Category Archives: Show me yours
Loving my Under Armour
Ok so a few weeks ago, I was contacted by an Under Armour rep. about doing a product review and giveaway.
I won’t do promotional things UNLESS I really believe in the company or brand – and I LOVE Under Armour.
I actually gained a huge respect for the brand when they started the “What’s Beautiful” competition.
So when he offered me a chance to review a product and give one away to a dedicated Man Bicep reader, I jumped right on the opportunity.
I work in a gym with tires, atlas stones, barbells, dumbbells, ropes and sleds. While we do have a cleaning crew that does a great job, the gym does have that sort of dirty outdoor feel.
It definitely isn’t a gym where I want to wear Lululemon. (Granted I only sometimes even wear my stuff from Lululemon to lift…It just doesn’t feel right to me…but that is me.)
BUT I do love wearing big comfortable t-shirts to workout in AND my Under Armour clothes.
I have a number of shirts from Under Armour, which are cute and flattering BUT NOT TIGHT (Even though I have half-naked photos on my blog, I really don’t like tight clothing.)
So anyway, I love my Under Armour stuff because it is cute but makes me feel comfortable and just seems to fit with all of the different things in the gym.
However, most of the Under Armour stuff I have is short-sleeved and while it isn’t COLD here, in a gym with no heat, you do sometimes need a sweatshirt.
And an Under Armour sweatshirt is one thing I didn’t have so I chose to review that product!
I got the purple Fleece Divide Hoody and I LOVE it!
It is warm and cute and comfortable (and I’m a fan of color so I love the brightness). I like mine loose so I got a medium and it fits perfectly! It is fitted enough without being skin-tight.
It makes me feel like I’m wearing something stylish, but at the same time it isn’t so cute or fragile feeling that I’m afraid to get it a little dirty.
It is perfect to lift in and perfect to coach in.
Some breathing squats to warm up
Deadlift warm up
(Ok so these pictures are taken from this morning workout and I look tired…I’m apparently not a morning person any more…)
The only “negative” I guess is that it is missing thumb holes, but I’m just a weirdo and like to play with those…
So who is interested in getting their own Fleece Divide Hoody!?!
Check back later today for the GIVEAWAY!
P.S. I’ve decided breathing squats are going to be awful by the end of next week. Right now the weight is light enough that 20 in a row down to a low box isn’t bad, but once I up the weight next week…UH OH!
Two Steps Forward…
I constantly remind clients to be patient with their progress. I constantly remind them that it isn’t just a clear upward progression.I constantly remind them that there are slight setbacks and plateaus.
For every two steps forward, there may be one step backwards.
Sometimes though I need to take the time to remind myself.
Since starting my progression on VersaClimber and the Battling Ropes, I’ve seen huge gains – gains in strength, speed, explosiveness and even mental toughness.
But today, I experienced my first “plateau.”
Whether it was slight fatigue, a lack of focus or a slight lack of mental toughness, I just didn’t have it today. My progress on the VersaClimber stalled.
I can literally taste success, I’m so close to my goal.
On Wednesday, I even thought there was a good chance I would hit it today.
I think I set my expectations just a bit too high and put a little too much pressure.
I wasn’t patient enough.
I hate being patient.
But patience is really key. If you get to riled up and put too much pressure on yourself, your biggest weapon – YOUR POSITIVE MINDSET – will go out the window.
I feel like I wasted a few sprints today because I had a negative mindset. I hadn’t hit my goal and instead of getting angry and pushing back and battling as hard as I could, I got down on myself.
That is probably the single worst thing I could have done.
I let my mindset change to a negative one – I let myself listen to my fatigue and make up reasons why I wasn’t able to have reached my goal yet.
I made up excuses instead of just pushing with everything I had.
But I won’t let that happen again. I now have a couple of days of some active rest and then I’m back at it again on Monday.
No self doubts.
Just a positive mental attitude and a knowledge that I’m going to give everything I’ve got until I get there!
Taking a risk
On Saturday, another trainer from Innovative Results and I went to Santa Ana to train some of the OC Roller Derby Girls.
It was a ton of fun aside from the whole getting really really lost on the way there thing.
But it gave me and the other trainer a bit of time to talk when I wasn’t freaking out about being lost.
He would love to make the Olympics in rugby. He is a great player….the problem is he would have to make huge life changes in order to get there.
The question is…should he make those changes. Should he make a huge change and dedicated tons of hours to a dream that he isn’t guaranteed will happen?
There really was no answer I could give him. All I could say was, “Do you really want it?”
He said yes.
