Chillicat's journal

[Chillicat]

Pump class today. Just as hard as it was last week. I seem to be using slightly lower weights for everything except triceps. But since it's just a light day workout, I'm fine with that.

[becbec]

Pump class today. Just as hard as it was last week. I seem to be using slightly lower weights for everything except triceps. But since it's just a light day workout, I'm fine with that.

What weights do you use?

[Chillicat]

Pump class today. Just as hard as it was last week. I seem to be using slightly lower weights for everything except triceps. But since it's just a light day workout, I'm fine with that.

What weights do you use?

Total weights (both sides combined) are:

Squats: 20kg (used to do 22.5kg, but can't manage that right now!)

Chest: 10kg

Back: 10kg

Triceps:10kg

Biceps: 5kg :oops: (I keep starting with 7.5kg but having to drop the singles off the end)

Didn't do lunges today as had to dash, and ditto for shoulders (though I think this instructors generally does one or the other depending on what people want).

I reckon in a couple more weeks I should be able to add the extra singles to squats, chest, back and biceps - all going well!

What weights do you do?

[becbec]

Legs: 15kg

Chest: 7kg

Back: 7kg

Biceps: 5kg

Triceps: 5kg

[Chillicat]

Legs: 15kg

Chest: 7kg

Back: 7kg

Biceps: 5kg

Triceps: 5kg

It's funny how light pump weights feel when you first pick them up, but not so funny after 5 mins of squats or chest, or back.....YOWCH! My form is really failing by the end at the weights I'm currently using.

[becbec]

Legs: 15kg

Chest: 7kg

Back: 7kg

Biceps: 5kg

Triceps: 5kg

It's funny how light pump weights feel when you first pick them up, but not so funny after 5 mins of squats or chest, or back.....YOWCH! My form is really failing by the end at the weights I'm currently using.

I think I go too light on myself lol

20kg squats next time!

[Chillicat]

Legs: 15kg

Chest: 7kg

Back: 7kg

Biceps: 5kg

Triceps: 5kg

It's funny how light pump weights feel when you first pick them up, but not so funny after 5 mins of squats or chest, or back.....YOWCH! My form is really failing by the end at the weights I'm currently using.

I think I go too light on myself lol

20kg squats next time!

I find it depends on the instructor, as one in particular is super hardcore (lots of lower half squats and holds at the bottom etc) and whenever I do her classes I have to drop my weights! The class I'm going to at the moment seems to have really long squat tracks, so I start off fine and thinking 'this is a piece of p*ss' - but then it just goes on and on and on and I can no longer be bothered trying to squat to parallel!

If I can do an entire track comfortably at a certain weight, I always up it next time. I feel like I've cheated if I can complete an entire track with perfect form, and that I should be making more of an effort to feel knackered at the end! That might not be the right way to go about it though, especially now that I'm using pump classes as a second light day - perhaps I should be decreasing a wee bit!

[Chillicat]

Medium day today. Nothing much to report. Felt harder than usual but I think that was mainly due to it being bloody hot. I was boiling before I'd even got my weights set up, and an icky sweaty mess by the end of the workout. Nice!

[Chillicat]

Been a bit lazy with keeping up the journal, but still training as usual.

Highlights of last week:

Deads up to 55kg. Previously had been doing 2.5kg increments each week but this was a 5kg increment as I'm getting left behind with all these girls doing c100kg lifts, so time to up my game!

Today's workout - heavy day:

Squats: 45/50/55/60/62.5 - I'm at about 80% on the 62.5 squats. That is more or less body weight.

Deads: 40/45/50/55/60/62.5 - 60kg was a PB already, but as per above comment, I need to work harder on these, so decided to try another 2.5kg just for fun. Did a full set of 5, but found it hard at this weight. Without wanting to make too many excuses for how much I suck at deads, I only started doing them on 28/3 (after a session on form with Rose a few days earlier) - and during my Rose session I couldn't even make 60kg move a mm, so pleased 2 months later to be able to lift it and lift it well. But still want to get to a point where my heavy weight isn't the warm up weight for most girls!

Bench: 35/40/42/5/45/47.5 - I'd say that 4 of the 45s were full and 2 of the 47.5s were full, so pleased with that. Previous PB was 3 full at 45kg.

Incline DB press - 10kg 20/15 (up from 9kg 2x20)

Calf raises 64kg 30/25/25

Pretty pleased with today's workout. Again, not wanting to make excuses, but I had a blood sugar drop this morning (sometimes get them during the night when my eating has been appalling), and so needed a bit of a sleep in to recover from that. It wasn't a severe one, so hasn't thrown me for the day, but still pretty pleased to hit a couple of PBs after an episode, as they do drain me. Really need to start looking at my food to get my health back on track.

