Two Roads Diverged in a Weight Room.....

I LOVE lifting.  There's always been some "glitch" in me that makes me want to be stronger and faster than everyone around me.  Now with that being said there are days where the thought of trying to pick up something heavy just doesn't sound very appealing.  This is where Robert Frost's two roads diverge in a wood....you can take the easy road and not lift.  Or you can put on your big girl panties and do work!

Today was one of those days.  I was a little bit tired and A LOT cranky from work.  Joints were feeling stiff, tired, maybe a bit twingy.  Not the worst I've ever felt going into a work out but definitely a little on edge.  So the roads were split....

Road 1 - Sit here in front of the computer, talking the talk.  Blah blah blahhhhing about lifting.
Road 2 - Pony up & lift some heavy shit.

So I pulled out the big girl panties, squeezed my increasingly large ass into them, and decided to skip down Road 2 or die trying.  Of course with being so inspired lately I decided to take it a step further and put up a big goal for the session.  Full clean 90k for 3 reps or get buried underneath it trying.  A few months ago just cleaning 90k for one rep would've seemed lofty and this time I wanted to triple it.  80k for 3, check!  85k for 3, felt a little heavier than I thought but check!  On to the bar 90k goes.....A lot of grunts, screams, yells, and a slight grinder third rep.....CHECK AND DONE!

With the full cleans done for the day it was time to move onto the squats.  Squatting is one of my favorite lifts.  Squatting for 8 reps, maybe not as much.  8 reps feels like an eeeeeeeeeternity under the weight.  Prior to taking my current job I was on a good roll and had squatted 100x8 but haven't gotten anywhere near that recently.  Today my plan was to match that by my last set.  I did one warm up set of 70x4 then got right into it.  90x8, felt like baby weight.  Decided to jump straight to 100.  Knocked out 8 reps no problem.  Went to 105....1 rep 2 rep breath, 3 rep 4 rep 5 rep breath, 6 rep breath, 7 rep breath, 8 rep scream like a banshee and rack it like a champ! Lay on floor waiting for my ass and legs to stop twitching.....

Both lifts were PRs for the reps.  Clean 90x3.  Squat 105x8.  Beastess...mode...complete.

Two roads diverged in a weight room.  I lifted some heavy weight.  And that has made all the difference.....

WTF was I doing for the last 7 years?!!?!?!?!

I've competed in weightlifting for the last 7, almost 8 years.  Prior to that I lifted for sports performance starting at the age of 16 when I was old enough to drive the 40 miles to a suitable gym.  I lifted twice a week and did conditioning twice a week all summer long. I then proceeded to have some of the best sport seasons of my high school career.  In college I did track & field and lifting was a natural part of that training. Only one other female teammate actually enjoyed the lifting and wanted to pick up heavy things. Other than that I lifted with some of the guys in the weight room.

Once I graduated and joined the working world I still hungered for competitive athletics.  As luck would have it a co-worker at the gym (started my adult life as a personal trainer) was competing in weightlifting.  One day I asked her to take me with her and the rest is history...the end.

Now if that were truly the case you'd know who I am and that I accomplished great things in weightlifting.  Only I haven't really accomplished even the meager goals I set out to and in retrospect I think I've accomplished next to nothing over the last 7 years of training.  I'm not saying that my training sucked but well, WTF was I doing for the last 7 years?

In all reality the only thing I accomplished over the last 7 years of training is being EXTREMELY consistent. And by EXTREMELY I mean that I've snatched and clean & jerked and totaled pretty much the same exact weights +/- 3-5kg for the last 7 years. Talk about consistent and talk about plateau.  Why was I content with that?  Who in their right mind would be content with that?  It's like going into the weight room every day and saying, "Hey, I think I'll be mediocre today."  What a horribly awful mindset to have!  I had those goals to lift big weights but never even tried to get there. Sure I went in and lifted but it really seems I never pushed myself to the complete breaking point.  WTF was wrong with me?!?!

Here's the good news though....I have gone BEASTESS!! Now not only do I want to pick up heavy shit (which I've always wanted to do), I actually pick it up.  In the last 3+ months of training, I've managed to hop on the PR train a few times and get PRs in almost every lift I've ever done.  Be it power snatch for triples or split jerks for singles.  My long time nemeses were snatching 70 and clean & jerking 90.  Welllllll, at my last national meet I opened with 74 & 90, not to mention that I've hit lifts bigger than that in training.  Needless to say, I've slayed the 70/90 demons and now that I have I'm so hungry for bigger, faster, stronger that I've completely gone off the deep end!  I just about eat, sleep, breath, and poop weightlifting.

I wish I could 100% say what inspired me to go into the gym and not just say I want bigger lifts but actually attempt bigger weights.  To walk in, lift something heavy, and then add 5k more and see what happens.  I have my hunches on a few things that changed in my life that were part of my inspiration: people, places, things.  I'm just being a little intro/retrospective and wonder why the hell I waited 7 years to become this inspired?!?!

My brother once quoted to me, "A dream not written is only a wish."  Well I'm putting it down here now:
Summer 2012
- Snatch 80k
- Clean 100k
- Jerk 100k
- Squat 137+k (This has been a goal since I started lifting at 16. Squat double body-weight which at the time would equate to around 137k.  Now it's more like 150k.)

By Summer 2016
- Total 200+
- Squat 150+k
- Invite to Olympic Trials

My final parting words are......
Don't be content with mediocre.  Don't go into today to be mediocre. Go into today to do and be great. 

What is Beastess?

What is Beastess?  Ever heard of balls to the wall?  Well since I don't happen to have that particular bit of anatomy I can't really go balls to the wall.  But I can damn well Go Beastess! I can walk into a gym like I own the place.  I can walk onto the platform and decide that I will own whatever weight I put on the bar. And if it isn't heavy enough or hard enough, I'll add 2k, add 5k, add kilos until it IS heavy and it IS hard.  And I'll still rep it out.  Then I'll go on to my next lift and own that lift too.  After the day is done, I'll go home and eat like it's my last meal on earth then eat some more.  And foam roll and stretch like there's no tomorrow.  And then if I'm not beat up and beat down enough, I'll crawl my ass into an ice bath for 15 freezing minutes.  What about tomorrow?  I'll do it again. It's a conscious effort to Go Beastess.  And I will continue to do it until I'm too broken, bloodied, and dying to go on.  Even at the end of it all, I will be the Beastess and I....WILL....ROAR!