Knocking on wood

So, new programming for squat progress has been going well as well as the change to high-bar. I squat twice a week, when the weight is increased by 5 pounds, the first session of the week is 3 x 3 at the new weight. On the second I do 5 sets of three. Next session, increase by another five pounds and do 3 x 3 and so on. Yesterday, 3 x 3 x 130, Sunday, 5 x 3 x 130. Weds 3 x 3 x 135, yay!! Forcing myself to take two days recovery between sessions has helped too. It is extremely hard sometimes to stay out of the weight room, but as long as this is working it is the plan.

Bench press has stalled at 95, so whenever I have a good spotter available I'll go for heavier weights. 100 Sunday (with spotter) 95 if no one is around. I've been approaching deadlifts with caution since the last back breakdown. Monday topped them out with a set of 3 at 165, then one of 2 also at 165. Sunday I'll go for 3 x 3 x 165 to see how that feels. Adjusted if its very light or something is off. Sleeping, eating and yoga in the meantime.

In just over three weeks I'll be on my skiing vacation- cannot wait. Actually its more like ski-camp. I have ten lift tickets and six lessons so, yeah. Lots of time on the slopes. I absolutely love it.

Almost forgot, on non-deadlift days I've continued to do the lat pulldowns and cable rows. Am using 100lbs after warmup sets for these. The plate jump is huge, I went from 85 last week to 100 last night, because I tried it and could. So when I get to 8 manageable reps with 100 on both I'll go heavier with this. The extra back work has made me feel more balanced and comfortable.

I've really had to try a lot of things beyond the basic Starting Strength program to progress. It may work for a woman like me, age and fitness level, with an SS coach standing there watching everything. When you are on your own, the game is completely different. I'm glad I found it to get ne started though, if I'd had to start with the New Rules of Lifting for Women, also highly recommended but so freaking complicated you need a spreadsheet for the exercises, I'd probably have given up long ago.

yoga, squats and bench press

This morning I slept-walked thru 6am yoga but it was still worth going. Trying to explain how much better regular yoga makes me feel is difficult, basically it makes me comfortable in my body. Lifting, on the other hand, instill confidence and swagger which I love. Tonight I went in a squatted, topping out at 3 x 3 x 130 when my lower back started to feel it. Next heavy squat day going for 3 x 5 x 130, and I may try it with one of the loaner belts at the gym then too. My sister was working out too, and going through the circuit of machines, so when it was time to bench I went over there and dragged her off of that silly shit to bench with me. She did well, topping out at 3 x 5 x 60. My benched topped out at 3 x 3 x 95, 3 x 5 x 85. Tomorrow is Saturday morning yoga, the long class, Sunday deadlift day.

Cloud lifted

I have to wonder if its partly due to the weather cooling down and drying out a bit. Its going to warm up again (talking air-conditioner time yet again) but at least there is a little break. Had my leg veins pricked today, so lifted heavy in anticipation of having to take a few days off of the gym.

Squats, 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 5 x 105, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 2 x 2 x 135, back started talking to me on the second set so backed off the weight, 3 x 3 x 125. These were wonky until the third set when I finally got everything tight and aggro. 3 x 5 x 115. Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, had to look around for 10lb plates as two curl bros came over and stole mine, 1 x 3 x 95, 1 x 3 x 100- Whoot! Had a spotter and lift-off, these practically flew off. 1 x 1 x 100. Boo! Tried by myself and my head got in the way. Pouted for a while and went down to 95 again, 2 x 3 x 95. This may have been three sets, lost count. (Yes I lost count on the way to three!) 2 x 5 x 85.

Romanian deadlift 2 x 8 x 95, 2 x 8 x 100 ugh. Deadlift basically just to practice form 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 5 x 135, also some sets of hyperextensions here and there.

