fastest. workout. evah.

i had a sudden job prospect come up on tuesday and it's kept me derailed with middle-of-day interviews on both days. not that i couldn't have lifted if i'd truly wanted to, but . . . it's sub-freezing out there and my face whimpers at the idea of coming home and changing just to go out there and bike to the gym.

still. this is the 3's week where i was excited about getting to actually capitalize on all that hypertrophy work, and i'm letting it slip away. so at 50 minutes to closing time i put on my thermal panties. and leggings. and double sweaters and mukluks and my big wimpy gloves and went down to the gym.

in <40 minutes i did my 3's sets for BOTH of my on-home-turf lifts.

deadlifts 125/145/165. i got two on the big set, could not get the third. so i started my press sets instead and then i went back and that way i got another two. it's not much, but i was working so fast/resting so minimally that i'll let it count. and then just to seal it i did joker sets too as super-sets while i was 'resting' from the ohp. 3x145 again, and 2x3x125.

ohp was the same: 45/55/65 and the last set had to get done in more than one set. think i did it as 1, then 2, then i think i might have done 3 or maybe it was just another double. the lift itself was fine in terms of weight, i just gassed out very fast and very completely each time i did. and i skipped the joker sets since the centre attendant was already very kindly accommodating me by letting me keep working while he closed up.

i was in and out so fast my body didn't even have time to break a sweat. but i'll tell ya, i didn't need my thermal layers on the way home. the sweat finally arrived when i was on the sidewalk six blocks away

i actually had her video me from the side yesterday, but i was accidentally squatting 115 instead of 105 (from forgetting to take off the plates being nervous about the video) and i'm just embarrassed of my stomach and my body in the video. my brain knows that i'm making progress and doing my best but i still feel a lot of shame. i may ask her to do a video on saturday of 105 pounds and in a baggy shirt.

So great to see so many lifting still. I have been in a funk as of late...I still lift 5 days a week and I'm lifting pretty heavy (for me) I think...so I am pleased. Really have to work on my food and macro stuff.

Going to get back into tracking and counting my food. Really happy that I can move pretty heavy stuff....not happy on the lack of improvement in the kitchen. I guess, one step at a time.

I am going to ask Santa for some lifting strap for Christmas, stalled out on my deadlifts....not sure if i can get the grip for it. Going to try the one hand facing front the other back (no idea what this is called) and see if that helps.

Kerryatoon wrote: »

So it hurt a bit to go back with all my bodyweight back and starting at the beginning on weight again.

i do this so often. idk, maybe i'm just getting better at enjoying the badass stuff when it happens and letting myself off the hook when it isn't a badass phase. i think the only part that hurts me is when i'm trying at the edge of my capacity and just not getting anywhere. so flailing upsets me more than being in a 'light' weight phase again.

Today's workout
Squats 5x5 @99lbs. These felt really good today,I'm going to do 2 more sessions at this weight to make sure it wasn't one of those flukey days ha.
Bench 55455 @62lbs.these were hard,my right shoulder didn't feel right.
Rows 5x5@67lbs.

I don't have a lacrosse ball, but would a foam roller work? We don't sports in my house, so we don't have sports equipment I do think I rushed my warm up today and I didn't do any stretching before jumping into squats. I'll slow down next time and focus more on my warmup and stretching and see if that helps.

canadianlbs wrote: »

amyinthetardis1231 wrote: »

I don't have a lacrosse ball, but would a foam roller work?

rollers work but they're sort of flaily when you're looking for some kind of precision. i know people do foam roll their pecs but i'm just too lazy/clumsy to figure out exactly how to get it done. so maybe check the kids' toy section of walmart or wherever the next time you're there. any kind of ball lets you pick your spots in a way that the foam rollers don't.

something else that is spectacular for the smaller muscles all in under and around your collarbone . . . i have a little roll-on deodorant that i used up. the ball's about half an inch in diameter and it really works too.

