it's never too late for a Booty Call

and when it comes to my booty, aka tush, I am pleased to say that I have corrected my form when I am doing my deadlifts!  yay!  *high 5*  *big cheer*  *big big smile*

and my tush is no longer reaching for the sky before I start my lift

so that is totally absolutely such great progress!

and I managed for the first time Ito do 2 reps on 100kg

so I'm looking forward to doing 110kg next, while keeping up reps on 100kg

though I can see that I still have to straighten up a bit more at the top, so that's something to work on

it's always so good to get yourself filmed, makes you really think about your form when doing these lifts, and it has made the world of difference to me 

I put my pointers on all the clips, but for anyone interested, here they are -

Metallica on full blast

shoeses off 

feetys just wider than squat stance

shins to the bar

lock arms out

'drive' with heels into the ground

drag bar up the shins (best to wear pants)

and thrust forward with hips as soon as bar clears knees

to finish nice n clean

reps on 95kg

this is the first time I have lifted 95kg, as I'd gone straight from 90kg to 100kg (I like going up in 10s)

reps on 90kg

I did this before the 95s and 100s and wasn't wanting to tire myself out too much, as 100kg was my main goal doing it this new way

reps on 60kg

this was my warm up to let my gym mate check my new form before all that glory above

- so - only 2 weeks ago I was deadlifting like a bag of ...., no matter how much good advice I was receiving from my gym mates, it was going in one ear and out the other,

and now 2 weeks later I've made such good progress - whom to credit?

well it would have to be this cute boy below - Nick Wright

I was on youtube looking at deadlifting and I came across this clip of Nick explaining how he does it,

and somehow it stayed inside my brain, amongst all that grey stuff, between the ears.... :/  and kinda sunk in 

and as soon as I went to the gym the next day I practised what he'd said, got one of the boys to watch me, and wow! it worked! 

worked a treat!

thank you so much Nick!! :)

the only thing I do differently (cos that's just me), is place a couple of 5kg plates on the floor in front of the barbell, (you can see them in my clips), so the bar doesn't roll toward me when I grab on to it, as I only have 100kgs on it, not the 170kg/220kg+ like the boys do

and that seems to work perfectly

so I am so so so SO excited!!!!

I've been deadlifting since last June and now finally I've got it!

I absolutely LOVE deadlifting! with all my heart! 

it's so exciting, so powerful, so all encompassing, and of all the exercises I do in the gym, deadlifting is my absolute favourite

and I love love love being strong!

I reckon I will have to get myself one of Nick's sweatshirts eh?  STRONG  - love it!

thank you so much Nick, really appreciate you sharing your knowledge : )

so it took me 9 months to finally get the hang of it!

and yes, that is a little baby in a romper suit you see above

(but not 'my' baby - I don't do babies or romper suits or nappies, never have done, I'm a rabbit-mama only!)

and yes, it is a newborn Meerkat - yeah, that's right, one of those little furry things that has been on the tv adverts, and yeah I saw it on tv up at my mum's one night, 

and oh my god! what a cute little thing it looked like, and it had a tiny little furry 'grub' toy with it - oh, okay, the truth was - I was really excited by the fat furry grub more than the meerkat,

and so, yeah, I was sucked right in - 

I went straight home and googled the meerkat

and shucks, yeah, I compared the meerkat .com ha ha ha

so a few clicks later and a savings of 60% on my home contents & buildings insurance, ha ha ha!!! yeah, really! 60%

like wow! 

I saved well over £220!!  ha ha ha

and a tiny little grub would be making it's way to me, (along with a baby meerkat)

then last week the doorbell rang and the postie handed me a small brown box and...

anyway, my little meerkat is now called Grublet. Not Oleg : )

and grub is called, eh, ... Grub?

so there was Grublet throwing a tantrum with a dirty nappy after a 3 month, 24,000km long journey, and he tossed precious Grub into the fast flowing river on my woodland carpet

for goodness sake! 

I wasn't going to get my socks wet in the river, and the baby was too small for swimming lessons...

well, we both held our breaths.... 

but thankfully the rocks on the river trapped the fat Grub there

and he stopped greetin......

so I picked Grub up to make sure he wasn't hurt in his first misadventure 

(as I am sure one so small and new to the world will be having many, many more adventures...)

then after a nappy change I placed them up on the backs of my hares Seramr and her husband Wintergarden

(Seramr wasn't wanting a crying baby on her back so she let Grub play on her and pull her ears instead)

(Wintergarden was a modern-dad, and he loved caring for babies and all that soppy stuff, so he had clean-nappy Grublet up on him, drooling over his ears)

(yeah, I lied about changing the nappy, that was Wintergarden who did it. I've only ever changed 1 nappy in my whole life and my sister-in-law was not impressed, and to this day I still can't work out why nappys are so darn hard to put around a little sweating screaming slightly-still-poo-stained wriggling newborn...)

