Aren't we all doing well?!

I had a minor breakthrough today- I'd had trouble doing 6kg each side for dumbell shoulder presses. It occurred to me looking in the mirror that i was bringing my elbows lower than in the book- starting position there is upper arm not much lower than horizontal. So i managed all my 12 reps almost comfortably! Onto workout 5 next time, only 10 reps so might try to increase, even if it's with half kg wrist weights.

Still hating lunges, but don't we all!

I had a minor breakthrough today- I'd had trouble doing 6kg each side for dumbell shoulder presses. It occurred to me looking in the mirror that i was bringing my elbows lower than in the book- starting position there is upper arm not much lower than horizontal. So i managed all my 12 reps almost comfortably! Onto workout 5 next time, only 10 reps so might try to increase, even if it's with half kg wrist weights.

Yeah thats great!!!! Onwards and upwards :happy:

knitt, you suffer from the same condition that I did.
i.e. - I wanted it ALL and I wanted it NOW.

Once I realized that, this *is* a lifestyle change - this *is* a permanent paradigm shift to a different way of exercising - then I was able to relax my own expectations of RESULTS.

This program is NOT about doing it for 3-4 months, getting super-hot body, and then going back to cardio, cardio, cardio!! It isn't. This program is about introducing women to the building-blocks of strength, flexibility and balance (with some/optional cardio thrown in for good HEART health, only).

Soooooooooooo, if you're in it for the long haul, then it doesn't matter if you get teh 25" waist TODAY, or 6 months from now. It really doesn't.

You have to *trust* in the process, continue to demand gains of yourself in performing the moves the right way, increase your weights - safely - as you move through the program. And, EAT the right way (and the right foods).

Once you've developed the *trust* in the system, then you, like me, can have faith that your body WILL morph in all the ways that you had imagined it would when you first thought of doing HEAVY LIFTING.

It's all gonna happen. But, it's not all gonna happen in 30 days or less....

I'm a sports therapist in the UK, where abouts are you feeling the pain in the knee?

Right around my kneecap - like to either side of the kneecap itself. I'm doing WB3 today so I'll see if it happens again (it happened in lunges the last workout). It's not really "pain" yet... really just a negative feeling more like pressure then pain. It just makes me nervous to push the weight up any more in those exercises - but, in the squats - I'm not "feeling it" anywhere else...

Anyways - I'm very impatient... but I had to remind myself that this is not a sprint. It is a process and that the purpose of Stage 1 is really to work the kinks out before you get to the "meat" of the workout. So - I backed off the weight - focused on form. Will do the same for my squats.

I need to remember this too. It's six months of building muscle. I'm not in this for the short term. I think I need to focus on form more.

I did Stage 1 Workout B3. I went into the free weights area and decided to use real bars they have in there instead of the ones that you can't change the weights on. I didn't realise the bars themselves were so heavy. I had to drop the weight back down for the deadlift to 10 kg. I think though I'm going to stay with the proper bars for the time being until I get used to them.

I also had a creepy guy following me around the gym because he saw me in the free weights area. I just ignored him but it was very distracting.

It was only me and one guy in the weight room, today. I was on the squat rack and he was in this open area, with an OB and about, oh 200 lbs on it. I really wasn't paying attention to him, as I worked through my weight-training.

BUT, at one point, he hoisted the bar, it was too heavy (he was obviously getting tired...) and he fell backward while it pinned him down on his chest!!

(I saw this in the mirror reflection....)

I didn't do ANYTHING. He hopped out of it and moved around and I thought, "...there's staff here to help you, DUDE, go ask for a SPOT...."

Anyway, he didn't, and he tried the weight, again, and just kept doing it. He did, maybe, 10 sets of 2-4 reps each.

(Oh yeah, and BIG TORSO GUY, with spindly little legs...)

Keep squatting girls!!

It was only me and one guy in the weight room, today. I was on the squat rack and he was in this open area, with an OB and about, oh 200 lbs on it. I really wasn't paying attention to him, as I worked through my weight-training.

BUT, at one point, he hoisted the bar, it was too heavy (he was obviously getting tired...) and he fell backward while it pinned him down on his chest!!

(I saw this in the mirror reflection....)

I didn't do ANYTHING. He hopped out of it and moved around and I thought, "...there's staff here to help you, DUDE, go ask for a SPOT...."

Anyway, he didn't, and he tried the weight, again, and just kept doing it. He did, maybe, 10 sets of 2-4 reps each.

(Oh yeah, and BIG TORSO GUY, with spindly little legs...)

Keep squatting girls!!

:O ...my mouth is hanging open.....lol

I figured today I'd end up pulling my weight back since I haven't been feeling so hot but I surprised myself. I kept my dead lifts at 90 for all three sets but didn't drop the weight down at all like I thought I might. I actually increased the weight on my lunges, shoulder presses, pull downs and weighted crunches which was pretty surprising to me! And I felt better after my workout so that was a nice bonus.

Before I get scolded about working out sick, I think I'm gluten intolerant and was feeling it this week. My daughter is for sure so the whole family is mostly GF since it's just easier and most of our food is from scratch anyway. We don't eat much bread, pasta or stuff like that and what we do eat I can make from scratch so I haven't really had anything with gluten for awhile. Well this week I splurged and had some fish sticks that were in the freezer and then I had some bread two days in a row. I was feeling it a little bit earlier in the week but didn't really figure out what was happening until yesterday when I really, really felt like crap! All my old symptoms came back (joint pain, muscle pain, extreme fatigue and a very unhappy digestive track). Now that I know I'll be careful about it but I have to get through this part first. I even took a nap for the first time in forever today!

Does anyone else find it easier to go heavier on the squats than the deadlifts? I'm at 105 lbs with my squat in workout 4A, but I'm only at 85 lbs with my deadlift in workout 4B. (I'm starting workout 5 next week). I'm wondering if part of it is fear of me hurting my back that holding me back from lifting more for the deadlift.

my impression has been that everyone (but me) lifts heavier on squats than on deadlifts. i was wondering if this was a sign of an imbalance in my muscles or if it's just something that varies from person to person.