1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,920 Grab your pre workout and turn up that volume. 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:05,800 It is time for a new episode of The Power Lifters, then with 3 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,160 your host Cam Smith. Hello everybody. 4 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:10,600 Welcome back to another episode of The Power Lifters. 5 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:14,000 Then I'm your host Cam Smith and today I wanted to bring on one 6 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,560 of the best female raw ventures of all time in an overall great 7 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:19,960 power lifter. Jen wants to introduce yourself. 8 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:23,840 Well, hello, thank you for including the power lifter part. 9 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,350 I'm Jen Thompson. Coming here from Charlotte, NC. 10 00:00:29,430 --> 00:00:30,750 Happy to be on here. Thank you. 11 00:00:31,310 --> 00:00:34,710 Awesome. So I know recently you just had 12 00:00:34,710 --> 00:00:37,190 a competition. I heard things went pretty well. 13 00:00:38,350 --> 00:00:42,710 So once you tell everybody what what your best lifts are, 14 00:00:42,710 --> 00:00:47,190 including your bench. Well, only one thing went well, 15 00:00:47,230 --> 00:00:49,670 and that was my bench press. Everything else was shit. 16 00:00:49,670 --> 00:00:56,150 Just so you know, I had one one glimmering moment. 17 00:00:57,570 --> 00:01:02,130 But overall my best competition squat so 352. 18 00:01:02,130 --> 00:01:07,930 My best bench is a 327 1/2 and my best deadlift is a 457. 19 00:01:08,290 --> 00:01:10,010 That's awesome. Yeah, I feel like a lot of 20 00:01:10,010 --> 00:01:13,570 people just you're obviously well known for your bench, but 21 00:01:13,570 --> 00:01:16,170 people don't realize that you're also a pretty well-rounded power 22 00:01:16,170 --> 00:01:18,070 lifter. You have great lifts and other 23 00:01:18,070 --> 00:01:21,270 lists too, so. I got 4 world titles. 24 00:01:21,830 --> 00:01:24,990 Powerlifting, You know, you gotta have something more than a 25 00:01:25,030 --> 00:01:29,270 bench to have that. And so I guess we'll start off 26 00:01:29,270 --> 00:01:33,110 by asking you about what kind of got you into powerlifting and 27 00:01:33,110 --> 00:01:38,030 when was your first competition? I more just got into 28 00:01:38,030 --> 00:01:41,790 powerlifting. Honestly, when I graduated high 29 00:01:41,790 --> 00:01:46,110 school and got into college, I just didn't want to get fat and 30 00:01:46,110 --> 00:01:48,350 out of shape. Because high school was over. 31 00:01:48,910 --> 00:01:50,510 That's basically how it happened. 32 00:01:50,830 --> 00:01:56,510 I was a distance runner in high school and I used to run Rd. 33 00:01:56,510 --> 00:02:00,070 Races with my dad, but I never really loved running. 34 00:02:00,190 --> 00:02:02,310 But I kind of just did it as a keep and shape thing. 35 00:02:02,310 --> 00:02:05,230 So when I was introduced to weights I was like, Oh my God, 36 00:02:05,230 --> 00:02:10,110 this is so much better. So I really just fell in love 37 00:02:10,110 --> 00:02:13,150 with it, and just as a girl I was. 38 00:02:14,170 --> 00:02:16,330 Real thin. It was stick, stick, kind of 39 00:02:16,330 --> 00:02:21,050 girl runner, you know, no shape. And so when I was being 40 00:02:21,050 --> 00:02:23,450 introduced to powerlifting or just really weight training, 41 00:02:23,450 --> 00:02:25,650 they were like, well, if you do this, you know, you'll get some 42 00:02:25,650 --> 00:02:29,610 shoulders and a butt and some pecs and some some boobs. 43 00:02:30,010 --> 00:02:33,090 So you should try this. And that was kind of like, 44 00:02:33,090 --> 00:02:35,130 alright, let's, let's give that a go. 45 00:02:35,290 --> 00:02:39,730 And so I just kind of mucked around with it honestly from 46 00:02:39,730 --> 00:02:43,490 like 18 to mid 20s, you know, just sort of. 47 00:02:44,050 --> 00:02:47,290 Trained with some friends. Our roommates had a a home gym 48 00:02:47,290 --> 00:02:49,810 in our our basement before home. Gyms were like, cool. 49 00:02:49,810 --> 00:02:55,090 This was back in the 90s, you know, so and it was just kind of 50 00:02:55,090 --> 00:02:58,890 like every every evening at 5:00, everyone showed up and we 51 00:02:58,890 --> 00:03:00,970 hung out and trained and it was just a lot of fun. 52 00:03:00,970 --> 00:03:03,450 But it wasn't like training for anything particular. 53 00:03:03,450 --> 00:03:06,010 I just sort of enjoyed it and I kind of fell in and out of it. 54 00:03:07,090 --> 00:03:10,930 But then in 1999 was my very first competition. 55 00:03:10,930 --> 00:03:14,150 I was 27 I think, and what federation was that in? 56 00:03:15,110 --> 00:03:17,910 It was USA Powerlifting. I think it was right when they 57 00:03:17,910 --> 00:03:21,590 had just split from the ADFPA. Honestly didn't know anything 58 00:03:21,590 --> 00:03:25,310 about powerlifting or the feds. I just you went into the 59 00:03:25,310 --> 00:03:28,830 magazine, there was a Powerlifting USA magazine and 60 00:03:28,830 --> 00:03:32,470 you just looked in the back for upcoming competitions and then 61 00:03:32,470 --> 00:03:37,350 you would like fill out entry form and mail it in with your 62 00:03:37,710 --> 00:03:40,590 check. I mean, honestly, it's probably 63 00:03:40,590 --> 00:03:43,270 easier than nowadays when there's so many federations you 64 00:03:43,270 --> 00:03:45,510 have no clue where to even look for some people like. 65 00:03:45,830 --> 00:03:49,070 Yeah, so I just looked at all, a lot of them were all letters and 66 00:03:49,070 --> 00:03:51,390 stuff and that one said USA Powerlifting. 67 00:03:51,390 --> 00:03:52,950 I thought, well that sounds legit. 68 00:03:52,950 --> 00:03:55,190 I really honestly was just just luck on me. 69 00:03:55,190 --> 00:03:59,510 I just picked it and it was, you know, we lived up in Michigan 70 00:03:59,510 --> 00:04:02,310 and I think they had more of a presence up there. 71 00:04:02,310 --> 00:04:03,970 So just. Just kind of happen. 72 00:04:04,090 --> 00:04:06,810 So when when you went to that first meet, was it a solo 73 00:04:06,810 --> 00:04:09,330 mission or did you kind of roll in with a group of people or did 74 00:04:09,330 --> 00:04:11,810 you have a coach at the time? Oh, no. 75 00:04:11,810 --> 00:04:13,890 Like, I totally had no idea what was going on. 76 00:04:13,970 --> 00:04:17,610 My husband went with me, Donovan, and, and we didn't 77 00:04:17,610 --> 00:04:19,130 really know anything. I mean, he'd been weight 78 00:04:19,130 --> 00:04:21,410 training for years. He'd learned how to train weight 79 00:04:21,410 --> 00:04:24,930 training the military. And so, but, like, I learned to 80 00:04:24,930 --> 00:04:29,210 deadlift like the night before. I've never even done it before. 81 00:04:29,530 --> 00:04:32,410 Like, it was definitely like, let's, let's. 82 00:04:32,570 --> 00:04:36,490 Well, we had gone to California for our honeymoon and there was 83 00:04:36,490 --> 00:04:39,290 a bench press competition on Venice Beach. 84 00:04:39,890 --> 00:04:42,730 And so I went up and talked to some of the people up there and 85 00:04:42,730 --> 00:04:44,490 I was like, hey, this sounds, this is really cool. 86 00:04:44,490 --> 00:04:47,680 Like how do I get into this? And so they were, you know, 87 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:49,960 telling me what to do. And so then we just a year 88 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,480 later, just, I just signed up for it and I thought, well, I'll 89 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,720 give it a go, see how how much fun this is. 90 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,800 And it was, you know, obviously a big learning curve. 91 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,040 I almost bombed out of my squats like the first one, like I 92 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,080 missed high. The second one, I fell backwards 93 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:07,840 into the spotter. He had to catch me. 94 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,440 And then the third one, I think they were just being really 95 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,480 nice. He gave it to me because it was 96 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,040 like, you know, it was in a high school gym, you know, it was 97 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:16,820 like. I think there was two women in 98 00:05:16,820 --> 00:05:19,660 the whole competition, you know, it was just very low key. 99 00:05:20,140 --> 00:05:22,220 So it was probably a good first one, Yeah. 100 00:05:22,380 --> 00:05:26,300 And then so for going into your first meet was like was bench at 101 00:05:26,300 --> 00:05:28,380 the time still like one of your best lifts or like what? 102 00:05:29,260 --> 00:05:33,500 Yeah, I think I benched 250 something, maybe, Or two. 103 00:05:33,620 --> 00:05:35,740 Yeah, 2 something. Yeah. 104 00:05:35,740 --> 00:05:41,070 Squatted 186. I got my opener and I think I 105 00:05:41,070 --> 00:05:45,070 done lifted like, I don't know, 3305 or 315, something like 106 00:05:45,070 --> 00:05:47,630 that. But yeah, it was, I mean when 107 00:05:47,790 --> 00:05:50,870 when we started training, it was all about how much you bench. 108 00:05:50,870 --> 00:05:53,510 I mean that was like the marker of how strong you were and like 109 00:05:53,670 --> 00:05:55,470 legs were like a secondary thought. 110 00:05:55,470 --> 00:05:58,230 You know, they were like the accessories and then maybe you 111 00:05:58,230 --> 00:06:01,110 would get some like hack squats in or something or use the 112 00:06:01,150 --> 00:06:03,710 machines. There was no squatting involved. 113 00:06:03,710 --> 00:06:06,270 So I mean, it was so my bench was definitely way better than 114 00:06:06,270 --> 00:06:08,300 everything because. It's all we really. 115 00:06:08,340 --> 00:06:09,820 It was fun. And it's all, we really worked 116 00:06:09,940 --> 00:06:11,380 very hard. Yeah. 117 00:06:11,620 --> 00:06:15,940 So I guess kind of into your journey, like along the years 118 00:06:16,780 --> 00:06:19,740 when did you obviously you knew bench was like one of your best 119 00:06:19,740 --> 00:06:21,860 lifts. What kind of was like one of 120 00:06:21,860 --> 00:06:24,580 your first major goals? I'm assuming maybe it was 300 or 121 00:06:25,260 --> 00:06:28,380 maybe a record at the time. Yeah. 122 00:06:29,610 --> 00:06:31,690 Like I was doing just I did my first me. 123 00:06:31,690 --> 00:06:34,450 It was a pout to me, but I got into the bench only stuff right 124 00:06:34,450 --> 00:06:35,850 away because I was. I was good at it. 125 00:06:35,850 --> 00:06:38,730 I didn't know the other things and you know going to World got 126 00:06:38,730 --> 00:06:42,170 to go to Worlds my very first year, which was pretty neat. 127 00:06:43,130 --> 00:06:46,490 I don't, I don't know like I always thought if I could get to 128 00:06:46,490 --> 00:06:49,170 300 that would be really cool. But that seemed like. 129 00:06:50,230 --> 00:06:54,190 Like a 20 years down the road kind of deal, you know, like one 130 00:06:54,190 --> 00:06:59,070 day, you know, I think more. I was just focused on breaking 131 00:06:59,070 --> 00:07:02,590 the current records and winning a World Championships. 