Deth

This morning I slept in. I originally woke up about four o’clock but was able to go back to sleep. I didn’t wake up until just after six o’clock. It felt great to sleep in. I have no idea why, but I have been waking up extra early. I’ve always been one to wake up early, but this has been a longer time without a later day mixed in.

My hand wasn’t feeling sensitive at all this morning, so I decided I would give my bench press a try. Where the sore was, it shouldn’t have been too affected by the bar, apart from squeezing it. It’s not as if the pressure of the weight would have been there.

It was a great feeling to be under the bar. Even better, as I anticipated, the weight of the bar wasn’t pressing down on the healing sore. I would have noticed it with the empty bar warm-up set. I felt nothing out of the ordinary. As a precaution, I took longer between each of the sets as I warmed up, but nothing too excessive. I also made it a point to look at the spot on my palm to make sure I wasn’t tearing it between sets and feeling for it. There was nothing out of the ordinary, so I kept going.

The final AMRAP set for me today was five plus at a modest hundred and fifty-five pounds. That working set felt surprisingly easy and, again, was not affecting the sore spot. I wound up stopping at ten reps, but I did feel that I could have kept going. They were all quick and explosive reps of bench press, too.

All was well with my hand, so as I was putting away the plates, I started considering getting a WOD in this morning while I was at it and having the ambition to do so. I debated and decided that it was time to forgo the body weight type of stuff and test a workout that required some grip. Of course, I’d go lighter than normal and want one with lower reps.

It turned out that today’s SHIFT workout was just what I was looking for. There were only air squats and kettlebell swings for the movements in the WOD. Only eight swings at a time were programmed into the workout. They called for overhead swings, which are dumb enough that I don’t force them, but if they happen, it happens. Today, it was happening. Let’s be real here, though. I was only using the sixteen kilogram kettlebell which is half the weight of the thirty-two kilogram one that I use most of the time. Of course, they were mostly overhead. The important thing is that it never really affected my hand. Kettlebell swings are probably one of the most grip-intensive things that hit that torn spot more than anything else.

My hand was fine throughout and after the workout, so that’s a big win. It felt good to get my heart rate up and play with a little weight. It was not as intense as it would have been if I used my typical weight, but it made sense for today’s goal. The WOD was a good one. Short, simple, and sprinting with only four minutes of work would be the best way to describe it. Simple but effective.

Later on, I did another WOD with the dumbbells. I used the very light twenty-pound dumbbells, but it was more about seeing how my hand felt and seeing if it tore back open again. It was just hanging power cleans (so curls) and presses with lunges between the rounds. My hand felt fine through the WOD and didn’t rip back open. I didn’t think it would, but stranger things have happened. If I am in the mood to use the dumbbells for a WOD tomorrow, I will use heavier ones in that workout. I will try one with heavier weights.

Music for today was Obscura