I'm really tempted to do regular bent over rows instead of pendlay rows. I freaking hate these things. I can't go too heavy or I know I'm not doing them right, but I can't seem to get the bar far enough off the ground when I'm at a lower weight to do them right. I don't have any risers at home so I stack plates up but they move around too much.

And I failed at 70 on the bench tonight! And my bench doesn't fit in the rack and I have no spotter. AND, I tried to do the roll of shame, but turns out, my tv stand/table is in the way when I roll it down. Holy ****. It scared the crap out of me. Really had to work to get out from under it. So, I need to arrange the bench in my room better next time... yikes.

But 95 lbs on my squat!

First May workout!

Squats - 80lbs +5 next time, yay!
Bench - 65, failed on rep 3 of set 5 with no spotter!! Did the roll of shame, opps :blushing:
Pendlay rows - rocked em @ 75lbs, +5 next time, woot!

I can't wait to start using 25lb plates for the rows, I hate stacking the weights under the bar. I feel like I make a scene at the gym every time I do these.

Q - what is it about the squat you can't get - is it flexibility or are you feeling pain? There are a lot of mobility video's you can access to help you work out both and I find the right stretching prior to squatting really opens up your hips and gets you that range of motion.
here are a few mobility videos you can work through before you squat:

http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/01/episode-363365-pre-squat-hip-opener-mob-rx.html
This one I really like and do EVERY warm up

http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/02/episode-365365-project-completed-10-min-squat-test.html

http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/10/episode-336365-improving-the-bottom-position-of-the-squatcleansnatch.html

http://www.catalystathletics.com/media/video/video.php?videoID=135

Hope these vids help - I know I love the mobilitywods and refer back to them for all my joint tweaks/aches and pains.

I'll be honest with you all, I have a really hard time wrapping my head around the "eat your exercise calories back", it's my own demon and I hope y'all don't judge. I try to keep my calories between 1200-1500/day even on my big crossfit or running days. I have tried to eat more - I did for 3 months and packed on 13 pounds. At 1500, I'm at maintenance. If I get down to 1200, I see a very slow weight loss (perhaps .4 to .6 every 8-10 days). I am metabolically challenged :grumble: , have insulin resistance and on 2 types of medications to regulate it. My endo feels this is genetic and not a result of my "environment" (my dad was fit, a tennis instructor and he passed away from heart disease and diabetes).
I'm currently hovering at 180, my goal is 160.

Ask if you qualify for Byetta. If your insurance will cover it, it will jumpstart your weightloss and lower the amt of insulin you take. I'm off insulin completely at this point and have moved to Metformin. I had to quit Byetta due to cost, but I lost 20 lbs right off the bat w/out changing exercise, in about 2 months, I had a much higher BF % than you do at this point but I would imagine that it would help you. Also dropping starches altogether is recommended by some people along with keeping carbs at 100g/day. I found that too difficult to maintain, personally. So I try to reach for protien or water instead of carbs when I'm hungry. I found some chia bulk to try, but its too soon to say if it's helping curb my cravings enough to impact weight.

From what I've read I'm guessing xfit is essentially HIIT so that should help as well.

For the other lady (names escape me atm) since you are so close to correct BF you will likely not be able to gain much muscle on a deficiet if any. You may need to eat at maintainance or surplus to gain weight and utilize bulk/cut cycles. I have no idea how to do this as I'm pretty far away from that currently, but hoping to move to somewhat of a cut cycle by the end of May. You pretty much have to be obese in order to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

Session 4/ WK2D1

Got a wild hair to stick in a session this morning before getting on the road again. Didn't eat first which in hind sight was a mistake but really wasn't hungry. Won't make that mistake again as I felt pretty wack after the session.

Squats #60
OH Pres #50 5-5-3-3-1 Fail
Deadlift #85

I am banking on the whole "failure is success" stuff. Have a fab day people!

My May #'s:

Squat - 75
Bench - 60
Pendlay rows - 70
Overhead press - 50
Deadlift - 115 (my bodyweight, yay!)

I definitely haven't added 5 pounds every week--can't do it without my form suffering. I am ok with that.

I'm on Victoza (the more expensive version of Byetta) and Glumetza.
When I try to wean myself off the meds my insulin spikes like mad.

