Category Archives: squats

Time to Squat!

It was so dark this morning when I woke up and the flannel sheets were so comfy. It was really hard to get out of bed this morning! I contemplated either hitting the gym in the evening or going on Friday. Normally, I don’t do this. I just wake up and get up. So, I got up and had a protein drink, which meant I had to go lift!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squat 1 set of 10 with 65# bar
1 set of 8 with 70# bar
1 set of 6 with 75# bar
1 set of 4 with 80# bar1 set of 4 with 85# bar		 Lower Body
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back
Stiff-legged Dead Lifts 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Hamstrings and back
Decline sit ups 3 sets of 10 Core
Dumbbell Chest Fly 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs Chest
Triceps Push Down 3 sets of 10 at 30# Triceps
Low Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 90# Low Back
Upright Row 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs Shoulders

The squats are tough for me. They are harder than they used to be and I can’t squat as heavy as I once did because it causes pain in my thigh.  I can’t seem to go heavier than this, but the lighter bar has been easier the last couple of times.

I have a bunch of new readers now according to my stats. Probably because of the First for Women article and another mention.  Anyway, I thought I would post my squat video so other ladies won’t be afraid to get in the squat cage and do them. Once you are squatting with 20# dumbbells in each hand, you can certainly get in the rack with an empty bar.

Love the iron gals and it will love you back!

I came home wondering what to have for breakfast and John had made something with pumpkin, so that made up my mind.  Pumpkin oats topped with craisins and toasted pecans.

Yum! I got right to work today, although I was finding it hard to concentrate.  You know those kind of days, close to the weekend and all that.  Pixie was doing her job guarding the bird feeder:

Lunch time was more protein.  I mixed up some peanut flour, which I get from netrition.com and put it on a toasted coconut biscuit.

I really like the peanut flour.  I just mix it with cinnamon, a touch of honey and a tiny pinch of salt with the water.  16 grams of protein and 110 calories per serving of it, which comes out to around 4 tablespoons or more.  I actually ate some off a spoon before spreading it on there.

I could barely wait for latte time today with the now functioning steamer wand!

Lots and lots of foam today.

Happy latte lady today 😀

Well, John won the football picks, so he wanted his dinner out tonight.  He chose the Fish Fry Cafe.

It’s about a mile and a half from our house.  Very small and homey feeling.

Complete with a huge grandfather clock.   😀

They have a mix and match section of the menu that I browsed through. I had the seafood chowder:

Very, very good!  This was my side item to my scallops. Served on a plastic fish-shaped plate.

With a name like Fish Fry Cafe, you would probably think most of the menu was fried, and you would be right.  These scallops were quite good.   And so were the little hushpuppies on the side.  We keep wondering why we don’t come here more often as the prices are very reasonable and the food is good.  Probably because it’s fried.

The lucky winner:

That is supposed to be a victory sign, but I think he looks like he is about to poke me in the eyes!  😯

Now to relax tonight and read some Wheat Belly.  But first, a ride on the bike trainer to burn off a couple of those hush puppies!

Lifting Move of the Week: The Squat

Happy Hump Day to all! It’s Wednesday, so you know it is the Lifting Move of the Week!  Since this is an important exercise, I am just basically going to talk about this by itself today.

Here was my workout this morning:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squats 3 sets of 10 at 55# Lower body
Seated Lat Row 3 set of 10 at 55# Back
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 10 at 55# Chest
Planks 3 sets of 75 second holds Core
Alternating reverse lunges 3 sets of 15 each leg Lower body
Ahnold Press 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 at 45# Low back and hammies
Triceps Kickback 3 sets of 15 with 15# DBs (30# total) Triceps

I haven’t done the planks in over 2 weeks and I could feel it! Again, someone felt the desire to talk to me while I was doing them. Saying they looked harder than pushups. Good thing I was looking at the floor so he couldn’t see my eyes roll…

Anyway, as you know by the title, the Lifting Move of the Week is:  The Squat!

I was a wee bit hesitant to actually post a video and talk about the squat because there certainly are strong opinions about it and what is “right” and what is “wrong.” With squats, there can be some variety of the minutae because of different body types, but there are some general things to do or avoid.

Some people say they can’t do squats because of knee problems, but truthfully, good squat form does not put that much pressure on your knees.  Most people tend to squat too far forward.  When you are doing a squat, you should be able to wiggle your toes and lift them off the floor at all times.  If you cannot do this, then you are putting too much pressure on your knees.  Think of sitting back onto your heels, as those really are what drive the force of the squat.

