@Dani_Shugart @unicornsandrainbows
Probably overstepping a boundary here but it felt too relevant to the “girls with biceps/traps” topic to not share.
Probably overstepping a boundary here but it felt too relevant to the “girls with biceps/traps” topic to not share.
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Haha it’s perfect. My husband and I have a game of “who can ask the other what is for breakfast first.” I rarely know what I want to eat in the moment 
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Oh that’s a great meme and she’s absolutely gorgeous!
I’m delighted to hear from men on here that females with muscle are still attractive, despite the weird opinions of the general population… who seem to want women to be weak and unable to protect themselves. It’s kinda weird, isn’t it?
Oooh let me pick your breakfast next time you two can’t decide!
Here goes: leftovers from the night before chopped up and scrambled into eggs. It works with just about anything, and yes, I have made pizza-eggs. 
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Still? it’s always been my preference. As long as she has smaller arms than I do, anyways.
Weak men like weak women. I like strong women so obviously that means I’m strong AF.
Agreed with scrambled eggs, but also consider sunny side up or over easy so you can get a runny yolk (if it agrees with the dish, usually rice or noodle based). It’s surprising how well eggs seem to go with everything.
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I have workouts to log, but luteal phase workouts are kind of boring. I did however take a women’s class yesterday at the range. Sometimes shooting training hits the spot for me when weight training doesn’t feel super satisfying.
Wednesday’s Lower Body Sesh
Smith RDL: 4-12
Leg Press: 3x10
Abductor Machine: 4x15
Walking Lunge: Out and back
I got to the last rep of everything and felt fatigued but didn’t get a satisfying mind-muscle connection on everything. No biggie.
Today’s Upper Body Workout
A1. Straight-Arm Pulldown: 4x10 (with a drop-set on sets 2 and 3)
A2. Seated Cable Row with Underhand Grip: 4x12
B. Bench Press: 4x5-8 reps
Still feeling this out a bit and keeping the cues in mind: Drive feet into floor, elbows tucked, bring bar all the way down to sternum, etc. But I need to watch the vid of Coach Lee Boyce teaching me again. He’s a superb teacher btw.
For the record, I don’t think the strength I’ve built on the seated chest press machine will translate to bench press… because I haven’t consistently been doing bench. Relearning proper bench technique takes a bit of time and it’s not super intuitive. So you may have a strong chest on one particular exercise, but find that you can’t even apply it in another.
C1. Dip: 4x5-8
C2. Lateral Raise: 4x15-20
D. Seated Chest Press: 4x10
My dashingly handsome husband sidled over and had me do this unilaterally. It was actually quite a bit harder than doing it bilaterally. You really have to brace your entire core to keep your torso in position against the back rest. So sets 3 and 4 were unilateral.
I was going to hit back or biceps but ran out of energy.
Question for anyone who happens to see this:
Do you follow Joey Swoll on any social media platform? He’s gaining traction for calling out meanness in the gym. And I think it’s effective. People seem to be responding to it.
But rude lifters are going so viral, that out of an abundance of caution, I’ve stopped letting Chris take pictures or videos of me in the gym. I don’t want to be mistaken for one of those people who films herself and harasses others who accidentally step into their shot, or who uses their phones to take videos of others for shameful reasons.
I’m also a little conflicted about these videos that go viral. Why? Because most people in the gym mind their own business; they may even be friendly and helpful on occasion. But that type of behavior isn’t usually caught on camera. The brief moments of kindness and encouragement aren’t usually recorded and shared to the masses.
So does this give people a false impression of the gym? Should phones be banned from the gym floor? (At first I hated that idea but now I kind of like it.)
Luckily Joey Swoll shares videos of people being excellent toward each other too, so that’s good.
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I wonder how common this is. There aren’t a lot of built women in movies or used as models for any brand outside of fitness products.
Ha! Good point.
Love that idea. Unfortunately I’m not skilled at getting the yolk runny without also getting the whites runny. And when the whites aren’t cooked through, it gives me a huge stomach ache.
I learned that the hard way right before a flight. UGH 
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The last thing society needs is a platform for such behaviour, but thankfully most of us gym goers as good people as you’ve expanded on above.
