Beeps, what's the difference between a fat loss plan and an inches loss plan? Good job on lifting!

Sam - sounds luxurious!

I did Strong Curves, week 5-8, Workout A #3 today
Hip thrust - 3x20@30 lbs with 3s pause
One arm row - 3x8@30lbs
Goblet squat - 3x20@27.5 lbs
Bench press - 3x12@55 lbs
Romanian deadlift - 3x15@55 lbs
Side lying abduction - 1x30 each side
Front plank - 60s
Side plank - 30s each side

Busy day and I got to the gym.
Strong Stage 4 WO A5
Back Squat 3x10@ 80, 85, 95
Asst. Chin up: 3x10
Step ups: (5 risers) 3x10@25dbs
DB BP: 3x10@25dbs
I can 30 on DB BP, but they weren't available tonight. It was good to back up the lbs a little.

Stephie - good plan! Are you going to pick up where you left off, or start over? I really like Strong. I think I'll do it again someday. Have fun meal planning!

Samntha - nice workout! It feels good to deload at points to really work on form, doesn't it?

Beeps - got it! Go for it!

Ran my usual 3.2 miles this morning. Stepped in a huge puddle, thankfully almost at the end though!

I've also been thinking about where I am going to go from here.

One of my friends posted on Facebook about a half marathon that he ran, and it got me thinking. I ran a half marathon in 2003, after less than 6 months of any running. I think I would like to do it again, but being older and wiser, plan a little bit better. So maybe aiming for Fall 2017.

But. I basically got told by the ETP coach to "get out of my own way" referring to my tendency to want to try to cut more at this point. His view is I should pretty much maintain for a while since I've lost a fairly significant amount and try to improve performance/strength/recomp. I'm currently maintaining and eating what seems like pretty good amounts of food, so maybe this is best.

So I have also been toying around with moving to a 4 day/week strength program. Maybe just doing the advanced template of Strong Curves 4x/week. Or maybe a split. ETP sells a program that is a 4 day/week split that a lot of users give good reviews. It's only $30 so not a huge investment, but not a lot of unbiased info out there and hard to see what is actually in the programs before buying it. (Samntha, do you know any more about this program? You always seem to be up on this stuff )

To move to a 4x/week strength though, I would have to either cut back to 2x/week running, or do both on the same day (upper body workout then run). Not sure if this would be feasible. I don't want to lose too much from my running because of possible half marathon goal.

But the plan for now is to just continue with the status quo (eating maintenance, 3x/week Strong Curves, 3x/week running) until the end of the year. But it's fun to think about what comes next!

Girls, ya'll making me crazy with the switching around! You know goals are the most important - focus on those and the rest will come.

Stephie - make sure the 'diet' is sustainable. That means YOU have to ENJOY it. I have a reasonably strict diet but I don't go without any of the things I love. You don't need to follow someone else's plan - make up your own because it's about YOU.

Aigre - yes it's hard to balance cardio and lifting. You probably need to decide whether your aim is to get leaner first (and likely lose strength) or get stronger (hard to do when marathon training!).

Yesterday was supposed to be cardio for me but was up at 3am for a birth so decided to scrap it. Got my body fat done and one my 'bulk' cycle I have managed to drop to 12.8% (on callipers - way underestimates). So, despite increasing my calories, my 90-120 min lifting workouts seem to be doing the trick as my weight has stayed the same. Yay for muscle mass! Also means I can still eat more and still scrap the odd cardio session lol Also turns out there is a DEXA scan option now an hour or so from where I live. Will definitely get that done again soon so can compare the callipers to that.

Deadlifts today - hurrah

It's a tough call with some fun options that it's hard to stick to one at times. Or maybe I'm talking about my novels cause I jump around on those very often. I'm only doing two this month but even then I couldn't just pick one and focus on that for a single month. lol

Went to gym yesterday but was home late and had work this morning early (not scheduled that early but was asked the previous shift if I could go in earlier than set) so I didn't post things afterwards. Trying to type now but it's taking me longer to type because cat thinks she needs to be in my lap.

Lifting went okay and I did upper body except minor thing. Not sure what caused the issue but for the last three days my left elbow has been causing me problems. It's not sharp but there is dull pain on a regular basis. Not lifting per se as they happen at random depending on how my arm is held and such. Quite a nuisance as the left is my good arm and not supposed to be giving pain. Had the minor aches when lifting too, push press, but hasn't been bad at all.


band pulls - 3x10
push press - 2x8 @ 45, 3x6 @ 65 and 1x6 @ 70 with straps (trying it out)
cable bicep curls - 3x8 @ 35
tricep pushdown - 3x10 @ 35
clean - 3x8 @ 50

20 minute jog on treadmill


Weight wise, even though I haven't tracked for weeks and had days where it was a little more than usual, things went decent. I came in at 132.4 two days ago, so have maintained for the few weeks of not tracking or spending much time in the gym. Not bad. Now, I need to get my goals figured out so I can align my training and fine a new gym.

Today, I hate being a girl. I'm ovulating, so tired, cranky, and sore. Maybe I'll get to the gym tomorrow. Today started my new macros for Performance. I get to eat ALL the FOOD.
Happy lifting ladies.