Stage 1

So, I did Stage 1 Workout A tonight.  The squats, step-ups and rows went fine (i.e. hard work but not impossible).  I am push-up incompetent and can only do 10 in a row, so I did 10-then-collapse-then-5 instead of actual sets of 15.  The prone jackknife was a mess.  This was only my second time using a Swiss ball and I'm not used to being able to stay balanced on it (which I do realise is the whole point) so my form on the first set was horrendous (but did actually manage about 5-in-a-row-then-3-in-a-row).  The second set was a disaster zone; I couldn't get more than 2-in-a-row before I fell off.  My wrists are still sore from all that weight-on-hands.

Anyway, my question is this.  If I wind up taking a few weeks to actually be able to do the exercises, should I start counting Stage 1 at the time I can actually do the work-out "right"?  Or is it normal to be this incompetent at the start and I'll be good enough in 4 weeks to move onto Stage 2?  My main goal (other than the whole fat-loss thing) is to improve so I'm on-board whichever the answer is.

Well I started today - yipie! - and just got home from the gym.

I can't do push-ups, I'm extremely scared in the free-weights section (no women in there, and the men all look like Dwayne Johnson, argh!), and I think I did the prone jackknives wrong.

Yes, I know, not a good start. But it's a start, right? I logged it in my journal. It can only get better :S

I have one problem though. My gym doesn't have a bench, or a step, so I can't do the step-ups. Which alternative exercise could I do instead?

Can't believe a gym doesn't have aerobic steps or some kind of bench.  There is always the bench press benches- they have to have those right.  I used the step aerobic benches for step ups to start but now use the real bench press benches.

I work out in the college gym and they have a homemade looking "box" that I use for my leg raised lunges ( you'll get into those later)  You may have to invest in a step aerobic bench walmart sells them and just use that at home. Just using body weight on the bench press bench will give you an awesome workout - trust me you'll not be walking for days after LOL

Don't let the men scare you off -- just put some earphones on your head ( don't even have to be attached) and ignore them - later on you might need to ask for a spotter - they might even be asking you before too long.

Push ups -- I'm still using the smith machine on the 2nd rung for mine and I've just about completed all 7 stages- I don't know if I'll ever be able to do them off the ground having a bad elbow and shoulder but I'm still trying and I am getting better.  It takes time and the important thing is to do only what your body tells you it can do.  Don't risk hurting yourself just because you feel you have to do more because the book says so.  There are a lot of the workouts I never did because my body just said no.

Yes they do have bench press benches... hmm you're right. :) I didn't know if it was OK to use them for step-ups and I was way too nervous anyway. But I'll try that next time! I hope !!

Thanks for the advice & encouragement! Looking forward to my next workout now!!!

Original Post by awestendorf:

I had to google goblet squats - those look interesting, I might give them a try.  My only concern is that my legs are fairly strong and I'm not sure I could hold a heavy enough weight in that position to challenge my lower body.  I'd love your thoughts on that since you've tried all of them!

Well, since I haven't done back squats, I can only compare my front squats.  I can say that most recently I have done goblet squats 5x5 @50lbs and 3x15 at 50 lbs.  When I was doing front squats I could do 3x10 @65 lb. 

So, I have to use less weight for the goblet ones, and it is somewhat awkward.  I load up my dumbbell and hold it against my chest to do them, so I'm supporting against my upper body, not all on my arms.  That seems to help and keeps it close to my body. 

I did find something else to help my back squats since I am hesitant to give them up quite yet - it's a little plastic attachment called a manta ray that basically distributes the weight a bit more evenly on your shoulders and keeps the bar from rolling down your back.  It's helped a lot, but I'm still going to make sure I have a spotter for now.  Thanks for your input!

I am starting my 4th week of Stage 1.  Since I am a beginner, I am doing 3 of each workout instead of 2, as the book suggested.  So I am about to drop from 15 reps to 12 reps per exercise.  Anyway, I've noticed that for some of the exercises, I am not really improving in terms of being able to do more weight or finishing the sets.  I realize 3 weeks is a relatively short amount of time to measure progress, and truly, I am the queen of patience!  It has taken me over 2 years to lose 73 lbs and I am patiently continuing!  I still want to lose about 40 lbs of fat and eat at a deficit of 500 cals non-workout days to 300 cals workout days.

