Three Wheels

I used to be a huge fan of bodybuilding, and I even thought someday I would have a huge, vein-popping physique myself. Oh, I knew I would never be a Mr. Olympia, mainly because I wasn't going to try steroids (and never have). But I figured with hard work, and educating myself, I'd be pretty damn big and cut.

The problem was that while not using steroids was obstacle number one to winning a Sandow (the "Oscar" of bodybuilding, going to the Mr. Olympia winner), having average genetics was equally inhibiting. Sadly, it took me several years to figure that out.

What hooked me in the iron sport was trying to become a power hitter in softball. While I did accomplish that to some degree, I did fall pretty short of my potential, as other life decisions got in the way. I'm still a fan of lifting, and occasionally check out the 'roided-up behemeths at the magazine stand. But I no longer find such size to be desirable, in part because I know the only way it is possible is to commit a felony.

So I've revisited my interest in lifting. Weight loss will have to take a back seat (I've dropped 3.5 pounds in three months...yeah, a real dangerous crash weight-loss, I know), as I pursue a lifting goal I always had my sites on, but have yet to reach. Every time I got close, I would sabotage it by going on hiatus from workouts, start trying to lose weight, focusing on some other interest, or even getting sick and not lifting again right away once I got well.

But no more. My goal: to bench press three wheels, with no straps, lifting shirts, or drugs. Three wheels is slang my friends and I would use for 315 pounds. It means three 45-pound plates on both sides of a 45-pound bar, for a total of 315. My ultimate goal is to actually do that for four repetitions, just to hear the awesome "clanking" sound so many plates transmits. But first things first...

I'm almost there. According to several different sites, my 225 lbs. bench press for 10 repetitions equates to a maximum one-rep press of 298 pounds. (I only did nine reps today, but I didn't go to failure. I had at least one more in me.) The most I ever got to was 305, after which I took a couple weeks off to let my joints recover a little before going after 315. But I didn't keep true to those plans.

Since joining the YMCA again this past March, I've been pretty good about keeping it up. And I think I know what works for me better than I ever did before (but am still trying to learn). I'm also not neglecting other body parts, so that my body doesn't start looking like all man-boobs and little else.

I hope to post more in the near future about how I'm doing it, in part to share with others so that they don't have to waste the time and money I have in the past. It's positively embarrassing to admit how much of both that comes to.

It's also to motivate myself, by posting my progress "out here" permanently. Here's hoping I don't catch a cold or a nagging injury to make me stop my momentum. Or if I do, here's hoping turning those short layoffs into long ones is a thing of the past.