My Niche

Friday, June 10 marked the end of the school year for students. Teachers have one more day to go, but for all intents and purposes the school year is done. Hard to believe that this year marked my 16th year in education. Man, that is a long time. A lot longer than I thought I would stick with it to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but sometimes the paperwork and the demands from every direction are wearing. I want to do a good job, I intend to do a good job, but there are days I find myself perusing the help wanted ads or wondering if I can get a job at Wal-Mart.

I have an outlet for the doubt and stress. I lift. I lift barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells, heck I'll lift anything. I'm not going to lie: I love knowing I can lift more than a lot of people. More than that though I like knowing that I am good at something.

I am a person who does better when I know where I fit in. I like to know what my purpose is. Okay, if I'm being honest I don't just like knowing what my purpose is I need to know.

When I started on this fitness journey my purpose was to be in better shape, to enjoy my life and actually live it. That kept me going for a good long while. I am a people watcher though and looking around the gym I noticed people who seemed happy or comfortable doing all those things that didn't come easily or naturally to me. I decided I could fix that by spending even MORE time in the gym.

For the record more time in the gym isn't necessarily the answer. It took me a long time to finally understand that and I don't think I would have realized it or accepted it without a nagging IT band and some honesty from one of my coaches.

I'll be the first to admit that when Tyler suggested I needed to devote more time to recovery I flew completely off the handle. At the time we were communicating through messages, not in person. I am forever thankful for that because I am pretty sure I would have cried and yelled. Not that he couldn't have handled it, but I like to at least pretend I'm a calm, rational person and my reaction to his suggestion was neither calm nor rational. We finally agreed to talk at my next buddy training session and I obsessed about it until the day arrived.

I have an overwhelming fear that I will slide back to who I was before if I don't keep doing everything under the sun. Then there's that other fear that I just don't measure up and no one wants me around. By the time Thursday rolled around that week I seriously considered just backing out of training.

We talked, well mostly Tyler talked. I talked a bit at the beginning, then I listened. I told him he was right, I knew I needed balance, but I couldn't think of a workout I could give up. I felt like he'd given it some thought, that he knew I was completely freaking out and he told me that he never expected me to be the best at everything, that the workouts were designed to have something for the variety of clients he has.

We talked through all the workouts I did in one week and despite my fear that he'd want to take everything away that wasn't the case. Tyler told me that Yoga Corr was important and the Pride Fit Group Training classes were important as was buddy training. He did suggest that I take a break from Muscle Hour for a few weeks and that maybe Saturday Morning Sweat could be cut as well. It flat out scared me, but I agreed.

As much as I would like to be a person who is good at everything, even I have to admit I am not. Doing everything under the sun, going to every class Pride Fitness Performance offers wasn't going to help me capitalize on my niche.

I'm a powerlifter. I need more endurance. I definitely need to be flexible and mobile. Mostly though I want to be stronger. Deep down in my heart, I'd still like to face an American Ninja Warrior course and see what I could do, but I recognize that will likely never happen. What could happen if I am careful and smart and work hard is powerlifting in another venue, a bigger venue. Maybe even a national competition where I could see some of the greats like Kimberly Walford compete. I'm not in that league yet, I know I'm not, but it's a dream and a dream that fits in better with my niche.

I've fit into the teacher niche for 16 years now. For someone who likes to keep her life as neat and ordered as possible it has been a relief to find my niche at Pride. I'm the one who likes anything to do with deadlifts and deadlifts pretty well.

Before I end this I have a new PR (personal record) to report. In my bench press, definitely my weakest lift. At one of my last buddy training sessions with Coach Dane (my buddy and I are spending time working with Coach Tyler again now) we worked on my bench. I did 155 pounds for 3 reps, then 175 for 2 reps. I'd already set a new PR with the 175 so I was happy. Coach Dane decided to see if I had 195 in me. Turns out I did, which was a HUGE deal since I failed my bench attempt at 185 pounds in April. Then he said "I could stop there, but I'm not going to. Let's try one more." I rested for a little bit then got back under the bar. I don't think I knew it was 200 pounds before I started, but I could be wrong about that, it's been a few weeks. It was heavy, there was nothing easy about lowering that bar to my chest then pushing it back up and locking out my elbows, but I did it. I bench pressed 200 pounds.

Let me say that one more time: I. Benched. 200. Pounds.

This happened in May. If I am careful and smart and train hard and it all works as I hope it will I will bench 250 pounds in November.

So, let's see how close I am to the 1000 pound club with my new Bench PR:

Squat: 275 pounds
Bench Press: 200 pounds
Deadlift: 385 pounds
Total: 860 pounds (140 pounds to go!!)

There you have it. My latest ramble.

Thanks for reading!