It be like that sometimes

Last night I went to the PL club to train because it was my “heavy” day of the week in my training cycle so I wanted good equipment, not the laughable shit one finds in the globo gym. Don’t get me wrong, crappy barbells, non-calibrated plates, benches with no safeties and gym-bro spotters with questionable decision making ability do build character, but beyond a certain weight it’s not wise to tempt fate. I’m arrived at the part of my programing and competition prep when you look at prescribed weight/sets/reps for that day and reflexively begin to question your life choices. If, at some point, you ain’t scared of the weight and doubtful you can do it, are you really powerlifting?

So anyway I rolled into the gym, which was almost empty save one guy that I didn’t know who was doing squats. Solid, I thought, and began light stretches and warm-ups. I dunno, it felt more than a bit sluggish and I had some nagging pain in my left shoulder that persisted. So I switched to the bench and began the process of incrementally adding weight to warm up until I’d arrive at my working set weight. I was going to do my main lift sets and then accessories after that. However, something felt wrong almost immediately. I could feel the weight of the empty bar, which is usually light as a feather. 70kg felt heavier than it should, but I told my self that as I warmed up further I’d hit my stride and it’d get easier. As I was doing my 90kg set I knew something was wrong…it felt way heavier than it should. Normally I don’t even register 90kg. It felt like my body had no ATP, no energy to lift the weights.

Now, I’ve got all of my training sessions mapped out for the next month. I really did not want to mess up my schedule by missing this training and have to move all subsequent trainings around. However, experience has taught me that sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. So I got up, put the plates back on the plate tree and prepared to leave. The dude doing squats looked at me like I was either soft in the head or at least the weakest lifter he’d seen in a long time. Fek it, I thought, he’s young. I knew, of course, that I hadn’t sufficient recovered to engage in a heavy session. So I left and resolved to come back to the next morning to re-do the training.

And return, I did, the next morning. I had had sufficient sleep, had eaten a healthy meal the night before and was well hydrated. Zip de dee do daa, Mister bluebird was on my shoulder and all of that. In that moment, I felt ragingly adequate. I slayed that training session. I went through them reps like a knife through the finest grass-fed buttah. The Rocky theme (you know, from the original movie) played in a loop in my mental soundtrack. What a difference a day truly makes.

My point to you, gentle reader, is that sometimes you’ve got to know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em. This was clearly not a case of me being secretly relieved that I wouldn’t have to train, like a kid getting a reprieve from tuba practice. Powerlifting training is, for me, an ingrained habit and set of goals. If I had tried to “power” through last night’s training I’d have felt like recycled shit and more than likely failed at least some of the sets and reps. That would have truly sabotaged the rest of my training cycle.

So I say unto you; listen to your body in all things. Are you not sleeping well? Are you eating absolute artificial dreck? One of the interesting aspects of engaging in a sport as a 50 something is that your body will give you immediate feedback on the quality of your “inputs”. A question that I’ve pondered and others have asked me is if pushing oneself to lift heavy weights at my age healthy? I believe it is, up to a point. If one is trying to push the envelope and compete then, yeah, it’s outside the “healthy activity” sweet spot. Still, tis better to engage in strength training as one ages than not. Note that I’m not talking about Westside Barbell levels of intensity. At that point, yeah, you might be better sitting on the couch. Otherwise, this will stop or slow decrepitude, which is definitely a good thing.