The weight issue...

The weight of a child, a teen, a woman and a mother...

My original blog was going to focus on MY diet and then I saw a picture of a young girl,  (who I would determine to be a teen) next to another teen who is a dear friend of mines child (teen)... Then I looked down to my over 98% percentile kid (height) 60% percent (weight) then to pictures of my niece (who towers over kids her age) And then I thought about my weight history (thin, chubby, skinny, muscular, chubby).

I want to go back to my childhood... I was thin. I played outside (a lot) I chased my sisters. I played volleyball. We ate family meals and my Mom (let me step back for a moment and mention she is my step mother only because it plays a role with genetics, otherwise we refer to her as Mom) often restricted my intake because of whatever reason (restricted means no extra helpings of Pepsi or really any food until the plate was clean). I never noticed the difference and I was always full. We went out (what I remember was weekly) weekly and ate junk. Sounds like a good plan right? Honestly, forward to my adult life (skinny and muscular) I ate the same way. She taught me HOW to eat (but not what obviously, it was 20 years ago). I was never harassed. I never dieted. I loved to play ball and work on being better at it... Forward to chubby stage one. I began to eat as a family during my first marriage and got pretty chubby and unhappy. I made money and worked around the house but no actual FUN. I was miserable. I only realized this after my divorce. Would lifting of helped us? I tend not to think so. My ex, although a wonderful tender hearted man drank a lot. A... Lot.... I am gonna leave it there being as we are still occasional friends and my intentions are not to hurt him. Eventually I got thin, began lifting and met the man of my dreams. I was the most happy during those summer nights on cheat night. On to now, I am chubby. I have been carb back loading and although a wonderful diet, just not for me. I am going back to clean eating post vacation. At some point eating became boring, back loads no fun. Cheaty foods are suppose to be magical and along the way they lost their vigor.

Now I want to step into another childhood of a friends. He is one of two brothers. Both compete. Both know how to diet. Their mother even works out. The one thing that resonates HUGE with me is in getting to know them both, they both mentioned their parents took them to the gym with them. How amazing is that? Their father has since passed and both boys still lift and diet (to my knowledge). What a great life choice to pass on to your children!!

I think that is today's issue. There are no family activities. No park trips. No night walks. Cheat foods are easy to come by and they are no longer cheats. They are "meals." We do not eat with family, we may sit by them, but we are constantly posting pics of our food or critiquing Paula Deen via fb. We think dieting means eating a meal a day, or worse, throwing it up. It has to stop.

My friends little girl is Smart. Kind. Beautiful. She has parents that lift and set the tone for her. My niece is Beautiful. Kind. Compassionate. She has a uncle who has lifted her whole life. My daughter is Kind. Goofy. Sassy. The thing they have in common? They tower over their peers. They are not a size zero. Nor should they be. They all are adorable in gowns, they all look like they care what goes in their mouth. I know my niece does not wear Abercrombie even though all the kids do, but the girl honestly jazzes it up. So does my friends daughter. Kids are so mean. My niece will soon find that the simple town she lives in was full of it. College will be so much better, she can relish her height. Her body. Her looks. She can quit thinking being skinny is so fucking important. She can start learning working out is fun!! The teen has five more years of brain warping thinking a zero is ok... And my kid has 12. I feel so bad for them.

This world is so warped, even our presidents wife has no concept of carbs, look at the food pyramid!! We need to change. Society needs to really change before we have that kid in Mars needs Moms. As adults we need to do it also. Instead of exempting out of P.E. we need two P.E.s!!! We need to get rid of video game controllers. Stop gmo and processed foods. We need to show our kids what a gym is. We need to empower our kids to know how to look past the shit coated cheeseburgers. It is not just one person, it is all people that need to change and honestly, I do not even know where to start except with our family.

Fustration.. Stress...

So, today I missed a stone. Yes, one stone and the 175 pinned me to the ground. I am pretty upset because while showering I came up with the most bullshit excuses ever.

I was too sweaty. (82 degrees) I was tired. (4hrs) I was sore. (Ghr work two days ago) I was low carb. I have shin splints. I have to work. I was fasting.