Knee problems with squats also can occur because you don’t go deep enough.  This means your legs never get to parallel or past.

Source

This actually is okay if you have the chair in front of you to support your forward weight.  I see a lot of people, guys especially, load up the barbell and partial squat.  I die at how their knees must feel stopping at that point fully loaded.  When you stop part way down, this is what causes the greatest stress to the knee instead of passing through this point to where your muscles take over.

So, here is my version of the squat.  I wish I could have had a different camera angle because you can’t see my feet and it does not look like I am going past parallel (which I am) , but I had to use what I could attach the camera to for this.  Maybe when I get paid to do this, then I will get a fancy set up :mrgreen:

Notice that my lower back does round a tiny bit at the bottom.  This is referred to as butt wink.  And hooray thinking of the Google hits I will get with this post. After doing much reading, I don’t mind the rounding when I go past parallel for 2 reasons.  One, it is just really hard to keep your lower back arched once you go past parallel, which I think is a function of the way I am built.  The other is that when I try to keep that arch in my lower back, then I tilt forward too much and go off center as my hips rise faster than the rest of me, which is not good either.  Personally, I would rather just have a little bit of rounding and stay stable.  Again, just my opinion.  (This video also gives me some things to work on with my squat that I don’t see from viewing myself in the mirror.)

Maybe someday I will get to this:

The most important thing with squats is form.  It’s better to do 1 perfect squat with no weights than 20 done poorly with heavy weights just to say “I squatted my body weight.”

If you want to see the perfect example of squat form and how easy and free they are, just watch kids.

Source

They squat naturally ass-to-grass without thinking about balance or anything like that.

** I am not a doctor, personal trainer, or other person of degreed knowledge.  Take any of my musings with 2 grains of kosher salt and do your reading**

Back to squat basics

Monday, Monday! I decided on just a weight workout today and skip the cardio for a bit of rest. Biked to the gym and got right to the iron.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell squat 3 sets of 10 with 45# bar (lower than parallel) Lower body
Seated lat row 1 set of 4 at 85#

1 set of 6 at 70#

1 set of 8 at 55#

1 set of 10 at 40#

 Back
Stiff-legged deadlift 3 sets of 10 at 75# Lower body
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Abs
Incline barbell chest press 3 sets of 8 at 55# Chest
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 100# Low back
Nosebreaker 3 sets of 10 with 30# bar Triceps
Front Raise 3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders

I did a video of myself with the squat and wasn’t all that happy with my depth, so I decided to back way off on the weight and make sure to go below parallel to work on form. I really want to be able to do full squats (aka ass-to-the-grass) with more weight, so back to basics!  I see many, many partial squats being done at the gym, and I don’t want to be in that category.  I may or may not show that video as an example of poor form. 😀

Biked home and made up a new oat dish – Apple Pie oats!

  • 40 grams of oats
  • 1/2 of a granny smith apple chopped small
  • 1 tsp of brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1/4 cup of egg whites
  • 4 toasted pecans, crushed
  • 1 square of lowfat graham cracker

I added apple, cinnamon, and brown sugar to the cooking water with the oats when it came to a boil.  Cooked for a few minutes, then tempered in the egg whites.  Topped with the pecans and crushed graham cracker (for the ‘crust’ ).  Quite tasty, I have to say.  I think a tart, firm apple is best in this.  If I was feeling truly decadent, I guess a drizzle of caramel on this would be pretty awesome…. just sayin’

I also had some of these on the side.

I was asked about any supplements I take.  These are my dailies.  I do a multivitamin, a flax seed oil (don’t do fish oil), a vitamin C/B combo, and a vitamin D3.  Vitamin D3 is important for me living in a northern climate and my liberal use of sunscreen.  If I think about it in the winter, I add zinc.   I actualy probably could do without the multi as my diet has a good variety of whole foods, but I just want to cover my bases, particularly as I am progressing forward in years.

Work time ensued.  Busy, busy.  Yesterday not busy, today very busy.

Lunch break was so awesome!  I made a 1 egg/2 egg white omelet stuffed with some cabot reduced fat cheddar, sauteed broccoli and caramelized onions.

I found the secret for me and omelets is to pour the egg mixture into the pan and cover it to sort of steam the omelet so I don’t have to flip it.  Doesn’t it look purty?  Not sure if it is sad or not that I was excited at how this omelet turned out LOL.

