Rowyn's Road to Recomp

[Rowyn]

Alright, I am finally diving in and starting a journal! Feels kinda weird to have interwebz eyes on you, but it seems others get a lot of motivation from it so I will give it a whirl. I will probably put this in both the Ov35 and Female Forum sections since that’s where I spend the most time. Hello to my Ov35 peeps and keep on keepin' on to the ladies who may be reading!

I started lifting as a freshman in college, you know, “doing the machines”. I liked the results, but the gym was tiny with little equipment and I wanted to do more. Problem was that the free weight area was be the college guys’ domain (especially 20 years ago lol), and I had no idea what I was doing. A girlfriend of mine who was also interested in weight training got a big bodybuilding poster with illustrated exercises….we poured over it and then hit the gym together and managed to start figuring things out on our own. Eventually I joined a better gym and started lifting more seriously. I progressed, but became comfortable with a certain level of muscle and fitness and didn’t really go much further than that. It was not yet a hobby, just one of the things I did to stay fit.

Life is a roller coaster of ups and downs, and with kids and obligations my fitness level would wax and wane over the years, but I always included weight training as part of my program. After this last child, as I was getting my sh*t together and hitting the gym again, I looked around to try to find a new hobby that wouldn’t take too much time away from the family but would allow me to have fun with something athletic. One day as I drudged from the free weight area over to the cardio machines, I thought about how much I enjoyed lifting. It was like a light bulb came on I decided right then as I jogged on the treadmill to make bodybuilding my hobby: I would find a program, get back to the basic big lifts and retrain form, and go at it. I wanted to recomp my body using bodybuilding as my tool.

16 weeks later I had managed to drop three dress sizes yet only lost three pounds doing so! (Pics in Bodyspace) I like the “competitive” nature of the sport, though you are only competing with yourself, every week is a new challenge. I don’t intend to enter any shows, I am not frantically trying to fit into a bikini for spring break, I don’t want to “tone up”….I want to be muscular, curvy, strong and fit and have fun all at the same time.

Currently I am endeavoring to continue the recomposition, I would love to be a little more lean and def more muscular I choose to recomp cuz I hate deficits lol and it sux to go into the gym feeling weakly. One of these days when I stop seeing results I will prolly need to cut and see where I am at. I am running a Layne Norton style program with two heavy days and three volume days. Only been at it for a few weeks but I am enjoying it so far. As a side, I am also learning some of the power lifts for kicks, and that has added entertainment to my gym time as I struggle to clean and jerk lol. My first day of high pulls included a bloody lip from whacking my chin so there will be no vids of these movements for some time

Short term goals: I have a bad right rotator cuff (from lifting like a typical idiot when I was young) and my traps have become bunchy and over-developed to compensate for it. I am working on some physical therapy movements and you will never see a whole lotta shoulder in my journal, lol. 1). So working on middle back, rear delt area to help pull my forward posture back while trying to avoid form issues when utilizing front and side delts to keep my traps from helping too much. 2). Leg focus (particularly hamstrings) needs to start happening a bit more, heehee. I luvs to deadlift but I hates squats!! Actually, just started deadlifting in June so its like a new toy, spending a lot of time doing it

So ‘nuff talking, here was my day today:
Lower Heavy Day

Deadlifts:
135/10, 185/5, 205/5, 205/5, 205/3 ugh, 205/3 still ugh, 185/5 playin’ safe, 135/10 to stretch it out.
Back feels a little tweaky today, I maxed my deadlift less than a week ago, perhaps that’s why.

Supersetted with seated calf raises:
110/12, 110/12, 110/10, 110/8 toes out, 110/8 toes out

BB Squat:
Bar only pause squat X 20, 95 pause squat X 10
145/5, 145/5, 145/5, 145/5, 145/5
Finished these fairly strong but since my back is sore I held off the weight

Supersetted with one legged standing calf raises
BW + 45/9 each side, BW +45/9, BW + 45/8, BW + 45/8

SLDL (on platform):
115/10, 135/5, 135/5, 135/5, 135/5, 135/5

[sonti]

First in!

And in AWE of an awesome heavy lower day You are a machine. Lovin' those numbers!

