A couple of days ago, British weightlifting Olympian Zoe Smith did an AMA on Reddit, which was pretty cool. Zoe is one of the 3 young women profiled in this BBC documentary.
One thing that kind of made me sad about the thing was this subthread, which asked Zoe to comment on the importance of being attractive as a weightlifter. The original commenter was I think trying to get her to trash the super heavyweights, which is not the direction Zoe took it, but instead the thread comments negatively on women who fit the "manly" stereotype that some people hold about female weightlifters. The example she gives of a woman where something "happened" pharmacologically looks quite similar to a childhood friend of mine, who I assume does not dope for her quiet life of being a perfectly normal everyday woman.
While I recognize that at an elite level in sports most of the women who look markedly masculine got that way through the use of exogenous androgens, it still makes me a bit sad that even in a strength sport there is so much enforcement of a feminine appearance ideal that frankly does not come naturally to all women. I'm well aware that my most feminine features -- my cute little nose, say, or my waist:hip ratio -- owe little or nothing to my deliberate choices. Is it so wrong for me to hope that a young girl who looks a bit different -- maybe a bit blocky, maybe fond of getting the same haircut as her brother -- would also feel welcomed in a weightlifting gym?
Ironically, Holley Mangold, the super heavyweight American lifter mentioned at the top of the comment thread, benefits from this bias (along, of course, with the reflected glamor of her NFL player brother). She is an amazing athlete, of course, but would she have gotten as much attention without the long blonde hair, pretty smile, and bubbly personality? Probably not so much.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Whoa!
Today I had a funny little positive negative experience: I failed an overhead squat and landed on my butt. It was the 3rd squat of a triple at 38kg, and I honestly didn't know I was off-balance until I landed. The bar safely went the other way and no one was hurt. I've always been reluctant to fail lifts and left to my own devices play it a little too safe, so I'm really happy about these incidents when they happen for the first time.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The front squat cycle
With the new PR single the week before last, my back squat cycle ended and a new front squat cycle began. This is now the second front squat cycle in the time I've been training at Catalyst.
Last time around, front squats were misery for me. I'm quite flexible so there was never any question that I could get into a good rack position, but it took me at least 4 weeks to get a rough idea of what that should look like. The very first day of the cycle I'm not sure I even made it up to 35kg, but I was sweating and shaking from just the effort of being in (something like) rack. As the weeks went on, I crunched my hand and wrist dumping 55 or 60kg incorrectly, and ultimately ended up going to urgent care for an x-ray when it still hurt more than a week later (it was fine). I got plenty more practice dumping weights, and when max testing day came I had no confidence that I would succeed in holding up under more than 63 or 65kg. It was really in large part good luck that I made it up to 70kg.
The next cycle, that is the cycle I finished 2 weeks ago, was back squats, power jerks, and power cleans. I think the power jerk work did a great deal to improve my rack and my front squats. Figuring out how to set up so I was stable and upright in the dip and drive was I think a big part of getting comfortable. I also at some point watched a Kelly Starrett video that made a lot of sense to me.
Now I'm back with the front squats, and while they aren't really any easier -- OMG my abs -- I feel a lot more confident addressing the bar and more secure in holding it all together through the whole movement. Now 2 weeks into the cycle, I've done 58kg for a 3 or 4 sets of 4 without catastrophe. I'm not particularly looking forward to 70+kg doubles the week after next, but I'm sure I'll be fine.
Last time around, front squats were misery for me. I'm quite flexible so there was never any question that I could get into a good rack position, but it took me at least 4 weeks to get a rough idea of what that should look like. The very first day of the cycle I'm not sure I even made it up to 35kg, but I was sweating and shaking from just the effort of being in (something like) rack. As the weeks went on, I crunched my hand and wrist dumping 55 or 60kg incorrectly, and ultimately ended up going to urgent care for an x-ray when it still hurt more than a week later (it was fine). I got plenty more practice dumping weights, and when max testing day came I had no confidence that I would succeed in holding up under more than 63 or 65kg. It was really in large part good luck that I made it up to 70kg.
The next cycle, that is the cycle I finished 2 weeks ago, was back squats, power jerks, and power cleans. I think the power jerk work did a great deal to improve my rack and my front squats. Figuring out how to set up so I was stable and upright in the dip and drive was I think a big part of getting comfortable. I also at some point watched a Kelly Starrett video that made a lot of sense to me.
Now I'm back with the front squats, and while they aren't really any easier -- OMG my abs -- I feel a lot more confident addressing the bar and more secure in holding it all together through the whole movement. Now 2 weeks into the cycle, I've done 58kg for a 3 or 4 sets of 4 without catastrophe. I'm not particularly looking forward to 70+kg doubles the week after next, but I'm sure I'll be fine.
