Tal - you are sweet but I think you could put up some major weight if you tried them! I love 'em and they really hit the glutes/hammies in a different way! =D
BTW… I am SORE everywhere from Tuesday! It’s not a terrible, deep sore… it’s just EVERYWHERE! But the bf has been nice enough to massage me the last 2 days and I have a professional 90 min massage tomorrow… AWESOME!
Heard back from MR about my videos… but it’s a lot of info and I am short on time =-/ (will share soon though!!!) =D
TOM! What up homie?
Haha… I didn’t have the manpon either b/c I was too lazy to look for it… but you can usually find it near the smith machine (naturally)… Yeah the DB would be a little awkward… I always place the bar RIGHT below my hipbones… it works best for me.
I think you are nuts about the Xtend… I must be magic b/c I can always get it to dissolve and no one else can. Man I love being awesome!
And no no no no no no no… not a developer at all! In fact, I just learned how to upload videos on You Tube this year! =D hahahahaha! We (myself, my bf and our partners) paid other people to build Red Point (although my bf can do some coding and builds less complicated websites for people as a hobby… ) but we outsourced Red Point for the most part. I am most heavily involved in the business side of things (hence, me talking about my account) and controlling the nutrition information/advice with some input on the training side of things. So yeah… that’s my big kid job… I didn’t know you were a developer… makes sense though given your flexibility limitations! Where do you work?
[quote]mmgalb727 wrote:
Haha… I didn’t have the manpon either b/c I was too lazy to look for it… but you can usually find it near the smith machine (naturally)… Yeah the DB would be a little awkward… I always place the bar RIGHT below my hipbones… it works best for me.
[/quote]
the only thing i have ever found the manpon to be good for is hip thrusts and marking sets when we’re doing 10+, since neither me nor ford can reliably count that high.
well, the swf is too expensive for me to justify keeping, and the xtend is not really much cheaper at my weight. i was hoping i could justify the price based on taste, but i might as well just mix bcaas with citruline malate and gatorade powder. it will still taste terrible, but at least it’ll be cheaper.
i work for hewlett-packard, formerly exstream software. before that i did embedded development for a pico-satellite, among other things, so i have been all over the map.
So I got my new program from MR! YAYYYY! I get to lift weights! =D
I get to squat, deadlift, db bench, db row and do step-ups (anterior loaded, at that! =-/ YIKES!) I am so so so pumped! I am still doing all of my foam rolling, mobility exercises, acute/corrective stuff, and energy systems work as well… but I think these workouts will go a little more quickly which is good. =D
I got some feedback on the videos I sent Mike from the last program… he said that I am rounding my upper back too much on planks/push-ups, my knees are SLIGHTLY caving in on lunges/step-ups, I need to lift my chest a bit on face pulls, and I need to SLOW DOWN on my internal/external rotations and ITY raises. (BTW, I feel OK about listing the exercises b/c I am not giving away the order, tempo, set/rep scheme or progression =D) I may start giving my workout in no particular order or tempo so I can actually talk about some F-in weight lifting in here!
=D
So… since we sent him our videos at the END of our last program… we couldn’t correct what we were doing wrong (we got new programs)… silly us! So I think we are going to take videos TODAY of our NEW program… that way we can be corrected and do everything right, right off the bat! Much better idea, huh? So today I will be doing about a zillion exercises to film and send to Mike for critique… I am excited!
In other news… OHHHHHHH C-A-T-S! CATS! CATS! CATS! =D We are in the Sweet Sixteen and we are totally going all the way to the championship. Kansas lost and we basically made Wake Forest SUCK IT when we kicked their ass by 30 points on Saturday! (Wake Forest had previously beaten Texas… who is also pretty good… so basically we are awesome!) So 4 more games and we win our 8th National TITLE! =D
We play again on Thursday and I can’t wait!
P.S. Sorry I have been MIA… been BUSY! There is a HUGE Bodybuilding/Figure comp on Saturday that I might go to… but we also might be playing that night and when we win, we will advance to the Final Four which is HUGE… haven’t decided if I am going yet or not… =-/
exciting stuff going on in your world!! 
yay for lifting some ‘F-IN,’ weight, haha!
It’s great to hear you got your new program, and that you get to do more of the lifting you love!
I’m not going to pretend I follow u.s. college basketball, but your enthusiasm about the cats is really infectious! I’m rooting for them too!
