Before And After Pics !!

[Sunshine143]

Originally Posted by shelleyt2005

I still have a ways to go, but at least I am not like I was a couple of years ago.

You look AMAZING!!! Good job

[Sunshine143]

Originally Posted by precisou2004

Mine are on my BS.com ;-) but here they are anyways

HARD WORK AND A ****LOAD OF PATIENCE PAYS OFF

45%BF -VS- 16.39%
AUGUST 2, 2006 -VS- SEPT. 6, 2008

Wow!! You look beautiful!

[tawney76]

stell2004 said:
"I Tawny76: I am going to take your advice with the building up to be able to do pull ups. that really sounds like a great idea, and starting next week (taking the weekend off, out of town right now) I will begin trying what you suggested. I really want to be where you guys are. I am going to do some more looking around for a trainer."***

just remember that it's gonna take some time. But every time you move the pin up from 70 to 80 to 90 etc... you are getting closer to your goal of putting the pin at your own bodyweight, and WHALLA!!! pullups baby!!! (hear the Cowboy Baby music in the backround!!! LOL)

also, finding a trainer is tricky. A lot of gyms have these guys who decided to become a trainer instead of goto college (or WHILE they go through college!! LOL) and take some silly certification course to be called "a real trainer". The problem is that they have no real world experience at bodybuilding. They are taught by other so-called "real trainers" to show you how to balance on a swiss ball while you do one legged squats and overhead presses. It's all just a bunch on nonsense, and in the end you pay some guy $60 an hour to stand there yawning and looking at your butt while he shows you useless exercises that take you nowhere. Does he care?

Listen- your best bet is to find someone at your gym (guy or gal) who LOOKS LIKE YOU WISH YOU LOOKED. Obviously if it's a guy, pick a Brad Pitt great abs and definition type, but pick one who looks like he earned the bod instead of being born with the bod. Obviously a ripped woman would be ideal, but they are oh so hard to find. Once you pick the right person, just get friendly enough with them to ask if they would mind showing you the correct way to do a couple of exercises. You would be very surprised how easily most people will do this, so long as you catch them heading TOWARD the locker room after their workout, not FROM the locker room before they start.
You can also use this websites easy video examples to get you started. You can watch the vids and mimic them at home. Then when you get to the gym, you'll already have a solid idea how to perform them, all you'll need is to be watched for flaws in your execution of the exercise. This requires less of a bother to a fellow lifter, and is easy to ask for help about.

Trust me and slowly build a successful program yourself without the fancy trainer. Get help to get started and ask advice from the people who look like you want to look. I get flamed for that comment a lot, but I don't care. It's the truth, it worked for me, and thank GOD I didn't let one of the bozos at our gym train me instead of my husband because i would have made ZERO progress this year.

good luck

[tawney76]

precisou2004 said:
"Yeha... sometimes i love feeling like "a needle in a hay stack" LOL... When I do my chest press, and go pick up some 50 or 55lbs dumbells and I have people give me the look like "omg u can/gonna do THAT ???" and Im like YES I AM BABY !!! of course only when Im with my trainer cuz i cant life those babies up by myself LOL.. Gosh I remember when I tried 40 lbs db's for the 1st time.. Fern HAD to help me... now its like feathers LOL I like when I can match up what a guy can do right beside me LOL... ok call me Ms Vanity Fair LOL

thanks for the comment on the vids. I think the last one was in early september right ? Fern says I got natural trapeses (sp) is that the word in english ? LOL...

and as for the squats... i can see the real difference in my legs now than before... just amazing ! "***

YEP. It's called "the look". Men always give it to you right before you unrack the 50's from the shelf to go press them. I had a guy tell me once, "honey, those are very heavy." To which i said, "then you should probably use the 35's." and I just pressed them and ignored him. He never said another word. I think guys get mad when they see you working out with the same weight as them. It's very inspiring to look over and see their expression, and it makes it worth all the pain we go through to do it. So don't feel like you're all alone in that gym precisou, because there are girls like us. (and we all feel the same kinds of emotions)

It was the sept. vid i was talking about, and the english word is pronounced: Traps or Trapeezy-us.

