minime's weight training journal

[minime]

Hi all

Im new to the site... been perusing the boards for a few days now and decided to start my own journal, so i can keep track of my weights/cardio and food....the usual

Anyway, about me: My goals are to gain some lean muscle, and to get strong! Also Im keeping up the cardio, as i like to be cardio fit, and wanna work on getting some good track times (though I am not in any sort of track club or anything...just my own private club lol)

Me: Im 5'2, female, always a regular at gym, but recently decided to work more on building muscle. Im about 102 now, i lost weight originally from the weight training, obviously too few calories so have been trying to get the cals up and the protein up.

So last night I had an awesome leg & tricep workout - i love leg workout coz my legs are strong!
So i increase the weight, decrease the reps for each set... sets of anywhere between 4 and 12... and do 2 sets of 3 sets of each (i do all machines 3sets, then a little cardio, then another round)

Leg Press 75-93 kg
Glute (one leg) 60-75kg
Leg extension 30-40kg
Leg curl (hamstrings) 25-30kg
Calf raise 20-25kg (this is tough on the shoulders...)
Triceps - did 2 unassisted dips, then a ton wit assistance
also, dips on bench
also, tricep machine 45kgs only three sets of 6-8
Also did 6*10 reps on the incline bench for abs, and a few sets of oblique curls on the floor

For cardio 30mins light jog, 30 mins high intensity Elliptical (hr at 80-90% of mx)

Food calories were about 1800 which is too low, so am going to try to get it up to 2000 today. Im having SO hard of a time getting all the protein - too much ham/egg whites (which is what ive been eating!) is making me feel sick! I need to get some protein powder supplement... this weekend.

All in all, im feeling good! But tonite is upper body weight workout and my upper body is weak

If anyone has any advice/tips that would be super!

tanx

[minime]

bla - cals today only about 400 - ive got to get a lot in at lunch, but i aint even hungry yet!

It would be so easy if I could just get 500 cal worth of chocolate - yum! getting the cals from relatively clean food tho... that is tough. plus protein is quite low - i had 3egg whites, which is bout 10g plus big bowl of cereal about 15g. Not to bad i suppose, but i gotta eat some meat at lunch...

[.V.]

hey minime, getting the right calories for your body figured out can be difficult when we first start paying attention to such things. Check out www.fitday.com. It's free to use online. I have much better control of my food intake and meal planning since I've started using it. We all have different nutritional needs and there is no cookie cutter way to get it right. Search cursor's nutrition posts to give yourself a good starting place - then adjust micronutrients according to your individual needs. Sounds like you are trying to gain from your post - perhaps I'm mistaken but that's how it looks. The low fat, higher carb, high protein way seems to be a great way to do that - it will let you get hungry more often so you can get in more calories over time. Eating more often throughout the day, timing your nutrition around your workouts is a good way to do it.

Good luck.

[Klinger]

Welcome to the board. I noticed you put together legs and triceps yet you are doing an upper-body workout the day after. Your ability to press from your chest and shoulders might be compromised since your triceps, which assist in those movements, will be sore and fatigued.

I would suggest -- for now at least -- that you do an upper-lower split, concentrating on quads, hamstrings, calves, abs and lower back on lower-body day and chest, back, shoulders, arms on upper-body day. You can do each twice a week as long as you don't lift heavy all four days. For example:
Mon: lower
Tue: upper
Wed: off or track work
Thu: lower
Fri: upper
Sat: off or track work
Sun: off or track work

Here's a menu of exercises that you should mix up so you're not doing the same exercises two sessions in a row. By all means, tweak it as you see fit. Use dumbbell or barbell or even cable machines, whichever you prefer.

Upper

Back:
Bent-over row
Pull-up/Chin-up
Cable row

Chest:
Flat-bench chest press
Incline bench press
Decline bench press
Flye (dumbbell or cables)

Shoulders (delts):
Standing shoulder press
Seated shoulder press
Shrug
Front raise
Side raise (dumbbell or cables)
Bent-over raise (dumbbell or cables)

Arms:
Any curls or presses. Don't worry too much about doing tons of arm work. You'll get most of your arm-muscle tone and stimulation from the above exercises.

Lower

Squat (total leg development)
Deadlift (total leg & core development)
Leg press (quad- or hamstring-centric depending on foot position)
Good morning (hamstrings)
Lunge (total leg development)
Calf raises, standing or seated
Various machines (but steer clear of the abductor/adductor; it's crap)
Various ab exercises

Hope that helps!

[minime]

thank you both!

awelch - I have just set up a fitday account, and it is pretty cool! However - it does overestimate my calories somewhat methinks!! Apparently i need 2100 before i even do any exercise! haha. Ill have to start hitting the pies pretty hard.. Yes I would not mind gaining a couple of lbs, but I want it to be muscle, not fat! So I am wary of trying to cram in a ton of calories - if I really want to get them up high Ill be needing to eat crap like chocolate and fried stuff, and I dont want to do that!

