Whatever works

So after negotiating our butts off, our house is finally under contract! Now just comes 8.000 different inspections, and provided the house isn't in horrible shape, it will be ours on December 16th!

Yesterday I got a great workout in, which did include a whole bunch of heavy squats. My back has been bothering me lately so I belted up.

#185 for 5 reps, x4

I always tell myself I'm gonna run a couple miles over the weekend. But it almost never happens because my leg day is usually Friday and I'm way too sore to run. So yesterday I just ran after I was done lifting. Brought my running shoes, a pair of running shorts, and a pullover cause it was like 40 degrees. Made sure to wear a bra I can run in. So I just changed, took a GU for some energy, and headed out to the sidewalk that runs along the road by the gym. My Fitbit's batteries were dead, and I also discovered the battery on my Milestone Pod was dead too. So I have no idea, but I guesstimate close to 2 miles. My legs were mad at me for the first few minutes but they acclimated and I started to feel pretty good. And NOW I'm sore, but it doesn't matter because I don't lift again until tomorrow! I think this is something I'm gonna start doing on the regular, as long as I have time on that day.

Post lifting run!

That's about it for now. My husband is really sick right now so hopefully I don't get it and remain 3 for 3 on not getting sick this year.

My Remedy

It's been a less than ideal week for me.

Negotiations for this house we want have been stressful. The people selling it have been really stubborn so we've been back and forth over it, but now we're pretty sure they will accept it. Once it's under contract there will be lots of inspections - this house is out in the country so well, septic, etc. Assuming all that stuff goes ok... we should be moving in mid December. Moving and home buying stresses me the hell out... but it'll all be worth it because this house is freaking amazing.

My time in the gym has been short this week. I got a charlie horse in my calf one night and it messed everything up. I used to get these chronically - one every 3 months or so. They have been better since I became active, and this was my first one in 3 years. It was a bad one though, it's always my left calf and this time it radiated up into my hamstring. My bad hamstring. So not only could I barely walk for a couple days, deadlifting on my bad/sore hamstring wasn't gonna happen.

I finally walked into the gym and saw this

They had cute little pumpkins all over the place! I grabbed this little guy, because he very accurately represents me in the gym. He just gets me.

I needed this so bad. Lifting just helps me forget about the world for a little while. Any problems or negative thoughts I might have just fall away. It's my stress reliever and therapy session. At one point I felt this way about running, but it doesn't have the same effect on me anymore. I think part of it is when you're running you are left to your thoughts to keep you busy. When I'm lifting 200 lbs off the ground I have to focus on what I am doing. I feel bad ass when I'm in the gym, and am usually in a good mood for several hours after I leave.
My pumpkin friends summed it up really well here

Left - before lifting. Right - after lifting!

One of my favorite people has returned to the gym after an injury so that was a pleasant surprise, and I got to chat with a few other cool people as well. It was a good day.

Multiple people at my gym have told me I look like a Viking when I'm working out. Hells yea, that's me :)

Unfortunately the stress is back today... but first thing tomorrow morning I'm gonna squat it away

Deadlift Redemption

10 months ago I experienced an injury.  I was in the gym deadlifting when at the end of my last set I felt a twinge in the left side of my lower back. A few hours later I was in intense pain and had to go home and lie down. Little did I know I'd have to rebuild my entire range of motion in my lower back. Things like sitting down to tie my shoes were impossible. Over the next 2 months I started stretching and getting back into light lifting. My back began to feel better. But still I avoided deadlifting until summer of this year. I began working with a coach to help me. We fixed my form and progressed weight slowly as I began to feel more comfortable with it again. Things went well for the most part, my persistently angry left hamstring made things challenging at times but we've been working on alot of hamstring and glute strengthening. I have learned much.

After 3 months of deadlifting I was at the week of my 30th birthday which could only mean one thing - PR week!

Here I am on Friday staring down these deadlifts again. On my 29th birthday I got a 205lb deadlift. One year later, after having to rebuild myself back from negative nothing, what could I get? I know I could get more than 205 because I have been doing sets of 4-5 reps at 195. So I warmed up, belted up, and put 205 on the bar. Easy. Up to 215. Still easy. So now up to 225 which was kind of my soft goal, seeing as how I squatted that on Wednesday. I wanna be able to at least deadlift the same amount if not more. Daniel got the camera out for some video. 225 happened... so now the question was, go for 235? Let's do it. Wiggle into position, grip the bar... deep breath, squeeze glutes and lats... and this was one slow, ugly mofo of a lift but it happened. But of course, Daniel didnt' get it on video cause his hand was in the way or something. And you know video makes everything official so I had to do it again :)  I set up and got it a few inches off the ground, it wasn't happening again. So it appears right now 235 is my 1RM. And I'm fine with that. This is my worst lift and I am basically starting over with it, so this is good for right now. I know where I'm at and I can start working my way up to 250+ from here.

It feels good to be deadlifting again. It's still hard as hell. It freaking wears me out every time. And I know it's never gonna get any easier... but I'll get better

30

Well here I am, 30 years old.

I have come a long way from where I once was. I was once alot more sheltered, introverted, and self conscious. Over the years I have worked in alot of different professions and environments, met all kinds of different people, traveled to and lived in new places. Each experience helped form who I am today. Running, lifting, and obstacle racing have been huge parts of that. 

I have been alot of things over the years. I never thought "athlete" would be one of them. It started with running, which led me to run road races, trail races, and eventually even obstacle course races. Then almost 2 years ago I went to the gym. I started walking into the weight room more. At first the goal was to supplement my obstacle racing and running goals. My training had no real rhyme or reason. Then over time I started picking up heavier weights. And I liked it - A LOT. Lifting made me feel like a badass, and that feeling translated to the outside of the gym as well as I became more confident in myself. My body changed - for the first time in my life I didn't have a pancake ass and my legs became tree trunks. This has taken some getting used to because I got bigger - but also stronger. After awhile my training became more focused around lifting heavy and challenging myself physically. Changing gyms happened about a year ago when I found a functional fitness gym that catered to my needs better and had the most amazing "family" who inspired me to push even harder. And here I am now, training 4 times a week and just doing whatever I can to improve myself.

Running has fallen by the wayside and so has racing. I am just not into it like I used to be. Sometimes I feel bad about abandoning running, the thing that first shaped me into an athlete. But I can't let myself feel guilty for pursuing a passion. Weightlifting gives me that feeling that running once did. As a taller, larger woman I have never been agile or fast. Team sports were never my thing, and there was that one time my mom signed me up for gymnastics... yeah. With running I got ok, but I knew I wasn't cut out for endurance running. As a child I was good at swimming and even then had alot of upper body strength. I have muscle power and endurance. I can crush weights in the gym for HOURS. It's like this sport was meant for me. 

I am a weightlifter. What direction I will go with it, I'm not really sure. I will probably attempt a powerlifting competition and when I move I will probably end up at a Crossfit box. As long as I can lift heavy shit and feel awesome.

Tired gym face

And to help celebrate my birthday yesterday - I got 30 started off right with some PR attempts! I slept in, ate some good fuel, and got into the gym to discover it empty aside from trainer Sean. He was benching heavy so I asked if he could spot me for this PR attempt. But first it was time to squat. 

My old PR from April was 205. Goal - anything over 205. I did my warm up sets, belted and braced up for my attempt at 215. I got a good explosive push out of the squat which meant it was TOO EASY! Loaded 225 and fought to get that bar up which means yep, that's my max! 

This could be 2 big plates on each side!

Ok, feeling pretty damn awesome! Time to bench. I needed to beat 125 which I did 3 months ago or something. Goal - 130. I called in my awesome spotter Sean and got to work on that 130. WAY too easy. I put 140 on the bar. I was kind of in disbelief, like can I really lift this thing? The first attempt I had my grip too wide and I didn't really get it, so I corrected it and went in for attempt 2. That was one ugly lift and I had a teensy bit of help from Sean, but I bench pressed 140 lbs. 

And this could be 1 big plate + on each side!

I had NO IDEA I would do that well. Sean was like "well you must be stronger than you think you are!" I guess, god damn. Having no one to compare myself to, I did some research and I am OVER the standard for a (not even) 2-year old weightlifter. I am really happy with how well I did. Now the pressure is on to get a 225+ lb deadlift because theoretically you're supposed to deadlift MORE than your squat, but it is my worst lift and I have had to build myself back up after injury. But tomorrow I'm gonna get it, even if I have to use straps to deal with grip strength. 

30 will be my strongest year yet. 

Confidently strong

It's Thursday morning... a rest day! I am enjoying it after 3 days in a row of crushing it in the gym

I am so happy to have my binder. Why didn't I make one sooner? I am logging every exercise I do - how much weight and every rep. In 3 weeks I can see where my gains are happening. Furthermore, if I am really tired and want to cut corners this helps me do all my reps - because if I write them down and didn't actually do all of them I'll feel like I cheated. 

#175 with squats was a bit too easy last week. #50's for dumbbell bench. Heavy Turkish Get Ups were done too. I am also making huge improvements with push ups and pull ups now that I am doing them twice a week. Yesterday I got 11, 9, 7, 6 with pull ups and that's the best yet. I think when I can do 4 sets of 10 I will start using the purple band. I got some heavy pulling done with #120 too. The gains are real!!

The Black Hats are starting to notice me more too. Jason kept making comments about how inspiring I am and how he'd love to have me on the MMA side. And that was cool, because anyone can do MMA as long as they sign up/pay for it, but it was almost like a personal invitation. There's a new trainer and I think his name is Sean, we talked for a good while on Monday and then on Tuesday I saw him messing around with the grip trainer. It's these little metal cylinders that hang down off the top of our racks and you can grab them and hold on, do pull ups, etc. to improve your grip. I messed around on these things with my husband like 3 months ago and I couldn't even really grab onto them. So this guy is like "Come on over and try it!" I put a box up to it so I could step up and see how many pull ups I could do. I honestly had no idea what to expect - could I even do 1 at all? Got 2! They ain't easy, I could feel my back working so much harder to pull myself up while hanging on to the unstable grips. Then I took the box away and jumped for the grips. I had my hands on them and let go. He was like "Why did you let go?" I said I dunno, I didn't think I was actually gonna make it. He said "Maybe that's what happened right there" So I tried again, jumped up and got a perfect grip then pulled myself up for 1 jumping pull up. I wasn't expecting to do any of this today and I had no idea I was capable of it. Last time I tried was so abysmal and today I rocked out 3 pull ups on it. Yes I have gotten stronger since then but so much of it is mental. Like if you watch American Ninja Warrior and see someone who looks afraid they usually end up failing because they psych themselves out. If you're confident and trust your body to do what it knows how to do, you're much more likely to succeed. Sean decided to use the bars that affix the rack to the wall and swing across them. They are really far apart so they can't be monkey barred, you have to get a big swing and use momentum to reach the next bar. There are like 10 of these and during one of his attempts he almost made it all the way across. It was cool to watch and cheer him on. No way am I ready for that though, especially not with stacks of weights and foam rollers and shit underneath me!

This week I definitely turned some heads while deadlifting and doing sprints on the turf. I don't really know why, all I do is work hard in the gym.

Oh, I got my deadlifts at #195 for sets yesterday. Next Wednesday is the last session I have with Daniel. It happens to be my birthday, so we are maxing out to celebrate. Can I get 210? 215? 225? We will find out!

Back to reality

I'm back from my little mini trip to Augusta. It may very well be my last visit. We are still hopeful we can move back there, or at the very least move to San Antonio. I'm tired of my astronomically high rent for a house in a place we don't love. It was nice to be back in a town that feels like home to me, even if the reason was to sell our house. It made me a little sad but it needed to be done. Now we'll be able to save our money for wherever it is we settle in to.

So now I'm back, my stomach is feeling all the food I've eaten this week but it'll get back to normal over the next day or so. I went to the gym yesterday and I am hella sore. I think ring rows are what did it, somehow they are much more challenging than TRX rows. My last set of deadlifts was 195 and it was tough. My official goal is now to hit 225 on my 30th birthday. On my last birthday I got 205 and that still holds as my PR because the injury happened about a month later. At the rate I'm going it looks like I'm gonna smash that. And it'll be cool because it will be 2 45# plates on each side, it may seem dorky but that feels like a huge step to me.

I have my notebook so I can now track my progress in the gym. I think this is really gonna help me evaluate things especially now that I am going 4 days a week. I also experimented with waking up a little earlier and just showering at home so I can make myself a meal. I needed some post workout protein and carbs and it's coming to me in the form of an egg and cheese bagel. This will also help me feel less hungry at work. In the past few weeks I found myself stopping at Starbucks for a breakfast sandwich for my post workout/pre work shift, and while they aren't so terrible for you at 300 some calories, the money adds up and I get tempted to get lattes and stuff.

One more exciting thing! That Crossfit clinic at work yielded me these!

My very own Nano 6! I'm kind of in love with it. 

It joins my family of Nanos

My old beloved teal Nano 4 (and an insole), it was my main gym shoe for the last 1.5 years and this thing has been through hell and back. I also have a blue one with yellow laces that is newer.

Nano 5, Murica edition. I love the way they look but I don't love the Nano 5. The heel doesn't fit my foot right and the Kevlar makes it so when the shoe bends at the toe area it digs into the top of my foot. I could straight up lift in it but I can't do any running, lunging, sleds, or anything that isn't just standing around. It's still cute though and I wear it for patriotic purposes sometimes.

The 6 is awesome so far. I don't have the problem where the Kevlar digs into my toes like the 5 did, the fit is maybe slightly narrow on the 6 but I can deal with it and it will get better with wear. The heel is perfect, it even feels firmer than previous Nanos, almost sort of like a Metcon - and I like it. The upper and lining feel great. It's comfortable and functional and I think it's gonna be a great shoe for me no matter what I do in the gym.


Well, I am off to the gym shortly for some heavy legs/upper body push. Also some shopping, house work, and just a relaxing day at home with my husband

Come back strong

Today is Saturday. I am actually working later today, I normally don't but it's a favor to a coworker who asked me to. Here is my week in review .....

Sunday night/monday morning my stomach was upset. The kind where it's just grumbly, bloated, and it feels like someone is driving a knife into you. It's not enough to bar me from going to work so I go but I'm miserable. I started feeling muscle soreness all over my body, the kind that usually happens when I have a fever. My boss wouldn't let me go home because he needed time to train the asst manager on something. Great. I suffered through the day, got home and sure enough I had a fever. I got in bed and ate my crackers and apple sauce. By this point I was so cold it actually hurt. I took Tylenol and went to sleep. Luckily the next day I had off but there was a Crossfit clinic at work. I was so excited about this for the last 2 weeks and I knew I wouldn't be able to work out. Tuesday morning I actually felt alot better and my fever was gone, but I was still feeling icky and I knew I couldn't work out. I went to the clinic to learn about the Nano 6 and just spectate. The clinic ended up being alot more informal than I thought it would be. The Reebok rep just explained Crossfit and the history of the Nano/what's new with the 6. I got a free towel and a Nano 6 but unfortunately my shoe was a 9 instead of 9.5 so I have to wait until sometime after the 1st to get the correct size. The workout was super simple and was just Tabatas with squats. 4 people did it in sets of 2 and I helped count their on/off periods and cheer on my partner Cass. I am the only serious weightlifter so most of them were not used to doing all these squats and you could see the pain on their faces. It was fun to be there for even if I was just watching.

I didn't lift on Wednesday either, that was really the last day for the residual "ick" to clear my system and I started to add normal food back in.

Thursday I went to the gym. I still wasn't feeling awesome but I had to move my body and keep my muscles from going soft on me. I just went full hog, heavy deadlifts and all my usual pull stuff.

185 on here, increasing weight next week!

Yesterday morning I did my push day so that meant heavy squat/bench/shoulder press and a bunch of other stuff. I am now lifting heavy for real again, I backed off for awhile and tried to change it up to moderate weight/reps but I just get so bored with that. I LIKE lifting heavy, to me it feels the most challenging and satisfying. On both days I did a run/walk with my husband.

So from being sick and doing nothing for 3 days to 2 a days of heavy lifting and 1 hour run/walk. I am tired in the best possible way :)

I am going to Augusta next week. We are selling our house. Even if we ever do move back (which right now doesn't look likely) we weren't gonna stay in that house long term so we'd end up finding something different. I did love it though. Being back in town will be nice, but it may be the last time we go and that's kinda sad. When I get back I'm organizing my training so it makes more sense. I will now lift 4 times a week (2 push/2 pull, 1 workout might be heavy lifts and the other might be lower weight with some HIIT/conditioning stuff?), then walk for an hour with my husband in the afternoons. So 2 a days. Then probably run on my own once/twice a week and do bootcamp class as time allows. I am also thinking about how to get the right post workout nutrition to fuel all this activity and make me not starving at work. My plan is to go to the gym earlier and come back home, shower there and eat a bagel/egg/cheese sandwich for some post workout carbs and protein.

That about sums it up for now.. coming up, another long break from the gym due to traveling and then back to it again

Gym, running, life

My muscles are feelin it, yo

Thursday ended up being this rando full body workout I made up on the spot. I was 5 minutes late for bootcamp and their rule is if you miss the 5 minute warm up jog you can't do class. Oh well, that just meant some creative thinking on my part. How could I get some cardio and lifting done on the weights side of the gym? It went something like this

Power cleans #75 -  5 sets of 10 (ooof)
Turkish get ups

Then I loaded up #65 for 10 of each, 3 sets
Deadlift
RDL
Row
Squat
Press
Good morning

Then -
Kettlebell swings
Burpees
Jump rope

That was enough to get me tired.

Stretching buddies

This morning I got a 2.5 mile run in, and a few steps in I realized I forgot my watch. I could have gone like 20 feet back into my house to get it but I was like nahh... I'll go without this time and see what happens. Some people say it's better to run "naked" because you can just dial in to your natural pace and not worry so much about what the clock says. At the end of my run I had some idea of how fast I went because of my Milestone pod, and as it turns out I was somehow a little faster than normal today. I was struggling though - 80 and humid, I didn't have any real pain but my legs were just sort of fatigued this morning. During the first half of my run I noticed a really strong cologne smell that was just lingering around the air. Even without my watch I have a good idea of mile markers on my usual running route. How about this.. I seriously didn't pass the guy until 1/4 mile later that's how strong this stuff was. When I was actually near him I was coughing and practically choking from the stuff, it was so potent and disgusting. It's bad enough that the hot humid air is already trying to choke me to death. Yay, Columbia residents!

Today we got rained out of our climbing trip again but instead we're going to go play some racquetball. My husband got into it while he was stationed in Korea and now we're finally gonna play together

I'm going to be watching some of the Olympics, especially weightlifting. This is the first year I've really been excited about it, maybe because I was never active myself until 2012. Somehow this year I have a better appreciation for the talent of the athletes.

When I'm too hard on myself

It's Thursday, and I'm finally getting back to normal. It took me about a week to get back into the gym due to being ill last week - then on top of that, over the weekend I had girl troubles and also ran out of my blood pressure meds. I felt like shit on Sunday and had to go 3 more days without my meds. Seems like everything falls apart at once sometimes.

Yesterday was my first time back in the gym and it happened to be a deadlift day. We had 1 hour to work with because I missed last week, so at the end we worked on pull ups and some other accessory stuff.

Ever look back on yourself and say "Wow, I was really acting like a douche!" Well that was me yesterday. I was really down on myself in the gym and made alot of comments about how all this stuff was wrong with me right now, how I need to lose weight to get back to where I used to be with pull ups, and while we were doing some lunges my knee started to hurt so that launched a discussion about the various "broken" parts of my body. I felt so tired - my heart was racing and I thought it was about to pop out of my chest. Not having my meds was taking a huge toll. I felt like a weakling struggling to get through this workout which wasn't even anything too crazy challenging aside from the deads. After I left the gym I realized what a whiny little bitch I must have sounded like. I guess it's easy to be your own worst enemy when life doesn't go smoothly. And I am particularly hard on myself, my entire life I have struggled with self esteem issues and as my husband puts it "kicked my own ass before I even started the fight". Yesterday I realized something. No, I may not be lifting as heavy as I want to right now, but I am back where I was 1 year ago when this picture below was taken - I had just gotten my first big PR of 185.

That gym had tiny ass bumper plates but yes, it's 185

Yesterday I did it 3 times and probably could have gone another set - my limiting factor was grip because a week of not doing anything caused my calluses to peel off. This weight was challenging but doable. And best of all, I am having no pain at my injury site. I am feeling it in all the right places as opposed to before when my form was all wrong. Yes, I may be too hard on myself, but I'm making progress. Could I pull 205 on my birthday again this year? Yes, and I'll probably try for 215 at least. 230 is possible with time and training. And while I feel like I've been stuck in the same place forever, I am still pretty strong. When I feel like I'm overweight people always remind me I'm in decent shape. This week I had THREE people ask what my sport was because I looked "strong" or in "good shape" and one person asked me if I was a swimmer - yes, I used to be!

I just realized I gotta cut this short and get over to the gym for bootcamp... so until next time ....

Back from vacation, down to business

Alot's happened in my little world since I last checked in.

Last week we took a little vacation in Outer Banks. We went for like 4 days and spent most of our time fishing and hitting the pool. He is a saltwater fisher, I have done it a little but could never really get into it. Well, when we first got onto the island we hit up TW's tackle and while there he picked out a fishing rod just for me. So now after 13 years I finally have my own rod. On the second day there were a ton of Spade fish messing with my bait. I had a typical bottom rig and they just kept on stealing my bait! This meant war! So my husband made the most ridiculous rig with 4 gigantic hooks. And I caught 3 that day. The last day he taught me how to jig and I managed to catch a Spanish Mackerel and proceeded to rub it in his face (not literally) because it's his favorite thing to catch. Here's my very first fish on MY new rod

The trip was relaxing and awesome. We didn't spend any time on the beach but my husband was battling his foot pain, upset stomach, not being on his meds due to a dr. mix up, and a really bad sunburn. But of course we did tons of silly stuff like this

Booty Treats! This is an ice cream place that's been around for years and we always made fun of the name/sign that has a turd like object on it... but we finally tried it. It was alright, there are better places on the island IMO, but it's BOOTY TREATS! And of course I had to do a squat with the sign. Ice cream + Squats = BOOTY!

I wore a little dress too, and this is super rare so we took an obligatory pic of that.

So we got back and slowly adjusted to reality. Tuesday was Deadlift day #4, we're picking up the weight (literally) and I moved up to 175. Think I did like 3 or 4 sets of 3 reps here. It's getting challenging, I can definitely feel the effects of the weight and my grip isn't what it used to be. Apart from being sore everything feels fine. The main things I'm working on are getting my chest up faster and trying to "push my heels through the floor". Next week I'll try a set or 2 at 185

Yesterday I went to bootcamp and it was a Daniel class. His classes are just brutal. He tends to run you outside and have you do lots of bear crawls and burpees. This time we didn't do our usual "break up into squads and rotate between stations" we were all together the whole time. It went something like this

Burpee ladder (10, 9, 8...) with a run outside in between each set. I got to 8 before time was called
**In between each thing we did an ab circuit - 20 V ups, 20 sit ups, 20 alt. toe touches**
20 Kettlebell swings, walking lunge across the turf, run outside. 2 rounds
ABS
10 Box jumps, 10 ball slams, run outside. 2 rounds
ABS
10 Wall Balls, bear crawl across turf, run outside. I think I got 3 rounds here. **Important note - My wall ball STUNK. I got one of the 2 black and red 14 pounders because most of the other women wanted the lighter ones. Someone must have spent some time hugging this thing because it was nasty. Every time I threw it I got a whiff :(
ABS
10 rope slams, 20 power jacks, run outside. 2 rounds
ABS

Then we repeated the whole thing but we just ran up and down the turf 3 times instead of going outside.

So brutal. The whole class was just whipped. I sweat alot no matter what, but the level of sweat on me after this was pretty epic.

Finally, I'm cutting some weight. Recently I've come to realize how much weight I've put back on. I look different in pictures and clothes fit differently. And it hit me how bad I've been over the past several months. Have I been active? Yes, lifting and bootcamp several times a week with occasional running. But have I been eating right and mindfully so? Have I been running enough? Have I been acting with purpose? No. I've pretty much been eating whatever I want whenever I want, lots of eating out and ordering food out of laziness. I can't justify it, and I'm starting to see the effects and even feel them in the gym. I need to drop some pudge because it will help me be more efficient in the gym, get more pull ups in, and be a faster runner. I also just want to get better at everything and getting rid of some baggage will help. This week I've been cutting calories and eating with a purpose - trying to get my macros right and cooking dinner at home. I've lost a couple pounds but I have about 23 left.

To help me out, I got a new Fitbit Blaze! It just got here yesterday and I already started tinkering with it. I'm familiar with them because I have a Charge non-HR, but I wanted to get this one because it can track workouts like weightlifting and bootcamp, and the HR feature will give me a better picture of how hard I'm actually working. It'll give me the best picture of how much to eat in accordance with what I've done that day. Actually I am about to go test it out and lift with it in a little bit. I am expecting 150-200 calories burned in a typical session.

That was a mouthful, but it's been like 2 weeks worth of stuff to catch up on. Time to get ready to smash some weight around

Deadlift Training - Day 2

Oh my gosh. This week has been nuts!

Tuesday morning was DL session #2! It went really well. I was hella sore from Monday's exertions but I did not let that stop me. Warm up was a little different this time, again with glute bridges but we threw some single leg variations in there. I did 4 part walk outs that I can't really explain over text, but they opened up the hips and stretched the hamstrings. More stretches to activate the glutes and a special foam rolling technique too. Today I worked with #155, so we're getting close to my sticking point where in the past the lift hasn't felt right. But this time everything felt good. The higher hip position felt a little less alien this time. At times I am still struggling with picking up my hips at the wrong time but it's slowly getting better. I am thinking maybe next week working with #175. During these next 3 months I wanna work my way up to finally pulling some big weight.

I'm so tired. I realized that I exercised 3 times in 24 hours. 9:30 class on Monday, afternoon lifting, 7:30 DL training. I did alot of new, intense movements and did all the major lifts. And get this, my husband wants to go lift again this afternoon. Killin me!!!! Ahhh but I can't turn it down. It may be brutal and exhausting but I love it. And I'm really happy he wants to work out because getting him motivated doesn't always happen. I am going to caffeinate myself heavily for work today, I was dragging ass yesterday but my boss came to the rescue with an energy drink.

I'm gonna sleep so hard.

Together again!

So back in the day my husband and I used to lift together. Then I switched to an awesome gym and our lifting sessions kinda came to an end as a side effect.

I guess my husband has been itching to get a little more active lately so all weekend he kept begging me to find out if he could come lift at my gym. Today was my day off so I went to bootcamp, and that way I could ask if he could come lift with me even if he's not a member... and just in case he couldn't, I'd still get my workout in for the day.

Class - a Will class today. I had never been in one of his classes before, but now I know they are intense. He tends to have you do more full body work and running so it gets tiring pretty quick. Lots of burpees, box jumps/steps/running, bosu burpees and squats, kettlebell swings and thrusters, and suicides with the sled and running. Also a massive ab circuit in there too. After all that I shopped for groceries and tried to take a nap. Then at 2:30 it was back to the gym!

So we did most of the big lifts and just worked our way up in weight
Squats
OH Presses
Bench
Pull ups
and Rope climbs! He made it halfway up and worked really hard to get there.

2 PR's today. 125 bench - I haven't used a barbell in 6 months so I was happy with this
And... I finally got 105 over my head! I had a feeling I was pretty capable of this one, I had just never tested it because of my crappy shoulder. And honestly, this weight felt kinda scary in my hands. I really psyched myself out of this one, like I wasn't sure what I was gonna do if I failed because it was over my head. The first time I picked up the bar I seriously doubted I could get it over my head, and I dunno why because it was just an extra 20 lbs. After a little bit of time I just STFU'd and moved the weight. It felt just fine! My husband even got a video :)

And my husband is now a member at my gym! I've been hoping he would sign up so I am really happy. His rate is even cheaper than Gold's was. 

