dcresider wrote: »

krokador - Thanks for the tip on opening up my hips. Sorry I didn't respond sooner but have been MIA with my workouts the past few weeks due to travel.

SL question- I feel like my thighs are getting too "thick" doing squats (note that I didn't use the term "bulky" and my legs have always been strong) so I'm tempted to go lighter on the weights and do extra reps for all the exercises. Thoughts?

Not an expert, but more reps at lower weight is hypertrophy (eating at maintenance/surplus) which means muscle building and the "thickness" so many females fear. If you are on a deficit, you won't build muscle at this point because you've been doing this a while, yes?

So, if you are building muscle because of excess calories, then you can decrease to maintenance, increase weight/reduce reps for strength or decrease weight/increase reps to endurance level (very light/15-20 reps). Your goals will determine your routine.

13294 steps 9/15
6.06 miles
86.83 miles total

Squats 5x100, 5x105, 5x110, 5x5x100
Sumo Squats 5x5x100
BP 5x65, 5x70, 5x75, 5x5x78
BR 5x5x85
DL 5x5x145

Oh yeah, I should post yesterday's. Would have after the gym but person staying at our apartment was already asleep on the couch and I didn't want to disturb her. Had short shift yesterday instead of the day off but it worked out fine that way. Back around to upper body heavy lifting though I'd had less than 1000 calories all day long before gym and I'd really felt it when I was trying to push things up. Did okay despite low fuel but could have done better.

Morning cardio = 2 mile jog

Day 5 - Upper Power

bench press 3x5 @ 90 - quite heavy
db incline bench 3x8 @ 30 - harder this week
bent row 3x4 @ 95 - heavy for that type for me but difficult, sort of did 5 reps but the last weren't great so didn't count them.
lat pull 3x10 @ 60 - less than last time but far easier, no shoulder issue
OHP 1x5, 1x4, 1x5 @ 70 - heavy but managed
bar curl 3x10 @ 30 - easy but don't have a fixed 35 so did this instead
skull crusher 3x8 @ bar - better than last time, elbow wasn't cranky but arms still shaky. Held bar in middle of where it dips instead of on the inside part and seemed to help a little.

After that I came home, had a pb honey sandwich and a little candy (options in order to not disturb house guest, then went to bed. Today may or may not be day off, waiting to hear if someone is able to work their shift or not. We'll see.

W1D3 C25K @5.5mph

Squats- 5x5@45 - I hate squats, my form sucks, I am working on this
Bench 5x5@45 on a stability ball because the bench hasnt come in yet. It worked, but added some levels of difficulty in terms of stabilization and equalization
Rows 5x5@45... also need to do more research on form for these. One of those where you think you know how it works... and then you actually try it...

squats: 2x5@45, 1x4@60, 1x2@70, 5x5@75. went pretty well and felt pretty okay. using the trainer's warmup pattern seemed to go well. i may have done an extra set or rep or two at the 60lb point, but i ain't saying.

ohp: BIG STORY. i invested some time with the broomstick before i even started this lift today. just holding it and getting that 'make a shelf' thing down, and then repeating it in sets of 8 until my nervous system knew all about engaging all the muscles involved, and how it felt. plus, i did rows in between warmup sets, to make sure my upper back and rear shoulders were really going to show up for the game. and finally, i had my handy little 1.5lb weights so i could give myself a consistent rate of increase across warmup sets. and here's what i got:

2x5@30, 1x4@38, 1x3@45, 1x4@53, 4x5@53. so i missed completing the first set but i'm booking it anyway because i had to clean everything up to that point on my own. that was extra work and i also couldn't get set up as well. when the rack became available i moved in and the next four sets of 5 were smooth like butter. me and my tiny sock weights. i'm just going to say because i'm so high on myself: i had the usual ohp experience where you're fine while you're fine but then all the gas disappears completely between one rep and the next. all the same, the first three reps of every work set were EASY. so i'm very very extremely happy and pleased with myself.

deadlift: i made a mistake. so i did warmup at 65, 85, and 115. forgot i was using the full-sized bar by warmup 3. so i thought it was just 100 and was disappointed about it being so hard. added another 10lbs because my trainer-day dl two weeks ago was 105 and i was NOT going to go backwards from there. did one set of 2 for warmup with that, and then finally realized i'd just pulled 125. so instead of adding more weight i just went back and did another 3 to complete a work set. i'll say one thing: finding a lift way harder than you expected it to be really makes you focus your mind and tighten your form up, sometimes.

then i had the kind of dinner where you're eating the hamburger meat out of the pan as fast as it browns, because you just can't wait for all the fancy extras to happen.

roxylola wrote: »

Tough day today. Single leg hip thrusts which are hard anyway and in sets of supposedly 20 - I did 3 of 15! supersetted with chin ups. I managed 2 sets of 4 assisted with 15kg and one of 3 plus a negative
Then dumbell step ups - again in theory 20 I managed 14s with 2 10kg dumbell supersets with 8 reps of OHP - still working at 20kg for these as with the extra reps I am just struggling, again 3 sets
Then there is this back extension thing. I struggle with this anyway as my hips are unlevel and it seems to make my back go very very tight, I did my 2 sets of 12 but I have to have a little stretch during sets.
And some accessory stuff. Horse riding later which is great but DOMS is going to kick my butt tomorrow I think

Why do you do such high sets and reps? Is this a specific program? Love horseback riding! What kind do you do?

