Thanks @katro111 and @psych101. I think I was just going through a slump, feeling down on myself. I ended up going to the gym after work and felt better afterwards.

-Squats: 5x5@ 135 lbs. -felt good doing those although my hip flexors are so tight. Need to stretch them out before and after squats. One of the gym instructors were very impressed about the amount of weight.

-Bench press: 5x5@ 85lbs. - felt good doing these and so will move up next workout.

-Row: 5x5 @ 95 lbs. - sometimes I feel like I'm not even working out with this exercise but my gym instructor says I am so I'll keep on doing them.

NSV: I held a 1 min., 30 sec. plank.

Question of the day: At what point do you start incorporating other strength training exercises? Not that I'm getting bored with SL, but I feel like I don't see any progress with my body except strength, no definition or tone? It's been 12 weeks but I suppose that's so little time.

I was gonna do hill sprints this morning but then ended up staying up late last night finishing up OITNB >_>

So 8x50m sprints + ~mile jog. Took 26 mins total and I got 3.3km in or so (~2 miles) including the warm-up. Good times. There's soemthing about pushing for only 50m that makes those runs super powerful. I actually almost tripped over my feet at one point, lol.

dcresider wrote: »

Question of the day: At what point do you start incorporating other strength training exercises? Not that I'm getting bored with SL, but I feel like I don't see any progress with my body except strength, no definition or tone? It's been 12 weeks but I suppose that's so little time.

All depends on where you start at, what you do and how you eat. Do what makes it fun for you and in a way you'll stick with it. Training smarter > training more. First thing I'd do is add in "finisher" types of circuits. Conditioning goes a long way towards accelerating fat loss and body recomp, and doing it after your main strength work makes it so it doesn't get in the way of your strength gains, and doesnt impact recovery too much, either. You can get a good amount of work in less than 10 mins

Workout B yesterday.

Squats 5x5 at 165#. I dropped down from 175 because I felt like I needed it. Then I got some unsolicited gym advice from a rando. He told me I should be doing front squats instead of low bar back squats. Ok dude.
OHP 5x5 at 80#. This is still really hard, so I will continue to stay here.
Deadlifts 1x3 at 225#! (That's 2 each 45# plates on each side, wowzers!) I really wanted 5, but I'm proud that I got 3. It was soooo stupid heavy. I almost didn't go for this weight because it seems really heavy, but I figured I should at least try. I'm glad I did.

Also, ran a 5k at lunch before the gym.

@katro111 - I lost a few lbs. last week, but I don't like the way I look right now and would hate to take photos of myself. It just discourages me if I don't see progress. I beginning to have a bad body image that even my hubby is worried that I'm overthinking how I look.

@xcalygrl - I try to eat at a deficit, some days at maintenance. I find that I get really "hangry" when I eat less and unfortunately, I'm a big foodie. That's what's hindering me. Funny you mention doing front squats, my gym instructor mentioned trying front squats (meaning holding the weights on front of your shoulder) to get deeper into the squat and working more of quads and hips. I told him I'd think about it once I change things up.

I also like front squats, though I can't hold it with my hands and have my elbows up so I have to do the cross arm form. Still, it's a nice lift. I don't do SL but on the topic, I've added accessories to NROLFW in part as I had areas I wanted to work on, had lifts I liked but weren't in most of the stages (bench press), and I ended up nixing a few of the things in the program (yawn, swiss ball crunch). After NROLFW I'm looking more into something like SL with a little accessory work but haven't decided on an exact one yet.

Lifting day today. Since it's my day off from work, I went mid afternoon instead of night. I'm going to make Thursdays be my earlier lifting days, though I know one week coming up I don't have it off as I have Friday off instead. But this way, I am not lifting late the night before my longest run as I'm doing my long runs on Fridays. Fair amount of people but was able to get things done. And I saw two women doing hip thrusts, which is braver than me cause I wait till after midnight to do those when no one is around. But it also was nice to see someone actually do them cause I always question my form as it's an awkward one.

NROLFW Stage 5 - B3

warm up low bar squats 3x5 @ 115 - heavy and I'll keep at this one next time

barbell romanian deadlift/bent over row 4x4 @ 80 - still heavy on the rows

goblet squat 4x4 @ 45 - harder on arms to hold the heavier dumbbells
lat pull down 4x4 @ 80 - still heavy

back extension 4x4 @ 25 - might try 35 next time

YTWL 4x4 @ 7.5 - still blah but will try 10 next time, it's the T part that is hard

bench press 3x8 @ 75 - okay but tad tough since i don't bench on a regular basis

OHP 3x8 @ 40 - not bad
bicep curl 3x5 @ 40 - used same bar as OHP, heavy for this lift

Now I'm hungry as I ate a little before but not a lot. Need shower, dinner and to work on stuff online.

Did bench last night. I half considered skipping my workout yesterday (those DL DOMS are killer), but I forced myself to and today my back DOMS is 1000x better than it was yesterday.

Bench: 7x5 @ 105lbs
I didn't do any accessories, but I ran up and down the stairs for 5 minutes between each set (I was playing with the dog so he'd stop trying to lick my face while I was bench pressing lol such a goofy animal).

Cardio Day - jogged for 30 minutes at the park. It's a little cooler out today, so not bad though I made to sure get going before 9 am. Will have to see how the hot days go in the near future. Going to start working my schedule to the new one even though I won't do the 10k training until July.

@Anniel88 - clothes are good to have. Though if I lift after work, I could manage if forgetting a shirt cause my work shirt right now is a plus sized t-shirt. But in August they are switching us back to polo shirts. Pants would be bit more difficult to work in. Though at the gym we do have a guy who works out every night in jeans.

Squat 115 5x5
Deadlift 155 1x5
OHP 45 5x5. Repeated OHP at 45 because I did that rope climb machine and I could barely lift my arms. Also did hiit on the dread mill and rowed 1000 meters. It was a good workout. Sweated off the wine from the night before

Hi guys. Here are my current stats.

Squats - 5 x 5 @ 140 lbs - felt good although the bar on by shoulders is bothering me more.

OH presses - 5. X 5 @ 55 lbs. seems like I can't move do the last rep w/o losing form. Gonna stick at this weight.

Deadlifts - 1 x 3 @ 165 - decided to go up on weights but could barely finish the second rep. Forget about the 4th and 5 th one. I may go back down.