Congrats on making gym time through the hectic work schedule.
That is some awesome progress, congrats on the hip and waist loss.
Just to reiterate the point, the fact that your weight is the same and you lost those inches, you gained a good bit of muscle 
You need to send that TG guy a muffin basket lol
Ha, I’m the last to judge on flexing anything, even calves. I do that too 
Great progress - I’ve been a bit preoccupied (busy, then sick) to stop by a lot of the journals but seems Tony has been fantastic for you. Well done.
Deb, your pants must be falling off you at this point. GOOD JOB!
Cute shoes. They look a bit purple, or is that the light?
Yep purple and black. I went for sassy!
nom nom on the shoes and legs!!!
are the workouts still keeping you happy?
Thanks nlmain. I don’t love this month’s program as much as last month’s and I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve been ridiculously busy at work so my training hasn’t been as structured. Sometimes I have to move a day’s training to another day and/or time which means I have to deal with weekend warrior types being in MY squat rack when I want to use it I did increase my DL to 150 last week and I was really happy about that. I was staying at 145 as my working weight for quite awhile so the “break through” felt great. I also moved my squat to 115 (by accident) and did 1 set before I realized I put 10’s on instead of 5’s (duh). But the 105s I did for the rest of the session were challenging and again, it was great to push past the 95s I’d been sticking with. I’m at the point in my fat loss and strength training where I’m making incremental losses/gains and I’ve had to make a shift in my thinking because it’s quite different from the tremendous gains I’ve made over the past year. Incremental changes after 14 months of training makes sense. I just have to accept that fact and celebrate the small changes with the same enthusiasm as the big. Does this make sense to anyone else besides me?
That is totally what you need to do. why else do we make a point of saying when we’ve accomplished a rep pr?
not every battle is a phenomenal win but every win brings you closer to the bigger goals.
The transition is not easy and many fall off the good habits at this point. Just keep on trucking and keep us posted as to those little moments of good stuff so we can celebrate with you. Eventually you’ll move through this stage and enjoy the lifting again.
kinda like a long term relationship. after the initial romance you gotta find joy in the little daily things, eventually you’ll hit some stellar moments again.
Makes perfect sense to me!
[quote]nlmain wrote:
That is totally what you need to do. why else do we make a point of saying when we’ve accomplished a rep pr?
not every battle is a phenomenal win but every win brings you closer to the bigger goals.
The transition is not easy and many fall off the good habits at this point. Just keep on trucking and keep us posted as to those little moments of good stuff so we can celebrate with you. Eventually you’ll move through this stage and enjoy the lifting again.
kinda like a long term relationship. after the initial romance you gotta find joy in the little daily things, eventually you’ll hit some stellar moments again.
[/quote]
Perfect! Thank you. I <3 you!!
MiM, I know you’ve been having struggles and I know the hubby thing is hard along with doing the parent thing on your own for an extended period of time. I know you get tired of this whole “thing” too and look how long you’ve been at it! You are phenomenal and I’m totally pulling for you.
Very, very sex-ay! I love the special occasion shoes! I’m always looking for the holy grail of cute, sexy shoes that don’t kill my feet. Hopefully those fit that bill for you.
I’ve been training over two years now, and I celebrate every tiny little rep PR like I’d just won the fucking Olympic gold medal. Do whatever mental tricks it takes to keep on plugging away at the big strength/fat loss goals. Right about now, when the newbie gains have stopped and every extra 1 lb lifted is hard-won is where the wimp-asses get culled out from the bad-asses.
And you are a bad-ass, no mistake.
Your calves are hot! Love the shoes and the dress!
I echo what everyone else has said. I was at 95 on my squat forever too! Then I set a goal to squat one plate and IH came up with a plan and I broke through those 95s like my life depended on it! When I benched 10 x 65 and it felt EASY I had the biggest grin on my face. Like Kimba said, Olympic gold, baby! And I’d just won it! You’re doing awesome and you just have to keep telling yourself that (or we will, whatever works!).
Thanks Kimba! I choose to believe I’m bad ass over the alternative too! I’m really glad I posted this because stuff has been rolling around my head and it hadn’t occurred to me (first time in my life I’ve made this kind of progress and maintained it for so long) what might be going on underneath. P.S. The shoes are made by Soffit so they are designed to actually be comfortable (win!).
Thanks Greens! I’ll look at those 5 lb plates each time I add them and say you’re mine bitch!! I really was thrilled to move that DL up so that is a great way to track progress. You are kicking butt yourself there woman!
Okay biatches, I am back! Took a couple of weeks off after going through some major burn out. I’m back to my own routine for awhile as indicated below:
DL
bar x 8
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 5
145 x 5
145 x 5 (shakiest legs EVER)
135 x 5
135 x 5
Seated rows 60 lbs 5 x 8
Lat pulldown 70 lbs 5 x 8
Metabolic: 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, 3 rounds total:
KB swings
med ball throw left
squats
med ball throw right
push ups
sprints
Went back to the office to knock out some research for someone in trial. Then back to the gym for my fun Zumba class (dance dance dance). Starbucks for two giant black iced teas (unsweetened) and home. I feel great today!
WELCOME BACK! The training break might actually do you good. My coach is a proponent of them at least once per year. Had me take one (THREE WEEKS Diet and training break OMG) before I started with him. Its good psychologically AND physiologically.
Doesn’t even look like you lost too much stength?
Hey Deb!
Thanks for the nice words a couple weeks back…
I’ve taken a break too but not intentionally. But it made me realize that I had been going at training/dieting for over two years without a break this long.
Sometimes our body forces us to slow down when our minds don’t want to, I suppose.
