Friday's frightfully painful calves

I arrived into to the gym today with a great sense of energy, but it lasted for around 45 minutes and then it was gone. Abandonment; just when I needed it. It ended up being one of those sessions that you have to grind through and see it out so you can look yourself in the mirror. Sometimes the lighter sessions are the toughest to get through and they require the most mental discipline. I did not have enough of that focus tonight I am afraid.

My calves were particularly sore from the squatting on Wednesday and it was not a muscular DOMS pain, but rather a pain I get because of my leverages and squatting style. When I am squatting a lot, the bottom of my calves get very painful. Every time I cleaned or squatted tonight, it was quite unpleasant.

I still had a good session though; here is what I did:

Jerk, back and bar warm up.

Snatch--1x2@50, 50, 70, 80 1x1@90, 100

Clean into Jerk--1x1@70, 70, 90, 100, 110

Back Squat--1x2@100, 130, 145 6x2@80%
These squats felt harder than the 6 by 6 with the same weight. This shows just how strong--or weak--the mind can be! I had not prepared myself for the squats at all and was in no way as hard on myself as I should have been. I was a bit soft really. I will learn from this and prepare accordingly next week.

Have a look at the video below. Amy, one of the ladies that ag trains is shown lifting with a ridiculous amount of power. If only she took up weightlifting as her full time sport! Herself and the other ladies Zag coaches are fantastic athletes and more importantly, they have a voracious work rate and are incredibly disciplined athletes.



Here is the best tribute I have ever seen on Muhammad Ali. The man was a genius: