[Waanie]

Somehow I've become a warrior, lifting 2-3 times per week consistently for a few months already. I love lifting, being strong and seeing my numbers go up . Which is a good thing, since the gym is organising a MAX-day on October 1st, where we will all test our max lifts (squat, benchpress, deadlift). Of course, I want to lift as heavy as safely possible .

 

Main goal

Do not disappear. This worked very well as a main goal last time, and every other goal that makes me not showing up will be benched. Update here at least twice per week.

 

Lift!

Lift 2-3 times per week, either in group class or the program that my trainer wrote for me.

 

Walk

I'm participating in the mini-challenge, although I'm a day late due to time-zone-struggles. I'm currently listening to the day 1 video, and will head out for a hike in about half an hour.

 

Otherwise, I'd like to become a little leaner (I'm on the edge of overweight and some clothes are a bit tight), deal with shoulder/neck issues and become a better clarinet player. After MAX-day I may re-evaluate my goals, and during the last few days of the challenge I will be MIA because we're going to travel with the orchestra for a week.

[Mad Hatter]

[Waanie]

7 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I like the green monster theme!

 

This morning I did a 7km hike. It was fine and pretty and such, but not really worth the half-hour drive. On the other hand, the first clarinet lesson after my vacation was really nice, and I wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I got a lot of homework for next week though, so we'll see how it goes. Only 2 days to go on my staycation!

[Rookie]

I am so proud of you Waanie!

[sarakingdom]

9 hours ago, Waanie said:

Somehow I've become a warrior, lifting 2-3 times per week consistently for a few months already. I love lifting, being strong and seeing my numbers go up .

 

[Waanie]

3 hours ago, Rookie said:

I am so proud of you Waanie!

Thanks! You know I'm proud of you too, right?

 

2 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

Welcome . In that case, let's start with a lifting update:

 

Spoiler

A Deadlifts: 3x70kg, 2x80kg, 1x90kg, 3x75kg, 2x85kg, 1x95kg, 3x80kg, 2x90kg, 1x100kg

B1 Floor press: 4x12 with 2x10kg

B2 Reverse lunges: 4x6/6 with 20kg

C1 Assisted pull-ups, RPE max 8: 5x5

C2 Pallof press 5x8/8

I was very nervous for the deadlifts before starting, since I'm so sore from Monday's bulgarian split squats and 100kg is the maximum I've lifted before. In the end, the deadlifts felt almost comfortable . I got many compliments on my form at the 100kg, and my back stayed straight and strong.

[Rookie]

1 hour ago, Waanie said:

Thanks! You know I'm proud of you too, right?

Yes! ❤️ 

 

1 hour ago, Waanie said:

I was very nervous for the deadlifts before starting, since I'm so sore from Monday's bulgarian split squats and 100kg is the maximum I've lifted before. In the end, the deadlifts felt almost comfortable . I got many compliments on my form at the 100kg, and my back stayed straight and strong.

You are absolutely killing it! Form Queen

[Waanie]

16 hours ago, Rookie said:

Yes! ❤️ 

 

You are absolutely killing it! Form Queen

I sometimes wonder if I'm too strict on wanting good form, but not being injured is more important to me than having even bigger numbers .

 

Today it's raining, so I just got a 20-25 minute walk in. My staycation is coming to an end, and I feel a bit like I didn't do enough... Next time I want to go abroad again to really feel like vacation. This was too much the doing of things that I'm doing already, with just a little more relaxation in between.

[Rookie]

5 hours ago, Waanie said:

I sometimes wonder if I'm too strict on wanting good form, but not being injured is more important to me than having even bigger numbers .

I mean.. you had form AND big numbers this time around

 

5 hours ago, Waanie said:

This was too much the doing of things that I'm doing already, with just a little more relaxation in between.

And you do hate relaxation...  A more fun vacation next time sounds like a great plan. You did do some good things but I agree it wasn't big enough for a week off. This is why I struggle taking a full week off when I have no plans I don't love staycations because I ended just wasting most if it. 

 

[Mad Hatter]

6 hours ago, Waanie said:

I sometimes wonder if I'm too strict on wanting good form, but not being injured is more important to me than having even bigger numbers .