I tried to download a youtube video of me hammer curling (I did actually) but the video quality stinks. You can hardly see my definition. The only way to see the video in it's "high-quality form" is to double click it so that it takes you to the youtube page, and then click "play in high quality" on the lower right corner of the video screen. The bottom line is that I need a real camcorder. My cell phone is just not gonna cut it.

[silvershadow]

Originally Posted by tawney76

precisou2004 said:
I had a guy tell me once, "honey, those are very heavy." To which i said, "then you should probably use the 35's." and I just pressed them and ignored him. He never said another word.

LMAO....that is so bloody funny!!!

Hey tawney do you have any tips for building up BB bench capacity?...I'm thinking along the lines of your rowing to pull ups? Something weird happens for me...I get weak through my arms or something. I can't seem to get above 81 pounds incl the bar. Partly I think it's psychological because I train alone and and the concept of failing in a press kinds freaks me out. I can press 92.5 but they're partial. Am I better off going lighter with complete movements?

[silvershadow]

Originally Posted by Steph2387

Hey Guys how is everyone!! now i was looking at the other forums with the transformation pics and there was just all pics of guys!!! so now i am starting one for the ladies of the site, please post your before and after pics or just progress pics, letting us know maybe your weight or size, and some motivational tips to keep us going!! I havent got an after pic yet, plenty of BEFORE PICS so Im hoping this will help motivate me and everyone else....so start posting ladies!!!!


cheers

STEPH!!

Ok...here goes. I don't really have a before body shot, but the size of my face should give an indication of the state of play! (that's me on the right).
I've been at it since January this year, and the body shot was taken maybe 2months ago, the last face shot was yesterday.

I feel pretty happy with my gains so far, but I struggle with body fat and composition. I want to get a lot bigger yet, so thanks for the inspiring shots!

[tawney76]

silvershadow said:
"Hey tawney do you have any tips for building up BB bench capacity?...I'm thinking along the lines of your rowing to pull ups? Something weird happens for me...I get weak through my arms or something. I can't seem to get above 81 pounds incl the bar. Partly I think it's psychological because I train alone and and the concept of failing in a press kinds freaks me out. I can press 92.5 but they're partial. Am I better off going lighter with complete movements?"***

It would help a lot if we were working out together, but I'll let you know how I handle it for myself, and maybe you can take something from that.

When I started lifting I couldn't even do the bar by itself. It would wobble and go up crooked. I was a mess, lol So I went through the basic training stage, and eventually got good at form. My husband was careful to always make me keep my elbows tucked in (more like the powerlifting people) instead of flaring them out (like you see a lot of gym goers do) to protect my shoulders from being hurt. I can't see your form right now, so it's hard to know what style your benching in. For power, i would recommend the 'tucked in' approach.

For me personally, benching is a side exercise. Meaning that I come back to it to check on my progress from time to time, but I don't bench twice a week. I let the strength increase in my triceps and shoulders from other big movements and it always seems like when I come back a month later to do benches for a day that they have gone up 5-10 pounds. This strategy can work. Everyone thinks benching is all chest, but I believe that tricep strength is the key to a good bench. Are you doing dips? because nothing will strengthen the triceps like weighted dips. You start off just doing them with no weight (and put a chair below you if you need to- to rest one foot on.) and slowly build up from there. Some gyms even have those dip stations that mimic a dip with a bar you can press down. If you have access to that, you can do a program the same way as that rowing program I suggested to build up to doing pullups. But anyway- do dips however you can, as often as you can, in place of lots of benching. I guarantee you that as you build up to hanging a little weight belt on yourself to do 8 dips, that your bench has just gone up 10 pounds without you even knowing it. Overhead pressing (with dumbells) has also been a key exercise in improving my bench. When my overhead press went from 25 pound dumbells up to 45 pound dumbells, my bench jumped from 105 for 1 rep to 145 for 1 rep. (and I wasn't even benching during that period) I was doing dumbell overheads, dips, and incline dumbell presses on push day- that's it. Now I was also doing those silly little isolation exercises instead of just taking 3 minute breaks between sets, but that stuff doesn't make you strong. tricep pushdowns and lateral raises are fun, but that's about the last thing I would recommend to a person who wants to build up mass and strength.

