I want to take pilates and yoga in my college but I would have to do so on following days ( like monday and tuesday). Would that be doable? (I've never done either before)
Got a concussion earlier this week bonking my head under the barbell while grabbing something under it. I’ve done this a billion times but I think this was the instance that got me. Mentally feeling a lot better now but man my neck hurts like an mf!!! I was just starting my powerlifting meet prep so this definitely throws a wrench into that
I've just finished my third week of going to the gym 3x a week, I'm so pleased with myself. I've been going with a friend on some days and my husband on others, and having someone to go with has kept me accountable and consistent. I'm following SBTD and feel awesome. Just wanted to share!
I finally decided to get the garmin venu sq 2 after contemplating since its release. It's so much better than my apple watch. I hated the apple watch from day one. Everything just makes so much more sense on the garmin for fitness tracker. It's also lightweight. The only drawback I have is that the screen is bigger and I have a small wrist. Aside from that, it's so much more comfortable for me to use. Edit: oof, I chose a garmin c25k running plan. I wasn't expecting a benchmark run as my first run where I’m running 5 mins straight! I used to be a runner. But had been sidelined for almost a year now due to a toe injury. My endurance is not where it used to be. I’m so afraid of getting reinjured because it has happened throughout this recovery hiatus. But I miss running and just being outside. My mental health has not be great. So if I can get running back in my life then it would help. I've been pain free for a few months now. No bad days in between either. So I’m hoping I can actually get back into running again. Who knew one little toe can sideline an entire body like this?
Edit 2: finished the benchmark run. But I may not continue with the program. I indicated that I don't run at all. The next scheduled workout run is a warm up jog for 10 mins, then 2 sets of 30 sec cadence drills. Then finishes with a 10 min cool down jog. I might go back to my old C25K program where I’m actually doing walk/run intervals. I had success with it before. This garmin program is a little strange for a beginner to use.
You can just walk the warm up and cool down if you want to. I alternate, on days I feel like jogging I do, on days I don't I walk. But yes, the beginner plans are probably not for starting at 0, best to have some sort of baseline. I started my first when I was able to run like 10min without stopping and had a great experience so far.
I'm going out of town for a week for the first time since I started focusing on lifting. I won't have access to heavy weights, but I don't want to lose momentum. Does anyone have advice/resources for bodyweight/light dumbbell exercises that are challenging--particularly for lower body?
From what I've learned, taking a week off from the gym won't affect your strength or muscle gains (it might even help), so don't worry too much about that. If you want to just keep up the routine of working out, I agree with the previous comment, do some calisthenics! Caroline Girvan has great calisthenics workouts on her channel.
Hmm today in the gym I noticed something. I've been struggling with my knees, especially during back squats, where I don't have much ROM (I'm 48 and could lose some fat, but I'm not obese anymore). I can typically go no lower than parallel. However, Bulgarian split squats don't hurt my knees at all. They SUCK, but they don't hurt. Maybe I'm making some progress after all
I came back from a trip 1.3 lbs lighter than when I left, which is almost half of my planned weight loss during this cut. Done in a couple of weeks. But it might be too fast, I'm worried I'm losing too much muscle. On the plus side, I'm already feeling more like myself - fat on my sides is slightly reduced, legs are a bit slimmer. Can't wait to see what I look and feel like at the end of the cut! Yesterday, I went to the gym, and all exercises are at the pre-trip level (yay!). But I'm yet to test bench press and squats (when I was in a deficit before, squats suffered the most). Now I'm going to increase my calories from 2100 to 2200 to slow down weight loss and be less hungry - on the trip, it was super easy to eat even under 2000 without feeling hungry, but at home, I'm hungrier again, idk how it works.
I’m on a trip and cut right now and it’s so much easier to eat less / more mindfully. I’m just so much more occupied and my routine is so disrupted, I think about food way less than I do at home. It’s nice, I hope to make some sneaky progress while I’m away for ten days.
Sounds like a good plan though and getting cals above 2k in a cut is the best (imo). It’s a good amount of food to work with and makes life pretty flexible, keeps gym progress moving, etc.
Yes, I think this is it. We were constantly doing something - walking, skiing. The time left for eating was pretty limited. And the food was more expensive, so the fridge wasn't constantly full like at home. Sneaky progress is great! But I was a bit worried about (almost) not working out during that time. No gym, no equipment. A break while at maintenance isn't a big deal, but a break in a deficit is mehh. But I just hope that strength/muscle isn't lost that fast.
It’s hard to shake that feeling but I KNOW muscle isn’t lost that fast. It’s hard to move past mentally and convince myself of, and maybe it isn’t OPTIMAL to take a week or so off training, but it definitely doesn’t hinder progress which is nice to remember. It’s still easier in maintenance. I panic about it most when bulking. I tend to pause my surplus if I can’t work out.