I am super tired. I never do 2 a day's, but I swear if I had time I would do it (nearly) every day! I love working out. It's been a great day and now I'm ready to rest.

Deadlift Training - Day 1

Yesterday was my first session with Daniel - all about deadlifting!

Going into it I knew I had crappy hips and hamstrings and knew that would be part of the problem. So we did some tests of mobility and stability. My stability isn't bad but yeah, back and hips are pretty terrible. We did a few exercises to warm up and activate my glutes and hamstrings.

30 second hang on the pull up bar with heels on a box (sinking into my hips and stretching out the lats)
Ball hamstring curls
Hip thrusts on a bench with a hold
Hip thrusts on the ground/elevated knee
Toe touches with my toes elevated on plates
Some stretching and practice DL's with the PVC pipe

Now, the moment of truth. How terrible was my deadlift? Well, part of the problem is I was starting out way too low to the ground. The starting position was so much higher than what I'm used to and at first it didn't feel right, it felt like I was about to fall forward because I was more horizontal to the ground. So I started with my hips high and out. Now here's the other big part - squeezing the glutes and the LATS. I guess I always used to just sort of pick up the bar, when it's really so much more than that. Engaging those muscles, specifically the lats was a totally different feeling for me. Then I picked up the bar, and on the descent he wanted me to go slow and let the bar travel along my thighs and shins, then once it passed my knee bend the knee and lower the bar all the way. This was all with only #75 on the bar, I kept the weight light because I am essentially re-learning how to deadlift. It felt totally different than what I had been doing in the past, but in a good way.

Today I am sore in my lats/traps, a little bit in the hamstrings, and in my hips. Lower back feels ok. I didn't go heavy but I used totally different muscles. I also have tiny bruises on my shins already. I go back on Tuesday and I'm gonna increase my weight and see how it all goes.

Training - The Deadlift

There's been a new development in my training world. I have been thinking about this for awhile but yesterday at the gym I just walked up to trainers Daniel and Scott and asked them how much a typical session runs. After my deadlift injury I feel like I want some coaching to be able to progress in the right way.

#165 felt ok, but I want to progress.

Tomorrow morning I have a mobility evaluation with Daniel. I was supposed to do a free one when I joined my gym but never did it. So that's step 1, I have a feeling my weak points will be tight hips and probably my core because I really don't train it like I should. But my hope is to train with Daniel once a week on Deadlifting/any accessory movements he feels would benefit my progress. For over a year I've gone with no professional training. I'm good with squats and bench, but if I want to hit bigger numbers on the DL I definitely need some help getting there because it's my suckiest lift by far. 

Now I'm kind of at the point where I'm entertaining the idea of competing someday. If I could pull a heavy DL at a competition that would be so cool!

Cool moment yesterday - at the end of my session I always do some HIIT/conditioning type stuff. It was dumbbell thrusters, burpees, and kettlebell swings with 10s rest. Then it was right into sprints up and down the turf, I did like 12. Scott was doing mobility training with someone and they were facing me the whole time. Later on the girl came up to me and she was like "Wow you were working really hard!" I was like Yeah, that's what I like to do! She said "I couldn't do any of that stuff" I said Sure you can. Apparently it's her first week and like many newcomers she feels challenged. I told her she will see improvement, I struggled with my weak points because I was training in ways I hadn't trained before. My gym is amazing because we don't scoff at new people - everyone started there and we all work hard so we high five and keep up the positive encouragement. I was a little caught off guard by the fact that this girl looked up to me when all she saw was me finishing up my workout. I gave her some words of encouragement and she left in high spirits, and that's what it's all about!

I also represented both my gym and my work at the open house last weekend

Yes, the open house - the thing that brought me to Soldierfit in the first place. Basically I got paid to hang out at my gym and talk about shoes/insoles/recovery products. I met some cool people and had fun in the process. I also got to watch the classes taking place and snapped a few photos.

 

A group sit up! Hold the rope over head and do sit ups in tempo with everyone else

There were also hurdles, ball slams, wall balls, box jumps, sled pushes, and more!

I'm very happy about my day off tomorrow. Now I can eat dinner and relax for a bit. Eating habits have been slightly better lately and I seem to notice a difference - my tummy is alot less bloated and huge :)

More coming later with hopefully an update on deadlift training!

Friday Pump

It's been a really good day.

Started off with this

4 sets of 5, 175# squats

Followed by this

4 sets of 5, #90 bench

Other things not pictured - shoulder presses with #35 dumbbells, RDL's, single arm presses, medicine ball push ups, dips, Turkish get ups, farmer's carries, burpees, box jumps, jump rope. I felt great today :p

Cool moment - this heavyset middle aged guy was working with a trainer and he busted out several sets of 180#-ish power cleans followed by wall ball sit ups (PUKE CITY) I was impressed... never judge a book by it's cover!

And you may have noticed these..

Yup. I need more shoes like I need a hole in my head... but my boss got these and they look so much cooler in person than they did online! It's like a cream color and the color/pattern is reversed on each shoe. I had to get these.

After the weights were lifted I got a massage, lunch, and spent my afternoon watching American Ninja Warrior. I love it, so many strong inspirational athletes (especially the women)

Now we're gaming after I cooked some spicy chicken and beans. It's been a good day.

