Pressing matters

This morning was another good lift. I watched Rippetoe's Starting Strength video for the overhead press during this. That was nice because I don't have a whole lot of experience with the BB press.

EC mobility Desk Jockey 2
arm bars
Standing Overhead Press - 3x45#, 3x55#, 7x65#, 9x60#, 7x60#
Suspended Push-up - arms raised ~2ft on JGXT - 6x6
Neutral Grip Chin-up - using JGXT with feet on floor - 6x6
Then 3x45# bench press for a Fitocracy quest :)

I think I found my 9RM (if there is such a thing) on the OH Press!

Are you kidding me?!?

That is what I was thinking this morning when I started the push-ups on a Swiss ball. Oh my! After a set or two, I got the hang of it. but, at first, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to do all 55 on the ball. I would definitely not recommend trying these without all the lead-up of other push-up practice.

I subbed 7x40/20 kettlebell swings with my 16kg bell for the jump rope. I'm glad, because there was so much other jumping in this workout. (Body of Fire, Phase 3, Workout 2, by the way.) I also subbed high knees for the sprinting. Great workout!

Yesterday was the first workout of this phase. I had to cut off about half the sets to fit it into my time slot.  I still managed to come away with a sore glute. I'm not sure why it's just on one side, though!

Push ups on the floor and food success!

First off, I want to mention that I have been having great success following the Paleo way of eating. I started off following the 30-day Whole30 plan, now I have things that are off plan every now and then (like once or twice a week) but I NO LONGER have the cravings for sweets that I used to. (That was especially nice during Halloween.) I am eating almost no grains. (I did indulge in a few pieces of bread total over the last month and I had a helping of rice at a Thai restaurant - both totally worth it.)  I am consuming almost no dairy. (I did have some yummy cheeses one day and have had a little pastured butter.) I have had almost no legumes besides green beans since I started, which was almost 2 months ago.  I am definitely leaning out.  I see hubby changing, too.  But, it's common that when I pay more attention to food, he loses weight.  In fact, he does faster than I do, the jerk.  :) (just kidding, sweetie!)

As a result, I get to cross off one more goal that I made for myself toward the beginning of the year. I got back to the weight I had originally declared with Weight Watchers back when I was doing that plan.  This time, I feel better, don't count ANYTHING and I have a butt.

This morning, I finished the last Phase 1 Body of Fire workout. I did ALL the pushups on the floor!!  WOOT! Of course, they were not banged out, one after the other. I had to pause a lot in the last sets.  But, they got done with good form, full range of motion (chest hitting floor) and arms in. Wow. I surprised myself.  That's 91 pushups, by the way!  It was cold out for the sprints.  23F.  But, it was only six minutes, so I survived.

BOF Ph1/Wk4/WO4
Warm up - Jump rope 4.5 min, golf ball roll 30s, cat/camel x10, wall squat x10
Split jack - 4x23
Squat thrust - 4x13
Wideout drop and push-up - 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13 (on  the floor, arms in, full range!)
Sprint intervals - 6x30s run + 30s walk
Stretch - 20s ea - hip flexors, calf, chest, T-spine

I've defined myself

... by completing the Define Yourelf phase of Female Body Breakthrough!

I've got my logs all made up for the next phase, Dial It In.

Today's workout ended up in the afternoon, thanks to some strong storms last night.  The storms plus the extra squirmy kids in bed didn't make for enough restful sleep to get up early.
I felt strong. I upped the weights used and the intensity.  I'm ready to move on, though.

Define Yourself B4
0:57
Foam rolling and warm up
Reverse Wood Chop - 8ea/32.5#, 8ea/35# (rope attachment)
Prone Jackknife - 2x8 (rolled farther out in plank so that arms were out and not perpendicular to the ground... this really increased the intensity!)
Stepup - 2x8ea/20#ea (7 risers)
T Pushup - 2x4ea/8#ea (much better form and ability than in recent past)
Single-Leg Squat - 8ea with 7 risers, 8ea with 6 risers (!)
Alternating Lateral Raise - 2x8ea/10#ea
Supinated Hip Extention with Leg Curl (SHELC) - 2x8
Inverted Row - 2x8

