#RoadTo600 - The Thorn, It Hurts Me

Some people are born with the ability to constantly find themselves on a smooth path. What I mean by this is that there are people out there that don’t have to worry about falling. The little effort they produce could carry them infinite miles. I'm not one of those people.

I’ve played football with guys who could walk into the gym 8 months free-of-working out and they could still squat over 400 pounds. I, on the other hand, have to grind away every day with the intention of self improvement. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset with having these challenges. 

In fact my whole life is saturated to the core with the fundamental idea that who I am at this moment is not who I was created to be.

So in my straining efforts to become a better man I tripped on a big rock in my path that I should have seen coming. For the past month or so my hip has been in poor alignment. This has led to knee and ankle aches, but nothing so drastic that I would have to hang up my belt and call it. In fact I had recently signed up for my last meet of the year.

I was supposed to pull 560 lbs from a 4 inch block. I did 500 without a belt Shoot, I didn’t even have to get pumped to do it. So I load the bar with 535 lbs, something I did last week for multiple reps. I get pumped, yell a little bit, say the Lord’s prayer, children are crying, and then I get ready to lift. As the bar climbs off the blocks I feel my sacrum (lowest spin) pop sporadically – pop pop pop pop pop – “What was that?”

I set the bar down and immediately lose feeling in my right leg. “Great” I thought “I just broke myself.”

 I attempted to be a man and I just walked with the hope that feeling would come back. And it did, just not until the next afternoon.

A little research, a quick talk with my uncle the chiropractor, and some lovely/horrifying myofascial release from my lovely fiancé and I was able to bench by Wednesday. The theory is that I strained the muscles in my sacrum, because my hip had finally been forced to fix itself. Normally this isn’t that bad; the only problem is that I had 535 pounds in my hands – Joy – By the end of the weekend I was able to jump and run.

So Monday rolls around again and I decide I’m just going to pull into the 400s. I no-belt my way to 405 and try and do speed pulls. Although the bar does move up, it was at a snail’s pace rather than a leopard’s. I belted up and couldn’t even deadlift 455 – let the worries sink in – 

it’s not even that it hurt; I just couldn’t get my body to move the weight.

A bit discouraged I decide to do lunges. It is at this crucial junction that I realize my hamstring is having problems flexing, and that my hip is nowhere near right. I lunged until my butt cramped, literally. Then I stretched until my quad cramped. So no I’m weak, broken, and cramping all over the place.

I don’t know whether or not I will be able to make my September 28^th meet. If I do however, this will be a paul-like story straight from 2 Corinthians 12:7.

 In the end the weights don’t matter, God matters.

Sorry about the extra long post, but I didn’t feel like writing one last week about how I broke my butt. Today’s tips are easy. You can never have enough mobility or chiropractor visits, and in the end God is all that matters.

By the way, if you're feeling generous please say a prayer for me. I'm calling on Tribe Endu for some support!