Today's workout: NONE. I was exhausted and opted to sleep instead. Working 2 jobs has just thrown me way off.

Happy April Fools Day!

I was on Workout B today:

Squats, 5x5@115 lbs. These were quite tough, even with 3 minutes rest in between sets. As per my usual, I will repeat here on Friday before trying to move up.

OHP, 5x5@55 lbs. The last rep of the 5th set was questionable, but I went ahead and counted it. I will still repeat this weight though.

Deadlift, 1x5@125 lbs. These were also tough, I think mostly because I was pretty tired out from the squats. I didn't do any accessories today since the weights are getting pretty dang tough now.

Cardio: 45 minutes on the treadmill. I ran 100 miles in March, hoping to increase over that in April!

workout B this morning

Squats 5 x 5 at 45 kgs
OHP 5 x 5 at 20 kgs ( yay finally managed my 5 x 5)
dl 5 x 1 at 50 kgs

after I did some lunges, plank, push ups

I do my SL usually at my works gym in the morning before I start work. No thai boxing class tonight, will go tomorrow

Welcome back, Meg!

Today I tried out an Ice Cream Fitness workout, which is basically just stronglifts + extra stuff. I did Workout A. First time taking a notebook to the gym but I need it, that program has lots of stuff!

I had to deload because it has been over a week since I lifted. But I don't even care! I had a great workout and I'm in an amazing mood! Only downside is it is 1AM and I'm not even tired because I'm too high on life WHEEEE

Squats 5x5@90. Dangit this SHOULD have been my big 100 day, but it was a deload instead. And really it was a good thing because the 90 was tough. Will move (back) to 95 next time.

Bench Press 1x5@55 then 4x5@60, with 5x12 leg lifts while holding the bar, and 5x15 hip thrusts (those really hit my abs). My prescribed deload was 55 but really it was too easy so I went back to 60. The 60 was pretty challenging though so I may do it again.

Bent Over Row - 5x5@65 I did normal bent overs instead of Pendlays because I just don't have the patience to get the bumpers. My deload was 65 but these were pretty easy; I used the opportunity to really think about my form and I think it was helpful.

Barbell Shrugs 3x8@65. Just stuck with the bar I was using for the rows. This weight seemed easy for these.

Tricep Extensions 3x8@50. This was my first time using a cable machine. I know, right? What is wrong with me? These were fairly challenging. I felt like they were working my obliques or something? I was really tightening my core to do the pulldowns, in addition to my arms.

Barbell Curls 3x8@30. I was mortified at my weight on these. I picked up the 50 and couldn't even do it then I went to the 40 and was horrified that it was STILL too hard. The 30 was really tough!! What the heck?!

Hyper Extensions - 2x10@25 I have never used that weird bench thing where you do reverse crunches and I have no idea if I used it properly. Was really glad that by then there were like 5 people at the gym so I could mess with it. Randomly picked 25lbs to hold and this seemed challenging and about right.

Ab Machine ? 3x10 @ 10. I have no idea what the machine is called and didn't understand how to use it. I assume my weight was too easy because I didn't feel it working anything. Or I was just doing it wrong. whooooo knows.

Did a 2 mile run on my lunch break yesterday.

Then hit the gym for workout B.
Squats 5x5 at 145#. These felt good. I feel like my form is together for the most part. I'm still hanging out at weights for a week or two to make sure, but I'm going to be progressing back up from here.
OHP 5x5 at 75#. WOW! These were hard. I am going to stick here for a bit before bumping up. I got 5x5, but I struggled on a few of them and was just barely able to get all of them.
Deads 1x5 at 185#. This felt stupid heavy yesterday. It shouldn't be, but it was. I'm thinking it's because of the 5 mile run on Tuesday and the 2 miles I did at lunch fatiguing me.

Some accessories:
Light deads 2x10 at 135#. Mainly did these to work on flipping my reverse grip since I've been having some issues with grip strength as of late.
Arnold presses (3x10 at 30#) supersetted with front and side raises (3x10each at 20#).
Cable rows (3x10 at 80#) supersetted with hip thrusters (3x10 at 35#).

krokador wrote: »

Shrugs are meant as a trap and grip builder. Move up the weight if they feel easy, you should be wishing for straps by the end of the 3rd set! (and you can use them, too) You also don't need to keep the weight static on these accessories, so challenge yourself a bit if you want!

Were you doing pushdowns or overhead extensions on the cable machine? If you were feeling your abs and doing pushdowns, then you might'v ebeen bent over a bit too much and using your body to move the weight instead of just your triceps. I'd lower the weight a smidge and work on keeping your elbows by your ribs and ONLY moving your forearms throughout the movement.

Curls are not a move you'll do a lot of weight at. I've been at this for 2 years and I think the most I've curled for more than 3 reps was 50 xD Biceps are a tiny muscle.

As for the ab machine, I used to do cable crunches for that one (high cable with a rope attachment, got on my knees facing away from it and crunched down holding the ropes around my neck, basically). Pretty sure I could handle well over 60 for 15-20 reps from the get go, so you might've just gone a little too light there.

Hope that helps you over for the next workout

Yes thanks Krok!! But now I have questions :P

Shrugs - got it, the harder the better!

The cable machine I was doing exactly these: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/tricep-extension.html
At the risk of looking bro-ish I was definitely checking out my form in the mirror and I was standing really straight and keeping my elbows locked, so I think my form was at least a B+. I definitely felt it in my triceps too! I just also felt it, not in my abs so maybe I named the wrong muscle, it was like my back but at the sides. I felt like I really had to lock my core muscles to keep still and do the full extension. So maybe too heavy still?

OK I feel better about the curls lol. Actually now I know why I see people curling a lower weight. I think I was surprised because I saw a girl there doing free weights who generally was using weights like mine but she curled the 65 bar so I expected to pick up something bigger.