However, my question is this:  can I EVER expect to improve much on these exercises, if I am eating at a caloric deficit in order to lose fat?  It seems everyone is at an agreement that except for total beginners, it is very unlikely that anyone would grow muscle while eating at a deficit.  So if I'm not growing new muscle, just maintaining what I already have, then I am unsure if I'll ever be able to increase the weights very much.

Does anyone else doing this program while eating at a deficit have experience with this?  Thank you!

Original Post by phillygirl629:

However, my question is this:  can I EVER expect to improve much on these exercises, if I am eating at a caloric deficit in order to lose fat?  It seems everyone is at an agreement that except for total beginners, it is very unlikely that anyone would grow muscle while eating at a deficit.  So if I'm not growing new muscle, just maintaining what I already have, then I am unsure if I'll ever be a to increase the weights very much.

YES!  I had the biggest jumps when I dropped reps - it's harder to increase weight while doing the same reps.  I've seen melkor note in multiple posts that muscle strength and muscle size is only about 2/3 correlated, the rest is neural efficiency and muscle fiber coordination/motor unit recruitment.  That means that even though you may not add any muscle mass, you can still improve by up to 1/3 if you're a beginner to weight lifting.  And you can be a "newbie" for several months...so unless you were doing a full body heavy lifting program previously, you can probably expect a little bit of muscle gain.

Stick with it and let us know if you're able to increase as you drop the reps!

I agree 100% with awestendorf.  You can grow stronger while in a calorie deficit!!

Stage 1 Workout B.......

I still hurt from Monday's squats. Those lunges totally sucked.

I'm starting my last two 8 rep workouts tonight...then next week I'll finish with the AMRAP workouts. I'm psyched to be through Stage 1, but I feel like there's been no progress. :( I've yet to measure myself..but since I sometimes did 2 workouts a week and sometimes 3, I just feel like I could have pushed myself harder.

I've decided not to take a week off after Stage 1 (I actually took a week off in September in the midst of Stage 1.) So I really need to kick it up during Stage 2 and through the rest of the program. I'm going to start focusing more on the number of calories in each day. I've been paying attention to what I've been eating, and making healthy choices most of the time, but I really need to start keeping track of the actual food items and what they count for.

Hooray for being almost done with Stage 1!  I've got 2 A's and 1 B left (did B first) - took last week off due to a nasty cold - and I'm skipping the AMRAP cause I'm excited to try all the crazy new exercises in Stage 2! 

Yeah, tracking your eating closely is really important if you're trying to lose (looks like you are based on your profile).  I had about 2 weeks where I wasn't writing everything down due to lazyness and various events where I just didn't know the calories, and I pretty much lost nothing those weeks (I think 0.4 and 0.2 pounds or something like that).  My average weekly loss is closer to 1.2 pounds, which really drove home my need to get my eating back on track!

So, I've only got the AMRAP exercises left. I'm very tempted to skip them like awestendorf...but I'm so anal retentive about stuff like this I don't think I could do it.

I've got a cardio workout scheduled for after work today - then AMRAP 1 after work tomorrow. I'll try to get AMRAP two in this weekend, but it make have to wait until Monday with all the parties and Halloween festivities and whatnot.

I'm so psyched to finally be moving onto something new. Stage 1 does stretch out for a long run. I'm so glad to be done with it! See ya'll in the Stage 2 thread soon. :)

Yay for you!  Congrats on finishing.   Stage 1 is really long, but the next stages will fly by for you!

Hi Everyone,

I am towards the end of Stage 1.  I love it so far and to update on an earlier post, I have in fact been able to increase my weights little by little while eating at a calorie deficit.  Also, I had been doing squats with dumbbells but they only go up to 25 lbs in the area of the gym I have been sticking to, and I outgrew them.  So I asked the trainer at the gym to teach me correct form using a barbell.  He insisted on showing me the Smith Machine squat as well, and said I had perfect form, but my calves were super tight afterwards and I had a little knee pain.  So that is the last time I'll be using the Smith for squats!  But he also showed me the barbell in the free weight room after asking me, "Are you sure you're not intimidated to work out in there?"  Haha...truthfully I was but now that I know what to do in there, I feel fine about it.

