Lifting like girls

15 sets? Are you crazy? And they say it's the girls who can take the volume. My strict presses were a measly 4 sets today!
I also finished my last lot of high volume front squats. Yay! No more of those (although I noticed zercher for next month). Of course I went for it and upped the weight by 5kg. It nearly bust my lungs.

Roz, still swinging those bells? Roz, which month are you on the physique templates? Are you up to the metabolic stuff yet?

Lisa, that mix of cardio workouts sounds fun.

I'm currently puppy-minding my friend's 2 dogs along with mine, so it's chaos here! Lots, and lots of walking and ball throwing!
 
Hi everybody. Just a short message. I have been traveling quite a bit, and evidently I caught some dreaded gombu. Haven't been able to lift my head off the pillow for a week now. But, it's enabled me to get caught up on Grey's Anatomy. My son watched this when he was in med school, and doing his own residency. I was never interested, but started watching it on Netflix, and now I'm hooked. Anyway, I digress. I haven't worked out for a week, and I'm getting antsy. Tried doing something this morning, and decided it was not going to work. I've read all your posts, impressed, as always. Even with my head on a pillow all week, I've decided it's time for me to call it a day, and retire. I could get used to this. (just not the head on a pillow part) I've also decided it's time for an appearance change, and I'm cutting my hair. I've had long hair most of my life. My hair has become curly since menopause, and it's time for a change. If my hair was curly all over my head, I would keep the curls, but, it's very straight on top, curly around the edges, and if I mess with it too much, it looks like there was an explosion on my head. So, looking at short and sassy. At my age, maybe not a lot of sass. So many cute styles out there. Hope you are all well, I'm working on that. Love reading your posts. Take care everyone. Will post more later.
 
Justine and Tom, I think you're both stark raving mad for going after those strict presses! 15 sets is asylum worthy; 4 sets is enough to get your head examined. Great workouts to you both!

Karen! (((HUGS!!!))) You take care and you binge watch Grey's Anatomy to your hearts content. What did we do on sick days before we could Netflix binge watch? It's like life without Google. I don't think it ever existed. Are you really going to retire? You certainly deserve to do whatever the hell you want. You've earned it, woman! I think you could rock the sassiest hairstyle on the block so have fun with it! And if somebody doesn't like it, you can just beat them up because you are way stronger than they are. I love how hormones screw with our hair. NOT. You rest up and take care. Imagine me standing at your door right now with homemade chicken soup, homemade bread, and a big jar of cookie butter.

Lib, how'd your exam go??? Can't believe finals are in 3 weeks.

Roz, wuz up girl?

Today I did STS Disc 5 Back and Triceps. Am I the only one who thinks back and tris are a terrible combo? Terrible because they're my 2 least favorite body parts to work, and then to put them together on the same day for 58 minutes? Just cruel. But I did it. And yes, my pullups and chins still suck.

Great day to you all!
 
Karen, really sorry to hear you've felt like crap!! Get healed sista..and as for short hair, it won't get caught in the kettlebells!! Justine, my sets are really pretty short, at least till the end, so sounds worse than it is..still tired though! Way to up 5kgs, that's a bunch, especially on long sets! Lisa, good on ya for going " whup a$$" on those, even though ya ain't crazy " bout em"! Karen, if you are going to retire, ya won't be able to tolerate all the fun!! Hope you're back at it soon!!! Roz, what up Vermont sista??
 
I think I did well on the exam! I studied hard. One more paper, and two finals and I am D O N E.......well til August. Lol

ICE tomorrow! Yay! I am having joint pain in my foot again, so taking ibuprofen tonight, and wraping it. It's the rockem sockem workout, thankfully.

Bought my cap and gown today......talk about reality setting in.....that was weird.

I wasn't going to walk for graduation...then my boys informed me...."We did not go through all that....." second chimed in "or listen to all those presentations for you NOT to walk." lmao!!
 
RSK done! I was nervous every because my cardio was so bad last week, but I must have been more ill than I suspected. I had to pause a few times, but just long enough to drink water, catch my breath. Last week the warm up killed me.

I am all caugh up on homework, and off work today! I am riding as long as my booty can stand it!!
 
Karen! Go for it- both retirement and haircut. I love short, funky cuts (I'm just too lazy to go to a hairdressers). Anyway, hope you're feeling better. Xx

Lib, glad you've decided to go to graduation- I'm sure you'd regret it if you didn't. And well done on the cardio.

Lisa, I'm going to be ill too, if you'll bring chicken soup, bread and cookie butter!

Heavy front squats today- unbelievably I'm now front squatting what I was back squatting when I finished STS almost a year ago! It's not a lot, but front squats are (were?) my nemesis. Anyway, I can now proudly say that I can front squat more than my bodyweight for 5x3 (only just, but still).

I've 2 days of cardio or metabolic (need to decide exactly which DVDs to do) before I begin my final month of HTS.

Glad we've heard from you Karen- I was beginning to think you may be trapped under a very heavy KB somewhere....

Best of luck with exams, lib!

Hi Roz!
 
Justine. great on the front squats..I'm not even brave enough to try them! Bis and tris here and another hi volume/ low weight day. I did supersets, starting with dumbbell curls/25s/skullcr25s 1x10 then moved to 30s 2x10. Next I tried barbell curls 65/bbskullc65 and really had to quit the curls...depressing, I did a couple of sets of the sk's 2x15. Tri pushdown/con curl was better, and I went 5 sets of 10 (30s on conc curls, 70 on pushdowns). I then did tri crossbody 30s, doing 3x10 / iso short roms 3x25 and finished with diamond pushups 1x30(near fail) and more conc curls 1x16 each (near fail). I moved a Schwinn airdyne from the garage to the dungeon and used it for a couple of minutes after the w/o. My brother loaned it to me years ago and I used it pretty regularly, gotta get back to it and thought it would be easier if it was in the weight room. Lib, glad the exam went well, and glad the kids will get to see you "strut yo stuff"!!They will be proud and so should YOU!
I do not know why I feel the need to document every breath I take during wo's...gotta kick that habit...I will try to do better...er...less! No one wants to read all that crap! lol!! Have a great weekend Ladies!
 
Liberty said:
I wasn't going to walk for graduation...then my boys informed me...."We did not go through all that....." second chimed in "or listen to all those presentations for you NOT to walk." lmao!!
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Lib, yes you must walk!!! When my DH got his graduate degree, I insisted that he walked for the same reason..."I was not a poor graduate student's wife for nothing!" In the end everyone was happy that he walked. It was a great day! Hope your foot feels better and great workout! Take breaks as needed. At least your doing something. Eventually you'll need fewer and fewer breaks until you sail through it all. :)

Justinef said:
Lisa, I'm going to be ill too, if you'll bring chicken soup, bread and cookie butter!
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Justine, no need to be ill in order for me to come by with these goodies. I always have an embarrassingly large amount of cookie butter on hand and I'm always ready, willing, able to take treats to a friend "just because." Hey girl, squatting more than your bodyweight for 5x3 is stellar! Especially when we're talking front squats, sheesh! Way to go. I'd love to see your weight loads and I'm sure I'd be impressed by them.

Tom, yeah, we likey that you put your stats and your sets and your reps. We want the nitty gritty! Do you just go into your basement and make the stuff up as you go along, or do you have a game plan? Whatever you do, you make it happen.

Karen, hope you're feeling better and getting all the right meds from Doc McDreamy.

Roz, hi my dear friend!

Today I did Ilaria's Powerstrike 6 via my totalfitness streaming. It's only my second foray into Ilaria's stuff and I am hooked! I feel so fierce doing her workouts, although my pink boxing gloves minimize my intimidating appearance to some extent.
 
