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.....

OHP I use what I think my lean body mass should be and the range for women in the advanced catagory for OHP is between 65-125lbs the top weight being 199+
I think I should be at 130 ish so my max should be about 85lbs --- and OHP are hard!
for squats its 168 the range is 129- 242. I don't know if this table is for your best max 1 rep or for multi-reps/sets. I recall Mehdi saying that you're in the novice catagory until you've been lifting for like 2 yrs. I'm looking at advanced because I'm looking at ultimate goals. No desire to be an elite lifter.
http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html

Managed to squeeze a workout in. It'll probably be the only one I get to do for the rest of the week other than walking back and forth from the show barn a million times.

Squat - 85
OHP - 60 stalled 2x5, 1x4, 1x3, 1x2
DL - 85

I hated OHP's from the start. I knew I had a weak upper body and felt like they just magnified it. However, it's gotten to the point that I kind of like the days that I up the weight and fail. The last few times it's happened I've noticed it's then that I can really feel my core engage with this corseting wraparound effect. Not to mention my CNS goes wonky, so I must be doing something right, right?

Well Boo...I had a funky workout today. I did 155 on squats today and it felt like crap. It's like I had nothing left to give after that.
I had to get to the Gym when I would normally be eating lunch so that could be part of it? I don't know I think the barbell might have broke me....haha!

So squats 155 5x5 I think I'm going to deload anyway
Row -75 stalled 3rd time
Bench 70 stalled 3rd time

I thinkthose are really good numbers actually? For how long you have been working out and how relatively light you already are.

Have you picked up fractional plates yet? You might need them to get past your row and bench press - a deload at 155 for squats seems more than good. I wouldn't think at those numbers that you're necessarily stalling due to undereating although if you think that might be the case you could always try eating at mainteannce or sliiightly above (50 cals a day above? or 100 on workout days?) and see if you feel like it helps.

I'm going to go ahead and deload my squat weight and look at buying some fractional plates. I think the stall from bench and row is because the squat weight is so much work. I'm eating around 2300 calories so I'm eating plenty...maybe caffeine right before workout?!

I might go another route to try and cut some fat. Drop my squat/dead weight and work on moving up but in a deficit.

hmm..decisions
Night ladies

Hello ladies!! I started 5x5 near the beginning of April and got an invite to join the group around that time but have not posted much here. Anyway...I started May at:

Squats - 85#
OHP - 60# (fail - only 4 reps in 2nd set)
Deadlift - 125#

Will be lifting again tonight and going for:

Squats - 90#
Bench - 70#
Row - 65#

I will be sure to report back!!

As of right now, I am only lifting twice per week, with a random 3rd day thrown in when my schedule allows, but it is the exception rather than the rule. My lift days are Tues and Thurs right now and, as I said, I will sometimes do Saturday but it means I miss out on the bootcamp class that I love.

I increased my calories about a month ago (1700 plus exercise calories) and after watching the number on the scale go up and up finally decided yesterday to put the bloody thing in the closet. I don't intend to look at it again for at least another month and will be relying on my clothes to tell me if I'm making any progress. Fingers crossed.

You all are doing so excellent!

Has anyone taken any videos of themselves doing pendlay rows? I can't seem to find videos of people doing them at a lower weight. I'm having this issue where stacking up plates is really obnoxious (they don't stack nicely on one another and move around when I put the bar down, and I don't have anything else to set the bar on since I do this at home), and it seems like either my long torso or short arms (or both) is getting in the way of having good form (along with having the bar not raised off the ground enough it seems). So I try to keep my back flat and chest/head up, but then to get a hold of the bar, I have to bend my knees to get low enough, almost like a deadlift. So then when I try to do rows, my knees are sticking out too much and the bar hits them. So then if I don't bend my knees as much, I end up with my butt too high, and I feel it in my lower back, rather than my upper back and triceps (which I think is where I should be feeling this, but not sure because I don't think I have been doing them right since I started).

Also, how wide should the grip be for these?

You all are doing so excellent!

Has anyone taken any videos of themselves doing pendlay rows? I can't seem to find videos of people doing them at a lower weight. I'm having this issue where stacking up plates is really obnoxious (they don't stack nicely on one another and move around when I put the bar down, and I don't have anything else to set the bar on since I do this at home), and it seems like either my long torso or short arms (or both) is getting in the way of having good form (along with having the bar not raised off the ground enough it seems). So I try to keep my back flat and chest/head up, but then to get a hold of the bar, I have to bend my knees to get low enough, almost like a deadlift. So then when I try to do rows, my knees are sticking out too much and the bar hits them. So then if I don't bend my knees as much, I end up with my butt too high, and I feel it in my lower back, rather than my upper back and triceps (which I think is where I should be feeling this, but not sure because I don't think I have been doing them right since I started).

Also, how wide should the grip be for these?

My knees are bent when I do mine, but I've never hit them. I'd offer to take a video but I have bumper plates.

Also, how wide should the grip be for these?

I "hook" grip. I only started stacking plates under my bar, so I don't have anything to offer you. I just got myself into a low deadlift start position, which was really taxing on my quads.

I am new at this. What do you mean by stacking plates under the bar?? what is hook grip?
Also if anyone can help, does anyone have trouble with pain on the upper back where the bar sits during squats?? i am only squating 65 pounds now and its already getting uncomfortable....
Also how do you know if your form is off doing overhead press?? I feel like towards the last set, I am leaning my head back some and my belly pushes out a little. Does this mean my form is bad? should I not increase my weight next time??? Today was only my third day doing SL so i am still trying to figure things out!

Thanks!

We have training plates at my gym and I'm really grateful for that.

I've had a ****ay day today. I was inexplicably floored by MCA's death and I my lifting this morning was underwhelming. I think it's a matter of unrealistic expectations which is also a bummer since it isn't a matter of "tighten your glutes and everything will fall into place". I want to lift a combined squat/bench/deads 500 at this July meet and that may simply not be able to happen. I have to wrap my brain around that being okay. Wah wah wah.

I spent some time looking at Westside Barbell's program for powerlifting minded lifters and I was sort of meh about all the assistance exercise. I like that Stronglifts is all barbell all the time. Sooo, I think I need to just get over myself and whatever I lift in July, I lift. I've only really been doing this real-deal style since October. Maybe I can put that on my shirt at the competition.

Yesterday I went just to stay with it since I'm still trying to gear up for my first 5K on Saturday and felt great! I'm so slow so trying to increase my speed. I stayed with the same numbers: Squat 100, Bench 60, and Barbell Row 75. I really can't imagine increasing more on the bench, but I didn't fail so that was a plus! Awesome seeing everyone keeping with it! Whoot Whoot! :drinker:

Hello all,
Started SL on April 19th

Currently
145 squats
65 bench press
55 overhead press
65 pendlay rows
145 deadlift

I'm also a runner. Anyone else doing SL and distance running?