Abquest
Well, I'm starting a log now here even though I am at the end of Stage 1. The reason for the name? Well, everyone wants to see abs of course, but I would like to see mine because I have NEVER seen them.
Originally I started Body for Life in September 2006 because at 43, I was a wreck. I was having trouble getting out of chairs--literally had to use my arms to push me up. I was in that deplorable state because after over 20 years of chronic hepatitis c, I had gone through a year of hideous interferon/ribavirin treatment. The good news is, I am clear of the disease. The bad news was, my muscle mass was eaten away and I was really weak and feeling terrible. The treatment makes you feel like you have the flu all the time, so I was unable to even walk around the block, and I had no appetite at all--I had to take a prescription to keep myself from being nauseated all of the time, but it didn't help much. I didn't gain all that much while I was sick, but I lost massive amounts of muscle.
Body for Life was perfect for me at the time because I have always been interested in weightlifting, and have always had an affinity for it as I think of myself as being a strong person and my arms always responded by looking great with just a little lifting. Over the 20 years I was sick, I went over 15 not knowing I had the disease, just wondering if I was a malingerer or what since I got sick all the time and didn't have any stamina. I went to the gym regularly, but had no decent program and very little energy.
Now, I'm 45, clear of disease, and over this last period I have lost only 20 lbs scale weight, but nearly 20% bodyfat--I started out at 45%(!!!!) and 185, and now I'm 165 or so and around 27% according to every online calculator, 29% on my omron. I am stronger than any woman I know and I have so much energy.
So with all that being said, here I am doing the NROL for women. Here is my workout from today:
squat--100x10x3
T Pushup--10x3 with perfect form
seated row--100x10x3
step up with 40 lbs in dumbells--10, 8, 6
Prone Jacknife--10x3 (Yes I know it was supposed to be 15. I was confused.)
Then I did 20 minutes of HIIT with 6 cycles of 30 sec hard, 90 sec easy.
I'm looking forward to the next stage but I am a little intimidated by the push presses. I am not very coordinated. SO if anyone is still reading this I could use advice on how much weight to start with.
WEll, I'm excited to be here and I'll try to be good about posting regularly! Here are my pics from when I started around Mar. 20, then April 20. I'll do new pics on May 20 or so.
Stats:
height: 5'4"
weight 164 3/20 168 4/20
bodyfat 31% 3/20 30% 4/20
Bust 38 37
waist 32 31
hips 39 37
Aw, heck, I'm having trouble with the pics. I just got photoshop elements and I'm not used to it. I'll post them later.
Elisabeth
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