Life is moving

Things are progressing

We found a house we LOVE about 40 minutes west of here. Just waiting to get some more info from the seller and then we'll most likely put an offer on it.

I am going to get my Yellowhat stuff set up sometime this week and get a plan in place to start intern-ing (?) at some of the early morning classes. I need to get my cert renewed, so that means taking some courses and renewing my CPR cert. I am also going to take an olympic lifting course just for fun.

The next 2 months are gonna be crazy in the best possible way.

Short term plan - work both jobs. Teach 530 am class. Train any clients/lift until 9, then go to my other job. Long term plan - quit other job, I don't wanna be in retail working weekends forever. It'll be alot at first but things should even out eventually. Hopefully this will still be me

Good news is, deload is complete and I'm lifting heavy again. Next week is gonna be 200 for 5 reps on the deadlift. I remember when 200 for 1 rep was but a dream...

Decision

For the last 2 years or so it's been no surprise that I have wanted to move back to Georgia, or just leave this area for something else. There has been little to no opportunity for my husband to get a job in another location. He had some leads in Texas but those jobs weren't what he wanted to do.

So we had a sit down the other day and he told me how much he really likes his job here. He feels like if he left for something else he'd never be able to get back to the point he is at right now. It seems the best choice is indeed to stay here.

I also had something rather interesting come up. Last week the manager at my gym, out of nowhere, asked me if I was interested in being a trainer. !?!? I didn't really know what to say, and at the time my husband hadn't interviewed for the TX position yet. But now that we are staying around here I told her I wanted to learn more about it. I am going to talk to the head trainer to get the details.

It seems several forces compel us to stay here. So we're gonna save up some money (because closing costs are ridiculous here) and purchase a house sometime in the next few months.

New opportunities in a new home, can't wait!

Deadlift Redemption

10 months ago I experienced an injury.  I was in the gym deadlifting when at the end of my last set I felt a twinge in the left side of my lower back. A few hours later I was in intense pain and had to go home and lie down. Little did I know I'd have to rebuild my entire range of motion in my lower back. Things like sitting down to tie my shoes were impossible. Over the next 2 months I started stretching and getting back into light lifting. My back began to feel better. But still I avoided deadlifting until summer of this year. I began working with a coach to help me. We fixed my form and progressed weight slowly as I began to feel more comfortable with it again. Things went well for the most part, my persistently angry left hamstring made things challenging at times but we've been working on alot of hamstring and glute strengthening. I have learned much.

After 3 months of deadlifting I was at the week of my 30th birthday which could only mean one thing - PR week!

Here I am on Friday staring down these deadlifts again. On my 29th birthday I got a 205lb deadlift. One year later, after having to rebuild myself back from negative nothing, what could I get? I know I could get more than 205 because I have been doing sets of 4-5 reps at 195. So I warmed up, belted up, and put 205 on the bar. Easy. Up to 215. Still easy. So now up to 225 which was kind of my soft goal, seeing as how I squatted that on Wednesday. I wanna be able to at least deadlift the same amount if not more. Daniel got the camera out for some video. 225 happened... so now the question was, go for 235? Let's do it. Wiggle into position, grip the bar... deep breath, squeeze glutes and lats... and this was one slow, ugly mofo of a lift but it happened. But of course, Daniel didnt' get it on video cause his hand was in the way or something. And you know video makes everything official so I had to do it again :)  I set up and got it a few inches off the ground, it wasn't happening again. So it appears right now 235 is my 1RM. And I'm fine with that. This is my worst lift and I am basically starting over with it, so this is good for right now. I know where I'm at and I can start working my way up to 250+ from here.

It feels good to be deadlifting again. It's still hard as hell. It freaking wears me out every time. And I know it's never gonna get any easier... but I'll get better

30

Well here I am, 30 years old.

I have come a long way from where I once was. I was once alot more sheltered, introverted, and self conscious. Over the years I have worked in alot of different professions and environments, met all kinds of different people, traveled to and lived in new places. Each experience helped form who I am today. Running, lifting, and obstacle racing have been huge parts of that. 

I have been alot of things over the years. I never thought "athlete" would be one of them. It started with running, which led me to run road races, trail races, and eventually even obstacle course races. Then almost 2 years ago I went to the gym. I started walking into the weight room more. At first the goal was to supplement my obstacle racing and running goals. My training had no real rhyme or reason. Then over time I started picking up heavier weights. And I liked it - A LOT. Lifting made me feel like a badass, and that feeling translated to the outside of the gym as well as I became more confident in myself. My body changed - for the first time in my life I didn't have a pancake ass and my legs became tree trunks. This has taken some getting used to because I got bigger - but also stronger. After awhile my training became more focused around lifting heavy and challenging myself physically. Changing gyms happened about a year ago when I found a functional fitness gym that catered to my needs better and had the most amazing "family" who inspired me to push even harder. And here I am now, training 4 times a week and just doing whatever I can to improve myself.

Running has fallen by the wayside and so has racing. I am just not into it like I used to be. Sometimes I feel bad about abandoning running, the thing that first shaped me into an athlete. But I can't let myself feel guilty for pursuing a passion. Weightlifting gives me that feeling that running once did. As a taller, larger woman I have never been agile or fast. Team sports were never my thing, and there was that one time my mom signed me up for gymnastics... yeah. With running I got ok, but I knew I wasn't cut out for endurance running. As a child I was good at swimming and even then had alot of upper body strength. I have muscle power and endurance. I can crush weights in the gym for HOURS. It's like this sport was meant for me. 

I am a weightlifter. What direction I will go with it, I'm not really sure. I will probably attempt a powerlifting competition and when I move I will probably end up at a Crossfit box. As long as I can lift heavy shit and feel awesome.

Tired gym face

And to help celebrate my birthday yesterday - I got 30 started off right with some PR attempts! I slept in, ate some good fuel, and got into the gym to discover it empty aside from trainer Sean. He was benching heavy so I asked if he could spot me for this PR attempt. But first it was time to squat. 

My old PR from April was 205. Goal - anything over 205. I did my warm up sets, belted and braced up for my attempt at 215. I got a good explosive push out of the squat which meant it was TOO EASY! Loaded 225 and fought to get that bar up which means yep, that's my max! 

This could be 2 big plates on each side!

Ok, feeling pretty damn awesome! Time to bench. I needed to beat 125 which I did 3 months ago or something. Goal - 130. I called in my awesome spotter Sean and got to work on that 130. WAY too easy. I put 140 on the bar. I was kind of in disbelief, like can I really lift this thing? The first attempt I had my grip too wide and I didn't really get it, so I corrected it and went in for attempt 2. That was one ugly lift and I had a teensy bit of help from Sean, but I bench pressed 140 lbs. 

And this could be 1 big plate + on each side!

I had NO IDEA I would do that well. Sean was like "well you must be stronger than you think you are!" I guess, god damn. Having no one to compare myself to, I did some research and I am OVER the standard for a (not even) 2-year old weightlifter. I am really happy with how well I did. Now the pressure is on to get a 225+ lb deadlift because theoretically you're supposed to deadlift MORE than your squat, but it is my worst lift and I have had to build myself back up after injury. But tomorrow I'm gonna get it, even if I have to use straps to deal with grip strength. 

30 will be my strongest year yet. 

Confidently strong

It's Thursday morning... a rest day! I am enjoying it after 3 days in a row of crushing it in the gym

I am so happy to have my binder. Why didn't I make one sooner? I am logging every exercise I do - how much weight and every rep. In 3 weeks I can see where my gains are happening. Furthermore, if I am really tired and want to cut corners this helps me do all my reps - because if I write them down and didn't actually do all of them I'll feel like I cheated. 

#175 with squats was a bit too easy last week. #50's for dumbbell bench. Heavy Turkish Get Ups were done too. I am also making huge improvements with push ups and pull ups now that I am doing them twice a week. Yesterday I got 11, 9, 7, 6 with pull ups and that's the best yet. I think when I can do 4 sets of 10 I will start using the purple band. I got some heavy pulling done with #120 too. The gains are real!!

The Black Hats are starting to notice me more too. Jason kept making comments about how inspiring I am and how he'd love to have me on the MMA side. And that was cool, because anyone can do MMA as long as they sign up/pay for it, but it was almost like a personal invitation. There's a new trainer and I think his name is Sean, we talked for a good while on Monday and then on Tuesday I saw him messing around with the grip trainer. It's these little metal cylinders that hang down off the top of our racks and you can grab them and hold on, do pull ups, etc. to improve your grip. I messed around on these things with my husband like 3 months ago and I couldn't even really grab onto them. So this guy is like "Come on over and try it!" I put a box up to it so I could step up and see how many pull ups I could do. I honestly had no idea what to expect - could I even do 1 at all? Got 2! They ain't easy, I could feel my back working so much harder to pull myself up while hanging on to the unstable grips. Then I took the box away and jumped for the grips. I had my hands on them and let go. He was like "Why did you let go?" I said I dunno, I didn't think I was actually gonna make it. He said "Maybe that's what happened right there" So I tried again, jumped up and got a perfect grip then pulled myself up for 1 jumping pull up. I wasn't expecting to do any of this today and I had no idea I was capable of it. Last time I tried was so abysmal and today I rocked out 3 pull ups on it. Yes I have gotten stronger since then but so much of it is mental. Like if you watch American Ninja Warrior and see someone who looks afraid they usually end up failing because they psych themselves out. If you're confident and trust your body to do what it knows how to do, you're much more likely to succeed. Sean decided to use the bars that affix the rack to the wall and swing across them. They are really far apart so they can't be monkey barred, you have to get a big swing and use momentum to reach the next bar. There are like 10 of these and during one of his attempts he almost made it all the way across. It was cool to watch and cheer him on. No way am I ready for that though, especially not with stacks of weights and foam rollers and shit underneath me!

