This past week was a short week due to Hurricane Florence ripping through North Carolina and that brought about cancelled/postponed classes.  However, it did teach me an important lesson about overexerting yourself.

On Saturday, they had an open gym as the weather was starting to clear up but there was still a threat of bad storms.  I went in for a short period of time and did the prescribed WOD.

The first part was to do a 5 Rep Max of Deadlifts.  This was another milestone day for me with Deadlifts as my 1 Rep Max 10 weeks ago was 300 LBS and on Saturday I did 5 Reps at 295 LBS.  I felt good and was pumped that I was able to push that out.

However, here was my mistake I learned from.

The next series of exercises were Over the Shoulder Stone throws followed by Pull ups in a 15 x 12 x 9 breakdown.  I’ve always had problems with the Over The Shoulder Stone Throws because of my height and I tend to not always get into a full squat but cheat as I get tired by using more upper body/back.  And, I am trying to go from the 70 LBS weight to 100 LBS.  Well, I sure did something to my back after completing this because when I got home my lower back was really sore and couldn’t move it for most of the rest of the day.  Luckily, I iced it and stretched it out and by Sunday night I felt pretty good again.

Lesson learned: Proper form is the most important.  Don’t try to be a hero and lift heavy weights just because you have confidence.  Your form might suffer and that might knock you out for several days or longer if you get injured.  You can have great gains even with a lower weight and still get a tremendous workout it.  Be smart!

Until next time, keep grinding!

Brian