A Few Resets

We have decided to reset a few things. Our bench presses were not low enough, and I'm going to have to roll back my squats a bit further then 225. It's going to be about 215, maybe a touch lower then that. So I'm not really adding anything so far as my numbers go. I was able to increase my Power Clean, though, to 70 lbs. I did that 3 times per set for 5 sets. My bench is at 100, though, I'm sure of that.

Basically we made a few mistakes and we have to go back and fix them. It's all part of the learning process. As annoyed as we are with having to reset anything, we would much rather have very strong forms for our lifts then have to fix everything when we are supposedly at 300 and 400 lbs. So, if it means that we have a bit of a set back, then so be it.

That's really just about all that I have to say at the on this. We'll get where we want to be, it's just going to take some work. Everything worth doing takes a lot of work, though.

Training Today

This is not going to be a long post. There isn't really much to talk about today as my training...really didn't happen. Now, I was suppose to train yesterday, but I was under the weather and did not want to risk getting sick and having to rush to the bathroom while trying to squat. I did go to the YMCA today, but it still didn't really go well.

We recently got an app called Deep Squatter on one of our androids, so I tried to use that to make sure that I was getting parallel. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get it to work. It took a bit longer to get through my squats because I was fiddling with it trying to get the phone positioned right before I finally just gave up and went off how it felt along. I do think that I got parallel on my 2nd and 3rd set, but I'm going to do 225 again before I allow myself to increase the weight to be absolutely certain.

The rest of my training is the part that did not happen. I had finished my warm ups for my bench when my husband called and I had to leave. So, unfortunately, I wont get to finish those today. I'll get them Saturday, though.

Rampant Transphobia

One thing that I want to cover is what the HRC had done recently. When you are supposedly advocating for the equal rights of the LGBT community, then you really should include all parts of said community. Asking that the Transgender flag be taken down during a rally for equal marriage rights under the pretense that it doesn't affect Transgender people is a flimsy excuse at best. I agree with Transition Transmission that the HRC owes the Transgender community an apology.

Of course, I suppose this shouldn't be much of a surprise. the HRC often seems to exclude the T from the LGBT community when it comes to 'advocating' for their rights. This really needs to stop. All humans deserve the same rights. All humans deserve to marry whoever they wish to marry. It doesn't matter if they are the same sex or not. It doesn't matter if one or both parties are Transgender. If you are going to advocate for one of them, you need to advocate for all of them.

To make things worse the new Arizona Bill actually puts transwomen in danger. Even if they have considered this they clearly do not care. Discomfort of someone that is 'normal' in their eyes is more important then the safety of someone that is not. That's really all it seems to boil down to from an outsiders perspective.

Then there is this gem; "I don't believe that the opposing side should be able to impost their views on others," said Nohl Rosen, a Phoenix small business owner. "The way I feel, this is just the liberal left forcing their views on the rest of us." Someone doesn't seem to understand that everything they just stated actually applies to what they just said. Especially if you were to replace liberal left with conservative right.

It seems that for every step forward we take two back socially. One day we may see healthy changes in our laws, and our politicians views. I doubt that will be any time soon, though.

A Frustrating Day

Well, if would figure that the week I start my blog my training takes a bit of a dive. There is something else going on, though. Likely a lack of protein or calories. So I'll have to watch my food intake a bit more closely then I have the past few days. I also need to make sure I drink my protein shake every day.

Anyway, my training was a bit of a bust. I squatted 225 again, even though I had intended to go up to 230. Unfortunately, I did not notice this until after my second set. By that point it was to late and it's unlikely that I would have been able to do 3 sets at 230. I just stuck with it. If nothing else it will help make sure my depth is good.

I also missed my overhead press again. I don't know why I missed. I was close to making it last time and that usually means that I can make it the next time I do my sets. Then, when I got to my deads, I couldn't pull the 260 I was suppose to do today. The last two are why I think it's an issue with protein or calories. I slept well last night and, so far as I am aware, I got the full 8 hours.

I am not going to let it discourage me, though. I'll get it next time. I just have to make a few adjustments to my diet. Wednesday is going to be Squats, Bench, and Power Cleans. I'll make a post for sure about that day and how it goes.

Actually, we probably are going to stay at 225 until we are sure we have our depth before we move on. So I may stay there for a few days before I go up to 230. We'll see how long that takes, hopefully just a couple of days.

So We Begin

Well, I need to start somewhere so I figure that I will begin by sharing a bit about my Power Lifting. We've been doing Starting Strength for about 4 months now and we have made some fantastic improvements in that time frame. I have to thank Mr. Rippetoe for making his book available so that those of us who are not able to train with him can still benefit from his knowledge.

A huge source of inspiration, and who actually directed me to begin Starting Strength, was Gillian Mounsey though. Her article, A New Perspective, helped me to realize something that I knew but had not taken to heart. That I don't have to fit into this ideal of what a woman should be, and that I should flaunt the natural strength that I know I have.

Now, when I say we I mean my husband and I. We have had a lot of fun while going through our sets, even though they are getting rather difficult and we have had to reset a couple of times. Unfortunately, we are going to have to reset our squats because they are getting a touch high. We should be back up to where we are now fairly quickly though.

Unfortunately, for me, I'm very competitive and I despise missing or resetting. This is good and bad in a way. Eventually I plan to compete, so it's good because it will help to give me the drive to do so. It is bad because I have not yet learned how to focus my annoyance into my lifting most of the time. Once I can manage that, however, I'm certain that I'll have little trouble with most of my lifts.

Now, for my numbers. Some of them are somewhat laughable because I have rather week arms compared to my obscenely strong legs. This is something that's being worked on simply by doing my sets, but it will take some time before my upper body is where I want it.

Squats 225x5x3
Bench 110x5x3
Overhead Press 72.5x5x3
Dead lift 250x5x1
Power cleans 65x3x5

Now, the squats were up to 260, but since we weren't hitting parallel we opted to go back to 225 because we both know that we can hit parallel at that weight. My bench and overhead press would have been a bit further along then they are, but I hurt my arm doing power cleans and it was a little over a week before I was able to do them again. So unfortunately I lost some of my gains in all three. My power cleans were suppose to be 90 but I had so much trouble with the motion that I decided to reset it...again. That one frustrates me more then anything because I was so close to being able to start at a higher position.

That's pretty much it for now. I'll make another post with my next set of numbers after I go to the gym on Monday. Thank you for reading. Hope I wasn't too boring!