Return to Strength

"I've grown through this pain

Too late for apologies.

Resistance--return to strength."

--Terror, "Return to Strength"

Today was my first day back in the garage after a two and a half week vacation, so I had to do something involving weight. I chose the "CrossFit total", a protocol involving three of the major compound movements: back squat, shoulder press, and deadlift.

It's been awhile since I've done this particular workout, so I flipped through my old training log to find a previous performance I could use as a benchmark. Ironically, the last record I could find was four years ago to the day (August 30, 2007)! How weird is that????

Things went well. I was able to shoulder press significantly more than I could four years ago. My attempts at nutrition are little different now, and back then I had an evolving shoulder injury that would eventually lead to shots on two separate occasions (ouch).

On a side note, I found that training logs are pretty important. When I was much younger I used to laugh at dudes in the gym who would write down how many curls they did. Now I am the one writing things down. (I'm positive that someone somewhere is laughing at me). Anyway, it only makes sense. How else can you assess your performance and progress?

Also today I return to classes here at NDSU--my last one. So getting back into the garage helps me get back in the routine. I may not necessarily be able to hang with scalars, vectors and matrix functions, but I can at least attempt to move that barbell.