Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Ideal if it occurs one, and even better, two days after your workout. But if you work out every day, then what? I don’t know. I’m no fitness guru.
All I know is that yesterday morning, for the first time since March 2020, I set foot in a gym again. And because I haven’t been there in so long, I went straight for the piece of equipment I have not touched since then: the squat rack.
It’s just a big metal frame, with a big metal bar, and big heavy discs.
It is the source of ugly grimaces, measured breathing, and sweaty fatigue.
It is where I put in hours of self-talk to finish that last set, to push out that last rep, to hold form while every muscle fibre trembles and screams to stop.
It is where, week after week, I got stronger, and the weights got heavier, and I felt superhuman. Powerful. Confident.
Every squat, every deadlift, every shoulder press and every exhaled breath pushed out the insecurities, and built up a sense of self that seemed solid enough to face the day. And it hurt so good.
In my excitement, I may have overdone it. I dropped the weight down and focused on form and yet, here I am, 36 hours out and my whole body aches. I did a trainer session this morning, and did a bit of shoveling too (it snowed, big, wet, heavy flakes. It was glorious. Until I had to shovel.)
It’s supposed to be my “back-off week”, but I feel like the mood has been a bit lethargic and low, and I need to go hard at everything to find the endorphins, and so I do. In the catharsis that follows, everything hurts.
So I spent the afternoon with my kiddos, making jam-filled sugar cookies. I post these wonky creations to social media because cookie-decor is not my strong suit and all attempts must be documented so that one day, I might look back and say, “See? I tried.”
My domestically-talented mom friends send me little words of encouragement, like, “Those look pretty good”.
My bike friends send me comments like, “Are those snowflakes or chainrings?”
They can be whatever you want them to be. *sultry wink*
But really, they are snowflakes with belly buttons.
Aaaand it turns out I’m still not ready to really write anything.
Back to my listless, anxiety-ridden-for-no-good-reason hermit hole.
Until next time…
Bikes, Brains, and other Musings 
Oh I was totally gonna guess Bike gears. I hate being wrong.
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And I hate sucking at baking, but here we are. At least they taste good. 😜
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DOMS is a big topic in my house right now. Eli joined a gym last week and he’s lifting for the first time in his life. Everything is sore all the time. I actually didn’t know those were cookies and I thought they were an artists rendition of cogs in a machine that would somehow be related to your post. Did you make those with a cookie cutter? Maybe it is supposed to be a chainring.
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😂 So let’s just say I’m not destined to be a baker.. Sigh. Yup, used a cookie cutter, but didn’t use wax paper while rolling the dough out so they got a little mangled as I tried to get them off the counter into the pan..
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They look like jockey wheels to me, and are therefore spectacular. Bellybuttons aside.
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