Weight gain while clothes still fit and chins/pull-ups are improving is a MAJOR win. 5kg is a considerable amount, too.
As for being smiley, honestly, I don’t bother. I’m not there to make friends, I’m there to kick ass. However, if people approach me I am friendly back, so long as they don’t do something retarded like get in my space while I’m lifting.
lexi-
typically the squat for a triple you can clean +jerk
is right on the money
right now I can front squat a decent amount
and clean a paltry amount
think that something about injuries and broken shit
cause I wish I could clean what I front squat.
its like a 100lb difference
I think Mattyxl might be a wee bit intimidating to the average gym goon
edit 5kg is a good bulk- nice work
The TSH is supposed to be low…
Many Dr’s freak out when it gets suppressed by meds and then want you to decrease the amount even though the patient is feeling FINE!
I’m not sure…your FT4/3 is normal and your tsh is low…that’s a good thing! lol
Are you saying that you have symptoms of being hypo with everything being ‘normal?’
matty - angry face? you? perhaps you need to bust out some zumba moves.
nimain - i think people are getting somewhat used to me… trainers seem to bring their clients close occasionally so they can see what beast face looks like or something, i don’t know. yeah, i’m bolshy with people who don’t back off from the equipment between their sets (so i can do mine). gotta be.
cal - there is indeed something to be said for just putting on the headphones and using the darned gym. i guess… part of it for me is learning about ‘typical’ gyms. since it seems that i’m going to be working in one… trying to figure things out a bit. figure out who i am in that kind of space or something.
kmc - assuming technique is good. think i’m losing mine. not hitting a tight position under the squat then too lazy to stand it up from a relaxed bottom position… oh wells… i’m thinking the RSR might not actually be the best thing for me right now… maybe 5/3/1 or something with more gentle progress? i don’t know…
MOM - my (potential) problem is with HYPERthyroidism not with HYPOthyroidism. so for me (since i’m not on thyroid medication), low TSH (with normal T) means my thyroid is functioning independently from the TSH signal (bad) and my thyroid might get carried away. potential symptoms include things like loss of muscle mass, muscular weakness, irritability, buggy eyed, difficulty sleeping… similar to (part of??) high cortisol… similar to what happens to me when i’m overtraining / under-recovering??? apparently the majority of people with low TSH normal T (who are NOT on thyroid medication for hypothyroidism) never develop hyperthyroidism - but i just need to keep an eye on things in case i do.
harry said i need to work on seeing my abs. crap.
i’m having trouble getting enough protein. can’t really afford to buy more than about 2kg of meat per week (so that is around 250 grams per day)… get 3 litres of milk, 1 litre of yoghurt, 30 eggs… but, well, that still isn’t enough protein, really. veges from farmers market are cheap enough (going for green veges like beans, brocolli, zuchini, also carrots and mushrooms and the odd sweet potato)…
but um… what else to eat?? got some rice mostly to bulk things out because otherwise it doesn’t feel to me like it is enough food… but even then…
aside from that… cake. i’ve been making it. oh wells.
spin. loving it. really getting into it. biking. loving that, too. especially on the odd non-windy day we have been having. discovered there is a cycle trail for 28k along the river. built up to 20k of it today (so 40k there and back). will do the whole damned thing tomorrow. fucking awesome!! then i’ll get into timing myself… most of it is pretty sheltered… but for parts of it you get the wind behind you and damn it feels like flying!
still having fun playing with the gymnastics stuff. pretty good cartwheel on one side, totally shit one on the other (guess they are handed, i didn’t know that). getting a little better and handstands - will be ready to practice kicking up to a wall behind me in the next couple days. can fall into a sit for a back roll… still not pushing myself up hard enough with my arms yet… can’t quite get that. head doing alright, but would like to push up to a handstand from back roll eventually… bridge getting better. no hope of back bending into one yet… forward rolls fine. can squat to stand - no hope of doing this on one leg (or standing up a pistol) anytime soon. sigh. having fun…
having fun, yeah.
and training hard. nice for me to discover i can have fun and train hard and make progress outside the gym (e.g., with biking and not smoking and eating better) as well as inside. and without the oly lifting.
some awesome people in my new gym…
a girl (maybe 13??) came up to me and said i was, like, her hero. that she thought i was awesome and she wanted to be like me. she is working with one of the trainers… i think he is (at least trying??) to train her properly… saw him teaching her an overhead dumbbell press, anyway… met her mother, too, and she seemed cool. kinda fascinated with the whole strong thing. even though i’m not strong at all. hmm. i think… i think i really would like to work in a regular gym. show people that is it fine (fun in fact) to do ridiculous things like fall all over the place trying to cartwheel on your off hand… and can on your ass trying to do a pistol… over and over… and growl at the pull-up bar… and throw weight around… and… i don’t know. see progress as incremental and work progressively and come to develop pride in what their bodies can do instead of obsessing over how they don’t look airbrushed and perfect and fake.
need to learn to feel my belly again. i think it is because my way of deadling with my injury pain (e.g., my feet) was to tune it out… i think my old back fracture resulted in my not feeling my torso… strange… anyway… need to figure out my abs and stop injuring my back…
[quote]alexus wrote:
… but for parts of it you get the wind behind you and damn it feels like flying!
