Strongwoman update

Training has been going well for most of us. We've had a few casualties (minor strains, keg-bruises, scrapes, nothing major) but all in all, everyone is looking great and should be well prepared for the upcoming contest on August 8th.

In other news, Erin (who is on our team and has been a client of mine for over 1 year now) will be auditioning for a stunt crew at the end of July. Erin is an actor and with her newfound levels of strength & fitness, hopefully she'll get hired by the montreal-based stunt company!

So, back to strongwoman training. Joyce (my book-keeper and member of the gym:) has joined our crew and is going to kick everyone's ass! The guys watched in horror and amazement on Saturday as she did 10x zercher squats with 90kgs...like it was nothing. She also practiced the stone 'load' the other week and well, it was more like the stone 'launch'. I always knew Joyce was strong but I think she may have found her calling!

We also got some new pieces of strongman equipment this week - the yoke is in (built by member Little Nicky) and Fred delivered our custom 80lb log. Meredith (another team member) tracked down 2 more kegs for us and, believe it or not, an ANVIL. Yep, that big thing that falls out of the sky and crushes Wile E. Coyote - turns out it weighs close to 200lbs...and is one of the objects to be loaded in our upcoming contest.

CALLING ALL STRONG WOMEN!

I am putting together a women's team to compete in a strongman/woman event in Kingston on August 8th. The events are as follows:

TIRE FLIP - Flip a 225lbs Tire for max reps in 90 sec.

LOG PRESS – Press the metal Log for max weight from the ground to over head position opening weight 80lbs weight will increase by 10lbs on each successful weight lifted. Competitors must LOCK OUT THE ELBOWS, NO WRAPS OR TENSOR BANDAGES ON ELBOWS. Max time 45 sec.

FARMERS WALK - Pick up and walk till you drop with a 75lbs Dumbbell in each hand for furthest distance 90 sec.

OBJECT LOAD -Load 3 objects 80lbs Field Stone, 150lbs Keg and 170lbs Anvil onto barrels or platform in 90 sec.

Sounds like fun doesn't it?! I think the best part about this contest (aside from the fact that we're gonna kick ass!) is that we're all 'normal-looking', fit women who are just trying out something new, challenging and fun! Too many people hear "strong-woman competition" and immediately envision huge, muscle-bound women with facial hair and man-hands. SO not the case! I bet if we called it a 'fitness' competition, no one would raise an eyebrow. But that's another post entirely....

Send me an email if you're interested in joining us - we're doing our event training mainly on Saturdays. Oh, and we're gonna have and outfit. It will likely involve something pink and some Lululemon. Yay!

I have to get better at this blogging thing!

Once again, I've let almost 6 weeks pass since my last update - unacceptable! As usual, I've had lots of stuff going on.

On June 6th, I completed my first sprint triathlon in Stowe, VT. While the universe seemed to be conspiring against me for the entire lead-up, I ended up having a blast and will definitely do it again next year. It was one of those things on my 'to-do' list and with my 30th birthday upon me it seemed like a good time to go for it. I managed to do the 500m swim in 14min30s. I am really proud of this considering I'm NOT a swimmer and I only hit the pool 3 times before the triathlon. The bike and the run were hell though - Stowe is a very pretty town with lots of rolling hills - but mix that with torrential ( and I do mean torrential) downpours the whole day AND my complete neglect of my nutrition/hydration...it was quite horrible by the end! Despite the incredible cramps in my legs, I felt great crossing the finish line. I have a whole new respect for triathletes and I can also confirm that I have NO interest whatsoever in doing an olympic distance triathlon, or worse, an ironman - EVER. Think of all the other things you could do with 16 hours. Those people are crazy!

The weekend after, Warren competed in the NH State Strongman Championships - you can find all the details in his blog. I'll just say that there was a moment when he was strapped to the 10,000 lbs monster truck and all I could think was "Thank God that's not me". Bad girlfriend, I know.

As many of you know, the gym has moved to a great new home - renovations continue and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am also becoming a master tiler, painter, constructor-of-things:) I'll post pics of the new space asap.

We now have an IPF rack at the gym - this is a fantastic piece of equipment that will allow our lifters to practice on a competition-style bench/squat rack. We've also got atlas stones on the way for our strongman crew, a few more kegs and some other fun stuff that is being custom-made.

Watch out for pics and more frequent updates (promise!).