It sounds as though you’ve got yourself into a bit of a negative thinking spiral. Change is hard but you’ve been pulling out PRs for the past few days - that has to be a win, no? Try focussing on what you’ve achieved rather than things you can’t change. And if you aren’t feeling the PT sessions, cancel them. Even if you’re only paying half price, you’ll still be saving money.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
It sounds as though you’ve got yourself into a bit of a negative thinking spiral. Change is hard but you’ve been pulling out PRs for the past few days - that has to be a win, no? Try focussing on what you’ve achieved rather than things you can’t change. And if you aren’t feeling the PT sessions, cancel them. Even if you’re only paying half price, you’ll still be saving money. [/quote]
That sounds like a good idea Cal. And you’re doing great.
I thought you had 8 or 12 sessions with the guy? I’d say after that if you still don’t feel like he’s helping you, ditch him. I think its one of those business relationships you have to click with. If not going to them is going to become a chore, this is supposed to be hard, but fun hard, return on investment and all that jazz.
Alexus: You’re under some stress and understandably so. Don’t give up on those feet. “When the world says, ?Give up.? Hope whispers, ‘Try it one more time.’” Author unknown. You don’t know that you have reached the limits of your recovery. Healing can go on for a long, long while.
Pullups! 3x3 is awesome. Sets of 3! I’m excited for you. I know you didn’t make the assignment and you had a little body english going on, but really you didn’t miss by much and getting stronger isn’t pretty. You don’t need to master the step before prior to taking the next one–what the fuck do I know, but that’s what I think. That mindset will hold you back. Harry says, “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.” The fact that you came back and hit those sets of 2s tells me something too! You are more capable than you know. Keep pushing. Keep fighting for what you want. Never settle.
Lex-pull ups have that effect on me too. Something about BW stuff creates a different type of mentality…like there is absolutely no getting around the fact that it’s just up to you to move you. And still, 3x3 is amazing work, so celebrate that. I know it wasn’t what you set out to do, but it’s still work to be proud of.
Follow your gut with the pt. I like planning and being in charge of my own training, so I could see how you are having those feelings. And remember, just because they have a name badge and you’re giving them money doesn’t mean they know better than you do regarding your training.
[quote]alexus wrote:
you mean i’m supposed to grind the hills?? wah!
[/quote]
What I like to do is after my 1 hour ride, is to find a steepish hill close to home, that is about 150m long, and do hill repeats. Start with 3 repeats and aim to slowly build it up to 10 reps. Ride hard all the way to the top, and then cruise back down to the bottom and rest for a 30 seconds or so before you go again. I try to do this once a week and add a rep every week.
tweet
[quote]alexus wrote:
oh. i didn’t get the chin-ups.
i’m very sad i failed this. of course i failed in my head days before and had the sick feeling in my gut all morning. i’ve only ever felt like that about squats. now i see pull ups can do that too.
[/quote]
So the good news is if you can fail in your head, you can also succeed in your head. Then, success in your body will come. You have shown that correlation.
xo
Maybe you are a candidate for instinctive training? What was the original reason for working with the PT, that should answer your question. I always thought that I would like to train with a group and when I got the chance I found out one of the main reasons I love training is because I do it for the most part alone, possibly this could be the issue with training with the PT?
As far as pullups go, for me to have a good pullup session the sun, stars and moon have to align right. Yesterday was a fucking struggle for me, everything hurt while doing them, then there are days when everything does align right and I feel like Im doing them on the assisted thingy with 200lbs of assistance…in wasnt in the cards for you THAT DAY, but you will find when you do it another day you will rock those fuckers.
you’ll get it, Alexus…
one day at a time just like anything else.
OH can I relate My Alexis. Pull ups are a kicker, mine were hard this week too because I was emotional! EMOTIONAL for fucks sake!
You will get them, you have it in you. You just have your mind in another ball field unfortunately. It’ll come back when you’re mind is ready…and its hard be patient while it takes its time doing so!.
