tracieangeletti Member

Would dropping from 4 sets to just one set once a week be too little? Maybe for the big compound lifts I could do a 5x5 and keep isolation lifts at 3 or 4 sets at 10 reps. Are you supposed to do 5x5 on deads?? Should I try to do deads and squats more than once a week? I really appreciate all your answers!!:-)

I will have to check to see what 5/3/1 is. I had thought about Stronglifts 5x when I was first looking for a program to do but was nervous about having to do squats 3x a week and trying to add weight each time. I started out adding 5 lbs each workout but as the weight got heavier I started to add 5 lbs every other time I…

I believe I ate enough to sustain a small country for a day or two. Oh well. It's Christmas and I'm pretty good the rest of the year. I've prepared myself mentally for a bit of weight gain. Hoping those extra cals go towards my muscle gains from lifting!! Probably not but a girl can dream can't she??? lol

A whole lot of this!!! Cut back on the cardio. When I first started out I was the cardio queen which was totally the wrong thing to do. More lifting and less cardio is the way to go. Fuel your body properly and eat more!! I also saw a whole bunch of upper body work but no mention of leg work. Squats, deadlifts, ohp, bench,…

I don't even have words... so sorry. Praying for a speedy and pain free recovery. Anyone having cancer is awful but a child who doesn't even understand why is just heartbreaking. My best to you, Kian, and family.:brokenheart:

And this is why you'll never understand women.

Believe it or not, staying off the scale will be MUCH harder for me than giving up any kind of food. I have a serious issue with the scale and it became very clear to me today as I found myself standing on the scale for the third time in as many hours. Did I really expect to lose weight in three hours??? Seriously??? And…

My left bicep is bigger. Weird thing is I'm right handed. :-/

First, I want to thank you so much for all your time and help. It is very kind of you and you have been very helpful and it is very much appreciated! Yes, skinny fat sounds about right. It is much better than it was and I really am thankful for getting this far. I will take that diet break, come back and eat closer to…

I'm really not sure how much there is left to lose lb wise. I look at myself in the mirror and estimate anywhere from 5-10 lbs. I am currently 125 from this morning. When I first started I picked 123 lbs as a goal, basically because I had no real idea what I should weigh and I thought that would be a good start. I have…

I agree with this. The same thing happened to me. I upped my calories and for the first week all I wanted to do was eat! Once my system learned that the higher calorie level was going to be an everyday thing it subsided. :smile:

To my knowledge, and if I'm wrong I apologize, you keep the same consistent calorie level everyday. I think it's because it counts in your total exercise for the week, so that is factored in to your daily calorie goal. Some people choose to eat less on rest days but it's not necessary and I think it would require figuring…

You may still be "fat" now but you're working on changing that. These girls seem to be pretty "ugly" on the inside and experience has taught me that, for the most part, they will continue to be "ugly" on the inside. I know it's painful and still hurts but they seriously aren't worth any of your time or effort. You keep…

The thing I thought might be happening was body recomp but from what I've heard that is very hard to do and you don't have it happen by accident. So I am completely lost. The only thing that makes sense, to me at least, is that 1700-1800 must be closer to maintenance for me than a deficit. Everyone on here says if you're…

Very sad update. In the last week or so I had decided to drop my calories to 1600-1700 to see if that would jump start some weight loss. I was very careful and made sure to stay on track. Weighed in today and weighed MORE than I have in awhile. :-/ Seriously?!? So next week I will be upping to 2100 for the two weeks and…

If for some reason I can't weigh all the food I will usually give myself a buffer by not eating all of my calories to make up for the guesstimate. I really try to be as precise as I can be. I will look at spreadsheet and eat at tdee for two weeks. Do I just jump up to that amount or do I add calories slowly? Then after…

Yes, thank you, this chart does help!

You need to rotate your grip? Wow, every day I realize more and more how little I know about lifting and how much there is to learn. Is there a book or website that talks about or explains all this to you? I'm talking about everything from the lifts, belts, gloves, etc...

You are all mentioning pull ups and that happens to be a new exercise for this two month cycle, problem is I have never been able to do one. Never. So with that being said I'm not sure how best to go about doing this. I tried to follow someone I saw who was sorta like hanging on the Smith machines bar and pulling…

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I don't know what this says about me but I found this hilarious!! No body in my trunk... YET!! Lol

Yes, you guys are all right and the core lifts pretty much stay the same except that some months the presses are done with the barbell and then the next two months they might be done with dumbbells or a combo of both. The accessory lifts are the ones that seem to change the most. Today is leg day so for this cycle I keep…

Yep, an hour to an hour and forty-five minutes is correct. It includes set up time like loading the bar, warm up lifts, and one to two minute rests depending on lift and how much weight is on the bar. I try to keep moving during my rests, no cardio but walking around to keep burning even one more calorie! Lol I really try…

I lift four days a week for anywhere from an hour to an hour and forty-five minutes, usually about an hour and a half. I spin three times a week for 55 minutes and I spin on leg day so it doesn't interfere with recovery the next day. I cut out all the other cardio. It doesn't seem to matter if I weigh after a rest day or…

Once again thank you so much for the replies! I am also very happy to hear about keeping those compound lifts as a constant. I was afraid to stop doing them and lose the progress I have made. All in all I have been happy with the program, my problems arise because I often doubt my abilities, when I really shouldn't, and I…

Hi there!! :happy: Yep. Trying to add weight either every week or every other week. Working out well for the leg lifts but on my arms I'm having a harder time adding every time. My upper body strength blows!! Lol

I have no idea what a glute ham raise is or what a bridge is but I'll look them up! I have been doing Romanian deadlifts for the last two months so I guess I shouldn't keep doing these for the next two months. :-/

Ok, feeling much more confident now. Thanks everyone!! So this program with it's changes every two months is not that far off base,which is good to know. Can you continue with squats and such for months on end? It does keep squats and deadlifts as a constant lift throughout the 12 month plan. I will try the leg curl again…

I can not tell you how relieved I am to hear this!!! I have been working so hard and really putting my all into it and when he said this I felt a little devastated. I will continue on!! Someone mentioned the leg curl. I too thought this was a strange change in the program because I was told not to use the machines. I tried…

I just started my 5th month. I have been doing barbell squats, deadlifts, rows, etc... the whole time. Please tell me I'm still getting benefits from them. Should I stop doing them for awhile and then go back to them?

Bump to read later! :-)