I know you're looking for me to give you a specific thing to do, but I would say- avoid benching for a couple of months. Become a strong dipper. Get your overhead dumbell press numbers up. do it all together on one PUSH day. and if you want to work your chest use dumbells for a while. angle it- do incline dumbell bench press for a while (low low incline- the first notch on the way up) and with those 3 exercises as your 'base' get in 3 sets of each after you warm up. Do the 3 important sets HEAVY. Meaning what you can do 6 times. When you creep up to being able to do 8, add 5 pounds (2 1/2 if you have to- but add it)

I think you will be shocked that after 2-3 months on this program that when you lay back down to do a barbell bench press (after you get over the initial weird feeling of using a bar again) you will see that your bench has gone up 20 pounds at least. That sticking point spot will be gone. It will feel so weird, but that spot will now feel light like it was imaginary. it was.

and the best part is that it will give you a mental break from benching and the defeated feeling you have got from that damn sticking point your stuck with.

hope that helps.

[cvBaby]

Originally Posted by tawney76

For them to say, "I don't want to get big muscles." is like a guy who is being asked to work a double at McDonald's saying, "no, I don't want to get rich."

i lol'ed...good analogy

[silvershadow]

"It would help a lot if we were working out together..."

Tease! I live in rural Australia. There are NO women lifting heavy in my gym, period. It's pretty frustrating... I had a couple of work outs at Golds in SFO a few back, and that was freaking awesome! :-)

"My husband was careful to always make me keep my elbows tucked in (more like the powerlifting people) instead of flaring them out (like you see a lot of gym goers do) to protect my shoulders from being hurt. I can't see your form right now, so it's hard to know what style your benching in. For power, i would recommend the 'tucked in' approach."

I'm flared out I'm pretty sure.

"Everyone thinks benching is all chest, but I believe that tricep strength is the key to a good bench. Are you doing dips?"

No, I'm not doing dips, I do skull crushers, cable kick backs, push downs. I'll definitely try adding dips to the arsenal.

"Some gyms even have those dip stations that mimic a dip with a bar you can press down."

Nothing quite that flash round here, but I can dip on the chin up frame, or between two benches.

"But anyway- do dips however you can, as often as you can, in place of lots of benching."

Ok. I'm going to start the 100 push up challenge on monday (and that's monday wed fri), so I'll start dipping tues thurs sat.

"I guarantee you that as you build up to hanging a little weight belt on yourself to do 8 dips, that your bench has just gone up 10 pounds without you even knowing it."

Alright. I'll hold you to that ;-)

"Overhead pressing (with dumbells) has also been a key exercise in improving my bench. When my overhead press went from 25 pound dumbells up to 45 pound dumbells, my bench jumped from 105 for 1 rep to 145 for 1 rep. (and I wasn't even benching during that period) I was doing dumbell overheads, dips, and incline dumbell presses on push day- that's it."

Right. I need to be a little careful with the overheads, because my shoulders aren't great. I had 38 pounds in one hand and rolled back a little and nearly popped my shoulder...so I've backed off to 33 pounds. I'm not as dedicated on my internal rotator and strengthening exercises as I should be....

"I know you're looking for me to give you a specific thing to do, but I would say- avoid benching for a couple of months. Become a strong dipper. Get your overhead dumbell press numbers up. do it all together on one PUSH day."

Nah, your advice is very helpful. It's rarely one thing that you do, and more often a different approach that you take.

"and if you want to work your chest use dumbells for a while. angle it- do incline dumbell bench press for a while (low low incline- the first notch on the way up) and with those 3 exercises as your 'base' get in 3 sets of each after you warm up. Do the 3 important sets HEAVY. Meaning what you can do 6 times. When you creep up to being able to do 8, add 5 pounds (2 1/2 if you have to- but add it)"

Ok that's good. Yes I do incline DB and flat DB stuff. I'll try upping the weight on those a little.