Yesterday's do nothing but computer stuff rest day, and cook/clean, ended up being a 6 hour cashier shift. Today, I went to the gym before work and after I toss stuff in slow cooker, will be going to work freight. Fun times. It was a little rough on the power day today with super heavy squats. I dropped down the weight on deadlift to do more than one set but 185 and above just feels super heavy. I could blame on low fuel past two days and period started yesterday, but 185 always feels heavy even though I've done more.

Day 6 - lower power

squat 3x5 @ 175 - barely made it up on the 5th rep of each set, was very close to a fail. I haven't left the bar on the safeties yet, so one of these days.
deadlift 1x3, 1x4, 1x3 @ 185 - dropped down since requires more reps but 185 is so heavy still.
leg press 3x8 @ 215 - slight increase, need to start setting up on lower safety spot soon instead of regular than using toes to push it up enough to undo the safety.
leg curl 3x8 @ 60 - okay, nothing unusual
rotary calf 4x10 @ 70 plus the little extra weight thing - meh, calves...

Now to get ready for work and get my bento made. Having dairy today so mmm and might make it above fat goal for once, I've been hitting a bit low lately.

@fanncy0626 it's strong curves, tbh I up the weight more often than I need and just kind of keep it over 10 reps, it seems to work for now - further in the program it gets in to 5 sets of heavy reps.
To be fair yesterday it killed me but I forgot I had cycled to work in the morning for a change!
I am uk based so english style, I do a bit of all sorts - got a few ponies I am schooling at the moment, younsters mainly so we do school work, we hack and one is old enough to do a bit of jumping (sadly they are all victims of less than fantastic riders so none are really what they could be but I can help them a bit)

And today I walked the dogs and ate all the foods!

5 mile jog. Tad tough today but yesterday was lower power and freight day, so my thighs and back were a tad sore before even got started. Glad I changed Saturday to a rest day.

I was so tired and unmotivated today. Going to the gym was the last thing I wanted to do, but I dragged myself in. I was tired and it showed. Nothing was excellent. And I have a dodgy muscle in my calf from walking in a Take Back the Night rally last night in flat shoes. It seized on me a couple times. Not fun

Squat - 3x5 at 125 lbs
Pull ups - 4,3,2
Bench - 3x5 at 77.5 lbs
Row - 3x5 at 80 lbs
Hip Thrust - 3x10 at 70 lbs. Did these in the smiths. Actually liked it there for these.
Shrugs - 3x9 at 65 lbs
Skull crushers - 3x8 at 40 lbs. ugh
Curls - 3x8 at 45 lbs. Barely.
Hyperextensions - 3x10 with 25 lbs.
Cable crunches - 3x10 at 55 lbs. Can still only barely manage, and even then, not well. It is amazing what a 5 lbs increase will do.

Took about 15 minutes longer than usual because I needed more rest and decided to take my time.

Yesterday was my unmotivated day. Got like thru like 1.5 of 6 of my running intervals. And did a 10 minute ab fitness blender thing to make myself feel better about sluffing on the workout.

Today... I got thru W2D1 of C25K at 5.5mph,
Squatt 5x5@50
OHP 5x5@45
DL 1x5@55

And finished it up with a 10 minutes ab thing that exceeded my level of fitness and flexibility.

Today was my rest day. I walked 6.4 miles just to get out of the house. This is a picture from my walk of Leach Lake in Walker Mn.

Been lifting but forgetting to check in. Still doing plain SL over here. have my hubby, bestie and bestie's hubby doing it so some combo of us are hitting the gym and I don't want to push them into something more complicated yet.

Went on another small vacation, got sick, etc so I haven't been making the gains I want. But doing something is better than nothing.

Today squats @ 75, Bench @ 60, Rows @ 70

I stayed up until 3 AM reading information on strong curves and realized that I was not doing squats in good form. So today I did a serious de load of 25 pounds. That is what I needed to do in order to squat correctly.

Squats 5x45, 5x100, 5x95, 5x5x90
Sumo squats 5x5x85
BP 5x65, 5x70, 5x75, 5x5x79
BR 5x5x85