Jerimiah told me to work up to at least 140# for one every day for a week. Today is day 1.140 felt good so I went for 145...and then 150#. The pic is just the 140# .....Video evidence of the buck-and-a-half is on Instagram @rzales.
I don't know how that warrants a full post, but it does. I have been like "I feel great. I love gym on Friday. Wow, I feel pumped. blah blah blah ." So.... either I am having a bit of a moment.... or there's something to this Friday thing. It's happened before, so I am going with the latter.
It's been a few weeks since I have written. It's weird; I enjoy it, and yet when I stopped for a bit (some business travel had me busy), it was not something I craved to get back to. I was worried that the same may happen to the gym. That I might have lost the love for it.
As it happens, I didn't. Friday was tough: struggled with everything. Saturday was better. And today, while not a heavy weight day, felt like old times. Back in the saddle. Add whatever euphemism here. I really missed it. And it's so good to be back. KH thinks Instagram is killing powerlifting. That its losing its edge. That it's no longer true to its origins. I am one of those very same people influenced by my Instagram feed. And I love it.
'Cause while I hear him, I have to figure that if staying the way you were was so important.... he'd still only be pulling 3 plates.... Progress, after all, requires that you are not the same as before. It means better. I guess we just differ on whether we think the surge in popularity, and the way that it's being shared has made it better, worse, or just changed it. I guess I can only say..... better for ME! We also debated the POINT of sports. He insists (and my sweet better half agrees) that it's ONLY about winning and losing. The whole point. The be-all-and-end-all. I disagree, but it's based on feeling, vs rational. But I figure that if I push myself to a limit (an HONEST push). If I am improving. If I don't give up. (And have fun), then it still counts. Win or lose. So.... it's a SPORT, and I AM AN ATHLETE. We tested squats and deads today. Did squat testing Saturday too, but we shall not discuss it.
Anyway: Jerimiah let me try his knee sleeves. And it felt really good. 155# squat, but here's the good part: TO DEPTH!!! Needless to say: I just bought a pair. And deadlift: 185#. Add that up to Bench from a week ago, and we are at 450#. 52# off his BAM (bare-ass-minimum) for the July 9th meet. You'll notice I switched from we/our to HIS on that one. I think he has a bit of over optimism there. Anyway.... it's closer than I thought I'd be by now, so... maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle, as usual. Testing again Wednesday, and then I travel and am gymless for 2 weeks! IT'S A LONG WAY FROM THE HEAD TO THE HEART. One of my mentors said that. He was explaining to a young (it was a LONG time ago) frustrated professional the disconnect between what it seemed people knew, and how I saw that those same people behaved or decisions that they made. For the less spiritual, I guess you could translate that to "It's a long way from the prefrontal cortex to the amygdala." But that's a blog for another day. Anyway, I refer to this within myself often when I make choices that aren't aligned with my goals, or outcomes I want.
WHAT DOES IT SERVE? This one came from coaches of all sorts. Personal. Career. Trainer. Why, why, why. Why do I worry what people think? What does that serve? Why do I work at something I don't LOVE with a passion? What does that serve? Why do you arch your back and stack your joints for a bench press? What does that serve? Why do I watch so much TV instead of spend time elsewhere (cycling, gym, with girlfriends)? WHAT DOES THAT SERVE? And in some cases and instances, it REALLY DOES serve me. Sometimes you work at a less than perfect circumstance because... you need a job. Sometimes you hang out on the couch because your favourite person is there. But if I don't pause to check: I am acting on habits, and not necessarily serving to build the life I want. If I ask myself "Will this create the outcome I want? What will it serve?", sometimes I will sleep in, but other times I will go to work earlier, or go for a walk. But if I don't ask, then I am not building my life purposefully. FOOD IS FUEL. It's a specific learning related to "What does it serve?" This seems small, but it's not. The 'aha' moment came when discussing my food conflicts: Foods utility to me was that it was pleasurable, and it also happened to be necessary. How lovely that something necessary was SO NICE. I was challenged on the utility factor: "Um, no", said my life coach "food is FUEL." What a strange concept. Well, of course it happens to be, but's its so much more! And when I talked to others about her strange concept... they acted like I was the one who had it backwards. :) And I started thinking about the utility of food. And that logic helped me plan and choose differently. I thought I had it; and had a 'healthy' feed after Mudderella. Greens, etc. I was PROUD. I told my husband that I finally got it; food was not my boss anymore, because I understood it was fuel. And my husband said: but you ran around all day, and were hauling your ass about. You could probably use some protein. Would that not have been the right Fuel? Arg! He was right. I hadn't really gotten it. I just flipped the pendulum of my practice. :( Anyway, it did not become a happy habit, however, until after a few months, I had a several day run of "FOOD as FUN" in December (Christmas parties, fast food etc, etc) ... and felt like death. OMG! Food is FUEL! I GET IT! Holy shit. I GET IT! I still love food...but that visceral moment of realizing that food was something that RAN THE MACHINE.... has made it much easier to move that learning from the head,..... to the heart. BEAUTY IS WHAT YOU DO, NOT HOW YOU LOOK. I mentioned this on an entry a while ago. I started to follow a Women's lifting micro blog (on Instagram). I loved it. I felt like it encouraged strength. People there uplifted others, and tearing them down was simply not tolerated. Sexual orientation did not matter. Even achievement was not the big deal. PASSION was. Here is someone else's quote, which is EXACTLY what happened to me. “I was enjoying following them so much that the ‘fitspiration’ crap on my Pinterest board started looking stupid. Those women were just skinny and sweaty. So I started unfollowing them, and my Pinterest board started to look like my Instagram feed. And I was feeling even better about myself.” I'd add that on my previous feed, that they were skinny, sweaty and overly sexualized. I had not been pinning pictures of what was fit. I had been posting pictures of what I believed was desirable. But I didn't desire to look like that any more. At all. HOW DOES THIS ALL COME TOGETHER? My body serves me. It is the vehicle through which I experience the things that fulfill me and through which I contribute to the communities (work, friends, family....) that feed me. That vehicle is capable of amazing things. It's stronger than I thought. I experience more through it than I thought. How I fuel it impacts how well it serves me, and how well I serve those around me. WHAT FINALLY, FINALLY MADE IT ALL THE WAY FROM MY HEAD TO MY HEART? All of this means that I can't help but be mindful of how I treat my body, and at least as importantly, be aware of what it gives me back. So I don't just know more... I am DIFFERENT. I went to my first power lifting meet today. It was amazing. I cheered for strangers. I did virtual deadlifts with my butt and quads everytime someone had to really grind it out.
Super impressed with Yordanos - pulled ridiculous big numbers, and kept going back for more. What was the most compelling thing, tho, were the fails. In a number of those cases, someone did a lift, but despite an obvious determination, couldn't do the next one. Now of course people have limits at any given time. I knew that; that is not the compelling thing. But the hit-and-then-miss today was often evidence that someone had actually hit their limit; and didn't leave a single ounce undelivered. I just don't think that you get to see that a lot in life today. And it's INSPIRING. |
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