Don't laugh... this is progress

daenerysstormborn3

Have decided to (hopefully) follow in the footsteps of some of the female posters on here with regard to their attitudes to lifting and weights in general. It was never something I shied away from but it's just not something I ever took a great interest in. After seeing some of the results, my mind is made up

I rejoined a gym in January after about 9 months of little to no activity, 6 months of which was spent on crutches and then 3 months gradually reintroducing walking and trying to make myself walk "properly" (while on crutches, naturally enough my walking pattern and gait went "off"). I had a motorbike accident in April of last year, I was hit by a van, and came away with a variety of injuries so I am approaching all of this with caution. I have been signed off by my physio and my G.P. with their only instruction being to avoid the repetitive banging that would be running on a treadmill. I have tried the cross trainer and my ankle and knees were in bits afterwards so that is out for the moment too.

Prior to the accident my main way of keeping fit was running. Between January 2012 and April 2012 I had lost 2 stone, then I was put out of action so it has taken some time to get the motivation back, especially now that I cannot do what I used to do, i.e. running.

These are just baby steps to start me off so take it easy on me.

Any and all constructive advice is welcome.

daenerysstormborn3

Started off with lots of stretching exercises with particular concentration on my legs (for obvious reasons). My balance has been completely thrown off since the accident so I have been given stretching exercises by my physio which are supposed to help build up the strength in my ankles, knees and hips.

15 minutes interval training on the bike, alternating between L9 and L14, maintaining a speed of 11+. I am planning on increasing this by 5-10 minutes per week and gradually increasing the time spent at L14, which is currently 30 seconds.

Wall squats - held for 10 seconds x 3
Plank - held for 15 seconds x 3
Air squats - 10 x 3

Squat with 10kg DB - 10 x 3
Side bends with 6kg DB - 10 x 3 (think I'll probably up this tonight as I found it easy enough with the 6kg)
DB prone cuban snatch with 6kg DB x 2 - 10 x 3 (stole this from someone else's log, googled it and thought "now that looks interesting" and gave it a whirl, didn't do too badly)

Want to add in lunges tonight (will see how I go with my bad balance)
Russian twist with plate (I'm thinking I could probably manage a 10kg plate but I'll see how I go tonight)
Underhand lat pulldown (no idea what weight I'll do this at, figure it out tonight)

Also did 2,000ms on the rower in about 12 minutes. I'd like to get that down to 10 minutes.

Cooled down with some stretching.

Altogether this took me 1 hour. I wouldn't mind adding on another 30 minutes to my time in the gym, might be able to make up 20 minutes or so with the lunges, twists and pulldowns that I'm going to try to add in tonight.

Stench Blossoms

Well done on starting

Is this a program a PT gave you?

daenerysstormborn3

It's kind of a mixture of what the trainer in the gym gave me and bits I'm picking up myself. The trainer said interval training on the bike would be better than just straight cycling for a long length of time so I've taken that from him. He gave me some of the weights exercises and a few of the others I've added myself (or am planning to add) from reading on here and around the internet.

I saw you and a few others on here mention New Rules of Lifting for Women so I downloaded it and am trying to make my way through it. Some of it is hard to read, I kind of think "eh when is he going to start talking about the actual lifting?!" but I know it all ties in together so just trying to keep at it.

It's all a bit experimental at the moment. I don't really know exactly what I should be doing, exactly what I can do and exactly what I shouldn't do so it's trial and error right now and hopefully over the next few weeks I can get to grips with it all properly.

gymfreak

Great to see another lady logging!

If you have any questions, just ask:)

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

15 mins interval training on the bike (same as before)

Wall squats - held for 10 seconds x 3
Plank - held for 15 seconds x 3
Air squats - 10 x 3

DB Chest press 6kg DB (x 2) - 10 x 3
Squat with 10kg DB - 10 x 3
Side bends with 9kg DB - 10 x 2 AND THEN with 10kg DB 10 x 1 (think I'm going to go with the 10kg dumbbell with this one until I move up, just the right amount of push needed right now)
DB prone cuban snatch with 6kg DB x 2 - 10 x 3 Unfortunately I have had to scratch this altogether. I was approached by someone in the gym tonight who said that the benches in the gym are not wide enough to hold this position. When I was doing it last night I was a bit wobbly but I just assumed it was because I'm just getting used to the move. So if anybody has any thoughts on a suitable replacement for this, I'm all ears

Lunges (no weight) 10 x 3 (Balance isn't great so I'm going to try to build in the weight gradually once I can manage my "form" a bit better)
Russian twist with 10kg plate 15 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3

Couldn't get onto the rower tonight. There's only 2 in the gym, 1 is broken and there was some fella on the one rowing his way home and I had to rush off.