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Yeaahhh buddy!!!
Its a great feeling isnt it? Im thinking about joining a group and making it a bit of a social thing.
What exactly is wrong with your back? I know you had the accident and all, but what area is the pain, and do you know the diagnosis is?(you have prob mentioned it before, but i have a short memory).
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Wow! This is great, Lex! Nice to see you having fun with your training! And it is good to change things up everyonce in while, so no Oly might not be a bad thing after all. You got that muscle memory, it’ll come back to you as soon as you want to go back to it.
And lol @ Harry telling you to work on seeing your abs. HAH! I think these coaches really have a show no mercy mentality. Too funny! But you can do it!
I love the 13 yr old that said you were her hero. That’s awesome!!! A new legion of powerful women shall emerge!! I also started going to the gym when I was 13. It really is like a home away from home me. I didn’t have any beautiful, strong role models like you though! Who knows where I’d be if I had!
love the 13yr old story.
You’re a hero inspiring the new generation!
AHH THAT 13 year old girl story is great!! Kinda makes ya feel all warm and fuzzy inside, eh?!
Also happy about your progress OUTSIDE of the gym. I’m still working on finding something like that so I can feel more balanced/sane about my workouts and whatnot. I guess I only have like uhh…5 months to go until the weather here is barable again and I can do something outside, LOl.
As for protien, hmm, I dunno, you kinda listed everything. I can give the typical go for the cheap hunks of meat and use the crock pot/buy chicken drumsticks etc… advice, but you probably know all that!
Alexus: Excellent work on those chins! ANd there is nothing like a shit ton of chins to grow some abs–I’m pretty sure that’s all Harry was saying. Stay the course. You’re doing great.
SOunds like your making serious progress with your gymnastics too. Try finishing your back roll in a plank position. That should get you pushing more out of your hands and it’s a good start to that back extension roll (back roll to handstand) that you want to get.
Cartwheels. Yes there are sides. My bad side still feels wonky–even though I think looks wise it is indistinguishable from my good side. And there are lots of cartwheel variations to work through too–lunge, step together, step through, turn out, one handed…If you need more info about these let me know. I’ll hook you up. Cartwheels are easier than handstands. Get comfortable with those and I think you’ll start feeling much more confident about that handstand. Don’t cling to the wall! It seems to become a crutch for adults.
I can finally do pistols. I started just like you–working on standing up from forward rolls and than standing up on one leg and then one day I could do them! Keep at it.
Last thing, my pullup guy is friends with Harry. That’s how I met him. So, he reads all Harry’s posts on elite. He asked me to pass this website along to you. He said it has some good Oly lifting info on it. And because good info is hard to find–he wanted me to share it with you.
Oh love the 13 yr old story!
Hi!
bird - my back is coming along now, yay. old fracture.
masch - i’m sure i’ll have a period of frustration when i try and return to oly lifting when things won’t work quite like they used to… oh wells.
nimain - thanks. i’m not sure about the kid, actually… think it mostly comes of there not being other women who strength train… the trainers are all young guys… i’m not sure they strength train themselves… most people seem to work in the 10-12 rep range… met con… uh… girls seem to be rewarded for histrionics more than anything… the girls say things like ‘i hate you’ to the trainers and whine like little bitches when they are told to do stuff. uh… there doesn’t seem to be much of a thing of developing independence (e.g., to train without your trainer) or self-mastery / self-motivation / self-confidence… strange… hard to explain. i’m thinking… don’t hate your trainer, hate the whiny little bitch inside of you. my whiny little bitch is coming out. mostly because they freaking lie. they are like ‘10 reps’ then they count ‘one, two, two’ and i’m just about to blow my stack at them but then i’m sucking wind at rep three 
the spin chick is just as bad with her ‘last hill come on all out’ then once that hill is done ‘last hill come on’… wtf??? yes shut up whiny little bitch inside of me… but really… i’d rather train my myself. grr them.
anyhoo…
thanks spock. i can’t imagine canada cold. quite foreign to me.
nadia - i don’t know what you mean about back roll into a plank position. i’ve learned that i didn’t have my arms far back enough behind my head for back rolls to protect it. think i’ve fixed that up now… still don’t feel like i’m very strong at pushing with my arms on them, though.
