kelly_e_montana Member

I definitely encourage anyone to learn the compound lifts but personally I "bro sesh" (bro session) once a week and have found it has eliminated a lot of little nagging injuries for me by strengthening my connective tissue and working on little stabilizing muscles. :)

I can't even begin to tell you where my fitness journey has taken me. In 2012, I weighed 235-240 pounds and was a smoker. I drank a lot and suffered from binge eating disorder. What have I done since? Quit smoking. Really lowered my drinking. Pole danced with abandon for fitness. Started practicing yoga. Bagged a peak of…

Re doing a cut... Well there is that. While my squat numbers are WAY better than last year, I have put on 15 pounds and I was much happier with my body comp 15 pounds ago. I'd say the gain is about half muscle, half fat. I do envy those who can have optimal body comp and optimal lift numbers, but I am not that person.…

Treadmill on incline is what I do to get ready when there is still snow on the hills. You said you don't have access to gym equipment so if you don't have hills or a treadmill, your only other option is to find a building or stadium with a lot of stairs.

I would say yes but I have a rule against adding naked headless torsos. For real, like my profile used to say that. :) But hello from Montana! :)

It's general weightlifting technique as well (I'm talking olympic lifts and said squatting practice for such lifts) to hold as much of your breathe as possible on the way up, exhaling a bit at the sticking point if you must but very controlled. I am a PL'er and WL'er and in neither case do we exhale on the way up except a…

Just wanted to throw out there that women's abilities to rep out more closer to their one rep max throws those calculators a bit off. I didn't go right from 200# for 20 to my 300. I had to prep my system for the experience of higher weight and get more confident. Hitting 300 for a lady or three plates is highly mental for…

Stronglifts and Starting Strength are great but what is often missed in these discussions is that they are not optimal hypertrophy programs. They are strength programs. Personally I build muscle easily for a woman without "juicing" so I accumulated my muscle just on strength programs like Wendler 5/3/1 and Texas Method…

I wear my Inzer Forever Lever belt at squats and deads 80-85% or greater. I really do find a lot of benefit in training beltless up to that point and sometimes I will train beltless up to a final heavy single just to make the heavy single seem easier. I don't wear a belt for benching but then again my bench sucks. I've…

I haven't done the program, but I do work out with olympic lifters who squat every day they work out (5-6 days per week). My own coach is more of an o-lifter but she does a powerlifting meet about once a year and is currently sitting in the top 5 on squat in the 165lb/75kg class on Powerlifting Watch even though she is not…

So dependent on activity level and body comp! I maintain at 2650 and cut at 2100.

I do one or more squat variations 5 days per week. I live to tell the tale. :)

Front squats are so good for you though! Quads, help your core, help you build an upright torso position. Awww...front squats are super cool!

I guess it depends on what your goals are. I do Crossfit and am a competitive powerlifter and recreational olympic lifter. I squat in some variation 5x per week and just vary my intensity and volume. I don't split at all and it hasn't affected me in a negative way.

I am a powerlifter. I like the pushing your feet into the floor cue mentioned above. I also agree that your upper back needs to be tighter. You probably also want to look up valsalva maneuver so you know how to breathe. Using it will also help properly stabilize your core. For beginners, a full reset is usually best…

I have done it a couple times. Got a lot of hypertrophy both times. I also lifted heavy in between the cycles, and doing the 20 rep program has helped my connective tissue catch up by taking a break from heaving lifting but still staying in the groove. I usually did it at Crossfit, so I had a person spotting me who was…

I'm a coach and I disagree, but different strokes for different folks. You don't go just below parallel when you catch a heavy clean. The reason we do olympic squats in CF is in preparation for olympic lifting, for the most part. Otherwise if we wanted to move the most weight like in powerlifting, we'd be using low bar…

I am my favorite machine in the gym and my favorite place to be is in the squat rack.

3.1 miles, hating every second

300# back squat!

I just switched to low bar today. First ever heavy low bar workout and I hit #300 easy. I had been sitting at 285 since October on high bar.

Join the Crossfit Love group. :)

I'm assuming you mean strength training from the convos above, as weightlifting is an an Olympic sport that consists of the snatch and clean and jerk. If you want to start weightlifting, that's great, as it does build strength, agility, and explosiveness. You can find a weightlifting club here:…

It's the only program I've ever done where I really felt like I did need a spotter, not just working out in the rack because there were a few times when I felt like passing out was a real possibility. I just finished a 6 week cycle January 1st. I never failed, so I could have kept going after that 6 weeks (wasn't at my…

I've done the 20 rep squat program multiple times too and highly recommend it. Prepare for emotional distress unlike most other lifting programs. Prepare to build mental toughness as well as quads. “Trust me, if you do an honest 20 rep program, at some point Jesus will talk to you. On the last day of the program, he asked…

Incline pushups. Helps you build that correct plank position you need in a push up. Just get shorter and shorter benches or boxes. :)

I think lifting is great for women of any size. Just start slow. Get a trainer for a couple sessions if you need one. I was once 240 and I attend powerlifting meets with women who are 250+. I Crossfit with a woman who is 280 ish. The cool thing about being bigger is that you might be stronger than you realize. I had gotten…

Do you have a mobility reason that prevents you from using the conventional weightlifting front rack position (not crossover)? The reason I ask is that you may find that as you go heavier, your upper back will not support the front squats as well in the crossover position. I had a cast on this summer and couldn't use my…

I do Crossfit and competitive powerlifting. I use Eat to Perform. I eat lower carb and at a 10%-15% deficit on my rest days. I have found that I cannot easily lose fat while never resting. The additional exercise requires more fuel to have good workouts. I eat to fuel my workouts. I get my fat loss on my rest days. The…

I can probably do 15 arms in close, good plank push ups unbroken but I've done as many as 200 in a Crossfit workout in small sets.