"I think you will be shocked that after 2-3 months on this program that when you lay back down to do a barbell bench press (after you get over the initial weird feeling of using a bar again) you will see that your bench has gone up 20 pounds at least. That sticking point spot will be gone. It will feel so weird, but that spot will now feel light like it was imaginary. it was."

Great. Bring it on.

"and the best part is that it will give you a mental break from benching and the defeated feeling you have got from that damn sticking point your stuck with."

Yeah...I do feel a little weak with such small weights on there. Thanks again for taking the time.

paige

[shelleyt2005]

Tawney76
unfortunately, at my gym there are mostly older people. It is a pretty nice gym for this area, but it is also a place for physical therapy. I go in at five in the morning, and am usually by myself except for a couple other ladies, and I do not think I really want to ask them for help.
So I guess I will take your other advice, just really start watching videos, and getting examples from there. I have a few books I have purchased that I think will help me as well. So I will keep on trucking, and just do what needs to be done.
Thank you for all of your help, you are awesome!!!

[tawney76]

shellyt2005: I'm sorry about the no "in shape people" problem. I like the idea that you will be watching videos. This site has some basic ones to teach proper form and show you all the basic compound exercises. Stay away from the isolation stuff for now. I know they are easier, and I know people will try to tell you that as a girl they are better, but those people are full of it. (lol) Girls need the compound exercises even more than men. IMO Because we seldom start out with any muscle tissue at all. We are working with nada. That means that doing pushdowns or leg extensions is basically a total waste of our time. Those exercises are for people who HAVE a body. Those are great to finish off a killer physique not to build one. If someone tells you otherwise they are sadly misinformed. So- study the videos of the compound movements. You'll get to know them all by looking at the muscles they work. If the exercise only works the bicep and forearms, it's an isolation. If it works the biceps, forearms, lats, rhomboids, traps and shoulders, then it's a compound and it's probably a pullup. A person could literally do pullups, dips, squats, and deadlifts EXCLUSIVELY as a routine, (for 30 minutes 3 times per week) and make worlds better progress than the person with a fancy trainer doing leg curls, pushbacks and all the isolation stuff for 2hrs per day. Show me a girl who sticks to basics and I'll show you a girl who's making major progress and can do all the stuff men can do, like pullups and decent weight on all their exercise movements. Build yourself a solid foundation, and you can take it anyplace you want- bodybuilding, tri-athletics, rock climbing, or just basic sound fitness.

Books are ok, but they can't show you the proper form very well. If you ever invest in a video program, the P90X one is pretty good. It has a solid nutrition program and it promotes a lot of basic compound movements like pullups (it even shows you how to build up to doing them in many ways) but it also promotes some of the isolation stuff too soon. Nobody's perfect.

silvershadow: You need to change that pressing form if you want to improve your bench. At this point you may have already built some bad habits there, so if you have already spoiled yourself, using dumbells may help get you back on track with proper form. Elbows tucked close to your sides. The dumbells should be looking like this / \ in front of your face, not this - -
if you do it right, the dumbells will be angled above you and your elbows will automatically be forced correct.

Now- As far as dipping between 2 benches, that's not gonna be very productive. You need to be able grab the bar and dip down properly. This is not a jimmy-rig situation. You need to find a way to do them correctly. Most gym supply places online will sell you a dip-chinup-leg raise combo station for about 100 bucks if you can swing it. You'll get a dip station, a solid pullup overhead attachment, and a good padded leg raise part for your abs. Well worth the home investment. It covers the ENTIRE upper body in 3 fantastic exercises.

As far as "trying to" add dips to your arsenal. Skull crushers (nomatter how powerful the words sound) kick backs and pushdowns are not a great arsenal for a womans Primary bench building routine. I think you missed my point. If you have to choose between a total of 9 sets of those other 3 exercises, OR 6 sets of proper dips on correct equipment, I can assure you that the person doing dips will totally smoke the other persons progress hands down. Natures rule daniel son, not mine.

