this is disabled girls who lift. We are reclaiming what's rightfully ours one podcast at a time, it's mary Beth Chloe and Marcia bringing you the thoughts and unpopular topics to get you out of that. A bliss comfort zone. Yeah, thank you for coming. This is episode three of disabled girls who lift, we're coming at you and talking about how we adapt our training to do our power lifting and for me, Strongman as well. Again, I'm Marcia from south florida, I'm Chloe from Iowa, mary beth in California. And so each of us have had to do different things to adapt our training. I think we're going to start with Chloe to give us a little background and what she's up to. Yes. Um so I am a powerlifter um and I use a, what is called rex's grip strap for dead lifting.

Um what it is, it's an old school style strap, so it's not quite a figure eight strap, it's if you were to basically take a figure eight strap and cut that in half. Um He actually has his own website, it's rex's grip dot com and you can kind of check those out. Um so I use that just for dead lifting um because I'm missing my um index and middle finger and it allows me to hold onto the bar. Um so that's really, that's that's the only thing that I have to change in my training. Um I mean, I I use it for like pull ups and stuff too, but as far as competing um it's just on the dead lift. So visually how does that rex's grip strap look attached to a bar attached to a pull up bar because not not everybody knows what a figure eight strap is, so what figure eight strap? And how is that different to a rex is? And how does that support you when you pull a bar?

That's a good question. So I actually haven't used the figure eight strap, I just have looked at them online on like power lifting equipment websites. Um But with the rex's grip strap, um I'll try my best to describe it. We almost might need to like post a video. Um Yeah, we probably will. Yeah. So um okay, the strap goes around my wrist and then it kind of comes down to like a point and um and I use that to wrap it around the bar. Um And I do the same thing for pull ups, it's just it's just taking that strap and hooking it around. I don't know if I want to say hooking um wrapping, just wrapping the bar. Um And then just kind of using my um bye ring and pinkie finger to hold on to the bar, whether it's the dead lift bar.

So it essentially replaces some of the fingers that are missing when you are pulling or pushing. Yeah, but you don't use it in the bench pressing. You don't use it in the squad, correct, correct? Okay, if you're just doing like accessories or like, you know, doing kettlebell or dumbbell or something or um with if I do dumbbell rows I sometimes I can do just I can do it with all the strap, but I prefer to keep the strap on because I'm not trying to drop the dumbbell on my foot. Yeah. You don't want to test the strength of those fingers more than we already have it, but it is a good use for grip. Yeah. And so far that's been the only device that you've used. Um I played around with the heart, the heart being, am I saying that right harbinger hook? I'm not sure I know what you mean, you know what maybe harbor anger, I don't know. Who knows? So when I was in physical therapy when I had like A.

S. I. Injury, they're like we really want you to use this hook. We think that this like the straps good but there's um some like shifting compensation in your back and they thought if I used the hook that that would eliminate that um the hook really didn't work for me. Um I played around with it but it just the best thing I've found for me is that rex's grip strap. The hook's gonna just slide down your wrist though, doesn't it? Well I think so and I mean mary beth will probably be able to touch on that more than me. But um like so I have a right hand. Whereas mary beth does not um And so the strap. Sorry? The hook almost like interfered with my hand too much. It just didn't work. Yeah. Right. Um mary beth I think it makes more sense if you talked about your. Yeah sure. And then and then in lifting Chloe I'm just curious like have you had a change anything with your technique, your stance um to accommodate for that or is it is it silly?

The grip that needs assistance? Um I think it's mostly the grip that needs assistance. Um If you ever watch my squat videos, my upper body looks really uneven under squat bar. Um I haven't found. No, you're just jacked all throughout. Don't tell the difference is too many muscles. Well yeah the so the macrophage actually that I have through my right limb I think actually kind of affects like whether I can get that right arm under the bar or not. Um But I haven't had to like add any kind of assistive equipment for that. So is the right side tighter than on the left, would you say definitely? Okay and you go through any physical therapy to assist with that or? Um So for like recovery um My okay so since my right hand, right arm is affected, my left side of my body gets really beat up, especially my left bicep. So for um recovery methods I am meeting um I go to like two different practitioners.

