Workout Check-in - Making fireworks in July!

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  • DawnEmbers
    DawnEmbers Posts: 2,451 Member
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    Not bad day overall. Spent hours at work staring at crackers and cookies because I was changing it all around in order to get rid of stuff we won't have out anymore and have space for the new stuff that we will have. Some of the new cookies sound good. mmmm

    Workout A

    high bar squat 3x5 @ 140 - still felt a little heavy but I might do 145 next A day

    bench press 2x5 and 1x3 @ 95 - almost made it through, will need to repeat next time

    p-row 3x5 @ 100 - not easy but think I might try 105 next time

    accessories:
    clean 3x8 @ 65 - eh, though got better when I didn't wrap my thumb around the bar
    front squats 3x8 @ 65 - less than last time, right hand/wrist still got cranky by the end
    back extension 2x8 @ 25 - okay but was tired

    Now for some sleep so I can jog in the morning then go to work since I offered to take the extra day this week so only get 1 day off.
  • mirrim52
    mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
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    Ok day yesterday.

    Squat - 3x5 at 145 - better. May do one more here before moving up.
    OHP - 3x5 at 57.5 - maybe my first time here??? I forget. It was ok. Core could have been tighter.
    DL - 1x5ish at 170. Stupid grip failed on my 5th rep at the top. Dried my hands and went for one more, but grip still failing. I am going to try swapping which hand in overhand on my mixed grip.

    Rows - 3x5 at 65 - light day
    Close grip bench press - 3x8 at 55 lbs. Good
    Barbell curls - 3x8 at 40 - ok. these don't seem to be getting significantly easier.
    Cable crunch - 3x10 at 50 lbs.

    pullups - 2x2 on the kid's swing set at home later.
  • indianarose2
    indianarose2 Posts: 469 Member
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    Hi Dennie24! I seriously want to eat that cupcake!
  • krokador
    krokador Posts: 1,794 Member
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    Decided that the shoulder injury was going to drag me down no more. Although I was a sweaty mess (no AC in my apartment) after this, it was relatively easy. But it was something!

    Squats 7 min ladder (1 up to 12 down to like 7? 130 total)
    Same for hollow rocks -> started out as iron crosses but stabilizing myself on the ground hurt my shoulder something fierce, so hollow rocks it was. went up to 9 or 10, got 66 total)

    Same set-up but 5 mins instead
    1-arm counter push-ups (left arm only): 38 total - I went up to 4 in a row twice! No assist from the right arm whatsoever!
    1-legged romanian deadlifts: 43 per side. No weight holding even though I normally would have.

    then finished off with 3 sets of 20 1-arm rows (left only, again) with my 20lbs DB. Not very hard for me but again, I got some movement in. Gonna call the physical therapist I saw for my knee and see if he has an opening any time soon. Otherwise these are gonna be my workouts for a while xD
  • Sumiblue
    Sumiblue Posts: 1,597 Member
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    Yesterday's workout:
    Squat-warm ups 6@45, 5@95, 3@115, 5x5@135
    OHP-5x5@50
    Deadlift-5@135, 5@165

    Lots of warm ups for squats! The 165lb deadlift felt pretty good.
  • Pickles175
    Pickles175 Posts: 211 Member
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    Workout B

    Squats 5x5: 102.5lbs
    OHP 3x5 1x4 1x2 : 50lbs
    DL 1x5: 105lbs


    Close Grip Bench Press 3x5: 45lbs
    Bicep Curls 2x8: 30lbs
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
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    Rest week for me - but AARGH my hunger is out of control WTF?!
  • awkwardsoul
    awkwardsoul Posts: 222 Member
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    Back at it again, fingers crossed my back feels fine tomorrow. I've been feeling 100% for a week so I felt I was ready. I took the 50% deload on squats, and only a little deload on upperbody, since I've been doing upperbody only the last few sessions.

    Squats 5x5 95lbs (warm up 2x5 45lb). Really easy but I was really cautious with my back, keeping my chest up and tension. I lost some shoulder flexibility with my time off so the bar felt a little weird.

    Bench 5x5 85lbs (warm up 2x5 45lbs, 1x5 65lbs). Fine and dandy.

    Rows 3x5 95lbs. I should of went down to lighter weight, but I only got 25lb bumpers and I refuse to go with out them. Lasted only 3x5 as it was heavy!

