Deth

I was very disappointed with failing the back squats yesterday early on and knew they were rather light and I only failed because of sweat allowing the bar to shift a bit. Yesterday and even early this morning there was a ridiculously high tropical humidity. It was the kind where sweating does absolutely no good. It just makes your skin wet.

Towards late morning the dew point had been slowly falling from around 75 to 70. It was still hot and humid but I thought it might be manageable for my strength workout. I didn’t want to be two days behind. I got dressed and took the long trip to the garage gym. Threw on some music. Deeds Of Flesh was the music choice today.

The back squats at a moderate 220 pounds today went very well. They were very mechanical and I wasn’t so sweaty that the bar wanted to slide. The fan was pretty helpful along with the breeze coming in the windows. I got through them easily considering the heat. Thankfully it was successful as yesterday’s failure has been on the back of my mind.

The strict presses at 110 pounds we’re quite easy as they should be since it’s a moderate weight. My technique on the presses has been improving recently with me pressing the bar straighter up.

The deadlifts were supposed to be 5 x 1 at 305 pounds. Same place I failed last time. I went into the day fully expecting to fail at these again. I only got the first rep Supper sweaty hands aren’t all that conducive to lifting and holding onto a heavy barbell and the fact that I got a blister at the base of my finger where I grip it from the other day’s sandbag WOD only exasperated that. It wasn’t terribly helpful either that I pinched that same spot of loose skin loading the bar for my deadlifts.

When it comes to deadlifts I will be the first to admit that grip is a significant weakness of mine. I tend to have to switch to a mixed grip around 300 or so pounds. The problem with that is using a mixed grip seems to have me grip the bar off center from where I should be. Not being able to really see the knurling is a factor there for sure. That makes me tend to hesitate at heavier loads or feel like my body wants to twist. That could cause an injury and isn’t why I do this. I am hoping that with practice I will get back to where I was when I started with Crossfit. The mixed grip was just natural until somewhere along the line I had lost the ability to lift with a mixed grip at all. No matter what I did for a couple of years the setup just felt off. At least now I can lift with it again. The key for me as always is to know my strengths and weaknesses and have realistic expectations.

Would I like to pull really heavy weight? I can’t possibly deny that I’d love nothing more than to deadlift heavier than I do but at the same time I am in my 40s and if I get there I get there. The more important part about it is that I get there intelligently and without injuring myself. It’s not my biggest priority to lift very heavy if I am not doing it correctly.