Hi everyone! I'm back from my week away and back to lifting (yesterday)! I really missed lifting but I think the break was good for me too. My left shoulder had been feeling a bit "wonky" but after this rest, it feels much better and stronger. I took the suggested deload on my lifts. All of my lefts felt good and slightly easy, which I guess is a good sign!

So, in addition to running just over three miles yesterday morning, I did the following lifts:

Squat 6x5 @ 95 lbs
OHP 5x5 @ 50 lbs
DL 1x5 @ 95 lbs

Goblet Squat 3x10 @ 30 lbs.
I'm loving the goblet squats. I really feel total core engagement with these as well as gluts, quads, and hammies.

Well ladies, you all rock as usual! I am looking forward to an awesome Summer sharing in all of our victories

On week 4. 90# squat, 75# BP, 70# BR.

I started week 7 yesterday. Today I may bike/spin at the gym. I do miss cardio and feel the best time to that is on Friday's after the workout of the week, but can't this week as we are heading out of town.

Squats: 5x5x 120 - felt good but think I will stay at this weight for the week.

Bench Press: 5x5x 80 - finished well but may stay on this weight for the week.

Barbell Row: 5x5x 95 - this was hard this week so plan on staying here for the week. Form looked horrible but I finished all 5 sets.

Stronglifts A

Squat 4x5 @150; I'm deloading on these because I'm really nervous about safety. Bench press machine: 1x5 @ 350 lb

BP. 65 3x5, 2 x4 My fractional plates finally arrived so no more of this I hope!

Row 70 5 ×5

Plank 3 @ 30 seconds

@xcalygrl you're killing it hun!!

I see a lot of ladies struggling with having to deload, or needing to deload - its a mental game, but seriously your body will tell you when you need to take a break, listen to it - you do as much good by resting as you do by working! And when you fail a weight several times, use the experience of deloading and working back up as a chance to perfect your form, to do them better with better form, or faster, or more efficient, or with less time in between sets - all of these are still progressing, just a slightly different way of progressing. Don't ever see a deload as a failure - nothing is a failure, its a chance to rebuild and come back even stronger!!

xxx

Workout A (Tues)

Squats 1 x 5 - 125

Squats 1 x 5 - 175

Squats 5 x 5 - 195

Squats 1 x 5 - 200

Overhead Press, Barbell - 5 x 5 - 80

Pendlay Row - 5 x 5 - 115

Yes, you ladies are definitely awesome and motivating!!
It's been almost 3 weeks since I was able to get a real workout in due to travel. So happy to have gotten workout B done yesterday and a walk/jog today!! Feeling great!
All 5x5, chose to do a download which was fine:
Squat: 60
OHP: 40, 30, 30, 25, 25 (I've joined the OHP hate group - felt a tendon or something grind/catch at the top of the 40# = scary!! 25 felt fine I was scared I had hurt myself.)
DL: 65
Ok-who else watches the YouTube of mark rippetoe doing squats before/while squatting? I put my phone on the bench in front of me and I pretend we are working out together.

Another cardio session since my husband needs to drill more holes in wood in the garage next to my squat rack.. making more dust. If he doesn't vacuum this time I'm not baking him cookies.

So I did another session of GSP Rushfit, with 10lb dumbells. Turns out the isometric moves are now a piece of cake, holding a past parallel squat is a piece of cake, whereas GSP is barely squatting enough to hover over a toilet set.

The gym was blissfully empty today. Makes me wonder if I should switch to a T/Th/Sa schedule instead of M/W/F. I'm considering it.

Obviously still working my way back up to my pre-thesis weights.

Squats -- 5x5 @ 100 lbs.
- Warmed up with super sets of squats / good mornings 3x5 @ 45
- These felt decent weight-wise, but not exactly easy. I'll probably stay here at least one more workout, maybe two. As eager as I am to get back to my big girl plates, I do like staying at a weight for a full week before moving up. We'll see.
- I recorded one set and was sad to see that I'm not getting as low as I *feel* like I am. I'll keep working at it.
- Really concentrating on engaging my core all the way through the descent and ascent. That's the #1 goal for right now, until it becomes second nature.

Bench -- 5x5 @ 65 lbs.
- These are still relatively easy. We'll see how 67.5 lbs. feel next time -- if it's easy, I'll bump to 70 lbs.

Rows -- 5x5 @ 65 lbs.
- These felt much better than last week. I'm sure it had something to do with the set up. (I didn't stack plates like usual last week and they just didn't work as well.)
- I'd like to figure out a way to record these to see if I'm keeping my back parallel to the ground. The angle from the floor won't work, so I'll have to figure out some other way to do this.

