stumptuous.com

Mistress Krista,

Thanks for the site. I came upon it when looking for inspiration as a small, stumpy female grappler, and boy, oh boy, inspiration did I find! I have been involved in 2-3 sports my whole life, but still 30-40lbs (!!!) overweight.

Why? Oh, I dunno. Maybe the feeling of deserving my chicken tenders and french fries after a hard run, or the giant bowl of pasta the night before. Or maybe it’s the emotional connection to food after a bad breakup my senior year of college. Or maybe the fact that I was repeatedly told to starve myself and run 15 miles a day if I wanted to feel thin — never mind those weights. Just move along.

So, Krista, thanks to you, I’m telling all of those douches to fuck off — by getting super fit a la your advice, and squatting myself into emotional independence. Oh, also, I started about a month ago, and have lost 4 lbs. But that’s not the best part — I’ve doubled the amount of weight I can squat, and I’ve had some major breakthroughs in jiu jitsu. Plus, I have enough energy left over to take up another sport.

Circus acrobatics, here I come!

As my arms, back and core become stronger, I’m now adding to my circus arts repertoire: flying trapeze. Now I can work on my muscles from 30ft in the air! It sounds terrifying because it is terrifying.

All the best,

Michelle

P.S. I’ve attached a picture of my first launch – notice the terrified grimace on my blurry (moving!) face. I’ll send more impressive ones in the future – like videos of my first knee-hang and backflip off the bar.

I’m on my way to NYC Black Box where Allison Bojarski will train me for a day. Allison is kind enough to regularly link to my blog from her site, and suggested I get in touch with you. Allison thought you may like to know there’s another writer out here who’s as into lifting as I am (fairly obsessed, to be truthful).

This Friday marks one year from my first workout — it was at Derby City CrossFit with coach Ben Carter (who now trains me in a garage).

Long story short: I went from a completely out-of-shape desk-bound food writer to having competed in the USAPL Raw Nationals last month and breaking the APA squat record for 105s in June with a 180 squat.

Your blog mentions liking before and after pictures – here’s a fairly dramatic one.

I’ve also written some pieces on heavy lifting for women over the past year — one for blisstree (“I Heart Powerlifting“), one coming out in Experience Life magazine next spring, and a couple locally.

As part of my planned celebration of my “birthday” this weekend, I thought it would be fabulous if you were to mention me/link to me as you see fit. My training blog is It’s Always Going to Be Heavy.

Thanks for reading this missive, and for all the help you’ve been to me over the past year. There are woefully few great writers in fitness, fewer still women and lifters so I’m glad I found you early on.

Best,

Dana