John Greaves III's Blog, page 13

Getting The Hang of Finger Strength with The Gripster

The Gripster 2.0 is a product that just makes sense once you see it in action. The device is like a portable version of the hang boards climbers use to train their fingers to support their body weight. You can use it for farmers carries, one arm deadlifts and to train for ring lifts. Because it’s got multiple surfaces, you can train pinch and supporting grip with one tool. That makes it a potential game changer Find out about the journey to bring this idea to market with Gripster inventor Mike White.

Why Do We Need The Gripster?

Quick anatomy lesson. There are no muscles in the fingers. Flexion of the fingers and wrist is produced by the muscles of the forearm that originate from the medial (inside) elbow and terminate via long tendons that attach to the middle and end bone of each finger. (Horst 2008)  Those tendons pass through what White calls an eyelet similar to the line on a fishing rod and that’s the area of vulnerability. “A lot of climbers get what’s called a pulley injury where they rip that eyelet off the bone,” explains White.

Because training for climbing often involves supporting your body weight on just a few fingers at a time, the ligaments and tendons are always doing overload work. Picture squatting your one rep max to competition depth for multiple sets and repetitions every time you train. Most strength coaches would tell you that’s a recipe for injury and the same is the case here.

Advantages of The Gripster Over a Hangboard

While climbers will continue to use hangboards, the Gripster 2.0 serves three important functions:

You can use it right away
Reduced strain on the shoulder
Incremental loading

“They tell you when you first start climbing that you shouldn’t do any hangboard training for at least two years. You’ve got to spend that two years conditioning your ligaments to get stronger. So then when you go onto a hangboard you don’t give yourself pulley injuries,” he said. The Gripster, when used correctly can be part of that process of slowly conditioning your ligaments.

Nohangs with the Gripster 2.0 and 85lbs of concrete in a bucket

Another advantage of the Gripster over a hangboard is you can train your fingers without having your shoulder in extension. White says that this aspect of using the Gripster has even added to the climbers lexicon. “A lot of guys are talking about it on Reddit and what they’re doing is something they’re calling nohangs where they load the Gripster up on the floor.” Nohangs training or what strength athletes might call static holds, means reduced load on the shoulder which is already getting a ton of work in other training. “A lot of climbers get shoulder impingement, rotator cuff injuries because they’re spending their time with their arms overhead and their shoulders in extension,” White said.

The gamechanging aspect of the Gripster is the ability to use incremental loading.  Rather than standing on a crate or box to take load off the way climbers do with a hangboard, the Gripster allows you to be precise in your loading. “You can attach it to a pulley at the gym or use a loading pin to step the weight up by ten or twenty pounds as you get stronger,” says White.

Inventing The Gripster
The Gripster has had many incarnations

A ten year climbing veteran, White says that his enthusiasm for climbing led him to start tinkering with what would become the Gripster.

“The Gripster started out as an idea something like a campus board panel with an eye bolt at the top. I connected it into the cable pulley machine at the gym, it was fun for messing around with but I soon discovered that balance was a major issue,” White said. White eventually decided to copy the same polyurethane technology used in climbing holds. This helps keep the texture consistent with what climbers will face on walls and improves durability.

“I took this over to a climbing holds fabricator and he said, ‘Oh man! When I show this to my boss he’s going to ask why I didn’t think of this!” White recalls. The future for the Gripster brand of products looks bright as doors to applications outside the climbing world are starting to appear.

Applications for Other Sports

“A lot of my customers are climbers but there is an opening in the market because of American Ninja Warrior,” he said.  Grip sport and Jiu jitsu athletes are also seeing the applications for their training. Holding a gi, or training the pinch grip and ring deadlift could all be done with a single product. “A guy contacted me and said he’s won the North American Grip competition three years in a row and he’s interested in doing a review of the product,” White said.

Bumps In The Road

As you might imagine, the journey to make the Gripster a reality involved learning several new skills. “I went over to TechShop and did a few classes, I learned how to use the 3D scanner, the CNC router and the laser printer,” White said, adding that his background in 3D modeling for a game on the Playstation 3 platform was helpful in cutting down on his learning curve. “It was like this obsessive thing where the more I did it, the more I started learning. I’m editing video and publishing video, then I’m building a website, then I’m building an e-commerce website,” he said.

White also remembers coming home from vacation to find that his fabricator hadn’t done any work. “I got all of these orders on Indiegogo and he promised that he would make them. I called in to check and he hadn’t done any work. I kind of flipped out because I had of all these customers that were waiting so as a consolation he said, ‘Well you can use my workshop.”

White says he ended up camping out in his van in a parking lot so he could work 12 hours a day to fill those initial orders that were his initial source of funds.

Financial Hurdles

“At the moment in terms of the product and the business side, the marketing isn’t a problem. The problem is I make them all myself and I can only make them so fast,” White said. This is related to funding. Money from Gripster’s Indiegogo campaign helped but didn’t put the company in a position to hire a fabricator. “It wasn’t enough to outsource the fabrication to other countries where it would be cheaper but it was enough to buy all of the materials.”

He’s currently in talks with a fabricator but until that piece of the puzzle is dialed in, customers are looking at a fourteen day potential turnaround for each order.

At the same time there’s the international shipping puzzle to contend with. “You buy it on the website and it’s $54.95 and to some countries, shipping works out to about $50 so I’ve really got to find distributors in other countries and get it into retail outlets then that’s when I can really push the marketing and advertising.

These problems aside, White has no regrets about how he started his entrepreneurial journey.

Burn The Boats

“The biggest thing that holds people back is their fear. It won’t work; someone else will steal the idea. The people who are successful are successful because they put their heart into it. You’ve got to burn your boats, because when you’re 95 in your hospital bed dying, you’re not going to think, ‘Gee I’m glad that I kept that full-time job and paid all of my bills’ you’re going to think ‘Why didn’t I do what I was inspired to do?’,” he said.

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Weekend Reads February 17

February 17 another week gone!

We’ve made it to February 17, looks like 2017 is flying by already! I need to stay focused to make sure I reach my physique goals for this year or before I know it, I’ll be looking at December mad at myself. I’ve got an interesting mix this week of technique and motivation. I hope you enjoy these weekend reads, they’re designed for when you’ve got extra time this weekend! I’d much rather you enjoy time with family then be stuck in front of a computer reading. So feel free to bookmark this page and come back as you have time. Go enjoy some of that health and fitness you worked on all week!

Kettlebell Arm Bar

The kettlebell arm bar is the single best shoulder mobility and stability drill you can practice according to SFG 1 Jay Weedall. He says this movement is one of the best ways to help correct the slow, silent damage of long hours of sitting in the car or at a desk. Watch the video below and read the original article on StrongFirst to understand the principles behind it.