Monday, February 11, 2013
The home gym
When we were first house hunting, one of our big priorities was finding a place with room to put in a home work out area. I had had pretty good success with getting access to equipment in commercial gyms in the City and on the peninsula, but here in the south bay we had a hard time finding a gym where you could both get access to a power cage without too long of a wait and also reliably find plates. By the time we actually moved, I was established at Catalyst, but I was still interested in having equipment at home so I pitched in.
The thing is, now that my training has changed, what I want to have at home has changed, too. While my sweetie is happily squatting, deadlifting, and benching in our little power cage, my spoiled little hands long for a ladies' bar and I basically want to do the new movements I'm trying to get down all of the time. I have used our bar for deadlifts and front squats, and attempted hanging knee raises at one point (the pull-up bar is *knurled*...who at the factory thought that was a good idea?).
So at this point I'm waffling over buying a nice spinny ladies' bar and some droppable bumper plates. At heart I'm a miser, so it's a little hard for me to pull the trigger on it; I also have some concerns about my recovery ability, particularly in the upper body, and whether I could make good use of it without causing my arms to fall off.
The thing is, now that my training has changed, what I want to have at home has changed, too. While my sweetie is happily squatting, deadlifting, and benching in our little power cage, my spoiled little hands long for a ladies' bar and I basically want to do the new movements I'm trying to get down all of the time. I have used our bar for deadlifts and front squats, and attempted hanging knee raises at one point (the pull-up bar is *knurled*...who at the factory thought that was a good idea?).
So at this point I'm waffling over buying a nice spinny ladies' bar and some droppable bumper plates. At heart I'm a miser, so it's a little hard for me to pull the trigger on it; I also have some concerns about my recovery ability, particularly in the upper body, and whether I could make good use of it without causing my arms to fall off.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
New max, noro, breakthrough!
The week that just passed has been about as up and down as a week can be, physically.
Monday was my most recent back squat max testing day. I went to the gym feeling pretty dejected; I had been sad leading up to my last deadlift max and I was pretty happy with that result, so I was hopeful that being miserable might lead to a good result this time, too. Going into Monday I'd already exceeded my previously tested max by a kilo the week before and it had been pretty easy. Another thing I had going for me was that it was a rare day completely free of SI pain. I can easily squat on a bad SI joint day -- walking out the weight is usually the worst part -- but it was nice not to have to worry about it.
Up through 85kg or so it was really no big thing. 89kg was hard, with a sticking point, but I managed. Now I had a dilemma: the next weight my trainer put on the bar was 91kg -- which was my goal for myself as well -- but 89kg had stuck badly enough that I wasn't sure the 2kg jump would work out for me. Nevertheless I got under it and...with a serious tilt to the left...got it up. 200 freaking pounds!
Unfortunately my week followed up that high point with a serious low, in the form of a 48 hour stomach flu (norovirus). 23andme tells me I'm somewhat resistant to the virus, which I'd believe based on the relative mildness of the symptoms, but it's still no picnic. Beside the illness itself, I apparently ended up short on magnesium and the fasciculations were pretty crazy for a couple of days.
Friday I was back up and about, and in the gym. Friday has been my power clean day in this cycle, and I've really struggled to figure out the movement, particularly pulling myself under the bar. The week before I failed to clean 40kg because I just couldn't figure out how to get under it. In the mean time I'd watched some super-slow video of Pyrros Dimas doing power cleans, so I was hopeful that that had helped.
My first warm-up attempts at hang cleans did not go well, I basically just forgot how to move. I was so disappointed. We moved on to cleaning from the floor and there too my first rep or two were unintentional muscle cleans, if not straight up reverse curls. Then somehow I got my head out of it and it just clicked. After a stop at 38, 40 just FLEW right up. I think I even said "wow it's light!". A few more doubles at 40 confirmed for me that I had finally figured out how to put the pieces together. I felt pretty confident that if time allowed I could've gone up another 10 kilos that session, but I still wasn't understanding the "quick elbows" cue.
I guess it's technically a new week, but this evening I spent a little time reading Greg's book, and it finally occurred to me that part of why my elbows are slow is because my shoulders are just kind of sitting there. I tried experimentally thrusting my elbows forward just in my kitchen with no bar, and it's so much faster and more decisive with a shrug as Greg describes. So now I'm looking forward to giving that a try for real, if I can do it without losing the plot completely. Woo!
