Too late to join the women's challenge, but never too late to challenge myself I'm already a few weeks in to NROLFW, so I'm going to catch up my posts.
I've been tracking on SparkPeople for a few months now, so I know those stats, but that's it. And no pictures. I'll see about scavenging a camera at some point..
Me, previous: I played sports all through high school and college and was always in shape. In college I started tae kwon do. Right after getting my black belt, I dislocated my elbow and never really got back in shape after that. Now I'm going to. Oh, and I've been lifting for a few months already, but not with any real plan. So, having a plan is good.
I bought a power rack with pulleys!! It had been on my list for a while, and I finally found one at Play-It-Again, on sale, so I picked it up. So, now my squats aren't limited by what I can clean. (Thanks goodness!) I also grabbed a Swiss Ball. So, onward to lifting!
Stage 1, B2
Deadlift: 2x15x30 lbs
DB Shoulder Press: 1x15x25 lbs each, 1x10x25 lbs + 1x5x30 lbs each
Wide Grip Pull Downs: 2x15x20 lbs
Lunge: 2x15x10 lbs each
Crunch: 2x8x10 lbs (long arm on Swiss Ball)
Notes: tried to eat before workout (Ezekiel bread + peanut butter); still nauseated
Nutrition: 2034 calories (missed last meal); 28.5% fat, 32.7% carbs, 38.8% protein
Next day: 1903 calories; 23.3% fat, 35.2% carbs, 41.6% protein
Stage 1, A3
Squat: 2x5x50 lbs + 2x10x20 lbs, 1x10x20 lbs (Doh! Supposed to be 2x15.)
Push Ups: 2x12 (knuckles)
Seated Rows: 2x12x30 lbs
Step Ups: 2x12x10 lbs each
Prone Jackknives: 2x10 (evilness)
Nutrition: 2504 cals; 30.6% fat, 35.5% carbs, 33.9% protein
Next day: 2024 cals; 25.5%, 36.6% carbs, 37.9% protein
Stage 1, B3
Deadlifts: 2x12x40 lbs (tried rack pulls, to get height... I'm too short:P)
DB Shoulder Press: 2x12x25 lbs each
Wide Grip Pull Down: 2x12x30 lbs
Lunge: 2x12x10 lbs each
Crunch: 2x10x10 lbs (long arm)
Notes: couldn't get Ez + PB down; had 4 oz protein powder in water instead; not enough energy. Tae Kwon Do last night: 50 pushups, 50 bw squats, 50 crunches + hamstring cramp.
Nutrition: 2530 cals; 23.3% fat, 39.9% carbs, 36.9% protein
Weekend: Sat: 1170 cals; 19.7% fat, 43.7% carbs, 36.6% protein Sun: 1971 cals; 37.3% fat, 33.3% carbs, 29.4% protein
Notes: set both alarm clocks wrong--woke up late and had to rush
Nutrition: 2110 cals; 18.8% fat, 41.1% carbs, 40% protein
Next day: 1861 cals; 25% fat, 34.9% carbs, 40.1% protein
Stage 1, B4
Deadlifts: 2x12x50 lbs
DB Shoulder Press: 2x12x15 lbs each
Wide Grip Pulldowns: 2x12x30 lbs
Lunges: 2x12x15 lbs each
Crunches: 2x10x10 (long arm, Swiss ball)
Notes: 1 scoop protein powder before; so sleepy all day long up: 6 am
bed: 11 pm
hungry @ 5:15 pm
Nutrition: 2303 cals; 19.8% fat, 46.1% carbs, 34.1% protein
Next day: 1994 cals; 12.6% fat, 42.3% carbs, 45% protein Notes: sleepy all day
up: 7 am
bed: 11 pm
hungry @ 4:20 pm
TKD: heavy bag work for 50 minutes. Ow.