Haven't used creatine in the past (except for in Jack3d which I use sometimes), so have bought some to see how that works for me, so will be starting that this week. Not entirely sure what to expect to be honest, but thought I'd give it a go.

[VampireChick]

Pretty pleased with today's workout. Again, not wanting to make excuses, but I had a blood sugar drop this morning (sometimes get them during the night when my eating has been appalling), and so needed a bit of a sleep in to recover from that. It wasn't a severe one, so hasn't thrown me for the day, but still pretty pleased to hit a couple of PBs after an episode, as they do drain me. Really need to start looking at my food to get my health back on track.

Yeah I get those too so feel your pain. Damages the old energy for the day for me and I get a bit lazy (almost like a hangover feeling too - definitely weak). So good work on getting past that!

[runveerun]

Today's workout - heavy day:

Squats: 45/50/55/60/62.5 - I'm at about 80% on the 62.5 squats. That is more or less body weight.

Deads: 40/45/50/55/60/62.5

Bench: 35/40/42/5/45/47.5

Well done Miss! :notworthy:

You kicked butt with the weights! I jealous of your bench and squat!

[Chillicat]

Yeah I get those too so feel your pain. Damages the old energy for the day for me and I get a bit lazy (almost like a hangover feeling too - definitely weak). So good work on getting past that!

Yeah, they are a real pain, and I generally do all I can to avoid them with clean eating. Whenever I do get them these days, it's only when I've been eating poorly, so I have no one to blame but myself - they're never just random, as I've discovered from taking note of my eating.

Well done Miss! :notworthy:

You kicked butt with the weights! I jealous of your bench and squat!

Thanks. And your deads are inspiring me to work as hard as I can on getting those up to scratch!

[Chillicat]

Light day today. Kept squats very light, only up to 50kg to work on depth and was pleased with depth for all 5 sets.

Heavy day for SLDLs, managed up to 65kg, but only a few singles at that weight - bit of trouble keeping a grip on the bar at that weight, so will keep working on this weight for a while.

Nothing much else to report really.

[VampireChick]

Looking strong CC! You've come a long way in the last year. Well done!

[Chillicat]

Looking strong CC! You've come a long way in the last year. Well done!

Thanks - yeah I feel as though I've made a ton of progress, and now I can see visible differences and improvements in how my body looks. Even my colleagues have made the odd comment here and there - especially when I come back after a lunchtime workout all pumped - I've had a few 'wow look at your arms' comments

I'm covered in a layer of winter blubber at the moment (been eating heaps for giving me lots of energy in the gym), so I'm planning on working solidly on strengh for the next 4 months then will do a 14 week cut from mid Sept (after hubby's birthday = final big eat til Xmas :pfft: ) - aim is to be looking buff in time for my holiday. Seems almost a bit silly as I'm going to England/Morocco, and it'll be winter so it's not like my amazing form will be on display for all to see - but I'll be seeing a lot of people I haven't seen for 5 years, so I want to be at my peak for that. And I want to freak out my obese inlaws with my freakish girl muscles

[VampireChick]

Great plan CC!

[Chillicat]

This weather is so demotivating. It's not that I don't feel like going to the gym, more that I can't face getting cold and wet any more times in one day than I need to. Didn't do pump yesterday (though that was more about DOMS than the weather), so after a day off yesterday it makes today medium day. Would normally go at lunchtime, but now that I'm nice and warm in my office, I don't want to leave til I have to - so I think I'll just work through lunch and leave early and go after work, when I'd be walking in that direction anyway. Yay for having a job that allows that kind of flexibility!

[Chillicat]

Today marked the end of Week 10 of the 5x5 I've been doing, so time for a review of progress.

I can't say that I've made huge gains over this last 10 weeks, but that's more because I'd made a lot of progress earlier in the year with a slightly different programme - for about 6 weeks I had been adding 2.5kg to each lift every week and by the time I started this 5x5 I felt as though I was really pushing myself at that point and could not have worked harder. That programme was based on one major lift per day, 4 days per week, each major lift once per week.

Naturally I can only keep making those sorts of improvements for a certain amount of time, so I'm pleased with how I've done. Switching to doing squats 3 times a week has led to further gains and doing deads and bench press twice a week has shown me I can work harder than I thought I could

Here's a quick summary of improvements from Week 1 to Week 10:

Squats:

Week 1 Heavy weight 55kg x 3

Week 10 Heavy weight 62.5kg x 5 at about 80% ROM

SLDLS:

Week 1 Heavy weight 50kg

Week 10 Heavy weight 65kg x 1

Bench press:

Week 1 Heavy weight 40kg x 2

Week 10 Heavy weight 47.5 x 2

Deadlifts:

Week 2 Heavy weight 40kg (only just learnt how to do them that week!)

