[Electro]

Katerina, I wish I could do anything regarding the pull ups. At the moment I throw myself at the bar and hope I don't just fall down! or at least try to keep my dignity while I drop!

At this point it sounds as if you guys are further ahead than I am with the weights work. I am still trying to get my terminology right and some basic form.

I do have goals for the next 12 weeks which include

Pull ups (one will do for now)
Run 5k (I do metric, but even so I know an 8minute mile is an impressive aim, I am just aiming for the distance for now. Want to get to a 30 min time in future though).
Drop a dress size
Increase strength. At the moment I am using back squats and bench press as my measures.

After that I will reassess.

[IanG]

I did an hour at my second gym today.

I got my squats up to 165lbs.

My second (weekend) gym is funny. There are very strong guys/ladies there. At my regular (work) gym, I am one of the heaviest lifters.

I also ran 3.5 miles later in the day.

Food was oats, fish (cod, oysters, Hilsa, shrimp) and salad.

[jamsk8r]

192 on the dot this morning, so the scale is moving the right direction. Rest day yesterday, but I got my food cooked up for the next few days.

Jenn, had to laugh at your pull-up description. That's what I feel like trying to get a strict pull-up these days.

Ian, good job on the squats. Funny what a difference there can be from one gym to the next. That's how it was going from the YMCA weight room to crossfit, and I'd imagine it would be about the same difference if I ever made it to a powerlifting gym.

Going to the gym later. I clean the gym on weekends, so that's what I'm doing today, but since I took a rest day yesterday, thinking I'll do something while I'm there. Was thinking atlas stones and deadlifts today, but my back is feeling pretty lit up, not sure from what. Guess I'll see how it feels after a good warm-up.

[katerina11]

my back is acting up, too and i can't sort what the cause is. it feels very tight in the thoracic region. i don't think it's from deadlifts on wednesday, but i've never had any thoracic issues after benching (benched on friday).

the gym is go to a pretty small, and there are lots of people who work out there who arent interested in powerlifting, but just want to lift with the coach/owner. he's a really cool guy who has a total of 2116. :shock:

i have gotten to see a couple of big benches, which was awesome to watch. one guy benches 500 for reps. mind = blown.

ian, wtg on the 165! my squat is pretty messed up. i keep telling myself that at this time next year my squat will be much improved, but i still sit in the pity pot pretty often when i think of my squat.

[jamsk8r]

So, seems like a few of us are working toward the goal of getting a strict pull-up. Of course, taking some bodyweight off will help, but I'm thinking I can approach it from a linear strength progression standpoint, too.

My idea is to start with whatever assistance band (or combination of bands) will let me get 3 sets of 5, then next session go for 4 sets of 5 reps, if I get that, then next session 5 sets of 5 reps. When I can get 5 sets of 5 reps, then I'll drop down a band size and start over with 3 sets of 5 (or work up to 3 sets of 5 if needed), then when I get there, go to 4 sets of 5, then 5 sets of 5, drop down another band size, etc.

If I can't hit all my reps, I'll just repeat that attempt next session, so say I'm trying to get 4 sets of 5 reps with just the green band, and I get 5-3-2-2 reps, then next time I'll try again, maybe get 5-4-3-2, and just keep repeating that attempt until I get 5-5-5-5, then I'll start going for 5 sets of 5. Hope that makes sense.

What do you think? Anybody else want to play? I'm thinking I will put this in Mon/Wed/Fri since those are days I'll definitely be at the gym. I might take the same approach to dips, and just see what happens.

[jamsk8r]

Okay, that was a bad example I made up, because obviously if I'm going for 4 sets of 5, I'd at least be able to do the first three sets of 5, lol. So it might be more like 5-5-5-3, but please forgive me. Trying to do too many things at once, here. lol.

[katerina11]

ill talk to my coach. i bet we could work that in for conditioning or bench day. i need to get a set of bands!

[Electro]

http://www.bodytribe.com/2013/01/17/...n-do-pull-ups/

This was a bit long winded, but gives me more to work with. My trainer started me on the negatives (hence the throw myself up and hope to make it looked like it was planned) and we have lats as part of my strengthening routine.

