little miss muscles

20. University student. Girl, geek, aspiring lifter of heavy shit.

Fitocracy  BB  Weighty Exorcism   
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barbellbabe: 1. Eventually compete in a triathlon, judo tournament, and powerlifting event.2. Lift 3-4 times per week, Judo practice twice a week. Once the snow melts, start training for an end-of-summer triathlon with lots of cycling/swimming/running.3. Lots of protein, lots of fruits & veggies. Eat more carbs on cardio-heavy days to replenish glycogen and avoid muscle soreness. Extra protein to promote muscle growth and repair. SLEEP. WATER. LOTS OF IT.  Reviving this blag after a two-week period of lifting and derping and being FRUSTRATED. I might write about it in more detail later, but for now:  1. Bodyweight snatch. 1.25x BW clean and jerk. Competing, preferably, in the 63kg class.  2. Lots of technique work, lots of work in general — practice 3-4x a week + metcons/interval runs. Eating adequately and reasonably. Heavy strength work with significantly more volume on squats and pulls. Drop snatch all day long. Strengthen lower back and continue with mobility work.  3.  The same as usual — protein and veggies and fruits. ADEQUATE SLEEP AND REST. No junk gym sessions. No junk miles. Nothing “just because” or “to fuel my ego” or “because I feel fat”. From now until April, everything lift I make is going to be done with the purpose of becoming a beast. 

barbellbabe:

1. Eventually compete in a triathlon, judo tournament, and powerlifting event.
2. Lift 3-4 times per week, Judo practice twice a week. Once the snow melts, start training for an end-of-summer triathlon with lots of cycling/swimming/running.
3. Lots of protein, lots of fruits & veggies. Eat more carbs on cardio-heavy days to replenish glycogen and avoid muscle soreness. Extra protein to promote muscle growth and repair. SLEEP. WATER. LOTS OF IT. 

Reviving this blag after a two-week period of lifting and derping and being FRUSTRATED. I might write about it in more detail later, but for now: 

1. Bodyweight snatch. 1.25x BW clean and jerk. Competing, preferably, in the 63kg class. 

2. Lots of technique work, lots of work in general — practice 3-4x a week + metcons/interval runs. Eating adequately and reasonably. Heavy strength work with significantly more volume on squats and pulls. Drop snatch all day long. Strengthen lower back and continue with mobility work. 

3.  The same as usual — protein and veggies and fruits. ADEQUATE SLEEP AND REST. No junk gym sessions. No junk miles. Nothing “just because” or “to fuel my ego” or “because I feel fat”. From now until April, everything lift I make is going to be done with the purpose of becoming a beast. 

Took a rest day. Not gonna lie, I fucking needed it — as frustrating as yesterday’s practice was, I nailed 75kgx3 twice (got it for two the next) on my front squat — which used to be my 1M. I’m glad I went, but, man oh man was everything else terrible. After an hour or two of pulls you kind of want to beat the crap out of someone (and my traps, right now, agree). 

Shoulder’s feeling a bit better, though. I might do some overhead work by Friday or Sunday, depending on how it feels. 

Running a caloric deficit, averaging out about 1400 calories a day. So far, so good. Hard to eat on a basically non-existent budget, though. 

AND WE RETURN TO OUR PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

So, basically, in the last few weeks:

  • I joined Reddit’s BTFC challenge. Haven’t done much for it until the last couple of days; this last week was about starting training again and feeding myself off of twenty bucks in a week. 
  • I got told by the coach that I’m starting to “look stocky” and need to “drop weight quickly” despite the fact that I have been consistently losing body fat since September. This, by the way, fucking sucked.
  • My lifts haven’t been going up. At all. My back and left shoulder feel like they’re going to explode. I’ve maintained or lost strength despite keeping a pretty good gym schedule (even during the break, I was lifting at least three times a week). 

This all came to a head last night, which lead to me getting pretty goddamn upset: shitty snatches, shitty squats, shitty everything, and then on top of that “oh BY THE WAY WE THINK YOU’RE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH AND YOU’RE EATING CRAP.” Which wouldn’t be such a big deal, I guess, if I wasn’t already working my ass off and watching what I put into my mouth. And there is, of course, that history of disordered eating thing. I came home after that three hour practice and barely managed to make myself eat a can of tuna.

