Nia Shanks

Awesome work, everyone!

Justine, glad you could get in a little workout time despite your crayyyyyzy schedule! Phew! Enjoy the buzz (or is it just all that coffee?) and it'll be over soon!

Karen, I want you to be my trainer, squat queen!

Tom, high fives on the awesome progress! Glad the EZ curl bar is better on the joints.

Finished up my second week of Phase 2 of GSF2 today. I enjoy it when I see it more as 'heavy metabolic' work (if that's not an oxymoron). Today was a superset of rack pulls and slamball slams, a superset of bent presses and DB plank pullthroughs, and a triset of hammer curls, triceps OH extensions (resistance band), and lateral raises.
Man, I haven't been curling DBs almost AT ALL in the last 6 mos, but I am soooo much stronger with them. 25s are pretty light and I even knocked out a full concentration curl with a 35, which would have been unthinkable before. Compound moves for the win!
 
MomInVT said:
Awesome work, everyone!

Justine, glad you could get in a little workout time despite your crayyyyyzy schedule! Phew! Enjoy the buzz (or is it just all that coffee?) and it'll be over soon!

Karen, I want you to be my trainer, squat queen!

Tom, high fives on the awesome progress! Glad the EZ curl bar is better on the joints.

Finished up my second week of Phase 2 of GSF2 today. I enjoy it when I see it more as 'heavy metabolic' work (if that's not an oxymoron). Today was a superset of rack pulls and slamball slams, a superset of bent presses and DB plank pullthroughs, and a triset of hammer curls, triceps OH extensions (resistance band), and lateral raises.
Man, I haven't been curling DBs almost AT ALL in the last 6 mos, but I am soooo much stronger with them. 25s are pretty light and I even knocked out a full concentration curl with a 35, which would have been unthinkable before. Compound moves for the win!
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No Roz,I won't armwrestle you..Congrats, It sounds like all the heavy compounds are really working!!
 
This week I thought I might "shake it up a bit" and drop weight but do long sets during deload week. I know its not part of the program but like Roz says "do what you want" I thought I would test my endurance a little and see how many reps I could do at a certain weight.(wont do this for deadlift) Today I dropped the bench down to 135# and did a long set of 20. I remember when I did my 1rm testing prior to STS I did 6 at 135,now it wasn't a complete max out but was some struggle and I wasn't real proud, but by the time meso 3 was complete I was able to do 207 for 7 (I had 1# collars and you are damn straight I counted them)!!! I had raised by 1RM during sts about 90#...NUTS!! On barbell curls I dropped to 80# and did a set of 16 followed by a set of 8(that also was better than initial sts testing but I was using 110# at the end of sts for sets of 6-8 Next week I will use 95# for 4x10 (hopefully).I think I may try this long set on deload week on squats and pull ups (maybe) but not on deadlifts! Hope everyone has a great Labor day!! UK friends included!!!
 
Tom, I like your deload idea. I'll steal that! Your bench humbles me.... I'm pathetic when it comes to chest exercises. When did you do sts? Was it quite a while ago? Do you think you gained more strength with that than with Nia?

I have 2 workouts left. I'm rather sad. I want to do the whole thing again. Definitely the best results I've ever had. I'm thinking of gsf2 next, rather than ggs. ( I'm not stalking you, Roz, honest.) What does everyone else have lined up?
 
Justinef said:
Tom, I like your deload idea. I'll steal that! Your bench humbles me.... I'm pathetic when it comes to chest exercises. When did you do sts? Was it quite a while ago? Do you think you gained more strength with that than with Nia?

I have 2 workouts left. I'm rather sad. I want to do the whole thing again. Definitely the best results I've ever had. I'm thinking of gsf2 next, rather than ggs. ( I'm not stalking you, Roz, honest.) What does everyone else have lined up?
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Justine I did sts in Jan 2014 and just did the 3 months. It was amazing to me the gains I made. I really hadn't benched much because I always seemed to have shoulder issues with it and no spotters etc (yada yada yada) so I went into sts pretty untrained on bench. I have found that my shoulders bother me LESS when I USE them and improved with sts. My sons were big football players and spent a lot of time in the weight room (my youngest benched 440#) so I feel pretty inadequate!!! I think sts is a better hypertrophy program and I got a lot bigger and stronger, but I am making great gains with Nia with shorter gym sessions. Im not really gaining size, but am getting stronger. I really forced calories with sts and protein and am doing less of that with Nia and that may be why I am not getting a lot bigger(gotta feed it to grow it!) I think there is something about neurological recruitment and strength gains with Nia's compound movements that causes strength increases too ( as evidenced by Roz's gains) although Cathe does some of them as well. On the deload thing I just thought I had been doing so many short sets that I would do a little endurance work and hope it doesn't "mess things up"!!! I saw that YMCA test and was curious as to why they used such light weight, 80# for males 35# for females on the bench press strength test. At my age the average reps for a male with 80# was 8!! That shocked me! Then I thought the women on these forums would annihilate that test with 35#!! I guess we should all be proud that we are trying to get strong and fit and are WAY better off than the average Joe (Josephine)!!
 
Tom - firstly 440# bench for your son. Kudos.

I agree that STS is principally hypertrophy - I always gain muscle (and, unfortunately a bit of fat). I guess you wanted hypertrophy? Me, less so. I'm really after strength gains with not too much pump. (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE muscular girls - but I'm roughly where I want to be size-wise.) Weirdly, Nia seems to have delivered. My muscles seem 'tighter'. Not sure whether that's even possible, but if a body builder is at one end of the scale, and a boxer at the other, then STS has me closer to the BB, and Nia to the boxer. What body type are you? I guess that makes a difference.
I agree that we're all super-fit and super-strong compared to the average. But, hey, I bet we all compare ourselves to the best! I must remember your words about how strong we really are when I see girls DLing 330lbs, and I feel pathetic!
 
Kudos to all of you. Sounds like you are all getting what you wanted from your programs. I have been doing Mark Lauren, Ho Co, and throwing in a few other things since the middle of July. Justine, you stated it best, bodybuilder and boxer. Right now, I'm closer to a boxer, as well. My combination, has leaned me out, and my abs are back. I think I will continue with this "combination" until the first of November. I can get through a Ho Co workout without taking a break, now. I'm doing a combination of EFX and YAYOG, and I'm liking what I see. From what I read, you are all "killing it!!" Good on ya! Keep it up, I get a lot of energy from all of you.
 
Justinef said:
Tom - firstly 440# bench for your son. Kudos.

I agree that STS is principally hypertrophy - I always gain muscle (and, unfortunately a bit of fat). I guess you wanted hypertrophy? Me, less so. I'm really after strength gains with not too much pump. (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE muscular girls - but I'm roughly where I want to be size-wise.) Weirdly, Nia seems to have delivered. My muscles seem 'tighter'. Not sure whether that's even possible, but if a body builder is at one end of the scale, and a boxer at the other, then STS has me closer to the BB, and Nia to the boxer. What body type are you? I guess that makes a difference.
I agree that we're all super-fit and super-strong compared to the average. But, hey, I bet we all compare ourselves to the best! I must remember your words about how strong we really are when I see girls DLing 330lbs, and I feel pathetic!
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As I age Justine I get more slender...sigh. My Dad was big guy inhis football days but much thinner at my age. My boys are both big guys. I weighed 205# my senior year in high school but now I'm 6' 1" 175#. I am getting more defined with Nia, but guess my "thug" days are behind me haha!! I'll take defined if I can't have big...I guess
 
Justinef said:
I'm thinking of gsf2 next, rather than ggs. ( I'm not stalking you, Roz, honest.) What does everyone else have lined up?
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Justine, we're all stalking one another, right?

Great job, everyone, on your progress!

