Hi! New to the forums, but been reading t-nation a long time (I want Dani Shugart to be my sister so bad!)
I’ve been lifting about two years, and I love, love, LOVE it. I was combining weight training and fat loss in a kinda dangerous way for a while though, eating DEFINITELY not enough, getting dizzy during workouts, verging on passing out, starting to get depressed, etc.
I took a break. End of May, my husband basically said cool it with the weights, let yourself recover (tough love is good love; I was pretty rage-filled at the time, looking back now though it was absolutely necessary.)
I gave it about a month, and started easing in gently; the big four every workout (four days a week), plus some accessories to target some weak/unhealthy spots. At the same time, started to reverse diet my way out of the ridiculous calorie deficit I was in. Since then, gone from ~1300 cals a day to 2100 now. I’ve put on about 10 pounds, but I no longer sob at literally every minor bad thing.
It’s time to consider the best way to utilize my new found calorie abundance. My program right now is (numbers from last week; they go up every week still since I’m working up from baby recovery weights):
Day 1
Deadlift 5x5 (heavy; 235)
OHP 4x10 (light; 55)
Squats 4x10 (light; 95)
Bench 4x10 (light; 85)
back extensions, thrusters, lat pull downs, abductor/adductor work
Day 2:
OHP 5x5 (heavy; 80)
Squats 4x10 (light; 95)
Bench 4x10 (light; 85)
Deadlift 4x10 (light; 145)
Facepulls, tricep overhead, curls, dumb bell pullovers
Day 3:
Squats 5x5 (heavy; 155)
Bench 4x10 (light; 85)
Deadlift 4x10 (light; 145)
OHP 4x10 (light; 55)
leg extensions, romanians, adductor/abductor, pullups/pull up negatives
Day 4:
Bench 5x5 (heavy; 140)
Deadlift 4x10 (light; 145)
OHP 4x10 (light; 55)
Squats 4x10 (light; 95)
facepulls, incline press, leg pullthroughs, chest flies
I actually like doing the big lifts every day; I have problems with my hips, shoulders, and quads, and the consistent work keeps me from getting just the worst DOMS.
I’ve done Wendler’s 531 before, plus an old program that my husband had from early t-nation days, but I’m wondering if there’s something more targeted for women. I read a t-nation piece by Rippetoe (Strength Training for Women) about women being able to utilize 5 sets of 3 to good advantage. Now that I’m not so worried about bursting into tears mid set, or throwing plates across the gym, I’d like to go back to really heavy. Before my break, I was so damn close to that 300 deadlift, and I want it!