Detour

I was going to make this a hate-filled, negative post about what I hate in the gym and the humility that is non-existent in so many parts of life, BUT, I thought better and realized that it's all about the positivity that we spread in the world.  Karma is a real thing and if you're positive in the way you live your life, you welcome positive things, events, people, etc. in as well.

So instead, I'll just talk about my workout today.  In an effort to get my strength back I've been hitting the weights pretty hard.  And, because of this, I've caused myself to plateau a bit-which isn't a bad thing, just a regular occurrence in any training program.  To me, it's these plateaus that allow us to learn and progress in the end.  The key is to know what to do when you reach it and to have the guts and discipline to actually do what you should (i.e. rest, recover).

I've been dead lifting a lot of weight lately, getting my 5 rep max up to 335lbs.  This by no means is 'world class' or even close to where I used to be.  But, it is a step in the right direction and I'm happy with the results I've achieved.  After my last dead lift day, however, I was spent and wasted physically for about 3 days.  No good.  Because of this, I took a step back for this week  on the weights side of things, and am concentrating in stead on "feeling" my way through workouts and not trying to be Superman.

Today, I did the following, all with a 32kg kettle bell:
Warm up-1 and 2 arm swings and shoulder stretches
Then- 2x5 of one arm:
Clean
Long Cycle Jerk
Snatch (I actually did 3X5 of this because it felt so good)
Then- 5 rounds of:
10 Push ups
20 Sit ups
10 Strict Pull Ups w/full range of motion-starting each rep from a dead hang
Then-
2x5 1 arm Front squats on each arm with the kettlebell.

On the volume end of things this workout was just about perfect.  The strength work in the beginning was all quality, and the bodyweight stuff in the middle (push ups, etc.) was great-tiring, but great.  I threw the front squats in at the end for shits and giggles, as well as to round out the workout and give my legs something to do.  A workout like this is perfect all around and can be done in about 45 minutes providing that you're giving yourself ample time to rest in between sets of the strength work in the beginning.  I'm a big fan of resting fully between lifts like snatches, cleans, and jerks, so a lot of the time spent in the gym today was spent pacing in between that early stage of the workout.

I'm trying, also, to keep my lifting volume to a minimum this week and focus solely on strength and quality movements.  For the past few weeks I've spent too much time trying to tire myself out from gym workouts and have expectantly seen a slight decrease in my performance.  It's important to remember that the gym is a place where you build strength, not tear it down.  Working too hard or with too much emphasis on volume is a surefire way to see performance dip and then continue to decline until you decide to train properly.  From this point onward I'll worry about tiring myself out on the bike, not in the weight room.

Tomorrow, hopefully, will be another day on the bike.  I'm not sure if it's going to be on the road or on the trails though, because of the crappy snow and rain we've had the last 24 hours.  My guess is that the trails will be a sloppy mess of half frozen dirt and slush.  Hopefully one way or another the bike I ride will be decided for me by the elements, because I'm so stoked on both right now it'll be hard to decide.

Ahhhhh.... Now that felt much better than being all negative.  :)