Hi all, I'm 44 (5'3", 125) and have been exercising/lifting on and off for 20 years, used to be in law enforcement where I was in great shape and after having 2 kids, have been working my way back to that level. I realized I was doing too much cardio and even though my endurance improved doing CrossFit, I had a HORRIBLE time recovering (sore for 5-6 days). Since then, I stopped all the cardio, starting eating much more, and started lifting heavy last year, I competed in my 1st bikini competition earlier this month. 've been lifting heavy since last November and recently competed in my 1st bikini competition. Judges said I had great presence and athletic muscle tone (muscled quads), but I need more conditioning in the back of my lower half (glute-ham tie-in of course). I ate clean, and towards the end of prep, was doing 6x60 LISS along with 3 days of an upper/lower body split. My upper body and quads looked great as did my back (got down to 16% bf thru hydrostatic water test), but upper thighs looked were still holding onto some fat. I was so weak I could barely work out and had trouble sleeping. Used topical thermogenics, thigh wraps, yohimbe HCL, you name it.
I should also mention that I've been on HRT since March due to extremely low T after getting thyroid checked for poor sleep, brain fog, constant fatigue and night sweats and awful post-ovulatory depression. Thyroid was actually fine but they said I should get on testosterone (200mg orally and the doc switched me to 0.1ml injectable along with 200mg of oral progesterone to help with sleep and depression). Since I started with the injectable, that depression and horrible PMS has gone away and I've been able to recover a bit better after lifting (and believe me, I'm doing the Epsom salt baths, glutamine, glucosamine, etc., and I still can barely walk for a week if I even try to train my calves with more than 20lbs in weight - I end up suffering daily muscle cramps).
I need to gain a lot more muscle mass in my shoulders and glutes. My trainer said we'll have a longer prep next go-round (26 weeks vs. 22) to come into my next competition super lean, I don't think they're going to go easily. Not sure where to go from here - stick with the program and try a change in diet by going lower carb or consider anavar 5mg to start. I believe the key is to build a lot of muscle in the glutes and hammies but my recovery is still limiting how much volume I can do in a day.
Thoughts?
I should also mention that I've been on HRT since March due to extremely low T after getting thyroid checked for poor sleep, brain fog, constant fatigue and night sweats and awful post-ovulatory depression. Thyroid was actually fine but they said I should get on testosterone (200mg orally and the doc switched me to 0.1ml injectable along with 200mg of oral progesterone to help with sleep and depression). Since I started with the injectable, that depression and horrible PMS has gone away and I've been able to recover a bit better after lifting (and believe me, I'm doing the Epsom salt baths, glutamine, glucosamine, etc., and I still can barely walk for a week if I even try to train my calves with more than 20lbs in weight - I end up suffering daily muscle cramps).
I need to gain a lot more muscle mass in my shoulders and glutes. My trainer said we'll have a longer prep next go-round (26 weeks vs. 22) to come into my next competition super lean, I don't think they're going to go easily. Not sure where to go from here - stick with the program and try a change in diet by going lower carb or consider anavar 5mg to start. I believe the key is to build a lot of muscle in the glutes and hammies but my recovery is still limiting how much volume I can do in a day.
Thoughts?