Wednesday, April 20, 2011, Check-In

[muck_a_luck]

Hey, EED community!

Here is your daily check-in post! Hope everyone is having a great day!

If you are posting for the first time, or new to the community, please review the community's standards, below.


1. Mod (that's me!) will post a Daily Check In post, for those who prefer to note their daily activities in response to a prompt. Please only place exercise comments here.

2. All members are encouraged to post daily independent posts about their activities, if they prefer that to a prompt.

3. Please place any NON-EXERCISE comments in independent update posts and behind a cut. Some people are sensitive to discussion of diet and nutrition. That is integral to many people's exercise activities, so I want members to be able to discuss that, but for those who are here strictly to log exercise, I would like them to be able to avert their eyes.

4. Everyone is encouraged to introduce themselves, discuss their exercise goals, and post updates on their activities. "I finally made it to running a mile!" or "I kicked up into handstand today!" are updates that we all want to hear about and share! Please put long posts and entries involving diet and nutrition behind a cut, though.

5. Aside from intro posts and injury announcements, please try to include an exercise update in every post.

Comments

[busaikko]

5821 steps, 4.24 km, and biking to and from work (I am biking much faster now that it is so cold and rainy!)

[vass]

I had an adventure today. After skipping Monday's and Tuesday's workouts because I kept procrastinating until it was too late, I was all set to do the same thing today. I have an off-peak gym membership, so I have to pay casual rates to use the gym after 3:30pm on weekdays. Today I decided that I'd just have to do that, since I'd already skipped Monday and Tuesday, and I wasn't going to skip three days in a row.

So I got out of my pyjamas and into my jeans and t-shirt, grabbed my sweatpants and towel and runners, put them in my gym bag, and opened the door... and discovered it was raining. In the same general way that it was 'raining' when Noah built his Ark. I ducked my head to protect my glasses, and rushed to the car. I was soaked nearly to the skin in those few seconds. I had to have my windscreen wipers on the highest setting while I was driving.

I stopped off at the supermarket to do some shopping and also withdraw enough cash to pay for the gym visit. Got more soaked.

Made it to the gym. Got soaked completely between the car park and the gym itself.

On the advice of one of my psychs, I've decided not to do any more split squats until I'm strong enough to do them without freaking out at the bottom when I get stuck. So I need to find some exercises that will strengthen my individual legs before I get there.

So that left db rows, db bench press, and plank.

Plank: I decided to try to move up to a stability ball plank. At this I failed risibly. After laughing at myself a bit and fetching the ball a few times, I gave up and did a floor plank. Three sets: 45 sec, 60 sec, 75 sec. Definitely feeling it in the abs.

Dumbbell bench press: still using 12.5kg dumbbells (yay!) and managed three sets of ten reps with reasonable form. A bit wobbly at the end, but still good.

Dumbbell rows: I increased the dumbbell to 17.5kg. This was successful. My form and range of motion were good for the first five reps of each set (out of three) and progressively worse for the last five reps of each set. But still good enough that I'm confident I'm at the right weight.

I am very proud.

I finished up by changing into my bathers and having a brief swim, then spending fifteen minutes in the sauna and fifteen minutes in the spa. I feel really good now. And the rain had stopped by the time I got out. It was a lovely, cool, crisp night.

[rydra_wong]

Morning yoga, barbells! I have a new personal best in my back squat (up 5kg -- still terrible compared to my other lifts, but it's improving).

Warning for unsolicited advice

[rydra_wong]

Congratulations on surviving the deluge!

On the advice of one of my psychs, I've decided not to do any more split squats until I'm strong enough to do them without freaking out at the bottom when I get stuck. So I need to find some exercises that will strengthen my individual legs before I get there.

*ponders*

Do you have the same problem with regular squats?

The leg press machine might be useful here; I'm generally pro- free weights rather than machines, but they have their uses, and it might help build some strength while avoiding the panic.

Then there are deadlifts; they don't focus on exactly the same muscles as squats, but they do strengthen legs and back. And there's no getting stuck factor, because you can just drop the weight(s) when you need to.

[daedala]

Rest-ish day; I tried out the foam roller.

I kind of wanted to run intervals, but it is snowing because the world is evil.

