Progress Report

Hi All! 3 weeks to go!!!! Actually, exactly today. I hit 165 for 3 yesterday. Brian said he was pleased & didn't expect more. Once I found out it was 165, I was disappointed I didn't reach 4, but, then I pondered 170 burying me so many times not all that long ago & I decided 165 for 3 was A-OKAY. :-D We discussed what I'm gonna lift at my meet. 150 will be my opener. And I'll go from there. Hope all of you are doing great! I'll check back again soooon. ;-)

Occupational Therapy

Well, the meet's 4 weeks away (tomorrow) so I figured I would check in with you all. Some non-training stuff I'm sure most of you would like to know is I start school next month to begin getting my Bachelors (and later Masters) in Counseling. My schoolbooks arrive Tuesday. I'm taking online courses. Also, I got a part-time job, working at an insurance agency, scheduling appointments for my boss. Won't interfere with training & he's okay with my competitions. Life. Is. Good.

I did 155 lbs. today for 6. Brian said that roughly comes out to a 185 lb. max. So, that's awesome. :-) My triceps strength is really going up, I've noticed. Also, Today I used 65 lb. dumbbells for floor presses. Since I taught myself to use my lats, I've really been feeling my rows a lot more...and liking them a lot more. :-) It's helping on all kinds of things. It's also much easier to sit up straight since my back is stronger. I don't think my lats were strong enough to hold me up before!!! I'm determined to get this hump out of my back yet! lol.

To do my sidebend exercise on Friday's, I lay on a leg curl machine (I think it's the leg curl). Brian has to remove a front piece so I can get on it. I picked it up to put it back on, but I have to bend over kind of far to get it in the right position to fit the square of the machine into the square of the loose piece. When I picked it up, Brian walked into the room & I said, "I think I tried this last time & it didn't work out too well." I tried a few times & laughed & went to hand it to him. He just stood there & said "Try it again....square up a little more." I said "Then my foot will be in the way." He said "Then move your foot." I said "But then I can't lean over." And he said "Just try it." So, he stood & coached me through it......and it worked! I did it! His son walked in the room & said "What's going on? What are you doing?" to Brian. I said "He's teaching me to listen to him instead of always having to do things my way." ....Brian could apply about anywhere, after training me. He's got all kinds of experience. He does massage & stretch stuff with me. Today was a little bit of occupational therapy. He does stretches on my back and my legs like the physical therapist. And he keeps my bench press going up and up.

I heard a song on the radio on the way home today & one of the lines was "Some day, when my life has passed me by, I'll lay around and wonder why you were always there for me." ......How appropriate. :-) I love training. It's my very favorite thing in the whole wide world :')

First Rule of Holes:

I just got done reading an EXCELLENT book called "Mind Gym", recommended by my bench buddy, Big Wade. I think it's my favorite sports psychology book that I've ever read. This week as I was finishing it up, I read this: "The First Rule of Holes: When you find yourself in a hole, the first rule is to stop digging." I had kind of already started to do that, but, when I read it, I put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Just go back to the basics & trust yourself, the book says. It's HARD to stop digging, especially when you're an action person...but, it doesn't take long to see that if you keep going, you're going to be in a whole lot of trouble.

I'm still not asking Brian for my numbers....especially bench. I wanted to check in with you all though. I've had a couple of people say that they miss my blog entries. Things are going much smoother than they were. I think I finally am getting the hang of relaxing. Brian ever-so-graciously rearranged my workout again to adapt to the mindset I was struggling with. I'm so lucky to have him.

I DO know that I did 25 lb. dumbbells for 8 reps on triceps rollbacks on Monday & I've never done that before. Usually after 2 reps with 25 lbs., Brian takes them from me cuz my form falls apart from not being able to handle the weight. So, I was really excited about that. Also, my close grips w/ boards went up 10 lbs., from last week to this week, with the same reps, same RPE.

We've been following what the TRAC says to do according to my stress level and that seems to be helping out a great deal. I was pretty leary of it and was stressing about my stress level, until this week when Brian pointed out my close grips were increasing by the week. That REALLY helped me calm down & my stress level fell the next time we were supposed to work out :) Such is the life of an over-analyzer. lol. I'm much more comfortable with it now and glad it's there to help guide us.

Thursday I was driving down the road and I pushed myself away from my steering wheel!!!!!!!! Probably the only one reading this that will understand what I mean would be Brian. lol. That was literally monumental! Brian, and Wade & John (The bench guy that came to do the seminar in April) have all tried to tell me and teach me how to push myself away from the bar, not push the bar away from me. I just couldn't figure out what they meant! I tried so many things! When I'd try to do it, most of the time, my scaps wouldn't stay together, or I'd do good for one rep and not be able to do it any more. :( SO! As I was driving down the road and doing my scap exercises, somehow I stumbled across pushing myself away from the steering wheel into my seat and my scaps stayed together!!!!! Voila!!!! All it takes is one time!!! Bench felt THE MOST stable that it has for MONTHS yesterday!!!!! Brian made a lot of comments about me getting stronger. I know I did 8 reps, but, I don't know what the weight was. lol. But, he said he didn't expect me to get 8 reps, so, I was pretty happy about that!!!!!!

Everyone have a safe and happy Fourth of July. I'll be back periodically for an update. :)