Weight: 133.8 lbs
Body Fat %: 25.1%
Waist: 29"
Hips: 39.5"
Right Bicep: 11.25"
Left Bicep: 10.75"
Chest (armpits): 33"
Chest (bust): 34.5"
Right Thigh: 23.5"
Left Thigh: 22.5"
Right Calf: 15"
Left Calf: 14.5"
First of all, that's hilarious--I never knew I was so lopsided. That amuses me very much
I use a Tanita/Ironman scale, athlete mode, to measure body fat and lean muscle mass. I forgot to put it in earlier, but the first week on NROLFW, I lost 0.8 lbs, total; lost 1.1% body fat; and gained 1 lbs of muscle. So I've gained back 1.8 lbs, total; lost 0.3 lbs of fat overall; and gained 2.8 lbs of muscle. Uh...maybe. *grumble* I just wish I knew if I could trust the scale...
My grip (forearms & hands) is failing Usually it doesn't hit until the lunges/step ups, but yesterday I could hardly hold on to my deadlifts. Ugh.
Deadlifts: 3×10x55 lbs (grip started failing here; kept switching alternate grips)
DB Shoulder Press: 3×10x30 lbs
Wide Grip Pulldowns: 3×10x40 lbs (grip failing here, too)
Lunges: 1×10x30 lbs, 2×10x20 lbs (grip failed after first leg; switched to lower weights to rest, then switched back on the last set. Grip failed again. But both legs got at least one set at 30 lbs.)
Crunches: 3×12x10 lbs (long arm, Swiss ball)
Notes: My deadlift form feels more like a squat, and my hamstrings don't really feel as if they're involved. I'm going to hunt for the camcorder battery and see if I can get it recorded. Bleh. up: 6 a.m.; bed: 10 p.m.
Nutrition: 2293 cals*; 29.8% fat, 37.7% carbs, 32.5% protein
*Another buffet was involved. Note to self: no more eating all the food on the buffet! Please and thanks.
I see you are doing HUGE amounts of working out besides the workouts in NROL4W. I was doing that a for awhile too. You will definiately drop the bf and weight. Make sure you are eating enough and sleeping enough so you don't crash.
@kfisherk: Actually, I'm usually teaching during Tae Kwon Do and not working out since there aren't enough instructors. Teaching isn't usually strenuous. The two nights listed up there were unusual and, I hope, will stay unusual since I work out the next morning. :P After last week's heavy-bag workout at TKD + squats the next morning, I was sore all weekend!
But that's possibly one extra night of hard work (or two if the Intermediates spar), which lets me have one extra PWO shake when I get home. And my protein is yummy, so I don't mind a bit.
@missjane: Thanks for the link. I've been watching those videos and others. I can't really tell what I'm doing/not doing, even though I try to concentrate on form for deadlifts and squats--which is why the weights seem so low (to me, at least). This morning, my mid to lower back is sore from yesterday's DLs (as in, sitting down all day is going to be hurt), and I know that's bad. The form seems to feel right when I do it, but my hamstrings feel nothing, and I'm just annoyed with my self because I want to lift heavier but can't (shouldn't) until I get the form right. I'll try comparing my videoed form to the ones in that thread, as soon as I get my video camera back up. The battery was misplaced during moving. :/
Yesterday: Nutrition: 2022 cals; 29.5% fat, 27.9% carbs, 42.5% protein Notes: Lower back hurt all day--right below my ribcage--a dull, aching, why-did-you-do-this-to-me pain. Desk job = no fun. up: 6:27 am (woke up 2x during night); bed: 11 pm
I've cut back to 1-2 cups of coffee before 10 am, and none later in the day. But I still want a nap 2-3 hours after I workout. TKD keeps me up late two nights a week, and there's nothing I can do about that (except not go, and that's not actually an option). So I'm considering moving my workouts to after work, though then the kicker is getting myself going after a long day at work--or if I have to stay later at work. I think I tend to be a mid-afternoon/evening person anyway even though I would love to be a morning person. If I did move my workouts, I'd probably also move from MWF to THS to line up with TKD.
