back to the grind
So yesterday, I made it back to the Y. Since I’ve been a little, shall we say, deliquent, I did double duty and started out with some NOON BALL. I was surprised to find that even after a short [cough cough one month cough cough] hiatus from the gym, I wasn’t winded when I played. I was able to get up and down the court, no problem, and even sprint on occasion. The first game was good, but the second game my team decided it would be cooler to hand the ball over to the other team on just about every possession. I didn’t think it was possible, but we lost like a million to 8, which is a lot if you consider we only play for 15-20 minutes at a time.
I shook off the dejection as fast as I could, because I knew what was in store for me: MAJOR PAIN [and Jaysun].
Of all the amusing things in the world, J was asked to be in a play with Venture Theatre. This is not amusing because I don’t think he can act, it’s amusing because he’s been asked to BULK UP for his part… in the FULL MONTY. I’m laughing a little bit now as I’m typing it. He’s already a big dude, so when he told me he had to “bulk up”, I shook my head, shrugged my shoulders, and prayed to God that I would come out alive on the other side. We’ve decided to start going on a regular schedule— Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8, but for the remainder of this week, we’ve decided to hit it where we could.
So. Arms. Bulking up.
Hello, insecurity.
I’ve always had stronger legs than arms [which is true for most people], but it’s been disproportionate. Yesterday was less about worrying about the guy next to me, eating 45lb plates on the bench like a beach bully, and more about starting again, and finding my consistency.
Maybe someday, I can be that bully 
So we started with free weights [dumbbells], and doing bench press with those. Yesterday’s theme was ”heavy on the weight, low on the reps”. 3 sets of 5, increasing weight as I went, 55 lbs, 60 lbs, 65 lbs. Next was a 3×5 set of rows, same weights, one knee on the bench, pulling the dumbbell up toward my body. 55, 60, 65. In between those sets, with a 25lb weight, and with one knee on the bench, I extended my arm backwards as far as I could go. 25, 25, 30.
Next was onto an incline press with free weights, this time lowering the weight a little bit, 50, 55, 60… all with 5 reps.
Now onto the decline bench press, and we used this funky looking bar that I had never seen before. If you can imagine, it looked like a regular bench bar, but it had a dip in the middle. J told me it was so I could bring the bar down even further, as the dip was about as wide across as my chest. 2 sets, 120 lbs w/5 reps, and 135 w/3 reps… at this point, my arms were buckling.
Finally, we hit the pulley machine and did a series of exercises that had us pull down the bar, and with the weight resistance set at about 120 lbs, let the bar come back up about to my chest and then pushed it back down 5 times. Down, and then back up to the chest =1. 3×5 sets.
Finally, we made it upstairs to tear my gut apart and do a few sets of ab workouts.
Today, I woke up and realized it all worked: my EVERYTHING hurts. At noon, I’m headed over for my leg workout, which means tomorrow I won’t be able to walk, pick anything up, or move. This is why you shouldn’t quit 
Re-starting is always so brutal! [Parker, if you're out there somewhere reading this, this is your chance to beat me a few games while I'm incapacitated]
Also, I bought some good stuff for protein shakes last night. I’m told that they’ll have an adverse effect on my stomach for about the first three days. Great. Just keep your distance maybe
Alright, enough rambling. Time to keep on keepin’ on. Or something cliche like that.
Be well.
p.s. what the hell day am I supposed to call this now? Any suggestions? I don’t know if this should be “Day 22″, or if it’s like when a person quits smoking every other week and this is “Day 1 [or 2, today] all over again?” Thoughts?
p.p.s. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I know I had a few regulars before, and I promise to stay up on this for the remainder of the challenge [length depending on what the community decides] barring major injury, of course. So, you know, if this has been good for you, and you’ve been inspired [I know at least two of you have been coz you told me yourselves] tell your friends and stuff
p.p.p.s. I just wanted to say p.p.p.s. It sounds funny.