I go to one guy that does dry. Needling. Um And like soft tissue work. He's a chiropractor, he's great. Um The dry needling is what has helped my left bicep the most. Um And then I also go to a woman. Um She's a little different. Um She does a lot of work on your fascia, like mild fashion release. Um And she's great. She's been able to kind of help me um get my body I guess in better alignment because my body wants to pull over to my right side since it's more developed there, right? Yeah, that makes sense and it's it's kind of something that everybody needs to do already is paid to their body and take care of themselves and take the extra steps. But then now you have like the extra thing where it's like alright one side of my butt is this and the other side is this and like. Exactly. Yeah, it's it's been a constant struggle for me because I've like, you know just living a daily life, I've learned how to use my dominant right hand for everything.

Opening doors, putting my clothes on, I don't have any fingers on my left side. So it's what a lot of people call the nub, which I absolutely hate. Don't ever. Yeah. Yeah. Um But a lot of people do call it that you know um everyone treats facility differently. But um yeah, it's been a constant struggle for me because I do have very disproportionate sides. Like even from my left shoulder all the way down to my left, quote unquote wrist, it's just half the size of my right side. So powerlifting has helped in that way, but I've had to actively work so much harder on my left side during accessories or any um unilateral movements as opposed to buy or you know, this one always pulls left, wait mm hmm on a dumbbell than the other. Um so it's it's been tough.

Um So when I do get under a bar that is equal weight on both sides, under a squat bar or under a bench press, it's it's been something to to work with. So I currently don't use the hook for the squat and the bench just like Chloe. I used the harbinger hook for dead lifts only, but prior to that I was using a regular wrist strap so that I could do single arm dead lifts only and with a small of the hand as I have on the dominant, it was surprisingly just strong enough to like as long as I kept my hands very centered and my body um as centered to the bar, I was able to funk around with With physics and just get the £220 £25 bar off of the ground with one hand. Um So yeah, training through that was using a lifting strap and then um switching it up to hook grip, which a lot of olympic lifters use where you put the thumb inside of your four fingers and kind of just grip um as tight as you can and mess up your thumb a little bit but it keeps stuck to the bar and it was painful and I would never do that again.

I will never do single leg dead lifts again as much as I can help it. Um So now I use harbinger hooks and power lifting which uh yeah it has a strap that attaches to my wrist because um it I do have a very very small wrist and I don't have uh fingers or a hand to kind of hold it in place. So talk is very very important and tightening that strap as much as I can. Sometimes I get my partner to assist me to tighten it as much as I can with the talk so that it doesn't slip off. But there is some like movement in my in my I guess wrist where I would have to grip it as much as I can. And although it's the same same device that harbinger cells, I only find myself lifting comfortably with the one that I got three years ago I bought all these new hooks um that are you know, I don't I don't know that I feel as though they're built differently either the the velcro is not as strong, so I've been using the same hook for the west three or four years stitching it back together, taping it, whatever I could do to to stay lifting.

Have you tried tacky spray also? Maybe instead of chalk? Uh No, I haven't and I've been trying to do it as like raw as possible so that if I were to have to compete um they wouldn't be like, no, you can't do that, no tape. Like I've avoided using any tape on the inside because I know they would check for that. Um but chalk helps in that I sweat so much too with a strap on a strap on. We are adults. Yeah, I sweat so much that talk prevents it slipping. Yeah. Um I don't know. Tacky spray is like a strong man thing and we use that when you need like serious grip more than chalk can do. So that's the only reason why I thought of it. Yeah. And is it is it clear? It's it's clear and it it'll it you have to buy like Guga nor something else so that you could really have to like wash it off like soap and water will get some of it, but you have to get like some Googling or something like that to really clean it off your skin.

Okay. I'll definitely try that and I wonder if it would keep the strap on my wrist for the rest of the day or if I'm able to remove it immediately after that, I'm not sure. Yeah, something to play around with. Yeah. And then another device that I use I mentioned this before is the howling hook. Uh So that's actually when that current bodybuilder powerlifter uses, his name is chris rudin. Um It has both the hook and the strap. I've only found that essential in weightlifting because we are pulling the bar over our head and we are locking that out overhead. So that's more of a safety concern for me. So keeping the bar as close to my body as possible. Um It has been helpful but I don't think is as strong or as heavy duty as a harbinger hook when I need to um within one movement, just pull a bar off of the Yeah, but I can definitely say the importance of chalk is essential.

