small. short. woman. lift.

[chibichibi]

Hmmm...maybe a cheat sheet is in order.

[chibichibi]

Sunday's Log:

Workout B
Squats, presses, power cleans

Did a little pilates in the AM, about 20 minutes. This is the second time I’ve done this in the past few days; it’s something I’ve been meaning to try again for a while, because I remember developing some surprisingly good flexibility and body control with rather little effort while doing a very short stint of Pilates. I have this idea it might help my skating, as I my control over the movements of my left leg is rather poor, and the movements force me to practice doing precise little movements with the legs. We’ll see if it helps. It wasn’t particularly strenuous, but I did wonder a bit if something light like these sorts of exercises should make a difference in recovery. Surely it shouldn’t, but we’ll see.

Strength Session:

Warmup - bike ride to gym (10 minutes or so), 2 sets of 5 pullups, 2 sets of 10 dowel stretches

All weights in pounds.

Squats
45 x 5 x 2
55 x 5
80 x 3
110 x 2
137.5 x 3 ...form got all wiggly and I was not happy
136.5 x 5 ...still not happy and felt I wasn’t going low enough
decided to back off and work concentrate on form today
135 x 5 ...much better
135 x 5 ...drifted forward a bit on one rep; felt I didn’t go quite as deep on the last one
135 x 5 ok. felt like I could have had the knees pointing out a bit more on this set.

So: actually backtracked today but I'm hoping it's worth it. I want to make sure I nail the form while the weights aren't super-duper heavy, and I want to make sure I maintain good speed for most working sets. I think I may go back to being more conservative about increasing the weight. Maybe a couple of pounds a session?

Press
45 x 5 x 3
45 x 4 (was supposed to be 3; can’t count either)
55 x 2
66.5 x 5 - all reps were pretty slow going up
66.5 x 5 this set was much better. Form was much tighter, and it helped. On the last rep, the left arm lagged behind the right arm in pushing up the bar
66.5 x 4 failed on last rep. Just couldn’t push the bar up.
After trying a couple times, I racked the bar. I waited a bit (maybe 60 seconds?) and then tried to squeeze out one more, so
66.5 x 1

Hang Power Clean
45 x 5 x 3
45 x 3
50 x 2
55 x 3 x 5
45 x 5 just to practice, as I still had some in me

I’m still messing with the hang power cleans right now. I’m trying the hook grip, but seem to be unwilling to relax the grip at the end of the movement. I tried a few reps with my hands wider apart and the cleans seemed to feel better.

Will have to watch the DVD and do some re-reading.

Finished off the w/o with chinups (7), dips (6-7, 2 sets), and pullups (7), then stretching (legs, hips). Postworkout drink of pumpkin seed protein (20 g protein) and rice milk (about 6 oz). Bike ride home.

___

Then, after a fairly substantial dinner (rice noodles, coconut curry, pork, lots of veg, mango):

Late evening hockey game (shinny, co-ed) - playing goal
1.5 hours in net - about 10-15 min warmup and the rest a game with very little stoppage in play. Lots of shots. Let in 5, I think.

Small post game snack of pumpkin seed protein and rice milk again, then out for congee (rice porridge; added pork, fish) and gai lan.

---

Finally got settled in the early AM and went to bed. Noticed I was getting a sore throat, which means the immune system is hurting a bit. Had a bad sleep, with bizarre dreams and much waking. Sore throat was gone in the AM, though.

C

[chibichibi]

Well, the original plan was to lift today, but I think I should take today to work on recovering a bit, as I've given myself very little chance to do so the past couple days, and I've been feeling it.

As mentioned earlier, I lifted Sunday and then played a pretty active 1.5 h of goal late Sunday night, followed by a short night of bad sleep.

Monday I played net as well, for about 1 h plus maybe 10 min or so. My third day in a row of playing net. Noticed my legs were really, really tired. Had some good save sequences but overall was much more holey-the-goalie-like than I would have liked.

Then last night I intentionally stayed up very late, finishing a project. Probably got around 3.5 hours of sleep.

