Friday, September 4, 2009

It looked so benign on paper

Here is last night's workout:

Bulgarian Split Squats: 4x9, 150 seconds rest
Walking Lunges, 8x3, 30 seconds rest
Single leg Romanian deadlifts: 4x6, 30 seconds rest after each leg
Lateral squats: 4x4, 60 seconds rest

This was a leg day with no barbells. How hard could it be?

On Monday, I'd done front squats, back squats and deadlifts in one workout. This had to be way easier. Or so I thought.

For the BSSs, I used 2x30# dumbbells. The weight was perfect for that number of reps and I just barely got through the last set. Hard, but not too bad so far.

Then the lunges. I used 2x50# DBs. The rest interval seemed to last about 10 seconds at first, and 5 seconds by the later sets. Suddenly, I was soaked with sweat.

On to the single leg RDLs. I used 2x40# DBs for these. I have to be a little bit careful with any type of RDL these days. They really stress my left hamstring injury and I don't want to injure it any more than it's already hurt. If I was completely healthy, I would have used at least 50# DBs for this lift. As I worked through this set, I started to feel the accumulated effects of the workout. This wasn't as easy as it looked.

Finally, one lift to go. To be honest, I really dislike lateral squats. It's a lift that nobody else does and they look really dorky. I was using a single 70# DB last night, held at chest level in two hands to start. Then, I lift a leg high to make sure I get the hip to "open up" as I step to the side, dropping to a squat with my weight on the extended leg. Then, back to the middle position and repeat on the other leg. Four sets of four. By the time I was done, I was completely soaked with sweat. I just sat on a bench for five minutes, recovering and toweling off, before I grabbed my bag and headed home to cook dinner.

I'm sore today.

Tonight I'll do an upper body workout after work. Tomorrow, I won't get to run with my wife, so I'll do 8 miles on my own. My wife, son and daughter are all racing a 5K tomorrow morning, and somebody has to go to the farmers market. So, I'll do the shopping and then run on my own while the rest of the family races.

I'm really proud of my son, who volunteered to run with his younger sister, so my wife can actually race rather than run with my daughter.

I spent some time working on open and power chords with the guitar last night. I was trying to play some signature riffs from well-known songs. Some of the songs I worked on were Ironman, Jenny (867-5309), and Maggie May. Ironman was the only song that I got down so that my wife recognized it. And even there, I got the first five notes down, but the four 16th notes to start the second measure were a struggle.

As I was practicing last night, I was thinking about Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers". I kept thinking about the Beatles and Gladwell's magical 10,000 hour mark to achieve excellence in a discipline. If I practiced for an hour a day, every day, it would take me until I'm 74 to be an excellent guitar player. But, if I don't practice, I'll eventually be 74 anyway (or dead) and I won't be any better than I am now. I may as well keep going.

Five days until my PRP treatment.

No comments: