Deload Week and Such
“Work hard when you’re working. Rest hard when you’re resting.”
-Coach Grayvold
I think back on a lot of the things our high school coaches use to say to us, and some of the time, like this gem from Coach G., it was spot on. After last Saturday’s push/pull meet, I decided to take a few days off to recharge a bit. I still stretched and walked a few miles with Zeus each day, but I didn’t touch a weight or do any cardio. To be honest, I hate taking days off. I just don’t feel as fired up or as useful during the day when I haven’t challenged myself physically in some way. My 4 AM workouts get me amped for the entire day and change my whole mindset when I’m at the office, driving, or doing whatever. I am still good about maintaining healthy eating even if I’m not training though. It’s very easy to have training and diet linked together. If one goes to hell, the other tends to follow. Fortunately, we can almost always control what kind of food we eat or don’t eat, so diet is something that shouldn’t be compromised.
Doing that small meet last weekend got me so fired up that I signed up for a full powerlifting meet the weekend of April 18-19. It’s been a few years since I stepped on the platform, and I was about 70 pounds heavier when I last did so, so April should be a lot of fun and a good challenge to see what I can do weighing about 220 pounds. This will be the lightest I’ve ever been at a meet. My numbers certainly won’t be spectacular, but they will be the best I have on that day.
I was watching a meet recap video from these guys I follow on YouTube. Someone had commented that the atmosphere at the meet was really cool with the whole crowd cheering for every lift and not even caring how much weight was on the bar. That is the beautiful thing about the sport of powerlifting. How could you ever fault someone for having the guts to put on a singlet, get up in front of a crowd of strangers, and give maximum effort on a weight they may have never done before? When I see someone under the bar straining and giving it their all while the crowd screams and yells, I almost get choked up at the camaraderie, energy, and power of the human spirit. It gets my adrenaline going and makes me want to get under the bar myself.