Dana’s Training Log

[VolleyCoach]

Do you use chalk?

As for bench ROM if you touch your shirt/chest at the bottom and then press all the way up you are getting a full ROM. This assumes of course that you keep your ass on the bench.

Yes, I use chalk. Right now I've only needed it for DL, tho.

Regarding bench ROM: That's exactly how I've been doing it. :-)

[TheCelt1982]

A big theme in here seems to be "my grip is really holding me back"...
Do you deadlift double overhand, or do you used a mixed grip? If it's the former, I'd recommend the latter.
I don't know what exactly it was you got to work grip, but keep in mind that crushing grip (the ones where you squeeze over and over) is different than static grip (holding the bar). I can't close a gripper to save my life, but I can hold onto close to 400 without much problem. I'd recommend just unracking 135 or so and holding it like you were at the top of a deadlift for as long as you can. Or, just hang from a pullup bar or something for as long as you can. You'll get better.

Seems like good advise man. I for one will be trying it!

Volleyball Coach, you are not considering using a strap for deadlift or you want to keep it pure?
As Farley said, your numbers are really impressive. You are hammering me in Squats and Bench at the moment! Respect!
I'm not sure you need to worry about the fat though? Your worrying about getting fat or other? Fat can always be got rid of easily if it starts to appear me thinks. Keep increasing your protein if you know its too low. I think your body will tell you if your not eating enough of it anyway.

[VolleyCoach]

Volleyball Coach, you are not considering using a strap for deadlift or you want to keep it pure?
As Farley said, your numbers are really impressive. You are hammering me in Squats and Bench at the moment! Respect!
I'm not sure you need to worry about the fat though? Your worrying about getting fat or other? Fat can always be got rid of easily if it starts to appear me thinks. Keep increasing your protein if you know its too low. I think your body will tell you if your not eating enough of it anyway.

No straps for me. Eventually my goal is to compete raw in a PL meet. :-)

I have no concerns about getting fat. lol I know that I’ll be gaining some weight as I gain strength. I’m just trying to eat a little healthier. In tracking my foods and macros, I found I large percentage of my macros were fats....and I don’t eat THAT bad. lol But it was eye-opening. I do plan on keeping the macros b/w 20-25%, tho I think a more realistic goal for me is to get under 30% and to get my protein in.


Update on my volleyball girls. :-) We won our first game! I was seriously worried. We started from square one as far as skills. Next game is March 12th! We had practice yesterday but only 3 of the girls showed up. Grr. I was pissed. Told the girls who did come, that it would be an easy day of practice.....know what they asked for. “Coach, can you condition us today?” :-0 They are wanting to lose weight and get “skinny thighs.” *sigh* We had a discussion on genetics, the difference of being healthy and the media’s perception of beauty, and the importance of resistance training versus traditional cardio. So, after all that, they wanted resistance training. :-D Yea! Here is what they did: Squats, push ups, lunges, plank, hip thrusts, flex arm hold on monkey bars; all body weight exercises. Just what they needed......and you know what? They loved it. :-) I was pretty sure it was going to be a bad practice, but they made my day. I’m happy that I’m in a position to have a positive influence in young people’s lives. I’m working on getting a lifting program offered at their school. The school doesn’t have a weight room or even a gym for that matter. We’d have to go to one of the nearby clubs to use their facilities. *fingers crossed* Maybe it would help kicking the school board into gear getting it built.

[VolleyCoach]

and haven’t been able to get online much the last few days. We have a friend from the States coming to visit for a week! We’ve been doing some deep cleaning and last minute errands. There isn’t any school this for their spring break. It will be a week of sun, beaches, gym and typical touristy activities. No gymnastics, no volleyball.

But I’ve still been making it to the gym. :-)

Sunday:

Warm up

Squat
135x5
145x5
155x5
165x5 really struggled to get up the last rep
165x4

Deadlift
135x5
155x5
165x5
175x5
180x5

Hip Thrusts
45x10
45x10
45x10

T-bar rows
45x10
45x10
55x10

Cable seated row
no idea on the weight as the numbers were all worn off.
10
10
8

Since there wasn’t any school/gymnastics, hubby and I had another weight date on Monday.

