DaniH826 Member

Anybody who can give birth is not weak. I have no idea where women get this idea of "weak" from. It's ridiculous. That's just a bunch of mind games we've collectively bought into for the sake of "being skinny" and/or "being beautiful." I'm just as guilty as everyone else for letting this ridiculousness take up space in my…

The only answer when my form goes to crap is to deload. I have low back troubles and can't get my squats past a certain point for the life of me. It's taking an excruciatingly long time. Then again that's better than hurting myself because it would take even longer to come back from that. So I'm just gonna tell you, and…

Stronglifts 5x5 is straight across. That means you pick ONE weight for EACH lift for EACH workout, and you work out with that weight during that lifting session. That means on the first day that you do squats, you pick, say, 45 pounds for your squats. You then do 5 sets of 5 reps at 45 pounds. The second workout you go up…

Woke up with no motivated bone in my body. Had to do a deload on squats and deadlifts, which I already deloaded 3 weeks ago and started from scratch basically. Skipped the complex altogether. Grrrr. WTF is happening? Least it's Friday. Hooray weekend! Deload week next week plus getting going on some form of cardio. It just…

Yes, 2 days a week is fine. You'll still progress, just not as fast. Alternately, for those 2 days, rather than an A/B rotation you could do all of the lifts every time. No rule saying you can't. And then just increase weights every week rather than every workout. There's always a way around everything, you just have to be…

Couple times a week on squats is fine. Everyone has their limits. I have the opposite problem. No cardio to speak of, and I have to find a way to work it in somehow. No lifting program is written in blood. No exercise program is either. You adapt it to suit your needs.

^^ What he said. I do Starting Strength and love it. I've done 5x5 before and enjoyed it also, but I personally prefer 3x5. To each their own.

Welcome! I'm currently doing barbell/kettlebell/dumbbell complexes before my lifting session (as my warm-up/cardio), but I'm probably going to switch those to after at some point. I'm not doing Stronglifts but Starting Strength (3x5). I highly recommend you get fractionals. I use Fastenal washers that work out really well…

Kettlebells & SS A 3x5 for me today. Kettlebells and deadlifts on the same workout are making my lower back/hips question my sanity. But hey, it's done, and I'm inching my way back up in weights. So far, so good ... week 3 of the new program and still with it. Going to finish out the month and reassess. I'm so impressed by…

I can't say I'm a fan of the site overall either, but some of the stuff on there is actually really helpful.

Based on your numbers and your description, I would agree with your assessment. Did you read this? It's an article by Rip on the Texas Method. Seems pretty comprehensive to me. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_texas_method

The first week of lifting, everything hurt. Nowadays it's better, but I still get sore from time to time, depending on the amount of exertion I subject my body to. Nothing that doesn't resolve within a day or two, though. Part of going down that path of fitness is to accept the fact that soreness is inevitable; just don't…

I haven't a had great deal of weight loss experience with lifting, to tell you the truth. But, as a former smoker who quit before I started lifting (roughly 8 months ago), I haven't gained any weight, which I'm supremely happy about. My current focus is fitness and getting a grip on my diet. Which to me isn't (anymore)…

You may or may not be interested in this (mostly because it talks about cycling :bigsmile: ): http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/best-damn-cardio-humanly-possible-in-15-minutes

I don't use straps now and don't ever plan to. I've starting doing farmers' walks with heavy dumbbells in order to train grip/forearm strength during my lifting sessions. You basically grab a heavy dumbbell with each hand and walk around. I do roughly 200 feet with 25-pound dumbbells currently (which are still plenty heavy…

Any advice coming your way would really depend on your training goals. How seriously interested are you in making further strength gains versus allowing things to go to a maintenance level/range and maybe switching to a more endurance-based barbell workout? Maybe your body is deciding that it's strong enough, based on your…

Nia Shanks is also an option. When I'm done with my current 3x5 cycle (however long that one lasts ... possibly indefinitely and/or until I get bored, whichever happens first), I'm seriously considering Beautiful Badass or another one of her multi-variety lifting workouts. Ditto on the nutrition. Maybe eat at maintenance…

It's always been something since I started lifting. I'm becoming quite the expert at rehabbing various boo-boos. I'm just going to lift until I can lift no more because going back to unconditioned weaksauce is no longer an option.

I know this is going to be difficult to understand, but try to contain your tears of agony at the revelation I'm about to shower upon your head: You and I are not Mehdi's chosen. Sorry. I know that's hard to accept, but accept it we must. There, there. No need for tears. Here's a tissue. *pats Xidia comfortingly* :laugh:

Pretty sure Rippetoe would prescribe squats ... which is pretty much his answer to everything from hangnails to broken bones. :smile: So ... squat moar. :laugh: I don't know what a day is like without sore shoulders and/or elbows (I type for a living and there's nothing I can do about it; however, I will say that strength…

Rest day for me today ... back at it again tomorrow.

You may need to adapt your routine some since I don't see a squat rack, but that's pretty nice! Also, you can do pull-downs, which should give you a great lat/shoulder workout and help you progress towards doing pull-ups. :)

Deload until you can do the entire movement with good form from start to finish. If you're losing your balance, it may mean your body is somehow trying to make up for an amount of weight it's not ready for, regardless of how heavy it "feels". I usually lean my upper body back just a little when starting the OHP by looking…

See? What did I tell you? Happens all the time! :smile: Deadlifts are very taxing on the body, so most training programs limit the number of reps you're doing so that you a) don't wear yourself out and b) give your body time to rest and adapt. Romanian or stiff-legged deadlifts work differently since they're not…

Great workout! Lots of people end up doing 5x5 deadlifts until they realize it's supposed to be 1x5. It happens, so no worries. :flowerforyou:

Well, honestly I have no idea what I expected to happen. I basically put twice the workload on myself by adding complexes in with full lifting sessions, and somehow magically expected my body to say "But of course we can do all these things AND 95-pound squats too! Cause we're Superwoman!" :drinker: Really???!!? Silly…

Butt tucking means he failed to tighten his core all the way through the movement. Not good for your spine, so don't do it. Keep your core tight the whole time, and use hip drive to come up from the "hole" at the bottom of the squat. There's no such thing as "relaxing" when doing a loaded squat. Dude needs to either work…

I adore barbells, but he speaks truth. You can get amazing results with only bodyweight exercises, but you're going to have to do progressive training just like the barbell folks do. That means you increase reps and/or difficulty as you go.

Y'all are putting me to shame! Well done!

Before. They're my ... uhhh ... cardio warmup. :smile: