Ava's training log

[Ava]

Started the 5x5 two weeks ago, but just now started a training log. Should be a good tool to help keep track of progress and stay motivated.

Today:
Front squat 5x5 @ 65
overhead press 5x5 @ 55
Deadlift 1x5 @ 105
Pullups 4/2/3
Prone bridges 3x30seconds


Have to do front squats since I don't have a power rack or squat cage. Hopefully this will be remedied once I find a good gym that has one. The overhead press was difficult; I nearly stalled on the third set but took longer breaks between the last 2 sets and pulled through. The deadlifts went well, although I could feel my back starting to round on the last rep. The pullups were the best part of this workout, as in, I could actually do one! Two weeks ago before I started SL I couldn't even do a single one, and now I'm all doing 4 in a row. SO PUMPED.

[clavelle]

Glad your so pumped! And glad to see a girl working out hard...let me know when you want some more variations on the prone bridges for your core...a tight core will get you lifting more as well. Christian

[Ava]

@clavelle: Thanks for the encouragement! The prone bridges are pretty easy; I can't really feel it in my abs until the very end of the last set, and even then not much. I'd probably feel it more if I did more reps or did them for 45-60 seconds instead of 30. Knee-ups do a lot more for my abs than prone bridges or crunches.

[clavelle]

Add a lot more time to your prone bridges and throw some variations in there as well and you will feel the burn a lot faster then just with the regular sets. Let me know if you would like some examples of other variations you can do to help you out with this. I love CORE work. Christian

[Ava]

Warm up sets in parentheses:

Squat: (1x5 @ 55, 1x5 @ 65), 5x5 @ 75
Bench Press: (2x5 @ 45, 3x5 @ 55), 5x5 @ 65
Inverted row: 5/3/1
Pushups: 10/5/5
Reverse crunches: 12/12/12


Don't know what happened on the pushups; I can usually do a lot more than that. The hardest part of SL so far has been getting enough to eat. It's hard for me to eat every three hours at work, since I'm usually there about 9 hours a day but don't get a lunch break. I usually wolf down a sandwich or a granola bar any time I get a few spare minutes. I've taken to bringing extra sandwiches with me to have stashed away for a snack on the off-chance that I find extra time to eat between tasks.

[Ava]

Front Squat: (1.5 @ 65, 1x5 @ 75) 5x5 @ 85
Overhead press: (1x5 @ 45) 5/5/5/5/4 @ 55
Deadlift: (1x5 @ 85, 1x5 @ 105) 1x5 @ 115
Chinups: 3/2/1
Prone bridges: 3x40 seconds

The overhead press was depressing... stalling already and it's only three weeks into the program. What makes it even more of a downer is that I don't have any 2.5lb weights, so on exercises that call for an even number of weight I have to go either 5 pounds over or under, which works well on exercises like the squat where I can go 5 pounds over and still do it, but not so well on exercises like the press where I go 5 pounds under but still stall. Oh well.

[clavelle]

Don't worry about your stalls, they will happen, and as you keep working you will pass them before you know it. I hit my first real stall this week as well on the OP, but all that is written here says you will hit it on that one first anyways. And might I suggest you go out and buy a set of 2.5lbs plates so you can take with you to the gym. Or you could also get away with just placing a few extra collars on the ends of the bar. It might look silly to have 3 sets of collars on, but who cares what it looks like as long as it works. Your in the gym for your goals not anyone else's.

[ewerbos]

The OHP is *really hard*, and many people have trouble with it. Women, in particular, seem to have a much harder time building upper body strength with these. You really, really need the 2.5 lb weights I think if you're going to progress on the OHP--You may find later that you want to dig up some ~1.25 weights (I workout with a club, some people do wacky things like glue together washers, I think that's what MysCat did if you look at her log). 'Course, I'm still having trouble with it!

Looks like you've made a good start.

[Ava]

Today:

Squat: (1x5 @45, 1x5 @ 65) 5x5 @ 85
Bench press: (1x5 @45) 5x5 @ 65
Inverted row: 4/2/1
Pushups: 23/15/12
Reverse crunches: 3x12

@clavelle: I know it's a strength-building program instead of an ego-building one, but sometimes it's hard to remember that when you're doing worse than you think you should be. Sometimes it just takes a reminder that such setbacks are only temporary and that it's the long term goals that matter. I'm pretty pumped that I can do 5 sets of bench presses at a higher weight than my 1RM used to be before I started working out.

@ewerbos: Thanks for the encouragement! I'll definitely be getting some 2.5lb weights. Upper-body strength is harder to build in women, but thus also all the more gratifying once you have it. I have already discovered this at work; it's very satisfying to be able to lift boxes that some of my guy coworkers can't.

[Ava]

It took some major willpower for me to work out today, seriously. But I did it.

Today:
Front squat: (1x5 @ 60) 5x5 @ 85
Overhead Press: (1x5 @ 45) 5x5 @ 55
Deadlift: 1x5 @ 115
Pullups: 2/2/2
Prone bridges: 3x30 sec

The muscles in my hands hurt a lot on the front squat, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me since my hands don't really do anything on the squats; they mostly just prop the bar in place while the actual weight is on my shoulders and my legs do all the work. Maybe it is because of the weird angle they are at.

[BLUEBLAH]

Do you powerclean the squat? If so, that must be tricky. If your elbows are too low, that might hurt your hands?
You shouldn't be disappointed with the OHP. You have to accept it's a hard exercise.
The prone bridges should hurt. Make sure you contract your abs and that your arms are in an L shape.
Medhi mentions that granola bars are unhealthy ("Unhealthy foods you think are healthy", if you are bothered by that.
Congrats on the pull ups.

[Ava]

Took a couple days off for Thanksgiving, but now I'm back in the saddle.

Today:
Front squats: (1x5 @ 65) 5x5 @ 90
OHP: 5/5/5/5/3 @ 60
Deadlift: 1x5 @ 125
Pullups: 3/2/1
Prone bridges: 3x30sec

Also did some bench presses after the workout, just because I had loads of extra energy left.
Bench press: (1x5 @ 55, 1x5 @ 65) 5x5 @ 70



@Blueblah: For front squats I powerclean the bar to my shoulders, then do the squats. Admittedly I've never spent a whole lot of time just practicing power cleans by themselves, since I'm using them more as a means to an end than as an exercise in and of themselves. I spent some time today just practicing form, which seemed to help out.

[Ava]

Woke up way early and with extra energy and decided to do some preacher curls... just cause.

Curls: 1x5 @ 30, 3x5 @ 35

Tried to do 40 and couldn't even get one rep out. I was using plates on a barbell, with a narrowish grip; with a wide grip or dumbbells I can only lift around 20 pounds on a barbell (or two 10lb dumbbells). Seeing how much I struggled with such relatively low weights makes me want to focus on working that muscle a lot more, even though I've heard that isolation exercises such as bicep curls are a waste of time.

[clavelle]

Do more Pull Up, hand facing you, and you will see your bicep strength and size increase.

The rest of your numbers are coming up, congrats. Why did you cut back the time on your prone bridges?

[Ava]

@clavelle: I've noticed that my biceps are already bigger and stronger than they were before I started training, which makes me feel good.

For the prone bridges, I've been doing 30 seconds simply because I get very impatient and I feel like I'm wasting time when I can't feel any results, and I don't feel any sort of burn even when I add time to them for all three sets. My form is good (back straight, abs tight, arms at 90 degree angle), but still no burn. I guess my abs are much stronger relative to my other muscle groups. Next workout I am going to experiment with adding weights to it and see if that makes a difference.