Some days ya gots it, some days ya don't! I was going to hit deads hard today and do some core work, and I did, but wasn't great. I rode my new addition for about .5 miles to warm up, then went to deads, 205 and it felt heavy! I knew it wouldn't be a good day right then! I did doubles up to 275, and I put on 295 and bent over it and thought "this just isn't the day! I figured only bad things could happen at that point, so I dropped back to 255 and did another double and it was PLENTY!! To compensate I did some staggard dumbbell deadlifts, using 50's, and could really feel it in "de ole gluties"!(kinda likee deese!) and did 2x8. I finished with abs, crunches x50 x30 x20 and cable crunches 2x20. Rode another .5 miles and called it a day. Lisa, you have me pegged perfectly! I never really have a plan, I like to think it is biofeedback, or instinctual, but I know its ADD!! Too old to change! I think it is great when Ladies do some boxing or MMA type training...a lotta jerks in the world and I think it is essential to know how to hit! Often you hear of attacks on women thwarted when she can and does defend herself. I wouldn't want to be on the other end of my Sista's PINK GLOVES!! Justine, if there is one thing I do know, its that you are NOT lazy! The stuff you do would leave me crippled! Do the weekend justice friends! Karen, hope recovery is still going well! I miss the exploits of the Utah and Vermont Commando's!
 
Funny you should mention boxing, Tom, as I did ilaria's power strikes today (thanks for the reminder, Lisa). I also did some mobility stuff- I'm trying out the ROMWOD streaming. It's meant for lifters and crossfitters, and I'm really thinking that it'll be goo once I've finished HTS (which has plenty of mobility stuff).

Tom, sensible about knowing when to lighten up on the deads. I'm sure they cause more damage than any other lift.

Today I woke up to snow! Only 2 days ago I was outside in a t-shirt. No wonder we Brits discuss the weather so much!
 
Lisa, I would definitely walk for my graduate school!

I am laughing because a friend tried low impact from IC! This led me after she almost swapped it out because she didn't think it would be enough cardio........said Cathe showed her!

Today was upper body and icy core 1. I fell in Dallas and have a huge sore on my knee and my elbow, so had to modify the stuff on my knees. Made it work though. Bear walks are TOUGH!! My oldest was doing dishes, and came out to see me trying to get through them. I had to pause the dvd because I was going slower. But, I didn't give up. He told me he was impressed that I never give up and work so hard for everything I want in life. Aw!

Ok, water downed....time to get icy core 1 done!
 
Those who have done ICE, I am doing level one rotation (mostly due to time) what I don't like about it is that it has two rest days. I want to add an extra cardio. I am thinking maybe an X10, one of the xtrain's(?), I also have the afterburn DVD, or one of the mixes from ICE (a cardio one or low impact)

I'm sure any would work, but would love some ideas for what you might do (and why?). Thanks! My goal is to improve my cardio and kick my metabolism back into gear.

My body is reacting to the workouts, so I am seeing changes, but would be thrilled to drop the body fat % also.
 
Thanks! supercuts?? Not familiar with that one.
Today was upper body, tomorrow supposed to be rest, then metabolic total body on Monday, so think I need a cardio to squeeze in. I could also throw in a lower body focused cardio, but might make me too sore for the lower body portion Monday.

Yes, she is very new to Cathe, so I smiled when she texted about changing it out. I simply suggested she stick to the rotation, and add something in the afternoon if she still felt it wasn't enough. :)
 
Hi everyone!
Sorry for my absence, my daughter has been sick and we haven't been sleeping and she's just been really cranky and needy (which I get, she's sick). But yeah, sigh. She's fine, just a fever/cold thing, but it stuck around. Getting better now...

Karen, I hope you're feeling better! You just rest and take care of yourself. I think Lisa's virtual chicken soup will work some magic. :) Hope you're enjoying 'shopping' for haircuts and chilling with Netflix -- sounds like the perfect rotation for your situation. Hugs!

