small. short. woman. lift.

[chibichibi]

So, my partner now officially has the cold. He sounds terrible.

I've decided not to lift today, because I woke up this morning feeling like I'd gotten the cold. I went to sleep later than I wanted to last night; my bf's 13 year old kid was out late with friends for the first time ever, so I was kind of up for that (big milestone for him), but he was a lot later than originally planned, and that pushed things back a bit.

My original plan was to not sleep in, ride to the gym, lift, eat, ride (prob about 30-40 min) to a plant society meeting, ride back home (30-40 min), maybe have a nap or work in the garden, then play hockey at 7 pm (in goal, 1.5 h).

Waking up feeling like the cold had taken hold, however, made me rethink this. I slept a little longer. Woke up and after a bit, started to feel like maybe I hadn't succumbed yet (this a typical pattern for me). I started to consider going to the gym, doing whatever I could, and then finishing the workout after my meeting. But I've decided now that it's unwise. I really don't want this cold. It's borderline right now, but I'm convinced that once you cross over into the coughing and persistent sore throat, you're done. Right now I’m thinking I might still manage to avoid this thing by managing my recovery. And that means managing the stress on my immune system.

New plan: lift tomorrow, so I guess it's Monday, Wed, Friday. I’m still planning on going to the meeting and playing hockey. The goalie thing is a non-negotiable.

[slowjoe]

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.)

Having the technique nailed at xkg doesn't mean you can still execute at x+10kg. Not sure, but I expect that to be a problem for the duration of my lifting.

Just saw your point about the son. Have you considered getting him to join you at the gym, and spot for you?

[chibichibi]

Having the technique nailed at xkg doesn't mean you can still execute at x+10kg. Not sure, but I expect that to be a problem for the duration of my lifting.

Just saw your point about the son. Have you considered getting him to join you at the gym, and spot for you?

re: form: I think you're right: it makes sense. But I suspect that form is more susceptible early in the game: that is, it's easier to crash the car with minor distractions when you're still learning to drive it.

As for the boy, if he were a different kid, maybe, or at least sometimes.

The truth is that, at the moment, I like the solitariness of lifting. It is one of the few things I do these days that does not involve accommodating anyone but myself -- no egos to bruise, no expectations, no needs to fulfill or deny. It's just the bar and me, and the bar doesn't even care if I show up.

Still, in principle it's a good idea, and in fact I'd really like to encourage him to see getting stronger as being a good thing. But given his personality and his interests, I don't see it happening, at least not in the immediate present. I think it would be great if he acquired an interest in hard training of some sort one day, as it a great teacher, but he has to want it, and it has to seem like his idea.

In the meantime I will just contribute to the background noise of his life. There's a signal there, but I don't think he cares to hear it yet.

[chibichibi]

Hockey was fun today; saw a lot of shots. Definitely more inclined to be fatigued today, though, and I was having trouble with knowing where the puck once I'd stopped it, which cost me at least a couple. Still, the consensus (which included me) seemed to be that I played well.

Also noticed on the rides today that the borderline cold was having an impact. Noticed a slight tightness/reactivity in the chest on the way there (I have asthma), and definitely more fatigue than usual. Weather's still great, though; enjoyed the rides.

---

Spent a couple of hours yesterday at a bartitsu class: mild martial arts stuff. Got to spend a few minutes trying to kick other people's shins, which has its pleasures.

[chibichibi]

Still a little fatigued, although the "I think I'm getting a cold" feeling was less pronounced today.

Was considering going to a longsword class today but decided to take a nap instead. Went to the gym a little later in the day than I usually do.

Didn't warm up much. Bike ride there, then just some dowel stretches -- no pullups or chins. Didn't do my stretches or any other exercises afterward, either.

Squats
45 x 5 x 2
50 x 5
80 x 3
110 x 2
143 x 5 form breakdown on the 3rd rep -- fell back a bit if I remember correctly, so added an extra rep. Possible butt wink issue on the last rep?
143 x 5 this set felt good. Did 3 reps on one breath, paused to take a new breath at that point. Was thinking: ummm...what's the rhythm for the breathing like? Felt mostly solid.
143 x 5 took new breaths after each rep. This set felt good, too.

