Training Update #2: Tempered Expectations

Back in June, I wrote a post detailing my training goals for the remainder of the year. I'm revisiting it and updating my progress for several reasons. 1st, the whole idea behind that post was to be accountable to myself. 2nd, my wife has admitted that her favorite posts on this blog are the ones where I talk openly about some aspect of my life. And 3rd, for some reason that post is 1 of the top 5 viewed posts in the history of B-Court All-Star...probably has something to do with the, how you say, graphical representations I used.

Like this one! Holy s***!

With that being said, let's see how I did. (Mind you, I think I was supposed to achieve these by the New Year...St. Patrick's Day is close enough though.)

1. Combined 700 lb. 1 rep max...This one is particularly hard to track because to be perfectly honest I totally forgot about this goal. That's what goals are for, right? In fact, I haven't even tried to max-out in any of these in several months. If I go by my handy-dandy workout tracking app on my phone, my estimated 1 rep max is calculated to be 225 lb. on the bench, 232 lb. for squatting, and only 217 lb. for deadlifting. That only puts me at 674 lb. by my count. I may have to attempt a 1 rep max for each in the upcoming weeks just to see what I can do...only a couple pounds for each exercise more than what the calculation is saying, and I'm there. So, not exactly a lofty goal, but this one doesn't concern me as much.

Forget using your arms, use whatever that thing is that's pushing up out of your midsection.

2. Bench 225 lb...Like I said, it's been months since I've actually tried this. I've done it once upon a time though. This week I actually did 3 sets of 5 reps at 200 lb., the most I've ever done at that weight ever. I wonder if I could actually eke out 230 or 235. Similar to the last goal, haven't actually tried it, but I'm pretty sure I got this.

Yeah, buddy.

3. Run a sub-7:30 mile...Fail! I think I've timed myself while running 3 times since the original training update post. Shame, shame, shame...

Did I say holy s*** already? Holy s***!

4. Have 8% body fat...Also a fail, but unlike the mile goal not a total wash I don't think. I still think I'm in the double digits, but in the last couple months my strength has actually increased while dropping 5-10 lb.

Ow.

5. Dunk a basketball...This also falls into the category of partial failure I think. Technically, no, I can't dunk at the moment. Ok, so maybe that should count as simply a failure. But my vertical has improved slightly. If my legs feel good that particular day, I can grab the rim with 1 hand and graze it with 2. I could probably dunk a tennis ball right now, but a volleyball might be pushing it. Hopefully, by summer I will be that much closer.