Ok; I think I'm understanding it much better now. Thanks Lisa, Jane, and Chad.
Jane, I certainly will not try those lifts until I can find/afford proper training. They look too scary for me to try! And I have no desire to be in that league anyway. (At least not yet, heh heh )
I found out today that my right arm is significantly stronger than my left. I figured there was some difference, but was surprised by how much. I felt like I could go up to 25 lbs. with the right arm, but I was struggling with 20 on the left. I guess a lot of it is my job is all right-handed scanning, so I use it constantly, with a lot of pressure, all day long. Not sure if I should use different weights for each arm on this. I think I saw a thread about that, will have to look it up and see what was recommended.
DB 1-Leg RDL
3 x 6 x 25's
BB Bentover Row 3 x 6 x 65
Right leg was tight and shaky on the RDL's. Did these as a superset.
DB 1-Arm Overhead Squat 1 x 6 x 10/20lb.
2 x 6 x 12/25lb.
DB Incline Bench Press 2 x 6 x 20's
1 x 6 x 25's
Supersetted these, too. I have been bothered for the entire program by a pain deep in my right hip flexor when I do anything that involves, well, hip flexing. I noticed it in stage one on the step ups, and I can feel it when I do squats. It's not bad enough to stop me from working out, but it's irritating. Not getting worse, but not getting better either. I have been trying to stretch it a lot, and I have done some searching on the injury forum, but can't pinpoint it.
Plank
3 x 90 sec.
Reverse Woodchop
1 x 6 x 35
2 x 6 x 40
Planks are finally getting easier; I managed the full 90 seconds with not too much problem, but I do get really trembly.
Bodyweight Matrix
3:20 first set, rested 6:40, 3:16 second set.
KILLER, KILLER, KILLER BW matrix!!!!
The first set on the squat jumps I had to rest every four jumps! Pathetic. I think on the lunge jumps too, I had to stop for a few seconds after about half of them, and my hang time was pretty sad by the end. I figured the second time through would be worse, but I managed all the lunge jumps with no rest (but again, the jump height was very low), and only rested about 5 seconds after 12 squat jumps. I was pleased with that.
My quads were tight and burning at the end of the workout, and I think I was rubbery-legged as I walked out of the gym; people were looking at me like, what the hell was she doing? Could hardly walk up the stairs to my apartment.
I have a pain in my left shoulder. Started several weeks ago, I think right after I worked on Rippetoe's squats and deadlifts. Like the hip pain, not enough to stop me working, but persistent and annoying. It's mostly when I abduct my shoulder with the elbow bent at 90 degrees, but I feel it also if I do wide arm circles. Generally any movement that involves any rotation, so I guess it's a rotator cuff problem. The pain is pretty specifically located, deep in the deltoid, slightly anterior, and just lateral to the bony knob situated directly on the top of the shoulder when the arm is hanging straight down. When my upper arm is parallel to the ground, the pain is right in a groove between muscles. I'll have to look at my Netter's anatomy book to figure out specifically which muscles. Maybe I'll go back to PT for the hip and shoulder. Don't want it to get worse.
Funny things in the gym: Last week I read a post by Jane about how she introduced some girls who had been on the Smith machine, to proper squat rack squats, and their form improved drastically. Last time I was at the gym I saw two girls doing that same thing: working "squats" on the Smith machine, and of course the form was terrible. I considered how it would be to try to talk to them and introduce them to the real squat rack, but of course, I don't have the experience or confidence yet to do that.
Then today, there was a girl who did walk over to the squat rack and do some real squats with the empty oly bar, but I noticed that her form was not good. The bar was too high on her shoulders, her wrists were extended way too far back, with the bar weight on them, her elbows were too low, and she wasn't going anywhere near parallel. Funny how I can notice those things now that I know more about how it should really be. Again, I wanted to be able to correct her, but what am I gonna do?
