Well, the anticipation got to me. I couldn't deal well with the thought of letting myself, or anyone, down after publicly announcing that I'd be lifting 1500 lbs with my legs in only 3 weeks; not to mention, in some odd way comparing myself to Babe Ruth. What was I thinking?! Anyway, what an embarrassment that would turn out to be if 3 weeks wasn't enough time to achieve that. What if I fell short? So, I just felt I had to go in and make it happen ASAP.
I had a cold last week that lasted for 5 days. It was, by far, the worst cold I've ever had. I thought, "GREAT, I hope this isn't going to set me back now." I also, apparently, had twisted my knee somehow last night and it was giving me some flak as well. But, I knew that Tuesday was leg day and I wasn't about to wait another week just to find out if I was going fail or not. So, I took some aspirin and massaged it a while; made sure I went to bed early and slept well. So, it felt o.k. when I woke but wasn't perfect.
This morning I got up, ate my oats, then this afternoon I took my usual supplements, an energy shot and drank a glass of green tea. I stretched out a lot. Been sort of psyching up for the lift all week.
I wanted to make mention of something, just in case anyone who has read my posts were to get the idea to max out as well. You should keep something in mind. With a training element as powerful and heavy as leg work, I would not recommend putting yourself under a weight load of anything that you can only lift two or three times, or especially only once. These lifts are estimated one repetition maximums. In other words, I'm using a weight that I myself am fully aware that I can press up to at least 6 times without failure. This is quite safe... and wise. I don't mind using this system at ALL. Reason being, from my past, I have always been able to actually press more at performing the actual 1 rep maximum lift than I have when I utilize the estimation system. Therefore, my raw power is pretty much always greater than my muscular endurance and/or any estimations.
That aside, I still didn't have a death wish! I knew I was progressing much faster than would be advisable. Inside, I doubted whether or not I could actually press all 20 45 lb plates and both 100 lb plates to begin with. I almost set the last 2 45's back down, I stood there thinking about it for quite a time while I carefully weighed out whether the act was wisdom at all... or just passion. But, I couldn't stand it. In a seriously determined and internally intense sort of way, I sucked it up, grabbed 'em up, and threw 'em on. Still, I walked over to a couple of the strongest looking guys that I could find and had them stand on either side of the press as a spotter, just in case. Better to be on the safe side. I thought it a little funny that I walked over to pick up a couple of 3 lb fractionals to add to my mountain of weights. But, if I hadn't, it would not have calculated quite to 1500.
I really did not know how I would perform, at all. I gave my two jovial volunteers a quick coaching on spotting, then I told them not to even touch the machine unless the weight was simply not going up on the last repetition. I got into position and placed my feet well, stabilized my body, etc. So, when I took in enough deep breaths and felt adequately mean, I pressed the weight up and off the safety, lowered the safety and "went to town". The first rep for me tends to be a sort of "half-rep," so I cranked out all 11 plus one just to be sure. I only needed 11 to hit my mark. Toward the last few repetitions, I could see the guy on my left start to get a bit antsy wanting to jump in to help but he stopped himself, thankfully.
I'm sure that one or two people in the gym thought I was showing off by having a couple guys stand there watching me. It's funny, though. It actually took more humility for me to ask them to help by spotting me in order to be safe than anything else.
Anyway, so there you have it! 1501 pound leg press, up from an all out, extremely intense 1400 pounds, in less than 3 weeks. Well, I did it in 7 days.
I was just thankful that a gnat didn't land on top of the weights during my lift and collapse it all...