Stretching

Little bit sore in the legs today from all the squats I'd say.

My days off are Mondays and Fridays because they're just too manic in work so I go Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday (but usually just have a handy enough workout on a Sunday, nothing too laid back but nothing too strenuous - I like to do something though).

If anyone has any thoughts on anything I should add in, do more of, do less of, they'd be very welcome.

doctorwhogirl

Whoop whoop! Another girl!

I downloaded the New Rules... (all above board.... ) and I skimmed through a lot of it. I'm mainly using it as a springboard for ideas. Some days I stick to the routines rigidly, some days I don't. It gives good explanations on form and technique and also what muscle groups you're working so you can make your own routine from it.

I must say I love it. I don't lift very heavy and I have no great aspirations to be lifting massive amounts. Enough to challenge me and keep me toned and strong and I'm happy!

I would really recommend it!

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

15 mins interval training on the bike (same as before)

Wall squats - held for 10 seconds x 3
Plank - held for 15 seconds x 3

DB Chest press 6kg DB (x 2) - 10 x 3
Squat with 10kg DB - 10 x 3
Side bends with 10kg DB - 10 x 3
Lunges 6kg DB (x 2) - 10 x 3
Russian twist with 10kg plate - 15 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg - 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg - 10 x 3

Stretching

daenerysstormborn3

Skipped the gym today in favour of painting the hall (so getting some upper body work in there :P ) and reading more of NROLFW. I appear to have reached the point where he starts talking about the actual lifting so I'm going to try to fly through that today and tomorrow and then back in the gym on Tuesday with hopefully some of the plan started.

I know the book will probably explain this once I read on but does he kind of break you in gently? I'm trying to build myself up gradually but trying not to take it too handy either, I presume he starts you off at a level even a brand new beginner can manage?

Stench Blossoms

pixiebean22 wrote: »

I know the book will probably explain this once I read on but does he kind of break you in gently? I'm trying to build myself up gradually but trying not to take it too handy either, I presume he starts you off at a level even a brand new beginner can manage?

You start with whatever weight you feel comfortable and gradually increase when you feel ready.

daenerysstormborn3

I have finished NROLFW so armed with all that knowledge, I'm off to the gym tonight to start on a slightly doctored version of the program. I say slightly doctored because there are a couple of things I can't do because of my ankle etc.

daenerysstormborn3

Oh lord, single leg RDLs were made by the devil himself! My arse!

Anyway, just under 2 hours in the gym, which I'm delighted about, and I did the following:

Stretching

18 mins interval training on the bike (this was hard, legs felt like cement for the additional 3 mins but I pushed on)

Wall squats 10 x 3
Plank 10 x 3 (this is reduced because I was trying to concentrate properly on doing it right)
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3 (killers!)
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

DB chest press 6kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 10kg DB 10 x 3
DB single-arm overhead squat (10kg & 5kg) 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3 (so hard, I imagine I'll be sore tomorrow)
Lunges 6kg (x2) 10 x 3
Side bends 10kg 10 x 3
Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3

At this point I was there just under 2 hours so I had to call it a night so I did my stretching and headed on home.

It probably took me a bit longer because I'm still getting used to where everything is and I have to keep checking my little sheet but I'm getting there now.

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 10 x 3
Plank 10 x 3 (this is reduced because I was trying to concentrate properly on doing it right)
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3 (killers!)
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

DB chest press 6kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 10kg DB 10 x 3
DB single-arm overhead squat (10kg & 5kg) 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3
Lunges 6kg (x2) 10 x 3 (these were very hard tonight, I was getting a really sharp shooting pain down the front of my left thigh only when I was lunging on my right leg - if that makes sense. If anyone has any thoughts on what I could do to avoid that I'd appreciate them as it was fairly tough to complete)
Side bends 10kg 10 x 3
Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3

Stretching

Had my first protein shake tonight after the gym - pretending I'm a big bad lifter :P

butthatsjustme

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Had my first protein shake tonight after the gym - pretending I'm a big bad lifter :P

Love this!

