100th Post and a Reality Check

This is my 100th blog post! I am pretty excited about that, as when I started this I wasn't sure if it was something I would be interested/able to keep up with, or that I would find helpful at all in my training. I'm happy to say that I have really enjoyed having this space to come to to record successes and failures and struggles and generally vent about all the stuff that tumbles around in my head but I don't often have a venue to voice. So thank for reading all my ramblings, I hope to keep it up for another 100 posts!

That said, the first 10 or so of those 100 posts will be coming a bit slower than usual. In about 10 weeks I will be taking my PT Boards, the final hurdle to becoming an actual, real, licensed, able-to-practice-independently physical therapist. Preparing for Boards involves a shit-ton of studying, and between work and training I am running seriously short on time. My goal for the next 10 weeks is to post here once a week or so, but if it's quieter than usual the reason is that I am buried under a mountain of review material and probably completely freaking out about (re-)learning it all in time for the 5-hour, 250-question test marathon I'll be undertaking on January 29th.

I know that during the next 10 weeks, training will continue to be a welcome break from regular life and a much-needed source of stress relief. Today was an excellent example of that as I have been feeling a bit antsy and unsettled in my life for the past few days or so, and have been less than 100% adherent to my nutrition plan and just generally feeling off. Getting into the gym and deadlifting was, as always, a grounding experience. I've been ending each session recently with 5 minutes of yoga stretching, and really enjoying these 5 minutes as I generally just feel a tremendous sense of gratitude that I am able to train so intensely and that my body is willing to put up with it. I feel very fortunate, and I think that gratitude was helpful to me today to get me out of my funk.

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Training today:

Warmup: foam rolling and meathead mobility

Deadlift Warm-up: 135#x5, 5; 165#x5; 187#x5

Conventional Deadlift (explosive training): 199#x2repsx6sets

Deficit Deadlift: 182#x6repsx3 sets

Kettlebell Swings: 24kgx25,25,20,15,15 (I made the jump from the 20kg bell to the 24kg bell this week and am definitely feeling it)

1A) Walking Lunges 30#DB/eachx4setsx10reps

1B) Goodmornings 110#x4setsx10reps

2A) Wide-Grip Seated Rows 120#x8,8; 130#x8,8

2B) Farmer Carries 60#DB/eachx30secondsx3

Cooldown: 5 minutes yoga