** UPDATE: WEEK 7 **
Okay so this week marks the start of Week 7 for me. There has been a drastic change in my energy & strength levels since almost 2 weeks ago when I was having all those stupid fatigue issues.
Numbers are still going up....PR's are being made almost daily....very exciting!
Even MORE exciting is the lack of negative side effects!
1)
NO acne (skin is actually looking the best it has in years thanks to a trip to the Dermatologist and the summertime sun)
2)
NO hair darkening/growth <-- this happened to me last cycle, some of the peach fuzz hairs above my lip darkened on weeks 7&8 of my last cycle.
3)
NO virilization (always a good thing Lol)
Positives are:
1)
Strength gains
2)
Stamina increased
3)
BF% decrease (believe I am at 16% right now?)
Just been having really good workouts the past few days. Took 3 FULL days off....did something I don't normally and actually
LISTENED to my body for once, Lol. Day 4 did a light workout in my garage and got a good sweat on. Feel like the rest really reset my body and all the little aches and pains have now subsided.
As I mentioned a few posts back....hit my local gym on Saturday with my buddy and hit a
3 RM Back Squat at 190...depth was very good and I felt like I should have done 195-197
(stupid LA Fitness doesn't have 1 lb plates though)
I get nervous doing 1RM or 3RM type of workouts for my front &/or back squat and deadlifts at the conventional gym if I don't have a spot because the plates there suck. I'm used to Olympic bumper plates and if I get stuck at the bottom, or stuck coming up...I can just bail out. If I bailed at a conventional gym with their iron weights....prettyyyyyy sure it would create a crazy loud noise and everyone and their mother would stare at me
Lol
Since I was still feeling fresh yesterday, no soreness in my legs AT all....I decided to hit up squats again as I don't like dead lifting there (they have those STUPID hexagon plates
) and I feel like doing any of the Oly Lifts is kind of douchey Lol....I see someone attempting to snatch or split jerk every now and then...it's usually not a very pretty sight.
So there's a couple of exercises I really like to increase my Back Squat...one is a 20 rep max effort squat UNBROKEN. You pick a weight that you can do 20x without re-racking the barbell...if after the first 10-12 you need to rest (which you should, otherwise the weight is too light) you can pause...and then continue. You really can take as much time as you want, but ideally should be under 3-4 mins.
I broke mine up into
10-5-5 (last set of 5 were singles) which is really how you want to go about this. The last 5 should be difficult.
I did
135# for 20 this time which is a 5# PR for me...looked back into my logs and I hit 130# back in Dec and I wrote (I know...I'm a nerd for my work out logs) that I didn't get good depth on all and it was really a struggle.
When I did 135# yesterday I did it in 1:22 which was fast! I think I could have done 145# honestly...I had my buddy spotting me so I should have gone for it....oh well, I'll try it again in another 7-10 days and try for 150#
I know I've been bad about logging actual workouts....so here are a few.
Sun 6/14
Barbell Good Morning's
3x8 @ 60#
Barbell RDLs
3x8 @ 60#
Back Squat- 20 rep Max Effort (<--- this is basically cardio for me, Lol. Try it and you'll see what I mean)
135# ** PR yayy!!
BTN Push Press (behind the neck)
10x45# **warmup
5x65#**warmup
5x95
4x105
2x115 **missed 3rd attempt
Leg Press
5x90
5x180
5x270
5x360
**I only count the weight for the # of plates I put on, I don't take any of the machine weight into account**
Weighted push-ups (these suck and hurt)
3 sets of:
10 push-ups w/25# plate on back then straight into 30 sec plank hold
Saturday 6/13
Back Squat- Find 3 RM
95x6
135x5
155x3
175x3
190x3
Lat pull-downs
Front (wide/close grip)
4x12 @ 70#
Back (wide/close grip)
4x12 @ 70#
Deficit Deadlift Speed Pulls
5x5 @ 135#
** off of two 45# plates on top of each other so about 4" deficit
Weighted Abs- 180 reps
Fri 6/12 Garage Workout
4 Rounds
10 pull-ups (dead hang)
20 single arm KB swings (25#)
30 single unders
3 Rounds
10 Toes-to-bar
10 burpees
My workouts at the gym may seem short in comparison to some of you, and they are. I didn't mention my 30-40mins worth of "warm-up" which includes a little light cardio, and LOTS of mobility and stretching....I do this for almost EVERY workout. If I'm short on time, then it gets reduced to 10-20 mins but then I try not to do any heavy lifting.
Side Note: This is the first week I can do (consistently) 10 FULL (dead-hang) pull-ups! It's hard for us ladies to get the pull-ups down so this is an awesome little goal of mine I have now accomplished
I know I said progress pics were coming...and they are...but I need a new phone or something because I SWEAR in pictures it looks like my abs are barely there...they look soooo much better in person! Lol I'll be posting pictures soon
at some of the things they say hahaha I feel as though I always think of that one episode from South Park of Bebe's boobs Lol!
)