Need phone for tunes as the gym music is just awful… my 2c and all.
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I think he is pretty good at calling out some BS and attempting to push for a more welcome gym, but he is selling his brand at the same time (not necessarily bad but colors his reasons a bit). He’s right that the gym should be a welcoming place.
The harassment of dudes who do nothing wrong (let’s be honest, most of these videos are women getting upset at men) is a bit ridiculous. Especially when the “creator’s” well built (usually) backside is perfectly centered in the shot. They actually want attention, just specifically from online strangers and not the others in the gym.
At the same time all the guys filming themselves flexing in the locker room mirror has to stop. Don’t record video where people get naked and expect/deserve privacy.
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We hiked a 5 mile trail in Woodland Park on Saturday. Our dog, Kipper, is getting a bunch of tumors (hopefully benign) removed tomorrow morning, so our goal is to make sure he’s having a bunch of happy days before surgery.
I think the recovery process is going to take a while, so we’re not sure how long it’ll be before our next hike. It would hurt my heart too much to hike without our fur-monsters. They love the outdoors as much as we do.
Our sweet guy.
Both pups and my hot husband.
There is no item of clothing I wear more frequently than my T Nation hoodie.
Leg Day
I wanted to do some isolation first, since hitting the glute med area makes my knees feel great. So I did the workout in reverse.
Superset:
• Abduction Machine 4x15 with 15 partial pulses at the end
• Walking Lunge 4 x out and back
I ought to have loaded up the lunges, but instead I did some pauses hovering just before the knee touches the ground. Quads were only slightly pumped, so next time I’ll hold a kettlebell or EZ bar in the front-rack position.
• RDL 4 x 10-12
Some days I can feel this more in the glutes and some days I feel it more in the hams.
• Leg Press: 4 x 20, 10, 6, 5
I went up in weight and increased the rest periods quite a bit. The most weight I feel comfortable with on this machine is 180 right now, which I know is laughable to most trained men and women. But I’m okay with that.
• Finisher: 100 Reps on the Leg Press
Wasn’t able to do it completely unbroken, but I tried to make sure that the pauses didn’t last more than a second or two.
I might start up the 100 reps at the beginning of workouts again. I really liked how my legs responded to that back in February and March. And I got to a point where I wasn’t pausing at all and adding weight.
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Kipper’s in surgery right now. We counted six tumors with the vet this morning. You can see the biggest one on his right side here:
So yesterday instead of walking the dogs around the neighborhood, we took them on a mini-hike before dinner. Kipper got to wade in the streams and sniff some new stuff. Hiking is his second favorite thing to do. Eating is his first favorite.
Of course, Roxy had a good time too.
On weekends this trail can get pretty crowded but we kinda had the place to ourselves.
It occurred to me this morning, if this little guy needs to be supervised while he’s all bandaged up and stitched up, I may not be able to hit the gym for a while.
So… guess I’ll be reading up on at-home kettlebell workouts. If anyone has ideas for at-home activities let me know. What kind of stuff have you done in the past when you had to stay home and work out?
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I did this at the beginning of lockdown. Pretty fun and sucked but it only required one KB.
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Ooooh that’s a tough one! I like your style.
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Kipper’s surgery went great and the vet only decided to remove four tumors. Luckily, he can wear a cone so we don’t have to watch him at all times. And that means, I was able to fit some pretty good workouts in this week.
Dinner-time begging. His appetite is just as healthy as it was before surgery.
Yesterday: Upper Body
Cable Straight Arm Pulldowns: 4 drop-sets X failure on each drop
Seated Cable Row: 4 X 10-12 reps
This combo is so powerful. It feels redundant writing it for every upper body session, but it puts a huge pump in my triceps, lats, and rear delts. I can’t foresee any upper body days without it.
Bench Press: 6 X 5
Weird number of sets, right? The first set I was just feeling it out. And I thought it would be a ramp-up or “feeder set” but it turned out to be the working weight I ended up sticking with. Womp Womp.
Honestly though, I’m happy to just be benching again. I focused on technique and used a four second eccentric, then exploded back to the top. I want my form to be perfect and my shoulders to feel fantastic before moving up in weight.
