The Good Old Internet

Last night we went to Joy’s, and we went a bit later than we used to since my girlfriend is working later. I thought for sure that would mean poor sleep, but I actually slept surprisingly well after drinking. Granted, I only had two drinks, but it was still a nice date night.

I woke up this morning before her and started drinking my coffee. It was chilly outside and also fairly chilly in the garage gym. We don’t have the heater lit yet. We’re waiting until we get the gas company to come out and do the test that they want to do. At that time, I was thinking I’d wait until tomorrow to do my heavier squats, but by mid-morning I had changed my mind and was excited to do them this morning.

I was feeling wonderful this morning, but didn’t really have high expectations. The program called for a weight that I haven’t been under since last winter due to backing off a lot last summer on my weight.

Around mid-morning, I got changed and headed out into the garage. It was definitely chilly in there, and the bar was cold to the touch for my hands. The lighter sets, and I was thinking there’s no way, but as my body warmed up and in turn warmed up the bar, things were feeling better. I rounded the numbers in a way today that I could break out the big boy plates. Normally, out of laziness, I don’t pull off plates but instead add the right amount.

As the loads increased, I was feeling better with my movement. That second-to-last set of three at 270 pounds felt flat out great!

The final set called for the AMRAP of one plus reps at 300 pounds. That used to be such an intimidating number for me, but today it wasn’t at all. I went into the lift with full confidence that it would give me no issues as long as I felt my setup was good. The first rep was flat out easy. It was a very explosive squat. So much so that I had to settle the bar on my shoulder a bit before my second one because it had bounced up. The second one felt like a grind to me as I was doing it, so I stopped there. Luckily, my girlfriend thought to record it, although she started a bit late and only caught the end of the first rep. In that video, it looked great and didn’t look like it was a grind. In my mind while doing it, it felt like I was taking minutes to stand it up. After seeing the video, I should have gone for a third rep and probably would have made it pretty easily.

This is the first time I’ve been under 300 pounds since last winter, I think. It brings such a feeling of joy and accomplishment to me. I have said it before, but it is something I will always repeat. I love heavy lifts. That’s where I can push myself with my poor vision being a complete nonissue.

I mean, here I am pushing 50 years old now, and I feel like I could still set a lifetime PR in the near future. There’s something to be said about that.

Music for today was Cailleach Bheur