Ok, this was a very rough and intense week. I mentioned in last week’s blog, that I was away on a stag for the weekend, and upon return, it has never been more apparent that I am no longer a young man.
You see while everyone was practicing dry January, I did the opposite, I had a wet January. indulging in weekend drinks and pub visits after abstaining from alcohol for over three months in the previous few months. Wet January needed to be done, as I have two big days to prepare for, The stag. Yes locking horns with pints for two full rotations of the earth.
After the first night, my head was not prepared for the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown. I eased my way into the day opting to stay away from the Guinness and go on the cider. Slowly I came around, and then before I knew it I was in fine form. Two great nights were had, as we prepared to say Bon Voyage to a good friend’s bachelor days. Unfortunately for me, I said Bon Voyage to the three days after also. I got home Sunday and did not leave the house until Wednesday, with the Bank Holiday weekend making sure I did not have to return to work until Thursday. I needed those days badly to refuel my body after opting for liquid lunches instead of you know actual food for most of the trip.
Wednesday:
I text Davy and said “Davy I am coming into the gym but don’t worry about the personal training, I am going it alone.” I did this to myself, so I needed to push through it by myself. I still did not feel right, the toxicity being felt with every heartbeat. I needed to flush out my system, and get rid of the haze and fog in my brain. I thought about going for a run but said that can wait, the 5km every day done in January seemed like a long long time ago. Now in fairness despite the horrible feeling I still managed to drag my ass to a worthwhile chest and arms session, kind of sticking to the framework of the previous few weeks. High reps at an average weight. The unfortunate thing for me was, I did nothing to get rid of the abstract feeling. I hoped to accomplish that with my run Thursday.
Friday:
So about that run Thursday….I got three weeks into it and I felt like Forrest Gump. Not the part where he is majestically running around America, no the part where he is in Vietnam and got shot “Ow Something bit me!”. My damn calm went out in the Castle Park after just 3km. I was furious with myself! I knew that I was at the very least ruled out of running for the next while, after building so much momentum in January, I was wholly disappointed with myself. I hobbled my injured ass home, taking 30 minutes, cussing myself all the way.
I went into the gym Friday and had to once again inform Davy of my running injuries. We had to readjust the session, but man was it hard. We did some form of squat under the premise of time under tension. Time under tension (TUT) refers to the amount of time a muscle is held under tension or strain during an exercise set. During TUT workouts, you lengthen each phase of the movement to make your sets longer. The idea is that this forces your muscles to work harder and optimizes muscular strength, endurance, and growth. I genuinely nearly passed out on one set, forgetting to breathe at one stage. We finished with some hamstring curls and leg extensions. I put up the weight on leg extensions to just force myself to feel even more burn. With that, I was rattling leaving there, still not right!
Sunday:
Sunday was working shoulders and I went in with the intention of just enjoying the day’s session. I did this by going back to an old favorite, the log press. There are few lifts that can compete with the hardcore nature of the log press. The unstable, unwieldy log bar will have your entire body working in overdrive to clean it off the ground, up your belly and chest, and heft it into the air, it’s awesome. It gets the whole body working and just feels cool to do. I then did a few shrugs, while walking and keeping with the time under tension principle. this was followed by Arnie presses, named after the terminator himself. The exercise activates all three of the deltoid muscles in your shoulder—the posterior, lateral, and anterior deltoids. I then went onto some biceps and triceps before letting out some frustration on the boxing bag. I still was not right! I think I know what I will be giving up for LENT!
If you want to make a change, you can contact Davy on 0892528904 or email [email protected].
