Stella's Adventures in Squatting Journal

Life Beyond Squats

Yes, it's true. I do train other body parts! This briefs the curious on the balance of my training and how heavier squatting affected it. The more experienced readers will read between the lines and note the flags on the problem areas of my training. While it is sometimes difficult to admit our weaknesses, I hope it someone out there is reading between the lines on all of these posts and noting what can happen mentally & physically when you set & achieve goals from workout to workout instead of heading to the gym just to train a body part. Stella

Bill asks: For my own edification, what is the balance of your current routine?

Well, I WAS doing a 6 day a week split of Chest-Quads-Back-Shoulders-Arms-Hamstrings. Calves was 1-2x week but usually with an upper body day. Abs? Um, whenever. Cardio....well..I go through good and bad phases. Good for me now would be 4x 20-30 min weekly. Bad is me now..with hardly any in the last month. Using a 6 day split, if I found I needed an extra day off, I would take it but combine two bodyparts the next day.

I was continuing this with our program and just made the quad and ham days into a the leg days. This last week I figured out this is just to tiring. While my recovery from the squatting is good- it requires rest. I'm took out the arms day and reverted to back/bis and chest/tris so I have another rest day from weights.

I've put on a good 15 pounds since hanging up my running shoes. My diet has improved in some ways. I've gained a ton of muscle and shape but the good ole body fat it still there. When I do 2x cardio sessions it comes off but I'm just not motivated to do that right now.

I can't tell you that I've ever been dialed in for very long. Diet or cardio is always throwing it off or just something happens that throws me off and I slip in to maintenance workouts.

I *know* I don't add the # quick enough and I get stronger very fast when I want to. I really see this now with the new leg training. I only THOUGHT I was squatting before. To tire myself out, I'd just add more reps and sets or harder exercises..almost like the poundage increase was a very last resort. It is hard for a woman to break out of this conservativeness if there is no one there to push her.

With diet, I am best during the workday. I have reminders that pop up on my computer and tell me to eat. The weekend is harder though..best thing for me is the small container of "emergency protein" I keep in my car. I think most women struggle with the thought they are eating too often and therefore, too much so we shoot ourselves in the foot trying to wing it and skip meals. When I followed that Bev Intl diet...I felt like I was eating a ton all the time but I was getting results. 9/11 screwed me up and I never got back on that precise track. A lot of it is the pre-preparation. When I do that, I do way better.

Stella

Forward to the next page

Return to Stella's Journal Index

Why don’t you take a moment to visit our forum right now?