patch - thanks! not entirely sure with the girl whether it is about her trying to make her trainer happy with her or about what it is that she wants / is motivated for… time will tell, i guess… no reason why they can’t end up being the same…
getting more confident kicking up to handstand (decided to skip the wall step since people seem to get stuck there). the more i fail and survive the fail okay the more confidence i have to kick up that little bit higher next time. naturally seem to pivot and land okay. have had maybe 2 or 3 kickups now where things felt balanced for just a teeny tiny moment which is progress.
i pulled my groin doing a cartwheel without warming up. god dammit.
bridge is getting better (working feet back towards hands and trying to straighten arms / legs). also practicing back bends from standing. did one try to fall back into a bridge and landed hard on my head. didn’t hurt myself so that was good.
i’m going to do the front and both side splits dammit. practicing that, too.
thank your pull up guy for reminding me about that site!! best article i ever read on oly lifting (everett on the first pull) was from there. i really should check out the other articles. a very good find indeed.
i’m feeling awful about my chin-ups. didn’t get all my reps last time. basically… it feels too hard. i get to the point where i’m well and truly stalled and moving up simply isn’t going to happen unless i swing my hips forwards and pull my knees up and yell a bit… so i’ve started to do that. but can only do that so often… and i can’t get all my reps, basically. stuck. probably because i’m doing too much with the gymnastics and the spinning and the biking (nearly to the end and back of the 27k in one direction trail)… and the oly mobility stuff… and so on…
RSR… not a good idea.
uh… i need to figure 5/3/1 for squats… or something. need something a little bit light and deloady…
core work is coming along. for reals.
[quote]alexus wrote:
i pulled my groin doing a cartwheel without warming up. god dammit.
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I wish someone had told me when I had pulled my groin(although I think mine is a litte more than a simple strained muscle), that groin injuries are the worse! Make sure you dont ignore it and aggrevate it anymore, as they can take ages to heal. When feeling better, make sure you slowly return to activity.
Let me know if you need any rehab ideas.
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Hi Alexus.
Back bends from standing? I used to do those, for that I first practiced by walking my hands down walls.
When I was doing it from standing the rule was if I can see the floor I wont hit my head on it. Meaning arching back trying to see the floor.
That’s all I got for help. 
Alexus: Ah, don’t feel badly about the pullups. You’ve really made a lot of progress over such a short period of time. Just keep at them. Do the best that you can. Tell Harry what you’ve done and let it go. It’s his problem to progress you and how to figure out how to get you past the inevitable plateaus and stumbling blocks.
A back roll video for you. My body position isn’t the best, but maybe it will help.
[quote]alexus wrote:
nimain - thanks. i’m not sure about the kid, actually… think it mostly comes of there not being other women who strength train… the trainers are all young guys… i’m not sure they strength train themselves… most people seem to work in the 10-12 rep range… met con… uh… girls seem to be rewarded for histrionics more than anything… the girls say things like ‘i hate you’ to the trainers and whine like little bitches when they are told to do stuff. uh… there doesn’t seem to be much of a thing of developing independence (e.g., to train without your trainer) or self-mastery / self-motivation / self-confidence… strange… hard to explain. i’m thinking… don’t hate your trainer, hate the whiny little bitch inside of you. my whiny little bitch is coming out. mostly because they freaking lie. they are like ‘10 reps’ then they count ‘one, two, two’ and i’m just about to blow my stack at them but then i’m sucking wind at rep three the spin chick is just as bad with her ‘last hill come on all out’ then once that hill is done ‘last hill come on’… wtf??? yes shut up whiny little bitch inside of me… but really… i’d rather train my myself. grr them.
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This.
It’s so prevelant in my gym all I can do is shake my head. I don’t blame the trainers for the lack of independance (they need people to train to make money). I blame the lazy ass resolutioners who don’t take pride in improving themselves. There’s one class I go to just for fun, and I see people cutting the movements short or an interval short and I don’t understand it. I EXPECT the instructor to lie. They have to because of people who work only as hard as they have to.
Stop whining and put some effort into improving yourself for once instead of hoping for a magic pill, people!!!
bird - yeah, groin strains can take ages to heal. fortunately mine isn’t too bad. it is healing up okay and ready for gentle stretching
charlie - i think i was overly ambitious… can’t reach back far enough to see the floor yet lolz. think i need to take it a bit gentler / slower.
nadia - thanks so much! that helps a lot! i love your crazy merican accent rofl!!! i really didn’t know what you meant by reaching back to a plank - but i got you now. need to practice a lot more. i’ve been doing some headstands, too. to help me practice balancing myself inverted. need to practice them, too.
Pixie… I do blame the trainers.
