Heavy

Thirty Days of Thankfulness
Day 12: I am thankful for heavy weights.

I don't think its necessary to go over how I never strength trained before Crossfit in detail. That said, I've learned to enjoy and appreciate moving heavy weights around. I'm surprisingly thankful that strength training hasn't come very easy to me and that I'm able to progress slowly and appreciate my gains more. I realize what's heavy for me isn't necessarily heavy for someone else with the exact same build as me. Heavy is relative and I am grateful for that.

10/12/2012 LP:
Back Squat: 90lb
Press: 47.5 lb

Ninety pounds! I remember at one point a little more than 10 years ago weighing 96 lbs myself. And I am putting that weight on my back, squatting with my butt below my knees and standing back up, 15 times. I just did it a couple of hours ago and I still have a hard time comprehending it. It is amazing what your body can adapt to over time. It's even crazier to think that in two weeks I'll be in triple digits. I'm also beginning to wonder what my threshold will be. I'm very confident I can reach my body weight, but I'm not so sure how much further past it I will be able to go. Time will tell soon!

I'm slowing down quicker with my press, which I knew would happen. My upper body strength versus lower body is drastically different and always has been. I think I still have a ways to go before I can't lift more, but I think I may need to add something else to it to keep the progression going. I'll be sure to discuss it with my trainer next time I'm in there to see what the recommendation is.

And speaking of adding something to my routine, tonight I added sprinting to my Monday night plan.  I have never sprinted like this before so another first! Sprinting is a pretty important part of Mark's Primal Blueprint lifestyle. I've been thinking about it since I read his book and knew I wanted to add it to my routine, but wasn't sure when the best time would be. Since my linear progressions take all of about 10 minutes if I keep the chit-chatting with the meat-heads to a minimum I have plenty of time after to do a couple 40 yd sprints without eating up much of my evening. I'm starting with 5 runs for now until I get more used to it then eventually I'll probably build up to 10. I'm pretty excited about it. I think I'll gain a good bit from it that will carry over to the WOD's for the rest of the week. Plus the combination of the heavy weights and quick run makes for a great release on a Monday night.