Kristen Dunsmore

My favorite coffee / flower shop, knows how to make good coffee. The most important meal of the day, obviously ☕️🌸

Not to sound like a broken record here, but I continue to see this topic come up - A LOT. Contrary to popular belief, lifting heavy weights won’t turn you into the Hulk, unless you’re secretly a gamma-radiation powered superhero - in which case, please share your secrets 🦸‍♀️

The truth is, heavy resistance training is one of the most effective ways to increase muscle mass and improve your metabolic rate, which basically means you’ll burn more calories even when you’re not working out.

The best part? You don’t have to stop as you get older. In fact, lifelong resistance training is essential for maintaining your health and staying strong as we age 🦴👵

If lifting is going to make me bulky, then my goal is to look bulky AF.

IMO - Muscles are sexy💪

Popular gym bros will have you believe that the sumo deadlift is "cheating" because it allows lifters to lift more weight compared to the conventional deadlift. However, this belief is not supported by the evidence.
 
The sumo deadlift involves a wider stance and a grip inside the legs, which allows the lifter to maintain a more upright torso position. Although the sumo deadlift generally places less stress on the low back, it also requires greater mobility.
 
Escamilla (2002) analyzed muscle activation patterns of the sumo and conventional deadlift and found that both variations recruited similar muscle groups. However, the sumo deadlift placed greater emphasis on the quadriceps and adductor muscles.
 
Both the sumo and conventional deadlift are effective for building strength, and both styles are legal in powerlifting competitions.

The choice of deadlift style ultimately comes down to individual preference, anatomical considerations, and mobility. Lifters should choose the style that is most comfortable and allows for the greatest amount of weight to be lifted.
 
Experiment with both styles to help you determine which style works best for you.

The addition of cardiovascular exercise to a strength training program is often criticized in the strength community due to the potential interference effect, which can limit strength gains. However, it's important to consider that most studies on concurrent training involve extreme conditions.

Several factors can moderate the interference effect, such as frequency and duration of the cardiovascular exercise. More frequent and longer duration cardio tends to have a greater impact on reducing strength gains compared to less frequent and shorter duration cardio. In addition, choosing cycling as a form of cardio appears to be the best option for most lifters as it can induce lower limb hypertrophy according to some studies.

To minimize the interference effect, cardio should be performed with low volume and with 6-24 hours of rest between types of training and should be limited to about 3 times per week. Moderating these factors can help to minimize the potential for an interference effect to occur.

It’s also important to highlight the fact that our bodies are highly adaptable to whatever stimulus we put it through. Start slow, and gradually work your way up to more over time.

Personally, I enjoy including various types of cardio (hiking, running, cycling) during an off-season and tapering off as I get closer to a meet.

Strength can have different meanings depending on the context, but generally, it refers to the ability to withstand or overcome a challenge, resistance, or adversity.

Physical strength refers to the ability of the muscles to produce force against an external resistance, such as lifting weights or carrying heavy objects.

But strength can also refer to the ability to cope with difficult situations, manage stress, and remain resilient in the face of adversity.

Strength can be seen as the ability to overcome obstacles and challenges to achieve one's goals and objectives. In other words, strength doesn't come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't 💪

Repetitions in Reserve (RIR) and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) are two commonly used autoregulation methods in strength training.

RIR measures the number of repetitions an athlete could perform before reaching failure, or the point at which they are unable to complete any more reps. For example, an RIR of 2 indicates that an athlete could have performed 2 more reps before reaching failure.

RPE, on the other hand, is a subjective measure of how difficult an exercise feels. It involves assigning a perceived exertion value ranging from 1-10 to indicate how difficult a set was, with 10 being the most difficult.

Both RIR and RPE allow athletes to adjust their training intensity and volume based on their perceived level of fatigue or readiness.

We use both RPE and RIR in the app in addition to recommended loads to give you the most customized training experience. We are offering a 2-week free trial then just $14.99/month after.

training

Alright I caved! I figured it was time to jump on the .ai bandwagon to see what all the fuss is about. I’m not sure what to think about these images but they were certainly fun to create.

At least I have both my hands?

Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁🦃
 
The holiday season is a time for celebration with an emphasis on hyper-palatable foods and excessive alcohol consumption. As such, it’s no wonder most people gain weight during this time. Although this isn’t an issue in and of itself since it’s possible to lose this weight during other times of the year, that doesn’t seem to be the case for most people. In fact, most holiday weight gain seems to stick around long after the season is over.
 
That said, most of us won’t be tracking our macros during this time. However, it’s possible to be consistent with your goals without bringing a scale to Thanksgiving dinner.
 
1️⃣Eat foods high in protein. Protein has a satiating effect that can help to prevent you from overeating.

2️⃣Try to get in some form of physical activity or exercise throughout the day.

3️⃣Remember that the holiday season is a time for celebration and spending time with friends and loved one.

Don’t beat yourself up if you happen to eat more than you planned. Enjoy yourself and get back on track as soon as you can.
 
The only thing I’m stressing about this Thanksgiving is making sure I don’t burn the turkey!

Tapering leading into competition is a common practice amongst athletes. The purpose of a taper is to reduce physiological and psychological fatigue without taking complete time away from training, which could have a negative impact on performance.
 
wrote a great review on tapering for a powerlifting meet that I highly recommend you read for an in-depth explanation of relevant tapering research.
 
Takeaways from the paper:
 
1)    Step tapers are most common and probably best for powerlifting performance, although volume reduction is probably a more important factor.
2)    Reducing volume between 30-70% is ideal although greater reductions in volume may be necessary for a planned overreaching period.
3)    Maintain intensity or reduce intensity by about 5%.
4)    Complete training cessation should be about 2-3 days for squat and bench press, and around 7 days for deadlift
 
 
Remember these are general recommendations which should be tailored for each competition and based upon an athlete’s individual response.

Train smart my friends 💪

If you’ve ever spent any amount of time in gym you’ve probably heard someone complain about their CNS being after after an intense workout.

Is there any truth to this statement? 🤔🤓

To put simply, fatigue is the reduction in the ability to exert force, stemming from the CNS or inside of the muscles know as peripheral fatigue.

Fatigue can also lead to feelings of discomfort and increased effort, although these sensations are separate from the fatigue occurring inside the body during and after a workout.

It’s possible these sensations are why deadlifts may “feel” more fatiguing than squats, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in CNS fatigue, muscle damage, and recovery time between squats and deadlifts (Barnes. 2019, Belcher, 2019).

Using RPE ratings for each exercise (and set) is a good way to assess subjective fatigue in training.

That said, focus on good recovery habits: eat plenty of protein, get enough sleep, and do things outside of lifting that you enjoy.

Lift heavy my friends 💪