132 00:07:02,590 --> 00:07:05,030 That was really my goals. I didn't actually have a number 133 00:07:05,030 --> 00:07:07,550 and mine back then. It was all shirted stuff. 134 00:07:07,550 --> 00:07:10,390 There was no raw. Yeah, I was actually going to 135 00:07:10,390 --> 00:07:12,550 ask you, have you ever considered throwing on like a 136 00:07:12,550 --> 00:07:16,190 single plier and multiply shirt? So did you ever compete in one 137 00:07:16,190 --> 00:07:18,450 back in the day? That's all there was. 138 00:07:18,450 --> 00:07:20,130 Yeah. So like, my very first me 139 00:07:20,130 --> 00:07:22,290 obviously was rock because I didn't know anything about it. 140 00:07:22,290 --> 00:07:24,450 But then we met some people and they're like, yeah, I was 141 00:07:24,450 --> 00:07:26,650 because I was kind of like, why are these people walking around 142 00:07:26,650 --> 00:07:28,930 like mummies? Like, I don't get, I don't care 143 00:07:28,970 --> 00:07:31,770 what's going on here. And then they, you know, then 144 00:07:31,770 --> 00:07:35,770 they put, I remember I got my very first Inzer shirt and I 145 00:07:35,770 --> 00:07:37,610 sent it back. So I was like, this is fucked 146 00:07:37,610 --> 00:07:39,490 up, dude. Like, it cut off my arms. 147 00:07:39,490 --> 00:07:42,010 Like I couldn't feel them, you know, like, what the hell? 148 00:07:42,010 --> 00:07:44,010 I mean, I'm sure the customer service was like. 149 00:07:44,570 --> 00:07:47,690 This lady's nuts. Like I returned it for like a 150 00:07:47,730 --> 00:07:50,490 bigger size because I'm like people can't honestly want to 151 00:07:50,490 --> 00:07:55,570 wear this, you know? But I got schooled pretty early 152 00:07:55,570 --> 00:07:59,850 in it. So like, I think my first floor 153 00:07:59,850 --> 00:08:03,690 titles were in in bench equipped. 154 00:08:04,090 --> 00:08:06,530 I did it till I did equip lifting. 155 00:08:06,570 --> 00:08:09,570 I eventually got into all three. I did that all the way till I 156 00:08:09,570 --> 00:08:12,710 think 2012. And then I gave it up for good 157 00:08:12,710 --> 00:08:15,430 once the RAW movement came. Because that was way better. 158 00:08:15,430 --> 00:08:18,870 Yeah. So what was your what was your 159 00:08:18,870 --> 00:08:22,750 best bench in a in a shirt? Oh, I was never really great at 160 00:08:22,750 --> 00:08:25,990 it, honestly. At 3:30 one oh wow. 161 00:08:26,510 --> 00:08:30,470 Was the best. I was only getting you know, 30 162 00:08:30,550 --> 00:08:35,429 ish pounds onto my shirt £35 and I knew like the other girls were 163 00:08:35,429 --> 00:08:39,090 getting like 100. But they had half my arm size, 164 00:08:39,090 --> 00:08:41,730 they were half my height, and they're a little squishier. 165 00:08:41,970 --> 00:08:46,290 So like, I really was. I was really not getting a lot 166 00:08:46,290 --> 00:08:47,690 out of it. And part of it was my fault. 167 00:08:47,690 --> 00:08:49,930 I just didn't enjoy wearing it. So I didn't spend a lot of time 168 00:08:49,930 --> 00:08:51,810 and I was like, this bullshit, this sucks. 169 00:08:52,730 --> 00:08:55,090 So I put it on like a couple days before the meet and then 170 00:08:55,090 --> 00:08:57,290 see how it went. Yeah, that's funny. 171 00:08:57,810 --> 00:09:01,330 So I know the thing. If I've read, I was looking up. 172 00:09:01,770 --> 00:09:03,930 So you're also you in your career. 173 00:09:03,930 --> 00:09:05,870 You're also a math teacher. Correct. 174 00:09:06,230 --> 00:09:07,870 Yeah, actually doing science now. 175 00:09:07,870 --> 00:09:11,310 But yeah, my first probably, well, this is my 27th year 176 00:09:11,310 --> 00:09:14,150 teaching. My first I think 18 or 19 years 177 00:09:14,150 --> 00:09:18,310 were in math. So like as a as a teacher, like 178 00:09:18,310 --> 00:09:20,310 how many of your student or what grade you teach. 179 00:09:21,430 --> 00:09:23,630 It kind of changes from year to year. 180 00:09:23,830 --> 00:09:26,750 I go all the way from middle school up to high school. 181 00:09:27,630 --> 00:09:30,230 Last year I had like 10th, 11th and 12th. 182 00:09:30,230 --> 00:09:33,740 This year I have 678. Do you ever have students that, 183 00:09:33,740 --> 00:09:36,260 like, recognize you for, like, your powerlifting? 184 00:09:36,780 --> 00:09:39,380 Oh yeah, yeah. Well, I run like, you know, I 185 00:09:39,380 --> 00:09:44,500 run a powerlifting club, OK? At our school I, you know, coach 186 00:09:44,500 --> 00:09:48,890 kids in competition. So, I mean, they know that I was 187 00:09:48,890 --> 00:09:51,530 gonna say it would be kind of funny to be, yeah, My teacher is 188 00:09:51,530 --> 00:09:54,570 Jen Thompson, so. Yeah, I get a little bit of 189 00:09:54,570 --> 00:09:57,370 that. Not a ton, like, not as much as 190 00:09:57,370 --> 00:09:58,890 you probably would think. It's sort of like an 191 00:09:58,930 --> 00:10:01,290 afterthought. Or if they know I'm like, you 192 00:10:01,290 --> 00:10:03,770 know, when they knew I was going off to run that, you know, they 193 00:10:03,770 --> 00:10:05,770 wanted to know about it and thought it was cool. 194 00:10:06,370 --> 00:10:09,010 The best thing was like my new principal I have this year. 195 00:10:09,010 --> 00:10:11,600 She's like. My sister is such a fan of 196 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,120 yours. Like, she is so fangirl and you 197 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,200 and she knew everything about me and they fell off my Instagram 198 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,240 and stuff and that was kind of wild. 199 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:25,480 I was like, OK, yeah. And then, so I guess we can talk 200 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,240 a little bit about the power Cliff in your run there. 201 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:28,440 How long have you been doing that? 202 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:34,440 Oh gosh, a long time. I don't know. 203 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,800 I think you do it for so long. Like the years just sort of 204 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,000 roll. I mean, it's probably been at 205 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:44,040 least ten years or so. And so I know, like high school 206 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:46,520 powerlifting is big in Texas. Is it also relatively big? 207 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,440 And no. No, I keep trying. 208 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,360 I'm trying very hard. But, and Texas is probably 209 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,080 anomaly. But like in the South, it's all 210 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,040 about football. And I find like anytime I try to 211 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,600 get stuff going, like the football coaches like, don't 212 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:01,960 want it. They're afraid you're going to 213 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:05,520 steal their players or hurt them or teach them something. 214 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,160 They don't want you to teach them or they just don't want to 215 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,160 listen to some woman tell them what to do. 216 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,600 So it's been, I've hit a lot of roadblocks, Yeah. 217 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:19,520 So it's funny because my so, my, my defensive line coach from 218 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,160 college, he's like, he's big into lifting. 219 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,320 He's a very big advocate for it. And I was trying to like prep 220 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,080 for a competition, like to do. I think it was my first meet and 221 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,400 it was like right after the season, right before he got into 222 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,720 our like training season of like when you actually try to grow 223 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,960 And he was like, if you get hurt, I swear to God, I'm going 224 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,720 to kill you. So it is funny to. 225 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,520 Disconnect, yeah. But in reality, it probably made 226 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:45,600 you the the better player that you were. 227 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:48,400 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think, I think one of 228 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:50,920 the biggest things I can pull from that is like the the people 229 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:53,160 who enjoy being in the weight room the most of the most 230 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:59,160 successful football players. So yeah, yeah, so at Ron Nats, 231 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,120 like what was, how was the prep going into it? 232 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:07,240 Did you have any setbacks or any any big like Pr's or anything 233 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:08,560 that you were really excited for? 234 00:12:09,690 --> 00:12:13,330 Yeah, I mean the the training part was probably one of the 235 00:12:13,330 --> 00:12:15,450 most disjointed ones I've ever had. 236 00:12:16,250 --> 00:12:19,290 My mom got had some health problems and got sick and she 237 00:12:19,410 --> 00:12:21,890 lives in Maine, I live in North Carolina. 238 00:12:22,370 --> 00:12:25,810 So I spent a lot of time flying back and forth helping her. 239 00:12:26,010 --> 00:12:30,490 So that's always you know messes with your training because 240 00:12:30,490 --> 00:12:33,730 you're not in your your home space and you're you know you're 241 00:12:33,730 --> 00:12:37,330 not with your people and your training in a a weird gym that 242 00:12:37,330 --> 00:12:38,930 doesn't necessarily have what you need and. 243 00:12:39,370 --> 00:12:43,290 So that that was a tough and I had picked up, I did some 244 00:12:43,290 --> 00:12:48,410 seminars and stuff but I hadn't planned on being gone you know 245 00:12:48,410 --> 00:12:52,130 all that time prior and after. So it was really kind of all 246 00:12:52,130 --> 00:12:54,090 over the place. We had tried something 247 00:12:54,410 --> 00:12:57,930 different. Normally we were doing a an 8 248 00:12:57,930 --> 00:13:02,650 day system where we do 2 days on, two days off for and then. 249 00:13:02,650 --> 00:13:07,170 So my oldest son is a senior this year and this was an 250 00:13:07,170 --> 00:13:09,050 important baseball summer for his. 251 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,720 Collegiate future. So we spent a lot of time 252 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,960 traveling around with him to different baseballs and scouting 253 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:20,240 and you know all that sort of stuff. 