Ugh, usually wouldn’t log this as conditioning work, but today was challenging. Ended up hauling 45 pounds in a backpack + 20 pounds in another bag nearly 2 miles after a grocery trip.
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That sounds like one of my cardio sessions 
(minus 20lbs)
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Did 150 cal on the assault bike in ~19:30 + 50 band pull aparts.
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Uh, have you seen yourself do pullups? I can count on one hand the number of females I have seen do as many or more. You’re miles better than you think you are. Or maybe you are just humble, which is not a bad trait.
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I appreciate your comment, but at the same time very few women even care about strength training anyway. I think many more would be capable if they put forth a little bit of effort.
Like, I get the sense that most men are impressed to simply see a woman deadlift one plate because it’s uncommon. Lots of people turn to forums like these to find the secret for convincing their wife/girlfriend to do resistance training, so if the latter simply touches a weight, it’s considered a victory. Anything above that is remarkable. Though I’ll concede that the paradigm has shifted in the past decade or so, mostly thanks to CrossFit.
It’s possible but I doubt overly so
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I understand the point you are making, but I am comparing you to people I see at the gym regularly, some of whom are quite impressive in their own right. That kind of upper body pulling strength is rare even in women who are otherwise quite strong.
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My exact same remark a while back.
Yeah well many men do and as a trainer I can tell you that many young men can’t do this 
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Yeah also have to disagree quite strongly. I have spent incredible amounts of time in gyms, worked with female athletes and am friends with female strength athletes. Never really seen anything like your pull ups numbers in all that time in person. Some of the girls I am referring to did care a great deal about their strength.
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Yeah exactly. I know a few, like 4 girls that can bang sets of 9 pull-up like @Bagsy just did. And they have national levels in Crossfit or Olifting
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Didn’t know you were inviting female strength athletes to your home gym 
I mean, I don’t expect any Joe Schmo who sometimes steps in a gym to impress, hahaha.
I know I’m just going back and forth here, but…
I like pull ups because few women can do them. That’s empowering, yet at the same time I’ve greased the groove on pull ups as a skill for years. Not weighing much also helps. Tons of lighter people can do BW movements decently but have mediocre (me) or even worse barbell lifts. I bet these female lifters you’ve seen are on the whole significantly stronger than I am. I mean this in a realistic rather than a pitiful sense.
Come on now, there you go again! Your lifts-to-bodyweight are not mediocre.
My wife is strong IMO, and I think her best pullup numbers were like 3 reps at a time. You are an athlete. Embrace it. Celebrate it.
And lean into that empowerment!
FWIW I was always weak as a kid and young man, but I leaned into pullups hard because I could do them; it was empowering and made me feel like “one of the guys” because I could beat them at pullups even if i couldn’t squat or bench 135 (true story, but irrelevant to your situation!)
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They really are though, especially when viewed from that perspective, considering I’ve been training like not a complete idiot for ~4.5 years now I think? Very far from a 1.5xBW squat, somewhat far from a BW bench and 2xBW deadlift. It doesn’t make lifting feel futile or anything, it just is what it is.
I feel I’ve done a decent job not divulging my (seemingly pessimistic) realism in this log the past few months, and I’m glad I actually felt proud enough of myself last week to briefly brag. But it’s definitely still difficult for me to do deep down. I think it’s part of my personality, as I’m sort of like this in other areas. So, a work in progress. I appreciate your chiming in though 
Occasionally I feel like I’m a one-trick-pony with pullups, which is frustrating, but I might fear losing being good at that “one thing” enough that it holds me back on boosting my other lifts 
Well, you don’t give that impression now. I admire your efforts and thoughtfulness with training and your family.
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you need to step it up a notch. face the challenge. make something useful of yourself. train harder. become brutally strong. just my 2 cents.
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Haha, that’s been my intent. I’ve definitely dug myself into recovery holes before, and I’ve done difficult programs. I always strive to not be the person who must be told (by myself or others) to work harder inside or outside of training. But maybe I am dogging it more than I think I am. I’m open to that being the case, since it’s very much in my control.
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that’s the spirit
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Deload session. Pressed 70 for a very grindy single and squatted 150 smoother than expected with the SSB. Did 10 pull ups, 20 pushups, and 50 band pull aparts as well.
Though pretty much anything is a PR on the SSB because I’ve never tested the waters much with it, I must admit that loading 1 plate on it was satisfying:
Now I’ll refrain from whining about how unsavory Mother’s Day is for me, but I did blow off some steam with a 20 minute run, a little shy of 4km.
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Tried out “the humane burpee” today, modified to make it tougher (of course).
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
24 kg swings, 24 kg goblet squats, and pushups
Edit: Forgot to mention 3x5 pullups and 50 band pull aparts.
Thankful I’m deloading this week because work has been surprisingly busy. I wanted to do something this morning to 1. break up the monotony (I’ve been following virtually the same setup for 3-4 months now?) and 2. potentially save time from loading and unloading plates. I don’t think I’ll die from not benching and deadlifting during a deload. This turned out harder than expected, but that tends to happen when, well, you make things harder.
I’m experimenting with adding dairy back into my diet in the form of Greek yogurt. The first time this week was unpleasant since I haven’t touched dairy in, like, 1.5 years… but last night not too bad. I’ll know for sure in a few weeks if I can tolerate it okay.
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Solid work. Did you time it? Or then would it not be a deload…
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I’ll concede that it took longer than desired. Probably 10-15 minutes. But yes, I also avoided timing because then I’d have made it way less tonic than it should have been.
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I don’t remember where I read this, it was someone who rode a bike along a beach for exercise. He timed it and competed with himself, 10/10 effort, no fun, just grinding the whole way.
Then one day, he relaxed, enjoyed the sights sounds and smells, enjoyed the experience, didn’t care about performance or speed…
It was just a couple percent slower than a 10/10 grind.
(Koan over)