Thursday 9/12
Caroline Girvan, 30 minute, full body DB
Kept weights low, but lots of reps. Had me breathing hard and sweating. Great way to start the morning and get another lift in this week. I feel like I didn’t do much because it wasn’t heavy, but I still had a great mind muscle connection. Does that count?
Dumbbells are working great! It’s so nice to have the variety of weights without the space of a full set.
They are slightly large, so a little awkward to maneuver, but absolutely worth it. @EmilyQ
Here is my little setup:
Heck yeah! Such a big secret is connecting with the muscle and really push your sets hard while Intense focus on keeping the tension within the target muscle. Continuous tension sets like that can be such a great stimulus for muscle growth
Awesome to keep in mind. I have heard that from a few sources, but I definitely trust the guys here far more than YouTubers.
Thanks for dropping by and bringing the great tip! This has been a shift for me, especially switching from powerlifting to more machines/body building approach.
I am eating a bit too much. I was intending to gain 3lbs over 6 weeks and I am there in four. Backing calories off 100-150 and see if we can slow that down a bit.
Cable Lateral Raises
2 x 15,15,15,12 x (10-7) drop set
OH Cable Tri ext
4 x 12 x 30
Standing Hip Thrust (New Machine!)
3 x 12 x 185 (pause at top)
15 minute walk
New rotation starts this week. It felt real nice to use a barbell again for the press. Hits the chest way different than the machine.
New standing hip thrust machine is interesting I like it. Less pressure on my back than the regular setup, and I get a better mind muscle connection.
It’s awesome when your gym still invests in new styles of equipment.
This thing:
For the sprints, I found a steep, hilly trail and ran up all the hills, walked back down the other side, ran up the next, etc.
Something satisfying about running all out on lose dirt. I could hear the dirt and rocks being thrown from my shoes. I’m not fast, but I sounded fast, and that was nice.
I don’t want to get my hopes up, but a coworker is coming to the gym with my Hubby and I Saturday. This is the one that really likes my arms and squeezed my bicep a few weeks back. She said she really wants to know how I got so jacked and is excited to go.
I confess I haven’t had a girlfriend in years and I am trying really hard not to be too much. And also not completely geek out on her about lifting.
OMG, I so feel this! I like to say I got “kicked out” of a book club for its dramatic impact, but really they just got super frosty. It was in early 2021 and I’d been isolated and also love books and book clubs, and hadn’t been able to find one because I live in the nowhere. So when I discovered one on FB (but in-person) I went BOUNDING in. I was a total 6 month old labrador retriever, bouncing and slobbering and peeing a little in excitement. I realized later that they may not have been looking for new members with the FB group. Unfortunately, it was also a super tree-huggy, smug liberal group, and I can be a bit contrarian and outspoken, because I assume everyone is as curious and idea-exploring as I am. But no. So, yeah. FROSTY.
But that will NOT happen to you.
I wanted to follow up about the creatine. How do you like it?
Also, is it a hassle to change the weight on your DBs?
I’ve always found it hard to make and retain female friends.
I’m lucky to have 4 good ones, but I still don’t click with them the way I click with my close male friends. They’re more like sisters where we understand and support each other, but don’t necessarily get each other. 2 of them are 5-6 years older than me and literally treat me like the baby sister (reminders to reply to stuff, do laundry). I wouldn’t be friends with them if it weren’t for school
None of the women I meet seem to think the way I do. I have a dark/cynical sense of humour and can’t stand a lot of “feminine” things. They also don’t like the way I relate everything back to research somehow. The 4 female friends I do have are also academics and most of what we talk about is research
I identify as a dog most of the time, so I may have had moments like this already.
I remember reading about the book club freezer fest on your log, that sucks they weren’t open.
Thanks for the encouragement! She did grab my arms and bring up the gym first so… She started it?
I completely forgot to come back to this. Overall, once you get over the scale bump, I think it’s been good.
I just bought a second tub. I have noticed I have more energy and my recovery is crazy. I am ready to go all the time, more so than usual. Could be the extra food, so grain of salt there. I also have an increased amount of veins showing in my arms, and starting to see a couple in my calves. Since I have been on a gain I can’t say that is because I am getting leaner.
I am saying a lot of “I think” because I don’t know if it’s the extra food/carbs or the creatine that has me feeling like a million bucks when I pick up weights.
