AAA life while making AAA games

[Kittenmancer]

Hello everyone. I got reminded by this place while reading the list of the 100 most influential people in fitness and decided to join in.

 

Stats and stuff:

 

Female, 32, half-dwarf (1.5 m/4'11"), fighter. I'm a QA (Quality Assurance) manager at a game studio, currently working on a very challenging AAA game project. My schedule is quite busy as I am also in the process of buying a house.

 

Squat/Bench/Deadlift PRs: 80/50/90 kg. Bodyweight is currently around 52 kg.

 

Background:

 

Until a few years ago, I was a complete couch potato, loathed the PE classes in school and I was completely illiterate about anything regarding fitness and eating. All that started to change after I moved to another country for a job in the games industry. For a very long time I struggled with body image issues; I was never overweight or even chubby, but I was very dissatisfied with my body and it tendency to go the opposite of the lean, androgynous look I considered as ideal. I am naturally muscular and for a long time that was also an issue for me, especially that I had a layer of fat on top of the muscle, which made me feel "thick". I went on starvation diets and did strenuous workouts, which did yield some results but I was very unhappy while I did this and of course once the diet was over I bounced back to my previous weight and body shape. At some point I took up bellydancing and through a girl in my group I got a recommendation for a personal trainer. I gave it a shot and fortunately the guy started me on free weights and strength training. After a couple of weeks I was hooked on the progress I was making and feeling my strength increase. Now I'm in love with the barbell and aiming to compete in a powerlifting meet next year. I still have some body image issues, but different from before. I embraced my muscularity, and while I still want to get lean(er), I want to do that in order to better show off my awesome, hard-earned muscles.

 

Goals:

• Lower my bodyfat while building more muscle. I don't have a specific target number for BF%, but I aim to comfortably settle in the 52 kg weight category (hovering at the upper limit at the moment). As a longer-term goal, I'll give the 47 kg category an honest try, but I won't be too disappointed if I won't get there. My muscles are more important than a number on the scales.
• Keep increasing my lift numbers. At the moment I just made it into Class II in raw powerlifting for my weight category, so the next target is Class I (250 kg total for the Big Three).
• Participate in a powerlifting meet next year.
• Maintain a healthy relationship with food - eating is for fuel, yes, but it should also be a pleasant experience. Food is not the enemy. My body is not the enemy.

Equipment:

 

I'm doing intermittent fasting at the moment, with a 16/8 fasting/eating window (some days it becomes 17/7 or even 18/6, depending on how crazy the schedule at work is).  I eat stupid amounts of meat, as many veggies as I can (although I'm lazy with that and I usually get bags of stir-fry mixes), fruit for dessert and occasionally some yoghurt and bread. I have a cheat day once a week when I eat whatever I feel like.

 

I've recently increased my workout frequency to 4 a week, doing a combination of Starting Strength and Smolov Jr. (only for the bench press) 3 days a week and having the fourth day for Olympic lifts which I've just started learning, assistance exercises and shoring up any other lifts that have been suffering. I go to a gym for my workouts and once the house business is over with I'm also looking at joining a MMA/CrossFit gym for cardio (I hate hate hate HATE running and cardio machines).

[Rexxar Txan]

Hi!

 

Great to see someone willing to change their life for the good! I see you have great interest in power lifting. You might want to check out the Warrior Guild. Anyway, your goals are great and you seem very determined which is something I admire in people.

 

Keep up the great work and, more importantly, make sure you have fun!

[Kittenmancer]

Yup, I'm definitely a Warrior, perhaps mixed in with a bit of Monk. I've been searching the site but can't seem to find the guilds, could someone point me in the right direction?

[Rexxar Txan]

Here is the warriors' guild forum!