TRAINING UPDATES – 30.05.2009

I’m a mess. I have bruises, big and small everywhere, from my foot to my shoulders. The ones on my shoulders and collar bones are from the front squats earlier this week, the ones on my shins are either from Muay Thai or deadlifts today, the ones on my left foot is definitely from Muay Thai. My knuckles are also scrapped and bruised, though how that happened when I was wearing my hand-wraps is a puzzle. Calluses – check. Sore abs – check. On top of everything, my throat feels rather raw from all the yelling during Muay Thai. No yells, no strength.

Strength training - analysis with Coach E today made me realize I have been too used to the Romanian deadlift form. In Romanian deadlifts, there is less bending of the knees and more bowing and use of upper body strength, as opposed to conventional deadlifts, where I have to set up lower, more like a squat, and drive from my legs. Well, it seems that I have been relying more on my upper body strength for conventional deadlifts, and as such limited my lifts. Some adjustment today improved matters somewhat. At least 55 kgs was a given, although 60 kgs still felt hard and I couldn’t complete 5 reps in a single set. I have no idea how I managed 60 kgs so easily the last time. I am also starting to believe that the 1RM of 65 kgs that I achieved weeks ago was just a fluke. Did I perhaps ingest some spinach accidentally before lifting that time?

The mind is a strange thing. Weeks ago, those barbells looked friendly and inviting. Today, I got this sense of dread when I see them lying there. I wonder if my mind set me up for failure before I even started. I never thought the day would come when I would have preferred to squat rather than deadlift. It is true then, that we always enjoy better the things we are good at.

Anyway, I have left my ego at the gym door, and shall work my way up slowly but surely from 55 kgs. No way am I going to chance a back injury just for the sake of loading the bar too quickly. At least after the adjustment today, I am happy to report that my legs and abs are sore, but my back is fine, and my calluses don’t hurt like they used to. I can take comfort, albeit a little cold, in the fact that I am doing things properly.

By the way, did we know that we are ideally suited to deadlifting and squatting, because our limbs are shorter (so we have less distance to move the weights)? I never thought the day would come when having shorter limbs would actually be useful. But frankly? Give me longer legs, and I would gladly give up 20 kg off my PRs. But since this is what the good God has seen fit to give me, I have been advised to make the best use of it.

Muay Thai today – poor. It looks like I need not have forgone the last set of tabata jump squats, since it appeared to have made no difference to my performance at Muay Thai anyway. For the first time ever in a long, long while, I had to call for time-out in the middle of a padwork bout because I was seeing black around the edges of my vision. I managed to rally and finish up, but it was still tough. Half the time, I was on autopilot, because I was so tired I couldn’t process the instructions. Pad here, punch here, pad there, kick there, pad high, punch high, pad low, kick low. It was actually kind of cool that I could go on autopilot, because it means quite a bit of it has been internalized. I seem to be taking a lot of my comfort cold, though.

I repeat again, my throat is raw. When one has to “Urgh!”and “Argh!” hundreds of times in an hour, it happens. It honestly amazes me how much additional strength and momentum I get from making those noises. And it seems I am not the only one. Earlier this week, I was watching the earlier session bootcamp ladies do their stuff, when I realized they were all making louder exhalations from the exertion. Take about 8 ladies, each of them making soft groaning noises rather rhythmically, you get the picture. I was pretty amused at how suggestive it all sounded. I wondered if anyone else also had their minds in the gutter like me…and made the connection, though.

Finally, I have decided to move on from the bootcamp to proper personal training, and plan to speak to Coach J on Monday to see if something can be worked out. I do not see otherwise how I can continue to maintain the barbell lifting session and Muay Thai training on a single day, one after another. I refuse to continue with crappy performance when I know I am capable of much better.

By the way, I think I have gained back some dreaded inches after the poor food choices in the last one to two weeks. I had to exert a smidgeon of extra strength to close the snaps on my shorts today. Alert! Alert! It’s no-no to sweets until further notice.