Changed Perspective

The past 2 weeks have been kind of a bitch. As mentioned in my last post, the plan to move back to Georgia isn't looking good. We're trying to sell the house - as much as I love it, we know we're not staying in it forever anyway. So on the offchance that we do move back, we'd just find another house in the area. My husband and I have been talking. He brought up the point that job security is alot better here... and posed the question - what if we could find an area in Maryland that feels more like home to us? Maybe we just need to get out of Columbia and find a house we like? Now I have traveled around the state more than he has and it is nice once you get away from all the congestion. He said he wouldn't mind a longer commute because he loves to drive. So we're looking around at places up to an hour from here. I could drive 45 minutes to work and be ok, I did that in Augusta every day. My gym might still be down here unless I find a Crossfit or functional fitness gym closer by. But other than that... I think we could live someplace more remote and find a halfway decent house, and then still be within driving distance for movies/food/the mall/etc. I am trying to keep an open mind about it at least. And since we've had this conversation I feel much better about the prospect of staying here. We just needed to shift to a more positive outlook.

#100 Lat pulldowns felt great

I ran a couple miles this morning, and obliterated my back and shoulders in the gym yesterday. It feels good. With all this life stuff happening I didn't get much exercise last week so this was much needed. I realized though, I definitely have to be that person who brings a little towel to the gym. It's hot now and my gym doesn't have great AC. And for some reason none of the ceiling fans are over the weight area. They had the garage doors open yesterday and it was really humid. By the time I warmed up and deadlifted I was already drenched. The sweat is to the point where it's distracting me. Lol I'm so gross. I ate pretty bad over the weekend but so far this week I'm off to a good start. I have a soft goal of losing 5-10 lbs and I can accomplish that just by not eating so much crap and cooking meals at home more.

This weekend we have open house at my gym again and I'll be there representing my store. It should be alot of fun, but I'll also be totally jealous of everyone working out around me.

I'm also really excited because we booked a hotel in Outer Banks NC and it'll just be the two of us for a few days. His mom is gonna come down for a day maybe but that's it. I really need to get away and relax at the beach.

Strength Benchmarks

I found this article "9 Essential Strength Benchmarks for Women" and read it to see where I stack up.

Basically it has 9 exercises where you should either be able to do a certain % of your body weight as your 1RM, or a certain amount of reps, etc. So this is a way to see how you measure up against what women "should" strive to be able to do.

Bench - I can bench 130 without a doubt. I haven't done a BB bench in a minute cause I'd want a spotter. I could ask someone at my gym but I usually just use dumbbells. I have been working with 45's lately. Any time I lift heavy I do about 5 reps per set, obviously except when trying to find a 1RM. Last time I used a barbell I did 115 twice. I am going to try for 130 soon though.

Overhead Press - 105 1RM for me which I have not attempted yet but I'm pretty sure I can hit. I work with 85, have done 95 before. Right now my shoulder is pissy so it's not the ideal time to try, but once it's in a better state I am going to get 100+ overhead.

10 Full ROM Pushups - I can do 20-30 of these depending on the day.

1 Bodyweight Chin Up - Easy, I could hit 3-5 in a set

Deadlift - Here's where I suffer big time. 255 is a lofty goal for me right now. I have never been a strong deadlifter - genetically small butt and legs, tight hips and hamstrings, that whole deal. I am naturally more of an upper body powerhouse. So I hit 205 in September, then in December I injured my back while deadlifting. Now I am doing it but with less weight and really trying to focus on form. The heaviest I have gone lately is 155 for 5 reps. I have been wary of going much heavier without having someone watch me. Well today was sort of my lucky day! I was lifting and Will the instructor was there. We were chatting and started talking about deadlifts and my injury. He said he had some time and he could help me out. Well I did NOT have alot of time, I was running a bit late this morning and had a bunch of stuff left to do (I had already squatted and I don't really like to do both lifts on the same day) but I loaded up a 135# bar quickly and busted out 5 reps to see what his thoughts were. All he said was "It looks good" Well... good!!! That's a relief. I told him that this weight was fine but any time I go heavy I tend to pick up my hips too early which puts more of the weight onto the lower back. Will's advice for me was to only do 2-3 reps when I go heavy and just really focus on form. I will try that on Friday when I deadlift maybe with like 165-175 and see how it goes. It's good to hear from a trainer that my form looks ok - cause I have been working on it

Squat - Almost there. 212 is the goal, I know I can do 205. And that's raw, so I bet even with a belt/Oly lifters I could do it right now. Somehow I'm a decent squatter, I tend to be more quad dominant but in recent months I've developed my glutes/hamstrings much more.

Barbell Hip Thrust - I don't really do these often, I find them to be kinda awkward. I can do some weight but over 200? No idea.

2 minute Plank - Oh hell no. I don't plank too often but I bet if I tried I could do like 1 minute. It's just not something I train often.

20 inch Box Jump - Getting there. I didn't do these at all but now I do, and I think the box I use might be 12. Maybe in time, but for right now I am good with the 12 and just working on improvement.

All in all - not bad. My weak points are pretty much what I expected. I have been lifting seriously/consistently for almost 1.5 years so I feel pretty good about where I'm at, especially with no formal coaching of any kind. And after today I feel like I have the confidence to work up to heavy deads again, albeit very slowly and carefully. One day I would love to pull over 300

Ups and Downs

I haven't been active as much as I'd like this week. But the days I did have been awesome.

Monday - squats #155, bench #40's plus a host of other leg/upper body things. I also had this insane idea to start going "heavy" on my Turkish Get Ups. A #18 bell was used, up from the #10 I usually do. I plan on doing more of these and seeing what I can get up to without dying

Tuesday nothing... and Wednesday I ended up staying home with a bad migraine and pretty much slept half the day.

But today..

Went to class on my day off. It was one of my better days, I powered through and got several rounds of each station in before time was called. One of the stations today was weird, it was like a stability ball hamstring curl but it was also kind of a side twist. It ended up being nearly impossible to do but my squad was really impressed by the fact that I could do them at all. I liked how the song "Wobble" was playing while we did them, cause that was definitely what was happening! Family Time was a bit brutal today, bear crawls, running, then burpees straight into more bear crawls.

