Junior Mint's Log

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerful Women
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Hi everyone!

Some of you might remember me from a year or so back. I had a log, but then dropped off the face of the earth (well, T-Nation anyways). Totally understand if I get shunned/insulted/razzed for disappearing. I’m gonna try this again.

It’s good to see that the same crew is still around here, along with some new faces mixed in as well! It’s not often I get to hang around other females who like to lift heavy, so it’s definitely good to get back at journaling here.

Guess I might as well do a(n) reintroduction/introduction, eh?

I’m 19 years old, which means I’m definitely a young’n in these parts. I will be a junior in college in the fall.

I play hockey (the kind played on ice, not on turf with the little canes) and LOVE being in the weight room. I also have a deep love for Pixar movies.

Our strength and conditioning coach provided us with a summer program, and I decided to stick with that, instead of spending time picking a program out or just dicking around in the gym all summer. Both of which wouldn’t be conducive to making any gains.

My current lifting goals are to squat 250, clean 165, and learn how to do a sumo deadlift. I eventually want to do a powerlifting or olympic lifting meet, but right now, my main focuses are to become stronger, faster, and less injury prone.

Currently, I weigh 140 lbs. My post-season test out numbers were:
Power clean --151 lb
Back squat --235 lb
Incline bench --125 lb

Below are some of my maxes on other lift, although, admittedly, I haven’t tested them for awhile:
Deadlift --255 lb
Bench --135 lb
Snatch --105 lb

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Today was my first day at my summer job. I was getting tired of being a broke college student who can’t do anything fun that costs money, so I’m happy that I’ve upgraded to the status of “hovering-around-the-poverty-line-but-sometimes-able-to-do-fun-things-that-require-money college student”.

As well as being the first day of my new job, it was the final day of my deload week. My training weeks don’t really follow the actual calendar weeks because I’m cool like that.

Workout was so-so today. I put in the effort today, but just felt more tired than usual. I’m glad it’s the last day of my deload week; back to the heavy stuff soon!

Warmup–jump rope, hurdle over/unders, run into backpedals, carioca, shuffles, spiderman pushups, medicine ball throws, handstand holds

2 sets of:
2 X 75# clean complex (hang power clean + push jerk + overhead squat)
4 X 40# DB turkish getups
bear holds

2 sets of:
24 X 55# clean grip lunges
pullups to failure (first set–6 second set–7)
5 X 55# BB curl + press

2 sets of:
8 X 65# close grip bench
16 X 45# DB swings
6 X 95# BB bent over row

Followed by some screwing around with DB snatches and single-leg squats.

Tomorrow’s a rest day for me; however, I’m going to the gym with my mom tomorrow morning. She’s new to the whole lifting dealy, so I offered to check out her form on some of the major lifts (deadlift, squat, pushup, etc). I also directed her to New Rules of Lifting for Women, which she has bought and is currently reading.

As far as being a health-conscious individual, she’s come along way in the last year or so. She was diagnosed with celiac last summer, which helped triggered the change. She began eating healthier and got a gym membership. Seeing as I was away at college for a while, I definitely noticed how much she’s changed! She has a very positive outlook on lifting (definitely not a pink dumbbell worshipper), but doesn’t know a lot about it, so I decided to give her a little push in the right direction when she asked for advice.

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Hi Junior Mint
A goalie, they are my favorites!
My mom is into Curves(for those who don’t know that’s a ladies only gym with circuits). It’s good that your mom is into lifting.

Have some Luongo, he’s a cutie.

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He is! Got all his teeth, too. Ice hockey is a minority sport here in Britain - there are teams but it’s not popular enough to be on telly. It’s all football (soccer to you), rugby and (in summer) cricket.

Welcome back, Junior - very nice to hear about your mother getting into the serious lifts. Too many women seem to think that lifting properly will make them bulky, or somesuch crap. She sounds pretty sensible.

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Welcome back!

Clean grip lunges, huh? I didn’t know that you could make regular lunges more unpleasant.

That’s awesome that your mom has taken up lifting. I’ve been trying to get mine into the gym for years but she continues to believe that lifting will make her bulky and won’t do anything to actually improve her health or appearance…

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ice? whats that (lol - jk).

hockey sounds cool. welcome back :slight_smile:

i like the sound of clean grip lunges. i’m not sure why i’ve never actually seen anybody (besides from me) do them.

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Well, well, well. Look who is back! Great to see you are still doing well with school, hockey and lifting.

Especially awesome that your mom is interested in lifting in a way most women her age (and likely MY age) aren’t. Definitely encourage and educate her!