254 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:23,440 So that we decided to change it to a seven day system where we 255 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:25,840 had weekends off so that we could kind of accommodate his 256 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,060 schedule. It turns out that doesn't work 257 00:13:28,060 --> 00:13:30,820 well for me. I just got a little bit 258 00:13:30,820 --> 00:13:32,260 overtrained. It was all too much. 259 00:13:32,260 --> 00:13:33,620 We're trying to make some adjustments. 260 00:13:33,620 --> 00:13:36,900 So in reality the training was not great, but I was hitting 261 00:13:36,900 --> 00:13:40,660 some massive Pr's in my squat. So that because we were actually 262 00:13:40,660 --> 00:13:43,180 getting our thought process was we're getting actually more 263 00:13:43,180 --> 00:13:45,700 workouts within the seven days opposed to the eight. 264 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:49,140 You know, we're hitting legs more often than the other way. 265 00:13:49,140 --> 00:13:52,500 So. So actually did see some good 266 00:13:52,500 --> 00:13:55,980 increase in my squat, but then my bench sort of suffered from 267 00:13:55,980 --> 00:13:57,940 overtraining. With that. 268 00:13:57,940 --> 00:14:00,900 So there was kind of some, some give and take in it, but we 269 00:14:00,900 --> 00:14:04,500 ended up going right back to the eight day and it's way better 270 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:05,420 for me. Yeah. 271 00:14:05,820 --> 00:14:09,300 So I guess over the years, like have you had to kind of adjust 272 00:14:09,300 --> 00:14:11,860 your training as you got older or do you think you've kind of 273 00:14:12,660 --> 00:14:15,300 like spaced it out in a way that the longevity held up? 274 00:14:16,860 --> 00:14:19,340 I think I've always been just a little bit smart about it and 275 00:14:19,340 --> 00:14:22,380 really listening to my body, but I've definitely made a lot of 276 00:14:22,380 --> 00:14:25,940 adjustments and I don't know if part of it is age or part of it 277 00:14:25,940 --> 00:14:31,460 is just injury related and working around injuries and 278 00:14:31,740 --> 00:14:34,700 understanding what my body's capable post those injuries. 279 00:14:34,700 --> 00:14:40,420 So we've definitely like, we do a lot less singles in our 280 00:14:40,420 --> 00:14:42,580 training and do a lot more double s and triples now. 281 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:44,840 The eight day just seems to work really well. 282 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:48,520 I still work the same intensity, I feel like and we pretty much 283 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:52,760 go, you know, almost all out every training cycle session, 284 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:57,160 you know, like I don't like RP5689 or shit like that. 285 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,240 I just, I might get a constant 9. 286 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:04,880 So I don't, you know, that hasn't changed as I gotten 287 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:07,720 older. Maybe it's just a mechanism of 288 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,400 that's how we've always trained so my body can handle it that 289 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,720 like that. But I mean, we've definitely 290 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:19,160 switched around like Rep schemes, days, like accessories, 291 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,560 things like that, always trying to improve and tweak. 292 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,440 And then I think too, you know, you're just life changes. 293 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:28,600 You know when you're a parent, you have a career, you know your 294 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:30,800 job changes, your kids are getting older. 295 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,400 You just have different responsibilities as you get 296 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,600 older and your training's got to adjust with that, Yeah. 297 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,920 And so I guess more on training is I remember seeing a video 298 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:43,940 kind of about be doing static holds on bench. 299 00:15:44,820 --> 00:15:48,220 I'm still kind of unfamiliar, exactly like the methods to 300 00:15:48,220 --> 00:15:51,220 apply them. You wanna tell us about how you 301 00:15:51,220 --> 00:15:55,340 apply them to your training? Yeah, I mean, we felt when we 302 00:15:55,340 --> 00:15:57,500 were in college, one of our friends was going through 303 00:15:57,500 --> 00:16:00,820 chiropractic school and he spent a lot of time studying 304 00:16:00,820 --> 00:16:02,900 isometrics and he was way into weight training. 305 00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:04,820 He never competed, but he loved weight training. 306 00:16:05,260 --> 00:16:09,500 And he's like, I really think we can apply this to our training. 307 00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:12,470 I think we'll see. You know, there there wasn't a 308 00:16:12,470 --> 00:16:15,510 ton of studies at the time. Now there's more where 309 00:16:15,830 --> 00:16:19,310 isometrics have a positive influence over your constructive 310 00:16:19,310 --> 00:16:23,870 strength, especially with the bench press, especially part 311 00:16:23,870 --> 00:16:25,230 female. But I think it helps with the 312 00:16:25,230 --> 00:16:27,870 male too. It's a lot of helping with those 313 00:16:27,870 --> 00:16:30,550 stability muscles and the taking it out. 314 00:16:31,870 --> 00:16:35,030 Positive is, you know, when you're in a competition, if you 315 00:16:35,030 --> 00:16:37,750 get a shitty handoff, you can handle it pretty well because 316 00:16:37,750 --> 00:16:40,430 you're used to doing those, you know, heavy holds. 317 00:16:40,430 --> 00:16:45,150 So that's a. And for scene plus, but the idea 318 00:16:45,150 --> 00:16:51,430 was to overload but then use that method of a static hold to 319 00:16:51,470 --> 00:16:55,950 increase concentric strength but also working stability muscles. 320 00:16:55,950 --> 00:17:00,870 So we started just implementing that every other week. 321 00:17:00,870 --> 00:17:02,510 I used to do them. Actually, when I first started 322 00:17:02,510 --> 00:17:05,950 competing, I would do it right before lifting. 323 00:17:06,460 --> 00:17:09,980 Because just and not for like 15 seconds, but just for a few, 324 00:17:09,980 --> 00:17:12,700 just so that I could trick myself into thinking the weight 325 00:17:12,700 --> 00:17:16,700 wasn't as heavy, you know, as it was when I was in the beginning. 326 00:17:16,700 --> 00:17:20,060 I had a lot of mental like I was, I was really struggling 327 00:17:20,060 --> 00:17:23,660 with the mental aspect of competing, you know, And so that 328 00:17:23,660 --> 00:17:25,579 helped. So I actually used to do it like 329 00:17:25,579 --> 00:17:29,700 right before we would go out there just to kind of rest my 330 00:17:29,700 --> 00:17:31,740 brain like I can handle this much weight. 331 00:17:31,740 --> 00:17:35,260 So this isn't that bad. So there's a lot of, you know, 332 00:17:35,420 --> 00:17:38,260 mental trick in that. But we've, yeah, we've been 333 00:17:38,260 --> 00:17:41,900 doing them for years. And anyone that's tried them, 334 00:17:41,900 --> 00:17:45,900 they always message me and say this is, and I think for like, I 335 00:17:45,900 --> 00:17:46,900 don't know. That helps when you're a 336 00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:49,300 beginner because there's so much form and stuff. 337 00:17:49,300 --> 00:17:53,100 But once you're in it, you're always kind of looking for small 338 00:17:53,100 --> 00:17:55,860 things that can kind of give you a bench of boost or give 339 00:17:55,860 --> 00:17:58,660 yourself a gain. And this is definitely, I think, 340 00:17:58,740 --> 00:18:01,700 something easy to do that you see some good carryover. 341 00:18:02,030 --> 00:18:03,470 Yeah. And like for me, I'm kind of a 342 00:18:03,470 --> 00:18:06,310 head case sometimes. And so I think it would be a 343 00:18:06,310 --> 00:18:09,910 decent thing to try to apply and kind of the, I guess the logic 344 00:18:09,910 --> 00:18:12,350 behind it is kind of like a using a donut for a baseball 345 00:18:12,350 --> 00:18:13,670 bat. Kind of, yes. 346 00:18:13,670 --> 00:18:15,630 So, yeah, so. Exactly. 347 00:18:15,630 --> 00:18:17,990 I guess my next question would be like, I know you're supposed 348 00:18:17,990 --> 00:18:21,190 to overload it, but like what percentages usually do you go 349 00:18:21,230 --> 00:18:23,870 for? Yeah, we do it on squat also. 350 00:18:23,870 --> 00:18:27,070 We call them walkouts, you know, so you're walking out super 351 00:18:27,070 --> 00:18:28,950 heavyweight and then doing the hold as well. 352 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:35,080 I always say to start like 120% over your one Rep Max and that's 353 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,880 weight that you can usually easily handle no problem. 354 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,200 But it's a good starting point. And then some of it, you know 355 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,720 you get better the more you do it, you can handle more weight. 356 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:47,200 So usually we say about 120% over and then you know I will 357 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:50,520 try to hold it for a good 15 seconds and then if you can make 358 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,520 that then you increase next time and just keep going to you, to 359 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:57,790 you to camp. So I guess do you ever use the 360 00:18:57,830 --> 00:18:59,950 the weight releasers and bench training as well? 361 00:19:00,870 --> 00:19:03,790 I haven't, just because no one's given me any. 362 00:19:07,270 --> 00:19:10,870 We've got bands and, you know, different stability things that 363 00:19:10,870 --> 00:19:13,870 we do. I do find that interesting 364 00:19:13,870 --> 00:19:18,070 though, but I just haven't. I haven't gotten into it now. 365 00:19:18,070 --> 00:19:20,750 Have you? I've used them I think once, but 366 00:19:20,750 --> 00:19:22,190 I don't. I don't use them as like a tool. 367 00:19:22,670 --> 00:19:26,310 The gym I go to we have just the weight banglers so I didn't 368 00:19:26,310 --> 00:19:28,950 release at the bottom, but I'm sure I could figure out a way to 369 00:19:28,950 --> 00:19:31,830 make them fall off. Yeah, I mean, we do a lot with 370 00:19:31,830 --> 00:19:35,310 the bands and it's a similar concept because we do the 371 00:19:35,790 --> 00:19:39,070 reverse bands also where we hang on from a squat rack and then 372 00:19:39,070 --> 00:19:42,670 down around it. So you know it's getting heavier 373 00:19:42,670 --> 00:19:45,710 as you pressing it and you're overloading it with a crap ton 374 00:19:45,710 --> 00:19:47,630 away and the ideas working your speed. 