JLo booty is nothing to moan about, my dear.
Your squats and overhead squats seem like they are really progressing. Nice! Military press is by far my weakest link, and I can’t blame shoulder injury for that. I can put tiny little weights on the oly bar, but that’s about it. You’ve got me beat by alot.
yeah…what kimba said!!!
booty booty booty! isn’t it awesome how squats can do that? my booty got a lift after 5-6 months of pussy-weight squats, lunges and RDLs…we more mature gals must work for that shit. at least we can lift our asses by virtue of weights…our boobies are another story…
congrats on your OH squats and presses! you and i have the brokt wrist problem going on…
so-5/3/1 in jan? i have to admit i’m feeling slightly out of touch with workouts right now…i finished an almost 15 hour work day today…training will be a challenge for me over the next couple weeks, but i must do some strength training for the month of jan, into feb. (before a lean out phase)
5/3/1…january…
me, you, maybe MIM? 
i look forward to it.
Talenaah, I’m in for 5/3/1 in January too. Gotta prepare for being the weakest link at the comp in March.
weakest link? whaaaaatchootalkinbout spider?
i read what your are sayin, but it’s just not so! you know you are are my hate list with your guns showin like that in your avi? your block choppin avi was already awesome…now this? 
you won’t be the weakest link.
at least there are a few of us newbs to that program…
oh…hi, Cal!
Wrist pain in the OHS can also be caused by improper grip technique. You should get the bar as close to the base of the wrist as possible and hook your thumb around it before gripping it with the fingers. Basically use the hook grip but don’t pinch the thumb. Switching to the hook grip solved me heaps of problems with the snatch and overhead squat when I first started out with olympic weightlifting
PS. Do you do shoulder “dislocation” stretches? They’re a massive help with the snatch type exercises.
Yup I do dislocates as part of my warm-up. Wrist pain is caused by carpal tunnel from computer use - it’s not too severe but it does make some movements a bit more difficult. Thanks for the pointers.
Talenaah - some plastic surgeon invented a titanium bra which sits inside the boob and keeps it from sagging. Not a common procedure yet but I guess it’s an alternative if you want a lift but don’t want an implant. Think I’ll stick with my puppy’s ears though.
Dont forget me for 5/3/1 for Jan as well!
Cool, sounds like there are quite a few of us as well as the ladies who are on it already. I’m looking forward to it. My ego won’t like dropping the weights but my joints will heave a big sigh of relief.
Talenaah: being on the hate list is a high compliment! I’ll try to give you more reason to hate in 2010. XO
Hi Cal, 5/3/1 here we go…
Monday again, meh…
1 x 10 x me
1 x 8 x me +10kg (22lbs)
1 x 5 x me +15kg (33lbs)
1 x 5 x me +20kg (44lbs)
No progress from last time - felt tired, but that’s cos I’m doing them at 7am on a Monday morning rather than 11am on a weekend.
1 x 15 x 20kg (44lbs)
1 x 12 x 25kg (55lbs)
1 x 10 x 30kg (66lbs)
1 x 7 x 35kg (77lbs)
Don’t often do these, mainly because they’re in the main gym which I don’t much like, but they are pretty useful for my shitty posture. Did these very strict - no forward bend, hence not going heavy.
Negative pull-ups: 3, 3, 3
Push-ups (feet elevated): 12, 12, 12
Did the negatives slowly. Grip was difficult - my hands got a bit sweaty and I hadn’t brought chalk.
Doing negatives because I’m at my heaviest ever, currently, so pulling my fat arse up would mean single rep sets at best.
30kg Dumbell rows: 5, 5
Alternate arm Dumbell snatches: 5 (16kg), 5 (18kg)
Grip was shot so stopped after two sets. Felt like enough.
60 x hypers
30 x reverse hypers
30 x GH raises
Then stretching.
Joints are bothering me a fair bit at the moment - wonder if it’s because I’m eating too many nuts? Hmm. Or could be I need a break.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
Monday again, meh…
1 x 10 x me
1 x 8 x me +10kg (22lbs)
1 x 5 x me +15kg (33lbs)
1 x 5 x me +20kg (44lbs)
No progress from last time - felt tired, but that’s cos I’m doing them at 7am on a Monday morning rather than 11am on a weekend. [/quote]
I so understand how day of the week/time of day really fucks with strength.
1 x 15 x 20kg (44lbs)
1 x 12 x 25kg (55lbs)
1 x 10 x 30kg (66lbs)
1 x 7 x 35kg (77lbs)
Don’t often do these, mainly because they’re in the main gym which I don’t much like, but they are pretty useful for my shitty posture. Did these very strict - no forward bend, hence not going heavy. [/quote]
I’ve been similarly been experiencing the good-posture usefulness of face pulls.