So I said, “If you really want something, than isn’t it worth the risk?”
The best things in life don’t come easily unfortunately. Sometimes you have to take a risk.
I mean any time you want to make a big change, any time you want to reach a goal, you will have to take a risk.
We risk “failing.” We risk falling short of whatever it is we hoped to attain.
But is trying but not attaining really worse than not trying at all?
I don’t think so.
Other than maybe some embarrassment at our failure, at least we tried!
I personally would rather take the risk and fail than never try at all.
I would rather throw myself into something whole-heartedly than always look back and wonder “what if.”
But hey…I don’t see “falling short” as true failure – it is just a learning experience.
True failure, to me, is never trying at all…
What do you think?
Being one of the guys
So I got this great comment from Steph the other day:
hi, i love this blog and find such great feelings of accomplishment from lifting heavy and seeing myself grow stronger, and enjoy reading your insight.
In the next few weeks can you post something about the BENEFITS of being a woman? I feel like in the last few posts you have (understandably) been ranting about the struggle to be taken seriously as a strong and knowledgeable woman. but I think it has taken on a slant of “trying to be one of the boys” and trying to prove yourself as not just some girl. while i understand your frustration at the Ikea Girl and the frustration of seeing some women taking on the role of helpless weakling, I feel like in some areas you are thinking as yourself as having to catch up to your male counterparts- as if maleness were the norm, and being a girl is “other”
i am very interested on your thoughts on this, as i have had similar struggles as a bike mechanic- customers looking over my head to have “one of the guys” look at their bike, or asking one of my co-workers the exact same question to double check my answer… this left me feeling inferior and caused me to be frustrated with my femaleness, constantly falling short of my attempt to be a guy. It took some work to see that I had so many strengths that my co-workers did not that I think customers appreciated – such as taking the time to explain the problems with their bike, etc. I am still struggling with this- especially as i have become more interested in body building. I get so mad at myself that my boyfriend- (who does not work out) can still lift heavier things and beats me everyday on out bike ride to workwould love to hear what you think!!
And her comment got me to thinking because my intention was never to sound like I wanted to be “one of the guys.”
The intention of my last couple of posts is to show that I’m proud to be a female and that a female can be STRONG and still be FEMININE. Strength IS feminine.
I’m frustrated because people still define things like strength, competitiveness and command as MASCULINE qualities.
Which they aren’t.
I’m a woman of strength, power, competitiveness. I’m not afraid to command a room. I’m not timid. But I consider myself to be feminine. I’m not frustrated by my femaleness.
I’m frustrated by others’ view of femaleness.
But the only way to change that is to continue to be strong and spread the word.
To embrace all of the qualities that society deems to be “masculine” as feminine qualities. To be a powerlifting, dress wearing, bad at putting on makeup female. To help other women find strength in the weight room and empowerment through working out.
To embrace who I am and help others do the same.
I try to see the situations I’ve encountered over the last week as opportunities for change – not as blows to myself as a woman. I share the stories to make others aware and to hopefully lead to some change!
So Steph, be proud of your strength. Be proud of your knowledge. They define YOUR femaleness! 🙂
P.S. I also get mad when guys who workout less and are “less fit” than me can lift more than me. I also get frustrated when girls who are taller can naturally lift more than me. AKA I just hate in general when anyone can lift more than me!
IKEA
So over the last week, Ryan and I have made a few trips to IKEA to buy furniture since we sold everything when we moved from Boston.
I love Ikea….the only problem is you have to pick up all the furniture and put it together.
And the picking it up isn’t the problem!
Anyway, yesterday we made pretty much our final trip there to buy the last couple of large things. We walked around their “marketplace” or whatever they call it and went down the aisle to pick up the boxes that we needed.
I of course don’t ever wait for Ryan’s help. I just start lifting the massive awkward boxes onto our cart the best that I can. And if it looks like I won’t be able to get the box or am about to smash myself in the face/foot/you name a body part, Ryan will step in to help me. Otherwise, he just lets me do my thing.
But so yesterday we were getting the parts for a dresser. I had managed the first box, but the second was super heavy so Ryan came around to help me.
All the while this shorter couple is standing behind us waiting to grab their boxes for the dresser. I hurried to grab our boxes so we could move down the aisle to grab the next piece.
As we moved down, I watched the short couple move to grab the boxes…or should I say I watched the husband/boyfriend/male grab the long awkward boxes by himself.
And while that didn’t make me think at first because I would have gone right at it just like him, what got me was the fact that when he struggled so badly that I even wanted to go over and help him, all she did was stand there.
