Fat Girl Gets Fit

[Partyrocking]

Just stumbled in your thread. Read the whole thing.
It's always motivating to see someone so invested in their goals. Best of luck...

Thank you

[Partyrocking]

Foam roll calfs
Squat hold 30 seconds
Deadlifts 1x5x135; 5x1x250
Hang Snatches 3x1x45
Hang Clean 1x1x45lbs
Front Squats 2x5x65lbs
Seated Cable Row 5x10x45lbs
Banded Ankle Stretches
Hanging Ab Raises 3x8
Squat Hold with 10lbs, 30 seconds
Front Squats 5x10lbs
Hang Snatches 5x1x10lbs
Hang Clean 3x1x10lbs
Overhead Squats 1x5x10lbs

I'm trying to learn how to snatch and power clean. I watched some good videos from Glenn Pendlay, so I learned the steps, but my ankle mobility isn't so good anymore, and I didn't bring my oly shoes today. I'm going to do ankle stretches/mobility work before and after each workout.

I'm also going to start doing farmers walks up and down my stairs for conditioning. Went up and down 4 times today with 20lb dumbbells in each hand.

[Partyrocking]

Warmup
Calf rolling
Hang snatches 5x10lbs
Hang cleans 5x10lbs
Overhead Squats 5x10lbs
Front Squats 5x10lbs

Squats 5x45; 3x95; 2x135; 1x185; 1x225; 1x235; 1x245; 3x2x185
Bench 5x45; 3x75; 1x95; 1x115; 1x125; 1x135; 3x3x105
Deads 5x135; 4x1x250
Face Pulls/Hanging Ab Raise Superset 3x10x28lbs/3x5

This morning, I decided to run a modified version of the Bulgarian Method instead of the upper/lower I planned out. My lifts aren't where I want them to be for my UL routine, and I'm hoping that my lifts will go up fast. After that, I'll switch to the UL. Ideally, I'll be able to run cycles of both and get the benefits of both types of training.

I'll give the cliffnotes of BM. In the West, periodized training became the king for competitive weight lifting. Lifters lift in cycles, e.g. starting with higher reps and lower weights and decreasing the reps/increasing the weight until you peak, then you go back to the higher reps with a new weight that should be heavier than the last cycle. This type of training came from Russia.

In the East, however, a different type of training emerged. Lifters do very high frequency training, some lift up to 13 days a week, and work their way up to a daily training max each time with singles, doubles, and triples. The coach watches the lifter and tells him (or her) what to lift based on the warmups. Each rep should be clean (no grinding) and there should be very few failed lifts. After the daily max, you do some back off reps, unless you failed a lift or grinded it out, in which case you're done. You only do lifts you know you can make, so that you don't overtax your CNS and you can keep training frequently. Instead of having a pre-determined weight to lift, you do the best you can every day.

To do this, I had to modify BM so it fits my circumstances.

1) the lifts are different. It's easier to snatch/power clean every day than it is to bench or deadlift every day (BM has squatting every day), so I'll be doing very low volume on the deads and benching every other day. After I'm done with the daily dose, I'll alternate bench and deads, so I won't be doing all 3 lifts on the same day anymore.

2) I don't have a coach to watch my warmups and tell me what to lift. So to make sure I'm not grinding out any reps, I set a daily minimum, a number I can hit even on my ****tiest days. Once I hit that number, I decide based on that lift, whether or not I want to keep increasing the weight or stop for the day. The minimum makes sure I don't slack off, and I can use them to gauge where my max should be each day.

Program
A
Squats
Bench
Deads
Face pulls/Abs

B
Squats
Push Press
Deads
Lat Pulldowns

I put this together using Greg Nuckols Bulgarian Method e-book along with a Q&A thread that John Broz did here in 2010. Together, the

Back to how my session went. I set my squat minimum at 225 and my bench minimum at 115. I'm not maxing out on deadlifts.
Squat session felt pretty good, crushed 225. After that did 235. Had a bit more juice so I went for 245, and I was unsure of 250, so I went to the backoff set.

