Wanna be that chalky hero

[melDorado]

Bench day, did 5x52.5, 5x55, 3 then 4 at 57.5 and 3x60. Then a paused 62.5 single & had to call my own commands lol none of my mates were in the gym. Felt pretty beat up but wanted a hard bench session. Ohp I didn't have much left for can't remember what I did, lots of fails lol.
DB rows 32.5 x 10,9,8 and BB wide grip 6x55 twice. Inverted row 2x8 pausing at the top with my shoulders back.
Finished with my 3x5 dips +5kg missed the final rep

Looking forward to getting back to squatting again tmrw, fingers xd

[melDorado]

Warmed up well for my squats today, lots of BW, 8x bar twice, 10x40 and 8x60. Work sets triples 85,90,95,100 and 2 at 105 I did feel my hip twinging but not so bad as to worry hopefully. They all seemed to be to depth. I wish I had a trainer cos videoing all my squats is hassle. Showed owain my 115 squat he said it's a pass but I'm still not gonna try it at meet.
Wanted to hit RDLs hard 3sets of 5 105, 107.5, 110 but literally could only do 3 on the last set.
Didn't know if leg raises would strain my hip so did cable crunches instead. That's all, I'm trying to be gentle on myself I feel beat up atm

[melDorado]

Weighed 71.4kg today.... Fuark! Gotta make 72 weight class, maybe it's water or do I got to put the brakes on the cakes lol? At least if it's real weight it'll make me stronger. I can't go up to 84 class ever, im too little and those girls are beasts! Luckily I've still got plenty of fat spare, recomp rules.

[melDorado]

Deadlift day today, pulled triples 117.5, 127.5, 137.5 felt quite strong. Trying to keep volume down on squats so just did 5s of 60,70,80 back squat and front squats triples of 65, 67.5, 70. My shoulder started really hurting again after them which is weird cos I had good form and lifts were easy. Bit annoying who ****s their shoulder up on leg day?

[phoenix4444]

Jelly of your strength woman!

In for inspiration.

[melDorado]

Hiya phoenix cheers! 185 squat not far behind me hun won't be long til you need a new goal. I'd like to hit BW bench this year too...

[phoenix4444]

Let our old woman goals be fulfilled

[melDorado]

Upper day but all I did was bench, still got fd up shoulder. Had to get my mates to unrack all my sets for me because it really hurts to unrack. Luckily pressing is OK, I did 5x52.5,5x55,3x57.5,2x60 which is OK it'll do.
Ohp the bar it was agony, decided better not do anymore arm involving exercises ...so I did some light squats and went home a bit dejected.

[phoenix4444]

Can you ohp with a swiss bar without pain?

My shoulder was messed up a couple of months back. Couldn't press with a straight bar at all but could with lighter weight use a swiss bar.

[melDorado]

Hi phoenix ye there is a Swiss bar and it's definitely better for my shoulders but I think I'm gonna quit ohp for a while, every time my shoulder flares up ohp seems to be involved. I wouldn't be surprised if it's arthritis so I will just try to work around it unless it gets bad. In the UK doctors don't care just say dont lift and take pills.
As long as I can squat bench deadlift I don't really care, feeling not too bad after benching today so that's good.

[phoenix4444]

In the UK doctors don't care just say dont lift and take pills.

Same with doctors here. Unless of course you have fancy expensive insurance.

We around what we can. You are right though, still can bench, squat, deadlift, the important ones. I can't do pullups anymore, aggravates right shoulder, don't care, will do lat pulldowns instead.

[melDorado]

Aw sorry to hear you have similar problems.. I can't do pullups anymore either. I just row a lot.

Anyway I had a good day in the gym which was nice after all the issues lately
Deadlift triples 120, 130, 140
Then squats triples again, 80,87.5,92.5,97
Double @102.5 and a single 107.5
All of them were good depth and I felt strong and my hip is OK.

Wore my singlet lol everyone been saying you have to lift in it before your meet and I'm like why it's just some Lycra what difference will it make! So OK I wore it cos it's Sunday and no one will be there. Some bloke came in in the end but I was mostly unseen. And it makes no difference...

