My Original Plan Was to Lift All of the Heavy Things

[itsagoodday]

And then I realized wow there are A LOT of heavy things out there, and at some point I'd have to start putting them down again anyway because no way could I hold all that crap forever. I admit that my original plan was oversimplified. And I've been overcomplicating everything since then to make up for it.

Anyway. Hi. My name is Kelly. I've been lifting for four years now, but this is my first journal. If I don't abandon the idea in the first 24 hours, I'm going to go ahead and call it a success. I'm a competitive powerlifter. I've done five meets, my next one is in April. My current PRs are a 235 squat, 145 bench and 335 deadlift. Goals... eh. No specific numbers, I just like to see progress in general right now. After I'd met my old goals of 225/135/315, frankly I haven't quite known where to realistically set new ones. I'm enjoying the process of finding out how far I can go. That having been said, I'd be really happy to put up a 350 deadlift in April, but we'll see how it goes. I'd also like to get into strongman at some point. My picking stuff up off the ground skills are pretty good, but my shoving stuff over my head skills aren't, so I have a lot of upper body work to do before I can consider that, probably a year or two.

I'm not following a specific program at this time, I've been doing some experimenting lately trying to figure out what each of my lifts do best with in terms of volume / intensity / number of days per week, all that good stuff. Actually, I think I have squat and deadlift pretty much figured out. Bench is a jerk. I'm still playing with that one. I also may be training out of one of three locations (a training studio, commercial gym, and my home gym), so I need flexibility in terms of what exercises I can do at the different locations. Number of days I can train has also fluctuated a lot lately, but it's usually between 3-5 days/week, which is fine.

So, welcome! Say hi! Or don't, I'm an introvert too, so it's OK if you lurk

[itsagoodday]

Monday 2/1 - Home Gym

Heavy Back Day

DEADLIFTS
8x135
5x185
3x240
3x255
3x270
3x5x240 (no belt)

I usually do heavy singles for a couple of sets, but last week I worked up to 320 (new stiff bar PR), so skipped heavy singles this week. I do conventional deadlifts and have definitely reached the stage where I need some recovery time from the heavy stuff, so I only pull them heavy once a week and if I go particularly heavy one week, I back off a little the next. Seems to be working.

SNATCH GRIP DEADLIFTS
8x155
6x165
4x175

I've been doing these for about a month now and am in love with them. Haven't been able to go very heavy yet while I get some mileage on them, but I absolutely love the way these hit my back. The best I can compare them to is wide grip pull-ups in terms of how they hit my upper and middle back. Would like to have these up to 225 before my meet.

PENDLAY ROWS
8x105
6x125
4x135

Haven't done these in a while and forgot what weight I used to do. First set was too light, second and third were better. I use my bench grip width on these so it's like doing an inverted bench press.

GLUTE HAM RAISE
3x6

That's another new thing, so happy to be up to sets of 6. They are surprisingly tricky little goobers.

GHD SIT-UPS
3x6

Another newer thing, not overly difficult, but I get a little lightheaded going completely upside down lol. I'm getting better and trying to do a little more each week.

[itsagoodday]

Tuesday 2/2 - Gym

Heavy Chest Day

DB CHEST PRESS
8x40's
8x45's
6x50's
4x55's (x3)
6x50's
8x45's (x3)

Wow, I can't remember the last time I did these. Half a year? A year? LOL I have no idea. I'm taking a sanity break from BB bench for a week or two and the plan is to stick with heavy dumbbells in that time. Was a little wobbly in terms of stabilizing the 55's, next time I may grab a guy to spot me so I can try the 60's. And when I say "spot me", I mean I'm going to say "please don't let me drop these on my own head". My face isn't the greatest, but it's the only one I have.

DB INCLINE PRESS
10x35's
8x40's
6x40's

Couldn't remember what weight I used to do with these either. Apparently I need to bust out the dumbbells more often.

HAMMER CURLS
10x25's
8x27's
6x30's

Actually, my gym doesn't have 27's. I carry 2-lb wrist weights in my gym bag. Makes the gym bag heavier, but it's a great way to give yourself a smaller weight jump if your gym only has 5-lb dumbbell increments like mine does.