Holy bullshit batman. I am pretty disappointed I let the 140 stone and having to alternate the pattern of my lifts do that... So not me.

What is me is fixing it.

I am not drinking enough. I am not sleeping enough (unavoidable, but I need to try at least one nap a week with my daughter) I need to wear my running shoes if I sprint.

I really have failed to keep anything consistent in these aspects and I plan to initiate a more detailed plan.

Fan page this...

I cannot stand fan pages. You do not get a fan page because you workout. Not even if you hold some stupid world record in eating the most hotdogs in 1/10th of a second. You know who should have a fan page? No one but people sellin' stuff, you know like hookers, schmoes and the bi-lo bonus card. My first thought on a fan page is why does this person consider themselves worthy of a fan page... Then it hits me. They are an affffflete! I forgot, no wait, I do remember, ATHLETES get paid to workout or train or lift or whatever it is they do.

The onslaught of over 20 plus pages of people making themselves a page has just led me to contempt for people who lift, I mean is it not enough to just post a vid or two and a status? Laura Phelps Sweatt, the labelled Queen of Iron is without a fan page and I guarantee she out lifts more than anyone I know, yet YOU deserve a fan page??

I seem to think there is some shameless self promotion in this fan page crap and I guess part of me gets that (I do have a blog and an open Instagram account and I do pimp out my husbands blog and the facts that he writes programs (schultzestrength.blogspot.com) but neither of us will ever open a fan page.

Just like my last blog I will piss off a couple people in here, but such is life, well mine at least.

Training has gone well with my biggest issue being stones. I guess this puts a big target on my back, just coming out and admitting that, but like anything else, with exposure, I will get better.

I am also working on my double unders and speed for strongman (easiest way) and maybe later for a cf meet or whatever it is they do.

Now onto the mommy part of my blog...

I want to know who in the fuck made a zillion kinds of sippy cups, my life is not difficult enough I have to dissect and touch each one in addition to checking for bpa, durability, guarantees, germ issues and safety hazards so now, I feel like a fucking engineer. (Run on sentence anyone?)

Honey. For all the things we are told not to eat and avoid WHY am I having to tell a million people local honey for allergies? Whhhhhhhhhhy? It is a sweetener, it is delicious. You can use it as a wax, a lube, or maybe even use it for "that head cold"!!! Errrrmygerd.

I plan to tackle the sleep issue in another blog, but for now, I must admit between watching a mother not care that her child is ready to nap (and me having to listen to it) and just sleepy grumpy ass kids in general, I am ready to do that blog up with guns a blazin.

Btw, I plan to do my first CrossFit box war this weekend... This should be interesting.

The importance of beating your ass....

The importance of beating your ass.


It is important to me, day to day to be better than I was the day before. Be it as a wife, a mother, as an the closet cross fitter, or as a powerlifter. I do not want to be better because I do not like an individual, but moreso because an individual gave me the number to beat. I love to compete. I love being stronger than most people I know.

"That being said" I was so politely called out on fb about my day to day gym activities and why I am at a cf gym and the amount of dues I pay. Let me be real clear with the dues: My dues are just that, MINE. I pay and that should be sufficient enough for anyone.

"That being said" I do not CrossFit because I do not pay for it. I have been involved in two metcons now only because the owners wife asked, otherwise I do them on my own because I like to hit my weaknesses in my own makeup metcons (and because Wade said no).

"That being said" I guess it is time to start working on more cardio/time based lifts when I am off or if I can at home... Why? That same person who called me out needs their ass beat in their own sport.

People so kindly forget Taylar Stallings who after crossfitting for 7 or 8 months made it to REGIONALS. She also was a powerlifter who held a lot of pl records in 165/181 class... Cross fitters need to be VERY aware that although power lifters hate running, tell us no, and we will literally hit the pavement.

So... Back to beating your ass. I held the squat record for 181 not too long ago and watched it taken from me while I was pregnant. Ultimately, it is my goal to get it back. Not because Shannon Nash holds it (I was there when she broke it) but because it is mine!!! This week I watched two cf do Turkish get ups and double unders with 10 & 15 lb in 10:50 and 11.02... So I did 30 and with every breath I took tried to beat them. They got me by .25 but I doubled the weight. I also squatted 225 for 3 reps and 5 sets before and they benched before. I actually enjoyed the fact that the time pissed me off enough to drive me. How can a person not want to beat a time?

What happened to competition? Oh... I remember. Some big f'in crybaby needed a trophy for every event. I remember as a kid my parents took me to dance and when we did well we got invited to a special class. I also remember I wanted to be in that class and i did get invited at one point but I worked for it!! I remember when trying to win meant something. It is heartbreaking to lose. I will hate it when Amelya has to but then I will show her where we can make her better and we will work on it. Maybe this is where we as parents are failing with kids. Working on things means effort and now a days with our fast paced world we do not have time. As a society and as a parent we need to fix this before we have a bunch of pussy fat ass kids ruling the world.

Anyhow, training has been well and I recently hit a tough but fun Deadlift pr and my handstand and OHP work is looking a lot better. I am six weeks out from a strong woman event in which I will have five people to beat (myself included) and I am honestly stoked, I am sure one of them will light a fire under my ass.

Leave now if you do not wanna read mommy stuff...

We are investing in wool dryer balls. Cheaper and supposedly better. I am super excited to stop buying fabric softener which pretty much makes everything water repellant. Less chemicals too :) I am hoping in the long run all this crunchy/granola stuff pays off... So far so good.

Why the strength world hates CrossFit...

I will tell you why I personally hate CrossFit...

They have no real idea of a real diet. They think paleo is legit, when in actuality they eat 100% paleo 50% of the time.

They do not squat to depth. They do not have any lower body power.

They literally run away gains.

CrossFit is disguised as GPP or drills.

They have abs.

They use those horrible harbinger soft belts and think it helps.

Now why the general public hates CrossFit....

Above plus they are weak.

They are trained by a guy who literally holds a certificate and paid 3k to do it.

CrossFit gets tons of attention.

CrossFit is popular even with the weak and fat.

CrossFit never perfects one lift let alone correct form.

Why CrossFit hates its self (and it does not know it)...

Eventually cf popularity will come to a running halt.

They are being beat by women and men who in general are just stronger.

They are realizing paleo is not giving them the muscle growth and recovery to get stronger.

I once heard a CrossFit box owner say "hate cf, most cross fitters are cocky and just big douche bags." now I will quote myself "Powerlifting is not bonded at all, at most it has cliques of Westside and then other training methods"

Let me also say this: NO PROGRAM is perfect without integration of other things. I judged and watched a cf meet not to long ago and noticed one big thing... Cf never benches but does a lot of cleans and thrusters and handstands, etc... Two women had a 95# bench, the rest, a plate!! Powerlifting cannot say that. Heck I cannot either! My bench is weak in the pl world. I should of been benching 200 long ago. My answer to fix this? Try cf techniques. First of all it is fun... Let me tell you I hate bench, like I would skip it forever if I could, but I like cleans, hangs, handstands, therefore I like to practice whenever I can.

Do not get me wrong, CrossFit is weak. They think it is ok to run a gazillion miles then squat. It is NOT ok, there are tons of studies that says this is not ok, yet, cf continues to do it. CrossFit men's legs are TWIGS. No thank you.

90% of boxes suck, but did you know they have specialties? Some like Olympic lifts, some strength, some form, some endurance, etc. Our box is different. Yes, OUR. I am part of a cf gym. I love it. OUR box is not scared to up the weight, to hit depth (and tell you) or work on being strong. Our box asks for help to be stronger with big wigs like Donnie Thompson. We read books, articles, talk about it. I do wish our box ate to lift and integrated scaling and or rest weeks, but like every program, our box has its weakness. This is why having an open box is so great. We are very diverse. We have people for weight loss, strength, fitness. At any point someone will help. I have gone through two sets of training partners and honestly until now, no one has ever been willing WILLING to help. Not just write a program or tell me I am not low enough, but say put the bar there, work on this part. Now, do not get we wrong, pl has pointed out my issues, but it is usually only meet based.