Anyway happy about my good squats and my shoulder didn't bother me any

[melDorado]

Final train before my meet...I know your not supposed to lift the week before but I go weak on deload, so had to do some squats and bench.
Warmed up good, didn't wanna go too mad, just did 5x70,80 and triples 85,90,95,100
Felt a bit weak and felt my hip but I been working so hard in my job lately I'm not surprised. I'm off work from today so I should have plenty of energy Sunday.

Bench was pretty pain free I had to get my mates to unrack everything over 40kilo again tho. 5x55 twice and a 3x60. It's definitely affecting my strength in bench, I'm not gonna try heavier than 62.5 sunday don't wanna risk it
Take some time off then and heal I hope?
Finished with some light rows

[jsari23]

hope your shoulder feels better

nice on the lifting - nice to have people there to help with lift offs!

[Todayisforme]

Wore my singlet lol everyone been saying you have to lift in it before your meet and I'm like why it's just some Lycra what difference will it make! So OK I wore it cos it's Sunday and no one will be there. Some bloke came in in the end but I was mostly unseen. And it makes no difference...

Anyway happy about my good squats and my shoulder didn't bother me any

You looked fabulous in it anyway! Cause you're a damn strong woman!!!

Final train before my meet...I know your not supposed to lift the week before but I go weak on deload, so had to do some squats and bench.
Warmed up good, didn't wanna go too mad, just did 5x70,80 and triples 85,90,95,100
Felt a bit weak and felt my hip but I been working so hard in my job lately I'm not surprised. I'm off work from today so I should have plenty of energy Sunday.

People keep telling me I need to eat before I workout too or performance will suffer... it doesn't work for me. I lift better fasted, even if I know I'm not working out until noonish, I won't eat because if I do I feel all heavy and bloated and can't seem to coordinate my lifts right. You know your body best, nothing wrong with doing what works for you!

Good luck at your meet! Sunday is the big day?

[melDorado]

hope your shoulder feels better

nice on the lifting - nice to have people there to help with lift offs!

Cheers jsari, I hope so too, injuries suck.. my mates have hip and shoulder injuries too, all's we do between sets it bitch about it lol

[melDorado]

You looked fabulous in it anyway! Cause you're a damn strong woman!!!



People keep telling me I need to eat before I workout too or performance will suffer... it doesn't work for me. I lift better fasted, even if I know I'm not working out until noonish, I won't eat because if I do I feel all heavy and bloated and can't seem to coordinate my lifts right. You know your body best, nothing wrong with doing what works for you!

Good luck at your meet! Sunday is the big day?

Yep Sunday, it's a 2 hour drive so an early start! I'm super nervous and excited. My only lifting goal for this year is to actually compete, so I can't really fail as long as I turn up and don't bomb. I'm shy of going on platform but I so want to do it.

Yes we all should listen to our bodies they tell us more than we realise, and we are all individuals, all different.
Lol I thought I look strong in my singlet but where my undershirt bunched up below my belt I look a bit fat ha

It's so weird not going to the gym on a day off today...I'm such an addict lol

[sthpadregrl]

been lurking..........good luck on the meet!!! keep us posted

[melDorado]

Back from my meet, it was loads of fun, I feel stupid now for being nervous lol
Everyone was freindly and the UK masters1 champ for my weight was there she was really nice and looked after me so it was fine.
It helped that I opened low on my squat and got on the board I was pretty nervous squatting, got my second too 100, but on my 110 I was just starting to come out the hole and I felt the spotters grab the bar. I think I must of bounced a little, I dropped like a stone which is my bad cue to make depth.
Watching the others lift I realised I have to control my descent better. No one else drops like me on their maxes : /
By bench I was chill cos I was only taking it easy cos of my shoulder, got all 3, easily. I was a bit annoyed because I knew I could of done more so I decided to def try a DL PR.
Excited for deadlift it's the fun part for me. Pulled 135 and 145 and asked for 155 and killed it, I was well happy with that. The UK masters1 champ pulled 165 so that's a pretty good pull I guess.