So for now I will just eat whats comfortable, and get some protein powder at weekend. I am trying to do the mostly carbs/low fat/good protein, but the protein part is tough.

Klinger - thank you for those exercises! Mostly for upper body I do chest press/incline chest/shoulders/seated row/lat pulldown and assisted pull ups, along wit d free weights for biceps - but i will try to mix in some of those other ones as well. As for the tricep - yes you are right - the reason i split triceps from the rest of the upper body is that those are my 'favorite' and i wished to give them extra attention - but obviously i was taking the wrong approach.. I will right this asap... will skip tom nites triceps and just do them at weekend.

Fitday says Ive 760cals so far today, so i may have a little alpen soon to get it up a bit.

again thanks for the advice...much appreciated !

[minime]

ok, so last nite was upper body - it didnt go too badly, but I am always so disappointed in my upper body workouts in comparison to my leg workout... i know the leg muscles are bigger, but still..

So i did the usual 6 sets of each (3sets of each, light cardio, 3sets of each) and reps range between 4-10

Chest press 20-25kgs
Incline chest 20-25kgs
Shoulder press 15-17.5kg (man that shoulder press is tough)
Lat pulldown 40-50kg
Seated Row 30-40kg
Pull ups - Im aiming for unassisted, but am not there yet! Im thinking 2-3weeks and ill be able to do one
Bicep curls with 7kilo dumbells

I also did some of those 'flyes' - they are so hard! I use the 7kg for curls, but for the flyes I used the 3kgs and it was TOUGH. The last set i could only do 3!

I did some abs too, which i shouldnt have, two days in a row - but im resting them now til saturday

Fitday says I only ate 1800 cals yesterday - and some of that was marshmallows! Well, no matter - i feel good, tho today my shoulders are killing me - especially the right one which isnt good, as it means i was lifting somewhat unevenly. Darn it!

Tonite is legs again, then basically i will be resting the muscles til monday (as the weekend is cardio time! cept for saturday i will do triceps and abs after my squash.)

I like this board, ive been spending too much time here though! Its very addictive, to read all the posts, and so many people here are so educated in the ways of health and fitness, i think its great that people take the time to help others

[minime]

hmmm... well since last nite was leg nite, it should have been a super workout, but since i decided no longer to work triceps on the nite of legs, there really isnt a whole lot to be done. I have found my gym to be a bit limited! Only five machines - leg press, leg extension, leg curl, glute extension, calf raise. There is a calf press which is currently out of order (and has been for at least a week! grrrr)

Ive figured that by moving my foot position on the leg press i can work both quads and hamstrings, and the glute machine also works the hamstrings so i guess I am covering all areas in some way (i have decided to stay away from the abductor/adductor)

It has come to my attention that my gym doesnt even have a proper 'weight' station - that is there are only benches but with no bar set up, so if I want to start doing the deadlifts and squats (which I know very little about of yet) i am in trouble!

Anyway - the five machines were done, 6 sets of each (i split it with my cardio as usual) 4-10 reps

Leg press 77-93kilo (on this is technically did twelve sets, coz i did both foot positions)
Glute Machine 65-75 kilo
Leg extension 30-40kilo
Leg curl 25-30kilo (i dont like to increase on this, it doesnt feel too good on hamstrings - got to be careful)
Calf raise 25kilo I really cant increase this coz it hurts my shoulders!! I know my calves could take a little extra weight tho - so im anxious for the calf press to get fixed

I did 3 mile run, 30mins, and 25mins on elliptical trainer (hr 80-90% its hard! had to split 10min and 15min) 5min on recumbrant bike - i like to turn the level up high and just do it for a short time

cals not so great again, 1700 or somethin - ill weigh myself tomorrow.

I hate taking days off! I know its necessary, but no exercise at all today is going to kill me! Although last nite after work out i was SO relieved to have today off - the four days in a row is tough! Now most muscles will rest til monday (except for weekend cardio)

And this weekend I will buy the disgusting powder - no more will i have protein deficits Plus getting more cals in should be easy when i can take two of those a day (yuck)

why arent my muscles ripping my tshirt sleeves yet? Its been several weeks! hehehe

[Klinger]

Does your gym have dumbbells? You can do squats and deadlifts with them. For squats, hold the weight at your sides or, if you're feeling strong, hold the DBs overhead and work the core/shoulders, too.

Deadlifts are a little tougher with DBs. You end up doing more of a straight-legged DL so you can clear the DBs past your knees as you come out of the bottom position.

