Yeah,

I'm a little scared to do much lower-body weight training. I don't want to mess anything up.

In the off-season, I do a lot more mountain biking (a great quad and hamstring workout) and more spin classes. I don't know if the difference in the workouts would be counter-productive or not.

I already have big thighs (24 inches) and big calves (16 inches). I wonder what would happen if I just did upper body weight-training and left my hill-climbing workouts for my legs?

J.

My legs haven't gotten bigger from the weight training - actually, they've gotten smaller, but they're a LOT stronger. Dunno what you'll find. I'm really liking the extra crank-strength up the hills, though!

My goals are to be able to do the following by mid-September:

Alt D-bell curl - 30# - 2 sets of 4
Straight bar curl - 45# - 2 sets of 4-6
Bench press - 80# - 3 sets of 4
Military press - 45# - 2 sets of 6
45 degree leg press - 270# - 2 sets of 4

I hope to be able to achieve these goals without breaking any of my pink sparkly fingernails.

Jen

Oh, what the heck, I'm gonna be doing this anyway, so I might as well challenge myself, right?

I'll aim for Labor Day here in the States, 9/6.... that's about 7 weeks. I'll target increasing all of these by at least 5 lbs. Does that sound reasonable? Here's what my last session was yesterday:

Side latteral raises, 12~5, 9~7, 6~8
Upright rows, 12~4, 9~5, 6~7
Seated shoulder press, 12~13, 9~14, 6~15
Seated forward flyes, 12~4, 9~5, 6~7
Seated one-arm curls, 12~13, 9~14, 6~15
Bent-over kickbacks, 12~12, 9~13, 6~15
One-arm rows, 12~17, 9~20, 6~23
2 arm overhead extensions, 12~13, 9~15, 6~17

Thanks liftnlady!

I had a good friend in college who played Division 1 lacrosse and started as a freshman. He looked in shape but nothing special, just nice definition. But the guy was massively strong. I used to work out with him at times and it was funny to watch some Macy's Balloon (that's what we used to call the guys who worked for the biggest muscles possible without recoginition of scale and proportion) would come into the gym. Chris would usually ignore them but a couple of times a guy would be just too in love with himself and would strain and puff with a weight, making the big show of it. The moment he'd take a break between reps Chris would go over and move the pin way further down and rip off 8 slow reps without a single groan.

I also have a nephew-in-law (?) who's skinny as can be, runs cross country at college and plays intense frisbee football sessions. He likes to hussle football players in contests of chinups, especially if they're in a bar and the other guy's been drinking. Justin can do three one-handed pull-ups. His strength-to-weight ratio is amazing.

Anyway, point is, you can never tell someone's strength just from looks. Another case in point, I look stronger than I am.

Ok, back to topic
1. I have a whole bunch of weights at 20 and 25 lbs for various parts. My goal is to make them all 40 or more by Thanksgiving.
2. I want to be able to do my crunches slowly and fully. (getting there!)
3. My goal is also to get to size 34 pants by Christmas. (currently 37-ish)
4. Be able to do 10 full military pushups by Thanksgiving. (three is my limit now)

Plane Crazy

Diemde I was sitting trying to figure out what I could do for this challenge, I have only just started weight training and wasn't sure what a realistic goal would really be. I like yours and think I would like to join you on this goal..;. If you don't mind ...

The more the merrier! I wasn't sure what to set either, so the key word in mine is "target". We'll cheer each other on and see what happens!

My .02:
Leave the side laterals alone. I STILL only do 12s - it's not a strength exercise as much as a shoulder warm-up. Delts are NOT large muscles, and the joint isn't well lubricated. I don't push my side laterals at ALL - I just concentrate on form.

Upright rows you can probably increase by MORE than 5 pounds, ditto shoulder press

Not sure what forward flyes are, but if they're what I THINK they are...
...ditch them and switch to Arnies:


It took me almost a year to curl 20 pounds an arm, and my biceps are pretty good. Your mileage may vary.

You might be able to increase your kickbacks, but I prefer other tricep exercises, so you'll just have to play it by ear.

One arm rows may go up - again, a back exercise, and the back can get pretty strong pretty fast.

The two arm overhead extensions you may be able to increase by 5 pounds - it's 2.5 pounds per arm, so it's do-able.


How's that sound?

good goals everybody...and good advice Built...she is correct about side laterals...no need to go really heavy with these...even the biggest boys in my gym use alot less weight on these...form is everything.


It will be fun to see everyones progress as we go along.

Remember it is the journey not the destination.

Thanks Built!

How do you get the pictures to show in the thread? Here's the link to the forward flies - I'm just doing them with dumbbells, though.

On the curls, when you've been pushing over 300 lbs of human body up off the sofa for a lotta years, your arms are pretty strong. I want to try for 5 on the curls... It's the one place I can see the muscle, but if I don't make it at least I will have tried.

On the side laterals, how high should I go? Should I just hold at, say 5 lbs, doing 3 sets of 8 reps for warm ups?

On the shoulder press, I'm straining to hit where I am right now, still working on form a bit. But I'll bite and say I'll increase by 7 lbs... that's one per week.

Upright rows are still new for me, so I'll say 10 lbs there. They really are so new that I didn't have a clue on these.

two goals

1. get my bench back above 300 lbs. Currently maxing at 285 so will be difficult.

2. get my squats to above 250. Currently at 235. Should be much easier than the bench

Who can bench more than they can squat? My priorities were in the wrong place for a long time for this aberration to happen.

Hi there -

To show an image, right click on it, copy the properties, and tuck it between image tags, like this:

[img]paste properties here[/img]

Hit "quote" on this post to see how I do it for this image:


You may well be able to increase the front flyes by the amount you suggest, but remember, this is an excentric exercise (exertion on stretching) which means GO SLOW - you don't want to tear anything - really feel the stretch you get out of it.

Don't let your form suffer. Ever. On anything.

'K?



- Built

Thanks Built. Will do!

OK, it's embarrassing to even post the numbers - you are WAY stronger than I am, but I bench a little more than I squat as well - bench 70# and squat 60#. I'm being very cautious on the squats (hence no new goal for them) because of knee problems. However, I am doing 220# on the 45 degree leg press, not sure how that compares to bench press.



Interesting - I'm currently doing 8 reps at 15#, and on the program I'm following I'm only supposed to be doing 6-8 reps, but I was hesitant to try 20#. It seemed as if I might tear something. Just curious - how much weight do you men use for side laterals?

Jen

Don't be embarrassed, I outweigh you by almost a hundred pounds . And its always impressive to see a lady even doing any squats. If you look at the size of the muscles involved you should squat WAY more than you can bench.

Oh yeah, I'm a big guy and do lateral raises with 20 lbs for 10 reps.