Monday was my most recent back squat max testing day. I went to the gym feeling pretty dejected; I had been sad leading up to my last deadlift max and I was pretty happy with that result, so I was hopeful that being miserable might lead to a good result this time, too. Going into Monday I'd already exceeded my previously tested max by a kilo the week before and it had been pretty easy. Another thing I had going for me was that it was a rare day completely free of SI pain. I can easily squat on a bad SI joint day -- walking out the weight is usually the worst part -- but it was nice not to have to worry about it.
Up through 85kg or so it was really no big thing. 89kg was hard, with a sticking point, but I managed. Now I had a dilemma: the next weight my trainer put on the bar was 91kg -- which was my goal for myself as well -- but 89kg had stuck badly enough that I wasn't sure the 2kg jump would work out for me. Nevertheless I got under it and...with a serious tilt to the left...got it up. 200 freaking pounds!
Unfortunately my week followed up that high point with a serious low, in the form of a 48 hour stomach flu (norovirus). 23andme tells me I'm somewhat resistant to the virus, which I'd believe based on the relative mildness of the symptoms, but it's still no picnic. Beside the illness itself, I apparently ended up short on magnesium and the fasciculations were pretty crazy for a couple of days.
Friday I was back up and about, and in the gym. Friday has been my power clean day in this cycle, and I've really struggled to figure out the movement, particularly pulling myself under the bar. The week before I failed to clean 40kg because I just couldn't figure out how to get under it. In the mean time I'd watched some super-slow video of Pyrros Dimas doing power cleans, so I was hopeful that that had helped.
My first warm-up attempts at hang cleans did not go well, I basically just forgot how to move. I was so disappointed. We moved on to cleaning from the floor and there too my first rep or two were unintentional muscle cleans, if not straight up reverse curls. Then somehow I got my head out of it and it just clicked. After a stop at 38, 40 just FLEW right up. I think I even said "wow it's light!". A few more doubles at 40 confirmed for me that I had finally figured out how to put the pieces together. I felt pretty confident that if time allowed I could've gone up another 10 kilos that session, but I still wasn't understanding the "quick elbows" cue.
I guess it's technically a new week, but this evening I spent a little time reading Greg's book, and it finally occurred to me that part of why my elbows are slow is because my shoulders are just kind of sitting there. I tried experimentally thrusting my elbows forward just in my kitchen with no bar, and it's so much faster and more decisive with a shrug as Greg describes. So now I'm looking forward to giving that a try for real, if I can do it without losing the plot completely. Woo!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Doing the big things makes the little things littler
A couple of things happened over the last several days that have made me reflect on the impact that being strong makes.
Obviously, being strong makes you better able to lift heavy things. Duh. But what I don't think the cardio-centric mainstream recognizes is the improvement in capacity and ease in doing things that are not necessarily strength dependent. The more strength you have in reserve, the less any given activity actually is "cardio", or work in general.
The first incident that comes to mind is simple: walking up the stairs chatting with a coworker. The coworker in question is an average nondescript fellow, probably within the "healthy" range for his height or close to it. As we walked up the stairs together, I kept up the chat, while he huffed and puffed. I take the elevator whenever possible (yes!), so I was honestly somewhat surprised on both counts.
The next was more obviously a test of strength, or at least strength-endurance, when the sweetie and I bought a new foundation for our bed at Ikea. This is not a terribly heavy piece of furniture, something in the neighborhood of 70lb fully clad in its packaging, but there is a tight turn in the stairs in our house that makes the project a little more interesting. Together we piled it up on top of the car, then got it back down again and up through the house to the bedroom. I did most of the prep of getting the mattress and old box spring out of the way by myself. While there has never been a time when I would've been unable to complete this task, it was a surprise to be energetic and ready for more when it finished. Particularly after doing a few sets of extracurricular front squats earlier in the day.
And then today, the most trivial yet most satisfying in a way: at the gym I made it through 3 sets of jumping rope without trouble, interspersed with push presses and pullup negatives, after squat triples up to 77kg. I am terribly, self-consciously, perhaps-I-really-have-dyspraxia-ly horrible at jumping rope, and more so when exhausted. I literally refuse to do it in front of people. But with the reserve that I have now, it was less of a teary-eyed horror than it has been before.
Obviously, being strong makes you better able to lift heavy things. Duh. But what I don't think the cardio-centric mainstream recognizes is the improvement in capacity and ease in doing things that are not necessarily strength dependent. The more strength you have in reserve, the less any given activity actually is "cardio", or work in general.
The first incident that comes to mind is simple: walking up the stairs chatting with a coworker. The coworker in question is an average nondescript fellow, probably within the "healthy" range for his height or close to it. As we walked up the stairs together, I kept up the chat, while he huffed and puffed. I take the elevator whenever possible (yes!), so I was honestly somewhat surprised on both counts.