Dumbbell Bench Presses
20 x 5 x 2
30 x 5 x 1
60 x 3
68 x 5 x 3 Was having some issues with my feet being not quite flat on the floor. For the last set, dragged over a couple of plates to rest my feet on. I have quite a bit of paraphenalia around me when I do these sets now.

Deadlifts
65 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
140 x 2
170 x 4 First 2 pulls were okay, but difficult, but then had trouble picking up the bar. Managed 2 more singles.
168 x 3 Tried lowering the weight but think I was done by then. Tried the last of the 3 with a mixed grip and it did help, but I think my back rounded a bit doing the 3rd one. Had trouble picking up the weight a 4th time. Decided to call it for today.


Comments:

Squats
Quite happy with the squats today. I was a little afraid of them because I've been having issues getting stuck with them over the past few weeks (combination of fatigue and not acknowledging a need for smaller jumps, I think), plus a little bit of a psychological hump to get over because I used the the 45s instead of the 35s on the bar. The last few times I'd loaded the bar with 35 + 10 + whatever. It seems silly because it's the same weight, but the 45s are so obviously big that I felt a little more intimidated by them. Also a little self-conscious (as in "yikes! I look a little ambitious! What if it turns out I'm having an off day and I have to back off?). Anyway, I just needed a little self-talk to remind myself that 135 was soooo last week.

I think I may have had a bit of form breakdown in the first set because mentally I wasn't completely focussed -- still worried about what might happen instead of concentrating on what is happening and what needs to be happening. Once I realized that I could do the weight, however, and that it felt pretty good, I felt quite happy.

Benches
My records in Gym Buddy [ipod app] say I only lifted 65.5 lbs total (32.75 each side) in the last session, but that seems weird because the workout before I had gone for 66.5 total. Perhaps I entered the wrong numbers? Anyway, 34 each side felt fine today. Just don't know how much of increase it was from last time.

Watched some people doing lying dumbbell flyes on the benches beside me. Doubt I could do those motions with these weights -- I imagined it, but it freaked me out a bit. I could almost feel my biceps tearing watching these guys. But hey, I'm not those guys. I'll just stay with presses for now. No need to get fancy.

Deadlifts
Okay, originally I was going to be very very conservative and just do 168, but then I thought, "come on...you're going from 10 pound increases to 3 pound increases? Why not 5 pounds?" Never mind that my grip was pathetic last time.

Anyway, I opted not to do chins and pulls before the lifts today because of both time constraints and the notion that I didn't want to fry my grip before the lifts. Still no chalk today.

So I put the weight at 170, and managed a couple of good reps, and then...done, more or less. I tried backing off to 168, with not really enough rest (because it was getting late, too), had more troubles and basically made a mess of my working set. I decided to call it a day to minimize the strain on my immune system...will revisit the dead next session.

Maybe I will have to take little teeny baby steps around this weight while my body figures out the grip thing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to also have to revisit form as well.

It feels a bit like the wall I hit with my squats earlier in these sessions. I don't think I'd started logging yet, but I was doing the squats with errors in form (that I didn't realize I had) and then started to hit the wall at about 120 or so, when things started to show themselves as unstable and wiggly. This may be what's happening now with the deads. Things I was getting away with before are now revealing themselves as weaknesses and liabilities. I just have to figure out what they are.

Wondering if I should go back to 165 next deadlifting session and aim to repeat the weight until I can do it without the bar slipping my grip? I didn't drop the bar last time but it was certainly trying to escape my grasp. (Just had a mental image of a chihuahua straining at end of a leash...). Does any amount of grip slippage count as a failure?

Maybe for me, it should?

Anyway, was quite impressed with the effect of a mixed grip. I think when I start using using it, I will back off the weight and practice a bit before trying it on heavier weights. It changed things enough that it messed up my form a tiny bit so I was reluctant to keep using it to finish the set.

After the session, I had time to go a buy a little chalk ball.

[chibichibi]

Well, no hockey this week. This past Sunday was the only session scheduled until next Wed, when my women's league starts up. I have an evaluation skate scheduled for next Tuesday night, too, but I will be skating out.

This means, I guess, the possibility of a little more rest this week.

___

Worked out a little later in the day than usual, as I was verging on moving the workout to Thursday for logistical reasons, then realized I should probably take advantage of the no-hockey. Plus it just didn't feel right, pushing the workout to tomorrow.