Tomorrow I may take yoga, one of my nieces has to have surgery on her ear so if I can get in touch w her mom to find out when I'll go there instead. Friday evening supposed to meet friends out, may depend on if she is better from the flu earlier this week, then Saturday go to a memorial concert and art show for my friend who died a couple of weeks ago.

Stop slacking! (note to self)

Slept alot today to try to avoid the cold I'm starting to get becoming worse. Went to yoga at 4pm, good hard class. Then lifts, squats 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 2 x 3 x 105, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 3 x 2 x 130, 1 x 3 x 125, 1 x 2 x 125, 2 x 5 x 115. Bench presses were taken, including one sort of taken by a guy using it to lean on while doing dumbbell rows, ignoring the open benches in the dumbbell area. Dumbbell bench, 1 x 8 x 20, 1 x 8 x 25. Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 2 x 3 x 90, 1 x 1 x 90, 1 x 3 x 85, feeling very unmotivated here. Had to force myself to do the Romanian deads. 4x8x95 and out. It's an hour and a half later and my legs are feeling it. Yoga tomorrow, olympic lifts and overhead squats Thursday.

Yoga and bench press

Up early for yoga, always challenging but I'm improving at the postures. Then bench press, still tough to attack weights after reaching Zen. 12 push-ups, Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 1 x 1 x 95, 1 x 2 x 95, got a spotter for lift off and encouragement, 3 x 3 x 95- Thank-you Gary! 1 x 10 x 75. One arm dumbell presses, 1 x 5 x 20, 1 x 5 x 25, 1 x 5 x 30, done. I need to catch up on sleep this weekend, also noticing that Olympic lifts require more recovery for my shoulders and upper back. I have got to start running if I am still going to do that trail run in March which is already paid for. Love this cool weather, it really seems like the Christmas season this year, much more then it did last year.

Solid workout, back on track.

Trained this morning after a Boston creme doughnut for breakfast on the way to the gym. Carbs! Squats 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 3 x 5 x 105. Hyperextensions 3 x 12. Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 2 x 2 x 95, 3 x 3 x 90, 1 x 4 x 85, 1 x 8 x 75. One-arm dumbbell bench press 1 x 6 x 20, 5 x 6 x 30. Deadlifts 1 x 3 x 135, 3 x 3 x 145 and hit the showers. It is a wonderfully cool day. Tomorrow, yoga and walking with .25 mile of jogging, I don't know though, no problems with shinsplints so maybe I can add another .25 mile in there. Will see. Friday lifts, 3 x 12 push-ups alternate w 3 x 12 hypers, squats up to 3 x 3 x 110, clean and press as high as possible, then power cleans wherever that is, probably 77.5 5 x 3. Power snatch 45lbs, overhead squats 5 x 5 x 65. Ambitious!

Update, the Belly of Doom has gone way down and has been that way for while now. Yay! I wish I knew what I am doing right.

More changes

I got to the gym late due to life interfering, started with squats 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 5 x 115, 3 x 5 x 125, lower back started complaining during the last two reps of the third set, I wanted to do 3 x 5 x 115, but my lower back felt like it was collasping so did 1 x 3 x 115. Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 1 x 1 x 95, 1 x 1 x 100, 2 x 2 x 95, 1 x 3 x 95, 3 x 5 x 85. I had just over a half hour left of the gym being open, and decided to use the treadmill and move deadlifts to tomorrow rather then rush through them. So, I walked on the treadmill, 4.0-4.2 miles per hour, playing with the incline from 0 to 2 for 2 miles, and wrapped it up just as the gym closed. Clearly my lower back is limiting my progress in squats, so moving deads to a different session and making it a 'back day' hopefully will help. Tomorrow, yoga, deads, back accessory work, walking.

Tight left shoulder

I'm not sure what I did but my left shoulder and neck don't want to turn and twist like normal, which makes driving challenging amoung other things. I took yoga yesterday morning and today but so far its the same. I hope it feels better tonight so I can lift, today would be an Oly-style training day with a lot of overhead work. If I have to put it off it kind of screws up the weekend lifting schedule, but when it hurts to shrug thats probably a sign. Dammit.

