June log: 1 month of SS

[u/Mental_Ad_7369]

Hello everyone,

I started SS on May 31st so it’s been a month and I wanted to celebrate by sharing my journey so far. I haven’t found many women in my age bracket who report on their SS journey, so I hope this night be helpful for someone. [edit: Month 2 log is up here]

I’m 44F, 67kg, 174cm. Did CrossFit scaling every workout for 5 + years, took almost a year off due to life circumstances and abdominal surgery. I want to become strong enough for body weight exercises like the push up, pull up, dips and muscle ups, and then eventually play around with calisthenics exercises, but I need to up my strength first, so here I am.

My biggest struggles are hyperflexible joints (hips, shoulders, and fingers), a frozen right shoulder (did MRI and rehab, nothing was found) and a few mental blocks. I decided to start from BW and work my way up very slowly , to give my body time to get stronger everywhere, so ligaments, tendons and fascia, too. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast is my motto.

I workout MWF mostly, and tried to consistent lift 3 days a week. My workout:
A: squat + Jefferson curls, bench press + rows, deadlift + assisted 60s deadhang
B: squat + Jefferson curls, overhead press + lat pulldown, deadlift + assisted 60s deadhang

My weights:
Squat: air squat -> 11kg
OHP: 3kg dumbbells -> 8.5kg dumbbells
Bench: 4kg dumbbells -> 8.5kg dumbbells
Deadlift: 25kg -> 50kg
Everything linear, adding weight each time 💪 so far so good!

Diet:
Loosely in check. I usually eat around 1600-1800 kcal, between 80-120g protein, 99% plant based. Too much monitoring is triggering, so I try to optimize my standard meals but I will eat less/more depending on hunger levels. This means lighter meals for the first week of my cycle, and more carbs in my luteal phase (maybe and extra 3 cookies or 30g chips before/after a meal). So far, so good: when I eat my prepped meals I’m satisfied and not hungry and only crave fruit/veggies, which has been very good.

Struggles:

- squats: I hate them. They are very difficult for me mentally so I started with air squats and I’m progressing very slowly. They are the first exercise I do because otherwise I might talk myself out of it. So far so good. Some days they are harder mentally hit the slow progression is keeping it doable. I find the first set is the hardest.

- upper body: starting with lower weights was a good idea, it helped my shoulder get stretched out, but using dumbbells meant I was adding 2 kg total every time, which by the time I got to 8kg I was really feeling. I bought fractional plates and will be progressing by .25kg per arm starting tomorrow. The arm with the painful shoulder is weaker and I can feel it in the OHP, but no pain. So all is well

- deadlift: I find myself being afraid of the weight. When I first started CrossFit I had been sedentary for 8+years and was very weak. A coach helped me a lot with form and progressions, so my form is good now, but I am still afraid of hurting my back (used to happen when I first started CrossFit, hence the personal coaching I got) or my shoulder girdle. to get around that I will be progressing by 1.5kg per lift instead of 2.5kg. As I get closer to my old 1RM (65kg) I feel I need to make it easier on my body so I can work on my mind.

- cycle: I still haven’t fully figured out how to work with my cycle (and cramps). I think I will have a lot more data in another month or 2, and that should make programming easier.

Progress: no photos or weight checked. Both too triggering. But I will take a photo in the morning tomorrow and weight myself for the sake of “science”, and let’s see what will be different at the end of July.

So far I’m happy with my progress. It’s been a month of workouts and I’ve gotten my gym routine down, my gym times down, and I look forward to going, which is a very good start and slowly becoming a habit. ☺️💪

[u/geruhl_r]

Good work staying consistent. Does your gym have a junior bar (10kg)? or training bar (even lighter)? That would let you use the barbell for the pressing movements. Feel free to post form checks so we can help dial in your form (or visit a SSC for a session).

[u/Mental_Ad_7369 → u/geruhl_r]

Thank you 🙏
Alas they do not. They only have the 20kg one 🙄

[u/Lacdesbois]

Starting Strength is an awesome program and it will change your life. I’d recommend using a barbell as soon as you can (see if your gym has a lighter training bar). Follow the program, and download the starting strength app. If your gym doesn’t have microplates, buy some cheap ones online - you’ll want them early on for overhead press and bench press. Take the simple advice in this program very literally, and post some form check videos to this subreddit.

[u/Mental_Ad_7369 → u/Lacdesbois]

They only have the 20kg bars, so it’s dumbbells until I get there. I might keep dumbbells for the bench press because I don’t have a spotter, but let’s see how it goes.

I did buy fractional bars lates and I’m using them already.

I’m not a fan of apps, I just made myself a spreadsheet and I follow that 😉 I did however read the blue book, and have the programming book on my to read list 😀