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 10 x 3
Plank 10 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3 (killers!)
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

DB chest press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 10kg DB 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 10kg 10 x 3
Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Step-up with DB 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3 (holy **** these were hard!)

Left out a little leg work tonight as my thigh that was giving me some grief last night was still a bit tight so I just stretched it out a bit more and took it easy on the legs.

Stretching

May be talking out my arse but I feel like the protein shake really helped with the recovery today. Normally the day after my legs are quite sore, I hobble up and down the stairs and my arse is always quite sore but today it wasn't as bad and the only things I can put that down to is (a) maybe having progressed a little with my stamina or (b) the protein shake.

I'm already noticing little differences. In numbers I'm down 3lbs on the scales but I tend to go by my clothes and I'm already noticing my clothes a bit looser at the stomach and at the sides of my legs :cool:

gymfreak

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Stretching

Lunges 6kg (x2) 10 x 3 (these were very hard tonight, I was getting a really sharp shooting pain down the front of my left thigh only when I was lunging on my right leg - if that makes sense. If anyone has any thoughts on what I could do to avoid that I'd appreciate them as it was fairly tough to complete)

Shooting pain= not good

I'd always stop straight away if it's that sort of pain. Could be lots of reasons behind it...the simpliest solution would be to foamroll and to see if it was caused by some kind of muscle tightness. There could be many underlying factors but tbh Id start with foamrolling and then see after that

doctorwhogirl

Three pounds and inches! Amazing stuff!!!

I'm not feeling progress this week! As someone said earlier on the logs

"PROGRESS IS NOT LINEAR" This will have to be my mantra!

Great workout today, those snatches sound tough!

daenerysstormborn3

gymfreak wrote: »

Shooting pain= not good

I'd always stop straight away if it's that sort of pain. Could be lots of reasons behind it...the simpliest solution would be to foamroll and to see if it was caused by some kind of muscle tightness. There could be many underlying factors but tbh Id start with foamrolling and then see after that

Cheers gymfreak. Would your average gym have foam rollers or is there anything I can improvise with and do you have any instructions? I presume it's exactly like it says on the tin, roll something along the tight muscle?

doctorwhogirl wrote: »

Three pounds and inches! Amazing stuff!!!

I'm not feeling progress this week! As someone said earlier on the logs

"PROGRESS IS NOT LINEAR" This will have to be my mantra!

Great workout today, those snatches sound tough!

Cheers

Yeah, they were hard going, wasn't making the prettiest facial expressions by the end of it but I finished the set anyway so I'm happy with that.

Nah, progress definitely is not linear!

I have taken some photos of my horrid arms tonight so that (hopefully) in a few months time I will be able to compare and look back on my progress

daenerysstormborn3

I don't claim to have a "clean" diet or anything like that but I try to eat relatively well about 80% of the time. Today I had a few chips with my lunch for the first time in a long while, I also had bread yesterday for the first time all week and I feel rotten today. It's the first time I've really taken any notice of that kind of thing. Definitely motivates me, as I don't want to feel this crap regularly.

No gym tonight or tomorrow because my bf and I are going to Cork for the day but if we don't stay in Cork tomorrow night I'll go on Sunday.

daenerysstormborn3

No gym tonight as I had to have some physio on my ankle. It felt completely frozen all day, not much movement and really painful so I went down to the physio after work and he worked out some of it for me. He told me I could go to the gym if I wanted to but to be honest it's too painful for that tonight so I'm going to get back into it tomorrow.

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 10 x 3
Plank 10 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

DB chest press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3 (think I'm going to up these to 8kg tomorrow)
Squats with 10kg DB 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 10kg 10 x 3
Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Step-up with DB 8kg (x2) 10 x 3 (and a higher bench, go me!)
One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3 (still so hard!!)

Stretching

Felt good to get back into it tonight but I'm glad I took last night off over my ankle because I wouldn't have been able to put in last night what I did tonight.

TheBellJar

pixiebean22 wrote: »

One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3 (still so hard!!)
.

Eh that's because they are freaking hard! Fair play!!