Negative pull-ups: 3, 3, 3
Push-ups (feet elevated): 12, 12, 12
Did the negatives slowly. Grip was difficult - my hands got a bit sweaty and I hadn’t brought chalk.
Doing negatives because I’m at my heaviest ever, currently, so pulling my fat arse up would mean single rep sets at best.[/quote]
Agreed. BW either plus or minus really affects my pull-ups. I’m at the point where even a pound more or less makes a big difference.
60 x hypers
30 x reverse hypers
30 x GH raises[/quote]
Raising the hyper-bar to 60, are we? Yikes!
I don’t recall you taking a deload week in awhile. Me neither, for that matter. I was saving that for the week in between Xmas and New Years, when gym access gets a bit spotty anyway.
Heh well I was reading Molly’s thread about training the lumber region for endurance (seeing as the standing-up-straight muscles are about that, rather than strength) and it made sense to me. 60 reps hurt though - I was pulling some serious murder face during the last 10 or 12 reps.
Likewise, was saving deload for Christmas, in case I my prodigal boyfriend shows up (he lives in Manchester and I think I’ve only seen him maybe three or four times this year). He is promising to try and see me at least some time over the holiday week, anyway.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
Likewise, was saving deload for Christmas, in case I my prodigal boyfriend shows up (he lives in Manchester and I think I’ve only seen him maybe three or four times this year). He is promising to try and see me at least some time over the holiday week, anyway. [/quote]
I hope the boyfriend thing works out how you want it to. Manchester is pretty far away.
Yeah, though the main problem is that he’s a workaholic and he is running a (small) games company that’s struggling to stay afloat, so he can never say when he’ll be free. Frustrating much?
Anyway, on to today’s workout, which was basically squats.
Warm-up: hypers, plate slides, etc.
2 x 10 x bar - warm up
1 x 10 x 30kg (66lbs) - warm up
1 x 12 x 40kg (88lbs)
1 x 8 x 45kg (99lbs)
1 x 6 x 50kg (110lbs)
Left it at that as lower back was grumbling.
Overhead squats, bar only x 8
Good mornings, bar only x 12
2 x 20
Cool down: clams, stretching.
And that’s all folks.
Did your BF arrive early?
Where you at?!
I’m at the computer. No, I don’t know when he’ll come - sometime between Christmas and New Year I imagine. And probably the same time as Aunt Flo, knowing my luck.
Didn’t wake up until 6 this morning and an hour is just no long enough for me to feel human enough to go to the gym, but as I can’t work out tomorrow (on earlies) or Saturday (seeing friends) I went anyway. Joints are all giving me shit so I stayed away from benching and shoulder press.
Body Rows: 10, 10, 10
Ballistic incline push-ups: 10, 10, 10
Did these on the Smith Machine - well it has to be useful for something other than a towel rail. The push-ups were basically to warm me up a bit.
Negative Pull-ups: 3, 3, 3 (all slow)
One arm Push-ups: 3, 3, 3
2 x 10 20kg (44lbs)
2 x 10 x 18kg (40lbs)
Some shoulder rehab-type stuff, and stretching to cool down.
Nothing spectacular here. Will take some time off over Christmas and come back fresh in the new year.
Hey Cal! I was looking at your squat video and the girls were right about keeping your head up. The body will always follow the head, (ever ride a motorcycle? same concept)so always keep your head UP! Another thing, I know you got the advice to drop the bar lower, and that will also help you as long as you are getting comfortable with it.
Something that will also help is (lets see if I can describe this) when you are squatting out of the bottom, drive your elbows forward and lead with your chest. Dont just rely on your legs, use everything to get you out of the hole…(hahaha, hole.) Your dont want to do this so much so that you throw yourself off but try it next time with an easy weight you have no problem with. You should never attempt to change your form on a heavy weight for you. Hope this helps!
[quote]BlackWidowGirl wrote:
Something that will also help is (lets see if I can describe this) when you are squatting out of the bottom, drive your elbows forward and lead with your chest. Dont just rely on your legs, use everything to get you out of the hole…(hahaha, hole.) Your dont want to do this so much so that you throw yourself off but try it next time with an easy weight you have no problem with. You should never attempt to change your form on a heavy weight for you. Hope this helps![/quote]
This is excellent advice. I try to think about this on every rep.
Good for you getting to the gym for a training even when you really weren’t feeling it!
Thanks for the advice. Yeah, it’s a long hard road with the squat. It’s improving - it no longer feels as unnatural as it once did, although there’s lots of improvement needed. One thing though - it’s a bit of a strain on the elbows. I know I can lessen the stress on them by adopting a wider grip but the bar doesn’t feel as safe that way.
snow in London…man i need to go back to that city someday. sorry you are headed to work in the snow!
hmmm, elbow strain…don’t have that but i’m noticing some strain in the shoulders, around the fronts, i think. i will continue experimenting with my best form and keep tweaking until it is not so unnatural for me as well.