To me it makes total sense to keep form really good during regular training. But it'd be a shame if you let the idea of perfect form get in your head on max day, because I for one am very curious about what your max really is.  I suspect it's way, way higher than your current PR.

[KB Girl]

14 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

To me it makes total sense to keep form really good during regular training. But it'd be a shame if you let the idea of perfect form get in your head on max day, because I for one am very curious about what your max really is.  I suspect it's way, way higher than your current PR.

Last time 100kg didn't have perfect form, so having that under the belt with that good form is good for confidence I think  I'm very curious too, looking forward to it! 

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

YEA!!   Looking forward to the results.  (Isn't it fun to see the numbers gradually increase?)

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

On 9/8/2022 at 6:57 AM, Waanie said:

I sometimes wonder if I'm too strict on wanting good form, but not being injured is more important to me than having even bigger numbers .

 

As it should be for all of us. Priorities should be in this order.  

[Waanie]

Hi guys, sorry for disappearing. I got a new computer game on Friday (slay the spire), and played it all day long while sitting on the couch (well, I did some chores and a walk). On Saturday when I woke up my neck was absolutely destroyed. I couldn't move, and there was about one position where my neck did not hurt, but if I tried to do anything else then the pain was very intense. Sunday it was still quite bad, and in the days since it is getting better and better again. I still don't have my full range of motion, but at least I can drive a car and exercise again. This morning I got my new program from KB Girl, so I did my first training in about a week time.

 

A Squat 5x15kg, 5x35kg, 5x45kg, 3x55kg, 2x60kg

B1 KB deadlifts 5x8 with 40kg

B2 assisted pull ups 4x5

C1 floor press 4x12 with 2x10kg

C2 walking lunges 4x10 steps with 14kg

 

It was a nice difficulty, which means that I felt good afterwards. For the squat, 60kg will probably my starting weight, so it is nice to have done that in training. I filmed myself to check out my form problems, and there are only some small problems that I apparently don't have to worry about and that is what heavy squats tend to look like.

 

Mentally I'm not doing too well, but I blame not having done enough during my staycation and then having severe pain for two days. I have the hope that I'll feel better once I've settled in my steady rhythm again.

[Waanie]

On 9/8/2022 at 8:55 PM, Rookie said:

And you do hate relaxation...  A more fun vacation next time sounds like a great plan. You did do some good things but I agree it wasn't big enough for a week off. This is why I struggle taking a full week off when I have no plans I don't love staycations because I ended just wasting most if it.

I hate not having a fixed structure, which is slightly different from hating relaxation . I blame my autism for that . Well, at least I did enough to "sell" that it was a good vacation to my colleagues, even though it was not really.

 

On 9/8/2022 at 9:30 PM, Mad Hatter said:

To me it makes total sense to keep form really good during regular training. But it'd be a shame if you let the idea of perfect form get in your head on max day, because I for one am very curious about what your max really is.  I suspect it's way, way higher than your current PR.

I suspect it's much higher as well! Today's squats were definitely not perfect, but it is interesting to try high weights from time to time. Since I could do 2 of them at my current PR, I have the good hope that I can lift heavier.

 

On 9/9/2022 at 11:37 AM, KB Girl said:

Last time 100kg didn't have perfect form, so having that under the belt with that good form is good for confidence I think  I'm very curious too, looking forward to it! 

It really is! I'm also looking forward to seeing your maxes, we might lift similar weights .

 

On 9/10/2022 at 2:12 PM, Chris-Tien Jinn said:

YEA!!   Looking forward to the results.  (Isn't it fun to see the numbers gradually increase?)

It's very fun to see numbers gradually increase . I even "graduated" from KB deadlifts today, since the weight of the heaviest KB is too low for a good workout .

 

On 9/13/2022 at 12:43 AM, Scaly Freak said:

As it should be for all of us. Priorities should be in this order.  

Thanks! Not getting injured is my top priority, since I will feel bad mentally and physically in the period that I'm injured .

[Jupiter]

16 hours ago, Waanie said:

On Saturday when I woke up my neck was absolutely destroyed. I couldn't move, and there was about one position where my neck did not hurt, but if I tried to do anything else then the pain was very intense. Sunday it was still quite bad, and in the days since it is getting better and better again. I still don't have my full range of motion, but at least I can drive a car and exercise again.

