Leah's Lifting Log

[LWilson212]

Hi everyone. I've been checking out this forum for a while now, but this will be my first log, as part of the women's challenge.

I have been through rages, tears, despair, two cheap digital cameras, and two crashed computers this weekend. I am so happy I have pictures I don't even care what they look like!!!

I am 31 years old and I've been lifting weights since senior year of high school. I basically did the same bodybuilding-style, isolating body parts workout for over ten years! Wonder why I didn't see much progress, duh? My dad sent me a copy of New Rules about a year ago and I started doing the workouts and I am so happy with the results in both strength and appearance.

So far I have done Break-In, Fat Loss II, Fat Loss III, Hypertrophy I, Strength I and II, and I have four more workouts in Strength III.

I love lifting weights and working out in general, but I am not as good with the diet and that is where I am trying to make improvements. I am following a calorie cycling plan based on the H.E.L.L. diet.

Today's workout will be the drills from HELL once I get done messing around on the computer.

Thanks for reading.

Leah

[SwimBikeRun]

Hi Leah!

You and I have very similar stats. I'm also doing the Women's Challenge. It will be awesome to see what we can all do for our bodies!

Just wanted to say hi!

[Victoria]

Welcome to the challenge, Leah! Best of luck!

[stingo]

Well Leah, glad to see you finally posted a log. Good luck with the challenge - looking forward to seeing your progress.

[LWilson212]

SwimBikeRun-

Thanks for looking at my log. One thing I loved about looking at everyone's pictures is I am always amazed at how two people could be close to the same height, weight and measurements but be shaped so different! Its cool to realize how we are all unique.

Tracy -

Every time I see your picture I think, Victoria. I have to reprogram.

Tom -

Hopefully I can make some good progress. Thanks for reading!

Leah

[LWilson212]

Last night's workout:

I got through the HELL drills ten times. I can't imagine trying to run after that, but I'm going to try to work up to that.

Plan for today:

Eat around 2260 calories. Go to the gym tonight for Strength III A4 workout - the squats! Plus, 20 min intervals on the treadmill.

[Biskit]

Good job Leah. I'll be watching your progress in Strength. I am in Hypertrophy I right now, and am itching to do heavier weights, less reps.

I don't know if I could do the intervals after all those squats though....good on you!

Deb

[UConnJulie]

Leah, so glad you joined the challenge!!
Julie

[LWilson212]

Hi Biskit - At least for me, the heavier weights and less reps are not so bad when you are doing them. Its just the next day! Thanks for reading my log.

Julie - Thanks for stopping by. I'm so excited about the challenge and appreciate your time to organize it.

Okay, here's my workout from last night:

Strength III 4A

Squats:

Warm up sets: 45/5 95/4 135/3
Work sets: 195/3 210/2 220/1 210/3 220/2 230/1

Quarter squats: 265/2 275/2 285/2

More squats: 185/6 160/12

Seated good morning: 75/8 85/8

Swiss ball crunch w/med. ball throw: I think the ball is 12 lbs
4 / 4 / 4 / 10 The workout calls for four sets of four, but its so fun to whale that ball against the wall that I finished with a few extra reps.

Intervals on treadmill:

3 min @ 5.2
1:10 @ 6.8
1:50 @ 5.4
1:10 @ 6.8
1:50 @ 5.4
1:10 @ 6.9
1:50 @ 5.4
1:10 @ 7.0
1:50 @ 5.2

Total time:15 minutes

I felt pretty good on these squats, but I wish I had a training partner to help me make sure I'm getting low enough. On the lighter weights I do these outside the cage so I can see myself in the mirror, but I want to stay in the cage on the heavier sets.

On the plus side, this is the first year I've belonged to this Y and they don't seem to get all the New Year's Resolution people like all the other gyms I've belonged to. Yeah!!!

Food:

Breakfast: 1/2 cups oats, 1 tsp br sugar, 1 lg pear
Morning nibbles: 6 oz yogurt, lg grapefruit, baby carrots
Lunch: homemade ham & bean soup, tuna sandwich, 1 oz bbq chips
Afternoon: 1/2 cup cottage cheese & frozen strawberries
Dinner: 6" subway steak & cheese
PW Shake: 1 cup milk, 1 scoop chocolate bev int prot powder, 1 frozen banana
Before bed: picked at ice cream cake

Calories: 2318
Fat: 64 g 26%
Carb: 288 g 46%
Protein: 158g 28%

I was satisfied with my calories and protein. But I need to keep working on making better choices. I have to remind myself that a high calorie day is for getting more quality nutrients, not eating potato chips and picking at ice cream cake. On a positive note, I am shocked that there is so much Christmas junk food, including the ice cream cake left in our house. In the past that stuff would have never lasted this long with me around!

Plan for today:

Rest day
Shooting for 1450 calories
Stay active at work as much as possible, do my mini yoga circuit tonight

Leah

[dillytl]

Nice workout yesterday!! FANTASTIC job on those squats - you are STRONG!

