The Big Lifts - Goals and PR's

I have been lifting for a little while now. I am more experienced now and I'm at the point where I know what I want from it. Up until now I've been essentially following a hypertrophy/bodybuilder scheme, meaning 2-3 exercises per muscle and 3 sets of 10-12 reps. It's good for building muscle size, burning fat, and increasing strength. However I have decided I want to get really strong. See how much I'm capable of lifting. Hit some big PR's. So here's what I am doing now. 

Big lift of the day - one of the following

Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Barbell Row (maybe also Overhead press)

5 sets of 5

This is all out as much weight as I can lift.

The rest of that day's workout will be accessory work... maybe 2 more exercises for each muscle group following that bodybuilder format of 3x10, core work, etc. Or just whatever the hell else I wanna do.

I haven't trained like this before, and I'm still relatively new to the big compound lifts because I didn't work on them much before now. The squats and deadlifts are leaving my back and traps pretty sore but I think that is just cause I'm still new to them. 

Here are my starting stats for each lift, all 5x5

Squat - 115 

Deadlift - 115 (tried 135 but could only get 2 reps)

Bench - 85

BB Row - 65

My goals for now are to Squat and Deadlift over 200 and Bench 135. 

Monday is my leg day so I'm alternating squats and deadlifts each week. Today was a deadlift day and I found this right here to be 100% truth....

I think the girl next to me was a little disturbed. Sorry I'm not sorry. 

He runs too!

Today has been awesome!

Last night my husband and I were watching a movie and got onto a discussion about all things fitness related. At some point he mentioned he wanted to try and start running again. It's been 2 years and 3 foot surgeries since he last ran. I asked if he would run with me in the morning. My plan was 7 miles so I figured I'd just run with him and then head back out to make it 7. The idea of running with him had me so excited!

Shoes - out of all the shoes out there, hes in Vibram Five Fingers. He had a pair waaay back in the day (back before it was cool!) and has always favored minimalism like me. He needs to mid strike, can't heel strike and needs to try and avoid toe striking. This shoe would promote mid or toe striking. But what it really came down to was all the other shoes he tried on had bulky stitching or straps that ran across the side of his feet and would cut into where his surgery scar is. He liked these because they are comfortable for him and not restrictive.

Honestly I had low expectations for him. Because he can hardly walk or stand for long periods of time without his feet, knees, or back hurting, I figured maybe he'd be able to go half a mile. Whatever he was capable of doing, I supported it. So we took everything at his pace. I checked in with him often to see how everything was feeling, make sure he wasn't in pain and such. After awhile I could see it was becoming challenging for him on a cardiovascular level. This is all too common with people who haven't run in a long time. But he kept going. At the one mile mark he stopped for a moment and then we turned around. Towards the end of the run he was complaining about his hip and knee. I kept asking if we needed to walk. Nope, kept pushing until the very end. He ran 2 miles! Then he promptly collapsed on the side of the trail to catch his breath and rest for a few minutes. I remember that feeling all too well. Not having that high level of cardiovascular fitness makes it really tough.

I'm so proud of him for running 2 miles! It wasn't fast and it wasn't easy, but he never quit. He surpassed all my expectations. Later I found out he chose 2 miles for a reason, it's the distance the Army runs for their PT tests. It means alot to him because running kind of haunted him during most of his time in the military.

I snapped this picture of him. He hates having his picture taken and never smiles, but he's been in a great mood ever since the run. I'm so happy he did this and we hope to make this a Saturday thing. Recovery might be tough with all his various injuries, but I hope he gets stronger so he can keep doing it. It makes me feel awesome inside to be part of it.

Also - OREOS.

These are amazing. You know they're really bad for you when they come in a smaller package. But seriously. Get them.

My husband did what?

Had to share this moment from last night ...

