OneMore's Training Log

[Barry06GT]

Hi Barry!

I wouldn't even know where to start with the Bear, haha. Is that a 5x7 routine? I had tried doing burpees (forgot the push-up part, just did jump-squats into planks) and that was pretty brutal at 10x9. That was a while ago though so I might try the bear out on Friday.

I already hog the power rack when I hit the gym, so do you think it would make a difference in the bear if I used a fixed weight barbell instead of an olympic bar? I'm pretty sure my gym probably carries a 45lb one, and I'd be less likely to accidentally hit someone walking by with the shorter bar.

Thanks again!

.

Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WOP9J7QPwI

.

[OneMore]

Great! Thanks!

[OneMore]

Week 15 Progress:

October 10, Day off. I just ran out of time to hit the gym.

October 11 - Workout A
Warm Up:
3x5 bar squats
Squat:
110lbs - Reps 5x5
I started to use a little more hip drive instead of just lifting straight up and it made the squats pretty easy.
Bench Press:
90lbs - Reps 5x5
The last set was tough.
Inverted Row:
Reps 6, 6, 6
Still not able to beat 6 reps
Push-ups:
Reps 15, 15, 15
Reverse Crunch:
Reps 15, 15, 15
With an 8lb dumbbell.
Cardio:
1 hour belly dance class
Stretching:
5 minutes

October 12, Day off

October 13 - Workout B
Warm Up:
Skipped
Squat:
110lbs - Reps 5x5
Overhead Press:
75lbs - Reps 5x5
I hit all reps on this one again, and I didn't hurt my neck like last time.
Deadlifts:
110lbs - Reps 5
I switched back to my normal grip today to address some form issues I've been having lately.
I missed the rest of the workout this day, unfortunately. I made it up later on.
Cardio
1 hour belly dance class

October 14, Day off

October 15 - Workout A
Warm Up:
Skipped warm-up
Squat:
110lbs - Reps 5x5
Ready to move the weight up on Saturday.
Bench Press:
90lbs - Reps 5x5
I was a little shaky toward the end, but I got through all of them. I think one more set at 90 and I'll be able to move up to 95 soon.
Inverted Row:
Reps 6, 6, 5
Too much coffee today. Couldn't get the last 6th rep out.
Push-ups:
Reps 15, 15, 15
Reverse Crunch:
Reps 15, 15, 15
With an 8lb dumbbell
-------------Making up for the last workout---------------------------
Hanging Chin-ups:
Seconds 11, 10, 10, 8
Pretty good for such a busy day!
Prone Bridges (with leg raised):
Left: 30s, 30s, 30s
Right: 30s, 30s, 30s
Cardio:
The BEAR!!!
Set 1 - 25lbs, 8 reps (I lost count!), Max HR 91%
2 minute rest
Set 2 - 35lbs, 7 reps, Max HR 94%
2 minute rest
Set 3 - 35lbs, 7 reps, Max HR 94%
2 minute rest
Set 4 - 45lbs, 7 reps, Max HR 96%
3 minute rest (I know, I cheated here...)
Set 5 - 45lbs, 7 reps, Max HR 96%
Stretching:
7 minute cool-down on the treadmill

Oct 16 - I'm predicting that this will be a day off

Overview
*I kind of broke some rules by missing some exercises and tacking it on another day... I feel better that they were done though.
*I didn't get much sleep this week. Not that I didn't have time, I just kept waking up in the middle of the night, which kept leaving me exhausted the next day.
*I got back on my protein intake...
*I LOVE the BEAR workout. I took an extra minute to rest before the 5th set (cheater!) and I had to "rest" during the 5th set a couple of times, but afterward I felt like I could take on a real bear! Plus it torched slightly more calories than my previous HIIT routine! Many many thanks to Barry06GT for recommending it!!

[OneMore]

Well... I'm not gone....

I felt my sternum pop a few weeks ago (yawning while running on a treadmill), and have had intermittent chest/arm pain since then. The doctor said it was costochondritis and to take a break from heavy lifting/high impact exercises until the pain stops.

I'm really going nuts right now because that means no running, twisting or weights. I tried easing back into things with a session on the elliptical last night since it had been 24 hours since the last incident of pain, and I felt my rib cage pop all the way down one side like a zipper about 30 minutes in.

This really sucks. When I left off last, I was about ready to move the weights up on a couple of exercises, and now I feel like I'm going to have to do a major deload again by the time everything gets better. And it seems like I can't even do low-impact exercise without aggravating it again. Argh!

