I exhale, and see the cloud of breath rise before my eyes.
This was a test run.
The question : can I lift in the winter cold comfortably?
15°F
The answer?
A resounding yes.
Running shoes, track pants, a sweater, little black gloves, and winter cap pulled over Bluetooth headphones.
It works.
I’m not in a gym, hell I’m not welcome in most of them.
I have yard space, a barbell, plates.
It works.
Overhead squats for high reps, and a lot of pulling work. It’s mostly pulling work, fat grips mixed in on certain exercises, but NOT ON CLEANS, don’t make that mistake. It’s damn near impossible to lower cleaned fat grips with metal plates, it’s not an axle, and you can’t drop it.
The gym gives me social, but I’m unwanted, unwelcome, and the dues are too high. It’s not the bodybuilding gym, I’m about 3000 miles away.
There is the yard, it’s free, and I already own the equipment. No dues, no gas, no wear and tear on the car, no socializing.
If necessary I can purchase more plates, though I can make a lot happen with what I have.
Just 3 weeks ago I was telling this sexi Brazilian chica at the gym that the SoCal heat was killing me, and now here I am in 15° lifting comfortably.
Nausea & dry heaving from the heat at 80° to comfortable lifting in 15°-20°…Viking blood, cold weather adapted.
A throwback to those wintry sessions at 17.
(Side note : I was overtraining for 2-3 months straight, adapted, and came out better. The fear of overtraining is highly overdone. It’s basically just coughing and gains. I trained through it.)
Only me. Most wouldn’t gut this out.
I must be a madman whether I’m in the gym or in the yard.
I knew the snow can be shoveled away, and now I know I can take the cold.
Years of lifting without warm ups prepared me for this, I won’t be a gym member unless I’m getting it comped as staff. I’ve lifted outdoors in the winter before, but never primarily. This is new, and…it works.
•Overhead Squat
•Bent Row
•Clean
•Military Press
•Deadlift •Snatch
Real old school lifting, no rack, and on frozen ground.
I’ve seen lifting in rougher circumstances. It’s not like I’m getting shot at in Afghanistan, or dodging shanks and shivs. This is cozy, even if chilly.
I have the how, and…I have the why.
Whatever you could say against it, this is back to my roots. The pure intention is here, now, again.