My training I guess you could say is wrapping up at this point. My heavy days are behind me, time to deload and doing a little form work in the coming weeks.
One of my admitted struggles is being able to stop and get a little perspective on where I am and how far I've come without being consumed by what I still want to achieve. I tend to set lofty goals and expectations for myself, while I may not hit the goals I set for this meet..no doubt, I'm so far ahead from where I started just a couple of months ago. Yes, my off seasons from bodybuilding are spent training for size..for strength and power but never with a calculated date circled on the calendar until this year. Once I was told "you're doing it" my training switched gears from just throwing some weight on the bar to a more structured strength program with a purpose.
My approach in the gym and my mindset more than anything have made significant changes over the last few months. I've been guilty of training all out, balls to the wall all the time. Every.Single.Day. Eventually that shit will catch up with you and I would always come to a point where I'd hit a wall, both physically with my strength progression and mentally with my frustration level. At times during my training, I hit moments of aggravation and disappointment..there is nothing like failing or missing a lift that makes me want to put my fist through a wall. PR's are addicting..Failing is not something I handle well and as much as I didn't want to (and said I wouldn't), I did put numbers in my head that I wanted to achieve, even though I won't hit them, there is no doubt when looking at my log book and spreadsheets, I've made significant gains in a short amount of time.
Even though the meet isn't full, I still applied the same training program to all my lifts over the last 8 weeks or so...
I've hit consistent PR's weekly...I'm now repping my previous squat 1RM of 275 for a triple and hitting 315 for a (not quite as smooth as I'd like) single. Before running this training program, my strongest pull was 325 and I have since pulled 330 for a triple and 365 for a single...what does that mean come meet time is anyone's guess but to say I've made incredible gains would be an understatement. One of my goals was to improve my seated military press and I was able to not only surpass my previous 1RM of 125, but I've since repped 150 for a triple. The kryptonite of my training has been the bench press..that fucker has caused me more anger and frustration than anything in the gym ever has. I haven't been focused on flat benching for a long time and admittedly my form needs a lot of work..I guess my previous 1RM of 185 was a fluke as I have yet to come close to that again. My best this training cycle has been 165 for a triple. I know "they" say your squat and deads should be comparable, but I'm not sure the same applies for your shoulder press and bench lol Blame it on my delts, they don't know their own strength!
Overall, I'm pretty excited and looking forward to getting out there. Of course a bit nervous, anxious and all that good shit too. As far as all things vanity driven, after getting on the scale this weekend (165) and trying on my singlet...ummmm, I'm rethinking that whole not cutting weight thing lol My poor legs are squeezed within an inch of their life, but on the bright side, my ass looks fantastic...
Hey, black is slimming, right!?! Well, that's what I'm going with :)
 |
| I love black, I waddle and lift weight. I'm pretty sure, I am a penguin... |
No comments:
Post a Comment