The big news today is I was able to overhead press 155 pounds. Yesterday, I was talking about increasing the weight on my straight barbell to 155, mostly to look nice and even. A 45 pound plate then a 2.5 pound plate looks a little silly. The fear for me was if I could do it, I don’t think I’ve ever tried press more than 135 lbs before and before this year I rarely did clean & jerk. It has been my belief that currently I’m the strongest I’ve ever been. With my personal exercise the goal has always been aesthetic, to build well defined muscles and lose fat. I’m much happier having a belly and being strong than only looking good. Now that I know the weight of lifting my grappling dummy isn’t a problem, I’m motivated to figure it out. The struggle is weight distribution, the chest is filled with gravel while the legs are something closer to foam, so the majority of the weight is in one hand and the other is trying to figure out how to handle long legs. It’s fun though, I enjoy picking up heavy things, partly it’s the simplicity of the goal, but theirs a special kind of exhaustion with heavy weights. It could be exhausting to run a fast mile, that takes at least four minutes and requires time to catch my breath. Lifting the heaviest I can means every muscle needs to get on board right now, when the weight is released, everything relaxing and I can fall down. Laying on my back after working out has the best and worst feeling, I’m too tired to move and I don’t want to because those endorphins are hitting different.
Chris' Morning Pages 