Have fun w/NROLFW. I completed it last year, and it did kick my ass many times while doing it.
BTW, step-ups were the hardest thing in the program for me to do. I have a fear of heights, and the idea of going up and down on a bench just made me dizzy. I did overcome my apprehension, but was only able to do them with the 20-lb. db's. I guess there's leftover anxiety over it in me, LOL.
"only" with 20lb. dumbbells? Ha ha. I wish I could do that. Read my thread titled "Holy Cow! Who's following the step ups thread?" here
I tried doing the bench, and I'm sorry to say, I can't.
1. I'm to weak to pull myself up
2. I feel like I'm losing my balance, since the bench is so padded and soft under the foot
yeah I can't do a weight bench even with just bodyweight. I used one of those aerobic steps with four boosters on each side and there was no way I couldn't let the non-working leg come all the down to the floor. I was focusing very hard to make sure all the effort and momentum came from the working leg and I about lost it on the 10th rep on the second set! Good thing the step thing was against a retaining wall cuz my knee said 'i quit!'
Oh and lunges suck big time too, I was only able to 8 reps (bodyweight only) with my bum right leg on the second set today. *shakes fist at legs*
Hmmm, maybe I need to work on this at well. I step from my aerobic step (without boosters) up onto my bench. I need that extra coupld of inches because being 5'4" the bench is just a bit too high for me to step directly onto.
I always keep the working leg (foot) on the bench, but I do allow weight onto my non-working leg both at the top and the bottom of the move.
I try very hard to not have any effort or momentum from the non-working leg, so I'm not sure how much I may be cheating myself? Would it be better to *never* have any weight on the non-working leg during a set?
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Karen -- Not going in circles anymore!
"only" with 20lb. dumbbells? Ha ha. I wish I could do that. Read my thread titled "Holy Cow! Who's following the step ups thread?" here
I know, but it's all a matter of perspective, LOL. I'd see women in the gym do step-ups w/30-lb db's, so there were gals in there who are stronger than me.
Isn't it neat how even bodyweight stuff can be challenging? Keep at it, and work up to the weighted ones.
I step from my aerobic step (without boosters) up onto my bench.
Hmm.. I should probably try this. Just thinking about the set up makes me feel a bit embarrassed though. "Hey everybody, look at me, I can't get on a bench so I have to have a step and a bench"
I agree that the step ups are hard, just because of the repetition of it; 15 isn't so bad when it's just once, like in squats, but with each leg, it takes forever. I'm glad I'm onto the lower rep workouts; I just finished workout 4 of 1A, so I'm done with 12 and next time it's 10 reps. The other thing I don't like about these is that for me, I need a bit of weight for them, so I've worked up to holding 20lb dumbbells in each hand, and that's ok for the legs, I could probably handle more with legs, but hard on the arms to have that weight hanging down for so long. Don't know what I'm going to do next; maybe the shoulder barbell instead.
I am having a similar issue with holding the 20 lb dumbbells during the step-ups. It just seems that I start losing my grip after the first round with each leg. I had an idea that I got from the book, using a book-bag and placing weight plates in it. I'll try that in my next A workout ad let you know how it works.
I've had grip strength issues, too. But, with time, your grip strength improves and you can hold heavier weights for longer times. At first, 20# DB were a challenge for me, now 35#-40# are!
Hi. I'm jumping in for the ride with fellow Stage 1ers. I'll be doing #4B of Stage 1 tomorrow. Concerning the step-ups, I don't remember if it was on this thread or not (because I've been surfing this forum a lot) but I read about pointing the toes of the non-working leg up to keep from cheating. Man, does that work! I really thought I wasn't cheating, but obviously I was!!!! I really have to stay focused to tell my working leg to get that other #@*% leg up! : )
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