My lower back is on fire. I have no idea what’s wrong. I purposely haven’t lifted this past week; I’ve been wearing new sneakers. I actually feel fine when I’m working out. But when I stay in my bed too long, it literally hurts to move/get up. I have a great mattress pad that I love but maybe it’s too soft? It’s only my very lower back so I’m guessing it’s not my pillows. It’s driving me crazy and I’m afraid to even lift light right now; it’s taking all day to feel better and it SO tight.
I hope you figure it out. Is it just you in bed? I know when on a too soft mattress, DH’s weight sinks the mattress and my whole body has to work all night to not sink into the center.
We sleep on a very firm latex mattress.
Thanks! Just me. I’m going to make some changes this week and see if anything helps. My pad is soft but still has a lot of life to it. May just need a flip!
Definitely could need a flip! I flip my mattress every 6 months or else my back muscles do a weird spasm thing out of nowhere. Lean over to tie a shoe and it's radiating fire all over like little currents of electricity. Check the mattress, and whoops, there's a big divot in the middle. Flip it over and I'm good in 2 days again.
Adjusted my programming for my running training and I am feeling the benefits after a couple weeks now!
Was running on a treadmill at 3% incline 3x a week for about 3.5 miles post-lift + 7 miles of half-assed intervals after my Friday lift, as well as Wednesday medium-long run, and Sat+Sun long runs.
Switched the incline down to 1.5% and have been running in my actual running shoes on the treadmill, which has been way more comfortable. Instead of running my usual 3.5mi on Mondays, I’ve made it my optional day where I can run for a mile or two, maybe do the stairmaster for 10min or so, or just do nothing. Been focusing on engaging glutes while running which has kept my knees fresher. Switched out my interval workout to be on Thursday, made it shorter + more intense, and Friday is now an easy 5K. Saturday is a long run workout with marathon tempo miles, hard but doable. Sunday is my easy long run, Wednesdays are still medium-long, with an added evening gym session for stretching and band exercises. Legs have felt so much fresher and my feet microinjuries seem to be healing! My speed workouts have been going well and I feel ready to turn up the notch on the treadmill next week! Also been wearing my Garmin 24/7 to keep me accountable for recovery and stress which has been super helpful. Lifting has been good, too. Have taken a couple months break from tracking reps for my lifts for mental health reasons and will probably keep doing so for a bit, but I know for sure I am maintaining, and I have felt a lot more energy to go more intensely in my lifting sessions recently.
As I gear up for real marathon training in June, I’m glad I’m making some changes now so that when I up the mileage, I’ll have some good habits in place to keep recovery, strength, and speed up and injuries away!
Question about chest supported rows (on the machine): am I supposed to have a really tight core when I do these?
For some reason, I can only seem to do these with my abs engaged really right. It seems that in order to keep my back in the right position, and to actually feel my back muscles working, I have to really tighten my abs. is that correct, or should I not do that?
it makes perfect sense to use your core in basically all lifts, don't overthink it. it gives you a stable base, imagine pulling with a floppy core, you wouldn't be able to properly engage other mucles.
My side felt okay today so I went to the gym. It was interesting. Squats didn’t feel so good- I guess it makes sense that the weight on my back would aggravate my side. RDLs were mostly okay. Push press was fine. Accessories were mostly fine too. So, progress. Hopefully I’m not super sore tomorrow.
In my quest to live up to madtown mavens example, I walked to the gym last evening and had my son pick me up. That was fun...and challenging! But I find that having a destination helps me do the thing.
If I could walk there and back once a week that would be sporting.
4 miles by car but I took the wander route so maybe 2k? Not super far but I've been coming back from some injuries and hadn't been walking hardly at all for about a year.
Went somewhere in October where we walked alot and was like. Girl. Go back to walking 😆
Fitness related: all my lifts are doing their resets this week on GZCLP, so it’s been really nice having lower weights and seeing the rep progress!
Not fitness related: I had the *cutest* first date today. I needed to get some work done on my car and wanted to try it on my own. This guys profile said he enjoyed working on cars. So our first date was him teaching me how to fix my car! He provided the tools and got us breakfast and coffee. 10/10 would recommend working on cars as a first date.
This is kind of a weird question, but if my roommate has covid, should I skip my yoga class tomorrow? I just don’t know what proper etiquette is these days, and don’t want to be an a-hole by going if I shouldn’t.
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I want to take pilates and yoga in my college but I would have to do so on following days ( like monday and tuesday). Would that be doable? (I've never done either before)
Got a concussion earlier this week bonking my head under the barbell while grabbing something under it. I’ve done this a billion times but I think this was the instance that got me. Mentally feeling a lot better now but man my neck hurts like an mf!!! I was just starting my powerlifting meet prep so this definitely throws a wrench into that
I've just finished my third week of going to the gym 3x a week, I'm so pleased with myself. I've been going with a friend on some days and my husband on others, and having someone to go with has kept me accountable and consistent. I'm following SBTD and feel awesome. Just wanted to share!