My husband has trouble falling asleep at night. It's nothing new and he has taken sleeping meds for a long time, however with the recent move comes changes in insurance, doctors, etc. So his new doctor gave him some other sleeping medicine for whatever reason. It's not cutting it so they are shipping a stronger medicine to our house. In the meantime he's struggling pretty bad with falling asleep. He's taken up a habit that I do not like at all, which is drinking a couple shots to help him sleep. My father has been a lifelong alcoholic and it's nearly killed him a few times, and now one of my brothers is going down this same path, so this is NOT cool in my book. I realize he needs to sleep and I know it's temporary, but there's always that part of me deep down that worries about it becoming habit. I'm trying to be cool about it and wait until his stronger medicine comes in.

Anyway.

Last night was funny. My husband was searching our kitchen for mixers. He had planned to use 151 rum and didn't relish the idea of shooting it without some kind of mixer. But we have nothing in the house. No soda, juice, or sweetened drink of any kind, short of me making some iced tea (southern girl can't live without it!) and we might've had a couple hot chocolate packets somewhere. So he takes my BCAA and asks me if I think it would make a good mixer. Uh, HELL NAW. My BCAA powder is a sports drink with all the essential amino acids. I sip it before, during, and after my workouts because it preserves muscle/reduces muscle loss, improves recovery post workout, and improves workout performance. This is it right here.

Cellucor Alpha Amino BCAA's, lemon lime flavor. 

He could have probably done better with my preworkout which is strawberry margarita flavor... but that wouldn't exactly help him get to sleep.

It's sugar free, so it has that artificial sugar aftertaste and I knew full well that it would NOT make a good mixer. Nevertheless, he mixed some up and added 2 shots of 151 to make this awful yellowish brown cloudy drink. He knocked it back and instantly started yelling and groaning in disgust. Cupped his hand over the sink I was using and shoveled water into his mouth to get rid of the taste. Wow. Only my husband...

So tired

I'm happy to say I'm back to heavier lifting again. The past 2 weeks were a fun experiment full of box jumps, burpees, snatches, and medicine ball slams. But I missed the big lifts too much. So I'm back to it. It's kind of leaving me feeling wiped out though. On my lifting days I get super tired 2-3 hours after my workout. On Monday I literally spent 5 hours at the VA hospital with my husband and I was falling asleep in my chair which called for emergency Starbucks. I chalked it up to back squatting and the boringness of waiting in the VA, but today I got sleepy again! It sucks! And it is probably because I am keeping my carbs relatively low. Female weight lifters can consume 200-300 grams of carbs per day but I have been trying not to go over 150. Today I did finally cave in to some carbs, I had bought some bagel chips for my husband to snack on and I ate like 10 of them. They are crazy good and I can't have them anywhere near me.

I love the fact that my gym has this

I added this to my back workout today. The second to the last rung got me, it goes from a low bar to the highest bar and I swear it's like a foot in height difference. By the time I get to it I don't have the strength left to reach that high. One day it will be mine.

My gym also has a sauna and today I decided to sit in there for awhile. During which time the power in the entire gym went out. Is it weird that I kind of liked sitting in the sauna in the dark?

Evaluating your training

It snows in Maryland. Alot more than I thought it would.

We've had 4 or 5 snows this month which has made running outside difficult. I don't care how cold it is, but when it comes to snow and ice on the trails that's where I draw the line. I have not the experience nor the bravery to try running in it. I'd rather not take the chance of falling and injuring myself, taking myself out of the game completely. Last week I did the treadmill thing on the gym, which wasn't bad for 2-3 mile interval runs but the thought of a steady state long distance run on it makes me very flustered! Plus driving to the gym for a run seems silly when I can just slip out my door.

It snowed on Monday and it's been pretty cold since. My husband and I walked on the trail a couple nights ago and there were only a few ice patches. I figured with how sunny it's been they would have melted by now. So today I went out in the 17 degree weather for my interval run. Well it ended up being alot icier than I thought. This was a day when I probably should have gone to the gym to run. But hell I was already dressed up and on the trail, might as well do what I could with it. I sprinted where I could but ended up walking alot more than I wanted to. I probably could have gotten more out of my session at the gym. Oh well, lesson learned for next time.