T-Bar Row: 4 X 10, 8, 5, 10 (pyramid in weight)
Lateral Raise: 4 X 15-20 (lighter weight, pauses at the top, controlled eccentric)
This felt amazing. I’m pretty stoked about the weight I’m using on the T-bar row. What used to be hard is now pretty easy.
Unilateral Rear Delt Cable Flye: 2 sets (each side) X Failure
Narrow “Grip” Push-Ups: 2 X Failure
I love push-ups with a tucked elbow. Not sure if I’m tucking too much but I felt like a machine doing those. Nose touched the ground every rep, which isn’t super sanitary, but I survived.
Flashback to the chest-supported row machine that helped me make the most gains I’ve ever had in the mid and upper back. Unfortunately our current gym doesn’t have one of these, but if yours has one, don’t skip it!
Today: Lower Body
100 Rep Leg Press
It was almost unbroken. I paused at 90 reps for a second. But this felt fantastic. I listened to Sia and was sufficiently revved up for it.
“I’m so powerful, I don’t need batteries to play.” 
Leg Press: 5 X 15, 10, 8, 5
Increased weight every set, so naturally reps went down. Knees felt great.
Abductor Machine: 4 X 15 full ROM, 15 partials
Walking Lunge: 4 X out and back
I finally loaded up my lunges. Just a 25-pound plate held in front. Pro-tip: if you hold it out in front of your body the right way, it’ll feel like an isometric curl. Build biceps while hitting your quads. It’s fun.
Smith Single-Leg RDL: 2 experimental sets
I wanted to get a feel for doing single-leg RDLs again, but every time I stood up, I got lightheaded and vision went black. So kinda figured that was enough lifting for the day.
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Hey @Dani_Shugart - have you ever done any work as a trainer? I don’t think I’ve seen any mention of it so I’m assuming it’s at least not something you currently do, but I wanted to ask. Your approach to training seems like it’d be a good fit for a few women I know.
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Upper Body Day
100 Rep Leg Press
Did it unbroken this time! Woohoo! Maybe next time I’ll add a bit of weight. But hitting the legs and exhausting them a bit just before an upper body session is actually pretty cool. If I remember correctly, hitting legs first can have an anabolic effect on the arms.
Or maybe I’m making that up.
Cable Straight-Arm Pulldown 4 x 8-10 (with drop sets)
Seated Cable Row 4 x 10-12
Bench Press 5 x 8, 5, 5, 5, 5
I did a super gradual pyramid up in weight using chipper plates. My top set was only 110 pounds. The good news is, I’m feeling the tension in the pecs, technique is clicking into place, shoulders are feeling great, and I think I can progress this.
Not sure why I want to aside from just curiosity. I like answering the question, “can I do that?” But if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t even have any real fitness goals aside from looking hot for my husband (and probably my own narcissism) and appearing somewhat intimidating to potential predators.
T-Bar Row 5 x 10, 8, 6, 5, 10
Lateral Raise Drop Set 4 x 10-15 (heavier weight), then 10-15 (lighter weight)
Rear Delt Cable Flye 2 drop sets each side
Over the weekend I heard a fantastic episode from Mind Pump. I was trying to find something to send to my brother and stumbled on this one. My diet/nutrition philosophy lines up with theirs almost exactly. I was nodding and saying “totally” the whole time.
And sometime last week, I heard Thomas DeLauer talk about fasting. It was so good I had to share it here. The goal actually shouldn’t be to consistently fast a certain number of hours, the goal should be doing whatever will keep your metabolism high. That mindset shift is a big deal, and what keeps your metabolism high isn’t always what we think.
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You’re so sweet for asking! I don’t. Years ago I did nutrition coaching. I have a degree in nutrition and a cert, but lack the empathy and patience. And those last two things are pretty important.
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Nope. Appears to be a real thing:
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The last meal in a women’s prison is always “I don’t care; what do you want?”
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I wanted to post this exact meme under the one I posted here.
Men need to take the hint… just make the decision for her. Don’t ask a lady where she wants to go on a date to - you just tell her where to be and when, and she’ll show up in spades.
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HA!!