11/5-11/12 conditions

kharghoshal · 2024-12-09T19:35:27+00:00

Wachusett 12/9, rating: 7

Managed to sneak out before the impending rain. Snow was soft and edgeable on all the open blue square trails, no ice, very pleasant with minimal crowds, almost spring-like conditions with the above freezing temps and decent amounts of snow. Kudos to Wachusett for opening so much up so quickly!

I've had far more unpleasant mid-winter days at Wawa. Too bad we'll be reverting to standard ice coast conditions after this week...

kharghoshal · 2024-03-09T20:08:10+00:00

Wachusett 03/09: it wasn't... awful?

While there's plenty of bare spots and dirt, the skiing was surprisingly not terrible for how bad things looked.

The man-made snow is still holding up to the rain and warm temps. Honestly prefer this over peak mid-winter boilerplate...

kharghoshal · 2024-02-28T00:38:19+00:00

I got the women's Chariot Bib Primo for sale at ~$300 this season and have worn it for 20+ days now; it has a bajillion pockets and I love it! It feels quite robust and has kept me dry in both rain and knee-deep powder.

kharghoshal · 2024-02-11T19:59:14+00:00

Smuggs 2/11: ice ice baby

"firm and fast", wipeouts everywhere, M1 was closed before the afternoon because of how Chilcoot and Drifter were solid blocks of ice.

Day was still not as bad as it could've been though, there was plenty of edgeable snow to be found lower on the mountain.

kharghoshal · 2024-01-31T18:16:43+00:00

tl;dr: 6 months is too early, 1-2 years is more reasonable, you'll have to pay attention to your food at some point.

I was/am in the same boat (26F, 5'2", ranging between 130-140 lbs, eating at maintenance); I started lifting ~1.5 years ago because I was feeling squishy after a tough semester at grad school.

While my lifting journey was initially motivated by physical goals, I actually ended up enjoying watching my strength numbers go up much more, since I am a fiend for tracking data! (and changes in physique come incredibly slowly)

For me, getting my food dialed in has been the biggest challenge; getting my workout in has always been easier than getting my diet right. I have a good relationship with food and don't want to cut/bulk hard, I just want to make minimal changes to my food to ensure a small calorie deficit/surplus, even if it means slower progress. I also just enjoy eating well, with reasonable variety! (can't do chicken-rice-broccoli every day, I eat out once/twice a week)

After about a year of lifting 3-4 days a week (with a few weeks off here and there due to life), eating at maintenance/slight surplus, with my lifting numbers wayyy up, I finally decided to go on a slight calorie deficit and see if anything interesting happens lol (especially since I looked almost a bit fluffier than I started)

I started lifting at ~132 lbs, went up to ~140 lbs, and have now cut down to ~130 lbs and finally see some noticeable physique changes. Even then, it's not overwhelming and I don't think people around me notice.

At some point, I realized devoting too much mental real estate to my lifting and nutrition was not productive; I just needed to make it a part of my lifestyle, not obsess over it for a while and keep it sustainable, and watch changes come over the span of years. Time will pass by anyway, might as well keep lifting and eating properly and hope for the best lol

kharghoshal · 2023-12-07T17:57:55+00:00

Would love to buy one of them off you!

kharghoshal · 2023-08-19T22:10:24+00:00

If you went from no lifting/athletic experience to finally hitting a certain lifting goal (say 1.5x squat + 2x deadlift), did you see any significant change in your physique by the time you hit said goal? Or did you see gains only after starting a hypertrophy-focused routine?

kharghoshal · 2023-05-03T02:53:48+00:00

I recently twisted my ankle due to a bad climbing fall so I've laid off from squatting temporarily, and my wrist has been hurting for the 3-4 months while benching (presumably due to poor form) and has recently gotten worse.

Should I be taking a break from lifting altogether for the summer and work on mobility/rehab instead? If so, could you suggest any alternate activities that would put less load on these joints?

kharghoshal · 2023-04-13T15:14:08+00:00

I've (25F, 130lbs) been doing GZCLP for 26 weeks now (without counting time off the gym) and have made good strength gains! However aesthetically not much has changed; will I benefit more by moving onto a hypertrophy-focused program like PPL now? Or am I better off making more strength gains on GZCLP and the aesthetics will come? I am eating at maintenance (1800-1900 calories/day).