 

Oh, ouch. I've had something similar happen once, it was not fun. Hope you feel better soon. 

[KB Girl]

On 9/14/2022 at 1:15 PM, Waanie said:

It really is! I'm also looking forward to seeing your maxes, we might lift similar weights .

 

Oh no I'm pretty sure that you'll be lifting heavier now. You've been amazingly consistent (even counting this recent neck break) and I have not really done a full training session since July. I've lifted bits, but I doubt it has even been enough to maintain. Probably not even my bigger experience with lifting maxes will cover the strength difference

[Waanie]

On 9/15/2022 at 5:32 AM, Jupiter said:

Oh, ouch. I've had something similar happen once, it was not fun. Hope you feel better soon. 

It's slowly but surely getting better fortunately. Recovery is slower than I expected, but oh well.

 

On 9/15/2022 at 11:04 PM, KB Girl said:

Oh no I'm pretty sure that you'll be lifting heavier now. You've been amazingly consistent (even counting this recent neck break) and I have not really done a full training session since July. I've lifted bits, but I doubt it has even been enough to maintain. Probably not even my bigger experience with lifting maxes will cover the strength difference

Whoops, I hadn't realised you've trained so little! The neck-break was basically just skipping one workout, so that's not too big of a break either . Your focus is also more wide than mine, so it makes sense that I'd be stronger by now.

[Waanie]

Nothing really happened in the past few days, life is well. I'm still thinking on how to shape my walking goal, but I think it will be to just go for a little walk every day. A lunch-walk with colleagues counts, as does a walk to the grocery store. In that sense it is more the maintenance of a habit than forming a new one, but there's nothing wrong with that either .

[Waanie]

Yesterday's workout felt heavy, but I did manage to set a (very shaky) PR for 45kg bench press .

 

Today we had a concert with orchestra, outside while it was raining. We were sitting in a tent, but the audience was out in the rain. No need to say that there was almost no audience . Playing didn't go very well, also because I didn't hear the people in front of me, so maybe it was good that there was not so much audience .

 

Goals-wise, I've gone for a walk every day, strength trained twice and shown up 3 times. Success!

[Jupiter]

8 hours ago, Waanie said:

Playing didn't go very well, also because I didn't hear the people in front of me, so maybe it was good that there was not so much audience .

 

Oops, LOL. 

 

8 hours ago, Waanie said:

Goals-wise, I've gone for a walk every day, strength trained twice and shown up 3 times. Success!

 

Yay for success!  

[Waanie]

This week is shark week, which is pretty bad this month . On my day off I cut my workout short because I just didn't wanna work out (which is rare for me), so I did 2 sets of bulgarian split squats and pull-ups less than planned. I also did not go for a walk on my day off, but stayed cozy and warm indoors instead.

[KB Girl]

Definitely the right call! Hope you’re feeling better today  

[Mad Hatter]

Congrats on the bench PR! Setting PRs every day here.  When's the big day?

[Waanie]

On 9/22/2022 at 3:15 PM, KB Girl said:

Definitely the right call! Hope you’re feeling better today  

Well, I was not really feeling better on Thursday between being generally tired, having a light cold and having my period... Anyway, now I'm mostly better, so I can do eeeeverything again .

7 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Congrats on the bench PR! Setting PRs every day here.  When's the big day?

Well, not every day, but definitely very often! The big day is next week Saturday .

 

This week was  bit meh, but all nothing too shocking. Suddenly it's autumn, so we have to adapt to the cooler weather, everyone having colds left right and centre and waking up in the dark. On Friday we did a really beautiful hike of about 14km, which was nice. Yesterday I was pretty sore . This morning I went to the gym, where I learnt that I have to pause the benchpress at the lowest point for a second before pressing up again, so I've practised that with both the weight that was prescribed in my training program and with the 42.5kg and 45kg. The 45kg felt much better than last week, which makes me feel more confident as well.

 

Next week might be chaos; I might have planned too many things in my free time. With orchestra rehearsal on Monday, a work BBQ on Friday and MAX-day on Saturday and a full Wednesday as well... I have no idea when I'll train yet, since Thursday night seems too close to Saturday morning to be a good idea. I should also go shopping in preparation for the travelling with the orchestra three weeks from now, but I guess that will be a week later.