I'm already grain free/starch free - I follow a primal diet 80/20. My cheats are weekends and drinking. It used to be wine, but that makes my #'s go nuts, so lately it's vodka with the occasional bottle of wine.

yes, crossfit is Olympic lifting/gymnastics and metabolic conditioning all wrapped into one big ball of pain/fun. in my "old" age I've backed off a little from it as it is really hard on my joints (doing 95# thrusters as fast as you can, into a 2 minute row for calories is fine for the 20-something crowd, but I'm finding myself taking way too long to recover) - So this is why I've taken on SL 5x5 - so I can slowly and methodically improve my strength.

hmm. I'm guessing since you're with an endo that your thyroid is fine. How's your vit D panel? Do you take E supplements? The other things that have helped me are hot peppers, cinamon, caffeen, though I have to watch it w/the caffeen because of uric acid. Speaking of which, is that okay? Vit E, D including cod liver oil. They say chia is supposed to help regulage glucose levels. I won't decide if that's accurate until I start testing in the am more frequently as fasting is my issue time. My understanding is that Vit d levels need to be at 50 for storage and then you can back off on how many supplements you take. It's more of an issue if you: don't get sun or live in a northern climate... for Austrailia/South America/Africa it would be southern.
I also often eat ground flax and avoid all pop like the plague and HFCs which I'm guessing you do if you're eating paleo.
As far as I know there has yet to be a med developed from this study, but they found when they injected capcaicin direcly into the pancreas, weak isolet cells recovered and I think they also said that some new ones developed but I wouldn't quote me on that part of it. I also understand that some ovary issues can contribute to insulin resistance.

Overall it sounds like you are doing everything right the only thing they might be overlooking is the Vit D and E portion of the equation. And OMG there's a MORE EXPENSIVE version of Byetta!!!?? I wish I could afford some right now to poke my helper hormones into action.

Hi ladies!

So I just started this last week. Today was my 5th time.

I did:
squat 60, still not too difficult and didn't need to rest too much in between
bench 50, last rep of last set was ALMOST a fail, but I did it
row 50, still seems easy, I hope I'm doing it right, as I thought I heard somewhere you should be able to bench more than you row.

the other day I did 80 for the deadlift

also, I did 40 on the overhead press and even though I did all the reps I ended up with god-awful form by the end, does that count as a fail? I did 20 the first time and thought it was kinda easy so I tried 40 the second. I shouldn't have done that. would it be a good idea to go down to 30 tomorrow since that's where I would have been had I not skipped ahead?

Hiii robin - yeah I'd say if you couldn't do it with good form at the end its a failure, dropping back to 30 and working your way back up seems like a good plan (although I'm wondering how you think your form was failing as for me I find either the weight is up, or it ain't going up).

Make sure you're doing the Pendlay rows, not regular barbell rows - I can barbell row more than I can bench (hmm or well, close anyway) but Pendlay's are MUCH harder, the pull vs the push.

yeah, let's just say my back was arching like I was gonna fall over and one side made it up before the other :laugh: :embarassed:

and yes, I am doing Pendlay's

thanks!

The problem for me now is that I seem to be hitting the wall in terms of advancing on weights on my lifts and on measurement losses. If I increase my deficit and lose body fat, which is what I want, I'm afraid I won't progress on the weights until I'm in a situation where I can start a bulk cycle to build muscle. I guess I have to prioritize, but it's hard!
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I was gonna write something real important right here...my brain is just not working. I just feel like I'm in the same boat my friend!!

Today was my second workout! I did them in reverse (oops) so today I did squat/press/row.

squat 55 pounds
press 45 pounds
row 55 pounds.

I am not a fan of the pendlay row. AT ALL. Dont like it one little bit.

I am still confused about what I should be eating. i have another 15 pounds or so I want to lose, (could do even more, but the past year I have slowly gained even in deficit so at this point I would just like to get down to what I was a year ago) so i did maint. for 6 weeks and this week at the same time I started SL I cut calories by 100. I dont want to jeopardize my lifting, and want to get toned, and lose fat. Does this seem like it will be ok??? I will be eating 2100 cals per day, so I would think it will be fine.....