Alwyn's workouts + HIIT + TKD, all in one night... Yikes...
I nearly fell asleep at my desk on Wednesday. Had to have coffee so I was awake enough to drive home. That's no good. So, workouts are moving to THS evenings. Nothing else is changing, though. No workout this morning.
Wednesday's nutrition: 2280 cals; 31% fat, 31.6% carbs, 37.5% protein
Thursday's nutrition: 1953 cals; 18.7% fat, 44.6% carbs, 36.7% protein
Lessons learned at TKD last night:
1. Always have a pre-workout shake before class. You never know what's going to happen.
2. Always take a post-workout shake to class. You never know what's going to happen.
3. Lift harder on legs. They're still mucho wimpy.
4. Spinning kicks + lack of sleep + empty stomach = bad trip.
5. Running in circles + hardwood floors = blood blisters. Ow.
Last night, our former instructor was in town and taught our class. He ran us ragged. So I was more than glad that I'd already decided to move my workouts out of the morning. Not that I got any more sleep today: dealing with injuries kept me up past midnight.
I bought a power rack with pulleys!! It had been on my list for a while, and I finally found one at Play-It-Again, on sale, so I picked it up. So, now my squats aren't limited by what I can clean. (Thanks goodness!) I also grabbed a Swiss Ball. So, onward to lifting!
No camera yet for before shots. Or for the workout room. (Note to self: borrow camera.)
Came home sick from work; slept. Still feeling TKD from last night. And the blisters on my big toes, bleh, I can hardly put weight on them. I'm transitioning from MWF to THS, so tonight seemed like a good idea to do my third workout of the week. Meh, maybe it wasn't...
*first x70 lb was too low on the ground--felt it in my back, right below my ribcage. Next 3 sets were raised about 6 inches; bar in middle of shins. Still felt in my back. Argh! I have the up; I can't seem to get the down: my back falls apart (upper back rounds), the weight hits my legs, and I end up squatting down and GM'ing the weight over and down. Last rep on each set I dropped the weight. And that's doing better than last time since I did start from a dead stop every rep this time and so had half a second to reposition. I want DL .
**Couldn't put weight on my toes because of the blisters, so subbed step ups for lunges. Grip failed again, which is why the sets are spazzoid.
Off to re-read everything & watch every video on DL. I'll see about a camera and the camcorder tomorrow. I want DL.
Found the video camera battery (hurray!), but I might've found the fix, too, after reading Eric Cressey's T-nation deadlift articles. I'm a cross between the "Knee Break Lowering" and "Lazy Upper Back Lowering": I do the first, get stuck, and then do the second just to get it down.
And I peeked through Devalier's Strength Training Anatomy at the bookstore and saw that the pain in my back--below the back of my ribcage--is actually one of the muscles I'm supposed to be hitting with this. Oh. Okay. I just feel hardly anything in my hamstrings/legs, and I want to.
Still no camera for photos, but I did find a more recent picture (3 months instead of 3 years).
Friday (workout): 2040 cals; 28.9% fat, 33.6% carbs, 37.6% protein
Saturday: 1833 cals; 12.7% fat, 58.7% carbs, 28.6% protein
Sunday: 1539 cals; 29.5% fat, 34% carbs, 36.5% protein
Monday: 2331 cals; 22% fat, 46.7% carbs, 31.3% protein
Ugh. Weekends, I'm not doing so well. There's less structure to my day, and I get caught up in stuff and forget to eat. (Although this weekend was better than most, total cal-wise.) And I still need to eat more protein and fat and less carbs.
Notes: I taped my squats last night (hurray!); now I just need to figure how to get the video on to a computer (boo). And then I need time to actually upload/fiddle with it. I had planned to do a set of DLs and tape them, after the regular workout. Instead, I just curled up in the fetal position for a few minutes.
