Week 2: Finding Rhythm

Weight:  218.  Starting Weight:  222.

My meals and and training stayed the same this week.  By now I was gaining some efficiency on cooking food and staying ahead of my schedule.  Nothing stresses me out more than looking in the fridge and realizing I am out of chicken or eggs or veggies or anything else I might need.

At the gym I realized my new annoyance.  Sizing up others!  When I first started lifting 7 or 8 years ago I always would compare my weights to the guy next to me.  If it was less, I felt inferior.  If it was more, I felt a small sense of success.  If the guy was bigger than me…then that only multiplied the sense of either failure or success.  Then a couple of years ago I was lifting with a regular partner and we would battle over who could lift more…no matter what the exercise.  It was a pissing match to be 5-10 pounds more than each other.  I would sacrifice speed of the rep or proper form as long as I could do more.  As I was training for my first competition, the guys in the gym would make comments about my weights.  ‘Is that all you got?’  ‘All those muscles and you can only lift xx pounds?’  Sure it fired me up.  But then I realized that now I was the one at the gym that others were trying to beat. 

It didn’t get to me until I switched to doing high reps.  Five sets of 25.  People expect you to do the same weight at this level as you do when you are doing a set of 6 or 8 reps.  You can’t.  It’s usually significantly less and for good reason.  There are other factors that influence the amount of weight you push or pull.  Maybe I did chest two days ago and my shoulder day is going to be impacted from fatigue.  Maybe I am focusing on slowing down my reps versus trying to rush through my time in the gym.  Rest periods in between sets.  The food I ate before the gym.  The amount of sleep I got the night before.  The placement of an exercise in my day…whether I do it first or last.  ALL of these and several other factors impact the load I put on the machine. 

The load is not about beating the guy next to me.  It’s about understanding all of the factors above, finding a weight that matches my goals, and pushing myself to squeeze out each rep.  I’m focusing on myself and my goals.  At the end of the day, I’ve been guilty of measuring myself by the guy next to me.  It helps motivate me, as I’m sure it does others.  But in the end, my progress from one day at the gym to the next is all about me.  Go focus on yourself!