Training in Santa Cruz

[JessEvans]

Hi everyone, I'm 48 years old, female, and a novice. I live in Santa Cruz CA and I recently got my weight down to 'normal' by using intermittent fasting. I'm basically strong and healthy and I'm interested in getting stronger. I want to be one of those wiry, tough old ladies you see hiking down Zion canyon at dawn, just making the miles go by and making the kids jealous. (Like the lady I met on the shuttle at Zion two years ago who made me feel jealous!)

I have the SS book and read it a few times through, took a lot of notes, etc. As of today I've done two workouts, using A and B (except subbing deadlift for clean) from this article: Who Wants to be a Novice? You Do | Mark Rippetoe which means I've learned the squat, press, bench and deadlift so far.

I'm going to try to schedule with Leah Lutz to get some technique coaching if she has time. I tried working with a local trainer but his coaching was contradicting what Rip says in the videos on a couple different points and I want to just do one program.

Here are my starting numbers for working sets (I haven't been writing my warmups down. I do warmups, though, following the instructions in the book.)

2/20/2017
squat 75x5x3
press 45x4x3
dead 95x5x1

2/22/2017
squat 80x5x3
bench 55x5x3
dead 100/5/1

[carson]

Welcome. It's good to start young as you have done.

[JessEvans]

Welcome. It's good to start young as you have done.

Thanks Carson. It seems like I'm kind of old to start weight lifting but I like doing hard stuff. And this method suits me because it's so nerdy. My husband though it was really funny that I took my SS book and my notebook (with my notes on the lifts) to the gym with me. I like to figure stuff out and get into the details.

[Quit Tomorrow]

Welcome!

Great idea to get some additional coaching. Eventually when you get comfortable I find filming my final worksets helps satisfy my inner nerd.

You'll be able to break down your form and learn about your body.

[JessEvans]

... Eventually when you get comfortable I find filming my final worksets helps satisfy my inner nerd.

You'll be able to break down your form and learn about your body.

Thanks QT. Yes, the filming thing seems like it needs to go on the list of stuff to do. Unfortunately. Because I'm already feeling rather conspicuous dragging the bench press into the power cage at my gym (where no one else lifts heavy enough to need a spotter.) I can see myself now, crawling around on the floor trying to balance the cellphone on things and start it filming and then going to do the lifts...argh. It's ok. I'll figure it out eventually. Tomorrow it's back to the gym to do the A workout again!

One thing I notice is that the deadlifts really cause me to want to black out as soon as I exhale after the lift. I have to squeeze my legs tight to push the blood back up to my brain and stop my vision going dark. Is that weird? It's only on the deadlifts, and they aren't even that heavy-feeling yet.

[Quit Tomorrow]

Thanks QT. Yes, the filming thing seems like it needs to go on the list of stuff to do. Unfortunately. Because I'm already feeling rather conspicuous dragging the bench press into the power cage at my gym (where no one else lifts heavy enough to need a spotter.) I can see myself now, crawling around on the floor trying to balance the cellphone on things and start it filming and then going to do the lifts...argh. It's ok. I'll figure it out eventually. Tomorrow it's back to the gym to do the A workout again!

One thing I notice is that the deadlifts really cause me to want to black out as soon as I exhale after the lift. I have to squeeze my legs tight to push the blood back up to my brain and stop my vision going dark. Is that weird? It's only on the deadlifts, and they aren't even that heavy-feeling yet.

Not weird at all. When you valsalva you're essentially restricting air flow to your body. Especially if you're keeping you're breath high into your chest.

Sounds silly but working on a diagrammatic valsalva helped me. All this means is try to let your breath get all the way down to your pelvic floor. You want to fill your entire diaphragm not only your chest.

Try it out.

[carson]

Thanks Carson. It seems like I'm kind of old to start weight lifting but I like doing hard stuff. And this method suits me because it's so nerdy. My husband though it was really funny that I took my SS book and my notebook (with my notes on the lifts) to the gym with me. I like to figure stuff out and get into the details.

I started strength training at age 67. My wife joined me several months later. Believe me, you are young. We are both now 70.

[JessEvans]

Carson, good for you and your wife! I wish so much I could get my mom to do strength training. She's so weak that she keeps injuring herself, and now she thinks she's injury prone and lifting weights would make her get hurt. And she picked up the idea somewhere that weight lifting causes joint problems. It pains me to see her neglecting her body. But she's a grown up lady and she's gonna do what she's gonna do.

QT, it's interesting you should mention diaphragammatic valsalva. I do get a good deep breath down into my diaphragm but then after I take the breath I am really focusing on pulling my abs and pelvic floor in and up when I lift because I don't want to make my prolapse issues worse. I have strong pelvic floor musculature but the fascia is really compromised. (TMI?)

[Quit Tomorrow]

Carson, good for you and your wife! I wish so much I could get my mom to do strength training. She's so weak that she keeps injuring herself, and now she thinks she's injury prone and lifting weights would make her get hurt. And she picked up the idea somewhere that weight lifting causes joint problems. It pains me to see her neglecting her body. But she's a grown up lady and she's gonna do what she's gonna do.

QT, it's interesting you should mention diaphragammatic valsalva. I do get a good deep breath down into my diaphragm but then after I take the breath I am really focusing on pulling my abs and pelvic floor in and up when I lift because I don't want to make my prolapse issues worse. I have strong pelvic floor musculature but the fascia is really compromised. (TMI?)

Not TMI at all.

So you aren't trying to push against your belt? Aka the Buddha belly

[JessEvans]

Not TMI at all.

So you aren't trying to push against your belt? Aka the Buddha belly

No I'm not using a belt yet. My torso is really disproportionately short so there is very little space for a belt between my hips and ribs. I figured I'd do without for now and just use breath. What I'm doing is taking a deep breath, belly out, then contracting inward and upward with my abdominals and pelvic floor muscles both when I do the lift. I don't know for sure but I hope that will be safer for me than 'bearing down' which is definitely conra-indicated according to everything I've read.

Today I had to rush through the deadlift set because the gym was closing (at 6pm?! Why?!) and I didn't get that dark vision thing at all. I think I was just going faster between setup and lift and also going faster between reps, so it wasn't an issue. It was kind of unfortunate because It's only the 2nd time I've done a deadlift so I wanted to be able to pay more attention to form. But I didn't get hurt so no harm no foul. I will deadlift again Monday and I'll have time to think about things and work on form.

Here's my log from today, since this is supposed to be a log thread.

2/25/17 Sat
squat 90x5x5 - I have no idea why I did 5 sets. I just got confused about what I was supposed to be doing.
press 45/3/4 -I was trying for 3x5 and I could have done another set but the gym was closing and I wanted to do my deadlift set.
dead 115/5/1 - I found a rubber mat with a bar and set of bumper plates so I was able to deadlift from the floor for the first time. That was nice.