Diane's (sbhikes) PB fitness log

I want a new log. I'm done with the whole dieting and weight loss thing and my focus is on the fitness part of the Primal Blueprint. I want to get fit, be strong and have muscles. I want to stop getting cripplingly sore anytime I bend over to clean the tub. I want to be able to one-handed pour stuff out of my heavy stainless steel pots and pans.

I'm attempting to follow the PB recommendations as much as possible. I'm sprinting once a week. Been doing that for over a month. I'm lifting heavy. I've been doing that since October. I was doing some HIT after lifting but have had to quit because I got exhausted. I will do it when the gym is closed for long holidays. And for slow movement I take walks at lunch and go hiking once a week at the minimum.

Here's my where I'm at on strength:

[table="width: 500"]
[tr]
[td]Exercise[/td]
[td]October[/td]
[td]Now[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Squat[/td]
[td]25lbs[/td]
[td]105lbs[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Overhead Press[/td]
[td]20lbs[/td]
[td]51lbs[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bench Press[/td]
[td]30lbs[/td]
[td]67.5lbs[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Deadlift[/td]
[td]45lbs[/td]
[td]140lbs[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Yesterday I squatted and benched the above weights and did 70lb RDLs, 90lb lat pulls and 45lb dumbbell rows. I sprinted at lunch (8x ran the straights on the track and walked the curves.) I'm very sore today from the bench press and the sprinting. I ate half a quart of goat yogurt, a pound of fish, potatoes, rice and chocolate for my recovery.

FIRST IN!!!!!

Good luck on your Getting Super Strong, Ms. SBHikes.

Definitely a perfect mind frame.

I killed it at the gym yesterday for the first time in MONTHS, totally crippled
today, but by golly, I'm goin' again tomorrow or Friday hook or by crook, doms or
no doms.

Happy lifting, you're doing GREAT!!!


Julie

Thank you, Julie. I hope you find those Abs someday.

I should get off my ass and go for a walk. So sore. I think I'm getting more sore as the day goes on. I'm so hungry today, too. I ate the other half quart of goat yogurt, a 7.5oz can of salmon, a small sweet potato and a very large avocado. Gotta eat for recovery.

Those SS people really get mad when you do anything in addition to the SS lifting and the SS eating. But I want to be fit in multiple dimensions, not just strong. I'm probably kidding myself, but Mark makes it sound like you can do it. We'll see.

Dude, no matter how crippled I am, and like you, seem to be getting MORE crippled, I went for
a 1.5hr walk today. Once I got into it was great... but now I'm thinking it wasn't such a great idea!

HA!

I'm really feeling the negative chins I did yesterday. I forgot how much they hurt and no amount of
lat pulldowns on a machine can mimic this feeling. Good God. Tomorrow is going to be a real treat!

Mark shmark, seriously - I challenge you to find ONE GIRL on here that has gotten an f-ton stronger
by doing bodyweight horseshit.

Not only does it take us womenz (especially us OLD WOMEN) a trillion years to put on an OUNCE of
muscle, but it's HARD. Hard I tell you.

I say do your weights, do 'em twice a week, put three days inbetween. When you're not crippled anymore,
change it to three days a week but start off with 3X5's instead of 3X8's. When THAT gets easy, THEN go back to
3X8's of the same weight, or go UP in weight on your 3X5 days.

Also, drink piles of water, it does really help with the doms, even though lord knows I hate doing it.....

I woke up STARVING last night and really wanted to mow every single granola bar in the cupboard, but I didn't.

Today, barely hungry at all. What?

Okay, there's my opinion that you didn't even ask for, so I'll clam it..........for now.

Be afraid, BE VERY AFRAID!

~Anonymous

p.s. stretch out tonight really well before you go to bed!

Diane, I really enjoy your posts and following what you're doing. We have some things in common. (I'm a 47-year-old hiker). I am at a crossroads right now in terms of my exercise because my routine, which consisted solely of assisted pullups and treadmill walking with increasing jogging, is not going well. I had a cold at the end of December and since that went away, my allergies have been really bad all day, and exercising is giving me breathing difficulties now. Also, my pullup strength has declined even as my weight has inched down, and I'm guessing that that is due to the additional jogging. I really want to gain strength, but my cheap gym membership comes with 40 treadmills and few weights, and those are always in use by giant men who seem to know what they're doing. I used to get a decent 8 or 10 mile hike in once a week but no one I know is willing or able to do that anymore, so I have been on the treadmill (or elliptical) 3-4 times a week since July. That got boring, which is why I started working on jogging, got a heart rate monitor, and now I find it's counterproductive.

