lwoodroff Member

Better tonight. Well that's a relative term! Have been giving the arm a good go with a tennis ball at work today (ow!) and had ibuprofen before going to the gym. Think I misloaded last time and only did my attempt at 75kg for squats (I really wasn't on the ball!). Marginally more with it tonight at 80kg, but only managed…

hiya and welcome! people are always happy to spot/video I've found. the trick I use for vids is to put my phone in my shoe (I wear trainers there and change into my lifting shoes) and stand the shoe on something. pretty much guaranteed stable!

1. do you take steroids or performance enhancing drugs? 2. do you have the testosterone levels of a man? 3. are you devoting every waking hour for =years= to achieving the 'hulk' look with hours in the gym and an incredibly controlled diet? if the answer to those questions is 'no' then you won't turn into the hulk. have a…

I lasted 30 minutes last night, warm up of squats and an attempt at my first set of 80kg. First one was ok, second was so bad I thought I was going to lose it over my head. too busy to do OHP and deadlift and my arm is so sore I'm not sure it would have been a good idea either. I'm pretty sure it's tendonitis (tennis…

For my squats particularly I use my phone timer and rest 5 mins between work sets. :-)

Great pics! Look at you, you strong lady!

is that fixed weight barbells or on top of an oly barbell? if so you count the barbell weight too!

10 years?! you whippersnapper. It's my school 20 year reunion this summer! still trying to work out whether or not to go! and I still feel like a n00b :) lifting is one of those things you can always keep improving and learning, which is great!

Monday is my one year anniversary! :)

are you shoving your knees out (think of trying to push them outside your feet - you won't be able to but it's the feeling you want) as hard as you possibly can throughout the whole squat? can you get some video? and hi! :)

last night squats to 77.5kg, knee slide (right knee was griping at me), and could feel the bar trying to tip me over forward. did have a couple of reps where I felt my heels really pushing me up - not something I've felt before so will try to capture and bottle this! press to 35kg, 5,3,2 but this is close to my previous…

Ah bless you. sounds like you have what I call 'spotlight syndrome', where you think there is a spotlight on you and everyone is watching and judging you. Believe me, they aren't! Unless you do something really stupid/dangerous/loud, they are more busy worrying about the spotlight on them and what everyone else thinks of…

I'm not very controlled with my eating (understatement!) and have probably put on about half a stone or so.. but I look as though I've lost that amount! the scale is not your friend. While you are lifting, you store extra water around your muscles to help them recover. Try not to weigh within 48 hours of a lifting session…

Given your heel challenges, a flat shoe might not be helpful. Weightlifting shoes have a bit of a heel. You are fixing that with the plates under your heels though!

I had a session with a Pt. The ss book really confused me. I'm working on them slowly!

I use it for my one prior and top set squats, as krokador says you don't want to compromise your own core strength. it does help, though, especially with having had 2 c sections! I also use it on top set deadlifts for stabilisation of my core. I'm waiting for my new belt to arrive... .. I'm using a second hand 2 prong one…

some proper lifting shoes would be the next logical step.. ;)

Fairly crummy few days, actually literally with the amount of bread I've been eating! Squats 20x5 20x5 45x5 60x3 (finally moved over to the squat rack) 75x5x3 rather squat-morningy feeling to me. Bench 20x5 20x5 25x5 30x3 35x1 40x5x3 harder than I thought it would be. Glad I didn't try to push these further! Power cleans -…

lovin' the toilet seat balancing too!

struggling at the moment. attention is not on food and exercise, weekends seem to be carb city. probably not helped by having to take Friday off unexpectedly, then making chelsea buns with Hannah! viewing on Saturday but expecting it to go nowhere (given it takes about half a day min to prep the house, this is getting…

Jstout, some thoughts that wandered through my head while watching your video.. :) 1. why are you standing on a mat? looks squishy.. 2. what sort of shoes are you wearing? 3. looks like some knee slide? 4. you look like you take a long time to psych yourself up - more aggression, 'just do it' has helped me! 5. you look as…

I agree, Lindsey. I did SL for a while, then dropped it to 3x5, which is effectively SS without the PC. I'm now (finally) learning the PC. The other thing that SL adds in as an additional exercise is chin ups (I think, I'm rubbish though so haven't even tried for a while!). The book is incredibly detailed and technical but…

my trainer helped with my bench press line. if you hold the empty bar up in your bench press top position, slowly move your arms back until it feels like it will tip back. then slowly move your arms forward until you feel as though the bar will tip forward. Bring it back in between those points and there is a 'sweet spot'…

a lot of big box gyms have 'trainers' that have anything from half a day to a weekend of tuition on being a 'trainer'. They are sales people designed to make you dependent on them and their 'training' and they have neither the knowledge nor confidence to go off programme and do either what you want or what would be best…

Girlie, this is always my issue!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LDA7PAUDc Getting back up there..

everything! you want credit for it. If you lift it or squat it, it counts!

start by reading the stickies on here, they describe 5x5 very well :) if that is too scary, you can start with bodyweight stuff (look out for convict conditioning type stuff). but this is FUN! and we LOVE it! :)

well done! sometimes to get better you just have to do it. Move up each time unless you truly fail. OHPs you might consider to moving to 3x5 instead of 5x5? Then you'd have got 4,4,4! Are you resting enough between sets (at least 3 minutes, maybe 5..)?

thanks, I had a session with a trainer last week to learn them, and then confused myself by reading the chapter in SS! going to just go back to the way he taught it (from the floor, basically the deadlift section, then the shrug and the jump and catch.. although he used lots of amusing terminology that I can't help but…