Sayonara 'Treacle'-Helloooo 'Micropower'


After breaking out of my 6 mo. delurking mode (from dark side to ??) a coupla weeks ago, I’ve posted a bit-under my evilly scheming VERY small pony’s name.

That was a bit of a ‘miscommmunication’; treacle is a tooth-rottingly sweet pudding, which just doesn’t seem like a strongchick (in the making!) username.

I’m on some horse and other critter BB’s, and I wasn’t sure what this would be like; after seeing a few “Rate My Physique”, I thought TMagnum might be a bit harsh for sensitive lil’ moi. (Sure as hell knew I would never post in R MY P!!)

However, after wandering over to “Strong Women” and looking around, I thought: how cool. Women of all types interested in strength, and being helpful and encouraging. Wow. Now I go back to the horse BB, and am struck by how be-atchy some horsey folk can be (at least when posting…VERY strong feelings re: our beloved horsies, and maybe too much time spent fighting the Manure Wars?).

I wanted to wait until my pale/pink/frail (well, wiry from flinging bales of hay and water pails around, and making sure 1200 lb. horses keep outta my personal space grr) body had acquired a few REAL muscles before posting. Now, I’m not exactly the Incredible Bulk, but I have been noticing my tiny/wiry/sinewy bits changing into much more dense muscle.

Pretty cool stuff, as I was always one of THOSE people who thought nothing but hard cardio (and pony riding!) could work in terms of fitness. Ha! I am sooo into this strength thing now; horses still rock, but powerlifting is most excellent.

As with many of us gals, my fella has been a PL-er for a few years, and I finally got my compass out, and made my way from the barn to the garage…“Lookee!” I started off real slow in late Dec. last year with the usual DL/BP/Squat combo.

Afer about 6 mos., I have found that: I can’t do squat (drag, as I stretched and prepped a lot, but after a month of just doing 45 up to 55 lb. my knees started to bitch me out big time), I started off a WAY wimpier BP-er than I had imagined (blush), and the DL seems to be my kind of thang.

The same ape-like arms that (along with a close grip due to shoulder clicks when the wider grip has been tried) make my BP a bit challenging are great for DL, along with my mule-stubborn personality.

My fella’s been bringing me along slow and steady; over the years, he’s read and experimented a lot, and finds the higher weight/lower rep thing works for him in general. So, he’s been figuring out how my bod-sky responds to a basic program, and tweaking (not literally!?) here and there.

He eats well/takes very basic supplements and works out on a 6-8 week cycle, so I’m basically following in his more muscular (ya think)and testosterone-y footsteps. When I started flinging-well, maybe not flinging, exactly-iron around I weighed around 103 pounds…kind of lanky petite.

(Fought through all kinds of crap with anorexia and bulimia until about 15 years ago, so it’s not like I’m some effortlessly skinny type. From 110 lbs. to 70 to 140 and back again-so NOT a nice thing to do to your poor body. Since finally dragging my ass back to ‘normal’ after 15+ years in the eating disorder PIT, I’m still grateful not to be in that place anymore.)

After my initial 6 mos. of doing Powerlifting-minus the squat sigh-I’m still around the same weight, but I’ve gone from a 50 lb. BP to a PR single of 81, and my DL has gone from 65 lbs. to a PR single of 200.

I guess I’ve made those gains that come a bit quicker when you’re a total rookie, but I also really feel like lifting has improved my patience and ‘control’ a lot…and some definite fat to muscle conversion. Yay!

I’ve always been impatient and impulsive i.e. buy that pony NOW!!/“Hey, let’s do that Mt. Everest thing asap-heck with training and oxygen!!”, so I’ve found the Powerlifing to be a real novelty. Ya gotta plan, do things in steps etc., and I feel not quite so hyper/more quietly calm[er!].

So, getting stronger (helps with all those horse chores!), and getting more inner/outer control…who knew??? I’m looking forward to keeping plugging with the lifts and building strength (ooo, I stretch now too-along with tuff sit-ups and curls).

It’s great to have this forum where us ‘wimmen’ can tell our stories, and brainstorm ideas, and cheer each other on. Keep lifting/working out/having that ME time/being stronger in a ton of different ways, 'cuz strength is a GOOD thing, as I’ve found.

Above is one teeny pic of my back after about 4 mos. (the situps have given me way stronger ab muscles in front, but I still have that genetic?? pot-ish belly…ick!).

Nice to meet you. I love all the info you’ve shared… and wow is that an impressive DL at your weight and level of training. Nice!

Nice name change. I think it probably describes you a lot better. I don’t see you as a sweet pudding type.