I'm going to try cable crunches next time. The machine I used I seriously have no clue what I was doing. Glad I had done some hip thrusts to get some ab work.

Squat 105 5x5
OHP 55 5x5
DL 125 2x5

Front squat 55 3x8
Split squat 50 3x8 each
KB swing 25 3x20
Assisted dips -64 (66) 3x8
Sumo DL 125 1x5

^^^*taking time, not talking time haha stupid iPhone

i went straight to the gym from work, not sure if i'd still have enough time to get a full workout in by the time i got there. idk why but it feels as if it was quite an epic. workout a.

squats: 2x5@45, 1x5@55, 2@5@65, 1x5@75, 5x5@85. not moving up yet, though i feel like a malingerer still hanging out here at 85. my excuse is i ate nothing but soup and a chocolate easter bunny all day, aside from the am shake. anyway 85 was hard enough, 90 would have been fail territory. disappointed to find it not feeling any easier though.

bench: sucktastic, although the numbers don't look too bad. 2x5@45, 1x5@55, 5x5@65. i didn't get to the bench until 25 mins before closing time so i was working in with a random stranger (my suggestion, to make sure that he got a chance to do bench). so ima blame my general dissatisfaction partly on that. i always hustle and get a little self-conscious when i'm working in. seriously thinking about not benching for a while and doing pushups or something instead. i'm really not liking the effect that they have on my left front deltoid in particular. however, i will say that i think my imbalance has lessened a bit.

rows: i'm a victim of math. bars were hard to come by tonight. thought i was lifting 55lbs, and i had myself all settled into being stoically not disappointed about that feeling hard too when it was the same weight i used the last time for rows. but after the third set i gave up the bar i'd been using to someone who needed it for landmines and switched to the 30lb bar, and that's when my mind did the math. by then i already had the littler one all loaded up with more wrong-math plates, so what i ended up doing for rows looked like this: 1x5@45, 3x5@65, 5x5@70. looks like i'm much stronger than i thought at rows, at least.

accessory: some sets of pulldowns for the shoulders and lats. too negligible to report the numbers, but i really am on a bit of a mission to strengthen and add some muscle in my upper back.

So with the holiday and such I figured I would sleep in by an hour, would mean enough time to workout but no time for quiet coffee afterwards. Ended up sleeping in for 2 hours oops. Still got my workout in, kind of weird to workout when I'm not still 2/3 asleep.
Day 5 squats
145 lbs x 5, 155 lbs x 5, 160 lbs x 5
Hanging cleans 45 lbs 3x8
Then amrap 4 minutes x 3
Sumo deadlifts high pull 45 lbs
Reverse Lunges
Pike ups

I went light on the cleans and I'm glad I did. Sdhp I haven't done before and also glad I just used the bar. My legs are exhausted.

Was set to do cardio, but chose the wrong alarm on my phone. I woke up when it was time to leave for work. So that didn't work...and I was late to work, too. Oopsie! Maybe I'll walk around or something at the mall.

Workout B (Fri) Nice workout today

Squats 3 x 5 - 125

Squats 5 x 5 - 180

Deadlift 1 x 3 - 125

Deadlift 1 x 5 - 200

Bench press - 3 x 5 - 100

Bench press - 5 x 5 - 105

Reverse curls - 5 x 5 - 105

Flat Dumbbell Fly - 5 x 5 - 40

Yeah the mirror was off to one side! I try not to stare at it though, and look straight ahead. It definitely felt like my obliques.

Today I did Ice Cream Fitness Workout B. I'm liking this program! It's basically just Stronglifts Plus. I like having people tell me exactly what to do for my extra work :P I also like that I can do this when I have extra time, or just do the basic SL lifts.

Weird night for me though - some things unexpectedly hard, and some unexpectedly easy.

Squats 5x5@95. I have done 95 twice before, before I had to do a deload to 90. I was really disappointed by how HARD this was. I was really struggling. I am going to have to do it again. I am so looking forward to the big 100 but I can be patient. My form tonight was so awful, I was barely coming out of the hole more than once. I was surprised and worried for the rest of my workout (unnecessarily, it turns out)
OHP/Good Mornings 5x6@45. I have done 50 successfully one time before, but the proscribed deload was 45 so I went with that. I was quite surprised to find this very easy. I have NEVER had an easy OHP day. It was so weird. Good mornings are not part of ICF, but I can't NOT do them when they pair so darn perfectly with OHP.
Deadlift 1x5@135. This was a deload weight that I have done many times already and no problems here.
Rows -10% 5x5@60. ICF has rows on both days, where Workout B has lighter rows. I actually really liked this because it lets me really think about my form when the weight is easy. I didn't do pendlay rows though. Honestly I probably will not do pendlays. They are too much of a hassle for me. Bent over rows with fixed bars are just easier to deal with.
Close grip bench press 3x8@45, with hip thrusts 3x8. Close grip bench is entirely new to me. I have NO clue if I was doing it properly, so I need to watch a video before I try it again. I stuck with the bar since this was a new move.
Barbell Curls 3x8@30. ICF does curls every time. This felt a smidge easier but just a smidge. Problem is the next up bar is 40 and no way am I hitting that. I guess it will just be 30 for a while.
I was supposed to do cable crunches at the end, but I counted the hip thrusts on the bench as my ab work and finished here.

LaarainNYC wrote: »

Same old story: lower body progress, none to speak of wrt the OHP.

All 5x5
Squat 125

Overhead press 45 (hard)

Deadlift 115

Then Zumba

I have the same issue, failed on the OHP at 36#. We have to remember that's why we're here, and think at where we started!!!
Your doing great with squats! I'm repeating 85# this week to work on form.