Bench- still working on my arch. I benched in oly shoes. Unsure if I like them better or worse than benching in sneakers. Will do sneakers on Friday and compare notes. My hips don't like bringing my legs back, which is why I think my arch is so sorry.

Deads- Were going fine to start, but I felt my back rounding on the 4th rep, so I skipped the first one. May need to keep it to 3 singles until I adapt to the squatting volume.

Did the face pulls for shoulder health and the abs to decompress my spine a bit after all the squats/deadlifts.

Didn't have time for my ankle mobility work- will do that first thing tomorrow.

[Partyrocking]

Morning session went pretty well.

Warmup
Hang snatches 5x10lbs
Hang cleans 5x10lbs
Overhead Squats 5x10lbs
Front Squats 5x10lbs

Squats 5x45; 3x95; 2x135; 1x185; 1x225; 1x235; 3x3x185
Push Press 5x45; 3x5x60lbs
Lat Pulldown 3x10x80

ankle rolling, calf stretching, 30 second squat hold, quad rolling, calf rolling

I decided to skip deads today to give my lower back a bit of a break. Also decided to stop squatting at 235. When in doubt, I stop early so there's no grinding. I did more back off reps instead.

I was going to do OHP, but the weight felt heavier than I thought it would, so I push pressed them instead. Trying to keep the weight easy since I'll be benching tomorrow.

[FallenAngel80]

I'm always inspired to read about your training. Those numbers are impressive

Hope you have a good new year and continued progress in 2016

[Partyrocking]

Happy New Year to all!

What better way to start the year than a family workout. Got to the gym right after it opened.

Warm up
Ankle rolling and stretching
5 hang snatches
5 hang cleans
5 overhead squats
5 front squats

Squats 5x45 (front squats), 3x95, 2x135, 1x185, 1x225, 1x230, 1x240, 1x250, 3x2x185
Bench 5x45, 3x65, 2x75, 1x95, 1x115, 1x120, 1x125, 1x130, 1x135, 1x140, 3x2x105
Deads 5x135, 5x1x250
Machine Row 2x10x70lbs

This workout was long. Took me about an hour and a half. I'm not sure where my head was at because I forgot my backoff sets for the squat, changed the set up to bench, started warming up for bench, and then remembered and had to change it back. My lifts went well, but my brain was in full on potato mode.

I'm happy with my numbers today, and I'm getting better at gauging my daily max. I think this program will lead to sweet gains.

[Partyrocking]

Warmup

Ankle rolling/stretches
Hang snatches 5x10lbs
Hang cleans 5x10lbs
Overhead squats 5x10lbs
Squat Hold 1x10lbsx30seconds

Main Workout

Squats: 5x45; 3x95; 2x135; 1x185; 1x225; 1x235; 1x245; 1x250; 3x3x185
Push Press: 5x45; 3x6x55
Deadlifts 1x5x135; 1x1x225; 5x1x285
Lat Pulldown/Hanging Ab Superset 3x10x85; 3x10

Probably could have gotten 255 on the squats, but my adrenaline was too high, so I decided to stay at 250. I added more back off reps instead.

The deads were brutal. I just thought about it and I used my belted max for the percentages and I'm lifting beltless. The difference is about 10lbs each session, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a difference on the heavy days. It seems a bit silly to change all the numbers now, but I may readjust the chart.

[Artemis00]

Workouts definitely seem very challenging. Couldn't imagine squatting or deadlifting that much a week. Interested to see the progress you make on the program

[Partyrocking]

Workouts definitely seem very challenging. Couldn't imagine squatting or deadlifting that much a week. Interested to see the progress you make on the program

Me too. Hopefully, I don't completely muck this up, lol.

I've been stuck at the same lifts for a few months; part of that is my own fault for not training as consistently as I should have, but I think my bigger issue was that I exhausted my use of cookie cutter routines, but I didn't want the responsibility of doing my own programming, so I kept doing them anyway.

