Friday’s Competitive Edge

Logging my workouts and seeing the progress is a huge morale booster especially on a day like Friday.  I always get wrapped up at work with a million things and the weekend is knocking on the door so my head is never focused.  That is….until this workout plan….shoulders, triceps and calves!  An odd combination but it seems to bring out the best in me.  My training partner and I play the typical game of ‘Who’s going first?’ on a day like this.  You never want to go first…it gives the second guy a chance to squeeze out one more rep or to add that extra 10 pounds just to prove who is stronger.  Really ticks me off!  Well I didn’t go first today and it pushed me to go after weights I’ve never done before.  I’ll get to that later…

Eating:

Meal 1:  6 eggs, 4 pieces of toast, 2 turkey sausages

Meal 2:  50g protein shake, LBAs, apple

Meal 3:  Protein bar, 1 cup oatmeal, 3 spoons of natty peanut butter

Meal 4:  50g protein shake, LBAs, apple

Meal 5:  Stir-Fry (Chicken, green veggies, small amount of stir fry sauce) and brown rice…couple glasses of wine (It was a Friday!)

Workout:

Smith Machine Overhead Press:  4x15,10, 8, 6

DB Lateral Raises:  3x15, 10, 6

Smith Machine Upright Row:  2x12

DB Skullcrushers:  3x15, 12, 6

Standing Calf Raises:  3x15

So what happened with shoulders?  In trying to lift heavy each week you feel strain and tension on the muscle that you are not used to feeling.  It’s more weight than you’ve ever done and you think back to the week before when you thought that weight was heavy.  It’s that split second when you un-rack a weight and think ‘Damn that’s heavy!’  On a good day it feels light and easy and on a bad day you begin doubting yourself as soon as it’s in your hands.  With the OH Press on the Smith Machine I went through the first 3 sets focused on the tension, trying to get the stretch out of each rep, and feeling the muscle fire as I drove it back up.  Last week I had maxed out my last set at 275 and remembered feeling good.  Set 1….105lbs (first set is always super easy).  Set 2…155lbs.  Set 3….225.  I was adding up the weight to get to 285 for the fourth set, but knew I needed more if 275 was easy last week.  My lifting buddy did 245 for his final set, so I was already ahead of him.  It’s Friday, I felt good…why not go as high as I think I can….and suddenly 305 popped in my head!   Why not?  Worst case the spotter has to step in.  As I un-racked the weight I felt the strain and didn’t doubt myself.  I focused on one spot and began pressing the weight.  I got 5 out of the 6 reps with no assistance.  The final rep I paused for a quick second at the bottom and lost focus.  That was a 30 pound gain and completely against my plan of adding 10 pounds a week.  On week one of this program my final set was at 215!  Huge gains!  It was just what I needed to send me into the weekend.