[Rowyn]

First in!

And in AWE of an awesome heavy lower day You are a machine. Lovin' those numbers!

Hey lady! Thanks for stopping in! Well, my upper heavy day is much less impressive, lol.

Woke up feeling pretty good despite the heavy day yesterday, but hongry phew! The dog next door woke me up early and I lay there trying to go back to sleep and then thought about the apple pie oatmeal I had made the nite before...and I was up. I eat this oatmeal every single day, have been eating it for months and months, love the stuff. Steel cut oats, cinammon, vanilla, diced Granny Smith apples, scoop protein powder and 1 tbp PB.....

So today was Upper Heavy Day. I had dumped OH presses for a bit b/c my shoulder was acting up, I tried (and failed) to re-incorporate them today. My volume shoulder day I do diff types of presses that don't seem to aggravate quite as much (Arnolds for example), so perhaps I should move one of those to this day.

And for my pal DD, I moved pullups right up front to try to conquer the danged things! Phew, 135 lbs never felt quite so much like dead weight as when I was hanging on that bar looking up at the ceiling and hoping to move somehow

10 mins rotator cuff warmups

Upper Heavy
(program calls for 3-4 compound push/pull, 1 accessory, 3-5 working sets, 5 rep range)

Pullups
BW X 3 (sad I know, but I JUST realized I could even do one!), BW (w/25 assist) X 5
BW X 2, BW (w/25 assist) X 5
Done, lol. (2) BW (with 25/assist) X 5

DB Bench
35/12, 45/5, 50/5 (testing shoulder, felt good), 55/5, 55/5, 55/5, 55/5, 55/5

Supersetted with Pendlay rows
(I had been doing BB bent over rows, but wanted to focus more precisely mid back. I get a little too upwards with the bent over rows. Its an awkward position and I am still getting comfortable with it. Its weird/fun to deload the weight each rep. Funky thing. I could NOT do 95 without causing body movement but I could add sets easily at 85)

65/10, 95/3 fail form, 85/5, 85/5, 85/5, 85/5, 85/5, 85/5

Overhead Press
oly/15
65/5, 70/5, 70/4, 70/4, 70/3, 65/4 Shoulder def started to hurt Haven't gone up in weight with these in a looong time.

Overhead Jerk (for fun and practice since the bar was loaded, bout 4 sets of 5 reps at 65)

Supersetted with flat DB fly
25/12, 30/5, 35/5, 35/5, 35/5, 35/5

And that's all folks! I ain't no cardio bunny, so you won't be seeing too much of that sorta stuff in here, hee hee.

Tomorrow I am off, should be off Thurs as well but I am going to go do some PLing with a trainer friend. It will be lite stuff for the fun of learning the movements. Then I have the three day volume split.

Suggestions for alternate shoulder work would be good if any have advice?

[discdoggie]

You're correct, Little Jeannie. Lots more traffic over where the boys play.

[Rowyn]

You're correct, Little Jeannie. Lots more traffic over where the boys play.

Weird, huh? Or maybe not, since this is a male dominated site. And not many of the men are just trying to "tone" versus actual bb'ing, lol. Then again, perhaps its just diff in the fem section in the way the journals are viewed. Perhaps they are more a personal accountability thing than a desire for more input.

[tiddliewinx]

Love the progress pics! Look forward to reading more about your journey.

[ilovethe80s]

Been looking for your journal!

Your deadlift ceremony there looks great - I like where you drop to 135/10 to stretch it out at the end, would love to try that. Do you find it helps at all with DOMS/ tight hamstrings?.

I am lazy, I cannot even superset calf work with squats/ deads - I just sit there between sets and think, like 'why is the sky blue? do bugs have feelings?' lol. Going to make an effort to do it though from now on. Read a really great calf training article lately which included heavy squats and dead singles leading into the more isolated calf work. You are my superset inspiration once I get back to things after this baby - heaven knows the time saved alone makes it worthwhile, not to mention the extra intensity.

Love the SLDL to finish as well. Love your workout style! You mentioned you are doing a Layne-Norton-inspired program? What is it? Is it a pre-writtend program, or something you drafted based in his principles? I like it.

