Oh geez, RVA please be very careful if you're rolling your lower back (or neck, for that matter). Without the ribs or shoulder blades to protect/stabilise your spine in those areas, there is a bigger risk to screw up disk alignment. A safer option for those areas would be a tennis or lacrosse ball. I'm not saying you can't, just suggesting you be super mindful if/when you do.
Also, thumbs up for your DL progress!
Thanks so much for the tip, Defining! I was definitely going for first the right side and then the left side, rather than all at once. I know that I need to be on the watch out for making things worse, rather than better! A tennis ball might well be the best way to ensure that I'm doing that.
I've also seen a couple of things which Gaiam (?) puts out which might do the trick.
cheryl, you're gonna KILL IT!!! kill it with fire, girl. all week long. i'm so excited for you!!
defining, i need to get a tennis ball. for massage if nothing else. my husband is the worlds worst masseuse. i can't rely on him to work the kinks out in my shoulders.
ian, i've been doing squat technique work, and while it's frustrating, of course it's a wise move. good on you.
rva, congratulations on the big PR!!!
I recalculated what I am going to eat, and I think I will start to concern myself with timing as well. I really don't want the rebel in me to give me the finger. I think I can keep that part of me calm by making this All about the lifts. It's not about being pretty or conforming. it is about getting stronger and dedicating myself to one single good cause: being in the top 20. If I really want to do that, I need to get serious about the food part of my training regimen.
2,200 cals
220 carbs 73 fats 165 protein
is the goal. under is ok, except for protein. i don't want to take any chances anymore with protein. these past two weeks where my protein intake has been for crap have shown me that i really do need that to be higher to support all of the muscle tear down and rebuild that happens to my body on a daily basis.
i am about to go grocery shopping and have planned out meals for me and my family.
and starting tonight, i will do my stretching, and hip work during my toddler's bath time. the bathroom in my room doesn't have a door so he can be in the bath while i am in the bedroom and still see him. nice feature to this rental.
i think my opening lifts are set, and we will work to figure the seconds this week. it's just going to be singles and technique work, i'm pretty sure and next week will be mostly rest up with minimum lifts.
Last edited by katerina11; 04-27-2014 at 07:57 PM.
Location: Lyin' in a puddle of sweat on the floor.
Posts: 2,296
S/C/G: 235/201/175
Height: 5'7"
Ian, that is too funny. Glad it was just that, though. You'd fit right in at my gym.
Rest day for me today, so nothing exciting to report. Had a day off, but it was all thunderstorms and gross out, so I mostly stayed inside, cooked, did laundry, and watched lifting stuff on the youtubes.
Opening the gym tomorrow. Will probably have to go back in the afternoon to get my 1RM back squat attempt in. My most recent 1RM in that lift was 175 last fall, but my all time 1RM was 185..I've hit 175 a couple times since then, so feel confident going up five pounds from there for a single. I'll consider it "progress" and a post-shoulder-recovery PR if I hit 180, but 190 would be better for an all time PR.
Kat, would love to hear what your attempts will be, once you and your coach get them figured out.
set the squat numbers with todays workout.
1st - 185
2nd - 205
3rd - 215
*if* i get the first and second lifts without issue, of course. i was able to take cues without any mistakes today. i was focused and refreshed. i sure hope i feel that good on meet day!
my form starts to break without a belt at 175. 185 with a belt is lovely and fast. 205 was much easier this week. and 215 went up with a shift forward, but it wasn't super slow. no wraps used today.
did some benching, too, but just to 75% or so for triples.
Ian - haha about the trapped air. I hope that thing with the shoulder pain doesn't show up again, though!
Kat - It sounds like you're making steady progress with your squats. Way to go! And I love how committed to the top 20. You can do it! I think that your macro plan sounds good. Best wishes!
Thanks so much for the encouragement. Just starting out again is a test of patience, but it's fun.