You said:
"Ok. I'm going to start the 100 push up challenge on monday (and that's monday wed fri), so I'll start dipping tues thurs sat."

Ok, this scares me. We need to talk. There are many rules to how the body heals from weightlifting, and if you were to do what you propose above, you would be headed for serious injuries and overtraining. If you do a pushup challenge 3 days per week... do no other pressing movements of any kind whatsoever until the challenge ends. When it ends, start your dips, and consider the pushdowns and kickbacks casualties of war and kiss them dead soldiers goodbye.

You also said:
"I'm not as dedicated on my internal rotator and strengthening exercises as I should be.... "

GOOD. Those rotator cuff exercises are very dangerous, and I would strongly urge anyone with any common sense to avoid them like the plague. The fitness magazines and trainers are hot on this ridiculous swiss ball kick, and along with that they have got first time beginners doing these sort of sideways windshield washer arm curls for the rotator cuff and telling people that it's good for their shoulders. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our rotator cuffs are very delicate complicated mechanisms that should be taken care of and treated with the utmost respect. A shoulder injury will end your weightlifting forever, and those movements are a step in that direction. JMHO

If you feel that you cannot overhead dumbell press without pain, then by all means find an exercise that works the shoulders that DOES NOT HURT. But do not make the problem worse by trying to do rotator cuff exercises nomatter WHAT the trainers or magazines tell you.

[NikkiakaDB]

Only 2 months of work... but i'm ALMOST back to my HS weightlifting days...

[TrueNorth]

Originally Posted by tawney76

precisou2004 said:


YEP. It's called "the look". Men always give it to you right before you unrack the 50's from the shelf to go press them. I had a guy tell me once, "honey, those are very heavy." To which i said, "then you should probably use the 35's." and I just pressed them and ignored him. He never said another word.

I'm not sure which one you said that, but its priceless, LMAO! I love it!

ANd thx, Tawney for sharing the rowing routine that you did to work up to the pullups...I am going to try that.

[shelleyt2005]

Well, today i ordered white flood and green magnitude. I am hopeing that along with the purple wraath, I will begin to look like tawney76
I started the rowing workouts you said that I should start, I am kind of pathetic right now. But I guess if I keep up with it, I will be able to do them someday..... I just need to start pushing myself harder.
when you talked about women should concentrate on doing compound exercises instead of isolation, can you go into a little more detail? I spend most of my time doing isolation, and now I feel silly. Like i said before, I am not very experienced in this whole thing.
I have thursday off form my day job, after gym time, I will spend a little time on here, looking over videos and such to get an idea of exactly what you are talking about.
everybody have a great day!!!

[tawney76]

Shellyt2005: You shouldn't feel silly!!

c'mon girl. I knew very little about bodybuilding last year. I learned. I had my husband's help, but I threw myself into the work, and into the books and internet study. I also was careful when I sifted through information. They is a lot of bad information on bodybuilding out there. Suppliment companies have ajendas. Gyms and their trainers have ajendas. Muscle magazine are pretty much all ajenda and sales catalogs. So are the TV infomercials. Everyone is selling SOMETHING. The trick is to be smarter than that, and do one thing- find someone who you want to look like and find out from them exactly what they did to get where they are. If you don't have access to the person you want to ask, then you're REALLY gonna have to be sharp. Because all the wannabe trainers, and family and friends with lousy advice for you (because none of them probably look like brad pitt in Troy or linda hamilton in Terminator 2. ) all these people will have you running around in circles sweating your butt off but getting no results. They'll all be telling you, "I heard you should (-insert bad idea here) OR I read someplace that (-insert worse idea here-) The first thing my husband told me when I joined the gym was... "see that fat guy running on the treadmill. He was here last year too. He was fat last year too." Then he walked away for a minute to do another set. When he came back he said, "I don't know why people think that they have to practically pass out on a treadmill to lose weight or look good. how good you look has nothing to do with how much you can sweat or torture yourself for an hour. Eating a clean diet. 6 meals a day with calories in check. compound exercises to build some fat burning muscle. That's all you need. and you don't have to go through torture or stand on swiss balls to do it." I was happy to hear that. It made sense. it worked.