Forgot to log this, well it is logged on Fitocracy so I could toggle between the sites or just wing it. My shoulder and upper back mobility were okay so I decided to go for an abbreviated lifting session. Warmed up w 12 air squats, 1 x 10 x 45 back squats, then 3 rounds of 3 x 8 x 45 front squats, 3 x 10 push-ups, 3 x 8 x 45 overhead presses. Power cleans 2 x 5 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, clean and press 1 x 1 x 75, 5 x 1 x 70, 1 x 5 x 65. Back to power cleans 5 x 3 x 75. Overhead squats 5 x 5 x 45. Walked on the treadmill for 2 miles, working slowly up to this repetitive cardio again to avoid shinsplints this time.

Tomorrow squats 3 x 5 x 125, just going to grind them out, haven't decided whether to rep bench press at 95 going for 3 x 5 x 95, or lift heavier at lower reps. I'll play that by ear depending on how it goes. Then deadlifts 2 x 3 x 165 as I had to single out at 175 last time and could tell my form wasn't good. Just need to be aggro and strong. Walk another two miles.

Pretty good night

The gym was crowded but I got a squat rack. 1 x 10 x air, 1 x 10 x bar, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 5 x 3 x 135. Watching some good bench press videoes, I noticed that some women had their legs further apart while benching. Now, it is hard to let go of 'lady-like' attempts to keep the legs together while on the bench but I let that go, spread em and planted my whole foot on the floor on either side and got comfortable. That made a HUGE difference. Warm-up 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, then 5 x 5 x 90 good powerful benches. I am doing them that way from now on. Deads 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 1 x 155, 2 x 3 x 170, good deads in spite of a lot of traffic where I was. Two sets of 15 back extensions and out.
Tomorrow having a light day with front and overhead squats and power cleans.

Squats, bench, deadlift, yoga

The last time I lifted was Friday, on Saturday I took a Spin class, did not train Sunday or Monday. Today the plan goals are 3 x 3 x 135 squats, 3 x 3 x 100 bench press (why not) 2 x 3 x 170, deadlift. Then take yoga and home. I'm adding a set of push-ups and overhead presses to the squat warm-up, and back extensions at the end after deadlifting. I will update with the details after the session.

Wow it seems like I posted that so long ago! This was a great lifting session, I started with 12 air squats, 10 push-ups and 10 overhead presses of the bar. Then back squats 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 2 x 125, 5 x 3 x 135. The curse of 135 is broken! 140 lbs on the next heavy day.

Bench press 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 3 x 85, 1 x 2 x 95, 1 x 1 x 100, went for 2 but failed on the way up. 1fail at 105. 1 x 8 x 80, whcih was an amrap at 80% of max.

Deads, 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 2 x 155, 1 x 1 x 165, 5 singles at 170, needed mixed grip to get these off the ground. 15 back extensions and done. Got a chocolate milk and bag of peanuts at a 7-11 so I wouldn't try to hurt anyone as I had to pick up glasses at the optical place. It was crowded as hell, but when I told the Dr. I would come back another day she got them for me right then. Which was nice. I came home, walked the dog and ate a bunch of stuff. My CNS is buzzing, I feel like I couldn't focus on work to save my life.

Just noticed the title of this post, I slept longer then usual and didn't make it to yoga.

Time to wrap my mind around it.

Today was mental day. Started off with 1 x 12 x air squats, Burgener warm-up with the 35# bar, 1 x 5 x 35 overhead squats. Have I mentioned how tough overhead squats are? Olympic weightlifters are badass for thesalone. 1 x 12 x push-ups. Burgener warm-up with the 45# bar. The quick overhead press jerked my back a bit, so stopped doing those. 1 x 6 x 45 overhead squats.

