aggression = ascension

I couldn't sleep last night thinking about my bench press this morning. After some good momentum two weeks ago, I got my butt kicked last Monday due to alcohol poisoning. It wasn't that unexpected, but I hate going backwards. I drank no booze this week except for a few beers Friday and Saturday. Even this was seriously moderated. (It should be noted here that this in itself is some kind of record for me.) When I got up this morning I was optimistic, but felt tired. Here's how the "working" sets went up:

225 x 5
275 x 5
295 x 5
315 x 5
335 x 5

I killed my best shirted one rep max five times. I'll be traveling the second half of this week and the first half of next, so next week will be a wash. I'm gunning for 350 x 5 when I get back. I'm pretty sure if I can lay down that kind of base, I'll be on track to hit 405 by the end of the year.

God allowing we'll have a contract on our house today. If that comes through, I'll be able to nail down closing dates and plan a bit better for a climbing trip. Hopefully we can still pull something together in May.

I Poo

I had myself a nice little gym session this morning. Shredded the old guns, I did. Today was the first day that I started to see some real improvement in the new crew. Not that anyone was significantly stronger than they were three weeks ago when we started, but everyone was pushing themselves. There was even a glimmer of competition. If we can keep that up, its going to be a blast-ee and some guys are going to get man-strong. As for myself, I've decided that a 400lb raw bench is within reach. I know I can pull 500 off the ground easily if I would just focus on it a bit. That gives me a 900 lb base in two lifts. I'm working my squat back up, but I'm doing it very slowly. I'm really focusing on perfect form in my squat. It's going to take a little time to put any big numbers up on that lift, but I've got time. As it turns out, turning my attention away from competition and focusing on lifting is making me a stronger human. And its more fun. And people actually want to work out with me. Go figure.

Never leave a plunger in a blind man's potty

So! We're less than twenty-four hours from our annual trip to Muenster, TX for our Beer and Bike fest. Also, I think I got my house sold at lunch today. This would be very good. Apparently, a newspaper ad and a cheesey web site are better than the typical realtor around this place. Check this out: www.lewis-house.com

Viva! la Red River! (or something like that)