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 10 x 3
Plank 10 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

DB chest press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 10kg DB 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 10kg 10 x 3
Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Step-up with DB 8kg (x2) 10 x 3
One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3

Stretching

Away for the weekend, leaving in an hour, so I headed into the gym this morning to get a workout in before I left. I wish I could do my workouts in the morning every morning but my gym doesn't open early enough.

daenerysstormborn3

Off to the gym now as part of my start to The Boards Better Body Challenge. I will be going to the gym Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Don't expect much to get in the way of working out over the next 8 weeks apart from work (could be in court the first 2 weeks of March) and a trip to Donegal with my sister also at the beginning of March (am hopeful I will be able to use the gym in the hotel, if they have one) but apart from that I should be golden for the next 8 weeks.

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 15 x 3
Plank 15 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

DB chest press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 12.5kg DB 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 10kg plate 10 x 3
Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3
Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3
Lunges (BW) 10 x 3 (breaking myself back into these after the soreness last week)
DB shoulder press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
DB push press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3

Stretching

Absolutely wrecked after that!

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 15 x 3
Plank 15 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3

One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 10kg plate 10 x 3

DB chest press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
DB shoulder press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3

Step-up with DB 8kg (x2) 10 x 3 (going to up this tomorrow as it's getting easy)
Lunges (BW) 10 x 3 (going to start building back in the weights tomorrow)

DB push press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 12.5kg DB 10 x 3

Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3

Stretching

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 15 x 3
Plank 15 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3

One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 15kg plate 10 x 3

DB chest press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
DB shoulder press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3

Step-up with DB 9kg (x2) 10 x 3
Lunges (BW) 10 x 3

DB push press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 12.5kg DB 10 x 3

Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3

Stretching

Okay so I've managed a 15kg plate at this stage so I think it might be time to move onto bars. I think I'm going to ask one of the gym instructors to give me a hand moving onto bars next week.

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

10 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 15 x 3
Plank 15 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

Russian twist with 10kg plate 10 x 3

One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 15kg plate 10 x 3

DB chest press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
DB shoulder press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3

Step-up with DB 10kg (x2) 10 x 3
Lunges with 10kg plate 10 x 3 (find lunges much easier to do with the plate rather than dumbbells as my balance isn't great)

DB push press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 12.5kg DB 10 x 3

Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 10kg 10 x 3

Stretching

Only did 10 minutes on bike as I was out of the house since 10:30 and only had my morning porridge to eat all day.

My "fat" jeans are really loose on me, needed a belt today, OH HAPPY DAY! Anyone reading this will have to forgive my boasts when it comes to small victories like that. While my bf is 100% supportive, he has no concept of what it's like being overweight, he has never been more than 10.5 stone in his whole life, so this is the one place where I can share with people on a similar journey to me.

daenerysstormborn3

Stretching

20 mins interval training on the bike

Wall squats 15 x 3
Plank 15 x 3
Partial single leg squats 10 x 3
60° push-up 10 x 3
Reverse crunch 10 x 3
Hanna side flexion (leg) 10 x 3

Russian twist with 15kg plate 10 x 3 (I don't think it will be possible to up the plate any higher because even the 15kg is awkwardly large to move with so I think once I feel ready to progress from this I will instead incorporate the twist with a lunge)

One-armed DB snatch 10kg 10 x 3
Side bends 15kg plate 10 x 3

DB chest press 8kg (x2) 10 x 3 (all delighted with myself )
DB shoulder press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3

Step-up with DB 10kg (x2) 10 x 3
Lunges with 10kg plate 10 x 3

DB push press 7kg (x2) 10 x 3
Squats with 12.5kg DB 10 x 3

Underhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
Overhand lat pulldown 30kg 10 x 3
DB single-leg RDL 12.5kg 10 x 3 (can already feel this in my arse :P )

Stretching

So delighted with myself that I went to the gym. I was so tempted to stay at home because I was busy all day painting in the house.

I pushed myself an extra bit and I have a feeling I'll be sore tomorrow.

daenerysstormborn3

No gym tonight as I'm just in the door from a meeting and have to go walk the dogs so won't have enough time, so this week it'll be Wednesday-Sunday at the gym.

Been looking at muscleandfitnesshers.com today and have spotted a few things I might add in at the gym so going to have a look at my program tonight and move some things around.

doctorwhogirl

pixiebean22 wrote: »

No gym tonight as I'm just in the door from a meeting and have to go walk the dogs so won't have enough time, so this week it'll be Wednesday-Sunday at the gym.

Been looking at muscleandfitnesshers.com today and have spotted a few things I might add in at the gym so going to have a look at my program tonight and move some things around.

Looks like a great site! Can't wait to see how you get on!