I have had the laziest weekend for Easter, but am heading to the gym after posting here.

[Electro]

Not having much luck with posting today. All over the place.

.

[jamsk8r]

Jenn, that was a long article, but sounds like a good plan.

Went and did my gym cleaning. Did not do a workout. Should have done the workout first, because by the time I finished gym cleaning I just wanted out of there and to go home. Lame, I know! Back to normal tomorrow.

On the plus side, my eating has been totally on plan, and no crazy cravings for junk. Cleaning up the eats is probably why I'm feeling half worn-out from doing nothing. I usually have a couple days' slump just from the carbs being lower, since I'm not taking in any high-carb sugar-bomb stuff. It'll even out in a few days, and in a week or so, energy levels should go up.

Early to bed for me, then gym first thing. I need to come up with a way to force myself to drink more water.

[Electro]

The gym was empty when i got there, so i did my legs workout and then played with some of the stuff from the article. I did some of the hang exercises and practiced packing my lats while at the bottom. I was able to make partial progress on the pull up that way. I also did negatives while no one was there. Still bad and this time I got to see what I was doing in the mirror. Hilarious.

There is this old gent who comes in and does weights. He was behind me the other day as I was lifting my baby weights and I was watching in the mirror as he seemed to be standing at the pull up bar, his forearms were straight down, his elbow bent to 45 degrees and he was swaying side to side. I assumed he was standing on a bench and warming up. But when I turned around he was hanging there like that. Just swinging from side to side before launching into a set of pull ups, chin ups and mixed grip.

He dropped down, no sweating, no huffing or grunting. Just threw on his jacket and left, looking like a hunched over old man!

I can do an assisted dip with only low support, but there is a weakness in my muscles that affects my pushups and my pull ups at a specific point in the progression. I want to do pull ups effortlessly like that guy! It's going to take a lot of practise. Ouch!

[RVAscreenwriter]

Hi, y'all! I am new to the thread, and new to exercising again. I don't know how, but I fell into a state of blub for a year. I just got back into regular exercise and doing weights about three weeks ago.

Ian - way to go on the squats!
jam - totally jealous of your eating on plan. Yesterday (Easter) was a disaster for me. I'll just have to do better today.

Since I just got back into lifting, I'm struggling a bit with my impatience at not lifting what I could when I was in peak shape. I know how dumb that sounds, but <shrug>

Right now, I'm only doing 75lb. American deadlifts (5-5-5), 75lb. bench press (5-5-5), which to me are my gauges of my own strength. My big thing is breaking the 100lb. barrier with my deadlifts. That will be a fine day.

[jamsk8r]

RVA, welcome back! Can't wait to hear when you break that 100 lb mark on the deadlift!

Jenn, WTG with the work on the pull-ups. I tried doing one today, just for kicks, but don't think I moved my torso more than it does tightening my lats, lol.

I went into the gym all prepared to do back squats, but my trainer decided we all needed a deload week, so no heavy lifting this week for me. He wants us to test all 3 lifts next week (squat, floor press, deadlift), though. Can't wait to see if I got stronger. Hoping for at least 5 lbs each on my previous deadlift and squat 1RM attempts. We'll see next week!

I put the strict pull-ups in my warm-up today, three sets of 5. Had to use a big green band plus a smaller red one to get the job done, but it's a place to start! Also put in bar dips, again three sets of 5 reps each, and used a green band for those. Finally, I figured I'd go ahead and work on my glute-ham developer (GHD) sit-ups, as I've let those slide some...did three sets of 10 reps each for a starting point.

Our workout today was just the crossfit group workout:
Run 400M
17 Overhead Squats 115/95
3 rope climbs
Run 300M
13 OH Squats
2 rope climbs
Run 200M
9 OH Squats
1 rope climb
all that one time through, for time.

I have a calf injury that's been super slow to heal and isn't ready for running yet, so I rowed the same distance each time, I used 45# for the OH squats since I am working on fixing my form on that lift (learned it wrong, now relearning it in a way that's healthier for my shoulders), and I did one rope climb per round, again because of the calf muscle, BUT, those were my first rope climbs since the injury, since every previous attempt resulted in the calf muscle cramping up so bad I couldn't walk on it. Very happy with that sign of progress! My time was 11 minutes and change, I think.

