Beating Yourself

Testing yourself against others gives you an opportunity for a different experience in competing.When this is done in a team sport, another element is added; taking responsibility for others. When you know that what you do on the sporting field not only has consequences for yourself, but for all your team mates and even your opponents, you can often experience very intense emotions, not just in winning or losing but in almost every moment you fight for your team on the field and at training.

Sometimes though,  team mates, opponents and the conventions of a given sport are just a distraction. Sometimes, all you want to do is lift. Beating an opponent pales in comparison to beating yourself and this is the beauty of weight training. I think it might be unique in the way it reminds you that it isn't important what other people in life are doing, it's what you do that matters.

After Wang Mingjuan had secured the women's Olympic gold medal today, she didn't stop. She came out again and lifted more weight, just to beat herself, the French lifter celebrated with her team after breaking her previous PR a year after giving birth to her first child and while the Madagascan lifter may have finished last in the total, she set PRs in all 3 attempts of the clean and jerk. Looking at the 3, I'm not sure you could tell who was the happiest.

I've had a great 4 months playing soccer but with only 2 games top go, the championship out of reach and a strained abdominal muscle that is preventing me from sprinting properly, weight training, for the first time in a long time, is my focus once again.

Bench: 87.5 x 5 x 5

Squat: 140 x 3 x 5 (Squat now on TM. Will increase volume steadily)

Chins: 15 x 3 x 5

BB Shrugs: 60 x 20, 100 x 2 x 20