Lose That Sixth Grader

What would Serena Williams do? That’s what I asked myself after finishing my strength training and contemplating postponing my interval training until tomorrow. I thought about her two most recent matches at the Australian Open. In both it seemed that the matches were getting away from her. But she dug down, quieted her mind and dominated! And she wasn’t physically exhausted despite the 100+ °F heat. How could she do that? Years of training and playing her sport. She’s physically and mentally tough. I could see it in her face, she’s a fierce competitor.

So, I thought what would Serena do? And I did my intervals tonight. During the high intensity portions when I wanted to slow down, I thought what would Serena do and I pushed to the end. I could see her face before me. I feel much better now that I’ve done my workout.

My last two workouts left me so sore that I haven’t worked out since Sunday 24 January 2009. My schedule called for me to work out Wednesday but I was still too sore. The soreness had eased up to the point where I could have worked out Thursday and gotten a decent one in, but I had so much to do that night that I skipped it.

So tonight I did two supersets instead of the called for 3.  Also, I stopped a couple reps short of absolute failure. If I recall correctly, in the system I’m using I should stop short of failure anyway. I’ll have to look that up and confirm.

I was able to do the exercises I couldn’t do before. I had to modify them a bit. For example on the 1-leg squats I held the doorknob and lowered myself down to a chair in order to maintain my balance and overcome any fear of falling or collapsing to the ground. And guess what, the method I devised was very similar to what someone else came up with as a way of troubleshooting lack of strength for this exercise. I didn’t do exactly as he described but my method was similar.

I actually did the 1-leg reaching lunges, too! I did them facing my bed and reached out towards the bed giving myself the confidence that I could catch myself without falling on my face. So, that’s about it people. I did basically the same thing as outlined before, but only 2 sets and with slightly reduced reps. I feel great. I almost forgot to stretch. I’m going to do that now so I can watch The The Clone Wars with my sons.

Oh, I’m going to do another 24 hour fast. I ate well today. My wife didn’t cook tonight and I’ve had leftovers a few times already this week. Seems like as good a night as any to begin a fast. This is my second one of the week. All in all, I think Serena would be proud of me.