Warrior Girl had a side quest this week: receive a challenge, process and adjust, continue to eat. I ate everyday and today I just may have hit calorie.
Yesterday’s session was rescheduled to today which means Friday I actually had down time between jobs. I filled this by doing ALL the core work I have been missing (I knew it wasn’t the brightest idea but it shut up the “slacker” voice in my head). I then watched as much as the American Open as I could. I tend to geek out on the Cal Strength videos and it was fun to watch them compete live and Sunday I will be home from work in time to see Akinwale. One happy girl! Next weekend the nearest USAW facility is having a competition and, if I am able to meet a work deadline, I will be going as an early birthday treat.
In case I needed proof my form was good on leg day, my rhomboids are sore and burning from locking my shoulders down and back for 2 hours, I have no stiffness in my lower back, and my hamstrings and glutes are sore, my hip has only a mild ache. And my rear delts do NOT want today to be shoulder day. When Coach arrived he noted his posterior delts and rhomboids feel like garbage. Really?
Push Jerk: The jerk is one of my favorite moves (I know, I have a lot of favorite moves but this is really does rank #1 or #2), I love putting weight over my head and I love watching others do it too. My first round was unbroken but I guess when I am “cheating” that will happen…I wasn’t straightening my wrists. Coach rests at rep 7 or 8 on every set. On my second set I figure it out and, wrists moving the way they should, I too need to break my sets. I manage to get the sound of the bar snapping (I love that sound – if I could get it recorded I would use it as a relaxation tool and possibly be able to sleep). I even got a “good pop” from Coach once or twice. He leaves the next decision to me: kill the wrists on jerks or move onto the hang-pull-shrug practice. Oh, I want to stick with what I like and am successful at but I have so much work to do on my clean…
I decide to focus on my weakness.
Hang-pull-shrug: And here we go…Coach makes them look so easy. We can work on these at the same time but I watch him today. I was so caught up with “how does he do all these different movements all at one time” that I don’t even realize that his first round was all over the place. The bar was bouncing off every part of his upper thigh. My first round has maybe two that come off the hips and I only think that because I did fall back twice. But otherwise I have no hip movement. Coach figures out his hip pocket and goes back to making them look easy. I continue to struggle so I drop the shrug portion and just concern myself with pocket and pop. Towards the end Coach fixes my grip and I get another couple of good ones. Mid-set he says “go for it” but by the time I realize he means clean it, my entire movement fell apart. Not this again! 8 months away should mean I forgot bad habits. With my new reality the pressure should be off, this should be just for fun, why would I freeze? And do I even know what “just for fun” means and have I ever done anything “just for fun”?
Rear Delt Flys: My posterior shoulder does not want to participate in today anymore.
DB Snatches: Last week these went so well for me. This week we both fell apart. My hip just isn’t moving anymore, I am power snatching instead of squatting, I can no longer hold weight behind me. My stance was so horrible on the couple I managed to catch in the squat that I had to fight like hell to stand back up which sent pain shooting through my hip. Coach’s weren’t pretty either and his repeatedly injured hamstring is bothering him now. His day is done early.
I have some bar speed work to do over the next couple of days. Coach says “the speed will come back” but all I remember from the pre-injury days is “you’re going to slow”. I think to myself “come back? when did I ever have it?” Well, hell, I just became consistent with the deadlift after 2 years, guess I will just have to keep working on this too.
I love these days so much: training partners/coaching Coach and while I promised myself I would just live in the moment, as today ended week 2 of cycle 2, i see the end approaching, a countdown beginning. I am having that sadness creep in: what will happen when it is over, when he begins conditioning work in prep for Rugby and I, well, I don’t even know what my goal is anymore.
Coach would take a breath right now as a reminder to me to breathe. I remind myself what I am often saying to Coach “Be grateful”. I breathe and I am grateful.
Warrior Girl Lifting 
Finding joy in the moment is often overshadowed by worry about either the past or the future. All we have, in fact, is the moment. What comes next can be planned for, but Robert Burns on those plans, anyway. Enjoy today and what you have right now. (Words from an old coot with tons of experience in the Worry World.)
I’ve been improving in this area (the breathing and gratitude practice helps) and it was on that goal list I made…sort of. I think “only focus on the rep at hand” applies to my daily life as well. Practice. It takes a lot of practice.
Breathing and gratitude help me stay in the present but I don’t always remember. A good cup of tea, the Christmas tree lit and dividing my attention between watching the snow fall and the best lifters in the country compete helps too 🙂
Push jerk is my favorite too. I can push jerk more than I can squat. I am so broken.
The quizzical look on my face promotes coach to question what was up. And then he looked like me. He then asked if you had video and I asked if we couldn’t just take a road trip to Florida (it’s SO cold here).
My teen girl had her second time on them and she said “this is my favorite”. Told her all the cool girls like them best 🙂
You want a video of my squat or my jerk? One is impressive. One not so much. My squat sucks.
But you know what, you should TOTALLY come down. It was 90 DEGREES here yesterday. Yup you read that right. Bring coach. He can be shirtless, ya know… because it’s so hot.
And yes we do. All the cool girls like to jerk it. Er… um… maybe she’s a bit young for that.
Squat. I know I take it personally sometimes but if I can do something well he has no interest in it. He likes breaking down weaknesses, adjusting, and beating them down until they are a strength. Pain in my ass trying to make me better and in % ranges all the time 🙂
I haven’t made it back yet, but when I do I will get a video of squat. You will have lots to break down and adjust on that bad boy. Be gentle. I’m still learning. 🙂