I’m so excited to hear about the painless running! That is very cool. Yes you would definitely fit in nicely with the crazy company I keep!
Glad to hear your running is coming along! Kimba, you are making some real progress there.
And about body image, it’s so nice to hear a woman say they are happy with their build. Of course everyone has their different tastes, or preferences in terms of body type. We aren’t made out of the same mold, but I find it so disheartening to hear so many women who are so unhappy with their body in some way. For me, a greater acceptance of my body type has come with age. One of the good things, I suppose.
I wonder how many of us tend to gravitate toward women who are of a similar level of fitness, as friends? I have women friends who are all over the map in terms of health, but I’ll admit it does make it a bit easier when someone has a similar interest in a healthy lifestyle. The only time I’ve gotten any really negative feedback from other women has been from women who are quite a lot overweight.
Snapper, indeed I find that I get the most male attention in gyms. I guess men who train are drawn to the lean, muscles-showing look at a higher percentage.
Sarah, I’m excited too! Running below the irritation threshold is still new to me and there is alot of trial and error going on with that.
PP, age has definitely lead to greater acceptance of ALOT of things, my body type included. I’d never want to be transported back to my 20’s unless I could take my life experience right along with me. Then that would be KICKASS!
Very few of my female friends are interested in fitness. I treasure the very few that are, and try to gently encourage healthy nutrition and movement in the others. Luckily enough, I’ve never had the experience of getting negative feedback from other women. Maybe I’m just too intimidating in real life. 
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Snapper, indeed I find that I get the most male attention in gyms. I guess men who train are drawn to the lean, muscles-showing look at a higher percentage.
I personally have a great deal of respect for women who work hard to stay fit, lean and strong. When i see them at the gym they appear to be really driven and focused much more than their male counterparts IMO. That kind of desire is very motivating!
so happy you trumped gym for beach!
never been to Yosemite - I demand pics 
Yay for pain free running! Glad to see you’re back at it!
I have a varied cohort of lady friends, but luckily I have an entire team of women to be “fit” with. I used to workout with some of them off season, but that’s usually just a gab fest. lol! Its still nice, though. A lot of the girls on my team work in the health industry too! On the spot consultations
[quote]sbmart2 wrote:
I’m so excited to hear about the painless running! That is very cool. Yes you would definitely fit in nicely with the crazy company I keep![/quote]
why you say crazy like its a bad thing?
30 dips in one set? Sorry, but I require a video.
I dont train biceps either. Im thinking about getting one of the easy bars and doing some more direct bicep work.
And in regard to what guys think about womens bodies etc; I like a women who has a ass that looks like it has some muscle to it. Saggy, un-activated butts are a no go.
tweet tweet
Bwahaha CBear- this isn’t crazy, it’s brilliance defined!
i can’t figure out a short way of answering your question so i’ll answer it over on my log so i don’t spam things up over here
Germanone, I like the way you think.
Frenchie, I might break out the big camera for Yosemite. I have a really good fisheye super-wide angle, plus my favorite lens (35 mm 2.8 macro) that I would like to play with there.
Maschy, I never played team sports an omission that I regret. What fun that would be to have a team to play with you!
CBear and Sarah, crazy is (mostly) a good thing. Especially here.
Bird, there was a dip video in the past. I’ll see if I can find it.
alexus, I’ll head over your way then.
Yesterday’s training was a good effort. I usually love deadlift day!
BW = 111.0 lbs.
Sumo Deadlifts
95# 1 x 5
115# 1 x 5
135# 1 x 5
155# 1 x 3
belt on:
175# 1 x 1 <–hips come up too soon, back arch totally lost
185# 1 x 1 <–same
Sumo Rack Pulls (1 step)
195# 1 x 1 <–came up heavy and slow
185# 1 x 2, 1 x 3 <–rep PR
I don’t usually pull in shorts and have scratched shins to show for it today.
DB Snatch
25# 1 x 5 each side
27.5# 1 x 5 each side
30# 1 x 5 each side
Feel free to comment on whether I’m doing these right. I haven’t trained these in forever but my ARTist suggested them because I haven’t been doing any explosive work. I thought I was going light, but I ended up missing the last rep at 30 lbs. on my weaker left side. I went back for it and got it, but I have lost strength on these. Last fall I got the 40 lb. DB up for one rep.
Today’s training (so far) is a 30 min. run/walk consisting of 4 min. strides/1 min walk x 6. It was already pretty darn hot out so I took it easy. Knee feels good and I’ll add another 5 min. repeat next time.
All I know is that you sure look going doing what your doing…
gotta be worth something, right?
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
I don’t usually pull in shorts and have scratched shins to show for it today.[/quote]
I hate when this happens.
I’m no expert, but one thing that helps me is to think about throwing the weight into the air (but don’t let go!). When I plan to stop at the top, I don’t always make it, but when I plan to stop above the top, it gets a little easier. Then on it’s way down just soften your knees and let gravity take over a bit.
I think the DL scratches mean you’re doing it right. DB snatches look cool. I’ll need to keep those in mind as something to try someday… along with the cossack squats I saw in junior mint’s log, and the dragon fly that Cal mentioned in my log.
the dumbbell snatches look pretty good. only thing i got is that i bet you will find you can move more weight if you drive your hips a bit more. like the top of a deadlift. hump the dumbbell lol. if you really snap your hips forwards / squeeze the glutes the dumbbell should make its way up via momentum. great work on the rack pulls.