Um and I know marshall will cover a little bit about this, but programming for me has also been essential. Like I would not go into a competition without a coach who has experience in my field or is open to listening to how I've done it before with my um Accessibility needs, with my hooks and which which federations are accommodating for my disability. Um But the first, the first coach that I'd ever worked with was um bryce Oh God, what is his last name? I was gonna say walker, bryce, fluid bryce lewis from T. S. A. Athlete. So the strength athlete, he um went through all means to find the best possible assistance. The best possible um resources and found ways in which I could um use the hook in accessories but then also dead lift singlehandedly um back in the days and then as that progressed and we've kind of bounced back information and it's been you know trial and error where I think all disabled athletes I have been coached under ed from Prometheus strength who has kind of just guided me on how to best you know um bilaterally you know work both sides and make both sides stronger.

So I think that's very important finding the right coach who's open to that and willing to work with you so many different ways. Yeah definitely. Is that why you switched or was it just convenience or whatever? Uh There was a little uh competition that was going on. I think there were some sponsored athletes that were chosen and I was one of those um runner ups that were still taken under his wing at a discount. And then there are some other miscommunications at that time that um just prevented our relationship to go further. But I have all the love in the world for him still and how much he's grown as an athlete and as a coach and how his business has grown. But I've I've moved on to my very close friend who uh started the barbell sports club in Berkeley with um so watching him grow as a coach um Under chad Wesley smith has been oh yeah you are over there.

Yeah, yeah. Have you bounced around with coaches and had trouble finding people who got it or um It takes yeah it takes very long conversations because I am always going to be the first of their kind unless they are specialized in that it's very rare to find a specialized power lifting coach disabilities but um it was also new for me, so I was open to doing whatever it took. Mhm. Yes, I'm wondering if it's been the same for Chloe. Um So I haven't had a coach for a long time but now that we're talking about this, I just remembered the the only coach that I have had the, when I first started powerlifting, he was the one that found the rex's grip strap for me um because when I came into his gym um I was like yeah I want to get big and strong and we were trying to figure out whether I could dead lift or not, he's like oh like here try this because he's a strong man.

So of course they have a bunch of different straps um and it worked out perfectly so I am grateful for that, I'm glad that we talked about this because I kind of forgot that that happened. Well yeah it's funny how that works. Yeah and I mean I think that's how it starts to, they're like oh yeah I've seen somebody online use this link you to that person or Yeah, so I started talking to Kris Rudin who had been using the Helen hook and then later on when I got into weightlifting like a coach that just happened or a weightlifting athlete that happened to be a coach in my gym was like, hey I used to use this for my clients with disabilities, you can have it Vincent. Som thank you so much for that Helen hook. I was I was able to compete in weightlifting for the first time because of it. How about you, Marsha? Uh well I don't, when I first started power lifting I had a coach and I was with a that was like 2011 or something.

I did my first powerlifting meet without like, like an L. A. Fitness gym bro. Like like I didn't have like the shoes, I didn't have a belt. Like every time I got on the platform the announcer was like no belt, no problem. Like I was like totally like bodybuilding dot com workouts. So I went to that meat and like I got adopted basically. Oh my God, what was our first ever, I want to know this, what was our first ever program online that we like a cookie cutter pro pyramid pyramid scheme, Bodybuilding duck. I used Bart Kwon from barbell brigades, like intensive program or whatever. He because I only scolded for a bit. Yeah that's funny. I um I didn't know what I was doing, I was just picking exercises off the internet. Probably bodybuilding dot com first coach. But that's the first coach was my first real coach. So yeah, I got I got pretty much adopted by like these really old school power lifters.