DB INCLINE SKULL CRUSHERS
10x20's
8x25's
6x30's

DIPS
3x6

Haven't done these in forever either. Current BW is about 170, so frankly sets of 6 aren't too bad for rebooting these into my program. Hopefully I can get back to adding weight on these, but not right now, thanks

[adriannec]

Nice to meet you and welcome! OMG you've got some major numbers here. I'm excited to read your progress. I did pendlay rows with an inverted grip for 3 months this summer. I loved them!

I just put DLs back in after time off and I've been wanting to try a snatch grip. I've lowered my weight and am watching my lower back which is touchy. I may give the grip change a try.

[itsagoodday]

Nice to meet you and welcome! OMG you've got some major numbers here. I'm excited to read your progress. I did pendlay rows with an inverted grip for 3 months this summer. I loved them!

I just put DLs back in after time off and I've been wanting to try a snatch grip. I've lowered my weight and am watching my lower back which is touchy. I may give the grip change a try.

Hi Adrianne, thanks for stopping by!

Pendlays are awesome, I'm excited to bring those back into the program. I do them with a normal overhand bench grip, I think I said that weird the first time, sorry about that. I've heard them compared to an inverted or upside down bench press, because you're basically in your bench position but facing the floor instead of the ceiling lol.

Yeah, I do like the snatch grip deads. I was looking for a way to deadlift a second day per week without actually hitting a conventional deadlift again, since it does need the extra recovery time. Sumo is not an option for me because I have a trick hip which objects pretty strongly to wide stance anything. So right now I'm using snatch grips as an accessory after conventionals on my heavy day, then they appear again on my volume day paired with rack pulls. That pairing hits my upper back and lower back, respectively. So far, so good! They might be an interesting option for you to try, as they are (for me anyway, hopefully I'm not just a weirdo) very heavily upper back. As long as my upper back stays tight and in position, which is the point of these, I really don't feel them in my lower back at all.

[itsagoodday]

Thursday 2/4 - Gym

Heavy Leg Day

SQUATS
3x175
3x185
3x195
3x205
1x215
1x225
2x225 (add wraps)
3x225 (wraps) - vid
3x225 (wraps)

So it looks like I may finally have figured out how to squat. That only took four years!!! Changed some components of my squat in the last month, and everything finally clicked. I've still got some work to do, my reps aren't necessarily consistent from one to the next. But when I get things right, it feels REALLY good. So now that I'm feeling so positive about things, I wanted to see if I could actually start overloading my raw squat by adding knee wraps for some extra sets after I've topped out on my wrapless max for the day. Worked great! I am not used to wraps, I've played with them a few times previously, but that's it. So I just stuck with 225 today to figure things out and get some mileage. Will definitely be able to go heavier with them in the future though, so that will be great!



FRONT SQUATS
8X95
6x105
4x115

Obviously not my strong point. I'm super hamstring dominant, but the last few months I've really been trying to bring my quads up. It's been working and good things have been happening for my efforts, but clearly I still have a lot of work to do!

HAMMER LEG EXTENSION
12x35's
10x40's
8x45's

HAMMER ONE LEG PRONE HAMSTRING CURL
12X15's
10x17.5's
8x20's

And that's it. Squats took forever

[Todayisforme]

Good morning Welcome to keeping a journal. I'm look forward to seeing your progress.

And damn sister! You've got some impressive numbers. I think I'm gonna use your av as my inspiration, because I want my back to look like that!

[jsari23]

really nice numbers

those DB benches, great job on those I was having troubles with 20s today so super in awe

[itsagoodday]

Good morning Welcome to keeping a journal. I'm look forward to seeing your progress.

And damn sister! You've got some impressive numbers. I think I'm gonna use your av as my inspiration, because I want my back to look like that!

Welcome! And thanks Not even sure what my back looks like currently, I'm about 20 lbs heavier than in my avi pic. I should probably update that lol.

really nice numbers

those DB benches, great job on those I was having troubles with 20s today so super in awe

Hi there and welcome! Dumbbells are definitely lil' goobers, aren't they? Anytime I haven't done them for a while, I feel like I'm all over the place with them. Hello stabilization, where did you go and when will you return???

[itsagoodday]

I question my own timing for starting a journal My schedule has been really odd lately, more on that later after I do some catching up!