Not to go all boo-hoo or anything, but thought it might be more productive to rest today and shift my lifting day to tomorrow. I haven’t been happy with my squat the last couple of sessions and I don’t really feel like botching it today when I know I’m thrashed. The late night sore throats are a warning sign, so I’m trying to listen.

I was hoping to do Tues Thurs Sun again but I think I can make Wed Fri Sun work, especially since I don’t have any league games this Wed or Sat night. I like lifting Thursdays, though. Still, I just agreed to play net Thursday night, and it should be fairly fast hockey, so maybe it’s better anyway.

[chibichibi]

Got a little more sleep last night.

Napped yesterday evening for a few hours, then about 8 and half hours of somewhat interrupted sleep. Tried to eat well, too. Consciously made an effort to have some starchy carbohydrates with each meal (I've been restricting them somewhat as of late, so I've been tending not to eat them at every meal.)

Wasn’t sure how much to try to go up on the squats today; last workout I backed off to 135 because it seemed like just one of those days; I had done 136.5 before. Was planning on 165 for the deadlifts. This was the weight I was supposed to lift last deadlift session, when I had my addition problems.

W/o - early evening
Short bike ride to gym; warmup with 2 sets of : 10 dowel raises, 5 chinups

Squats
Decided to try for 138 and see how it goes.
45 x 5x 2
50 x 5
80 x 3
110 x 2
138 x 5 x 3 - squats went okay, but had a little trouble racking the bar on the last set; I was straining my right wrist a bit (bending back as I tried to push it into the rack)
115 x 5 - not sure if I should be making this a habit, but I’ve been doing it lately: adding in an extra lighter set done while really, really thinking about form

Dumbbell Bench Presses (weight given is total weight for the 2 dumbbells)
30 x 5 x 2
40 x 5 x 2
60 x 3 (someone had the 25 lb dumbbells)
65.5 x 5 x 3 (hung 3 0.75 lb washers and a 0.5 lb wrist weight off each dumbbell)
I am going to need some more little weights or else do these things unilaterally, which I think changes the game a bit.

Deadlifts
65 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
140 x 2
165 x 5 - grip on bar slipping; could feel little tiny snappy twinges in the right shoulder...no pain, but strain in the right shoulder occurring as grip slips. Paused after the 3rd rep to try and really set my grip, but it wasn’t much better for the last 2 reps.

Cooldown
some stretches - working on splits, hip mobility
pullups (2 sets of 5 or so)
dips (2 sets of 10...though broken a bit [e.g., 7, 3; 5, 5]

then some time in the steam room because the gym has one. I like saunas a lot and wondered if this would be similar. It seemed okay.

Some thoughts...
Definitely feeling my grip as the weak link on the deadlifts. The deadlifts were hard, but the worst part was feeling the bar slip in my grip. Wondering if I should do some additional exercises to strengthen my grip? It’s always been one of my weak points. Don’t want to fry my grip between workouts, however, so I'm going to have to think carefully about that.

At the very least, I need to think harder about really gripping the bar aggressively on deadlifts. And I guess the presses, too. May also have to progress more slowly on the deadlifts now...perhaps let the grip catch up?

[Rezart Erindi]

Got a little more sleep last night.

Napped yesterday evening for a few hours, then about 8 and half hours of somewhat interrupted sleep. Tried to eat well, too. Consciously made an effort to have some starchy carbohydrates with each meal (I've been restricting them somewhat as of late, so I've been tending not to eat them at every meal.)

Wasn’t sure how much to try to go up on the squats today; last workout I backed off to 135 because it seemed like just one of those days; I had done 136.5 before. Was planning on 165 for the deadlifts. This was the weight I was supposed to lift last deadlift session, when I had my addition problems.