Um They mostly competed usa pl and we're um like um dr d Damien franz actually is like I pf like bench champion, like he's a pretty big deal and then I um pretty much like got into their crew and they just taught me everything. So at that time I wasn't physical therapist yet. So they taught me everything like percentages and how you program and rep ranges and all that stuff and they did my programming for a couple of years and then I started writing mine and I show it to them and then they let it critique my programming. So they basically told me, taught me how to program and then I programmed myself power lifting for a while. Um when I switch to strong man I was like all right, well I don't know any of this stuff. So I gotta coach. Um actually from Virginia Iron Asylum gym Sean. So he kind of showed me how to take the Strongman portion and program it because I couldn't really conceptualize it because like I said in the last episode um Strongman is like really open and flexible every event.

Every competition is totally different. So you have to adapt how you train to each event. You know if if an event has an axle press then you have to, you know start learning how to clean that and then you have to find, okay, what are my weaknesses for cleaning this then those are my accessories. And then also I want to squat. So when will I squat in the week? Like it's a whole different deal. So he helped me a lot with that. Um After I worked with him for a bit I went back again to programming myself because honestly for me it's just easier I program. Um I know some people are into our P. E. But I can't do our PE because everything always feels like shipped to me. Like it doesn't work, it doesn't work for a spoon E. It's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. Everything feels like shit. So does that mean you're percentages change? Say if you need to do 60% of five by 10 or three by 10, like do you change that still based on how you feel?

Um No. So that would be closer, I think I'm not an expert on how the RPG works. That would be closer to doing it by RP. Is that the number like you don't set the number, you set the R. P. I think is how it works. Yeah. I don't know. But so for me what I do is I set I don't do straight percentages. I'll do if I do a percentage squad this week and next week I'm going to do something light and a flip flop And then even for that, I'll set okay if I'm doing 75% squat, what is the bare minimum that I can do? And if I show up that day and I can only do the bare minimum then that's where I leave it. If I feel okay then I'll do more and that's kind of how it goes. But there are some weeks still that I still have to, you know, have a perfectly laid out program, but I don't feel great. So I have to adapt and say, okay, well I'll bench with this and then I'll do that instead and flip it around like it's constantly fluid and changing based on how I feel and I feel for me right now, if I had a coach, I don't think it wouldn't work, it wouldn't work.

I'm not sure if there are a lot of people who are familiar with chronic illnesses or autoimmunities or how that person feels from day to day and how much it changes. It's not easy to conceptualize. Yeah. So are there any AIDS or tools that you use throughout training or throughout competition that assists and get you to point A to point B. I do. So I don't, you know, I have all my fingers and my toes and all that good stuff, but I can't actually feel them. So fingers and toes are overrated overrated. They're so dumb, they're freaking useless. Yeah, no, but I can't feel them. So like um for example, a yoke, like a yoke carry, if I just put the yoke on my back, I get up and try to go fast, I have no idea where my feet are. Like, I'll look at the video and be like, why was my hand open? Like, I don't, I don't know at all. So what I figured out and this is really because I'm a therapist and I like studied a few things, otherwise I don't know if I would have came up with it, but I wear ankle weights on carrie events.

Damn. Yeah, so people feel your feet and yeah, so people see it and you know, I'm not like I'm not petite or anything, you know, I'm pretty beefy looking, I look strong, so people see me put ankle weights under like, oh man, she's making it even harder, You guys suck, that's your biggest alright, shit, just like, no, actually, I don't know where my feet are, so that's that's definitely been a big help, so otherwise I would cross my feet, I trip, I wouldn't pick my toes up, I'd be on the floor and that's how I was my first couple of strongman events, I would literally hit the ground often frequently, wow, I wonder if I wonder if anyone has has tried that style of training, I'm not sure because it's not really something you would think of as a regular person. I know it because I've learned. So if you can't feel where your body is without looking at it, that's called appropriate reception.

And because of my neuropathy and my nerve damage, like I don't have it. So in lifting, I don't know where my feet are and they also in everyday, like if I go down the stairs, like I have to concentrate because I'll miss a step and roll my ankle easy. So I know that, you know in therapy, if you have a stroke patient or you know, brain injury patient, they always teach you like, oh, put weights on. So you could teach them where their body is awesome and other people would see that as a hindrance in training or competing because while I add more weight to your body. Yeah, I mean they're not entirely heavy, they're like £2 maybe or 1.5 or something, but that's definitely a big help. Um I also have issues with um this autonomy a and kind of pots deal. So anything where my head has to go down and up, like there's a chance that I could black out or just be dizzy. So for that I use a combination of compression socks, I have a rebound soft belt which most people are stronger than use anyway, but I use it lower.

