De-load

The new year has started with a whimper instead of a bang and that's alright with me. I peaked at the very end/beginning of the year and am now in the de-loading phase with the weights and the recovery phase in the water. Hopefully I will peak in time for the Senior Olympics and Chicot Challenge in terms of strength, speed, and endurance. More about that in a later post. 

This is the week that is super hard to train in because of my work schedule. Consequently, planning a downturn in training to coincide with my extra hours on the job has taken a huge amount of stress and fretting from me. Wise choice. It is now Thursday morning and I have swum once (nota bena: I have swum, never I have swam!!!!) and lifted weights once. Today I need to lift again and swim. That will be a bit busy. Although I don't plan to swim long or far, to work all day and do both while still trying to get will is a bit much. Last night Trevor and I benched. I did

12 X 100
7 X 135
7 X 135
7 X 135

Notice the fall off in strength. A couple of weeks ago I did 3 X 10 X 140. I also had confirmed during this workout that I need two full warm up sets. It didn't feel right going straight to 135 after the one set at 100. Then we did some inclines. I pressed

13 X 95
10 X 105

Later I did a set of dumbbell inclines (7 X 35) and some flys. The flys are something my shoulder doesn't like so I went very light. I think I need to make a commitment to doing them like I did with the flat bench and later the incline bench. The shoulder didn't like them at first either, but got better over time with the work.

Trevor is gungho over a strong man contest he has signed up for and is training really heavy. This is in Little Rock during the month of February. It should be a learning experience for us both although I will only spectate, cheer on Trevor, and try to support him. Thank you, Lord, for a good week thus far.