indianarose2 wrote: »

Awesome work everyone! I had copied some quotes and made specific comments but then touched "cut" by mistake and deleted them all pfft. Anyway welcome to AR, congrats Dawn for completing stage4 (those lifts sound so funky and cool...prone snatch! Got to look that up!). There were a few more comments but now they're gone...

I don't recommend the dumbbell prone cuban snatch unless you like lying on an incline bench so that the top is right at your face cause the odor from all the ones who have used it makes the lift a challenge. It's a weird lift that is oddly hard to do. More fun is the one arm dumbbell snatch, which I get to do now in Stage 5. Though I also have to do YTWL this stage, the L is basically the cobra snatch, so it's more awkward time on the incline bench. But not today, today's weirdness is just one arm overhead db squats and one leg romanian deadlift.

Today didn't feel quite as good as Tues. No more meatloaf

120 squats
60 OHP struggling to progress
185 DL x3 Had a problem with grip and focus by the end

I went to the gym mid afternoon this time since I was over near there to run errands anyways. Plenty of people but not to the point where it affected my workout. Started the next stage, though I may skip next thursday because for some reason I thought the 5k was the 15th. It's on the 12th so I may not want to lift then run next day, even if it's at 9pm (5k) since I have been a bit sore lately. For now, working through stage 5.

NROL4W Stage 5 - A1

high bar squats 3x5 @ 125 - hefty but okay, should be back to 135 soon, which is fun with the big plates

one arm db snatch 4x4 @ 30 - easy enough

one leg db romanian deadlift 3x4 @ 30 - struggle with left side still
bar bent over row 3x4 @ 80 - hard but good that it is just 4 reps

db one arm overhead squat 4x4 @ 12.5/25 - okay
db incline bench 4x4 @ 27.5 - not bad either

reverse wood chop 4x4 @ 15 - used the one with the lower numbers cause other was in use

bench press 4x5 @ 85 - challenging
bicep curl with bar 3x8 @ 30 - eh

Overall, not bad.

On night shift 5 of 7, and really didn't want to go today. But I figured I wouldn't want to go tomorrow either, so might as well get it done! I was pleasantly surprised at how well my workout went.

Squat - 3x5 at 150 lbs - new high I wasn't going to increase since 145 was still feeling pretty hard, but I figured my form has been good, and I got my reps, so just do it. What's 5 more lbs? If I wait until 145 is easy, I will be waiting a long time. 150 didn't feel that much harder than 145. I am happy I went for it.

Row - 1x5 at 75 lbs, 2x5 at 80. I decided after the first set that 75 wasn't enough and upped it to 80. I wasn't originally planning on really any increases today since I didn't want to go in the first place, but once I got started, I changed my mind.

BP - 3x5 at 75 lbs. Ok. I might try 77.5 next time and see how it goes.

BB Shrug - 3x8 at 50 lbs. I think I need to up this.

Skullcrushers - 3x8 at 40 lbs. Used the ez curl fixed barbell for this since the straight was in use. These were a lot easier using the ez curl bar! My regular gym doesn't have fixed ones, but does have the bar, so I will need to figure out how much it weighs and use it.

BB curls - 2x8, 1x6 at 40 lbs. Just couldn't get the last 2 out. Most likely because I was supersetting these with the skullcrushers and was getting less rest than usual.

Hyperextensions - 3x10 with 15 lbs. Good. Going to up to 20 lbs next time.

Cable crunches - 3x10 at 50 lbs. Better today. I really like this exercise. I can feel it all around my core.

No pull up work today, was going to be late for work

Lifted tonight woop woop

Squat 5x5x135lbs - squats and I haven't been friends lately but these felt good
OHP 5x5x70lbs easy moving up
Deadlift 1x5x210lbs gonna stick here for a bit - tried to get 220lbs but it wasn't gonna break

Then a 5x5 superset of fun things like curls, extensions, ab stuff, hip thrusts, pikes - basically making the most of my preworkout lol. Shaking now

Bench day 3
75 lbs x 3, 85 lbs x 3,95 lbs x 4
These felt ok. I had some pain behind my shoulder blade at first but warm up reps seemed to take care of that.
Accessories
Bench 65 lbs 5x8
Cleans 75 lbs 5x8
My biggest problem with wendler is that it doesn't seem to get my upper back at all so I'm hoping I can get enough accessories in to cover that. I might re adjust reps so that I can go a little heavier

Squats: 90 lbs - These felt tough and form was slipping a bit. Going to stay here again next time. My one side is so tight that my mobility is off. I think I need to get a foam roller and work it out.
BP: 50lbs Felt easy.
Row: 65 lbs - Felt good. Going to move up next

Did some stretching, assisted dips and planks.

Jogged 40 minutes today and according to fitbit got a little over 3 miles. Yay! Just in time for the 5k, which is in one week. Now to eat food cause hungry.


Power cleans look fun but not sure I can do them any time soon cause I can't front squat holding the bar that way either. My shoulder/elbow/wrist mobility needs a lot of work as the only way to hold the bar so my elbows are at the correct angle is if the bar is behind my head. So, we'll see if I can do them some day.

Oh yeah a deload day, everything is easy!

Squats 5x5 - 215lbs - working back up to 225lbs. warmups 2x5 45lbs, 1x5 135lbs, 1x3 175lbs. I had a couple reps that I bent the knees first instead of the hips, so I went down weird like a high bar, thus went up weird. Bleh maybe I'll redo 215lb.

OHP 5x5 - 70lbs - working back up to 80lbs. warmup 2x5 45lbs. Easy. I took the short 1.5 minute breaks here.

Deadlift 1x5 - 190lbs - working back up to 215lbs. warm up 1x5 135lbs, 1x5 165lbs. I watched more deadlift form videos and tried to get more tension going by pulling myself to the bar. Still not feeling it and my form is still wacky with my legs rising faster than my body despite the deload. Again debating to switch to sumo but I rather get the more posterior chain work.

After a tough workout week where every single weight was hard and massively heavy, I actually had a great workout today. Everything that has been too heavy all week was suddenly - not easy, but doable. Even my HIIT cardio after my workout was feeling good enough to add to.

squats: 5x5 @ 95#
OHP: 5x5 @ 55#
DL: 1x5 @ 145#