375 00:19:47,630 --> 00:19:52,350 So I mean, it's kind of the same concept, Yeah, I I feel like, I 376 00:19:52,350 --> 00:19:54,310 I do know reverse bands can be helpful. 377 00:19:54,310 --> 00:19:57,990 I feel like usually I I'll do like board presses with bands at 378 00:19:57,990 --> 00:19:59,390 the top. So it's just like a heavy 379 00:19:59,390 --> 00:20:00,950 lockout focus. Yeah. 380 00:20:01,390 --> 00:20:03,390 And then occasionally I'll use like a slingshot. 381 00:20:03,390 --> 00:20:06,630 And I think now I'm gonna try to get into learning like a a 382 00:20:06,630 --> 00:20:09,790 shirt, just so I can overload that, so when I go back to a raw 383 00:20:09,790 --> 00:20:11,270 meat and I can handle that weight. 384 00:20:11,830 --> 00:20:15,710 Yeah, shirts are funny. I mean, I guess it depends on 385 00:20:15,710 --> 00:20:19,620 the shirt you get now, but they're so like way more than 386 00:20:19,660 --> 00:20:23,740 when I, you know, did I actually did put one on a few years ago. 387 00:20:24,140 --> 00:20:27,620 You know, my husband's like just put it on and just just see and 388 00:20:27,620 --> 00:20:32,820 I did like half wrap and I was like, Nope, the pressure. 389 00:20:32,820 --> 00:20:36,780 And then you have to, you know, you to make it work for you have 390 00:20:36,780 --> 00:20:40,140 to take it through the path of most resistance, you know, and 391 00:20:40,140 --> 00:20:43,780 that's all a lot of pressure. Sometimes there's a lot of pain 392 00:20:43,780 --> 00:20:46,820 in your armpit or, you know, your tricep. 393 00:20:46,820 --> 00:20:50,870 And it's, yeah, pressure. Yeah, that's good. 394 00:20:50,870 --> 00:20:53,910 So I'm like, you know what? I gave this upset and enjoy it. 395 00:20:54,190 --> 00:20:56,470 And I think I'm just gonna keep it that way. 396 00:20:56,870 --> 00:20:59,950 Yeah, I tried on like a loose single ply shirt once and I 397 00:20:59,950 --> 00:21:01,910 couldn't even touch 3:15. No. 398 00:21:02,510 --> 00:21:04,230 And it was crazy. And then? 399 00:21:04,270 --> 00:21:07,870 Like, yeah, they got the all the band shirts like the FAA oh, 400 00:21:07,870 --> 00:21:11,230 that stuff's just crazy. And I I'm, I'm hoping it doesn't 401 00:21:11,230 --> 00:21:13,910 happen. But just there's I might gut 402 00:21:13,910 --> 00:21:16,950 feeling that tells me something very bad is going to happen 403 00:21:17,770 --> 00:21:21,770 because I mean they they're doing, you know hundreds of 404 00:21:21,770 --> 00:21:25,210 pounds over what their body can normally handle. 405 00:21:25,210 --> 00:21:27,450 Yeah. And granted, the shirt is taking 406 00:21:27,610 --> 00:21:30,730 quite a bit of it, but not all of it. 407 00:21:31,410 --> 00:21:34,770 Yeah, I mean for like Jimmy Cold, like £14.00, like that's 408 00:21:34,770 --> 00:21:37,330 just, it's just not. And he's like passing out and 409 00:21:37,330 --> 00:21:39,530 shit. What are you doing? 410 00:21:39,890 --> 00:21:42,010 It's. It's so funny. 411 00:21:42,010 --> 00:21:44,970 That's like the the different mindsets people have of training 412 00:21:44,970 --> 00:21:47,060 like that. You can't even put, you can't 413 00:21:47,060 --> 00:21:50,060 even put your hands on the bar yourself if someone put your 414 00:21:50,060 --> 00:21:53,220 hand on the bar because you can't physically do it yourself. 415 00:21:53,220 --> 00:21:55,860 I mean to me it just is mind boggling, but you know, 416 00:21:56,380 --> 00:21:59,060 whatever, it's fun, you know, it's amazing, honestly. 417 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:00,900 I mean he is holding that weight for sure. 418 00:22:01,060 --> 00:22:02,140 Yeah, that. Along crazy. 419 00:22:02,580 --> 00:22:05,140 I just hope that you know nothing bad happens to him. 420 00:22:05,140 --> 00:22:06,980 Sending positive thoughts. Yeah. 421 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:12,180 So I know you just competed, but what's kind of like your your 422 00:22:12,180 --> 00:22:14,540 next step or next big goal for you? 423 00:22:15,340 --> 00:22:19,900 So I'm signed right up for the Olympia November 4th because I 424 00:22:19,940 --> 00:22:22,140 actually signed up before before Ron Ads. 425 00:22:22,140 --> 00:22:25,900 Ron Ads was real disappointing for me outside of my my bench 426 00:22:26,460 --> 00:22:32,820 and but when I first started lifting weights, bodybuilding 427 00:22:32,820 --> 00:22:35,100 was what you looked at, you know, that you didn't really 428 00:22:35,100 --> 00:22:37,660 hear about parlifting. So in Muscle Fitness magazine, 429 00:22:37,660 --> 00:22:40,820 that was really the only fitness workout magazine. 430 00:22:40,860 --> 00:22:43,060 And I found it religiously. You know, they would put 431 00:22:43,060 --> 00:22:44,500 workouts in there and you would try them. 432 00:22:44,500 --> 00:22:49,040 And the female bodybuilders at the time, Corey Everson and 433 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,680 London Murray, were like my idols growing up because they 434 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:56,080 were still like they kept their femininity, but they were badass 435 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,320 and muscular, you know. And I just, I just, I know I 436 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,720 named my dog after them. Like I just thought they were 437 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,400 amazing and it was all, you know and you would wait for the 438 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,240 Olympia episode to come out in the magazine, you know to see 439 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,810 who won. And so when they, you know, put 440 00:23:11,810 --> 00:23:14,650 powerlifting in it, I thought, I want to do that because I've 441 00:23:14,650 --> 00:23:18,770 always wanted to go just because it just looked so cool and it 442 00:23:18,770 --> 00:23:22,330 was like it was the IT. So even though it was only five 443 00:23:22,330 --> 00:23:27,370 weeks after Ron, I was like I signed up for it and then I had 444 00:23:27,370 --> 00:23:29,970 such a shitty squat and deadlift. 445 00:23:30,050 --> 00:23:32,050 I'm like, I'm it's my redemption meet. 446 00:23:32,050 --> 00:23:35,410 I don't care. I I only got 5 lifts and I run 447 00:23:35,410 --> 00:23:39,230 that. So I'm like, if I get 7:00 or 448 00:23:39,230 --> 00:23:43,510 8:00 and it's going to be a better meet, so let's go. 449 00:23:45,070 --> 00:23:48,510 So for the for that meet, do you have any like specific goals 450 00:23:48,510 --> 00:23:50,830 just or just want to hit some new Pr's? 451 00:23:51,750 --> 00:23:55,390 I want to hit some squat. I'm really more about my squat, 452 00:23:55,390 --> 00:23:59,230 my my done lift. I, you know, I aged up into the 453 00:23:59,230 --> 00:24:02,350 next masters age group so there's there's new records to 454 00:24:02,350 --> 00:24:07,430 be had. But I really want in my open, 455 00:24:07,430 --> 00:24:12,910 I'm really want to get like a five, 15520 kg total and I think 456 00:24:12,910 --> 00:24:17,310 I'm capable of doing that. So it's those are goals but 457 00:24:17,310 --> 00:24:20,550 honestly for this one it's like I think I'll, I think I'll do it 458 00:24:20,550 --> 00:24:22,950 because I'm going to have fun and there's no pressure. 459 00:24:23,470 --> 00:24:27,110 You know just go out there and and make sure you hit lifts is 460 00:24:27,110 --> 00:24:30,740 really it. And then you know, it's always 461 00:24:31,340 --> 00:24:34,300 neat to do it on a stage in front of a ton of people with 462 00:24:34,300 --> 00:24:37,700 the crowd and the, you know, that always gets me really amped 463 00:24:37,700 --> 00:24:40,540 up. So and I have bunch of friends 464 00:24:40,540 --> 00:24:43,020 that are coming, so it should be, it should be just fun. 465 00:24:43,140 --> 00:24:43,940 That's awesome. Yeah. 466 00:24:43,980 --> 00:24:47,460 I've only done like local meets so far, so I'd like to try to 467 00:24:47,460 --> 00:24:50,460 get to a point where I can go on some sort of stage. 468 00:24:50,460 --> 00:24:53,020 I was thinking like a XBC at the Arnold. 469 00:24:53,020 --> 00:24:54,220 There's just something like that. 470 00:24:54,260 --> 00:24:56,740 Or just get my total up enough to where I can start getting 471 00:24:56,740 --> 00:24:59,450 invited to meet. So yeah, there's nothing like I 472 00:24:59,450 --> 00:25:02,210 always say, it's like it's like the closest I'll probably ever 473 00:25:02,210 --> 00:25:04,650 get to like being a rock star or something like that. 474 00:25:04,650 --> 00:25:07,890 Because you're especially the Arnold, you know, you look out 475 00:25:07,890 --> 00:25:11,970 and it's just a sea of people, like people from miles, you 476 00:25:11,970 --> 00:25:15,770 know, and they're the got the music and the announcer is going 477 00:25:15,770 --> 00:25:18,210 crazy and people are yelling and people are yelling your name. 478 00:25:18,210 --> 00:25:20,770 Like, I'm like they know my name and they're yelling go, Jan, you 479 00:25:20,770 --> 00:25:23,090 got this. And I'm like, it's just the most 480 00:25:23,090 --> 00:25:25,330 amazing feeling, you know? You feel like you got everyone 481 00:25:25,330 --> 00:25:28,530 in your your corner, you know, you know, cheering you on. 482 00:25:29,490 --> 00:25:32,490 It's a special, special thing for sure, to get to experience 483 00:25:32,490 --> 00:25:33,810 that. Yeah, that's why I love about 484 00:25:33,810 --> 00:25:36,730 the sport too, because it's one of the only sports where every 485 00:25:36,730 --> 00:25:40,010 single person in the room is cheering you on, where every 486 00:25:40,010 --> 00:25:41,970 other sport there's always it's always split. 487 00:25:41,970 --> 00:25:45,090 Or like bodybuilding can be a little like little feisty 488 00:25:45,090 --> 00:25:48,960 sometimes, sure. Well, even your competitors are 489 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:49,920 cheering you on. Yeah. 490 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:52,400 You're going for a record. They're cheering you on to get 491 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,240 that. You know, they may be secretly 492 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,760 in their head, but they're not gonna say it out loud. 493 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,280 Yeah. It's always like a, well, I 494 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,480 wanna win, but I also wanna see them succeed. 