Advice for a Newbie...

[Celestialmom]

Hi everyone,
I've been lurking here on the forums for about a week, and thought I'd introduce myself, say hi, and ask some advice all in one.

A little something about me: I am a 33yo homeschooling, work at home mom of four beautiful kids who just recently learned to love exercise and training. I have made halfhearted attempts through the last ten years or so at working out (usually just for a month or so after I had each baby!), but always HATED the gym, cardio, anything to do with sweat or exertion.

Almost two years ago, I woke up and realized that I was edging very quickly towards FAT--I was 5'5" and 156lbs, with not much muscle mass to balance that out. So I joined the gym and a kickboxing class and started having so much fun that I really got inspired to eat healthy and keep up the hard work. The instructor of the class was also a friend who was working towards her certification to become a personal trainer. When she saw how inspired I was becoming in her class, she asked me if I would be her guinea pig. She trained me twice a week for 6 weeks (of course I visited the gym in between sessions as well). I was hooked! I loved lifting weights (not barbie weights, but now I see not as high as I could go either), and I could stand the cardio sessions in between the lifting days.

To make a long story short, I lost over 20 lbs from the routines that my trainer made up for me as well as from drastically cutting calories (1000-1500 daily), but of course gained it back again when I went back to eating "normally". My normal wasn't all that healthy but was only about 2000 calories. So this January, I started the process over. I worked out hard, lifted harder, ate hardly anything, and got down to 25% bf and 136lbs. I am now about 138lbs and 27% bf--this is from over 30% the summer of 2006 when I started with my trainer.

Anyway, the same trainer friend was telling me about this new book (NROL4W), so I borrowed it, read it in a day, ordered my own copy, read it again, and started Stage one last Tuesday. I LOVE the exercise plan, and I feel like I have a much better handle on nutrition by taking in the info outlined in the book. It was a leap of faith for me to up my calories by so much (they have been from 1100-1500 this year), but I am managing fine at 1800-2000 with more on workout days.

So I'll outline what I did for the first workouts of Stage one, and I'm looking for some advice/feedback. I'm not sure on the correct notation here but you'll get my drift.

Workout 1A:
Squats: 2x15 @70lbs (or is that 115lbs if you include the bar itself?)
*Our gym doesn't have a squat rack like Lou describes in the book that "detaches" from the rack. I feel like it's probably like doing an "assisted" squat. So is it better to do it with this squat rack realizing that I'll be lifting heavier than I would if I had just a barbell and me, or should I use dumbbells without the rack?

T-Pushups w/10 lb hexagonal dumbells: 1x16, 1x14 (couldn't quite get the last 2 in that set, and the last few weren't great form, but the rest were)

Seated Row: 2x15 @60lb? (How much do those dang plates weigh on a cable machine anyway? I had the pin under the 12 plate)

Stepup onto bench: 2x15 w/20lb in each hand

Prone Jackknife on Ball: 2x15 (I didn't have as much problem on these as others seem to, so I checked my form using Natalia's video on another thread. I think it's ok, I had a friend check me. But the last 5 in each set was pretty difficult. I didn't realize I was only supposed to to do 8!)

YUP, I was really sore the next two days!

Workout 1B:

Deadlifts: 2x15 w/50lb on a smaller barbell--I'm not sure how much that weighs. I really concentrated on form b/c it seemed to be getting my back. Really sore back the next few days, but I think it's fine.

Shoulder Presses: 2x15@ 20lbs in each hand (so do I say 40lbs?)

Lateral Pulldown: 2x15 @ 30lbs (that seems light, but it was about all I could do...)

Lunges: 2x15 w/20lb dumbells

Swiss ball crunch: 2x15 w/25lb plate on chest (with this as well, I checked video before the workout to make sure I was doing them correctly, since I've been doing 25 at least at a time. I did need to fix some form issues.)

So my other questions (besides the squat question) are:
*Would it be better in any way to go to pushups with my feet on the bench or something instead of the t-pushups with weights?

*I was thinking I should switch to long arms extended with crunches as opposed to weights

*In this second workout of A and B, which BTW, start today, I assume I should only up the weights in the exercises that I feel like I had good form, and go for better form in the other exercises.

*Any other feedback would of course be appreciated!

TIA,
Celestialmom

[missjane]

It sounds like you are using a Smith Machine for your squats, and you don't want to do that! Just do a search for "smith machine" in this forum and you can read all about it. So, do DB's, if you don't have a squat rack.

On the step-ups.....20 lb DB's onto a weight bench is quite a lot. Make sure you aren't using your non-working leg for assistance in getting up.

Long-arm on the crunch increases intensity, for sure. Make sure your arms stay glued to your ears and do not use them to help you get up.....just use your abs.

[Celestialmom]

Originally Posted by missjane

It sounds like you are using a Smith Machine for your squats, and you don't want to do that! Just do a search for "smith machine" in this forum and you can read all about it. So, do DB's, if you don't have a squat rack.

On the step-ups.....20 lb DB's onto a weight bench is quite a lot. Make sure you aren't using your non-working leg for assistance in getting up.

Long-arm on the crunch increases intensity, for sure. Make sure your arms stay glued to your ears and do not use them to help you get up.....just use your abs.

Miss Jane, thanks for the Smith Machine info...I researched for a bit and see what you mean! I suppose DB's will do fine, I'll just have to use less weight b/c of grip strength. Disappointing, though, the idea of doing a barbell squat is fun (in a weird sort of way!)

For the step ups, I am not even touching my opposite foot to the bench to make sure I'm not letting it do the work, and I'm doing all reps on one leg at a time (did that make sense?).

BTW, my first post was awfully long, wasn't it?! I decided not to start a training log right now b/c I didn't have time, but it looks like that's sort of what I ended up doing anyway...

[missjane]

Originally Posted by Celestialmom

Miss Jane, thanks for the Smith Machine info...I researched for a bit and see what you mean! I suppose DB's will do fine, I'll just have to use less weight b/c of grip strength. Disappointing, though, the idea of doing a barbell squat is fun (in a weird sort of way!)

For the step ups, I am not even touching my opposite foot to the bench to make sure I'm not letting it do the work, and I'm doing all reps on one leg at a time (did that make sense?).

BTW, my first post was awfully long, wasn't it?! I decided not to start a training log right now b/c I didn't have time, but it looks like that's sort of what I ended up doing anyway...

For your step-ups, the foot ON the bench does all the work and the foot on the ground should do no work (ie, don't push off with the foot on the ground).

[Celestialmom]

Well, just got back from the gym--I did the stepups again and I'm not quite sure. I think I do push off a little bit because the bench is so high. I tried to use that foot very little and I think it's ok but I may do some stepups with no weight next time as a warmup or separate from my workout to make sure.

Stupid me, the gym started closing earlier this week for "summer" and I only had about 40 min to do my workout. So without warming up very well (which I ALWAYS am careful to do), I jumped right into the routine and hurt something doing pushups. Duh. I ALWAYS warmup and do a warmup set of the first few exercises. Did I mention I ALWAYS warm up? ahem...maybe not today though