Back squats, 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 5 x 2 x 135 getting used to the big plates. I know I can do this, it is a matter of convincing my mind that I got it. 1 x 3 x 135 yay!

Bench press, 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x85, 5 x 2 x 95, 1 x 3 x 95. Only one set of three here as I didn't have a spotter, that last third one was a grind. Still pleased.

Power cleans, 1 x 5 x 45, 2 x 3 x 65, 2 x 3 x 75, hit the wall hard here, I just did not want to do another thing. This session was fasted, may have something to do with it, I don't know. Stopped cleaning, 1 x 10 x 45 overhead press, 1 x 8 x 45 bicep curl, 1 x 15 x back extensions, need to start doing these again. Went to the locker room and had 3 mini hershey bars.

Thoughts on today, training fasted works well at first, no tummy issues to distract me at first, but not so great for a long session. I haven't figured out an efficient way to work in power cleans along with heavy sessions yet. The 45 plates weren't as intimidating today, taking it day by day should be all right. I plan to squat with the 45's every session to get totally used to them until its just no big deal. The positive mental aspect of the squats and bench presses today made this a very worthwhile session.

Bench Press Personal Record!

To get this up to date, Friday took a Spin class, easy recovery day. Today, Saturday, heavy lift day. I started with squats, 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 5 x 105, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 1 x 2 x 135, 1 x 1 x 135, failed the second rep to the rails, totally mental fail. Singled the rest out 5 x 1 x 135. I have to get my brain in line with squatting the big plates.

Bench press 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 3 x 3 x 95 oh yeah! I will have 100 lb bench presses in time for my 45th birthday. Deadlifts, 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 2 x 155, lost grip, 1 x 3 x 155 alternate grip, 1 x 2 x 165. Good deadlifts. Overhead press 3 x 10 x 45, bicep curls 3 x 8 x 45.

Amusingly, (or alarmingly if you asked my mom) I am actually 'swole' after this session. In other news, the puppy put himself in his crate for a nap. I am in love with this little dog. Video soon of my awesome accomplishment and the cutie.

The rest of the week

Tuesday I took a yoga class that was perfect for a stiff like me. Wednesday the lower back still felt a little funny so I took a Spin class instead of lifting. That was fun and the extra blood flow probably helped my back recover, so while I'm concentrating on lifting the plan is to shelve the long distance running and keep cardio to spin class and some interval treadmill work. Today, I lifted weights.

Squats, 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 5 x 105,(this is more warm-up sets then usual to test out the back) 1 x 5 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 1 x 1 x 135, 1 x 2 x 135, decided not to push it while the going was good, 135# squats next week! I vow not to do anything stupid to mess up my training until I make 225# squats. Not that I plan to do something dumb immediately after that. 2 x 10 x push-ups, 1 x 3 x 125, 2 x 5 x 115 and done. First heavy squat set since the diving incident.

Bench press 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 85, 1 x 5 x 90 with a good spotter who gave me a lift-off. Love you Eddie! 3 x 3 x 90, no spot for these. I will have that 100# bench press soon.

Deadlifts 3 x 3 x 135, still taking care of the lower back.I bet once that is no longer a weak spot my lifts will fly up in weight. Bicep curls 2 x 8 x 45. Then Yoga class. Tomorrow I may take a day off or hit Spin.

125 lb deadlift, big wheels here I come!

They weren't pretty but I managed 5 reps for a personal best. This will be the weight for the next dead-lift session also, I need to make sure it's all good before going heavier. 65 lb squats, still getting used to the low bar position. The whole point of going low bar is to lift heavy weights, so if it turns out it just doesn't work for me back to regular high bar I will go. Either way, I refuse to give up on squats just because they are hard and sometimes disappointing. 65 lb bench-press too, nice and solid for all three sets so next bench session going for 70, about time I get back there. I actually did ab work- a set of crunches on the Swiss ball that Rippetoe hates so much and two sets of back extensions, one before and one set after dead lifting.