Heavy Lifting

First post from new laptop! Yay! Technology is some amazing stuff.

This week has been a whirlwind of workgymmeetingsyardworkdogparkrepeat. I should even be heading to bed right now instead of typing this since I've been up for 18 hours. I'm so ready for the weekend, and tomorrow is only Thursday. What a tease, and more meetings. I knew this week was going to be nuts, and on Sunday I was complaining to the bf deluxe that I wouldn't be able to make it into the gym sooner then Thursday. He knows how much I hate missing the gym.

Monday our furnace guy rescheduled to Tuesday, the only problem with that is I had to cancel the haircut I scheduled. Haircut vs. stove and heat? Haircut loses. So that freed me up for a surprise gym session. It was even the bf deluxe's idea! AND he went with me to watch because I told him we could go to BestBuy after and look at computers...we all know how that ended up!

Monday's workout was HEAVY. As in we had to lift super heavy weights, but not very many times. In 10 minutes, we had to complete as many rounds as possible of 7 ring dips, 3 hang clean & jerk, 1 deadlift. Hang cleans are my least favorite major lift. Deadlifts are one of my favorites, and dips...eh, no one likes ring dips! I set my weight up...I knew I wanted 185 to be my deadlift since it was only one rep, and my one rep max is 200+. I know I can clean & jerk 100+ but hang cleans are a different story, so I tested 95 pounds. No go. 85 pounds it was. And did I mention it was heavy? The workout was not as taxing on my cardio system as one where we run/box jump/wall ball/burpee, but at the end I was spent and sweating like crazy. Once I recovered, I felt amazing. I can only attribute that feeling to lifting HEAVY. And then I got a new laptop.

I got another surprise yesterday when the bf-deluxe got off work early, and could therefore meet the furnace guy, meaning I COULD GO TO THE GYM! Again- bf deluxes idea. I must be much nicer when I go to the gym or something. Anyway, still feeling like I gave myself a good workout the day before, I was really hoping for a workout that didn't involve too much mental stamina or running. I knew as soon as I had that thought I was going to walk into a grueling workout, and just accepted that as my fate. I walked into the gym, took a look at the board, and saw quite possibly the best words I could have ever seen. "Back Squat- 3-3-3-3-3." YES! My absolute favorite thing in the world! I was beyond excited and relieved. We paired off, and began setting up. I was paired with a guy. We were given a quick demo in spotting our partners, and how to properly bail during a back squat.

We were attempting to find out 3 rep maximum, meaning, the highest weight we could do 3 times unbroken. Ideally, you want to start at a weight and increase until the last set is your 3 rep max. My partner and I quickly talked strategy, and decided we would like to start at 135# and go up from there. My sets were 135, 145, 155, 175, 185. No problem. I love back squats. Probably because I'm good at them. Probably because last time we tested, my one rep max was higher than any other girl at the gym. Even the most kick ass girl that can do everything. Then when I got home, I had a working new (to me) gas stove, and a new working gas furnace (first day of summer? Whatever).

My conclusion? Lifting heavy makes good things happen. Or makes me buy things. Either way, lift heavy.