*Grip held!! Or at least didn't fail noticeably. The dumbbells were unbalanced, though (10 lbs on one side and 7.5 on the other), so I put the heavier side toward my thumbs. Seemed to work.
TKD: TKD was gentle last night: I only taught the beginners. And class starts with a warm-up and stretching, which is exactly what I needed for a cool-down.
Nutrition: 1788 cals; 17.6% fat, 41.1% carbs, 41.3% protein
This is my first week of not loading up food in the morning (pre-workout, post-workout, and breakfast), so I didn't do too well with getting enough food at breakfast. And with everything in the world now being touted as "low fat", it's hard to get enough fat in the day! I've already switched to 2% milk/cottage cheese; maybe I'll go whole milk. I'm eating handfuls of walnuts throughout the day--well, when I remember...
Edit: I also slept like a rock last night. Asleep in no time, and scowling at the alarm clock this morning.
Wednesday eats: 1903 cals; 33.9% fat, 24.3% carbs, 41.9% protein
Someone somewhere mentioned counting the olive oil you cook with. I haven't been doing that, but we cook everything in olive oil. So that helps up the fat intake
Sleep: Like a rock. 9 hrs.
Thursday,Stage 1, Workout B7:
Deadlifts: (1x10x20, 1x8x50) 1x8x70lbs, 2x8x50lbs*
DB Shoulder Press: 3x8x17.5 each
Wide Grip Pulldowns: 3x8x40 lbs
Lunges: 3x8x17.5 each
Crunches: 3x15x10 lbs (long arm, Swiss ball)
Notes: I taped my deadlifts (again with the technical issues). But whatever I thought was a "fix" seemed to be worse: before, the strain in my back was lower middle back (lats-ish area); last night, the strain was center lower back. Dropped the weight and tried again. Same. Tried going back to my former form and couldn't get the weights down again. *insert beating head against wall*
I know I could drop the weights and concentrate on the form, but I really worked on it during my warmup sets and thought I had it. I can't really tell, though, because at 20lbs I feel nothing in my hamstrings... Maybe I should tape my warmups... :/
TKD: What genius decided she could lift and then go straight to TKD?? Jelly legs all night.
Sleep: Like a rock again. About 7.5 hrs.
Eats: 2110 cals; 39.8% fat, 23.6% carbs, 36.5% protein
Someone somewhere mentioned counting the olive oil you cook with. I haven't been doing that, but we cook everything in olive oil. So that helps up the fat intake
You definitely should. Fat is 9cal/g and a single tablespoon of OO is like 10g MUFA, so that's 90cals at least right there in a single table spoon.
Definitely on my radar now. And it really helps in terms of getting enough good fats. I've been scrambling to find ways to get fat in this crazy "low fat" world. Maybe I won't have to eat so many walnuts now; they're good, but getting old. :P
Of course, with not tracking EVOO for the last month or so, that means I've been over on calories, and maybe as much as 100 cals/day. Doh. Oh, well, I've got it now.
Way to keep up the logging. WRT deads, you will not feel anything in the butt and legs during the workout or even just after as the hamstring and glutes are slow twitch muscles. The quads are fast twitch so you will feel the pain in them as you exercise. The other thing I found with deads is that you really do not feel them even the next day until the weight is pretty high. For me and my friend it was within 30lbs of our body weight.
Way to keep up the logging. WRT deads, you will not feel anything in the butt and legs during the workout or even just after as the hamstring and glutes are slow twitch muscles. The quads are fast twitch so you will feel the pain in them as you exercise. The other thing I found with deads is that you really do not feel them even the next day until the weight is pretty high. For me and my friend it was within 30lbs of our body weight.
