Beginners Gains

Training
561

[quote]brute_fury wrote:
makes me want to do the charleston with my glowsticks!! word!
[/quote]

what do you think i do between sets???
‘squats are FUN and i LOVE them’ i say to myself.

Coco EP got me from air squats to about 40kg. Think I need something else to get me from 40kg to 60kg, though. Hard Rock or Metal or something. Reggae sure as hell isn’t gonna do it…

Thanks for the support, guys :slight_smile:

TRAINING:

eva / rolling warm-up. discovered if i softball roll more to the inside and outside of under my feet there are some major knots. never thought to venture that far round and up the sides… good to have learned.

SNATCH:
bar warmup and singles at 20 and 25kg

30kg
1x3. okay. FASTER!!!

32.5kg

  1. good.
  2. FASTER!!!.
    0, 0, 0 WTF???
    losing them forwards - up on the balls of my feet in the catch (think i’m not extending properly in the second pull and the first pull is too slow).

30kg 1, 1. hmm… same as above except i’m strong enough not to lose them forwards at this weight.
3 sets of: snatch pull to knee, snatch knee paused powerclean, snatch. felt like much better second pull with the knee pausing. much faster pull from the ground with only doing that range of motion first, too.

32.5kg one set as above.

35kg pull to knee - rest - snatch. 2 sets. felt good. tried to do knee paused ones but 0, 0, 0. heh. that’ll teach me to pull it properly. felt faster from the floor, at least.

SQUATS (MAX SINGLE DAY)
15kg 1x5
20kg 1x3 (was meant to skip this weight but forgot)
25kg 1x3
30kg 1x3
35kg double
37.5kg triple. thought this was a triple PB but realized on the way home -WRONG! fucked up the math. should have gone for a triple at 40kg. grr at self.
40kg single.
42.5kg single.
45kg (going for PB) - felt really heavy in the rack. i haven’t held this in the rack since christmas when i powercleaned it once or twice. bit freaked out. went to take off 2.5kg then aim to work back and remembered that the opposite strategy was more likely to help. added 2.5kg and held it in the rack for a bit… then took 2.5kg off and tried to squat it!
0
0
0
dammit. quads held in there for a while but the bar wasn’t going to go up. realized on the way home i should have tried to squeeze glutes together / push hips through at that time to try and help my quads.
35kg 1
37.5kg 1
40kg 1
(just to remind myself that i don’t suck that bad at squats).

s’ok. i’ll get 45kg next week.

i think i like squats again, at least. not too far away from looking forward to them. really happy about my strategy of 5x5 one day 8x3 one day and heavy single one day. if i miss out on one or two of those strategies i feel like i’m missing out… then mix things up too soon to see progress. this way i kinda feel like i’m hitting my front squats from all sides. or something. even though i didn’t get either of my squat goals today (PB triple and single). boo. oh well. will get them both next week :-p

ABS:
20kg plate plank 60 seconds x3. I said once that I don’t feel anything in that first minute. WRONG. The last one was hard, in particular. from about 10 seconds in.

Gym closed tomorrow. How dare they. Oh well, supposed to have one day off a week, anyway…

562

[quote]kpsnap wrote:

[quote]alexus wrote:
i feel like i’m just starting to find a part of myself that is confident and capable. just starting… hopefully it will grow.

[/quote]

What a beautiful statement. Isn’t it funny how a sport can help one achieve this? I don’t know whether it’s the perseverance and eventual, although often small, successes? Or if getting stronger makes one feel mentally stronger and, thus, more confident? The psychology of this really interests me.[/quote]

x2
I think it must be a little bit of both Snap.

Alexus, you mentioned Oroboro’s words on Snaps log. I’ve gone back to read that comment again too. I thought it was poetic when she said it.

The mental, physical, emotional - it’s all connected. Your sheer force of will has led you to do so many things that should have been physically impossible. It makes me realize how we tend to put limits on ourselves, based on age, experience, medical history, size, whatever. It takes a certain courage to decide that these “limitations” are not going to limit us. That’s a very powerful thing.

