The first day of weights

Have you ever felt sick from lifting weights? Today was one of those humbling days. I've lifted once since June and have only sporadically worked on upper-body since January due to a frustratingly nasty shoulder injury. It was time to get re-acquainted with the iron.

After a wonderful week-long vacation visiting family in Gimli, MB with my wife I kicked off the fifth week of this training year doing my best to complete what used to be a very easy session. I should have known when my shoulders hurt catching a 60kg clean to start the first set of front squats that this would be tough. I payed no mind to my now sissy shoulders, figuring that all my lunge-walking must have made my legs tough. Four minutes later my 3x15 reps were done and my heart rate was 180. It would stay between 150 and 190 for the next 30 minutes of the session. I guess circuits and weights are different things...

My body didn't quite know how to react to this new stress after a week where my heart rate got into the 60s for no more than a few seconds. It decided that if it made me nauseous enough I would stop and it could get back to happily floating from a chair, to the beach, and back again. Sorry, legs, I need you for more than standing.

So what was it that made me so uncomfortable? Well, I'm embarrassed to say but here it is:

Front Squat: 3x15 @ 60kg (132lbs)
100 units of abs
Pull-ups: 3x10
200 units of abs
Single leg hamstring curls: 3x15 @ 27.5kg (60lbs)
200 units of abs
Single leg calf raises: 2x45 (each leg)
Standing reverse dumbbell flys: 2x15 @ 9kg each (20lbs)

I took 60 seconds rest between each exercise except for abs where it was shorter. Each rep was done through the full range of motion and all were slow and controlled (Exception: I cheated on a few reps of chinups in the second set, sorry). Most abdominal exercises were with a 4kg medicine ball.

Gimli is about an hour north of Winnipeg in the Interlake region of Manitoba, Canada.


There are lots of birds, including pelicans.


Beautiful sunsets, like this one at my parent's place just south of the town, are common.


And the fishing is great. Especially in August when, if the weather's right, it's not unheard of to catch 50-100 white bass (like this one) in a day.