Weightlifting people, here! Ongoing chat thread...

[MaidOfStars]

We are a bit cut off in the designated forum so here's a shiny new thread to populate.

Hello to anyone that hasn't ventured over to The Weights Room but is lifting/resistance training.

Oh and thanks maid

Could someone help me with deadlifts, please? I've only been doing them for a few weeks, and thought I was getting on okay. But today, I went up to 60kg from 50kg, and really struggled. Not with the weight, but with my wrists, just felt like they wouldn't hold it. Is there a better grip I should be using, or i sit just something I have to get used to?

There are a few variations on the grip. Over/under (one hand wrapped over and the other wrapped under) is helpful. There's also a way that looks very uncomfortable (thumb gripped under the rest of the fingers) that also is supposed to be superior. I recommend Googling for this, and you'll find photos and videos.

Those of us who are only interested in exercising our posterior chain (back, glutes, hamstrings) and who don't care about the rules of powerlifting competition will use straps or hooks that we wrap around our wrists.

Thank you - I'm not interested in powerlifting competitions, so I'll have a look at straps, I think it is just that my wrists are weaker than other parts of me. I've only been using weights for a wee while, but I love how I'm feeling stronger, even my posture seems to be improving

How do you all check your form and that you are lifting right?

Today I did
5 x 5 squat - 30
5 x 5 bench press - 30
5 x 5 barbell row - 35 - this is the one I think I'm doing wrong.
Row feels like I'm at my limit already.
'
A magpie flew into the garage mid squat and made me jump, I'm not sure my right knee will ever be the same again!

Some people post videos to forums like reddit.com xxfitness.

isthistoonosy - I started with Stronglifts 5x5 too! It's a great programme, and I agree you're doing grand with OHPs - for some women, even just the bar is too heavy to start with.

You do Pendlay rows in Stronglifts and those are quite technical and hard to perfect. There is a form sheet on the website that you can print off - I did that at first for all the lifts and literally checked everything each time I was setting up! The main difficulty is that if you don't have weight plates wide enough it's hard to get your back in the right starting position - it's meant to be parallel to the floor. If you don't have plates wide enough in your garage you could use blocks to raise them up a bit. And remember not to crane your neck up, keep your head neutral. I did this my first time and ended up with a cricked neck for a week.

Don't expect to be able to put weight on every week with rows - it will happen, but it's more important to get your form right first. A rule of thumb I've heard people use is that you should be able to row about the same as you can bench press. 35kg is great especially considering you're just starting out. I don't go much heavier than 50kg with Pendlays.

Thanks NC4. Starting with dumbells is a great idea.

Thanks for the encouragement, todays session felt good onwards and upwards.
5x5 squat 32.5
5x5 OHP 25
2x5 deadlift 50

Is there a good site for getting an idea of how I compare to other women for weights lifting, that might help me gauge what I'm aiming for?

How has this week been for you maid and gask ?

Maid has recommended this site before (I think it was this one)
www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html

You can see how you match up with women your own age too.

You seem comparatively stronger in your upper body, which is how I was when I started stronglifts. The programme probably made the most dramatic difference to my squat; it pretty much doubled it, so I think you can expect some big gains there!

My week's been going grand thanks! I've stopped putting all my workouts on here because I think I was boring everyone to death - but Monday was heavy deadlifts and bench plus a bunch of other stuff (weighted hip thrusts, back hyperextensions, some other things I've forgotten) and today was heavy squats and overhead press mainly, with bulgarian split squats, leg press, and lat pull downs as well.

All my three lifts seem to be picking up again after a period of crapness, which is a relief. I'm still building my sessions around those but doing more bodybuilder type stuff as well: particularly bicep work, which I've always completely ignored.

actually I've just checked and you don't seem to be able to compare for age - not sure where I saw that!

strengthlevel.com/ to compare lifts with age/weight/sex.

Getting back on track after marathon efforts.

Last Friday: kettlebell squats/pull ups + push ups/lightish deadlift to fatigue (maybe 15-20 reps a set) + ball slams.
Something happened because I struggled to put my coat on over the weekend!

Yesterday: split squats/dips + inverted rows (felt really good on these)/box jumps + skater jumps.

Tomorrow morning next.

(Sorry, flying visit, this week has been manic! Will catch up properly later)

You folk who were comparatively stronger with your upper body - how is that possible? What exercise were you doing previously that gave you upper body strength?

I am so, so, so upper body weak!

You may have 'comparatively' good upper strength because you're actually weak on legs?

My legs/back are comparatively strong (top 15% for sex/age/weight) but my upper body is still well in the top half.

I have spent years playing a sprint/throw sport! It hasn't pushed me into excessive strength in my upper body, but presumably kept me at least level pegging

Ah, ok - that makes sense.

For me, it's partly my build. I have broad shoulders and I seem to have more easily put muscle on my chest, back and shoulders than elsewhere. But, back when I was doing a lot of running but getting injured, I started doing a lot of bodyweight sessions in the hope it would strengthen me up and make me less injury-prone. I got obsessed with being able to do millions of push-ups - I think those probably helped a lot.

No Idea as all I’ve Done for years is walking / hiking and then nothing much the last three yrs due to hip issues in pregnancy. Assume its just one of those things.

Really interesting. I am broad shouldered but weak as a kitten. I can do about 2 proper press ups in good form! Definitely something to work on.

Are you all self-taught lifters, or have you had PTs at some point?

You can definitely work on your push-ups and you will find the strength you develop will transfer to lots of work with weights.

I've never had a PT. I've worked with a couple of power lifting coaches on an ad-hoc basis for programming as well as form tweaks, but I prefer doing my own thing. The standard of PTs I've seen is so variable - to put it mildly - and I don't really want to have to talk to anyone at the gym, never mind for a whole hour!

I used to lift with my bodybuilding ex about 20-odd years ago. He was a decent, albeit non-professional, teacher. Worked with him for a couple of years before I grew out of him

Didn't lift a weight since until 18 months ago. I decided to restart to help me run faster and throw better. Found a PT and got back into it. Happily, my muscle memory was good, and things like deadlifts etc didn't need much form guidance.

My PT is ace and horrible in equal measures. I'm a lazy shite at heart but also care too much about what people think of me - I absolutely need an onlooker to push me on.

Weirdly, it seems, I have very narrow / non existent shoulders and a massive bum and thighs. Seems my lower half is made of pure fat though as it has no strength!

Hi all! I've been picking things up and down for over 2 years now. I've suffered a neck injury since May - colleague (consultant spinal surgeon) thinks it's likely a prolapsed disc so I've been cutting down a lot lately. Just had 4 weeks off - busy time! Back to it yesterday with leg day and my god I cannot walk today!

Good Mornings @ 40kg
SLDL @ 50kg
Hip thrusts @ 90kg
Hammie curls @ 30kg
Leg extensions @ 30kg

Paying for it now!

Nice work Stealing! Very sorry to hear about the neck injury, but it sounds like you're hopefully on the mend. Do you know how it happened?

Maybe my broad shoulders theory is nonsense then isthistoonosy!