Lifting support thread!

[Work2live]

Thought I’d start this thread as a few people thought it’d be a good idea.

It might be a nice place to support each other and talk about lifting in general, ask for tips and advice on workouts, how to get enough protein etc.

All levels very much welcome, from complete newbies to those who’ve been weightlifting for years! 💪🏼

It's this tommorrison.uk/products/the-simplistic-mobility-method?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiZusjqbc-AIVxbTtCh2y6wGDEAAYASAAEgJwqvD_BwE

I got his videos on tiktok a lot, then did the 7 days of awesome. It's meant to be easily done at home, not too time consuming or needing equipment, but effective which is what I needed. I got some money off after doing the 7 days of assessing which I guess happens to everyone.

It's my least favourite day of the week today...rest day. And I need to rest today, starting a very intense week with my PT tomorrow.
Yesterday I was hungover through bootcamp and struggled my way through without throwing up.

I have PT in thr Park tomorrow, not doing strength work though. I believe I'll be doing as many burpees and squat jumps as I can in 20min. Doesn't that sound fun?
Then I've got squats after the school run and core and hiit+rip classes in the evening.

@firef1y, yep, very jealous.

@RayKray, thanks, I'll give him a follow

That is a busy day tomorrow @firef1y ! Just did a slow 6.5k run with a friend as we get our running legs back - it felt much better than I thought. Always easier to run with someone - takes your mind off it!!

And I'm about to do an upper body session in the garden to enjoy the sunshine. Mix of banded pull ups, dips, barbell overhead, rows and I might do a few weighted banded squats.

My rest days usually fall during the week when I'm working in town.

My PT has also just started throwing a mobility warm up in to my workouts to stop the aches and pains my middle aged body is feeling.

Today is a rest day for me too after a full body session yesterday.

I do a lot of mobility work and dynamic stretching before my workouts now and it makes the world of difference.

<Tentatively wanders into the thread>

I've running for 2 years and fitting in lots of body weight strength and yoga, but I've been inspired by Stacey Sims book Level Up to start doing heavier weights with fewer reps which is a bit daunting. I have some kettlebells and dumbbells and resistance bands which I've been using at home, but I think I need to book myself a gym session with a PT to get a sense of what and how I should be lifting.

A PT who knows what they are doing makes all the difference - I started with the James Smith app and trainers at home, and then moved to PT when I wanted to go heavier. We focus on small reps, heavy weights. Good luck!

Today's garden session after my run, turned in to a gym one after my daughter wanted to go swimming. Feeling it!!

@Thelittlestranger what do you/your pt see as low reps? I do 10-12, but when pushing up a weight 8-10, although yesterday cos I was trying up higher it was only 3. I'm basically aiming to hit failure/close to failure at those kind of reps. 4 sets. But I'm figuring this out myself somewhat with some help.

I'm not sure if callipers will help with all the excess skin I have on my stomach! I weighed myself during the week and my bmi is 25.8 which puts me into the overweight category. But, while I know my visual assessment might be off, I really don't think I'm overweight. My waist is 25" and I wear XS, often 2XS, leggings/shorts. I'm very short though, so proportionally I'm not super slim or anything.

I've put on some extra body fat as I've had an injury that has meant I've been taking it easier with cardiac endurance. But it's hard to know how much weight I should lose to get my fat down. And how much of what BMI calculators assume is excess fat is really muscle.

@Wanderingowl personally I wouldn’t take too much notice of BMI. According to the NHS BMI calculator I’m overweight and my DH is almost obese… neither of us are. BMI doesn’t take muscle mass, bone density or body composition into account at all.

I honestly wouldn’t give your body fat percentage too much thought at all. If you focus on progressively lifting heavy weights, being active in other ways (e.g. walking) and eating at maintenance or in a very small deficit, I think you will see big changes in your body over the next 3-6 months.

I see 3-5 reps as low rep (with heavy weights)
Then 8-12 reps is what I consider standard.
What I hate most is when I do endurance work, 20 rep sets with a much lighter weight, those really burn.

I'm a 10-12 and by bmi am considered obese!!!
Can't get an accurate reading of bf because I have 10+stones weightloss worth of excess skin.
I have renpho scales that give me an idea of whether it's going up, down or staying the same.

@RayKray, take on sets and reps here www.nerdfitness.com/blog/the-correct-number-of-reps-per-set-in-the-gym/

One of the tricks with learning pull ups for women I think is finding SOMETHING you can do for 5 or more reps - a negative, band assisted spotted, hold, whatever. You can't really train something you can only do one of and then have to lie down in a darkened room 😀

I'm a bit baffled by BMI, weight loss and strength training. I have lost in the past when training hard - although sometimes after a long period of not then it suddenly vanished - but now, at a couple of kilos heavier, I can't. I lost a bit when I had covid and had to stop training for a week and was a lot less hungry! BMI does have a wide range of weights within the healthy weight, so I think that allows for a fair amount of variation in bones and muscles etc. I'm overweight by BMI but a size 10-12, walk masses, run 2/3 times a week, eat reasonably healthily, strength train hard and feel good. So, for now, that will do I think.

Thanks @MsMartini . Looks like I'm spot on.

On BMI mine was just the wrong side of overweight and now 3 months later is just the right side. It's only gone down by a few kilos but I can tell from looking at my body there's a lot more muscle and some less fat.

Usually 3 reps, and the weight is high enough for me to struggle with that. Usually 90kg now. I do that with my PT as I feel safer with him standing behind me.

When I'm on my own at the gym, I am doing a lot of pin squats, at a lower weight, to strengthen my legs. Because I'm not bouncing back up, but having to use brute force to get back up again. This is between 70/75kg.

I'm overweight with BMI - but am trying to focus on how I feel and look, rather than weight. It's hard!! But, I have never felt so body confident - even wore a bikini on holiday for the first time!

When I say alot of pin squats, I mean I do them alot, not alot of reps!!

Burpee/squat jump combo done. 125 of each in 20min. My legs were seriously burning by the end.
The I did week 2 of 5/3/1 squats, moderately heavy, top set 47.5kg and I managed 7 reps. Then on my PTs suggestion I had a try at 50kg, then 52.5kg then 55kg. Only 1 rep at each weight with a 3min rest between. But was happy with depth and form. Could have gone a little lower on the 52.5kg, but I also have to be careful with how low I go on heavier squats thanks to my hypermobility. Just because I can doesn't mean I should

Does anyone else have little rituals before they attempt a heavier lift??
I've never noticed it before but videoing myself today I definitely have a thing where I rock on the bar before unracking for a squat. And when deadlifting I rock back on my heels a few times before taking the breath to hold for the lift

Awesome stuff! Loving the pic of the big weight. I'm on rest day 2 😏 (so I'm in sync for the week) but going to do some mobility stuff after lunch.

@firef1y I don't know what but I'm sure I will as I have rituals for far more mundane stuff. In a similar vein I have certain music I listen to and I have to be at the right bit of the music when I'm doing the tough bits. I restarted some lunges the other day as the track wasn't quite right.

Ooh - how fab to read all this from what sounds like an awesome cohort of women!

been lifting on and off for a few years now. DH got me into it and whilst I enjoy it, motivation currently is at an all time low. Coming back from injury also hasn’t helped.

DH has written me a program which I follow when in the gym. Still in a period of ‘see what I can do weight wise’ and work from there. I am very cautious when squatting as that was when my back went last. But since it went deadlifts are what I struggle with. That movement currently doesn’t agree with me. Which is a shame as only weeks into my previous training with a PT I smashed a 105kg PB (this was feb 2020 before the world went tits up 🤣) (had to sack off the PT for a gym membership 😢 to try and save money!)

@firef1y quite the session ! Love the pics.

I do both those things! And take a deep breath at the bottom of a lift, and breathe out at the top.

Was pushing the sled at 250 kilos today. 5 times up & back a 10m track (it's sort of velcro like material, to minimise friction). With 1.5 to 2 min rest breaks between each push/pull. My hands gave out on the ropes for the pull before my glutes stopped.

Then running intervals of between 40secs - down to 15 seconds as the speed increased from 10.6 kph to 15 kph (10.6 kph is the rate to get a marathon time under 4 hours ) So as speed increased, my running time decreased & rest break increased. But it was the minute running at 10.6 at the end which broke me. I know that running intervals on the treadmill is really good for strength and speed but I was dead.

Still exhausted.

I've had a longish break - working overseas in various places since early May. I did some gym work while I was away but nothing like this, so it's painful getting back into it. Before I went away, I was doing this sort of weight & metcon stuff far more easily. It's always hard, but I felt invigorated (and I was pushing/dragging pulling up to 350 kilos) At the moment, I just feel dead. But that will pass.

I was complimented by probably the strongest man in the gym while I was doing the sled pushes. He was impressed - my PT said he wasn't just being nice. So that's an ego boost when I'm trying not to throw up ...

Absolutely exhausted after this evenings classes but buzzing...
Started with a core class, that was very hippy. Then hiit and lift
Very much a body pump style rather than heavy lifting. Used a lighter weight than I normally do, to try and get a few more reps in.
1minute of a lift and then 20sec of cardio for 4 rounds with 45sec cardio on last round. Then 15sec rest before the next set. Was absolutely exhausted and dripping with sweat by the end of the final set of exercises. Most of the muscle groups hit with endurance and then there were yet more burpees and squat jumps.
I've a feeling I'm going to be having that bruised feeling in my quads in the morning, the one where you just know how hard they've worked in the last 24hrs.

Tomorrow morning will be a stair workout wearing the weighted vest. Then double spin in the evening. I'm hoping to get a run in too, but we'll see how much pain I'm in