anyway, babies, no matter if they are screaming naked pinky human ones, or incredibly cute adorable fluffy furry little ones - are For Life

yeah - for life!

like as in - always and forever!

so, here is Arabella - my first 'baby' photo of her, by her first husband Zai

(she was about 2ish when I got her as she was locked in a hutch for the first year of her life, before being rescued, then spent the next year at the rescue centre with no name, as no-one wanted a rabbit that looked like a normal wild one. Thank goodness! cos I fell in love with her straight away! she was such a beauty! so like a hare!)

and ofcourse my little King of Kings, Wesley - this is his first 'baby' photo when I took him home

(he was about 1 and a 1/2 because after he was found on the disused railway line covered in blood and urine, he was then at the rescue for a year, as no-one wanted a normal looking white rabbit with pinky eyes. Thank goodness! cos ofcourse you all know that I immediately fell in love with my little soulmate Wesley when I first saw him online)

I drove down to Rugby with Arabella to see if he would be her 2nd husband (Zai left for the stars 3 months after Arabella came to live here), and Wesley and Arabella were '2 hour friends' at the rescue, pretending to 'bond' so that I could take Wes home with me.
But as soon as he came home they had a huge bloody - as in blood spilt - fight. And they remained non-friends for ever after! ha ha - and lived happily separated by a baby-gate!

So, since it is Easter-time soon, and unless you make an online visit to compare the meerkat .com to welcome a furry grub, and er, baby meerpup into your life,
if you are feeling attracted to a long eared furry companion, then may I suggest that there will be many beautiful and well deserving rabbits at your local rabbit rescue waiting for a loving forever home - for, like, for ever :)

will have to see how Grub and Grublet settle in, may just have to consider a little furry companion who can clean their own bum...


and er, hope all your booty calls are as enjoyable as mine?
happy deadlifting!!

xxx

Done and dusted - Deadlifting 100kg

So I'm pretty proud of myself tonight,

had a real good workout, and on the way there felt like doing some deads 

(deadlifting :)

I can't take credit for that beautiful lady above, that's not me

but every word written is true

I train hard, as hard as I can on the day for my energy level

and tonight as Metallica's 'When the bell tolls' was blasting out the speakers on full I deadlifted 100kg!

yay! ~ BIG smile ~ 

       ~ BIG song and dance~

though I was not dressed as lightly as the beautiful lady above, hell no - this is Scotland, this is winter, it was 6 degrees outside!

so I had on my T, trackie daks and warm sweatshirt. Just until I broke a sweat....

(my only witness to the feat was the mirror :)

I did a post on deadlifting a couple months ago, and I can now do reps easily on 90kg

oh okay, I can do 4 reps, then 4 more, then another 4 then 3 then yadda yadda... you get my drift,

and I'm happy with that. I like my progress, I like to take my time, go slow, at a pace that suits me

It's been so good to deadlift, totally THE best exercise I have ever done and it is such a powerful movement to do, feels incredible. 

I really am in heaven when I'm doing it! ha ha! 

(em... what's she on??! is she really talking about deadlifting...!!?)

and if I don't indulge too much in all the tasty xmas treats out now, then I may just stay lean enough to sport a nice pair of pins like Rachel, above

and I could be the proud owner of a tush to be admired... perhaps..

though tonight, as a lil' reward I treated myself to some chocolate slathered profiteroles, yuu hhhuu mmmmeee. 

They only come in packs of 12 (sheesh! really?)

so, 9 down, 3 to go... 

So I remember before, going on about how good deadlifting is for you, and it really is - it has transformed me like nothing else

my core is now pretty damn strong 

I am sure I could wrap myself around that big thingy above just like that pretty lithe lady (what IS that thingy?? for martial arts I reckon? I thought they used logs of iron, as in Kickboxer...)

and my arms are coming along just fine

though not as big as this impressive lady above, 

what a nice pair of delts she has too, and check out that chain around her waist! cool eh? so tough! 

I will be making myself a dip belt with a nice 1/4inch chain on it, since I do dips with a 15kg plate (not too bad, I do sets of 6 at 10/12 reps)

didn't wanna spend $50 plus postage on that one, though I am sure it is worth every cent, will see how I go stitching one up, rather liking the chain, all that metal *mmm*

and maybe if I keep up my deadlifting and my weighted dips, and weighted chins, then one day I will have a nice pair of guns like this pretty lass!

Such a beautiful girl eh? 

beautiful smile! 

I love smiles :) did I mention that before? so LOVE smiles :)

okay, so I'm finished blowing my own trumpet, patted myself on the back enough, texted my mate to brag about my lift... was congratulated then promptly put in my place :) heh heh

maybe these new hares I made will bring a little smile to you?