495 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,320 So yeah, like if they hit this it would be amazing. 496 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,520 So you wanna, you know, celebrate in that with them? 497 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,920 Yeah, So what, Obviously you've done some pretty big meets. 498 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,400 Do you do you have a favorite meet? 499 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:18,920 Oh well, I always love the Arnold, of course. 500 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,280 I mean, years ago we went to New Zealand and we lived it in the 501 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,600 worlds there and it was for sure is one of my most favorite 502 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,520 times. It was probably the only time 503 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:34,080 that we are treated as like like professional type athletes where 504 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,040 we put up in a nice place. We were in a main town. 505 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,760 We lifted in front of the town in a theater like we were on 506 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:46,510 radio shows and stuff. So that and then the IT was just 507 00:26:46,510 --> 00:26:48,990 an amazing place to visit anyway. 508 00:26:49,230 --> 00:26:51,670 And I-1 of course. So that made it good. 509 00:26:53,190 --> 00:26:58,310 I I just, it was one of the a lot of times lifting in the IPF, 510 00:26:58,470 --> 00:27:01,670 especially the earlier years, Like you'd fly somewhere and 511 00:27:01,670 --> 00:27:05,310 you'd be in the middle of nowhere and like you'd be your 512 00:27:05,310 --> 00:27:09,590 hotel conditions were not good, you know, And it was just it was 513 00:27:09,590 --> 00:27:13,480 not what you would expect like a World Championships to be. 514 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,400 And so that was the first time where it was what you thought 515 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,160 something like that would have been like, you know, so that was 516 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:22,640 awesome. And then our, you know, USA 517 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,920 Power Dig raw Nationals are just amazing because they're huge, 518 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,400 you know? So like for me 67 1/2, there was 519 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:34,700 100 girls in my weight class And so it took up an entire day of 520 00:27:34,700 --> 00:27:38,020 lifting and then the prime time and at night and so you're at 521 00:27:38,020 --> 00:27:40,980 prime time and it's all the lifters during the day they're 522 00:27:40,980 --> 00:27:44,980 cheering you on. Like it's like it's just so cool 523 00:27:45,020 --> 00:27:49,060 like to And then people recognize you and they you know 524 00:27:49,060 --> 00:27:51,340 they want their picture with you and it just makes you feel so 525 00:27:51,340 --> 00:27:54,900 special and so and they're so well run. 526 00:27:54,900 --> 00:27:57,780 I mean the graphics and stuff going on behind you. 527 00:27:57,780 --> 00:28:01,370 The live stream, I mean, they really put a lot of money into 528 00:28:01,370 --> 00:28:06,130 making it a professional event, so I always thought our national 529 00:28:06,130 --> 00:28:08,130 events were way better than the world events. 530 00:28:08,290 --> 00:28:09,570 That's cool. Yeah, yeah. 531 00:28:10,210 --> 00:28:12,890 I mean, so I've never competed in US APL. 532 00:28:12,890 --> 00:28:16,290 I've mostly done RPS and I just did an IPA meet. 533 00:28:16,290 --> 00:28:20,610 So what kind of drifted you towards competing US APL into 534 00:28:20,650 --> 00:28:24,570 IPF? Mostly just cuz I felt like it 535 00:28:24,570 --> 00:28:27,010 sounded like you were lifting for your country and it was the 536 00:28:27,010 --> 00:28:30,150 biggest one. And then with the ICIPFI mean 537 00:28:30,150 --> 00:28:32,510 there's hundreds of countries. So you're not going to a world 538 00:28:32,510 --> 00:28:35,510 and lifting against like people from Canada and Mexico, you 539 00:28:35,630 --> 00:28:40,230 know, like you're lifting legit against people from the top, 540 00:28:40,230 --> 00:28:44,150 people from all over the world. You know, there's like 50 541 00:28:44,150 --> 00:28:48,190 different countries that, you know, the world's a lot of the 542 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:51,280 European countries. They don't. 543 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:54,000 They're not allowed to live in LIFT in multiple federations. 544 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,120 They only get one, you know, there's only one International 545 00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:58,880 Federation and there's only one national. 546 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,800 So you are lifting against the best of that country because 547 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,120 they don't have like multiple ones like we do, you know. 548 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:11,120 So most of it was just being able to put myself in the most 549 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,080 competitive position and see how well I can do there. 550 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,120 Yeah. So I guess. 551 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,600 So the US APL just disconnected from the IPF not too long ago, 552 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:26,160 right. Well, we got kicked out, but I 553 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,800 would say too, the drug testing was a big draw. 554 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:34,520 The fact that they drug test a lot and their goal is to try to, 555 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,200 you know, there's always whatever, but their goal is to 556 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,240 try to keep it as clean as possible and they put a lot of 557 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,320 money towards that. So that was important to me. 558 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,360 Yeah, also. I guess kind of going off that a 559 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,320 little bit, what did you kind of have it set in stone like? 560 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,200 When you first started, like, I'm gonna stay a natural lifter 561 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,720 in my whole career or yeah, it never encouraged me to do 562 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:57,240 anything else. And mostly because I probably 563 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,520 because I was never in a position where it was even 564 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,720 accessible or available. We lived in our basement gym my 565 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:04,680 whole life. Like, it's not like we were at a 566 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,000 gym and people were like, hey, you know, if you tried this, you 567 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,720 would get stronger or anything. I just was never in that 568 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,200 environment and I was doing pretty good without it. 569 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:18,060 So like it just and then I think too like when I was growing up 570 00:30:18,060 --> 00:30:20,380 it was a very much stay say no to drugs. 571 00:30:20,380 --> 00:30:25,540 It was really hidden to us hard that you shouldn't be doing that 572 00:30:25,540 --> 00:30:27,660 now. Now like the landscape is much 573 00:30:27,660 --> 00:30:29,620 different. You know there's tested and 574 00:30:29,620 --> 00:30:33,580 untested and it's not as like seen as being something like 575 00:30:33,780 --> 00:30:37,700 illegal and you know like like it was when I when I grew up, 576 00:30:37,900 --> 00:30:41,700 like you were like writing the wrong side of the law like if 577 00:30:41,700 --> 00:30:45,340 you were getting into that stuff, you know, so showing my 578 00:30:45,340 --> 00:30:49,220 age some on that one. But just it just never occurred 579 00:30:49,220 --> 00:30:51,700 to me do it and it just wasn't it just wasn't in my face. 580 00:30:51,740 --> 00:30:53,540 It like it wasn't around me anywhere. 581 00:30:53,540 --> 00:30:57,900 So no. And then so you mentioned you 582 00:30:57,900 --> 00:30:59,140 were training out of your basement. 583 00:30:59,140 --> 00:31:02,140 So tell tell us a little bit about where you train out of. 584 00:31:03,460 --> 00:31:05,860 I don't know. It's just our our home gym that 585 00:31:05,860 --> 00:31:08,860 my husband put together in the 80s, you know, like. 586 00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:11,260 And we still have some of the same equipment. 587 00:31:11,990 --> 00:31:14,310 But you know, back when he, he's a bit older than I am. 588 00:31:14,310 --> 00:31:15,630 He's about seven years older than I am. 589 00:31:15,630 --> 00:31:18,990 So when he got out of the Army and came back home, there 590 00:31:18,990 --> 00:31:20,990 weren't big box gyms like we have now. 591 00:31:20,990 --> 00:31:23,430 There wasn't like, you know, there wasn't a gym on every 592 00:31:23,430 --> 00:31:25,350 corner. Every town had like a 593 00:31:25,350 --> 00:31:28,990 racquetball club with like, maybe like a universal machine 594 00:31:28,990 --> 00:31:32,510 and a set of dumbbells. Like there was no accessibility. 595 00:31:32,750 --> 00:31:35,710 So he and his buddies all worked and put their money together and 596 00:31:35,710 --> 00:31:40,310 made some of their equipment and so so we've always had that and 597 00:31:40,310 --> 00:31:42,270 we've been able to obviously add to it. 598 00:31:42,270 --> 00:31:45,630 You know as we've gotten older and you know this stuff is way 599 00:31:45,630 --> 00:31:49,350 more you can buy stuff now like he's he will tell me like when 600 00:31:49,350 --> 00:31:52,070 they first got it, you would walk into a store and they would 601 00:31:52,070 --> 00:31:56,710 have like floor samples of the machines and you would point to 602 00:31:56,710 --> 00:31:58,830 which one you would want and they would make it for you. 603 00:31:59,150 --> 00:32:02,710 Like there wasn't like Pre. We didn't just take it home, you 604 00:32:02,710 --> 00:32:07,690 know, so different, different sort of scenario there. 605 00:32:07,690 --> 00:32:11,010 So we've always and it's always been that we've always had 606 00:32:11,970 --> 00:32:14,010 friends that lived with us like every day. 607 00:32:14,010 --> 00:32:16,850 Like not necessarily people that are competing, but just 608 00:32:17,010 --> 00:32:19,570 neighbors and friends. It's always been like a a fun 609 00:32:19,570 --> 00:32:21,450 time. We get together and get strong. 610 00:32:21,970 --> 00:32:25,130 So that's just, I think probably why I stayed in it for so long 611 00:32:25,130 --> 00:32:27,890 as it's enjoyable. Yeah, I feel like so I have like 612 00:32:27,890 --> 00:32:31,370 a I guess a mini garage gym. I don't have a lot of have some 613 00:32:31,370 --> 00:32:33,850 stuff because like if I it was in a pinch and I needed to. 614 00:32:34,390 --> 00:32:35,190 Lift. I could do it. 615 00:32:35,190 --> 00:32:37,630 It's mostly just like if I don't have spotters, that's why I 616 00:32:37,630 --> 00:32:39,990 don't train at home, so I feel that's cool. 617 00:32:40,070 --> 00:32:43,070 I think like having that, at least that safety aspect of it 618 00:32:43,070 --> 00:32:47,110 is obviously really important. So yeah, yeah, we did a lot of 619 00:32:47,110 --> 00:32:50,350 training at other gyms this summer because of our crazy 620 00:32:50,350 --> 00:32:52,590 schedule and it really made other was fun. 621 00:32:52,830 --> 00:32:55,990 It made me appreciate, you know, our equipment that we have is 622 00:32:56,070 --> 00:32:59,270 fairly good and just being able to pick your own music and not 623 00:32:59,270 --> 00:33:01,950 having to wait for stuff or working with people, you know, 624 00:33:02,070 --> 00:33:06,190 it's all about you and it's, it's it's nice. 625 00:33:06,190 --> 00:33:09,510 It really made me have a whole new appreciation level for what 626 00:33:09,510 --> 00:33:11,270 we have available to us. For sure. 627 00:33:11,590 --> 00:33:13,950 If you could pick like one piece of equipment from your gym 628 00:33:13,950 --> 00:33:15,870 that's like your absolute favorite, what would it be? 629 00:33:17,030 --> 00:33:18,390 Well, outside the bench, of course. 630 00:33:21,590 --> 00:33:24,430 I really just. I love our belt squat machine. 631 00:33:25,230 --> 00:33:28,590 I feel like that's probably contributed to a lot of my 632 00:33:28,590 --> 00:33:33,370 longevity is the fact that I can squat a lot and not load up my 633 00:33:33,370 --> 00:33:36,650 spine. You know and you know we've we 634 00:33:37,010 --> 00:33:41,530 we change our footing positions to hit different areas you know 635 00:33:41,530 --> 00:33:44,170 of it. And so I feel like that's 636 00:33:44,170 --> 00:33:47,890 probably one of the the best things that that we've got. 637 00:33:47,890 --> 00:33:52,890 We have like a reverse hyper. I like that also, but the the 638 00:33:52,930 --> 00:33:55,810 belt squat I think is what's going to keep me in it in the 639 00:33:55,810 --> 00:33:58,130 long run. What job belt squat do you have? 640 00:33:59,220 --> 00:34:02,260 We actually had one made. It was from a company out of 641 00:34:02,260 --> 00:34:05,020 South Carolina called State of the Arc ARAR. 642 00:34:05,540 --> 00:34:08,100 Have you heard of them? OK, so you know belt spot 643 00:34:08,100 --> 00:34:12,580 machines are generally huge and we are our basement wasn't old, 644 00:34:12,620 --> 00:34:15,020 it was it's a converted garage is basically what it is. 645 00:34:15,020 --> 00:34:18,139 So and it was a one and one car garage. 646 00:34:18,139 --> 00:34:21,500 So it's not big. So we were able just to give him 647 00:34:21,500 --> 00:34:24,980 the dimensions of the size that we could handle and he just made 648 00:34:24,980 --> 00:34:27,540 it right to that. So that was pretty cool. 649 00:34:28,139 --> 00:34:30,190 So with the. You said you would change foot 650 00:34:30,190 --> 00:34:32,230 positions. Do you do any other like do you 651 00:34:32,230 --> 00:34:34,790 ever do a variation on it? Do you have like band pegs on 652 00:34:34,790 --> 00:34:35,989 it? Do you ever utilize that or 653 00:34:35,989 --> 00:34:37,429 anything? No. 654 00:34:38,030 --> 00:34:40,190 Usually we save the bands for the straight bar. 655 00:34:41,550 --> 00:34:44,830 Like I said, it's pretty small. The Scott Belt squad regime. 656 00:34:46,030 --> 00:34:50,550 And then it obviously, so obviously the bench is your 657 00:34:50,550 --> 00:34:53,070 favorite and the belt squads it would be like your second. 658 00:34:53,670 --> 00:34:55,840 What's What's your least favorite is? 659 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:59,400 It the GHR, it is. I hate that thing. 660 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:03,040 Oh my God, it's horrible. It's just so painful. 661 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:07,320 Like, every Rep sucks about it. And then I try to, you know, 662 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:11,000 load them up with the weights and stuff and I'm like, Oh yeah, 663 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,640 horrible. And like you do a lot of reps on 664 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:15,280 them too. Like it's not like three or 665 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:16,520 four. You're doing like 8. 666 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:18,720 You get to like 4. You're like, shit. 667 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:23,040 I got four more and I have to talk myself out of quitting 668 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,870 early. When So I did. 669 00:35:25,870 --> 00:35:29,910 When I did a meet back in April, I at the beginning of the prep, 670 00:35:30,070 --> 00:35:32,510 I tried to start doing them and I couldn't do a single one. 671 00:35:33,070 --> 00:35:35,070 Yeah, and. Then I mean, the learning curve 672 00:35:35,070 --> 00:35:38,390 was quick and then I kind of got up there, but you never get over 673 00:35:38,390 --> 00:35:41,110 that feeling of your hamstring feeling like it's gonna tear it 674 00:35:41,110 --> 00:35:41,950 any moment. Yeah. 675 00:35:42,950 --> 00:35:47,110 And weirdly, my my calves always cramp up when we're doing those. 676 00:35:47,110 --> 00:35:50,150 And I can't wear knee sleeves. If I wear knee sleeves while I 677 00:35:50,150 --> 00:35:52,950 do it, like it's just game over, like my calves are cramped and I 678 00:35:52,950 --> 00:35:55,460 can't move. So it is kind of funny because 679 00:35:55,500 --> 00:35:57,860 normally we do them after squats and things like that, so you're 680 00:35:57,900 --> 00:36:00,020 usually pre fatigued by the time you get to them. 681 00:36:00,660 --> 00:36:03,780 So you do them after squat day do. 682 00:36:04,380 --> 00:36:07,700 So what do your accessories look like on a deadlift day then? 683 00:36:08,020 --> 00:36:12,100 Are they more back focused? Yeah, we do back and biceps and 684 00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:16,420 then we'll do like Romanians rack pulls, some overweighted 685 00:36:16,460 --> 00:36:18,700 stuff or wagon wheels, things like that. 686 00:36:19,340 --> 00:36:23,420 Yeah, it's off. It's all back and bicep focused 687 00:36:23,460 --> 00:36:26,860 outside of like some deadlift variations. 688 00:36:27,860 --> 00:36:30,860 So on the the eight day schedule, what is what is the 689 00:36:31,060 --> 00:36:34,580 two on, two off look like? Well we'll start with bench cuz 690 00:36:34,580 --> 00:36:36,620 that's the best one. You always start with the best 691 00:36:37,380 --> 00:36:40,740 one. That's why I know I'm completely 692 00:36:40,740 --> 00:36:42,940 reversed cuz the bench gets me to the squat day. 693 00:36:42,940 --> 00:36:45,260 I had to start with squats. I may never make it. 694 00:36:46,260 --> 00:36:49,680 So usually like the bench day, the squat day, 2 days off and 695 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:53,160 then we do like probably like a bench accessory. 696 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:56,400 We call it our tricep shoulder day, but it's usually when we're 697 00:36:56,400 --> 00:37:01,760 doing like lockouts or boards or close grips, things like that 698 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,920 with some other tricep shoulder. And then our last day is a 699 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:11,080 deadlift back and by day. Yeah, so yeah, I usually do the 700 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,320 four day, so I'm doing Sunday squad Monday bench and then I'll 701 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,140 deadlift on Wednesday. And then bench again on Friday, 702 00:37:18,140 --> 00:37:21,820 because my bench is my worst lift I've been. 703 00:37:21,820 --> 00:37:26,180 I was stuck at like 340 for like probably the past two or three 704 00:37:26,180 --> 00:37:29,100 years, had some shoulder and chest injuries so and then 705 00:37:29,100 --> 00:37:32,780 finally just broke that hit 360 in my meet a few weeks ago. 706 00:37:32,780 --> 00:37:35,420 So there you go, I'm. Hoping it's up from there 707 00:37:35,420 --> 00:37:38,140 because I keep going. Yeah, I'm really trying to get 708 00:37:38,180 --> 00:37:41,940 to the 400 because like my squat and my dead, well, my deadlifts 709 00:37:41,940 --> 00:37:45,090 kind of. Shit show right now, but my 710 00:37:45,090 --> 00:37:48,050 squat's just been going up and up for years, so I'm not worried 711 00:37:48,090 --> 00:37:52,170 about that. That's why even during COVID, I 712 00:37:52,170 --> 00:37:53,970 had a squat rack in my dad's basement. 713 00:37:54,290 --> 00:37:56,610 And have you ever heard of the Small Love program? 714 00:37:58,450 --> 00:37:59,810 Sounds familiar, but I don't know what it is. 715 00:37:59,810 --> 00:38:02,250 So it's like a high volume squat program and I was squatting in 716 00:38:02,330 --> 00:38:04,370 my dad's basement like three days a week. 717 00:38:04,750 --> 00:38:08,110 Just all during quarantine. So it was just, yeah, it was a 718 00:38:08,110 --> 00:38:09,870 dark time, but it definitely brought. 719 00:38:10,350 --> 00:38:13,150 Up this, I think it brought up my squat and deadlift, like £50 720 00:38:13,150 --> 00:38:13,790 each over us. Wow. 721 00:38:14,190 --> 00:38:16,270 Yeah. So I almost want to do that for 722 00:38:16,270 --> 00:38:19,030 bench, but not sure if my shoulders can hang in there. 723 00:38:19,070 --> 00:38:22,310 Yeah, the upper body is tough cuz it just can't really handle. 724 00:38:22,310 --> 00:38:25,470 I feel like the volume that your lower body can handle. 725 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:29,760 I feel like I'm the opposite. I feel like, well, for me, 726 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,160 deadlifts just fry me like crazy. 727 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:34,560 Squats I could do all day, but bench? 728 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,520 I could also do three or four times a week probably. 729 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:39,480 Or maybe I'm just not training heavy enough. 730 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:44,440 So maybe I certainly couldn't do that. 731 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,760 So. Or another thing I saw was that 732 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:52,760 you have the airwave mouth guard, yeah. 733 00:38:53,220 --> 00:38:55,060 I wanna talk about that kind of explain. 734 00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:58,420 Was it something that you were using before and then kind of 735 00:38:58,420 --> 00:39:00,620 got approached by the company or vice versa? 736 00:39:01,460 --> 00:39:05,140 Yeah, I always used a mouth guard, particularly on the three 737 00:39:05,140 --> 00:39:08,900 lifts I used to wear the Under Armour bite that I think they 738 00:39:08,900 --> 00:39:13,060 stopped making it. But I had cracked through those 739 00:39:13,060 --> 00:39:17,620 a couple of times and the Airwave just messaged me. 740 00:39:17,620 --> 00:39:20,510 And they're like, hey, can we send you, you know, our 741 00:39:20,630 --> 00:39:22,590 mouthpieces? And when you just tell us what 742 00:39:22,590 --> 00:39:24,470 you think. And so honestly, they sent it to 743 00:39:24,470 --> 00:39:28,750 me and it, it probably sat on my shelf for three months before I 744 00:39:28,910 --> 00:39:31,910 even like, I was like, OK, I'll give this a try. 745 00:39:33,830 --> 00:39:38,550 So yeah, it is very much like the Under Armour bike, but just 746 00:39:38,550 --> 00:39:40,270 a little bit better. It's there's just a little more 747 00:39:40,270 --> 00:39:42,430 substance to it. They have a couple different 748 00:39:42,430 --> 00:39:44,070 kinds. They have one that kind of the 749 00:39:44,070 --> 00:39:46,550 Cross Fitters use. But it's to me, like, I don't 750 00:39:46,550 --> 00:39:48,190 even know why you bother with it, because there's barely 751 00:39:48,190 --> 00:39:52,980 anything to it but the endurance when I like just because it 752 00:39:52,980 --> 00:39:55,860 gives you enough support but doesn't feel like something like 753 00:39:55,860 --> 00:39:57,980 you have. Like your mouth is overflowing 754 00:39:57,980 --> 00:40:00,100 with a mouth guard you can bear, you know, you can tell it's 755 00:40:00,100 --> 00:40:02,740 there, but it's not giant, which is what I like. 756 00:40:02,740 --> 00:40:04,620 It's just the bottom piece. I like that. 757 00:40:05,420 --> 00:40:08,300 And so actually I I started using it like on all my lifts 758 00:40:08,300 --> 00:40:11,540 now because like it creates so much good tension in my jaw into 759 00:40:11,540 --> 00:40:14,540 my neck and helps me create pressure that I noticed when I 760 00:40:14,540 --> 00:40:17,740 started using it on like my incline bench, my decline bench, 761 00:40:17,860 --> 00:40:20,460 even in my curls. They were better. 762 00:40:20,460 --> 00:40:23,140 I had more pressure and more power, so actually we are on 763 00:40:23,380 --> 00:40:25,820 every single lift now. Is it? 764 00:40:25,900 --> 00:40:30,900 Is it legal in all federations or as far as I know, yeah. 765 00:40:30,980 --> 00:40:33,700 I mean there's, I mean it's just, I mean the dentist will 766 00:40:33,700 --> 00:40:37,780 thank you for cracking your teeth, having something in 767 00:40:37,780 --> 00:40:41,820 there. But it just, I mean it's just 768 00:40:41,940 --> 00:40:44,460 like it's such an easy thing to do to have a little bit of 769 00:40:44,460 --> 00:40:46,420 return for doing barely anything. 770 00:40:46,500 --> 00:40:47,700 Yeah. And I feel like, I don't know 771 00:40:47,700 --> 00:40:48,580 why you wouldn't do it. Yeah. 772 00:40:48,620 --> 00:40:50,940 Really strong men have been using it for years too, yeah. 773 00:40:51,220 --> 00:40:54,580 Feel like I've honestly, I've really ever seen any power 774 00:40:54,580 --> 00:40:56,740 lifters using it. So maybe I'll get one. 775 00:40:57,420 --> 00:40:59,900 You should. You should see people use like 776 00:40:59,900 --> 00:41:03,100 the new Wave or new age or New Age One, I think. 777 00:41:03,100 --> 00:41:05,180 But I don't. It's to me, it's big. 778 00:41:05,220 --> 00:41:05,820 I don't like. I don't. 779 00:41:06,340 --> 00:41:07,900 I don't. I don't want anything 780 00:41:07,940 --> 00:41:12,740 distracting me from the task at hand, you know, and there. 781 00:41:12,780 --> 00:41:17,140 And I just like, I don't ever, I don't ever take sponsorship from 782 00:41:17,140 --> 00:41:20,940 a company that like, I'm aren't aligned with like my morals and 783 00:41:20,940 --> 00:41:24,460 ethics and beliefs. And I spent some time meeting 784 00:41:24,460 --> 00:41:28,100 them, getting to know them and wanting to know what their goals 785 00:41:28,100 --> 00:41:31,180 were in their paths and they're just good people. 786 00:41:31,620 --> 00:41:35,860 So like I I don't, I don't. I'm not sponsored by anyone that 787 00:41:35,860 --> 00:41:38,900 like, I feel good about. Like I feel like they're either 788 00:41:38,900 --> 00:41:43,700 helping our sport or helping our community or just you know, 789 00:41:43,700 --> 00:41:48,220 their vision is there. They're not there just to make 790 00:41:48,220 --> 00:41:50,100 money. I mean of course that's the end 791 00:41:50,100 --> 00:41:54,460 game, but the the the quality portion is there and so that's 792 00:41:54,460 --> 00:41:58,860 why I I signed on with them is because I really like what 793 00:41:58,860 --> 00:42:00,300 they're doing. I mean, they're really trying to 794 00:42:00,300 --> 00:42:03,370 improve what they have. They're really giving back to 795 00:42:03,770 --> 00:42:04,850 CrossFit. They're getting into 796 00:42:04,850 --> 00:42:09,330 powerlifting and then of course strongman and so and they treat 797 00:42:09,330 --> 00:42:11,130 you with respect, so that's awesome. 798 00:42:11,770 --> 00:42:15,650 Yeah, I think brand loyalty is important only when the morals 799 00:42:15,650 --> 00:42:18,210 align. And I think that's for someone 800 00:42:18,210 --> 00:42:21,090 of your caliber who, like, has a pretty big audience. 801 00:42:21,090 --> 00:42:24,050 It's definitely important to make sure you're preaching the 802 00:42:24,050 --> 00:42:26,570 right stuff, right? Well, I get offers every day. 803 00:42:26,610 --> 00:42:30,010 People want me to do wear their stuff or do this shit or that, 804 00:42:30,010 --> 00:42:33,150 and I do think about that. And I'm like, I would feel so 805 00:42:33,150 --> 00:42:36,110 bad if I promoted something and someone tried it and was like, 806 00:42:36,110 --> 00:42:38,590 this is shit. Jen told me to buy it. 807 00:42:38,630 --> 00:42:42,030 Like, and I always think too, like, this is not my main job. 808 00:42:42,030 --> 00:42:44,350 I do it because I enjoy it and it's fun. 809 00:42:44,350 --> 00:42:48,870 I don't, I don't need it. So I don't need to sell my soul 810 00:42:48,870 --> 00:42:51,310 for a few bucks. You know it's not worth it. 811 00:42:52,230 --> 00:42:54,030 Yeah, and kind of touching on your influence. 812 00:42:54,780 --> 00:42:57,300 So it's kind of been like your experience maybe with female 813 00:42:57,300 --> 00:43:00,380 power lifters kind of, I don't know, maybe reaching out to you 814 00:43:00,420 --> 00:43:05,660 or helping helping get them into the sport or Oh yeah, it's been, 815 00:43:05,700 --> 00:43:09,060 I mean I rise in powerlifting, we're rising big in numbers, but 816 00:43:09,060 --> 00:43:13,820 in particularly in the female and honestly I'm surprisingly in 817 00:43:13,820 --> 00:43:17,540 like the older female category. Like we have tons of women in 818 00:43:17,540 --> 00:43:20,200 their 40s and 50s getting into the sport. 819 00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:23,640 I think some of it is like when we first started. 820 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,760 When I first started, it was still very much a male dominated 821 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,360 sport and everyone was really afraid if you picked up that 822 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:32,720 weight you would turn in this gargantuan man, you know, like 823 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:36,720 you wouldn't lose all feminine, you know, aspects to your body 824 00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:38,560 and that, you know, it's all over. 825 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:43,720 So now we've really kind of, I think smashed the walls of of 826 00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:47,120 that that concept with all the wonderful examples we see on 827 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:50,940 social media of strong women. So I think it's neat because I 828 00:43:50,940 --> 00:43:54,620 think finally like the women my age are like, oh, I can do this 829 00:43:54,660 --> 00:43:59,220 and get strong at my age and not, you know, lose, lose my 830 00:43:59,220 --> 00:44:00,940 femininity. So I think that's pretty cool 831 00:44:00,940 --> 00:44:04,740 that we're seeing that. But I do do some seminars. 832 00:44:04,740 --> 00:44:08,780 We, I had a group called Iron Sisters that we were doing some 833 00:44:08,780 --> 00:44:13,060 female like girl weekends, all centered around powerlifting, 834 00:44:13,060 --> 00:44:17,580 but also just the community aspect of it and identifying, 835 00:44:17,580 --> 00:44:22,070 you know, women, important things, power of doing. 836 00:44:22,590 --> 00:44:24,310 Men and women are different, you know. 837 00:44:24,310 --> 00:44:26,870 So there are definitely some things that affects females that 838 00:44:26,870 --> 00:44:28,950 don't affect males and I'm sure vice versa. 839 00:44:29,830 --> 00:44:33,310 But that kind of dwindled and now I've done a few things with 840 00:44:33,310 --> 00:44:35,390 Sisters of Iron, which is not the same thing. 841 00:44:35,390 --> 00:44:37,870 Ironically, it's a whole different company with different 842 00:44:37,870 --> 00:44:42,020 people. Yeah, I do do a lot of that. 843 00:44:42,020 --> 00:44:45,140 Like University of Michigan's powerlifting team just reached 844 00:44:45,140 --> 00:44:48,820 out to me and want me to come up and and work with them a little 845 00:44:48,820 --> 00:44:50,660 bit. And then of course I work with 846 00:44:50,700 --> 00:44:53,260 Midland University at the collegiate level. 847 00:44:54,340 --> 00:44:57,820 So I don't specifically work with females because I think it 848 00:44:57,820 --> 00:45:03,260 is a Coed sport. But I do enjoy and enjoy helping 849 00:45:03,660 --> 00:45:07,280 empower women and getting them into it, you know, and letting 850 00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,960 them know that they they can do it and you will be welcome. 851 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:12,880 Yeah, that's awesome because I remember one of my earlier 852 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,640 guests she was talking about when she first started lifting 853 00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:18,240 is and you. A lot of weight rooms just would 854 00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:19,920 have signs that said no women allowed. 