a n00b in NYC

[julene]

Okay, maybe not a total n00b but... new around these parts at least.

Here's my history: I grew up really skinny. We're talking, like, Kate Moss skinny. Sometime between the end of high school and my first years of college I finally hit puberty and my body did that thing where it started looking all womanly. Progressively, my body composition just became... soft. At my heaviest I was 160lbs or so - but this was all flub, and wearing a size 11 made me sad. I didn't eat with health in mind, because I'd never had to before. The best part of being a twiggy child was never having to watch what I ate! Until, of course, I did have to.

Cut to 2009: I lose my job, I move home and I have nothing to do except stare in a mirror and realize years of eating boxed foods have taken their toll. It's roughly 3am and I'm watching TV when an advertisement for Chalean Extreme DVD's comes on. After some serious Googling, I get my hands on the set and thus begins my interest in lifting weights. I've stuck with doing this program on a fairly consistent basis since, though in the last year I've become far more dedicated to exercising 4-6 times a week. I've tried a million styles of eating and "life changing" long-term diet roles... but currently I'm trying to stick to a mostly paleo diet plan, because it keeps me from feeling hungry and/or weak.

I know I'm healthy but honestly, I'm doing all this stuff to my body because I'm vain and I want to look good while feeling good. Makes sense, right?

...This post has gotten way longer than intended. So here's where I'm at: 5'11" (I think), 140-ish lbs, and somewhere in the range of 18-20% body fat if we're basing this on visuals alone. I do 3-4 days of strength training per week and 4-5 days of cardio, usually 20-25 minutes of intervals a la Jackie Warner.

So hi, I'm Julene and I want to lift heavier, be stronger and overall get a leaner look about me.

EDIT: Here's my new battle log thread, and below are some photos. (I hate photos, but I think for the sake of accountability and getting insight from other people on the board they're probably necessary.)

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[Mike Pants]

Vanity is an excellent motivator. Whatever it takes to get us healthy. It's worked for me so far, though I do spend far too long looking in mirrors these days trying to visually track changes.

Welcome aboard. Always happy to see another (tattooed) New Yorker.

EDIT: It does seem like you're doing a LOT of reps if the goal is to build more lean muscle. You're going to need to add weight, not reps, if you want to progress.

[julene]

EDIT: It does seem like you're doing a LOT of reps if the goal is to build more lean muscle. You're going to need to add weight, not reps, if you want to progress.

Two notes: more than half of the exercises are done with 2 barbells, but I only note a single barbell's weight. And yesterday's leg workout was completely uncharacteristic as far as the number of reps. (Bad day at the office, usually it's a single round as heavy as I can hang with.)

Need to figure out how to do weights with the "big girl bar" but it's super intimidating, so for the time being I'll stick with dumbbells.

Also, hi!

[Mike Pants]

The bar is a little intimidating at first. "I don't want to hurt myself" is a commonly reason for avoiding it. I said that to myself a lot too, but practice makes perfect. When I was learning dead-lifts, I spent a LOT of time watching videos on good form and practicing without a bar in the mirror before I started, and boy howdy, it was worth it. Dumbbells are great to a point, but exercises like deadlifts target SO many core and stabilizer muscles that would be hard to reach with dumbbells.

Hi back!