Quick recap of Phase 1:
- Worked out at home using resistance bands for 5 months.
- Walked pretty much every day.
- Then did a couple months of bodyweight Turbulence Training along with HIIT.
Phase 2 is all about lifting heavy!
Started The New Rules of Lifting for Women around April 1st.
Before starting I tested my 1RM having never lifted weights before. Actually, the first thing I did was practice form. I did buckets of body weight squats in the few months prior. Then I spent a day in the gym with a friend and an olympic bar in the power rack. The next time I went to the gym it was another form practice and trying to figure out how much weight I would be using for each of movements in Workouts A and B (2 sets of 15 with 60s rest) of the program from The New Rules of Lifting for Women.
Squat 1RM 105 lbs
Deadlift 1RM 115 lbs
Bench 1RM 85 lbs
For reps (2 sets of 15 with 60s rest)
Squat 65 lbs and Deadlift 75 lbs
About a week after starting the program I found a formula which would have been helpful to have before but was now just interesting. It was bang on for me. Of course I did not use it to determine my weight for sets of 10 as it was unnecessary. I used the weight that I had built up to. No point re-testing my 1RM just so I could use the chart. I will, at the end of this phase re-test my 1RM to compare it with where I started. I’ll use that and the chart below to calculate for a 5 rep set (which the program does not use) and see how close it is just for fun.
Sets {% of 1RM } DL 115 (Squat 105)
15 {60 – 65%} 70 – 75 lbs (68 lbs)
10 {75% } 86 lbs (79 lbs)
5 {87%} 100 lbs (91 lbs)
At the 4 week mark I am doing the following for 3 sets of 10 with 60 seconds rest
Squat 85 lbs
Deadlift 105 lbs
Guess I should mention I’m about 30 to 40lbs overweight which is extra weight I have to lift when doing squats.
There is no bench press in the program right now just men’s push ups. Right now (May 1st) I can do the 3 sets of 10 at a 30 degree angle. Being overweight means I’m “pushing” more weight. Am pretty sure I will be able to do them on the ground in the next few weeks when it changes to sets of 8. Can do 11 max on the floor right now (May 1).
I will share as much of my progress as possible without “giving away” the program.
Cardio – HIIT
The book does include HIIT but it’s not until a later stage. I need to lose weight so I have started HIIT 2 weeks into Stage 1 (which was about 2 weeks ago). I following the same HIIT program I mentioned in my previous post about Phase 1. It appears to be from Alwyn’s Afterburn program and is posted at bodybuilding.com http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alwyn8.htm
Cardio – Steady State
I do my best to go for a walk every day for 45 to 60 minutes. There is a lot of debate about whether or not there is a “fat burning zone” or any real benefit to walking or any steady state cardio. Others are just arguing you get more “bang for your buck” with HIIT or weights. Sometimes it’s about time. People say they have such limited time they just can’t do it. Personally I’m doing them all, in reasonable amounts, to cover all the bases. The walking, which I always do outside, helps me in other ways too.
- Time to think or not think.
- It’s one more thing I’m doing every day towards my goals. Keeps me focused.
- Creates a routine which is always helpful.
- Any activity is better than no activity! In the beginning it made a huge difference because It was a step up from the couch potato I had been up until then.
- If you choose an activity you enjoy you are far more likely to continue to do it.
- Enjoyable activities will also reduce your stress level and they say stress produces Cortisol which can cause you to gain or hold on to fat.
- Assists with recovery from lifting weights.
Right now it’s 3 days of HIIT and it’s done right after lifting. Because Stage I is a “break in” the lifting has only been taking about 20 min. Add on the 20 min. of HIIT and that’s only 40 minutes. To round it out I then do a 20 min. low intensity “steady state” walk on the treadmill.
As the lifting part of the program gets longer I’ll stop doing that last 20 minutes. We’ll see. If I’m losing weight consistently I’ll stop and see if that changes anything. If it slows or stalls the weight loss I’ll add it back.
Nutrition
When I first started lifting heavy around April 1st with the program from The New Rules of Lifting For Women I was HUNGRY! One night after the first workout I woke up in the middle of the night super hungry so I drank a protein drink. Never experienced that before in my life. In the book they suggest you start off eating maintenance calories and see how you feel and how your body responds to training for the first month. I simply continued to eat whole healthy foods whenever I was hungry for the month of April. I also found I was tired all the time. The hunger and exhaustion are understandable considering I was doing more and working harder physically than I have ever done in my entire life (and loving it!). However I am starting to get frustrated with the lack of inch and weight loss and wanting to SEE the muscles I have grown. Now that I am a little more adjusted, sleeping more and my hunger has calmed down it’s time to see if can get some fat loss happening. I’m working all the energy systems, I’ve got the diet down, I just need to adjust the calories. The question is in which direction?