After we were done I was chatting with Adam because he seemed way too excited about the burpees. Come to find out he had just run a Spartan Beast, so of course we ended up talking forever. Then T came up to us and asked if I wanted to go running. Like.. now? After class? Hmmm... I'm sure I could manage a couple of miles, but I don't have the shoes or bra I run in. But Adam is wearing Nano's so I don't really have an excuse. "How fast do you run?" "8-10 min/mile" Hmmm ok. Ah screw it, I'll go running. They started their watches and we set off on T's predetermined route on the sidewalks and neighborhoods outside our gym. We chatted for a bit, well as best I could while running. During the last mile we encountered some hills and it was getting harder for me to keep up with them. I haven't run in nearly 2 weeks. But I made myself run the hills and did whatever it took to stay just behind them. Ended up being 2.7 miles and I heard Adam call out 9:40 for mile 2's pace. I didn't die - it was actually pretty fun. I'm always looking for ways to work harder, so perhaps this is one of them. I'm going to start bringing my running shoes to class just in case T is there and wants to run.

After our run we chatted more and T said "You're like the poster girl for Crossfit, you're so muscular!" Welllll I dunno about all that, but thanks :) Made me feel good anyway

Chipotle and lying down on the couch really hit the spot after all that..

Speaking of running, I'm starting to slip again so I resolve to run at least once a week if not more. Tomorrow I lift some more, then run 2 or 3 on Saturday.

Normal isn't enough

Yesterday morning I was about to take a shower at the gym and had already kinda slipped into "shower thoughts" mode. It dawned on me that these days I can never finish a workout until I'm absolutely exhausted. Like the out of breath, covered in sweat, and sometimes shaking kind.

And I didn't used to be this way.

I guess maybe within the last year I started to add "finishers" to my workouts. They are great for conditioning and fat loss, but I also like them because they just make me feel like I DID something. And yeah, lifting heavy stuff is definitely "doing something" but for me it's just not enough anymore. Like when I used to go to the gym with my husband we'd work on the big lifts first, then do some other accessory stuff, and that was pretty much it. He preferred to train like a bodybuilder and would focus on things like biceps and triceps. Which I may do from time to time, but I mostly focus on strength and use more functional movements. So we'd get done with everything and I would just stand there like "That's it?" I'm not sweaty or tired. I need to do more. So I'd go jump around and do burpees and stuff. Get all the gas out of the tank.

At the end of every lifting workout I'll do a mixture of these

Burpees
Jump rope
Snatches
Kettlebell swings
Box jumps
Squat variations
Thrusters

Now that I have access to such an awesome gym I'm throwing other things in like

Sprints
Sled pushes
Tire flips
Battle ropes
Rowing

Or even when running I'll go for an all out sprint for the last .20 mile

Yesterday was really awesome and it went something like this

Rope climbs (3)
A shit ton of pull ups and negatives
Push ups
Cable rows
Upside down kettlebell shoulder presses
Dips (PURPLE band! Next is unassisted for reps)
Farmers carry #35 x2

Then
Burpees x10
Rest 10 seconds
Snatches x10
Rest 10
Jump rope x30

Repeat aaaaand done!


I might be crazy or just a glutton for punishment but I love it when I'm struggling through those last couple reps and then the awesome feeling I get after finishing them. I can't just do a normal lifting session anymore - I have to leave feeling like I gave it everything I got

25,000 lbs

It's Tuesday. But first, let's back up.

Monday's Soldierfit class actually made my legs sore! It was Scott's 1 year anniversary so he gave us a special anniversary workout. There was alot of jumping and speedwork, and I pushed alot of sleds. So hats off to Scott for burning my legs, it doesn't usually happen from class.

For the next 2-3 weeks I'm deloading, so today's thing was a barbell complex. I did this before with just a bar, but because my gym has light bars, I was able to load it up with some plates to do #55. Now this might not seem like alot of weight but let's do some quick math.

There are 7 lifts

Deadlift
Straight leg deadlift
Romanian deadlift
Row
Front squat
Push Press
Back squat
Good morning

In pyramids. So 6 reps of each, then 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

For 3 sets.

So if you add the number of reps in each set together it becomes 21....

...x7 exercises. So in the first set you do 147 reps total.
....x3 is 441. So I moved the bar 441 times in about 45 minutes.

....

....441 x a 55lb bar is...

24,225 lbs lifted.

(I feel like I didn't do that math right? Like that doesn't sound possible.. but I've checked it a few times and it looks like I really did lift almost 25,000 lbs)

That's .... holy shit. I'm tired just thinking about it. And I was tired while doing it too! I wanted to quit early so bad, but I made myself push through it and finish the entire thing. I really started to run out of steam in the third group of sets, the last set of 6 was brutal. By the end I was taking things slow, deep heavy breaths, absolutely covered in sweat. All I could do was just gut it out. I could see the sweat on the damn barbell. It was so amazing though. I felt pretty damn awesome after getting through that.

I would have loved to stay and foam roll but I had to get the hell out of there in order to not be late for work. Now normally when I lift and even run, I get hungry maybe like 1-3 hours afterward. No. Today... I was hungry within 30 minutes. Like I wanted to wreck some food hungry. I had a sad assortment of snacks and protein bars, and just so happened to forget my yogurt today. But I held out, luckily we have some fitness nutrition stuff at work that I bought which helped. Then at 3:30 I shoved my face into some Chipotle.

Man, that complex was brutal. And I'll be doing another one with kettlebells on Thursday. Now here's hoping my legs aren't completely dead tomorrow so I can do some running!