Keeping Motivated!!

[DWarrior]

I'm 5'11 180, so my numbers actually fit your outline. (I can definitely DL 360 for a single, and probably for 5).

My bench is so much lower because my wingspan is about 2-3 inches above average, so my arms are large lever arms. I think I've effectively been close grip benching until like 3 weeks ago. Helps fencing, but really sucks for lifting (except DLs, obv)

But also like I said, fencing is so much about footwork that it adds a ton of low-body volume. Meanwhile, the hand motion is primarily fingers, so not much upper body is taxed.

[DWarrior]

So are you beast eating now? I find that there are two ways to feel full: one where your hormones kick in and tell your brain you don't want any more food and every bite after feels like it'll come back up, and another where your stomach starts to hurt and you literally have to swallow what's being pushed back up.

How do you condtinue eating to get past the brain wall into the physical wall? I've managed to do it a few times in the past, but I never know how I did it.

[DWarrior]

Went to the Bally's in Elmhurst. That place kinda sucks dicks, only 1 squat rack and tons of people. The dude at the front desk was a total fag to me (not in a good way). I might have to go with Powerhouse, even though it's a farther walk.

[marykae]

Down 20 pounds since November. I put that weight on in a year after getting a car. Now that it's gone, it should be easier to focus on body fat % instead of the number on the scale.

As women we obsess about that shit, but really, for me, I just want to be better at roller derby. I mean yes, getting fit feels awesome, I like looking at myself in pictures again, I'm just as conditioned as the rest of the world. But the biggest bonus has been improving in my sport.

I tried to focus on body fat % for a while now, but that nagging 5-10 pounds that was left wouldn't let me ignore the scale. So I'm pretty happy to have that out of the way.

I am probably the size I will be forever now, and just work on getting stronger, faster and more awesome. While I have the potential to get back to a size 6 like I was when I was cycling constantly, I don't really want to. My hips and thighs need to keep me at a size 8, because that's really going to help my game, plus I am not super into being this weird twig with boobs, it makes me a little too top heavy for my sport.

Here are some examples of my fluctuation in the last couple of years. I can't find the size six pictures without searching for hours and/or paying flickr for another year of pro, but those aren't super important anyway.

Here I was when I was doing exercise as a means of transportation. Not too skinny, not overweight at all. Pretty good.


Here I am last summer, probably at my max weight. Still totally adorable though, and just barely overweight.


And here I am a few weeks ago. Stronger, faster, still adorable. Roughly the same weight as that first picture, maybe 5 pounds heavier or even a little more, but way fitter, you can see it in my arms, which aren't even my focus.

[DWarrior]

Hot!

Originally Posted by marykae

But the biggest bonus has been improving in my sport.

Same. I could never motivate myself to do anything fitness wise for long, until I had a performance reason to keep going.

[Incognito]

For those who want a bit of a challenge...

A buddy and I decided to attack Tough Mudder next year. Time to train harder.

http://toughmudder.com

[Astigos]

Originally Posted by DWarrior

So are you beast eating now? I find that there are two ways to feel full: one where your hormones kick in and tell your brain you don't want any more food and every bite after feels like it'll come back up, and another where your stomach starts to hurt and you literally have to swallow what's being pushed back up.

How do you condtinue eating to get past the brain wall into the physical wall? I've managed to do it a few times in the past, but I never know how I did it.

It's real easy to overeat when you are eating things you love. And make sure you're eating more fat so you can reach your calorie goal easier.

I haven't been really overeating because if I was I'd be putting on many more pounds than I am. I ended my cut on June 1st, 171lbs and eating 1800cal/day. As of July 7th I'm only 175lb and average at least 2800cal/day to a maximum of about 3500cal/day. I stopped counting calories because I would eat the food at work and couldn't truly measure so I just ate whatever the fuck I wanted. My theory as to why I'm not getting fat as fuck is that my 5x5 program has escalated so high that my glycogen is almost entirely depleted every workout. Therefore, I have a buffer before lipogenesis.

[campy]

Mary, you look AWESOME.

[marykae]

Originally Posted by campy

Mary, you look AWESOME.

Thanks. Right now I need to work on my core a lot. In addition to the obvious physical where I can see the fat on there, I can tell it's weaker than a lot of the rest of me. Additionally, I need to work more on my arms, my presses are really bad and my push ups, while I can finally do full ones, aren't the best ever after I do like five of them.

I also need to start doing squats on my skates. I can do some pretty lovely squats, but my skates are mounted short forward, so what I do on my feet does not translate to the track as well as it should.

[DWarrior]

If your form breaks down after 5 on pushups, consider doing bench presses with a barbell. The movements are very similar, but in the beginning a barbell has several advantages. You can start lower (as low as 45lbs) and focus on full range of motion, as opposed to pushups which are basically 60-70% of your BW. You can progress as slow as 2.5lbs per session (if you buy 1.25lb plates, which sadly most gyms don't own); that way you can force adaptation over time without making huge leaps. The other aspect is pushups require core stability, which can lead to subconscious cheating later in the set by "snaking" the pushups instead of staying straight.

For core, planks are good, also ab wheel roll-outs, and Pallof Press is ridic: Everything Pallof Press. Mike Robertson has a lot of good no-nonsense stuff on core: 21st Century Core Training

Also, if you do any sort of overhead pressing, stabilizing the weight overhead becomes pretty core-intensive very fast (once you lock out your last rep, just stand with it for a few seconds and you should feel it). I C&Jed on Saturday for the first time in a while, and I can still feel the doms in places I didn't even know I had core.