Deadlifts and the deal of the day!

Since I haven't lifted yet, I'll start with the deal: all Bug Guard products are on sale now, just in time before mosquitoes start chowing down on all of us. Avon Bug Guard products on sale This is the one I'm getting, the jumbo size to keep on the front porch. I think the wipes will be good to have on hand in my purse too.

In happy somewhat lifting-related news, I stopped traffic today while walking the dog. A nice man decided that I should have the right of way despite the stop sign right in front of me and the cars behind him. So, confusing all the other cars, I got the cross the street with my little dog without waiting at all and a minimum of embarrassment, because I mostly thought it was funny. Yay weightlifting for lifting my butt!

For some reason I cannot wait to get in the gym this evening to dead lift. Will update on volume dead lift day as soon as its finished. The standing presses I did and sucked at yesterday left me with an interesting case of upper back and shoulders DOMS, which probably means I should be doing them more often. Bench presses are ore fun though, but I bet strengthening that part of my back will help both my bench and dead.

Update: well that pretty much sucked. I had to use a power cage rather than the fixed squat rack, I don't card for that clear of a view in the mirror while lifting but its not such a big deal. Warmed up with 6 minutes on the Arc Trainer, then quick squats 1 x 10 x air, 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 3 x 95, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 140. 140 is the most I've squatted since the most recent back tweak, so I was pleased with these. On to dead lifts, which were the main lift I was training, 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 5 x 155, planned to do 2 x 5 x 175, no way. 2 x 2 x 175, tried a double underhand grip I saw a girl dead lifting on youtube using, that did not work at all, dropped 20 pounds down, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 5 x 155, and stopped lifting, dejected. Going for the 2 x 5 x 175 next time for dead lifts. Taking Thursday and Friday off from the gym, Saturday squats 1 x 10 x air, 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 3 x 95, 1 x 3 x 115, 1 x 3 x 125, 1 x 3 x 135, 3 x 3 x 140.

Yay, I got my avon kit!

It came with a hilariously flirty UPS man. The dog was frothing at the mouth, growling and jumping for a piece of him, as he does when a stranger or the mailman comes to the door, so I ran out to apologize for the Killer Yorkie. The UPS guy leered at me, handed me the surprisingly heavy box and said, "No problem baby."

The kit has two full-size products, an age-spot eraser with SPF in it and a Skin-so-soft lotion. I'm not sure where I stand on the scent of the Skin-so-soft. There isn't anything wrong with it perse, its just so, traditional. I've used the age-spot eraser on the sides of my face where I have some big freckles twice, last night and today. No change yet, which would be great but weird if it worked that fast anyway. The feel, scent and packaging of the product, from the Anew line, are all good and comparable to department store skin care.

Since I also worked yesterday, wanted to work out and go to my mom's house to drop off the brochures, I had a time-crunch to deal with and decided to just squat. I warmed up with the usual six minutes on the Arc-trainer, then squats: 1 x 10 x air, 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 5 x 115, 3 x 5 x 125, 3 x 3 x 130. I'm happy with that. Knowing there would be nothing going on with work today, I slept in and went to the gym for the rest of the training. Warm-up, five hard minutes on the arc-trainer, one minute cool-down. Bench press, all paused: 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 3 x 2 x 100, 1 x 3 x 100. PR for paused bench presses! Mike spotted me and helped with a lift-off for the last 3 sets. I lifted to failure, didn't count the assisted lifts.

Deads next, 2 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 2 x 175, 1 x 2 x 185, 2 x 1 x 195- these were freakin hard to keep form on, 1 x 2 x 185. Came home, showered and walked the dog, drank a glass of buttermilk and had a tin of sardines, later had a salmon mayo sandwich. Now I am ready for a nap- but no worries about short gym hours for the holiday weekend. On Monday they will be open 7am to 6pm, so I should be able to get a squat session in then.

Getting impatient and trying out high bar squats.

Session from 11/10; I wanted to lift and couldn't bear to spend more then 5 minutes warming up, so 5 minutes on the elliptical. After watching the world powerlifting meet all weekend and seeing every lifter use high bar squats, I decided to give it a shot. Low bar has been back problems for me consistently in spite of the claim I've read that it places less stress on the lower back. Maybe that is true in general, but where I am fractured (or whatever has happened back there) the low bar position doesn't work for me. So, I grabbed the trainer who knows what he is doing, and is familiar with both the low-bar via Rippetoe and high-bar via competing, to watch me.

1 x 8 x 45, felt awkward as hell. 2 x 5 x 65, better, easier to reach depth. 1 x 5 x 95, nice, getting used to looking straight ahead. 3 x 5 x 105, super comfortable. What the hell, add 10 pounds and do three sets of one rep each to see how it goes. I did one rep at 115, it was dreamy so instead of racking the bar I did two more.