Like I pull it down to where my diaphragm would be and kind of use it like a binder and then I also take a salt tablet. So that kind of helps with all of those things and it's still not even 100%, some days are better than others, but that's kind of something I have to do every time I train. Um especially like anything overhead dead lifts, anything where I have to go down and up. That's amazing. That's amazing. And of course these are all things that work for you uniquely and for somebody else it might be something else. Exactly. And it's um you know, a lot of people do have some similar experiences and these are things you could play with, but there's no right answer for anyone who is not at all. I also do uh like drink like gatorade while I'm working out and stuff like that tries to hydrated, you know, blah blah blah, which anybody should do. Yeah, exactly.

And do you do you prefer in with all of these conditions or does it even matter to you? Like are you just rolling through it? But do you prefer power lifting over Strongman since there's less movement, less running or do you love the adrenaline that you get from? I mean I get adrenaline from power lifting too, but from Strongman, like the ship that you need to go through I think for when I switched, it was a little, it was a lot, there was a lot going on for a while. I stopped power lifting. But the first thing is I had to figure out my body um Just like I said, this was pretty new for me. This is like it's only been about four or five years since I've been like this. So power lifting is like uh you need to hit these numbers for a certain amount of weeks and then you'll be ready, you know? And strong man, it's like I have the strength already. I already know what the events are. I'll know what the weights are before I show up. So before I even start my training cycle, I know if I can do it, so it's kind of where you start, it's like a totally different thing.

Um And then as far as powerlifting go, I also had like some personal ship like I like I was very I used to do a lot of us a pl and I'm like so forking over them, that was my last that was my last meet. So that yeah, so that was kind of a part of it. Also like okay, I'm tired of this federation, like is this what powerlifting is now because everybody think it's cool, like I was like ah and then on top of that I couldn't perform so I was just like, you know what we'll chill. But so for for that part of my life that's where I'm at but now I think I'm ready for lifting again. Yeah, we'll go back around Chloe too, but marcie, what are your words of advice to someone in your situation wanting to go into a strong man for the first time? Power paralytic for the first time, strong man um as a total newbie to strength sports is not going to be easy and I think if you go into that understanding that if you want to compete and even if you do do the beginner's class, which they call novice and usually it's lighter weights, like even if if you go into that understanding that I might not be able to lift something and that's okay, like you'll be fine.

There's a lot of ego in the sport and people need to be strong and not just squat dead lift and like overhead, but you have to be strong and agile and strong and have endurance to like lift something for a minute straight and strong and like be able to remember where to put your hands because if you have a medley, you gotta switch here and then you do a certain stumble, you gotta step over the excellent, like, so there's, there's a lot more to think about for strongman and I feel like the people that get discouraged out of the sport because it's because they went into it thinking it would be like, oh this is fun, like it's it's it's gonna be work, it's not gonna be easy and then that's okay, as long as you start out with the right expectation, you'll be perfect and like this for anyone and it's, it's a pretty intense, it's, it's one of the most intense raw sports and in our field right now, because you see people pulling these pickup trucks, these semis, these boulders and it's a lot like, visually it's easier for the outsider to be like, oh my God, that person is strong, whereas for powerlifting, they're constantly like, oh, how much is on that bar?

Okay, that's the size of a car. You know what, what is she way? What's, what's somebody her size supposed to do again? I don't know. Oh No, she doesn't look 140 lb, like whatever. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that is a little trickier. Um the only thing that um well I guess you get a little bit of both, but I would say for strong man, I don't know if like the wave of self care and like mobility and all that has totally hit completely. So I would say any anybody knew or not needs to be a wary of like, are you warming up or cooling down or your stretching? I don't, I feel like there hasn't totally hit, you know, if you go to a powerlifting, meet people are like rolling around on the floor, people like have their own bands and you know, how much time do you have between events? Like, so, so we obviously have a lot of rest time between Our our three events, do you?

