No Swim

I packed Monday so full that swimming got squeezed out. The day started with me writing a blog post. Then I dressed, poured coffee, and headed out the door. Climbing into my truck, I found a high gear and headed out of town, south, towards Madison, Mississippi. Remember when the girls and I spend a day shopping in Jackson? Our last stop was somewhere in Madison. There was a Dick's Sporting Goods nearby. So while they were in one store, I did a quick drive to Dick's. 

I was only in there mere minutes, but it was long enough to fall in love. I saw the prettiest thing ever. For the next two weeks, I tried to get my mind off of her but that image of her beauty would not go away. So I plotted to drive down for a rendezvous which is what I did. I walked straight into the store, had to hunt down a sales associate and announced, "I want that red head right there." I got her and headed home. 

She came in three boxes and all the way back my mind was spinning. The whole gym would be rearranged to make room for her. For a long time I have wanted a power rack. I have a half rack, but when we moved to the Hideout, I had to leave my homemade racks behind. 

You can do everything in a half rack that you can do in a full rack. The half racks save space so for my gym the half rack was actually superior. Still my mind never lost the memory of my full racks at the old Plate City, and everyday when I scrolled through Instagram, I looked longingly at the power racks I saw there.

Then an idea hit my brain. The beauty from Madison had something most racks don't. She not only had the standard safety pins of a typical power rack, she had the moveable safety pins of a half rack. Duh! I can get her, and eliminate my current squat rack by setting up the squat bar inside the rack permanently, and benching with the other pins on the outside of the rack. That solves the space problem. Not only that, but I can eliminate my deadlift station by deadlifting inside !!!

When I got home, the first thing I did was get the three boxes out of the truck and into the backyard. Then I ate a quick lunch and headed out to run some errands. John called while I was out and wanted to be late for a swim. I cancelled for the day. I could not leave the red head that long.

Finally back home, I started her assembly. I bench pressed between reading instructions, and placing parts together then doing the bolting thing. On the bench press, I pushed

13 X 100

  8 X 120

  6 X 135

  4 X 140

  4 X 140

  4 X 140

I also did three sets of dips, lateral raises, and corator tuff work. On the rack, I did not finish. There are a couple of pieces that require another set of hands. The instructions say that. I thought about trying it alone, but I knew it would be frustrating, and it was likely I would drip a twenty pound crossmember on my foot injuring myself, maybe even breaking a metatarsal. So I stopped assembly and went for a short shuffle. I did 1.72 miles and called it a day.

Yes, today is the big day. I will post pictures when I get he all together. Thank you, Jesus.