    And finally the first time I wore my HR monitor while lifting. It clocked in double calories than what MFP says! Crazy!
  • coltsgirl311
    coltsgirl311 Posts: 226 Member
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    Workout B today.

    Squats, 5x5@95 lbs. I moved up from 90 lbs, and they felt quite a bit tougher. Maybe my legs were more tired today than on Friday, since I did my long run yesterday, when I normally do it on Saturdays.

    OHP, 4/5/4/4/4@55 lbs. I could not get that 5th rep up to save my life today. Ugh. Repeat next time.

    Deadlift, 2x5@100 lbs. Still moving up 5 lbs at a time. This weight is still pretty easy.

    Good mornings, 3x10@55 lbs.

    Finished up with an hour of mixed cardio.
  • DawnEmbers
    DawnEmbers Posts: 2,451 Member
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    I skipped the Sunday morning jog, so had two easy days off which my feet enjoyed. This morning was the 2 mile jog. Nice cause it wasn't hot out this morning but breathing was a little more challenging than normal. Oh well. Tonight I will go lift weights at the gym.
  • kge0891
    kge0891 Posts: 276 Member
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    Hi all! I'm new to SL and started yesterday with workout A:

    Squats: 5x5 @ 45
    Bench: 5x5 @ 45.
    Rows: 5x5 @ 65. This are tricky. Will be staying at this weight for a while to work on proper form

    Anyway, B is tomorrow for me. I have no upper body strength and am pretty sure I will not be able to get out 5x5 with the bar and I don't see any lighter ones other than curl bars. Any advice for me? Thanks!!
  • dennie24
    dennie24 Posts: 251 Member
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    Today was:
    Squat 5x50,60,70,85,95
    Bench 5x45,55,65,75,85
    Row 4x5x65,5x75
    Glute bridge 3x10x140

    It feels weird to do squats at 95 and be done when I was up to 140 but I don't want to cause any problems in my tibia if the stress fracture I had is still healing. It was achy a bit when I tried to run on Sunday but it felt fine today. Hopefully it will feel well enough to run tomorrow.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    nice to see the new people here :)

    i'm really apathetic and directionless and discouraged, and i've sort of banned myself from doing stronglifts per se until i can squat like a normal safe human again [what the #$#$(@! has gone #$(*ing wrong with my form!!!]. but in the meantime i went to the gym today anyway and did kind of a hodgepodge of stuff. it may not have been very Program in any organized sense, but i feel better anyway, so there is that.

    rows 5x5@60. not especially hard and i could have tried 70 or at least 65, but someone wanted the bar while i had it half-dismantled to add some more weight, and my heart wasn't really in it by that point since i'd already done the first four, so i just did the last set and left it at that. some deadlifts in between row sets, since 60 is too light for me to hurt myself.

    double-cable pulldowns: 5x5@30. i mention the double cable because that actually equates to 60lb, which is more than i've done with this move for some time. i usually just use it as a shoulder warmup but did it more like a real lift today. 30 wasn't that hard either, but it has been a while and i'm kind of done harming myself for this month.

    ohp: always, even if it's just one token set. i grabbed the 45 bar to do those. stronger than i expected with them considering my half-assery this past month.

    and to wrap up, some kind of idon'treallyknowwhatthiswas thing. sort of a kb squat, sort of a rdl, sort of a few other things. but i did it sumo style with a 26lb kettlebell, and the idea was all about sinking back with the hips because i can NOT get my real squats to come back off my toes and the posterior chain neglect is driving me totally bats. this definitely did something i'm probably going to hate myself for for the next four or five days. but it gave me a groin/hip stretch that i really loved in addition to that, so i did 3x10 of whatever they are.

    and then, believe me, after all that . . . i stretched.

    signed in for a coed 'training group' with the trainer i got in touch with. starts on friday. i did snivel to the guy about how i absolutely have to have help with my heinous squat form, because i was hoping to snag some 1:1 time as well. but he says he keeps the groups extremely small and friday will have room for me to get started on that. so, excited . and maybe i just need to take a break from doing sl overall, and go in for a few other things. his website really seems to emphasize strength and i got his name from an old 'recommendations' thread on the starting strength forum, so i'm hopeful.

    if it's circuit-style *kitten* though, i'm out.

  • mronne
    mronne Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi, I'm Melissa. I've been lurking around reading these threads and thought it was time I should hold myself accountable. I've been doing sl since March, though worries with my form have made me deload or stay at the same weight on squats. I'm having trouble getting low/tilting forward at higher weights and am trying to deal with core strength and hip mobility issues from "lady problems" as one trainer put it. I think he meant childbirth...

    Today, I had only 30 minutes because I was trying to get my kiddos to a movie, so I did squats 2x5x45, 5x5 70. I have been holding steady at 70 , though I've been up to 95, because I feel like I can't break parallel at higher weights yet. Going to go up to 72.5 next as I felt pretty good today.

    Bp: 63.7 (bought fractional plates!) Think I'm ready for 10s on each side next time :) I've got to remember to do some warmup stretches, it's amazing how much easier the set feels!

    Rows: deloaded to 60, following app recommendation, can't quite get up to my chest at 70. Felt good, but only got 2 sets before I had to go.

  • DawnEmbers
    DawnEmbers Posts: 2,451 Member
    edited July 2015
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    @canadianlbs - good luck with the group thing. Hope he can help on the squat form. I'm kind of meandering with SL and accessories while I look at program options. I wrote down several options in a notebook to ponder but all have drawbacks (things i can't do, not 3 days as my gym involves commute, etc) so going to take time to make a decision.

    Welcome to all the new posters!

    @kge0891 - If a set weight bar isn't available, you could maybe try using dumbbells. There is a dumbbell version of overhead press. You don't have to get up to 22.5 on each side before you can do the bar, or at least that is my experience with that and bench as I've done both bar and db. There is a difference in doing them that way but it can be a good starting point as the dumbbells can go fairly light depending on available equipment. If not, then you could maybe just do less that 5x5 and work your way up as another option. Good luck!


    Long day today since I didn't have work but I made cupcakes tonight as tomorrow is coworker's going away party thing. She went and got promoted so is going to be working from a different store and we're will all miss here even though she's just going to be a few miles away. It was busy still after 10:30 pm at the gym cause Tuesday night and I ended up waiting a little more than usual. Also, had to go a little out of order at times. Squats felt fine but it's hard to tell cause I never though much about my knees tracking over my toes yet the trainers at this gym seem to find that problematic. Deadlift felt a bit heavy and I'm just going to go with anything above body weight feels heavy and keep trying to lift heavier each time.

    Workout B

    low bar squat 3x5 @ 120 - felt fine to me.

    OHP 3x5 @ 65 - made it through. I like the 3 sets for this one. Going to try 70 next time.

    leg press 3x10 @ 180 - fine enough, out of order cause deadlift spot was occupied. Need to increase next Tuesday.

    good morning 2x10 @ 55 - waiting for deadlift spot, it was easy cause I've done 60 before

    deadlift 1x5 @ 135 warm up then 1x5 @ 160 - okay but 160 feels heavy

    good morning 2x10 @ 60 - i usually do 3x10 but moving around to get to do lifts affected that

    rdl 3x10 @ 80 - not bad, I should try with the regular bar so I can move up by 5 (will run out of fixed bars anyways)
    hip thrust 3x10 @ 70 - managed but awkward, also need to move where I do this but can't get the courage to try on the benches.

    Sleepy but might write a little before bed. *yawns* Maybe.
  • awkwardsoul
    awkwardsoul Posts: 222 Member
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    I feared today's SL - it's all the exercises I was told not to do with a messed up back, with deadlifts being the worst out of them all. My back is feeling 100% after my last lifting session (after a 5 week break) so I felt I was ready.

    Squats 5x5 135lbs - I tried 105lbs first, a 10lb increase from last session, but it was too easy to I jumped to 135lbs. Depending how my warm ups go, I'll keep going up 10lbs from here until I'm closer to 200lbs again.

    OHP 5x5 55lbs - I sort of don't get why this was a no no when I was out with a messed up back. I guess if you are arching, but you shouldn't be arching anyways. Eehhh whatever, play it safe. I could of jumped to 60 or 65lbs without issue.

    Sumo Squats 2x5 135lbs - Since I've deloaded, I thought it was a good time to switch to Sumo. Sumo is probably a better move for me since it's more leg than back. These felt pretty good and I liked how upright I was and how little movement was needed but I was unsure on my form regarding my shoulders. I will have to study more. I did another set to play with form more.