Note to self: knee sleeves and a belt are good, helpful things. On to bench, 1 x 8 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 4 x 85, my plan was to do 4 x 4 x 95, no lift off, but instead did 2 x 3 x 95, 1 x 2 x 95 bummed and pissed now. Took ten pounds off and did 2 x 5 x 85, 1 x 6 (with spotter, good one, no hands) 85.

Time for some pulls, lat pulldowns, 1 x 8 x 60, 1 x 8 x 70, 1 x 5 x 85, 2 x 6 x 85, varied my grip for all of these. Seated rows, 2 x 6 x 70, 1 x 8 x 70. I'm kind of surprised that doing this bro upper back stuff made my back feel better, so plan to add that in on non-deadlift days.

Today, squats 3 x 3 x 115, bench, 100 if I can find a spotter, see what happens with 95 if not. Deadlift 3 x 3 x 135. Overhead presses dependent on lower back, 65-70 lbs.

Modified Westside

A Fitocracy member linked to an interesting article about lifting and running, and the author, a super-built guy who also runs Ironmans, recomended using Westside programming. My lifts are so low that 55% for the dynamic effort days would be embarassing- sorry but I'm vain, so I already broke the rules. The first workout! I started with dynamic deadlift day, which is supposed to be 8 x 3 x 55% of your 1 rep max. Thinking my 1 rep max was 185 I did the math and came up with under 102 lbs. So I loaded it up with 135 and did the 8 x 3. I did not do any accessory work.

Tomorrow, Monday will be bench and squat day maxing up to singles. This is a normal heavy bench and squat day for me anyway, and will be the last heavy squat day for me before squat camp this weekend. On Saturday I took two yoga classes, the regular long one and the kids class right afterward. It was fun, definitely not relaxing but how relaxed do you need to be on a Saturday morning? I'm looking forward to taking it with my niece.

My cat still isn't right, I'm going to get a second opinion.

Poor kitty. He woke me up at 5:30 this morning so I went to yoga at 6am, nice class. Then worked out this evening. Deadlifts were the main event, so warmed up with alternating 3 x 12 x push-ups and hyperextensions. power cleans 2 x 5 x 45, power snatch, got to see my belly bouncing in the mirror and cut these off. 1 x 3 x 45. Wear longer shirts on power snatch day! Overhead squat 1 x 5 x 45, 1 x 8 x 45, 2 x 8 x 55, 1 x 5 x 65. Ready for deads. 1x3x 135, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 1 x 165, 2 x 1 x 175, 2 x 1 x 185! 2 x 3 x 165, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 5 x 135. And done.

As a nice contrast to the belly embarrassment, today while walking the dog in short shorts I stopped traffic twice! That was a bit of an ego boost, esp since one of them was a guy we know, who didn't recognize me from the back, hooted, had to slow down for a speed-bump and realized it was me so backed up to chat. Of course I gave him a hard time for the mating call.

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.

Catching up

Wednesday am I went to yoga, having completely forgetting to go at 4pm Tuesday. I was busy working. Then, Wednesday I did not train a with weights. Thursday was Thanksgiving, and making that turkey was exhausting. Today, I lifted.

The plan was to squat, bench and deadlift as heavy as possible and then have a couple of back-off sets, but I did not get the memo that bench=pressing, bicep curling and all of its variants are of VITAL IMPORTANCE to do on Black Firday, as so did not have access to the weights and benches necessary. Warm-up was 2 x 12 x hyperextensions, 2 x 12 x push-ups. Squats, 1 x 12 x air, 1 x 10 x 45, 1 x 5 x 65, 1 x 5 x 95, 1 x 3 x 115, 3 x 3 x 125, tough but okay, 5 x 3 x 115, these started to feel good and go up nicely during the final two sets. Did one set each of dumbbell bench and one-armed dumbbell benchss 1 x 8 x 20, 1 x 5 x 20 as a warm-up, then did not have any more weights to use so after standing around waiting for some guys to finish warming up with the 25 and 30 lb dumbbells (long enough to realize that they were not in fact warming up but were doing their work-sets) I gave up on that.

So I deadlifted, 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 2 x 155, 4 x 1 x 165, yucky form breakdown in the last rep, 1 x 2 x 155. Overhead squats 1 x 5 x 45, 3 x 5 x 65, and one last set each of push-ups and hyperextensions.

Then it was the time I was waiting for, shower, brow wax and long pedicure. So nice. I hit the grocery store for a slab of salmon for lunch, had that with half of a ripe avacodo and am starting to feel normal again.

