Your approval isn’t needed

Posted at 15:18 in Uncategorised

Something I’ve noticed since I started my journey to a better body 4 years ago is that everyone has an opinion about what you do.  I get comments at work telling me I’m weird for lifting heavy weights and that my dietary habits are “disgusting”. Most of the time I laugh it off. I actually enjoy being different to everyone else. I love that there are not many females in my circle that do what I do. I like being the only girl in the gym that lifts heavy. I like the fact that I can enjoy double cream, cheese & butter on a daily basis and still lose weight whilst others around me are eating weight watchers crap and not seeing results.

But as the saying goes – opinions are like arseholes. Everybody has one.

Yesterday, I posted a picture to my facebook page where I compared a picture of me from 2010 to a picture of me taken a couple of weeks ago.

It was taken to demonstrate the progress I’ve made in the last three years and to serve as a reminder that building muscle is hard work. It takes time and dedication and isn’t going to happen overnight, in 6 weeks or even 6 months.  I’m three years into my muscle building journey and I’m not where I want to be yet.

Later on in the day, I had the following comment on my photo:

“Oh I don’t like Ladies with Muscles – toned yes.”

I can’t lie, the comment actually made me really happy.  Someone thinks I have muscles – hurrah! *does a happy dance*

But at the same time, it also pissed me off. Royally.  Not because someone thinks “ewwwww, muscles on a woman – icky!” but because why would anyone think I give a damn about what they think about how I look?

Now listen carefully, because I want to make this crystal clear…

I don’t lift weights to make myself aesthetically pleasing for you

I can never understand why anyone would think they have the right to comment on the way other people look. I know I put myself out there and post these pictures and maybe it’s naive to not expect the occasional negative comment, but I actually wonder what goes through these people’s heads when they take to their keyboard to express their opinion to someone that never actually asked for it.

To anyone that feels the need to direct negative comments towards me or my pictures, I would like to say this to you:

I choose not to accept your negativity.  Therefore, it still belongs to you.

I do what I do because it’s part of me. It’s who I am.  I like the fact that my body is firm yet curvaceous.  I love the fact that I look awesome in clothes…

and awesome out of clothes too ;)

I love the fact that I am strong. Not just “strong for a chick” but STRONG. I know I can walk into the gym at any time of the day or night and pick at least 100kg from the ground.  How many other people can say they could do that?

So I’ll stick to what I’m doing, thanks.  Next time you think of voicing your opinion about my nasty muscles, remember…

Your approval is not needed!

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Weekly Round Up

Posted at 18:45 in Food, Training

Hola fierce friends, hope your week has been a good one – thank goodness it’s Friday!

It’s been a great week for me, training and diet has been spot on and at the start of the week, we had some stunning weather – warm enough for me to sit outside in the sunshine at lunch on two days. The temperature has dropped now but it’s still great to walk to work with the sun shining…

No matter what mood I wake up in or how bad a day I’ve had in work, walking through the marina always puts the biggest smile on my face. I absolutely adore my location here in Swansea, it’s such a beautiful place to live <3

Weigh in day yesterday and though I’m not too fussed about what number is on the scale, I’m actively trying to lose fat at the moment so keeping track is useful.  I’ve been weighing daily for months now and it’s interesting to see the daily fluctuations, such as the day after leg day or the morning after a big carb feed.  I only record my weight once a week though and I was pleased to see a 1lb loss yesterday.  That is a total of 7lb in the last 40 days whilst eating at only a moderate deficit – around 1900 on training days, 2200 on rest days.  I’m still eating high fat but since I have added in soaked white rice on training days, my carbs are slightly higher now – 100-130g on training days, 20-70g on rest days.  Over the course of a week, they look like this…

I’ve eaten some epic meals this week to contribute to those macros but the absolute best meal has to be the one I ate last weekend whilst visiting my beautiful mum. She took us all out for lunch and I ended up eating a 20oz megasaurus steak!

My plate was pretty much cleared…

I made sure to leave enough room for dessert too :-D

Thank you mum for a delicious meal, you’re amazing!

The epic meals have definitely fuelled some awesome workouts this week. I’m hitting 102.5kg for reps on deadlifts again – woohoo!  I’m starting to see some real definition in my upper body now…

Shame the second picture is so blurry as I think my arm and shoulder is looking great!

With my new found confidence due to leaning out, I also wore my old Nike running tights to the gym yesterday. Never before have I or would I have worn them to the gym as they show up every lump and bump but I think my lower half looks pretty strong and solid…

The next confidence test will be to train lower body in them – eek!

I’ll be spending my weekend mostly relaxing, reading, taking a walk along the beach and hitting the gym for squats and deadlifts.

