Kara's Lifting Adventure

[Kirjava]

Great workout, Kara! I agree about the comparison between Stage 3 As and Bs. I found B just not as interesting or challenging as A....didn't even feel like too intense of a workout, dare I say. Or perhaps nothing would feel as crazy as A.

[kfisherx]

Wow the Wide grip lat pull downs are kick ass girl. I can hardly even do that weight. Nice....

[dillytl]

I see red in your workout!! Congrats on the PR's! And awesome work on the intervals!

[Littlemermaidklb]

Thanks everyone!
I've only been back at the whole tracking thing for about 4 days now, but I thought I'd post in here for some feedback... I'll post the cals and macros as well as the actual stuff I ate.

Tuesday (workout day)
1-Quaker instant oatmeal, maple and brown sugar, orange juice
2- Protein shake in skim milk
3- Pesto Chicken wrap from Roly Poly (sooo yummy!!!)
4- Apple and 2Tbsp natural PB
5-Lean Cuisine Chicken Parm meal
6- Protein shake with skim milk, plain yogurt, banana, and vanilla extract
Cals: 1804 F:48g, 24%. C: 219g, 47%. P: 131g, 29%

Wednesday:
1- 2eggs overeasy with a whole wheat english muffin, cup of orange juice
2- Openfaced tuna melt made with light mayo, part skim shredded mozz and whole wheat bread
3- South Beach high protein cinnamon raisin bar
4- Lean Cuisine Panini Tuscan Chicken
5- Fruit and yogurt parfait from the book
Cals: 1551. F:53g, 30%. C: 187g, 45%. P: 95g, 24%

Thursday (workout day)
1- Kashi hot cereal cinnamon honey flavor, cup of orange juice
2- Banana and South Beach cinnamon raisin bar
3- Open faced tuna melt (same as on wednesday)
4- Protein shake with skim milk and banana
5- salmon over a bed of spinach and sauted mushrooms with side of baked sweet potatos
6- cup of skim milk and string cheese
Cals: 1734 F: 38g, 20% C: 238g, 50% P: 131g, 30%

Today
1- 2 eggs over-easy with whole wheat english muffin, cup of orange juice
2- string cheese and greek yogurt
3- whole wheat wrap with grilled chicken, pesto, shredded mozzarella and spinach
4- Kashi hot cereal cinnamon honey flavor, vanilla hot tea
5- 3/4c. pasta with "American turkey goulash" from Eating for life book (yum!)
and I might have a snack later tonight...
Cals: 1716, F:65g, 34% C:160g, 36% P: 129g, 30%


I know the carbs are high, but they're all fruit and whole wheat stuff. the microwave meals are easier when i'm at work and they're pretty healthy. Overall I don't think I'm doin bad. The cals are a little lower than maintenance from the book, but my energy is still good and my workouts have been great, so maybe it's ok? The book said we could cut about 300 cals, and I'm still in that range (though I don't plan to stay down there) so I can't be too bad off.
Thanks for any input!

[Littlemermaidklb]

Well... a combination of vanity and lazines got the better of me today and I didn't do the Bodyweight matrix at the end of the workout... there were soooo many people in the gym and I know I look like a complete tool doing the matrix. And since I was kicking ass for the rest of the workout (kinda) I felt like it would tarnish my "I'm so strong" image, hahaha. So I decided to do it at home when I got back.. and well, that just didn't happen, lol. Maybe I'll get to it later tonight, but it's not looking promising.

A: 1-arm DB snatch:
1x6 with 30
1x5 with 30
1x6 with 25

B1: DB 1-leg RDL:
2x6(e) with 25s
1x6(e) with 30s

B2: BB Bent row:
(Did them correctly today, haha)
3x6 @70lbs Mixed grip

C1: DB OH Squat:
3x6(e) with 12.5/25 (Still hate this exercise... and today it showed off my incredibly beautiful armpit sweat spots, haha. But hey, real women sweat!)

C2: DB incline bench press:
3x6 with 25s

D1: Planks:
2x90sec
1x55sec, 35sec (I was beat by this point)

D2: Rev woodchops:
2x6 with 30lb on cable
1x6 with 16lb medicine ball. (I really do not like this one... I think I do it wrong..)