Almost forgot to add the period report. Hey, some other peri-menopause ladies who lift may find it informative. Anyway, today my period started and the session was fine. For me, it is the week preceeding that has the most issues as far as relative weakness and uncoordination. PMS for the win! Not really.

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.

I thought it was Taco Day

but instead it was Unwanted and Odd Advice Day. actually,the first batch of advice I got for my deadlift wasn't all that unusal. Amateur coach #1 advised me to use a mixed grip for all sets rather than just the heavy ones, and to look up at the ceiling at all times. I smiled and thanked him and ignored the advice. I'm trying to use the form recommended by Rippetoe by the way. Coach #2 was better. He came over and said I needed to scrape my knees on the way up, along with looking at the ceiling at all time. He is a chiropractor, and thus knows about backs. At this point I was doing my back-off set with 155 lbs, so I asked if he would demonstrate proper form.

With God as my witness, he took 20 lbs off of the bar and then said, it still might be too heavy- for him! Then he showed me some goofy deadlifts. Somehow I hadn't fainted with the sight of a man, who wanted to tell me how to deadlift complain about lifting 135 lbs, and he decided to help me even more and discuss squats. I should look on Youtube for advice, he said, and got two 2.5 lb plates and said to put them under your heels while squatting...Yeah. I laughed and said 'Please stop!' and waved him away. A woman can only take so much.

Tonight I warmed up for Deadlift only day with lat pulldowns alternating with sets of push-ups, lat pulldowns 1 x 8 x 50, 1 x 6 x 60, 3 x 10 x 70, push-ups 3 x 10. Then did hyperextensions 2 x 15. Deadlifts were 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 155, 2 x 3 x 165, 1 x 3 x 155, 1 x 5 x 135. These went well other then the clownshow. Then, walked on the treadmill 2.5 miles. Tomorrow, no lifting, early yoga and walking.

New workout pants!

I just got home from a mall with two new pairs of stretchy workout capris. I tried on several pairs and brands of running shorts, which look so cute and comfortable on many of the other women I train with, but for some reason on me they look like I stole Grandma's panties. So, capris it is. I also found some cute tops at Banana Republic on sale, as they were from Summer. Since it is 90 degrees here I went for it. God knows I have enough cute hoodies and jackets to wear over them if it ever becomes cooler. Hey, it started pouring, maybe I am getting my wish. See, buying sleeveless tops did the trick.

I took yoga this morning, today my back and shoulders are a little stiff but whatever. Tonight the plan is to warm up with some lat pull-downs, push-ups and back extensions, three sets of ten each, then deadlift, 1 x 3 x 135, 1 x 3 x 155, 2 x 3 x 165, back down 2 x 3 x 155, 1 x 5 x 135. Then hit the treadmill for my two miles, so far so good as avoiding shinsplints goes, I will increase the distance to 2.5.

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.

Good squat day

Today I squatted 3x5x100 no problem. Do you have any idea how much enjoyment I get out of typing that? A lot. So, next time I am going for 105. Then, bench 3x4x75, single arm dumbbell bench 3x5x25. Deadlift 2x5x135, two sets of back extensions. I repped out the deads as it has been a sticking point for me, I think it has to be a back strength issue as I never feel it in my glutes and legs. The plan is that power cleans will make my back stronger too. Monday will be jump squats at 55lbs, overhead press 60 lbs, power cleans at 75lbs, so the only weight increase is for overhead press and I will work on reps for the cleans as well as making that lift technically better. I'll probably Spin beforehand. Side note, the gym had its annual Spin-o-rama today which is when people spin for up to three hours for charity. Never have I seen more unhappy looking folks!

Monday heavy lifts

Friday's workout turned into Saturday. I did 3x5x95 squats which got a little ugly at the end, and 1x5x135 deadlifts. Plan for Monday is 3x5x100 squats and 1x5x140 deadlifts. Home behaving and eating protein today which should help make it happen. I may be watching the niece on Tues and Thursday nights, and considering taking the four pm yoga classes at those times. That makes it, Monday Spin and heavy lift, Tues yoga, Weds Zumba and power lift day (bench, overhead press, jump squat, hang cleans)Thurs yoga, Friday Zumba and lifting. Only three cardio days then unless I add some weekend work or exchange the yoga for Spin, which is offered at the same time. We will see.

