MTheads

Exercise Update

Still lifting weights.  I've added in a bit of running just for fun.  But instead of running straight at some reasonable pace I mix it up with walking because my knees have never loved long distances.  I switch running and walking every song so I end up only running a bit more than half of the distance. I've done this for a half-marathon (here) and I beat my earlier conventional running time.  One of the nice things about run/walk is I can run quite a bit faster than if I was trying to keep some sort of pace. After all, I'll get a break in about 2 to 3 minutes.  Makes running more entertaining.

So, back to lifting.  Not much new to report except that I'm up to ten wider armed pull-ups, at a time! For me, that's great. I'd like to work up to sets of ten, maybe three times in a row.  Right now, I do a wide-arm set, then a narrower one, then a chin-up set.  Then repeat the trio.  Of course, I quickly get down to doing 5 and 3 rep sets, for a total of maybe 30 or 40. This is on leg day when there's less competition for my arm muscles.  I do fewer on upper body day. 

I'm a big advocate for pull-ups because they are so good for the upper body and the core.  And I'm of the opinion that most women of average weight could do them.  But perhaps I'm wrong, and I'm some sort of freak because so many women have sworn to me they just can't do them.  I don't know....I think pull-ups are like bike riding; once you figure out the trick or technique, it suddenly all clicks.

I try to get my daughters to do them.  I've offered a dollar a pull-up and so far I haven't lost any money.  One of them is getting close, but dangling and pathetically pulling up half way is not going to earn you any of my money.  I don't care how much you cry.... God forbid the day they figure out the mechanics!

Bro, Do You Even Lift 120lbs Once and Then Dance Around the Gym Like a Chicken?

Ha ha!  120lb BP!  Take that, 115lb BP 1 rep max!  That's right, I'm kicking sand in your face, loser.  Whatcha gonna do about it?  Cry?  Yesterday's MThead, do you even lift?

 

Gorillas in the Gym

I love to lift heavy weights, and I have loved lifting since I was a teenager. I first took an elective weightlifting class in my sophomore year in high school. I don't know what I was thinking, or why I decided to try something rather foreign to me.  Up to then I had been a runner and a biker.  Why weightlifting?  It's not like I knew anyone who lifted.  Why not aerobics or jazzercise?  And not many girls then could be found in an elective weightlifting class...in my case, just me and two bored girls who were taking the class to be with their football team boyfriends.

After this, I joined a gym and learned to not care how many guys were working out in the free weight area.  A lot of women, and probably men too, are intimidated by the big beefy sweaty guys strapping on belts and grunting.  But I had my training from coach Big Belly.  I had my books.  I'd watched Pumping Iron.  I read Muscle and Fitness magazine.  That gym was my natural habitat, too, even if it didn't feel natural yet. The trick was to keep showing up and lifting.  Eventually the male lifters accepted me and just went about their business while I went about mine.  Ahhhh, gym symbiosis. 

Each time I change gyms there's that time between being the only woman in the free weight room (glaring at the guy using my squat rack for shrugs) to becoming just another person working out, to becoming almost invisible to the other lifters -- accepted but different.  Gorillas in the gym, indeed.

Random Workout Log

Workout log:

I have been killing my legs the last two workouts with the soreness lasting more than four days!  I have increased all the weights but not to any degree different from my usual increases.  So I'm forcing myself to take a few days longer before I hit them again.  It's hard not going to the gym.

But the upper body is going fine.  I managed to do 10 pull-ups in a row, finally.   Now I'll start to work on other styles of pull-ups.  Once I hit ten, I stop and either do weighted pull-ups or work on harder grips.  I'm still going for quantity every gym visit.  For leg day I do a total of 25 pull ups in any style, and 30 on upper body day.

I'm still stuck at 115lbs for the bench press, but my deadlifts are getting better.  I'm going to try and improve PRs on both on next the visit.

