Monkey Blog

When I first started lifting I can distinctly remember looking at several BodySpace profiles and just being completely baffled.  You see over and over people saying that they’re addicted to lifting, can’t wait to get back to the gym, can’t imagine not lifting, etc.  Lifting sucks SO bad when you first start out.  I had a huge phobia and intimidation factor I had to overcome just to force myself to walk through the front door of a gym.  Then I felt awkward and self conscious because I had no idea what I was doing (BTW, thank goodness I had an awesome personal trainer to teach me so much).  Then I had to get used to not only huge changes in my diet, but also eating more that I ever had (not to mention eating often).  And the soreness.  Oh my goodness.  After my first leg day I could barely walk down stairs two days later.  It was about two weeks of intense soreness.  When I would read people saying that they were addicted to lifting I would think to myself “Are these people mentally ill?”

I’m not even sure when it happened, but I’m a part of the loony bin now.  I had arm day on Monday and I spent the whole freaking day looking forward to it.  I ended up busting out more chin-ups than I ever have done.  The bar is really high up (for a shorty like me) and instead of jumping up and grabbing it like  I usually do I stood on my tippy toes, grabbed as much as I could, and pulled myself up.  That felt so awesome.  No way I could have done that a few months ago.  I had a crazy arm pump going on when I left.  I felt so wiped out but also so GOOD.  I was ready to turn around and drive back for some more.

Today was back/shoulders.  I was doing military presses and really pushing myself hard.  At one point with the heaviest weight I used I was holding the barbell over my head, I had a great pump going on, and I when I looked in the mirror all I could think was “This is so awesome!”

So I think it’s clear that I’m an addict now.

But I still think people who enjoy leg day are nuts. 

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 12:06 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.