Notes:
-My snatches were not the best with heh 30lb DB.. I could do almost all of them but I could tell my form wasn't great. Form with the 25 was perfect though... wish there was a 27.5lb DB there
-Love the DB RDLs. It's quite empowering to go to the DB rack and grab these huge DBs (yes, 30's look huge to me, lol) And I can tell of the guys are thinking "What the hell is that chick gonna do with those heavy DBs?" lol so fun
-Rows went well.. I probably could have done 75, but my grip was already starting to give out on me.
-Hate the DB OH squats.. I feel a bit retarded doing them.
-Love the incline presses! 25's are rough but do-able. A jump to 30s even for one set would still be too much at this point so I feel like I'll be stuck here for a while. (I think I've said that before)
-I definitely think my planks are somehow getting worse... not cool
-I need to figure out how to do those darn woodchops better... I can tell it doesn't feel right. I must do them wrong somehow...

Food: I think it's been going ok.. I dunno, you tell me... my post last night has all my food since tuesday morning of this week and the cals and stuff that go with it. I think it's good, but others might think it's not so good. I'd appreciate any feedback

[nutbar]

Originally Posted by Littlemermaidklb

D2: Rev woodchops:
2x6 with 30lb on cable
1x6 with 16lb medicine ball. (I really do not like this one... I think I do it wrong..)

I'm with ya on that and was just grumbling to hubby about it recently. Next time, I'm going to take one of my tubes or bands (the stretchy doohickeys) and attach them to someplace low and try that way, adjusting placement of them until I find something that feel right.

Food critique? Since you're begging and I'm killing time.... LOL

Lose the juice and have a water and a real orange instead, especially since it's an everyday thing. (I have a thing against juices. LOL) Lose the frozen dinners/lunches and the bar things for the most part. They're cool for once in a while if ya need to but not as a regular part of life. I'm trying to be a hardass (on myself) about eating "real foods" these days. It's not always working on myself, though. Oh, and cold cereals are right up there with frozen dinners and the bars in my book. Other than that, everything looks pretty darned cool to me, unless you're wanting to switch to a low-carb or high-fat kind of thing.

That's just what I'd do if I were you but, since I'm not you, I wouldn't. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. Different strokes and ways to skin a cat and all that... But, since you asked for input, there ya go. LOL

[Littlemermaidklb]

Thansk for the response Diane! I know the juice is loaded with sugar, but I've never been a coffee person and juice is just that thing that gets me going in the morning. I agree that the frozen dinners aren't ideal, but they're pretty easy to take with me and for the most part fit into a grad-student budget, haha.. when they're on sale.

[dillytl]

I know the juice is loaded with sugar, but I've never been a coffee person and juice is just that thing that gets me going in the morning.

I use Crystal Light Sunrise (Orange or Ruby Red Grapefruit flavors) or the Wal-Mart (aka CHEAP!) brand of Cranberry or Apple flavor. I still get my "juice" fix - all for about 5 cals!!

[Littlemermaidklb]

Last workout of Stage 3!! Dang this has flown by!

A: BB RDL/Row:
1x6 with 70
2x6 with 80 (barely eeked out the last rep of the last set, but I got it!)

B1: 1-leg squat:
3x6 with 10s

B2: WG Lat pulldown
3x6 @ 80lbs

C1: Back ext:
3x6 with 25lb plate to chest

C2: YTWL: (HATE these!!)
3x6 with 5s (tried 7.5s on the 2nd set.. no-go)

D1: Ball crunches:
3x6 with 12.5 lb DB longarm

D2: Jack-knives:
3x6 pike version

D3: Side crunch off the back extension apparatus:
3x6(e) with 10lb plate

HIIT:
3 intervals of 1min @ 8, 1.5 or 2mins at 3.5
I was so beat by the end that my HIIT didn't go too well.. I think I didn't eat enough yesterday. I was in such a darn funk yesterday. I really needed to be studying for finals and stuff and I just couldn't get motivated to do anything, and so since I was sitting on my butt all day long I ate fewer cals...