Something that sticks out as weird to me about Stage 1 is how much weight I'm able to pull on the seated row.  I can do 120 pounds!  This seems pretty great and I'm proud of myself, but it is like double the weight I can do on any other exercise.  Is this normal?  To give an idea, I can do 60 lbs on the wide-grip lat pulldown, 50 lbs shoulder press, 60 lbs squat.  I can do pushups on the bar of the Smith Machine set on the 4th rung from the bottom.  So the 120 lbs for the seated row seems like soo much!  Does anyone else have experience with this?  Thanks!!

PHILLY,

what machine are you using for the seated rows??  I ask because if I use one machine I can do well over 150 lbs but if I use the lat pull down machine I can only do about 60 lbs.  I think the one machine with the pins you put into the weights has more pulleys and such and makes it easier to pull- machine is basically doing the work for you.   But if you are using the same machine for both wide grip lat and rows congrats.  I also can only do about 20 lbs shoulder press so its quite possible your strong enough.

Also I have to do the sit ups on the 2nd rung on the smith.  This is the only exercise I use the smith for.  Stay away from machines for NROL except for the pull downs and rows  I think these are the only machines he lets you use.

50 lbs shoulder press - each hand or combined? (2x25) That's still more than I can do :)

I am not sure numbers match though... I was under the impression that pulldowns were easier than rows. I pull down almost x1.5 the weight I use for rows.

Are you sure you're not leaning back at all, and that the movement is slow and controlled? I'm just having hard time imagining someone being able to row this much... It's like grabbing an Olympic bar with 105 lbs on it, bending and pulling the bar to the belly button...

Eh, it's unusual, but not out of the range of reasonable.  I can row as much as I can squat (110 - 115).  Pulldowns are only about 80-85 right now.  I do think it's possible that there's a cable issue for phillygirl as dbackerfan suggested.  No real way to know unless she tries a different machine I guess.  I do mine on a machine that gets loaded with weight and doesn't have cables, so I know it's accurate. 

ETA: I was also doing 50 lb shoulder presses by the end of stage 1 (2x25).  Up from 35 at the beginning.

Thanks for the replies!

dbackerfan: I am using the one with the pins and the pullies where you attach a bar and sit down on the floor and pull.  The lat pulldown is on the other side and there is a seat attached, and just one pully at the top.  I don't know how to use that side for the seated row, I'm not sure it's possible since the bar is located up high.  But maybe you can adjust the height somehow?

maha-kisa: 2 x 25lb on the shoulder press...just barely!  Yeah I agree that it doesn't seem right.  Maybe what dbackerfan was saying applies here, that the pullies are making it a lot easier.  I am pretty careful about form.  I do them like this because that seems to be what the book is describing but a musclehead at the gym today told me I should be doing them like this.  Which is correct?

Original Post by phillygirl629:

maha-kisa: 2 x 25lb on the shoulder press...just barely!  Yeah I agree that it doesn't seem right.  Maybe what dbackerfan was saying applies here, that the pullies are making it a lot easier.  I am pretty careful about form.  I do them like this because that seems to be what the book is describing but a musclehead at the gym today told me I should be doing them like this.  Which is correct?

You want to be careful with how you do cable rows.  This can put a lot of stress on your lower back and could cause disc injury if not done properly.  It's important to not to round your back outward.  I stick my chest out and then keep a inward curve to my back, pull the cable and squeeze my shoulder blades together.  I don't bend very much forward, but sit upright and don't lean back. Take a look at this video. You can always ask a trainer to check your form if your not sure.

Thank you!  I watched the link you posted and that is how I have been doing them.  Slight arch in the lower back and not leaning forward very much on the release.  I also realized very quickly for deadlifts that keeping that slight arch is very important for the lower back.  Thanks again for the link!