Meet 5: My First Thai Powerlifting Federation Meet
Went 8/9, just missing my 3rd bench attempt, won gold in the 63kg class (weighed in at 61.3), hit all of the (brand new) national records for M1 (ages 40 – 49) lifters and added 10kg to my total!
TPA Meet Recap: My Third Powerlifting Meet
Waaay back in March 2018, I competed in my second meet with Thailand Powerlifting Alliance (my third meet overall). Because this meet was so close in time to my annual USAPL meet in CT coming up in July, I treated it as a training day, rather than a formal meet. This means I didn’t specifically train for this meet (no peaking, no taper), I just went in and performed. As usual, I had a blast. I love competing, and in…
949: USAPL Meet Recap: Smart Choices & Good Lifts
A few weeks ago I competed at my second USAPL meet at Gleason Performance in CT. (Technically, it was my fourth meet overall, but the other two were here in Bangkok with Thailand Powerlifting Alliance.) I absolutely love competing! It is so much fun to test out what I can do under competition conditions, and to have goals to work towards. Having the record of specific dates when I hit new PRs, and building on those numbers several times a…
Dexa Data: Fit or Fat?
Last year I decided to cut weight from 64-ish kg down to 55-ish kg. Partly because I wanted to see if I could actually do it (I wasn’t sure if I had the willpower and discipline needed to intentionally cut weight), partly because I felt like my weight was getting away from me a bit and I wanted to feel a little more in control, and partly because I wanted to see if I would be more competitive in the…
Lighter & Stronger: My First #USAPL Powerlifting Comp
It’s taken me AGES to write this recap, but I’ve been inspired by #usapl Raw Nationals this weekend to finally get my act together! This past July, I competed in my first USAPL powerlifting competition. My only previous comp was the first official full powerlifting meet here in Bangkok, so I was super excited to see how a well-established competition would run. It was awesome! Here are my highlights: Weight & Weights: -10kg off my body +10kg on my total One…
You CAN Do a Pullup
I was once told that “some women just can’t do pull-ups”. Nope. I don’t believe it. And if your goal is to do a pull-up, you shouldn’t either. For sure, pull-ups are hard, and they take training and dedication, but if it’s a goal of yours and you’re willing to commit to it, I believe you can do one. And once you can do one, you can do multiples. The reason I believe in you is because after two years…
Level UP: Getting Strong and Lean (on a Vegan Diet)
I always used to think that you can’t lose weight and get stronger at the same time. I was wrong In the last four months I’ve lost almost 8kg (I went from 65/143lbs to 57kg/125lbs at 160cm/5’3″) and made major strength gains in my squat and deadlift, as well as bodyweight work like pull-ups and pistol squats, while maintaining strength in bench (always my weakest lift). How did I do it? Actually it wasn’t too complicated. I basically made four…
Am I a real powerlifter now?
I did it! Yesterday was my first powerlifting meet and it was awesome! I’ve been training for this meet specifically for the last 13 weeks, with a program written for me by my coach, Ten, based on the Juggernaut peaking program, and yesterday was the culmination of all that work. From the beginning of this training block (in October) here’s how I did (and I’m talking competition legal lifts here, not partial squats): My squat went from 70kg to 90kg…
Becoming Less vs Becoming More
When I started to lose weight after my gallbladder surgery in 2012, I was super excited about the numbers on the scale consistently and progressively going down. To be sure, I needed to lose that weight, but in the last year or so, I’ve realized that I’m a lot more interested in what I can gain rather than what I need to lose. What I’m talking about here is a mindshift. A shift away from validation about looks based on…
straight up strength
I’ve been mixing up my training a bit over the last few months. Mostly because of travel (for work and for fun), but also because I love learning and I’ve had a few opportunities to work with different trainers which means I get to learn new things. Yay! My training (with Ten) right now is focusing on getting competition ready, but for the previous six weeks or so, I was training with Jeff Smith, who taught me some new ideas…