So my total was 317.5@71.2
I'm just glad I achieved my goal to be a chalky hero lol. And that I followed the commands perfectly because I was stress about that and in fact a lot of decent lifters failed on commands.
And I ripped off callouses on both hands on my deadlift PR, it's pretty bad.... But worth it

[Todayisforme]

It helped that I opened low on my squat and got on the board I was pretty nervous squatting, got my second too 100, but on my 110 I was just starting to come out the hole and I felt the spotters grab the bar. I think I must of bounced a little, I dropped like a stone which is my bad cue to make depth.
Watching the others lift I realised I have to control my descent better. No one else drops like me on their maxes : /
By bench I was chill cos I was only taking it easy cos of my shoulder, got all 3, easily. I was a bit annoyed because I knew I could of done more so I decided to def try a DL PR.
Excited for deadlift it's the fun part for me. Pulled 135 and 145 and asked for 155 and killed it, I was well happy with that. The UK masters1 champ pulled 165 so that's a pretty good pull I guess.

So my total was 317.5@71.2
I'm just glad I achieved my goal to be a chalky hero lol. And that I followed the commands perfectly because I was stress about that and in fact a lot of decent lifters failed on commands.
And I ripped off callouses on both hands on my deadlift PR, it's pretty bad.... But worth it

So awesome Mel!!! Went killed it, got a PR and learned something in the process too! Can't ask for more then that! I'm so happy for you, I can only image how stoked you must be!

I was just learning about commands and talking to some of the other competitive ladies here. They were mentioning it's easy to fail on commands... awesome that you nailed it!!!

Ripped callouses suck :/ I found a way to tape them by ripping a hole in the tape and sticking your finger through it with the tails going all the way down to your wrist. Double up on it, and then wrap the tails with another piece of tape around your wrist. That way the mobility in your hand isn't impaired.

[melDorado]

@sthpadregrl thanks for saying hi and checking out my journal, hows your own training going?

Hey true todayisforme I did get a lot out of the meet, awesome! meeting other ladies who lift was also so cool as no girls in my gym really lift.

I didn't have any tape so I'm off to buy some now, I think I get what you mean. My left hand is so bad srs.

As far as commands go if you ever intend to compete I would make it a habit, to mentally

start pause rack the last rep of all your warm-up sets of bench,
to pause with straight legs for a cpl seconds after all final reps of squats,
and to never throw/drop the bar after deads.

Then it will be second nature.

I'm off to Spain tmrw, I'm about month overdue a deload, taking a good long one for my upper body, maybe just a week for legs see how I feel.

BTW I also qualified for the nationals except I need to actually lift in the welsh division to represent them, but should be doing that later this year.

[phoenix4444]

Hey congrats on the meet!

Spain, how nice. Enjoy some great food and rest.

[Partyrocking]

Great job!

It doesn't hurt to try out your singlet before the meet, although it may be pointless for some. I do know of one guy who didn't try on the singlet, didn't realize he'd need a tighter belt loop than he did with his normal clothes and his belt slid off him on his first squat attempt.

[sthpadregrl]

Jealous of your strength! but the experience from the meet seems great.

[lazyaj]

Back from my meet, it was loads of fun, I feel stupid now for being nervous lol
Everyone was freindly and the UK masters1 champ for my weight was there she was really nice and looked after me so it was fine.
It helped that I opened low on my squat and got on the board I was pretty nervous squatting, got my second too 100, but on my 110 I was just starting to come out the hole and I felt the spotters grab the bar. I think I must of bounced a little, I dropped like a stone which is my bad cue to make depth.
Watching the others lift I realised I have to control my descent better. No one else drops like me on their maxes : /
By bench I was chill cos I was only taking it easy cos of my shoulder, got all 3, easily. I was a bit annoyed because I knew I could of done more so I decided to def try a DL PR.
Excited for deadlift it's the fun part for me. Pulled 135 and 145 and asked for 155 and killed it, I was well happy with that. The UK masters1 champ pulled 165 so that's a pretty good pull I guess.

So my total was 317.5@71.2
I'm just glad I achieved my goal to be a chalky hero lol. And that I followed the commands perfectly because I was stress about that and in fact a lot of decent lifters failed on commands.
And I ripped off callouses on both hands on my deadlift PR, it's pretty bad.... But worth it

Awesome job on your meet! Your deadlift pr is really impressive! Congrats.