Lisa, mama, hope you and your two sweet gals are enjoying the beautiful weather! Has DD1 be hitting the new backyard pavement on her bike? I hope you're enjoying the sun! Hugs and high fives to you for awesomeness in many realms! I'm so glad you're loving Ilaria -- isn't she great? Can't wait to hear your thoughts about future workouts! :)

Justine, you are killing it on HTS. Your workouts sound really thorough. Thanks for sharing about them. Can you share the link for the ROMWOD streaming workouts? I don't have time to add them in now, but I'm curious for the future.
How are you liking RP (and all the casein/PB pics)?

Tom, how do you handle all that volume on shoulder presses?! I would just cry. I would just sit down and cry. Great work every day, it's great to see your numbers!

Lib, great job on your workouts! And I'm so glad you enjoyed the trip to Dallas. I think it's great your sons want you to walk so they can come out to support you. That's lovely. :D

I am halfway through week 4 (week 5 is deload) of mesocyle one of the RP female physique templates. I'm doing the 6x week option. The volume increases weekly. At the start it's a good workout, by week 4 the idea is you're functionally overreaching before deload (i.e., intentionally training beyond what you can fully recover from -- that's not to say you're making form suffer, but you're training muscles that are still sore). Then you deload to drop fatigue and start again with the next mesocycle. So in evil week 4, I'm doing 25-40 sets a day. It's killer. I'm also doing a small mass (Justine I'm on the B massing Mass 1 and this week I'm using the hard day templates, which means I get ALL the peanut butter and ALL the carbs). I never feel this way, but I can't wait to deload, LOL. I'll miss the carb party, though. :) I think I'll just mass for a month, maintain for a month, then do a short cut (prob just a month). I want to take advantage of these templates, but honestly don't want to gain too much in summer. Might do a longer mass next winter. It's actually kinda fun. Maybe I will get bored of it but I'm enjoying it now. :)

OK my friends, take good care! I love reading about your iron exploits here! Keep killing it!
Roz
 
On so BTW here was today's brutal workout:
Conventional deadlifts 210# 5 sets (15, 9, 10, 8, 8)
Stiff-legged deadlifts 185# 5 sets (8, 8, 8, 7, 8)
Low bar squats (sad face, see #3 below) 170# 5 sets (7, 7, 7, 7, 8)
Front squats 115# 2 sets (7, 6) then basically I wanted to die so I lowered to 90# for 3 sets (7, 10, 10)
Calves, I've been doing one-legged stair calves with one 45# DB for 5x~13 each leg.
No seriously, week 4 is evil.

Oh, Justine... here are my personal thoughts with exercise selection based on my experience with meso 1. This is just me, so take it with a grain of salt, but there are definitely some things I won't do next time.
1) Choose a mixture of compound and isolation exercises in any given workout. If you have two quad moves in a workout, do one BB squat and one single-leg move. (My workouts would open with high bar squat then front squat and by week 4 when you're doing 5 sets (7-15 reps) of each exercise, you're dying.
2) Include as much exercise variety as you can/enjoy. You might think you like a move, but you won't like it if you're doing it more than once a week by the end of the meso.
3) Don't do low bar squats on days when you squat AFTER deadlifting. Your low back will already be shot and you'll be sad.

Also, you front squatted >BW for 5x3?! That's is really badass. I hate front squats, my numbers are not that impressive.

ETA: Also, something to keep in mind as you try to gauge your reps with the 'n-shy of failure' metric... Smaller muscle groups 'hit the wall' way quicker, as you know, so one second you're overhead pressing away happily and next second the bar won't budge. But with squats and deads, failure creeps up more gradually and you can keep busting out reps as form starts deteriorate. I just realized I had to let myself stop squatting and deadlifting before what felt like '1 shy of failure', because it's 'one shy of failure with perfect form'... and not feel like I was 'being lazy'. Because obviously we all need to worry about being lazy about workout out, right?! LOL.
 
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Roz, 87 reps on deads???? I'm such a quitter!! 26- 40 sets a day of leg things would be fatal for me.. and for me those are really long rep ranges.... I would need hypnosis for that w/o..........Great work!!! Glad your daughter is getting better! Justine, really sorry about the snow, that SUCKS! Lib, keep on recruiting Cathletes! Hi to Karen and Lisa!
 
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