So here’s what I’m going to do: 

  • I’m not going to compete in February. I still have time to change my mind, but I don’t think I want to. I’d rather focus on getting stronger for my competition in April and not feel like shit all the time. As much as I’d like to compete, I don’t think it’d be good for me right now. I have other priorities I need to focus on, and I don’t want to worry about crash-dieting for three weeks (as per the recommendation). 
  • I’m going to rehab the shit out of my back and shoulder this week. Stretching and mobility work has to become routine, not stuff I do when I’m bored or half-ass at the end of practice. It also can’t be stuff I only do when I’m in pain. 
  • I’ve got a friend coming in to stay with me for a few days this week, so I’m going to be out of the gym anyway. I’m going to take this opportunity to avoid going to practice and do some other stuff instead — running, swimming, whatever. Still gonna lift on Thursday or Friday, but not with a coach, and light sets.
  • As hesitant as I’ve been to start doing something like Leangains, I’m sort of starting to eat like that anyway. I just need to make sure I’m getting adequate food and track my macros. I worked out yesterday’s numbers and I only ate about 1300 calories — not ideal when you’re coming from a 3 hour practice. If I want to be able to push myself and, yes, get leaner, I need to eat.
  • Lifting is fun. I need to remind myself of that. A few unstructured lifting days working at a lower intensity might be just what the doctor ordered. Right now, I’m starting to dread going to the gym and I’m constantly beating myself up about my inability to perform. I’ve been here before, and I know where it goes, and I’m not eager to go there again. Killing myself is not the point. Becoming a good lifter is the point. Lifting has always been a very positive experience for me. I don’t want that to change. 

And stuff that isn’t here nor there:

  • I need to buy straps. My hands are not strong enough to do 95kg Romanian deads for sets, and I don’t pull anywhere near what I should be pulling without them.
  • I’m going to start keeping track of nutrition a little bit more carefully. I’ve been living off of tuna, canned chili, and coffee for the past week and a half. Not good. Not good at all. 
  • I need a massage. Like… fuck.

The Greeks and getting jacked.

Anthony 2:
59 am
they were the first to train for physical endeavors
and Socrates thought everyone should get jacked.
Mushroom671 2:
59 am
they name plates after plate-o

knifehands asked: Bro-ette! You seriously don't look anything above 130lbs! Happy lifting and goodluck with the contest :)

Bro! Thanks!

And haha, thank you. I’ve always been puzzled by how much heavier I am in relation to other people (and I wouldn’t say I’m at that low of a BF%, either). Like — the recommended weight for my height is somewhere between 115-125lbs and I just can’t see myself weighing that at all without losing some serious muscle. 

:B 

GalGardner's BTFC Post 20/F/150lbs 

barbellbabe:

The strongest, sexiest woman I know is participating in Reddit’s BTFC as well :D She is exactly what I’d love to look like by the end of this challenge. Check her out for awesome upon awesome.

Yep, that’s me. HEY INTERNET, NOW YOU KNOW WHAT I LOOK LIKE IN MY UNDERWEAR. 

Oh, wait, you already did. NEVER MIND.

(as a side note: YES, I HAVE BEEN LIFTING. Been home for a while and had no access to a computer since my laptop was broken. Back to your previously scheduled programming soon.)

"exerciser" vs. "athlete" 

rilaripped:

barbelleblog:

Yeah, you go to the gym and stuff. But are you training to be an athlete, or just a better exerciser?

Inspiring.

knifehands asked: But how do you get tone in that gym? Seriously jars of jelly that sounds like the perfect gym! My local 24 hour big box was getting so lame I decided to buy a set of bumpers and a bar for my garage. Wish I had a full cage and a coach though, train well warrior princess.

I know! I filed a complaint saying I was getting too huge, and needed pink spray paint to feel more comfortable. 

But seriously, yeah, I’m incredibly lucky that my university pays for awesome facilities like this and that I get to train here pretty much for free. I don’t think I’d have stumbled upon strength training otherwise, or at least, I would’ve taken a really, really long time to find my way into a gym on my own. 

Having your own garage gym sounds totally badass, though. Might have to look into that one day, when, you know, I have a place that has a garage. ;) 

knifehands asked: Bro-ette, super jelly of that empty well-equipped gym.

Not gonna lie, I love it to pieces.

Not a shakeweight in sight. (What we DO have: plyo boxes, three women’s Oly bars, lots of dude Oly bars, a few non-Oly bars, some shitty, super splintery blocks, a couple of exercise bikes, a grillion bumper plates (and some shitty rubber Crossfit 10lb rubber plates which nobody likes, ever), pull-up bars, lots of kettlebells, dumbbells, two squat racks + lots of free-standing racks, twelve Olympic platforms, collars, clips, chalk, rings, and a partridge in a pear tree (plus things I’m probably forgetting). Also, some of the most awesome folks ever, which, you know, helps.)

3 Stretches for Lifters (by JLascek)

Completely ridiculous. Also, pretty helpful! I’ve been doing variations of these for a while but definitely not as often as I should be, given the horror that is my hip flexors and hamstrings. I also pretty much don’t warm up ever (other than doing lots of light sets before getting to my max). I KNOW. I KNOW. 

Time to start doing this shit consistently. Also, time to start wearing my ushanka more often in fitness-related pursuits. 

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