Warm up

Bench press
75x5
95x5
105x5
115x3
115x2 Negatives

Machine Flies
50x10
50x10
50x10 Really felt it in the pec. minor area!

DB arm curls
20x10
20x10
20x10 then did drop sets til we couldn’t do another curl. Whew!

Cable Rope pushdown
again, #’s are all worn off.
10
10
8

Dips
BWx8
BWx8
BWx8

Lastly, we killed our abs w/ hanging leg raises and crunches.

I love working out w/ the hubby. Nothing like getting hot and sweaty together, while working towards our goals. :-) Plus, he’s a GREAT spotter and motivator. :-)

[VolleyCoach]

What a great leg day! Got to lift w/ the hubby again. I love it! We also have a friend that is visiting for the week. He came to the gym too.

For the last few weeks I’ve been doing squats first, then deadlifts. This week I decided to change it up a little. I did deadlifts first, then hip thrusts and then squats.

Warmup

Barbell Lunges
45x10
55x10
55x10

Deadlifts
135x5
155x5
185x5
190x5 Holy moly PR!!! My grip felt great too! Thanks koyongi for the tips!

Hip Thrusts
Barx10
Barx10
Barx10 and hold up as long as possible on the last rep. Feeeeeeel the burn! I’ve been telling the hubby about hip thrusts. Today, he asked me to show him how to do them. I’ve been regurgitating a lot of what I read on here and other blogs I read. He liked them too. Hip thrusts are good stuff. I feel the glutes working hard, which I know will translate into more gains in my squat and deadlift. :-)

Squat
115x5
125x5
135x5
145x3 I failed on the 5th one. My legs were dead! Working on getting a video up. My form looks pretty good, but I need to keep my chest up. Btw, I love how my body is transforming from all the heavy lifting! My legs are lookin awesome!! lol *Shameless plug*

**I had hubby video the 135x5, he didn’t get exactly what I wanted but after watching the vid, I still have to post it b/c of the girl doing squats on the smith machine in the background. lol She was going down a quarter of the way, less than a demi-plie(if you know anything about ballet.) lol What’s funny is her bf was doing the same exact thing! He wasn’t caught on video.**

Leg Extensions
100x10
100x10
100x????A LOT! lol Hubby was trying to get a good pic of my quads and kept telling me to “keep going.” Yeow! Soreness! lol It was fun tho.

Leg Curls
100x10
90x10
90x10 Last reps were insanely hard to finish!

Abs-crunches, air bike.

Afterwards, we went to the beach for some much needed R&R. ;-)

[VolleyCoach]

Squat @ 135: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EAfCrYU4w4 Not the best video. First time trying to video.

Squat @ 155. I failed on #4. :-\ Grrr. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EAfCrYU4w4

I know I need to keep my chest up and drive up. Any other comments, criticisms, advice are welcome! Thanks!

[koyongi]

Squat @ 135: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EAfCrYU4w4 Not the best video. First time trying to video.

Squat @ 155. I failed on #4. :-\ Grrr. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EAfCrYU4w4

I know I need to keep my chest up and drive up. Any other comments, criticisms, advice are welcome! Thanks!

The 135s look good, but you posted the video twice!

[VolleyCoach]

The 135s look good, but you posted the video twice!

Whoops! Here is the 155: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXpQSdXN1bM

[Ginger575]

Looks like some great work going on!

I think the squats look great too. I am jealous of your depth.
And just for the sake of nit picking it seems like there might be a few reps where your hips come up just a tiny bit sooner than they should...but it's subtle. Not bad at all.
I wish mine looked that good.

[VolleyCoach]

Looks like some great work going on!

I think the squats look great too. I am jealous of your depth.
And just for the sake of nit picking it seems like there might be a few reps where your hips come up just a tiny bit sooner than they should...but it's subtle. Not bad at all.
I wish mine looked that good.

Thanks! But you’re using a lot more weight on your squats than I am right now! :-) Also, thanks for the advice. It probably isn’t too much of a big deal right now, but would be if I went heavier. Best to make corrections now, no matter how nit picky, so they won’t affect me at heavier weights. Right?

