A Good Ol' Fashioned

Ass-kicking is what I got for my workout this morning.

Not sure what exactly happened, but I have my suspicions on what contributed - tight hammies, and a wonky thoracic and neck surely did not do me any favors during my squats and OHP's.  I finished my workout but I felt like it could have been better.

I have to keep working on stretching my hams and hip flexors so I can get better squat depth but it's not really progressing the way I wish it would.  Perhaps I need to just keep a wider stance since that seems to work okay; I'm just worried that it might hinder me later on.

The OHP is my NEMESIS.  I'm not sure wtf it is about that lift, but my body starts twisting around when I get fatigued, almost like my bottom half is turning to the right while the upper half is rotating to the left.  I'm sure that can't be good for me.

And these seem to be the challenges with working out strictly from home with no formal training.  I'm sure that if I had someone with good experience, I could more easily work on correcting these types of issues rather than feeling like I'm shooting in the dark when trying to figure out HOW or WHAT to fix.

Is what it is, and I will persist!


That said, I posted a video of my 140 lb deadlift (2nd set in RPT where my top lift was 155 * 4) for a form check in http://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/  as well as on the Nerd Fitness Forums.  General feedback was positive and I got a number of comments indicating that it looked awfully easy to be my 90% set.  Guess that means I ought to amp it up!

Anybody Out There??

If there were anything I could wish for, it would be to be able to find a more vocal female blogging community that was like-minded in my fitness and diet philosophy.  There are no problems finding fashion blogs, cooking blogs, or super-cardio/low-fat-bunny blogs, but I'm finding it nearly impossible to find any anecdotal resources focused women on getting stronger and packing on muscle.

Think something like Berkhan's Lean Gains website, but only authored and maintained from the female perspective.  While I understand that much of the training and eating philosophy that works for men would also work for women, it just can't be quite the same.  And yes, there are various community forums here and there with women posting in them, but I find it difficult to wade through those without finding eleventy-billion differing opinions or folks that 'do' things but aren't actually getting the same results that I'm striving for.  Even going to the Lean Gains and Weight Room Reddits aren't very helpful as 95% of the posters are men.

I was discussing some of my woe at not having these resources with my husband and his response was 'see a need, fill a need'.

So.

Here we are.

Maybe I will be successful and what I have here will be helpful to someone down the road.  IF it ever gets found.  Maybe I'll get brave and start sharing once I can validate my own results and success.  We'll see.  Right now, I'm still in the lets-see-if-this-really-works-as-well-as-I-hope camp.

Progress Pictures

So here we go.  

The first set of pictures that I have posted of my progress.  I have been feeling the differences in my body and it certainly is nice to see it as well.  It makes it more tangible, turns it into something that is actually real for me.  What's even better, is that I showed the pictures to my husband and he thinks that the progress is AWESOME for two month's worth of work.  

The 'before's' (on the left) were taken on November 3rd with me at about 135 lbs and 29.5% body fat, while the 'after's' were taken today at 125 lbs and about 26% body fat.  That's 10 lbs down with a 3% decrease in body fat.   If I can do math correctly, that means that about 7 lbs out of the 10 lbs that I lost were pure fat that got taken off my body.

Those numbers themselves thrill me, but it's actually been a pleasant  experience when compared to every previous weight loss effort that I've ever attempted.  I don't think I've EVER been able to not gain weight over the holiday drag, much less lose any.  And here I am, plugging right along and enjoying life while I do it.  Did I mention that I LOVE my diet and exercise plan?

Back - November vs. January (note there is way  less strap-digging going on!)

Front - November vs. January

Side - November vs. January (Yay for less back fat!!)

I catch some flack for my diet here and there.  No, I don't eat bread.  Or pasta.  Or things with sugar (unless it's chocolate or the occasional piece of cake.. I AM human, after all).  Or things out of a box.  I eat chicken and broccoli... every damned day.  But I also have variety and eat a lot of other really good things, just not what everyone else would eat.  And I'm okay with that.  I have good energy, and I know that I'm fueling my body with healthy food.  

My workouts consist of lifting heavy things.  Right now, I'm totally stoked because I can deadlift 155 lbs.  That's 30 lbs  more than I weigh myself and I can lift it OFF the ground!  I'm back to doing pull ups and chin ups and can easily do three of either in succession.  Hell, I can even put a 10-lb bag on my back and do almost three!  

I don't run, I don't go on the elliptical.  I don't really have time, to be honest.  And if I did have time for cardio, I'd be out riding my bike or hiking - either of which I would actually enjoy doing instead of suffering through.  I'd rather manage myself via my diet and by doing intense lifting to build more muscle to chew through calories.  

I'm very curious to see how my pictures compare with the next set that I'll be taking at the end of March.  It'll be my 30th birthday on April 3rd, and my goal is to have a rockin' body to show for it!