Relaxed at Long Last

I was feeling kind of under the weather (where did THAT expression come from? Aren't we all under the power of the weather?) over the weekend. I know, I am always suffering some kind of maladay - but when you have children, or child in my case, and their friends are always hanging around your house, you are succeptible to everything that goes around. So I didn't train on Friday. I did, however go in to the gym on Saturday. My friend Paul has included me in his doublebodyweight deadlift for reps challenge. He did 20 the other day at 162.5 bodyweight, 325 pounds. I weighed in Saturday at 172.5, down a few pounds from not eating much for a couple of days...if I was going to do it, I could take advantage of "only" having to move 345 lbs. I did a couple of warm ups, but when I loaded the bar to 315 for warm up, I just looked at it and said, no way in H-E- double hockey sticks do I feel like repping today, not for max reps, not for any reps. Reps suck on a normal basis, anyway, but Saturday there was just No Zone for me. So I loaded up to 405 for 3. They were good, but that was pretty much it for deadlifting on Saturday for me.

Last night was legs, and I wasn't planning on squatting, because I had done that two weeks in a row already. The tightness in my legs was very alive, and was actually growing upward along the sides of my legs. Not PAIN, but a very tight discomfort. Starting to get disheartened over the whole matter, I was. I did Nautilus Duo-Squat, but when I loaded up for my heavy set, the stack, my left leg just refused to cooperate because of the discomforting tightness. Have you ever worn a pair of pants that was too tight in the wiatband, then eaten a meal, making your stomach grow and the pants tighter, then go to bend over - very uncomfortable, yes?...kind of the only way I can describe this. I was better doing lighter weight for more reps (ugh - reps).

So anyway, B really stopped and thought about this last night. He had me lay on the bench last night whilst he manipulated the nerve endings in my leg up around the iliac crest. Oh, he used big words and such that I cannot remember. I then jumped (ok, slid) into the whirpool for a bit. AMAZING but true - my legs were finally relaxed. If you had felt them for the past several months, they felt like concrete along the sides, being so tight. I could actually mush them around a bitafter the nerve manipulation ...it is like voodoo magic. So every day, a few times I day, my prescription is to manipulate these nerves in my leg. They are still holding relaxed today - maybe not as perfect as I would like them, but WOW... I am feeling encouraged and enthusiastic again about that 500 raw squat. It is back in my near future.

I'm starting to get excited about the DE Open IronFest and Firm Fitness challenge. I have gotten very good response, almost to the effect that I don't feel the need to market it as hard as I have marketed meets in the past. Fear of TOO MANY copetitors showing up! APT Prowriststraps is once again stepping up to the plate and kindly sponsoring the meet!
http://www.prowriststraps.com/. Alan Thomas is the best! His merchandise is top quality. I am a big fan of the Black Mamba line of wrist and knee wraps. Thank you, Alan!

I was just eating some gummy monkeys, and felt something crunchy inside...just happened to be a big old filling that fell out of my tooth - a big one. Perpetual dental woes.... I guess that will be my excuse for staying away from all of those gooey Christmas sweets!