SHE JUST STOOD THERE!?!?!!?!?
He was struggling hard and kept dropping the box as he moved it two feet to the cart and she just stood there!
AH!
Maybe she just stood there because he would reject the help. Maybe she stood there because she didn’t feel like helping. Maybe she stood there because she wasn’t strong enough to help.
I don’t know why she just stood there. But I can’t get over the fact that she didn’t help.
Am I the only weirdo slightly perturbed by this? You can admit it if I am….
Anyway, I turned to Ryan and said, “Aren’t you glad I’m strong and help you move everything?”
He just smiled and said, “Yup” because he has heard this statement every time we move.
I think it is just that every time Ryan and I move, I realize just how glad I am that when I workout I lift heavy stuff!
P.S. This will lead into a post tomorrow, if I haven’t died of frustration before then from trying to put everything together, inspired by my boss at Innovative Results who has created an “awkward weights” workout progression which may be just what some of us need to help make us strong so we can move boxes, furniture or any awkward, heavy piece of whatever.
Taking that first step
Great cartoon!
How many times have you looked at a task and thought, “I can’t do that” or “That is going to be so killer and I won’t try it today”?
Probably too many times.
I don’t like being on a piece of cardio equipment for more than 2 seconds. Honestly, I could never step foot on a piece of cardio equipment and be more than happy.
But one of the basic tasks I have to complete is a quarter-mile on the VersaClimber.
Have I mentioned that the VersaClimber is one of the newest activities that I have a love/hate relationship with?
Well I do.
And since I first tried the VersaClimber and realized I had to spend more time on it than a minute, I sort of had started to tell myself I would never survive the quarter-mile.
I told myself, “I hate cardio.” “I can never zone out when I do stuff like that.” “I always am miserable doing that.” “I won’t be able to do very well.”
Finally I told myself to shut up.
Why was I having such negative thoughts? Why was I psyching myself out!?! I was making the whole thing worse by thinking so negatively.
I needed to JUST DO IT! If I couldn’t do it then I couldn’t do it, but I would never know until I actually TRIED.
And on Monday night, I did it. I didn’t set any expectations, I just did it. Whatever time I got, I was going to be proud that I took on the challenge instead of just saying “I can’t” and never trying.
I took the first step toward success – Actually TRYING the activity!
And I did a GREAT job. (Not to brag, but I’m pretty happy with how I did!). Here I’d thought I’d never survive, but instead I kept a pace that set me up to do a mile in under 40 minutes (which gets you up on our wall at our gym). Of course I’d need a some more training to do it, but I’d shown myself it was possible!
After I finished, I couldn’t believe just how negative I’d been beforehand. Why hadn’t I embraced the challenge? Why had I psyched myself out of even taking the first step?
What if I had let my negative mental attitude keep me from taking on the challenge?
Then I would never have known if I could do it. I would never have tested a new mental and physical limit.
Sometimes you need to cast aside all expectations and JUST DO IT. Don’t say “I CAN’T.” Just TRY IT!
Take that first step.
And this applies to everything in life. Any goal you have, if you don’t take that first step toward achieving it then of course you will never get there! If you want it, take that first step!
If you “fail,” get back up the next time and just go a bit further.
Trying but not succeeding isn’t a failure. It is a learning experience.
Never trying it….well that is a true failure.
Take the first step…Go for it!
Mental Toughness
Today one of my orientation task was to read an IR blog about Mental Toughness, which made me think about my hill sprints at “Big Red” yesterday.
Ouchie….That is all I can say.
Honestly, I wanted to give up halfway up my first hill sprint. My lungs were burning, my legs had gone straight past the burn into shaking and I wanted to just start walking.
My mind was convinced my body was saying, “I can’t do anymore. I need to walk.”
But my mind didn’t give in. My mind kept my body moving all the way to the top of the hill.
And then my mind made my body do that two more times even though my legs would have been happy had I sat down and not moved the rest of the day after the first sprint.
I didn’t let my mind give up so my body kept moving.
Mental toughness is what pushes your body past that initial pain and fatigue. Mental toughness is what makes you push through to the finish even when your muscles are screaming. Mental toughness is what makes you successful.
Clients will tell me all the time, “I can’t do anymore.”
But their arms won’t have collapsed. Heck most of the time, their arms won’t even be shaking one little bit.
Based on the physical signs, I KNOW they can do more.
But they feel the burn so their mind is telling them their body can’t do anymore when it actually CAN.
They aren’t mentally tough.
But mental toughness is something that needs to be trained as much as the physical does. You won’t reach your fitness or health goals if you don’t train your mind as well as your body.