Some outdoor fun and another lift

Yesterday, the sun broke through for a while. Before lunch, we decided it would be a good time to get in a quick walk/bike ride.  The kids would rather ride their bikes, but I need to be on foot, ready to help my daughter.  So, we set off with my son noting how slow we were going and my daughter working on getting over that initial terror.  (She's very afraid at first, but wants to ride so bad, she does it anyway.  Plenty of screams and maybe even some tears.)  She's only four, but she's doing great riding a regular 16" bike with no training wheels.  About a block down the road, we stopped to talk to some neighbors, the family of a friend of my son.  During this time, my daughter got VERY impatient.  We said we were going to ride bikes, so LET'S RIDE BIKES!  We ended up leaving my son to play and my daughter and I continued on.  After a while, she mostly forgets she's afraid and I have a nice walk/jog while we talk.  Before too long, she's zooming along and I'm barely keeping up!  At this point, I no longer have to keep my finger on her back.  When she's scared, she likes the reassurance of my finger/hand lightly touching (i.e. not helping) on her back.  It's funny.  Anyway, I got in over a mile of jogging!

This morning, I got in my lift.  Felt good!  I was able to increase some loads.  Nice.  These workouts may not use the heaviest weights, but I can tell they are beneficial.

Define Yourself B2
Foam rolling and warm up
Reverse Wood Chop - 2x8ea/30# (rope attachment)
Prone Jackknife - 2x8
Stepup - 8ea/15#ea, 8ea/17.5#ea (7 risers)
T Pushup - 4ea/5#ea, 4ea/8#ea
Single-Leg Squat - 2x8ea (to bench)
Alternating Lateral Raise - 2x8ea/10#ea
Supinated Hip Extention with Leg Curl (SHELC) - 2x8
Inverted Row - 2x8

More squat work

I decided to make another day of working on my squat.  I filmed them all so I could see the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I still didn't see anything crazy bad.  Except that I had my wrists at an angle rather than straight.  That would be easier to do if I were using a squat rack, I think.

I started off with the warm up from Rachel Cosgrove's book Female Body Breakthrough.  Although I admit I was taking my time, it took me 24 minutes.  I think I could easily cut that down to 20 minutes, but still, that is too long for a warm up when I'm doing a full New Rules workout.  She says it should take 10-15 minutes.  I could probably do that, but I would be wiped before my real workout really started!  I was already sweating after the 20 minute version!  Maybe I'll pick a few to start out with.  I do need better warm ups... at least more than almost nothing.

I was also working on push-ups using my Iron Gym Extreme.  I did them only with arms in, so the rep count is pretty low.

FBB warm up
Squats - 10@BW, 8@30#, 8@40#, 8@60#
Push-ups - 4x5 arms in on Iron Gym, wrists facing in

That took me 48 minutes.

Biceps!

I almost turned around today once I got to the gym. I didn't sleep well thanks to this cold, but I got out of bed to workout, anyway. Then, when I got to the gym, I realize this one guy was there who uses up the gym and doesn't re-rack his weights. But, I thought, that's silly to turn around now. I'll make do. Then I realized I didn't even have my Forerunner, which I use to time my rests. But, I had my cell phone, which has a basic stopwatch program, so I used that.

Today's workout was Stage 6 A2. It's short but still kicks me! Well, mostly my arms.

I had to do my negative chin-ups from a bench, so I decided not to use the belt. (Which this guy, by the way, had used and left weighted. If I were to use half the stuff in the gym, I'd have to ask if he's done with it. AND he left about 10 minutes into my workout without racking anything.) Anyway, since I didn't have my watch, I didn't have a good way to verify my hang time. I just counted to 20, but probably slower than actually 20 seconds.

The underhand lat pulldowns were very hard, especially when I increased the weight. During these, I got a good look at my biceps. Wow! The 110# reps were very hard. I couldn't pull down fast at all. In fact, I barely made it all the way to my chin.

I forgot to alternate the last two exercises. I guess I'll live. I did hear some clicking in my left knee and it was a little sore afterward. It's going away pretty fast, though.

Negative Chin-up - 3x20sec+
Underhand Lat Pulldown (down fast, pause 1sec, 4sec release) - 6x2@105# then 4x2@112#
Barbell Split Squat - 2x8@65#
Push-up - 2x8@ lowest power cage hook (I didn't feel like unloading alllll that weight from the Smith Machine.) Not the best form towards the end.