Notes:
-Finally decided to push myself a bit on the RDL/Row combo... I had been afraid of the weight jump because the pre-set bars only jump by 10lbs and I really had wanted to try 75 before going for the 80, but I surprised myself!
-I know the 1-leg squats are supposed to be partials... but I can't help feeling like I'm supposed to be trying to get farther down on these. I definitely feel them a heck of a lot even though they're only partials... but I can't help feeling like I should go lower... not that I'm even able to go lower at this point, I just feel like that's what I should be aiming for... yes? no?
-Yay for all three sets of the WG pulldowns at 80!!!
-Back extention.. love it!
-YTWL.. hate it! My left shoulder makes all these weird popping/grinding noises... it doesn't hurt, but it makes me hate these even more
-Ab work went well, I liked doing the side crunches off the back extension sooo much better. That's how I'll do them once stage 5 rolls around

[Littlemermaidklb]

Oooh good idea Tracey, thanks! I'll have to check that out next time I'm at Walmart or grocery shopping

[dillytl]

Congrats on finishing Stage 3 - and even more congrats on the PR!! WOOOOOT!

[nutbar]

-I know the 1-leg squats are supposed to be partials... but I can't help feeling like I'm supposed to be trying to get farther down on these. I definitely feel them a heck of a lot even though they're only partials... but I can't help feeling like I should go lower... not that I'm even able to go lower at this point, I just feel like that's what I should be aiming for... yes? no?

Same here. I was working on raising my weight but I felt like such a loser that I lowered the weights again and have been working on going deeper. I'm not to parallel yet but there is improvement. I'm not sure if it's "correct" for this program to do it like that but it certainly shouldn't be a bad thing, right?

[Littlemermaidklb]

Great workout today! I felt awesome pretty much the whole way through!

A: Front squat/pushpress:
1x8 with 40
2x8 with 50!

B1: Steps ups: (Ihad forgotten how much I do NOT like these!)
3x8(e) with 12.5s

B2: DB 1-pt rows:
1x8 with 20s
2x8 with 25s!

C1: Static lunge, rear ft elevated:
3x8(e) with 12.5s

C2: Pushups:
3x8 using a weight bench
*lowest I've used so far, which was awesome, but the depth of my pushups wasn't that great... I might go back to the Smith machine next time to keep my form better

D1: Planks:
1x120sec! (Holy crap! That was not fun!)
1x75sec, then 30sec... then I was toast, lol

D2: Subbed side crunches off teh back extention for the woodchops... I dont do the woodchops right and I feel this more anyway, so I figured what the hell
1x8(e) with 10lb plate
1x8(e) with 15lbs

I had intentions of doing HIIT after... but after those planks I wasn't even able to do a third set let alone think about HIIT, lol. This stage is 2 or 3 sets of 8, so I did 3 for everything but the D exercises. Hopefulyl by the end of teh stage I'll do three sets of those too

Notes:
-The pushpresses felt great today! And I could tell in my peripheral vision that every single person the weight area was looking at me... so weird. It didn't help that I was wearing a BRIGHT YELLOW shirt which drew attention to myself already (stupid move on my part) but the look on everyone's faces was pretty interesting. I felt so macho
-Steps ups are the devil
-It was really nice to be able to go upin weight for the 1-pt rows.
-I wanted to up the weight on the static lunges but my right quad wasn't agreeing with me. Hopefully I can go up next time.
- Already wrote about the pushups... I'll use the Smith next time
-OMG with the planks! When I read 120 seconds I thought "No way in hell!" But I just finished reading James Blake's book and in it someone had told him "If you can win one set against your opponent, you can win two" So I thought to myself when I got to these today, "If you can do 90seconds, you can do 120" It worked for the first set... 2nd set: not so much, lol

Overall I felt like I was kicking butt and takin names, which is such a freakin awesome feeling! I really like this whole lifting thing,

Oh and on a side note: I decided to take progress pics a week early this time and take them this coming weekend when Bri is here. That way it's easier because i don't have to fiddle with timers, and I'll be doing them the same time as the official challenger people. I feel great, I don't know if it'll show in my pics, but I feel like I've made some nice changes in my body and strength (even it's underneath and not visible, haha)

[dillytl]

EXCELLENT work Kara!!!! I see lots of red in there!!! CONgRATS on the 120 secs on the plank - that is freaking awesome!

Overall I felt like I was kicking butt and takin names, which is such a freakin awesome feeling! I really like this whole lifting thing,

[brianb]

I feel I say this too much and you're probably sick of hearing it... but I'm so freakin proud of you AMAZING job!!

-Me

[kfisherx]

Those 120 planks are kick ass aren't they? It is interesting that people are more and more saying that HIIT is impossible after their workouts. I have been feeling that pain for a long while. Now I am a bit careful to conserve in order to do HIIT. I think it is something you have to do proactively.