Yesterday afternoon I squatted 300 lbs. Twice.
A nominally useful fact is that this was a 10 lb Personal Record (PR) for me. Another nominally useful fact is that this was equal to my single PR - also 300 lbs. A third nominally useful fact is that it is 171.4% of my body weight.
Why do any (or all) of those facts matter? Because sometimes I find it very easy to get down on myself because sometimes progress is hard to measure. I compare myself to my friends - who are, on the whole, larger (and therefore stronger) than me. And genetics play their part - just doing a quick online search suggests that my weight is a good start (which, to be fair, I almost started at for this progression) and maybe up to 255 plus for 6-8 reps is about as far I can hope for ( my 5 X squat PR is 260, so there you go).
It is also important to take a moment and remind myself that the point of the exercise is not solely to lift more weight - after all, I will max out or do myself serious harm if I am not careful. And there is a finite limit to what I am going to be able to lift (ever).
The backs of my legs are grumbling at me as I write this, obviously planning to rise up against the rest of the body tomorrow morning. Hobbling, Ahoy.
But it is a good reminder: if we fail to celebrate even the small accomplishments (no matter how silly) we quickly learn to stop celebrating anything at all. And there is no quicker road to the death of joy than that.
Congrats! Wow, your legs (and butt I assume lol) must be complaining from lifting all that weight!!! I think it's very important to celebrate or at least pat yourself on the back for all accomplishments, big or small!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rain! Yes, my legs are a little grumpy (and so is the part of my neck/back where the bar was resting). Never thought I could ever do something like this. Kind of satisfying.
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