I was in the gym a little while ago, minding my own business, when a female client asked my husband why he trained. He turned the question back on her and she said that she didn’t know. It seemed to me like she was lost, lacking motivation, and unsure what she was doing. She’d been…
Category: Gym Life
The 2018 Flying Kiwi Cup
On Sunday 16th September, 2018, Michael Adams from Flying Kiwi Fitness hosted the first ever Special Olympics Powerlifting Competition, and we (VALHALLA Strength – South Brisbane) were asked to be involved. Please excuse my excitement but… IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER! Michael, or Mick as we know him, is a good friend of ours and…
Sometimes it just doesn’t work
I recently experienced failure at work for the first time ever. I had coordinated with a couple of my colleagues to run a Smashing Stereotypes event for the students at my school. Smashing Stereotypes events are what we run for our female members at VALHALLA Strength – South Brisbane. They are designed to educate and…
Book Club Fun
The ladies at my gym, to whom we refer to as Valkyries, had been bugging me for weeks to start up a book club. I finally pulled my finger out and organised it. I chose three books for them to vote on, recorded myself talking about them (I’d only read one of the three so…
The strength community will not tolerate this…
Women lifting weights – it’s something that I am very passionate about and something that the general population seem to struggle with accepting. Just yesterday my husband had the pleasure of refereeing The Static Monsters World Championships on the Gold Coast and he witnessed some amazing feats of strength by both men and women. Unfortunately…
The truth about our “why”
Have you ever told yourself that your goal was simply to “have fun?” Well, over the weekend we hosted a Smashing Stereotypes event at the gym and the presenter said something that really struck me. The presenter was Raeanne Pemberton, and she is a Strongwoman Competitor in the USA. She has a lot to say…
Role Models: Part Two
In Role Models: Part One I wrote about the importance of Fictional Role Models. In Role Models: Part Two, I will discuss the importance of Real-Life Role Models and how everyone is a role model to someone in some way. You may not realise it, but someone in your life might be looking to you for…
Bouncing back from injury
Injuries – we’ve all been there one way or another. But how we bounce back is everything, and how we prepare to ensure we don’t end up with a reoccurence is even more important. When I was first taught how to lift I was taught the basic movements and told to practice that until it…
Finding your “people” in training
What many people don’t understand is who you train with can (and will) make or break your session. I want to share with you something that I only just realised for myself this year. If you want to succeed at training, and if you want to give yourself a reason to turn up to the…
Strength Sports: In it for the “long haul”
As I was going through my rehab for a torn ligament in my ankle the other day, I got to thinking about how long I had been powerlifting for and what my future in this sport might look like. I’ve been lifting for almost 6 years now, but it hasn’t been without its ups and…
Adventures of the Lifting Librarian 