uproarious antics in the gym!

[carolinagirl]

Ok, I’m gonna start a journal. This post is gonna be really long b/c in order to get helpful feedback I suppose I have to tell you guys pretty much everything. (Plus, I’m naturally pretty chatty.) I would love any feedback, especially on my routines and my training split - I have been messing with the split for a while now and haven’t got it to my satisfaction yet. I prefer a 4 day but I hate having a sissy day with, say, just bi’s and shoulders (which is sort of how it pans out now); I also hate having any other bodypart on leg day b/c it already lasts really long. So any suggestions are welcome.

I am 5'7" (did I get those marks right? Or did I just say that I am 7 feet, 5 inches tall?), weigh 156, about 21.5% bf by my best guess (last measured a little over a month ago @ 22.5; since then I’ve gained 2.5 lbs and leaned out a good deal in my upper body and abs.) (My hiney, however, is another story.) I’m pretty much of a mesomorph for a girl (with the obligatory dash of endomorph thrown in...see ‘hiney’, above) - my shoulders are pretty significantly wider than my hips and I build muscle relatively easily (so far. Knock on wood.)

One year ago I weighed 212. Boy, was I fat. Over the course of this year I have slowly lost -what, 56 lbs? (You do the math - I’m a liberal arts person.) I started off just walking, then running and doing some light (less than 15 lbs light) weights at home. I got back into the gym and doing heavy weights 5 or 6 months ago. (Luckily, in college I had trained for a couple of years with a competitive bber, and so I had some muscle memory to help me out. Another lucky legacy of the same period: I already had a healthy scorn for the pink weights and the nautilus machines.) I haven’t really hit any serious plateaus in the fat loss yet, although there’ve been a couple of times that I took 2-4 weeks off dieting and went back to maintenance. I think I lucked into keeping my body out of starvation mode. I want to continue losing fat SLOWLY (brutally deceiving my endocrine system the whole time) so that I can see what areas I need to bring up; then I can start judiciously adding mass in carefully selected areas. (I’m already fairly muscular for a girl - I don't want you guys thinkin' I'm a weenie.) Overall I think that about 16% bf at about 150 would look pretty sweet, so that’s what I’m shooting for. I’m kicking around trying to compete in a bb show (1st time) this year - mainly to have some concrete goal to work towards (this would probably be at <12%, about 137 or so, by my extremely scientific calculations.) Hopefully I will have some pictures to post for feedback in the next couple of weeks.

Diet’s been pretty much right-on for about 4 months now (I range between 2000 and 2300 kcal/day, usually pretty much isocaloric, if anything I usually err on the side of lower carbs; all carbs are low GI except postworkout, plenty of good fats, at least 6 meals a day, blah blah blah). I’m currently taking creatine (have been for a little more than a month; probably going to cycle off in another month. Go ahead and tell me I don’t need to cycle it. I’m ready.) No other “unusual” supps (despite the fact that doc caught me reading the anabolic forum! Can’t a girl just look?!?) - just a whole assload of vitamins, protein, and flax oil (let me just interject here that this is hands-down the assiest ass-tasting **** I have EVER choked down my gullet, without exception. Ass ass ASS.)

Weights are usually 4 days/week in the gym, about an hour a day (I try hard not to go over an hour). I hate cardio machines anyway and I hate the girls that are usually on the cardio machines and I would ESPECIALLY hate it if somebody thought I WAS one of those girls, so I don’t do cardio at the gym much. Sometimes I run with my dog but not nearly enough; us Southerners don’t like doing stuff outside in the wintertime. It’s unnatural, and cold. I tell myself I’m saving cardio for when I reach a plateau in my cutting, but I’m really just waiting for spring. However, I have been consistently losing fat even without the cardio, so... yeah. I’m just gonna wait for spring.

I’ll go ahead and post my back workout from this Friday (1/24/03) so you have some idea where I am RIGHT NOW, then I’ll (blessedly) close and go watch the Superbowl.

1. Bent BB rows: 1x14 warmup with 50
1x12 60
2x8 70
2. SLDL: 1x8 warmup, bar only
1x10 115
1x8 125
3. Deads: 1x10 125
1x4 165
(Cleans: 1x12 with bar, just for fun and because they make the veins pop in my shoulder)
4. Assisted pullups: 1x6 70 lbs assist
1x3 55 lbs assist (these SUCK and I know it. I am such a girl.)
5. Rows (on HammerStrength machine using the widest/lowest grip) 2x10 45 lb on each side

I ran out of time today and couldn’t do any abs; normally I do some ab thing at the end of each workout.