Just caught up on pages and pages so sorry if I’m a bit late or jumbled.
I think barefoot walks on the beach will do wonders for your feet. I love it to get all the creaks out!
Why don’t you do your Hindu squats and other random stuffs in your vibrams? I find all those yoga like moves infinitely easier in bare feet.
I totally understand where you are with the PT. I’m the same way, probably the reason I’ve never had one. I always intend to blindly follow but then my brain kicks in.
[quote]arachne12 wrote:
So the good news is if you can fail in your head, you can also succeed in your head. Then, success in your body will come. You have shown that correlation.
xo
[/quote]
^ with this I totally agree.
cal - thanks. it is strange how the joy of PR’s dissipates so swiftly but the disappointment of failing new attempts hangs around for always.
i’m still a bit ambivalent about the pt guy… only…
i can split jerk. need to take it gentle but after a lot of stretching i can split jerk. that is progress. wow. so, um, i guess that means he was a little bit right about some things :-/ i feel quite badly that i’m giving him such a hard time, actually. combination of things not least of which is quitting smoking and being generally grumpy. and being injured and stuffs. i haven’t been so very good about being humble and accepting help and sucking up what i need to do to progress instead of playing around with what it is that i like to do.
minimal - 4 more. and knowing me and how contrary i am i’ll miss them when they’re done.
nadia - thanks for being kind about the chin-ups. harry was, too. next time 3x3 and 7x2. as perfect as i can.
lula - yeah, there is something about bodyweight exercises for me, too. i think part of it is that i’m feeling like a bit of a fat ass right now and i don’t feel like such a fat ass when i’m making progress on them.
arachne - the mental stuff is really hard, eh. believing in oneself…
bird - i did a spin class today. it is the 3rd one i’ve done ever. didn’t much like the other two… but something clicked for me a bit today… i think i kinda like it… see how the sit bones are doing tomorrow… i think i’ll do another one 
matty - instinctive training?? i’m starting to think that for me… music is my motivator. i can do well in group fitness classes when i’m into the music (hence pretty much tune others out or get a sense of camaraderie with us all working with the music) but otherwise… people just seem to distract me from the music / motivator.
MOM - yeah, hanging in there…
brute - glad you got your pull-ups! i think harry was testing people a bit over the new year?? or something?? you did great
pch - did my last two balance classes in my vibrams. it was okay… it is hard for me to balance on the ball of my back lunge foot since my toes like to curl and they feel kinda brittle rather than flexible. can do a bit of stuffs but need to be careful not to maul them around too much.
Spinning is hard on the old ischium, for sure. Apparently it toughens up after a while, but I’m not sure I like the idea of toughening up that part of my body!
I feel your pain on the pull-ups. I know there’s only a few pounds of weight between me doing OK and not getting any at all. Using bands is a good compromise if you want to up the reps.
As for feet, I agree with Peaches. Going barefoot (or wearing Vibrams) really helps strengthen the foot whereas you can become reliant on orthotics and the muscles, tendons and ligaments get lazy. As long as you take it easy and don’t push to the point where they actually hurt, they will improve.
congrats on that Bench Alexus!
milk that feeling to fuel the next PR
I am a big fan of instinctive training. I find that way there is no disappointment stemming from any of my workouts (which is lame/unnessessary, and I am sure a lot of us are guilty of beating ourselves up from a shitty workout even though we bust our asses most of the time)
It can be scary at first because it’s like “UHH, am i being lazy, or am I truly listening to my body?!”
