Wednesday, November 20, 2013

10 Reasons Why You Should You Keep A Lifting Journal


Yes, you definitely should keep a lifting journal. I cannot say enough good things about logging your workouts in a journal.


1)      It’s fun picking out your journal. Your journal is going to be your lifting diary, your work outs, on pen and paper. Spend some time at the Walmart up the street, or a fancy book store and pick out the journal that speaks to you. It’s a super fun experience for some reason.
2)      If you’re like me and have a memory like a fish, your workout journal becomes a reference machine. You’ll never have to guess at, “How much weight did I do last week?” Or, “How many reps did I get last time?”
3)      Your journal inspires you to work harder and get PRs, especially rep prs. Your journal holds you accountable. When you are about to do an exercise and you see that last month you were about to get 6 reps and you are doing the same weight, you KNOW you should be able to do at least 6 reps this time. That knowledge of your previous abilities gives you confidence to beat your previous record.
4)      You look really professional when you have a journal…or kinda nerdy but, I’ll go with professional. 

5)      After an entire cycle, or a few cycles or even a few years it’s really awesome to look in your old journals and see how far you’ve come.
6)      Long term, you can easily compare your results after doing different kinds of programming/lifting cycles to see which ones yielded the best results.
7)      Having a journal keeps you on track with your programming. When you can easily refer to your past workouts, you know exactly where you are in your training program.
8)      Journals seem to keep you focused on a goal. Whenever I start a journal, I start it with a goal in mind. I will write down all my current lifts (ex. squat/bench/deadlift) and then my goal lifts for the end of my program.
9)      Journals are one of the most inexpensive ways to improve your training. Journals are anywhere from a dollar to 20 bucks (for a super fancy journal). That’s money well spent.
10)   You develop a friend in your journal. You get attached to it and it never lets you down, because it can’t, it’s a journal… your very special journal friend.

Now go out there and start journaling my lifting friends!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Ideal Body Weight for Maximum Strength

  Since I'm taking off from weight/strongman training for one more week (don't worry that means I WILL be training this coming Saturday) I figure I'd write about another topic: ideal body weight for maximum strength.

About 3 years ago I weighed 135 lbs. Now I weigh about 160 lbs. That's a weight gain of 25 lbs for a 5 foot 3 inch tall chick! When I was 132 lbs, I basically followed a bodybuilder's diet which didn't allow me to put on more mass. It was only when I upped my protein to 200 grams a day (consistently) that I started to put on GOOD weight. I see some of my fellow competitors who actually limit their strength gains because they just don't eat enough. Strongwoman are NOT bodybuilders and should not eat like one. However, as a strongwoman you also cannot be eating ice cream every night and expect not to gain fat that doesn't do you any good, and instead just slows your fat ass down. You will. You will get love handles and chubby thighs... not cute. Strong, thick, musclely thighs= cute.

Now, NOT ALL WEIGHT GAINED WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER! Most times it will BUT, there reaches a point when some athletes will just "put on weight" instead of actually getting stronger. More weight does not equal more strong.  So, the hard part then becomes finding your optimal strength, at a  corresponding optimal weight so that your strength to weight ratio is the best.

If you are a beginner, I suggest not worrying about your weight. Just eat a ton of protein (at least 1.5 x your body weight in grams) and train smart. If you are a beginner I HIGHLY recommend getting programing from an advanced athlete. Now, be careful about who you go to. I would suggest only going to someone who has achieved an elite level within the sport OR has a record or working with the best athletes in the sport.  

If you are an intermediate athlete, I suggest looking at the top 1-3 athletes in the sport, in your current weight class, and seeing what kind of weights they are pushing. If the top athletes at your same weight or lower weight class are pushing a shit ton more weight then you, you probably don't need to gain more weight. You most likely need to increase you base strength.


If you think you are an advanced athlete, meaning you are
top 3 in your weigh class in the sport, then you know what you're doing and you most likely don't need my advice.

At the end of the day, remember to look around and see what other athletes are doing. My thought was always, "If she can do it, there's no reason I can't do it." Especially if that individual was at the same or lower body weight than myself.  Always celebrate your own PRs but, don't make the mistake of thinking there's not someone outside of your world, your gym, who is probably working harder than you. Always remember that. And make it so that YOU are the hardest working competitor.


- Alanna Casey




I'm starting a blog. Ready set, GO!

I have decided to start a blog/training log to share the type of training that I do as a strongwoman and powerlifter AND to have a place where I can share my "athletic" thoughts.

I'll start out by just explaining my training philosophy. I have been following a training program by the great Jill Mills for the past 2 years. Jill Mills won World's Strongest Woman in 2001 and 2002. I trust her explicitly with my programing. I used to live in San Antonio and was able to train with Jill 2-3 times a week. However, I have since moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and no longer have the luxury of training with Jill.  I usually train by myself during the week then join Nick Best and his wife, Callie Marunde Best, for strongman events on the weekend. 

 I train 4 times a week total, with one of those days being strongman event training. I basically follow a powerlifting regiment during the weekday. In my last training cycle I squatted during one session, every week, and deadlift every other week. I have lower back issues so I have to be careful not to overwork my back. When it starts hurting beyond a certain threshold, I call it a day. I believe it's important that a powerlifting program remain at the core of any strongman training plan. The reason is, powerlifting increases your base strength the fastest. The stronger and more stable you are, the more successful you will be at strongman events. Secondly, event training really beats your body up! You CANNOT train events 3-4 times a week. You will not be as successful as possible in my opinion. Instead you will most likely get injured or become frustrated when you quickly hit a plateau.

I currently hold the title of World's Most Powerful Woman in the 75 kg category and I am the Amateur Arnold Strongwoman Fitness Champion. I have an elite total in powerlifting in the 148 lb category but would most likely compete in the 165 lb category a future powerlifting meet. I walk around at about 158-160 lbs but I absolutely HATE cutting. I cut to 148 lbs for the Olympia (single ply powerlifting) and ended up bombing out. There were multiple reasons for that but the weight cut did not help!

Currently I am taking a break from the heavy weights following the three competitions I did right in a row (within one month's time).  Those competitions were the Olympia, World's Most Powerful Woman (1st place), and America's Strongest Woman Middleweight (2d place).  At America's Strongest Woman I qualified for the 2014 Arnold Strongwoman Fitness competition but, I am debating whether to compete. The weights have recently been announced and they are so light that I'm not at all inspired to train for it. I asked the competition director if I could compete as a heavy weight, because those weights would be challenging and fun for me but, I was told "no." Sooooo, we shall see.

That's it for now!  Thanks for reading!!

- Alanna Casey

MEEEEE!!!