Pathetic pushups

Today, I started off by running my measly mile in about 10:30 on the treadmill at 1% incline. I'm not sure why my time went up a bit. I guess I accidentally started off a little slow. Monday, when doing yoga, I felt a little bit of the odd feeling in my knee. But, today on the treadmill, I didn't notice anything. That's good! The temperature when I run should be starting to get above freezing pretty soon, so hopefully some outdoor runs are in my future.

Weights went well. I did 1A8 of NRoLfW. This should be my last day of stage one, workout A. I might add on another time or two, though. I'm definitely noticing some progression. I'm still upping the weights pretty much every time. I've been trying to increase the weights for at least the third set. If that third set is still not hitting my max, I make a note to increase the weights next time.

Squats went better today. I don't think I was having as many problems with lifting my upper and lower body separately. I am still doing them from a full squat. I had to pause a lot during my first couple sets. I would get a little dizzy when I stood up. My heart rate gets decently high, too, up into the 150s, maybe even to the 160s, but since my wrist is behind my shoulders, I can't actually see my watch. The odd thing is that they go better as I went through the sets. I'm not sure why. Maybe warming up by doing some non-weighted sets would be a good idea! I always thought it would wear me out. By the way, I mention warming up with non-weighted sets rather than reduced-weight sets, because I'm only using 10# on the 45# bar. 10# worth of weight on a 45# Olympic bar looks really funny. But, that's where I am and it's going to stay like that until my ability increases!

My push-ups are rather pathetic when I try to do them by the book. If I let me elbows out when I lower, I can do lots of push-ups on a low setting on the Smith machine. But, if I try to do them with my elbows in, I hit an angle where I just can't support myself. It's kind of like the point on my squats just around or below horizontal, where the muscle just doesn't want to fire. (That's why I started doing them from a full squat. Moving through that point seems to work ok.) So, I wonder if there is a way to move through this weak point with push-ups. It seems like I would fall flat on my nose. I wonder what different muscles are being used between the two styles. It would seem like the elbows-in version would focus more on triceps and the elbows-out style might recruit more biceps? Hmmm....

The Swiss ball jackknives were hard again. It seems that 10-12 are about the sweet spot. Doing 15 is hard!! But, my form was a lot better this time. I kept my toes more pointed rather than flexing my feet. That way is more challenging to stay balanced on the ball.

Step-ups went better. I still get my heart rate up pretty high with these. I use a weight bench, so the step is pretty high. I have to pause to get my heart rate down between legs. I think at one point, I got up to 174bpm. But, I guess this is a rather dynamic exercise.

Nearing the end of stage 1

This morning, I ran a mile. A bit faster this time with a few speed intervals. I think I'll try upping the intervals next time.

After the run, I did 1A7, which is the second to last time to do this A workout. I'm thinking I might repeat stage 1 a couple more times, since I had so much off time. I peeked ahead and things don't get any easier! That's just fine, though! If I'm going to ever achieve a chin-up, I need to have my butt kicked!

Today, I really tried hard to get full motion on the squat. The weird thing is I can't seem to squat with any extra weight and stop right when my legs are parallel or a little below. So, I went all the way down to where my thighs and calves are in contact. This week I was a bit obsessed about improving my squats, so I read up on them on the internet. One person mentioned that kids do them all the time. So, I observed my kids, and it is so true. They squat all the way down for lengths of time and also stand up without a problem. Doing these full squats was difficult. I did manage to complete the sets, but I needed to pause some between some of the reps because I got a little light headed. I could really feel it in my hips afterward. I understand why many experts think the squat is the ultimate lift. I think it uses just about every muscle. One thing I noticed myself sometimes doing was extending my legs faster than my back when standing up. Not a good idea. With more weight on the bar than I currently have, that could spell back injury.

For the push-ups, I noticed that my elbows move out rather than stay close to my body. I tried on my 2nd or 3rd set to correct this, but was too weak to do that. I guess I need more work on that. I'm not really sure how close to the body the elbows really need to be.

The jump up to 15 prone jackknives per set was tough. I barely finished the last one of the last set.

I finished off with a good stretch. I feel really good today.