Sontaikle ... that is an impressive deadlift! I HATE deadlifts and have been avoiding them ... bad I know! Your post makes me wonder what my bench press is, I haven't really done that in about 6 years! Right now I'm squatting with sets of 170lbs and leg pressing 290 in my sets. My "max" in high-school on the bench press was 155lbs, but of course that was only doing it once!

I haven't worked out in a WEEK ahhh. I was out of town over the weekend and I've moved to a new place so I need a new gym. I got up at 5:45am this morning to walk to the nearest one, only to realize it was more of a cross-fit studio ... no real machines/weights/treadmills. So I guess I'll have to join the one that is a little further!

Flashfacts - I'm really concerned about form as well, which is why I avoid deadlifts ... I feel like I'm always risking my back! I need to start taking classes that do plyometrics because I'm training for a tough mudder, but I also feel like my knees are hurting! Part of the problem is how uncoordinated I am though. :-) Being a clutz and plyometric/crossfit workouts are a hard mix!

Nice!! I envy a gal with a heavy squat. I was squatting 85 back in January. The program I'm doing hasn't called for back squats since then; I suspect I can probably squat a bit more now, but my squats were/are definitely far behind my deadlifts (currently at 140, though again my program doesn't call for them for a while, so boohoo).

Weight training class last night. We did some great stuff and I'm a little stiff this morning which means tomorrow I will wake up sore. :)

flashfacts - welcome to the thread! I can understand being apprehensive. A few weeks ago I did a deadlift wrong and my back was messed up for a few days. I found that going online and looking at videos of people doing things correctly really helped, but I've learned a lot from my weight training class.

I do lower the weight and up the reps when I do things that require a spot but I don't have one (my gym really isn't designed for all the lifting I do, so to do a bench press I actually grab some steps on lay on those, :lol:). I know that if I can do 15-20 reps with the weights I listed for BP, OHP and Squats then I can really go quite a bit higher. I've actually lifted things that are heavier than all of that just when I'm out and about.

LovelyAndLosing - So funny, I LOVE deadlifts but I am super cautious ever since I messed up one a few weeks ago and hurt my back. I am envious of your numbers!! You are a strong lady!

sumire - Are you doing NROL or another program?

Yep, NROL4W. I'm a little surprised that I've been able to stick with it for so long-- something about me tends to buck when faced with a program that says "You have to do this." ("Hey! I do what I want!" :lol:) These last 2 stages should have enough to keep me interested, but once I finish in early June, I'm going to be ready to switch to a more flexible routine.

Man I need to amp up my bottom-half lifting (right now I uhh don't really do any)!

sontaikle, sumire, thanks for the compliments - I guess since most people at my gym are extremely beefy boxers and MMA fighters, my expectations are skewed.

I had a "bad" lifting day yesterday - I just felt kind of sore and weak and pathetic and struggled to complete 3 x 8 of the regimen I did Monday. I sit in a chair all day and do a max of 45 minutes cardio most days, so I doubt I need to be eating more (intake is usually ~1300 of "real food" and 100-200 of "other"). Have any of you figured this out?

*sontaikle* - I was a competitive weightlifter in high school. I actually placed (6th) in the state my senior year. Although, then, I was about 124lbs so my body was a lot tighter than it is now! haha.

*Krampus* - I love gyms with beefy boxers, etc. haha ... I'm sad that I left Arlington and now am in DC, because I can't go to Gold's anymore! I'm worried at a gym with less "meat-heads," I will get odd looks when I'm squatting, etc. at high weight!

This is my first week of working out. OK soo I saw like a 3-4 lb increase on the scale. I guess thats normal when you do strength training? its just interesting to see such an increase because I usually only have a 2 lb difference at the end of hte day, and that is with all the food I ate, unless its TOM and I carb-binged.
My bottom half is sore and someone yelled at me in the train, but I don't care, I actually went ahead and did my work outs!
also, I had a terrible first time experience taking bcaas-branched chain amino acids. But today, I actually didn't mind drinking it as much so over time I think that I will get more and more used to it.

Dude, that is SO COOL. I would love to be an expert heavy lifter!

My gym is the opposite of Gold's...worn down facility, barebones equipment, think all the meatheads from Gold's, but below the poverty line and wearing street clothes.

OMG you guys... I don't have time to read but I had to share my ridiculous gym story.

I was feeling pretty good yesterday morning. Banged out a run pretty quick and got overconfident. I managed to unrack the 100 lb barbell and get it up on my shoulders. Was a little shaky but decided to go for a squat. Down down down downnnnn oops. I ended up a$$ to the grass and STUCK. My gym is a rec center. The only people there early on a Sat. morning were 80 year old women walking the indoor track. Looking at me. Sheist. I contemplated for quite some time. Gave the glare of death to the "Do not drop weights" sign, wondered if I could waddle over to the bench for leverage, wondered what would happen if I sat on the ground with this monstrocity still on my shoulders... Finally, caught my breath and was able to push it back up, after what seemed like 4 hours.