Either way, it’s worth trying for 60ish days and see what you think.
It’s not too bad. There are two buttons and a dial to turn on each end of the DB. Takes about double the time as it would to switch weights on regular DBs. Call it 10-15 seconds.
So if you are doing supersets and need two weights, they aren’t the best. If you do an exercise, swap weights and do a different movement, they are perfect.
For instance, I have had time to change weights during a CG workout without pausing the video.
Same here! I have always clicked better with men. They can handle my jokes, off the cuff comments and general lack of propriety.
I’m also not very “feminine”. I don’t like shopping, never wear makeup, don’t like getting my hair done, and this is a big one for my state/age, I don’t like or ever want children… all of this sounds a bit sexist but I have no idea what women are into.
I also have four older sisters and only get along with one. Even blood doesn’t help.
I do cry during every cute dog movie though. So, I have a soft side.
I was going to do a full CG workout, but this worked better between cooking dinner and meal prep for the weekend.
Once again, love having the “home gym”. Making sure those little shoulder muscles that need a lot of reminders to grow get hit enough. I’m talking about you rear and side delts…
Absolutely, I hope you feel positive changes with it. I suspect I would know more of what it’s doing if I stopped taking it now, but perhaps you will find the changes more obvious.
Friday 9/20
Trail run… mostly
7.5 Miles (about 5-6 was running, rest was a fast walk)
1300ft elevation gain
So this was supposed to be a 4 mile loop. At mile 3.5 I decided I may have cruised past my intended left turn to take me back to the trail head. I stopped and checked my map, I had in fact, missed it.
I turned around, made my way back to where my turn should have been and found a closed trail.
After that, it turned into an out-and-back race against the sunset. I started about 1830 and had less than 20 minutes of day light at that point. I laid down a couple fast-ish miles (luckily it was down hill at this point). The last mile or so I had to light my way by a phone light. The trees made it get dark quick! All the animals making noise in the undergrowth sounded even louder that last mile. I tried to go as fast as I could without tripping and braining myself on a rock, while also thinking non-tasty thoughts. I was suddenly aware that I was in mountain lion country.
Lesson learned, if you start a new loop with in an hour of sunset… Bring a head lamp.
Beautiful night though. 70F and sunny. Those leaves are changing quickly.
BB Incline Press
10, 10, 10, 9 x 85
SS
Cable Row
10, 10, 9 x 105
SL Leg Press
115 x 8, 140 x 8, 165 x 8, 12 x 115
Seated Leg Curl
12, 12, 12 x 120, 12 x 113
SS
Cable Bicep Curl
4 x 12-15 x 10-7 (Dropset)
Hip Abductors
3 x 12 x 60
Rear Delt Fly
3 x 15 x 30
SS
Leg Raises and Reverse Hypers
3 x 12
Feeling great today, low gravity for sure. I figured I would be smoked after last night’s little excursion, but I didn’t feel it.
Single leg presses were nice, good muscle connection without having to go heavy enough to feel it in the joints.
BB Incline press was great, I struggle with position normally, but found a nice groove today.
Well, bodies sometimes… yes, I am still in a gain phase. So. Not a direction I was intending to go.
I made a giant Protein Pumpkin Cookie last night. Working on it. Feeling low on energy and almost sick the last couple of days. Getting nauseous between meals. After I eat, I feel good for a couple of hours. Wondering if I dug myself into a recovery hole.
Saturday my coworker didn’t come through. Cancelled the day before. I’m not surprised, I have met very few people that follow through with things. She said she wanted to reschedule the gym visit, we’ll see.
DB Step Up
2 x 10(ea leg) x 30s
SS
Pull ups (assisted)
5x-40, 5x-70, 9x-90
Cable Lateral Raises
2 x 15,15,15,12 x (10-7) drop set
OH Cable Tri ext
4 x 12 x 30
Standing Hip Thrust
3 x 12 x 185 (pause at top)
15 x 135
15 minute walk
Added a few more sets this week. Last week of gain, I want to dig myself a nice recovery hole to crawl out of next week for deload.
Gave good mornings a try instead of RDLs. Went light, and my disc cooperated. I don’t feel these in my hamstrings as much as I would like, so I may switch back.
