Vintage

Do you know what your resting heart rate is? Sometime when you've been sitting for a while, check your pulse in your neck or wrist. 

If you're able to run steadily and comfortably at that heart rate, and you've never had other heard problems or a family history of heart problems, then I wouldn't be terribly concerned. Next time you're at the doctor, you might mention it, though. 

Are you doing 3 days/week or 4? What other exercise are you doing?

I've never done BBB, but from what I understand, the assistance work is just higher rep sets of the main lift, yes? This seems like it's adding more volume of the same movement. Have you tried switching up your assistance lifts? It's possible that changing up the movement patterns some will help. 

This may just involve some experimenting. Try dropping volume for one cycle, track everything (not just your weights/reps/sets but also how everything felt before, during and after), and see where you're at. If that doesn't work, try dropping the weights, or dropping to 3 days/week, etc.

Oh, and don't forget that nutrition, sleep, and stress will all play a roll in how your body holds up to stresses and recovers, so make sure those are in check.

Vintage, the first breakdown I've had on a deadlift was with this last PR and that was a slow lockout so I am definitely keeping barbell bridges in the line up. My squat form seems really tight unless I am doing an all-out max effort, then I end up "good morninging" the bar up a little, but that was also only on my last PR. I figure quads are my issue there, so I rolled Zerchers in.

 

I am having some troubles getting out of the bottom of my strict press. Do you have any suggestions? Once I clear my chin I can lock it out without a wobble, even a max effort. It's just getting it moving that is a problem.

Hmm. I have the opposite problem, so maybe someone else can chime in if they've experienced this. I think, though, that this indicates a weakness in your shoulders, rather than in your triceps (where mine is). Some ideas: dumbbell presses of all kinds (standing, seated, one arm, super heavy partials), incline bench (barbell or dumbbell), handstands and handstand push-ups (you can just do negatives or you can do them assisted with your toes/knees on a box of some sort), behind the neck presses... I'm sure there are ones I'm missing here. Make sure you're balancing with plenty of pulling as well.

Assistance lifts aren't a one-size fits all thing. They should really be targeted at your individual weaknesses. So look at your lifts and figure out where they fail. For deadlifts, do you have trouble with lockouts at the top and grip limitations? Then hip thrusts and farmer's walks are your friend. What about your squats... do you find your hips coming up first so you can recruit more quads (indicating a weaker posterior chain)? Or are you struggling with keeping your back flat and everything tight? Those are just examples, but hopefully that helps.

I'd be interested in hearing about this, too. I've got RA and I frequently work out barefoot because it feels better on my feet (and I lift better in bare feet), but it makes me wonder if I should replace the traditional running shoes I wear when required with minimalist ones.

Diet is key.

But, you can also add different types of cardio work. I loath steady-state cardio and do very little of it. But I do use a lot of interval training (sprints, "tabata", rowing intervals, stationary bike intervals, etc.). Barbell complexes are also fantastic (and incredible difficult). Here's a link to an article that does a good job explaining them. 

If you can get access to a prowler or a sled, you can get a lot done in a pretty short amount of time. Those things are brutal, but they'll give your legs and core a great workout while getting your heart rate high.

Except for when we're using that word to describe someone with thoughts about something that become constantly obtrusive, uncontrollable, anxiety producing and generally interfering with their quality of life. 

I think the bands are ok, and I've used them off and on. But it depends on where you are in your pulling abilities and what you're struggling with, and I don't think they should be used exclusively. 

When I first started out, my coach wouldn't let me use a band because I didn't have the core strength to stabilize in the super-heavy band that I needed to use to do a pull-up. So I just did ring rows and jumping pull-ups while I worked on my overall strength. 

And I've seen women get stuck using the thinner bands, and I think the solution to that is to do negatives and half-pulls as well. Some people get to the point where it's mostly in their heads - getting on the bar and really learning to fight and struggle for the rep on your own is something that just has to be done.

And finally, bands provide a lot of assistance on the bottom of the pull but very little at the top. But the bottom is where I struggle... so using a band allowed me to do pull ups before I could do them unassisted, but it compensated for my weakness. Eventually I had to start doing negatives and partial pulls to address that weakness.

Hmm. I always appreciated the BSG scenes that had one of the women kicking ass or generally being physically tough. Boomer/Sharon/Athena has a great body as well and they did show that they worked at it. 

But overall, I look at it the same way I do most things on TV or in movies. There are characters whose qualities I admire (not just appearance, but athleticism or personality) and the fact that that's an actor pretending doesn't affect my ability to admire the character. I just differentiate the character and actor in my mind. The actor's job is to make it look like they're physically tough/ strong/ smart/ heroic/ funny/ etc. But the character is the one I'm admiring and finding inspiring.

But it does help to have real people role models. 

