Last week I wrapped up one of the best weeks of training in recent memory. Nothing really stands out in terms of a big PR, but overall, it just felt amazing. When I clicked on “complete week” in the Juggernaut app, I had a great sense of accomplishment. Having access to all of this new equipment has entirely changed my mindset and focus. I once again feel ready to push the weights when and where I can. I am not yet to the point where I feel confident enough to signup for a competition, but just getting my head in the right place has done wonders for me.
Most notable was the workout from Saturday which primarily centered around deadlifts and pause high bar back squats. The program called for a 4RM on deadlift followed by some high bar back squats. In the past, I would have backed off of both of these, or pushed one but not both. Given how my deadlifts have felt lately, I was shooting for 419×4 given that I pulled 397×4 for working sets earlier in the week. There is a part of me that is depressed thinking how low those numbers have fallen, but this is just where I am at. I feel as if I was trying to rebuild for so long but ended up backsliding. Now I am slowly climbing back up the hill and hoping this momentum continues.
In the past months, I would have skipped the back squats or gone much lighter. Usually, I am running out of time as I have to coach lifting class on Saturday mornings. On Saturday, I had the time so I got to focus. As with my deadlift, the pause back squat numbers are nowhere near what I am used to, but hitting 315 was more than I have done in a long time. And it felt great! Say whatever you want, but the clanking of the plates is also therapy. I just love that sound.
I have also started to notice more of a change in my physical appearance. My nutrition over the past few weeks hasn’t been ideal and it has made me wonder what changes I would be seeing if I was more diligent with what I eat. What is strange is that it isn’t bad, as in eating fast food or crap. I am undereating. There are so many days when I am just not hungry at all. I know that I need to be eating more but I get busy and just don’t eat. But I am doing so much physical activity that I need to be taking in a lot more calories. I am typically running about 1200+ intensity minutes each week. It would be different if I were just lifting in the mornings, but I’m not. I don’t feel burned out or anything along those lines, but when I am done with a tough bike ride, I just don’t feel like eating anything hot.
This week, I wrote out a meal plan to follow and wrote some times down as well. I lowered the calorie intake just a notch so that I can start seeing a drop on the scale as I would like to lose a few more pounds, but not a lot. I have been really happy with how I look and feel and have just forgotten about the scale. My clothes fit good and I am able to do what I want physically. I tried to take an honest look at my day and figure out where I could better schedule meals, healthier meals, so that I get in the calories that I need without the meals being stacked up against my workouts. I like the plan that I have come up with and already have a lot of the meal prep type work done and out of the way.