Been reading a lot about shoulder issues as well as I have joined you with that one. You might enjoy this article:

http://oldtimelifting.com/articles/a-dirty-dozen/
(scroll down to 3. Press-Behind-Neck—subbed with—Hand-Balancing)

It talks about using hand balancing in place of presses - supposedly keeps everything in alignment and takes rotator cuff out of the picture. Funny, because I thought the opposite - but looking at the picture - that looks different from how I pictured handstands anyway. Thought the whole article had some awesome info.

Love the heavy days - looking forward to seeing what the volume days consist of

[Rowyn]

Love the progress pics! Look forward to reading more about your journey.

Thank you! Hopefully it won't be too boring!

Been looking for your journal!

Your deadlift ceremony there looks great - I like where you drop to 135/10 to stretch it out at the end, would love to try that. Do you find it helps at all with DOMS/ tight hamstrings?.

I am lazy, I cannot even superset calf work with squats/ deads - I just sit there between sets and think, like 'why is the sky blue? do bugs have feelings?' lol. Going to make an effort to do it though from now on. Read a really great calf training article lately which included heavy squats and dead singles leading into the more isolated calf work. You are my superset inspiration once I get back to things after this baby - heaven knows the time saved alone makes it worthwhile, not to mention the extra intensity.

Love the SLDL to finish as well. Love your workout style! You mentioned you are doing a Layne-Norton-inspired program? What is it? Is it a pre-writtend program, or something you drafted based in his principles? I like it.

Been reading a lot about shoulder issues as well as I have joined you with that one. You might enjoy this article:

http://oldtimelifting.com/articles/a-dirty-dozen/
(scroll down to 3. Press-Behind-Neck—subbed with—Hand-Balancing)

It talks about using hand balancing in place of presses - supposedly keeps everything in alignment and takes rotator cuff out of the picture. Funny, because I thought the opposite - but looking at the picture - that looks different from how I pictured handstands anyway. Thought the whole article had some awesome info.

Love the heavy days - looking forward to seeing what the volume days consist of

Oh, just decided to start one. The Ov35ers are big on the journal thing, you know, kinda like "vids or it didn't happen" lol.

Yes, I like to finish with the same type of set for deads that I use for warmups. My back was tweaky slightly on one side and that set took it out. It does seem to help, unless I am just getting a placebo effect, heh.

I superset mostly because I have a toddler waiting up in the toddler room and I don't want to be in the gym long. Plus, there are all these crossfitters jumping around like mad and they make me feel sluggish Its much faster, for sure. I try to superset whenever I can, it gives that body part a break and gets the job done quicker. I do calves twice a week, pretty heavy these days. Lunges seem to really work them too.

I could have paid for a customized program I believe, but I developed it based on various ideas I read from other people using it and journals (the Ov35 journals are a great place to lurk, lots of experience there). No books out there right now, tho there is a DVD I think, and the progression scheme is basically see what you can lift comfortably for 8-10 on volume days, and 5X5 on heavy days. Increase as needed. I like the heavy/volume combo, keeps things more interesting.

I haven't seen many do the deads with squats for THIS particular program, but I've seen it elsewhere. My lower heavy day is a posterior chain day in my mind. I tend to be quad dominant too, so I put deads in there versus placing them on upper heavy day. I don't think I could have conventional deads at all in the program otherwise, it would be too taxing to put them elsewhere. The first two weeks I questioned whether the combo was a good idea since it took me awhile to recover, but each workout got a little easier so I think its going well. I am working at a higher percentage on my deads than squats, I just enjoy them But I need to bring my squats up a bit more I think, which prolly means standing down on the deads a little so I have the energy to do so.

That's a cool shoulder article! My shoulder has been an issue for decades really. Being left handed, I hold kids and bags in my right arm, the bad shoulder. Also when driving I am constantly handing the kids things and cranking on that shoulder. Hasn't been a time when its ever been normal, lol. I probably just need to get surgery but since I am not competitive and it is do-able pain if I am careful, I haven't done so. But my traps are getting overdone from compensating, which is not so attractive lol.

