New Toy!!!!!

Hey there everyone! It's been a GREAT week! I got my first equipment sponsor! Jim Seitzer and the Bandbell Company graciously sponsored me with one of their bamboo barbells that helps with rehab and prehab of shoulders, rotator cuffs, and a lot of other various injuries. It came already yesterday and I used it for the first time today! Got up to 55 lbs. on it, but, it's quite a chore! It's made out of bamboo so it's very light. The weight is hung on it by bands and it shakes when you go to press it. It's to involve all the little stabilizer muscles and such that don't usually get too much work but can have a great effect on your strength. This was sport form week, which means I did competition benching all 3 days that I lifted. Monday I hit 160, which was pretty disappointing to me, however, I was just recovering from a kidney infection, so, I guess I was probably not in a very good position to expect very much of myself. Both Wednesday and today I hit 175. Technique left a lot to be desired, but, I still got it up and it never came back down at me or stopped. So, as long as I can get it up, I can continue working on technique. It's been a very long time since I hit 175 and it's been even longer since I hit 175 twice in the same week. So, I'm pretty thrilled. There wasn't too much accessory work, because the sport form week focuses more on competition lifts. I'm feeling much better as the week progresses, recovering rather well from my sickness last week. Just 2 short weeks and I'll be back in Cincinnati competing!! Pretty excited!!!

Layin' Low

Well, little did I know, it wasn't going to be the most optimal week to start updating you all again. Did pretty well on Monday, 165 with a 3 second pause on my chest for 2 with 1 left over. Then Tuesday I woke up with a kidney infection. Well, I'm sure I had it before then, but, that's when it decided to show itself. Brian did some stuff with me to appease me on Wednesday but it was pretty light and I think I was at the gym for maybe 20 minutes. Today he kept it backed off a little today too but I did get to bench. 160 for 2 with a 2121 tempo. Pretty decent considering I've been in bed since I left the gym on Wednesday. And a month ago 160 buried me. My form has been off this week, but, I haven't been stretching cuz I've just been in bed pretty much all the time. Hoping to do a little more of the stretching business this weekend. No workout on Sunday. Hoping to be recovered and ready for Monday's bench. :)

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, It's been a while, for my blog followers. I'm gonna try to get back to at least once a week. Let me catch you up a bit. February was last qualification for this quad for Paralympics. I qualified to apply for a wild-card spot, but, didn't win it. The lady that DID win it was only 2 slots ahead of me in ranking, so, I really came pretty close. I did a meet in Cincinnati in April and by this time was having a great deal of trouble with my shoulder/pec area. I got buried by 160 3 weeks before I left. But I did end up lifting 170 at the meet. I missed 180. I came back and my shoulder finally let loose. My numbers still weren't doing much though. So, after about a 6 mth stab at the Westside method, we decided it must not be the right thing for me. We're doing RPE's again, which I've blogged about before. Right now I'm benching twice a week. I believe that as I get closer to a meet, it will increase to 3 times a week. My numbers seem to be coming back. And I seem to have the pec issue and the shoulder issue under control. Have some other hurty-spots, but, I'm mobile and that's all I need. Everything was so tight for a while that I actually couldn't get my elbow to stay under the bar. I've got a meet coming up in Cincinnati next month. One in Salem, about 15 minutes from me in September. One in Orlando (with the Pickle!! ) in October (the weekend before my 30th birthday!!). And the last one of the year in December back in Cincinnati. So, I'm keeping myself busy and we're experimenting with some jumps and I'll be experimenting with warmups and such when I head to the meets, so, I can be ready for Nationals to pick up again next year. I had 2 teammates that made the London Team, Mary & Ahmed. They will both retire after this Paralympics, so, Jake and I will be the "veterans" on the team! haha. Things are actually pretty great. It's actually been a bit relaxing to have this year without anything major (Not that I would have complained about going to the Paralympics). I'm moving up a weight class. I should have a better chance at qualifying in 4 years. And Brian's still my trainer. We're sneakin' up on 3 years now and I just can't even describe how blessed I am that he's stuck with me all this time. He's the best and I know I'm right where I need to be for things to work out for the best.