Dorian thinks I can't read - my top 3 favorite moments during Week Two

I just have trouble with, you know, reading.

Just in case you were feeling like you could never hope to attain my admittedly stellar social skills, I am here to assure you it is much easier than it seems.

Example: being memorable to new people. This is how you do it.



Trainer at Lifetime: Hey. I've seen you around. What's your name?
Kelly: I'm Kelly.
*trainer sticks out his hand to shake mine* *I immediately start to worry about my palm sweat* *but remember I should be polite and continue with my part of this introduction* *but am too preoccupied with worry over palm sweat as I shake his hand and gaze at his name tag to make any sense of the letters there*
Kelly: And what's your name?
Trainer: *sees me looking at his name tag as I ask* *looks down in confusion at the tag* Uh, I'm Dorian. I didn't know if my name tag was upside down or something.
Kelly: No, it's fine. I guess I just have trouble with, you know, reading.
Dorian: *thinks I'm serious* *has now cataloged me as "The Girl Who Can't Read* *awkward tension ensues as I wonder how much more awkward it would be if I stammered out, "No. I can totally read. I was just worried about my sweaty palms and couldn't focus on the letters in your name."* *wisely decide I'd rather be "The Girl Who Can't Read" than "The SWEATY PALMS Girl" and stay quiet*

Nailed it again.


Week two of my new strength training plan has been hella fun. It's almost better than the first week because now I know what to expect. I've seen gains on both my bench and my deadlift, and survived a last minute trip to Chicago without my workouts suffering. It took some slight rearranging, but with Friday as a holiday and Brian home from work it really freed up time for me to fit it all in.

Here are my favorite moments in Week Two.

1. Partying with the Sara(h)'s

On Wednesday I deadlifted with new Sara. (This is Sara with no "H".) She is one of my powerlifting buddies. It is really great to lift with someone so much stronger than me because it changes my perspective about my own weights. Instead of going into my heaviest lift thinking, "Dude, this is going to be so freaking heavy," I can see it's nothing in comparison to what Sara is lifting, and that somehow makes it seem lighter to me. Lifting with Sara also gives me confidence that with proper training I can lift HEAVY someday. (Like, for real, this girl was throwing on 45's like nothing.)

On Friday I met Sarah (Ironman Sarah with an "H") to teach her how to deadlift. It was my squat day, so as soon as I finished squatting we started going over deadlift form. I channeled my inner Kemper and basically tried to recall everything I've ever heard/read/seen/been taught about deadlifting. I *think* Sarah enjoyed it; I know I loved hanging out with her because it's been a hot minute since that has happened. (She is nursing a foot injury that has drastically reduced her training, and has even taken her out of this year's planned Ironman in Canada.)(Of course she is making due with only a half Ironman a little while later.)(What.a.slacker.)

2. Making time for Chi-Town

back row: Stan, Brian, me, Steve, Natalia, Cassie
front row: Gary, Peggy

My baby brother used to live in Chicago, but moved to San Francisco a few months ago to pursue his tech dream. He just finished up the 12 week program at App Academy, and decided to make a brief visit home to Chicago to visit his lovely fiancee Natalia. All his Michigan family decided to make the drive (about 5 hours with pee breaks) for a pool party at Natalia's parents' house on Saturday.

I was a little concerned about fitting in all my workouts, but Friday is normally a rest day, so I did Saturday's squatting on Friday, and then got up super early Saturday to get in my Sunday workout before the drive to Chicago. It was so nice not to have to worry about getting anything done once we were home on Sunday. I could just take the day nice and easy as a rest day. (We also celebrated Ezra's fourth birthday. My BABY is four! Where does the time go?)

This kid is awesome. Probably gets it from his mom.

3. AB DAY!!!!!

This guy's hair turned all sorts of emo on the way up.
I use a weight plate, not a ball.
Because it's got handles I'm TOUGH.

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know about my love/hate relationship with Ab Lab. Ab Lab was my favorite form of torture at my old gym; a twenty minute class of non-stop abdominal work that left me begging for mercy. Lifetime has a Core 30 class that is similar, but the timing isn't ideal for my schedule. Kemper's training plan has a whole day dedicated to abdominal work and I FREAKING LOVE IT. My favorite exercise by far is the weighted decline sit ups. This is where I am on a declined weight bench (so it's almost like I am upside down)(the stretch in my back feels amazing) with a 25# plate. As I sit up I reach the plate overhead and then lower my body back down over a count of four. I could do these forever. And by forever I mean I do 4 sets of 10 and self talk encouragement during the last set.

Captain's Chair
Dorian Who Thinks I Can't Read
showed me where to do this. Along
with being illiterate, I'm apparently
blind and couldn't find this contraption
even after 3 laps around Lifetime. 

I also superset the Captain's Chair with 1 minute planks, and do ab pulldowns*.

*Story for free: Kemper had me youtube some of these exercises since he somewhat trains me from a distance because I only see him once a month. The ab pulldown video looked totally easy, and I was all, "Pshaw. I got that." When I went to execute my new found knowledge of the ab pulldown, I totally didn't factor in the physics of counterweights and crashed right on my forehead before I even did one rep. So what I'm saying is that with enough clumsiness, ab pulldown works your abs and your pride. 

Keepin' it graceful, y'all.

Here are the stats:

Week Two

Bench press:

2 warm-up sets (1x8 @ bar, 1x6 @ 60#)

1x5 @ 75#

3x5 @ 80#

1x4* @ 85#

*this is the set I totally biffed my last rep and had to get rescued. But I upped my weight so, yeah, happy girl.

Deadlift:

2 warm-up sets (1x8 @ 65#, 1x6 @ 95#)

1x5 @ 125#

3x5 @ 135#

1x5 @ 145#*

*This is the set I did with Sara. I did not expect to up my weight because last week was so hard, but I felt like I could have gone 10 more pounds at the end.

Squat:

2 warm-up sets (1x10 @ bar, 1x6 @ 95#)

1x5 @ 125

3x5 @ 130

1x5 @ 135*

*this set was hard, I'm not gonna lie.

This week I also saw my weights for barbell row, leg press, and hamstring curl go up. I'm feeling strong and also operating on a calorie deficit. BOOM.

Have I mentioned how much I like this strength training program? Because I totally do. 

Happy Wednesday, y'all!