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!

Swinging

I am sure some of you are not thinking the same thing I am when I say "swinging", but that's just fine, think what you like!


Sunday was back day and I decided to sleep in, I have been enjoying my Sundays lately. So...I woke up at 5:55 a.m. oh well. I had my meal replacement drink and headed off to the gym.


I felt good, rested for a change and was ready to attack the day. I started with my favorite, chin ups and pull ups, superset with dips. Not sure how many sets, I think 7 sets of 6 to 8 chin ups, and 4 sets of dips (10 reps).


Lat pull down, I didn't increase weight but I did increase reps. I also cut my rest time down. Low Cable Row, again no increase in weight but more reps and less rest in between. I did 5 sets of each.

Single Arm bent Over Row, 5 sets.


E-Z Bar Curl, 5 sets.

Then, what would I do for conditioning? I decided to use the kettlebells. I haven't used bells in quite a while, I have done a bit of swinging and that was it.  Although I love training with Roy, kettlebells are what brought me to SC, that's all we did for almost a year. I love the down and dirty of kettlebells, there is nothing sweet and pretty about them. SC taught me everything anyone needs to know, and I am darn good too.


I get dirty, blistered, bloody, sore sweaty. I love them.


I started with Turkish Get Ups. This is a slow, steady move that targets the whole body, but particularly the core. You start laying on the ground and one hand has a KB, held straight up in the air. You sit up then stand, and go back down again, all under a great deal of control. It sounds easy and it's not. I did three sets of 4 on each side. I hadn't done them in over a year, I will need to start doing more and work up to 10 on each side.


Then snatches, I loves snatches. A couple years ago I spent the summer doing Kenneth Jay's Viking Warrior Conditioning. SC helped me come up with the correct tempo and weight. You start with a small bell and a fairly slow tempo, everything is timed including the rest periods. You work up to 45 minutes of continuous snatches. That's why the bell needs to be so light.


I wear cut up tube socks on my hands, I have permanent blisters but this stops them from tearing and bleeding. Once you start bleeding you pretty much need to stop. I have several sets in my bag, they get dirty and I toss them out. Below you can see a short demo of snatches in my backyard. February in California- nice huh?


(Email subscribers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view the video below).




At the gym I did 5 sets of 10 on each side, I walk in between to bring my heart rate down.


After the snatches I moved to swings. This is the classic kettlebell move and the one that most people don't perform correctly. I typically see people perform it in the "crossfit" method, which although may be useful for what crossfitters want it for, it is not what the move or exercise was intended for at all. This is not meant to offend anyone who loves Crossfit- I say do what you like. I am only trying to explain to those who do not know kettlebells, that if they see the 'crossfit" method they should not confuse this with the kettlebell swing. They are two completely different animals.


In crossfit it becomes more of an arm exercise, they swing it up with arm strength way up over the head; they may say that this is the "American Style".The swing is everything but that. It is designed as a  posterior exercise. It should hit the glutes, the hips, the hams, the quads, and the abs, and some of the back/shoulders too. Some crossfitters call this the "Russian Style".


The power should come from the hips, and the glutes. The arms are only an extension of the bell, they are attached and flowing with it, there is no effort coming from the arms.


(Again, if you want to do it crossfit style, that's fine, but I cannot offer advise, I am not into crossfit although I have plenty of friends who are.)


I did 10 sets of 10 with a 24 kilo kettlebell (that's 53 pounds). Again, I walk in between each set to bring my heart rate down. I knew I was doing them right, my breathing becomes very rhythmic and I could feel my glutes swelling after 5 sets! ha ha


I have my own bells, so can do these any evening in the backyard. I think I need to start this again.

Fat Gripz

Friday my new toy was Fat Gripz. Not sure if I like them, but I love new things, I love trying different things and I will use them for a while and then decide!


I met Roy for my usual shoulder training, darn shoulders just cannot get big enough if you ask me!


We are still working on behind the neck barbell presses, and the weight is still going up. I suppose as long as I am not at a plateau, then this is good!


Then seated dumbbell press and again, still moving up in the weight each week.


Front raises, and I am just a wet mess here. I suppose that my arms and shoulders are a bit fatigued by this point, and Roy wants me to perform the exercise very strictly. Honestly, I watch others in the gym do this and they almost have a little dance going, they bounce along, using momentum to swing the weights up, and then just drop them down, completely ignoring the fact that the eccentric movement (the lowering) is really important to be done in a controlled manner- this is where the strength and size is developed.


Times was up and his next client was there stretching, I was still trying to lift my sorry little dumbbells for my front raises. Although I make fun of myself, I am actually doing a good job, you can tell, my arms look great and look better and better everyday actually.


I finish and Roy starts working with his other client then comes over and tells me to do some pull ups with these. We talk a bit about them, they make the bar much, much thicker, so it is incredibly difficult to hold on. 


The theory behind these is simple and it makes sense. Your grip and your arm strength typically give out before the larger muscles that are being trained. This is why I use lifting straps for deadlifts, to hold my dumbbells with walking lunges, with barbell bent over rows, you have the idea right?


By using these large rubber grips, your are supposed to be able to develop the grip and arm strength which in turn allows you to continue on or with more weight with your main lifts.


Roy had them on the pull up bars in the middle of the dual cable machine, I tried some pull ups. Much more difficult! What I noticed is I had to strategically place the opening where the slit in the rubber was, as it tended to turn a bit in my hands. Once I found the right position it stayed though.


I love pull ups and chin ups (I told you recently right?) so I just hung out, doing a few sets, moving the Fat Gripz to other posts and trying those.


As usual, my gym doesn't have any of the fun toys, so I cannot use these there, I have to use them at Roy's place.


I will keep track of my progress and let you know how it goes!