Back to the bar!

The last two weeks I've slacked off on strength training because after the trails caught on fire and I missed my long run, I felt like I should take the run options in my training plan instead of crosstraining.

Yeah, enough of that.  I think right now I do a bit better if I run four days a week and strengthen train for two, keeping one day as a rest/yoga day.  

So today I hit the gym with some friends for a leisurely weights workout, by which I mean Coach taught us some new ways to be completely exhausted by the end of it.

First up, the Turkish get-up.  

(That's not me.  This is Neghar Fonooni, who is evidently a badass.)

 Second, the push press. A push press is a regular overhead press, but instead of standing still and beginning the press with your arms, you bend your knees slightly and then explode up, transferring the force from your legs to your arms, and then you press it up.  The idea is to use your legs to power the weight above your head -- it makes the press significantly easier.

Once that was done, it was onto maxing the squats.  110lbs for me!  It was a soft 110, but I didn't really want to push it as my IT band is a bit achy after last week's adventures.  We closed out the day with some push-ups, dips, and split squats, and some well-deserved stretching.

Not sure what to make of this set of lifting standards, but it's interesting.  I'm solidly in the novice-intermediate range on all of the lifts that I've done.  Maybe I've got the wrong sport prioritized as I'm clearly in the turtle range on distance running...!

Who else here strength trains?