I realize hating CrossFit is not a new issue, but in all honesty, doing OHP to help bench or board work to help with weaknesses may not be your answer. Maybe instead of saying because so and so told me this will help we should consider adding other programming to our training.

Simply put, CrossFit sucks, but so does powerlifting. Quit being jealous of all the cf attention and open your eyes to something that may just make you better.

Lift the one you love

Here recently I have been seeing a huge amount of people being "intimate" with another person who does not lift or compete or even see a gym on a daily basis. EVERY one of them wishes their mate did some sort of gym activity, yet the one wishing does nothing or the mate just refuses to do nothing. It is beyond me why the person wishing does nothing, to me the gym is like God (not quite on his level, but similar, wwjd? Jesus would go to the gym!) A necessary deed, a savior, a refuge. People that do not go to the gym eat, watch tv and I guess shop with what could be considered gym time while you work it out in the gym. My question is this: what the heck do you talk about with your mate? Michael and myself talk about PRs, ways to get stronger, how lifts went, if Amelya pooped, did Amelya get her medications, did she nap and of course what is for dinner!! I mean we watch some tv but is that really fun discussing that? Heck most do not even like watching the same tv shows.

Eating is always something to talk about but most gym goers diet. So, that is out. Clothes. Ok, if your a man the only thing you a thinking about is how to get her out of them. I just do not understand. I am a one time divorcee. At that time I did not workout or train or whatever and in the end all I did was get fat and unhappy. My ex did too. Michael is actually a huge motivator to go to the gym, look at him. I know we all have different opinions of what is sexy, but let me tell you my husband is smoking!!! I swear if I was not married I would of be lazy about losing the weight, but I am not and I am much happier, and the gym is my sanity. Hell the gym is how I met my spouse. I guess the reason for this post is I so often see one train and another not and eventually see divorce, then I see couples who train together like the sweatts and they have been married forever... Proof is in the pudding. Lift the one you love.

Put up or shut up....

Article reading

I read an article today by a professional powerlifter who has recently disappeared from the scene of powerlifting. I have a very bad opinion of her for so many reasons, and it has gone so far that I was banned from outlaw powerlifting (boooo hoooo) but still, a Strongwoman I follow tagged her and it all linked back to the her blog. In May of 2011 she wrote that women are going from the cooking for the hubs and cleaning/taking care of family variety to the lifting/strong type. I disagree. I do both. Candace Pupulo, Stephanie Rodgers, Jill Mills and Nicholle Gregg all do what I do. We cook for our family, we lift, we hold records, we do dishes, laundry, clean, change diapers, study lifting techniques and read about them, help and support other lifters, diet, grocery shop, run errands,  scrub the house clean and somehow manage to take care of our husbands and hold a job! So PP is gonna show the world how she can change that idea... Good luck with that, like Miranda Lambert says "I can do it all with a baby on my hip".

I would like to continue on by saying not ONLY do I do it with a baby on my hip, but I loooooove doing it, I mean sure, there are days when Michael ticks me off (usually low carb days) by not rinsing her dipes or disagreeing with me disagreeing with his training program, but in total, I love my life. I do enjoy having dinner ready for the husband when he gets home, or having his clothes set out. I also love that my daughter listens when we tell her it is time for bed or that she has never had a diaper rash (or even that she is with us!!!) BUT I also love the 90 minute alone time with the gym... They all make me who I am and always wanted to be. I mean, we do not have the best of it all material wise, but we get by and are super thankful for all of our friends and family. I would trade being at the top of pl for my family in a heartbeat because honestly, I am no one without them. I did this sport single and motherless for two years and my gains back have been so much more positive and stronger vs being single. Now do not get me wrong, there is not a damn thing wrong with single, but I think your spouse/life partner/gf/bf  whatever should lift or at least run (gag!) and if you are single and hollerin' it should not be in a bar.  Honesty and respect should lead a relationship be it in public,  in the home or with the weight on the bar. My conclusion on this small ramble is this... There is nothing wrong with being a wife and mommy first and a lifter second, but the gym should never overtake your family because...

