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.

I'm so sorry. Look after yourself Oogle. x

Thank you. I went to the gym on Tuesday for a session with my PT and really enjoyed it. Upper body this week and pleased that I managed to increase the weights on everything again. We finished with sprints on the bike (20sec followed by 10sec rest) and I am still ridiculously unfit. My PT admitted that my strength training is going really well but I need to add more cardio in (I don't want to do that with him, I don't want to pay him to watch me on a treadmill) but I really hate cardio, how do I learn to enjoy it? I'd much rather be lifting!!

Oogle, I am sorry about your friend. I am new to all this and hate cardio too. I do small circuit-type HIT classes that have weights, bodyweight and cardio in and have also just started doing boxing which is loads of cardio but I don't notice it so much because I am concetrating so hard on remembering which side is left on the activity! No idea whether that is "enough" but I seem to be getting fitter. Might some classes work for you if you have access to them?

Oogle how about hiit type stuff. I used to do videos from YouTube (Fitness blender are good), or it's pretty easy to devise your own workout using whatever equipment you have available (or none at all).

I hate long/ slow cardio. It's a reaction, I think, to my days of doing endurance sport (triathlon) years ago. Now, I want cardio to be short sharp and effective! It means I don't have the lung capacity I used to (as demonstrated yesterday when I uncharacteristically decided to go out for a run - god that hurt!), but as I'm not planning on doing any endurance events ever again I don't suppose that matters.

how's everyone?

Did some fast (for me) touch-and-go deadlifts this morning, 6 x 10 x 70kg. Had to have a little sit down afterwards.

Otherwise felt a bit tired and meh - but! - did feel pretty natty in my new gym vest, which is one of those 'muscle vest' types that the young people seem to like. I didn't realise it was quite so cutaway when I ordered it off Sports Direct for £4. I'm increasingly rocking a neon 80s aerobic look these winter mornings at the gym: today it was bright blue leggings, purple leg warmers, hi-top turquoise Pony sneakers, and this baggy vest thing with sturdy sports bra partially on show.

I'm not feeling great this week. I'll get my shoulders done tomorrow and so will hit everything 1x this week.

Just checking in on the thread to keep it up the list on "I'm on". Sorry to hear about your week Oogle.

Starting to feel a little stronger again after my long summer break. My shoulder presses are still pathetic but slightly less weedy than a month ago.

I'm trying to shift some blubber so I do 20 mins HIIT 4 times a week as well as the weights. Any tips for this?

Hello!

I'm staying in Glasgow for this week. The PureGym on Bath street is fantastic. They have two Olympic platforms and FIVE squat racks. Very tidy it was, too, this morning.

Bleurgh. I’d been doing so well but came down with a horrible sore throat three days ago that just won’t budge. It really hurts and I feel very sorry for myself, not least because I can’t go to the gym and lift heavy shit

Boo, Closet - hope you're feeling better soon. And hope you're better now too, Just. Like the sound of Bath St Pure! 5 Squat racks! Every so often I dither about joining the Edinburgh Uni gym - they've got lots of equipment but they're more expensive than Pure and their opening hours are slightly awkward.

Bench this morning. I've decided that Monday shall be my heavy bench day, as I'll have had two lifting-free days prior to that over the weekend, plus usually a lot of food as well. Bench is the lift I'm most interested in progressing but there's a lot of conflicting advice out there. Some people say if you want to get better at any lift, you need to do it more frequently - which makes intuitive sense and for a while that's what I did. Other people recommend dropping the frequency and spending the other days doing well targeted accessory exercises. Currently I do something in between - a heavy bench day, a volume bench day, (also with things like incline D/B presses thrown in) and a shoulder day, and that seems to be working out OK actually - slow but steady progress. So today was 3 x (4 x55kg), then 2 x (3 x 55kg), which is the best I've done in a long while.

Margo I shifted some blubber recently, I think mostly by being in a calorie deficit but also added in two cardio days, one steady state and one more HIIT, the overall result was that I lost a stone, but hard to say how much the extra cardio helped.

findo it sounds like your hybrid approach is working for you!

I'm impressed by your bench stats Findo! It's the lift I struggle with the most - I just can't seem to get any stronger on it and I seem very prone to tweaking my shoulders despite paying v. close attention to my form.

Thanks both! Closet a lot of women find progress on bench to be punishingly slow so you're not alone! I've had months of actually going slightly backwards on it before improving again. And it can be hard on the shoulders too. Try a slightly narrower grip or touching slightly lower on your torso - these have helped me.

Hi All. Have enjoyed reading the thread.