W/o - early evening
Short bike ride to gym; warmup with 2 sets of : 10 dowel raises, 5 chinups

Squats
Decided to try for 138 and see how it goes.
45 x 5x 2
50 x 5
80 x 3
110 x 2
138 x 5 x 3 - squats went okay, but had a little trouble racking the bar on the last set; I was straining my right wrist a bit (bending back as I tried to push it into the rack)
115 x 5 - not sure if I should be making this a habit, but I’ve been doing it lately: adding in an extra lighter set done while really, really thinking about form

Dumbbell Bench Presses (weight given is total weight for the 2 dumbbells)
30 x 5 x 2
40 x 5 x 2
60 x 3 (someone had the 25 lb dumbbells)
65.5 x 5 x 3 (hung 3 0.75 lb washers and a 0.5 lb wrist weight off each dumbbell)
I am going to need some more little weights or else do these things unilaterally, which I think changes the game a bit.

Deadlifts
65 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
140 x 2
165 x 5 - grip on bar slipping; could feel little tiny snappy twinges in the right shoulder...no pain, but strain in the right shoulder occurring as grip slips. Paused after the 3rd rep to try and really set my grip, but it wasn’t much better for the last 2 reps.

Cooldown
some stretches - working on splits, hip mobility
pullups (2 sets of 5 or so)
dips (2 sets of 10...though broken a bit [e.g., 7, 3; 5, 5]

then some time in the steam room because the gym has one. I like saunas a lot and wondered if this would be similar. It seemed okay.

Some thoughts...
Definitely feeling my grip as the weak link on the deadlifts. The deadlifts were hard, but the worst part was feeling the bar slip in my grip. Wondering if I should do some additional exercises to strengthen my grip? It’s always been one of my weak points. Don’t want to fry my grip between workouts, however, so I'm going to have to think carefully about that.

At the very least, I need to think harder about really gripping the bar aggressively on deadlifts. And I guess the presses, too. May also have to progress more slowly on the deadlifts now...perhaps let the grip catch up?

First of all welcome (we don't see many women around here ) and congrats on the progress. At your bodyweight those are respectable weights. Now regarding the Hang Clean and the Dumbbell Press I'm with Slowjoe here, they are fine substitutes, even though regarding the p.clean even without bumper plates you can still do them by first lowering the weight like in a Hang Clean and not droping the weight to the floor.
I wouldn't suggest additional grip work, the deadlift itself works the grip perfectly, and if you add there chinups and pullups, I think you'll be fine. Also are you holding the bar with a double overhand grip? If this is halting your progress you can try with a mixed grip, but remember that the grip is most worked with DOH. Good luck with your training!

[slowjoe]

First of all welcome (we don't see many women around here ) and congrats on the progress. At your bodyweight those are respectable weights. Now regarding the Hang Clean and the Dumbbell Press I'm with Slowjoe here, they are fine substitutes, even though regarding the p.clean even without bumper plates you can still do them by first lowering the weight like in a Hang Clean and not droping the weight to the floor.
I wouldn't suggest additional grip work, the deadlift itself works the grip perfectly, and if you add there chinups and pullups, I think you'll be fine. Also are you holding the bar with a double overhand grip? If this is halting your progress you can try with a mixed grip, but remember that the grip is most worked with DOH. Good luck with your training!

+1
The mixed grip is great for deadlifting at the limit of strength. Adds up to 50% to your deadlift. Also huge advantage is chalk. Try a climbing shop or Amazon.

[chibichibi]

First of all welcome (we don't see many women around here ) and congrats on the progress. At your bodyweight those are respectable weights. Now regarding the Hang Clean and the Dumbbell Press I'm with Slowjoe here, they are fine substitutes, even though regarding the p.clean even without bumper plates you can still do them by first lowering the weight like in a Hang Clean and not droping the weight to the floor.
I wouldn't suggest additional grip work, the deadlift itself works the grip perfectly, and if you add there chinups and pullups, I think you'll be fine. Also are you holding the bar with a double overhand grip? If this is halting your progress you can try with a mixed grip, but remember that the grip is most worked with DOH. Good luck with your training!

Hey Leonidas,

thanks for the welcome, and the helpful comments and encouragement.

