Getting strong, getting strong, getting strong!

[frellit]

Brought to you by The Wiggles:

https://youtu.be/50Q3bBYcsHA

Attempt two at starting this training log as I lost the first one while trying to post it yesterday.

I'm a 32 year old woman, naturally incredibly unathletic, had a baby 14 months ago. 164cm, 70ish kg. Training background is 6 or 8 months of Crossfit maybe 7 years ago. I liked the barbell stuff the best. Otherwise a bit of rock climbing, and a whole lot of nothing for the last three or four years.

Goals are mood management and increased strength, especially to avoid back pain when hauling baby around. Diet is fairly bad, and I'm still breastfeeding so my daughter is still skimming off all my nutrients. (She looks radiant with health, I look like an old potato.) Sleep? Hahahahaha...

Doing Greyskull LP - Phrak's variant, with front squats instead because I found in the past that I tended to tip forward doing back squats. I'm hoping front squats will help me sit back a bit more.

20/2/19

Bench 13.5kg
5
5
13
Tried the 20kg bar after this and managed 4 reps so will use this next time as the 13.5kg one is really too short for the cage.

Barbell Row 13.5kg
5
5
11

Front squat 20kg
5
5
5
Ugh these hurt my everything. Felt myself bracing better on the last set.

22/2/19

Overhead press 10kg
5
5
14
Figured out how to tell the weight of the fixed barbells.

Assisted pull-up -40kg
5
5
8

Deadlift 30kg
6

27/2/19

Staff came to find me after my warm up as baby was inconsolable in the creche.

28/2/19

Bench 20kg
5
5
7
Once again had to pick up my koala baby. Only did bench, I feel like a bro.

[alek]

Welcome, @frellit!!

Do you deadlift? My wife had a lot of trouble with her back after our second was born until I convinced her to try deadlifting. Fixed her right up.

Eta: Derp... Didn’t look closely enough. I see that you do!

[Wilhelm]

Welcome, @frellit.

Good lifting to you. \o/

[frellit]

Thanks @Wilhelm !

Good to know @alek . It's crap to have so much more pain at a time when I've never had so much random shit to pick up off the floor!

[frellit]

4/3/19

Bench 20kg (did it again because why not?)
5
5
7

Barbell Row 15kg
5
5
13

Front squat 22.5kg
5
5
5

Again squats feel terrible, and I think I physically could have done more but just really didn't want to?

6/3/19

Press 12.5kg
5
5
13

Assisted pullup -40kg
5
5
8

Front squat 25kg
5
5
5

Felt terrible, and then the next day my husband and I both got gastro so bad that we had to call my mum to come and help watch the baby. (Who seems to have been spared so far? Please make it so!)

This week at work the assistant manager leaving plus a VM change (work retail, so basically move the whole store around to confuse the customers into parting with their money) means an 11 hour shift on Monday, so probably no gym until at least Tuesday. Thankfully feeling better than I expected to by now though.

[ChrisMcCarthy1979]

Welcome!

[BenM]

Welcome! Another Aussie, mayhaps? Regardless, good to have you here!

[frellit]

Thanks @ChrisMcCarthy1979 !

@BenM yep, Sydney. Did my taste in music give me away?

[BenM]

@frellit maybe a little, although the Wiggles are pretty famous worldwide (don't think you had your location filled in the other day). I have a 4 year old who absolutely loves the Wiggles, so I knew exactly what song you meant.... But also kilo weights, the date format, spelling of 'mum' and someone I know used to say 'frell' as a euphemism for another F word and I thought it might have been an Aussie thing.....

Good to have you here

[frellit]

@frellit maybe a little, although the Wiggles are pretty famous worldwide (don't think you had your location filled in the other day). I have a 4 year old who absolutely loves the Wiggles, so I knew exactly what song you meant.... But also kilo weights, the date format, spelling of 'mum' and someone I know used to say 'frell' as a euphemism for another F word and I thought it might have been an Aussie thing.....

Good to have you here

Thanks! Was your friend a giant nerd by any chance? I got frell from the sadly cancelled Farscape series.

Edited: spelling

[frellit]

Big gap in logging, and also in training due to both me and baby being sick at various times. But I finally got my extremely belated Christmas present of a barbell so it shouldn't be quite as bad if I can't make it to the gym when the crèche is open.

15/3/19

Queen of the morons today. Didn't eat properly, went up in weight despite a 10 day break and illness, decided to try taking my newly prescribed Concerta (long acting Ritalin) despite not having had any meds in a month rather than titrating up.