Warmups - 2 sets of 5 pullups; 2 sets 10 dowel stretches

Squats
45 x 5 x 2
50 x 5
80 x 3
110 x 2
145 x 5 x 3
125 x 7 (for practice)
First working set: didn't feel as deep as it should have been...was maybe still a bit nervous about the wait.
Second working set: slight butt wink on 3rd rep, so didn't count the rep, added 1. Also too long of a pause on one rep.
Third working set: This set felt smoother, but on the last rep the right side was doing a little more work than the left.

Press
45 x 5 x 2
50 x 3
67.5 x 5 x 3 bar was bit slow on some reps
50 x 5 (practicing)
Bar not up as quickly as I'd like...I'd like the "head pop thru" to be a little crisper.

Power Clean
45 x 5 x 5
45 x 3
57.5 x 3 x 5
45 x 5, 45 x 4, 45 x 5 ... just practicing
Working sets:
Set 1, last rep: arms didn't whip well
Set 3: bar was too far in front on at least the last rep

Practice sets:
I stomp pretty hard sometimes. On one of these reps I stomped so hard my left heel hurt a bit. Wondered if it would be any better with better shoes. (I wear a pair of cheap Chuck Taylor knock-offs I bought in Germany about 7 years ago.)

Finished off with
3 sets of 7 pullups each, 3 sets of dips (I think it was 8, 10, 10), dowel stretches, various leg stretches.
I should say I can probably do about 5-6 pullups without pausing when I'm still fresh, but then it gets harder and the sets become more broken. I try to get full range of motion. Notice the dips seemed easier than the pulls today.

[chibichibi]

Oh yeah, still have the borderline, almost but not really there cold.

Tonight, a few hours afterward, I notice that the area around my left knee feels a little stiff and tight. It hurts ever so slightly with some movements, but I don't believe I've injured it. I'm going to poke it and massage it out a bit and see how it feels tomorrow.

While I've been riding my bike these past few days, I've been noticing that riding seems to be easier now. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but anyway I've noticed that the gears I'm using now when cruising along are generally higher, without seeming like more effort than usual. A couple of weeks ago I also played out in our co-ed shinny, and my partner remarked that I seemed to be "skating with more authority". I'm still one of the slower skaters, which is a combination of my skating skill level, my size, and my confidence in my ability to stop, change direction, etc., so I think that the "skating with more authority" is quite a good sign. The getting stronger is most certainly helping, but maybe the strength is also helping me feel more confident that I can get my body to do what I need it to do.

Oh yeah, and the rolling average for my weight has been creeping up. The interesting thing is, I've also been taking hip and neck and waistline measurements and they've been either holding steady or trending down over the past few weeks. I've been using a Navy circumference formula over the summer to estimate bodyfat, and by this method, the percent bodyfat has been trending down over the past few weeks. I view the estimates with a bit of skepticism, but it's interesting.

Not sure if the downward trend in the bodyfat estimates is turning around now. I think I've been eating a little more freely lately (the past few days, the past week?) after deciding I didn't want to have to keep backtracking on the squats every time I tried to do a little extra or exert some sort of restriction on my diet (mostly along the lines of low-carb vs low cal). I feel a little thick and heavy today, and feel slightly pudgier this week, but that may well be a hormonal thing -- we'll see.

[chibichibi]

Hmmm. Left knee still hurts a bit...actually, both knees hurt a bit (now that I've tested a few different motions), but I noticed the left knee first. Hurts when I kneel or squat down to do casual stuff. I was riding around today for some errands and it twinged a bit sometimes while riding, but generally it isn't a problem. Did a search; could be a mild case of quadriceps tendonitis. (Someone on the board posted a question about knee pain similar to mine in pretty much the same location as mine; it's just above the knee on the medial side of the kneecap, starting just at the kneecap and extending upward a few centimetres.)

I'm thinking I probably should have been so enthusiastic about those extra power cleans.

Anyway, I do notice that squatting (without weight) with the knees out and concentrating on form doesn't seem to hurt as much as other types of squatting, so I think I will try squatting anyway tomorrow and pay special attention to what my knees are doing. Icing the knee tonight. Might dig up my old neoprene wrestling knee pads as they are essentially neoprene sleeves.