Afghan Muscles

I re-watched this when I quoted it during an interview with Licinois Gois and I was just as inspired as I was the first time I saw it. This 55 minute documentary chronicles the journey of two Afghan bodybuilders who struggle to achieve their dreams amid the chaos of modern day Afghanistan. Sponsorships for these guys might mean that a neighbor gives them eggs everyday. It’s a real wake up call to those of us who complain about how tough the grind is in the West. Check it out here and see the original IMDB write up here.

Finally! Jeans For Us!

I remember FUBU, the urban clothing line whose name means For Us By Us being popular when I was in college because of the baggier jeans. For Us By Us might just as easily been the name of any one of the new denim brands made by athletes for athletic physiques.  Barbell Apparel, Fran Denim and Relentless Jeans are now providing jeans that accommodate smaller waists and muscular thighs.  My martial arts coach even recommended them because they allow you to kick more freely in street clothes.  Check out this article that talks about these small business startups that are doing good things on our behalf.

Are You Having Fun Running Your Business?

Barbell Business is another podcast that I listen to regularly.  This podcast comparing life, business and even relationships to games (in a good way. As in learn the rules to figure out how to succeed and have fun doing it) as opposed to the drudgery that we normally think of, was eye opening. Check it out especially if you run a garage or warehouse training business. You’ll be glad you did.

DIY Lat Pulldown

Robert Brinkley, aka @alwaysgetbetterstronger, comes through with his own take on the DIY lat pulldown. I especially like that he gives two methods depending on the set up at your house and what you feel comfortable doing.

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Relationship Goals

Relationship Goals

We all see images and videos on Instagram of couples like @jackedandjill.  But is that realistic for most of us? Last year, I asked several strength athletes who I respect greatly to talk to me about their experiences with including their significant others into their love of fitness and strength.  Those were some of my most popular posts last year so I’m bringing them back for those of you who might have missed them.

Steve Goggins: Should You Train Your Significant Other?

Steve Goggins is an Iron Game legend. He battled successfully against Ed Coan and Kirk Karwoski. Steve was the first to squat 1102 lbs in competition at a bodyweight of 263 lbs! He was also the first to squat 500 kilos and pull 400 kilos in the same meet and the first 242 pound lifter and under to squat 1000 lbs.  As a coach, Steve is quite familiar with the pitfalls of training someone when you’re in a relationship with them.

Justin Bethune: Training Your Significant Other
always funny watching people’s reactions when a 130lb woman is handing off 450+lb bench presses in a competition

Justin Bethune is quietly building an impressive resume in powerlifting. Justin’s performance last year earned him an invite to the prestigious Boss of Bosses powerlifting meet sponsored by Dan Green but he’s the first to admit that his success would be impossible without the support of his wife Toni Lynn, an accomplished bikini competitor and motorcross athlete.  Nothing says relationship goals like watching a woman hand off over 400lbs on the bench press to her husband. Except maybe watching that same husband cheer passionately for his wife when it’s her turn on the platform! Find out how these two awesome people balance career and family.

A Home Built Around Strength: Kyle and Samantha Coleman
Kyle making sure Sam is ready to go before a Viking Press event

“There is nothing like having a home built around strength. The best feeling in the world is having your husband or wife be your training partner, meal prep helper, massage therapist or mental consoler”. Wise words from the husband and wife team that are familiar faces on the platform and at strongman competitions. Samantha was the first woman to deadlift 600lbs  among other accomplishments and she gives credit to her husband Kyle for his coaching and support every step of the way.  These two are definitely a match for each other. Read about it here.

Partners in The Gym; Partners In Life
even when we’re lost at a Savage Race, we’re lost together

I couldn’t finish this without mentioning my gratitude for the relationship I have with my lovely Puerto Rican assistant.  Our relationship goals include joining each other in our activities. We don’t do everything together, but we do as much as possible because we’re friends as well as lovers.  Naomi and I have been together through too many adventures to list here. In fact, it would take several blog posts to explain our approach to fitness and here’s one to get you started.

For those garage athletes who are single today, thanks for making it all of the way through this post. I leave you with this from @katiebell2016.

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Five Ways To Be More Athletic and Improve Recovery

Be More Athletic

If you’re like me, you’re constantly bombarded by articles and images of all of the cool stuff we should be doing. We all want to be more athletic.  We also know that athletes pay attention to mobility, conditioning and recovery along with strength training. But adding all of that seems like a recipe for four hour workouts. As a busy parent and small business owner I just don’t have time for that.  So how to get it done? Use animal movements and old time strongman movements as a warm up, do mobility work between sets and as a cool down, use strongman movements as a finisher. Walk every day either before or after dinner for 20 minutes. If you do all of that for sixty days, you’ll move better, feel better and sleep better. Do it for six months and you’ll be stronger than most of the people you know.

Use Animal Movements and Oldtime Strongman Lifts As A Warm up
The bent press as demonstrated by Arthur Saxon

We all know that we’re supposed to do a general warm up for 10 minutes before lifting. Most of us prefer to skip it because it’s boring.  So why not swap that ten minute treadmill session for leopard crawls, crab walks and jumps? I’m a big fan of oldetime strongman movements, aka the stuff you see in black and white photos with guys in leopard suits and impressive mustaches doing. Those guys were gorilla strong and much more flexible and injury resistant than we are today.  I’ve been exploring these exercises pretty good results. But programming them in was a problem until James Fuller suggested that I just use one arm deadlifts or one arm snatches as a warm up for regular deadlifts, one arm snatches and bent presses and side presses as a warm up for upper body work. I only do a couple of sets of five but it works out pretty well. If you’re curious about the movements, I suggest you check out Strongman Archaeology on Facebook or Instagram.

Do Mobility Work Between Sets

I stole this one from Dan John’s blog post on Minimalist Stretching and Mobility.

notice how similar this looks to the bent press picture above?

He pointed out that most of us tend to waste the 45 seconds to two minutes between sets either talking or looking at our phones.

That doesn’t sound like the athletes in any real sports practice I’ve ever watched. Imagine a boxer getting ready for a fight and looking at his phone between rounds of sparring! Or a football player checking his Instagram likes between plays in practice. Instead of wasting that time, how about stretching or foam rolling? For example, pair your warm up sets with mobility work.  Nothing fancy but doing a Windmill Stick like Dan John in the picture on right will work wonders over time.

Use Strongman Movements As A Finisher
Loaded carries are an excellent finisher

This is one of my favorites. One reason we like strongman competitors is they seem to be the most well rounded strength athletes, able to pick up just about anything and run off with it.  So if you want to be more athletic, it stands to reason that you should emulate some of their habits. Just pick a strongman movement and do it at the end of your workout. Keg carries, overhead carries, yoke walks, farmer carries . . . the list is seemingly endless. Just do it for time or as many rounds as you can handle. Your upper back, grip and conditioning will drastically improve.

