Skip to main content

Stronger than I thought...

Yesterday at the gym I was ready to deadlift. My back had been bothering me for weeks since I landed flat on it snowboarding, but I was finally feeling pretty normal.

I've been deadlifting about 110lbs, 5x and the past couple of times and it was pretty hard. I would then then decrease the weight for a couple more sets. I am keeping a pretty meticulous training journal of my weights and reps and sets, etc., and thought I could start a little heavier...

This time I started at 125 and did 5 with very little effort. Damn. So I blew my initial strength on too low of a weight. So I waited a few minutes and did one more set at that same weight. Still too easy. Hmmmm...Could I be getting that much stronger this quickly? So I waited a few more minutes, threw on two more 5 lb plates and did 5 at 135 lbs. Still too easy. I did one more drop set of 8 and then decided to just stop and start much heavier next week.

After about 5-10 minutes of rest, I did weighted close-grip chinups (my fave). I started with 12 extra lbs and cranked out 5. Excellent progress. Dropped to 10 lbs and did 6. Dropped to 7 lbs and did 6. Dropped to 5 lbs and did 6 and, finally, did 8 just body weight chins.

I'm thinking I may have to go to BW+15 lbs for first set next time. Wow, it feels great. I can finally see why so many people say they feel their abs when doing chin-ups. I felt mine working yesterday! (note: I rested about 3 mins between each set. The longer I rest, the more I can do on the consecutive sets. duh, I know.)

All in all, a decent workout, but I need to tweak the weights. Do heavier weights and fewer sets and see what happens. In the meantime, I'd be lying if I said I didn't LOVE being able to do chins when so many guys can't.

I can't wait until I can do 5-6 chins with the big plate hanging from the belt.
I will definitely get some video to post when I get up to 35+ extra lbs! Stay tuned.

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Jenn:

Just a thought on lifting heavier weights. In my case, when I go for max lifts Deadlifting or Squatting I tend to tighten up my supporting muscles and often lift far more than what I've been doing while working out. Knowing I have a heavy lift coming up gets the adrenaline pumping and gives me a goal and motivation to get there.

Your max lifts might be quite a bit more than what you expect. Just have a spotter while benching or use a cage if you're squatting.
-Shawn
February 16, 2011 at 2:02 PM
Jane said…
Hey Jenn! I don't do weighted chins (nice job!!) but I can crank out some pull-ups, push-ups and can lift pretty heavy weights. I agree with you... It IS very satisfying to demonstrate these things to a new guy or girl in the gym (I coach) and feel like a stud! ;) Keep up the good work!
February 16, 2011 at 5:16 PM
Jenn said…
@Shawn - yeah, I do the same thing. I tense up and get psyched up for every lift. I never lift "max" though. I stay around 85% for 5 and drop the weights as I do 2-3 more sets.

When I can do more than 5 reps at the heaviest weight, I add more.
February 16, 2011 at 7:35 PM
Jenn said…
@Jane - once you can do 6 pullups or chins, add a little weight. That's what I do.
February 16, 2011 at 7:35 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Optimal Fasting Times for Female Fat Loss - A discussion.

How long should I fast? This is probably the most common question I see among women new to Intermittent Fasting. Unfortunately there is no hard-and-fast definitive answer to this question. We all react to stress differently. Yes, I said stress. Fasting is a stressor to the body - especially the female body. Like money worries, relationship drama, and exercise, fasting will cause the body various levels of stress which can, and often will, result in negative consequences regarding our health. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing most of you have jobs and financial responsibilities, relationships, some of you have children or are care takers of family members. You probably rarely get eight hours of sleep and, let's face it, who has time to meditate daily when living in the real world? All of these things are life's stressors. Now, add lack of sleep, job and family/relationship stress to a boiling pot of intense daily e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lift Like a Girl - You just might like it

After I sent Martin ( Leangains.com ) my chinup vids so he can post them, he asked me about my routine so he could offer some background to the videos. He felt it may help give some direction to other IFing women out there; and I hope it does. I think he's going to post this sometime soon as well, but I wanted to archive it on my own blog. I created this routine from bits and pieces found scattered like confetti across his blog. I know everyone is slightly different and has different goals, so this routine may not be for you. I also know that, after two months of this, I'm stronger than ever before, but will likely have to find a way to shake things up a bit to keep things moving...but I'm not sure how to proceed. In case you rush through the routine without reading the fine print, I generally rest from 3 to 5 minutes between every set. Since I'm only doing 2-3 types of exercises at 3-4 sets each, I'm in and out of the gym in under an hour. Oh, and I only workout 3 ...
14 comments
Read more

Finally - Progress Pics

Recently I've been struggling with my motivation. I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. My workouts stalled (poor diet, lack of discipline and no sleep). Then, today, I hopped on the scale to a solid 116.0 lbs (was literally 117.8 yesterday at the same time). I think the two pints of Guinness I had to celebrate St. Patty's with my girlfriend and the bar appetizers I shouldn't have eaten may have given me the "Whoosh" that Martin Berkhan speaks of. "By the way, a nice bonus after a night of drinking is that it effectively rids you of water retention. You may experience the "whoosh" effect, which I've talked about in my two-part series about water retention. That in itself can be motivating for folks who've been experiencing a plateau in their weight loss." In any event, I'm pleased at my results so far and look forward to seeing how I will look in another two months - just in time for Memorial Day at the Jersey Shore. Here the...
15 comments
Read more