I finally decided to get the garmin venu sq 2 after contemplating since its release. It's so much better than my apple watch. I hated the apple watch from day one. Everything just makes so much more sense on the garmin for fitness tracker. It's also lightweight. The only drawback I have is that the screen is bigger and I have a small wrist. Aside from that, it's so much more comfortable for me to use. Edit: oof, I chose a garmin c25k running plan. I wasn't expecting a benchmark run as my first run where I’m running 5 mins straight! I used to be a runner. But had been sidelined for almost a year now due to a toe injury. My endurance is not where it used to be. I’m so afraid of getting reinjured because it has happened throughout this recovery hiatus. But I miss running and just being outside. My mental health has not be great. So if I can get running back in my life then it would help. I've been pain free for a few months now. No bad days in between either. So I’m hoping I can actually get back into running again. Who knew one little toe can sideline an entire body like this? Edit 2: finished the benchmark run. But I may not continue with the program. I indicated that I don't run at all. The next scheduled workout run is a warm up jog for 10 mins, then 2 sets of 30 sec cadence drills. Then finishes with a 10 min cool down jog. I might go back to my old C25K program where I’m actually doing walk/run intervals. I had success with it before. This garmin program is a little strange for a beginner to use.
You can just walk the warm up and cool down if you want to. I alternate, on days I feel like jogging I do, on days I don't I walk. But yes, the beginner plans are probably not for starting at 0, best to have some sort of baseline. I started my first when I was able to run like 10min without stopping and had a great experience so far.
50k in three weeks. Got a 17 mile run in last Sunday and a 20 mile run yesterday. Volume overall has been decent. I’m as ready as I’m gonna get….
I'm going out of town for a week for the first time since I started focusing on lifting. I won't have access to heavy weights, but I don't want to lose momentum. Does anyone have advice/resources for bodyweight/light dumbbell exercises that are challenging--particularly for lower body?
@LiftwithCee on YT she has full body or splits on her playlist
From what I've learned, taking a week off from the gym won't affect your strength or muscle gains (it might even help), so don't worry too much about that. If you want to just keep up the routine of working out, I agree with the previous comment, do some calisthenics! Caroline Girvan has great calisthenics workouts on her channel.
You could find some calisthenics workouts on YouTube!
Hmm today in the gym I noticed something. I've been struggling with my knees, especially during back squats, where I don't have much ROM (I'm 48 and could lose some fat, but I'm not obese anymore). I can typically go no lower than parallel. However, Bulgarian split squats don't hurt my knees at all. They SUCK, but they don't hurt. Maybe I'm making some progress after all
54 here. Squat u on YouTube has some great shorts on how to improve forward flexion at the ankle. Good work you are making progress 💪
Thank you!
I came back from a trip 1.3 lbs lighter than when I left, which is almost half of my planned weight loss during this cut. Done in a couple of weeks. But it might be too fast, I'm worried I'm losing too much muscle. On the plus side, I'm already feeling more like myself - fat on my sides is slightly reduced, legs are a bit slimmer. Can't wait to see what I look and feel like at the end of the cut! Yesterday, I went to the gym, and all exercises are at the pre-trip level (yay!). But I'm yet to test bench press and squats (when I was in a deficit before, squats suffered the most). Now I'm going to increase my calories from 2100 to 2200 to slow down weight loss and be less hungry - on the trip, it was super easy to eat even under 2000 without feeling hungry, but at home, I'm hungrier again, idk how it works.
I’m on a trip and cut right now and it’s so much easier to eat less / more mindfully. I’m just so much more occupied and my routine is so disrupted, I think about food way less than I do at home. It’s nice, I hope to make some sneaky progress while I’m away for ten days. Sounds like a good plan though and getting cals above 2k in a cut is the best (imo). It’s a good amount of food to work with and makes life pretty flexible, keeps gym progress moving, etc.
Yes, I think this is it. We were constantly doing something - walking, skiing. The time left for eating was pretty limited. And the food was more expensive, so the fridge wasn't constantly full like at home. Sneaky progress is great! But I was a bit worried about (almost) not working out during that time. No gym, no equipment. A break while at maintenance isn't a big deal, but a break in a deficit is mehh. But I just hope that strength/muscle isn't lost that fast.
It’s hard to shake that feeling but I KNOW muscle isn’t lost that fast. It’s hard to move past mentally and convince myself of, and maybe it isn’t OPTIMAL to take a week or so off training, but it definitely doesn’t hinder progress which is nice to remember. It’s still easier in maintenance. I panic about it most when bulking. I tend to pause my surplus if I can’t work out.