So Sunday was a heck of a lot of fun. I headed out to Hercules Gym in Syracuse and joined a group class that Rheta West was running for women interested in powerlifting (OK, technically I'm already powerlifting, but she didn't mind). I missed squats because it was the day before, but caught the bench and deadlift sessions. I've got a mountain of notes for things to work on and some programming ideas. Highly recommend working with both her if anyone is in the CNY area, by the way. It was great to lift heavy with a group of women, I never really get to even see that kind of thing outside of my meets. And the gym is ridiculous (in a good way). Tons of specialty equipment and everything is in great condition. Two monolifts, tons of squat racks, awesome plate loaded machines, competition grade benches, dumbbells to 200 lbs, three deadlift platforms, loads of specialty bars, a wall of bands, chains, blocks for deficits and block pulls, strongman equipment, the list goes on. Awesome. Wish it weren't such a long drive for me, or I'd definitely join. Maybe I can sneak out there every month or two though!

Bench - probably the biggest thing I needed to take away from this was to use my back more and stay tighter throughout the entire lift. Rheta saw a tendency for me to use my shoulders too much in the press. My max paused bench last year was 145, but it's dropped back to 135 over the winter and got stuck there. She originally had me work up to 140 (failed), then we backed off to have me tweak some things including getting the bar off my chest as fast as possible. We went back up to 140 and I got it. I'll definitely be working with her ideas and also use her programming suggestions for bench. She also suggested working on widening my grip, it was pointed out that I had some of the longest arms there but was using the narrowest grip. Whoops.

Deadlift - worked up to 320. My deads are in pretty good shape, for this the biggest thing I need to work on is getting the bar against my legs as fast as possible once I start the lift. I also got some programming suggestions for deads, I'll try her approach of keeping the rep work lower, working up as heavy as I'm going to go for the day, then back off 10% and pull eight singles. I was doing the math on that and good grief. So if I work up to 320, I'd pull eight singles at 290. Wow. Honestly, I'm not sure if I could even do that. But I'll see how it goes on my next conventional deads day next week!

I should have taken more than two photos while I was there, but here's Hercules! The gym is a lot bigger than these photos make it look for some reason.

[itsagoodday]

Sooooo.... things started getting a little uglier this week. I take care of my mom, who has had a lot of health problems the last few years. She has most recently been dealing with cancer, and had surgery in late November. Monday we headed in for her to start her radiation treatments. To make a long story short, instead of starting her radiation that day, they found that her cancer had already returned and spread. She had managed to grow a fair sized tumor in just two weeks, since the last time they'd checked her. I'm taking her to three appointments today, including a full abdominal MRI and CT scan, as they need to figure out where else this may have spread to (hopefully nowhere). Her original diagnosis was stage 1B endometrial cancer, but this new development would make it more like Stage 3 at best, by my understanding of it. Definitely not good news, but we'll keep hoping for the best and just do whatever needs to be done.

Training, well I'm getting in what I can, where I can. Monday and Tuesday didn't happen, and while I wanted to get into my regular gym for bench on Wednesday, instead I wound up using my home gym at 8pm lol. I don't like to bench at my home gym, because I bench in my squat rack and the sides of the rack get in the way of where I normally would put my feet. So my current answer is to do floor press when I'm at home. I've only done floor press once before, so I'm still getting the hang of these!

Wednesday 2/10 - Home Gym

Heavy Chest / Shoulders / Triceps / Whatever

FLOOR PRESS
3x95
3x100
3x105
(5x) 3x110

DB FLOOR PRESS
10x35's
8x37's
6x40's

With both the barbell and db floor press, I'm trying to utilize the new thought of pressing from my back. I liked it! The first time I did these, I had quite a bit of pressure in my shoulders at times. Thinking of generating the power from my back definitely took a lot of that pressure off. I'm thinking that because of this, floor press may actually be a really useful tool in helping me learn to press with my back and not my shoulders.

PUSH PRESS
3x70
3x75
3x80
1x85
1x90
1x95
(3x) 5x75

This is another new project for me, still not super comfortable with them but I think they're coming around. They felt pretty heavy today though lol.

