<![CDATA[&gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties.]]>> This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. Most of it was sort of unplanned, but the start of it all has a very common reason: back pain.

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The beauty of having muscles

This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. Most of it was sort of unplanned, but the start of it all has a very common reason: back pain. It's 2018 (I'm 32 years old), and the Desk

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Maaike Brinkhof's blog (www.maaikebrinkhof.nl)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/714c9299-00c6-4e8f-9d80-a3ae276d2db0/gt-this-is-the-story-of-how-and-why-i-decided-to-pursue-a-muscular-physique-as-a-woman-in-my-thirties.RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 02:05:20 GMTTue, 05 May 2026 09:52:53 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 15:55:35 GMT]]>@maaikees hell yeah, what a phenomenal broadside of positive effects! and how good those photos turned out!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://toot.cat/users/gekitsu/statuses/116522780957128784https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://toot.cat/users/gekitsu/statuses/116522780957128784Tue, 05 May 2026 15:55:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:14:52 GMT]]>@maaikees great write up! Especially as I asked myself what is needed to show of the muscles before. And dang, that are some great images of you! You look great!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/leah/statuses/116522148992817199https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/leah/statuses/116522148992817199Tue, 05 May 2026 13:14:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 12:20:44 GMT]]>@sebug oh that's funny, for me cardio is incredibly boring (I do it anyway)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sw-development-is.social/users/maaikees/statuses/116521936157774711https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sw-development-is.social/users/maaikees/statuses/116521936157774711Tue, 05 May 2026 12:20:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 12:05:35 GMT]]>@maaikees thank you for the write-up. Being a desk-dweller myself it‘s always interesting to see how much work goes into building muscle, I think the first thing on my list is to make it enjoyable - most people who get results really like the gym, while I only ever can stand the cardio stuff lest I get bored.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/sebug/statuses/116521876570426878https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/sebug/statuses/116521876570426878Tue, 05 May 2026 12:05:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 11:42:52 GMT]]>@maaikees that's very impressive; if I tried that I'd probably end up with another 20 kg cut on my hands. 😬

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/matthewbadger/statuses/116521787241680329https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/matthewbadger/statuses/116521787241680329Tue, 05 May 2026 11:42:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 11:35:33 GMT]]>@maaikees Good job! And very nice article too. Inspiring, thanks.
"pull-up" made me think of how in previous houses I lived in, the bottom stairs allowed for safely doing pull-ups at the back side and I often did. Most houses lack that I think. Wondering how to easily change that in a DIY way without taking loads of space/money. Decades ago in student housing we hung a pipe horizontally around a chain, though as that allowed for rotation, it made hanging more difficult, let alone pull-ups.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.edu.nl/users/steltenpower/statuses/116521758483236840https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.edu.nl/users/steltenpower/statuses/116521758483236840Tue, 05 May 2026 11:35:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 11:26:48 GMT]]>@jrbe and now it's a lifestyle 🙂

The project will never end

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sw-development-is.social/users/maaikees/statuses/116521724064386705https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sw-development-is.social/users/maaikees/statuses/116521724064386705Tue, 05 May 2026 11:26:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 11:26:02 GMT]]>@maaikees thanks for sharing. It helps to hear what a long-term project this has been.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://scholar.social/users/jrbe/statuses/116521721045745228https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://scholar.social/users/jrbe/statuses/116521721045745228Tue, 05 May 2026 11:26:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 11:08:30 GMT]]>@matthewbadger nope, done with powerlifting.

I will stay on the building muscle with bulk & cutting cycles train!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sw-development-is.social/users/maaikees/statuses/116521652103852621https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sw-development-is.social/users/maaikees/statuses/116521652103852621Tue, 05 May 2026 11:08:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 10:45:51 GMT]]>@maaikees this is great, really inspirational! I am currently on the “powerlifting is fun but it's easy to stay fat" train (speaking for myself, I started with a BMI of 32.5) and it's nice seeing musculature slowly reveal itself as I drop body fat while getting stronger.

But you didn't answer your own “Now what?" question! Back to powerlifting in a lower weight class?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/matthewbadger/statuses/116521563018021502https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/matthewbadger/statuses/116521563018021502Tue, 05 May 2026 10:45:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 10:36:09 GMT]]>@maaikees congratulations is all I can say 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://freiburg.social/users/flq/statuses/116521524905696635https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://freiburg.social/users/flq/statuses/116521524905696635Tue, 05 May 2026 10:36:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to &gt; This is the story of how and why I decided to pursue a muscular physique as a woman in my thirties. on Tue, 05 May 2026 10:08:09 GMT]]>@maaikees What a wonderful, personal post. Love it. Thanks for writing and sharing it.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/rotnroll666/statuses/116521414811144352https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/rotnroll666/statuses/116521414811144352Tue, 05 May 2026 10:08:09 GMT