But over time you really learn a lot about yourself and what you’re capable of, what feels good and what feels like you’re just spinning your wheels.
mMKKAYY! cheer up! i am the queen of the grumps so I don’t need anybody tryin’ to knock me off my throne…
stupid mix up at the gym… short story is i won’t be having any more pt sessions. they basically didn’t take the money from my account as they should have, refused to take the cash when i tried, and then realized their fuck up and cancelled my session today but didn’t bother to tell me that so i fucked around for close to 2 hours for no good reason… grr. had enough of this shit.
i need to get back into a program.
since last time (the first and only time) i did the russian squat routine my front squat max has gone from 45kg (which i got for a single once) to 52.5kg (which i got for a single once).
i’ve decided to run it again. not plugging in my new max (didn’t finish the program last time) but a slight increase on last times effort. so this time i’ll do:
RUSSIAN SQUAT ROUTINE:
Week 1
A 40kg 6x2 (last time base was 36kg)
B 40kg 6x3
C 40kg 6x2
Week 2
A 40kg 6x4
B 40kg 6x2
C 40kg 6x5
Week 3
A 40kg 6x2
B 40kg 6x6
C 40kg 6x2
then if i’m not too trashed:
Week 4
A 42.5 5x5
B 40kg 6x2
C 45kg 4x4
Week 5
A 40kg 6x2
B 47.5kg 3x3
C 40kg 6x2
Week 6
A 50kg 2x2
B 40kg 6x2
C 52.5… try for new max @ 55, 57.5 and hopefully get bodyweight (kinda sorta) @ 60kg boo ya!
i’ll also do harry’s chin-up program…
work on my positions / flexibility for oly lifting (including bodybalance)
and i’ve become a little teeny bit of a spin class devotee…
so that is that, really.
time to work!!
RSR day 1 session 1 tomorrow!!!
Good riddance I say. And you got some free sessions. Kill those squatz!
Apparently the trainer thing just wasn’t meant to be.
Spin class can be addictive, watch out! Remember to wiggle your toes, don’t let them go numb.
Good luck with your new program.
took a couple days off. was starting to get that buggy eyed hyped up waking up in the small hours of the morning paranoid / grandiose / really fucking angry thing going on, which (i think), tells me that i need to back off from the gym. i think it was the introduction of spin. i need to remember that interval type training isn’t trivial. you can’t do it every day. it will eat into my recovery time. so… not allowed to spin (or other intense cardio work) more than 3x per week. or… i’m not allowed to get mad at myself if i feel i’m overdoing it if i try and do it more than 3x per week…
have been eating more protein… feeling very frustrated that different sources give wildly different estimates for the nutritional value of food. i see why it seems pointless and arbitrary to fuss over the number of calories and why it makes so very much more sense to think about increasing / decreasing / keeping calories the same. makes it a bit hard with the protein thing… but i’ve certainly been giving it a bloody good honest effort. it isn’t so cheap…
(oh, by good honest effort i mean to the best of my knowledge more than 130 grams per day)
lifting - focus on RSR (did the first session yeah) and chin-ups. – edit - just realized i didn’t do the first session. thought i was meant to do 37.5kg but it should have been 40 dammit. starting it on monday…
starting to obsess about my bodyfat / not having every been able to see my abs / how freaking heavy i feel 
pilates - fuck this is boring but my abs don’t seem to work. that will be why i keep getting overuse injury of lumbar spine. tensing the abs is a bit like wiggling the damn toes. really need to start all the way back at the very beginning… damn this sucks. still… i know from experience that if i suck it up progress will come real fast.
yoga - / balance. i kinda want to get more seriously into yoga. interested in some of the more gymnastics type stuff. seen people transition from downward dog to forwards bend via handstand. i want to do that. working a little on forwards and backwards rolls now. started doing pilates rolls - my spine hasn’t moved like that since well before injury. i thought one was supposed to avoid spine flexion (move from the hips)… anyway… the movement is feeling more comfortable and i’d like to feel i can bail on a handstand via a roll before i get into seriously training handstands (since i’m scared to hurt my ankles)…
meat. is that how people do it. protein, i mean. basically live off meat. eggs. tuna. then just add a little greenery for color / flavor / variety. but basically… just eat meat.
?
(and there is fat on meat and oil in the tuna and i put milk in my protein shake).