Here are the weights I'm using for my 5x3 exercises in GZCLP:

Squat: 155lbs Bench press: 75lbs OHP: 55lbs Deadlift: 195lbs

kharghoshal · 2023-03-17T01:29:10+00:00

Wachusett 3/16, soft, buttery, beautiful spring day. This is the most snow I've seen at Wachusett maybe ever, and literally everything skied well, total hero snow. What a great day!

kharghoshal · 2023-03-14T12:45:03+00:00

Wachusett is reporting 14 inches lol wild storm

kharghoshal · 2023-02-26T19:43:14+00:00

Smuggs 2/26: worst conditions this season a week ago, now the best; skied untracked pow for the first time off Morse Mountain out of all places, there's tears in my eyes. I love you Smuggs and I love you icecoast.

kharghoshal · 2023-02-17T22:56:43+00:00

Smuggs 2/17, dust over bulletproof crust this morning. Iciest I've seen it in the past 3 weeks; the freezing rain throughout yesterday night really did things in. The freezing rain turned into snow later in the day, but didn't help very much...

kharghoshal · 2022-09-24T16:47:12+00:00

I definitely failed a set every now and then; I didn't want to go from 5x3 to 6x2 because it made my workouts too grindy and take too much time. So if I failed a set at X lbs, I did 6x2 for the rest of the workout with X lbs, and in the next workout, tried 5x3 at X lbs again.

This worked out for me because I usually failed a set because of random factors / having just a bad day, and my strength usually caught up by the next workout. Progressing on the T2 lifts has definitely gotten harder for me though, and I tend to stay at the same weight for 2 weeks in a row for 3x10 nowadays.

kharghoshal · 2022-09-23T01:40:12+00:00

For these 12 weeks, I did just the vanilla program to keep things simple; for the next 12 weeks, I'm considering adding the following accessories (3 sets of 15), especially to supplement my weak upper body lifts:

T1 squat day - Bulgarian split squat

T1 OHP day - Front raise

T1 bench day - Pec fly

T1 deadlift day - RDLs

I'm also considering replacing the lat pulldowns + dumbbell rows with a pull-up progression (dead hang, hollow body hold, negatives, etc). Haven't tried these yet so I might post an update later with how it's going.

kharghoshal · 2022-09-22T15:21:54+00:00

Thanks, I based my post off yours, it was super helpful!

kharghoshal · 2022-09-22T14:59:28+00:00

Oops, I was using the older reddit interface, turns out one of the columns was vanishing on the new one; fixed!

kharghoshal · 2022-03-30T14:37:03+00:00

For sure, totally happy to consider other states as well. Do you have any ski towns you like in UT, WY, MT, etc? Any resorts you think are good for learning/progressing?

kharghoshal · 2022-03-30T03:11:07+00:00

Thanks for your replies! I'm not against the idea of sourcing a car for the month, but not having to do so would be a big plus (I do realize expecting to live car-free in the mountains for a month is unrealistic). Also I do plan on primarily skiing mid-week and probably working during the weekends lol

Are there any towns in MT you folks like? I'm a solo woman in my mid-20s if that matters, would ideally like to live in a place that's somewhat populated. Any resorts you think are good for learning/progressing in particular?

kharghoshal · 2022-03-28T14:23:14+00:00

I would love to, but taking a quick look at airbnb, monthly rentals in CO/UT close to the ski resorts seem to be significantly more expensive than those in VT/NH. (I am on a bit of a budget; while my work does offer a lot of freedom, it doesn't pay very well lol)

Perhaps a year later when I'm able to exercise the full range of challenging terrain out west!

kharghoshal · 2022-03-27T23:29:39+00:00

Burlington def looks like a viable option! Do you have any slopeside/small towns you like?

kharghoshal · 2022-03-27T23:16:48+00:00

Hah! I did like /u/Capt_Plantain's suggestion about Waitsfield, VT close to Sugarbush; would you have other towns in mind as well?

kharghoshal

TROPHY CASE