At this moment, I feel like taking a break from the gym at least until the allergies subside, which is the first week of April. Since I am doing well with my food intake (except during football parties, but that will be over soon!) I am praying that I will be one of those PB successes who say, "I dropped 25 pounds in 6 months without any exercise." I won't hold my breath, though.

So, keep up the heavy lifting! I will follow your progress and maybe figure a way to find a smart strength training program that I can live with.

Well, I understand Florida is quite flat. But if it was me (and it has been me) I would just go hiking by myself. When I first got started with it I hiked in the mountains behind Santa Barbara by myself. Never had a problem with that. During the rainy season, I hiked in town. I picked a 5 mile route that required me to hike a long steep hill in the middle. At the turnaround point there was a coffeehouse so I'd get coffee and read the paper, then return home. Eventually I went hiking with the Sierra Club and met my boyfriend. And years after that I ran away from home all by myself and hiked the Pacific Crest Trail solo, although you're hardly alone doing something like that. I have never had a problem walking outdoors by myself.

As for not having decent weights at the gym, I've been kinda intrigued by the sandbag thing. My gym closes a lot, so I might just give it a try one day. Maybe just toss a bag of fertilizer in a duffel bag and squat it. Or maybe I will switch to sandbags once I'm tired of doing regular weights at the gym. I mean, how long can this linear programming go on before you have to make a choice: is weightlifting my new sport or am I training for something or am I strong enough to just maintain what I've got and do something else for a while?

Anyway, I can't believe how sore I still am from bench pressing on Tuesday. It's Thursday now. I hate drinking water because I hate running for the toilet every 20 minutes. I've been doing the SS 3 sets, 5 reps thing but for the upper body I've decided to switch to 5 sets of 3 because the weight feels really easy until suddenly I can't lift it and somebody over on the SS forum said that some women have some kind of thing going on where that happens and for them fewer reps and more sets works better, allows them to progress. Thank god because I was getting really sick and tired of benching the same 67.5lbs and pressing the same 51lbs for the past month or so.

I wish cool people like you ladies lived near me, I'd LOVE to have a hiking partner
during the "Sweet Life" time of my life (Kids in school all day, me at home, won't last forever)... sigh.

I'm right there with you and the doms, Diane.

When I walk the kids to school, I put on a ball cap and then pull my hair
through the back and braid it.

Today I couldn't keep my arms in the braiding position AT ALL.

Those negative chins really did a number on me. So lame! But effective I guess.

Also hurts when I cough or sneeze too, cuz the muscles you didn't know you had,
about 4 inches down from the bottom of the middle of your boobs? Yeah, those.. they hurt
too. Some creepy ab muscles I didn't know existed. Not to mention my triceps and biceps
and freaking forearms. I may die.

I won't even clog up your journal further with the agony my legs are in as well.

Very interesting about fewer reps and more sets... I'll have to try that for my bench as well
cuz in my career of weightlifting (2007) I've NEVER been able to go over 65 without a spotter.

Lame.

All right Miss Diane, you go on with your bad self,

Julie

Those muscles 4 inches below the boobs (hey, mine hang pretty far down there ha ha!) are where I often feel like I have internal bleeding.

Today

Squat: 107.5 x 5, 4, 5
There's some kind of bounce everybody talks about. I think I found it today. I was bouncing out of the bottom off my hip joints. Then in the middle set, whatever was tight enough to bounce moved and then I fell into the hole and couldn't get out.

Press:
52.5 x 3, 3, 2, 3, 2
Press is really hard and I suck at it but it's one of my favorites.

Deadlift:
145 x 5
Holy cripes I frickin' lifted that sucker 5 times! I was shaking in the legs just trying to put the stupid plates on the bar. Had to get help from some guy. And then I lifted it 5 times. And then I collapsed on the floor for a minute before my shaky legs walked back to my office.

Good luck! I'm at a similar place mentally right now, saying F-it to the scale. I found out yesterday my dad weighs the same as me... several inches taller but looks about same as far as pudginess. These boobs really add that much?! So I'm sticking with just focusing on getting in shape. Playing soccer 2x/week and lifting when I can - at least once. When the weather warms up I'll get back to lifting twice a week since our weights are in the garage and need somewhere for the kids to play to get in my second day.

[QUOTE]Anyway, I can't believe how sore I still am from bench pressing on Tuesday. It's Thursday now.[/QUOTE] my DOMs usually appears on the second day out and lasts a couple of days if i have gone real hard. i find if i mix it up constantly, i have almost constant DOMs. if i keep it the same, after a few weeks, it doesnt happen as much anymore. i just get a stiffness which i can stretch out or goes away once i start moving. i suck at drinking loads of water. With you on the negative chins Julie. i cannot believe how much my lats hurt as i did 3 sets of 5 on tuesday. only other things i have found helped with DOMs is massage and epsom salts in a hot bath and to keep moving.