Ende Neu

BTW, I'm the guy on the left. This was taken at U.S. Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training (NIACT) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in February.

I got the blog title from an album from one of my favorite bands, Einsturzende Neubauten. It means "ending new."

I'm currently on a trial separation from my wife, and I'm thousands of miles away from just about everything and everyone I know. It doesn't matter if we told each other that the playing field is even until I get back and we decide where to go from there. My life is pretty much a mess. Except for work, because in the military, in this place, I had better have my head together. And in the gym, where I always focus my energies on the task ahead: a number, a weight, a sign that the last rep is at least one last push away.

I think on Monday's workout, I pushed too hard. Then I walked in the vest for about an hour and 15 minutes on Tuesday in blistering heat. Then add the other stresses. I felt really edgy and drained. I kept trying to find excuses to just not work out.

I have a mission in all of this. I may just give the December 9th Virtual Meet a shot and get my thousand pound total. The other goal is to do so at 206 lbs: I'm about twenty pounds away from that.

So I dragged myself into the gym, because I don't need more delays. And for me, it's also the one place where I can focus on just one thing. Everything else stays at the door.

My legs and glutes were sore all over (the lunge max and heavy DB deads on Monday saw to that), so I was trying to dodge doing the Pistols (Descent only). So I did the Hammer ISO High Rows for 4 sets of 85 first, instead of that. The 4 sets of 8 of pistols were a grind but once it was over, the rest was Ok. I was almost too leasurely about the workout, but that was fine because I was really relaxed and content. After that:

DB Shoulder Presses (Weights is per dumbbell): 4x8@45 lbs

GHR: 30 reps (sets of 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 reps)

DB Preacher Curls: 4x8@25 lbs

DB Extensions (Tates): 4x8@25 lbs

Intervals on a Treadmill (1.5 Degree incline): 2 intervals of 1 minute at 8.2 MPH and 2 minutes at 3.0 MPH.

I'm not gonna turn this into a personal blog but I just had to put it out there. Because while I'm not always gung ho going into a gym, it's always important for reasons that go beyond pure numbers or strength. And that keeps my head screwed on straight!