(adapted from Natasha Korotkova)

Mirror reflection of a woman standing in a squat rack in a gym. She has a very short buzzcut and has glasses and a surgical mask on. She is wearing a close fitting blue tank top, black training pants, and red Converse sneakers. In her left hand she is holding a phone with which she is taking the picture, and her right hand is raised and holding onto the squat rack. Behind her there is a loaded barbell on the floor.

When I am not linguistic-ing, you will often find me in the gym picking up heavy objects, moving them a little bit, and putting them down. I recently brought my passions for linguistics and lifting together in this manuscript. I also wrote this piece about Ivy Russell, an outstanding strength athlete and an advocate for women venturing into “men's” sports from the first half of the 20th century, who has been, sadly, largely forgotten today.

I've been lifting since Fall 2018. If you are considering starting lifting, or if you are already lifting, but think you could improve your form, make your training sessions more efficient, etc., here are some resources that I think can be useful for beginners and beginners+:

Two bouldering walls forming a corner. A woman is standing on two orange holds next to each other about 5-6 feet off the ground, with both her feet facing right. Her legs are slightly bent, and she is bending over to the right, with her body twisted so that she is touching another orange hold further on the right and a bit lower than her feet with her left hand, while her right arm is bent over her head as she is pushing against the perpendicular wall with her right hand.

I also picked up climbing/bouldering in Fall 2021. While I do have my Brattkort, I prefer not to deal with ropes, so I mostly do bouldering. I regularly upload videos of my bouldering attempts to YouTube and Instagram.