My girl and I go to the gym together. We never miss workouts this way. Sometimes we lift together, doing the same stuff, but usually we do upper/lower opposite of each other. But we do pretty similar routines, and we are running our 3 week waves together. It’s cool because we both feel “good” and “run down” together, so our weeks off, or desire for cheat meals are in synch. And I can use her as a guinea pig.
The best part is watching her make gains. Its cool to see her have success. Everybody loves getting results in the gym, and that means better attitude at home. Its satisfying to teach her stuff and see her put it together, and learn how to train. Its even rewarding in a super selfish way. When I suggest something, and it works, I get the satisfaction of being right about something. That’s like a quadruple whammy!
She’s getting an attitude though. Right now, I’m doing my squats in a machine, and she’s going out of the monolift. She’s pretty close to out Deadlifting me, so she thinks she is tough. The other day, I ate some pizza and she called me a “Fat Fuck.”
haha, my mrs has turned into a bit of a “bro” as well. I keep seeing her flexing her shoulders and shit like that in the mirrors at the gym when she thinks there’s no one looking. I’ve been doing a bit of trap training lately (which I’ve avoided for years) and now she keeps ripping on my “weird neck.”
Some other girl was squatting at the gym. When “Squat Girl X” worked up to 135 (a plate on each side) my gf started to glare at her with a real “Eat Shit” expression. I’m not sure if she even knew she was doing it.
^This isn’t always easy. We love our pursuits, whether they’re bodybuilding or martial arts training, and while it does make it easier if your other shares your enthusiasm and commitment, you can’t always guarantee it makes everything else click 100%. Just finding someone who understands that there is a time element involved in your pursuit is huge.
@robstein recently did his first contests, and as I was chatting with him on an almost daily basis, we would always come back to home amazing his wife was throughout all of his undertaking. Yes, Rob’s a great guy, and I can guarantee that he didn’t constantly whine and make noise about how he was “in prep” the way some folks on social media seem to do, but it’s still not always easy on those around you.
My old line was that “no one cares” if you’re dieting for a show -lol. You CHOOSE to engage in this behavior (eating, training etc), and your ‘real life’ can’t take a hit because of it. Keeping that in mind will help most people realize how much they should appreciate it when those they care about are supportive.
I met my husband through powerlifting so, naturally, we are both into it. I’m not sure how a relationship would have progressed with someone who wasn’t into the sport. I suspect it wouldn’t have been as smooth.
Training is only one aspect of it. We built our own gym in 2009 so we (almost) always train together and it’s as easy as going down to the basement. The other time consuming aspect of the sport for those really involved is administration. We are both referees and that takes up periodic weekends. We’ve also run logistically difficult meets together. and volunteer at other peoples meets. In addition, we both spent a number of years on our Provincial Executive with me as president for a couple of years during an insane time of growth. That was much more time consuming and stressful than going downstairs to deadlift. I’m pretty certain someone who wasn’t so invested in the sport would have wanted to share in that time investment.
Our training time together is very important. It’s when we do a lot of talking and gossiping and laughing. However, we also spend a significant amount of time walking the dog and working on home renovations.
Plus we watch TV together. We’re not young anymore and some nights I purely want to sit on my ass and watch TV or read.
Here is part of the kitchen my fiancé has been building me - with my new toy dominating it. It’s supposed to be temporary - I have a workout room upstairs, but it’s crowded and hot. When I asked if he minded it staying there “until it’s cooler out” he said no, it’s fine. But really, how could that be fine? It’s a nine foot rower in the middle of the kitchen and living area! And this is why he rocks. He also gets excited when I spend on running shoes or, better yet, expensive equipment, because as with @T3hPwnisher and his wife, money I spend on my thing justifies him spending money on his stuff.
The floors are very nice. I have a 120 year old house and am currently saving my pennies to replace the wood floors on the main floor and extend them into the kitchen. The current tiles are cracked and get cold as crap in the winter. Wood is just warmer plus it’s more forgiving if there is flex in the floor joists.
I had to fight for wood in the kitchen. I hate tile for its cold, and also because it’s hard on feet and anything you drop, which is a frequent occurrence with me. If I want to drop my iPhone in the kitchen I should be able to do so without fear of an expensive and time-consuming break. But of course the main thing is that wood is pretty and cozy-looking and tile is not.
It’s funny that he was so resistant to wood because it won’t hold up forever, when putting the pine planks in our fairly large addition was only a few hours’ work. I did the sanding and staining. We’ll have someone come in eventually and sand and re-stain all the wood, but I don’t know what he was thinking re: tile is superior. Lunatic. (But a nice, supportive lunatic.)
Since we’re now sharing renovation pictures I’ll share my recent ones
My heavy job this summer was replacing a wood garden retaining wall with a stone block one and replacing a cracked concrete walkway with paving stones. There’s a before picture of the wood wall and concrete walkway and the new replacement.
It was backbreaking work in high heat that I never hope to repeat. However, I’m very pleased with the result. Frank and I made a good team. I did all the planning and laying of stones and he did all the cutting. We both did a lot of digging and running the jack hammer to break up the walkway. The jackhammer screwed up my hands for a week. I don’t envy people who do that for a living.
I also spent the winter stripping paint off old wood trim and my staircase and sanding and staining them. My dog however, has scratched the stairs already because she’s a spazz whenever anyone walks near the house.
Thanks for the compliment. The porch really is deep and keeps the house cool.
Frank and I have done a lot of jobs together and manage to get them done without too much strife. The first one we did as a new couple was put together a metal shed with about 2,000 screws and shit instructions.
