Alisa's Training Log

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerful Women
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Hi all,
I’m new here & fairly new to lifting (I started in November) and I thought I’d keep track of what I’m doing. I’m a college student on the East Coast – just your garden variety math nerd who xkcd: Exercise got a lot more interested in exercise once I made the connection to leveling up.

I’ve been doing Starting Strength up until now, but I think my gains are slowing and I’m looking into transitioning into fancier stuff sooner or later.

I ran cross country in high school and kept up distance running in college; weight lifting started for me as a way to exercise without being out in the cold, but it proved addictive. These days I run six miles three days a week, and lift three days a week (squats, deadlifts, bench, press, cleans, and sometimes other “fun” stuff.)

Numbers:
Height 5’6’’
Weight 131 (tentative goal 125)
Squat 145 (would like to get at least to 155)
Deadlift 195 (would like to get to 225)
Dumbbell Bench 60 (argh, awful, sorry, want to get to 90)
Dumbbell Press 50 (goal 60)
Also trying to get strong enough to do a pullup; as of now I can do it with ten pounds of assistance.

Please, advise, criticize, order me around!

Also, diet confuses me. I’ve never paid any attention to what I ate until about two weeks ago; I was always the “eat a lot, exercise a lot” type. (My boyfriend, who’s something of a fitness geek, was completely shocked that I didn’t know how many calories were in anything.)

Then I went to fitday and realized a normal day for me was 3000 calories, almost all carbohydrate, and so I’ve started eating more carefully. And, yes, I’ve lost 5.5 pounds (though I know it’s too soon to make judgments.)

The thing is, though, I wind up not wanting to eat much of anything. If I can’t eat candy, I’m not really hungry for more boiled eggs or chickpeas. 1200 calories is physically comfortable. But it seems so low – is it going to wreck my health? (Note: I’m a vegetarian.)

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So I’m going to assume you have goals of getting stronger and cleaning up the diet?

doesn’t everyone? :stuck_out_tongue:

Good luck!

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Pic from other side…
Also, I just started front squats today, at 95 lbs so I can work on form, and they bite my neck something awful. Big red welt. I feel like there’s got to be some solution, but I don’t know what.

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[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
So I’m going to assume you have goals of getting stronger and cleaning up the diet?

doesn’t everyone? :stuck_out_tongue:

Good luck![/quote]

Yeah, that’s basically it.
By the way, I saw your log, and you do fantastic things.

As far as food goes, here’s yesterday (pretty typical, I think)

Cheerios
two pieces of fruit candy

Salad with tomatoes, two hardboiled eggs, mandarin oranges
red kidney bean salad
apple
milky tea (chai)

Salad with tomatoes, two hardboiled eggs, mandarin oranges
chickpeas
coconut macaroon

This comes to a little under 1200 calories, on a day when I ran 8-ish miles.
Please, tell me what I should actually be eating!

I eat in a dining hall where there’s always a salad bar and a couple of main dishes (though often they’re fried.) So I’m not buying all my own food; and meals are social for me, so I don’t want the kind of diet where I can’t eat with my friends.

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[quote]AlisaV wrote:
mom-in-MD wrote:
So I’m going to assume you have goals of getting stronger and cleaning up the diet?

doesn’t everyone? :stuck_out_tongue:

Good luck!

Yeah, that’s basically it.
By the way, I saw your log, and you do fantastic things.

As far as food goes, here’s yesterday (pretty typical, I think)

Cheerios
two pieces of fruit candy

Salad with tomatoes, two hardboiled eggs, mandarin oranges
red kidney bean salad
apple
milky tea (chai)

Salad with tomatoes, two hardboiled eggs, mandarin oranges
chickpeas
coconut macaroon

This comes to a little under 1200 calories, on a day when I ran 8-ish miles.
Please, tell me what I should actually be eating!

I eat in a dining hall where there’s always a salad bar and a couple of main dishes (though often they’re fried.) So I’m not buying all my own food; and meals are social for me, so I don’t want the kind of diet where I can’t eat with my friends.[/quote]

Welcome on board!

What you need to eat is more. Don’t drop from 3000 to 1200… that’s not good news! If you want to drop calories, start slowly… 100-200 a week until you find out what you maintenance level is (where you’re not gaining/losing). Then you can adjust down if you want to lose weight, and adjust up to feed yourself and your training/running.

