Adena

December 4 is indeed pretty dang soon. I'm not sure we're going to be able to pull it off quite that fast! I'm hoping to have an elegant kinda big wedding. All our family and friends. So far we're waiting for the pastor to get back into town to let us know what we need to do to get married at his church (it's my boyfriend's mom's church). There's a lot to do, but I've found a wholesale wedding dress shop online, so I'll be able to get a satin fancy schmancy dress for under $200, which is pretty awesome. I had a funny moment yesterday talking to someone in their customer service department. I said I was vegan and wanted to know if their taffetta and organza were made out of real silk. She said, it's all man-made materials, sorry. I replied that actually, I was hoping for that! I've found a caterer online who may not work out for other food, but since they specialize in vegan wedding cakes, that's where I'm going to get the cake, at least. They're located about two hours away, so they can't actually cater out here, so we'll have to go pick up the cake and other food, if we decide to get it from there. We're still waiting on the ring to be delivered, so I guess we're still "engaged to be engaged." That's where things stand for now!

Haha!

Nice job! I'm glad your lower back is feeling better these days.

Bench Day Bench: 1x5x95 1x2x105 (almost 3) Since I failed on the third rep, I decided I had better stop. To be fair, I haven't really been eating much lately. I think my body decided for me that it was going to start cutting. I think it needs a break. 1x16x65 1x12x65 2x8x65 1x7x65 Bench w/small bands: 1x12x45 1x10x45 1x8x45 Push-Ups: 1x12 1x7 1x6 I don't know what's going on, my body is just plain tired of being stuffed full of food. I think I'm going to take about a month to try new lifts, lift for endurance isntead of strength, do more cardio, and spend time outside when it's not raining. Maybe my belly will get slightly smaller, but I'm concerned I'll lose some strength at the same time. Oh well. I realized last night that I've pretty much been lifting heavy weight for low reps for seven months straight, other than those deload weeks once a month, but right now I feel like I need a little more deloading than that.

We've had a lot of thunderstorms and flooding here, too. It really puts a cramp in my cardio days! I managed to work in some HIIT before the rain started yesterday, though.

Spending one month away from squats and deadlifts sucks, but it's really not too long. You shouldn't see much of a strength loss, I think. And your numbers on upper body movements will probably see some gains. Nice job reaching your (and my) body weight on bench, haha! I'm kinda pissed I haven't gotten there yet, but I'm happy for you!

Standing Overhead Press Day SOHP: 1x5x55 1x3x65 1x1 failed attempt x 75 3x12x45 1x10x45 1x8x45 BOR: 1x16x75 1x12x75 1x10x75 One Arm DB Press with 25 lb: 3-5 rep range for both arms Unassisted Chin-Ups: 3x2 Deadlift Day Deadlift: 1x5x135 1x5x195 1x3x205 1x2x215 I almost made it to three reps, but not quite. Rack Pulls: 1x10x135 3x1x225 Good Morning: 3x12x135 Farmer's Walks with 45 lb plates Plate Pinches with two 5 lb plates, each hand.

Last night I had brown rice, marinated asian tofu, a few raw snow peas and a salad of red and green lettuces. Tonight we're picking up our veggies from our CSA, so last night we were kind of running out.

Jeez, I'm glad you're ok too! That does NOT sound like a pleasant surprise!

No idea. We don't even have a ring yet! It should be shipping in our general direction now...I think. My boyfriend is kinda pushing for December 4. This year. I don't know if that's going to happen, but we'll try our darnedest.

Bench Day Bench: 1x3x80 1x3x90 1x3x105 5x12x45 J & Press: 1x15x45 1x10x65 1x8x65 Seated tricep extensions: 3x12x25 Push-Ups: 1x10 1x12 1x9 Squat 'Til You Puke Day Parallel squats: 1x3x130 1x3x150 1x6x165 Ok, that was awesome! Olympic Squats: 1x10x115 5x10x125 I only waited about a minute between each set, so I definitely felt like I was about to puke by the end of it! Lunges with 35 pound plate That's it...I think I will have these shortened training sessions until after my wedding. Waaaaay too much to do!

Agreed.

For what it's worth, I was just going to come in here and say I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time, and I hope you get it all figured out!

Those sound like several of the best reasons to be happy I've ever heard of! Nice job on the squats!

Yikes! This is why I'm scared to do barbell lunges! Hope you heal up soon.

Yes! I'm glad you can see well enough to get in the gym and get some work done!

Standing Overhead Press Day SOHP: 1x3x50 1x3x60 1x4x70 5x10x45 BOR: 1x15x75 1x12x75 1x10x75 One Arm Dumbbell Presses with 25 lb dumbbell: 4-8 rep range for both arms Assisted Chin-Ups I decided I would skip wide grip pull-ups and just add them to my deadlift day. That makes more sense anyway. I usually just end up doing both because I think, "Hm, well here I am at the pull-up bar...may as well use it for both chin-ups and pull-ups!" By the way, my boyfriend insists that chin-ups and pull-ups are the same thing. What I mean is that Chin-Ups are underhand and Pull-Ups are overhand. So I do chin-ups on SOHP Day because they're all arm, and I will move wide grip Pull-Ups to Deadlift Day because they use your back too.

You'll get there!

Thank you! I'm still sore from squats...I couldn't go running yesterday, even though it was perfectly nice and sunny out. I was hobbling around like a little old lady!

Bench Day Bench Press: 1x5x75 1x5x85 1x3x100 1x6x100 On the second to last set I got really nervous because I didn't have a spotter, but on the second I had a spotter, which is why there's the sudden jump in reps there. 4x10x65 1x7x65 J & Press: 3x10x45 Squat Day Squats: 1x5x120 1x5x140 1x6x160 A2G (Olympic style) Squats: 1x10x115 1x10x125 1x8x125 1x10x125 1x8x125 I was trying to make sure of my depth and form on these since it's been so long since I tried them, thus the weird fluctuation in the amount of reps I could do. These really wore me out! Lunges withh 35 lb plate overhead So my bench day was shortened due to lack of time, and my squat day was shortened due to lack of energy...by the time I was done with all that! I was drenched with sweat and smiling.

ROAR!

I don't really have any advice, but I do hope you don't get too bummed out about your pull-ups not improving as fast as you want. It's actually pretty common for most people to see Herculean improvements in lifts like deadlifts and squats, and very little improvement at all in things like pull-ups. Pull-ups are hard! Way hard!

You might try vegweb.com for more recipes so you can have more variety. Sorry all the guys are hasslin' you at the gym! I'm the only girl powerlifter at my gym, but people just leave me alone nowadays. I kind of have a determined scowl on my face the whole time. Seems to work for me.

vanilla

I don't think I'm really an ectomorph. I have a bulbous belly no matter what I do. I'm not really stuffing my face, but I seem to be gaining strength and weight with relative ease, at least compared to some of the truly skinny people out there. So at the moment, I'm trying to get bigger, but I run into problems when I try to cut. It just doesn't seem to happen for me.