I had a PR today that wasn’t *exactly* weightlifting related.
4 weeks ago, I started going for weekly sports massages with an amazing local masseur. This was done in desperation. Before the Texas State Championship, I hurt my left knee and couldn’t squat for 6 weeks which clearly hurt my lifts.
Now my right knee was hurting (although my left was finally feeling better). With Masters Nationals coming up, I really – REALLY- could not afford an injury. I had already had an orthopedic colleague check it out and he said it wasn’t a joint or meniscus injury.
So I went to the massage therapist who diagnosed a gastroc-soleus tendon insertion trigger point and worked the hell out of it. But his really important insight was noticing that my toes turned in when lying on the table. He said I had wicked tight adductors and glutes.
I then went on to book weekly massages and as homework did mobility work to stretch all the compartments of my legs (adductors, abductors, quads, hams, ankles, hip flexors).
The PR? Today my massage was fun and relaxing and most importantly…..PAIN FREE. All the other massages hurt like rusty nails being scraped across my cornea because I was tight and a veritable lump of trigger points.
Being a masters lifter means a lot of things. It means making time to work out when you have to go to work for 8-10 hours per day, make dinner for your kids, pay bills, check homework, drive to soccer practice and maybe even occasionally have some grown-up time with your spouse. You’re not a student with a fairly flexible schedule. You’re not even a young adult with only yourself and the cat to worry about. You’re a full bore adult with parents who are aging and starting to need you and kids who are old enough to have lots of important firsts in their lives that need your attention.
You also don’t recover as quickly nor do you just jump up on the platform and start lifting. Warming up is important, so is mobility work when you’re done.
Being a masters lifter requires a patient family who supports your obsession, coaches who can modify programming for your capacity and therapists to help you recover.
It doesn’t just take a village to raise a child. It takes a village to support one aging but ambitious lifter.
And this one is eternally grateful for hers.
I found myself nodding and saying “yep” to all of your last 5 paragraphs. My family doesn’t exactly understand my obsession but I hear them telling their friends that “Mom is strong” or “Mom lifts weights” and it makes me smile. I’m a litany of aches and tightness today, can’t wait to get back to it though!
Great post and website! I sometimes get discouraged about my lack of progress but then i remind myself about the things you mentioned- kids that need me, a husband that loves and supports my passion for the sport, jobs, aging parents, you listed.them all! Looking forward to more posts!
Hooray! I’m glad you find it useful :). Personally I find progress slower with these lifts than traditional strength lifts like squat and deadlift. And when they do progress it’s almost stair-step, like it suddenly jumps up then progress is slow again 🙂