Just when The Darkness seemed the darkest, I received a timely email or two (2). The emails came from my BFF (stands for Best Fucking Friend) who resides in Orlando.
I met the dude while serving my undergraduate sentence at South Dakota State University. He and I were in the Karate Club together and moved up the ranks together. Many o’ Tuesday and Thursday nights as well as Saturday mornings and countless on the road tournaments and seminars were sweated out together.
In addition, we shared an affinity for weight lifting. He got me started and I’ve been addicted ever since. I don’t remember if he came up with the Mad Dog 20/20 workout or someone else – it wasn’t me – but it was killer. And, when I call it the Mad Dog 20/20 workout, I’m not talking about the wino wine consumed by both of us in the college days of yore so often spoke about in literature. No, this was bad-ass workout shit.
The Mad Dog 20/20 is a leg workout. It was suggested twenty (20) sets of some leg exercises with twenty (20) reps per set. He switched up the exercises. I stuck with just squats. The
D.O.M.S. (delay onset muscle soreness) it created was, well, substantial.
In my squats only workout I’d stretch and then put a forty-five pound (lbs) plate on each side of the bar making a total of one-hundred-thirty-five pounds (135 lbs). Then I’d get under the bar and commenced with the set. These were not some half-assed, half way down squats. These were ass to your heals and back up, repeat twenty (20) times, squats.
After the first set I thought it felt too easy and was tempted to put more weight on the bar. I’m glad I didn’t. With each progressive set the lactic acid would build and burn sooner and sooner. By the last two (2) sets the burn started on rep one (1) and my quads were screaming by rep twenty (20).
The next day a dude would feel a little sore but on days two (2) and three (3) a dude would be waddling around. Sitting down and getting up were major productions. It was great!
But, I digress….. While I have been, and continue to be, in The Darkness, my buddy’s email was timely. In mine to him I mentioned I was in week two (2) of being back in the gym after a lengthy layoff and I’d mentioned how I’d almost forgotten how much I liked what dead lifts can provide as a workout. He fired back with an insane dead lift workout he’d JUST completed.
This, in turn, jogged my memory to some pretty sadistic workouts I’ve been a part of. To me, there’s nothing much better to distract a dude then a little self punishment in form of a self inflicted killer workout.
I’ll not push getting my strength back. It will take some time and I’m right on schedule. While I’m handling this my small but active mind will make mental notes on some evil workouts I’ll punish myself with. Perhaps the punishment will help to shake The Darkness away. If nothing else they will make winter go by a bit quicker and whip my ass into shape.
Ride On.