There was a guy too, who was doing cleans, and his form was terrible as well. His back was way rounded when he bent over to get the bar up, and his "rack" position was bar in palms, with elbows practically at his sides. I felt like telling him he's going to hurt himself.
This sort of stuff always makes me want to put up flyers in the gym: "Squatting on the Smith Machine? Trying to do cleans and deadlifts? Read Rippetoe's Starting Strength before you do, and avoid injury and increase your strength more than you ever thought you would! Remember the name Rippetoe!"
Regarding the snatches.....remember, this is NOT an arm exercise. Your arms are only levers to get the DB up. This is a power move, with everything coming from your lower body to power the DB up.
Yeah, I kind of get that feeling on the right; it's not my arms. So why is it felt so much in my left arm? I mean, I squat and throw myself onto my toes and the DB goes up. On the right it flies right up over my head and I have no trouble holding it there, but on the left, it only flies up to a little above my shoulder and then I'm pushing it up with the arm. Does that mean it's my left lower body that's weaker? But on the leg exercises I definitely feel like my right leg is weaker than my left. Now I'm confused.
No workout today; after Sunday's workout, my left shoulder is in a lot more pain than it was. Going to rest it, and am going for deep tissue massage next weekend to address the knots in my back and neck. Will ask about the shoulder as well, but it probably just needs rest.
Hope the shoulder gets better soon. Mmmm, massage, although I don't know how relaxing a sports massage would be! I scheduling in a massage at the end of NROLFW.
I see so much bad form at my gym but like you, I wouldn't say anything. Maybe when I get as good as Miss Jane...
There's one young guy (who once left a DB in the middle of the floor for me to trip over) who does terrible things. When he's not trying to do seated cable rows with ridiculously large amounts of weight that he can't handle, he's sitting on a bench in the middle of our only power rack playing with his iPod.
Then there's the guy with the miserable looking face that grunts at me - "How many more sets?" and dominates our only adjustable bench.
Then today, there was a girl who did walk over to the squat rack and do some real squats with the empty oly bar, but I noticed that her form was not good.....
There was a guy too, who was doing cleans
It's awesome that you have people in your gym even trying these things. Sorry to hear about the pain. Hope you're feeling better.
Shoulder update: amazingly enough it's much better today. I noticed a great improvement after I spent some time in the pool yesterday, working with my sons on their diving skills. Wonder if the swimming helped work out some kinks. I still have pain in the left shoulder, but now it's not so bad that I can only abduct the arm about 20 degrees. Now I can abduct it all the way to parallel, and it hurts, but not badly. Also noticed I have the same pain in the right shoulder, but much, much milder. Still think I'll rest for a few days and see after the massage how it feels.
Sucks, because I'm really looking forward to getting back to stage 3. I am really liking it!
It's awesome that you have people in your gym even trying these things. Sorry to hear about the pain. Hope you're feeling better.
Yeah, there are a very few people doing real lifts. Every Sunday morning there's a guy who dominates the squat rack for an hour, then the power cage for another hour, doing real lifts. I haven't noticed his form, but I can tell that at least he thinks he's a real lifter, because he brings a container of loose chalk and spreads it all over, and grunts with every rep, and drops the barbell from at least waist height after every clean, sending the ear-splitting clank and clatter all over the peaceful Sunday morning gym. I have had to learn to get there before 8 in order to beat him to the squat rack if I want to use it for my measly 3 sets of squats or whatever. . . .
Yay! Back to the gym today after a week off because of that darn shoulder. Not liking workout B as much as A, I think because of the DB snatches in A; I just love those. Oh well. . . .
8/22/09
RDL/Bent over Row
6 x 65
6 x 70
6 x 75
Partial Single Leg Squat 3 x 6 x 20's
Was trying to figure out why these seem so hard, when I feel like I should be using more weight, then realized it's because essentially I'm lifting almost all my body weight, plus 40 more pounds, with one leg!
