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lifting_heavy_things2011-05-25 09:58 am
weirdquark) wrote in lifting_heavy_things2011-05-25 09:58 am
NROLFW Stage One
Hi all! I've been commenting but haven't posted until now; I figure finishing something deserves a post. Just started lifting weights -- I did some when I went to the gym when I was in high school, but haven't since then. (I miss using the rowing machine. I may have to join a gym again so I can do that again. My gym had a computer monitor attached to the rower so you could watch yourself be a little stick figure rowing a boat while competing against another stick figure in a boat who kept having a helicopter drop other stick figures in their boat so you'd have to work harder to catch up. It was awesome.)
Anyway! Stage one was mostly figuring out how much I could lift and increasing as fast as I could. I suspect stage two will involve more lifting the weights that I'm at and not so much with the increasing.
Weights may be a little higher -- I was assuming the dumbbell weighed two and a half pounds by itself, and I'm pretty sure it's a bit heavier than that. They're supposed to weigh five pounds, but they feel lighter than the five pound plates, so I don't know if I believe it.
Squats: Two 22.5lb dumbbells held at shoulder height.
Push-ups: Feet elevated on ottoman (I work out in my living room) which is maybe 24 inches?
Bent over rows: Two 22.5lb dumbbells
Step-ups: Two 17.5lb dumbbells, stepping up to the hearth, which is about 18 inches. Though I think I fail about half the time at not pushing with my 'hanging foot.'
Prone jackknifes: No measurement. Death and despair, but I did the number I was supposed to. I was never sure how my form was on these either. Was I rolling and tipping my body forward enough? Too much?
Deadlifts: Two 27.5lb dumbbells.
Shoulder presses: Two 20lb dumbbells. Still struggling to maintain good form with these.
Pullovers: Two 12.5lb dumbbells. Probably could have gone higher, because my AMRAP on these was much higher than what I had been doing, but since I was doing pullovers instead of lat pull downs I was paranoid about the weights pulling my arms in bad directions when they were down and didn't increase the weights too much.
Lunges: Two 15lb dumbbells. Also did not increase weight much on these -- I got weird twinges in my right leg when it was forward on two different days so started over from BW to make sure I didn't strain it each time. I don't know if my form is inconsistent or if I just did something to strain the muscles I used at some other point, but it was kind of frustrating.
Swiss ball crunches: Two 15lb dumbbells, held around my shoulders.
But the other thing I used to track my improvement was that when I started I went out and bought two boxes of adjustable weights that went up to 40 pounds. (Thirty pounds of plates, plus dumbbell bars*) When I brought them home, I carried them in one at a time because I didn't think I could manage to carry both of them from the car to the house. I haven't actually tried carrying them around the house, but I can totally pick both of them up at the same time.
* This is why the bars should be five pounds each, and I have weighed the box, and it is forty pounds, but they still feel lighter than the five pound plate.
Anyway! Stage one was mostly figuring out how much I could lift and increasing as fast as I could. I suspect stage two will involve more lifting the weights that I'm at and not so much with the increasing.
Weights may be a little higher -- I was assuming the dumbbell weighed two and a half pounds by itself, and I'm pretty sure it's a bit heavier than that. They're supposed to weigh five pounds, but they feel lighter than the five pound plates, so I don't know if I believe it.
Squats: Two 22.5lb dumbbells held at shoulder height.
Push-ups: Feet elevated on ottoman (I work out in my living room) which is maybe 24 inches?
Bent over rows: Two 22.5lb dumbbells
Step-ups: Two 17.5lb dumbbells, stepping up to the hearth, which is about 18 inches. Though I think I fail about half the time at not pushing with my 'hanging foot.'
Prone jackknifes: No measurement. Death and despair, but I did the number I was supposed to. I was never sure how my form was on these either. Was I rolling and tipping my body forward enough? Too much?
Deadlifts: Two 27.5lb dumbbells.
Shoulder presses: Two 20lb dumbbells. Still struggling to maintain good form with these.
Pullovers: Two 12.5lb dumbbells. Probably could have gone higher, because my AMRAP on these was much higher than what I had been doing, but since I was doing pullovers instead of lat pull downs I was paranoid about the weights pulling my arms in bad directions when they were down and didn't increase the weights too much.
Lunges: Two 15lb dumbbells. Also did not increase weight much on these -- I got weird twinges in my right leg when it was forward on two different days so started over from BW to make sure I didn't strain it each time. I don't know if my form is inconsistent or if I just did something to strain the muscles I used at some other point, but it was kind of frustrating.
Swiss ball crunches: Two 15lb dumbbells, held around my shoulders.
But the other thing I used to track my improvement was that when I started I went out and bought two boxes of adjustable weights that went up to 40 pounds. (Thirty pounds of plates, plus dumbbell bars*) When I brought them home, I carried them in one at a time because I didn't think I could manage to carry both of them from the car to the house. I haven't actually tried carrying them around the house, but I can totally pick both of them up at the same time.
* This is why the bars should be five pounds each, and I have weighed the box, and it is forty pounds, but they still feel lighter than the five pound plate.
no subject
For the step-ups, try lifting the toe on your hanging foot. If the toe is being lifted, you can't be using it to push off, right? I heard this idea after I finished Stage 2, and my current stage has no step-ups, so I haven't tried it with weights, but it seems reasonable.
Finding some way to do assisted pullups might be good -- pullovers are less than ideal, and you're enough stronger than me that you might be fairly close to regular pullups (or at least being able to do negatives usefully).
Lunges still kill me, even bodyweight. Something in my feet getting crampy.
no subject
no subject
Our tables are space efficient things with huge flaps that go to the ground (which cannot hold my weight when up) and a center that is a foot wide and used to store the folding chairs. So no useful way to hang off an edge, alas. I think all other edges are attached to walls and are counter width, so no room to stretch out under them. Maybe if I reversed my grip and stuck my head under instead of my feet?
Pullovers are definitely less than ideal -- I spent half my time thinking that the weight was too light and the other half thinking that I'd wrench my arm out of the shoulder socket if I brought them down all the way.
no subject
Yeah, the pullovers felt unpleasantly unbalanced for me, too. I'm against them.
The most important note for stage 2 is to do the prone cuban snatch with very little weight. Check your range of motion with bodyweight and don't use any more weight than you can do with the full range of motion. For me, that's 2.5 lbs; if you've got better shoulder mobility, it might be more, but it's still likely to be in the pink weight range. :)
no subject