Training 1-18-08

How important is working out to me? After today's Squats I realized I had a choice between finishing my workout and being half an hour late to my own belated birthday celebration. I chose to finish the workout (albiet hurriedly) and piss off my friends.

I didn't try to explain it to them, because they would've just thought I was silly. But working out isn't just about improving myself physically; it's also about learning discipline, commitment, how to ignore the "you can't do this" voice that lives inside everyone's head, and, yes, setting priorities. My friends are awesome and very very important to me, but I won't use them as an excuse to slack off on something that's this important to becoming who I want to be.

If you read that and you think it is silly and I'm a jerk for making my friends wait, then you very well might be right. I should've managed my time better and gotten to the gym earlier. Lesson learned. But, for me and my priorities, a complete workout > missing 30 minutes out of an evening with good friends.

Squat
5 x 5 x 230

Press
5 x 140
4 x 140
2 x 3 x 140
4 x 140

Power Clean
5 x 3 x 140

Pullups
3 x 5 x 47.5

I'm glad I got all the way through Squats, though they were harder than I would have liked. I paid a big price for my 2 week layoff on Squats, and working back up is going to take almost 2 more weeks.

Press was disappointing because I did so well on it last time. I think I shorted my rest since I realized I was running late. But my Press has been stuck for a while now, so if this turns into a stall, I'll switch to Timed Total Tonnage and see if that works.

Power Cleans form felt good after the layoff, which is a promising sign.

Pullups were a close thing on the last few reps, but I got them. Chinups with 50 lbs next week!