[VolleyCoach]

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind! We had company come stay with us for a week. Fun times! Now we are preparing for a college acro team from the States to come and do a clinic for our gymnastics club. In addition, they will be performing at several schools in the area! My hubby and a few of our gymnasts will also be performing with them! I know that there will be a lot of work while they are here, but am sure it will be well worth it. So excited!

So, with everything going on, I’ve neglected posting my workouts. Shame on me! You should really get after me if I don’t get them up. I’ve made some great numbers in the last two weeks! Which makes it all the worse that I didn’t post. Hmph. I’ll do better. I promise!

I guess since I’ve missed 3-4 workouts, I’ll post the highlights instead.

Bench PR
115x3! workin on up there! My hubby was there for it! I was so happy!
One of my bench days the owner of the gym(Aaron) spotted for me. He used to train my hubby when he was in high school. Aaron said, "You’re really strong. You should try powerlifting.” I could only laugh b/c just 2 weeks prior, I told him I was lifting with the goal to PL.

Squat PR
175x5
These haven’t been too spectacular. I can only guess that it is b/c I’ve been doing squats w/ my volleyball girls on the same day I’ve been doing them at the gym. I need to change that. I think its affecting my numbers. I know I can do better.

Deadlift PR!
225x2!!!
Last Wednesday, John Mills(did 600# DL in the 148 lb class) helped me with my DL. I asked him to check my form. He said the only thing wrong was that I wasn’t using enough weight. lol I was DLing 185x5. We upped it to 205 and I still repped 5x. :-) I was syked! John upped it again to 225 and said to try for 2. First time, I failed. It felt like I was trying to lift a car, didn’t even budge it. John said, no problem, just rest some more and we’ll try again. Know what? I did it! Afterwards, he ran me thru a series of good mornings, rows and ab work. Sooo much fun!

I wish I would’ve been introduced to weight lifting when I was younger. I’ve been missing out on so much!

[Ginger575]

Congrats on the PR's! 225x2 is impressive, heck, it all is.

[VolleyCoach]

Congrats on the PR's! 225x2 is impressive, heck, it all is.

Thank you! I wish I could say that today was as productive, but I can’t. :-\ Oh well, we all have those days once in a while, right?


Today, we got to the gym 20 minutes later than usual. Grr. And the track team arrived early. Soon they monopolized all the racks, benches and cables. It irritates me b/c they won’t even let anyone get in for a set and they are there for almost 2 hours! In addition, this gym isn’t associated w/ any school or anything. Its just a regular, ol’ sweaty hole-in-the-wall gym for the general public. Maybe its just me. *shrugs* Anyway, I wasn’t able to get in my DL’s today.

Squats were less than steller
135x5
135x5
145x5
155x5
165x5 Nearly failed the last rep. Legs felt really weak. I can only guess it is b/c I worked them so hard on Wednesday from the DL’s w/ John Mills.

Bench
95x5
100x5
105x5
110x5
115x5

Incline Bench
45x10
65x10
85x10
90x10

Bent Over Rows w/ BB (Adding these into my routine per Mr. Mills suggestion.)
65x10
65x10
65x10

Lat Pull-down
70x10
70x10
60x10

T-Bar Row
60x10
60x10
60x8 Whew!

Checked to see if area was clear for DL’s. Nope. :-| Grrr.

Ab work: decline crunches, plate twists, leg raises.

Track team was still there when I left.

*Notes that really has nothing to do w/ lifting.*
Remember the guy I confronted about racial slur about my friend? He apologized to us today and was as nice as pie! lmao smh I’m just glad things are smoothed over. The gym is a place where my friend and I de-stress. Don’t want drama there!

*The track team*
-One of the girls on the track team told me she reps 115x10 on the bench press. I was completely wow’ed by that....until I saw her today. Her ROM is a whole 3 inches....no wonder she “reps” 115.
-Their coach had them doing some shaking thing with the DBs today. I couldn’t comprehend what they were doing, or what it was supposed to do for them. Most of them are sprinters. The only way I can explain it is from those shake weight infomercials! https://www.shakeweight.com/flare/next Remember them? LOL

[VolleyCoach]

Bench
95x5
100x5
105x5
110x5
115x5

For some reason I can’t get the edit to work.
Of the 115x5, 2 were unassisted and I needed a light spot on the last 3.