I’ll admit I had a bit of trouble when I was a visiting student to the US. In New Zealand / Australia we aren’t really expected to motivate undergraduate university students. The thought is that motivation is their problem. Providing appropriate content / assessment is the tutor / lecturers, but if the students don’t come to class, do their readings, or put a bit of time / effort into their study then that is the students problem.
Not so in the US. You are expected to motivate your students. To start with I thought that was a crock… But I kind of came around to that way of thinking.
I think that part of why we want lecturers / tutors / personal trainers to be passionate about what they are doing is the hope that that passion will rub off on the learner. I suppose one can try and motivate with threats (of failure) but generally speaking people do better when they are coaxed / shown to take pride in positive achievements rather than shamed by failures.
I got angry with the PT who will only share his toys with people who pay… Because I’m used to the whole ‘freedom of information’ thing found in academia. you want me to send you a PDF of my publication because you can’t afford to buy it hells yeah! i’m flattered you are interested in what i have!! i know people have to make a living… but i’ll never try and bind people to me. if you love something set it free…
hopefully the student surpasses the teacher. that is the best gift of all. not gaining a slave. that is just weird.
differnet things motivate different people i guess. for me… a little bit of dilligent training that was kinda sorta fun (some ‘dinking around’) led to actual progress towards goals i never really thought i’d ever be able to achieve. to start with stupid little goals like being able to balance on my knees on a gym ball. eventually… a bit of harder work to be sure. but then better goals like snatching 40kg. i think people do need to learn to find the joy in dilligent work. need to learn to go ‘hells yeah!’ when they do a little better than before. and to get that endorphin rush of a high when they really slog their guts out. i think it can be learned. and i think that some people need a bit of a hand… need to be taught, yeah.
and a lot of pt’s… don’t seem to have it figured for themselves. can’t model shit because they can’t do shit. can’t model progress because they aren’t making progress. can’t model that it is okay to fail because they are scared to fail themselves. can’t teach the person to take pride in their own achievement because their own ego / self esteem is too bound up in their being needed… i don’t think that is okay.
you tell me this is the last hill so go all out → i go all out.
you then tell me that this next hill is the last hill so go all out → i get gassed and have to stop.
you get disappointed that i quit. i’m disappointed in myself.
next time:
you tell me this is the last hill so go all out → i suspect you are lying. i pull faces so you think i’m going all out but make sure i leave something in the tank.
you then tell me that this next hill is the last hill so go all out → i’m able to continue working and pulling faces.
you are happy because you think i exceeded what i’m capable of.
but really you just taught me to be mistrustful and histrionic.
not to mention… more of an endurance than power athlete.
still… less likely to be injured?
perhaps.
Try my gym - you can only use the kettlebells if you are being supervised, so they only come out for the PTs and in classes. Bah.
Backwards roll - Nadia’s vid makes it look easy peasy. Into handstand? Wow. I can do one and get back on my feet without my knees touching the mat but it’s not pretty like Nadia’s. Main thing, though (aside from the hands - when I was being taught I was told to imagine I was a waiter carrying trays on both sides) is tuck your damn chin in. Makes it so much easier to roll back (and you won’t hurt your neck). It’s very easy to tweak your levator if you don’t tuck your chin properly.
so a trainer got that young chick supersetting bosu squats with a strength bag (around 10kg not to depth) with smith machine squats (about 35kg not to depth).
people lie on their stomachs and someone else holds a foam roller and rolls it up and down the back of their thighs.
?
i guess some people go to the gym for the social aspect. that is all that is important for some people. they might want a trainer because they want a bit of extra attention. that is all. they don’t want to work hard. they don’t care about progress.
i guess that happens a lot more in gyms than i’d thought.
i hope one doesn’t need to feed into that as a trainer in order to make a living.
integrity.
not to judge other people - but that is not me.
ambivalent about my gym…
need to fill a prescription for nicotine replacement… i think that nicotine might be a lot more important for my mental health / mood stabilization than i’d supposed :-/
sorry for the crappy log, peoples.
TRAINING
snatch to max - 35kg. this should be a reliable triple but its a guys bar, has no snatch grip markers, and i’m lifting on a slightly squishy rubber surface. not finishing the pull mostly because i’m scared of hip bashing it since my grip isn’t reliable. did some powersnatch triples…
clean to max - powerclean. 50kg. i should have got 55 but not today. did some clean pulls with straps.
squat jerk - up to 27.5kg i think. bottoming out the squat.
front squat - up to 50kg for a single. 52.5kg no could do.
gymnastics - back rolls. still not up on hands…
headstand. can kick up now. can fall back into a sorta bridge so not so scared about falling on my back. getting better
handstand. can kick up sometimes but mostly not. once i’ve kicked up can’t seem to hold the balance yet.
there are some wooden blocks so used them to help me with pigeon pose. need to work on my hip external rotation and bending back from the hip (rather than lumbar spine). some bridges.