Hey Betty! Thanks for popping by! =D
RBlue - Thank you! I am excited too! And yes, please root for us! The CATS are gonna win it all! =D
So tonight was just taking videos of our new exercises… it was tough b/c my hammies were S-O-R-E from Monday! It was funny when I first tried to do RDL’s… I could only move a few inches b/c I was so tight and sore (and this is after 30 minutes of foam rolling, mobility drills and warm-up exercises) I eventually got a LITTLE more ROM… but not much. However… I <3 the way my arms look in the video so much that I am going to post it here. I am not using much weight at all b/c I am literally ONLY using my glutes to move the weight. In the past I have gone as high as 185 for sets of 6… but I was overcompensating like crazy to move the weight… =-/ Looks like it’s starting from scratch! =(
aww, the video says its private =(
I’ve been doing higher rep stuff, and its quality over quantity…check your ego, right?
OK… changed it! =D Yeah… I have to keep reminding myself that doing it properly with low weight NOW… will make all my numbers hoot up LATER! PR’s… here I come!!!
I’d love to see this, but its still showing up as a private video. grrrr. I am super interested in doing my RDLs correctly. Glutes are my favorite muscle group to work!
That was good Molly! I know I could do more as well, but have been sticking to 95lbs as well…just to FEEL that stretch…
[quote]mmgalb727 wrote:
I am not using much weight at all b/c I am literally ONLY using my glutes to move the weight. In the past I have gone as high as 185 for sets of 6… but I was overcompensating like crazy to move the weight… [/quote]
Overcompensating with your hammies? How can you tell if you’re not using your glutes the way you should be in an RDL?
P.S. Nice triceps!
Kimba - can you see it yet? =D Yeah my faves used to be upper back and hammies… but now I am forcing myself to love working glutes!
Betty - Thanks! Yeah it’s hard to use so little… but I MUST MUST MUST work on activating my glutes DURING exercises… it can just get frustrating when I am talking to them and they won’t listen! =D haha
Chimera - Thanks! Yeah I thought they looked pretty cool in the video… it’s good lighting! ;D
I just realized it because my hammies and low back would get sore and not my glutes… and when I actually think about bringing my hips using my glutes, I find it’s hard to move the weight… so that’s how I figured it out. Nothing too complicated… =D
Just finished today’s workout…
Back squats using 85 lbs… YIKES! =-( They didn’t feel hard… but I can feel myself losing the arch in the bottom. My main focuses were chest up, knees out, and KEEP THE ARCH! =D
Also did Anterior Loaded step-ups too… they were easier than I thought they would be. I just had to focus on keeping my knee in line with my foot and hip and not letting it cave in.
Did some upper back work and some push-ups as well… overall I was done in about 1.5 hours… so not too bad! I can also tell that my rectus femoris is loosening up well and so are my hip flexors… YAY!
Saturday is foam rolling/mobility/acute and corrective exercises and energy systems work using the power ropes… AWESOME!
Yup, I can see it!
Interesting you say that about RDLs that you would feel sore in your hammies and not glutes. I definitely feel RDLs in my hammies the most, so perhaps I share your glute activation problem.
Kimba - I used to think my glutes were working OK… but after seeing MR and working on my mind/muscle connection I realized they weren’t really working at all! =-/
Good news though… I lifted on Thursday an my glutes have been kinda sore for 2 days! YAYYYY!!! They are working! They are working! Now I just have to keep at it! Today I was supposed to workout… but I have to work instead… busy busy busy!
Oh yeah… got some other good news! I had my vitamin D levels tested in December and they were 32 ng/dl which is LOWWW… I supplemented pretty heavily between the end of December and when I got my tanning bed 3-4 weeks ago. Once I got the Tanning system I stopped using the Vitamin D supplement (as it can be easy to overdose when taking Vit D orally AND tanning the skin)… so I had my levels tested again 2 weeks ago and my results came back: 87 ng/dl!!! That’s in the optimal range and I am so excited. If I understand correctly, if you are producing Vit D through the skin, your body WILL NOT produce too much Vit D, it will simply store it in the body for later. So hopefully, once my levels stay up there a while, I will start storing Vit D and won’t have to worry if I can’t tan every day or take my supps…
I have been noticing too that my skin is the best it’s ever looked and I haven’t been “sick” in while! (I had some stuffiness several weeks ago, but I mega-dosed Vit D and it went away)…
Oh yeah… I also attribute the skin to this:
(I used 10% castor oil, 90% EVOO since I am allergic to sunflower oil right now) and afterward I apply some avocado oil to moisturize. I LOVE IT! =D