"Go to your f***ing crazy place"

These are the words of wisdom coach, John gave me tonight for when I deadlift crazy amounts of weight in the future. I have to "mentally find my crazy place. Get angry! Say the F word." See... now this is where lifting with huge dudes is just weird... Find my crazy place...?

This all came up when my lifting buddy, Fiona and I were talking to him about an October goal. We're all being encouraged to write down an October goal in my gym... John gave us a goal of deadlifting 215lbs by the end of the month. Tonight we were supposed to do 195lbs for 1 rep.... it turned into a 200lb PR!!

I've attached two videos because I want my family to see me do what I'm doing, I'm not quite sure you know exactly what I've gotten myself into... Before you watch this I must point out...

• I had never in my LIFE lifted this much weight, until tonight.

• The motivation and excitement from my coach and my lifting peers make an incredible difference in my confidence to lift such ridiculous weight (as you can hear in the background).

•  I have also never seen myself lift (there are no mirrors in the gym) and I've watched this several times and can't stop smiling... It was such a huge accomplishment after starting 3 months ago lifting just 125lbs...

Here it is - - me deadlifting.... Dad, I can lift you off the ground, I think...

1st video is 195lbs, John thought this looked too easy and you can hear his "whoa" in the background... haha!

So he thought I should go for 200lbs.... : ))

So This Happened...

Aside from the fact I haven't written on this thing for like....6 months. I wanted to document a few amazing feats that happened tonight.

First accomplishment: I started a 12 week strength training program at my gym back in July. Today was the LAST day of that program. I've seen some pretty awesome results physically and on paper! The program was derived from Mark Ripetoes Starting Strength. My trainer/coach is certified under his lifting standards (which I really don't want to explain at the moment :) Maybe I'll "blog" about it in a few days. It's basically a very simple technique in barbell training. I go twice a week and do squats and bench press one day and overhead press and deadlift the next.
Just to break it down.... this is how I started and ended my program....

Week 1
Squat: 105lbs
Bench Press: 75lbs
Overhead Press: 55 lbs
Deadlift: 125lbs

Week 12
Squat: 133lbs
Bench Press: 82lbs
Overhead Press: 64lbs
Deadlift: 180lbs !!

This is so crazy to me. One, because I never thought I'd be able to squat a small adult or deadlift a grown man (figuratively speaking :) My trainer has given me some really great coaching and advice and he's damn proud of me! It makes me feel great to have committed to something that was new and foreign to me which has given me physical strength I've probably never had, not even as a gymnast... My trainer told me tonight I was his "poster child example" for women who don't lift because they think they'll get big and bulky. I really have opinions on this but won't get into it... I mean I do worry sometimes that I will look way too muscular, but it hasn't happened, I won't let it : ) I'm just getting stronger... which leads me to my next accomplishment.

Second accomplishment: This happened tonight, it was a celebration in disguise for the completion of my 12 week program and totally unexpected....
I want to do a body weight pull-up, who doesn't, right?! Well, my trainer is switching my lifting program up and as we were talking about goals, I told him... "My goal before this year is over... to do a pull-up!" He says,"You can do one now! Go do it!" I jumped up and tried one and did it with no struggle. It honestly surprised the SH!T out of me.... I have been wanting to do that for soooo long!

On a side note...This week has marked 2 years since Dave passed away, I've been thinking of him often and I really felt him with me tonight. Now that I think about it... that pull-up was way too easy. I think he just may have been there spotting me.... ; ) XO