Who's Intimidating Who?

     Tonight was press night. I got back under the bar and did some strict presses (not very heavy lol) and mostly some push presses. It felt really good. I almost didn't do them because when we got into the weight room, there was no bar on the rack and I didn't want to grab one from a bench and bring it over. But then I just said "screw it" and did my thing. I will admit that I do suffer from a little bit of intimidation when I'm in there. I bring it up here because it was a discussion that I had with Emily on the way home. 

     We all go as a family. The first night she worked a little, but since then, she mostly just stands next to us with her arms crossed scanning the room. She said she feels awkward and it shows. I get it, she's a 15 year old girl and getting sweaty is an extreme form of embarrassment, especially when there's young lads roaming around. 

     I felt the same intimidation for a minute or two. I had finished pressing and was doing some dumbbell work at the bench. Two young men, about Emily's age, came to grab some weights and work at the bench next to me. Now, I'm an overweight, middle-aged woman trying to scrabble my way back to being fit so to have 2 teenagers, in the spring of their lives lifting next to me made me a tad self-conscious. I felt even more awkward when I heard one of them say "oh, she took the other one". I was only using the 15lb weights. Then they sat next to me while I was working, doing presses and such, and I could tell that I was actually making them a little uncomfortable. One of them was pressing but was giving up, and cussing and only doing a couple of reps at a time. He was making excuses of his arm hurting and such and such. I have to admit that I stifled a chuckle. Seriously though, it pushed me to finish my sets strong. 

     There are all sorts of people that are in our Y; young athletes, middle-aged housewives, older people trying to rehab from injuries. All sorts of people there and I guarantee you that at some point, almost all of them were intimidated by somebody in there. Granted, some of the younger kids are there trying to impress, but most people are there trying to make themselves better. I know that's why we're there. We're putting in the work to see the results and that's truly all that matters. I hope that Em can get past this hurdle. It's nothing that we can do for her, it's an obstacle that she needs to climb herself. All we can do is hold the support ropes while she's climbing.

     Most of the accessory work I got from a Facebook post. I'll post the link after all of the training notes. Here's what got done tonight:

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OVERHEAD PRESS:

Bar x10 (strict press)

55lb x10

(65lb x5) 3x

SINGLE ARM STRAIGHT FLY:

(15lb x10) 3x

BENT ARM SIDE RAISE:

(15lb x10) 3x

ARNOLD PRESS:

(15lb x10) 3x

ALTERNATING PRESS/HOLD:

(Hold one DB overhead, press 2x with the other. This is one rep)

(15lb x2 ea. side) 3x

ZOTTMAN CURLS:

(20lb x10) 3x

TRICEP DIPS:

(Precor dip machine)

60lb x10

90lb x5 (Got a little over my skis with that weight lol)

70lb x5

70lb x10

DIVERGING LOW ROWS:

90lb x10

100lb x10

110lb x10

PRECOR CRUNCH MACHINE:

(60lb x10) 3x

••••••••••

     If you want to watch the videos that I used for tonight's session, just click here. I liked it and I think I'll keep it in rotation.