nice video! You have more balls than me! I haven’t tried anything more than DLs and Squats yet. Your gym IS super creepy…especially the clicking noise of the fan? 
also, your local lung researcher applauds your smoking cessation efforts 
YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Your body will love you for it (when it’s done being angry)
Alexus: I can’t help you at all with your ass clenching, imaginary tail tucking questions. But, congrats on those dips and pullups and leg raises. WTG. And get yourself on a bench! Must it be a reward? I always thought it was a good for you do it now kinda thing.
[quote]alexus wrote:
This is probably a really stupid question (so I’ll hide it in the middle of a bunch of text lol). Um…
[/quote]
OMG!! This is beyond hilarious!! It is a good question tho. I’ll have to think about it and do some sqwatz to see what my opinion is. I can’t imagine flexing my glutes apart! Like, how do I…what if i shit myself?..
Anyways, i’ll mull it over and get back to you (currently at work - must look serious and professional! and like i’m working)
And I agree re: what you said about back squatting low bar vs. Oly, which is why I was so surprised i felt more glute and ham activation when i started squatting ATG. Clearly something was amiss before.
Will return soon! Nice training!
ps. Bre - too funny!
Glutes…thrust 'em forward. At the same time, you need to spread the floor apart with your feet. Imagine you’re standing on a sheet of newspaper and you’re trying to rip it apart down the middle. That’s all I’ve got.
haha - thanks Bre! Deadlifts and Squats are superbadass! The gym isn’t so(ooo) bad. I like how it isn’t commercial (like the rest of the gym) and they turn a blind eye to ‘violations’ like taking your shoes off and dropping the bumpers on the rubber off the platform (mostly). but I do wish they would invest in the heavy weights room a little more in ways that the regulars would like. There was some talk about them wanting to put more mirrors in, for example, but I think regulars would prefer air conditioning, bars without texas chainsaw massacre grips, or baby bumpers even (oh wait - thats just me). The clicky fan is the main reason why I turn up my i-pod.
Nadia - I read somewhere (possibly dubious, but whatever) that push-ups are better for the shoulders than benching and so it was recommended that you held off benching until you could do 3x10 push-ups and kept doing push-ups along with benching. I know training for powerlifting is different - because benching is one of the main exercises. I’m more focused on keeping my shoulders healthy to do jerks than how much I can bench, though. The main reason I want to bench is because I feel a bit left out since everyone else seems to be benching but me! Would like to have a respectable bench, but I’d also really like to be able to do behind the back clapping push-ups and one armed push-ups
OMG people found my buried question! Um… Yeah, flexing doesn’t make much sense… There is just some particular way of holding yourself / recruiting muscles for the movement that I’m simply not getting… I think I do have an unstable hip. Probably congenital (stories about how I used to click my hip before I started school). Feels like the femur jams into the front portion of the hip socket when I try and raise my leg (hence trouble with leg raising movements). Something I’m not getting in how you get proper hip drive (leg extension back) when coming out the hole. I think it might be about learning to really pull the femur into the socket and then figuring how squeeze my glutes to initiate the hip drive. Probably some socket / femur head structural abnormality such that a hIp replacement is probably on the cards one day. Still… Best thing I can do is try and use my muscles properly and try and get smoother and stronger ROM with it. Need to play with just the bar. Again. Sigh. Need to figure this out. Thanks Masch and Cal
Gym tonight.
YAY!!!
[quote]
Some cycles it hits me hard, other cycles there isn’t much of a difference. [/quote]
I’m the same way, sometimes I do my best during that time, other times I fail miserably.
Girls have it so much harder than the men
Great work on that pull-up, definetely improvement. I have to get on track with that too, I can’t even do one from tippy-toe ;(
You’re so adorable with the “hide in the middle of text” thing.
You can always try both ways to see what works for you. I don’t squeeze my glutes together, so I guess you can say that I “flex them apart?”
For the dips, I don’t think leaning forward is cheating, if you want to hit the chest. For triceps, I’m upright though.
I guess that’s another preference though. Because when I was training with someone else, he wanted me to do the dips completely straight, but I wanted to target my chest. And my tris get fatigued before my chest in that position.
Awesome training today.