Use Static Stretching As A Cooldown

The same people who skip the general warm up usually skip the cooldown. Well, you shouldn’t.

click on this picture for a list of helpful stretches to enhance your strength and recovery!

Part of the journey to be more athletic includes having the proper range of motion for every movement you have to do. Stretching improves your range of motion when done properly. Static stretching is also a good way to make sure your heart rate has returned to normal and start preparing you for the next training session.  Besides, if you just finished some strongman finishers, you should only feel like laying there for a few minutes anyway. This is just a way to make laying there more productive. If you followed my suggestion about mobility work between sets, you should be able to stick to just stretching the body parts you worked during the session.  Another suggestion is to use full range of motion barbell and dumbbell movements instead of regular stretching. Good examples are dumbbell flyes, the kettlebell armbar, straight arm pullovers, straight legged deadlifts or this could also be a good time to hit up some yoga poses. After all, you’re at home so who’s going to see?

Walk Every Day for Twenty Minutes

Because fat isn’t sexy. It just isn’t.  This may shock you but our ancestors who were in much better shape than we are, didn’t do HIIT. They just walked everywhere. Stan Efferding pointed out in a recent Rhino’s Rant that frequency is better than intensity when it comes to conditioning. So walking for ten minutes twice a day is better than running like a maniac for twenty minutes. And you can walk everyday. When I was in boot camp, part of the reason we lost weight so quickly is we were forced (yes, forced) to walk to and from the chow hall for every meal.  You don’t have to call cadence but take your kids or wife along to make it less boring and remind them that you do exist.  If you do it before dinner, you’ll create a bigger calorie deficit, if you do it after dinner, you’ll start burning calories as soon as you’re done eating.

Do all of these for 90 days and see if you’re not moving, feeling and performing better. Do it for a year and strangers will ask you for workout advice in the grocery store. You’ll be more athletic and best of all, this is a sustainable lifestyle, meaning you can do all of this long enough to trade personal training sessions for a discounted rate at the nursing home of your choice.

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Licìnio Goìs: Choices Make What You Are

I’ve only been connected to Licìnio Goìs for a couple of weeks but I’m already impressed! What caught my eye was a video of him using water bottles and a stick to do tricep extensions. It reminded me of some of what Josh Bryant talks about in Jailhouse Strong and what we did to maintain our fitness when I was deployed to the Middle East and even on disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina. I knew I had to get to the bottom of this so I caught up with Lio when was on holiday (vacation) in Portugal for a couple of weeks.

Lio, thanks for taking time to share your story! I have to admit that my knowledge of the Middle East is limited to the small section of Camp Victory, Kuwait I visited in 2004 and then my six months in Iraq that same year. And I’ve never been to Portugal! So this is a cool opportunity to learn about both places.

I started working out when I was 15, at home, with homemade weights

Bodybuilding seems fairly popular in Portugal from my quick Google search. Which makes sense because there are a lot of spas and beaches so people tend to be body conscious in those conditions. Are a lot of people into working out where you’re from in Portugal?

Like you said, Portugal is a place with a lot of good conditions to practice sports, as a European country Football rules, but the people start to become more conscious about fitness and healthy and you can see a lot of people on the gyms, street, and other places to do their workout. I believe that the weather it’s conducive to that, although we have seasons, most of the time is sunny. The city where I live, Beja, there are nine gyms. It is a city with 24,000 population.

Did you grow up in a fitness centered environment, Licìnio?

Yes, all my life I do sports, as a kid I play football, have been in karate and other kind of collective sports. You know, when we were kids we aren’t allowed to enter in a gym, at least here in Portugal, the studies about workout with weigh wasn’t developed, and on that time they use to say that interfere in our growth although I’ve always been passionate about workout and bodybuilding so like now I made my own weights with cement and I use to play on my attic. When I become older I make my university in sports and fitness course, I graduate and become my professional life.

How long have you lived in the United Arab Emirates?

Have been living in UAE almost 3 years.

UAE is a nation of expatriates right? I’m familiar with the Abu Dhabi grappling tournament that brings a lot of Mixed Martial artists every year but how about the general population. You’ve got beaches but are people into fitness?

Well, UAE is a country with more expats than local people, the expats depending where they come from, Europeans and Australians mostly, yes they have the workout in their blood. The locals have already started being conscious about it, not just because of the expats habits but also because of all the information on the Internet. But I believe the main problem in the UAE is the nutrition habits. As you might know, UAE is a very hot country, the temperature reaches 42-47 ˚C ( 107˚F) in the hot season but normally it’s always too hot to workout outside. However you can sometimes see people, locals and expats doing their exercises in the parks and the few outside gyms.

I do remember the heat. I was in the Middle East from September to March so I got to experience both the high temperature and ice on the ground a few times during winter. I usually worked out in the evening when it was cooler and early in the day during the colder months. I remember that in Fallujah, the playground only had kids’ equipment, there was only one gym in town and I didn’t see any workout equipment in people’s homes. Then when I interviewed Menna Yousri who is a Kuwaiti personal trainer, she said that gyms in her country are very expensive. Plus traffic is horrible there! So working out at home is very popular. What’s the situation in the UAE? I realize that they have Gold’s Gym and some MMA studios but are these places popular especially since it’s so hot outside?

The big brand here in UAE its Fitness First, they are everywhere, I believe there is more than 40 Fitness First gyms between the two big cities (Dubai/Abu Dhabi), the next one with more popularity its Gold’s Gym. There are a lot of other places with specific programs like MMA, CrossFit, Jiu-jitsu, etc. From what I know yes, the people go to these places to work out because the knowledge about the exercises and specific programs is not too much, so they don’t have other alternatives unless they go to these places with someone who can explain it to them. About what Menna Yousri said, the gyms here in UAE are expensive, but comparing with the typical salary it’s like any other country, traffic here is normal for a big city, in Abu Dhabi there is less traffic than Dubai. Most of the people like to work out at home as well with a trainer, but it’s not that easy for you to find a good trainer here, from what I hear.

Your main income is personal training, is that why you moved to UAE?

Yes, I was recruited by Fitness First.

Do you train your clients in person or do you do online training as well?

I want to start doing something online but at the moment, all of them in person.

How long have you been training, Licìnio? 

Like I told you before, I start early, 15 years old maybe, at home with homemade weights.

Why did you choose to train at home?

Like I used to say, choices makes you what you are and what you are takes you to the right choices. No special reason, I have access to a lot of gyms, actually I enjoy the workout in the gym as well but, I like the idea of helping people create alternatives in case they can’t go to a gym.

What made you decide to locate your home gym in your garden?

I like to believe that I’m a creative guy, so the idea was to see if I can do the same workout I do in the gym. My mom’s house had space enough for that and a lot of material I can use and adapt to create exercises. Was like that I start. And of course, you don’t spend money on a gym!

I remember from being in Iraq that we’d have to get inside whenever there was a sandstorm, I remember being caught out in one without my goggles and it was so hard to see I had to duck into a portable toilet until it passed! Do you have to deal with any of that in UAE? I’m asking that because your gym is outside in your garden, so do you ever have to relocate your workout because of weather or are you like my brother who trains outside regardless of the weather?

In UAE normally I work out in a building. When the weather allows me, I work out outside as well, but usually indoors because of the hot weather. I have never had a workout in a sand storm but it’s a idea! In UAE you have like two or three sand storms in a year.

Licìnio, your equipment seems based around things that you could find around the house or that would be fairly easy to acquire. How did you get the idea to make your own equipment?

I always believed that who wants it makes more difference than who can. I challenged myself to find a way to workout at home with gym equipment and I made it. No excuses!

I’m assuming you weigh the water jugs you use—

I use water jugs with 7kg.

Okay, so how much weight are you using for:

Bench press: 28kg plus ladder 18kg= 46kg

Tricep extensions: 14kg plus rope resistance (can´t precisely measure this)

Rows: 42kg

This leg press was my most fun piece of equipment

That leg press with a door was CRAZY! I loved it! Was that your most fun piece of equipment to make? If not what was?

The leg press with the door was not easy, I started with gas bottles, pushing with my feet with some wood between my feet and the bottles but it was a disaster! I believe that was the most fun but I like the ones I do with the rope and the stick.

Tell me about the thought process that went into creating the ladder bench press. Do you just sit around thinking of ways to use water bottles to train?

Well, when you know about the movement you have to do, you do with whatever you can use, I look around and with the things I have available I just adapt to create the exercise.

We used sandbags a lot to work out in Iraq and they are really popular now. Have you tried sandbags?

Yes, already use some sandbags in my routine.

In Portugal, do you belong to a gym or do you train at home there as well?

The last time I have been here in Portugal I was in the gym, this time I only workout at home.

 People often complain about not having equipment to train, I think that in the West we’re often spoiled by having so many options. Is it tough for you to make the switch from Portugal to UAE when you go back and forth on holiday?

For me is not difficult at all, I’ve worked out since I was 15 years old with some stops between, and like everyone it’s always challenging to start again but when you know where the workout takes you, you just keep going— when your mindset is on track no matter where you are although the facilities it’s the same on both places.

Lio, let’s talk about nutrition. Are you Muslim? 

No, I’m not Muslim most of my clients they are Muslims and let me tell you in Ramadan it’s not easy at all to control the nutritional needs! But with some effort we do what we can.

Yes, Menna talked about that as well. Ramadan is basically thirty days of intermittent fasting. Tell me how you balance your clients’ goals and physical training with dietary restrictions such as the need to fast all day during Ramadan?

For me the main problem is the water. The food we can adjust with the workout times and with the goal of each client. Normally they work out after iftar (the evening meal) but it always depends on the goals. And of course I always adjust the volume and intensity of the workout. You have a lot of nutrition ways you can follow, there are some writers who say the main thing is you get the number of macros you need during the day whether in one meal or in ten meals. My advice is to take the calories in the two meals they have after iftar, dividing it up with more in the first meal less in the second.

You’re not Muslim but Licìnio, you still live in a Muslim country. Yes, it’s populated mostly with European expatriates but . . . it’s a Muslim country. So is it difficult to get the foods you need to maintain a bodybuilder’s lifestyle? I remember a documentary on bodybuilding in Afghanistan, Afghan Muscles, I think it was called, that talked about how expensive protein powder was because of the need to make sure that the ingredients were halal (acceptable to Muslim dietary laws). Do you take any supplements to help with your commitment to fitness and are they easy to get?

You know the big macro responsible to build muscles is the protein, and the only thing about this country is they just don’t eat its pork and for me pork is not the best protein you can take. The other kind of foods, yes, are very easy you get, you just go a supermarket and you can find whatever you need to have a healthy life style or to have a commitment with your fitness status (eggs, chicken, veggies, cow, beans, oats, peanut butter, fish, fruits etc). The supplements are not that expensive. I can tell you, that a protein powder I use, from the Muscletech brand, is around 60 euros. Yes, normally I take supplements, according with my goals I always include omega3, multivitamins, glutamine, BCAAs, casein and whey protein. Sometimes I include creatine and tribulus; other times I include CLA and some fat burners. I use to spend between 1000 and 1200 dirams, that’s something like 250 -300 euros, I believe it’s the same everywhere. In Portugal for example it’s not too much different.

 In the West, our problem isn’t lack of food but too much intake of bad foods.  You’re fairly lean, are there any foods you absolutely have to avoid or can you just watch your calories and be fine?

No, my body type is endomorph. I have to fight for a good body and work out a lot. For example, now that I am on holiday I’m not taking care 100% about food, just controlling the calories, but when I’m in my space and focus in what I’m doing I control everything I eat. Normally my diet is based in Paleolithic although I eat sometimes sweet potatoes, oats, black beans and peanut butter.

 Who inspires you?

Arnold Schwarzenegger was my big inspiration to start when I was a kid

Have you competed in any bodybuilding or fitness competitions or do you have ambitions of competing in fitness competitions one day?

I never think about competition because I like to do some mistakes sometimes, I’m never 100% focused about food, ha ha!

 How do you stay motivated to train?

This is my life. When I started being aware about food, taking care about what I eat— this is the main thing because you can work out all your life but if you don’t control your food you never reach a body you will like, and of course a good pack of supplements is essential, than it’s always the same, workout, sleep, repeat.

I saw you doing some bodyweight squat jumps and pistol squats. How do you incorporate body weight and your weight training?

It always depends in what you want to achieve, in this moment my target is not growing muscle mass, so I include exercises that stimulate my heart capacity and flexibility which will help me in the future in other kinds of exercises and workout goals. But I believe when you mixed this two kinds of workouts its beneficial for you.

What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about starting a gym in their home?

I will encourage him, telling him that it’s the right option to live an active lifestyle, it’s a good way to save money and they always can have good support about exercises and the right way to do it doing some searching on Internet. Or if they can do work with a personal trainer. Because sometimes the problem is not only because they don’t know what and how to do the exercises, most of the times the problem is motivation.

What’s your next piece of equipment? Do you plan to make all of it or would you consider buying something if you thought it was important to have?

No, I’m not thinking to buy nothing. With what I have I can do the most important movements in bodybuilding, Squats, deadlifts, rows, bench press, pullups, shoulder press and the variations of these exercises, so I don’t think of buying nothing but if I didn’t have these other options at home, I might think about buy some equipment.