Ermmm I think I'll switch to hack squats, or dumbells. I dropped a note in the suggestion box. "For my personal safety, PLEASE get a squat rack!!!!"

Tragedy narrowly averted. Be careful everyone! :D

And also... OMG MY A$$ hurts!!!

I bought NROL4W the other day and I am super excited to get into the program, both the lifting and the eating!

I'm in the military and I LOVE my dirty little piece of crap deployed gyms! Right now I am out of town on a business trip and I have to work out at a Golds and I HATE IT!! No chalk, no bumper plates, DBs only up to 75 pounds, 1 KB up to 35 lbs... what am I supposed to do with that crap?! :mad:

I can relate because I totally get stares from the old men and crabby women in the gym when I'm tossing around heavy weights and doing upwards of 75 pullups... I had to tell someone today that "It's rude to stare!"

Ugh, only 3.5 more weeks and I get to go home to MY gym! :carrot:

75 pullups, dear lord.

You are AMAZING JossFit! I love your quarter sleeve <3

Who can tell me a bit more about the NROL for Women? Does it have training plans? Do you need the gym equipment to do it our could you use it with dumbells and a barbell at home?

As you all might have read I am struggling with keeping up with the lifting. Mostly because I feel like it's not really going anywhere. With running or cardio I know what I am doing, and what it looks like when I amd doing it right (heartrate, distance, breathing etc). I feel like I need a dummy "how to guide" that just tells me to do this and that for this and that long and approx this amount of weight.

You ladies kick a$$$ I am impressed!

Well in all fairness that was from my "Cindy" Crossfit workout I did Saturday; it's an AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) in 20 minutes of; 5 pullups, 10 pushups and 15 squats. I did 15 rounds in that 20 minutes so it was 75 pullups total, not all at once! That would be insane! :eek:

And thank you for the compliment! It actually goes all the way around my arm so it's a 1/2 sleeve. ;)

I know nothing about the NROLFW. I am stuck in an "I know how XYZ work so I'm going to do ONLY THEM" rut, but I gotta say that just doing 3 x 10 of the same 4 exercises and increasing the weights when I can has been "working" very well for me - I combine lifting with about half an hour of cardio, and in the month since I started (I've only lifted 2 days a week each week...!) my arms and shoulders look way better, and my waist has shrunk. I have also lost 3-4 lbs and I can eat way more than if I weren't lifting.

Just something to think about...you don't have to do it expertly or perfectly for results to happen!

Yes, there is a specific training plan in NROL4W. It takes about 6 months to complete (more if you're lifting 2x a week rather than 3x). You can do most of the exercises at home with dumbbells and barbells. There are a few exercises that call for things like a cable machine or lat pull machine, but the book generally gives alternative exercises for home workouts. I think you would probably need a significantly wide range of dumbbells and a squat rack to get the full benefits of the program, but you would be able to make do with less than this, especially considering you're just starting out with weight training. (It won't tell you how much to lift, though; it'll tell you to lift as much as you personally can within the reps prescribed and with good form!)

I completely agree with krampus, though, that (especially as a beginner) whatever you do, you're going to get results if you stick with it.

philana I have been doing NROL at home. I have a set of weights that go up to 30 kg. I am in my last workouts of the stage 1, I am squatting 28 kg now and I can do it without a squat rack helping myself with the furniture at home with some difficulties. A squat rack and new weight plates are going to be my next purchases. But yes, you can do the exercises at home.

Even if you do not follow the NROL plan, the autor suggests doing exercises that work your body more as a whole than working separate small muscles. So for instance that would mean doing squats, deadlifts, push ups, lunges or planks, instead of bicep curls, triceps...

Reading about weight lifting in different sites what I have found is that there are like the 3 big exercises in weight lifting: squats, deadlifts and bench presses that you should master. Around those you can play around. I think when I finish the NROL plan I am going to concentrate on those 3 and include push ups, lunges, glute bridges, hip thrusts, planks, bulgarian squats and similar exercises to my routine along with mobility exercises and continue with yoga for stretching.

Today I didn't feel much like doing my lifting, but I talked myself into it by telling myself that I could add some back squats at the beginning of my workout. The NROL4W workouts hadn't called for back squats since January, but I miss them & wanted to see if I'd gained any strength on that front since then.

I was squatting 85 in January (8 reps)... today I did 3 sets of 5 reps at 115 pounds... and then I did 2 reps at my body weight (125) just for funsies. [To parallel. Yes, I know what parallel means. :lol:] Woohoo! After that I was thrilled to continue my workout! :D The gym is closing for a week, so I'm going to take a much-deserved rest week. Grow, little muscles, grow!

Lifted at 8 am before eating anything on my period after a weekend of bad eating. Any or all of these factors could be the reason it was SO HARD, right?

Usually after eating "bad" my workouts are great, but it depends on how long I had been eating that way. One night, and the next morning I am A BEAST in the gym, but after a few days off plan (like when I'm on vacation) and my energy is in the toilet.