POWERLIFTING IS NOT A SPORT THAT REMEMBERS ANYONE.

Do you know Becca Swanson?  What were her last numbers? Shawn Frankl?
Sam Byrd? (for the record all of these lifters either have taken a break and focused on family or job or some other sport but still train). Powerlifting  is not a sport that remembers anyone except maybe Louie, Mark Bell and Laura (and people still do not know Laura's name!!) and honestly most people do not even know what a powerlifter is. I am curious what makes people think they are gonna be famous off of pl? Because you hold all the state and junior and teen angst records? No. Because you run a lifting program (this does not apply to Louie or Chad Smith obviously)? No. Because you wrote a blog? Nope. You are remembered when you hold top numbers, produce people with top numbers or sell a product... and even then it is very hit or miss.

The only thing pl does for anyone is a hobby at most, with the exception of a few who sell gear, shirts, own a gym or maybe training programs. In the gym or in meets or even in public people who have these fantastic numbers think the world owes them something. Nope.... News flash, you are just a gym rat who "does those competitions where you put a bathing suit on" or "that guy who lifts those rocks onto that platform", the outside world could care less unless you do something big and even then you have 15 minutes so quit thinking you are the shit and start putting your big ego into big numbers because eventually we all end up like me "that girl who puked all over the head judge pulling weight" instead of "Erika,  pulling 425 (2.5x my bw) who was allergic to muscle milk."

Set yourself up to fail

Weightlifting/Powerlifting/CrossFit attempts


I am curious how many people set out to fail on a third attempt? What exactly is the logic in choosing your attempts?

"No one ever won a chess game by betting on each move. Sometimes you have to move backward to get a step forward" Amar Gopal Bose

I heard someone tell a fellow lifter that "your last attempt should be a fail". She will read this and know I am speaking about her, and therefore she shall remain nameless. The chick is actually strong given her body weight and I will also take into account she regularly does cf.

Let me step back a moment and put why her doing cf plays into it. Cf is highly cardio/drill/time based moreso than pl/sm. Pl is more number based. In sm there is more of a mix. In Cf you go in wanting to beat a time, not a weight, and in my mind changes things.

So... Failure your last attempt? Hell no. No, no, no. Here is my logic into my last prepregnancy meet (my last meet as an example would not be good given I lowered all my openers because of the stupid dbl ear infection). I walked into the meet knowing I had to beat 418 to take the all time world record so I knew 420 was going to be my second if not my last attempt. My opener was 370. This was a number I at least tripled in the gym. One I knew depth was easy to hit. My second was 420. Why 420? I knew I could take it a second time and I knew a pr was coming. I think your first attempt should be based on your second being a pr. So your last pr was say 225 (Cindy's last pr in a meet) her first attempt should be in the 200 range. I do not like huge jumps, never over 50lb honestly so her next attempt at least 235 or 240. This should be pretty easy given it is a meet, she is well rested, (another HUGE issue) and she has eaten well. Her final should be within 5 to 10 lbs of her second attempt... I consider your final a freebie PR, at this point you have felt the weight, you know it was easy, your mind is set and you will not feel 5 or 10 lb so nailing it should be easy. Never a fail though, who in the crap sets up to fail? Do you think Rich F or Klokvo is like eh, if I fail it is ok, I got one PR. No, they are out to rape our times and weights even if it is by 5lb, to show they can out do you regardless, that is how they got where they are, 5 more than you adds up. People have recently posted about how only 11 men have hit the 2300 mark, do you think anyone knows the name of the 2295 guy? No. What if he added 5 more lb to his final attempt?? Yes they would, I do not know the names of anyone within 10 lbs of 2300. Do not be that person who went 6 for 9, even if you think you left some on the platform, I feel like two PR attempts that lead to a 15+ pr plus 9/9 is better than 6/9 and a 10lb pr. That is only my opinion though, and this is just a silly powerlifting mommy blog.

Hit meet... The strongest cf!

