Good to Great

So, today was a crappy day. I very much put expectations on myself to lift at least 170 lbs. at my competition and was really hoping for 175 lbs. I wanted to go blow the socks off of everyone to qualify and rank for the first time. I've practiced 155 lbs. a couple of times now and it feels VERY light...almost like it should be my opener. I thought 170 lbs. was a shoo-in. So Brian loads the bar today and I work up to 155 lbs. and nail it. I knew it was 155 lbs, cuz I did it last week. I could tell. And it was easier than it was last week. Then he loads some more and I just barely got it off of me, all the way up....and honestly, they probably would have taken it from me had it been at a competition. I sit up hoping and praying it was at LEAST 170 lbs. It was not. It was 165 lbs. So, Brian tells me not to start and not to get in my head, which is very hard for me to do. I was good the rest of the time I was with him. He keeps me talking about other things. Distraction is always good. But, then I head home, and I can feel the feeling of unsatisfaction creeping in. It isn't that I'm unsatisfied with how he works out my training. I'm just so conditioned to believing that my body doesn't (ever) do what it's supposed to do, that, when I don't get what I thought, I assume it's something wrong with how my body reacts. And it throws me into a downward spiral because I don't know why my body just won't do SOMETHING normal...I want to scream at it and say "Just do ONE thing that you're supposed to."

Then, I got home, and got on my facebook page and a friend posts a video called "Why nothing is impossible." I watch it, it's nice. But, doesn't quite hit the spot for me...so I start snooping around at the other video suggestions off to the right side of the youtube screen. And this is what I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUKiS0Jn7hs

We've had a lot of tiny set backs that have added up into being pretty big changes. My form looks nothing like when I started coming to Brian. I've dropped 9 lbs. I had a total crash physically and Brian had to rearrange my diet, just 6 weeks ago. Plus, I've had massage issues in between that kept me from lifting at my best.

The video (for those of you who finished reading first) is called Good to Great. And as I was watching it, I heard Brian's voice in my head, telling me to get out of my head and not to start. And it makes me smile. Then I remembered the other famous quote Brian always says to me: "Rome was not built in a day." And I smile. Then I look where I have 3 quotes taped to the top of my computer screen and the first one says "The difficult takes time. The impossible takes a little longer." And I smile. I also picture Brian standing in front of me, listing all the set backs I listed above, telling me that's why I should stay out of my head and I realize...My body IS reacting normal. And I smile. Brian is taking me from Good to Great. I just have to stay out of the way so he can get me there.

So, all-in-all, it wasn't a totally crappy day. I'm definitely learning to get out of my head faster than I used to. Just erase it and start over. And, if I have a 5 lb. gain, then that's much better than a 5 lb. loss in strength. (See why I brought up being thankful no matter what the outcome? Circumstances change in the blink of an eye.).

Bench - All with Pauses. Worked up to 165 lbs. Got 2 singles, on my own...they just weren't clean enough for competition.
Arnold Presses - 2 sets of 20 with 20 lbs.
Triceps Rollouts - 3(?) sets of 12.

And...

<3 Stretching <3

Ending the day with a smile.