Just cut the hamstrings out!

Good Lord. The thought of taking a wire cutter to my hamstring tendons has crossed my mind. I went to my sports massage lady on Saturday and that helped. She was encouraging and it's nice (in spite of the soreness from hell) to be making some gains. My UDT ends on Tuesday and I'm glad. It's a 4 day split of pure misery, LOL. Two days of body weight work and two days of weightlifting. It is an effective way of building up that base of strength though, I will give it that. I was noticing in the grocery store how much lighter a gallon of milk is. Things get easier without you even realizing it because it's a subtle day-by-day process. One thing I am determined to do better this time around is rest. I didn't rest properly the last time I was lifting and I think my stubbornness caused more harm than good. I've been debating whether to take a few days of "active recovery" once I finish my UDT. If my body is as sore on Wednesday as it has been this weekend, I think it will be a necessary, non-negotiable rest. The last thing I want is a tear or a sprain. The other thing is appropriate supplementation. Not fat burners or steroids, but healthy things to help the healing process. I think creatine for muscle recovery can be a Godsend. I also picked up some glutamine to use on training days. I'm not going to take megadoses of anything but I think having those items in my arsenal will be a help.

So in wrapping up week 4 and preparing to get back into heavy lifting, I have to say I am proud of myself for sticking with it even when it sucked tremendously and I wanted to give up. I kept going and I am already seeing the positives. As I predicted, my lats have already grown and become more pronounced. My waist is a little smaller. There's some meat coming back in my biceps. My neck and shoulders feel stronger. It's funny how these things seem to happen in waves. You may have a week or two where you don't look or feel differently in your clothes and then you wake up and it's like an elf siphoned off some fat in the night, LOL. I don't know how to explain it. But it's a damn good lesson in staying focused, keeping your patience, and remembering that your hard work WILL pay off at some point.

I go back to Rocky III: you owe yourself. I am glad that once I was delivered out of the depression pit, I had enough moxie left to see it. I do owe myself. No one else does, but I sure do.