2 quick jumps represent one big leap

Bad habits become habits because they are so easy to fall into and much harder to break.

Last week, was a bit of a relapse for me. To be honest, I was just in a funk. I’m still applying for jobs — and keeping pretty busy — in my temporary job at the West Liberty Index. But the jobs I want seem like giant ripe pieces of fruit on limbs that are just out of my reach.

So, instead of doing the things I should have to improve my attitude, I slept in every morning and didn’t work out enough. In fact, I only went to Warrior Crossfit Muscatine once last week — on Saturday. The burpees nearly killed me.

But this week has been better. I taught a fitness class at the Muscatine Community Y on Monday. And I went to Crossfit this morning. The workout consisted of three repetitions of three lifts: dead lift, back squat and overhead press. The goal was to set your new maximum for each lift on the third repetition.

My totals were: Dead lift, 285 pounds; back squat, 225 pounds; and overhead press, 125 pounds.

That gave me a total of 635 pounds. And that means I nearly rank as a novice, according to the website I was referred to by Sarah Garvin, who owns Warrior Crossfit Muscatine with her husband, Jacob. But it’s a start. And it is another way to know I’m getting stronger because I made pretty significant gains on my old max for both the back squat and overhead press.

And before I forget, today’s workout was remarkable for one other reason. Guess who managed to do a double under ? In fact, I did 12 of them in 2 minutes, which is really slow. But it was a big step for me since before today, I had never mastered the rhythm of doing even one.

A tip of the hat must go to Connie Mann. Sarah told me the way Connie had mastered the rhythm of doing a double under. I tried it. And it worked.

The moral of the story is: Good things happen when I just get my lazy ass out of bed in the morning and quit feeling sorry for myself. And if that is true at the gym, it will be true on the job front, too. At least that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself.