Prefect42's Challenge: Back In The Habit

[prefect42]

Oh, and for the second bonus goal, I'm giving myself another halfie, since moving was a scary, daunting process. This is officially the first time I've ever lived somewhere totally on my own. The responsibilities are the same, but before they were split 50/50 and now it's all me. I'm looking forward to it, but it was definitely a bit of a scary journey to get here.

Now, the "have fun" goal...done and done.

[spezzy]

yes! the move is done! i bet that's a huge weight off your shoulders.

living on your own totally counts as something scary. honestly, though, one of the best feelings in the world - knowing you can take care of yourself without the help of anyone else if you absolutely ever had to.

ok so re: the squats and the warmups. this is actually a topic i'm planning on reading about a lot this weekend, as i'm not allowed to go out and have fun with the lungs in their current condition , and it's something that completely confuses me. i typically like more warmup sets though.

but, this is what i've found by my experimenting (please remember, i have no idea what im talking about ) :

-i hit PR's when i do lots of warmup sets with smaller weight increases in between sets. but i think that's more of a mental thing (if i can do 5 at 200, why can't i do 5 at 210? and if i can do 5 at 210, why can't i do 5 at 215?)

-if i'm going for a full 5x5 and i have too many warmup sets, i have to go way down on the weight for the 5x5. like, i'll hit the number i want to hit and then can't do the entire 5 sets with it, so i have to go down.

also, your chinups are beating my chinups to a bloody pulp.

[Alethea]

Chin-ups: 1x4 (!);

Sweet! Awesome job, man! Also, congradulations on your new place! Glad things went relatively painlessly, and glad to have you back!

[prefect42]

Thanks guys! Spezzy, that seems about right to me. I'll have to play around with it a bit, too.

Had sort of an eh day in the gym. Kept my squats at 120lbs and my overhead press totally fell apart. Behold!

Today's Workout

Squats: 1x5x45lbs; 1x5x95lbs; 5x5x120lbs

Overhead Press: 1x3x75lbs; 1x3x70lbs; 3x5x65lbs

Deadlift: 1x5x130lbs

Pull-ups: 2, 2, 1, 2, 2; plus 2x2 close-grip (13 total)

Planks: 3x60sec.

Yeah, not so great. I'm hoping this is just a by-product of not being able to hit the gym that regularly the last couple of weeks, but only time will tell.

[prefect42]

Bleh. Another crappy gym day. Motivation to workout....disappearing.

Today's Workout

Squats: 1x5x45lbs; 1x5x95lbs; 5x5x120lbs

Bench Press: 1x5x45lbs; 1x5x65lbs; 5x5x100lbs

Inverted Row: 3x5

Chin-ups: 4, 2, 2, 2 (10 total)

Today makes it official: every piece of my routine is either stalling or backsliding. Starting to get really frustrated--I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Hip/groin pain came back today so I don't even know if I'll go to the gym again Friday. Guess I will see how it feels.

[spezzy]

its easy to lose motivation when you're stalling. but you can't go higher every workout, you're going to have to stick with the same weight a few times sometimes.

for the pain,

are you warming up enough? stretching properly? what's your routine?

[Oogiem]

I'd really like some warm up options too. I'm in such bad shape that warm up may be all I can do so I'd like to see what you folks do before hitting those weights.

[prefect42]

Spezzy, I think it was at least partially due to insufficient warming up/stretching. I've gotten back in the habit of doing a more all-around warmup (chops, jumping jacks, BW squats, BW lunges, a few push-ups, hip raises) and it's been better the last couple of days.

I know we are well past the end of the challenge, but I want to post my last two workouts anyway, since my last post looks like I ended on a pretty crappy note otherwise.

Wednesday's Workout

Squats: 1x5x45lbs; 1x5x95lbs; 5x5x120lbs

Overhead Press: 4x5x70lbs; 1x3x70lbs

Deadlift: 1x5x135lbs (woo, big boy plates)

Chin-ups: 3x4!!!; then a few more here and there to get me to 15 total

Highlights: finally picking up my first 45 pounders; clearing multiple sets of 4 chin-ups. I'm pretty sure the chin-ups are due entirely to the fact that I switched them from my other workout day. I thought the inverted rows and chin-ups back to back on that day were probably only doing me a disservice and, sure enough, that seems to be right.

Lowlights: squats are still not feeling strong at 120lbs; struggling to climb back with my OHP.

Today's Workout

Squats: 1x5x45lbs; 1x5x95lbs; 5x5x120lbs

Bench Press: 1x5x45lbs; 4x5x100lbs; 1x5x105lbs

Inverted Rows: 2x8, 1x5

Push-ups: 1x20, 2x15

Reverse Crunches: 3x12

Highlights: Felt okay enough with the bench at 100 to push to 105 for the last set; having that all over "oh my god my body is jelly" feeling at the moment.

Lowlights: still the squats. Wondering if I should come back on Monday and start my squats at around 105 and work back up to 120, adding 5 pounds each session. Maybe that upward momentum will help me push past 120, since I've been there for a few weeks now.

[prefect42]

Challenge Recap!

Original Goals

Goal 1: Keep up with Stronglifts, lifting 3 days a week.

Goal 2: Maintain daily calories in 3500-3800 range, protein in 180-240g range.

Goal 3: Do pilates or yoga once a week.

Goal 4: Get organized and prepared for my move in late November, early December.

Results

Goal 1: Did pretty well. Missed a few workouts here and there due to the holidays and moving craziness, but still hit the gym 10 times over the last 4 weeks. Didn't gain as much strength as I wanted, but I am going to keep plugging away. Hopefully January will see me squatting my bodyweight and deadlifting more than that. B+

Goal 2: Moving really threw a wrench into my routine and nutrition plans, but I think I've managed to do okay. I haven't been tracking things as closely this Challenge, so I hope to get back into that in 2011. I stepped onto the scale today after my workout and came in at about 159 pounds. Let's say minus 4 pounds for shoes, workout pants, t-shirt, etc., and we'll say I'm at 155 pounds. Not too bad considering I was at around 138 when I started lifting back in August. Probably put on around 5 pounds or so this Challenge. Of course, the question is whether or not all of that is just fat. I'll be honest, I'm not exactly loving my "after" picture on this one. Thank god for winter and getting to wear layers. January cutting phase, here I come. B+

Goal 3: Did pilates and yoga each once. Really need to make more time for this, no matter how busy I am. C-

Goal 4: I've been in the new place for about two weeks or so now and it's been great. Going to give myself a big A on this one, though on the other hand, I had to move out, so it's not exactly like I had a choice.

Overall Grade: B+