[quote]dejavued wrote:
wow ur looking magnificent cal! hourglass and awesome abs.
great work! [/quote]
Seriously! What a beautiful shape you have. Great waist to hip ratio.
Not only beautiful shape, but your abs are peeking, which I like! Abs are hot, but for my taste I like things a little softer.
Glad you’re having fun with the beau - this is def a time to take a break from the diet and thoroughly enjoy life. have fun 
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
I laughed when you said you didn’t sunbathe. How does one sunbathe in England?
I’ll go back and look for your squat vids. Have you tried yoga or pilates to help with your flexibility?
I’m one of those, Tal, who is 44 and has kids.
Okay, I went back and found your vids. I understand your challenges now! Especially the knee tracking. Congrats for persevering.[/quote]
I salute you mums, I really do - motherhood seems like such hard work and is for some people a thankless task. I figured out from a very early age that I didn’t want kids - even as a child I had a hatred of baby dolls (I preferred my stuffed animals) and always maintained I wasn’t going to have any, despite protestations from others that I’d change when I got older. I never did change - I’m guess I’m just not wired that way.
As for sunbathing, the British climate is pretty chaotic but we do get our hot spells. The thing is I’m just not interested in going out in it - I’d rather sit indoors and play computer games. I do love my rollercoasters, though, so I do get some sun when I’m at amusement parks, although I’ll slap on the heavy duty sun cream. I’ve been burned quite a few times and it’s not much fun.
I’ve tried both yoga and pilates in the past but my gym doesn’t have any classes when it’s convenient for me. If was rich enough not to have to work, then I’d definitely do yoga, but I’m not so I just do what I can.
And thanks for the comments, ladies - I’ve still got a lot of work to do but I’m not down on myself about anything which is the main thing. Us Brits tend to be rather self-deprecating and have a hard time accepting praise, which is a hard habit to break. So long as I can keep making progress I’ll be happy.
Just saw your pics…I’d bet you’d look great if you cut XD
I’m going to go with the others, Cal, you look great.
As to the back pain, I’m going to mention running like MIM did. I used to run and when I started squatting and DLing I developed pretty annoying low back pain.
It turned out that ruuing was hitting my hammies so hard that when I added the Squats and DL’s my hammies got really tight and “pulled” on my glutes and low back.
Now that might not be your case but when I gave up the distance running the pain went away.
Either way I hope you get it worked out.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
I figured out from a very early age that I didn’t want kids - even as a child I had a hatred of baby dolls (I preferred my stuffed animals) and always maintained I wasn’t going to have any, despite protestations from others that I’d change when I got older. I never did change - I’m guess I’m just not wired that way.[/quote]
We are twins, separated at birth!
I never thought I wanted kids either…thought they were annoying haha…never thought Id get married either! things happen! 
I’ve now been married longer than all my moms failed marriages combined! go me. 
I was married for ten years before kids. But, truly, they can be buckets of fun. I actually filmed my nine-year-old daughter doing a mock powerlifting meet, yelling out the commands for each lift. How warped am I?
wow, lucky you K! Sometimes I long for more time pre kids…it was soooo relaxing! I wouldn’t trade them for nothin though, obviously…they are for rent for the summer! haha
Joe, it’s definitely not running. I messed up my foot in December and couldn’t run again until about a month ago. (However, I’ve run for years - and no back pain). The pain came on when I started squatting but it was there before I returned to running again.
I’m not a chronic cardio person - I typically do one run a week, and maybe a sprint session if I can fit one it. I sit a lot and have poor hip mobility, which is the root of it. The main issue is tight psoas, though, not hamstrings. I’m having ART and doing my mobility stuff so hopefully it’ll start getting better soon. I hope so because I hate shuffling around like an old woman.
I’ll bet that ART on your psoas hurts like a mother. I have psoas issues on one side. And, damn, it hurts like hell when my ART guy works on it. Well, Cal, stay after it.
I too have tight psoas and sit a lot at work. I have had little success at fixing it but I suspect I have not been as diligent as I should have been.
Desk job be damned! You’re not kidding, Snaps - although it’s not as bad as my calves. I am close to tears when she works on those.
my MT is about wiped out after working on me. she said the left glute/hip area was like concrete 2 sessions ago. i almost flew off the table a few years back when she first started working on me, not expecting that kind of pain.
now i enjoy it…
Very quick post - due to the tube being screwed it’s taken me an hour and a half to get home from work (and for once I left on time so I’d get a nice long evening. Fuck my luck). Would’ve taken longer if I hadn’t run for a good portion of the journey, too. I guess the silver lining is I got some extra exercise. Still pissed though.
5/3/1 Cycle 2
Week 3: Day 2
Bench Press
Bar x 10, 30kg x 10, 40kg x 10, 50kg x 5 (working sets) 55kg x 5, 60kg x 3, 65kg x 2 (I did three reps but my spotter had to help very slightly on the last one)
65kg = 143lbs. I am not totally happy with that but I’m not complaining either - I had at most 1000cals yesterday and only 6 hours sleep. So considering, it wasn’t too bad.
Body Rows (on Smith Machine)
3 x 10
Dumbell Rows
8 x 30kg
One set was enough. I was pooped and had run out of time. I gave it my all though.
Did a few unweighted hypers and stretching to finish. And that was it.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
I figured out from a very early age that I didn’t want kids - even as a child I had a hatred of baby dolls (I preferred my stuffed animals) and always maintained I wasn’t going to have any, despite protestations from others that I’d change when I got older. I never did change - I’m guess I’m just not wired that way.[/quote]
We are twins, separated at birth! ;-)[/quote]
I always thought I wanted kids because I love being around them… but I’m starting to rethink. I’m a selfish little piggy and I want more time!
You can get all 3 sets of 10 with the inverted rows? I hear once you can do that, you should try your hand at at a pull-up!!
Whoa! Very nice number on the bench press!
I can never decide about kids. I’ve been told many times that I’d make a great mom, and part of me almost feels like it’d be a waste of a good parent not to adopt later on. There are so many kids who need more than the average, rich parent has to offer. I was just talking with a client about the Russian adoption process, and she mentioned that the kids are strapped to a table and literally fed slop three times a day until you adopt them. Also, many develop reactive attachment disorder by the time they reach seven, which is one of the worse personality disorders I’ve ever dealt with.
It’s really a good thing that more people aren’t having kids.
MiM - I can do pull-ups - well one. And up to five chins (see Saturday’s workout). But the rows hit my back in a different place and are less strain on my busted shoulders. I do them after bench (so long as the idiot who does Smith machine bench and just saws the bar up and down for half an hour is not in the gym) because it’s like a reverse bench, in terms of the movement - seems a nice complimentary move.
Oleena - there are a lot of women who aren’t sure about kids. I do think you do need to be sure to have one because it’s a huge amount of time and money investment and is totally life changing. However, from what I’ve seen of friends and acquiantances, most who are not sure seem to end up having them. Me - I was absolutely, 100% sure I did not want them from the moment I could form a coherent though. I liken it to being straight or gay - it’s not a choice, it’s something you are, or are not. I am not in the slightest bit maternal and am deeply grateful to be part of a society where you can choose to avoid them if you so wish.
Good benching. Do you do the Smith machine rows from laying flat on the ground? I haven’t tried that in a long time, and it probably wouldn’t go well.
I agree – most (but not all) of my “not-sure” friends ended up having kids. I knew from teenage-dom on that I wasn’t interested in being a mom. Too hard of a job!