That is all. You may return to your regularly scheduled programming. ;-)

[VolleyCoach]

My Tots group for gymnastics canceled this morning so I used the time to go to a commercial gym near the daycare to get my DL’s in that I missed yesterday. Ended up seeing ALOT of parents from the school I coach at. lol Their faces were priceless when I started warming up DLs w/ 135. Most operate under the assumption that women should only use the machines and must not lift any DB over 10 lbs....ever. smh

Anyway. Here are the numbers....

Deadlifts
155x5
165x5
175x5
185x5
205x4

Good mornings
55x10
55x10
55x8

Cable sitting SLDL(another exercise that John Mills showed me) I wanted something else to do, was feeling pumped so went ahead w/ my bad self.
105x15 too easy
130x10 that felt better
145x10 there we go.... :-)

Abs! Weighted crunches(45 lbs), plate twists w/ 25 lb plate.

Lots of good stretching!

You know you’re in a commercial gym when:
You see a random woman galloping around the room holding a 5 lb medicine ball over her head.

While I was there, I had one of the trainers measure my bodyfat %. I haven’t had it measured since I first started back in the gym after the baby was born. I was still skinny back then....skinny fat that is. In December it was 19%. Today, my bf% was 13%. Woohoo! Kick ass! That made my day. :-)

[TheCelt1982]

Today, we got to the gym 20 minutes later than usual. Grr. And the track team arrived early. Soon they monopolized all the racks, benches and cables. It irritates me b/c they won’t even let anyone get in for a set and they are there for almost 2 hours! In addition, this gym isn’t associated w/ any school or anything. Its just a regular, ol’ sweaty hole-in-the-wall gym for the general public. Maybe its just me. *shrugs* Anyway, I wasn’t able to get in my DL’s today.

Say it to the instructors or reception.....They should really be telling a large group like that to try to let other people use the machines.

Squats were less than steller
135x5
135x5
145x5
155x5
165x5 Nearly failed the last rep. Legs felt really weak. I can only guess it is b/c I worked them so hard on Wednesday from the DL’s w/ John Mills.

Really strikes me straight away as not enough calories between last gym session, where you did all the deadlifts, and this particular gym session........You were not sore right?.....Fell good going into the gym?.....Squats are your first routine?, so maybe warm up was not enough? I find 5 mins on threadmill at fast jog and cross trainer are good warm up before squats.

Dont want to burst your bubble either :-) but I'd always prefer to hear that a weightlifters bodyfat is staying the same or increasing slightly :-) rather than decreasing. Strangely I was reading in a book on strength training today that 10% bf is a minimum for women and 14% the recommended......Looking at the videos you posted there is no excessive fat on you at all so I wouldnt be worrying :-) Try not to loose anymore fat is my opinion for what it is worth.

You seem to have been full of energy the next day, doing all them deadlifts :-) Where did you dig up the energy for that?

[VolleyCoach]

Say it to the instructors or reception.....They should really be telling a large group like that to try to let other people use the machines.

Good idea. Will do.

Really strikes me straight away as not enough calories between last gym session, where you did all the deadlifts, and this particular gym session........You were not sore right?.....Fell good going into the gym?.....Squats are your first routine?, so maybe warm up was not enough? I find 5 mins on threadmill at fast jog and cross trainer are good warm up before squats.

No, not sore at all, and felt awesome! I’m working on getting more calories. We calculated that my maintenance is around 2700 and I’m trying for 3000. I’m eating tons of PB, avocados, chicken, fruits, veggies, bread, bagels, cheese....tho we always bake, grill or boil and rarely eat out.

It is probably the warm up killing my squats....by that I mean, probably not enough. I admit that while I do one, it probably isn’t as sufficient as it could be.