Tomorrow is a volume day, we'll see how it goes! Thanks for reading!

[ajangel25]

Hi! I'm so glad you started a journal! Your workout split does look great. I was looking into Laynes split but saw the Power days only have 3- 4 exercises, is this the one your following?

[Rowyn]

Hi! I'm so glad you started a journal! Your workout split does look great. I was looking into Laynes split but saw the Power days only have 3- 4 exercises, is this the one your following?

Hey, thanks for stopping in! Yes, the heavy days have only 3-4 compound exercises. You are still working all body parts twice in 8 days though

[Rowyn]

Alrighty, a volume day! I chose to split into back/biceps, but I am not quite loving it right now because my grip gets a bit overworked by the middle of the workout. I have not done a curl except in a blue moon for months, so this has been interesting. Most of them seem to tax my shoulder when I get tired and start to shrug a little. The split doesn't matter so much, perhaps I will do back/chest after this week and see how it goes.

Back/biceps (7-8 exercises for the split, bring the weights down so that 8-10 reps is doable and not to failure, 3 sets each exercise)

Lying Tbar rows
55/10, 65/10, 65/10, 65/8

Superset with EZ bar curls
45/10, 55/8, 45/10

3pt DB row (these hurt my shoulder somewhat)
30/8, 30/8, 30/8

Superset with Lat pulldown (Cybex? I guess the machine is relative, all ours are diff.)
65/8, 65/7, 65/8

Seated cable row
65/10, 60/8, 60/8

Superset with Hammer curl
20/10, 20/10, 20/8

Reverse Grip lat pulldown
80/8, 80/8, 80/8

Superset with Incline curl
17.5/8, 17.5/8, 17.5/8

Freemotion row (weird machine, but I like to row on it for upper/mid back, the handles are set high)
50/10, 50/10, 50/10

These days seem fast and "easy" while I am doing them, since I try to superset most everything I was done in 45 mins or less. But my forearms were pumped and fried.

Tomorrow is another leg day!

[Rowyn]

Today was my second leg session for the split, higher reps, lower weight, more volume (squats are on heavy lower day). Program calls for 8-10 reps, NOT going to failure. Tri-sets for some of today, it was busy at the gym and had to do what I could do when it was available.

Hack Squat SSw/calves/SSw/lunges

Hack Squat
wu 150/12, 220/8, 220/8, 220/8, 220/8, 220/8

Single Standing Calf raise
4 sets of BW + 45/8

Walking Lunges
60 BB X 22 (no DBs available)
30 DBs X 22

Leg Press SS/sitting calf raises

Leg Press (do you guys count sled? I don't, dunno what it is.)
wu 180, 270/8, 270/8, 270/8, 270/8, 270/8

Sitting Calf Raises
90/10, 90/9, 90/10, 90/8 toes out, 90/8 toes in

Leg extensions
80/8, 70/8, 70/8 (dropped weight, not supposed to be going to failure and I'm tired)

SS w/prone leg curls
80/10, 80/8, 80/9

50 mins total

Now heading out to drag kids around on the sleds!! Happy Saturday folks!

[Rowyn]

Another Volume day! Highs and lows today, did well on the incline bench, but must have fried my shoulder enough to screw with the rest of my workout because it was weak after that. I'm going to change up my split so that I seperate chest and shoulders when I can...though that may just mean more days of pain rather than one or two!

Volume Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
(Program calls for 3 set, 8-10 reps, use weight that will not take you to failure)

DB Incline Bench
30/15, 45/9, 45/9, 45/8, 40/10 * Up from last week's working sets of 40

SS w/Rear delt high pull (these look similar to face pulls)
45/10, 45/10, 45/10, 45/10

DB Arnold Presses
20/8, 30/7 (pain), 25/8, 25/8 * Down from last week's 30s

DB Pullovers
45/8, 45/8, 45/8

Nose Breakers
50/10, 50/10, 50/10

rear delt machine
50/10, 50/10, 50/10

Pushdowns
50/10, 60/10, 60/10

No lateral delt work with any sorta weights, too painful.

Off to go dress shopping!! Have a great Sunday!

[hieronymous]

Nice work the past couple of days. I don't generally count the sled for leg presses.

[ilovethe80s]

I am loving your journal really liking these workouts. Sorry to hear about your shoulder acting up! Mine has been bad too, only started upper body work again a few weeks ago after 6 months of misery but it definitely still has some issues.

I was reading that if you have shoulder issues, to try training them first - funny because I would have thought the opposite - that other work would have warmed them up a bit. I think I did read this in Muscle and Fitness though (men's) and I notice that a lot of the info in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Might have some truth to it though.

[Rowyn]

I am loving your journal really liking these workouts. Sorry to hear about your shoulder acting up! Mine has been bad too, only started upper body work again a few weeks ago after 6 months of misery but it definitely still has some issues.

I was reading that if you have shoulder issues, to try training them first - funny because I would have thought the opposite - that other work would have warmed them up a bit. I think I did read this in Muscle and Fitness though (men's) and I notice that a lot of the info in there needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Might have some truth to it though.

It sux to have a bad shoulder, there is no way mine is getting better without surgery since its a chronic rotator cuff issue. I could really use some build-out on the shoulders to balance the rest of me

I put new progress pics in my Bodyspace. I took my last ones in Aug, have been basically trying to maintain since then due to personal issues. I think I actually made some growth progress though. These will be "start" pics for my new program, to run until April. I am still attempting the recomp idea, have not stopped making progress yet and until I do, I will continue in this direction. Weighed in at 136 this am, which is great. Not that the actual number is so great, but I am almost the exact same weight as Aug with more muscle I think.

Rest day today, tomorrow is Upper Heavy!

[gobbles23]

Ahhh! I was just looking at your progress pictures You look sooo amazing! I absolutley LOVE the shape of your legs, especially! That's what I want You're doing such a great job

[hieronymous]

Great progress pictures Rowyn. I love that you are recomping as well. The subtle but steady changes are awesome to see. Your legs have changed a lot since the last set and I can see a lot of progress in the side pictures as well. I am sure you will figure out how to spread your lats by the next round of pics!

[Rowyn]

Ahhh! I was just looking at your progress pictures You look sooo amazing! I absolutley LOVE the shape of your legs, especially! That's what I want You're doing such a great job

Thank you! I dunno about my legs, ha. They are getting better slowly but surely.

Great progress pictures Rowyn. I love that you are recomping as well. The subtle but steady changes are awesome to see. Your legs have changed a lot since the last set and I can see a lot of progress in the side pictures as well. I am sure you will figure out how to spread your lats by the next round of pics!

Thank you! The recomp is slow, but it has been worthwhile. By the end of this program in April I will be at exactly the one year mark since I started the journey already! Woo, time flies when you are having fun


Heavy Upper
I moved my shoulder work first, and I also switched out the oly bar for an EZ curl bar for OH presses. The diff angle of my hands felt sooo much better on my shoulder, but it was a weird bar to clean into place! Of course, as shoulder weights went up, they were followed by a decrease in chest, sigh. One or the other is gonna have to give when they are on the same day apparently.

Pull Ups
(2 sets)3 BW, 5 with 25 assist. 3X5 with 25 assist

OH Press (Ez curl bar)
55/5, 65/5, 75/5, 75/5, 75/5, 75/4 **up from last week

SS with Pendlay Rows (these felt a BIT more comfortable today, but I still think I should be moving way more weight than I am currently managing)
95/5, 95/5, 95/5, 95/5, 95/4 **up from last week

DB Bench
40/6, 50/5, 50/5, 50/5, 50/5, 50/5 (** Down 5 lbs. 55s were not going up without shoulder tweak)

DB Fly
25/6, 35/5, 35/5, 35/5, 35/5, 35/5


Tomorrow is Heavy Lower, I am going to pwn that 205 DL for sets AND reps!

[Barnewolt]

Great progress! You are definately leaner!
Anxious to what your progress!

[Rowyn]

Great progress! You are definately leaner!
Anxious to what your progress!

Thank you, fellow Midwesterner! Where do you train?

