DoTheEvolution.Me

at some point I’ll write up a more extensive reflection of my last weeks of training, with an ‘after’ picture, and final stats.  But for now, Friday Sprints/Abs complete!  I’m taking the next week off training.  A few bullet points:

• I’ll forever have a strange, weird, and intimate connection with the gym at north boulder rec.  At 6am 2 days a week for the last 14 weeks it was a space I had all to my own.
• Part of me had secretly hoped my last training session would be off the hook and super amazing, etc, etc.  Turns out it was just as hard as usual, lungs hurt, felt tired, crossovers sucked for abs, etc, etc.  So goes training, and life.
• While there’s no doubt my training was *hard*, it in many ways wasn’t.  Setting up for success goes a long way.
• I ended up going the entire 16 weeks sober.
• Totally failed writing my screenplay, and my sitting practice dropped off as well.
• I’m really happy I started in late winter and was able to FINISH in early summer.  Feels good to be headed into this season healthy.
• Going to miss the lovely blonde that takes the step class on saturday mornings.  May go a few more saturdays just for you baby.
• I’ve now done two “12 week training programs” in the last 2 years.  One with a workout partner, one without.  Both have numerous benefits and strengths, as well as weaknesess.
• Big love to Rob McNamura, Shawn Phillips, and “Crazy” Casey Capshaw for their tips, support, and training philosophies.

I like living clean.  I like getting up early.  I like being strong, and  my training has in many ways just begun.

Ahh pull day, my tried and true nemesis.  We’ve never really gotten along or really ‘connected’ with each other, but we still hang once a week.  This morning was a good workout despite not getting enough sleep last night. (turns out eating after 9 keeps me up late!)

I felt weak as hell doing dips today, not sure why, but I think possibly because I engaged with some of the earlier exercises more fully than usual.
Well, 8 last sets of sprints and some ab work tomorrow, then I’m officially done.

Exciting.

First things first, good god was the sauna hot today, though it almost always is on LEG day.

Not sure what the hell happpened, but I wentt in, did my lunges/press/curls/sumosquats/calf raises, and suddenly at the end felt how absolutely wiped I was.  Breathing hard with a nicely elevated heart rate as I went into the sauna, which actually did feel hotter than usual.  That, plus the intensity of my workout, made it a LONG 15 minutes this morning.

Totally worth it though, because that 12 second rush of blood vessels contracted when I stepped out was simply fantastic.

Happy that I crushed my last day of legs.  Felt good, felt strong.  And I hit 171.8 on the scale this morning (though it fluctuates up to 2 pounds day to day depending on my hydration).  So that was exciting too.

This morning I seriously considered skipping.  My first thought was “I’m in my last week, I’ve done well, no one would ever know”.

Then I though “I’m in my last week, I’ve done welll.  Why stop now”?

And off I was to the North Boulder Rec for some sprints and abs.  My first 2 sets were fully badass, I was fast, powerful, and sleek.  Things slowed down a bit after that, but I came back strong for the last few.

Abs were also pretty solid, swiss ball crunches felt good today.  I’m building some actual muscle down there, not much, but I can say its coming slowly but surely.

16 weeks after startinng basecamp I’m not exactly huge or cut, but there is a good deal muscle mass.  And making this routine into a sustainable lifestyle will is going to continue changing  my body for sure.

WED/THURS/FRI left!

Final week.  At this point I’ll say that I’m DEFINITELY excited to take next week off, and the idea of sleeping in is quite lovely to me.  However, I have to admit to myself that I feel better when I’m training than when I’m not.  So while this may officially be the last week of the routine, I’m going to continue on pretty strongly after that.  Life is momentum for me, and the simple act of committing to get up each morning and move heavy weights around has created some in my life and i have no desire to waste all that energy.

Chest was pretty good this morning, dumbbell bench press was quite tough, I was reeeeaaally struggling by the final reps.  Fantastic.  Had a great couple of sets of bicep curls as well, it blows me away how much less weight i’m doing than I used to, but how much more intense they are with proper focus at the proper weight.  No cheating.