Planning Friday's workout

It will be different from most Fridays as I have a friend coming over to catch up on things at the time I usually go, so I'll need to go to the gym earlier in the day. The interval treadmill running class is beckoning but I'm unsure of putting 100 lb squats right after that, so I may just warm up on the elliptical. The elliptical is boring but between that, back extensions (which I forgot to do on Weds with the excitement of being asked to demonstrate a correct squat and all) and bar squats should do the job. So, I'm going for four by four at 100 lbs, then deadlifts at 135 for five reps. Not five sets of one or anything else like that. I need to see that I can do this before raising weight again. That is it for Friday, I have a lot of social stuff planned for the weekend so may not get back in the gym until Monday night.

A better deadlift

First this, for one thing my dyslexia has been going through the roof, it is seriously easier for me to type the inverse of words so if you are reading the first draft of this I apologize. Also, woke up with a closed shut throat this morning. I am not even surprised, after the emotional and financial stress of the past two weeks it was inevitable that my body reacted somehow, first with bloat and now this. It wasn't so bad to keep me in bed all day and I went to the gym

Good warmup on the elliptical, 12 bodyweight back extensions, 3x8xsled hack squats. Starting Strength refuses to acknowledge the existence of this exercise as a good thing, but it feels like a good and decent barbell squat stand-in and really targets my glutes. I'm keeping it unless I read some compelling evidence that hack squats are physically bad. Dumbell bech press, 1x8x15, 1x5x20, 1x5x25, 2x5x30, 1x4x30, oh yeah.Bench worked up to 3x5x65. Back extensions 1x12x5lb plate. Deadlifts, 1x3x95, 1x3x115, 1x3x135! Got the big wheels back on it. Last set of back extensions 1x12x10 and I was done. Came home, had 2 Reeses peanut butter cups, refridgerated, the best way to have them, and a tuna sandwich. Then I tried to sleep through this cold but woke up with the damn thing still there.

Great article and video about lifting

This article written by female powerlifter Molly Galbraith is a great read for men or women who want the most out of their (our) training, with videos too! I'm a skimmer, and will refer back to it a few more times to absorb the information, but it looks like I'm on the right track as far as concentrating on big compound lifts goes.Tomorrow, bench press and deadlifts.

Finally back into training

Yesterday was the first day I ventured into the gym since getting the Plague. Its a good thing I took it easy as I am feeling muscle soreness today, that said, its better to feel sore after actually doing something rather then being ill. I warmed up on the ellipitcal for ten minutes and did 15 back extensions. When I started lifting I warmed up on the rowing machine but the elliptical works better for an all-around warm up I find. Then, onto the squat rack. My issues with form and adding weight to the bar prompted the decision to completely reset on squats. I did three sets/ ten reps or bar-only squats and, am feeling it in my quads today. Then onto bench where I gradually added weight to the bar to three work sets of 65 lbs. So, lighter then usual. I did two sets of bar presses on the upright bench while waiting for the rack to reopen up, then one set, five reps of 95 lb deads, one set five reps of 115. Finished it off with another set of back extensions and called it a day. Today my muscles are letting me know they did something, which I love. Next training session, Friday.

Dizzy after training today

So I had it all figured out, my squat stalled because I needed more recovery time. Then I read more stuff (Damm that reading!) and came across a blog that said women need less recovery time then men. That, combined with being less then thrilled about the pilates/Spin class plans for tonight led to barbell training a day ahead of time instead. Since squats are a sticking point, the new plan is to practice the hell out of them and do my best while keeping it low and good form. Presses were light today too, just 50 lbs, then followed them with Romanian deadlifts at 95 lbs. Had a twingy back so okay with that weight for now. Power cleans wrapped it up at 55 lbs and a set on those inverted back things (sorry brain stall). Sounds like an easy day but I was drained and dizzy after, needed to take a seat for a few minutes before hopping in the shower and still feeling Gumby-ish. Also I broke a nail but that's fine, am cutting them all down to prepare for the hiking trip in the mountains next week- WHOO Hoo!

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.

Saturday procrastination

Some things are easy to do. Going to the gym, getting a pedicure, shopping, all easy. Some things I dread, and one of them, coloring my hair will not wait one more day unless I am going for 'distinguished' as a descriptor. Where the dislike of doing this comes from I'm not sure, ok it's messy and takes an hour but that includes lots of activities I engage in and some are my favorites. The last time I had it done professionally was not satisfactory, took three times as long and cost tons more, maybe keeping that in mind will help.

Lifting was a serious consideration today but the muscle soreness in my hamstrings from the Romanian deadlifts I added to the routine Thursday changed my mind, so I took a Spin class instead. Definitely adding the Romanian deads in regularly on non-deadlift days as they worked my hamstrings, next thing I need to add is ab work. Yes, I am possibly the only woman who works out regularly who avoids ab work and it is becoming an issue as in, I suspect weak abs are interfering with my squats. Blah! I'd rather do two hours of cardio every day then work abs but that won't make them any stronger.