I’m so glad you are up to the challenge. The one on the 21st I mean.

Magnifiscient ! I like it !

If you aren’t going to do squats I suggest you attempt some yoga to tone your middle and lower back to compensate for the other exercises or your goddess shape will change drastically and you will loose some flexibility in the hips.

Namase !

‘Tanks’ for the feedback :). I guess this isn’t exactly gonna be a thrilling training log thread (unless I try ‘livelifting’ my 275 lb. very small pony, La Evil Treacle…lil’ brat squeezed through the PERSON gate in the paddock this week 'cuz the grass was greener arghhh!).

However, I’ll get the odd video clip up i.e. DL PR-that is, as long as I make the lift. I don’t think anyone wants to see a mini-lifter squashed by iron…right?!

I wish my fella wasn’t so modest (he’s just not a BB posting type, alas); he’s 180 lbs. and lifts ‘unequipped’, without suit or kneewraps, and when he’s close to his 400++ max for DL/Squat and close to mid-300 BP he has the odd very spectacular miss.

Because he works out alone-like wee me is gonna spot him!-he does camera video clips a lot to check his form; there are a couple where the bar crashes down, and the 2-4 [each end] 45 lb. plates end up spinning inches from where the camera is sitting.

When I started my DL, el Fella had to build a little stand to keep the bar with my ‘baby plates’ high enough off the ground to lift properly (how to train a shrimp?). Now that I’m “strrrong like bull” harhar, I’m on the grown-up plates except for lower weight rep days :).

Enuff for the Princessa of Degression. Thanks for the ‘heyas’…and if there are any other 48ish kilo gals out there, I’d be interested to hear of your experiances. (A gal in Quebec who lifts as a ‘48’ has DL’d app. 260 lbs-gulp-and I think the Cdn. record is just over 308.)

‘Fella’ says he can see me doing that (after doubling ye olde bodyweight in 6 mos.), BUT I kinda view that as about as likely as me being an astronaut, or winning a Nobel Prize…or being crowned Miss Universe!! although I must admit I DO have my Miss U coronation speech ready just in case harhar.

p.s. thx for the yoga tip re: squatNOT, and J, I’m whipping up some mega-sequin-ed spandex for the 21st; ya want I should do you one too?! …oh man, I just remembered that unlike the horse and dog/cat BB’s I post on, Fella actually reads this one; he is sooo gonna not like me mentioning him at all, so forget I wrote ANYTHING!! SHHH!

Love your writing style 'Sis :slight_smile: Very inspiring ! hope to see that video !

Namase !

Glad to see you started a log!! :slight_smile:

Oh yes if you want to accelerate the healing of your knees and reinforce your stabilisator muscles in the ankle and knees to eventually do some squatting again I strongly suggest you give the powerball and its adjunct the podpower for the torque and velocity training modes they allow, no other machine or training gives you those modalities :slight_smile:

Namase !

El Fella is out in the grit/pit (alias garage) doing his BP, so I’m logging on briefly-heh heh. Sometime this morning when we’ed both been doing our w’end a.m. stuff (no, not THAT), and I came in from pony patrol, I was sort of busted re: mentioning a bit about his workout on here.

EF: “I noticed there were a few details about me on your last post?” Lil’ ol’ me: “NO!! Where is that durn 6-toed cat? I have WARNED him and WARNED him-git your OWN dang username!!”

So far, so good, as long as the cat doesn’t spill the beans; I have a sudden feeling I’m gonna be buying a lotta tuna in the next while. …As long as I draw the line at posting EF pics, I think I’m good to go (I mean stay-in one piece :slight_smile: )

I keep telling EF I’ll be his agent for pics/training regimen stuff etc. with a mere 95% cut, but he’s just not jumping at the deal?? Some people don’t know a good deal when they see it!

Well, I’m off to slug down some protein-yum-with a TINY chaser of maple syrup…not dextrose, true, but soo good and very patriotic (“Oh Canada, our home of delish maple syrup…”).

Hope everyone has good w’end workouts-even if ya don’t have maple syrup!

p.s. El Fella is the most respectful/non-violent guy, and would never lay a hand on moi in any form of anger…but he might pay my pony off to ditch me in a swamp of killer vampire mosquito bugs :0 !!

Well, El Fella thinks I’ll be doing my next DL PR (with any [good!]luck) in the next coupla weeks, so I’m still working on finding the right music/choreograpy/flashy zootsuit for the video. (If anyone knows of a group of funky but cheap singer/dancers, just gimme a shout-thx!).