Hopping back on, 8 weeks post bi-lateral bunion correction. Been back at the gym a week. I can't do much because I can't do anything that puts pressure or impact on my feet (still on crutches and walking slower than the slowest granny) but can use machine weights, and have figured out a way to do pull ups and tricep dips off the bench. Also seeing my PT twice a week which means I can do a few other things as he can manoeuvre me into position like a sack of potatoes (so dignified!).

So not looking for big gains, but trying to offset the creeping sogginess. My mantra for the next 8 weeks is "On Jan 20th, when the casts come off, you'll be glad you did this"

You will definitely be glad you did it!

Yes Findo I've definitely found that touching lower on my torso (just under my boobs) has made the press less taxing on my shoulders. I'm also hoping that the enforced time off I'm having this week with this sore throat that will-not-go-away will give my upper body some proper rest.

Thing is, I love doing the press, even though I'm not great at it. It's the lift that most makes me feel like 'raaaaar, I'm lifting heavy things!!!'

Wow Findo, so impressed with your bench presses! Thanks also for the blubber shifting tips. I am definitely not in sufficient calorie deficit. I am very bad at 'dieting' and feel deprived almost immediately and want to stuff my face with cake. Whereas on a non-diet, I never eat or even want bloody cake.

Good luck with the foot Johnny. Great that you can find some work arounds.

Hello! I managed a session at the gym Friday & Sunday. Added a bit more cardio than usual and it was hard but I did it! Had a lower body session with my PT today, it was good but I'm stiff already!
Squats 4 x 12 x 35
Walking lunges 4 x aisle x 12kg
Leg extension 4 x 12 x 20
Hamstring bridge 4 x 12
Nordic hamstring 4 x 10
Glute bridge 4 x 12 x 10
Hamstring curl 4 x 12 x 25
Lateral walk 4 x 1/2 aisle with heavy resistance band
Calf raises 3 x 21 x 60

Unfortunately my body fat analysis has gone the wrong way. 0.7% increase in body fat and only 0.1% increase in muscle mass so I need to assess my diet and increase the gym sessions from 3 to 4. Rather than being miserable, I'm feeling really motivated to get those numbers back down again.

Excellent session Oogle! I tried Nordic hamstring curls once and did an actual face plant. Something to work on. Your approach to the analysis sounds good too - using it as a tool to adjust what you're doing, and not getting hung up on the numbers. How are you getting your bodyfat analysis? Is it those pincer things? I'm intrigued by those DEXA scans but they're expensive.

Also impressed by you hobbling to the gym Johnny, and the adaptations you've made while you're healing.

Hey! I've been weightlifting for the past few years. Just found out I'm pregnant and was wondering how any of you adapted your routine while pregnant? Xxx

Findo they have body fat monitors & scales - I think the brand is Omron?

The first time he made me do Nordic Hamstrings, I just couldn't do it - I couldn't let my body drop, it was so unnatural! It took a good 5 minutes for me to actually do one Yesterday he told me off for doing them too fast, my reply of "I just want to get them out the way" didn't go down well

Can't help kate but congratulations!

I do weights but never more than 2 kgs. I do lunges and follow some youtube video tutorials.

Bit of a random session today, not helped by my gym having a mix of kg weights and lb weights, but I enjoyed it and can see what may even be a bit of definition creeping back

Quad master: 3 x 10 @50lbs
Hamstring curl: 3 x 10 x37.5lbs
Superset: 3 x 10x 5kg single arm lat raises alternating with 3 x 10 tricep dip off the bench
3x 10 x 15lbs one arm shoulder press
3 x 10 x 20lbs DB benchpress.
Accumulated 5 neutral grip pull ups with 5 second hold at the top and 3 second eccentric.
Random ab work (5 sets of superman, 5 sets hollow curls, 20 sec holds)

waves
Not posted for a while. Still plodding on but a shoulder niggle has curtailed any pressing/raising lifts for the last few weeks. We are working on chest and back for upper body right now.

Today:
Barbell deadlifts. These are relatively new to me, as I usually trapbar or landmine deadlift. 10/9/7 for 52kg, which seems so weedy compared to my 72kg sets with a trapbar. It will improve though.
Superset of walking lunges (21kg bar, 3 x 8 each side) + push ups (3 x 8).
Superset of one arm bent over rows (not sure of weight, small, maybe 7.5kg, 3 x 8 each side) + squat jumps (3 x 6).

Maid that sounds like a good session. Hopefully your shoulder will improve soon.

I have to deadlift with a barbell as my gym doesn't have trapbars. My PT is starting to work out of a second gym and if it's got better facilities, then I'll move to that gym.

I can't move today. I didn't stretch enough after the session on Tuesday. Going to do a mass stretch and core stability session at home tonight and back in the gym for cardio in the morning.