As for not seeing too many women on the forums -- I'm guessing there are many more lurking than posting. I'm taking my cue from Gwynn's log, and those of some of the other women who've here: I think it really is helpful to see training logs from people who might have profiles similar to yourself. Not that being a woman is necessarily hugely different from being a man (well, yes and no), but the question comes up, and it's useful to see what happens in practice. And maybe my log might be helpful for small people over 40 with wimpy grips, too.

True about the Power Cleans -- I should give that a try or at least practice them that way. Since I've started the Hang Power Cleans I've gotten lazy about practicing the full movement, and I know it needs work (it's very choppy and segmented: I think too much about where the bar is).

I'm using the double overhand grip. Given your comments and those of Slowjoe (thanks), I think what I will do is stay with the same grip, really concentrate on gripping when I do these exercises along with presses, chins, and pullups, and start using chalk. Maybe I will throw in a few more chins and pullups...not too many more, but maybe another set or more in my 2 sets.

Improving my grip and forearm strength is quite important to me: it's a weak point for many things I want to do well, e.g., opening sauerkraut jars, resisting the force of a hard shot along the ice, or holding a sword steady and manipulating its position with smoothness and stability.

[chibichibi]

Yesterday.

Had a niggling borderline sore throat all day. Not a real sore throat -- but the kind you get when you feel you might just be on the verge of catching something. My bf has one, too, except he reports that his throat is quite sore.

Moved the workout from the morning to the late afternoon/early evening; was originally going to check out a free lifting class in the evening but decided I had too many things going on this day.

Warmup...
No bike ride to the gym - got dropped off. I got to go work out instead of going to MacDonald’s with my partner, his mother, and his son. It’s a Friday ritual that I am happy to have to miss. I don’t care much for the food there and given that I don’t eat chicken, dairy (well, I cheat sometimes), or wheat, the choices are pretty boring and not particularly tasty. Sure I can order a bacon hamburger or an angus burger and throw away the bun, and those are almost okay, but the whole meal is just so wasteful and subpar that it galls me to do it. I sometimes go along just to be social but it really goes against the grain for me.

Didn’t warm up much -- a few dowel stretches. The squat racks were free and I thought I should claim one as I wasn’t sure how busy they’d get.

Squats
45 x 5 x 2
50 x 5
80 x 3
110 x 2
140 x 5 These actually felt pretty good today -- I was surprised but happy about it.

Press
45 x 5 x 3
50 x 3
55 x 2
66.5 x 5 x 3 - same weight as last time, but managed to complete the sets. However, I felt a lot less strong today; it may be that I was feeling less coordinated. The bar was sometimes quite slow and hard to manage; I’d find myself bending back a bit, or not popping my head through as quickly as I like, and I had one rep that was almost a push press before I stopped and corrected myself.
50 x 5 x 2 - to try and nail form a lighter weight

Power Clean
I seemed to be having similar problems with coordination and form for these as well.
45 x 5 x 3
45 x 3
56.5 x 3 x 5
50 x 5 x 3

The working set felt somewhat heavy, but mostly I felt uncoordinated. I felt like I wasn’t shrugging the weight up, and that my arms weren’t really whipping around well enough. Felt slow, not explosive, although some of the reps were decent.

Finished off by doing some chinups (2 sets of 7) and dips (same), then doing my usual stretches. Before I left to get changed, I added one more set of 7 dips and 7 chinups each.

Overall: happy about the ability to maintain form during the squats; not happy about the how either the presses or power cleans went. Maybe the same thing that was causing the niggling sore throat was also contributing to a bit of fogginess and lack of coordination.

[misspelledgeoff]

Glad that you are posting here and congrats on the strong lifting. Good on you for trying the hang cleans. After training for a year, I'm still trying to iron out technique.

[chibichibi]

Glad that you are posting here and congrats on the strong lifting. Good on you for trying the hang cleans. After training for a year, I'm still trying to iron out technique.

Hey, thanks.

Not sure if I should feel encouraged or a little bit trepidatious at knowing that one can still be trying to iron out technique a year later :P. Still, I can see why. Every time I think I've got it, I just have to go just a bit heavier and my body tells me I haven't quite got it yet. (It's like the muscles get surprised and forget what they're supposed to be doing.)