I thought that I would post on this thread so you’d have some history rather than starting a new thread.
A few months after this thread, I stopped lifting: pandemic + 11 hrs from home caring for family member + (tipping point) bed bugs from a hotel stay then move back home without weightlifting set up, blah blah.
Anyway, I have gotten back to lifting this year and restarted Beginner’s Template and am getting ready to go to Phase 2 next week.
Some additional data points:
Age 65 BMI 23 ish after 55lb or so (about 28%) weight loss sustained for several years after breast cancer dx ( I was determined to reclaim health.) I still have an elevated waist measurement 93 cm (Cauc) but all metabolic markers are now normal after weight loss (I had metabolic syndrome before-- every symptom except abnormal glucose .) Still, I am in a minor deficit (lose a pound every other week or so) to try to whittle that waist away, but based on previous weight vs waist correspondence, I probably need to loose another 15% of my body weight . So I’m aiming to do the best I can. I figure any amount is an improvement.
2 questions: one on managing fatigue, one on recommendations for squats for phase 2 bc of limited ROM
Q 1 Any other suggestions for managing fatigue?
A couple medical factors that might affect my fatigue levels:
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My EF was affected by chemo that included Herceptin. It dropped 10 points to 45. My cardiologist isn’t concerned particularly but I know that is a pretty low EF
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VO2 max: 11 years ago, I also participated in a study on VO2 max comparing women who had just completed treatment for breast cancer to matched controls: women without cancer same BMI/age etc. During the study, the two researchers were really excited about how well I’d done. I went home and looked it up and it was in the “very poor” range for VO2 max. I asked about it next visit. Were they just trying to be encouraging? As it turned out , that score was actually quite good post chemo. The lead researcher (whose major research involves exercise and breast cancer survivors) said with really good training, I could increase that but probably not to the level I would have been without it. I don’t think I was nocebo’d: I took it as incentive to work hard. I share these items because I continue to deal with a high level of fatigue from weight lifting and maybe those factor in.
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I have Hashi’s but am medicated well, so I doubt if that has an impact.
I think I’m in pretty good shape cardio-wise. I get in 150 min+ cardio per week combo of mod/vig. Very accommodated to walking so that I can’t get into a moderate HR range unless I am walking briskly up a significant incline. I do a combination of jogging intervals, stationary biking, dancing, and heavy gardening . (Friendly quibble with @Austin_Baraki about gardening as exercise at end of post 
)
Still however, I deal with a lot of fatigue after lifting. So perhaps it’s the EF or VO2 max issues. I am much better at estimating RPE for lower body than for upper body. ( I think because for upper there is often only 2 lbs difference between @ 6 to @ 7 to @8. But even if I’ve mistakenly hit @ 10 on an upper body exercise, it doesn’t seem to add to the fatigue factor.)
So I don’t think it’s poor RPE that results in the fatigue.
What I’m doing now to manage fatigue:
Through Phase 1, I switched to completing 2 training sessions per week instead of 3. (So I get 3 weeks done in 4 weeks.) My deadlift exceeded my previous deadlift within about 6 weeks (!) on this schedule. Squats didn’t pop back so fast. This schedule seems to suit me pretty well and seems consistent with guidelines for people my age.
So for phase 2, I will incorporate your previous suggestion about cutting much more than the recommended 5-10% for the back off sets.
Previously, you were not in favor of splitting a workout over 2 days, but I guess I’d need more detail as to what “going a little lighter” on the 3rd set as you originally suggested means. Lighter weights? Fewer reps? decrease RPE? All of the above? There are times when I just feel like my body is done after 2 exercises though and I try to respect that. While I don’t “plan” to delay the last set, sometimes I’m at a session RPE of 9 or 10 after 2 sets of exercises.
Q 2 Recommendations for squat #2, #3?
Range of motion from combo surgery/radiation scarring + frozen shoulder requires that I do front squats or safety bar squats if I use a bar. I hate FS because I feel most of the effort is directed at not pitching forward, but I used front squats to work up to being able to use a safety bar (61 lbs.) Dumbbell squats would be doable, but I have limited dumbbells . (25lb the heaviest) I would like to continue to use the safety bar including for the squat variations, but would like advice on which ones to use and how to modify given that most of the variations seem like they would be harder than regular squats and I have just recently graduated to the weight of the safety bar. I mostly work out at my son’s garage gym. He has partial plates so I can make small adjustments as needed since the plates I’m using are always the same)
x 4 safety bar squat: my last sets were 71lbs @ 6, 81@ 7, 87@ 8
x7 last sets: 61@6, 66@7, 71@ 8
x10 My son suggested decreasing reps to get to @ 6, @ 7 to avoid using front squats, so these were from last week : 7x61 @ 6 ; 8x 61 @ 7, 10 x 61 @ 8 and might improve for today.
What would you suggest for alternate squats given that I want to use the safety squat bar and am “not quite there” even in a basic squat ? Should I just choose and decrease reps as I’ve done with the x10s? Do you have another suggestion?
Friendly quibble with Austin re: gardening as exercise
Austin, I’ve learned so much from you. My first intro to BBM was my son sharing your lecture on sarcopenia, all the youtube content from seminars with you and Jordan, your deadlift errors video,etc.
I’ve noticed, however, that you often pooh-pooh “gardening as exercise” in the videos. So I figure you must have a certain view of what is involved in gardening that may not match the reality. While it’s true that there are some times of year, size of gardens, and possibly some soil types that would render gardening merely light activity, there are certainly other seasons of the year and soil types that make gardening very much “real” exercise.
I garden in rocky, clay soil. Simply shoveling clay to turn over the soil in the spring puts me in the moderate range of cardio, but add prying up rocks, lifting rocks, pulling roots out from several inches of clay (I use deficit deadlift form–very helpful ), chopping roots… and the HR gets into the vigorous range. Shoveling compost, mulch, etc. and transporting heavy wheelbarrow loads, sometimes uphill. also results in moderate to vigorous cardio range. I figure strong man grew out of farming, so maybe gardening as a milder form of farming may be a way to mentally reframe. I hope you’ll reconsider your assessment of “gardening as exercise!” : Some of your patients may be dismayed if they think that isn’t enough to “count!” 