Here's a link to a DB deadlift. I recommend you bend the knees slightly to protect your ligaments:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...gDeadlift.html

[minime]

klinger - yeah - my gym does have dumbells, thanks for that animated link thing, very helpful Tonites upper body, tomorrow legs - so tomorrow night i will mix some deadlifts and squats into my weight workout. ALSO i discovered an upstairs weight room in my gym (where the serious weight trainers haha) and they have a bar and bench setup there.. but dont think ill be comfortable going up there til i can be sure i can at least lift an empty bar lol. ill stick to the dumbells for now!

[minime]

The weekend is always so bad for me! I mean, food wise, i always eat too much crap.

Friday nite I took off from exercise - went out for dinner, and had a 10oz steak and chocolate cake (i couldnt resist!) and also a few coors lites. According to fitday on friday my cals were at like 2300 - yikes!

Saturday : 1 hr squash, and some sit ups in the gym (my gym is being remodelled and the only place i could go was some mini-gym upstairs - no incline bench so had to do floor situps)

Sunday: 2hr walk/run with my sister. I think we covered about 7 or 8 miles.

Both saturday and sunday i had about 1500 cals, and a lot of it was crap too, like saturday nite i ate some ben&jerrys and sunday nite some marshmallows

The good news is that i got my protein powder - its vanilla flavored and the brand is USN i think... it tastes fine and cost 30euros for 2pounds. Last night i made pancakes with the powder and whole wheat flour and egg whites - they pretty much tasted like crap lol

this morning i had my shake before i left for work. Im going to have two or three per day (i use one scoop powder : 18g of protein) for now, then maybe after a while ill double the dosage and have the 36g shakes

Back to weights today! Hopefully the gym will be finished...

[minime]

gym got all new equipment.. and on the new weight machines i am weaker! grrr. Also now i am all confused about what my weights were so next time i need to bring a paper and pen to take note...

i did chest press, lat pulldown, seated row, fly, tricep dips on bench and on assist, pull up assist (with 19kilo of assistance, that i remember cos it was so bad and i did also free weights for shoulders and biceps. Cardio was limited to twenty minutes in gym (elliptical and bike) and 30 mins jogging outside.

Food was not so great - i had plenty of protein (40% of total cals) but cals were too low at 1500. Today will be higher tho, as i had a lot of cereal, and ate out for lunch.

My upper body is killing me today!! so sore. I like when that happens

weight 104 last time i checked...

[minime]

I hate the new gym equipment! Not only am I weaker than I was on the old, but there are some machines which have not been replaced - there is now no calf machine at all (no calf raise/press) and the glute machine is gone. ALSO there is no incline bench for situps which is worst of all. I am so annoyed about this - i asked they guy at the gym if they were getting one and he said no. Grrr.

Anyway last nite legs Leg Press 60kg, Leg extension 45kg (i think) Leg curl (hamstrings 25kg i think i may have put it up to 30 for the last set but memory is failing me). Squats wit 2*8kg dumbell, Deadlifts with 2*5kg dumbells. The deadlifts hurt my lower back a bit, even tho i used such light weights.

Food, about 1600 calories, 35% cals from protein, 20% fat, 45% carbs. Not too bad I suppose - i was trying to increase cals but have now decided not to worry about it.

ill be getting plenty of cals on easter sunday

[.V.]

Well for the calf raises - do them in the squat station - or sit on a bench and put weights on your knees and do them.

The abs? No solution, just do them flat on the floor I guess. Unless there is a decline bench press station. That's where I do my decline crunches.

[minime]

right... after the long weekend i was feeling quite crappy... especially considering all the chocolate i ate and i went out drinking on sunday nite... so monday was spent being lazy. Sunday i played squash and did an ab workout.

So yesterday was upper body:

Chest Press 25-30kg
Pull Ups Assisted w/ 19kg (its awful - even tho i was technically only lifting about 30kg of me, i could only do 4-6 in each set)
Dips, some unassisted
Seated row 25-30kg
Push ups (on floor)
Dips on bench
BIcep Curls (7kgs)
Shoulder exercises w/dbs (4s and 5s)
Lat pulldown 30kg

I did six sets of most everything - ususally 4-8 reps

Cardio : 3mile jog, +2.5mile on treadmill (sprint intervals)

Calories 1539 50%carb/31% protein/19%fat

Weight : One million pounds!

[minime]

oh, and welsh - thanks, tonite is legs&abs so i will try the calf raises on bench. As for abs, ive started doing the ones where you lie on flat bench with bottom balancing on edge, and then bring legs all the way up then down.. (bad at describing!) they are pretty tough. I mix them up with the floor ones, and have been using the 'torso rotation' machine.

Theres a decline bench press in the upstairs weight room (aka serious weight room)- i will venture in there saturday after my squash perhaps...