By Ivy Knight

If you are wondering what to buy the powerlifters in your life- look no further- we got you covered! 

From Our Friends

1. Live Large Fitness is perfect for the guy in your life- but make sure you grab something for yourself too!

2. LVD fitness is an awesome brand, based in Ottawa, Canada and we love their sleek and simple design!

3. Fleo Shorts is perfect for every lifter- powerlifters, Olympic lifters, fitspo, everyone who loves a good pair of shorts should check them out. 

4. A7- not only do we love the bar grip shirts from A7 but for those of you who are like me and hate shoes A7's deadlift slippers are worth a try,

5. Pioneer Fit- If you have a lifter in your life that's looking to upgrade their lifting belt you have to check out Pioneer fit's custom designed belts. It's every lifters dream!

6. Iron Strong Jewelry is the perfect place to find a little something special. 

7. Mya Emily sticker. Does your person need a special way to personalize her phone case, notebook or laptop? Get them a sticker!

8. Physcho Salts. Nothing says, "from one powerlifter to another" quite like smelling salts.

9. Etra. Looking for a cool way to brighten up your training? Try some colored chalk!  

 But what if she only likes GWPL gear?

From Us

1. Omega Red Wrist Wraps- if she's in need of a gear upgrade start with these! 

2. Mini Buttons- the perfect accessory for a hat, gym bag or back pack

3. Be cuffs- pretty and empowering! 

4. Defiant Beanie- keep the ears warm in the coolest way.

5. Handler's pack- the perfect gift for the best handler's! 

6. Mama Bear muscle tank- we all know a Mama Bear, get her a shirt to match how awesome she is. 

7. War Ready sports bra- Keep those girls high and tight

8. Barbell Keychain- small but sweet and perfect for every powerlifter.

9. Sumo Studs- some call it a cheater pull but that's because they're dumb... if you're not dumb these are a really great gift!

10. GWPL 001 sticker- dress up your laptop or water bottle in the strongest way!

11. GWPL Gear- New clothes is like gifting 101

12. GWPL Gift Card- when in doubt let her pick it out!

Written by Ivy Knight

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

-Nelson Mandela

It was never meant to say Fearless. It’s Fear Less. Why? Let’s be honest, we all have fears. In fact, if you don’t have fears, are you really living? I’ve done a lot in my relatively young life. And I’ve done most of it while holding onto my fears. Fear of failure. Fear of never being good enough. Fear of being ridiculed. Fear of disappointing others. Fear of taking on too much.

Fear is a scary thing but it’s necessary. If we can learn to push past our fears while respecting them we will find ourselves liberated by them. Fear is our irrational mind telling us that whatever is going on isn’t a good thing. It’s an emergency warning. It has to do with your core beliefs and experiences… but I’m not going to get into that. You can refer to your therapist. We should think about our fears and decipher whether we are actually in danger. It’s like when you see a spider. Initial reaction: Scream! Run! Jump on a chair! Yell for the nearest person to come over and kill it. Our initial reaction is Fear. But when really think about it, should we really be that fearful of this small, coin-sized, creature that could care less about us and is just instinctively trying to build a house and eat. A creature we can literally destroy with the bottom of our shoe? Really? So instead of listening to those fears, we should reason with them and then start to eliminate the ones that don’t make sense. Fear Less.

I used to be scared to death of squatting heavy. I would get to a heavy set, lift it off the rack and if it felt heavy I would rerack because the thought of bringing it down and not being able to bring it back up was terrifyingly crippling to me. I was afraid that if I failed this rep I would… what? Die?? Did I really think I was going to die because I couldn’t bring it back up? (Could it happen? Maybe. But the odds are slim) I did! But when I stopped to think about all the variables I realized that I was being completely irrational. I have never failed a squat attempt at a meet, ever. It’s still something that terrifies me but at my last meet, I had one goal: Squat over 300 lbs. So here I was on my 3rd attempt. The number on the bar was 303lbs. I lifted it off and I felt my throat get dry and tight… this is heavy... I am going to fail… if it wasn’t for the over 6 feet tall, 380+lb giant standing behind me I may have even rationalized that I could actually die. But I had already had the discussion with myself that if I could get to this point, squatting this amount of weight, I would let Jesus take the wheel, so to speak. I stopped thinking and I went into auto pilot. If there’s anything I can do besides, telling a well-timed “that’s what she said” joke, it’s squat! Once my brain kicked back in, I felt my knee cave in slightly and heard a loud screech come from my belly! Then I heard, “rack”! I did it! Irrational fear and all I did it!

So instead of us being fearless, let’s just work on having less fears. When it comes to powerlifting, we should never fear that we will disappoint, or fail, or not be good or strong enough. We should respect the weight, learn the techniques and go for it because when you really break it down, what is there to fear?

Fear Less t-shirt available here http://bit.ly/GWPLFearLess 

Written by Sara Lee

So, no-crap, there I was sitting in a classroom on Fort Bragg racing three other girls in my small group on who could “go green” the fastest.  The year was 2014 and we had one of the first generations of the emWave (https://www.heartmath.com/science/) hooked up to our ears.  This by no means is the correct intent behind the tool, but we were all type-A, highly competitive women so we will find a way to turn relaxation techniques into a high stakes event. Aside from a yoga class here and there, this was my first truly immersive experience in the application of breath work with the intention of augmenting human performance.

So why has the concept of big Buddha belly breathing matriculated into how we perform as athletes? Short answer, because it works. Continue reading for the long answer.

When it comes to fitness, whether it is a performance in the gym or as a tactical athlete in the realm of military, law enforcement, or first responders, we are held accountable by General Adaptation Syndrome Theory (GAS). The theory addresses how the body reacts to short and long-term stress and how they influence the human body.  

Stress is stress. No matter if we are pulling our hair out at work, sitting in a room full of people we’d rather not be, or throwing iron in the gym we are eliciting a physiological stress response. Further, then that, I now want to influence the stress response so that a positive adaptation is a result, it may be a reduction in anxiety or higher cognitive acuity in my performance.

The inverse U model or “flow state” model addresses the relationship between arousal (stress) and performance.

Very simply, to achieve the peak of human performance we must learn how to manage our stress.

Here is where that hippy science comes to light. We can effectively use the breathing technique to manage our arousal levels.

As athletes we know the feeling, it’s that fluttery and semi angsty feeling as our heart rate rises that lets us know we are outside of the safety of the practice. While it would be interesting to Hulk out, to perform optimally across modalities we as athletes need to be mentally present in the building.

This is done through deliberate diaphragmatic breathing.

Place your hand on your stomach and the other on your chest, then take a breath. Does your chest rise or does your belly expand? For most of us, it will not be the latter.

Incorporating Deliberate Breathing:

1. Carve out 5-10 minutes of uninterrupted time in a relaxed environment.
2. Sit upright or lay flat on the back placing one hand on the chest and one on the abdomen.
3. Take a deep nasal to inhale, filling the belly.
4. Forcefully exhale, feel the belly collapse.
5. Repeat the cycle.

This is a baseline, once we are able to easily differentiate and move in and out of these breathing patterns it is appropriate to start incorporating the protocol into practice.

Whether we are choosing to inspire nasally or orally where the air goes matters for the following:

Benefits of Deliberate Breathing:

1. Reduction in symptoms of anxiety and depression
2. Decreases Heart Rate and Blood Pressure (activation of the parasympathetic NS)
3. Decreases cortisol
4. Increases blood flow to the muscle tissue
5. Increases cognition (managing state of arousal for performance)

Despite breathing being an involuntary event adopting deliberate breathing into our physical pursuits takes a bit of practice. It also builds the foundation for more advanced breathing protocols such as super-ventilation and hypoxic work that can be incorporated into training modalities.

Advancing YOUR Breathing Practice:

Below is a list of resources that you can use to help develop your own practice.

Phone Apps:

1. Headspace: Meditation
2. Simple Habit
3. Breath (iPhone)

Fitness & Lifestyle:

1. 90/90 Breathing Protocol (best applied during warm-ups)
2. Power Strength Endurance

Get to know Sara better on Instagram 

Additional Resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5455070/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/relaxation-techniques-breath-control-helps-quell-errant-stress-response

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2038162/pdf/brmedj03603-0003.pdf

Recinto, Christine, et al. “Effects of Nasal or Oral Breathing on Anaerobic Power Output and Metabolic Responses.” International Journal of Exercise Science, pp. 507–514.