I wonder if we do have it harder, Nikki… Or if we get performance peaks that balance things out over the longer run. I failed to do one from tippy-toe today - so that last one might well have been a crazy fluke lol. Thanks for explaining about the dips. What you say makes a lot of sense, I was kinda thinking that holding yourself differently might work the muscles a bit differently. Good for me to work chest since I do triceps push-ups (or try to).
WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
Feeling terrific after taking things easy so great training session:
Front Squat 6x6:
Warm up 20kg 1x3, 25kg 1x3
Work sets 27.5kg. WAH!!! Almost failing on some of the latter reps in the last three sets. Didn’t, though
PowerSnatch / Snatch 8x3 (roughly):
25kg psn 2x3
27.5kg psn 1x3, psn psn sn
30kg psn psn sn
sn miss (forwards on toes in catch) psn psn
psn 1x3
sn 3x1
Very happy with this but think the bar is hitting a bit low down my leg and isn’t smoothly gaining momentum.
PowerClean / Clean - stuffing around, basically. Legs tired of squatting.
Worked up to 40kg. Failed to stand it up twice. Not so surprising since it has to be a good day indeed for me to be able to squat 40kg.
Deadlift: It has been a while.
50kg 1x5
60kg 1x5
70kg 1x4 fail. 1x1.
Working hard on getting my legs under and using them from the floor. Got the missed one an inch off the floor but could feel it pulling my back out so bailed. Think I might need to work deadlifts at a lighter weight (maybe around 60kg) for more sets / reps to get the form good.
Couple chins / failed chins / failed pull ups. Exhausted.
THURSDAY MORNING:
Overhead Squat 5x5:
Warm up: 20kg 2x5
25kg 5x5
Feeling exhausted.
AMT: 26 minutes.
I typically do train Wednesday evening / Thursday morning. Which is why I’m typically feeling wrecked on Thursday. Still need to figure my program… But Thursday is going to be a scheduled light day / mobility work day. Not conditioned enough to train that close together…
I hate buff guys who look like they are trying to give each other butt sex when one of them curtsies 120kg.
I hate it how they act like they know how to instruct others on squats just because they are guys / look buff / because they can curtsey 120kg.
I hate it how they comment to each other on what I’m doing trying to psych me out.
I hate gangs of guys who stand really close in front of me when I’m lifting and stare at my face.
Actually, I hate any guy who does that.
I hate guys who crowd me just because they think the weight I’m lifting is trivial.
I hate it how after all my hard work I’m only about as strong as an unathletic untrained guy.
edited to include: and of course i shouldn’t say ‘i hate them’ it is more that i disapprove (strongly) of their behavior… stuff like this doesn’t usually bother me. or actually, i haven’t encountered it in a while. maybe it is just the new semester’s resolutioners… it is a bit sad but i guess the guys i usually train with scare them such that they don’t stare at me / comment etc. different when i’m training alone 
[quote]alexus wrote:
I hate buff guys who look like they are trying to give each other butt sex when one of them curtsies 120kg.
I hate it how they act like they know how to instruct others on squats just because they are guys / look buff / because they can curtsey 120kg.
I hate it how they comment to each other on what I’m doing trying to psych me out.
I hate gangs of guys who stand really close in front of me when I’m lifting and stare at my face.
Actually, I hate any guy who does that.
I hate guys who crowd me just because they think the weight I’m lifting is trivial.
I hate it how after all my hard work I’m only about as strong as an unathletic untrained guy.
[/quote]
I hate those guys too. Don’t worry, you’ll be making them feel inadequate in no time. The guys in my gym are all chests and it’s not hard to out squat them. You’ll catch up and pass them. =D
I don’t know about your gym but I am the only one doing oly lifts in my gym. We have four platforms in one gym and 3 in the other with crap loads of bumpers and they only get used for curls at the squat rack :\ So, I get looks from the gangs of guys but I think it’s partly because they’ve never seen anyone do the lifts that I’m doing. Actually there was a guy doing cleans & jerks tonight but that’s the first time I’ve seen anyone else.
Snatches really are impressive to watch at any weight so don’t be surprised if you get looks.
That said I bet the guys are more impressed than judgmental.