The last couple weeks have been a focus on HIIT strength training. It's been fun and all, but I am really missing my heavy lifting. This type of training is strenuous and testing my limits in a different way - I am building endurance and cardio strength. However I feel like I'm losing upper body strength. So next week I'm going back to lifting but with a few changes... instead of going body builder style and splitting upper body into 2 days, I'm doing this

Monday - legs/core
Wednesday - upper body
Friday - HIIT strength

This should allow me to train my whole body heavy yet at the same time get some plyo and power work done.


Oh, I also have good news (sort of?) I was at the doctor last week and at the end of my visit I asked her to refer me to a knee doctor. It feels clicky and weak at times and it pulls on my hamstring and calf. She grabbed my knee, moved it around a whole bunch, then said she didn't feel anything wrong with it. She thinks it's probably my patella and I need to strengthen the muscles around the area. This was my theory as well. Obviously I do strength train my legs heavily which has helped alot... I'm just concerned with the possibility of it getting worse when I increase my mileage and start running races again. I guess I'll keep my eye on it but it's a bit of a relief to hear the doc say nothing appears to be wrong.

The Fit Test

This week I joined the Gold's Gym near my house. I went to Gold's in Augusta when I still lived in Georgia and enjoyed it. Their facilities are nice and usually pretty solid

Pros

• Seems to have a good free weight section that is laid out slightly better than Augusta was.
• Has an actual free ROOM for body weight exercises, throwing medicine balls around, kettlebells, bands, boxes, etc. There wasn't as much room or variety of resistance equipment in Augusta
• Monkey bars with alternating heights!
• Sauna and steam room!

Cons

• No climbing ropes
• Uses a huge amount of space as a t shirt display
• No open concept, eveything is sectioned off while Augusta was one huge open space with high ceilings
• No assisted pull up machine
• More expensive. I had the deluxe membership in GA so I could bring a friend ($19), however their membership here is $18 biweekly so $36 a month. Not killer but I was expecting to pay $9 a month for their basic membership

So on Friday I went to the gym to do my HIIT strength training session. I had been seeing signs all over the gym about the Fit Test. Basically you take the test to see how fit you are and where you stack up vs others. And I gotta admit, I was really curious to see how I would do. So I did my 5 minute warm up run and instead of doing my workout I spontaneously decided to ask if I could do the fit test. I walked on the treadmill for 10 minutes while I waited for their trainer to finish with his client. He came over and got me so we could get to work.

As many reps as possible in 1 minute

• Squats - The trainer seemed pleasantly surprised at my ability to squat. Not sure what he's used to seeing but he seemed impressed and said my form was good. 45 in 1 minute.
• Push Ups- This is where I think I blew him away. A goal of mine is to get good at push ups so I've been working really hard on them. Last time I did them I maxed out at 20 (but then did 2 more sets). Today I did 30. 
• Sit Ups - I never do these, in fact I can't remember the last time I did them. I do other things to work my abs and core. A bit out of practice but I managed to get 43 reps.
• Bent Arm Hang - This was hanging from the pull up bar with a wide grip and arms bent at the elbow. Wide grip is something I rarely work on and it's the hardest grip. I got 31 seconds, looking back I think I could have held on just a little bit longer. If it was regular pull up grip I probably could have gotten close to a minute.
• Step Up Test - Step up onto a 12 inch box and step back down with both feet. This is a test of your cardiovascular health and it really sucks. I got 60 steps per foot so 120 total per minute.

I think I really surprised the trainer. He said I've done better than most of the other women who have taken the test so he put me on the leader board. Wasn't expecting that at all. Evidently I'm one of the fittest chicks at this gym. Of course this is out of those who have taken the test but apparently alot of people have taken it. I would think if you really care about being in good shape you'd be curious to see where you're at, right?

