This is a video I took of my client Tina over the weekend while she was training. A few things to note:
1. Tina works her ass off. Matter of fact, she once split her pants wide open while warming up to squat and even though she didn’t have an extra pair of pants, she was willing to wear a towel around her ripped pair in order to finish her training session. So for all those people who “forget” to bring their workout shoes to the gym, and as a result, end up going home; you could learn something from Tina.
2. Tina still looks like a girl, despite being stronger than most of the men she trains around. She’s actually rather petite, coming in at 5’2″ and 145 lbs. She’s also considering training for her first power-lifting meet sometime this year. This coming from a girl who when I met her, was reluctant to lift anything over 25 lbs.
3. You might be wondering what the heck is Tina doing?
Name of Movement: Giant Cambered Bar Box Squat. The cambered bar tends to be much easier on the shoulders and provides a different training stimulus as compared to a regular “straight” bar.
Box Height: 12 inches
Bar Weight: 205 lbs. She also had three chains (20 lbs each) on each side of the bar which adds roughly 120 lbs of additional weight at the top of the movement. However, in her case, the chains weren’t adjusted properly so she had roughly an additional 60-80 lbs of weight at the top of the movement. As she squatted down, the bar would “de-load,” with the chains resting on the floor. Tina performed this for 6 sets of 3.
4. A few of the high school guys that were in the facility training at the same time as her were later found hiding in the corner in the fetal position, sucking their thumbs.
5. To all the women who read this blog: Not every woman will be able to train like Tina does, but that’s not to say that you shouldn’t want to get stronger. Put down the 20 lb body bar and start using some real weight for peets sake. Oh, and just so you know, lifting heavy weights won’t make you “big a bulky.” That 4th Christmas cookie you just ate will.
