How did your sled/ prowler turn out? I welded one out of junk, it worked pretty good. Then I sold it because well, I hate cardio.
God woman, did you ever time with the Rangers? Sure as hell sounds like it. Love it. Too many afraid to say what they think. Keep it up.
From whence you came, filth! Ha! Keep plugging along.
[quote]Captnoblivious wrote:
How did your sled/ prowler turn out? I welded one out of junk, it worked pretty good. Then I sold it because well, I hate cardio.
[/quote]
It’s coming out excellent, thanks for asking 
I had to reconfigure my plan for the front end handles, so it set me back on time but luckily not on cash. Traded up from black pipe to 1" rebar. Just need to make skis, clean her up (aka grind down my sloppy beginner welds) and slather on paint. Next weekend.
Sled pushing/pulling is one of the very few forms of ‘cardio’ that I’ll do. I want to be big and strong but not at the expense of my athleticism. It’s still kind of shiny and new for me and was hard-won. Plus it’s real easy for me to turn back into a fat tub of shit. Make no mistake, I won’t be pushing it because I enjoy it.
My Mr. said he wants to make a grading attachment for it. Put my ass to work maintaining the driveway. Ha! Jackass.
[quote]wilson1 wrote:
God woman, did you ever time with the Rangers? Sure as hell sounds like it. Love it. Too many afraid to say what they think. Keep it up.
From whence you came, filth! Ha! Keep plugging along.[/quote]
Wilson! That’s what I call the tennis ball I writhe around on to get knots out of my back and shoulders. You’re welcome for the awkward and possibly uncomfortable visual.
Rangers? You mean Army Rangers? Nope. Wish I could say that I did.
Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.
4/3/2014
Conditioning circuit
4/7/2014
Conditioning circuit
Riveting. I know.
Sorry you came here for that.
Maybe I’ll post some ‘transformation pics’ to keep it interesting while I get my ass back in shape over here. So far I only know how to post one at a time which isn’t going to work for me… time to learn something new.
That wasn’t so hard after all.
So a little backstory with the pics… I’ll try to keep it short.
I did gymnastics as a kid. I was ripped, and I was pretty good. Until I quit when I was about 13 (constant ankle and wrist injuries). I spent the following 15 years sedentary, balloning out to unreasonable proportions. Nothing to keep me in check.
So here’s what I looked like fat. Most people I knew would say things to me all ‘you aren’t that heavy’, ‘stop saying you’re fat’, ‘you’ve only got a few extra pounds’… except that I WAS FAT. So fuck all y’all.
Hurt me with the truth but never comfort me with a lie.
Out of breath on one flight of stairs.
Size XL, 12/14, 183# at 5’3" (BMI 32.4 = OBESE, bitches).
I would eat ALL the THINGS, then top it off with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. I was miserable, and lazy, and hateful. I hated Ben. I hated Jerry. I hated myself. I hated other people for lying to me, or for being more motivated than me, or for looking better in a swimsuit.
Oh, swimsuit shopping back then? what a fucking horror show. Left the store in tears every time.
You get it. I was one of those.
But at the end of the day there was no one to blame but myself. We are each a reflection of the choices we make. And I wasn’t pleased or proud of my reflection.
One more set looking pretty fucking husky.
These three were all taken within 3 months of each other (Oct 2010-Jan 2011). I continued to let myself go for another year after this.
Fast forward. January 2012.
No, it wasn’t a resolution. (I’m firmly anti-resolution. I don’t make empty promises to anyone, least of all myself.)
I got a nasty virus. Actually two, back to back. After a week or two of projectile from both ends, the scale was down about 8 pounds.
Yes, I understand that wasn’t fat loss. But a fat girl don’t care about anything but the number on the scale. I decided, ‘why get off this money train?’.
I knew what I needed to do, and finally felt like making it happen.
I put myself on a high protein, calorie restricted diet. I was in the zone. I lost about 35 pounds in about three months. No exercise yet.
I started walking the stairs at work on the suggestion of a coworker. It’s 9 industrial flights up to the roof. I would go from basement to roof and back down before lunch. At first I was sucking wind, dizzy, dying. But after a few weeks I could do 4 back-to-back trips taking two stairs at a time. What a difference since Christmas! Stairs started to get boring, so I figured I’d take up jogging (it was early July at this point). I ran my first 5k mid July, my first triathlon (having not even trained for the bike, pictured above) in September, and my first half marathon in November (also above).