855 00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:23,520 So, so obviously it's great to see the sport growing as a 856 00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:26,080 whole, but I think it's really important to make sure it is 857 00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:28,600 truly a Coed sport. So yeah, it is. 858 00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:33,870 And you see that even, like, I kind of feel like powerlifting, 859 00:45:33,870 --> 00:45:37,070 similar to tennis, like our prize packs are the same. 860 00:45:37,070 --> 00:45:40,030 It doesn't matter if you're a male or woman, and I think 861 00:45:40,430 --> 00:45:43,190 they're highlighted equally, you know, where you're talking about 862 00:45:43,190 --> 00:45:45,430 prime time or with the prime positions or when they're 863 00:45:45,430 --> 00:45:50,510 lifting, the women get an equal card to to to men because we 864 00:45:50,510 --> 00:45:54,630 have an equal draw, you know? And I can understand if nobody 865 00:45:54,630 --> 00:45:57,870 was watching it, you know, maybe that would be the case. 866 00:45:57,870 --> 00:46:02,750 But I think the last I check, I think our membership for USA 867 00:46:02,750 --> 00:46:07,190 Powerlifting is getting close to 5050 men and women. 868 00:46:07,190 --> 00:46:09,790 It's still a little bit more on the men, but I think it was like 869 00:46:10,310 --> 00:46:12,550 5545 or something like that. Oh, wow. 870 00:46:12,790 --> 00:46:14,270 I didn't even know there was a difference. 871 00:46:15,710 --> 00:46:16,830 Yeah. So, I mean, when I first 872 00:46:16,830 --> 00:46:18,190 started, there was barely any of us. 873 00:46:18,190 --> 00:46:20,670 So like to see it transform into. 874 00:46:20,670 --> 00:46:23,870 That is pretty darn cool. And it is kind of funny too. 875 00:46:23,870 --> 00:46:25,550 And it's nice that the stigma of like. 876 00:46:26,060 --> 00:46:30,220 Women getting bulky is like kind of dying because it's funny, you 877 00:46:30,220 --> 00:46:33,180 look at it, you're like, well it's hard for us to get bulky. 878 00:46:33,180 --> 00:46:36,820 So it is great to see the evolution of the sport. 879 00:46:36,820 --> 00:46:38,860 So and you're a great advocate for it. 880 00:46:39,420 --> 00:46:41,700 Thank you. I think too like what's nice 881 00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:44,620 about power thing is you sort of embrace all body types, you 882 00:46:44,620 --> 00:46:49,220 know. So there's no, you know we're we 883 00:46:49,220 --> 00:46:52,380 embrace the thick with the two seats you know, and the and the 884 00:46:52,380 --> 00:46:57,020 Peach and you know all that sort of stuff is as we can talk about 885 00:46:57,020 --> 00:46:59,820 it now and celebrate it and and be happy about it. 886 00:46:59,820 --> 00:47:02,700 Where before you know you just women were supposed to get 887 00:47:02,700 --> 00:47:05,980 really thin and look kind of like those thin models walking 888 00:47:05,980 --> 00:47:10,740 down the runways and now we can embrace that all shapes and 889 00:47:10,740 --> 00:47:13,620 sizes are pretty darn awesome. So I love that. 890 00:47:13,620 --> 00:47:14,540 Yeah. That's great. 891 00:47:14,990 --> 00:47:17,830 So I guess we'll kind of wrap things up here. 892 00:47:18,230 --> 00:47:21,590 I like to ask all my guests before we end if you could give 893 00:47:21,590 --> 00:47:25,070 one piece of advice to a new power lifter or someone entering 894 00:47:25,070 --> 00:47:26,870 their first meet one, what would it be? 895 00:47:29,310 --> 00:47:33,310 I think most of it is, I think right now because of social 896 00:47:33,310 --> 00:47:36,830 media and just technology and stuff, we're at A1 it now sort 897 00:47:36,830 --> 00:47:40,870 of society and I think powerlifting particular is a 898 00:47:40,910 --> 00:47:44,270 long game sport. You know the longer you put 899 00:47:44,930 --> 00:47:46,530 longer you into it, the better you get. 900 00:47:46,730 --> 00:47:50,250 You know no matter how long that is, you're never going to be 901 00:47:50,250 --> 00:47:53,210 your best on that first meet or when you first start. 902 00:47:53,410 --> 00:47:57,490 So you kind of have to tamp that attitude down right away and 903 00:47:57,490 --> 00:48:01,010 realize that this is a learning is a learning game. 904 00:48:01,010 --> 00:48:06,250 So put a lot of time into correct form that will serve you 905 00:48:06,610 --> 00:48:09,210 for the rest of your career if you can. 906 00:48:09,210 --> 00:48:11,770 Get the basics and and understand that. 907 00:48:12,250 --> 00:48:15,490 I think also like auto regulation, understanding your 908 00:48:15,490 --> 00:48:18,770 body and its limits, when to push, when to not now. 909 00:48:18,770 --> 00:48:21,210 That just becomes with experience and time and 910 00:48:21,210 --> 00:48:26,330 training, but then surrounding yourself by positive people, 911 00:48:26,330 --> 00:48:29,090 people that are going to encourage you but also hold you 912 00:48:29,090 --> 00:48:31,770 accountable. You know if you're squatting 913 00:48:31,770 --> 00:48:35,810 high, they're going to tell you, you know, but like, as far as 914 00:48:35,810 --> 00:48:39,230 getting into your first me, like, I hear so many people, 915 00:48:39,230 --> 00:48:41,150 like, I'm not ready yet. My numbers aren't where they 916 00:48:41,150 --> 00:48:43,870 want them to be. Your first me is never going to 917 00:48:43,870 --> 00:48:47,710 be a great one ever because they're so they're such a huge 918 00:48:47,710 --> 00:48:50,870 learning curve. So I encourage like a mock me in 919 00:48:50,870 --> 00:48:54,270 the gym and then even your very first one, like give yourself a 920 00:48:54,270 --> 00:48:58,350 break, like go into it for fun, have some low level goals and 921 00:48:58,350 --> 00:49:01,990 maybe some higher level goals. But understand that you're just, 922 00:49:01,990 --> 00:49:05,040 you're being a student of the sport at this point and you're 923 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,280 learning what the referees are looking for, the timing, how to 924 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:10,200 plan your first, second, third lift. 925 00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:12,240 I mean there's just so much to it. 926 00:49:12,240 --> 00:49:14,440 And then you know even your second meet will be a little 927 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:17,680 better than the 1st. And then I, and I do think it's 928 00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:21,960 good to do quite a few because you just learned so much every 929 00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:25,000 time you do it, you know, and then space them out as you kind 930 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:28,920 of get better and more into it. But no, it's it's long term. 931 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:32,330 It's not a right now and it's not you know your training isn't 932 00:49:32,330 --> 00:49:34,850 about what you can post on social media the next day. 933 00:49:34,850 --> 00:49:37,770 I mean that shouldn't be your your goal to hitting certain 934 00:49:37,770 --> 00:49:40,010 numbers or certain things. You know, once you start 935 00:49:40,250 --> 00:49:42,930 wrapping yourself and identifying yourself with who 936 00:49:42,930 --> 00:49:45,770 you are on social media and posts is when you're not going 937 00:49:45,770 --> 00:49:47,610 to be your best self, your best athletes. 938 00:49:47,610 --> 00:49:50,930 So kind of tamping that down is always good idea. 939 00:49:51,570 --> 00:49:53,050 That's awesome. That's some great advice. 940 00:49:53,050 --> 00:49:56,370 So I guess before we end things, if you could just let them know 941 00:49:56,370 --> 00:49:58,130 where they can find you on Instagram or if you have 942 00:49:58,250 --> 00:50:00,800 anything else where you want to plug, Sure. 943 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,600 Well, Instagram's Jen Thompson, 132. 944 00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:07,800 I have a subscriber program also, which I'd like to try. 945 00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,440 I post a lot of good things on my Instagram and then I kind of 946 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:14,960 post things that I kind of side thoughts to my subscribers or 947 00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:16,560 they can ask me to post them stuff. 948 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:20,180 You know, it's 499 a month, but I am really working on my 949 00:50:20,180 --> 00:50:23,220 YouTube channel which is 132 pounds of power. 950 00:50:23,420 --> 00:50:26,620 I finished a quick bench series where I just basically broke 951 00:50:26,620 --> 00:50:29,700 down the bench into tiny pieces like a little 3 minute videos. 952 00:50:29,700 --> 00:50:32,100 So if you just want to know about Grip, if you just want to 953 00:50:32,100 --> 00:50:34,020 know about arts, if you want to know Takedown, you can just 954 00:50:34,060 --> 00:50:36,540 watch a quick video. And I'm working on the squat 955 00:50:36,540 --> 00:50:42,310 series now, so that's good. I have a TikTok, mostly. 956 00:50:42,750 --> 00:50:45,430 That's Jen Thompson one day too. I usually post funny shit on 957 00:50:45,430 --> 00:50:48,550 there, not most of that, not most of that's educational. 958 00:50:48,550 --> 00:50:51,830 Most of that's just trying weird shit in the gym or stuff like 959 00:50:51,870 --> 00:50:56,030 that. And then I have a program. 960 00:50:56,430 --> 00:50:59,110 Tom is Thompson's gym dot program dot app. 961 00:50:59,150 --> 00:51:04,110 I'm getting ready to load it onto Apple, but you can go to 962 00:51:04,110 --> 00:51:06,470 the website. But any program I use, I have it 963 00:51:06,470 --> 00:51:10,090 on there. So you can use what I use to get 964 00:51:10,090 --> 00:51:12,290 strong. But I also have like my youth 965 00:51:12,290 --> 00:51:14,530 programs on there, beginning program. 966 00:51:14,530 --> 00:51:17,290 I'm starting to work on a masters program, training 967 00:51:17,290 --> 00:51:19,690 program on there. And then if you're on my 968 00:51:19,690 --> 00:51:22,170 program, you're in my community. And I have like an amazing 969 00:51:22,170 --> 00:51:26,290 community of almost 200 people that post videos and give 970 00:51:26,290 --> 00:51:29,650 feedback and celebrate, you know, our ups and our downs. 971 00:51:29,650 --> 00:51:33,850 And so pretty much on everywhere Twitter, name it. 972 00:51:34,010 --> 00:51:35,410 And there Jen Thompson wanted to. 973 00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:37,640 Awesome. Well, I want to thank you for 974 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:39,000 taking the time for coming on today. 975 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,240 It was a pleasure. Oh, thanks for having me. 976 00:51:41,240 --> 00:51:42,880 I really enjoyed our conversation. 977 00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:44,280 Thank you. Have a good one. 978 00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:45,160 You too.