As for “what”… I don’t have a ton of ideas since you are a vegetarian. Also, carbs are not the devil - just choose the timing of them and choose wisely - brown rice, yams, oatmeal, whole wheat bread are better than white bread, white rice, cereal, etc. I’m personally a cranky bitch without carbs and my workouts go to shit. Don’t drop all the carbs just cuz you read low carb is the way to go. I drop weight on what is likely considered “moderate” carbs.

Oh and finally, regarding the front squats, I still get them. It’s just the way it is when you don’t have a whole lot of meat on your collar bones. If they really bother your neck or your wrists, I found using straps to hold the bar helped because I could adjut how much pressure was being put on my collarbone and it increased my range of where exactly to put it. My wrists back only really let it rest in one place.

Anywho, long winded post… In summary:

  1. Don’t be afraid of healthy carbs
  2. Eat more than 1200 calories or I will come beat your ass
  3. Suck it up buttercup re: front squats

PS. I’m one of the resident sarcastic bitches, so don’t take my “meanness” to heart.

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Thanks, and no, you don’t seem mean at all. I will try to be more moderate about the food (I don’t want you beating my ass!) I’m a bit impatient and vain about the weight loss, sorry to say, but I’ll keep it in check. Today I ate a lot because of seder; about 1900. But, you know, you have to be able to celebrate like a person.

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[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Thanks, and no, you don’t seem mean at all. I will try to be more moderate about the food (I don’t want you beating my ass!) I’m a bit impatient and vain about the weight loss, sorry to say, but I’ll keep it in check. Today I ate a lot because of seder; about 1900. But, you know, you have to be able to celebrate like a person.[/quote]

It happens, don’t worry. All I meant is that if you were eating 3000cals worth of crap, I bet you could lose weight just by cleaning up those 3000cals. If you start trying to lose weight at 1200cals, where are you going to go to when you eventually stall? There’s no room to move down, so you exercise more, still get in starvation mode because your body hates you and you don’t lose the lbs you want.

If you can get to 2400 clean calories, I will put money on you still losing weight. It’s just better to get back there now, rather than spending too much time at 1200 since you said you haven’t been watching what you ate until 2 weeks ago. Stay at 1200 too long and you will screw up (slow down) your metabolism and it will take time just to ramp it up again. Try to eat 5-6 meals a day, include some form of protein in every meal, and make it to 2400kcals.

I know all to well first-hand about this. I was training for a half-marathon and eating about 1200-1400calories a day, mainly protein (which ddot can attest to if he ventures over here)… I had lost weight and was scared of carbs and overeating. It took a few weeks of a steady meal plan, but once I got up to 2400 cals, I was losing pounds, having better workouts and running sessions and had a shitton more energy. Just saying :slight_smile:

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Yeah… I seem to have already stopped losing weight (I guess that first week was just water) and (forgive me for being blunt) but I haven’t had a BM in a really long time, which I take to mean something is wrong with my diet. Since I can’t really eat less than 1200, I guess I’ll trust you and eat more … anybody else has a second opinion? The reason I’m a little suspicious is that I know you’re a competitive lifter and so I imagine you train a lot harder than me.

Here’s a typical workout schedule
Mon:
3x5 squat
3x5 bench (these days I also do 3x5 flies)
3x5 deadlift
(other stuff… abs, lat pulldowns, curls, leg presses, no specific program)

Tue:
run 5-8 miles

Wed:
3x5 squat
3x5 press
3x5 deadlift
(other stuff)
(these days I’m going to try to make Wednesday front squat day)

Thu: run 5-8 miles

Fri
3x5 squat
3x5 bench & 3x5 fly
3x5 deadlift
(other stuff)

Sat: run 5-8 miles

Sun: off

In practice, I take one off day a week if I really need the time to work, and it might not always be Sunday. Sometimes I actually do run Sunday.

The “other stuff” isn’t in Starting Strength, but it’s fun; maybe I should be more scheduled about it, though?

Also, I lift everything at my 5 rep max.

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I would, for one,take the focus off of losing weight for starters…your already pretty lean and you WEIGH 131 POUNDS!!!

If you put the focus on making better food choices,with a good lifting program(which you seem to have) then I bet things would happen quicker than you’d imagine!

I am the queen of eating in a low calorie range…it’s not good, and it’s taken me two years to realize this…

It’s hard to swallow, especially when most things you read state to eat less, exercise MORE! Kind of confusing to someone who’s already eating 14-1600 cals a day!

10

Ok, point taken.
Thank you, and I kind of knew I was being unreasonable.
Thing is, I go to an Ivy League school, so girls are tiny; I’m usually the biggest woman in the gym (though granted I’m the only one who lifts heavy; it’s a lot of sorority girls on ellipticals). You can get a little neurotic around here.