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
6 x 90
6 x 92.5
6 x 95
Back Extension, plates held on chest 6 x 25
6 x 30
6 x 35
30 lbs. was awkward, because used plates, so had to use a 5 held with a 25. 35 plate was just hard to maneuver into position on my chest. I think maybe I'll use less weight next time with more reps.
YTWL 6 x 5's
2 x 6 x 7.5's
These feel weird again; have to recheck the videos to make sure I'm doing the W right. Also worried about my shoulder, but it seemed ok during the workout.
Ball Crunch, levers 2 x 10 x 8
1 x 8 x 8
Very hard with the DB held between my hands, arms stuck to my ears. Felt it a lot in the erectors.
Ball Pike
3 x 10
Lateral Ball Crunches 2 x 15 x BW
1 x 10 x BW
Harder than they seem like they should be, after all that comes before.
Prone Cobra
3 x 90sec.
HIIT Sprints: 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0
Knees feeling ok; I haven't run in about two weeks. Did feel a twinge of shin pain on right leg, but seems ok now.
Yesterday I got the best massage ever! I went to this woman because a coworker recommended her for great deep tissue massage. I told her I have been plagued by an ache in my middle back for years, and also told her about my shoulder issues. She started in my neck, under my skull, and found knots I didn't know I had, and was able to pinpoint areas that were so tight they were causing me problems that I hadn't recognized. She asked if I had recently had neck trauma, because it felt like I had a whiplash-type injury, and I said no, but I have noticed lately when I sleep I get neck pain on that side.
She worked on me for a full hour, neck, shoulders, arms, back, legs, and even feet. She found knots in the bottom of my feet that were painful, and pain in my right arm that when she worked on it radiated into the back of my hand! She was so good she had me in tears with the painful knots she worked out. Literally in tears! But it was soooooo good. And the price was so low I couldn't believe it. She was worth triple the price. I think I'm going to make a massage with her a monthly appointment. It's worth it. Best thing I have ever done.
Plank 2 x 90 sec.
1 x 90 sec. three-point (one leg crossed over the other)
Reverse Woodchop 1 x 6 x 20
2 x 6 x 22.5
These were on a different machine; I did 40 lbs. last time, and 20 on this machine felt like 40 on the other. Need to find out how much the plates on this one weigh.
Skipped the bodyweight matrix, because I had to be somewhere and ran out of time. If I get energetic here shortly I will do them at home, but right now I'm really fatigued. Just no energy at all; maybe it's the heat today, it's bad.
Yeah; I've had two other massages in my life, but I don't count them as "real." They were both cotton candy compared to this one, which was hmm....liver and onions......awful but so good for you that it's enjoyable to go through it.
Bodyweight Matrix
First time: 2:30, but my son timed me and twice stopped the watch because he forgot I had more to do, when I paused between squats and lunges, so I figure I have to add at least 15 seconds to this time.
Rest: 5:30
Second time: 2:44; timed properly this time.
I think I was so fast because there was about 6 hours between the actual workout and this last part, so I had plenty of rest time. I almost forgot to do this, then my son asked to go to the park after dinner and I remembered it, so did it there. It was still plenty hard; in fact, I'm not sure how I ever did it immediately after lifting, I was so tired after this time when I was rested!
But, I did notice while I was bent over panting, that my quads are definitely bigger than they were a while ago. I'm gaining muscle!
Good times on the body matrix, despite the rest. It still counts!
Re: quads - I bent down to stroke my cat last night and as I got up I put my hand on my thigh and through my thin pyjamas I could feel more muscle there! It's a good feeling, isn't it?
Glad to hear the shoulder was better and you found a good masseuse! I am ashamed to admit I have never had a massage. People always tell me I must get thyself one immediately.
Shoulder was better after the massage, although not totally pain free; but after the workout yesterday it's worse again. I think it's something to do with the shoulder-heavy workout A? Not sure what to do about it; can't keep taking weeks off.
You can either drop something, or back off on the weights. I've had to do that from time to time, especially with the shoulder. I used to have a joint that would pop out if I pushed up at a certain angle (not lifting weights, but silly things like pushing something onto a shelf). Although that shoulder is better, I still tend to take it easy when it hurts.