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welcome back J-
a summer job is good for the pocket money. I had a few crappy ones myself but was happy to be able to afford a freakin iceceam cone.

and so happy to hear your Mom is interested!! There’s nothing I would want more for my mom.

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nice stuff :D!!! I like your workouts, and welcome back!!!

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A hockey chick! Cool. I’ll be following.

And nice that you found a summer job. Those have been tough to find for a lot of people in this economy.

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3968×2976 2.16 MB

^ I made this for breakfast. Omelette with ground turkey, avocado, onions, peppers, spinach, and feta cheese. Plus Frank’s Red Hot sauce. That stuff is my crack.

By my summer standards, today was a busy day and tomorrow will be more of the same. So, I’m gonna try to keep this post a little short for now.

Charlie Horse–Thanks for throwing some Luongo my way! Hopefully he comes up big in the finals for the Canucks because I’d rather see them take it than the Bruins.

Buckeye and Alexus–hellish as they may be, I love clean grip lunges because I love clean grip lunges because:
1.) I like to torture myself. Barbell overhead lunges are also fun for this.
2.) I feel like I tend to lean forward into regular grip lunges when I begin to get fatigued. With the front squat grip/clean rack position, I notice if I’m beginning to lean forward at the hips and correct it quickly during my sets.

Kimba, brute, and nl–Thanks for welcoming me back!

Powerpuff–Nice to meet you! Jobs are a little easier to come by in Canada than the States–I probably would have stayed in the States over the summer if I could have found a decently paying job/internship. A lot of my friends in Wisconsin and Minnesota are still looking for a summer gig.

My workout session with my mom went very well in the morning! We ran through an example warmup, pushups and progressions, goblet and barbell back squats, deadlift, and inverted rows as a chinup progression, as well as answering some questions she had. Again, I’m not trying to approach it as her personal trainer, but give her a push in the right direction. It was an opportunity to work on my queuing and assessing skills, which will be further refined in my fall internship.

My mom is a very eager to learn about anything and everything about lifting. I am certainly glad she doesn’t follow the traditional female reaction to lifting–it makes me very proud and happy. She is one of the first females in my day-to-day real life who has actually described women with muscle as being beautiful. She despises the current obsession with the skinny fat stick figures that pervade in the media spotlight today.

Today I actually showed her some of the logs of you other women, because she asked what the “TESTOSTERONE” tabs were on my internet browser (I had been lurking some of your logs). I’m actually kind of curious as what she thought I was looking at. She turned 42 not even a month ago, so I showed her the logs of you ladies in your 40s. She was VERY impressed and inspired.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up lurking, and maybe eventually posting here. It would be a little weird to have a mother and daughter both posting on here, especially with some of the discussions that usually go down here.

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The omelette looks great and I’m now thoroughly depressed that your mother is younger than I am. My mother’s 80.

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Had an early, but uneventful day at work today. I’m finally getting the hang of making smoothies.

Today’s workout was a tough one. I was happy to add weight back to the bar, but I struggled with the prescribed squat weight. The squats are based on my max back squat, which currently sits at 235#. I ended up having to strip some weight off the bar.

Loved the power cleans clusters though. Nothing better than hitting a good solid clean.

15 minutes of warmup and soft tissue work with lacrosse ball

12 minutes of jump work and accelerations–skips, one-legged skips, repeated broad jumps, repeat single leg broad jumps, 10 yd accelerations

4 sets of:
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 X 125# power cleans
overhand plate pinches for time (two 25# plates, smooth side out)
60 second front plank holds

4 sets of:
back squats (185#, 185#, 135#, 135#–4, 2, and 8, 8 reps)
deep squat progressions
Y, T, Ls

5 sets of:
85# incline bench (10 reps for first 2 sets, 8 reps for next 3)
12 X inverted rows
40 X stability ball leg curls

I have to say that I’m not exactly a fan of this first phase, but I’ll suck it up and do it. The workout left me in a bit of a daze afterwards, which led to some less than fully attentive driving. No ill resulted from said driving–I just wondered how I had gotten home from the gym.

On another note, sighted in the gym today:
-A guy doing 4-5 different variations of curls. In the span of time I was at the gym, I saw him do nothing but curls. Clearly in search of sick bicepz, yet had pixie stix for legs. I never really got that obsession with men with muscly arms–I’ll choose a guy with a good set of wheels ANYDAY.

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Hockey is awesome and you are one strong lady. Those supersets look brutal, but i bet you’ll feel better after the next couple of workouts than you did this one. Your body is probably just in a little bit of shock.

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apparently upper body (chest, arm) bulk is part of male-male competition. being most anorexic might be part of female-female competition. while people tell themselves it is about attracting the opposite sex it is typically a bit of a turn off for the opposite sex.

something i read somewhere…

i agree about the wheels. and ass. not that you said ass but i bet you were thinking of it :slight_smile:
or maybe that is just me :slight_smile:

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Ironcross–You’re probably right about being in a state of shock, after the workout my body was in the “WTF DID YOU JUST MAKE ME DO?!” mode.

The supersets are hella brutal! I didn’t mention it before, but they are 12 minute supersets, with 3 minutes to rest/transition between supersets. I have a target number of sets that I should try and reach in that time and for everything but the squats, I’m able to meet or surpass the number of target sets. Generally speaking, the second and third movements are active rest for the first movement. In yesterday’s workout, this was the case for the first and second ones, but not the third one.

Alexus–Thanks for that interesting little tidbit! It TOTALLY makes sense. And yes, I was totally thinking wheels + ass. I know guys (especially my age) like to wear real baggy pants, which can often make it hard to check out their (often lacking) ass.

Today was a rest day. It’s weird though, lately I’ve had to force myself to take these rest days. I feel fairly restless on the days I don’t go to the gym, almost as if my body is telling me that I should be lifting.

As much as I’d like to lift more frequently, I’m reluctant to do so because I’ve had shoulder overuse issues in the past. Perhaps I should throw in some movement/soft tissue sessions on the days that I’m not scheduled to lift on, but feel like I really should be in there.

Tomorrow when I hit the gym I’ll get some video together because it’s always fun to take a closer look at my form. Plus, it’s always nice to get feedback and criticism from other lifters.

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It is always nice to see what people are up to. I find I learn a lot watching how other people do things.

I have trouble not going to the gym, too. Try and do soft tissue work or movement work… Something different and light, basically. Try one legged deadlifts or to balance on the gym ball or things like that. L sits. Must try handstands next time…

I am not a fan of supersets. But I’m kinda lazy. Have nothing but admiration for you people who do them! I’m sure they build mental fortitude.

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Junior Mint, if your mom wants to hang out here and see what the forty-somethings are up to, I’d welcome her.

You are smart to think about over-use injuries in terms of prevention. On days when you don’t lift, what about some cardio (running, sled pushing etc.) to burn off some energy?

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Kimba–Thanks! Everybody is pretty welcoming here, so I know it would be great for her if she joins up here. So far I’ve just used you other gals as an example that, yes, 40 years old is not too late to begin lifting, and yes, there are other women out there that can move some SERIOUS weight and enjoy doing so.

As far as my off days go, I think putting in some light(er) running and/or sled work would be a great way to work off some excess energy. The key is for me to avoid going to the gym on these days, because there is no way I’d stick to just some running or sled work. Seeing as it’s not -20 C (About 0 F for all you Americans) anymore, I can definitely head outside.

I have a little hatchback that would be fun to push up and down the street…

Today’s Workout:

12 minutes of warmup–jump rope, forward/backpedal, cariocas, shuffles, pushup rotations, pushups with feet on box, med ball work, handstand holds

12 minutes of skips, repeated broad jumps, 5-10-5 buildups, 5-10-5 live runs

5 sets of:
Push Jerk (105, 105, 110, 115, 115 lb)
10 X 15 lb DB bent over raise
60 sec front plank hold

4 sets of:
12 X 105 lb clean grip reverse lunges
60 sec side plank hold
15 X ghetto slideboard leg curl

5 sets of:
4 X 105 lb close grip bench press
6 X 45 bent over DB rows
8-10 X ghetto glute ham raises

Happy free bonus time (AKA me screwing around after my workout)

Chin-ups
2 X 15 lb DB
1 X 25 lb DB
1 X 25 lb plate
1 X 35 lb plate
8 X no weight added

As promised, I did get video of today’s workout. Seeing as I have time to kill today, I did a little editing work to it. Unfortunately of the chin up work, I only got the 15 lb DB chin up on tape. I fucked up taping the others. I got 3+ min of me setting up the plates on the belt, but stopped taping before I did the chins because I thought it had been off. Just another one of my smart moments.

Things I noticed from the video:
-My knees seemed to cave in a bit on my broad jumps. I did 4 sets of repeated broad jumps, but only taped the one. I did a form check after watching it and tried to be conscious of my knee position, which seems to have helped.
-I now know why my teammates always chirp me about how I run
-That woman in the background of the jerks and lunges is the star of the show.

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Awesome training video! Watching it wore me out.