Commit!

I'm still recovering from my trip: it's impossible to avoid gluten when away from home, especially while on a multi-stage trip.  I didn't eat anything that had intentional gluten in it, but it sticks around on stuff like cookware and so forth.  I had to replace some of mine, but can't expect other people to do that! I've had good luck bringing my own cookware and J-cloth on an extended trip before, but it wasn't feasible this time.  Hence, ye olde colitis.  It's not bad, I've lived most of my life with it, but there are low moments.  I got night sweats last night and a run just wasn't in the cards this morning.  Plus the weather here still blows: the low was 24C.  Coupled with high humidity, that's too steamy even without inflammation.

And the dog was sleepy this morning too.

Wah wah wah, so I figured not running would save more juice for leg day!

warm up: clean
front squats (5X)
calf raises (5X)
goblet squats (5X)
deadlifts (5X)
lunges (5X)
clamshells (15X)
pushups (15X)
situps (25X)

I forgot the lunges last time.  It was an honest omission, even though I dislike lunges.  Even after I figured out the best back foot positioning, the exercise has never felt fun.  It doesn't feel pointless, more like dull and uncomfortable.  There isn't enough pow in it to fire things up, but it's not relaxing either like clamshells.  An unhappy medium.

Anyway, I put the lunges back in, same place as last time, I think: right after deadlifts.  For a very good (and, I got to admit, clever) reason: the weight becomes helium in comparision.  Yeah!  After whatever I do on the DLs, less than half of that on the lunges feels like nothing.

Especially after today's milestone.  I was hoping to do it before my trip, but that didn't pan out, and then I'd assumed that I would take longer to get back into shape, but the weights have been going well, and then I figured I would take just a week or two, and then, during the last set today, I figured, hey, why not?  Just one rep.  And then, I got into the swing of it and did two more.  What am I talking about here?  Deadlifting more than I weigh.

I've lifted more than my own weight numerous times before, last time was a full 50 litre keg, but just maybe a foot up.  And I've done it on machines.  None of that counts.  Today was the first time I've done it with a legit free weight lift.  It was a massive high.  It was something that I was a bit scared of, but now the door's open.

If I use a one rep max calculator, I'm now at a novice standard.  Yeah!

And the deadlift is feeling more concrete in general.  I'm starting to get that drive through the heels.  I've noticed that, with other exercises as well, more weight clarifies certain aspects.  Stuff like proper breathing and form and impetus become necessary.