

Tomorrow's workout will be deja vu (115 squat, 80 on bench, and 60 on row). Then I'm going to a holiday party where I'll feel fabulous and muscular!

@SkepticalOwl good luck on your training!

Workout B tonight (and my second 5x5 in a long long time)
Squats 150lbs 5x5 The thing I love about doing more reps less weight is I feel I can be more explosive in the movements. I am, however, really feeling the increased volume. I was still quite sore from Tuesdays and I think I will be feeling it tomorrow.

OHP I was going to do 65 lbs but decided to take it a little easy and start out at 55lbs
55 lbs 5x5 they felt good and explosive

Deadlifts, like OHP I decided to take it a little easier and just build up. At 10 lbs increases it won't take too long to get back to my normal
1x5 165 lbs

Lots of foam rolling and stretch because I am sore.

I am also getting a lot of foot cramps, most noticably when I set up to DL. Any one have any ideas on how to fix that. I have been eating well and drinking plenty of water.