DB BENT OVER LATERAL RAISE
12x20's
10x22's
8x25's

DB INCLINE SKULL CRUSHERS
12x20's
10x22's
8x25's

BB SHRUGS
12x175
10x185
8x195

I always use straps for shrugs, but weirdly my grip is usually fine. Sometimes I think I just want one less thing to worry about

GLUTE HAM RAISE
(3x) 5xBW

I tried moving the foot pad in closer this time, and couldn't figure out if I liked it better more in or more out. Possibly I just have no idea what I'm doing with these. But one way or the other, they definitely hit my glutes and hamstrings, which I gather is the point

---------------------

Thursday 2/11 - Studio

Legs

SQUATS
Nuthin' but squats for an hour today. Felt like it took forever to loosen up under the bar, I may need to start doing more warm ups on squat days. Worked up to about 185 or 195 for some reps, stayed there forever and tried to work on my new squat form with feedback from my trainer friend. Felt pretty good by the end!

----------------------

Well, not expecting to get training in today, but I'm hoping to get some solid sessions in over the next few days. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[Todayisforme]

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. Cancer is a hard thing to deal with. I'm going to share something with you now, I hope it doesn't come across the wrong way. When I was 20 I had cervical cancer. The thing about cancer is it doesn't just effect the person who has it. It effects everyone around them. I'm mentioning this because it's very easy to get caught up in helping the person you love, and forget to look after yourself. In my case I had a good friend who had also had cancer with me the whole time, because she experienced it herself she wanted to be there to support me 100% in everything; much like a sibling, child or parent would. She wasn't eating enough or taking in enough fluids because she was more focused on making sure I had what I needed, to the point that she was ignoring the queues her own body was giving her and she ended up collapsing one day from dehydration. Thankfully we were at the hospital when it happened and it got sorted out. I'm just telling you this because you are under a lot of stress and want to give you a gentle reminder to make sure you're also looking after you.

On a completely unrelated note... DAMN! You've got some strong shoulders! I know some decent sized men that can't do 25 on Bent over lateral raise.

[itsagoodday]

I'm just telling you this because you are under a lot of stress and want to give you a gentle reminder to make sure you're also looking after you.

Thank you so much for this, it was very kind of you to share your story as well. What a terrible thing to have to deal with at such a young age! (Well, any age, but you know what I mean.) I don't mind if I miss some workouts with all that's going on, but I do try to remember to get in my nutrition and take care of myself enough so that I actually *am* able to take care of my mom. We've been doing this kind of thing for a few years now, she's just had a run of health problems. I'm very lucky I have my own business and work from home, so at least I can take her to appointments and stay with her when she isn't feeling well.

[itsagoodday]

And I did get in to my regular gym today, so very happy about that! I decided to just scrap the rest of this week since I've missed so much of it, and I'm just going to go ahead and get started on next week now. Hey, I don't mind being ahead of schedule for a change!

Saturday 2/13 - Gym

Heavy Chest Day

BENCH PRESS
5x95
3x105
3x115
(5x) 3x125

Trying to work on the suggestions I got last Sunday. I moved out my grip width just a little (and will keep moving it a little more out each week). I worked on staying tighter and using my back more, which felt great. And I changed up the way I'm doing leg drive, which worked better than I thought it would... yay, I didn't go shooting head first off the bench this way!

DB INCLINE PRESS
10x35's
8x40's
6x42's

DB INCLINE FLYES
10x30's
8x32's
6x35's

HAMMER CURLS
10x25's
8x30's
6x35's

Short but sweet, everything felt pretty good today! Hoping to get in tomorrow for a heavy leg day so I can do legs Sunday and start the week off right with deads on Monday Also hoping to see Deadpool tomorrow hehehe.

[Todayisforme]

Thank you so much for this, it was very kind of you to share your story as well. What a terrible thing to have to deal with at such a young age! (Well, any age, but you know what I mean.) I don't mind if I miss some workouts with all that's going on, but I do try to remember to get in my nutrition and take care of myself enough so that I actually *am* able to take care of my mom. We've been doing this kind of thing for a few years now, she's just had a run of health problems. I'm very lucky I have my own business and work from home, so at least I can take her to appointments and stay with her when she isn't feeling well.