This week I definitely turned some heads while deadlifting and doing sprints on the turf. I don't really know why, all I do is work hard in the gym.

Oh, I got my deadlifts at #195 for sets yesterday. Next Wednesday is the last session I have with Daniel. It happens to be my birthday, so we are maxing out to celebrate. Can I get 210? 215? 225? We will find out!

Feeling my age

Again it's been a little bit since I posted here. The main reason is my computer's motherboard went down so I was without a PC for several days.

In the last 2 weeks I have doubled my training. A heavy push day, heavy pull, then 2 more days of lighter lifting or whatever other stuff I want to do. I've also been trying to walk/run with my husband but this past week it only happened once cause life got in the way.

Already I'm noticing physical changes and strength gains! But man is it taking a toll. I woke up on Wednesday and every single historical injury site/nagging pain was flared up at the same time. Left heel, pulled my left hamstring Tuesday, lower back injury site from almost a year ago, and right shoulder. What is happening!!! Now I know it's probably my body adjusting to double the training. And now on Saturday I am feeling a little better. I tried not to let it slow me down, but I did listen to my body and skipped heavy deadlifts this week and just did lighter ones instead. I squatted heavy yesterday with knee braces on and today I actually feel better than I did before. In the last year I have learned to keep moving as long as it doesn't hurt, but don't be a hero and try to go heavy if my body is having an off day.

Oh, and on top of all these various pains I strained my neck last night just by getting off the couch wrong! It's like my body knows it'll be 30 in a couple weeks and it's laughing at me!

Well laugh all you want! I got #120 on my cable pulldowns and rows, moved up to the purple kettlebell for swings, and brought the #50's to the bench press party..

Sup 50's? It's good to see you above my head...

I am foam rolling, stretching, and epsom-salting the crap out of myself. I also learned to elevate the arms or legs and breathe deep right after a workout to help the lymphatic system drain and reduce soreness. I also got a new supplement from Legion called Recharge and it is legit! I am ALWAYS deathly sore after heavy squats and today I hardly feel a thing!

This week has been a challenge but I love it. I know in time I will adjust and as long as I keep working on rehabbing everything and listening to my body it'll be alright...

The hands that lift

Phew.. I am tired after a long day of appointments and errands. It all started at 7am with the gym though... Heavy deads, some sets of 185 and then 195 until I couldn't go anymore. I did really well with pull ups today and hit some new weights - 100lbs on pulldown, 35 face pulls, and used the 44 lb kettlebell for swings today. I had quite a strong morning I'd say!

My hands paid for it though, ripped open my left hand AGAIN! My calluses keep peeling off and tearing. I don't want to pick at them but I can't very well leave them hanging there either. So I did some research into this and ordered a hand balm that should help with this. I also learned that filing down the rough edges should help protect them from peeling and tears. I also should be moisturizing more, I do this already but I guess it's not enough. 

Left hand damage :(

I got a filer thingy that has a pumice stone on it and some hand scrub from Lush, used both today and it seems to have helped. I can't touch the open area with the filer yet but in a few days I'll sand down all the rough edges and hopefully end these problems!

We had a nice run/walk today, and I say run first because my husband ran 2 entire laps around the lake! He normally does 1/2 a lap before he has to stop. I wore my Garmin today and was happy to see my pace in the 10's and sub 10's. During our walk on Monday something crazy happened... we saw these 3 guys on bicycles and a fourth guy lying down off the path. We ran over because we knew something was wrong. Turns out the 3 bikers found this guy passed out on the path and during this moment the ambulance sirens could be heard and we ran up the path to direct the EMT's to the scene. This kid couldn't have been older than 18-20 and he was passed out, pale as a ghost, and not moving. A needle was found at the scene so this was obviously an OD. We watched the EMT's do their work from a distance and they eventually got him out of there and told us he'd survive. It was a crazy thing to see, I had never experienced anything like that aside from seeing people in the hospital where you expect to see them sick anyway, but seeing a body not moving and pale as death was very sad. I only hope this kid has a family who loves him and will help him get better. 

Anyway, enough for tonight. I am very tired and tomorrow will be another action packed day