How can people follow your training or get in touch with you?

Well, I believe Instagram or Facebook are a good way to follow my workouts or to contact me like you did and like I do with many others as well!

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Weekend Read February 10

Welcome to February 10! Watched a lot of videos this week that inspired me and listened to one podcast that had what I think is important information. Hopefully they make you think and give you more tools for the toolbox to improve your training and your life. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Garage Gym Life newsletter every weekend. It comes with discount codes for you to save in our online store as well as a recap of the best home gym articles you can find!

Jamie Wilson: Kentucky Strong

This sixteen minute documentary is pretty inspiring. I love watching and reading stories of ordinary people overcoming extraordinary obstacles to become great and this is no exception. Jamie Wilson is fighting ulcerative colitis for which there is no cure. Even the medication for the disease attacks his other internal organs but Jamie is determined to not go quietly into the night. At the end of it all, you’ll know he was here! Check out Jamie Wilson: Kentucky Strong by following this link. You should also follow him on Instagram and Facebook for constant motivation.

Your Climate Controlled Environment is Killing You

Highland Games competitor, Strongman, grip athlete John Stepien decided to train in the snow a few weeks ago which relates to this podcast on the Wim Hoff Method from the Art of Manliness.  The Wim Hoff Method makes some pretty amazing claims including helping to burn body fat simply by spending a little more time in the cold and learning to control your shiver reflex. Check out the entire podcast here . . . and if you enjoyed that, you’ll love this next one . . .

Take Hold of the Battle Axe

This is a repost of one of my favorite articles.  It’s actually a repost of some comments on the Animal Pak Forvm (no I did not misspell that) from Machine, the original face of the famous Animal brand. I think it ties in quite well with the Wim Hoff podcast above and answers another reason why I returned to martial arts training.  Check it out here. Relax, it’s a short read.

YouTube Channel Is Up

I’ve revamped my approach to YouTube and I’m now going to use it to show behind the scenes coverage of my training and the day to day running of Garage Gym Life, LLC.  New behind the scenes videos will be uploaded every Friday and product spotlights will be uploaded after they run on Instagram. Check it out and subscribe here.

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The post Weekend Read February 10 appeared first on Garage Gym Life.

John Stepien 322lb One Hand Vertical Lift!

One Hand Vertical Lift

John Stepien, Highland Games athlete, strongman competitor and grip athlete wrote for us some tips to help with tearing a deck of cards.  This is older footage of him successfully doing one of the top heaviest vertical lifts in the world according to Grip athlete Jedd Johnson.

 

 

 

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Arthur Lift PR by James Fuller

James Fuller is back again with another PR in the Arthur Lift! You’re seeing a little bit more of James right now because his training has really been going well, with PRs coming almost every week!

What is an Arthur Lift?

The Arthur Lift is named after legendary strongman Arthur Saxon.  It’s a contested lift in the USAWA with a rules description here. This may seem like an odd lift to do but it wasn’t as odd to oldetime strongmen who had no performance enhancing drugs or even modern supplementation to help them build strong, muscular bodies. They had to be creative to get strong! Add to that their need to be able to perform the lifts night after night on stage to put food on the table and their feats become even more amazing.

James is one of a growing number of physical culture enthusiasts trying to keep our bodybuilding traditions alive by training in the style of the old school athletes.  Today’s training shows James with a huge PR of 260lbs!

Until next week, train hard until people start wanting to post videos of you!

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Searching Craigslist Like A Pro

Searching Craigslist like a pro is a good idea if you’re outfitting or upgrading your garage gym and want to save time and money. But you’ll need a plan of action and a standard operating procedure. Veteran garage gym athletes I interviewed said their best practices include:

Search Multiple Times a Day
Build a Quality Search Term
Be Willing to Drive
Choose Ads with a Picture and Look at What Else They Have
Learn the Different Markets


Why Craigslist?

“I came up with the methodology by doing a bunch of research and figuring out the most efficient ways to search Craigslist” says veteran garage lifter, Cody Martin, about his quest to save on gym equipment with Craigslist.  “When you buy used, you’re never out your money. If I buy a bar for $100 on Craigslist, I can sell it for $100 later it’s not a big deal. It’s the same thing with weights, they may not be the ones you want, say you just get some regular metal plates and you pay .50/lb for them. Then down the road you want rubber coated or a particular name brand, when you find those, you can sell the old ones for your .50/lb again and someone will buy them.”

“If you want to train at home, Craigslist is the way to go because you’re basically buying new when you buy off Craigslist,” says, International All-Around Weightlifting Association Champion James Fuller. “You get all of these people that buy these weights with good intentions and they might do it for a month then after that it’s done! And how much wear and tear are they putting on it in one or even six months?”

How Not To Search Craigslist

I’m going to assume that you’ve searched Craigslist before and know how to narrow your search by price, location and dealer versus private seller. If not, check out this short video which covers how to get started including setting up an account. It would be so convenient if you could just watch the video and be successful but unfortunately not so. Most Craigslist search tutorials on YouTube talk about setting up search tools but those aren’t foolproof.

“There’s a bunch of different apps for searching Craigslist in the iTunes and Android stores but I’ve found that a lot of times the apps when updates would happen to the operating systems would start missing notifications and things like that,” Martin says. “They’ll work for a while then an update happens and they stop working for a little bit or they don’t catch everything that they’re supposed to catch. They don’t load all of the results that you would find if you just went to the website for whatever reason”. So what should you do? While their methods may vary, everyone I talked to agreed that you’ve got to be prepared to search often if you want a deal.

Search Multiple Times A Day

“I search pretty often, weekly at the least”, says powerlifter Edward Olesh, who started training at home when his wife was pregnant with their son. “I found that the more you search not only are you more likely to find something, but you’ll also see what prices are good and which are high.” Martin agrees.  “The first thing you have to realize when you’re putting together a gym is you have to be searching several times a day,” he says.

“I’ve found that it’s best to literally open up the website,” Martin says. “At the top of every hour I had a search that was just saved like a bookmark and I would just refresh the search every hour.” Searching that often might sound like a full time job if you’re just getting into Craigslist but Olesh and Martin agree that it’s the only way to make sure you get to the best deals first.

“When that brand new leg press/hack squat machine or squat rack gets listed for 275$ you want to be the first to say you’ll take it!” says Olesh.

“Some of those guys don’t work, they troll Craigslist all day. A lot of are willing to leave work if a good deal pops up and that might be something to consider; possibly leaving work for a good enough deal,” Martin adds.

To even the playing field with professional resellers, frequency will get you part of the way there but we also want to work smarter and the key to that lies in how you search.

