About a month or so ago, I hit a pretty big PR on my push press. It was within a complex of a push press, behind the neck jerk, and then a split jerk. When I hit 295 on this complex, it marked a giant PR for my push press. I was also able to re-rack the weight without dropping it on the blocks.
Neither of those things have happened since. Not anywhere close.
Today was the first time that I came anywhere near my PR on this complex when I hit a struggle-bus 286lbs. Granted, that is still about 97% of my 1RM for the complex, but mentally it still feels defeating for some reason.
In the past, I have felt like once I hit a PR on a specific lift, that I should always be able to come close to that lift at any point moving forward. After all, I have proven to myself that my body is capable of that weight. When I bring this up, naturally the first response is “well, every day is different and there are many factors that go into your training day.” This makes complete and total sense to me and it would also be a caution that I would offer any of our lifters at the gym. Yet that advice is so difficult to apply to me.
About 2 weeks ago, hitting 275 on this complex was hard as hell. In fact, 275 at first felt nearly impossible, yet I was somehow able to put it overhead. I didn’t track anything other than my programming and after this morning it makes me wonder why I am not tracking basic metrics, such as how I am feeling, how sore I am, how much sleep I got, and how on point my nutrition was. In talking with one of the gym owners, he mentioned some metrics that he tracks and how that all plays a factor into how the day went. Looking at the big picture type of concept, or viewing it as a whole, not just a spotlight on the training session itself.
Last night I was up every hour on the hour having to go to the bathroom. At dinner I realized I had about half of the water intake I try to have and forced a lot of water at that point. I also had a shaker bottle of water right before bed, a move that I knew I would regret immediately. Nutrition was point all day, better than it has been in months, but my body was still pretty sore. All of these things play a major role in how the next morning is going to go.
Couple this physical struggle with battling the mentality it takes to continually wake up at 3:45a and push myself harder and harder every day. I told my wife the other day that every morning I wake up at 3:45a is another day closer to the last day that I will wake up at 3:45a to train. Sounds defeating in a way, but it is the truth. I question so often, more so lately, just how much longer I have it in me to wake up early and train hard. I am thankful for the drive that has helped push me to this point and not exactly sure where it stems from. Somewhere in the future will be a point where lifting heavy, especially waking up so early to do it, will not be in the cards. Maybe that thought has been weighing me down more than it should.