OK, that’s enough being deep. Nice training. And what is with you smoking? Stop that!

563

Is that 40kg plus the bar, or including it?

564

Including it. That’s right Cal, your ‘sucky’ squat is less sucky than mine :-p

565

yes, overcoming limitations. doing things i never thought it was possible for me to do. told myself i didn’t have the desire… but was scared, really. i’d imagine each and every one of us has a story to tell about what we get out of the weights room (or the running track, or the sports field) etc.

i used to think sports was for stupid people who didn’t have the mental capacity to appreciate higher pleasures like art or music or chess or whatever… of course i’ve learned i was wrong. i think thats why i find it amusing to see people lift with glasses, though. or otherwise see signs of geekiness from people obsessed with lifting / sports. i guess that is how i found this site.

566

Unleash the BEAST!!!

:slight_smile:

567

Heh Alexus… Good to know I’m not the only person to suffer from squat suckage! Well there’s only one way to improve…
As for geekiness, there’s plenty of it in this industry. You’ve heard people discussing the merits of one supplement over another, or whether cardio should be fasted or not, or done at all… There’s actually a lot of bloody science involved. The top bodybuilders are probably know more about nutrition and the endocrine system than most biology grads.

568

I know you’ll get the 45kg next week too.
Just stop thinking about the weight so much. It’s the freaking out part that’ll hurt ya.

569

alexus, I am just so UNBELIEVABLY proud of you for sticking with the squats. I almost fell off of the bed when I read that you’re close to “looking forward to them.” Hurray. You will so totally nail the 45 kg next week.

Awesome work and awesome personal growth. :slight_smile:

570

Yeah lots of geekiness here! 8)

I’m the most introverted and OCD afflicted person I know, and I work with a lot of programmers and techs. Counting sets is very pleasing :slight_smile: I used to have to do everything in sets of 2,4,8 or 16. I’m glad I got over that and can do triples now.

[quote]Nikki9591 wrote:
I know you’ll get the 45kg next week too.
Just stop thinking about the weight so much. It’s the freaking out part that’ll hurt ya.[/quote]

This is so true. Just thinking that a weight is new for me is enough to make me unable to lift it. It’s guaranteed that if you just keep at it you WILL get stronger. That’s a fact! And a promise :slight_smile: I bet you already are stronger but don’t know it yet.

571

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

The mental, physical, emotional - it’s all connected. Your sheer force of will has led you to do so many things that should have been physically impossible. It makes me realize how we tend to put limits on ourselves, based on age, experience, medical history, size, whatever. It takes a certain courage to decide that these “limitations” are not going to limit us. That’s a very powerful thing.
[/quote]

Wow Puff, this is also a very beautiful statement.

Aww Lex! I’m so happy for you and the progress your making physically, mentally, emotionally - its wonderful! And I’m so very, very glad you started logging. Being part of your journey and watching your personal growth is awesome and inspirational. I’m glad that you’re making so many “gains” on so many levels. (sentimental mascherano is sentimental!)

HAHAH! Lex, your music is awesome! I have questionable taste in music myself - I love to lift to house and club music, Argentinian rock, even spanish and italian 60s music…so i’m glad your tastes are eclectic as well!

HAHAH! (btw, notice Mina has 3 million hits…i’m sure I’m not the only one singing to this song with a bar on her back)

Look at those squats bitch! Very strong! I see youre rocking the triples, nice. I took your advice and started repping in 3s on my front and back squats. Its been helpful getting over my plateau. So thanks! And you’ll def get that 45k squat next week!! Keep up the momentum!