I had to laugh at some of the interpretations of yesterday’s post title,  from bikini butt to not knowing what the heck it meant!  A bikini is not something I think I would ever get in for one, and I don’t often talk about my behind on the blog (other than to get it in gear), but I thought that particular issue of biking needed to be addressed.  The soreness seems to be a major sticking point for people getting started with biking, so I want to let you all know it does go away.

Snack time!  Latte and some dark chocolate.

Then I was hungry again an hour later, so I had some blueberries.

These are from the store and not the local ones and I can taste such a difference.  Oh well.

John was on the grill tonight and did up some ground pork burgers.  I like ground pork as it is not as dry as lower fat ground beef and still quite tasty.

I had mine with laughing cow and more caramelized onions (I have a batch in the freezer).  Good thing I am already married 😆

Still working tonight.  We have a weekend getaway planned, so I have to get as much extra work done as possible this week!  Gonna get a snack and back to work after posting this.

Question:  Do you ever get back to basics with something?

Lifting, squats, and Indian food.

Slept pretty good last night and got up at about 6:50, which is pretty good sleeping in for me 😀 I had a protein drink and biked to the gym in gorgeous weather!

Did the iron – trying to do less weight and more reps.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squats 3 sets of 8 at 45#!!! Lower body
Chin ups 1 set of 2, 4 sets of 1 Upper back
Dumbbell Pullover 3 sets of 10 with 25# DB Back
Barbell press 3 sets of 12 with 45# bar Chest
Plank 3 sets of 1 minute holds Abs
Good mornings 3 sets of 10 with 30# bar Hammies and low back
Face Pull 3 sets of 15 at 20# Shoulders
Nosebreakers 3 sets of 12 at 25# Triceps

Good news – I was finally able to get back under the barbell!  Just an empty bar, but I could do the squat fairly balanced. Yay! I was feeling so good about that I hopped on the treadmill and busted out a mile jogging.  Really slow, but I did the whole mile.  About a 14-minute mile, but jogging nonetheless.  Maybe I will get over the injury after all :mrgreen:

Came home and made some custard oats with cocoa powder.

Topped with almonds and some fluff.  Then I relaxed and read blogs and caught up on emails.  Pretty soon, it was time for a visit here:

Dentist!  I have a chipped filling, which is going to be replaced next week.  They are also going to fill a cavity and build up between these 2 teeth. I have a large space between those teeth and food gets caught there a lot.  I have to floss it after every meal (annoying).   It will be nice to get that fixed.  I have to say that I really love my dentist.  He really seems to care about the patients.  I also found out I am an agressive brusher!  I have some exposing of my roots on one side because of that.  So, I have to make sure I keep the brush angled and to only hold it with 3 fingers to keep the pressure light.

After a good cleaning, you know I had to go spoil that with eating!

Isn’t this fun?  It’s a blue potato topped with laughing cow, some quinoa and broccoli.  Tasty, but I did put some hot sauce on it after taking a pic 😀  Plus a yummy pear.  Working in carbs today in preparation for tomorrow.

Spent time working in the garden.  Nothing new blooming, so no pics today.  I made lattes.

Looks a little green?  Don’t tell anyone.

Maybe it is because there was some of this in there:

Hey, it’s the weekend!  With this on the side:

John got cooking dinner.  He made a recipe link provided by Karen for Mujadara – a lentil and rice dish.

Caramelizing onions:

I cooked up lentils while John did the rice.  Mixed all together with cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper:

We cooked up some chicken, too, because we need more protein.

Easy and tasty!  Although it did take a while to cook those onions.  Who knew the onions would be so yummy.  This from a girl who picked out every single onion out of things growing up.  (I know, Mom, can you believe it??).

I also made a batch of date protein ball/squares today:

Made this batch with almonds.  And I snacked on some.  I hope to have a recipe up this weekend for these. These are to take along tomorrow.  We are shooting for a 60-mile ride!  I am a little nervous, but looking forward to it.  We will be leaving early as it will be at least 5 hours of riding.

Have a super night!

The Squat Queen

 

I forgot to post yesterday that I did barbell squats with 100 pounds!  That’s how much weight I have lost, which was a little  ironic to put back on my shoulders LOL!

I had to do a little shimmie when I got done out of happiness.  I don’t care who noticed!

Hit that goal faster than I thought.  So – my new goal is to squat my body weight (140ish) by the end of summer.  Muscles rock!

 

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