[LWilson212]

Yesterday:

Breakfast: 1 scoop vanilla prot, 1 cup milk
Morning: 1/2 cup ham & bean soup, tangerine
Lunch: spinach, tuna, tangerine
Afternoon: 1/2 cup cottage cheese mixed w/1 can tuna & baby carrots
Dinner: 1 corona w/lime yummy! and two slices pizza (1/5th of a lg)

Calories: 1630
Fat: 42g 24%
Carb: 145g 33%
Prot: 143g 37%
Alcohol: 13g 6%

Calories were a little higher than I wanted and protein lower. However, I've been really struggling on these rest days with hunger and eating all that tuna helped a lot.
I could also use a trip to the grocery store so we don't have to order a pizza for dinner!

Today's plan:

Run on the track after work:

2 lap warmup, 6 x 400 rpts @ 2:10 pace with 200 rest in between, 1 lap cooldown

Stop at the grocery store, make men's health enchilada lasagne for dinner.

Calorie goal: 1650

Leah

[LWilson212]

Well I got my work schedule for the next week so today's plan changed. It turned into a lifting day.

Strength III B4

Bench Press:

Warm up: 45/5
Work sets: 95/3 95/2 100/1 95/2 95/2 100/1

Bent-over rows supersetted with barbell push press

100/4 / 85/4
100/4 / 85/4
85/8 / 75/7

Cable woodchop 60/8 each side for 3 sets

I was not very happy with this workout. I just didn't feel strong. For the bench, it is supposed to be a 3,2,1 wave loading pattern, but when I struggled to get the reps with 95 and failed on the second attempt, I didn't want to try to go any higher. My last workout I got 105. On the push-presses, I couldn't get that last rep of the last set, which I got the time before. I was shaking so bad its lucky I didn't drop the barbell on my head.

The woodchops felt good though. The ab exercises in Strength III are all really awesome!

Food:

Breakfast: picked at ice cream cake, 1/2 piece of last night's pizza

Not very impressive, but got back on course

Morning snack: 1/2 cup ham & bean soup
Lunch: leftover spicy honey chicken thighs & 1/2 homemade stuffed potato
Afternoon snack: 1/2 cup oats w/2 tbls raisins and 1 tsp br sugar, lg pear
Dinner: men's health enchilada lasagne w/additional 2 oz ground beef, green salad w/homemade olive oil & vinegar dressing

Post Workout Shake: 1 cup milk, 1 scoop vanilla prot powder, 1 cup frozen mixed berries - delicious shake!

Calories: 2238
Fat: 79g 33%
Carb: 253g 42%
Protein: 134g 25%

I was aiming for 2100 cals. I should have eaten a sounder breakfast and probably had a little smaller portion of dinner.

I did get in that trip to the grocery store so I will not screw up tomorrow.

Plan for tomorrow:

Do an interval step tape
Calories: 11xBW = 1770

Leah

[LWilson212]

Oops, forgot to mention I also did 20 minutes of intervals:

4 min warm up & cool down @ 5.2
In between, 4 x (1 min @ 6.8, 2 min @ 5.4)

Leah

[Biskit]

Good workouts. Keep it up. Those squats look great.

Deb

[fengshway]

leah, you are one strong woman. welcome to the challenge!

[LWilson212]

Thanks Deb & Wendy!

Well Friday turned into a rest day since I just ran out of time. I tried to scale back accordingly, but I came up a little high on cals. I did go to Walmart and bought my 45's for my olympic set my boyfriend got me for Christmas!

Calories: 1543
Fat: 58g 35%
Carb: 110g 27%
Protein: 141g 38%

Saturday:

Strength III 4C

Deadlifts:

Warm up sets: 45/5 95/4 135/3
Work sets: 195/3 205/2 215/1 205/3 215/2 225/1 - New PR!

Rack deadlifts: 235/2 245/2 255/2 - I finally felt like I was "getting" this exercise in this last workout. Since I was at home and didn't have a rack, my boyfriend set me up on jackstands from the garage. It helped my focus since I had to set it down in exactly the same place.

Snatch-grip deadlift off box (used my step): 140/6 120/12

Zercher good morning: 55/6 65/6

Hanging Leg Raise: BW 4 / 4 / 4 / 4

I was really happy with this finish!

After, I went outside for a short run. It was a total of 22 minutes, including three killer hills, two smallish hills, and one sprint between mailboxes.

Food:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup cottage cheese w/raisins & slivered almonds - this is my new favorite food!
3 slices grilled ham, scrambled eggs, home fries

Post workout shake - 2 scoops designer whey strawberry, 1 cup milk

Lunch: 1 sm apple w/pb, baby carrots, 1/2 Arby's corned beef reuben

Dinner: 2 cups jambalaya with ham from Ellie Krieger Healthy Appetite show, 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

Snack: nuts & raisins, medium orange

Totals: 2228 calories
86 g fat 35%
224 g carb 37%
153 g prot 28%

Overall I was very happy with this day.

Today's plan is to finish Strength III with the pull-up workout! Calorie goal is 13 x BW.

Leah

[stingo]

Looks like you're doing just fine Leah. What are you going to do after S3?