My trainer said the next strength cycle will be based around front squat, overhead press (aka strict press, no leg drive), and power cleans. For myself, I want to keep deadlifts, back squats and bench pressing in the mix, since I'd like to compete at some point this year. I've come up with a tentative plan for making that happen:

The group strength days are set, so I can't change those, but it did work out that I can add in the other lifts as follows:
Mon-front squat
Tue-overhead press
Wed-rest
Thu-back squat
Fri-bench
Sat-deadlift
Sun-rest

For deadlift I want to pull sumo for a while, see how I like it. For bench, I just need to keep working at getting into a good position, working the pause bench for powerlifting, and I feel like it's new enough to me that if I just keep it in the mix and work on improving my technique, my bench numbers will continue to improve. Only time will tell how this volume goes over, but I've done it before, just not quite as heavy, so as long as I don't break anything it should be fine for 9 weeks.

[katerina11]

I've thought about working on a strict pullup with you guys, but I think it might mess with my head to focus on weight loss, the big three *and* that. I am not very good at multitasking. I will watch on the sidelines and cheer for you all, though.

Hi, RVA! Do you really write screen plays? That's one of the coolest jobs out there, IMO. I was friendly with a screen writer a number of years ago. He was so brilliant and sweet and interesting. Strength comes back quick. I bet you hit 100 soon! Glad to have you aboard.

Cheryl, It looks like a solid plan. Will you do WOD's as well as the strength stuff every day?I only do conditioning once a week. I might melt in a puddle if I did more.

Do you do all 17 OH squats in one go??I struggle mightily with those. I got up to 90 pounds for 1 rep. And never did more than 5 reps for the bar. Such a tough lift.

I have 13 days.of training left before I go to my first meet. Today was squats.
Work up to a couple singles at 165. One without a belt, which had a forward lean. Belted much improved for the second 165. Then:
175x1 190x1 205x1
Add wraps for the following two squats:
205x1 205x1
No more wraps
190x1 190x1 190x1

Good mornings 135x5 145x5 155x4

Solid. Getting excited. That first 205 without wraps was going really slow on eccentric, and I got no stretch reflex. I basically paused in the hole waiting for the "UP!" cue from my coach, and then pushed like **** to get past my sticking point in concentric, where my squat stopped despite me pushing up with everything I had. It finally started moving again, and never dipped, so coach said it would have passed. The others were fine. Hard, but solid.

I still need to work out cues, but I was surprised about how well those lifts went. I always rack the weight too soon.

Weight today was 223.6, as expected after Easter. If I keep my head screwed on straight about food, I am pretty sure I will be 220 or so by next Monday.

[jamsk8r]

Kat, solid work on the back squats! How are the knee wraps different from lifting without them? I haven't tried them yet, or sleeves or anything. I am trying to learn to "fight through" heavy weights instead of dumping them. In crossfit they don't really use spotters, even on max effort days, so they train you to bail when you get stuck. I've had to retrain myself to use and rely on a spotter or pins, lol.

I really want to break 200 on that lift. 185 was my best ever 1RM before I blew out my shoulder, 175 was my most recent one. (last fall?) Hoping to at least hit 185 in the gym next week.

I'm excited for you about your first meet! Can't wait to hear all about it. Do you know what your attempts will be yet? What federation is the meet with? I'm so confused by all the different federations and wish I knew what to pick as a natural lifter.

Regarding the overhead squats, for that particular workout, no, they were not meant to be unbroken, since the prescribed weight was on the heavy side for a crossfit workout. Most everybody had to break up the first two rounds of squats into 2 or 3 sets for the first round, 2 sets for the second, and then everybody TRIED to get through the final nine without dropping the bar, but that only worked for some. The peeps that were doing the prescribed weight pretty much hit failure there and had to do the final round in sets or 2 or 3 reps each. There was much bar dropping and cursing all around, lol.

I'm getting antsy already from not lifting anything yesterday. I think my only recourse will be to try to go heavy in the crossfit workouts this week, so I don't go crazy. I'd rather be deadlifting.