Lifting support thread 2

[RayKray]

Just noticed I was the last to post on the lifting support thread as it went to 1k so here's another.

Original thread intro post here from
@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! 💪🏼"

That's brilliant news @RayKray , congratulations! 130kg is amazing!

Thats amazing @RayKray ! So inspiring. Well done, clear you have worked so hard for it and reflection of your effort. Revel in it 💃

This is awesome @RayKray . I feel very impaired by you

Gym day today. Given myself some increases. Did a 15min run this morning. So pleased as I struggled to run and gym but muscles have got used to it.

Thanks all. I am so so proud

@MsMartini do it!

@Clytemnestra21 I'm hoping that was a typo and it was meant to be inspired? I'm going with that anyway 😆 If I can do it then so can others. I come from zero sporting background, I've just found the thing I love and work hard and consistently. And am patient with the time results take. And decided to put aside any doubts and fears.

I've been training every day so far this week! It's all post comp stuff now so lots of other strength work to build my body up some more ready for next time I'm preparing for comp. I'm definitely doing it again! I want to get a high enough total to qualify for British championships (I can't believe I'm actually in that headspace!)

Awesome @RayKray it's so inspiring to hear your success!

I am plugging away at the training, easing back in after my holiday (and HRT dose adjustment which made me feel briefly wierd!) and also getting used to my new cutting calories of 2000. Just getting my head down and getting the work done, trusting the process etc etc.

Re the previous discussion on PTs, some are awful, lots are very average and a few are excellent. Mine is late twenties and male but does a fantastic job with me. He has huge depth of knowledge but also listens to me and adjusts my training if needed.

@RayKray this is just wonderful - your enthusiasm and commitment is genuinely inspiring. I love it. Go you!!

id compete if I could I think - but as I’ve droned on about before the opportunities for women in Cali very limited at least at my level.

Wow @RayKray that is awesome! And you probably haven’t peaked yet.

Oh yeh nowhere near peaked. I'm still very much a novice. My numbers were still going up in comp prep, there's loads I can work on technique-wise, and still loads of strength to come. The issue of how hard and when menopause hits is looming on the horizon though, another reason to work extra hard now.

I'm envious. I think I peaked at 100 kilos after 5 years of training (but I am probably 30 years older than you). I wish I'd discovered weight lifting in my 30s, rather than my late 50s.

I might be older than you think @DollyParkin. I'm an M1 (40-49) and not a young one. A programme from a specialist powerlifting coach, and single minded focusing on very specific goals makes a massive difference. My whole programme has been focused on getting my squat, bench and deadlift up and little else for a while now (I can still only do one chin up on a good day!). Left to my own devices I'd just bung extra weight on but proper programming is so much more.

The British records are here, some phenomenal lifts from women much older than me. https://www.britishpowerlifting.org/documents/3488femaleeclassicrecordss15-08-23.pdf

Well, that makes your scores even more awesome @RayKray

I train hard twice a week with a PT, (plus a couple of group classes HIIT style stuff) and the really hard bit is the metcon stuff. I sometimes wonder if I dropped the metcon stuff and just lifted 5 days a week what would happen. I can't help feeling it would be easier on my body, as my PT really pushes me (I dud all the functional but of the Hyrox competition in one session - completely exhausting), but I also know that CV health and mobility are really important too.

I think when my knee is better & I have the all clear to add body weight to squats etc, I must get serious about adding in 2 more days of lifting - doing whatever we don't do in my PT sessions. I have the MegSquats programme & that has a lot of accessory work.

But it'll be December before I'm fully back ... grrrrr

@DollyParkin I can guarantee with zero hesitation you'd beat me on any metcon stuff hands down. I do as little of that kind of stuff as I can get away with.

@DollyParkin , so frustrating for you, I am sorry. I have a shoulder injury some years ago and know how the time dragged - and I wasn't out for that long.

Re metcon - I agree about CV health and mobility but the evidence I have seen suggests that a little high intensity stuff goes a long way? I used to do a park bootcamp that was really tough and although I enjoyed it, it left me hollowed out. Since I stopped, I've made gains on the strength front (other things have changed eg more classes too). One of the reasons I've gone back to boxing classes is for the interval conditioning but is less intense and can combine with the strength training more easily. And I ran (very slowly) and walk briskly for steady-state. Just a thought - if you aren't enjoying the metcon - I'm sure it makes you super fit but perhaps beyond what you need for health, IYSWIM?

I haven't finished listening to it (indeed further episodes aren't even out) but barbell medicine are doing a podcast series about cardio at the moment. They're lifters and medics and do lots of work reviewing the scientific evidence for all things lifting related so it'll answer all the questions about cardio/lifting

Something that interested me was that with cardio you're only looking at 15-20% (I think it was) improvement no matter what you do (excluding some elite athletes) so that would marry up with it not being about doing more and more. I might have misremembered that though.

@RayKray yes, broadly speaking that's what I've seen from the evidence. The low-hanging fruit give shedloads of health benefit for cardio. I started my fitness thing with lots of HIT-style classes but sleep much better now I have dialled that down. But my goals are broad on the conditioning/cardio front - I want to be fit, healthy, well-slept and well prepared for an active old age (I'm mid 50s now). Happy to do some burpees and jumping jacks etc to that end, but not to the extent that it compromises my strength stuff (where I do have specific goals that are nothing to do with health really - that box is well ticked already), or leaves me too tired to enjoy life generally.

I'm interested in the whole cardio thing. Special interest as I have moderate lung disease, 88% lung function of a normal person my age, with 90% being low end of normal. That 2% may not sound a lot but when the NHS puts you into the not normal category it is definitely not normal. It's also the fact I have small lungs so less surface area, some of which is damaged. It's not actualltly the ability to take a breath that counts so much, it is how well that breath can get through my lung tissue and converted into oxygen for my cells, and that function in me is actually only about 56% of a normal person. One of the reasons I love lifting as I can push harder and it is not dependent on my lungs - I will be unlikely to start sprinting put it that way. My lung function is on a par with someone aged 68-70 I think when I looked on a chart (I'm 43).

My cardio is currently quite steady state as HIIT gives me anxiety - the pounding heart thing - however I do know it improves, when I was doing spin regularly my heart rate dropped even at same intensity. Currently I run and swim, might dip into rowing or cross trainer bike sometimes. I was thinking of trying the local badminton club as that is quite fast but in a confined space. My local gym has also got some Metcon and Hyrox classes -I really have no clue what exactly that is like but I might give it a go. I guess I know I do need to do some HIIT but the ability for me to have control over it is very important. I do have a Fit Bit which provides confidence where I am with my maximum HR, but the anxiety is hard. I feel the same as @MsMartini I think it could be v tiring in large doses in conjunction with lifting which for me I am loving now I am 10 weeks in.

I came on to update I sent my new goals to my trainer for a new plan. It took me a while as I just didn't know what to put, but I love it and there doesn't have to be an end goal, just markers on the journey. So for me it was 3 goals of consistency, progression and fun, and under those I put some specifics. I'm doing really well at sticking but need to work on my sleep, and progress is about PBs, upping my glutes game and more shoulders, the fun element is I want to learn a pull up, I also think I will add mobility under that, and just to do something fun exercise wise each week, would love to try salsa, also I have entered a 5km and a sea swim, they are far enough away for me not to worry about 😂 and also to meet some female lifters. I saw British Weight Lifting does an Olympic Lifting masterclass which also looks fun.

So there is quite a lot there but I think as we are paring it back to 7 exercises max per workout I can hopefully actually have a little more time outside the gym 🤣

Tried a barbell back squat with my trainer today. Really awkward on my wrist and didn't like it but I'm gonna practise it a bit.

Got a PB 140kg on the leg press. My trainer is talking about reaching 200kg, erm we'll see. Did 50kg on the leg extension, been at 45kg for a while so that was good. Also 25kg on the deadlift and with the heavier of the bars. That was good as my forearms struggle a bit. My trainer has put my cals back up a bit for a week to get maximum gain before doing a 10 week deficit. I am getting my new plan next week so that is exciting.

I think my PB on the leg squat is about 6 reps for 160. But I don’t tend to use the leg squat machine - I’ve been working on deadlifts and squats.

I was doing some Egan style squats yesterday in training - bloody well having to squat to a plyo box like a total newbie or old lady and also having fun using the TRX bands to help get my squat deeper by the TRX taking some of my body weight.

And I remarked to my PT that although I loved deadlifting and my body is good at it, if I had to choose only one lift for the rest of my life, it would be a squat. They are so good for all sorts of things: getting strong, giving you abs of steel, but also for mobility and ease of movement.

(Front squats can get in the sea though)

Not “Egan” - rehab!!!!

Haha I was about to Google Egan squats.

What I liked about the barbell squat is you can get deeper than the machine squat. I think I like that for mobility but will take some time as there is more knee rotation and I had a meniscus repair on the right knee.

I posted recently about giving up trying to get lean (for now) and it might just be because it's PMS week, but lord am I loving carbs 😂 It's not that I went low carb or anything, but eating more means not being as careful with portions, or sweet treats.

I was thinking about how far I've come with my lifting, which tbh really isn't very far - when I look back at when I first started lifting and did so fairly regularly (until around 2014) my lifts now aren't much more than what I got to then. As in, I don't think I push myself enough and I'm capable of more than I think. So I've been enjoying the mental shift of eating more and testing myself more.

Seems to be paying off as I've been hitting more PBs, only going up in tiny increments but I'm still happy with the direction. I looked up some cues on squat techniques and found 'traps into bar' when coming up really helped today, so I'm hoping that will help my progress too. I think previously I'd been letting my upper body lag a little bit which meant leaning slightly forward and the weight feeling heavier on my back if that makes sense.

@DollyParkin I hope you can get back to the type of squatting you prefer soon enough. I don't think it would be my favourite exercise but I agree about it being good for you. I think the ability to sit in a (bodyweight) low squat is something I really want to maintain as I get older!

@Proteinpudding my trainer made the mistake of telling me we are starting a cut next week for 10 weeks. I thought we were already in it 🤣 at 1900 calories, she told me to increase to 2000 for a week then we'll start. Not gonna lie, coupled with second half of my monthly cycle, the thought of a cut, wanting to reward myself for almost 12 weeks of lifting, and being told I can have 2000 calories, I've actually eaten 3300 calories today and loved every one of them 🤣. The cut will be wierd.

@Proteinpudding that squat cue makes perfect sense to me. I was tipping forward slightly at the bottom of my squat so now I focus on the feeling kf the bar on my back and drive up through the bar. Seems to help me stay more upright, bar path is much straighter.