Everyone preaches "established routines" and they make sense for beginners/early intermediates who just need to get from sucky to not sucky, but at some point, you have to take an active role in your training if you want to excel. IMO the farther you get, the more important it is to have workouts tailored to you. I either had to write my own program or pay someone to do it for me, and I'm broke, so I came up with this.

The workouts themselves aren't that bad. I feel fine during them; it's just something is always sore hours later, usually my butt, but now my traps too. Gotta share the wealth.

I basically warm up, do a heavy single every 2-3 minutes until my heart rate goes up, do back off sets, and then go on to the next exercise. You never go to failure, never grind out any rep, never touch the bar if you're not sure you'll hit the rep cleanly. It's kind of relaxing in a way since there's no reason to be anxious; there's no set number I have to hit once I pass my daily minimum.

The deadlifts are a bit different. I'm not working up to a daily max with them because that just sounds like too much for 5 days a week. I just hit 3-5 singles and then move on. When I'm done with this challenge, I'll probably alternate the deads with the bench, so I'm doing both 3 days a week. It will also shorten my workouts.

[Artemis00]

Can't muck up anything as long as you learn something from the experience. At this point, everything comes down to trial and error.

I agree..established routines are excellent for those new to lifting. It takes a lot of the guess work out of lifting and gives a solid structure to follow. But yeah, those routines are a "one size fits all" and nobody is the same so eventually you have to modify to adjust for what works best for you. Fortunately by the time you need to start modifying workouts...you should know your body well enough to make some sound decisions.

I like the philosophy regarding reducing the anxiety that comes with lifting by only lifting what you know you can do and not grinding out reps. May have to give that a try since my bench is constantly being held back my getting anxious and psyching myself out before a lift...even with a weight I know I can do.

[Partyrocking]

I like the philosophy regarding reducing the anxiety that comes with lifting by only lifting what you know you can do and not grinding out reps. May have to give that a try since my bench is constantly being held back my getting anxious and psyching myself out before a lift...even with a weight I know I can do.

Adrenaline is definitely a double edged sword. Used properly, you can do a feat that seems like it should be impossible, like those mothers that yank a car off their children, but it can be too distracting and cause you to mess up when you otherwise would have been fine.

George Leeman seems to use it regularly and it works for , but I prefer to lift akin to shooting a free throw and not throwing a Hail Mary.

[Artemis00]

Adrenaline is definitely a double edged sword. Used properly, you can do a feat that seems like it should be impossible, like those mothers that yank a car off their children, but it can be too distracting and cause you to mess up when you otherwise would have been fine.

George Leeman seems to use it regularly and it works for , but I prefer to lift akin to shooting a free throw and not throwing a Hail Mary.

Yeah, I've heard a lot of people that will try to use adrenaline to help with their lifts...but for me, if I feel like I have an adrenaline high, I stay away from the gym. I don't know if I get a strength spike from an overload of adrenaline, but I do know that I don't feel pain and I certainly don't think clearly. Mix those two things with lifting and I know I'm asking for an injury or I may kill someone that takes my equipment. LOL. Personally I find my best lifting is when I'm more relaxed and just having fun.

[Partyrocking]

Squats 5x45, 3x95, 2x135, 1x185, 1x225, 1x235, 1x245, 1x255, 1x260, 3x3x195
Bench 5x45, 4x65, 3x75, 1x95, 1x115, 1x120, 1x125, 1x130, 1x135, 1x140, 3x2x107.5
Deads 5x135, 1x225, 5x1x250

My gym trains athletes for the NFL combine, so I'll have to either go earlier or later to avoid the rush. Luckily, it was quarterbacks today, so I was able to do all my lifting before they got to the weights.

My squats felt awesome. I was hoping to hit 255 and 260 went up fairly easily. I could have attempted 265, but I wasn't 100% sure on it, so I decided to try for it later in the week. My heaviest beltless squat ever is 275, so it's pretty exciting to be hitting these numbers.

My bench isn't as exciting as my squat, but I hit 140 again which is pretty good. I hope that I can hit a plate each bench day. I think I'll be doing CGBP on Wednesdays and a normal/wide grip on Mondays and Fridays.

Deadlifts went up fine.

I want to get better at front squats and sumo deads, so I'm using them in my warm up and once they get better, will do some work sets with them.

[coconuttree2009]

Your new routine looks quite exciting. Requires to be very in tune with yourself and know your capabilities so you are not under or over reaching. Exciting stuff.

[Partyrocking]

Your new routine looks quite exciting. Requires to be very in tune with yourself and know your capabilities so you are not under or over reaching. Exciting stuff.

That will be the biggest challenge. I'm getting better at gauging my maxes every day. It's been pretty much the same for bench so far, but squat's been more variable.

Afternoon workout
Seated Cable row 10x15, 5x25, 3x35, 2x45, 3x10x45
Face Pulls/Hanging Ab raise superset 3x10x27.5/3x10
Power cleans 3x65lbs
Snatches 3x65lbs
Ankle stretches
Calf raises/tibia raises 10x45; 10x95; 10x135
Ankle rolling/self massage
spin bike 18 minutes

I went with my mom in the afternoon, so I did my rowing and abs along with mostly mobility work. My cleans/snatches need work. 65lbs was a struggle for both of them, should probably drop down to 45lbs and work on my technique.

[coconuttree2009]

Rows and Face Pulls before main lifts?
Fairly light weight, right? So part of warm up?

[Partyrocking]

The rows, abs face pulls were the main workout-well they were the only necessary exercises. Everything else was either form practice or for ankle mobility.

I decided to only go heavy on bench/squats/deads for now. Everything else will be lighter and for more volume to help prevent cns burnout.

Today's workout
Front Squats: 5x45, 3x75, 1x95, 1x135
Back Squats: 1x185, 1x225, 1x235, 1x240, 3x2x195
Push Presses: 5x45, 3x6x55
Sumo: 5x135
Convo: 5x1x250
5 hang snatches 10lbs
5 hang cleans 10lbs
Lat Pulldown: 1x25x70lbs

My squats felt wonky today; even my backoff sets were slower than normal. I decided to quit after 240. I can't expect that much after 260 yesterday, but it was irritating nonetheless. Hoping for some good numbers on Thursday, since I don't deadlift on Wednesdays. My deads went up fine today though. Weird.

[IFBBJENC]

Happy New Year! Impressive work you've been putting in. Have fun and good luck with everything!

[Partyrocking]

Happy New Year! Impressive work you've been putting in. Have fun and good luck with everything!

Cheers!

Today's Workout
Front Squats 5x45, 3x75, 1x95, 1x135
Back Squats 1x185, 1x225, 1x235, 1x245, 1x250, 3x2x195
CGBP, 5x45, 3x65, 2x75, 1x95, 1x115, 1x120, 1x125, 1x127.5, 3x2x95
Seated Cable Row/Hanging Ab Raise superset 3x12x30.6lbs/3x10
BTN Press/Face Pull Superset 2x10x10lbs/1x10x24lbs; 1x10x19lbs

My squat felt better than yesterday, which is good. Unfortunately, my right knee was bothering me on the backoff sets. It was like there was air trapped in the joint, but it was slightly painful. It wasn't bad enough for me to stop lifting, but I should keep my eye on it.

I didn't think to adjust my bench warmup/DM for CGBP. My normal bench numbers worked fine for today, but I probably should take 10% off the daily minimum, since it looks like my top set will be about 10% lighter than my normal bench

I decided to try BTN presses today, and I can see why the lift used to be popular. You definitely get good rear delt/trap activation. I could feel it with a 10lb bar. I'm not sure where you're supposed to begin the lift. I began it on my rear delts, but it may be safer to start higher up, like behind my head.

I'll probably do them on Saturdays and add 5lbs/week, so it will be a good 6-8 weeks before I'm using working weight. That should be enough time for me to figure out form.

