your program looks fun! I have to ask, is it anything in particular or just whatever you feel like doing?
That sucks you hurt your neck!! I hurt mine last summer, but I dont know how or how to fix it now…probably stop lifting for awhile but thats not likely to happen.
My neck’s a bit funny like that - I first pulled it as a kid. I was running round the garden, turned my head too quickly and argh! I remember my mum rubbing deep heat into it and it being a real pain to sleep. I’ve done it a few times since - I think it stems from my default sleeping position, which is lying on my front with head turned to one side. I try to sleep on my side now but I still wake up on my front from time to time. It’s annoying.
I base my workout around 1) how much time I have, 2) what equipment is free and 3) how I’m feeling that day. I don’t have a set routine, but I am fairly consistent about which exercises I do, so I know when I’m progressing.
Was not feeling too fantastic today due to the low carb thing, plus still tired from Thursday. Workout was his and miss.
Pull-ups:
3, 3, 3, 3, 2
(OK so on the last rep of the third and fourth sets I only got my nose to the bar, but I’ll take it). Getting better at these, slowly but surely.
Bench:
50kg (110lbs) x 8
55kg (121lbs) x 8
60kg (132lbs) x 4
Right shoulder wasn’t feeling right so stopped there.
Body rows (done on Smith machine - all it’s bloody good for)
10, 9, 8
Dips:
10, 9, 8, 8
(Some improvement over last week - I’ve only just started training these again following left shoulder RC problem)
T-bar rows (20kg/44lbs)
10, 8, 8
Was starving and low on energy at this point so called it a day.
Note to self for next week: no stupid ultra-low carb plus IFing challenges and eat enough to do a proper workout, bitch.
see- now your bench pisses all over mine.well done! awesome on the pull-ups.
that is another one of my goals…i think i would like to go for 5 real ones by end of winter training. i’ve found something at work i use (it’s actually a support bar to some huge equipment at work and it’s square in shape, so a little challenging but it works!) i can do one, chin just a hair over the bar. chin ups easier of course.
Cal, that looked like a solid, solid training day. How low do you set the Smith machine bar for the body rows? I used to like these, and should do them again to switch up my row variations.
I echo the compliments on the bench. And pullups are always impressive!
Thanks ladies but I was disappointed with the bench as it wasn’t as good as last week. I’ve just eaten a big steak, though, so hopefully tomorrow’s workout will be better.
Kimba: Low enough that I can fully extend my arms without my back touching the floor. Sometimes I put my feet on a bench, but not today.
If I hadn’t sprained my ankle and messed up my foot, I would have been running in a 10K this morning. More’s the pity as it’s a perfect autumn day - cool, but with bright blue skies and sun, and the trees all in their autumn colours. Ah well.
Hit the gym instead. Took the small (12kg/25lb) kettlebell this time.
Chins: 5, 4, 3, 2
Push ups (feet on a box): 15, 15, 12, 12
Kettlebell swings: 20, 20, 20, 20
90 secs rest between trisets.
Bar x 15
30kg (66lbs) x 10
35kg (77lbs) x 8
40kg (88lbs) x 6
40kg (88lbs) x 6
40kg (88lbs) x 6
45kg (99lbs) x 4
Was concentrating on getting low enough and keeping knees out. I still lean forward a lot, but a lot of that’s down to anatomy and lack of ankle mobility.
One thing I noticed was that I was getting light headed towards the end of each set. I guess I’m concentrating so much on the other stuff that I forget to breathe, maybe.
Was considering going for 50kg (110lbs) for rep or two but the guy who was using the squat rack before me told me my lower back was round on the last set so I thought it best not to try and go heavier at this point.
Even so, form is much better than it was. I feel like I’m getting somewhere with these.
3 x 10 (alternating arms, so 20 reps per set)
2 x 8 x 28kg (66lbs)
My calluses were starting to flay off which is why I didn’t do more here.
Straight arm pull-downs (30kgs/66lbs): 8, 6, 6
One arm kettlebll swings (right, then left): 10, 10, 10
Hyperextensions: 20, 20
Plank: 1 minute, 45 seconds
Stretching.
That lot pretty much did for me so it was home for breakfast.
