Day 6, Stage 1/B2
In empirical research, inter-rater reliability is the degree of agreement between “raters” (or researchers, coders, whatever). I had a little chuckle to myself when I discovered today how inter-gym reliability is just as important for measuring results!
I went to the rec centre again today for my second “B” workout. The first exercise was deadlifting. However, unlike the gym at school, this one doesn’t have the nice little fixed barbells – only olympic bars. I wasn’t sure of the weight of the bar, so I just did a few warm-ups with bodyweight, and then added on weight according to how much I could take (40lbs), figuring I’d look up the weight of the bar when I got home. Turns out that Olympic bars weight ~45 lbs…so I was able to deadlift 85lbs this week – WAY up from the 50lbs I did last week.
THEN, I went to do my lat pulldowns. I set the weight to what I had done last week – 5olbs – but was shocked when it was almost too heavy for me to pull down. I readjusted until I found a comfortably heavy weight (27.5). I did the sets using that weight, feeling totally confused. Either I just went down a LOT, or there was something different about the machine. I went and asked the guy at the desk and he explained that I was using a dual-pulley, and the numbered bars indicate weights per arm. So, turns out I was pulling 55lbs.
Yeah, I felt silly. But happy that I kicked up my weight from last week.
Both of these “incidents” made me realize that so much of lifting is in the mind. Not knowing how much I was lifting, and instead just doing what felt heavy, I ended up lifting better. Not bad.
Here’s the workout (I actually did B3 instead of B2. Oops. Oh well):
SS
Deadlift – 1 set of 12 @ 85lbs, 1 set of 10 @ 85lbs
Alternating Sets
Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 1 set of 12 @ 17.5lbs, 1 set of 10 @ 17.5lbs (each arm)
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown – 1 set of 12 2 55lbs, 1 set of 10 @55lbs
Lunge – 1 set of 12 @ 20lbs, 1 set of 13 @ 20lbs (each arm)
Swiss Ball Crunch – 1 set of 12, 1 set of 12 @10lbs
Every day is a learning experience.
It was tiring.
And now I am hungry.
🙂
the lady lifts 
Haha, I’ve totally done the lat-pull down incident! Although I used to get super happy because once I thought I was doing tricep push downs with 85 pounds- but it was really half of that. Ha!! And good job on your increases!!! That is great!
Too funny. I guess it’s a steep learning curve for gym equipment! lol.
Lady you are so strong!! WOW. Good for you!! Starting at 85 lbs for deadlift is really good
thank you! we’ll see if I can pull it off again next week…