The moment I crossed the triathlon finish line I was the absolute lightest I’ve been as an adult. About 120-122# right there, after 4:24 of steady state cardio, FML (I also don’t swim, it was a kayak tri: 28mi bike, 5mi kayak, 6.2mi run). Probably 125 at the Half marathon. I can’t believe how atrophied my front leg looks in that pic. Gross.
After the first Half, running was starting to become a chore. I never really loved it anyway but it was cheap and always available. I had reached a point of diminishing returns, I could waste more time everyday running farther and longer, but never saw a positive change in my body. I was just another skinny cardiobunny, not getting any stronger.
Time to find something better.
Here I am March 2013. About 1 year after making the decision to get healthier. About 1 week before starting with my trainer. Sitting comfortably at around 132#. I had just run another half marathon two weeks before these pics (I hadn’t been training all winter, I went for a couple of jogs the week before, and then ran it in 2:10. Not too shabby for taking a couple of months off.)
I started at my current gym mid-April 2013. Almost exactly a year which is why I’m thinking about my whole fitness odyssey thus far. It’s been arguably the best year of my life for many reasons, but no coincidence.
We started with light kettlebells/dumbells and mostly metabolic conditioning circuits. I started to turn into an animal. I liked where it was going.
As I got incrementally stronger I got to liking that invincibility feeling you get. In August, I decided I wanted to focus on strength goals. I patiently waited for my then-current training cycle to end and in September 2013 I picked up a barbell for the first time. You pretty much know the rest.
It has worked well for you. Amazing progress photos. I would bet you have inspired others with gains you have made.
Damn…
Great story! Thanks for sharing.
Not surprised to hear that you were a gymnast. I know a number who have made the transition to PLing and are naturally strong.
My daughter is a 13 yo gymnast. Suffering patella femoral syndrome and just had an MRI on her hip today for a possible torn labrum. So hard on the body.
[quote]hkd wrote:
It has worked well for you. Amazing progress photos. I would bet you have inspired others with gains you have made.[/quote]
Thank you for the kind words, hkd. I can only hope that I’ve shown people around me that it is possible, and that the rewards are worth any discomfort along the way.
[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
But at the end of the day there was no one to blame but myself. We are each a reflection of the choices we make. And I wasn’t pleased or proud of my reflection.[/quote]
I find this to be the common thread amongst powerlifters in general. It seems we don;t mind hearing the truth and working hard ot change reality. I would rather someone be brutally onest with me than try to placate me with little white lies. I have NO fucking patience for that shit and when I see it I immediately categorize those ppl as weak in my mind. Both physically AND mentally.
Nice work, you should be proud, you’ve certainly earned the right to be in my book.
[quote]emskee wrote:
Damn…[/quote]
Aww, shucks.
I thought the same thing about that deadlift of yours! Holy smokes!!
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Great story! Thanks for sharing.
Not surprised to hear that you were a gymnast. I know a number who have made the transition to PLing and are naturally strong.
My daughter is a 13 yo gymnast. Suffering patella femoral syndrome and just had an MRI on her hip today for a possible torn labrum. So hard on the body.[/quote]
Sorry to hear about your girl! I hope it’s nothing serious on her MRI and that she has a speedy recovery. It’s a brutal sport, but I know why she loves it.
Lucky for me, any injuries were minor. I was also pretty serious about playing the violin back then and the strains and sprains were setting me back so I had to give one activity the boot. I figured you can only do gymnastics for so long, but I could fiddle 'til I died.
I do think that the gymnastics background, however remote, was a key player in my knowledge of nutrition and exercise when I started all of this. I also think I may have retained a bit of a strength base as I found I could do 1 (maybe two) strict pull-ups before I started any strength training (part of the initial assessment with my trainer).
Best of luck to Snap Jr. (…and to you for your meet in July!)
[quote]late2thegame wrote:
[quote]Mighty Matron wrote:
But at the end of the day there was no one to blame but myself. We are each a reflection of the choices we make. And I wasn’t pleased or proud of my reflection.[/quote]
I find this to be the common thread amongst powerlifters in general. It seems we don;t mind hearing the truth and working hard ot change reality. I would rather someone be brutally onest with me than try to placate me with little white lies. I have NO fucking patience for that shit and when I see it I immediately categorize those ppl as weak in my mind. Both physically AND mentally.
Nice work, you should be proud, you’ve certainly earned the right to be in my book.[/quote]
I’m with you. Honesty is always the best policy and if you can’t handle it, gtfo.
And thank you so much, I am proud. I owe it to the people I love (and the few who love me) to take care of myself and be the best that I can be. I’m glad to be on the up and up.
Oh yeah, and this stupid shit happened:
4/8/2014
Another conditioning circuit.
You’re as cute as a button. I love the swim suit.
