Thanks for the welcome @krokador and @lkpducky

Yesterday and today were cardio. I'm doing MAF for endurance training, so 15:14/mile yesterday and 15:33/mile today at target heart rate.

lkpducky wrote: »

I'm having some trouble advancing on barbell rows. At one weight, my back does not get tired out after multiple reps, so I go up to the next weight. But then, my arms are doing more work so they tire out first, and I can't feel my back doing much work. What can I do about this?

Easiest way to help would be to see a video of you doing the rows. So if you can do that, I'll be able to give you feedback for sure.

Otherwise, the general issue with rows is people tend to grip the bar too hard and too narrow. Try a finger over grip, without the thumb, about where your fingers lend if you put your thumbs on the bar at shoulder width and extend them.

Then, the trick is in the way you initiate the pull: think about bringing your armpits to face back behind you, shoulder blades squeezed and down (some people like to cue scaps into your back pocket). Your shoulders should not be shrugged/hiked up. Then pull your elbows up as opposed to the bar/hands, pause when the bar is about touching your chest and try to keep the shoulder blades tucked on the way down instead of releasing the whole system. You may still want to reset at the bottom of the rep in order to ingrain that motor pattern, as it will be useful for chin-ups, and also most pushing exercises as well!

I'd say, try this out with a lighter weight than you are used to and take your time with the reps. It takes a bit to learn to engage the lats properly, and retracting the scaps every rep is not as easy as it sounds, but once you've got the hang of it, you'll like rows more.

Oh, and having a stable base also helps. Engage your glutes and don't lock your knees, and spread the floor with your feet.

Thanks @krokador - I think my hands may well be too close together, because I think I can get a feel for what you are saying - pull elbows up, tuck shoulder blades. I will have to stick with the lighter weight to get the right feel for it. Agreed on engaging the glutes - I have to tighten the hell out of my glutes and hams to keep myself in the right bent-over position and not tip forward.

Cardio today, 10 mins walk, 30 mins jog. Have changed my goals to only lose 1lb per week from this point on to try and maximize my strength and try to reduce any muscle loss. I could do less cardio, (averaging 30-40 mins most days) but going from morbidly obese to now being able to jog for 30 minutes straight I really don’t want to lose the fitness level I have built up. Internal struggles!
Have lost 27kgs so far but still have 16 to go so feeling a bit apprehensive slowing the weight loss down. Also still have 800 calories to eat after dinner... didn’t plan too well today with the extra calories. Going away on the weekend so thinking I might bank some of the extras for then. And maybe some ice cream tonight

RDL - 7/7/5 @ 90 pounds
Overhead press - 3x8 @ 40 pounds
Lat pulldown - 3x8 @ 80 pounds
Lunges - 3x16

Cadori wrote: »

I choke on my own spit. Just sitting there.

LOL! well, obviously. i mean, there are so many more-important things to think about . . . like chocolate. and getting the perfect deadlift.

i'm not doing very much body-wise. not even keeping up with the rehab this week, because life. but saying hi to the new people and daydreaming about how if i get a new job/different hours i will just pay someone else to magically fix every fibre of me and make me normal again.

i moved a new dryer into my dad's basement and brought the old one out last weekend, and then i dug up his back yard and we collaborated on murdering a small holly tree in the front and yanking it out by its roots. so i've been feeling it.

krokador wrote: »

&*(%?(%?%(? I busted my shin up doing box jumps. Again. Darn you crossfit open >_<

So, well, today I worked up to a single power snatch @90lbs + 2 box jumps @20' (progression was 65x3, 75x2, 80x1, 85x1, 90x1 so I got in 5 sets of 2)

then I was gonna do an 8 min amrap at 75% of my weight, adding 1 jump per round to see how well I handled fatigue. The breaking point, apparently, was on my first jump on the round of 8, at 6:45 or so.

That basically ended the workout for me.

Guess who's going to be doing step-ups when the ox jumps come up in the open? This gal!

URGH!

I'm frustrated.

I was doing well. Pacing myself. Resetting properly. My body just had a half second of stupid and my left leg didn't quite follow and I clipped my toes on the box.

Sometimes I wonder if I don't have some kind of medical condition where I have random, momentary losses of coordination. I'm such a clumsy gal. I tend to bit my lip/cheeks/tongue a lot just randomly when speaking sometimes. What if it's not cuz I'm a clutz and not paying attention? What if I'm not at fault for all these Krashes I've experienced so far?

What if it's something I can't fix and prevents me from doing the things I love down the line?

*Angst*

I think when you push yourself really hard you’re bound to have co ordination issues at some point just from the fatigue. That’s why I’m sticking to steady state cardio for now, I would love to do all this bad *kitten* stuff I see all the really fit people doing in the gym but I just know I would hurt myself! Well done for pushing yourself to your limits. Just stay safe so you can keep pushing those boundaries.

Well, after thursday morning's demolishin contest, I was a bit wary of going in and doing 18.3. Because jump rope. and impact on my leg with the bruise is quite uncomfortable. But I slapped on my shin guards and it actually wasn't too bad, even though, as expected, I didn't get very far.

First attempts, I got my 2nd set of 100 jumps done at 2:06, then tried to get a pull-up by kipping and moving my grip around for about 3 minutes. It looked a bit like this:


So I moved on and decided to finish the workout with jumping pull-ups. Made it through the 2nd set of 20 bar overhead squat before the cap. Obviously would've gotten a better score if I hadn't wasted 3 mins trying to do something that wasn't meant to be, but eh.

I wasn't happy with my original cut-off time, though. I tripped on the rope, which slowed me down a lot. So I rested a bit and went back and dropped my time to 1:48. BOOM!

Then did 5 min AMRAPs sections (everything is 3 reps):
A) 2kb hang cleans @30 + RDLs + pike press with feet on 12' box -> 6 rounds and 3 rdls I believe
bear crawl x15ft, 2kb bent over row @30lbs, kb goblet drop lunge (/leg) -> 4 rounds and 1 lunge / leg
C) assisted strict pull-ups, assisted ring dips, 2DB front squat @ 20lbs (should've stuck with the 30s, this was too easy) -> 4 rounds? maybe 5?

3 min AMRAP -> burpee broad jumps = 18
Yup, a mere 18. I was just trashed. Better workout tomorrow xD

DST screwed up my sleep and like, where,d that 1 hour go? it's almost 5 PM and I haven't done anything today

I did make it to the gym, barely. xD

Bench 95x10, 95x11, 95x10, 115x2/2/2 (20 seconds between doubles. The last rep was a sloooow grind!)

Pendlay Rows 85x12, 90x12, 90x11, 110x2/2/2 (same as the bench)

I wasn't feeling any hardcore conditionning and almost headed home there, but I found a speed/power session in my notebook I hadn't done, so I did that xD

emotm x6 + 1 min rest between setups
1A) 2KB squat Clean (2x30lbs)
1B) Hand release push-up + small jump at the top 7/6/7

2A) 1 arm Kb snatch 3/arm (40lbs)
2B) 20' box power step-up x3/leg (bw on first round, 30lbs goblet hold last 2)

3A) 2KB push press x6 (30lbs)
3B) assisted strict pull-ups x5

3 min AMRAP (or 3 minute trying not to die, really)
-3 burpee to target
- 6 hanging knee raises

Got 4 + 3 burpees. I think. I lost count, to be honest. I had a hard time even just unglueing my chest off the floor. My chest/shoulders/forearm are sore from the jumping pull-ups yesterday. Legs are fine, though. I will enjoy a rest day tomorrow (there is no way I'm getting myself up at what is essentially 4AM to my body on a monday, anyway).