[chibichibi]

Sleep the 2 nights previously: not great. Very late to bed, trouble settling down to sleep, then waking up earlier than I would have liked. About 6 to 6.5 hours each night, I think.

Knees still sore during the day -- notice the pain as I’m pedaling on my bike. It’s not severe, just noticeable.

Did a bit of a sprint-y commute to make it to an end-of-day-camp demo - about 20 minutes. Rode to the gym afterwards, probably another 20 minutes, but slower riding.

Usual warmup of dowel stretches plus some chinups or pullups, can’t remember which now. I should probably track these.

Squat
45 x 5 x 2
55 x 5 x 1
85 x 3
115 x 2
148 x 5 x 3
135 x 5 x 2

Was using a different bar this time -- one with nasty ragged knurling. Didn’t like it as much as some of the newer bars at the gym. It felt lighter somehow. Standard bar, though. The sets were okay, although I found myself leaning back a bit too much on a couple of reps or so; had to remind myself about gaze. Think I may have been a little reluctant to set my weight forward because I was worried about my knees, but the knees didn’t hurt, so the unconscious attempt at compensating was just messing with my form.

Since I thought my form wasn’t as tight as I though it should be, I did a couple of back-off sets.

These felt good. I must remind myself to work on staying tight through the abdomen.

I'm still kind of pleased to think that I’m using this weight to practice now, after having had trouble making it earlier. This is the other perk of being a novice, I guess: still being amazed that this kind of progress really happens. Feels almost magical.

Dumbbell Bench Press (weights given = total for both dumbbells
20 x 5 x 2
40 x 5
40 x 3
60 x 2 - noticed left arm seemed a bit weak and wiggly
69 x 5 x 3

First work set: dumbbells were a little slow going up, with a bit of unevenness, but the reps weren’t too bad. Had to remind myself about breathing.
Last work set: added plates under my feet to see if it felt better. Seemed to be better. May do this more regularly now.

Deadlift
65 x 5 x 2
115 x 5 (was supposed to 95 x 3 - having addition issues again)
140 x 3 (was supposed to 140 x 2 - can’t count, either)
168 x 3, 168 x 2
145 x 5

Ack. Deadlifts sucked today. Worse than last time, because I dropped back on the weight, and this time it wasn’t my grip failing, it was everything else. Well, okay, grip wasn’t great either, but it wasn’t falling out of my hands like last time. (Did use some chalk today, as inconspicuously as possible.) Mostly, however, I was having trouble staying tight, keeping my breath locked in. I kept squealing out a breath as I’d try to lift a weight. I felt like an overfilled party balloon -- leaking out air every time I had to make myself tighter in order to make the lift. And without being tight, I couldn’t seem to lift the weight. It might have been a failure of will: someone mentioned on this board that women may have a more finely tuned “this is a bad idea” gene (or maybe neurons), and maybe this was also at work, but anyway, the work set was broken.

I wasn’t sure if it was going to be too much stress do an additional practice set, but I did just one, just to see if I could stay tight for the lighter weight. Seemed to work. However, I think I’m going to really have to work on my deadlift form. I may be at a weight now where I can’t compensate for all my little weaknesses and technique deficits anymore, and they are revealing themselves like the thin spots that you start to see on overfilled balloons (how far can I stretch this analogy, anyway?).

Need to think about how I can improve my attempts at the Valsalva maneuver, I guess.

---

Finished off the session with pullups (3 sets of 6 or 7), dips (3 sets of 6 or 7). Did some hyperextensions (2 x 12) because I noticed the device in the corner today. Stretches, no pistols.

[chibichibi]

Saturday Sept 4

No lifts today.
Bike ride (20 min, hard; was late) to bartitsu class; mild martial arts work. Some sparring at the end of the session, maybe 15 minutes total? That was a bit more strenuous.
Biked partway home, but got detoured by a night market, where I ate 3 skewers of barbecued meat and about 6 barbecued smelt (love smelt). Plus a fried potato spiral on a stick.

I am planning to take Sunday off. Was going to lift, but think now a day off might do me some good - a bit of rest for the knees to heal and maybe a bit of extra time to recover generally I'm tempted to just squat, but no. Next planned lifting session will be Tuesday.

Might drop back on the deadlifts and try to bring them back up again. Will think about this.