Progressing on your squat form is a great thing! I don’t think I’m quite ready to leave the box, myself. Its just so easy to cheat depth and not really know it.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
If I hadn’t sprained my ankle and messed up my foot, I would have been running in a 10K this morning. More’s the pity as it’s a perfect autumn day - cool, but with bright blue skies and sun, and the trees all in their autumn colours. Ah well.[/quote]
i’m SO not a runner… but if there was an ideal running day that sounds like it would be it.
great workout… looks like a killer.
Deadlifts today. I haven’t done these for a couple of weeks.
60kg (132lbs) x 8
80kg (176lbs) x 5
90kg (198lbs) x 3
100kg (220lbs) x 3 (PB, rep-wise)
110kg (242lbs) x 1
(Tried 115kg but only got it an inch off the floor before my back told me to rethink my decision.
OK. My previous one rep max was 117.5kg early in 2007 (I spent the second half of that year being ill, and stopped hard training until my immune system recovered - which I’m glad to say it did). Obviously I want to get back to that, and improve on it further - I just have to watch out for various injuries and hope I don’t fuck myself up in the process.
Bar x 15
30kg (66lbs) x 12
30kg (66lbs) x 10
Glute-ham raise with 5kg medicine ball: 20, 20
Planks: 1 minute, 1 minute
That’s all I had time for.
It didn’t seem much but I felt bone tired leaving the gym and really wanted to just go and lie on the floor. Instead I had to sit at a desk. Sometimes I hate my job.
Good on the squats with form. When I was working my form,I actually panted and sweat with just the bar from the effort of arching my back and sticking my butt out, so maybe you were light-headed from sheer effort!
That would be a heavy training day for me, so I’m not buying the “didn’t seem like much”. Alot of deadlifts tires me right out too. I think that lift is just hard on a body.
1 x 15 x Bar
1 x 12 x 30kg (66lbs)
3 x 8 x 40kg (99lbs)
1 x 4 x 50kg (110lbs)
I am over the 100lb mark - yay! OK so the form wasn’t perfect, especially on that last rep, but I made it.
3 x 10 x 10kg (22lbs)
Alternate legs, no rest in between sets
3 x 10 x 50kg (110lbs)
That weight makes a lot of difference
Glute ham raises, reverse hypers, clams and bird dogs to finish.
My stomach hurts (internally, not my abs) this morning - feels like something unpleasant is going to happen soon, in either direction. Wondering if it’s the discounted cottage cheese I bought yesterday. Hrmm…
Good for you going over 100#! I know how good that would feel, and I’m hoping to follow you soon.
ew, discounted cottage cheese?! blech…don’t ruin the food fantasies I am having today!
Hope you are feeling ok…
Yeah, absolutely fine now, thanks - I’ve just had some bacon and eggs and feel great.
Had a rest day today and am ready to kick ass in the gym tomorrow.
good to hear!
I’m ready for a nap 
I wasn’t super-chuffed with my workout today. I ate more this week and had more rest days, so I should have been bursting out of my skin. I wasn’t. I felt decidedly mediocre. Then, halfway through my workout, I realised it was PMS week. Fuck, I hate PMS week, I always feel tired and subpar. Ah well, I toughed it out.
50kg (110lbs) x 10
60kg (132lbs) x 5
60kg (132lbs) x 4
60kg (132lbs) x 3
I want to be using 60kg for 5x5 but that wasn’t happening today. I would do better with a spotter as I don’t have the confidence to try for another rep once I’m starting to fatigue.
Pull-ups: 3, 3, 2
20kg (44lb) T-bar row: 10, 10, 10
18kg (40lbs) x 10
20kg (44lbs) x 6
20kg (44lbs) x 6
(I actually followed each set with 15 kettlebell swings but that was really just to unkink my back rather than work hard. I do my business kettlebell workout tomorrow).
2 x 30kg (66lbs) x 5
First time using the 30s. I can pull 'em without too much trouble but my grip is an issue. Oddly, my grip is far better on my left hand. I’m right-handed.
10, 8, 8
One the way back home I learned that Chuck Taylors + wet leaves + backpack with a kettlebell in it = very nearly an unfortunate accident. Somehow doing some spastic 1920s flapper dance kept me upright, but only just. If I’d fallen back onto my backpack I’d have been stuck there, legs wiggling like a beetle. Not too cool.
I know, sometimes I wish I had a workout partner…