What plans do you have?

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My Essential Gym Gear – Requested Post

Posted at 20:09 in Training

I received a request via my facebook page today, asking if I would consider writing a blog post about my gym essentials – workout clothes, which shoes I wear, what my thoughts were on gloves, etc.

I thought this was a great idea for a post as when I first started going to the gym, I remember feeling so nervous about what I should or shouldn’t wear, would people think I was a weirdo for carrying a notebook, should I wear sleeves or no sleeves?

So here is my essential gym kit.

First things first, you need something to carry it all in.  Now as I walk to the gym most of the time (which is around 25 minutes each way) I need something practical.  I’ve tried many different bags, some sporty, some stylish but I always come back to the same kind – a rucksack.  When walking with a lot of gym kit, it’s important to distribute the weight evenly throughout the body so that you aren’t putting undue stress on one shoulder/arm.  Therefore, a rucksack is the perfect gym bag.

My favourite gym clothes are fitted but flexible.  I don’t spend money on specialist exercise clothes as I don’t feel the need. Back when I was running, I obviously invested in proper running shoes, breathable clothing that drew the sweat away from the body and compression socks.  However, as my exercise regime consists of just weight lifting and the occasional hill walk on the treadmill, I don’t need to make such an investment.

I have 4 pairs of gym trousers, 3 of which are identical.  They all came from TU clothing at Sainsbury and they are the only gym trousers I will consider buying now.  They are fantastic value for money, fit amazingly well, are comfortable and look really good.  The fabric is also quite thick, which is essential when in the gym as the last thing you want is guys visualising your butt crack as you squat! I always opt for bootcut trousers with a long leg…

For the top half, I absolutely LOVE halter tops. The single most important reason for this is because the bar sits better against my skin for squats rather than against the fabric of a t-shirt.  Not only do they seem to contain “the twins” well, they also make my upper body look hawt!  As my exercise regime includes no impact (and therefore no bouncing!) I don’t feel the need to wear a sports bra.  I’ve found a well supported halter bikini top, along with the hidden support in the halter top itself, is plenty enough to hold the girls in place.

Though not essential in the slightest, I love to wear a cute pair of character socks in the gym. Most of the time, nobody can even see them but when my trousers ride up when I’m on the leg press, they make me smile :D

The most important piece of gym wear is my shoes.  The wrong shoes can create real problems for you in the gym, especially if you squat and deadlift.  Foot wear is not so important on upper body days and as I often do some high incline walking after training upper body, I tend to wear my Nike Lunarglide running shoes (you can see them in the picture above) as they support my feet well.  However, on lower body training days, I couldn’t do it without my favourite workout shoes…

My Converse! When performing squats and deadlifts, it’s important to have a firm, sturdy footing which regular trainers or running shoes do not give. They have too much cushioning and support in the heel, which doesn’t allow a stable enough base when you have a lot of weight on your back.  Though I’ve never tried proper weight lifting shoes (these tend to have a raised heel), I wouldn’t be averse to doing so.  At the moment though, my Chuck Taylors do the job just fine.

As I take a selection of things into the gym with me, I like to carry a smaller, drawstring bag just to keep everything together.  Mine was a freebie from a previous race for life event and it’s perfect to carry around the gym…

Inside, I keep my other gym essentials. My old mobile phone (which has a wicked camera) for training pictures and videos.  I also chuck my locker key in here.  It also holds my holy grail – my gym notebook…

A notebook is such an important thing to have with you in the gym.  I write out my program before I hit the gym and the weights/reps I hope to achieve.  Sometimes, depending on how strong (or weak!) I feel, I might make an adjustment.  Once I’ve finished each exercise, I will add a (+) or (=) sign at the side to indicate whether the weight should increase or stay the same next time.

I also carry my liquid chalk…

Without my chalk, I couldn’t manage to do my deadlifts or chins.  In the past, I have experimented with gym gloves but in all honesty, I don’t feel they serve any benefit whatsoever.  They add unnecessary width to the bar, actually making it more difficult to grip and they don’t completely prevent callouses.  Chalk will give you amazing grip without adding that extra width to the bar.  Yes, you may get callouses but I embrace mine, they make me feel badass.  However, if you really don’t like or want them, then you should maybe think about working on your grip…

I don’t use lifting straps and I don’t use a lifting belt as, at this moment in time, I don’t feel the need to.  With straps, I prefer to work on my grip strength as I don’t want my grip to be the limiting factor in my lifts.  I don’t use a belt as I don’t think I’m lifting heavily enough to need one yet.  I’m sure the time will come when I do but right now, I’m managing fine without.

And that is my essential gym kit.  Share your own “gym essentials” in the comments section :-)

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