A couple of questions:
1. Grip work: I do mixed grip on deads and SLDL but I can’t get anything over 115 without straps. What can I do to work on grip strength?
2. What is the best way for me to get to unassisted chins? (and naturally, after that, weighted BADASS chins.) I’m thinking of getting a chin bar for my house and doing negatives.

A gaggle of goals:
1. Squat over 200 by end of year
2. Bench bodyweight by end of year
3. Unassisted chins


Thanks for reading this (if you did) and commenting (if you do). If not, FINE. I didn’t want your help anyway.

[_-_v_-_]

Glad to see you've started a journal!

1) Grip work: Static holds / plate pinches.

2) Pullups: Do slow negatives, followed by pulldowns, until such time as you can do one unassisted; then do one, followed by negatives; then two, etc... Repeat until a full set can be completed.

[the doc]

Hooray!

[the doc]

flax oil is tasty

you can static hold DBs, BBs, and from the chin bar also

why do you need a chin bar for yourhouse? Doesn't the gym have one?

Work in your chins on back day, at or near the start of your workout. Warm up with a few assited and then hit them hard on the negatives.
Follow up with some curl or parallel grip pulldowns

[PowerManDL]

This chick's all right.

[Frozenmoses]

Hey, good luck with the journal. Always good to have more females around WBB.

[ectx]

Welcome...I bring you this journal warming gift of .....brace yourself....

Cookies

enjoy.

best of luck with your journal...I'll keep my eye on you...looks like you've already made some outstanding progress.

[_-_v_-_]

I'll keep my eye on you

Uh-oh. He's at it again.

[Franjipani]

Congratulations on starting up a journal !!!

Always a pleasure to read another female journal...All the best with your goals....to reiterate what ectx said, you really have made some spectacular progress... keep going...we'll be cheerin for ya

[xraygirl]

You're going to fit right in here Welcome and all that schtuff...

[bradley]

Outstanding progress and good luck with the journal.

A little for ya!

[carolinagirl]

Thanks everybody.

And Doc - abou that flax oil -

[Pup]

First, i'd like to say congrats on the progress you've already made, that's a ton of weight to lose

For the grip strength, as others said; the static holds work great. Another thing that i've found to be effective are those hand gripper thingies (TM) that are spring loaded, you can use those when you're just chillin.

Congrats on the journal, i'm sure you'll have plenty advice from the hoards of testosterone laden males, especially that crazy doc character

[Alex.V]

Welcome! Despite your terrible choice in institutions of higher learning, I'll say good luck. Not that that is really apropos, given luck has nothing to do with it, and that you didn't ask for it.

1) Do at least one set of deads and pull-ups with no straps, hammer curls, some static holds. None of the conventional "grip strengthening" exercises have done much for my grip, it's all been practical application.

2) Like V said, negatives. Get a spotter to help you JUST ENOUGH on the concentric. You'll probably be surprised how quickly you'll be able to do a pullup.

btw, you really, really, really don't need to cycle creatine. IMNSHO it's the silliest thing in the world to do. (Next to telling one's girlfriend that she's being 'overly emotional', or the whole land war in Asia bit.)

And straps for SLDLs are fine. But keep at the grip strength on the deads. Chalk might help.

[Reinier]

You are teh ace.
You dead and row and stuff. good.

You lost a lot of weight. Congratulations.

[EdgarMex]

Welcome to Journal Land, congratulations on your progress

[ericg]

Nice journal!

Negatives are great for chins. You will be pulling your weight up in no time. Great strength and dedication!

[IceRgrrl]

Welcome and congrats on starting a journal!

[Mik]

Grats on the progress so far and welcome!

[the doc]

Originally posted by carolinagirl
Thanks everybody.

And Doc - abou that flax oil -

Mooning me already i see!

bring it on!!!

[Relentless]

if you don't have a partner handy for assisted chins, pulldowns with the same grip can also help; again slow negs are the key I think

I would definitely put the chins at the start of back day as well, if you want them to progress

for all of your strength goals you might want to look at mixing up rep ranges a bit and trying some low rep sets in there as your strength will probably progress faster that way; singles up to triples or so every workout or 2nd workout on a key strength move wouldn't be out of place


congradgeuminullations on your progress thusfar and welcome to WBB

Callahan

[carolinagirl]

Monday 1/27

Wow, helpful feedback already. You guys give quick service around here! I will indeed shake it up a litle and throw in some low low rep, high weight stuff - especially on bench, because my bench SUCKS. And I’m going to start with those negs on chins.