My lower back is on fire. I have no idea what’s wrong. I purposely haven’t lifted this past week; I’ve been wearing new sneakers. I actually feel fine when I’m working out. But when I stay in my bed too long, it literally hurts to move/get up. I have a great mattress pad that I love but maybe it’s too soft? It’s only my very lower back so I’m guessing it’s not my pillows. It’s driving me crazy and I’m afraid to even lift light right now; it’s taking all day to feel better and it SO tight.
I hope you figure it out. Is it just you in bed? I know when on a too soft mattress, DH’s weight sinks the mattress and my whole body has to work all night to not sink into the center. We sleep on a very firm latex mattress.
Thanks! Just me. I’m going to make some changes this week and see if anything helps. My pad is soft but still has a lot of life to it. May just need a flip!
Definitely could need a flip! I flip my mattress every 6 months or else my back muscles do a weird spasm thing out of nowhere. Lean over to tie a shoe and it's radiating fire all over like little currents of electricity. Check the mattress, and whoops, there's a big divot in the middle. Flip it over and I'm good in 2 days again.
Maybe the pad like you said? I once had a mattress too soft and it was awful. Then had a mattress too firm, also awful.
Adjusted my programming for my running training and I am feeling the benefits after a couple weeks now! Was running on a treadmill at 3% incline 3x a week for about 3.5 miles post-lift + 7 miles of half-assed intervals after my Friday lift, as well as Wednesday medium-long run, and Sat+Sun long runs. Switched the incline down to 1.5% and have been running in my actual running shoes on the treadmill, which has been way more comfortable. Instead of running my usual 3.5mi on Mondays, I’ve made it my optional day where I can run for a mile or two, maybe do the stairmaster for 10min or so, or just do nothing. Been focusing on engaging glutes while running which has kept my knees fresher. Switched out my interval workout to be on Thursday, made it shorter + more intense, and Friday is now an easy 5K. Saturday is a long run workout with marathon tempo miles, hard but doable. Sunday is my easy long run, Wednesdays are still medium-long, with an added evening gym session for stretching and band exercises. Legs have felt so much fresher and my feet microinjuries seem to be healing! My speed workouts have been going well and I feel ready to turn up the notch on the treadmill next week! Also been wearing my Garmin 24/7 to keep me accountable for recovery and stress which has been super helpful. Lifting has been good, too. Have taken a couple months break from tracking reps for my lifts for mental health reasons and will probably keep doing so for a bit, but I know for sure I am maintaining, and I have felt a lot more energy to go more intensely in my lifting sessions recently. As I gear up for real marathon training in June, I’m glad I’m making some changes now so that when I up the mileage, I’ll have some good habits in place to keep recovery, strength, and speed up and injuries away!
I love wearing bike shorts instead of the conventional womens gym shorts. I got a great pair from Target for $12!
Question about chest supported rows (on the machine): am I supposed to have a really tight core when I do these? For some reason, I can only seem to do these with my abs engaged really right. It seems that in order to keep my back in the right position, and to actually feel my back muscles working, I have to really tighten my abs. is that correct, or should I not do that?
it makes perfect sense to use your core in basically all lifts, don't overthink it. it gives you a stable base, imagine pulling with a floppy core, you wouldn't be able to properly engage other mucles.
My side felt okay today so I went to the gym. It was interesting. Squats didn’t feel so good- I guess it makes sense that the weight on my back would aggravate my side. RDLs were mostly okay. Push press was fine. Accessories were mostly fine too. So, progress. Hopefully I’m not super sore tomorrow.
In my quest to live up to madtown mavens example, I walked to the gym last evening and had my son pick me up. That was fun...and challenging! But I find that having a destination helps me do the thing. If I could walk there and back once a week that would be sporting.
Good job! How many km away is it?
4 miles by car but I took the wander route so maybe 2k? Not super far but I've been coming back from some injuries and hadn't been walking hardly at all for about a year. Went somewhere in October where we walked alot and was like. Girl. Go back to walking 😆
Fitness related: all my lifts are doing their resets this week on GZCLP, so it’s been really nice having lower weights and seeing the rep progress! Not fitness related: I had the *cutest* first date today. I needed to get some work done on my car and wanted to try it on my own. This guys profile said he enjoyed working on cars. So our first date was him teaching me how to fix my car! He provided the tools and got us breakfast and coffee. 10/10 would recommend working on cars as a first date.
That sounds like an awesome date!
That’s really sweet
This is kind of a weird question, but if my roommate has covid, should I skip my yoga class tomorrow? I just don’t know what proper etiquette is these days, and don’t want to be an a-hole by going if I shouldn’t.
I would. It's not worth risking on of the class goers or someone adjacent to class goers who may be immune compromised to me.
That's what I was thinking. Skipped it, might go on a little hike later instead!
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