I feel like Michael Phelps

There's this story about Michael Phelps that I never really *got* till today.

Basically, the swimming Adonis that he is, totally smoked (ooh, bad choice of words, LOL!!) his competition, broke records right and left, won 8 frackin' gold medals, etc... at the end of one of his more spectacular races, he tore off his goggles and tossed them down, majorly skeeved off about, well something.

Was it because he beat his own personal best time? Nope.

Is it that he won the race by an unquestionable margin? Nope.

Is it because he proved, yet again, that he *is* the human equivalent of a merman? Nuh-uh.


(yes, that's him in the forefront)

It's because, get this, his goggles filled with water.

"so, Michael... you just swept the race, how do you feel? Elated? Proud? Ecstatic?"

"Umm... MEH!"

So why would a man who just did something so awesome be SO annoyed?!

Let me tell you why:

I got to the gym today excited it was an 'easy' day... the Workout Of The Day was the Push Press 1-1-1-1-1-1-1.

That translates into 7 sets of 1 rep... the idea behind it isn't to lift 5 pounds 7 times and call it good.* It's about finding your own personal one rep maximum and striving to improve it.

"The best inspiration is not to outdo others,
but to outdo ourselves." - Anonymous

I started out with all the positive expectation in the world. I wrote in the poundage for the last set as a goal - it would be 15# more than the last time I did it, and would be an AMAZING personal record. I pictured it in my head. I OWNED it...

Or at least I thought I did.

Not only did I not make that goal. I didn't finish the workout.

I got to round 6 and my body just said, "Nope."

I took a good rest in between set 5 & 6, was holding the bar, breathing and not only did I have a stray thought of, "Hope my wrist can hold up..." but my arms threatened to fail.



So I reduced the weight.

Not happening.

I reduced it again.

Nope.

It got to where I didn't trust myself to try and lift the empty bar (45#) that I easily moved at the warm up. I stomped my feet a little, re-racked my weights and stormed out.

Oh yeah, and I smacked my nose with the bar on the warm-up lift (on the way up... ::rubs nose:: OW!)

"The point of CF is to get better at life.
Being unable to workout tomorrow because you were pigheaded today
is not in line with our goals." Garddawg

Here's the thing: Set #5 was a personal best of 65#! I've managed 55# but never 65#.

Thing is, I was shooting for 70#.

"Don't place mistakes on your head, their weight may crush you.
Place them under your feet as a platform to your horizons" Trainer_T

Yes, I'm happy I did it once, and I know that 65# WILL be mine next time... more than once! I'm just disappointed because I know I could have done better.

*If you're at the level where 5 pounds IS your personal one rep max... then YOU are a ROCKSTAR! I truly mean that with all my heart!! That means that you have worked your way up through 0-4 pounds and can lift more than you could before.

That ROCKS!

Considering the 4# weights kill me when I do reverse flyes, I totally salute you! (once I can lift my arms again! LOL!!!)