[Barry06GT]

.
Oh man, that really sucks.

When you described the "rib cage pop all the way down like a zipper" I got the chills.

I guess you could try to hold it all together with a ten foot long elastic wrap around you, but then you could not breath.

I guess you are really not in the mood for a tickle-fight... ouch!

Get well soon.
.

[OneMore]

Okay, it has been quite a bit of time since my last post. Due to my chest pains I had to stop exercising for a while. It drove me nuts, but I took it as a chance to clean up my eating. I stopped eating bread (no excuses!) and I dropped 5lbs back to my week 1 weight on this program. My diet really sucked on the weekends in comparison, but the worst thing I would eat is (too much) rice so it wasn't actually that bad.

I reintroduced cardio (elliptical) two weeks ago and then I decided "what the hell" and did the Bear this past week, and it didn't aggravate my chest at all! It was actually worse on the elliptical!

My Bear stats:
Monday
Weight, Reps, Max Heart Rate, Time
35#, 7 reps, 93%, 1:03
35#, 7 reps, 93%, 1:00
35#, 7 reps, 94%, 0:58
45#, 7 reps, 94%, 1:34
45#, 7 reps, 94%, 1:38
-This was tough but I didn't feel any pain
-I was really sore for a couple of days after this session. Yikes!

(Tuesday, gym class)
(Wednesday, cardio day)

Thursday
35#, 7 reps, 91%, 1:01
35#, 7 reps, 92%, 0:57
35#, 7 reps, 92%, 0:56
45#, 7 reps, 94%, 1:13
45#, 7 reps, 92%, 1:15
-I was sore going into this one, but not sore at all coming out of it. At least recovery is quick!

(Friday, cardio day)
(Saturday, took the dogs out for a run instead of hitting the gym)

Sunday
35#, 7 reps, 82%, 0:55
35#, 7 reps, 85%, 0:53
35#, 7 reps, 86%, 0:56
45#, 7 reps, 87%, 1:15
45#, 7 reps, 88%, 1:10
-Wow, my heart rate was really "crawling" today. Huge improvements in just one week!

------------------------------------
Looking at those numbers and seeing that I'm not in pain from doing the Bear, I think I'm going to ease back into StrongLifts again soon with a big deload on all of the exercises.

I think the biggest "problem" exercise has been the hanging chin-ups, since that almost always gives me shoulder pain. I'm doing overhead presses in the bear and they aren't bothering me at all. So I'm probably going to look into getting elastic pull-up bands to ease the pressure on my chest on those chin-ups.

[OneMore]

My first 5x5 workout since my injury! I deloaded because it's been about a month...

Workout A
Warm Up:
2x5 body weight squats
Squat:
105lbs - Reps 5x5
This was tough. I'm glad I deloaded coming back into lifting.
Bench Press:
75lbs - Reps 5x5
I think I'll be able to catch back up to where I was pretty quickly on this.
Inverted Row:
Reps 6, 5, 3
I felt a little bit of chest pain doing these. It might be the "pulling" motion that injured me. I might try using some bands or modifying these so I don't reinjure myself.
Push-ups:
Reps 11, 11, 9
This is much better than I was expecting
Reverse Crunch:
Reps 15, 15, 15
With a 10lb dumbbell.

Cardio:
BEAR
35lbs - 88% MHR, 0:59s, 7 rounds
35lbs - 90% MHR, 1:04s, 7 rounds
35lbs - ~90% MHR, 1:07s, 7 rounds
45lbs - ~90% MHR, 1:38s, 7 rounds
45lbs - ~90% MHR, 1:35s, 7 rounds
(My heart rate monitor started to be a little unresponsive around the 3rd round)
Stretching:
11 minutes walking on the treadmill to cool down

I started to feel a bit nauseous toward the end of my workout, but I'm pretty sure that has more to do with drinking last night, and less to do with the weights. :\ I was also going to do another body fat/weight/composition test at the gym, but the machine was down today. I might update tomorrow with those stats if the machine is back on.

[OneMore]

Sunday was insane. I had a 1 hour dance class, followed by an insane 1.5 hour cardio day at the gym. My upper legs were extremely sore from Saturday and I was trying to run out the stiffness and soreness. I overdid it. But I did find out that between the elliptical, stair master and treadmill, running is the only thing that bothers my chest.

Monday... Day off, had lots of protein, and a "bad" lunch of beef Phở. Still extremely sore.