DB snatches look pretty decent Kimba! Such a fun movement–feels good to throw weight overhead eh?
Couple quick things:
-as alexus noted, try to get more out of your hips. Looks like you might be pulling it more with your arm instead of using the momentum generated from your hips.
-try dipping under the DB a little at the top of the movement. In the last portion, the DB seems to be getting pressed out overhead, instead of dropping into a catch a bit
-anyone else notice the elbow movement at the start of the lift where it snaps into place just as the pull is initiated? I’m curious as to whether this is something to be noted or if it is a non-issue?
Sorry if I over-dissected it for ya kimba, I get a little carried away sometimes and may have gotten a tad bit too technical.
Nice Hammie definition when you lean down to do those DB snatches. WAHH! I feel like I’m making a big list of stuff I want to try but I have to hurry up and wait a couple more weeks. And I’m making a resolution to get some video going when I get back to it because I love watching everyone else.
Watching the DB snatches reminded me of this DB lunge variation. I haven’t tried them yet. This is a crossfit thing, you’ll see it graduates to more difficulty as the video in a few seconds.
Not sure why it didn’t insert video directly. Oh, well, there’s the link.
Nice snatches Kimba. I tried them again for the first time in ages a few weeks ago. I’d forgotten how winded they make me.
Betty, when progress is slow to non-existent sometimes the “look” is all I have to show for the lifting.
Patch, that is a great cue! I’ll try it out next time.
Nadia, you would be great at the snatches. Besides, then you can say “snatch” and we all can act like we are 12 again and laugh it up.
alexus, I wasn’t thinking about my hips at all! hump the DB…I certainly can remember that.
Juniormint, never hesitate to dissect. I really appreciate your viewpoint. Dropping under the DB will absolutely be necessary as the weight gets more challenging. This is kind of scary, thus totally worth doing.
Puff, I can’t get the video to play for me so I’ll try later on a different machine. I sympathize…there are so many different things to try when training! We’ll be lifting until we are old ladies, so there is plenty of time for everything.
Ouro, I was sweating and out of breath after all the snatch sets. I’d have been really dying if the weight was more challenging.
Today’s training was…interesting.
Bench Press (5/3/1 week)
Bar 1 x 5
74.5# 1 x 5
84# 1 x 5
94# 1 x 2 <–money set, rep PR +1, first rep was decent! Second rep was ugly with my butt way off the bench
I needed a hand-off on the money set as I couldn’t get the loaded barbell out of the pins on my own. My spotter was a new guy in the gym, but he was working really hard with perfect form and had struck up a perfectly appropriate convo with me a bit earlier. He showed me a back stretch (grab a pole with both hands and lean back, stretching the opposing back muscles) and said if done before bench press it gives an extra 5%. Also he suggested that I hold the bar after unracking with my scaps retracted into the bench for a few seconds before starting the lift. I felt this was helpful and probably got me the second rep.
More on him later.
BBB 67.5# 5 x 10
supersetted with
Cable pull-throughs
52.5 (I have no idea what units this cable machine is) 1 x 10
57.5# 1 x 10
62.5# 1 x 10
67.5# 1 x 10
72.5# 1 x 10
Overhead squats
28# bar 1 x 5
33# 1 x 5
38# 1 x 4 (failed on 5), 1 x 5 (not as low)
Still have balance and butt wink issues, but these are fun and I’ll continue to work on them.
Ghetto t-bar rows
25# plate 1 x 10
35# plate 1 x 10
45# plate 3 x 10
Pec Dec
45# 1 x 10
50# 1 x 10
55# 1 x 10
Good girl/bad girl
Adduction (bad to good)
75# 1 x 10, 2 x 8
Cable hip ad/abductions
7.5# + 1 plate 1 x 10
So the dude that spotted me on bench was a pretty big guy, lean, muscled and was working out hard with great form. Zerchers, beautiful hang cleans, front and back squats…really good. I never see such good work in that weight room. There were also two guys in the weight room, also big, who I see in there alot. They weren’t training as much as jawing about their union politics and the construction business. Fbombs everywhere.
I paid the chatty guys absolutely no mind. They are friendly enough but don’t get in my business. Things got ugly when the new dude, obviously irritated by all the chatter, tells the two other guys to knock off the “bad language because there was a lady in the room.”
WTF? Like I care. Like I want attention being called to the fact I’m the only female in there. Like I want to be the buzz kill.
So I ignore EVERYONE and go about my business as the T levels rise and the exchange of words becomes more heated. Finally one of the chatty dudes asks me directly, “are you offended about the language” to which I truthfully replied that I swear myself and would be the last person to question anyone’s language. The situation continued to escalate due to both parties being boys. Finally, I picked up my stuff and left for the machine room. Like I need more conflict in my life. Then I steadfastly ignored all of them for the remainder of the training.
Now I’m wondering if I could have handled this better. I didn’t want to take anyone’s side since I thought they were all being dicks. But I don’t usually call men that outweigh me at least twice over, dicks. I’m not that stupid.
Was the language actually bothering you? For me it depends on the day of the week. I’m certainly the last one to complain about blue verbiage but sometimes when it’s loud and endless, it’s a bit much. So, when asked, I likely would have said, yeah, it’s a bit much.
That’s a super awkward situation though. It’s like your virgin ears were the bone between two dogs. Did any of them try to piss on you to mark their territory?
It wasn’t up to you to handle and your response of leaving was probably the best thing to do to keep it from escalating. That’s pretty fucking irritating though.