In the BP dept., I’m cycling-keep thinking EF is planning a bike trip when he starts talking cycling :)-up at the moment, in my miniscule way. Last night I did some singles in the high '70’s, and ended up at 80 lbs.; my PR at the end of my last cycle was 81, so this is progress!

(Seeing as how I started off after Christmas with 50 lbs. giving me a hard time :(, 80 is great…I can almost see the bodyweight lift off in the distance, so long as I don’t screw up and double my actual bodyweight instead!?)

Y’all know how some workouts really rock-grrrr!-and then again some just make ya feel like the proverbial splattered bug on the windshield? For instance, during last night’s BP I felt like a SUBPocket[chick version]Hercules.

I’ve done a bit of un-scientic research into how especially the lovely horrormone changes affect us wimmen; I’m finding real diffences over the course of a body cycle, and am hoping to learn to ‘read me’ better (“Uh, would glasses help, Ms. Magoo/Micropower?”).

So far, the PMS Screaming Demon stage seems to lend itself to better workouts…although this particular personality must be handled tactfully, so the power can be directed constructively (vs. running around the pony pasture bellowing at my ‘WHATever’ mare after she unlatches the hay shed and drags a couple bales out).

Do [m]any of you Powerful Women out there have similar experiences with pre/post, and other stations along the delightful (who could fail to love those character-building Crampfests, right?) monthly ‘Happy Train’???

Oh, and Ahuae, thanks for the ol’ patella pointers; it has been disappointing to have had to drop the squat, but your info has given me some hope. I did some garden-variety rehab when ye olde knee got really bad over a year ago (after me trying to speed up a sticky manual treadmill by running faster/harder-argh); after that I had to go up stairs one at a time, sideways…so stupid! So sad!

I’ve come this far-i.e. bounding up stairs etc.-so perhaps with the stuff you’ve mentioned, I really will be able to work up to Le Squat…DL in the Grit Pit comin’ up, so gotta get me some a’ that ummmgood maple syrup (ya okay, with that yummy protein drink-bleah).

Regarding suits for your deadlift, my 13 year old daughter has 3 unitards from her recent dance competition, sparkly blue, brown with sequins and red velvet. No one can have enough unitards. You are probably close to her size so let me know if you want to borrow one :slight_smile: Personally, I’d go for the blue.

Thanks, ouro, I’ll definitely take ya up on that unitard offer! D’ya think your daughther would mind if I dyed one fluorescent orange (could do double duty, in my alternate reality/alter-ego job as a hiway flagperson!)? And if you’ve go any decorative feathers, leetle bells, or strobe lites, hanging around…all the better!

I’m still working on YOUR suit; it’s taking me a while 'cuz I hafta wear sunglasses what with the glare. If it turns out not so great i.e. I sew right through the torso, or cut a [fabric]leg off (hey, I never said I PASSED home ec class), no worries. I’ll just wear mine and strobe-lite and jingle like crazy :), and you can kick muscle butt in your shades!

Can’t wait!!!


…did the ol’ DL workout a while ago-'scuse me, I’m still having protein drink BURP issues-and had El Hub take one pic, after he’d ‘filmed’ my 8 singles for critique purposes (after warming up with some lighter lifts) at 180 lbs. Out here in the boonies, we only have dial-up internet;

I think I could discover a cure for SEVERAL diseases while waiting for one short video clip to upload/download, so no vid for now. For 220ish? lbs., I’ll do the ‘load time’, but not now. Yeesh.

Soooo, the pic should show leetle moi (I always think I look a LOT bigger than 102-3 lbs.??) standing in our cluttered Grit Pit garage holding the 7’ Olympic bar with them big kid plates.

I think I haff ze demonic red eyes, and for some dumb reason decided to stick my tongue out (when I did that in swimsuit and stilettoes at the Miss Universe pageant, the judges took a dim view of it…was lucky to pull off THAT win :wink: ).

p.s. the belt is on backwards, 'cuz I’m a few holes in, and the end of it catches my left arm if I wear the buckle in front…also, the garage is even more, um, chaotic than usual due to our imminent move-aiyiyi)

Great picture! I have to bribe my child to come to the gym with me to take pictures. Which is weird in itself.

Are you wearing riding pants?

Hey girl, at least your child is bribe-able (I hear it’s when they start with the blackmail that it gets a bit tricky!)! Two of the best pics that were ever taken of moi, IMHO-aside from all those pageant sessions ;)-were snapped by 6 yr. olds…go figure! If I had Photoshop or something I’d have gotten rid of all the garage junk, and made myself into Iron Goddess. But thanks for saying the pic is okay!

Since I’m still working on that day-glo, be-sequinned unitard, my outfit for the above workout was positively drab, I’m afraid. Ze pants do look very much like some of my [pony]riding tights (as opposed to the classic puke-green show britches) I favour, but are in fact really old cycling tights. I will have to practice wearing shorts, but the one time I tried, I really found the bar stuck on my oh-so-shapely thighs harhar.

(I’m also wearing THE summer season de rigeur shinguards by Ralph Lauren, and Manolo Blahnik’s (sp) excruciatingly expensive version of the ‘aqua sock’; I had to saw off the stiletto heel, much to my tearful regret…courage, ma petite moi!)

Guess I’ll have to break out the baby powder, but do I look like I need MORE mess in my life?! Honest, I’m actually kinda obsessively-compulsively neat, but with this move thing going on I have to take deep breaths and repeat my “accept the mess” mantra.

p.s. horses that jump cross-country courses with solid jumps that don’t ‘knock down’ (as in show jumping) often have Crisco/lard smeared on their chest and the front of their legs, to hopefully! help them not get hung up on a fence…the Slither Theory? Think I’ll try the powder first!

Well, in between getting all those sequins sewed on my day-glo unitard (sure seems like a lotta work for a ‘strong[wo]man’ competition, especially since my major role will be that of a cheerleader-rah,rah!-which reminds me that I still hafta hunt down some pompom thingys…), I et my Wheaties and slugged down some protein shakes, prior to a new-to-me BP record of 83 lbs. Yeehaw.

I’m just a’ clawing my way up to that bodyweight number; sure seems tortuously s-l-o-w, especially compared to DL! I sooo fight tooth and nail for every little gain, but I guess if I can struggle up 30 lbs. in 6 mos., there MAY be a light at the end of the tunnel (that is NOT the oncoming train, that is!?).

It IS kinda nice to feel ‘in the [BP] groove’ more often, steadily powering up…as opposed to the dreaded drift-over-the-neck-“HEY COACHY,GIT IT OFFA ME!!” And coachdude DID point out the percentage increase of this most recent 2 lb. gain; if I was totally BIG and strong, it’d be more like a 5 lb. improvement?!

I suppose I’ve gotta remind myself that even though DL has been sooo much easier to make progress in, now that I’ve done the 200 lb./double bodyweight thing, it’s not quite so much the “cheerily graceful snap-up :)” of ye olde bar, as sucking it up and PULLING like a plough horse!

If I end up strengthening/coaxing my knees into doing squat work-which I TELL myself I am heartbroken to be deprived of i.e. only 2 out of the 3 PL lifts-I will no doubt have a whole new hellishly tough regimen (so sad!) to embark on…

Hope everyone’s lifting is going good; I am way jealous of your beautiful-looking gym, sic-as well as your height etc.!

P.S. following an especially good workout (after a few slightly ick-type sessions in the ol’ grit pit), do any/many others of the ‘civilized??/fair gender’ find themselves given to striding around and kinda ROARING-blush!-like Hannibal Lector (sp?) on a good day? I have yet to even let out a peep DURING a lift, but I think I get a tad delusional :slight_smile: after a better session??

Press Release, 27 June 2008:

"Micropower is in top-secret training at present, although the former supermodel/neurosugeon/millwright/manicurist and mother of 17 (no nanny, either!) has commented that she WILL be going for a 200 lb. + DL/PR in the near future.
Ms. Micropower’s participation in the recent Steel City Strength Challenge (won in convincing fashion by Strong Women’s own ouroboro_s), where she placed an amazing 3rd! out of 3, was a career highlight.

Unfortunately, Micropower’s uncharacteristic! failure to eat enough during the Challenge plunged her usual sturdy frame under 100 lbs., and she has been napping heavily this past week. M’Power is currently researching non-steroidal means of achieving the physique of Helga on American Gladiator; she aspires to Helga’s glossy braids as well.

Hair extensions and peroxide have solved the latter, but addressing the former issue has been more…challenging. However, M’Power is applying her trademark terrier tenacity to Amazing Strength Gain, and to that end has included a reassuring and inspiring shot of her back after less than a week of her refined training regimen."

…oops, back shot HERE:

[quote]micropower wrote:
…oops, back shot HERE:[/quote]

Nice. Very nice. If I follow your new regimen can I have back hair too? It would be nice in the winter when things cool down a bit.

Yeah, at first I was gonna shave it, but then I thought “how great for winter!!” Now that I’m more hirsute, I love it! (Not so sure about the hairy palms, though…)

Oh well, with the incredible strength gain, my super duper regimen is soooo worth it; if anyone is silly enough to give me grief, I shall crrrrush them (non-violently, ‘natch, just a big ol’ friendly bear hug!). :slight_smile: