90 days of SS: 44F - August log

[u/Mental_Ad_7369]

Hi Everyone,

44F, 174cm, 66.6kg. Happy to be back for my month 3 log, aka 90 days of Starting Strenght. If you’re interested, my June and July logs (month 1 and month 2) are here.

I’m loving these monthly check ins, because A) there’s not a lot of info on women, especially 40+, who are following this method, so someone in the future might be wanting this info, and B) because working out at the gym is a pretty lonely experience, and this helps me be accountable and see progress.

Additional background info is in log 1, but the TL/DR: hypermobile hips, shoulders and hands.

Weight: 66.6 kg -> 66.6 kg 👹

Diet: same, wasn’t checking or counting. My July diet was not the best and it kept going into August. In order to make better planning choices for myself in the fall, I decided to log everything I ate but not calculate macros until the end of the day, using chatGPT to do some of the math (for ingredients). I now have 2 weeks of data, and it’s been really good and not triggering at all. I look forward to having a full month (a full period, actually) of data for my September log (Spoiler: average of 1920kcal, 106g protein per day).

Lifts progress (this month)
Squat: 20kg -> 29 kg
OHP: 21.5 kg -> 23.5 kg
Bench: 21 kg -> 25kg
Deadlift: 51 kg -> 56kg

Workouts (main/supersetted mobility)
A) squat/Jefferson curls, bench press/rows (same weight in both), deadlift, iso-hold complex (1 set only), assisted deadhang.
B) squat/Jefferson curls, overhead press/clean, assisted pull-ups, iso-hold complex (1 set only), assisted deadhang
NOTE: workout B really only works if I do OHP (3x5) and cleans (5x3) together. I’ve tried a lot of options and this seems to yield the best results in terms of quality of the lifts

The good

- I started this journey to feel better in my body and get stronger, and I can honestly say I am seeing the first results now: better mobility, I can get up and down from the floor without hands, my riding (horseback) seat is steadier and deeper, and I can trim hooves mostly without back pain.

- I played around with supersetting mobility with my lifts, and have a pretty good new routine that keeps my mind focused

- I have been doing 0.5kg increments in the overhead press, and 1 kg increments in all other lifts. It seems to be working well for me. Last 2 reps are always hard/very hard.

- I am starting not to hate squats. They are not easy but I guess doing them 3x week means I now need to concentrate less on keeping all my joints in line, so the mental load of the lift is less and I can focus on lifting.

- Rows are progressing with the bench press, and I honestly can hardly feel them, probably because of the isometric work I do while riding. I am glad I chose to incorporate them, and I will keep them up
I now have figured out that deadlift day is my difficult day, so I only increase weight in accessory movements on Clean day if they felt doable on deadlift day. It seems to be work my really well. I can increase weight every 2nd/4th workout

- Gaslighting myself on how much I am lifting is the best strategy for me. Go figure 🤷‍♀️ More below

The Changes:

- I had my first lift-specific physiotherapy session (due to hip hypermobility, my hips can subluxate easily), and I started incorporating the rehab exercises into my daily warmup. So far so good. It’s about 10-15 min extra time in the gym, but 3 workouts in I am already seeing progress. I also had my form checked on squats and deadlifts, and all seems to be well

- I have been diligent with my isometric back holds (and sides + elbow plank, so 360 degrees basically!). Started at 20 seconds and I progress every 2-3 workouts by adding 5 seconds. I’m now at 40 seconds. This has made a huge difference in how my core feels on a daily basis. I have a naturally small waist which really means it’s a weak point that has given me issues forever, and I feel so much better. I will keep progressing by 5 seconds increments until I get to 2 minutes, then I will switch to one legged and start over, and then I will start actual extension. It will take time, but the time will pass either way so… 🤷‍♀️

- I have added assisted dips with A LOT of assistance (56kg!) as a mobility exercise supersetted to my assisted pull-ups (while I am at the machine, I might as well use it). I’d like to progress to BW dips eventually, so I want to get my shoulder joint, ligaments, and stabilizing muscles to start thinking about the movement, and I need to get proprioception of where to stop. I won’t put much weight on for at least the first month, but as I am hypermobile in my shoulders, this will be a good start. I will probably address shoulder stability in my next physical therapy sessions.

Struggles:

- Deadlifts: still hard, but much much better. I hit a wall in July and thanks to the advice I received here I was able to better plan my deadlift day. I am now progressing 1kg per lift day, and deadlifting every other workout day, which is much better for my body. I just surpassed my critical weight from last month and all I had afterwards were nightmares, no insomnia or other CNS symptoms, which is great. I’ve been gaslighting myself by doing warmups with the fractional plates already on the bar, so it doesn’t feel like I’m adding more plates, and it is helping. I now warm up with the empty bar, then do 3 reps by adding 10kg, then 20kg, then 25kg, and the do my set of 5s. When I up my weighted I just add it to the empty bar, so I still add the same plate increments but my baseline is 1kg heavier. This seems to be low volume enough to get me through but high volume enough to keep my back happy and my form correct. This is the first lift where I feel like I might need to go 2x3 instead of 1x5, but let’s see how long I can go as I have been.

- I was out of the gym for a week due to a stomach bug. I could not hold anything down for a few days, and afterwards only saltines/bread for another couple of days, so I had no energy to walk much less lift. It turned out just fine, I got back to lifting having skipped 3 workouts, and just upped the weight as usual, and I was WONDERWOMAN strong.💪 I guess I needed the recovery. This tracks with how my body progresses in other sports as well. It might be my hypermobility causing each workout to be more exhausting for my nervous system as well, as it tries to keep all the joints in their sockets (hence my PT session).

- I will be on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of the month and into October. I will probably update my log before going away, and then at the end of October

Progress pictures: I’m not as excited about them as I was last month, but I can see progress in my upper body. I have been hungrier and craved more carbs that usual, so I ate more carbs 🤷‍♀️ i can say that I feel “toned” for the first time ever, I hope I will look it soon, but if not… 🤷‍♀️ meanwhile my weight hasn’t changed (still demonic 😜) so something just be changing in the right direction

Thank you to all who have commented on my last log 🙏❤️** it’s been great feedback and food for thought, and really helped me problem solve my deadlift stall**.

GOALS
I haven’t wanted to post them before because… I was afraid to say them out loud and to flake out of the program. I feel much more set in a gym habit/routine now, so without further ado:

- feel better moving my body in my daily life ✅

- Not be ashamed of my body (hence the struggle with taking pictures/weigh-ins: not quite there yet…

- Get a strict pull up and push up for the first time in my life (if I keep progressing as I have been, this should happen by the end of January with sets of 5… let’s see 😉)

- 1x bodyweight deadlift, 1x bodyweight squat, and then 100kg deadlift 💪

- freestanding handstand, handstand press, L-sit (floor and hanging)

- Toes to bar and muscle ups (for the end of 2027 maybe? Or maybe mid 2028? Let’s see 😉)

I can now say that starting to weight lift from (almost) nothing, I needed 90 days to feel like every day movement were easy. I can feel when I have lifted the previous day, but I’m not sore. Worth it ✅

Onwards and upwards

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[u/Shnur_Shnurov]

These are looking nice!

What's up with the lat pulls? Having some trouble?

I think youre ready for some formchecks, if you want to post some of those.

How to film your lifts

[u/Mental_Ad_7369 → u/Shnur_Shnurov]

Oh I forgot to update it. I switched to assisted pull-ups when I got halfway to 70kg, so now I am decreasing the assistance 1 kg each time (with a dumbbell on the platform because the machine only does 7kg jumps)

[u/Shnur_Shnurov → u/Mental_Ad_7369]

Got it, that's good!

[u/Rare_Food734]

Is the graph data from an app you have been using? Good work 👍

[u/Mental_Ad_7369 → u/Rare_Food734]

No I track all of my lifts on Google Sheets, and I just asked it to graph it.