I don’t want to jinx myself by saying that I’ve been doing really good in the gym, but….I’ve been doing really good in the gym!!!! I try to remind myself that you can’t get too cocky or get too used to the “easy” gains that I’m making because very soon there will come a day when that will be all over. I’ve read so many horror stories about people working to make a 5 pound gain on their bench press for over a year. Oh my goodness. I swear, I would just give up if that happened to me.
She’s almost as upset as I would be. I’d probably have to challenge one of the 10 year olds in the gym to a pull up contest just to make myself feel better.
Luckily, I haven’t gotten to that point yet. I’ve yet to struggle with a plateau…and by struggle I mean balance on my tip toes at the edge seriously debating if I want to keep working or just jump off the edge- swan dive style cuz I’m cool like that. I’ve been moving full steam ahead, especially in this training round. It’s kind of fun. (I feel like I’m dooming myself by writing this post.) But I’ll get to the point.
Once again, my tried and true bench method came through yesterday. Bench sans spotter, and you have no choice but to move the weight. My only alternative is to eat the bar, and really….who wants to do that? So even when the little voice in my head is saying….are you sure you can do this…..the dumbass super-confident lifter on the outside says…of course you can!! So yesterday I did 3 sets of 3 at 135. And yes, I even used the 45 pound plates and I still didn’t have any trouble. It was awesome. My form was crap in the 3rd set, but that’s nothing new. Then I did some close grip bench for 3 sets of 5 at 125. Is close grip supposed to be easier than competition grip? It always feels easier to me…not sure why. Next up was dumbbell rows and overhead presses. And finally….weighted dips. I’ve never tried these babies before so I was excited to see them on my program. I had no idea where to start so I went to the internet for some inspiration….
Tell me that’s not badass? (source)
Since I couldn’t find any gigantor chains laying around the gym (bummer ; ), I used a dumbbell. Much less exciting, but equally as effective. It’s a bit awkward because you have to dangle it between your legs by a little nylon strap. It works though. I decided to use a 20 pound dumbell since I only had to 8 reps. Turns out, it wasn’t too bad. And when I got done, there was a soccer mom working out next to me who said, “That was impressive!!”. It was probably impressive to her because she just started working out and likely can’t even do a single bodyweight dip, but I’ll take it. It’s better than the odd looks I normally get. So I finished my last two sets and left the gym feeling like a beast. Don’t worry, it will only last until Thursday…which I’ve affectionately re-named Doomsday. No human being was meant to endure heavy squats AND heavy deadlifts in one day. (insert a rerun of the pouting picture here).
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