I've been hungry all week (and I'm eating more than enough) -- in addition to lots of stress, I'm thinking maybe I need more complex carbs. I'm not on a low-carb diet, but I tend not to eat lots of grains. Maybe eating more grains would curb that always-hungry feeling of the week/last couple weeks. Mostly musing here, but feel free to chime in with thoughts...

Almost done with week 3 of phase 2 of gsf 2. I'm keeping the phase 2 workouts fun and short. Looking forward to phase 3, though. Not sure what's next -- GGS, perhaps? Unapologetically Powerful (Jen Sinkler's forthcoming program)? I just don't know...

Having fun playing around with the Olympic lifts (esp as featured in LWF 1+2). Seem to be getting comfortable with a 100# clean, which I know isn't a whole lot, but it feels heavy. I can manage about an 80# snatch, but beyond that I'm pressing it out overhead. Great fun, great conditioning.
 
Roz - maybe the stress is making you hungry? I, too, only eat a minimal amount of grains (a handful of oats with breakfast), but luckily I love vegetables, so I get all my carbs from those. Are you eating enough fat? I find that very satisfying (whole eggs, full fat yoghurt, cheese, rich sauces, nuts etc) and it doesn't take much. I hope the stress goes away soon.

I think 100# clean is great - I've not tried anywhere near that much. I've only ever really done clean and snatch as part of a conditioning workout, so a paltry 20kg is what I've used. I'm definitely going to get Jen's new programme when it's out - but at the moment it's looking like it won't be until next year that I get a chance to try it. (GSF2 then GGS then another Nia, then Unapologetically Powerful? Maybe.)

Karen - I love Mark Lauren's stuff. Not as tough as I thought it'd be, either. Those full divebombers are the exception! They HURT. Which Hoo do you have? I have Getting Started/Stronger/Rolling. I hate them all!

I've tried all the edge booty extreme dvds now - I resorted to writing down the reps, and doing them off paper, though! There are some great bits in the w/os. A rotation of them alone would be too much lower body bias for me, though. The upper body stuff has too many isolation exercises. I'll be incorporating some of the supersets as a conditioner, though.

Autumn has arrived here. It's quite lovely.
 
As deload continues I dropped OHP 15# and did a set of 10 did a set of 25 close grip pushups a set of 15 diamond pushups and am off to do a long (hopefully) set of "prison pull ups" (flashback to terminator 2 but Linda Hamilton a least looked good doing them in jail lol)!! Tomorrow I will try to do a long set of squats (really pumped bout that one.......NOT)!! Hope all have a happy iron fest !!
 
Justinef said:
Roz - maybe the stress is making you hungry? I, too, only eat a minimal amount of grains (a handful of oats with breakfast), but luckily I love vegetables, so I get all my carbs from those. Are you eating enough fat? I find that very satisfying (whole eggs, full fat yoghurt, cheese, rich sauces, nuts etc) and it doesn't take much. I hope the stress goes away soon.

I think 100# clean is great - I've not tried anywhere near that much. I've only ever really done clean and snatch as part of a conditioning workout, so a paltry 20kg is what I've used. I'm definitely going to get Jen's new programme when it's out - but at the moment it's looking like it won't be until next year that I get a chance to try it. (GSF2 then GGS then another Nia, then Unapologetically Powerful? Maybe.)

Karen - I love Mark Lauren's stuff. Not as tough as I thought it'd be, either. Those full divebombers are the exception! They HURT. Which Hoo do you have? I have Getting Started/Stronger/Rolling. I hate them all!

I've tried all the edge booty extreme dvds now - I resorted to writing down the reps, and doing them off paper, though! There are some great bits in the w/os. A rotation of them alone would be too much lower body bias for me, though. The upper body stuff has too many isolation exercises. I'll be incorporating some of the supersets as a conditioner, though.

Autumn has arrived here. It's quite lovely.
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I agree with you on Edge Booty. Would just do my own version off paper. Too much lower body, and too much Ingrid. My HoCo includes; get rolling, and volumes 1-4. Since I bought them years ago, I better use them. They are great for the core.
Divebombers, are a total PITA, don't like them at all. I want Jen's new program as well. Won't be using it until next year. Too much waiting to be used, or re-used.

