I was supposed to go to the gym yesterday–I try to follow a MWF schedule, with an occasional trip on Saturdays thrown in. I’m also trying to go on Saturdays more often since I have the Charm City Strongwoman meet coming up and I need some additional time training with the implements. So ideally, I would’ve gone yesterday, and then made my way to the gym this morning to play around with a 50 lb keg.
What actually happened: I got home from work early, felt like trying to go from my apt to the gym was too much a mental barrier (more on this later), and I didn’t go since I had plans to meet up with some friends later that evening. I told myself that I would make up the time & go Saturday morning and do both barbell and strongwoman work.
I tried getting myself out of bed at a reasonable time to do both the Farmers’ Market (we have a CSA share) and the gym, and I just could not do it. You see, my husband and I have only one car between us for financial/lifestyle reasons, so when I usually go to the gym, I take a bus line that is close to my office (three neighborhoods to the south) to go to the gym (in a different part of town). Getting to the gym from my apt is doable, but requires a bus transfer (relatively time-expensive) or uber (relatively $$-expensive).
Mental barriers are a big issue when it comes to lifestyle tweaks or changes! I’ll leave that as a post for later.
Anyway, I am trying not to beat myself up about it all morning, and I’ve been about 85% successful. You see, I’ve been lifting very consistently (at least 3 times a week) for the past three months. Usually my lifting goes through cycles related to life events: I lift consistently for about three months or so, and then a trip/meet/event comes up that disrupts the schedule, and then I get back to it. I did have a trip last weekend but it wasn’t really long enough to really fuck with my schedule. The truth of the matter is this: I’ve been increasing my weights a lot and have shattered a lot of PRs (which has been fucking awesome), and my body is just fucking tired. I’ve just reset my back squat while I’m pretty close on resetting everything else. Also: my back aches a bit, my calves are inexplicably tight, and my energy level is low.
Note on “resetting”: in a lifting program you’re usually consistently adding weight on a daily or weekly basis, depending on how new you are to lifting. At some point though, everyone hits a wall, and in response you take a break, knock off 10-15% of your highest working weight, and start all over again. It’s normal.
So instead of lifting this morning, I spent the morning listening to the Nujabes Pandora station and walking to, within, and from the nearby Farmers’ Market. It’s been pretty relaxing and mentally refreshing. Got my veggies, did some meal planning for the week (I need to check in with T to finalize it and get the final groceries for the week), and I’m planning to do some needed cleaning around the house for the sake of mindless (mindful?) work.
Tomatoes, pattypan, tomatillos (for salsa), shishito peppers (for salsa), basil (for Thai beef dish)
[I also got some eggs and sausage too, in case you were worried about my protein intake.]
T and I have a number of weights and fitness accoutrements at home, so I plan to do some accessory work at home just so I’m not completely slacking off. I’m actually looking forward to it too: I love barbell work but lately I’ve been feeling a bit itchy and I’ve been wanting to work other things into it. Signing up for the Charm City Strongwoman meet has been well-timed, since it gives me an excuse to do and use all sorts of other equipment.
Anyway, I’ll do another post about what I end up doing later!
megatruong 