Do you have oly shoes? If so, what kind? (I’m looking and want reviews)
Boys are silly. Don’t let them intimidate you or get to you. I have found most people most of the time back down immediately when they are directly confronted. Just tell them to move.
And that whole “I am only about as strong as an unathletic untrained guy” sentiment is bull shit. You are a powerful woman. Now ROAR!
ha!oh you KNOW those dudes are feeling inadequate!! you’re going to town on stuff they can’t likely do!
where did you hear the “flexing” glute advice? :{ Squats are mostly hammies, and to an extent inner thighs and lower back for me–but i do em funky by nature. flexin booty–I’ve never heard that! and i missed it in the text as well 
The performance peaks are a good way to look at it. I won’t like the frequent deloading that comes with that time though, and if it’s one of those cycles where I’m energy-deprived, then I get moody and no one wins
I’m sure they don’t crowd you because they think that your weight is trivial. I’m sure they’re just impressed that you’re a female doing Oly stuff at all… heck, lifting weights at all.
I’m not defending them though, there are plenty of assholes at my gym as well. But sometimes it’s easy to confuse their intentions.
And you’re putting up numbers on those lifts that I can’t dream of doing, and I don’t consider myself an unathletic, untrained guy
Unless you hear the comments that you think is supposed to psych you out, don’t pay too much attention to it. One guy in the gym was pointing to me to a friend of mine, and I thought he was talking crap as well (but I brushed it off, I’m in the gym for me) and I found out later that he was harrassing my friend that he needs to train legs with me because I have good legs.
So yeah… get some rest, you’re sounding tired with all those “exhausted”
thanks guys. i guess i just feel pretty demoralized with respect to general strength. to be fair there are two main parts to the gym where people strength train. in the more commercial space (with all the non-cable machines, smith machines, and some benches / preloaded barbells, dumbbells) i feel pretty strong compared to the majority of the guys. in the heavy weights room i often feel demoralized, though. newbies come in and out military press me, learn squatting with significantly more than my max, reverse arm curl significantly more than my best powerclean, and so on… i guess they aren’t unathletic, though. they have been working out in the commercial space for a while before they decided to get serious, and / or they have a background in sports. i just feel pretty silly sometimes to be still struggling to do significantly less than they can do when they are just starting out. and yeah, i do think that some of them don’t respect me very much because of that. i think guys can be focused on objective weight moved over and above things like intensity of effort or strength to bodyweight or differences in weight moved with differences in exercise or technique or whatever…
most of the time i really do manage to zone them out (i-pod helps) and solely focus on my training. the crowding and staring and commenting gets me down, sometimes, though. with the crowding i guess they crowd each other. it is probably only the stronger oly lifting guys who don’t get crowded. i’m not strong enough to be throwing around weights that anybody considers scary, yet. sometimes people give me a little more space once they realize what I’m doing with the weights. sometimes they seem to notice my glaring (obviously waiting for them to move out the way) and they just give me a little smirk. helps me move the bar faster. at some point i simply will miss the weight forwards when someone does that and then the dude will learn. it is hardest when they move around in my line of gaze or stare at me… if i turn around for the next lift (which usually makes me miss because the bricks / mirror is too close and unnerves me) they usually get the message and wander off…
i guess they are a little psyched out that i’m doing the oly lifts. consoling themselves with ‘at least she isn’t moving much weight’. and maybe a little psyched out that i’m not in awe of their 120kg curtsey. that i can’t bear to watch most of them do anything because their technique makes my eyes bleed. i guess i really can be a bitch in the weights room because i feel so demoralized that i’m not stronger… so a lot of this is probably my own fault…
shoes…
weightlifting shoes are a speciality item that need to be shipped from europe / america - so they are hard to get in these parts and ordering them direct seems to involve being ripped off immensely on shipping. occasionally outfits like crossfit or whatever will get in a bulk shipment so in these parts unless price really is irrelevant (and time taken to ship / return and reship if needed) we are pretty much stuck with whatever might be available on bulk shipments.
i got these because they were cheap, shipped fast from aussie, and aren’t to(ooo) fugly so far as weightlifting shoes go:
http://www.qwa.org/products/content.asp
They are a perfectly adequate first pair of weightlifting shoes.
if price (including shipping price and time) wasn’t an issue i’d love a pair of the Adistar’s:
http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/products/shoesFR.html
They were designed for Beijing
The quality control is meant to be very good with them.