Or do you just go continuously? Well, it's it's very funny because it's um like you have to get super hyper and super amped to do something for like a minute and then you'll probably chill for like an hour and then start all over again. Yeah, it depends on how many people are there, but because you have to wait for everyone to do the same event, the same way, you have to wait for everyone to do the squat. And the difference between that is, you know, if you're at the palace in meat and you know, they're almost done with squats and you're gonna be up next with bench, like you would be warming up already and the warm up would be available to you. You usually for strongman, like the next thing isn't ready yet and you may or may not even be able to fully warm up on the next thing. What? Totally, Yeah, Most, how many events do you do in one competition? It's usually 4 to 5 and most yeah, most events will follow, like, okay, there's an overhead, there's some sort of dead lift, you know, there's some sort of thing that you're going to have to carry, but again, it's totally up to the meet Director what they wanna do.

Yeah, so I mean just taking into consideration how many events you do in one day? That is a full day of lifting to your max and for power lifting, Like we kind of guesstimate, oh, this might take 6 to 8 hours, but for you it could be a 12 hour day where you're constantly hydrating, constantly compressing constantly. Um, you know, taking salt tablets, we'd probably take two pre workout scoops, you know, to keep our energy flowing and then all the ammonia tags that we inhale or whatever it is that we use, um, we still have a cap and we're exhausted by then. And then for weight lifting I was like, oh my God, I was done in an hour. It was that, yeah. Yeah. Chloe, do you have any words of advice for anyone going new into your sport with your similar situation? Um, it takes a long time to get strong.

Um, and I think I want to say this, but I don't know because it might kind of come off maybe a little able Okay, okay. Well I was just going to say that you're more capable than you think you are. Um, Yeah, yeah. But mental strength takes you pretty far. I think, I think that kind of covers what I would want to tell new people. Yeah. And that's important because I mean, everybody grows up in different environments and everybody has different physical therapists, different physicians who tell them otherwise. You know, everyone thinks that something's reliability. Everyone thinks that you need to be extra careful and stay in your little bubble. But those are, those are really great words of advice to someone who's constantly told that they can't do this. Like you should probably just stick to, you know building puzzles or reading a book and well that is a very fun and safe thing.

You know, you want to do what you see on tv, why the funk? Not whatever you want to do that you deserve to be there. There's no reason you don't, you can't show up. Yeah, exactly. And I've I've definitely had doctors tell me things like that, you know, I tell them oh well you know I'm inner pain um my muscles twist and they're like oh well you know maybe you should just do a little less weights, maybe do more yoga relaxing things and I'm like what are you talking about? I'll do both, thank you. Yeah, but definitely, I mean we're also not Advising you to just stand in front of a £300 bar and try and pull it. You know, we have trusted the process for a very long time. We started from a £45 bar even less. Like I stayed away from the bench passed because I didn't think that with my lacking a full hand that I can balance it on, you know, my bare bone without grip and I was able to do it after some some assistance, you know, just trusting that process.

But then also sticking to the basics and not training with a bro, I think was the best advice I can give to myself or others who are joining is not lifting with people or not training with people who don't know what the hell they're doing, just looking at youtube videos or whatever, starting with the main breathing drills, you know, everything that's essential in, in lifting heavy weight without even using your arms, without using your legs. Um, your, your core is essential and lifting. So yeah, that's a pretty big deal. And as your neighborhood friendly physical therapist, I endorse that statement. Yeah. Um I think, I think that is a pretty good review of how you can adapt and obviously people have other things that they're up to and that they're doing and if you have questions or if you want to share what you've been up to, we'd love to hear it, we want to hear it.

Yeah. And luckily we've been able to meet through this community other differently abled athletes doing amazing, incredible things and while our community started off is just for posting, you know what we find on instagram, it's, it's grown to be so much more than that. We find we found so many different resources and different federations that are open and willing to take people like us um um on top of seeing what devices other people use like I already mentioned chris Rudin and how I garnered a lot of knowledge from him and how he built his strap where used several straps actually on one hand and in more conversations with him recently, like three years later he's like, you know what, I'm actually taking a little bit of a break because the strap that I put on and then the strap that I put on top of that has kind of deteriorated my my wrists and it hurts and it's painful and some pencils bleeding and it's not something that we want to do for the rest of our lives, you know, constantly be in pain.