So yesterday I got up at 5 to bench before the Hit meet. It was terrible, Michael has removed main bench work and we hit close grip first. It sucks and I am horrible sore today.

After bench I went home to have what I thought was a terrible day because we have done meets with Amelya and it is obvious after this meet that only when we compete does it get hectic (and I am sure my fever, double ear infection and her neediness did not help) anyhow we had the pleasure of judging. This is more Michaels bag, but I enjoy it the couple of times I have done it.

Squats. Out of the handful of times judging, this is the least amount of reds I have ever given for squats. I do not know how others judge, but after a point you kinda forget who is squatting you just know this pair of shorts squatted like an inch high and you pray they hit depth this squat. I only had one guy I had to call out twice and I really think form is more of an issue than depth... On this note Cindy squatted a 20lb pr. I really think she has HUGE numbers coming for the 181 class as long as her weight stagnates at the 165 plus range (possible given her strong thick lower body) now just to show her what the 181 class can do for her! I know she misses met cons and much like me she does not care about the scale but at the same time would like to be thinner/lean and that is ok as long as she is not killing herself doing both.

Pulling. I also got to see a lot of pulling (my bag) and I really think power lifters pull better and stronger and cross fitters do not know their strength, ESP the men and larger women (I get to say larger because I am!) I realize OLY lifting is huge in the cf world and that plays a lot into it technique. The only vids I saw of the first strong pl turning cf (Taylor Stallings) she pulled pl technique during the cf games (granted the vid I saw was crazy far away) and she took the box jump/dl metcon by storm... This leads me to believe our way is better.

Bench. ALOT of women had a 135 plus bench. I think pl needs to figure out why we (mostly women) suck so bad at bench. I also think after the past month I have figured it out. Candace, Gracie and Laura all know what the key is. I really hope some pl will take this into consideration.... the key is: handstands (all forms). Like Cindy said, you are working body weight pull ups but reversed. How many women can really pull up with great form? Prepregnancy I did 3. I can do one now, with horrid form. I am integrating that and some upper back work to help my bench. I also think every box needs to work on bench pauses and Michael has a really good method for that.

Venue. I am gonna go out on a limb here and make ONE bad comment. This is MY opinion and no one influenced me or said anything, this is my view. Wade had two vendors there. Not gonna say who but I know the one guy. He really did two things to make me angry. One was he continues to sponsor the weak. Formulated with body weight Michael has lb by lb more than any kid this guy sponsers (although I do not know EVERY one)... I have made several attempts to mention we would love to be sponsored but apparently that went unheard. THEN the guy hits up Michael because he has no clue who he is. Michael blew him off. THEN the guy leaves his trash littering Wades gym. Yea, done with THAT guy, he can take his fashionable buckle jeans and mirrored aviators back to wherever he came from. Now mind you, WADE is the owner, I respect any of his guests and his decisions, but that does not mean I gotta like the guy so with that being said if Wade were to make the decision to deal with him my opinion or whatever is invalid. I honestly should not of mentioned it, but I could not think of one bad moment in this meet and there it is. Bad with the good.

Good things:

So many things!!!

Big space! Donnie Thompson! The Meetzes lovely kiddos!
Donuts! Paleo pancakes! Jessica Holmes! Skip!
Coffee! Volunteers! Three other boxes!!
Yelling! Two platforms!
PR! Awards for ONLY the best lifters! (And they were pretty cool)
Knee wraps! Inzer belt use!
Money! Friends! Hugs!
Pictures! Done by 3! (55 plus lifters) (4 lifts)

I am sure I am forgetting a ton of stuff, but like any kiddo, Amelya had her moments and I ran and got us food, changed her, etc and I did not see it all.

After the meet was over the Meetzes loaded us up with drinks, shirts, shakers, etc which was awesome and we headed home to unpack and Michael went back to bench. After benching we went to eat at Pops then chilled on the back porch and then bed!!! It was a good day! I had so much fun! Thank you so much to the Meetzes who let me get in two good hours judging while watching Amelya for me, it was like a mini vacation!!!