Compound exercises are the movements like deadlifts, squats, pullups, and dips that bring many muscles into play at the same time. Those 4 are some of very best ones. there are other good ones like Military Press, all types of rows, the different variations of the bench press, etc, that are also great. The main thing to remember is that if you have 30-60 minutes to work out, don't waste it doing pushbacks, leg extensions and concentration curls. Your time is valuable, so make the best use of it. Use the movements that are scientifically proven to stimulate the best muscle growth and progress. avoid the fads. The same boring exercises your grandfather did in the army (pullups-pushups) are the ones that work. If it's easier than a pullup, it doesn't build back and arm muscles like a pullup- trust me on that. The back muscles you see in my picture icon in the upper left came from doing pullups. lots of pullups. Yes, it's true that I had to do rowing exercises to build my way up to doing them, but my back didn't look like that until I could do 12 free hanging pullups with strict slow form. It always makes me giggle when a new client comes into the gym and the trainer whips out his "I got certified to use this sheet" training program. He then proceeds to tell this girl to do exercise after exercise of useless movements (useless because the girl is 5'4" 175 pounds and can't even bench press the bar by itself. she is a total beginner.) so instead of starting her on a great program to promote strength and muscle, to speed up her metabolism with a good talking to about nutrition, and to not be affraid to make her push herself a little (weight wise with poundages) "INSTEAD" he hands her a pink dumbell, bends her over into a doggie position (probably to look at her butt) and has her do 5 pound pushbacks. He sells her some useless suppliments, (never discusses the right nutrition advice) and shows her an entire program of the same- leg extensions (on the 2nd pin hole) rows (on the 3rd pin hole) etc. I reemember one time I went over to the row stantion after the trainer & client had walked away, and I took the 2 fingers from my one hand and pulled down the weight he had set on the row machine. The point of this drawn out story is- what kind of progress do you think this girl is going to make before she just feels disgusted and gives up. The gym got paid, the trainer got paid, and the girl got scr*wed. Stick to the basics. Leave the finishing exercises for finishers.

EDIT: I wanted to add one last point. Ladies, I want you to know that I'm not some know it all person. Any info I give here, comes from what I actually did myself, or what I learned from people who made it work themselves. I'm currently doing the same thing I just recommended as far as "the basics" myself for my quads. They need more size to be symetrical and buldgy down by the knee, so I am doing basic squats only. 6 sets- heavy. with one burnout set of 50 reps at half my max. No fancy leg extensions, no lunges or machines... just squats twice a week with a damn heavy barbell across my back. The plates are hard to load, the bar leaves a painful red mark across my shoulder blades for most of the night, and you have to dig deep inside yourself to stand back up with 225 pounds on your back. But the thing is, It's Working-slowly-but it IS working. So I do practice myself the same program I'm suggesting that you try.

and at the end of the day, if you want to see that cool "pulsing" twitch thing that happens above the knees of people with developed quads, there is no other way to do this.

[TuffGirl]

Hey, Girls!

I made a transformation that changed my life.

Please check it out.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/trans_o4018.htm

[shelleyt2005]

Tawney76
you are awesome. thank you for all of your advice. I am really going to do some changes to my exercises, and do more of the compound ones that you are talking about. You really have some great advice. I tried to give you a good rep, but it says that i have to rep others first before I give you more. So once again, thank you so much for all of your help and information.

[Mamaz2ndbaby]

I couldn't even completely read through this thread....you ladies look GREAT and I am so much more motivated to lose my fat having seen your transformations. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING.

THIS CAN BE DONE....I CAN DO THIS!!!

okay, I'm breathing now and will go back to the thread. lol

[shelleyt2005]

Tuff girl,
what an amazing accomplishment, congratulations!!! I bet you feel awesome

[tawney76]

Thanks shelly, it's a shame you're so far away, I'd get you a free week at my gym and show you all the basics you need to know for a strong start. Do your video thing though, that will get you going. Also try youtube, because they have lots of videos of basic movements too. keep it simple. If you trust me on the advice in this thread I think you'll see some guns very soon. You'll also start to feel more "in shape" and fit from those body movement exercises (the dips and pullups- where you move your body as the resistance, instead of being stationary and moving the weight around a still body) There's some kind of scientific reason for that, but I can't remember what it was, LOL
I guess the important thing is that it produces huge fitness benefits.

Tuffgirl- great stuff. Good for you in having the pride and courage to submit yourself for all the world to see on that Transformation contest. Good for you.
I bet you're a much more confident and happy person these days.

[shelleyt2005]

Tawney 76
wished I lived closer to you to, I know that you could teach me so much. I am going to take the advice you have given me, and start to incorporate it into my routine. I figure I will start on monday, whole new fresh start to a new me. I will play around on the computer tomorrow, and get some videos to watch so that i can learn the right form. YOu are right about books, they show pictures but then when you go try to use the information at the gym, you dont seem to do it just right. at least I dont. So I believe you are totally right on videos being the best way if you do not have someone around to help you out.
You are awesome, thank you again for all of your help and advice. Maybe now I will start to see some kind of improvements, and wont keep getting so frustrated at the gym.

[mavrick77]

Originally Posted by shelleyt2005

I still have a ways to go, but at least I am not like I was a couple of years ago.

Wow...truly great work. you must feel great about yourself.

[shelleyt2005]

tawney76
well, took your advice, did squats and deadlifts today. I watched a couple videos on here to get an idea of how to do them right, took the knowledge (or lack there of) to the gym, and performed these exercises. I am sure it did not look pretty, but at least I am trying. I think I have to watch a few more videos. The weight was puney, but figured I need to get good form first, then go heavier. It is going to be a work in progress, but I am going to keep on trying it.
Tomorrow is back and bicep day. I will do the back routines you told me about so that I can build up to doing pull ups. They have an assisted pull up machine, so I will also do that.
Felt pretty good about today, now see if I can do the same for tomorrow...

[FitBunny7]

This is one of my progress shots.. i have more on my page.. i have been working for just over a year now and am really wanting to reach my goal by December... I am very close so it is exciting to see it all coming full circle...

[tawney76]

shelleyt2005: great. all of that sounds good. Remember not to train any of the major movements more than 2 times a week. Maybe you could set up a 3 day split... 1) pull day, 2) push day, 3) legs. (day 4 will be rest) then repeat. That will give you a solid base to work from. Keep your workouts 45-60 minutes.

Also, it's nice that they have a pullup machine, but give those heavy standard seated rows a fair go: 2-3 months, and keep tabs on your progress by jumping on that pullup machine every couple of weeks to see if you're getting stronger. Also, if they have a regular pullup bar, pull a chair or small bench under it once a week on pull day and finish your workout off with 3 sets of negative only reps. sets of 8 if you can. A neg rep will be just using the chair and your legs to put yourself in the completed pullup position, tighten your arms, take your legs away and then slowly let yourself go down to a straight arm hang. Then use your legs to put yourself back up there, and repeat. This will give you that extra progress each week towards your ultimate goal of doing pullups, and it will slowly get you accustomed to holding up your weight, squeezing the bar tight, and gaining confidence to be up there for all to see. That last trick will get you there a little bit faster.

[shelleyt2005]

Originally Posted by tawney76

shelleyt2005: great. all of that sounds good. Remember not to train any of the major movements more than 2 times a week. Maybe you could set up a 3 day split... 1) pull day, 2) push day, 3) legs. (day 4 will be rest) then repeat. That will give you a solid base to work from. Keep your workouts 45-60 minutes.

Also, it's nice that they have a pullup machine, but give those heavy standard seated rows a fair go: 2-3 months, and keep tabs on your progress by jumping on that pullup machine every couple of weeks to see if you're getting stronger. Also, if they have a regular pullup bar, pull a chair or small bench under it once a week on pull day and finish your workout off with 3 sets of negative only reps. sets of 8 if you can. A neg rep will be just using the chair and your legs to put yourself in the completed pullup position, tighten your arms, take your legs away and then slowly let yourself go down to a straight arm hang. Then use your legs to put yourself back up there, and repeat. This will give you that extra progress each week towards your ultimate goal of doing pullups, and it will slowly get you accustomed to holding up your weight, squeezing the bar tight, and gaining confidence to be up there for all to see. That last trick will get you there a little bit faster.

Good morning
I did back and biceps today. I know that you said I need to get away from the isolation exercises, bad habits die hard. I need to watch more videos on compound movements. Did spend my time at the rowing machine and lat pull down. I am pretty pathetic right now. 50 pounds is the highest I can go, but i am going to continue to push myself. I started lifting in June, so has not been all that long. I am pretty wimpy compared to you girls right now, but I will be there one day....
Now what kind of compound exercises can I do for biceps? I know that pull ups (work in progress) but what other moves are there?
I just ordered a book called "New weight lifting rules for women" Lift like a man, but look like a woman". I read bits of it online, and he talks about the same thing that you do, not to waste time on isolation unless you are maintaining, so I think that this book will help me. Should get it next week.
Did do do the negatives today that you described above, but will start to work on those next week.
Thank you again for all of your help, with this I know I will start to make progress for the first time.
Have a great day!!!

[tawney76]

Shelleyt2005: terrific girl, I'm glad you've started. yea, 50 is pretty low, but it's a start. If you're really that low I'll bet your form is very rigid like a soldier. I'll bet the only thing moving is your arms and not your torso. When the form is less rigid you get a nice stretch and pull back-PUMP. That rowing motion once you get good at it will add 20 pounds to the weight you can handle immediately. It will also help you to break through sticking points, because with rigid form on this particular exercise that will be tough. let me see if i can find a video link of rigid vs. what i want you to learn, and I'll post it.

in the meantime, deadlifts, squats, dumbell bench press, dumbell overhead press, dips, rows, (both the regular and the overhead style) , and negative pullups... that should be enough exercises for a full body workout except the calves and abs. for those it's ladies choice. You don't really need direct bicep work if you are hitting the back well, because almost all back work involves the biceps, but if you're dying to work the biceps directly (most of us can't help ourselves when it comes to showing off that arm muscle, lol) so you can do standing barbell curls. At least it's a big movement weight wise, and involves a little bit of the front deltiods too. Personally, if I'm really in the mood for an extra 3 sets of something on Pull day, I do incline hammer curls. It's kind of a hard movement for a beginner though. I'll see if I can find a video for it. The reason I like them is because after all the back work, it's the only angle i can hit my bicep from that hasn't been done. (arms slightly behind the torso- so the bicep is in a stretch position) Again- now we're getting into more complicated stuff, when in reality all you need are the basics at this point.

brb with a couple of links.

[tawney76]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoc8p...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOK-Dyz0r1Y

The first link is to a guy doing very rigid so called "correct seated rows". The second link is what I was talking about as far a pull back Pump type of movement. That small momentum, call it a small 'cheat' if you wish, opens the doors for that next pin hole down. I started at about 70 pounds, learned that movement from my husband, and over the course of one year I managed to get up to 170 pound rows. I can 'perfect form row' 150 for 8 easily. But without that small technique, there's no question I would currently be more in the 100-110 area right now. lol

Hope that helps.

[BB_Surf]

Incredible job ladies! Keep it up.

[shelleyt2005]

tawney

I can see what you mean. Yes, the rigid one would be me. I thought that is the way you were always supposed to do it. Now I know better. I will try your version on Wednesday of next week, that is when back day is again. Maybe I will try it on monday, just to see.
Thank you once again, you are like a godsend to me, helping me out the way you are.