Building a Quality Search Term

“There are multiple ways to phrase the same thing and there are misspellings; you have dumbbell, dumbbell, dumb bell, dum bell. The Craigslist search FAQ lists keyboard shortcuts so prospective buyers don’t have to type multiple spelling variants into the search box.

“Asterisk (*) works really well because it lets you type in just part of a word,” Martin says. I could do dumbe* and that would let me search for every variation after that. The | which is found right above the Enter Key on your keyboard allows you to search dumbe*| dumbbe* and you can continue to build from there; the same thing applies to the different variations of barbell, different spellings of weight, squat— which lets you filter out a lot of things that you don’t want. It lets you search for general keyword terms but you could also start throwing in brand names.”

You could type in Rogue or Eleiko because a lot of times people will list the brand name of an item but they may not use search terms that you’re thinking about.

(Be warned though that brand names like York throw a monkey wrench into the scenario because of the cities of York and New York.)

Martin shared another tip: Keep looking after you think you’ve found what you want. “Just because you think you’ve found an item doesn’t necessarily mean that you should stop looking for that item. I had picked up a Hammer Strength power rack. One of their high end racks, the same kind that’s in Anytime Fitness. I gave $1,000 for it which is high but I hadn’t found anything else really good. It was a $3,200 rack so it wasn’t like I was getting really ripped off but it was more than I wanted to spend. So I kept looking and I eventually found the one I have now; I got the rack and the bench for $500. So when I was making the deal to pick that up, I also listed and sold my Hammer Strength rack for $1,200 to a gym so I actually made $200 selling it and then picked up the other rack for $500. Then I sold my original bench for another $120 so I made money on the deal and I got a rack that was better for my space.

Choose Ads with a Picture and Look At What Else They Have

Once you’ve found an interesting looking ad, you don’t need to immediately reject it if what you want isn’t on sale. Fuller says, “You go to the ad and you

Martin was able to upgrade to this Nebula 6021 “Phase” 3/4 rack with the matching 6021-B dockable bench and make money on the deal.

look at the other stuff that’s in the picture that they’re not even talking about and sometimes you’ll be like ‘Hey! What’s that plate over there?’ You’ll go over the guy’s house and you’ll talk about what he’s got for sale but you’re looking in the corner and you ask him, ‘What’s that?’ and he’ll say, ‘Oh that’s just some old plates that my grandfather had. I’m going to just throw them out.’ Well, I’ll buy this and I’ll buy those off you. And he might just say, ‘Oh I’ll just throw those in for free!”

Fuller shared an interesting story that illustrates this point:

“I’ve got some waxed Weider 45lb plates, they’re orange but they don’t say Weider on them, the name was waxed out. Weider tried to make an Olympic lifting set in the Fifties, but it didn’t even last a year because the bar they sold with it bent when you put like 250lbs on it. You will occasionally see pictures of those plates being used in training in the magazines but I’ve only seen one pair of the 45s turn up. I’m pretty sure this foundry got stuck with the bill and when they’d pour the plate, they’d wax out the Weider name so it said everything else but it wouldn’t say Weider. That way the foundry could still make back some money because the molds aren’t cheap to make. I’ve got the only known pair of these ever made and it was from Craigslist. It had nothing to do with the actual Craigslist ad. A friend of mine went to check on the equipment the guy was selling and he asked the guy, ‘What are these over here?’ the guy was like, ‘Oh, I tried to give those away and nobody wanted them. You can have them if you want them.’

The bottom line is you can get good deals if you’re willing to travel.

Be willing to drive

“I have driven an hour and forty minutes to pick up my hyper-extension station for 20$.  The wife and I made a day of it though since it was near a big city,” Olesh says.  “I would drive further for a good deal,” he adds. This is a good idea because traveling expands your search area. This is not only because of what strength sports tend to be popular regionally, but also because different regions tend to have different equipment types based on some of the colorful ups and downs of Iron Game history.

“You’ve probably looked at Arnold and Franco benching on the beach. The plates have these small letters on them that say BFC, (Bell Foundry Company).

This was a company that made bells out of Los Angeles. They made plates for Ironman which is in Nebraska, so those are two places right there that you know that you’ll be able to find Bell Foundry Company fairly cheaply. They’re one of the best plates for gripping. Dr. Ken Leistner, who created the well-respected Steel Tip newsletter worked for Nautilus back in the ‘70s as a truck driver. So he would drive to California delivering Nautilus equipment. He and his assistant would drive the 18 wheeler over to Bell Foundry Company, load up the truck with Bell Foundry Company plates and he’d hit gyms all over the southern United States on his way back to Deland, Florida selling the plates. Oldetime Strongman Ed Jubinville who built equipment and sold equipment out of Holyoke, Mass, up until the Eighties, sold Bell Foundry Company plates. So Bell Foundry Company plates shouldn’t be too hard to find in New England, the Midwest, the southern United States and Los Angeles.

Although Martin is more into newer pieces, he agrees that traveling is the way to go.

“When I was traveling, I would check the cities I was traveling to and through,” Martin says. “If you’re heading to California, Ivanko is everywhere in California but if you want to buy them here it’s $2.25 per lb. in New England, $100 for a York Power Bar in good condition is high you can get them for $75 all day long, but you bring them down South and $100 is a steal, maybe you buy three bars, sell two of them and keep one and now you have got a free bar! “

“I got a shot loaded barbell and a shot loaded dumbbell from before World War I and I got it dirt cheap because the guy didn’t know what he had,” Fuller says. “I drove three states away to get it and when I got there the guy said that I was the only one who had made an offer on it,” he says. “People found out and couldn’t believe that I’d gotten it on Craigslist. I’m going to say I saved somewhere around $4,000 or more.”

Learn The Markets
Don’t get overcharged for these although they’ll still be good enough for your grandkids to use

“If you spend enough time on Craigslist, you’ll learn your market and that will help you with price” Martin says. “It takes a while to learn what something is worth in your market and some things are rare enough to not have a set, established market value,” he says.

Fuller agrees and gave examples. “100lb plates are kind of interesting because they’ll usually go cheap because they’re hard to get rid of. A lot of people overcharge for the York 100lb plates without a rim because they’re old but I don’t care. They’re one of the hardest plates to handle. I’m like, ‘you want to sell them because you don’t want to handle them! Even the York 75lb plates without a rim are harder to handle than a 100lb plate with a rim. ”

Okay, that’s a ton of information! You’re probably nervous and feel out of your depth. Breathe. Let’s say that you’re not at the level of Craigslist veterans like Fuller, Martin and Olesh. You might be leery of being ripped off but not to worry. Martin has one last tip for newbies:

When In Doubt Pay Half

“You can use the “1/2 of new” rule of thumb though in general, you’ll never pay more than half of what something costs new. There are a few exceptions, like Rogue bumper plates and some things will be far less like single function commercial machines, but it’s a good rule of thumb until you learn the nuances of your market.