Cheryl - That sounds like a GREAT rest day. My father-in-law is in town, which means that yesterday wasn't restful AT ALL. It was fun, though. We hit up the Getty Center and caught one of the best views in Los Angeles, saw Captain America, went to dinner. We had a great time. My nutrition was off, though. I felt weak during my upper body split, this morning. My bench was 5lbs. under what it was last week, which was pretty disappointing.
After the father-in-law leaves, I'll get up earlier and get a small meal in before my next upper body workout to see how that goes.
Can I just tell y'all how jealous I am of you being able to do squats!? My eensy gym doesn't have a squat rack. Only a Smith machine. In another month I'm going to switch to a real gym.
Location: Lyin' in a puddle of sweat on the floor.
Posts: 2,296
S/C/G: 235/201/175
Height: 5'7"
RVA, you can have the stinking squats. Kidding, but it's not my favorite lift. I'm all about the deadlift love...now if only I was an ace at it! (or anything, for that matter, lol) I'm a little jealous of Kat being at a powerlifting gym. If I didn't LOVE my gym community so much, I'd have switched to a powerlifting gym, but since I don't want to leave, and my trainer is tolerant of my dumb ideas, I'm going to try and compete anyway out of my gym. At least I have a few brains to pick at the gym I go to.
Kat, totally impressed with your back squat. I can't wait till I can say I broke 200 raw, so 215 no knee wraps, I'm all like, "oh yeah, I'm with Beastmode over there! We're homies and stuff...er...yo!"
So, speaking of squats, we didn't get to do them today...argh! I was all psyched up and ready to hit that this afternoon. However, the guy that was going to back me up today got stuck at his day job at the hospital, so the boss and I decided to flip the Mon and Tues plan, and do Floor Press today, 1RM for all the peeps that did the Cube this time, 5x5 for everybody else. That way, no worries about trying to watch 1RM attempts on one end of the gym, while trying to teach newer peeps how to back squat, how to dump the bar, how to spot somebody who doesn't want to dump it, etc.
I had no plan ready for floor press, and not much time to squeeze it in this morning, but there was a lull so I went for it. Warmed up with 45x10, 65x10, 85x8, 95x3, 115x1(PR), 120x1(PR), 125xFail 2x. Wanted that 125, but it just wasn't going up today. Still, that's a floor press PR by 10 lbs, and I matched my bench press 1RM from last fall (120), so I'm very happy with that number. Not too shab for 9 weeks of work.
Now I have about 17 more hours to stress about the stupid back squat.
ETA: Almost forgot...190.4 on the scale this morning. Lost about 2 lbs from last week.. average over 7 days last week was 193.1, average over this week was 191.1. Since the diet seems to be working, I'll keep doing what I'm doing. Also, I've been drinking 64 oz of water a day. Could stand to drink a little more, but since I was struggling to drink any water outside of a long workout, this is a huge step forward for me.
LA would probably drive me crazy actually living there, but i read about days you can have spontaneously in large cities like LA and i get a wee bit jealous. i grew up in houston, so i was able to just pop over to menil or CAM whenever i wanted, but now my small desert city doesn't have anything near as interesting. we have a farm and ranch museum and that's about it. lol
RAV until you get to a gym with a squat rack, are you doing goblet squats? you can go pretty heavy with those and they are great for fixing form/strengthening your back squat.
cheryl wtg on the floor press!! i've not done a floor press, but i think they are similar to the half bench presses i do. (also called pin presses) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCPzvMqWm-c
my sticking point is a few inches off my chest and those suckers are HARD!
my max bench is 120. i've gotten 120 for a few reps, but i've never gotten 125. i guess tomorrow we will see what i'm going to shoot for at the meet.
you ran the cube? how did you like it? i am on the cube list on facebook just because i am curious about different programs. it's a pretty active group, if you're interested in following stuff like that.
eta: 1,982
175 carbs
73 fats
169 protein
oatmeal, blueberries, coffee with cream, asparagus, egg whites, lots of grilled chicken breasts, 4 (organic!) cookies and tart cherry noosa yogurt. really yummy day that was also a great macro day.
if you guys haven't tried noosa yogurt, i recommend it. highly. best stuff on earth.
Last edited by katerina11; 04-28-2014 at 07:45 PM.
I do goblet squats instead of front/back because I work out at home on my own. I actually enjoy them better anyway, so that works out. I also sometimes use a weight vest (AKA old backpack with plates in it).
I've never actually tried benching....I always just assumed that until I could do a couple dozen strict form pushups in a row, I shouldn't bother. Man, you guys keep making me want to try new stuff...
I'm trying to lean more towards using free weights now, but I'm still getting the hang of them and they make me feel super weak since I struggle with even the 8 lb. weights. This was today's weight training (also did cardio).
So, I watched videos on dumbbell deadlifts today and I did exactly what the video showed to do. Proper form and all that. But, I don't know if what I did was actually called deadlifts? I'm confused. This video
Psychic, those are like a 'trap bar' deadlift - which is with neutral shoulder positioning. DLs like these tend to be a hybrid between a hip hinge vs quad dominant movement. But they're still a deadlift.
I do goblet squats instead of front/back because I work out at home on my own. I actually enjoy them better anyway, so that works out. I also sometimes use a weight vest (AKA old backpack with plates in it).
I've never actually tried benching....I always just assumed that until I could do a couple dozen strict form pushups in a row, I shouldn't bother. Man, you guys keep making me want to try new stuff...
i cant do a single military pushup. nose to floor and all of that.
i do bench press because it's one of the three lifts i'm expected to do. i wasn't all that into bench press until recently. i did it, because it was expected in the program i was following (starting strength) but i didn't like it much. now i like it ok. there are so many lifts you can do that would be great for chest and shoulders. you definitely don't need the barbell bench press.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychic
I'm trying to lean more towards using free weights now, but I'm still getting the hang of them and they make me feel super weak since I struggle with even the 8 lb. weights. This was today's weight training (also did cardio).
So, I watched videos on dumbbell deadlifts today and I did exactly what the video showed to do. Proper form and all that. But, I don't know if what I did was actually called deadlifts? I'm confused. This video
it looks like a safe movement and a way to step into deadlifts.
nice workout! it looks like a good balanced upper day, with a little leg thrown in, too.
Location: Lyin' in a puddle of sweat on the floor.
Posts: 2,296
S/C/G: 235/201/175
Height: 5'7"
Kat, I'll see if I can work in some pin presses this week or next and let you know. Looks like it would be a similar movement, but probably a little easier on bench since you can get into a better arch and use more leg drive to lock in a bit tighter. Yesterday, I swear, I could not get locked in tight for that 125 since my sweatshirt kept slipping every time I tried to drive with my feet. We just end up doing floor presses a lot at my gym because we only have two benches in the whole place, and only one of them is halfway decent...no powerlifting benches or anything like that.
190.6 today. Up a little, but not unhappy with that, since I felt like I couldn't get enough food in yesterday with my usual meals. Finally added some extra fat in the afternoon to try and stave off the hunger.
!! lifts are set at 105, 121 and either 127 or 132 depending on how 121 looked. i can't believe 125 went up so easy! last time i tried it, i failed so hard.
Last edited by katerina11; 04-29-2014 at 01:50 PM.
Location: Lyin' in a puddle of sweat on the floor.
Posts: 2,296
S/C/G: 235/201/175
Height: 5'7"
WOOT!!!
Kat, you give a girl hope..lol! So glad the 125 went up so easy! Hope you kick that PR in the teeth at your meet!
No back squat again for me today. You ever meet a fat trainer, maybe it's because they're always working, and don't have anything left for a workout by the time they're done..lol! Tomorrow, for sure, because we're doing the DL 1RM on Friday, so I'd rather not do them back to back. Although, if I have to mow many more lawns this week, on top of log peeling Thursday, I might be trashed by Friday no matter what.
i'm so excited for you!!
Ian, that is too funny. Glad it was just that, though. You'd fit right in at my gym.