Dont want to burst your bubble either :-) but I'd always prefer to hear that a weightlifters bodyfat is staying the same or increasing slightly :-) rather than decreasing. Strangely I was reading in a book on strength training today that 10% bf is a minimum for women and 14% the recommended......Looking at the videos you posted there is no excessive fat on you at all so I wouldnt be worrying :-) Try not to loose anymore fat is my opinion for what it is worth.

You seem to have been full of energy the next day, doing all them deadlifts :-) Where did you dig up the energy for that?

Bubble not busted. ;-) lol Aesthetically, I’m loving it. lol What woman wouldn’t after having a kid? But you’re right, for PLing, I know that I shouldn’t get any lower and I’m not trying to. Interesting statistics from the book tho. What was it?

As always, thanks for the honest comments and critiques!!

[VolleyCoach]

The Humpty Dance is your chance to do the Hump! It's Wednesday! Happy Hump Day!

Had a super early day w/ having to take the hubby to the club to train someone at 630 am...which meant get kids up, in van and leave home by 600. (We have 1 vehicle.) Ick. Once I got back home, the boys were up for good. No nap for me.

Getting into the gym, I felt luggy and not particularly wanting to work out. My legs were still recovering from Monday’s DLs and my shoulders and arm was tired from vball earlier in the afternoon. I must’ve hit/served a couple hundred times. The whole time I was thinking about how it would affect my bench later. lol I told myself I was going to do a lower weight tonight and focus on form....yea right. Whenever I tell myself this, it goes right out the window b/c I want to do my best. lol John helped me train again tonight...and showed me a few new things....again.

Warm up

Bench
85x10
95x8
115x4
135x2 Holy PR!!!
140x2 Negatives

John showed me a DB bench/hip thrust hybrid thing. Basically, you put your shoulders against a bench similar to what you would for hip thrusts, lift your hips and hold up in a bridge while you DB bench. His explanation was that it would also help you arch your back for bench, as well as give glutes a workout. Your thoughts?
40x10
40x10
40x10

Pull overs
30x10
30x10
30x10

Bench in Smith Machine w/ light weight to work on speed and exploding up...thoughts?
65x10
65x10
85x10

Cable Pushdown
60x10
70x10
70x10 Yeow! Those babies burned!

Squat jumps onto box - Thoughts on doing squat jumps? Do they with exploding out of the hole in the squat?
Box approx 20 in.x10
Box approx 30 in.x10 Whew!

Dips
BWx8
BWx8...barely

Wristcurls w/ BB
20
20

Got home and did some hot/cold therapy on my triceps. I can tell they are gonna scream at me tomorrow!

Whenever I work w/someone I want to know the whys of why we’re doing it and how it will help me w/ my lifts. Then I go and do my research on whether or not it is true. I’d like your thoughts on some of these exercises if you don’t mind. Thanks!

[Ginger575]

135x2...2 reps at about your body weight...That is awesome beyond words.

[Ginger575]

John showed me a DB bench/hip thrust hybrid thing. Basically, you put your shoulders against a bench similar to what you would for hip thrusts, lift your hips and hold up in a bridge while you DB bench. His explanation was that it would also help you arch your back for bench, as well as give glutes a workout. Your thoughts?

I've never tried that. But hip thrusts can be good particularly if you have issues with glute activation/quad dominance. Lots of people have issues with it.
Anyway, sometimes the best way to know if something will help is to just try it.

Bench in Smith Machine w/ light weight to work on speed and exploding up...thoughts?
65x10
65x10
85x10

Just my opinion, I'm still pretty new to PL and I've only done 1 meet so far but...
I don't like the Smith Machine for squats or bench(though it does have it's place)
because most have an unnatural straight up and down movement...and it does most of the balancing for you.
Also I think it would be better to do more sets and less reps. Maybe 5-10 sets of 3 for working on speed and explosiveness. Reason, it's hard to keep the competition form tight for more than 3 and you're not training to fatigue or failure like you might when building mass.
It doesn't matter too much about what weight you use,challenging but able to move it explosively... use compensatory acceleration,lift sub maximal weights using maximum force.

