Man's Game

This was day one of Weights: Da Return. I haven’t lifted in three weeks because I was completely focusing on my running. I lost about twelve pounds over those three weeks – seven of it last week. And I ran a 15k on Saturday. I knew I was in for a long day as soon as I started to warm up. I thought, “Oh man, this feels heavier than it should.” My muscles thought we were done with weights for good, and I know that they’re going to make me pay dearly over the next week as I get back into the flow. I tried my normal routine, and my body said no. I tried lifting lighter weight with more reps, and my body said no. The highlight of my weight session this morning is that I didn’t hurt myself – a minor miracle – and I didn’t get trapped underneath anything and need one of the trainers to save me, even though today would have been a good day for that to happen. The Yates Center seems to be skewing its training staff more towards the eye candy variety. Maybe it’s the economy and higher end trainers are having to move down a notch or two on the career ladder. I’ve been going to the YMCA for five years, and there have always been more trainers with guts than there have trainers with washboards, not anymore. There were three trainers on the floor with very little body fat and one was carrying some artificial extra weight in the upper torso region. But that’s not important. What is important is that even though I struggled through the weights portion of my workout, my cardio went great. My legs weren’t sore at all, and I burned a bunch of calories while taking it easy on my knees. I did chest and biceps today. Back is tomorrow, which should be fun. And the nightmare is scheduled for Thursday; legs are on the agenda for the first time in almost a year. We’re going to find out if I still know squat. Pray for me.