Deth

Fitness and everything else

Squats For Christmas

Last night, I did get a good night’s sleep. I’m not sure if it was long enough, but I felt okay when I woke up. We ate late last night, and that kept me awake a little longer. I also woke up about 4:00 AM and was just awake, so I got up.

Molly gave me my Christmas gift, a new music player. I got that set up while drinking my coffee and got out into the garage to get my squats in as soon as it was late enough. I wanted to get them in before the holiday funk really set in, and I said, “Fuck it.”

When the empty bar felt heavy, I knew this Christmas squat session was going to be an adventure. The squats felt slow and heavy. The only thing that was going through my mind was, “I don’t know how the hell I will do the working weight sets.”

As I was working my way up through the warm-up sets and lighter working sets, they never felt better or easier, like they often do when I am having a day like this. Still, I kept pushing.

The final set was my five-plus AMRAP at two hundred and sixty pounds. The weight was one that I knew I could make. It was heavy, but not that heavy for me. It used to be near where I’d break down, but that hasn’t been the case for several years now. The squats at this weight didn’t feel good, but they felt doable. The first one was easy and light, but after that rep, they felt more mentally challenging. I had more in the tank but stopped at just five today.

I think the hardest thing about my squats on days like today is the lack of mental focus from the holiday funk. Sure, they were physically tough, but I was fighting my brain too. At the end of the day, I got them done, and that felt good. Any day I can do some squats is good in my book. Squats are my favorite exercise of all!

I relaxed for a while and then decided I wanted to get a WOD in earlier today. I knew I’d be watching the Eagles game later on, plus I wanted to relax a little and partake in an adult beverage while watching them. After a bit of searching, I found and settled with a simple one that was just hanging cleans plus presses on a descending ladder. There were 15 air squats between each round. I went light with the thirty-pound dumbbells today since I wasn’t really feeling it. I got done with the WOD too quickly. Oh well, it did get my heart rate up. Other times I’ve done this particular WOD I’ve gone heavier or used the sandbag. I had also done the extra challenge version with twenty squats instead of fifteen, but I wasn’t wanting all that today. For today, it was more of a do something and just go through the process type of day.