Week 10 Heavy weight 62.5kg

I'm not sure what to do next, whether to take a break from 5x5 for few weeks or just to keep plugging away with it. I'm certainly not bored with it so happy to keep going, but I wonder if it's time to take a short break and maybe do the 4 days, one main lift a day thing for a couple of weeks. I'll think about it and decide by Sunday, my next workout day.

[VampireChick]

This weather is so demotivating. It's not that I don't feel like going to the gym, more that I can't face getting cold and wet any more times in one day than I need to.

Ugh I know! I'm thinking of changing gyms just so I don't have to go so far between work - home - gym. I'm on the other end of Lambton whereas Exodus is on Tory, then I have to get back to Brooklyn. But the only gyms are Habit and Spectrum. Hmmmmmm. Spectrum is in my building but they're not exactly well equipped.

Oh well at least it's snowing on the mountain!

[VampireChick]

This weather is so demotivating. It's not that I don't feel like going to the gym, more that I can't face getting cold and wet any more times in one day than I need to.

Ugh I know! I'm thinking of changing gyms just so I don't have to go so far between work - home - gym. I'm on the other end of Lambton whereas Exodus is on Tory, then I have to get back to Brooklyn. But the only gyms are Habit and Spectrum. Hmmmmmm. Spectrum is in my building but they're not exactly well equipped.

Oh well at least it's snowing on the mountain!

[Chillicat]

This weather is so demotivating. It's not that I don't feel like going to the gym, more that I can't face getting cold and wet any more times in one day than I need to.

Ugh I know! I'm thinking of changing gyms just so I don't have to go so far between work - home - gym. I'm on the other end of Lambton whereas Exodus is on Tory, then I have to get back to Brooklyn. But the only gyms are Habit and Spectrum. Hmmmmmm. Spectrum is in my building but they're not exactly well equipped.

Oh well at least it's snowing on the mountain!

Isn't there also a branch of SportsWide down in Willeston St? Not sure what it's like though.

Yay for snow! Makes the cold worthwhile.

[teamfatboy]

Good ol tuesdee pump class tonight plus a wee bit of cardio at the end

789 cal

max hr = 178

avg hr = 144

Wow, I never realised you could burn that many calories in a pump class! That's so cool. Can't wait to get my HR monitor to see how many I manage to burn in a class.

So you also have your HR monitor on when you do weights too? I'm curious to know how many calories I burn doing weights alone.

Do it - you might be surprised. I wore mine during a big leg day, max HR went off the clock in the heavy sets! :roll:

[Chillicat]

Good ol tuesdee pump class tonight plus a wee bit of cardio at the end

789 cal

max hr = 178

avg hr = 144

Wow, I never realised you could burn that many calories in a pump class! That's so cool. Can't wait to get my HR monitor to see how many I manage to burn in a class.

So you also have your HR monitor on when you do weights too? I'm curious to know how many calories I burn doing weights alone.

Do it - you might be surprised. I wore mine during a big leg day, max HR went off the clock in the heavy sets! :roll:

Yeah, I reckon I'll give it a go on a heavy, light and medium day just so that I have some ballpark numbers. Hope it arrives quickly!

[Chillicat]

No gym today - normally Sunday is my favourite day of the week, heavy day, but this morning at 9am (an hour before we normally go) I had a big blood sugar drop and ended up spending the next 2 hours in bed feeling crap, and the rest of the day feeling as though all my energy had been sucked from my body. Had hoped to go for a late train, but no. If it was a light day I might have just sucked it up and gone anyway, but I decided it was better to just put everything off by a day this week and do a good job of it tomorrow rather than a substandard job of it today.

Working from home tomorrow though - so it takes longer to walk to and from gym, so might do a morning session and be done with it rather than halfway through the day or when it's super busy at the end of the day.

[Chillicat]

Awesome workout this morning.

Squats: 40/50/55/60/65 (not claiming a PB on the 65 though, as I'd say only 75% ROM)

Deads: 40/50 each x 5, then 60, 62.3, 65, 67.5, 70 all x 3. Last week's PB was 62.5, but I really wanted to push myself on these today, and decided that if I just did 3s instead of 5s, then I wouldn't knacker myself out before trying for the PB. I have noted in workout notebook from last week my PB as 62.5 and wrote 'hard!' next to it, so I'm really pleased that I managed to not only break that, but to then do 67.5 and 70! \:D/

Bench: 30, 40, 45, 47.5, 50 = PB, but only one at close to full ROM - the rest were around 50% as nervous to try for more with no spotters around.

Incline DB press 10kg 2x20

Calf rises 64kg 3x25

Feel amazing today! Glad I took the day off and rested through being unwell, reckon it's made for a great day today!