freebirdmac’s BodyBlog

Mon: Chest, 3 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
        Traps, 3 exercises, 3×12
        Biceps, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
        Hams, 3 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
        Calves, 2 exercises, 3 sets (vary toe position) x 12

Tues: Quads, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Shoulders, 3 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Triceps, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Back , 2 exercises, 3 sets, 10, 8 reps

Thurs: Chest, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Traps, 2 exercises, 2×12
         Biceps, 3 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
         Hams, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Calves, 2 exercises, 3 sets (vary toe position) x 12

Fri: Quads, 3 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
      Shoulders, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
      Triceps, 3 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
      Back , 3 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps

Ok, our modified HST program was fine, but not exactly what we wanted. Got something out of it but time to move on. Probably would have been better if we had followed the HST program exactly.

My workout partner/trainer came up with this:

Mon: Chest, 3 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
        Traps, 3 exercises, 2×12
        Shoulders, 3 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
        Hams, 2 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
        Calves, 2 exercises, 3 sets (vary toe position) x 12

Tues: Quads, 3 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
         Biceps, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Triceps, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Back , 3 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps

Thurs: Chest, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Traps, 2 exercises, 2×12
         Shoulders, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
         Hams, 2 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
         Calves, 2 exercises, 3 sets (vary toe position) x 12

Fri: Quads, 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
      Biceps, 3 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
      Triceps, 3 exercises, 2 sets, 10, 8 reps
      Back , 2 exercises, 3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps

Cardio: Stairmill on Wed, neighborhood run Sun.

I also started taking CEE. So far so good. I detected a subtle boost to my workouts by the 3rd training session. I take 1.25g (1/4 tsp) pre- and post-workout, and .62 (1/8 tsp) after cardio.

The first thing on the menu in this year long bulking is HST http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html.

My workout partner/trainer and I negotiated a modification to the strict HST program. We’re not going full body 3x a week. Instead we’re doing legs 2x and upper body 2x. Otherwise, the 1-2 set and rep scheme remains the same. We haven’t decided yet whether to extend each rep scheme from 2 weeks or 3. We sort of think 3 as it makes up for our 4 day split. On the other hand it might not make a difference. TBD.

We just finished week one and we both are feeling it. Mon/Tues seemed easy. Thurs/Fri, not so easy anymore. Next week should be tough I always did hate high reps. I need to learn to love them. They definitely have their place.

The really good news is my abductors are allowing me to do squats again. So far so good. Hopefully this will continue as the reps drop and weights increase. But boy is it humbling to start over with light weight. No matter, I’m focused on form and not being ego-stupid and trying too much too soon.

July 11. We decided to keep the rep phases at 2 weeks even though we’re only hitting each body part 2x week instead of 3. This routine is deceptive. Although you are not lifting to failure, or even close, it wears you out. I think I’ve lost about 2-3 good night’s sleep due to my cns being taxed. My thighs were up 1/4" after 2 weeks. Mostly if not all pump I’m sure. Can’t say I’ll be sad to see 15 rep squats and deads go

I’ve done all of the leaning out I can possibly do. Yep, still have fat I dislike on my lower body but I’m lean enough. What I’m lacking is some serious lower body inches. Actually, to be fair, I have gained quite a bit of muscle since I started. I pretty much had no muscle mass when I started. I think most women in their 60’s have more muscle than I did. My legs may not look it but they feel firm and they are much stronger. I just need more size. I have no idea what a couple of more inches of muscle muscle/pump on my legs will do in terms of appearance. If that’ll make what fat is there look acceptable. Or not. Either way it’s time to stop the leaning out/recomp stuff and get serious. I’m bringing my cals up to around 1800. I don’t know where they will need to be this time. I’m leaving cardio in for a change as it has really helped me with my sulfite-induced asthma. I also don’t know yet how we’ll change up my workout routine. My workout partner/trainer and I have been discussing all kinds of programs, HST, GVT, and our own concoctions. It’ll still be 4 days of lifting no matter what we work out. And of course that will change over time. I’m going to do this clean bulk at least through March which is nine months. If I’m smart in the future I’ll keep it going beyond that time frame. We’ll see