It's kind of funny. I've lived through a lot of terrible things. When they happened the first thing that pops into your head is 'why me?' I realized when I was about 19 that I can either let them defeat me, or I can use them to make me stronger. When I was in my 20s I worked in nursing in ER and Psych, because of a lot of the things that I have experienced I was able to empathize with people. I think it makes all the difference in the world when you may not fully understand but you can at least relate to what someone is going through. The physical aspect of what happens to a person is only part of the equation the mental and emotional aspect can be far more debilitating. All that being said, if you ever need someone to talk to, vent to, yell at whatever it's all good - feel free.

Trying to work on the suggestions I got last Sunday. I moved out my grip width just a little (and will keep moving it a little more out each week). I worked on staying tighter and using my back more, which felt great. And I changed up the way I'm doing leg drive, which worked better than I thought it would... yay, I didn't go shooting head first off the bench this way!

I was practicing pushing from my back on the floor today, because I read that and thought... bugger I'm not using my back right!

[itsagoodday]

When I was in my 20s I worked in nursing in ER and Psych, because of a lot of the things that I have experienced I was able to empathize with people. I think it makes all the difference in the world when you may not fully understand but you can at least relate to what someone is going through.

Oh, I absolutely agree with this. It really is so invaluable to be able to deal with a professional who "gets it", and I'm sure it really did make you an even better nurse. I remember watching one of those ER reality TV shows years ago. One of the ER doctors got sick and wound up being admitted to his own ER as a patient. He said it completely changed the way he dealt with patients from then on, after having experienced it for himself.

[itsagoodday]

Sunday 2/14 - Home Gym

Heavy Leg Day

SQUATS
3x175
3x185
4x195
1x205
0x215
1x215
2x215 (added wraps)

Hmmmm, well. This was interesting. I just couldn't get squats to click today, everything felt off. My joints weren't happy with me, I couldn't stop rocking forwards, nothing I tried to fix it was working, and it was really driving me crazy. On the first set @ 215, I just dropped like a stone onto the safeties, what the heck. I even tried adding wraps at the end to see if anything would feel better, but everything still just felt awful, so I figured it was just a bad squat day and moved on.

FRONT SQUATS
8X95
6x105
4x115

GLUTE HAM RAISE
3x5xBW

So wouldn't you know after finishing this workout, I figured out what the problem was. My right ankle was really stiff. I pretty much have always had issues with ankle mobility, and it can affect my squats big time. I do stretch them out before I squat, and that usually loosens them up just fine. But apparently today, the left one loosed up, and the right one didn't... but I guess I wasn't paying attention and didn't notice. So that was why everything felt awful. Having a stiff ankle (or ankles) will throw me forwards in a squat every time. And the added bonus of only one ankle being stiff meant I was squatting unevenly as well. So no wonder I kept rocking forwards, and no wonder my knees and hips felt so pissed off. So frustrating.

For your viewing entertainment, here's what squatting with one stiff ankle can result in lol


And here's me hanging my heels off a step and trying to shove my knees forward equally to check ankle mobility. You can see the big difference in left ankle vs right ankle, ugh.




So I got out my foam roller tonight and worked on my ankles, feet and lower legs. On the back of my right leg above my ankle was just a mass of tight muscles and pain when I rolled on it. Left leg was fine. Geez. So I guess I'll spend some extra time working on this little issue!

[itsagoodday]

Monday 2/15 - Gym

I was prepared to reschedule heavy deadlift day if my right ankle was still being obnoxious, but it was in much better shape today. When my ankles tighten up, they can destroy my squat (which is easy, because my squat is a house of cards to begin with), but they can also screw up my deads, which are otherwise fairly reliable. Ankles checked out OK, so deads were on!

Heavy Back Day

DEADLIFTS
5x135
5x185
3x240
3x255
5x270
1x285
1x305
1x315
(8x) 1x285

Well, tried out the new theory of doing a lot of sets of heavy singles @90% of the day's max weight as my back-off sets. I must admit, that worked out better than I thought it would! Not that I was doubting expert advice, I just wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull it off. The singles definitely got slower as I went, but it wound up being a good exercise in getting the bar against my legs and keeping it there. Also very pleased with that 315 today, as I wound up deadlifting off the platform, in the back of the room on uneven flooring, and using the bar I dislike the most (which is really hard to deadlift with). So boo yah! Take that stupid bar, I can pull 315 even with you now!!!