I went to bed last night stoked for today, being a Heavy Lower, my favorite. But things combined so that by the time I got to the gym the idea of the amount of work to be done made me feel a little ill. But I cranked up my music and told myself "Self, you are in week 4 of this program. Your body is more than capable of achieving what you are going to ask it to do today, so get your mind where it needs to be!"

And all lifts were up today

Heavy Lower
Deadlift
135/12, 185/6, 205/5, 205/5, 205/4 (whoops, distracted), 205/5, 205/5, 135/10
The 205 went up as I thought it would today, much easier than last week. Lats were tired from yesterday tho.

SS/Seated calf
100/10, 100/10, 100/9, 100/8 (toes out), 100/9 (toes out), 100/8 (toes in), 100/9 (toes in)

Squats
bar/pause squat X 10, 95/pause squat X 6
135/5, 155/5, 155/5, 155/5, 155/4 (seein stars lol), 155/5

SS/Single Standing Calf
BW+45 all sets 10, 8, 8, 9, 8 (for each leg)

SLDL (on platform, or as FLEX says, knuckles to shoelaces)
95/8, 135/5, 135/5, 145/5, 145/5, 145/5

I am officially fried. And OFF to GROW for the next two days, so no giving me the shyt for not posting workouts!

Happy Humpday!

[SgSpartan]

In on first page!

Wow, deadlifts+squats in the same workout, brutal! Way to roll!

Cheers.

[robmad]

I am in on the journal since my new "road" is discovering a strength program that would work for me. it's good to see one in progress. which are you doing?

[Rowyn]

In on first page!

Wow, deadlifts+squats in the same workout, brutal! Way to roll!

Cheers.

Thank you! It took a couple of weeks to get used to, lol. We will see how long I can keep it up

I am in on the journal since my new "road" is discovering a strength program that would work for me. it's good to see one in progress. which are you doing?

Hey lady, I saw your PM! Sorry I didn't answer it yet, I had to wade thru all that frockin garbage you get after an avi change, lol.

Go to my first post, I am doing a Layne Norton program. I *believe* that some people contact him directly to get customized programs, but I took it from his general outline and some journal ideas from others running the same thing. Basically, it calls for a 5 X 5 Heavy Upper, Heavy Lower day, two rest days, then 3 volume days (3 X 8-10) divided into a regular bodypart split. Another day off, so the total week is 8 days. Search his name and you can see more info, I think there are a couple of threads dedicated to his methodology

[toodlepip]

Hi - hope you don't mind me jumping in here! I'm interested in following your recomping journey as it's what I'm endeavouring to do as well. There don't seem to be that many people doing recomps...I see tons of info on cutting/bulking but much less on recomping. And there definitely seem to be less specific plans to follow in this regard.

I'm curious as to what you are doing with your calories? Are you going over maintenance, changing it up on workout/non-workout days?

[Rowyn]

Hi - hope you don't mind me jumping in here! I'm interested in following your recomping journey as it's what I'm endeavouring to do as well. There don't seem to be that many people doing recomps...I see tons of info on cutting/bulking but much less on recomping. And there definitely seem to be less specific plans to follow in this regard.

I'm curious as to what you are doing with your calories? Are you going over maintenance, changing it up on workout/non-workout days?

I am not sure why more people don't try it, there are tons of women on here that feel they are 15-20 lbs over "scale" weight, but if they just worked on getting some lean muscle, they wouldn't need to lose nearly that much. Some of the trainers here think its the optimal way to go but try convincing diet-oriented people of that I think its a mind thing, women LIKE to diet, lol. And the scale numbers are very meaningful to them. Me, I prefer to look at my clothes and body. If I can wear a size 4 and still sit at 137 at 5'3", the 137 doesn't bother me. I see women say "I am trying to get back to my old weight". What does your scale weight actually mean anyway? It has no bearing on what your body looks like.

Also, its not fast. Most women want to change their bodies yesterday. It takes patience and time. Its perfect for a noob. And by noob I mean your body condition, not your gym experience. For me, I had just gotten back into lifting after the third baby and decided to use bbing to change my body. So technically I was making noob gains though I am not a stranger to lifting. Muscle memory prolly helped me quite a bit too.

