I promised roger I would post today if my bench went well…but it didn’t! It went like crap! I did my last warmup rep and popped up off the bench to load another plate, looked over and saw blood on my arm. Cripes! 69 days post op and that scar is still messing with me. So I left the bar on the rack for the day, and did a little stretching and meditating. I swear..I’m ‘bout ready to superglue that thang.

I told my buds over on the AOL board yesterday that I feel like I’ve been training for cancer since I first lifted up a dumbbell.

It was about 4 years ago that I was horrified to see a picture of myself at about 215lbs. I recognized right away that one of the things that stops people who are overweight from changing is …well..misery..self-pity, hopelessness. So I turned my back on that, recognizing that I had only myself to blame, and looked into what I had to do to change it. I went on a reduced calorie diet, started drinking a gallon of water a day, started doing cardio every day, and finally…joined a gym and started lifting.

It’s easy enough for me to see how completely weight training has altered my life. I’m not sure if anyone else sees it. Physically, it’s made me a different person, but even more importantly, it’s changed my mental attitude and outlook.

Today I’ll do my 5th day of IV drug therapy, and I’ve worked out every day this week. I was prepared for some “very serious” side effects from this treatment, and was warned that I might not want to get out of bed. That’s when I got those doctors orders to exercise{G} They told me exercise and water were the two things that could offset the side effects of high dose interferon. WELL..that’s two things I don’t have a problem doing!

I think that LIFTING has given me the strength to face anything that comes down the pike. Even the failures in lifting teach me things, how to find new approaches, perseverance, patience, mental toughness.

Even the DOMS!! Training! The “flu-like” aches and pains that accompany high dose interferon don’t hold a candle to post-squat DOMS.

And now that I am started to work on guided imagery, I see that lifting has even helped me there. Not just the practice I’ve had with ~visualization~ which I try to do before every deadlift. But also, that place of … stillness, that I find as I am lying on the bench, with my hands on the bar, before I unrack it. A spot of total concentration and focus. Something I don’t think I ever attained before I lifted.

So…even though I bombed out on my workout today.. I thought I should post anyway, just in case there are some lurkers out there having a little problem with motivation…wondering why they should bother to slog through the snow to the gym today. Just to remind them ... You don’t know yet what life has to hand you, but one thing’s for sure. Lifting is gonna help you through it!