And meanwhile, weirdly, the guy that was using our deadlift platform decided to deadlift next to it instead of on it. Go figure.

SNATCH GRIP DEADLIFTS
8x160
6x170
4x180

Still trying to just bump the weight up on these a little at a time, every week if I can. As long as I can keep my upper back tight, we're still good. Almost lost it on the very last rep, but it was OK.

WG LAT PULLDOWN (with pause at the bottom)
10x80
8x90
6x100

V BAR CABLE ROWS
6x#8 (no idea what the setting on this machine translates to in pounds, but it was too heavy for the first set)
8x#7
6x#8

I superset the pulldowns with the cable rows to save time, since at that point I'd been at the gym for 3,000 years. I love deadlift day, but man it can take a while, especially when I need longer rest breaks with the heavier weights.

ONE ARM DUMBBELL ROWS
12x65's
10x70's
8x75's

Got momentarily confused by how disorganized the dumbbell rack was, then realized someone had brought over an extra pair of 55's that were supposed to be on the opposite side of the room. Couldn't figure out why anyone would do that in the first place, we weren't lacking 55's on this side of the room to begin with??? People at my gym are nuts.

So anyway, it was a good back day! May take tomorrow as a rest day, we're getting a snowstorm and I need to get my mom into her next radiation treatment. Alternately, I could do a heavy shoulders day at home. We'll see how it goes!

[Todayisforme]

Oh, I absolutely agree with this. It really is so invaluable to be able to deal with a professional who "gets it", and I'm sure it really did make you an even better nurse. I remember watching one of those ER reality TV shows years ago. One of the ER doctors got sick and wound up being admitted to his own ER as a patient. He said it completely changed the way he dealt with patients from then on, after having experienced it for himself.

I think it did make me a better nurse. There were quite a few times that I would be called over to deal with a particular person simply because I could relate and my co-workers knew it. Just played a little "tradezees" on patients haha. I was also admitted a couple times to my own ER. It's a good learning experience.

So I got out my foam roller tonight and worked on my ankles, feet and lower legs. On the back of my right leg above my ankle was just a mass of tight muscles and pain when I rolled on it. Left leg was fine. Geez. So I guess I'll spend some extra time working on this little issue!

I love mine, use it every day.

And meanwhile, weirdly, the guy that was using our deadlift platform decided to deadlift next to it instead of on it. Go figure.

It was just to get you out of your comfort zone lifting on uneven floor and use the bar you don't like

Got momentarily confused by how disorganized the dumbbell rack was, then realized someone had brought over an extra pair of 55's that were supposed to be on the opposite side of the room. Couldn't figure out why anyone would do that in the first place, we weren't lacking 55's on this side of the room to begin with??? People at my gym are nuts.

lol at least they are trying to put them back.

[itsagoodday]

It was just to get you out of your comfort zone lifting on uneven floor and use the bar you don't like

I should go thank the guy! Naw.

Aaaaaand here was my workout for today... shoveling. Lots of it. Major winter snowstorm, pretty much everything shut down, many roads were impassible, good times. It was too deep to back the van out, it was too deep for my dog to go to the bathroom in, so I just kept shoveling, lol.

[itsagoodday]

Wednesday 2/17 - Studio

Heavy Chest Day

Had a whopping half hour available to get chest day in before I had to take my mom into the hospital for her next appointment, so all I did was bench. I think I may re-visit chest again on Friday to fill in some gaps!

Still leaving my grip a little wider, and I may keep it here for a while. Not sure if I'll keep widening it out much more right now, I'm only about 60 days out from my meet, and I think that project could take longer than 60 days to really benefit from. It's funny how even the smallest change in grip width can effect the movement. I also do seem to be very triceps dominant, which is probably a big reason I wound up using a narrower grip to begin with. That doesn't have to be a permanent issue, but bringing up strength in other areas to better utilize a wider grip just feels like it's going to take some time.

