Bring It.

Confession : This weekend, not only did I NOT work out, but I ate HORRIBLE food.  I'm talking Mexican, cookies, chips.  It was bad.  Luckily for me, I dropped .4 lbs, and will consider myself lucky.

I often cut through the gym on my way to the grocery store to buy lunch provisions.  I was almost stopped in my tracks by this woman working out.  First, she was only in her sports bra and workout pants, something you don't often see at my Gold's.  Second, she was gorgeous and super ripped.  I want to be her.

Coming out of a down week both in my workouts and food intake, I was absolutely blasted by motivation after seeing her. 

I am absolutely sticking to my diet and am hitting the gym like crazy. 

I am happy that I get inspired by women that look like they work at it, rather than get intimidated.  I love being competitive in that way, watching to see what other women are doing so I can push myself to do that as well.  I call them my nemesi, but really they are my unpaid motivators!

Although, more on my nemesi later...I have decided to give them names or numbers.  I'll introduce them later.

Competitions!!

I am excited for two competitions coming up.  The first is a powerlifting competition in Columbia City and I just found a Body Building competition in Olympia, WA on Nov. 7th.
Olympia Competition

I don't have any info yet on the Columbia City competition.  I'm looking forward to checking out what local women are doing and setting myself new goals.

I went to a benefit dinner last night and spotted a woman that was incredibly muscular and fit.  I spent the night obsessing about talking to her and studying her body.  I'm sure she thought I was either being bitchy or checking her out.  It was a GLBT event, so the hitting on part I'm not worried about.  I really wanted to pick her brain though.

B Day

These are days I work with my trainer Bernard.  He is a Powerlifter and I got interested in the possibility of my own participation in a competition once I started working with him on a regular basis.  He pushes me and shows me that I can and should lift heavier than I think.  I spent 6 months working out with him in regular training sessions.  Now, our sessions are deadlifting training, with supplementary exercises.

He has started to have the sneaking suspicion that I will want to bench and squat eventually competitively, so today we worked on bench.

I'm just beginning, which is the point of this blog, to chart my growth.

Here is what we did today:
Deadlift
135 lbs    1 x 10
165 lbs    2 x 10
195 lbs    2 x 5

I struggled with that last set....got frustrated a bit with form.  My max so far has been a one time lift of 225lbs.

Bench
65 lbs   1 x 10
95 lbs   3 x 10

Supplementary
Hyperextensions
55lbs - 4 x 10
Tricep pulldown
40lbs - 3 x 10
PecDeck
85lbs - 1 x 10
70 lbs - 2 x 10

I was happy about my bench, I felt I could do more...but I hadn't hit 95lbs yet.  Bernard also spent a lot of time on proper form, and it was nice to feel my body get it today.

Bernard Competing
Here is Bernard.

About SheLift

This is my new blog about my new obsession - weight lifting! 

I want a place to track my progress and all the goofy things I will eventually get into or come across on my way.  When my father passed away in December, I felt lost and without direction. A friend pushed me to get active, set goals, I started out with 15 minutes a day and quickly started working with a trainer.  Fitness has saved me during this first year, and now I am hoping to compete soon in a deadlifting competition and hope to make this part of my life permanently.

The world of weightlifting is an odd one to navigate, and often I feel like cracking up while at the same time being totally into the thing I'm mocking. 

This will be another way for me to stay motivated and hopefully connect me with people that are doing the same thing, so I can learn more!