Pump some heavy iron, everyone!
 
Thanks, Justine. I actually eat tons of dietary fats, so I don't think that's it. Probably stress. Sometimes a little more structure, nutrition-wise, helps me during times of stress. So I'll play with that.

Nice work everyone!

Justine, lucky you with autumn. It's too hot and humid here still. Can't wait for the foliage -- it's lovely when it comes.

Tom, nice work on your OHP deload and good luck on squats tomorrow. Are you going to do goblet squats or BB?

Karen and Justine, nice work on EBE2 and thanks for the reviews. I'm not doing DVDs these days, but I won't waste my time being tempted with that one. I'm sure the workout's good, but sounds like more sass than I can handle. Karen, glad you're using and getting awesome results from HoCo!

Played with a bunch of LWF1 workouts today, including The Arnold (cleans, front squats, push presses, RDLs, rows, etc.) and The Shoulder Sculptor (with a subtitle like 'Delts poppin' outta your shirt', how could I pass it up?). I am slowly getting the hang of the more explosive moves...

Have fun, everyone!
 
Roz...Hadn't thought about gob squats....dunno..game time decision!!! Thanks for alternative thinking. I'm envious of your passion for all things iron and wish I was more adventurous like y'all but Nia was a departure for me and I love it!! I will live vicariously thru you guys till I get brave enough to "depart" again. Maybe sts again in my future??
 
This was one of those mornings where you have to do hand to hand with your gray matter to even get under the iron!! Continuing in the long set approach I managed a set of 20 squats at 135# 3 sets of reverse lunges 3 sets of 8 hanging knee raises and a set of 45 each leg of single calf raises with 35# added. Ain't proud of attitude or effort, but am proud that I made it to the dungeon at all and didn't go back as soon as I got there!!! I will be in Florida next week for the arrival of Grandson #3!!! I am still sore on both bicep tendons and I am thinking of giving them the week off but not sure I can pull the trigger on that concept. Guess I will play it by ear and see how it goes! Roz, BB squats won because I was too lazy this morning to move a few things around to get my 50# kettlebell!!! Geeze what a SLUG!! Not everyday is a good day!! Karen, do you have another week off?? so jealous here!...o wait ,I'm retired haha(does not seem like it lately though because I have been filling in and working 3 consecutive days) Justine, hopefully the worst is over for you and no more 15 hour days for awhile!! Have great weekends everyone!
 
Congratulations on your #3 Grandson, Tom. Some mornings are like that, especially very early mornings. So much easier to stay in a warm bed. I'm trying to come up with an excuse to take another week off. The first Monday, after two weeks off is horrendous. Not looking forward to it at all. I'm kinda liking this stay at home business. Could definitely get used to it.
 
Tom - you got a workout done. Definitely NOT a slug! Many would have found an excuse.....
Grandson no3? That's great. I can't wait to be a grandma (but don't tell my DD I said that). Enjoy Florida.

Roz - you inspired me to do a bit of Oly lifting, so I pulled out KCM's LIFT. I was only using a 17kg BB, but I felt it. I need a LOT more practise before I go heavy. My wrists need strengthening and a bit more flexibility. I also think I tense my shoulders, as my neck starts to feel it. Anyway, it was a good, fun workout (I love KCM's personality), and I finished it off with her UB split, just to change things up.

Karen - isn't going back to work the worst thing? I've another 4 days next week at 15+ hours. I'll be away from home, as well. But then it's back to normal until next Spring.

Oh, and Tom, Linda Hamilton...my role model (well, without the gun!)

One more Nia to do :( Did you all do a final deload week? I'm thinking it's not necessary if I'm taking a couple of weeks off heavy lifting??? I've already created a GSF spreadsheet, so I'm good to go.

Roz, I hope the stress is passing / lessening. Chin up.
 
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