[chaobell]

Shoulders & Arms, could actually do most of the exercises without my elbow hurting including the dreaded upright rows. It's a bit stiff now but if I move it around a little it's fine.

[lyorn]

Another rest day because of the blood donation yesterday. I expect to be back up to exercising tomorrow.

Re: Warning for unsolicited advice

[vass]

Do you have the same problem with regular squats?

No, I don't. They're challenging even at bodyweight, but they don't leave me stuck and terrified at the bottom.

The leg press machine might be useful here

Yeah, I thought of that. I thought if I did it one leg at a time, that would be one way of building up some individual leg strength. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the leg press machine today when I looked. I'll have to ask one of the staff next time.

Then there are deadlifts

Good idea. It's probably time to add something like that, to improve my back strength. According to exrx.net, the 1RM for an untrained 200lb+ woman doing a deadlift should be 107lb (48.63kg). I have no idea how to pare that down to a suitable weight for a suitable number of reps (5-10, say.) I did some searching, and ended up even more confused - apparently there's an equation, but it requires more than one nRM to calculate the incline? Krista Scott-Dixon's site says "use a broomstick when starting out until you have the form right," but she doesn't address how much weight to add once you've got the form down.

I know I should get a trainer. I'm afraid they'll just tell me to do 20 reps of 4kg or something ridiculous like that, and then I'll have to deadlift them to make a point.

Re: Warning for unsolicited advice

[rydra_wong]

I'm not sure if the leg press would work for one leg at a time, but you could ask. And working both legs together will obviously strengthen the individual legs; it's just not quite as effective as unilateral stuff for isolating weaknesses.

But you can always work on that later. If you build up a basis of leg strength now, then you may find that later on you can return to things like the split squats and not get stuck.

I have no idea how to pare that down to a suitable weight for a suitable number of reps (5-10, say.)

I, um, go entirely by feel.

Try it with the bar first of all, just to practice form; when you're comfortable with that, start adding plates and trying it out, adding some more and trying it out, until you get to the point where 5-10 reps feels challenging but not impossible. You can tinker around and add and remove plates as much as you like.

I do this a lot as part of my barbell work anyway -- I'll start out with a weight I know is fairly light for me and do a warm-up set, then add some more plates, do another set, take a break, then keep repeating the process, until I hit the point where 5 reps is a struggle. Then I might see if I can do another set or two at that point, or experiment with adding a bit more if I think I can get a new 1RM and want to test it.

I think this is technically known as "ascending sets", but in my case it's more "huh, this kind of works for me."

I know I should get a trainer.

Not if there's not a good one available!

I would say that it's really worth concentrating on form in the deadlift, though -- for me at least, it's the lift where I'm most liable to tweak my back if I get sloppy and let my back start rounding. I've learned the hard way that I have to back off if I feel any strain at all in my back.

[smackshack]

Running and crunches and planks, oh my!

More unsolicited advice

[lyorn]

I found that "terrified", for me, is often a balance issue -- not so much that I might not get up again (I can always use the second leg or a hand to help) but that I might lose balance and fall. (That happened once or twice. Bad leg.)

On stumptuous, the first stage of squat for beginners was recommended as "grab a ballet bar or something similar for balance and to help you get up". Maybe you could rig something to do the split squats from a box (a lot easier to control IME than when you have to keep one leg off the ground) and hold on to something in case of trouble?

Deadlifts: I feel that getting to your individual level from the low side, using try and error, gives the best results. When I started out with squats and deadlifts, I did three with a broomstick to check my form and range of motion, the rest with the small bar (12 kg). That was easy, so, next time, olympic bar. Still easy, so, add 5 kg. Now we're getting somewhere. If you cannot do it in good form, it's too much weight. If you can't quite do all your reps, keep the weight. If you can do all reps in good form, raise.

[resolute]

Rowing, weights, lots of stretching.

Re: Warning for unsolicited advice

[rydra_wong]

Oh! I was reminded of this yesterday; it's the single best piece of deadlift form advice I know.

Wear long trousers. The bar should travel along your shins, very close to them or touching them: if it feels like it's going to scrape the skin off, you're DOIN IT RITE.

ETA: Not that you have to actually grate your shins, but if you do or feel you are in danger of doing so, you are not incorrect.