People who have them seem to love them (in the way that people who pay premium for black macbooks seem to love them if you get what I mean)
I’d also love a pair of these (because they are cute so far as weightlifting shoes go):
Because they are a women’s shoe in particular they might be a better idea if your feet are narrowish for women’s feet. That being said, my feet are normal width women’s feet and do fine in guys shoes (though best to avoid guys shoes that are known to run wide - as some weightlifting shoes are known for).
I hear there can be some quality control issues with the latter - but you can return them (without aussie shipping prices) so that’s ok.
There really should be a sticky thread on the oly forum about shoes…
Best review site I found was this (let the fugliness begin ha!):
Thanks Alexus!
I worry a bit about the sizing because I buy women’s shoe size 6 1/2 - 7 but my chucks are a boys/mens size 4, which apparently is supposed to be a woman’s 5 1/2.
You’re putting thoughts into these people’s heads that aren’t even there.
Aw Alexus, sucks that other gym goers are cramping your style. That would really demoralize me too. But you know what? Its like my coach said, “you’re a weight lifter, they just go to the gym” and you my dear are learning Olympic lifting, which as we know, its a very humbling experience even for the strongest of the strong. So wear your Oly shoes with pride and keep pushing forward!
Have you trained with O shoes yet? I know they help me when I squat and stomp and what have you - they give me that little extra something, all of which is completely mental i’m sure. HAH! I guess it just makes everything that much more official.
Nice work on the OH squats and DLs! I just took DLs out of my training b/c I wasn’t recovering fast enough to keep up with my other training. Is there a reason you put them into your regime?
In the gym as in every aspect of my life, I have decided a long time ago not to give a rat’s ass what other people thought. And the truth is, now that “people” know that I don’t give a damn, that I’m confident and can’t be hurt by their petty thinking, I have gained more respect. The herd will always beat up on the weakest link. That doesn’t make it right, but cultivate a little inner strength and this issue will be but the buzz of a fly.
I think you should grab a bar then twirling in circles. It would both clear the bubble around you and indicate you’re insane. Most people don’t mess with crazy. Maybe you could try frothing from the mouth too?
Do you still meet with the coach? How often?
Aww, Alexus don’t let people intimidate you. Everybody is right. Just go in there and do your thing. Don’t pay them any mind.
debra - everyone worries about sizing. i’m not sure what to say about it… once you have picked some then you could ask how the sizing compares to chucks for those particular shoes on the oly forum. otherwise might be a good idea to pick some with a good return / resend policy.
nikki - probably realized that half the battle is that one of my earphones no longer works so i can hear what i couldn’t hear before (and people think i still can’t hear them lol). i’ve also got a much larger personal space than most people and get a weird fight / flight thing going on when people get in my face (even though it is perfectly acceptable distance for most). i agree that they probably don’t mean anything by their comments / getting close. need to take some calm breaths and chill - or channel that fight response into kicking the bars ass.
masch - yeah, time to practice some stomping! deadlift recovery isn’t a problem for me so long as i reset each rep to get my legs under it and really focus on using knee / leg extension to get the bar from the floor to past my knees. my lower back seems to be stronger than my legs and once my legs turn to jelly or refuse to lift the weight i’m done for the day. i suspect i can max out my legs so often because they are so weak (max squat roughly = max push-press). i’m sure things would be different if i were stronger.
nimain - thanks. you guys really are awesome. i wish you all could come train with me! love your avatar btw.
pch - brilliant! or maybe i could bring along a hula hoop? i haven’t seen the guy who was coaching me since the break. maybe he gave up on his lifting or maybe he gave up on my lifting and is simply avoiding me… whatever… there are other guys around who oly lift, who used to oly lift, and who seriously strength train. i can ask them stuff and they are pretty helpful. i can post stuff here and people are pretty helpful, too. i try and either train when the room is almost empty or when they are around (with them 3-4 times a week).
veggie - yeah. i kinda like the ‘everyone is right’ mindset. new semester… i guess things will settle down and be more back to normal soon. must get my earphone fixed. think that is more than half the problem…