And to become mentally tough, you don’t have to push your body to absolute failure. I’m not asking you to go and workout till you barf. Or take on a “Big Red” sprint when you still feel uncomfortable with sprints on a flat.
All I’m asking you to do is push a little further than you did last time.
If you thought you could only hold a wall sit for 30 seconds, next time don’t let yourself move until you’ve done 35 seconds even if your muscles are burning.
Once you’ve done 35 seconds, next time shoot to hold it longer. Even just one or two seconds longer.
Each time push a little further. Test your mental toughness just a little bit more.
Each time you push a little further, you expand your limits and help your mind to realize that you CAN do more.
Keep pushing and testing your limits. Your mind will become tougher and you will find that your goals are more easily within your reach!
Unfortunately, I am human (or so I think)
I haven’t posted a recipe in a while. Unfortunately, I haven’t been doing as much cooking as I had planned to since Ryan and I are staying with his very wonderful, generous and hospitable family until our lease starts.
So since I’m not always in control of cooking the dinners, there are always temptations around.
And unfortunately, I am human.
I don’t find it necessarily a sacrifice to forgo the flour tortillas or the bun on the burger, but boy do I have a hard time passing up guacamole and chips, homemade baked goods or frozen yogurt.
There are just certain trigger foods that you just can’t seem to ever resist.
And I’ve been indulging, in my opinion, way too often.
So yesterday Ryan and I made a pact to eat completely Primally this next week with no small indulgences.
Maybe this works for me because I’m competitive, but committing to eat well with someone else always seems to motivate me. I don’t want to cheat because I don’t want to let the other person down and because I don’t want to “lose” the bet.
By committing to eat well with Ryan, I’ve not only gained a support system to help me achieve my goals but I’ve also made myself RESPONSIBLE for being someone else’s support system. By eating well together, we have found a way to hold not only ourselves, but also each other, ACCOUNTABLE.
There are many ways you can hold yourself accountable.
Telling other people about your goals is one way.
BUT I’ve found that telling other people works even better if you can get them INVOLVED in helping you accomplish your goals.
When people are involved in helping you accomplish your goals, they are much more likely to stay on top of you to achieve them. Also, if you can get them to try to accomplish the same goals, you then have even more RESPONSIBILITY toward them.
For instance, with Ryan and I both working to eat perfectly Primal this week, I won’t want to eat badly because then he will know I failed AND because I don’t want to eat badly and tempt him to then cheat as well.
The accountability along with the added responsibility of helping him achieve his own goals keeps me on track to achieve mine.
So next time you attempt to achieve something that maybe you’ve failed at accomplishing before, get a friend or family member to work toward the same goal with you! Holding yourself accountable and making yourself responsible are key to achieving your goals!
I faked it…
“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.”
– William James quoted in “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
I barely lost a match during any of my college seasons.
Was it because I was the most skilled player?
NOPE!
Was it because I was the best player?
NOPE!
Was it because I was the fittest player?
NOPE!
It was because I had convinced myself I could beat anyone.
I wasn’t born with that sort of confidence.
I just faked it…until it became real.
Of course most of my teammates thought I was crazy and that really I just was that confident, but they were wrong.
I really had faked it until I started to believe it.
If you repeat something as truth enough times, you will start to BELIEVE it!
When I ran across the quote at the top of this post in my reading yesterday, I got super excited. I wanted to jump up and say, “SEE!!! I TOLD YOU!” (There was no one there though so I had to wait until now to say it…)
By regulating our actions, we can indirectly regulate our feelings.
By telling myself every day that I could win. By training like I was a top player. By walking and talking like I was great – I had made myself feel like a winner. I had convinced myself that I was.
So even though I came into college as the lowest ranked recruit in my year by ACTING like a WINNER even though I definitely didn’t FEEL like one at the start, I had BECOME a WINNER.
This is why you shouldn’t ever…I mean EVER…say the word “CAN’T.”
If you say you can’t do something, you will start acting like you can’t do it and you will feel like you can’t do it.
BUT if you tell yourself “I can,” and keep repeating it while ACTING like you can, you will eventually be able to do it because you will feel like you can do it!
Changes don’t occur overnight, but your feelings will start to change.
It is all one big cycle.
You act a certain way because you feel a certain way, but if you change your actions, you will change how you feel.
So today choose who you want to be and what you want to accomplish.
Set a goal and tell yourself that you WILL accomplish it and start preparing and acting like you will. Soon you will have no doubt that you CAN accomplish it!
Man Bicep 