(yeah, that's the hand that gripped the bar that had 100kg on it...)

they are looking forward to scampering around your xmas tree! which one do you love?

omg!!! forgot to say - saw my first xmas tree tonight on the way home from the gym! wow! totally love xmas trees and that all sparkly stuff

these little pals are in a Scandinavian floral pattern (came from a Norwegian tea towel, nuff said!)

and then when I got home and looked up at the stars, as I always do - omg!! I saw THE biggest, sparkliest star I have ever ever seen, like ever!

It was to the left hand side of Orion the Hunter, and em, I reckon it could be Sirius, the dog star, and the brightest star in the sky, because it was so bright! it was like the sun!!

alrighty, not as bright as the sun, but nearly as...

hmmmm, then again, maybe it is Venus?? 

all this star navigation stuff is a lil' confusing for me - will have to ask my brother, he will know for sure, he studied the stars and knows where they all live in the sky, I merely admire them as they glisten away

aaah :) so many things to LOVE!

little carrot covered hares perhaps? 

perfect for the centre piece decoration on the xmas table

(that little chap has a home to go to already, I'll have more hopping by in the next few days)

so LOVE the stars

so LOVE my gym

so LOVE deadlifting

so LOVE my strong body

... I could go on and on and...

so here I am - a 'selfie', taken a month or two ago. 

(was for an artist's profile for my paintings actually) (real professional huh?)

Still got a little way to go with my guns eh?

I'm not into singlets (yet) or tight shorts or revealing stuffs. The most I do is turn my sleeves up, that's my vanity taken care of.

oh - forgot to boast (again!) - I now do shrugs on 170kg!!!

yeah, really! 170kg!  I do 3 sets of 6/8 reps  not too bad eh? I warm up with reps on 120kg, then 140kg, then 150kg

okey dokey, 
showtime is now officially over :)

I have warm ups to do....

good form = strong Deadlifting

I've been deadlifting for over 4 months now

not the, em, Terminator way though :)

and I can lift 2 reps on 90kgs no probs. Will be 95kg any day now, then soon 100kg...

I am fortunate to be under the careful guidance of one of the super nicest boys in the gym. He keeps me right when my form goes to hell, and I get a little eager with the poundage.

Deadlifting is totally addictive! 

and if you spend any time in the gym lifting free weights, and like to go heavy, then you will be in love with deadlifting for sure.

before Arnold took up bodybuilding, he did power lifting, and deadlifts are a staple of powerlifters.

They build strength and tremendous muscle mass and are a real boost in your weight training programme.

This article here - Deadlift 101 - from Arnold's website, explains all about the correct form to use.

However, reading about 'terms' is one thing and applying them in the gym is another. It's always good to have someone watch over you. In most cases it is essential to building and maintaing good form.

The things that have stood out for me the most so far in my short time of lifting is to -

- always lock my arms out on the bar 

- keep my tush down

- use my hams and glutes to start the lift - and to feel the energy drive down thru my heels into the floor - this really is a mind/feeling game, and I make sure to do this every time cos I wasn't doing it before, and I see and feel the difference now

lifting is such a cerebral activity - it all starts in your mind, and I like to quiet my mind before every big lift

but, as you know, I'm not a big girl - still just as svelte and tiny as before, though my curves are from muscles, and as much as I love to lift as heavy as humanly possible there is no way that I will ever be more than the wisp I already am (see above.... :)

(my muscles are earned thru blood, sweat and tears, and no, I have no idea how big my biceps are :)

and whilst I might drool over my hero Arnold

in his tight white singlet

I am not the type of girl to want to look like a man - I merely want to be as strong as one (heh heh)

after all, what's the point of pushing yourself to the limit if you can't have a little bit of competition, a little bit of fun? even if you don't tell anyone

~ my baby hares have fun all the time, and yes, they are competitive too, like all babies

though they are not really into gyms (yet)

they are competitive over their toys, and playing games and birthday presents and .....

talking of birthdays - a couple of the boys in the gym just had birthdays so I rustled up a grey hare card for each of them, and baked some cookies!

ofcourse the cookies were in the shapes of Hearts, Reindeers and Rabbits - my 3 most favourite things

(they tasted rather like cardboard and weren't 'man-size' ones - may have to do something about that next time! (- the size, not the taste!))

anyway, it's coming to the end of summer, the weather has been rather nice, amid a few showers 

and unlike Arnold's bike, mine has a thick coating of dust on it. (about 6 years of dust to be precise) 

I much prefer to run though the last couple of days me and my asics have been soaked thru in brief showers out on the running track as I get my kms in

*yawn* 
what's all this activity going on around here?
keep the noise down eh? 
I'm enjoying the last of the summer ....the summer, em, .....
*zzzzzzz*