the pain diaries: Day 489...stRoNg?...

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Day 489...stRoNg?...

Most people associate strength with muscles. If a guy has big muscles...he must be strong...right? So people go to the gym and they target certain muscles...biceps for example. Most guys in the gym want big biceps so they look "strong"...they hang out by the dumbbells and never think to learn complicated Barbell movements or Olympic lifts.. Who needs em?...right? The answer to that question is...everyone needs them. Young or old...fat or thin...people wanting to excel in sports as well as the everyday person that wants to be "fit"...no matter who you are...you can greatly benefit from working to improve your overall strength with a barbell and some plates.

True strength is not about how

many inches around your bicep is or how sculpted your abs are. Don't get me wrong...those things are not bad...but they are aesthetic. It's okay to want to look good. I do...but it's also important to be well rounded and strong.

Strength is relative in my opinion. What is strong for me, is not strong for Ronnie Coleman...and what's strong for Ronnie Coleman, is not strong for Mark Twight.

I've been doing Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program for a short time...(this is my 3rd week). I'm not strictly following the schedule of ONLY 3 days a week of lifting. I do Crossfit workouts in between, but I am doing the 5 specific lifts (alternating-3 each time as he has designated)...3 days a week. I was skeptical that I could do as Coach Rippetoe says and increase my weight every time I lift...but I have...and it works! I feel and get stronger each time. Am I lifting crazy amounts of weight??? No...but I am improving upon what I have been able to do in the past...and that makes me really happy.

Just because I'm making steady progress...it doesn't mean that this is easy. It's hard. My back is just aching right now after doing Back Squats, Presses, and Dead Lifts. My legs were shaking and my form went to s*** on my last couple of deadlifts, but I did it.

BACK SQUATS
-----------
WARM UP WITH 45 LBS X 5 X 2
THEN:
65 LBS X 5
75 LBS X 5
95 LBS X 5
115 LBS X 5
125 LBS X 5 X 3

THEN:

PRESS
-----
45 LBS X 5
55 LBS X 5
65 LBS X 5
70 LBS X 5
74.4 LBS X 5 X 3

THEN:

DEAD LIFT
--------
95 LBS X 5
135 LBS X 5
155 LBS X 5
185 LBS X 5
210 LBS X 5

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..............WHY?...............

This is my training log...my "workout diary" if you will. It is mostly for ME, but if it motivates someone else, that's great too! I write everday as a way of being accountable to myself. It's a way to track my progress, correct my mistakes, and a way to look back and view my day to day struggle to continue to work towards being the best possible version of myself. Sometimes, I am tired or lonely or unmotivated. Sometimes, I am "powerful beyond measure". Sometimes it is fun...easy. Other times, it is almost unbearable. I use to have my trainers to push me...but NOW I am on my own.

QUOTES THAT INSPIRE ME TO PUSH HARDER...GO FASTER...AND TRAIN LONGER

"SOME DEFINE OBSESSION AS NEGATIVE. I SAY IT'S HOW YOU GET THINGS DONE."

-MARK TWIGHT

"PAIN IS TEMPORARY. IT MAY LAST A MINUTE, OR AN HOUR, OR A DAY, OR A YEAR, BUT EVENTUALLY IT WILL SUBSIDE AND SOMETHING ELSE TAKES IT'S PLACE. IF I QUIT HOWEVER, IT LASTS FOREVER."

-LANCE ARMSTRONG

"TO BE TRANSFORMED BY EFFORT, ONE MUST DIG DEEP...SURPASS ONE'S EXPECTATIONS OR SELF-IMPOSED LIMITATIONS...RISK FAILURE...BLOW UP, AND 'GET THE FULL DOSE'...IT ALWAYS HURTS YOU GO AS HARD AS YOU CAN."

-MARK TWIGHT-"GYM JONES" WEBSITE

"TO GIVE ANYTHING LESS THAN YOUR BEST IS TO SACRIFICE THE GIFT."

-STEVE PREFONTAINE

“PUNISH YOUR BODY TO PERFECT YOUR SOUL.”

-MARK TWIGHT

“ONLY THOSE WHO WILL RISK GOING TOO FAR CAN POSSIBLY FIND OUT HOW FAR ONE CAN GO.”

-T.S. ELIOTT

"THE BENEFITS OF FITNESS ARE NOT MERELY PHYSICAL. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF A SERIES OF DIFFICULT, SHORT-DURATION, HIGH INTENSITY EFFORTS BUILDS SELF-ASSUREDNESS IN A WAY THAT VERY FEW OTHER ACTIVITIES CAN. TOUGH WORKOUTS THAT PUSH AN INDIVIDUAL TO THE VERY LIMIT OF HIS OR HER CAPACITIES MAY BECOME THE GATEWAY TO HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS. AND THAT AWARENESS OFTEN LEADS TO CONFIDENCE."

-MARK TWIGHT

"WHEN A PERSON TRAINS ONCE, NOTHING HAPPENS. WHEN A PERSON FORCES HIMSELF TO DO A THING A HUNDRED OR A THOUSAND TIMES, THEN HE CERTAINLY HAS DEVELOPED IN MORE WAYS THAN PHYSICAL. IS IT RAINING? THAT DOESN'T MATTER. AM I TIRED? THAT DOESN'T MATTER EITHER. THEN WILLPOWER WILL BE NO PROBLEM"

-EMIL ZATOPEK

"GIVE IT EVERYTHING AND LET THE CHIPS...OR WHATEVER...FALL WHERE THEY MAY. IT WON'T EVER GET EASIER, BUT YOU MIGHT GO FASTER, OR LAST LONGER."

-MARK TWIGHT

“A LOT OF PEOPLE RUN A RACE TO SEE WHO IS FASTEST. I RUN TO SEE WHO HAS THE MOST GUTS WHO CAN PUNISH HIMSELF INTO EXHAUSTING PACE, AND THEN AT THE END, PUNISH HIMSELF EVEN MORE. NOBODY IS GOING TO WIN A 5,000METER RACE AFTER RUNNING AN EASY 2 MILES. NOT WITH ME. IF I LOSE FORCING THE PACE ALL THE WAY, WELL, AT LEAST I CAN LIVE WITH MYSELF.“

-STEVE PREFONTAINE

“SUFFERING PROVIDES THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXERCISE WILL AND DEVELOP GRIT… THE MIND AND BODY ADAPT TO BOTH COMFORT AND DEPRIVATION… RELISH THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES THAT WOULD CRUSH ORDINARY MEN... LEARN TO SUFFER.”

-MARK TWIGHT – excerpts from "Extreme Alpinism - Climbing Light, Fast and High"

“SOMETIMES IF YOU WANT TO BE A WINNER, YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO BEAR THE SCARS FROM THE FIGHT.”

-PETRA SALVAJE

'EACH OF US GIVES WHAT WE ARE ABLE AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, WILLING TO GIVE TO LIFE. HOW WE REACT WHEN OUR CAPACITY AND WILL FALL SHORT OF OUR EXPECTATIONS DETERMINES HOW WE VIEW OURSELVES...".

-MARK TWIGHT~"GYM JONES" website