12-18-2012, 06:57 AM
Last night's gym session was instructive:
During my squats, I had a few poor form issues, which cost me a lot of energy. My next exercise was the overhead press. After the first set, I started the timer on my phone and set it down. I was very tired, and did not pay much attention to where I set it. During the second set, I lost a little balance and had to reset my feet. This is while the bar was loaded to 115lbs and overhead. When I brought the bar down, I clipped one of the uprights on the stand with the left side. The right side continued down uncontrolled, smashing my phone.
Because I did not clamp the weights, the right side unloaded it's 35lb plate before the left side landed on the rail. I unloaded the left side, put the bar back on the uprights, reloaded both sides, and continued with the exercise, finishing my sets.
Deadlifts went well. Then I was doing Lying Triceps Extensions, where I lay on the bench, press an ez-curl bar over my chest, and then rotate my elbows and shoulders back to drop the weight down behind my head. During the second set, I managed to hit myself square on the peak of the front of my forehead. I finished both remaining sets without drama.
The edifying part of this whole workout is that neither the crushing of the phone nor the self-headbutt changed a damn thing about my workout. The phone is an insured toy, so I'm not bothered; and the bar hit me in the strongest part of my skull, so I was uninjured. I just took care of business, doing what I had come to the gym to do. I ignored the "WTF" looks I got with the phone crush incident, and I couldn't tell you if anyone noticed the bar hit my head.
Before AM, the phone crushing would have derailed the entire workout, and likely I'd have not completed it. Last night, I just did what I came to do, and these minor annoyances were no cause for distress. Without actual cause to deviate from his plans, Alpha doesn't.
Another interesting point: I was about to type "only my ego was injured" but that's akin to saying that my toenail clippings were injured, because ego injuries don't hurt me now. For those of you who only lurk around here without journaling your progress, epiphanies like this are a great reason to do so. Had I not been journaling my progress, I'd have missed this important detail.
During my squats, I had a few poor form issues, which cost me a lot of energy. My next exercise was the overhead press. After the first set, I started the timer on my phone and set it down. I was very tired, and did not pay much attention to where I set it. During the second set, I lost a little balance and had to reset my feet. This is while the bar was loaded to 115lbs and overhead. When I brought the bar down, I clipped one of the uprights on the stand with the left side. The right side continued down uncontrolled, smashing my phone.
Because I did not clamp the weights, the right side unloaded it's 35lb plate before the left side landed on the rail. I unloaded the left side, put the bar back on the uprights, reloaded both sides, and continued with the exercise, finishing my sets.
Deadlifts went well. Then I was doing Lying Triceps Extensions, where I lay on the bench, press an ez-curl bar over my chest, and then rotate my elbows and shoulders back to drop the weight down behind my head. During the second set, I managed to hit myself square on the peak of the front of my forehead. I finished both remaining sets without drama.
The edifying part of this whole workout is that neither the crushing of the phone nor the self-headbutt changed a damn thing about my workout. The phone is an insured toy, so I'm not bothered; and the bar hit me in the strongest part of my skull, so I was uninjured. I just took care of business, doing what I had come to the gym to do. I ignored the "WTF" looks I got with the phone crush incident, and I couldn't tell you if anyone noticed the bar hit my head.
Before AM, the phone crushing would have derailed the entire workout, and likely I'd have not completed it. Last night, I just did what I came to do, and these minor annoyances were no cause for distress. Without actual cause to deviate from his plans, Alpha doesn't.
Another interesting point: I was about to type "only my ego was injured" but that's akin to saying that my toenail clippings were injured, because ego injuries don't hurt me now. For those of you who only lurk around here without journaling your progress, epiphanies like this are a great reason to do so. Had I not been journaling my progress, I'd have missed this important detail.
Fear is a liar.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -- Ernest Hemingway
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -- Ernest Hemingway
