Kurt Survives Testosterone Attack Without Injury

Horrible week on the workout front. I went with Jennifer and David to the cub scout activity on Tuesday, which was firing rockets. To make a long story short, I got over 70 "chigger" bites on my legs (apparently, I was tasty), so I was in Benedryl (antihistimine) hell all week. Almost a lost cause week.

I lifted Monday and Tuesday morning, buggie smorgasbord Tuesday afternoon, and I didn't lift weights again until Saturday. So when I hit the gym, excessive (almost lethal) levels of testosterone was coursing through my veins.

I arrived at the gym, did my bench presses (last set was at 225 lbs, so I pushed myself a bit but not too much). I then went to stretch my legs and, by accident, I walked past... the hip/leg press sled. Yes, I have sworn off that device until after the marathon because in the past I have tended to go nuts on the sled, and it builds my leg muscles to the point that it slows me down. And, since my legs are plenty strong, I'm trying to trim them down, not ramp them up. The problem is that it's my best lift (by far) and I can lift a lot of weight. My max was 1250 lbs, and in 2004 I did a "show off set" at over 900 lbs in front of my wife and two oldest kids. K2 thought it was great, Heather was supportive, but Jennifer was, shall I say, less than enthused.

I looked at the machine and I tried to walk away. But, in my testosteronally psychotic state, I could hear the sled whisper my name "Kurt, baby, I'm over here, and I still love you." Before I knew it, there I was, loading up the sled and starting a set at 400 lbs. I convinced myself that I should go with very light weights (which 400 lbs is to me) because I have not used the thing since I blew my right gastroc playing basketball a couple of years ago.

Well, 400 lbs was easy. So was my next set at 490 lbs. So was my next set at 580 lbs. I struggled a bit with my next set at 670 lbs. My next set requied a lot of work - 760 lbs. So, I figured I'd do just one more set; 4 solid reps at 850 lbs. I thought about throwing some more weight on and doing a single rep at 940 lbs, but I was very tired by that point and, with most of my testosterone burned off, I came to my senses, unloaded the machine, and moved on to other lifts. Of course, this sled uses free weights, so the thing was loaded (3 x 100 lbs weights and 10 x 45 lbs), plus the weight of the steel rack (100 lbs). It took me a few minutes to unload because I had placed one of the 100 lb weights on the top weight peg, but I was so spent that I had difficultly lifting it off.

Fortunately I was not injured. Unfortunately, I was not too smart, because about 20 minutes later I hit the squat rack. Fortunately, I did my squat sets at a very light weight (135 lbs). Unfortunately, I had to get out of bed today, and my legs were in rare form: muscles aching from the pounding, skin still itching from the bug bites. Fortunately, and most importantly, I was not injured. Woo Hoo.

So, I survived my testosterone attack without injury. My legs are still very sore, but life goes on! Benedryl is a great product! It relieved the itching just fine, but it knocked me out so I slept half the week. Oh well.