But seeing how much that we can lift at a given moment is incredible. And then other people like Christie from north Carolina. Her instagram is will dot lift 0.0.4 dot food. She's found so many different ways to like put together chains and rope and um different devices you can check her out on how to profit or how to, you know, Douglas the same way that we do, but if she's missing a larger proportion of her arms then she has to find that extension. Um So it's just incredible what we find the people that we find. Do you guys know of any athletes? Yeah. Um I would say on the like spoon end just christened a um BDS athlete I think is her current name is a great one because she has um either Danlos which is like a connective tissue disorder.

Um She also has a lot of other things going on. Um But I mean sometimes you just post things and you're like, oh shit, you're right, you know, we should post one video, like, oh you should probably take videos of your setups because I was wondering why my knee hurt and you know, she's posting a video of her setup and she's bending over to lift the weight and her knee is hyperextending like 10,000 degrees and it's like, oh well there you go, that's why my knee hurts after I do this. So sometimes it's good to just kind of find somebody going through what you're going through because you could just get ideas from them or give them ideas and you know, I mean we're all humans and this is not it's not it's not instagram is not a tv show, you know, just watching it, you can interact with everyone. So I think that's also a big part of it. So I've talked to her a lot and I also have another friend, Christy Pickles Milan is her instagram. She has are a so she has a couple of handed foot deformities, she has to work around. So I love talking to her and bouncing ideas back and forth with her as well. Um that's probably the two I can think of off the top of my head.

Yeah, and it's interesting that you say that, you know, people's knees go out of proportion 100,000 degrees, but um also realizing that when you watch uh a differently abled athlete in the gym or in parallel thing, they're going to look differently than you when my, my proportions are different from um, you know, someone with full full hands, full arms, um my back is gonna look different, my shoulders are going to look different and that's, you know, we do the best that we can to keep all grips on the bar, but it just frustrates me when I'm just trying to work out and everything in two hours and all these people come up and ask like, shouldn't you extend this a little further? Like this is how I've been doing it, This is what works for my body for this, for this lift.

Why is it? So try and fix that? Why try and correct that because it works for you. We get lots of man screening. It's frustrating, definitely. Yeah, I definitely deal with that a whole lot and luckily I don't go to a commercial gym and I don't have to deal with it as much anymore. Yeah, exactly. Chloe, have you met anyone in your time? Um, anyone like similar to me or anyone that's been explaining to me, we already know the answer to the second, um similar to me, No, that's why I'm glad, like I've been able to kind of see some other people on um instagram, but yeah, I don't know anyone personally, it's kind of a bummer. Uh huh, that's okay, we're out here, that's why we're here. Yeah, yes. Hey, that's gonna be our next shirt, Have any apparel, don't have any shirts, but well, great that like, like Marcia mentioned if, if there's anything that you all want to governor discuss or include um, in regards to how you train with your adaptations, um, or otherwise like no, we'll link as much as you can.

It's just amazing how, how relevant this is becoming, you know, seeing more differently abled athletes on the cover of magazines and seeing us in football, you know, NFL, people who are actively trying to get a certain representatives almost beautiful. Not only a recovering like other athletes, we're also seeing, um, I don't know, Chloe if you know her, but stump kitchen on instagram, she is a clip on Youtube and she works very closely in project um and it's almost incredible how they built the community around people with limb differences, especially at a young age and how to follow a youth channel that normalizes this and how she cooks and cuts and learn and kids, how to cook without a hand. Um, sometimes uses her full arm to mix baking ingredients.

It's hilarious. It's just like awesome how it gets everyone so comfortable in their own skin. And then we recently had a photo shoot with Getty Images. Um, they reached out to Chloe and I and wanted to actively represent people in our community um, in the disabled community and how they lift and go throughout their day under the oath project. And just the work that they're doing has been truly incredible. So if you own a business be active about that ship, don't just talk about how much of a feminist you are representing, people like us, people. You know, I love the work. The work that I've seen times definitely agree. And we'll know if that ship is not authentic. Don't just check us out. Yeah. All right, ladies. Anything else? Okay, disabled girls out.

Thanks for listening to disabled girls who lift. Don't forget to follow rate and like us on Spotify itunes and player. FM. You can also find us on instagram at disabled girls who left. Mm hmm.