Fun, fun. Over a few weeks I slowly dropped my cals down to 1500 with macros of 40/30/30. I added some cardio back in as well. Still lifting 4x a week but made some minor changes. With the cal drop I need to go back to pyramids (10, 8, 6) and save more 5×5 work for the fall. My workout partner also wanted traps on chest day but didn’t want to swap out tri so Tues are now chest/trap/bi/tri with bi/tri supersets. Fri is down to shoulders/back so we’ll add in some wrist curls/reverse wrist curls and maybe some abs (!). He has no interest in working abs directly. I hate, no loathe working abs directly so we’ll see if I actually do an exercise or two for any length of time

I added 2 definite cardio sessions. 25 minutes including a 5 min warmup and 5 min cool down. The first one is on the elliptical and the second one is on the stairmill. In both cases I do some sort of cross between HIIT and intervals. As my cardiovascular capability improves it should be closer to HIIT. On Sat and Sun morning I try to get me and my daughter out to the track to run the straight/walk the curves for 20 minutes or so. This doesn’t always happen both mornings or at all. Weather, going out of town, or one of us not feeling good has already limited the number of times we’ve done this. Maybe it’ll get better as time goes by.

My goal is to do some leaning out for 8-12 weeks. I estimate a loss of about 0.6 pounds a week. Of course things like an injury and too much fun over Memorial Day weekend slows down the losses so maybe after this time period I’ll see that 5 pound fat loss I’m looking for. I need to lose more to lean out my legs but I’m very leery of letting my overall body weight dip too low. One one hand that is just a number, on the other hand it’s not. I’m still tossing this around in my head. Eventually that stuff has to come off. Waiting for muscle gains to add 5-10 pounds of scale weight (short term) tests my patience. I’ll re-evaluate in a few weeks. I’ll probably bring my cals up to 1650 later in the summer until fall.

I’ve already decide that Oct 1 is the start date for my next bulk. The last one was too short. This next one I’d like to be Oct through March. A good 6 months. Cals should be between 1800-1900. I really want to get back to the 5×5!

Once I get those 5 pounds off, and a bit of a tan, it’ll be time for some picts.

I am so looking forward to upping my cals!!!!!!!

I was in a *shudder* dressing room today trying on some shorts. I haven’t seen my legs in that environment since last fall. And of course it’s the worse lighting possible. I steeled myself as I undressed but ugh! Yeah my legs look tons better but dang do they have a long way to go. I lost a good 1.5" off my thighs last year and definitely increased mass. Since Jan my thighs are up 1" from "bulking". But it looks like I have this layer of gel between my muscles and skin. I’m guessing it’ll take losing 8-10 pounds of body fat to get these suckers leaned up. And that’s how much I’m guessing I lost last year. Yeesh. I keep saying the lower body can hold much more body fat than one realizes and it’s really true. My upper body has never matched my lower body

I really was jello on a stick when I started. It’s mind boggling to think I had about 20 pounds of extra body fat at 112 pounds.

So any of you wussing out on weight lifting better get your rears in gear. Being small and thin is fine as long as you’re fully clothed. But if you want to look good in summer attire or naked, you need the muscle. And it takes a long time to build up enough to even be allowed to lose the unwanted body fat. The more years that go by, the worse it gets.

Oh, and I know those lights made it all look worse, but the reality is that stuff really is there. And has got to go!

Bulk is over, legs are up 1". Starting the lean out period. Cals down by 200 and cardio added.

Nine weeks in and I have seen some nice gains. Thighs and hips are up as much as 1/2". Of course that depends on how much muscle pump I have. Looks like a good 1/4" hangs around after the pump subsides. I believe I’ve made progress on my chest and bis as well, but the way I measure hides any chance of quantifying gains.

