Thursday, February 11, 2010

Workout + Laziness = Pain

Ya'll know that I like to lift weights. I like being 230 lbs, just slightly larger than the average guy. But sometimes when I'm in the basement throwing weights around I just want to be done with it. Usually there's a game on that I want to watch or I'm nearing the end time of a food special at the corner bar.

Last week Wednesday was one of those days. I had some awesome "picks" on the college basketball games and wanted to watch them in style, beer and cigarette in hand. I had finished the wide grip chin ups, underhand chin ups and overhand chin ups. I could already feel my back muscles were getting tight with fatigue. I usually do my rowing exercises with a hand and a knee on the bench while pulling a 90 lb dumbbell up and down (see diagram #1). In this case three sets starts to feel like six doing each arm individually. I wanted to get done sooner so I threw two 45 lb plates on the bar to do bent over rows (see diagram #2). Everything seemed to go ok and I was done in a jiffy.

Two days later I could hardly raise my arm above my shoulder. Four days later, instead of doing shoulder presses with 60 lb dumbbells I was struggling with 20 pounders. Nine days later and it still pains me to hold a phone to my head when I need two hands on the computer. I don't know what I pulled but I'm starting to think I should get it checked out, and I absolutely hate going to see a doctor or chiropractor.

Lesson learned, though: don't try to cheat on your workout or you will pay for it later.

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