[OctoberBride]

Hi Everyone,

Today was day 1 for me on Body for Life. I bought the book last week, read it, and did a trial cardio day plus a trial lower body day to see if it was for me. I decided to go for it and see what happens starting today.

A little background on me - I am a 25 year old PCOSer, who was lean, muscular, and active until I began to "unexplicably" gain weight in college. I have been losing and gaining the same 35 lbs for the past 5 years...everytime I swore it would be the *last* time, and it was, until something happened Whether it was a new job or tearing 2 ligaments in my ankle, it led to me feeling down, throwing good eating habits out the window, and to stop going to the gym. I've been on South Beach since February, going to physical therapy for my ankle 2x week, was back at the gym and have found myself very close to my goal weight, YAY!

To my dismay, that body I always took for granted, the one I had under all that fat, isn't there anymore. In fact, my goal weight leaves me at a dress size higher than I used to be at the same weight 6 years ago. I've lost a lot of muscle and I want it back! My "normal" gym workouts aren't cutting it. There's only so much cardio I can do with my ankle (an hour of walking or 20 min of walk/run, or 10 min of run) and my standard of three sets of 8-12, raise the weight when it gets easy routine. That led me to investigate BFL.

So after a great day 1, good upper body workout, I have a few QUESTIONS about my BFL bicep routine:

Bicep Curl:
Set 1 - 8 lbs x12
Set 2 - 10 lbs x10
Set 3 - 12 lbs x8
Set 4 - 15 lbs x6
Set 5 - 12 lbs x12

Hammer Curl:
Set 6 - 10 lbs x12

I am sailing through set 3, but my muscles are totally failing in Set 4 by rep 3 I can't make it through to the 4th rep. My muscles totally fail attempting set 5, can't do it at all. Switch to set 6 and I'm ok, though struggling. I'm confused! I'm not getting a burn at all, just muscle failure. Like Lift/Can't lift. WHY? Help me get through this. Other body parts and weights are fine. Feel burn in shoulders, chest, triceps, back etc. Need to raise chest weights, but other than that good workout. Need bicep advice!

Thanks so much! You guys are a great resource. I lurked all through my SBD, but I am ready for some results! I will not be in a white dress not feeling my best!

Thanks,

Christina

[nelie]

Welcome! I know your pain about the ankle, I had a badly sprained knee ligament a few months ago. It was actually the event that restarted my new and improved exercise routine, though I had to be careful in the beginning with leg weights. I'm barely starting to do some "real" cardio.

I'm not on BFL though I have read the book. My suggestion, which feel free to ignore is to either accept muscle failure, use the same weight as set 3 or start with a lighter weight? I don't always feel the burn but I definitely always have muscle failure.

Of course I'm sure someone on BFL will pipe up and give you a more correct answer.

Anyway, Welcome and Good luck!

[OctoberBride]

Thanks for the advice! I'm going to try dropping down to the 10 lb weight at set 5 instead of the using the 15, and see how that works.

I have to say, my back muscles were sore from thos BLF arm raises. I'm glad!

It's still hard for me to give up my 45 minutes of cardio a day and switch to just 20 minutes 3x/week. I've been taking hour long walks after dinner (and trust me, they are strolls) with my fiancee which make me feel a little better about the 20 minute thing.