Galaw: Deadlift Days

My close friend and fitness buddy, Rosalie, took some pictures of me in action at the gym. This also serves as her practice for her new camera. Thanks for making me your subject!

Before I was a runner, I spent the whole 2014 in the gym, this was chronicled in my early fitness posts here and here. Now that I am focusing on running more, lifting has taken a backseat on my regimen. However, I still aim to pick up weights at least once a week as part of my cross-training.

I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned it before, but deadlifts are my favorite workout. It’s so simple yet uses the whole body to work the weight. Compound lifts make up the bulk of my program because they save time compared to working individual parts of my anatomy. Plus they make my workout programs easier to memorize.

It’s hard to progress when I’m only lifting once to twice a week these days, but as long as I get a sweat out and feel that familiar post-deadlift soreness, then I’m good. I’ve always been lifting because it makes me feel good and awesome, progressing to heavier weights is just a bonus.

My previous gym had these thick bars and no knurling. In my gym now, they have knurled Olympic bars which are a heaven-sent. I am able to get a more solid grip, though I had to recalculate the plates because the bar weighs differently now.

I’m a big believer of functional and recreational fitness. Your body should not be the limit when it comes to enjoying the activities you partake in. If you enjoy computer games or , let’s say, chess, then there might be no need for weight training. But my hobbies are of the more active type, so I try to keep myself trim. Hiking, climbing, swimming and traveling are much more convenient when complemented with adequate strength. You can really enjoy activities more if you’re not huffing and puffing all the way through.

I’ve experimented with both the traditional stance and sumo stance. I’m used to the traditional stance, but with recent form checks, my back still seems to round out at the heavier weights. My sumo isn’t as strong as my traditional yet, but I train both every now and then.

Sometimes, it’s my grip that fails, sometimes it’s my back. It depends on the day. On the days when I can’t reach my target weight, I replace the intensity with volume by lowering the weight and performing EMOM (Every Minute, On the Minute) reps for 10 minutes. Whatever gets my heart pumping and the sweat flowing.

There was once a time when I did a set and immediately felt light-headed. My vision started turning white. Fortunately, I was able to sit down before I completely weakened. I didn’t actually white out, and I recovered quickly, but I was scared of it happening again since I’ve already seen videos of people passing out after deadlifts. I don’t know if I forgot to breathe, or I was just hypoglycemic at the time, but fortunately, it never happened again.

I always wake up extra sore the morning after a deadlift. I know it’s not a good measure of progress, but being sore gives me a feeling of satisfaction that I gave a lot of effort. With consistency, you will be able to differentiate soreness from pain and you’ll even learn to appreciate one of them.

I’ll always be a fan of the deadlift and I’ll continue to do it until the day I can’t. Hope you enjoyed this little trip into my workout!

Photos by: Rosalie
Venue: Marikina Sports Complex Fitness Gym

Lift heavy, eat heavier.

-jgzn