*headdesk* That would make sense, then, as to why I'm not feeling anything in my hamstrings--not really going to anyway and not high enough weight for them. So I should probably be dropping the weight until I can get my back to cooperate (and can lower it correctly), since my back and/or form is the limiting factor here? Rats. I want heavy weights! :P
Well, I have 1 more of each workout and the AMRAPs in Stage 1. I'll probably spend my "off" week seriously working on squat/DL form with ridiculously light weights. (I do actually have access to a set of vinyl Barbie weights...) And working on the new exercises from Stage 2.
Hi! Welcome to logging. I don't know how I missed this one.
I definitely agree with your idea to drop weight and work on form. Absolutely the right move. Some ladies in the NROLw forum have been really helped by the book called Ripptoes Starting Strength. I watched a cross fit video with Mark Ripptoe, and he really knows his stuff. The book is all about basic form.
Another thing, your macros really seem to vary from day to day. I don't know what your goals are, but you may try to hit the 30 % fat, 40% carbs, 30% proteins that Alwyn's book recommends.
On the good fats, natural peanut butter and peanuts are two of the things I use to up my fat content when I need to.
Good luck with your amrap workouts and moving on to stage 2.
I've been watching all the videos and reading all the articles, too. I did finally tape my squats & DLs; now I just need to watch my tape next to one of the videos and see if I can find the problem. (Maybe upload my tape if I can figure out how.) Going lower on weights will do me no good if I still can't fix it...
I'm really aiming at 40/30/30, protein/carbs/fat. Ignoring weekends, usually my protein is 180-220 g. (Sheesh, that's 1.5x my body weight!) Fat, I've been working on increasing since starting NROLFW; carbs, I've been trying to limit because I tend to overeat on them. But I can't usually seem to get them both to behave on the same day, hence the "all over the place" look. Bah!
The few days I've tried to enter my food a day ahead, I end up not eating what I put down, for different reason. *headdesk* (It's Friday. Multiple headdesk day.)
Friday:
eats: 43.9% fat; 23.3% carbs; 32.8% protein
Saturday:
All weekend I measured out food (and ate it), but then I completely forgot to write down what it was. So I really have no idea. I am pretty it's all way under my daily goals, only because when I'm not on a schedule I forget to eat. So, note to self: eat on weekends and track food, too.
Stage 1, Workout A8
Squats: (1x10x20) 1x8x60lbs, 2x8x50
T-pushups: 3x8x10lbs (on knuckles, then grab 10-lb DB for press)
Seated Rows: 2x8x55lbs, 1x8x50lbs
Step Ups: 3x8x17.5lbs each
Prone Jackknife: 2x15 // Reverse Crunch: 1x15*
*Kept sliding off the ball on the second set (too wobbly & too sweaty), so switched to reverse crunch for last set.
I watched the videos I made last week. (Haven't worked on getting them uploaded anywhere yet.) Squats: I'm leading the up with my back, pushing a little forward first and then up, I think to get my back back in position (relaxing/resting at the bottom, maybe?). End up pushing too much on the ball of my foot. Deadlifts: I look like a total goof trying to put the bar down. And hips drop too low, even when I "reset" (never really reset). Both: it looks/feels like my back is doing all the work, as if my legs aren't involved at all. And I think I'm overthinking this all way too much. *headdesk*
Stage 1 is almost over, so maybe then I can convince myself to stop being so macho and just drop the weight to work on form. (I know, squats and DLs don't show up exactly in Stage 2, but I can talk myself into low weights to warm-up for whatever comes next.)
Sunday:
Again with the measuring, eating, and not recording. Doh. And I have no excuse, because I sit at a computer most of the day, every day.
I agree with the comment to drop the weights and work on form for a little while. Also I am not seeing any bw squats on your warmups. My trainer always starts me on bw squats so I can think about my form. Then I graduate to bare bar for 20 reps and only then I get to add weights.
Operation Look Like A Goddess
I'm already a few weeks in to NROLFW, so I'm going to catch up my posts.
Wohoo!
Usually it doesn't hit until the lunges/step ups, but yesterday I could hardly hold on to my deadlifts. Ugh.
Linear Mode
