dancing with the devil

Last Saturdays workout was pretty ho-hum as Friday nights Bounce Plex binge left me hung over with a headache, sore neck, and sore knee.

Today was Tuesday, time for the other one of my two weekly weight work outs. It was close to 4:00 and I had to be finished by about 4:55. A 10-minute warm-up turned into a 25-minute back yard trampoline session with my 7-year old. Having fun left about 40-minutes to lift. 

They say character is what you do when nobody is watching. K.C., Ben, Mike, Tim, Cort, Matt - none of the guys could make it today. Which made the resistance to begin even greater. Could have went light or skipped it all together. Yeah, I could use some rest.

But once you start me up...

I hammered out 4 pretty intense sets of overhead presses, finishing with 225 lbs. for 5. Then came single leg squats, which intensely suck, and today turned into a warm-up set plus 3 sets of 10 using 300 lbs. So this is why I regularly skimp on ab exercises or really any traditional core work. Who needs it when you chase twenty minutes of trampoline flips with 60 pretty heavy single leg squats?

Then came the loved, hated, anticipated, dreaded physical highlight of the week: dead lifts. After three warm-up sets I loaded the bar with 455 lbs and hammered out 4 sets of 5. That much weight for that many reps adds up for a guy of my stature.

That thing where you do one hard and heavy rep and then sit around drinking protein for 10-minutes? Not here, ever. But usually some of the guys have to get their sets in or we talk for a while.

So today I rushed without the guys, with little rest and compromised form on the last set to get those reps in. It was the type of form I would have ranted about on-line or lectured the guys.

"You're going to hurt your back when your hips extend too early like that."

Why couldn't I stop with three sets of dead lifts? Why did I have to push that last set to a 6th rep? Nobody was there to witness it. Nobody cares. It still would have been a fine work out.

I got it, that 21st rep.  The plates rattled off the floor and climbed back so slowly. With crappy form. I could have easily, seriously strained my back. But I didn't.

And it was wonderful.

That challenge, that if, seems to be right where I thrive. But a 35 year-old pushing it like that with dead lifts, by himself?

What is wrong with me?

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