Dip Belt

Helpless is not attractive. I see so many women who think that looking cute and helpless, along with dumb and incapable is the way to be. Really? Come on!

I like being self sufficient, resourceful, street smart and calculating. I lift that way too. 

That means chains, leather, big plates, sweat, scraped knees, chalk, callouses and loud music. While I love my friends and family, I pride myself in the fact that I can manage just fine on my own. OK...I have some issues. I won't go near a spider and I have no idea how to change a tire. But I don't need to know, I am a VIP at AAA! In fact, I got a letter from them saying I had called for their free towing and roadside service just a few too many times in one year, so I should just keep that in mind. LOL!

I do pull ups and chin ups a lot. They are one of the reasons why I have such a great back. Pull ups are a fantastic way to develop the entire physique, they are in the same category of squats, deadlifts, sleds, lunges and Glute Ham Raise. They must be done to create a killer physique. 

I recently started to use a dip belt to add weight to my bodyweight for pull ups. I don't use the "assisted station", I use a squat rack or the dual cable station, they both have various hand grips for chins and pull ups.  You will probably have to start with an assisted machine, but someday, you gotta learn to walk on your own.

Gold's Gym has one old, worn, heavy dip belt and I cannot always locate it. That's frustrating when I need it. It also happens to weigh 4 1/2 pounds, that's heavy! I was venting to Roy one day and he said he would order one for me. I picked a leather one because the fabric ones are scratchy on my hips. I had to call Harbinger to ask the weight of this belt, and the woman on the phone said I was the only person who had ever asked such a question, she had to call me back. This one weighs 2 1/4 pounds, perfect!

Roy gave it to me a couple weeks ago, better than flowers in my book! 

It was stiff though, no one wants to walk around in new jeans, new shoes or a new dip belt so I researched how to soften the leather. All the sites said to rub it well with alcohol, then rub in Vaseline. 

I laid it on the kitchen table and rubbed in the alcohol, the black started to come off on the cotton ball...David decided he would take over.

David is explaining his technique to Cooper- he is using a special cream to soften and condition leather, he just happened to have it in the garage. 

You  can see he is having a lot of fun with my dip belt! Probably more than I will.....

To the left you can see the espresso machine I got at the auction, the old World Gym in Santa Cruz. The grinder is hidden to the side. It's a lot bigger than I originally thought, it took me a couple weeks to find the right size island to put it on! 

He took so long I got bored and walked away and returned later, the smell was awful! 

Apparently he has done this before, not sure why, it certainly wasn't for a dip belt! I told him I should scratch off Harbinger and replace it with my name in pink with a  skull and crossbones and some rhinestones! 

But look! Look how soft and pliable it is now! David did a great job, I cannot wait to use it this Sunday for the first time, and if you see my belt on the floor at Gold's better ask before you try to use it!