[Partyrocking]

Ankle stretching
Band Pull Aparts 2x20
Shoulder Dislocations 2x10
Front Squats: 5x45, 3x75, 2x95, 1x135
Back Squats: 1x185, 1x225, 1x230, 1x240, 1x245, 3x2x195
Sumo: 5x135
Convo: 5x1x250
Reverse fly 10x10lbs, 10x7.5lbs
Calf raise/tibia raise 2x10x80lbs

My shoulder joints are a bit sore from all the pressing. May get rid of the Tuesday push press and only do Saturdays. This will mean I don't have 3 days in a row of pressing. The band pull aparts felt fine. The shoulder dislocations felt a bit funky, but I think that means I needed to do them. I added the reverse flies to help my shoulders out and they felt pretty good.

Squats felt pretty good today. The deads did too.

[Partyrocking]

Warmup
Hang Snatches 5x10lbs
Overhead Squats 5x10lbs
Hang Cleans 1x10lbs
Front Squats 5x10lbs

Main Workout
Front Squats: 5x45, 3x65, 2x95, 1x135
Back Squats: 1x185, 1x225, 1x235, 1x245, 1x250, 1x255, 1x265, 3x2x195
Bench Press: 5x45, 3x65, 2x75, 1x95, 1x115, 1x120, 1x125, 1x130, 1x135, 1x140, 1x145, 1x150
Sumo: 5x135
Convo, 1x250, 4x250

I ran out of time, so I had to do my deadlifts in two sets. It felt fine though.

Squats felt really good today. I don't know why but 225 never feels that good, but after it was easy. Maybe I should move up my last warm up, so it's not such a big jump, or add one more in between 185 and 225.

Bench- I finally broke 145- hell yeah. I wish I had started doing my own bench programming earlier. I was stuck on the whole, I'm not a special snowflake, I don't need to do my own routine when I could just do an expert made one, but f** that, well once your at least an intermediate.

I think it's better to learn how to program and do your own (or pay someone if you got the dough) than do a cookie cutter advanced routine. I based my routine off an existing one, so I can't claim credit for the philosophy behind it, but hell-even Rippetoe copied his mentor when he made Starting Strength, and it made him famous

Maybe I could have got 155, but I had to get going, so I'll try for it on Monday.

I had to skip the rows; will do them tomorrow. That's one good thing about lifting 6 days a week, there's always tomorrow.

[likeafish]

Congrats on your bench! And everything else, lol, you are going HARD!

[Partyrocking]

Thanks- I feel like my workouts look harder on paper than they do in real life. For me, doing 1 rep is easy, even if the weight is heavy. Take off ten pounds and tell me to do 2-3 reps instead of 1, not so easy.

Today
Ankle Stretches
Front Squats 5x45, 3x75, 2x95, 1x135, 1x145, 1x150
Back Squats, 1x185, 1x225, 1x235, 1x245, 1x250, 1x260, 3x2x195
Sumo 5x135, 3x155
Convo 5x1x250
Standing Cable Rows/Hanging Ab Raise Superset 12x40, 2x12x45/3x10
BTN Press/Lat Pulldown Superset 3x10x15lbs/1x12x80, 2x10x80

Decided that I'm going to try for a daily max for the front squats before I do the back squats. Once I can front squat 200, it will be time to give front squats their own training session. Would do the same for sumos, but I'm not sure on my form at all, so I'll slowly increase the weight while I practice.

Can't really believe I hit 260 today. I thought today would suck since Tuesday sucked after Monday's PR, but strength is so variable. Monday should be good since I have Sunday to rest- well cardio, but who knows.

[MyEgoProblem]

A bit of Bulgarian light for breakfast! :-)

Lovely.

[Partyrocking]

A bit of Bulgarian light for breakfast! :-)

Lovely.

I'm having a lot of fun with this. I think I'd probably be having less fun if I were training 13 times a week and around 32 hours a week, but for 8-10 hours a week, yeah this is great.

