Abquest

[elisabethd]

Well, I'm starting a log now here even though I am at the end of Stage 1. The reason for the name? Well, everyone wants to see abs of course, but I would like to see mine because I have NEVER seen them.
Originally I started Body for Life in September 2006 because at 43, I was a wreck. I was having trouble getting out of chairs--literally had to use my arms to push me up. I was in that deplorable state because after over 20 years of chronic hepatitis c, I had gone through a year of hideous interferon/ribavirin treatment. The good news is, I am clear of the disease. The bad news was, my muscle mass was eaten away and I was really weak and feeling terrible. The treatment makes you feel like you have the flu all the time, so I was unable to even walk around the block, and I had no appetite at all--I had to take a prescription to keep myself from being nauseated all of the time, but it didn't help much. I didn't gain all that much while I was sick, but I lost massive amounts of muscle.

Body for Life was perfect for me at the time because I have always been interested in weightlifting, and have always had an affinity for it as I think of myself as being a strong person and my arms always responded by looking great with just a little lifting. Over the 20 years I was sick, I went over 15 not knowing I had the disease, just wondering if I was a malingerer or what since I got sick all the time and didn't have any stamina. I went to the gym regularly, but had no decent program and very little energy.

Now, I'm 45, clear of disease, and over this last period I have lost only 20 lbs scale weight, but nearly 20% bodyfat--I started out at 45%(!!!!) and 185, and now I'm 165 or so and around 27% according to every online calculator, 29% on my omron. I am stronger than any woman I know and I have so much energy.

So with all that being said, here I am doing the NROL for women. Here is my workout from today:

squat--100x10x3
T Pushup--10x3 with perfect form
seated row--100x10x3
step up with 40 lbs in dumbells--10, 8, 6
Prone Jacknife--10x3 (Yes I know it was supposed to be 15. I was confused.)

Then I did 20 minutes of HIIT with 6 cycles of 30 sec hard, 90 sec easy.

I'm looking forward to the next stage but I am a little intimidated by the push presses. I am not very coordinated. SO if anyone is still reading this I could use advice on how much weight to start with.

WEll, I'm excited to be here and I'll try to be good about posting regularly! Here are my pics from when I started around Mar. 20, then April 20. I'll do new pics on May 20 or so.

Stats:
height: 5'4"
weight 164 3/20 168 4/20
bodyfat 31% 3/20 30% 4/20
Bust 38 37
waist 32 31
hips 39 37


Aw, heck, I'm having trouble with the pics. I just got photoshop elements and I'm not used to it. I'll post them later.

Elisabeth

[Silly Sally]

Welcome Elisabeth. It's wonderful that you've gotten well, and choose to continue improving your health and fitness. Your workout looks great - you are strong! As far as push presses, view the video and if you have specific questions after that, post a query in the NROL4W forum - there are so many helpful folks around here!

I did BFL, too. Great program, huh?

See you again ...
Sally

[elisabethd]

Hey Sally, thanks for responding. Uh...where is the video? All I could find was Natalia's on her site. The Sticky has no videos. Thanks for being gentle with the slow girl. : )

[elisabethd]

Deadlift@105x8x3
DB Shoulder press 30x2x8x3
Wide Grip Pulldown 90x6x3
Lunge 27.5x2x8x3
Swiss ball crunch with 10# plate over head x15x3
Intervals: 20 min from 6.2-8MPH 6 cycles

Squat@100x8x3
T pushup 10x3
Seated row@100x8x3
Stepup 2x25#dumbells x8x3
Prone Jacknife10x3
intervals: to 8.6 6 cycles

Deadlift @115x8x3
DB shoulder press 30x2 x8x3 (this is hard still)
wide grip pulldown 90x8x3
lunge w 27.5x2 db x8x3
S.B. crunch with 10# med ball over head 15x3
INtervals 7.2--8.6 x 6 cycles.

ok, my formatting leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, I'm getting a lot of stares at the weights I'm doing. Why is it that every gym I go to has pretty much only girls with pink fuzzy weights? I'm tired of it.

On a good note, my intervals are improving a lot and I'm running really fast--nearly 9MPH. Considering that before I was 43, I never never ran at all--all my cardio was on ellipticals or bikes, this is pretty great. Although, once again, I am sick of all the cardio bunnies reading Allure and talking on the phone while they do their cardio. I never see anyone doing intervals but me. Boo hoo.

I used the Omron to test my BF% yesterday, and it's down to 28.8. It reads high compared to the fancy test I got at the nutritionist, so that means that my BF% has gone down 3.5 % since September at a minimum--probably more--with most of that drop coming in the last 2 months with NROL. Happy, happy. Some day I will learn to upload pictures so I can document this.

So, today I need to decide what I'm going to do--I really am conflicted about the AMRAP thing. If there's an actual benefit to doing it, I don't mind, but if there's no compelling reason to do it, I'd rather just go on to stage 2. I'm looking forward to those push press thingies, hopefully I won't drop a dumbbell on my head. I am Mrs. Uncoordinated. : )

[elisabethd]

I took my BF % yesterday and on the Omron it's was 28.2--now it's 27.9. I was really happy about that, since it runs higher than the fancy thingamagig that the nutritionist hooked me up to a few months ago...I've lost almost 5% bodyfat since September. Wow. I am stunned. Especially since I am not the most consistent exerciser because of my health. Most of the drop has happened in the last 2 months, doing this program.

However, now I am crying. Why? because I was at the gym doing the Stage 2 exercises (which kicked my A$$ big time), step ups specifically, when a trainer came up with a client in tow to ask what exercises I do for my arms and legs. Say what? I happened to have the book with me so he looked at it eagerly, but the client (who was just a little overweight and fluffy) said, "You look GREAT! Wow! I want to do those exercises! "

I didn't have a lot of time to think about it since I was in the midst of getting my butt kicked, but as I got into the car (fighting the urge to hurl) I started to cry. It has taken me 18 months to get to this point, but it has finally happened. I am no longer the fat mama. The bodybuilders all nod at me as I go by. I look like an athlete instead of a fatso. I am so dang happy.

Here is my workout from today.

Front squat 45(unweighted bar)2x10
Step up w/2 15#DB 2x10
1-pt row w 2 15# DB 2x10
Static lunge 153x2 2x10
T pushup 2x10 (going very low, trying to improve ROM)
Plank 60 sec. x2
Wood chop 10x2 at 7.5#

This workout thrashed me big time. I finally don't feel nauseated any more. Hopefully it was the workout and not the stomach flu since my 8 year old daughter had the flu the night before last!!!

Anyway, probably no intervals for me in this Stage. I'll be delighted to get through it alive. : )

[LisaS]

happy tears good for you! what a good feeling that must be.

[elisabethd]

Hey Lisa, thanks--I didn't notice your comment because the day after my last post I got the worst stomach flu of my life!!! I decided to take the week off--I hadn't taken one because I knew something like that would happen. I have 3 kids and health issues so I catch every bug they find at school.
I'm going to start back on Monday if I can stand it that long. I'm feeling kind of fragile so I figured it would be for the best.

[stingo]

Congrats on making the transition to an athlete. And yay for positive reinforcement re: the trainer and his client. Alwyn's programs are for the strong-willed which both will discover should they actually use one of the books.

[UConnJulie]

Welcome Elisabeth! Amazing story ... glad you are on the road back to good health!

[L'ilJ]

Hi there! Wow, very inspiring story. Cool that you're doing so well on the NROL4W program.

[Silly Sally]

YAY!
Wow!
KUDOS!
GO YOU!
Nice...