I did get some really solid reps in today though. I'm liking the new leg drive cues *if* I can remember to use them. Had one rep where I slid into my old habit of shooting myself headfirst off the bench, that is so not helpful. Continuing to try to remember to use my back more, and interestingly enough it seems to be evening out my bar path a little as well. Before my bar path could be... questionable... at times. Feeling a little more positive about bench than I was a few weeks ago, but I'm still thinking the best I may be able to do at this meet is to match what I benched in August, which is a little sad. I'd like to say I have a great excuse like I lost a ton of weight or something, but that's not the case, I'm actually a few pounds heavier than when I PR'd last year. And the way I've been struggling with stress eating lately, I'll be lucky to not come in a weight class heavier. Nobody ever said life was easy, I'll just keep chipping away at all of it.

[Todayisforme]

I should go thank the guy! Naw.

Aaaaaand here was my workout for today... shoveling. Lots of it. Major winter snowstorm, pretty much everything shut down, many roads were impassible, good times. It was too deep to back the van out, it was too deep for my dog to go to the bathroom in, so I just kept shoveling, lol.

That's a lot of snow you've got there! I think you sorted out your cardio with all that shoveling, and probably gave your back a good workout!

I have a snow blower and this year decided I wasn't going to use it so I'd have a little more exercise.

[itsagoodday]

That's a lot of snow you've got there! I think you sorted out your cardio with all that shoveling, and probably gave your back a good workout!

I have a snow blower and this year decided I wasn't going to use it so I'd have a little more exercise.

It was definitely some solid cardio! We got 18" in just over half a day, definitely the most snow we've seen this winter. We've been pretty lucky up until this point, but I figured we were due for a big storm eventually

I'm really surprised I wasn't sore from it, the snow was really wet and super heavy. My back was squawking a bit as I shoveled but it was fine today. Alrighty then!

[itsagoodday]

Well, I could use some help holding my feet to the fire. I really do want to make sure I'm safely within the 165 class for my meet. I have about 5 pounds to lose and 8 weeks to do it in. Sounds easy, right? Unfortunately, I'm a terrible dieter. Absolutely terrible. My plan last year was to get back into the 148 class for this meet, and I was well on my way to it last October when I completely lost control and ballooned back up. So yeah, you see how well that plan went (NOT). So forget the 148 obviously, now I just want to stay in the 165.

My biggest challenge currently is to keep my stress eating under control past my mom's cancer treatments and financial issues. So if anyone here could e-knock the chocolate out of my hands when necessary, please, please do. Thanks much!

[Todayisforme]

Well, I could use some help holding my feet to the fire. I really do want to make sure I'm safely within the 165 class for my meet. I have about 5 pounds to lose and 8 weeks to do it in. Sounds easy, right? Unfortunately, I'm a terrible dieter. Absolutely terrible. My plan last year was to get back into the 148 class for this meet, and I was well on my way to it last October when I completely lost control and ballooned back up. So yeah, you see how well that plan went (NOT). So forget the 148 obviously, now I just want to stay in the 165.

My biggest challenge currently is to keep my stress eating under control past my mom's cancer treatments and financial issues. So if anyone here could e-knock the chocolate out of my hands when necessary, please, please do. Thanks much!

Instead of knocking it out of your hands, how about giving yourself permission to have it? I know sounds counter-productive BUT if you allot yourself some maybe you won't be tempted to have more. I've heard dark chocolate is good for you and can help you lose weight... so if you're game, look for chocolate that is 70% or more cocoa and has less then 10g of sugar. Let yourself have a small square with lunch.

Maybe keep some stuff like hummus and veggies around so when you want to snack it still helps hit your macros. I'd also suggest drinking more water then you think you need. When you're stressed you dehydrate more easily and lots of times we eat when we're actually thirsty.

[SophieM]

Sorry to hear about all the stress right now. I can imagine trying to diet right now to be very difficult. One day at a time.

[VO2Maxima]

Former Roc crew, checking in.

April meet...that USPA WNY Champs, USPA CNY Pro/Am, or RPS Spring Supremacy? (Or something else I'm missing entirely?). Although those are all 24 hour weigh-in, so 5lbs isn't a bad water cut (or do you mean you're 5lbs from where you'd want to water cut from?). I'd be happy to send my protocol if you want it, though with 5 meets under your belt you're probably better at this game than I am.

[itsagoodday]

Instead of knocking it out of your hands, how about giving yourself permission to have it? I know sounds counter-productive BUT if you allot yourself some maybe you won't be tempted to have more. I've heard dark chocolate is good for you and can help you lose weight... so if you're game, look for chocolate that is 70% or more cocoa and has less then 10g of sugar. Let yourself have a small square with lunch.