Tuesday:
Workout B
(Cardio: 1 hour belly dance class)
Squat:
105lbs - Reps 5x5
This still feels tough.
Overhead Press:
55lbs - Reps 5x5
I did these with a fixed barbell, and started by "power cleaning" it off the floor. This felt fairly easy, but I'm still going to be careful and just progress naturally on this exercise.
Deadlift:
105lbs - 5...
...with extremely bad form.
Hanging chin-ups:
9 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 3 seconds
It seems like this move and the Inverted Row are the two that might be my problem exercises. I'm still nowhere near doing a chin-up and hanging from the bar in the up position bothers my shoulder.
Prone Bridges:
Left leg raised: 30s, 30s, 30s
Right leg raised: 30s, 30s, 30s


The gym scale was finally working again, so I was able to take my measurements:
150.6lbs, 30.4% body fat, 45.8lbs fat mass, 104.8lbs lean mass
I've gained 0.6lbs of muscle and lost 1.0lb of fat (0.6% body fat!) since my last test 2 weeks ago. At least it's an improvement!

[XCouchPotato]

Hi OneMore:

Welcome back! Glad to see you are feeling better.

Deloading was a good idea after your layoff. If inverted rows are causing you a problem, you could try Bent-Over-Rows. I actually like them better. As for your aerobic exercise, have you ever tried rowing? It gives you a much fuller body workout and doesn't have the high impact stress of the treadmill and other walking/running type machines.

[OneMore]

Things have been pretty hectic lately, and the gym has been super packed.

I can barely get a BEAR session in, and doing the SL program has been practically impossible just from the number of people that are trying to work off all their holiday food.

I've done about two more SL workouts since last time, and 3 BEAR sessions, and a bunch of cardio...
But I'm really wishing I had my own rack at home at this point. :\

[Barry06GT]

.
.
Would that not be great to have your very own power rack at home!

No more walking into the gym to find a bar on the highest setting with four 45 pound plates on it.

[OneMore]

Haha, Yeah! I actually had to get someone else's assistance to take the plate down for me once when someone left it up like that. I can move a 45lb plate...but not when it's on a bar 2 feet above my head!

[OneMore]

It's raining, dark and cold out, which is completely unusual for Sunny CA! Made it all the way to the gym today (and actually managed to convince my husband to come along) when we found out they were closed for a company holiday party. :\
So I tried to do what I could with what we had at home...

*3x5 body weight squats
*5x5 squats with 2x20lb dumbbells
*5x10 "Bench Press" with 2x20lb dumbbells
*5x10 "Bent Over Rows" with 2x20lb dumbbells
*3x12 Push-ups
*3x15 Reverse Crunch (with one 20lb dumbbell)
*Prone Bridges (with right leg raised: 30s, 30s, 30s)(with left leg raised: 30s, 30s, 30s)
*5x5 Shoulder Press with 2x20lb dumbbells
*4 slow-drop downward curls (I couldn't keep my arms from giving out at the bottom though)
*5x10 Deadlifts with 2x20lb dumbbells

Didn't get around to any cardio today, but that's okay. This is a bit of combining the two workouts on one day, however the weights we have at home are so much smaller than the program, so I figured the recovery wouldn't be too brutal.
Heart rate monitor clocked me in at about 500 calories for the entire workout (a little over an hour) which isn't too bad.

[XCouchPotato]

Hi OneMore:

Sounds like good improvision to me. At least you got a workout in.

[OneMore]

Big workout day to make up for being super busy the past couple of weeks... It looked like it was a big workout day for everyone else as well because the gym was packed!

Started off with the BEAR because nothing else was open...
45lbs/45lbs/45lbs/50lbs/55lbs
Total time: 13:07 (Total calories for just the BEAR = 173!)
I will never use any of the even numbered fixed barbells at the gym again. They're all curling bars, and someone was using the 55lb bar at the time. There's no way to grip it correctly for the BEAR and it feels so off-balanced.

Cooled down by doing 5 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Workout A
Squat:
105lbs - Reps 5x5
I was supposed to do 110lbs, but all of the 2.5lb plates were missing.
Bench Press:
85lbs - Reps 5x5
This was really tough after the BEAR
Inverted Row:
Reps 5, 5, 3
I didn't have any chest pain doing this, but my arms were completely worn out.
Push-ups:
Reps 12, 12, 12
Not the best push-ups, but they were push-ups.
Reverse Crunch:
Reps 15, 15, 15
With a 12lb dumbbell.
Cardio
10 minutes on the evil stair stepper machine that looks like a backwards escalator.

So far I feel good. I will probably be a bit sore tomorrow, but hopefully not too much.