Truthfully, it has been trial and error with the diet thing, it took some time to find maintenance with the heavy lifting I do. I eat right AT maintenance as much as I can, so I track and count just like everybody else. And yes, sometimes I am hongry, lol. The recomp kind of came as a byproduct of NOT being able to cut as I wanted. I love to lift, hate to diet. But I was still seeing results, so decided to continue on. I don't eat as much as I WANT to eat, for sure. I could eat the house down some days I aim for 140 g protein, higher fats (they help me feel full), and about 1500-1600 cals a day. No change in cals with the days, I just don't bother with it.

I still have a ways to go and will eventually want to actually "cut" at some point to get rid of the last bit I think. My plan is to run the new program until April at maintenance cals and then evaluate at that time. I have never cared about being really skinny, I like curvy, so it doesn't stress me out.

[hieronymous]

. The recomp kind of came as a byproduct of NOT being able to cut as I wanted.

Me too. And I also realized that with my fat distribution may arms and legs would look overly scrawny if my bodyfat level got any lower without having more lean muscle on the areas with less body fat.

It seems that there are more recompers on the board than I thought.

Rowyn, would you mind if I copied your last journal entry and start a Recomper thread in the General Chat? Not as many people look in the journals and I think a discussion of this method, and how it is going for us over time would be useful to people in the future who are looking to do the same thing.

A lot of what you wrote really resonates with me.

[hieronymous]

I'll just start one - and if you want to add that please do.

[Debbie]

You are inspiring me again, Rowyn.
I am back to my journal and now that I am kind of lifting (my stats are so low that they don't get even close to yours), I am able to post some more variation on it.

*much love*

[toodlepip]

I am not sure why more people don't try it, there are tons of women on here that feel they are 15-20 lbs over "scale" weight, but if they just worked on getting some lean muscle, they wouldn't need to lose nearly that much. Some of the trainers here think its the optimal way to go but try convincing diet-oriented people of that I think its a mind thing, women LIKE to diet, lol. And the scale numbers are very meaningful to them. Me, I prefer to look at my clothes and body. If I can wear a size 4 and still sit at 137 at 5'3", the 137 doesn't bother me. I see women say "I am trying to get back to my old weight". What does your scale weight actually mean anyway? It has no bearing on what your body looks like.

I completely agree. The number means nothing to me, it's all about fit of clothes. And I certainly do not set my thinnest weight (116) as a goal as I had to struggle like crazy to stay there and only ended up weighing that for a few weeks...before I started to eat again.

Also, its not fast. Most women want to change their bodies yesterday. It takes patience and time. Its perfect for a noob. And by noob I mean your body condition, not your gym experience. For me, I had just gotten back into lifting after the third baby and decided to use bbing to change my body. So technically I was making noob gains though I am not a stranger to lifting. Muscle memory prolly helped me quite a bit too.

Yeah me too. After my second baby I started with the weights again but it was nothing serious or focussed. Was still about the number on the scale. This past year I became more serious but not consistent. Now that's what I'm aiming for. And just waiting to see where it takes me and my body.

Truthfully, it has been trial and error with the diet thing, it took some time to find maintenance with the heavy lifting I do. I eat right AT maintenance as much as I can, so I track and count just like everybody else. And yes, sometimes I am hongry, lol. The recomp kind of came as a byproduct of NOT being able to cut as I wanted. I love to lift, hate to diet. But I was still seeing results, so decided to continue on. I don't eat as much as I WANT to eat, for sure. I could eat the house down some days I aim for 140 g protein, higher fats (they help me feel full), and about 1500-1600 cals a day. No change in cals with the days, I just don't bother with it.

I still have a ways to go and will eventually want to actually "cut" at some point to get rid of the last bit I think. My plan is to run the new program until April at maintenance cals and then evaluate at that time. I have never cared about being really skinny, I like curvy, so it doesn't stress me out.

Thanks for the info. I'm surprised your calories are so low. Surely that is eating under maintenance every single day no? I'd imagine that's only just over your BMR?? Or am I getting it wrong?

I don't think my body can really do skinny-skinny...I'm all about curvy too!