Secret Wonder Woman?

Nothing special in today’s lifting, really. Squats/bench/row are holding steady at 170/115/85. The good news is that my rows are finally seeing some progress; I still hate doing them, but they feel a little easier. Whatever muscles I’m using seem to fatigue quickly, though; the first couple reps feel easy, but the last one is really, really tough. I could use some work on range of motion in my shoulders and back, too. (Need more yoga?)

One of the interesting parts of lifting is seeing how your body reacts when it’s in a really critical place, and how much more effort you can pull off when you need to. I did 4 of the sets of bench press without a spot or safety bars today, and the last rep of the 4th set was really dicey– the bar just wasn’t going up. But I found some emergency extra strength by recruiting random muscles in other parts of my body (ignoring a hamstring cramp, too) and I finally lifted the dang thing back to the rack (and immediately went to fetch J for a spot for the 5th set).

Every time I have an experience like this, I wonder how much untapped strength is in there. Maybe I really am Wonder Woman and I don’t know it, just because I’ve never tried. It’s a strange feeling too, being totally present in my body in a single-minded, non-conscious way. Of course, straining at a lift is a good way to get hurt! It’s not something I should do often.

I was really productive yesterday; not only did I work for 13+ hours, I made dinner, did all my laundry, and got 2 of my 3 recipes of Christmas cookie dough made up. (Pfeffernusse and soft molasses cookies, in case you’re wondering. Today I need to get dough for the hazelnut cardamom thumbprints with homemade fig-cranberry jam done, and bake everything. I am entirely too ambitious.) But I feel like I’ve burned out my motivation for the week, which I really can’t afford. I still have a lot to do.

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