Maybe keep some stuff like hummus and veggies around so when you want to snack it still helps hit your macros. I'd also suggest drinking more water then you think you need. When you're stressed you dehydrate more easily and lots of times we eat when we're actually thirsty.

Wonderful advice, thank you so much! I definitely couldn't remove chocolate completely, I don't think the world would want to deal with me in a totally chocolate-free state

Sorry to hear about all the stress right now. I can imagine trying to diet right now to be very difficult. One day at a time.

Hi Sophie, thanks for stopping by! Yes, one day at a time, for sure. The diet is a small blip on the radar of bigger concerns, it's just frustrating sometimes when it feels like I'm struggling with something that should be so simple.

Former Roc crew, checking in.

April meet...that USPA WNY Champs, USPA CNY Pro/Am, or RPS Spring Supremacy? (Or something else I'm missing entirely?). Although those are all 24 hour weigh-in, so 5lbs isn't a bad water cut (or do you mean you're 5lbs from where you'd want to water cut from?). I'd be happy to send my protocol if you want it, though with 5 meets under your belt you're probably better at this game than I am.

Hehehe, yeah it's meet season, isn't it? I'm registered for Spring Supremacy @ Hercules. 5 lbs will get me to where I was for my last meet, which gives me a little bit of wiggle room. I'm worried that I'll need that as this will be near my TOM, which can give me some pretty substantial bloating problems. I've been lucky and haven't had to deal with a weigh-in around that before, so not sure how much it could potentially screw me up. I've played some with cutting water at a couple of meets, but I've never gotten overly involved with it. Hey, if you don't mind sending your protocol over, I'd be curious to check it out! Thanks for offering!

[itsagoodday]

Thursday 2/18 - Gym

Heavy Leg Day

SQUATS
5x155
3x175
5x195
2x215
2x225
1x235
1x240 PR - vid
1x240 (add wraps)
1x250 (wraps PR) - vid

It's official, my new squat is a drama queen. You know that old rhyme about the little girl who "when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid"? Yeah well, that's my new squat. Four days after everything was locking up and shutting down on me, I set some unexpected PRs. It wasn't completely smooth sailing, everything actually felt pretty awful up to and including the 195 set. After that, it just kept feeling better and better. Weird. I don't have good control over what makes the good days good and the bad days bad, so my priority is going to be figuring that out. I know my hips need to be mobile. I know my ankles need to be mobile. But those were both in good shape when I started today, and still something was off. I'm missing something in there somewhere.

The only clue I had today was that on the 5x195 set, I had a bad lean on three of them, and had to use my back hard to pull out of a good morning position. But right after that with the next set, everything started to feel great. Did my back need to be warmed up more??? I may try warming up my back separately before squatting next time, maybe with some arched back good mornings. I know that if I am not arching properly, or cannot maintain that arch, that it does negatively effect my squat. So perhaps that is the missing link.

FRONT SQUATS
8X100
4x110
4x120

Front squats, you are always a goober, so no surprises there. Second set was supposed to be 6 reps, but I died at 4. And then got 4 ten pounds heavier on the next set. And these are still half the weight of my back squats lol.

HAMMER LEG EXTENSION
12x35's
10x40's
8x45's

HAMMER ONE LEG PRONE HAMSTRING CURL
12X17.5's
10x20's
8/6x22.5's

Bumped up the weight on these a little and did fine until the last set, when I got 8 on my stronger right side and only 6 on the weaker left side. Really, really need to remember to do my weaker side FIRST on this stuff.

Anyway, some vids from today.
240 squat - hardest part about this was for some reason my right side came up faster than my left. Never had that happen before, and it didn't show up on any other squats today. I may have been off-center on the bar.


250 squat with wraps - feeling like I've got some more to get out of wraps, but I'm still so new to them, I was happy to get this and call it a day here.

[adriannec]

Sheesh, I hope to get my back squats up into the range of your front squats! Your strength is seriously incredible. I did take your advice and suggestion and I'm doing my DLs with a snatch grip. Second week doing them and I really like them. It just feels more natural.

How are you and your mom doing? I've been thinking about both of you.