Today was weird and kinda sucky. I didn’t want to do a sissy day, but I hadn’t done bi’s or shoulders yet, so I tried to throw shoulders in with my normal chest and tri workout (then do bi’s tomorrow with legs). This is NOT my new favorite split. I was there for like an hour and 20 mins and still didn’t feel like I hit anything really hard (except shoulders), but I still did 19 total sets, so I probably wore out my poor CNS. Bleah.

Anyway, here it is in all its glory (not):

1. DB chest press, flat bench: 1x10 30; 1x7 35 (barely got the last one); 1x8 30
2. Flyes, flat bench: 1x8 25; 1x6 30
3. DB pullovers: 1x8 20; 1x4 25

4. DB military press: 1x7 (first 4 with 30, drop to 25 for last 3); 1x6 25; 1x8 20
5. Rear delt isolations (facing backwards on an incline bench): 1x10 25; 1x8 25
6. Lateral raises: 1x10 15 (arms more-or-less straight); 1x8 15 (arms bent about 90 degrees)
7. Front raises: 1x8 15 (barely made the last couple)

8. Skulls supersetted with close grip bench press: 1x10/12 (skulls/bp) with ez curl bar with a 10 on each side. (I always thought the ez bar weighed 15 so I thought this was 35 lbs, but somebody just told me it was 25, which would mean 45 lbs. Which is it?); 1x6/10 (same [unknown] weight)
9. Assisted dips: 2x6 with 40 lbs assist

Weighted (10 lb) crunches on swiss ball: 1x15, 1x10 normal, then 2x10 each side for obliques
Roman Chair: 1x12 legs straight, 1x12 knees bent, 1x12 each side with bent knees.

Nutrition: I’m going to eat at maintenance or a little above for a week, maybe two, with a little more carbs than I normally eat - I feel like my leptin is a little sad lately and I want to give it a little TLC. So today was 2621 kcal, 254 g protein, 241 g carbs (all low GI except pwo shake), 76 g fat (almost all good fat).


Normally, when I’m not screwing around with my routine, I would have probably 1 or 2 more chest exercises (probably incline flyes/presses) and 2 more triceps (usually one-armed overhead french presses and pushdowns). As I said, my bench sucks, and I almost always work out alone - what’s the best way for me to bring my bench up if I can’t do really close to 1RM weights b/c I’ll squash my face when I drop it? (Most of the guys at my crappy gym think it’s a singles bar and if I ask for a spot I’m afraid I would end up with a date instead [trust me, considering the guys who work out at my gym, this would NOT be a positive outcome] - so don’t say to ask for a spot.)

[Mystic Eric]

Originally posted by carolinagirl
How much stock you want to put in a hair compliment from a man with a mullet is up to you.

Actually, men with mullets should be be highly respected in terms of hair compliments because they have great hair: the mullet - business in the front, party in the back.

[WillKuenzel]

What is the split you are currently working on? It just looks like you are trying to do way too much stuff in one day. Even if you are doing a 4 day split. 19 total sets and you still didn't feel like you hit anything hard. Not meaning to sound mean or nothing, but what is your intensity like?


I also want to say great job on your weight loss, that's just amazing. Its awesome that you want to do some shows. Keep at it and it sounds like you are well on your way to doing a great job.





Oh and

[carolinagirl]

Belial: Will you tell me the reasoning behind the no-creatine-cycling position? So far from all I've read and heard, after 2 months your body's production of endogenous creatine downregulates b/c of the exogenous creatine you're putting in; the 2 month off cycle is supposed to renormalize this. Why is this a bad thing? (I'm genuinely curious; for once I'm not being a smartass! )

HomeYield: That's exactly the reason I felt like I hit nothing really hard. I have a natural flair for overtraining, so I limit myself now to 8-10 sets per large bodypart and 6-8 for smaller ones (thus no more than 18 sets per workout usually); the fact that I was spreading the 18 permissible sets too thin (over 3 instead of 2 bodyparts) made me feel like nothing got hit quite hard enough. Intensity was actually pretty high (usually is): I went to failure on chest press and militaries. Only way I think I could realistically increase it is a little less rest between sets. My split has been legs, chest/tris, back, bis/shoulders, but i have a tendency to skip bi/shoulder day (because it doesn't involve a major bodypart). Today's crappy workout was an attempt to graft a missed shoulder day onto a normal chest/tri day. (Never again!) Ideally, I would love to come up with a split that's more than 3 days but that has a large bodypart on every day.

Thanks to everybody for all the help, encouragement, and spam smilies!