The next was more obviously a test of strength, or at least strength-endurance, when the sweetie and I bought a new foundation for our bed at Ikea. This is not a terribly heavy piece of furniture, something in the neighborhood of 70lb fully clad in its packaging, but there is a tight turn in the stairs in our house that makes the project a little more interesting. Together we piled it up on top of the car, then got it back down again and up through the house to the bedroom. I did most of the prep of getting the mattress and old box spring out of the way by myself. While there has never been a time when I would've been unable to complete this task, it was a surprise to be energetic and ready for more when it finished. Particularly after doing a few sets of extracurricular front squats earlier in the day.
And then today, the most trivial yet most satisfying in a way: at the gym I made it through 3 sets of jumping rope without trouble, interspersed with push presses and pullup negatives, after squat triples up to 77kg. I am terribly, self-consciously, perhaps-I-really-have-dyspraxia-ly horrible at jumping rope, and more so when exhausted. I literally refuse to do it in front of people. But with the reserve that I have now, it was less of a teary-eyed horror than it has been before.
40 ain't nothing but a power jerk
Wednesday was my 40th birthday. Earlier in the week I was pretty bummed about it, but by the day of I had made my peace with the number.
It's weird that an arbitrary number should have any emotional power anyway, and particularly a number that doesn't even necessarily represent a halfway point in life expectancy or even professional lifespan. I fully expect Silicon Valley age discrimination to end my tech career before age 65, but it's unrealistic to expect that with my personality I'll stop working when that day comes. As the way point for hormonal decline -- I believe there is a requirement that anything written on the topic must have a line about the typical percentage of decline experienced by age 40 -- it can be pretty forbidding, but that has less to do with 40 itself and more to do with the inconvenience of including accurate graphs and charts in lay audience materials.
Regardless, on the day itself I felt pretty OK about it all. I took the day off of work, but not off of my gym schedule. Of course. My favorite days are holidays and work from home days that I go to the gym. It's so refreshing to do some hard work, shower in my own home, and then possibly make something healthy and delicious.
In this cycle, Wednesdays are power jerk days. So this was my 3rd day of attempting to do them. I've really struggled with figuring them out: First, it was the realization that the dip at the start is not a matter of coiling up for a pounce like a cat, but more of a quick bounce. That was the breakthrough of the week before, despite doing snatch grip behind the head push presses in the last cycle. This week, like last week, I was still in pain, struggling with 25kg, up through the midpoint of my appointment. I went up in weight, grudgingly, hoping that more weight = more momentum = figuring it out already.
And then...it happened. 35kg flew up like it was weightless and my feet ended up where they belonged. I think a big part of it was forgetting about the cues (what are "aggressive elbows" in a context where you aren't hitting people with your elbows, anyway?) and just going with where I had to be to allow the weight to fly straight up to the end of extended arms. We did some doubles at 38, and they went even better.
My trainer offered me the opportunity to do one at 40kg in honor of my birthday...and that was the best one yet.
It's weird that an arbitrary number should have any emotional power anyway, and particularly a number that doesn't even necessarily represent a halfway point in life expectancy or even professional lifespan. I fully expect Silicon Valley age discrimination to end my tech career before age 65, but it's unrealistic to expect that with my personality I'll stop working when that day comes. As the way point for hormonal decline -- I believe there is a requirement that anything written on the topic must have a line about the typical percentage of decline experienced by age 40 -- it can be pretty forbidding, but that has less to do with 40 itself and more to do with the inconvenience of including accurate graphs and charts in lay audience materials.
Regardless, on the day itself I felt pretty OK about it all. I took the day off of work, but not off of my gym schedule. Of course. My favorite days are holidays and work from home days that I go to the gym. It's so refreshing to do some hard work, shower in my own home, and then possibly make something healthy and delicious.
In this cycle, Wednesdays are power jerk days. So this was my 3rd day of attempting to do them. I've really struggled with figuring them out: First, it was the realization that the dip at the start is not a matter of coiling up for a pounce like a cat, but more of a quick bounce. That was the breakthrough of the week before, despite doing snatch grip behind the head push presses in the last cycle. This week, like last week, I was still in pain, struggling with 25kg, up through the midpoint of my appointment. I went up in weight, grudgingly, hoping that more weight = more momentum = figuring it out already.
And then...it happened. 35kg flew up like it was weightless and my feet ended up where they belonged. I think a big part of it was forgetting about the cues (what are "aggressive elbows" in a context where you aren't hitting people with your elbows, anyway?) and just going with where I had to be to allow the weight to fly straight up to the end of extended arms. We did some doubles at 38, and they went even better.
My trainer offered me the opportunity to do one at 40kg in honor of my birthday...and that was the best one yet.
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