I can understand why her hair is so disheveled….
Fingernails were not something that I considered when I started power lifting. However, I learned that long, girly fingernails have no place in the gym. It seems like I’ve always been involved in something that has forced me to keep my nails short. In high school, it was sports. Then there was my 10 year stint as a waitress. Long nails are nothing but dead weight when you’ve got .2 seconds to deliver a flaming hot filet to table 32 AND open a bottle of $100 wine at table 38. Once I kicked the waitressing habit, I started rock climbing. Your nails have to be almost non existent to rock climb…including toenails. But powerlifting didn’t stand out as a non-nail activity. Turns out, it is. Grabbing plates that are stacked together like cleaved rocks…makes life difficult. And my paper-thin nails are no match for a 45 pound plate. So, if I forget to cut them…they break. So sad. I guess this ends my run at next years fingernail Olympics.
On to yesterday’s workout. I did a 5 rep max for box squats. It was a nice change of pace. I started at 95 pounds and worked my way up to 165 pounds. I tried for 175 but had nothing but pathetic-ness left in me at that point. That was by far the heaviest I’ve done for box squats so I was pretty happy with it. Next I did RDL’s (romanian dead lifts). I stuck with 135 pounds since I was nervous about how insanely sore I was last time. This time was great though. I felt strong, and I’m not sore at all today. I will definitely bump it up to 155 next time. Then I did some shrugs and some walk outs. I’m really not a fan of walk outs, but apparently they help…with something…some how. Walk outs (for those of you who haven’t been lucky enough to try them yet) consist of putting massive amounts of weight on the bar- way more than you could ever actually lift- and holding it on your shoulders for a set amount of time. Yesterday I did 225, 285, and 315. I even have the across the neck bruise to prove it.
I don’t look nearly as tough as this guy….but you get the idea.
Today is my rest day. I’m hitting up the chiropractor after work (blasted neck pain) and then it’s home to tackle a boat load of laundry.
[...] a big old stripe across the back of your neck from benching….that’s cool. I’ve had that one a few times now. Those are always neat because you can see the knurling in the bruise. And of [...]