Bench 22.5kg
5
Tried for another set, wasn't happening, missed the rack and dropped one side of the barbell past the safety and had to wriggle out from under it. Looked around and thankfully no-one seemed to notice. (Uh...but also a bit concerning.)

20kg
5
5

Barbell rows 17.5kg
5
5
8

Deadlift 32.5kg
7 (possibly 8, counting is hard)

Felt like I wanted to vomit after this, collapsed with baby during her nap and proceeded to spend as much time as possible horizontal due to nausea. Chemist thought maybe some kind of middle ear involvement, doctor was predictably useless but gave me a script for Maxalon which seemed to do the trick. Lingered for a couple of weeks though, which was bullshit.

We did go and see the Wiggles in concert though, which I think might have broken baby's brain.

[frellit]

3/4/19

Finally feeling better and also have my barbell, so worked out from home. Also was conservative with the weights like a sensible person.

Press 15kg
5
5
7
These felt great!

No chinup bar so did curls like a bro.

Curls 15kg
3 (er...actually quite hard)
3 (baby woke up)
5

Front squat 18.5kg (need to pick up some more weights)
5
5
7

[BenM]

@frellit maybe a little, although the Wiggles are pretty famous worldwide (don't think you had your location filled in the other day). I have a 4 year old who absolutely loves the Wiggles, so I knew exactly what song you meant.... But also kilo weights, the date format, spelling of 'mum' and someone I know used to say 'frell' as a euphemism for another F word and I thought it might have been an Aussie thing.....

Good to have you here

Thanks! Was your friend a giant nerd by any chance? I got frell from the sadly cancelled Farscape series.

Edited: spelling

A little bit.... not sure if she was a Farscape fan.

The Wiggles in concert are an experience I too have lived to tell the tale... for me, once was enough. I think my wife and daughter have seen them twice (could be three times) plus the Lachie and Emma show as well!

Glad you're back training.

[KyleSchuant]

Gidday. You say you tip forward on squats. This could be ab strength, but question: are you long-legged? That's a common cause, too.

If you're a stay at home parent, then working out from home makes things easier, in my experience. You do have to break up your workout into a whole day rather than one solid chunk, though. For convenience this would mean wearing tracky daks all day, can you handle that?

[frellit]

10/4/19

At home

Baby up coughing for much of the night. My throat hurts and I feel like shit.

Overhead press 16kg
5
5
6

Bicep curls 15kg
5
5
6

Deadlift 28.5kg (aka all the weight I have. Looking forward to birthday bumper plates!)
6

[frellit]

Gidday. You say you tip forward on squats. This could be ab strength, but question: are you long-legged? That's a common cause, too.

If you're a stay at home parent, then working out from home makes things easier, in my experience. You do have to break up your workout into a whole day rather than one solid chunk, though. For convenience this would mean wearing tracky daks all day, can you handle that?

A trainer did tell me once that I have long femurs (though that seems to be a meme here.) I do have a really hard time sitting right back without just losing balance and flopping down. (Er...on the toilet for example )

I could rock the active wear look (or just take my pants off since it's my flat?) Definitely an option, especially once I get some collars, since at the moment I worry about dropping weights on the cats or baby if they were around me.

[frellit]

30/6/21

Well it's been a long time! A lot has changed in my life since I last posted: not breastfeeding anymore, my kid generally sleeps through the night, I don't work retail anymore, I'm studying at Tafe and my husband's schedule is 9-5 and his commute is much much shorter so my life is generally much less crazy. Unfortunately my health has been a bit shit, getting tested for various autoimmune diseases after getting investigated for coeliac, which thankfully I don't have, but still can't tolerate gluten. Also I'm now 80kg which puts me in the obese BMI range, my cholesterol and glucose were a bit high and my liver showed some fatty infiltration, so that's embarrassing. Pretty much cut out alcohol now.

At home (since Sydney is on stay-at-home orders)

Overhead press 15kg
5
5
4

Curls 15kg
5
5
3

Deadlift 35kg
5

[BenM]

Welcome back! And condolences on the lockdown, again.

We here in Tassie have been a bit insulated from it, which is good and bad.....

[frellit]

Thanks! Glad you guys are ok. Can't say I blame the other states for controlling their borders, I guess we'd gotten a bit complacent. Thank fuck daycare is still open this time around though!

[KyleSchuant]

Freedom will return. Take it from someone in the Democratic People's Republic of Victoria.

If you can, do get out for a walk each day. Okay, physical health, but I'm not thinking about that - much more important than that, mental health! Some fresh air and sunshine, and call a friend each day. Trust me on this. Lockdowns make people turtle up, and that never, ever makes things better.

And fire me a message if you need to talk lockdowns, barbells or babies, since those things are basically my life.