Today's Workout
Front Squat 5x45, 3x65, 2x95, 1x135, 1x145, 1x155-PR
Back Squat 1x185, 1x225, 1x230, 1x245, 1x250, 2x3x185
Bench 5x45, 3x65, 2x75, 1x95, 1x115, 1x120, 1x125, 1x130, 1x135, 1x145, 1x155-PR, 1x6x95
Sumo, 5x135, 3x185
Convo 5x1x250

I don't remember every going heavier than 155 on a front squat before, so I'm calling this a new PR. I'm hoping to set a PR at least once a week. Once I get to 200 or so, I'll probably start doing daily maxes with them once or twice a week.

I totally bonked on the squats. I meant to do 235, but I forgot one of the 5 plates, so it was 230. I don't know how I did that.

I got a bench PR which is good. Unfortunately, it was a grinder, which I'm not really supposed to do on this program, but hopefully, it will be smoother the next time. If I can add 10lbs/month to my bench, I'll be really happy.

I know my bench form is improving because my rear delts are sore. I hadn't been pulling them back properly. If you haven't seen "So You Think You Can Bench," you really should. My form has improved noticeably in just one session. There's also one for squat and deadlift, but I'm only going to work on one lift at a time, so I don't overload myself with technique fixing.

This workout was a bit long. Excluding the warmup, it was probably 75-80 minutes. Part of that was my slow ass squatting today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be smoother.

[likeafish]

Whoo! Double congrats on the double PR!

[Artemis00]

Congrats on the Bench and Front squats PR.

Damn, that would be awesome if you could put 10 lbs per month on your bench. I'm gonna have to take a look at that video.

[Partyrocking]

Whoo! Double congrats on the double PR!

Congrats on the Bench and Front squats PR.

Damn, that would be awesome if you could put 10 lbs per month on your bench. I'm gonna have to take a look at that video.

Thanks Everyone!

I recommend everyone who benches watch that video. He takes the cues that everyone has heard before and actually shows you what they mean and goes over common mistakes that people make when they try to do the cues. I wish I could put it on the tv at our gym and just play it on repeat, would save a lot of people from shoulder issues.

Today's Workout
Front Squat: 5x45, 3x75, 2x95, 1x135, 1x145, 1x150, 1x160-PR
Back Squat: 1x185, 1x225, 1x235, 1x245, 1x250, 1x260, 10x135
Sumo: 5x135, 2x185
Convo: 1x225, 3x1x300

My rear delts were crazy sore from benching yesterday. I was still able to get a front squat pr though.

Soreness is a lie!

I maybe could have gotten more on the squats, but I wanted to leave some energy for the deadlifts.

The deadlifts were brutal. I'm not even sure if I locked out on the third rep. My lower back was exhausted. Maybe I should have saved the deads for my afternoon session, but I was trying to get all of my heavy lifting out in the morning and only do auxiliary work in the afternoon.

Next time I have a heavy pull, I think I'll only do the daily max for the front squats and then I'll do the deadlifts.

[viccles007]

Thought I would drop by and say hi. Loving your hardcore workouts!

[Partyrocking]

Thought I would drop by and say hi. Loving your hardcore workouts!

Hi! Welcome to the party!

Afternoon Workout

Seated Cable Row 5x25, 3x35, 3x10x50
Hanging Ab Raises 3x6
Facepulls 3x12x25lbs
Lat Pulldown 3x10x80lbs
Ankle rolling and stretching
5 reverse hypers
hammer curls 2x10x10lbs
leg curls 1x25x30lbs
Glute Bridge Tri set: 10 glute bridges/5 single leg glute bridges/5 glute bridges @ 30lbs
Turkish Getups 1 on each side 10lbs

I tried using BFR (blood flow restriction) on the hammer curls, which is why they were so light. It didn't quite work. I was too cheap to buy the tourniquet things, so I used those small bands at the band. Unsure if I want to buy real bands before I commit to using them

I think my ankle mobility is improving. I was able to do a atg squat without my shoes on, which I couldn't do two weeks ago.

For some reason, turkish get ups hurt my side. I might be twisting funny or something during them.