No accessories today due to a couple of appointments. I did take Huck for a ~45 minute walk after though. It was hot (about 95 degrees) but lovely in the shade, especially after a handful of days that were in the 60s.

Keep up all the good work, Everyone!

xoxo,
C.

Long day. This morning I went to Grit Strength and managed to do some of the push ups this time as I set up a step on a bunch of risers to do incline ones. Then went to lunch with coworker at buffet place, hence the morning cardio/strength class. She wants me to help her get on track with her nutrition and might be trying out NROLFW soon. Then after spending too much time on the computer I went to the gym to lift. Oh, and I did some house work and stuff too. Also dealing with that time of month so all bloated and crampy. Blech.

(Note: even after 10pm the gym was pretty busy. Too many guys in the dumbbell area which is all kinds of fun since I have to do romanian deadlifts on one leg and squats while holding one dumbbell above my head... yeah.)

Stage 3, A2

db one arm snatch 3x6 @ 27.5 - not bad but didn't quite have the courage to try 30 yet.

db one leg romandian deadlift 3x6 @ 27.5 - okay but still struggled a tad not to fall over.
bar bent over row 3x6 @ 70 - heavy but manageable.

db one arm overhead squat 3x6 @ 10&20 - Easier now that I put the heavy one in middle and not off to one side when doing the lift.
db incline bench 3x6 @ 22.5 - easy enough.

plank 3x 60 seconds - not gonna get 90 any time soon.
reverse wood chop 3x6 @ 12.5 - okay.

BWM ... Yeah, I did it one time and took lots of pauses but slowly made it through and just over 5 minutes by a few seconds. Last time I only had the timer set for 5 (it counts down and not up) so this time I put in 10 as the starting point).


Bench 3x8 @ 80 - struggled but made it through.
Bicep curl 3x10 @ 20 - easy. I was too lazy to get the 30 cause others were over there. And I was tired.

Lots of rows going on so my arms are feeling it. The Grit Strength class had lots of pushups and some rows, then the different rows each day in stage 3. Next week I won't do the class though because I don't have lunch plans and I have work that day cause my days off are changing again.

Question about deadlifts: Do you always start each reps on the floor like he says to or do only go down to mid shin? Deadlifts scare me. I'm always worried about my back.

Hi, everyone. I’m new here and jumping in. I am so impressed with how much you all are lifting. You're so motivating!

Last night I did workout A. I was really trying to focus on form.

Squats – 75 lbs. By my last set I really felt that the stars had aligned and my form was spot on. I’m going to stay here again next time.
Bench Press – De-loaded to 50 lbs. These still felt hard, but I was able to complete all reps. I’m not sure yet if I’ll try for 55 next time or stay here.
Barbell Row – 60lbs. These still feel awkward to me. I’m going to try lifting them up higher next time to see if it is just too low of a starting point. I use the smaller bar for these so I do have plates on them, but I may try 65 lbs next time with bumper plates.

Overall the workout felt good and my form is getting better, but breathing still feels awkward to me. I feel like I pause too long in between each rep to breathe and get re-situated.

The gym was extremely busy. “Count down dude” was there today and seems to be on the same gym schedule as me. He shouts his countdowns while doing his sets. I think he is just awkward and has no idea that he is even shouting it since he has his music on so loud. I kind of feel bad for him since he is this scrawny kid that is trying so hard but has absolutely deplorable form on everything. I know I’m learning and my form is bad, but wow…

MalineVD wrote: »

It's only week two of Stronglifts and for some bizarre reason, I already feel stronger.. It's probably just imagination, but I like the feeling

I've only just started too, but it feels good to know you can lift heavier things! We're stronger than we think!

"psych101 wrote: »

I see a lot of ladies struggling with having to deload, or needing to deload - its a mental game, but seriously your body will tell you when you need to take a break, listen to it - you do as much good by resting as you do by working! And when you fail a weight several times, use the experience of deloading and working back up as a chance to perfect your form, to do them better with better form, or faster, or more efficient, or with less time in between sets - all of these are still progressing, just a slightly different way of progressing. Don't ever see a deload as a failure - nothing is a failure, its a chance to rebuild and come back even stronger!!

xxx

XXXXX

Last Night's Workout - All 5x5

Squats – 70#
Bench Press - 60#
Barbell Row – 60#

Quick workout and then a rush to get to my ball game - played the entire game at 2nd base (1 hr warmup plus 1-3/4 hr game, HR monitor said 940 calories burned not that that's too accurate but I was moving as much as I could). We won 9-0 - great start to our new season!