broomstick thing - the 'dislocate' move where you take a wide grip on the stick and then lift it over your head and down until it touches your bum. that's a serious pec stretch, so sometimes when i'm lazy i just pause my dislocate at the point that gives me the maximum pec, and that seems to help too.

hypertrophy day. i woke up with the conviction that i'd been mad, and staved off more madness until . . . once again, less than an hour before closing time. the benefit was that it was so quiet i got to super-set my deadlift and overhead press. the downside was . . . i super-setted my deadlift and overhead press. for 50 reps. in probably 45 minutes or so.

i'm pretty impressed and high on myself, to tell you the truth. the speed wasn't intentional, nor was the overhead press. i didn't even intend to the overhead press, i don't think. originally i did, but i had a 5lb weight increase fixed in my mind for both of them. then i felt lazy, or crazy, and added the 25 plates to the 10lb trainers for my deadlift. so that added up to 115 which seemed pretty challenging, since it's a 10lb jump from last hypertrophy day. but i initially decided i could probably do it if i took it in 5lb sets and skipped doing the overhead press.

except then i didn't write off the press. idk why, but time was crunching and the rack was just standing empty, so somehow after the first 20 deadlift reps i found myself thinking i might as well press while i'm recovering from the deadlifts. i did draw the line at bumping that weight up to 50lbs though, and i'm glad i did. the 10th reps on the last couple of sets were the first time i think i've ever had physical trouble completing the lockout right at the top, but i had trouble on those 10th reps tonight. i found i was starting to gas out at around rep #7 actually, but it was only the last ones where even getting it over my head wasn't enough to complete the lift and i still had to add one more little fortitude spurt to finish the rep.


it came out to 8000 pounds even in volume for the whole workout. i honestly think bcaa's in my water bottle deserve some of the credit, this time.

Back in the gym and feeling much better about my workouts, yay! My trainer happened to be there between clients and came over to give me some feedback, which was nice. It was very positive overall, really just a reminder to squeeze my butt at the top of the squat. My gym doesn't have fractional plates, the smallest they go is 2.5, so I'm staying at weights that are hard until I feel ready to bump up the 5 lbs. So today was:

Squats 5x5 @ 100, felt much better! I moved the bar up a little higher and that relieved my shoulder torque significantly. I also did an extra set of 1x4 at 100 with my trainer observing.
OHP: 5x5 @ 50. This is still hard so I'll stay here a bit longer.
Deadlift: 1x5 at 105. Heavy, but I feel like I can still add weight for a while before I stall on this.

I'm still not looking forward to my workouts after two bouts of traveling in the next couple weeks, but it is what it is. For now I'm focusing on getting in three times this week and at least twice next week. Hopefully I won't lose too much ground.

Yaaaasss 105 lb squat! Todays's bitchin workout brought to you by a bad *kitten* playlist. You can't not feel awesome when you're benching to Beyonce's Run the World (Girls)!

Squat: 5x5 @ 105. Didn't feel as hard as I expected, so my form must have been pretty on point!
Benchpress: 5x5 @ 60
Rows: 5x5 @ 75

On another note, I went to the gym at a different time than usual bc we were down a car this morning. I usually go mid-late morning when there's mostly a bunch of older folks there and a handful of younger dudes in the weight area. Today, going mid-afternoon....bros. So many bros. So much curling going on....not in the squat rack, thankfully, but still. And a man-bun doing quarter-squats with 200 lbs on the bar. And the dude who likes to take up multiple bars doing lazy circuits while wandering around shouting across the gym to people between sets. Happy to go back to my usual time in the morning tomorrow before we hit the road for the first road trip! It also occurred to me in my post-workout shower that I might be able to manage a decent at home workout even without a bar, since my hubby has a lot of heavy gear and a weighted vest at home. Maybe I can cob together enough weight to count so I don't lose ground on the days I can't get to the gym.

