When little things go wrong

Marmot and I have been quiet posting here because we've been off our normal schedule. Last week Mr Marmot was ill; Saturday we tried to work an upper body day and met with dramatic failure; then the gym was closed for the holiday weekend; then we had company in town; and Wednesday we went for a leg-day and I was met with, again, dramatic failure.

"Dramatic failure" doesn't mean injury or anything permanent. It was just little things.

Saturday I was in a rare, completely consuming foul mood. Nothing was going right, nothing could ever go right, and everything was horrible. Sunshine that otherwise would have made me lift my chin in pleasant appreciation? Just glare in my eyes. Congenial conversations in the gym? Gratingly loud!  We started as we often do with pull ups. I barely pulled 3, when usually I can do 5 or 6 on my first set; the next two sets were even worse, barely pulling one. Naturally, these failures didn't help my attitude. We tried dumb bell bench press; I was so distracted by feeling angry that I couldn't concentrate on my form, and my shoulder clicked every time I pressed. I decided to call the day a wash and spot Mr Marmot, but my bad mood was contagious, poor guy: he tried to kick up his weights and failed to keep control, dropping them to the side. We left at that, our hands in the air.

Wednesday the problem was more subtle: my form was just off. I tried to squat, but couldn't control my body in the way I usually can. I felt inflexible and struggled going to full depth even with just the unweighted bar. My starting weight felt unmanageable, and I consistently felt off balance and unstable. We decided to strike the squats and try them after dead lifts. Again, my "off in my body" feeling kept me from lifting well: I only lifted 135lbs x 4, and it just didn't feel right in my back or shoulders. I cheered on Marmot as he broke his DL personal record (285lbs, which bent the bar!), and he cheered me on as I did 3 sets of 1-minute plank / 30 sec side plank per side. (He wisely suggested that I do something, so I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time, and plank is as full-body as body-weight exercises go.)

I've noticed that these off-phases go in cycles; when one little thing goes wrong, it can cascade off into a week or even two of feeling bad. You haven't gone up in weight, you haven't even gotten full lifts in, and it builds its own momentum. As frustrating as these phases can be, it's important to recognize that it will pass soon and the only way to help it pass is to keep trying. I knew on that Saturday morning that I wasn't really feeling up to lifting, but I went anyway. Sometimes the pleasure of moving helps the bad mood, and if not, at least I tried.

We'll try again this afternoon. Wish us luck getting past the little things.