I'm still eating low carb.  I'm not as hungry lately so I've have eased up on eating steak after butter drenched steak.  My morning cup of cream with a shot of espresso seems to do the trick until lunch.  My sister is also eating low carb.  She has lost weight, but I think I've actually gained some, though it is probably in muscle.  It's hard to tell because the scale at the Y is kind of fiddly.  One moment I weigh 110lb and the next 116lbs!  But I do think I weigh a few pounds more.  

Goals:  10 wider arm pull-ups.  120lb BP.  145lb squats.  145lb DL.

Workout Log, of Some Sort

Sq: 135lb

Walking lunges: 40lb dumbbells

etc.

25 pull ups in total (8 in a row)

Made my legs incredibly sore.  Still sore after the third day.  And I broke my husband who unwisely thought he would just "do whatever you're doing" when he came with me to the gym.  Why waste time changing out plates??

Finished third week of lchf diet. I've managed to keep very low carb.  Last night, I ate filet mignon rather than our standard pizza.  Not a bad switch!  So far I can't say I see much difference on this diet.  I'm not getting heavier, I don't crave carbs, I'm not constipated, workout energy is the same.  Of course, I have been eating fewer carbs for the last several years so maybe my body doesn't care.  I am so much enjoying eating steak whenever I want.

 

 

Workout Log Star Date, Um, 18 and Whatever 014

Sq: 125lb, but a bunch of reps

Walking Lunges: 35lb dumbbells

Leg Press: 350lb

Leg Curls: 95lb

Straight Leg Deadlifts: Just the bar

25 pull ups in total

I am sooo sore today.  I pushed extra hard and now I walk like someone without knees. The way my record keeping works, I like to keep track of my maximums since I generally prefer to work down until I feel "done".

Still on the LCHF diet.  What a fun diet and what interesting followers!  Did you know Sweden is completely overrun with people drinking butter coffee?  And eating rolled up cheese and meat filled with butter?  LCHF World is the exact opposite of Vegetarian World.  I like it here. 

Workout Log

BP 115lb! Slowly going up. 

SQ 135lb  Still wimpy, but heartfelt

DL 145lb  Not horrible, but I think (hope) I'll quickly go up in weight since I've just started doing them again

I'm taking a break in working out the legs.  I'll start back up maybe Monday.  Also, I've decided to go really low carb which is hilarious considering how long I was a vegetarian!  Taubes' books have swayed me on the soundness of eating fewer carbs.  My kids aren't sure what to think now that I'm switching out their whole grain cereal for real meat sausages and highly buttered up scrambled eggs.  They think it's a trick.

That's right, sweetie, you can eat the sausage.  I know it's real pig.  I know I told you before it was a sin.  That's right, put it on the fork.  No, it won't kill you.  Eat it!

Workout Log

Squat: 115lb 

LP: 270lb

Leg curl: 95lb

I want to start adding in straight leg DLs and good mornings, but it's hard enough getting the squat rack.  Yep, often the rack is being used by guys doing barbell curls. 

I do regular deadlifts during upper body.  Still at 115lb for those.  I'm going slow to ensure the rest of my body catches up with my muscles.

The gym has been unusually crowded this last week.  I wonder if it's from everyone making resolutions to get in shape.  I did not make a resolution this year.  I'm still thinking about what action I could take that would make a real difference.

Good Lifting Site

I've been reading the weightlifting/power lifting blog Lift Big Eat Big for a few weeks and have decided I really like it, especially after I read the entry about not being too quick to judge others' workouts. That's exactly the issue that has been bugging me about so many lifting blogs.  We can't know why everyone is doing what they are doing, nor can we have absolute certainty that what we do is the one and true path to perfection.  So, we should be careful mocking others.  Give me advice and data, not sarcasm and arrogance. Results speak for themselves!

Gun Show II

Here's me trying to show some muscle.  This is after five months of lifting fairly consistently...

I'm slowly building up the squats and deadlifts.  Leg workout tonight.

8 pull ups now. 

I am not a professional poser.