“With Craigslist it really is about looking to look rather than being specific. You just start looking at what’s for sale in your area. I go to stuff that I’m not even interested in, I look at the other plates and bars lying on the floor around the stuff that the guy is selling,” Fuller agrees. “People that are selling on Craigslist, most of them are just regular people that don’t work out or don’t know much about working out” he points out. So what are they going to do? They’re going to look on Craigslist and they’re going to price according to what they see that is common. So they’re not going to see a bunch of the old 1930s, 40s, 50s plates so they’re going to think those plates aren’t worth much even if they’ve got them. They think that’s just old and out of date, no one’s going to want that. Sometimes you’ll have to buy some junk but he’ll give you a real good deal on something valuable that he was just going to throw away.”

 

Additional Resources:

Bodybuilding.com Craigslist Equipment Thread

Contact: Cody Martin

Contact: James Fuller on Facebook or on Instagram

Contact: Ed Olesh

The post Searching Craigslist Like A Pro appeared first on Garage Gym Life.

@12gaugekate: Learning to Love My Reflection

Kate Olsen aka @12gaugekate is a study in contrasts. She’s intensely private but posts motivational quotes to her followers on Instagram. Uncomfortable in her skin at times, but defiantly posting revealing transformation pictures. She sometimes has a private account but is intensely loyal to her friends.  It took me some time but I finally got a chance to peek inside the world of @12guagekate.

Kate, you’ve been a follower of Garage Gym Life for a little while. What attracted you to this online community?

@garagegym_gal (Maranda Granger) actually was the one that introduced it to me after she had a name change on her account.

Is this the first time you’ve gotten involved with an online fitness community? I think you’ve got a BodySpace profile right?

I have actually been on the online community with fitness for almost 2 years now. I first started with Instagram fitness back in April 2015 when I had to lose weight to be a bridesmaid in a wedding for a friend.  Which was very hard at first. Seeing all these amazing people on Instagram posting all these photos of their food and their gym and of course the famous booty shot photos. And all I could come up with was me standing in front of a mirror with sweatpants and a sweatshirt on because I was too embarrassed at how I looked. As I kept adding more photos to my account with more hashtags I slowly gained followers and a lot of great friends along the way.

What’s the significance of your Instagram handle? Is it related to shotguns or piercings?

I haven’t always had the IG name @12gaugekate. When I first started out it was cleaneats_KTO which I absolutely hated and then I turned it into @pushback.fitness which I kept for very long time. That’s how most of my followers would know me. Then the whole “Instagram depression” kicked in and I was constantly comparing myself to others along with trying to strive to fit into certain clothing. Which send me down into a spiral. To the point where I had to delete my Instagram account. After a month off, I came back with a new account and a new mindset. I still struggle daily with try not to compare myself to others in Instagram which I will tell you is very tough. Because you see people getting results faster than you.

You know I completely understand. I just reposted a video of a guy I used to train with who just deadlifted 606lbs and I’m very happy for him, but at the same time, I’m always tempted to pump the brakes on the path I’m on and start focusing on powerlifting training but I know I’ve got to trust the plan that I feel God has for me. Back to your story. You left Instagram but came back obviously.

So when I came back after my month vacation I wanted something different with a new mindset so I searched the Internet for some cool ideas on names and I ended up finding @12gaugekate on a roller derby girls website. And I thought it fit perfectly and I do like guns, I’m not a huge fanatic, I just enjoy them so don’t ask me any questions about them!

Ha! That’s like me and languages, because of how I grew up, I know how to say hello in several languages but I’ve always got to add, “That’s all I know, don’t ask me anything else! Ha ha! But anyway, tell me about your background, were you involved in sports as a child?

My background isn’t an anything special. Long story short, I grew up taking care of myself. My mother was never in a real stable relationship and she was always working. So as far back as I can remember I took care of myself. If you ever met me you would probably think I was pretty stubborn. I am very independent and like to do stuff myself. Which the boyfriend hates because he is always trying to help me and I refuse. Growing up I was always a normal size kid until about junior high when emotional eating kicked in. I had a very stressful home life at the time. And there wasn’t really much I could do besides turn to food and my mom would always buy the stuff that I enjoyed eating so In a way she was my enabler but at the same time I knew what I was eating and I chose to eat the items. Growing up my mother was a very heavy drinker. Which led her to the hospital and many rehabilitation programs. Until her body had enough and she finally passed away when I was 20 years old. My school life was nothing special I had a few friends, no sports just your every day school kid I did spend a lot of time in the art room making things. I’m not much of an artist that can draw.

But all through high school I kept gaining weight and I was over 220+pounds when I graduated high school. After high school I cut back on my eating habits and had jobs where I was constantly moving. I was able to get down to 150 and stay there until about five years ago when I started putting all the weight back on. I was in a new relationship and became very comfortable around him and food. There were days where I would eat more than him and he’s a pretty big guy. So when I finally realize I was putting on a lot of weight I actually tried to go on some of those fancy diets. There is one I did that cost me thousands of dollars. I was so upset about it! And they claimed it was the best thing in the world! Yet you were barely eating anything which I knew wasn’t right and obviously it was a horrible choice. After that I decided to go running outside at that time we were living in an apartment so I would go and run around on the sidewalks. Which ended up with me in the ER, I have a cyst inside of me that got agitated and put me in a lot of pain. So I don’t do running anymore! Ha ha! Unfortunately none of it worked for me because I was a little lost and didn’t really know what I was doing and didn’t bother to research anything. So unfortunately the weight kept coming.

At the end of 2014 I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding and that’s when my whole weight-loss journey began.

 Tell me how you started training at home. What got you to make that decision to buy all of the equipment and dedicate the space to home workouts?

I haven’t always worked out at home I actually I started off at a gym, Anytime Fitness. I would go really early in the morning when there was nobody at the gym.

What did you start your garage gym with? What was the first piece you added?

I didn’t receive any of the at home equipment until November 2015 when I received the huge piece of equipment that I have in the middle of the basement that has multiple exercises on it. I actually got it for free from my uncle that was trying to get rid of it. It took us a couple weeks to put it together which was very stressful because I wanted it done right away. Then I purchased some free weights and a hex squat bar. And then just a few months ago my aunt gave me her old treadmill.

Have you ever sold anything that you now wish you hadn’t?

I am actually been debating getting rid of all of it except for the treadmill and free weights and building or purchasing a power rack. Something a little smaller for when we actually start finishing our basement. Because half of the stuff on the large piece of equipment I don’t even use or I have used up all of the weight it offers.

What motivates you to train every day? I don’t think you participate in a sport and I’ll be the first to admit that training at home is tough. Really tough! You’ve got no training partners, if you train in a garage like we do, you’re getting out of bed to go down into a room that’s probably at least ten degrees colder than the rest of the house at least at first. What stops you from just hanging laundry on your equipment and giving up?

I have my days just like anybody else where I don’t even want to walk downstairs to see the workout equipment. Some days are harder than others but if I miss a day or more I get disappointed in myself and know that I should be doing something with myself because there’s a lot of people out there that wish they had equipment at home but cannot afford it or don’t have room for it.

Tell me about your dogs. I think you’ve got two, what breed are they?

I do have two dogs running around. A chocolate lab and a Bluenose pitbull. Which can be very frustrating some days.

Are they always in the garage with you? I ask that because I like to roll up the garage door in the summer and so I had to train my dogs not to wander off when I do that. I also had to stop them from coming up and licking me when I lay down to bench press or walk behind me when I squat!

The main reason they are usually down there is I’m home alone or it’s early morning and I’m letting the other half sleep in. Or there’s other days where I keep them outside the door because they are constantly in the way I can’t count how many times I’ve knocked him in the head by accident with a dumbbell. But for some reason they keep coming back. And I can’t do any floor exercises when they are around because they will attack me with their cold noses and wet kisses. They usually wrestle around while I work out. Between my sets I’m usually throwing toys for them so if some of my videos show them sitting right next to me it’s usually because I have one of their toys.

Honestly, I don’t believe that most men or most people period agree with the notion pushed on us by the fashion industry that all women have to fit a certain mold. We know women come in different shapes. That’s why I’m a huge fan of what GRRL clothing is doing to empower women worldwide. Besides that, I’ve had the honor to meet several female strength athletes like Samantha Coleman, Kimberley Walford and Sioux-z Hartwig Gary who all have different body types but who are all phenomenally strong and accomplished. I don’t mind telling anybody that I admire these women. Who do you look up to in fitness and why?

When I first started the whole fitness on Instagram I was a little blown away on all the stuff you see whether it’s good or bad. A lot of it obviously was photo shopped. So it is very hard to find role models to look up to because I would find somebody and I would enjoy their posts only and find out they were complete fake or just looking for people’s money. Which I fell for a time or two. I remember when I got my first program from somebody that I had barely known what they do and what they offer. It was a huge mistake they had me eating a little over 1000 cal a day with an hour worth of cardio. And anybody that knows anything about fitness knows that is a horrible idea. But I was desperate to fit into that bridesmaid dress and would do anything to get there.

The GRRL company is a great example on how they’re trying to change the fitness industry with women. And not having them think that they can be a piece of lettuce and two hours of cardio. They actually promote strong beautiful women no matter their shape or size. Kourtney Olson is a huge inspiration to me. She has legs I can only dream of. Another inspiration is Dana Linn Bailey. She is absolutely gorgeous and so down to earth. But my absolute favorite is Ashley Hoffmann. She isn’t as famous as to other two. But she is amazing. She is actually the reason I got into weightlifting I came across her article she had in bodybuilder.com and after reading those I absolutely fell in love with her and weightlifting.

What are fitness goals for @12guagekate and how have they changed since you began your fitness journey?

When I first started working out I was so desperate to fit into a bridesmaid dress. That I was doing hours of cardio just to get there. Which I did I ended up losing 20 pounds from April to July 2015.since then unfortunately I have gained all the weight back. But I’ve also added a lot more muscle and have done less cardio LOL. After I started gaining the weight back I did get a little depressed again and set me down a long spiral of emotional eating. Because I was so obsessed with trying to fit into clothes that didn’t fit me anymore. I would go to stores and try stuff on and leave in tears because I was back at the beginning and I didn’t know what to do. Eventually I had to take a step back reevaluate things and come back fresh and new. That’s when I started my new Instagram account. This time around I want muscles and to be happy. I didn’t care what the number or letter was on the clothing item. There have been a few times where I have gotten upset but the amazing people and friends that I have came across on Instagram have help me through the tough times that I fell. So I would dust myself off and get back to work.

I mentioned BodySpace and you entered a transformation contest on there. I’ve done one of those and it was pretty tough. I didn’t win unfortunately but it was a great experience that pushed me to the best shape I’d been in up to that point. What have you learned about yourself so far in doing this competition?

When 2017 came around I knew I wanted something different. I wanted the muscles but I also want to love myself no matter the size. Which is been a very hard challenge that is for sure. And when the new year began there’s always a challenge going on a bodybuilder.com which I wanted to enter. So the week before it started I took pictures and entered them into the contest. I will admit I have given up on that contest because I felt myself going back to the beginning again and not seeing fast results and I didn’t want that. I still am working out and pushing as hard as I can with what I have in hopes of making myself better while learning to love myself.

What’s your support structure like outside of Instagram? I ask because you’ve got some posts where you appear to be almost defending yourself against things people have said, or might say. Do you find that you need to defend yourself, or are you more saying it to yourself as a way to motivate yourself?

I usually post stuff when I am having a hard day because I know I’m not the only one. I don’t have much support outside of Instagram. The boyfriend will tell me to go work out but he won’t join me even though I’ve asked him numerous times. Family members really don’t know; I kinda keep it hush-hush. There is one family member that does know about it and she also works out but she is the type of person that eats a piece of lettuce and does lots of cardio and complains that she’s fat so I don’t really talk to her much or ask what her advice unfortunately. I do wish I had more family/friends around for the support. That’s why I am very grateful for the people on IG.

Who designs your training programs? Do you have an online coach, do you modify programs you find online or in magazines or do you just freestyle them yourself?

I don’t actually have a program or a “online” trainer. I have tried a few but not a big fan and I have tried the programs that bodybuilding.com offers and I don’t really care for them. They are either two extreme for me or there isn’t enough I feel like I need to add more to the program. So I usually make up my own programs. I have a huge list divided into body parts and I just pick random workouts from that list and make up my own workouts.

  What’s your bucket list goal? What one thing would you love to do if money was no object and you were in your best physical condition?

I am not striving for anything special or becoming Instagram famous. I am just looking to be happy and healthy with muscles. That is my main goal. If money wasn’t an object I definitely would like to open my own gym close to my house so I could just walk there every day. And have all the equipment I would need. But I know the chances are pretty slim that’s why I love seeing all the people on @garage.gym.life and all their equipment they have. Definitely gets the creativity flowing when thinking about our next home we plan to build.

Thank you so much for letting me share my story. I know it’s not to exciting but I know there are people out there like me that struggle daily but keep pushing every day even when the results are minimal.

Kate, thank you for being willing to share your story! You can follow @12gaugekate on Instagram. 

The post @12gaugekate: Learning to Love My Reflection appeared first on Garage Gym Life.