Deth

My quad feels pretty good today. Still a little weakness and tightness but that’s to be expected. It’ll slowly improve over time but it’s something I can work with for now.

Due to the above Although I did my Crossfit total today it wasn’t really all out maxes in anyway. It was just relatively heavy singles for this particular day. I just wanted to get under heavy weight to see how it felt and to encourage Molly to push herself when she does her total. I decided from the beginning that I was going to work slower and allow myself plenty of rest between attempts and wasn’t really going to push my luck either. In the end I was just over the 20 minutes by a few minutes for the exercises.

The back squats really surprised me today. They felt excellent all things considered. One week ago I could barely air squat. I slowly worked my way up to a heavy but doable 285 pounds. This was about 95% of my max and it didn’t feel too bad. I felt a little weak at the sticking point where it really loads the quads but all in all not bad. I’m thinking without the angry leg I may have been able to break the 315 mark finally. Maybe I’ll try to go for it when things feel one hindered percent. I’d say it’s feeling about 80% currently. Good enough that I could go heavy but not quite good enough to really, really push it.

The presses felt great. I worked up to 150 pounds making that weight fairly easily. I then decided to go all out and go for what I believe would be an all time personal record at 161 pounds. My memory says I did 165 once but my written notes don’t have it recorded. I gave 161 two attempts, both of which failed at the sticking point just above my head. Not bad. I think if I continue to work with the dumbbells I’ll have this weight no problem next time and if I trust my leg to give me a solid base next time.

Dead lifts today didn’t feel so great. I only made it up to 265. I just couldn’t get set up quite right with the angry left side. I didn’t trust it. I did give 285 an attempt without really being able to commit to it. Last time I did the deadlifts for strength I did 5 x 3 at 275 and they felt great so I figure this weakness was just and angry leg today type of situation. I sort of anticipated this happening and mentally prepared myself for it.

While I didn’t really go for maxes today I have to admit that I was actually pleasantly surprised that it felt pretty fucking good to go heavy considering I had that quad pop only eight days ago. When that first happened I was figuring I wouldn’t be able to do my total at all today and might still be resting it for at least a few weeks after that occurred. All in all I’ve been feeling pretty good. I’d say I have full mobility back already and no major weakness. I think more than anything what I am having is the slight hesitation to trust it. It’s okay though if I am a bit overly cautious for now if it gets me further along in the long run. It’ll reduce the chances of any major setbacks at least.

After a few hours resting I felt pretty good so figured I’d go for a heavy bench press too. Why the fuck not? The sky is full of smoke from fires thousands of miles away so maybe we can have another fluke and I can PR. I did PR at 215 pounds which actually felt pretty easy. My old max at the gym was 205 from three or four years ago. Years ago as a teenager I went heavier but I was young and dumb then and who knows how accurate the numbers on the shitty plates or bar we had actually were. I also gave 225 three failed attempts. The first two I bumped the j cups when lowering it and that distracted my brain and through me off. The third was just a big fat nope. Too tired by then. It really did feel great to move this number again. I can’t be at all disappointed in a ten pound personal record at all, especially considering it’s a PR on one of my weakest lifts that I just never could seem to get much of an increase on.

Having the safeties set for bench press really has been a tremendous help for me. I never trusted myself to bench press and could never fully trust a spotter. I think that’s more that my brain is unable to comprehend that those with good vision can see a fail happening and help without interfering with a good lift. It’s not that I don’t trust people, it’s just that my brain doesn’t understand how others can see things that I never have been able to see.

The music choice for today was old school. Slayer was the playlist!