Don't neglect you external rotators and stuff like that.
I'm dealing with some issues because of it. Nothing major thankfully but if I don't do something about it now it will be harder to fix later.

https://www.t-nation.com/free_online...ength_plateaus

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...ctural_balance

I think you're doing great!

Best wishes!

[TheCelt1982]

So what has been going on in the gym the last week? :-)

[VolleyCoach]

So what has been going on in the gym the last week? :-)

Thanks for checking up! I ended up taking a week off from the gym b/c we had a 20+ Acro team from the States come to put on a clinic for our gymnastics club. Four shows, a three-day clinic for children ages 3 to 15, an exhibition for parents, teachers and friends, snorkeling, and pickup games of basketball all crammed into 5 days. Whew!

While I wasn't in the gym doing any traditional weights, I was still very active with the team moving equipment, mats, spotting gymnasts and snorkeling. Tough work, huh? lol j/k It was good tho. My body appreciated the break and was ready to go back to the gym this morning.

Squats - Felt great! Lots of energy! Got a compliment from one of the men who is a regular about the weight and depth.
135x5
155x5
165x5
175x5
180x4

Deadlifts (typically I like to put bench b/w squats and deadlifts, however the track team showed up and I learned from previous days that if I didn't get the DLs done, I wouldn't get them done at all.)
135x5
155x5
175x5
185x5

Bench
65x5
85x5
95x5
100x5 barely
105x3 negatives

Good mornings/BB bent over rows superset
45x10/45x10
45x10/45x10
45x10/45x10

Tricep Extensions/standing shoulder press superset
30x10/25x10
30x10/25x10
30x10/25x10

Abs

[VolleyCoach]

Great night at the gym last night! I've really felt that my squats were falling behind. Its funny, b/c when I first started I felt my squats were my best lift. Now I've been feeling it has been my worst. However, it makes a huge difference when you have a capable training partner/mentor/spotter to help push you.

Warm up

Squats
BB
135x5
155x5
185x3
205x2 PR!!!
225x3 force rep

Leg press
225x10
315x10
365x10

Seated calf raises
90x12 Easy
135x12 That was better.
160x10 Burn baby!

That was it for the night. Legs were sore, but felt amazing.

[Ginger575]

Congrats on the PR! Nice work.

[VolleyCoach]

I missed recording 3/31 on here, so copied and pasted from my other journal.

Tweaked shoulder the week before while playing volleyball. It appears like it was just imflamed, but taking Ginger’s advice and working on strengthening the shoulder girdle.


Deadlift - When I got there one of the regular meatheads was DLing 135. He is a typical meathead...all upper body and no lower. He said he had one more set and would be done. While I warmed up, I watched him do a set of 8. After he was done, he asked if I wanted him to rack the weight. I said Naaa, I warm up w/ that... LOL It was priceless. Anyway, w/o any further adue....
135x10
185x5
205x5
225x5
230x2
235x1 YEAH! PR!

Good mornings
55x10
55x10
60x8

SLDL on Cable
70x10
80x10
90x8

Cable Rows
40x10
50x10
60x10

Lat Pulldowns
70x10
80x10
90x8

Pushups on Tbar machine(Put feet on the hinge and grasp the handles, touch chest to bar)
15
10
10

Killed abs! Short rest inbetween sets
decline situps w/ stick across shoulders
20
20
20

decline twists w/ stick across shoulders
20
20
20

Static hold in decline bench halfway down (BURN!!!)
10 seconds
10 seconds

Overall, successful night! Felt great! Next week my best friend from the States will be visiting and coming to train w/ me. Can't wait!!

4/3/11
Haven’t gotten much sleep the last few nights b/c the baby has been teething. *yawn!* My energy level has been extremely low.

Warm up

Squats
45x10
95x10
115x10
135x10
155x5
165x5
175x5
185x5
190x5
135x10

Deadlifts
45x10
95x10
135x10
185x5
195x5
205x5
205x2

Leg Press
225x10
315x10
315x10

Good mornings
55x10
55x10
55x10

Cable Internal Rotation
10x10
10x10
10x10

Cable Front Raise
10x10
10x10
10x10

DB Shoulder Shrugs
55x10
65x10
65x10

Stretch