But you’re right – I think more than that, I want to get my lifts up.

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ew, I think I would puke all over those girls’ shoes…LMAO!!!

But in the end you will be setting a good example…going all day on an elliptical won’t get you hawt abz :stuck_out_tongue: It WILL change your body in a way that cardio can’t though…

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It sounds like you’re on the right track. I would definately take Courts advice on eating. She can eat like it’s her job.

I think you’ll find that once you start putting on muscle, you’ll start burning up fat pretty quickly. When I started I was about your size or a bit bigger. I’m now at 121lbs at 5’6" and trying to put on a fit of fat.

I did front squats last night for the first time in ages and it didn’t bother my neck but it completely flattened me otherwise.

I apologise for giving you a tough time when you posted in SAMA. There have been a number of fake people. I’m glad to see you posting your training here and that you’re real after all :slight_smile:

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Thanks. And sorry about that SAMA thing; that was stupid of me.

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[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Thanks. And sorry about that SAMA thing; that was stupid of me.[/quote]

No, it isn’t stupid; we just have been hurt so many times before. :wink:

I agree with eating more…I think it is important to not worry about the scale, worry more about how you look and how your clothes fit. You’re quite lean already!

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing your progress!

15

[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Yeah… I seem to have already stopped losing weight (I guess that first week was just water) and (forgive me for being blunt) but I haven’t had a BM in a really long time, which I take to mean something is wrong with my diet. Since I can’t really eat less than 1200, I guess I’ll trust you and eat more … anybody else has a second opinion? The reason I’m a little suspicious is that I know you’re a competitive lifter and so I imagine you train a lot harder than me.
[/quote]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Yes, I compete in powerlifting, and yes my training sessions are intense, however I also don’t have to fuel my body to run 15-25 miles a week. I lift heavy shit, on occassion think about doing cardio and even more rarely actually do it.

The eating I was talking about was before I started really lifting though. I was eating that when training for a half marathon (so similary mileage to what you do) and only weight training twice a week. Now my eating depends on how lazy I am and what I’m trying to do. I can maintain at around 2400 on non-training days and 2600 on training days if I’m eating clean.

But that’s me and my body - figure out what your maintenance is and go from there. But as someone else said (PMPM maybe), you will feel better when you forget about the scale and focus on clothes and how your body looks.

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Oh, and Sugar Free Orange Flavored Metamucil is AWESOME!!!

:wink:

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[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
Oh, and Sugar Free Orange Flavored Metamucil is AWESOME!!!

;-)[/quote]

Just make sure you drink lots of water with it or it can exacerbate the problem. The taste isn’t half bad. Almost like gritty orange koolaid.

18

Beautiful long run in the sunshine today.

I was planning on trying for some PR’s tomorrow, but my hands are still so ripped up that I may not be able to do anything impressive with deadlifts. (I was an idiot; I’ve been working out without chalk. At this point I’m just sick of getting my hands bloody. Genug! Now the chalk is in the mail.)

Anyhow, I think my bad deadlift form has caught up with me. I was never able to get even a very light weight up if I didn’t round my back, so I was just bending over and picking it up as best I could. Well, it’s starting to be rough on my lower back, so I’m going to try to do it with correct form. It just confuses me – if you can’t lift with your back, how can you get anything off the ground? (I’m sorry about how this sounds; yes, I’ve seen videos of deadlifts with good form, and I’ll just try to look at myself carefully and be humble about how much weight I can do.)

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Good Mornings 6x5@70
DB Press 3x5@50
Squat 3x5@135, 1x5@145
Hanging leg raises

The deadlift thing worries me. Tried practicing with just the bar, and it’s still not quite right. If I get all the way down with my knees to my chest and my chest up, I have no idea where to push from. If the bar is really light, I can just squat it up, but otherwise I can’t figure it out.

I can bend over at the waist, only bend my knees a little bit, and pick anything up that way. I think all my “deadlifts” up till now were actually Romanian deadlifts, come to think of it. I can’t do ANYTHING if my butt’s down below my knees.

I think my lower back may be the weak link, so I’m doing good mornings for a while. They hurt in new and interesting places, which is a good sign.

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Have you ever tried rack pulls?
It’s a good practice exercise for Deadlifts, imo…you get sense of what if feels like to pull back through the arms, shoulders and down through your heels and the initiation of pulling your hips through…