Hell. I just had my whole post for my workout written, and by some dumb random keyboard strokes I closed the window before posting it and lost the whole thing. Dang, dang, dang. I had a bunch of notes there, too.
Well, now I'm too tired to redo it, so I'm going to bed and will try to repost it tomorrow.
Realized I'm keeping my head too far up when doing these, in order to look at form in the mirror. Have to keep my neck from extending so much. Look at the floor a few feet in front instead.
Partial 1 Leg Squat
1 x 6 x 20's
2 x 6 x 22.5's
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
3 x 6 x 95
Back Extension
2 x 6 x 35
1 x 8 x 35
Used the plate weight for this. Not ready to go up to 45 lbs., so I added reps instead.
YTWL
3 x 6 x 8's
Barely made it through these. They are SO HARD!! By set three, I wasn't getting my arms all the way up on the T's, and the L's as well. No going up in weight for these for a while!
Ball Crunch
3 x 15
Did these holding another swiss ball in a lever position.
Reverse Crunches on Incline Bench 3 x 15
Not sure how good these are on incline. I feel like I use my abs more on the floor. With the bench, it feels like more is coming from the arms.
Swiss Ball Side Crunches
3 x 15
These are always harder than it seems they should be.
I skipped the prone cobras and the HIIT, because I was so late. I had skipped the gym on my regular Thursday night because I got out of work 1/2 hour late, and just didn't feel like going to the gym. (It had nothing to do with the fact that I was having a great hair day [unusual for me], and didn't want to get all sweaty because I was feeling very, ummm.....romantic......ummm... .and wanted to get home to put the kids to bed early. . . . .no, nothing to do with that, I swear! )
Anyway, skipped Thursday, so absolutely had to go Friday. And as it always works, I ended up getting out even later from work Friday than Thursday. But I had to go do the workout, so I was running really late. By the time I finished crunches it was 8:00 and the kids' bedtime is 8:30 and they hadn't had dinner yet, so I just couldn't stay to finish. Oh well.
Also hadn't tracked food for a couple of days, because I had two heavy carb days, with lots of rice, noodles, and um...cookies and cake and it was too hard to figure out the nutrition info to put into Fitday. But, it did help me have a lot of energy in the gym last night! What I did felt great, and I wasn't panting after every exercise, wanting to die. Scale has gone up a couple of pounds, too. I'm hoping at least some of it is muscle. I guess I'm getting to that bulk cycle I was going to try a while back, without really trying this time! Maybe I'll run with it for a bit.
I went into my gym, 24 Hour Fitness, to do my workout as usual, and all the free weights were gone; no dumbbells or barbells or squat racks or power cages to be seen. Not even a Smith machine! In their places were endless rows of Cybex and Nautilus machines!
I asked the manager where the free weights were moved to and he said, "We got rid of them. They were no good."
I was devastated; I kept thinking, I just bought another 2 year subscription to the gym, and now I can't use it! And there are no other gyms near me. What am I gonna do?
It was horrible.
On another horrible note, my copy of Starting Strength is beginning to lose pages. The binding is falling apart already, after only a few weeks! Not a dream. Real.
giggle. It is amazing how you start dreaming about things like this that become such a part of your life.
Yesterday at the Sample Seminar at Panera, the lecturer asked everyone to tell 'one passion they have in their life' . . . when it was my turn I said "I love weight lifting, and that is becoming a passion"
She did this involuntary glance over my less-than-ideal body and said "That's amazing, i would have neeevvver guessed that" Then paused a moment and said "yeah, I mean never, I woulda never thought that"
LOL. I was thinking 'I get it, I get it. It's surprising'
She didn't question me on my passion like she did everyone else, she just skipped over me and went on.
If my deadlift was as good as yours is, I might have decided to beat her up.
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If you weren't born drop dead gorgeous, be thankful for the opportunity to develop character first.
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