At the beginning of a weightlifting hobby, weights tend to feel lighter as you progress upwards. A 25-pound kettlebell used to feel heavy, but now, it can be tossed and pressed in whatever manner with ease. My misunderstanding was that this phenomenon would continue on. That a 35-pounder will feel light in the hand once I’ve use it a sufficient amount of times.
Apparently there’s a limit. I would say that anything under 30 pounds is properly lightweight, Ronnie Coleman style. However, weights heavier than 30 remains heavy in feel no matter how many times I’ve picked up a set of 40 pound dumbbells. The only different from before is that I can move the weights. Sure I can do many reps with one plate on the barbell, but 135 pounds on my back will always feel burdensome.
Of course it’s entirely possible and probably that I am just weak.
I’ve written before how the deadlift translates really well to strength for real-life stuff. Bending over to pick stuff up from the floor is a fundamental movement. (We bend over the sink to wash our faces.) I don’t know if squatting has a functional equivalent in everyday life. The only thing that comes to mind is in the event of a disaster, I have to fireman’s carry an immobilized person with me to safety.
But man do I love barbell squats. Of the big three barbell movements - squat, deadlift, and bench, squatting is the most satisfying for me. It’s also the most taxing. Heavy squats with reps higher than 10 will quickly deplete my cardio stores. I cannot wait for this Accutane treatment to be over with (one more month) so I can return to running outside. I’ve got to increase my cardio so that when I barbell squat, my lungs do not give up before my quadriceps do.
Chilling, relaxing, all cool.