572

fighting off a sinus infection. not too bad. worse in the evenings / mornings.

usual eva / softball warmup

SNATCH:

usual warmup. snatches, pulling to knee, knee paused snatches, powercleans etc trying to get

  1. hips properly down in start position
  2. keep hips properly down (maintain vertical back angle) through to the second pull (gets hard just before second pull)
  3. really explode vertically (rather than bumping it horizontally) from the second position (‘finish the pull’)
  4. RAWR!!! speed. ideally gaining momentum from the floor to the explosion in second position
    not terribly successful. lots of missing…

some guys came in and one of them started showing the other how to powerclean. they really can powerclean a lot of weight without using any hip drive at all. put my i-pod on and finally CNS started to wake up.

35kg 1, 1, 1, 1 - feeling pretty good!!!
36kg 1 PB WOO HOO!!!
37kg 1, 1 PB WOO HOO!!!

holy crap these are a grind to stand up! i’ve been catching them lower than i’m used to, too, and need to ‘recollect’ my muscles for a tight bottom position before standing them up.

at this rate i’ll be snatching more than my max squat in no time.

heh.

:slight_smile:

bailed.

573

Great job!!!

574

thanks MOM. I’m working on it!!!

Cal - yes. the whole thing can be done ‘intelligently’. as i’m learning… also… i’m starting to value the so called ‘higher pleasures’ a lot less than i used to. often when hanging with the philosophers i think ‘people really would profit if they worried about this stuff a lot less and squatted a lot more!’ there is something wonderful about really being in the moment engaging in an activity. aesthetic component to sports, too. the ancient greeks were really onto something with that…

yeah Nikki. If I thought a lot less i’m sure I would squat a lot more! I think I’ve had a strength burst in this last month. It isn’t realized in my numbers yet because I worry about putting the weight on the bar. But things that used to feel freaking hard are feeling smooth and almost easy. So I’m certainly capable of doing more. Hopefully some of that will get realized next month (IF my joints get crappy and I need a deload over the next week or so) or this month if not.

thanks Vege :slight_smile: i think i’ll start looking forward to them soon, too.

thanks Debra. yeah, i reckon i am stronger :slight_smile: so happy :slight_smile:

cool song Masch. listening to music on my computer is very different from blasting it on my i-pod but i can hear that there really is some power in the song. i think i get how you can lift to it. i’m so glad i started logging here, too. i think you guys play a huge role in my staying passionate about this and persisting. it makes it okay that i rarely see other females lifting. it shows me that i can be feminine and RAWR!!! it informs me about what kinds of objective numbers i can reasonably expect if i work hard. i simply don’t worry about the girls who think i’m weird or not feminine or whatever for lifting anymore. it helps me feel less alone with this even though i guess i do put myself in self imposed exile in order to get in the zone and lift.

i think i’ll start putting 45kg or 50kg or even 60kg on the uprights and get used to how it feels in the rack position. give it a couple of bumps with my legs just to let it know i’ll push-press it one day. hopefully it will start feeling lighter in the rack so i’ll freak out less as i come to try and squat it.

575

Lots of personal bests going on on this page alone.:slight_smile:
Checked out the last vid too, what shy girl, shy girls don’t grunt like that in the gym;), also you where really getting under that bar looked great!

I’m not happy with my squat either. They had an article on T-Nation that suggested making sure to do your most hated exercises. Mine are abs so I do ab exercises every time I’m in the gym, now they signify the end of my workout, so starting to like them.

576

PB!! EYEAHHHH!!

577

When you’re squatting now you can know you can do it, because you can pretty much beat it with your snatches!

So awesome :slight_smile:

578

[quote]alexus wrote:
35kg 1, 1, 1, 1 - feeling pretty good!!!
36kg 1 PB WOO HOO!!!
37kg 1, 1 PB WOO HOO!!!

[/quote]

good job~ :slight_smile:

579

Alexus: Feeling stronger is a lovely feeling. I’m glad you’re feeling it–it is much deserved.

580

3x5 GHR (stick and pylo pushup assisted)

someone was good enough to leave their drain pipe so i had a roll. felt awesome on my lower legs and quads. must get.

deload time. not feeling too bad… but will take it easy over the next few days.