I adore my crossfit box and consider joining one of the best decisions I've made in years. Yes, it's expensive, but I get plenty out of it. Among the advantages are the increased level of accountability (people notice when you're not showing up or you're slacking, and I push myself harder when I'm in a group of people who know me and what I'm capable of), coaching that lets me learn lifts and other exercises that I would never have had the nerve or understanding to perform safely on my own, and a whole group of new acquaintances and friends who are also interested in being active and healthy. 

As for the money, I find that it can be a benefit to spend so much money (at least for me) because I work my ass off and show up every class to get my money's worth. And that feeds into motivation to keep my eating on point, too.

Not all boxes are created equally, so shop carefully and don't just go for the cheapest. Pay attention to class size, the experience of the coaches, the quality of the programming, and whether the general feel of the community fits what you're looking for.

Oh, and a lot of boxes will offer personal training that you don't have to be a regular member to take advantage of. You can look into that as an option, too.

Overhead squats and cleans will do you pretty well on core unless you want to add more in. Overhead squats kill my whole core (and it does an awesome job of hitting the whole thing, not just your abs).

It's possible that overhead squats + push presses will be pretty rough, though, depending on your volume and weights. I'd bet your shoulders will be crying uncle by the time you hit your dips. But maybe not.

I'm saying this in a very kind, empathetic, supportive way, even if it doesn't show through the screen.. 

chill out! It's only one week. You hit your body with a lot of changes a few weeks ago, and it's trying to sort everything out. A lot of people don't lose weight at a nice steady pace (I'm one of them... it's common for me to stay at the same weight for 2 weeks, then the scale will show a 4 lb drop in a matter of a few days), and there are all sorts of things that could be causing the scale to stay the same. Where are you in your monthly cycle? That does all sorts of fun things to women.

I'm with wideeyed. Take measurements, track your eating, and then leave the scale alone for a good while. It'll work, just give it time. 

You don't have all the book knowledge. No one does. One sign of a good trainer (like in many things in life) is that they are constantly learning, reading, asking people with more experience/knowledge for advice, etc. Going into something thinking you don't have anything you need to learn is an extremely limiting frame of mind. This connects to the need to do the physical work yourself as well - use that as a learning experience, not just some appearance you have to have to sell yourself. If you approach it right, you'll learn an incredible amount, not only about training techniques, but also about the psychological aspect of things, which is absolutely vital. 

What kind of training do you want to do? That's an important place to start.

Ok, I think your question still isn't actually getting answered. For some actual routine ideas, you can go to nerdfitness.com and scroll down a bit to find some free routines for bodyweight. Those are a good start. There are also links on there to the fitness guides that you can buy, but I haven't read those so I can't say whether they'll fit your goals.

Whether you're ready to start barbell training is dependent on a lot of factors including your physical condition, your resources, and your basic body mechanics. If you want to, you can look into starting strength on the website  or search for the ebook on Amazon. I have mixed feelings about Mark Rippetoe (who wrote the book) and the nutritional instructions are crap, but it's a good way for beginners to learn the basics of the lifts.

Seth posted some links to great threads here on nerdfitness earlier. Give those a read-through if you haven't already.

Just to clarify, it sounds like OP is running on a track, not a treadmill. 

But I think the advice about training specific to your goals is good. 

I'm a big fan of this article on pull-ups. 

I did a lot of inverted rows until I was ready to do negatives. I prefer doing them on rings, but if you go to a gym you can put the smith machine to good use for once by doing them on there. Bent over rows are excellent as well (either one armed or with a barbell). 

One of the guys I work out with regularly is 6'2" (and thus a full foot taller than I am) and whenever I whine about having to throw my wall balls an extra foot to hit the target, he reminds me about how much smaller my range of motion is for deads and squats.  Powerlifting is the first time since I was a competitive gymnast that my stumpy, muscular little limbs have benefited me.

It's kind of a natural advantage, yes, but it's not actually cheating. And you won't think about it much once the weight gets super heavy. Doing deficit deadlifts can be great accessory work, though. 

Like it says in the article, I think it largely depends on what part of"strong" people are focusing on. Is it purely appearance-based? Is it a specific strong body look (significant muscle, very low body fat)? Are women trying to look like a woman at a workout-themed photo shoot (full makeup, perfect tan, perfectly posed) or like a woman who's actually working her ass off and maybe red faced, sweaty and mid-grunt?

Or are people using it to refer to someone who pushes past mental and physical barriers, works hard, sets goals and achieves them, thinks about how to make her body healthier longer, etc.?

In other words, I don't think the premise is flawed necessarily. But I think a lot of women are still idealizing and working towards the wrong thing.

It could have been a lot of things, but yes, the slight padding can definitely make a difference. Even running on an asphalt street versus a concrete sidewalk makes a difference for me. But inside also tends to be climate controlled. I struggle through 200 or 400 meter outdoor runs in my crossfit workouts now that it's summer (and thus 100 degrees or higher outside). And there's also a mental component for me. I'm better at pacing myself on a track than I am on a road or trail as well - something about the street, possibly the hardness that makes me run at a faster pace than I can maintain.

The biggest advice I have is to practice your running in the setting that you want to be good at it in as much as possible [that's a poorly constructed sentence, but I think it still makes some sense]. Maybe aim to do at least half of your runs outdoors. If you need to rewind a bit, there's no shame in that. 

So it sounds like you've lost 5-7 lbs this month, which is good. I don't know exactly what your diet looks like, but it sounds like you might be on the right track with that. That's good, because diet is going to be the biggest part of fat loss.

That said, strength training will help you maximize muscle retention while losing weight and will help improve the visual results you're getting so go for it. I might suggest trying out stronglifts or starting strength in the beginning if you're wanting to do barbell work because they're tailored for beginners. It's a good place to start. 

You can also get awesome results from body-weight work and dumbbells, and there are great workouts available on the main nerdfitness site for those.

Depending on your college, there's a chance you'll have access to a gym for free or very very cheap. Most colleges have them.

The biggest thing I can say is to be consistent and make it a priority. Schedule an exercise time a few times per week and treat it just like a regular class. It doesn't have to be any particular exercise (it can be a cheap or free yoga class, a walk or jog around campus, whatever), but make it so it's not optional for you. The trick for me is to never let myself ask the question "Should I go work out? or Do I want to go work out this evening or go watch TV?" It's just what I'm doing at specific times on certain days - no questions asked, no choices involved.

Remember when you're adding up the cost of healthy food to take into account the money that you're not spending on junk like soda, beer, chips, etc. Look for a farmer's market if you can, and try to plan out your meals and cook ahead of time. It's easy to be really unhealthy but still skinny in college - so focus on HEALTHY. When making food choices, look at whether you're getting the stuff your body needs (protein, a variety of vegetables, minerals, healthy fats...), not just on low calories and skipping meals.

And finally, look into joining an active activity group/club. College is probably the easiest time in your life to try new things and join new groups. You'll meet new people (who are also interested in being active) and it looks great on resumes and for grad schools to have been involved in extra-curriculars. It's a win any way you look at it.

Can you get someone to take a video or at least a photo of your start position for us to look at? Ideally from a few different angles. 

Yep, sounds normal.  I was miserable after my first few strength training sessions. For me, day 2 tends to be the worst. But for most people that dies away. I occasionally feel some soreness 11 months down the road, but it's barely painful (and now I kind of like it in a sick way), and it's only when I do something I haven't done in a while or really hammered one muscle. In essence, you've damaged muscle fibers and they're inflamed and having to rebuild. But that's exactly what's supposed to happen because that's how muscles are built.

Just move around. Jog a little if you can (warming up the muscles helps), or go for a walk, swimming is nice, contrast showers (alternating hot and cold). Light stretching (think of doing some arm circles, touching your toes, stretching tall and repeating, squatting for a couple of seconds, raising your hips up to stretch your hamstrings and then squatting down again for 10 or so times, grab and reach, whatever). Targeted, more challenging mobility work can wait a bit. Avoid sitting for long periods of time, and use the handicap stalls in public restrooms so you have rails to help you back up if need be 

I take measurements every 4-6 weeks, and my waist is still definitely getting smaller, it's just been very slow. I mean, 2 years to drop 40lb is a long time - I hear about people dropping that in a couple of months and I guess it's just frustrating and makes me think I could be doing more, losing faster. But you're right, I have been dieting like this for a loooong time. Maybe the reason i'm not seeing fast results is that my metabolism needs a break.

 

Hmm. Well, I've planned out my paleo meals for next week, so maybe I'll just get next week out the way and go up to maintenance for 6 weeks - I read that's how long you have to do it to reset your metabolism.

 

Thanks for the tip

True, people do drop weight a lot faster than that. But 40 lbs is a HUGE percentage of your body weight, and you're actually quite small right now. It's one thing for a man starting at 300 lbs to drop 40 in a couple of months. It's another for someone starting around 180. Looking at the percentage of your body weight you've lost, and the portion of the weight you need to lose vs. what you've already lost may give you some encouragement and patience. 

I'm honestly not 100% sure what you mean by your upper back is curving, but... what are you doing with your head during your planks? Do you let it droop down? Do you crane it up? And what is your lower back doing? When I do planks the best cue for me is to tuck my pelvis under slightly (think of trying to curl your pelvis up to your ribs). This corrects my tendency to let my lower back arch.

This mainly sounds like a mobility issue, though. Check out mobilitywod.com for some ideas on upper back mobility and opening up your shoulders.