Today is Lower Hypertrophy day (I'm doing PHUL). I'm caffeine loading, currently.
Yesterday was Upper Power day. I did 4 doubles of chest press @95lbs, OHP doubles @70lbs, skull crushers @25lbs,
Tricep kickbacks @18lbs & some other stuff like curls, etc. I've really fallen behind with doing chin ups. I was on a roll not long ago, where I could do 10 in a row. Not sure I can do 5 now.

Pre-road trip workout, kind of a place holder:
Squats 105 lb
Ohp 50
Deadline 110 lb

Canadian, there may have been an Oreo or two involved as well yesterday

canadianlbs wrote: »

mine are usually brought by skittles or similar crappy-foods overload . . . way to go on this \o/

with that said, today's t-day was fuelled by home-made pain au chocolat and also jambalaya. final day of 1's week.

press 50/60/66.5 piece of cake. not totally, but it all felt great because it was actually kind of heavy-feeling. but i accessed the guts right from the first rep on that last set, and that ended up being good enough to get me four reps. mr t. was watching from the side and when i racked he said 'i was asking myself whether i should tell you that fourth one should be the last rep, but then i didn't even have to because you figured that out by yourself.' so that was a nice little piece of non-scale praise.

then he did my 1-rep calculation for curiosity, based off those four. and it came out to less than the theoretical 1rm that my 90% training weight is based on

deadlift 135/150/171. i made sure to get that one extra pound. gah the last set was HEAV-ee, but i got it twice with what mr t said was very decent form. which is nice to know because you know how it feels when it's so heavy it feels like your form is probably terrible, right?

we also talked briefly about my boring-but-big thing with the 50 reps. and he said 'okay, but you realise you have to eat in a way that will give it a chance to work, right?' i took that as authorization to come home and eat yet more pain au chocolat.

Stronglift Rest Day

Kettlebell Swing
GobletSquats- 3x5x30
Russian Kettlebell swing- 10x10x30

Walking outside in deep snow
1 1/2 hours
I'm going by time because my iPhone doesn't log steps correctly when I'm walking our property.

My Hubby has become my workout partner! He just asked if he could start doing it with me. I will just have to get up really early with him. I can always go back to sleep!

hairy workout. not the lifting, the getting there. it's very unpleasant conditions out there, and way too slimy with sleet for walking. so i went by bike.

i've had two days off so was a little confused and trying to c ram things in. supposedly it's deload week, but i decided to just skip the vanilla sets and do the boring-but-big 5x10 sets instead.

bench: 5x60. idk what suddenly happened, but somehow the bench was way too low for me to use safeties. they were stopping the bar a good two inches above my chest even on their lowest setting. so i went without safeties and under those circs decided not to push my luck with too high a jump. this was 5 pounds up and i focused like crazy on form. surprise? gripping the hell out of the bar actually does make you a whole lot stronger.

rows: a bunch of sets, and then 3x10@70. i was going to try and match the same 5x10 that i did on the bench, but there was just not no way. according to rippetoe, rows are 'not useful' if done at a weight so high you can't hold your form, so i decided to make that my out.

squats: 3 front/back sets of 10 @ 55. someone was waiting for the rack so i couldn't keep hogging it. not seriously complaining about only getting in 30 reps. it's deload week

i did a pretty conscientious stretching routine afterwards and hope it will turn out to have been useful. was getting a bit of that hip-flexor pinch again during warmups and i do not want to let that one come back.

the ride home was pretty horrible. been snowing close to whiteout all day, and then by the time i left the gym it had turned into snowy raindrops and was still just as thick. i was safe enough and it wasn't deadly hard work but the post-workout hungries were on their way already while i was getting re-dressed. so can't pretend i'm not glad to be home. just trying to talk myself into having spaghetti with clam sauce for dinner but it's a denial game. what my body wants me to eat is more jambalaya . . . a lot more.