I'm at the bottom... Second place in a few areas and even beat some of the boys at a few things. I guess I could work on sit ups and squatting faster. The gym manager who signed me up came over and said "...You did 30 push ups?" Heck yeah. 

This made me feel pretty awesome. Not long after the test ended I proceeded on to my workout, followed by a 20 minute incline walk on the treadmill. It made for a great gym session.

Yesterday's long run proved to be slightly faster than my previous runs - including the fact that I had to slow down for half of it because there was slush and ice on the trail. And today I'm resting up after a week of hard effort in the gym and on the trails. 

Lazy on the blog, hard in the gym

Whoops. I kinda stopped blogging for awhile.

I haven't been on here but I have been working very hard. 

About a month ago it occurred to me that while I have lost alot of fat since that fateful day in 2012 when I began my weight loss, it seems the fat loss has stalled and it's even been creeping back on in certain areas. I'll admit my focus in 2014 was not even on fat loss - it was on racing, running trails, and more recently lifting in the gym. But lately I've been feeling like I want to try and get rid of some of the last bastions of fat left on me. I want to LOOK like I do all the crazy shit I do. 

Medically I need this to happen too. I still struggle with PCOS, and as a result I am trying to manage my blood sugar and blood pressure. Having abdominal fat, an "apple" shape, whatever you wanna call it is not healthy. Therefore I need to minimize the pot belly that genetics has given me. 

The solution - I'm in a cutting phase. Started it 2 weeks ago, already seeing some results...

Start - 

173 lbs

26.8% body fat

Last monday (1 week in) - 

172 lbs

25.2% body fat

Goal? Maybe 165 lbs, but what I am really looking to hit is 23-22% body fat. Minimize my belly fat, also get rid of my arm/upper back fat that's hiding all my muscles. I have alot of muscle and I am looking to lose fat while trying to avoid muscle loss, or at least minimize it.

Here's what I am doing ...

Diet - around 1500 calories a day, back to using Lose It again for tracking purposes

• Aiming for 170g protein a day, however that is a HARD number to hit, so I'm just trying to get the most I can. 
• 40-50g of fat
• Carbs ... my nemesis... trying to keep them under 150g a day, it's freaking HARD!!! Y'all know I love my carbs, but I've been good about reducing my carb intake and resisting SWEETS! My main sources of carbs are oatmeal or fruit an hour before my workout, half of an english muffin with eggs and cheese, a Chobani yogurt (searching for something with less sugar), then the rest comes from veggies and fruits, with the occasional small serving of rice or pasta with my dinner
• Saturday I'll have a cheat lunch after my long run and a cheat dinner :)
• Supplements are simply BCAA and protein. If I'm about to have a crazy day at the gym I might pop some pre workout.

One of the benefits of this cut is that it will retrain me to eat healthier as a whole. I have really fallen far over the past year and was eating so much crap. 

Exercise

• 3 strength training sessions a week
• For the next 3 weeks I am focusing on HIIT/power strength sessions because I rarely train that way. They are 20 minutes, 5 heart pounding high intensity exercises back to back, then with a couple minutes of rest before repeating the circuit 2-3 more times. 
• After my strength training I am walking for 30 minutes - trail, treadmill, elliptical, or treadmill on an incline. Anything low intensity. This helps burn some extra fat
• Running 3 times a week. 2 runs are HIIT - all out sprint for 30 seconds, then walk/jog to recover for 2 minutes. Repeat this circuit for 20 minutes. HIIT is best for fat burning. Then my long run is Saturday which is currently 5 miles, looking to increase this to 8 or 10 over time to get ready for racing season

I have been so consistent for the past 2 weeks and it's been pretty easy to maintain. It's all about having a set routine that can easily become a habit, and of course having will power. 

I am going to start posting here consistently again. I missed having an outlet for all my fitness crap that my normal friends don't want to hear about. Right now it's time for me to go to my new doctor to get refills on my meds, and maybe talk some PCOS concerns with her.