I would vote for early morning (if you're not a morning person / hadn't been up long / hadn't slept enough), no food (I could never lift on an empty stomach! oy!), and hormonal fluctuations as being factors. Don't know about bad eating--like JossFit, excess calorie consumption tends to give me a boost in my workouts.

Sometimes a workout just feels harder than usual. A little while back, I was looking forward to upping my deadlifts by 5 pounds, after a few workouts solidly at the same weight. But when I went to lift the weight I had easily been pulling the previous few workouts, it suddenly felt 10 pounds heavier than previously. I was bummed out. I had another couple of weakish workouts after that, for reasons I couldn't pin down. Then suddenly my strength shot way up. Who knows?

Hmm. I hope the "stall and whoosh" thing applies to lifting too, I almost cried today pulling the same weight I've been at for a week and a half. Glad to know I'm not alone!

sumire & carpediem - thanks for your replies, it made me decide to buy the book so it should be arriving anytime soon! I like that many people on here know it so I can come for questions, and for the bits that I can't do at home I could always add in some time in the gym with the book as my protection shield from all the guys looking at me silly. I can just wave it and say "look, I don't know what I am doing whats why I am using a book so don't laugh at me!" lol.

krampus: Strength gains will start to slow sooner or later. Maybe not yet. But eventually. The brain makes quick adaptations at first, and newbie gains mean you can build muscle more easily. It won't always be the case.

When you start lifting, you could go up, say, 10 pounds a week on lat pulls. But that obviously won't last forever--otherwise, in several months, you'd be pulling three times your bodyweight. We only wish it worked that way. :D Patience and time! You'll keep chugging forward.

philana: There's also an online forum dedicated to NROL4W. I've done some lurking there--a lot of useful info.

Don't worry about what other people think at the gym. I've done various stupid things there-- lost my balance, thwacked myself in the chin with a barbell, fallen off the treadmill, scratched my head over how to adjust equipment, etc. Nobody really cares, thankfully. :)

Well since this is where us Feathers chat about lifting I figured it would be a good place to post; I hit a PR yesterday on leg presses! 380 pounds plus the sled weight... 4 sets of 12 reps! Whoot!

:carrot:

(O)__(O) That's amazing!

Thanks, I was pretty happy with it :)

Anyone else have any recent accomplishments in the gym?

JossFit!! Omg!! Awesome!!

I'm feeling my weight training class last night. I didn't really add any weight (actually I had to use a bit less), but the instructor had us do different things. Feeling a little stiff from that which means tomorrow I will wake up sore. yay!

Does anyone else like waking up sore? Maybe I'm just weird :lol:

Nice!! Rock on! :)

I'm halfway through my rest/recovery week, and it is killing me! I'm dying to get back to my lifting.

Also yesterday I went clothes shopping and spent half my time in the dressing room flexing my arms in the mirror, haha. :lol:

sumire When are you gonna post a picture of your arms for us all to see?

I am looking to add a lot more to my lifting routine. Will spend the better part of today doing research that I can use tonight at the gym.

Definitely not 'til my rest week is over and I can start lifting & getting a pump again. :lol: Maybe not 'til I drop just a smidge more fat. I have 10 workouts left to go in this program, and then I'm going to drop just a little bit of weight. I want more muscle definition, goshdarnit. :)

Hope you had fun researching/working out! I love adding new stuff to my workouts!

You are! haha I hate being sore! :)

Another thing you can do is just try changing some of your training techniques. Do you ever incorporate 21's, Drop Sets, Supersets/Giant Sets, etc. into your workouts? My arms have gotten SHREDDED since I started incorporating 21's and drop sets. Holy cow!

Since this is like the only place I can bragg about new gym accomplishments... bear with me! :) I did weighted pullups for the first time today! It wasn't anything spectacular, but I held a 10 pound medicine ball with my feet and then did 4 pullups, and then a set of 3 chinups. Not amazing, but not too bad either!

Awesome!! :)

Ladies I had the strangest NSV the other day. I went out to eat with my fiance and we went to this pizza joint (This place is awesome; they're one of the few that make amazing tasting whole wheat pizza). I ran into the bathroom and was too lazy to do my business after putting toilet paper on the seat.

I started laughing!! It is so easy to squat over a toilet now!! I remember never doing it because I would get tired after a few seconds.

So I guess all of those squats I do at the gym are paying off :rofl:

I have to ask; what is "NSV"? I keep seeing that and I'm not sure what it means.

Your story made me LOL though! See, squats don't just burn calories and give you shapely buns and legs, they're functional too! :D

NSV = Non-scale victory! :)

I've been taking regular pictures of myself so I can see progress. I wish I did this wayyyyy earlier, but what's done is done.

This one I took a few days ago...I still can't believe it's ME in it. Blocking out my face because I am just in a sports bra.

And thus I am convinced that lifting is the most awesome thing in the world :D

Now if that loose skin would just shrink up...

BUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You look amazing.

I incorporated a superset into my upper body workout yesterday and graduated to 80 lbs on the lat pull down machine.

I am nowhere near as buff as you guys but I am soooo pleased with what lifting has done for my figure.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4...dgl1o1_500.jpg