Links

Here are a couple of links, just to keep you going this weekend.  I'm off to a vegan restaurant with my fiancee (my computer doesn't think that "vegan" is a word therefore it must be a bad idea) and a movie.  Work this week was awful, but without my boss there for the last two days I can't complain, well, actually, I can, and I do, but it could've been way worse.

Anyways....

What does Robb Wolf think about vegetarians? 

The Exercise Video Index

26" Plyo Pushups

Do it, Always.

Here's something to think about...

If it's important, do it everyday

Week for the Weak

It started on Monday; "Boom!"  340 pounds hits the floor.  That's weird I think to myself.  330#, goes down and then up, but it's a struggle.  Something's off.  I finish my sets of back squats at 330# instead of the prescribed 340.  After a little bit of time on the wheel of death I had back to the squat rack determined to figure this shit out.  I put on an easy 135# and grease the groove.  I hit nice easy sets of 6 reps.  My technique feels good.  I ask the trainer about my back angle, am I straight up and down?  "You bet" he replies, "any further back and you'd lose the weight behind you."  He knows what I do so I trust him.  I reluctantly place 225# on my back and do a couple easy sets of 4.  Same thing, my technique is solid (I would say impeccable, but that certainly is not the case).  Oh well, maybe it's just an off day I think to myself as I leave the gym and head to get some milk and other groceries.

Tuesday, I can't hit my front squats at 290.  They're supposed to be at 300, but I can't even force 290 up.  I do what I can at 275.  Wednesday, today.  Front squats again.  Can't even get 280 once.  I settle for 275 again, confused, befuddled and a little worried.  

Did I hurt myself?  Impossible, I don't feel any pain (except when I jerk, but that's a whole other story).  It then dawns on me that I haven't had a real rest day in nearly two weeks.  While I haven't lifted heavy every single one of those days, but I have been in the gym, hitting my workouts with the same intensity as I always do and that has taken its toll.

What will happen now is, I will go tomorrow, as I always do.  I'll try to lift as best as I can, grind it out and hope that good things happen.  I'll push myself to be better, stronger, faster than the day before.  That's the ultimate goal, afterall.  I'll try to work my goat, I'll try to get a metcon in.  No matter what I will be there making sure to get the most of the time that I have in the gym.  It helps knowing that I will rest, completely tomorrow.  I won't lift more than myself out of bed and up the stairs and out the door.  I will try to eat right with lots of protein and fats to help my body recover and hopefully, by the time Saturday rolls around, I'll have some of my strength back.  Sunday's a rest day too, so there's hope at the end of the tunnel that this week of being weak is only a fluke and not the beginning of a trend I hope to not see.  We'll find out on Monday.

(me missing 205# snatch)

Weakness

We all have weaknesses.  There's no doubt about that.  Some people call them their "goats."  These are the moves or even the types of workouts that make you queasy, say things like "ya know, I haven't had a rest day in a while," or mess with your mentality to the point where you become less intense about your workout.  Everybody has one, at least one, I cannot begin to count mine.  It used to be anything with strength.  I was a tall skinny kid, 170 pounds and the pullup master.  Now, I'm still a tall kid, but not so skinny, standing tall at nearly 200.  Needless to say, I have gotten stronger, and have worked that "goat."  It's not in submission yet, but it's at least been improved.

With the "fixing" of an old goat, new ones don't approach, rather they show their ugly heads as if to say, "Hey, I'm here and I'm going to keep you from being the best."  My new goat?  Chest.  My chesticles are weak.  I can't bench worth a darn, my pushups have become atrocious, the drop is my nemesis on burpees.  However, I do have a plan on working on it.  I can't waste my rest days to go heavy on bench and I'm certainly way too tired to hit it after my mikesgym WOD.  But, I can throw some into my quick intense metcon's.  For instance, I threw down with some alternating DB Bench, Pullups and KTE's in a 5 minute AMRAP.  While the DB's were only 45# it was still enough to kick my ass.

The point of this rant is that you ought to keep working on your goats.  New ones will approach but never forget the old ones, because they will rear their ugly heads if neglected.  I will always struggle with strength more than endurance, it's the way I was built, but I can focus on strength to help me become a better athlete and allow myself a better chance at the qualifiers in May.