Oh, and I hear you about squat descent tempo - though I usually do the opposite, when it gets heavy I descend really slowly and basically try to do a short pause at the bottom - it's completely stupid haha.

[thehobbes]

Hey Mel, seems like I see you everywhere on the forums, figured I'd see what's goin' on in here.

Back from my meet, it was loads of fun, I feel stupid now for being nervous lol
Everyone was freindly and the UK masters1 champ for my weight was there she was really nice and looked after me so it was fine.
It helped that I opened low on my squat and got on the board I was pretty nervous squatting, got my second too 100, but on my 110 I was just starting to come out the hole and I felt the spotters grab the bar. I think I must of bounced a little, I dropped like a stone which is my bad cue to make depth.
Watching the others lift I realised I have to control my descent better. No one else drops like me on their maxes : /
By bench I was chill cos I was only taking it easy cos of my shoulder, got all 3, easily. I was a bit annoyed because I knew I could of done more so I decided to def try a DL PR.
Excited for deadlift it's the fun part for me. Pulled 135 and 145 and asked for 155 and killed it, I was well happy with that. The UK masters1 champ pulled 165 so that's a pretty good pull I guess.

So my total was 317.5@71.2
I'm just glad I achieved my goal to be a chalky hero lol. And that I followed the commands perfectly because I was stress about that and in fact a lot of decent lifters failed on commands.
And I ripped off callouses on both hands on my deadlift PR, it's pretty bad.... But worth it

Aww yeahhh, congrats on the meet, killed it! Mirin' that DL! Nice total. And ripping off the callouses bumps you up 2 badass-ness levels, srs.

[melDorado]

Wow all everyones been in here whle I been on epic deload! Thanks for checking in partyrocking, and sthpadregrl. It's great to know other strong women online and I follow your journals too -I'm very nosey lol love to see how other folks train. Lazyaj didnt I just see you in the bench press comp? Nice lift, everyone loves a grinder, btw you seem to have the exact same dog as me!! Is it a jack Russell/chihuahua cross?
Nice to see your new entry too Hobbes, your bench has been coming on amazing lately. Oh its my life goal to be badass as poss so cheers (and feel free to use maximum smiley in here lol). I would love to get BW bench by the end of the year but depends on my shoulder health I guess..and my weight ha!. It feels better and I've got new prehab routine and modifying my rows and just generally trying to look after myself.

[melDorado]

Back in gym for squats feel stiff asf breaking myself back in.
5x80,85,90 3x95 and 100single.
Then did 3sets of 5 RDL 90,95,95
And deficit speed pulls, 3 lots of 5x100
Put cable crunches back in my routine and planks and side planks which are torture but i must be brave.

[melDorado]

My first full upper day for a whole month....

I done right tho, my mate was in, he was overtraining on heavy squats (done them every day for a week) got a pain in his hip but kept on squatting and today I seen he has a massive nasty bruise all up the side of his quad where something inside just went. Arghh. That **** gonna take srs time to heal....

Anyway did my new shoulder prehab, I got a different one I do at home daily too with a band. Benched 5x55 twice, 3x57.5, 2x60 that's all I could do. But no pain just a bit weak. Never gonna do my own lift offs again as long as there's another human around.
Don't do ohp anymore now either which is sad but o well it's not a PL lift so.
Gonna put some DB press or decline in to try make up for it
Felt so good to be rowing again, felt heavy asf though! My lats were even a little sore from yesterday. DB rows 6x32.5/30 lighter on my bad side and kneeling on blocks so the DB hits the floor and I don't overextend shoulder. Felt OK think I'll get used to it.
3 sets of chest supported rows, wide grip, 7x45kg pausing at the top. Then underhand BB row 2 sets 8x50kg.
Love me my rows getting sweaty and growly
Finished with BW dips got 8/6/5
Hope I'm stronger next week

[phoenix4444]

I am a row girl too. Nothing feels better to me then row some heavy arse weight. Strong back, yes please.