    And I finished with my back feeling completely normal, hurray!
  • krokador
    krokador Posts: 1,794 Member
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    You know what? I'll take crossfit or SL over any machine workout any day :| I have a feeling I'll be a sore bunny tomorrow (and also, aside from the decline press, every single one of those torture contraptions make my joints crackle and pop like a bowl of fresh rice crispies. Not cool)

    Seated leg press 50x12, 90x12, 135x12, 180x12, 205x12, 205x15
    So I can leg press more than I can squat. Probably a bit more than this, even. Yay?

    seated machine row (left arm only) 0x10 (lawl, getting a feel for it), 25x12, 30x12, 30x12... I think
    these were hard to leave my right side out. Also couldn't really get a good pull angle and I felt it more in my front delt than lats. Eh.

    seated leg curls (for the gurlz!) 45x10, 75x12, 80x12, 85x12

    iso-lateral decline press 0x10 (well actually, machine says it's 6lbs unloaded. Wowzah!), 25x12, 45x12, 50x12, 50x12 (and 0x2x10, 10x12, 20x12 on the right side. Actually felt kinda nice to push some. I definitely hurt my shoulder pulling)

    Leg extensions 45x12, 60x12, 60x12, 65x15 and uuugh the burn! I HATE these

    tried 2 ab machines but they required too much right side activation, so I did a plank for 1 minute with most of my weight on the left arm. And 2 sets of back extensions (0x15, 25x12)

    Ah, I also threw in a few calf raises and 1 set of 1-arm Db OHP with my left side (15lbs x12 reps). Tried to do curls but no dice.

    So with this injury happening and my wife expressing concern about me lifting heavy weight without anyone to check my form aside from the intrawebz I'm officially shelving my current program for a while. I'll rehab the shoulder properly while mixing in those bro-type workouts, running, and doing bw interval-type training (probably will whip out my tapout xt dvds) and will try to find an oly lifting coach for hire that won't charge me an arm and a leg for lessons. Wee? (Which also means it'll be the perfect time for a cut. *Dun dun dun*)
  • dennie24
    dennie24 Posts: 251 Member
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    @awkwardsoul I hope that your back continues to feel good.
    @krokador I hope your shoulder recovers quickly.

    Today I did:
    Squat 5x50,60,70,70
    OHP 5x45,45,55,60
    Deadlift 90,110,125,145
    Pause deadlift 3x5x110
    Ab wheel 3x10
    I saw a lot of improvement in my form when I added pause squats, bench presses, and deadlifts as accessories when I was doing 531 so I think it would be a good idea for me to continue those although I am doing Madcow now. Nothing is feeling too difficult right now so I am looking forward to starting to push my weights up again.
  • DawnEmbers
    DawnEmbers Posts: 2,451 Member
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    I lifted weights earlier today but didn't get up when I had my alarm set. Instead, both me and the cat fell back asleep. I got done before work but had to rush the shower and eating lunch.

    Workout A

    high bar squat 3x5 @ 145 - decent and it's almost bodyweight so that's fun.

    bench press 2x5 and 1x4 @ 95 - almost but didn't quite have it for the last one

    p-row 3x5 @ 105 - not pretty. I should de-load to 85 and work on form but tire of stacking the plates, pesky rows

    Accessories:
    lat pulldown 3x12 @ 60 - will increase next time
    pull up progression attempt - found a use for the smith machine :wink: set the bar low enough and did 3x5 pulls at an angle with goal to work up towards one day doing pull up
  • kge0891
    kge0891 Posts: 276 Member
    edited July 2015
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    @DawnEmbers, thanks so much for the OHP dumbbell tips, found some great videos on form with them and tried that. Also ordered fractional plates for once I do get to lifting the bar.

    Workout B - Wednesday
    Squat - 5x5 @ 50 lb
    OHP - started by trying 2 20b dumbbells (1x5) but could only do one set, so went down to 2 15lb dumbbells (4x5). Going from 30 to 40 is going to be tough since the dumbbells only come in 5 lb increments
    Deadlift - 5x5 @ 65 lbs


    Workout A - today
    squat - 5x5 @ 55 lb
    Bench press - 5x5 @ 50 lbs
    Row - 4/3/3/3/3 @ 65. I watched a ton of videos on form for this, and I really understand it but the strength for execution is just not there. I wonder if I should switch down to dumbbells first or just keep trying at 65 lbs until I can get my 5x5 with good form.