There have been some hiccups along the way. I was sick and missed a week then out of the following 5 weeks, only 1 was a normal 4x week routine. The other four were 3x a week. Inevitably it was one of two scheduled leg workouts that got tossed. This week it’s shoulders/back/traps. I may get that workout in this weekend, dunno at this point. My workout partner/trainer was ill today and I’m not sure he’ll feel like working out. The other weeks were shortened due to timing of my illness, workout partner/trainer had car trouble, and a snow/ice day. That’s life! Gotta go with the flow.

I found during the first few weeks that I actually got leaner at 1800 cals! Surprised the heck out of me. I remedied that by adding quinoa to my diet and completely underestimating a serving size. Instead of 1 I was eating like 2.5! Needless to say going over 1900 and close to 2000 gave me my current little belly pooch. I didn’t discover this error until week 6. I did/have dropped the cals back to 1800 since getting sick as I’ve only been working out 3x instead of 4x. Missing that additional leg workout makes a huge difference. The scale hasn’t changed much. I figure I’m up about 3 pounds. My waist varies from no change to 1/2" with definite bloating. Abs aren’t as visible. So I do think my cals are ok. Hopefully this fewer workout trend will stop and I’ll have to raise them up again.

We started at a new gym, Gold’s, the first week of Jan. New equipment, new exercises, and I’m loving it. We started off with our usual 3-4 exercises per body part, 3-4 sets, and doing pyramids (12x, 10x, 8x, 6x). During week 8 we decided to use 5×5 for most of our exercises instead of pyramiding. We also decided to schedule a de-load week every third week. Never scheduled one before. They just came after vacations or illness. During the de-load week we use 50% weight, 4 exercise, 4 sets, and rep out every set. If the reps go over 25 we start with a heavier weight. Week 8 was a 4x week. Since week nine (this week) was looking like a 3x week we made it a deload week. Since my workout partner/trainer is ill, it may just be a 2x week and shoulders/back/traps really get a deload!

I think I’ll start bulking again in Oct. That’ll give me more time, especially with life’s unplanned impacts, before the warm weather sings it’s lean out song. I really want to start leaning out some in April. I figure I can lose around 3-5 pounds, then just go right below maintenance a do a slow lean until Oct. Pretty much what I did last year only at higher cals. Instead of 1650 I may be around 1750.

Whoa! Almost forgot! After changing gyms and switching to BB squats, I’ve now had to give them up for awhile My abductors were becoming increasingly agitated, I could squat with any weight on the bar. I think I know what happened. My abductors were weak and I had been using the abductor machine with light weights, increasing slowly, and doing quite well. Too well. I got a stupid brainstorm to increase the ROM. And I think that’s what did it. It wasn’t immediately obvious, like a pull or a strain. But days later any twisting, turning, or stretching really fired them up. Trying to squat left me sore for days. Getting in and out of a car, anything that required a wider stretch was not fun. So I’m not doing squats or abductor until all pain is gone and I can stretch without causing immediate or delayed pain. Then I’ll take up the abductor again. But stay at my original ROM. Eventually I’ll get back to squats.

From January 2009

I did not see this coming. In November I finished up my first year and was just going to continue doing what I had been doing for the previous 8 months. Eat just below maintenance and slowly lose body fat while trying to gain muscle. Then I got sick. Between the virus from hell and the resulting sore ribs I was out of the gym for 3 weeks. I only lost 2 pounds but my muscles looked like popped balloons. It’s a real shocker to see just how much muscle you really have. Or don’t have  Then I saw bodyhard’s 2-3 month lagging body part challenge and was further inspired. The icing on the cake was my trainer/workout partner coming into the gym all psyched to do some serious gaining himself. So it was a done deal. Time to bulk.

The holidays were approaching by that point and our community center was closing Thurs-Sat the week of Christmas and the week of New Years. So while I brought my cals up a bit, I had to wait until this week to start. Since I really didn’t want two weeks of 3 workouts in a row, I printed out a couple of free week passes to Gold’s gym. We’ve been there this past week. When I first walked in the weight area I swear I started salivating. Then I started acting like a kid in a candy store. "I want to do that." "I want to try that." "What’s that?" "Ohhh, look at that!". Lol. Fortunately my partner reeled me in and kept me focused on just the body parts I was to work that evening. No way was I going back to the community center!

I swear everything is different! The barbells feel different, the dumbbells feel different, and fortunately a lot of the equipment is different. Actually all of it is different. So this is like starting over. All weights previously known for each exercise went out the window. Some things I have never done before, like the hack machine. And ha! I have to relearn how to do squats in a rack! Actually the first time wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s been a year since I’ve done them this way.

And women were there doing some serious lifting! I knew I was home!

We become official members tomorrow and I even joined AARP (Ack!) to save me the $99 initiation fee.

My workout is changing a bit too. Upper body is still on a chest/trap; shoulder/bi; back/tri split. We’re changing lower body from quads; hams/calfs to quads; hams; calves/abs. Abs! I never worked abs directly. Hate working abs direct. But I’m the one that came up with this brilliant idea. Still going to workout 4x a week.

Cals this week are at 1800, 40/30/30. I’ll stay here for a few weeks and see if I need to go up more. Hypo, age, and otherwise sedentary lifestyle keeps my cals low.

Oh, and no cardio. The assistant sales manager gave us the walkthrough. I had to tell him 3 times that I did not care about the cardio machines or the cardio theatre. "You really don’t do much cardio?" "No, just show me the weights!"

Think it’s going to be a really good year! I’m just a tad excited

From November 2008:

I can’t believe it’s been a year (updated picts on bodyspace). To recap… 16 years of no exercise…rapid weight loss due to food intolerances/allergies…. poster child for skinny-fat!!!! I spent the first 4 months eating more food (from 1200 to 1800), lifting with a trainer 3x a week, and no cardio. Then I spent the next 8 months riding on the fringe of trying to slowly lose body fat while gaining muscle. I’ve lost 1.5" off my waist, 1.25" off my hips, 1.25" off my thighs, 0.25" off my arms (relaxed), and gained 1" in my chest. Scale weight is essentially unchanged. I figure I’m about half way to my initial goal. Like many women I carry a ton of fat in my lower body. And I still have quite a bit there. About 6 months ago I started lifting 4x a week and for awhile was really good about getting in 15 minutes of cardio 3x a week. The cardio has slacked off the past few months

I’ve been eating about 1600 cals (40/30/30) and had planned on increasing them do to a 4 month conservative bulk. After looking at my progress picts (many NOT posted here) I decided to keep doing what I am doing. The shallow end of the pool has got to be pretty depleted so I should pick up more lower body fat losses. I may temporarily end up lighter and skinnier than I ultimately want, but I am very tired of looking at fat blobs on my legs. My trainer has started me on a new program that kicks my butt so there may be days when I have to eat more. I won’t let my workouts suffer. But if I can keep to this 1 pound a month fat loss I will.

I am so very lucky to have found this site. I stumbled on it just before I joined the gym last Sept. It took two months of reading and digesting all of the info to get my mind focused on what I needed to do and how to do it. Between the ladies here (Amanda, Mindi, and many others) and this forum I got my calories up, got inspired, and a year ago hired a trainer and started doing this right. It truly is a journey. I only wish I had had this knowledge years ago. I would have never let myself get into this skinny-fat state. It is one hell of a hole to get out of. I surely hope by this time next year I can drop the skinny-fat description. Maybe be the skinny needs more muscle person instead

What I really wish is that I can get there by next Aug when I turn 50!!!

I’ve been working with a personal trainer since November. I’ve seen lots of muscle growth that I would not have achieved on my own. I just need more!!!!!