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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.