Well, the truth is I've been really sick through December. My goals for 2016 were to load my 365 Atlas Stone to 58 inches and to deadlift 750 lbs. Nearing December all I had to do was pick a date and I could easily deadlift 750 and have a shot at loading my 365 stone.
First weekend of December I spent in the hospital. Second weekend I made it TO the gym to train and doggone nearly loaded my 365 stone! The third weekend, I never made it off of the couch. I could not be driven to The ER, my wife would have had to have called an Ambulance and I'm still not sure that they could carry me.
My bodyweight is down, A LOT.
Matt Ladewski gave me some sage advice a couple of days ago. "Retreat. Don't surrender, just back up and retreat for now." And that is exactly what I'm going to do. Take a few steps back and retreat, for now. I know that another injury could set me back another year or more and I've made huge progress in the last 12 months just by staying fairly healthy. And my goal is to pull 804 by the end of 2017.
Take 3 minutes and watch this video, it explains a lot about how I feel right now as well as my promises to you!
First, I hope you feel better. Perhaps I am preaching to the choir but in times like these we can focus on strengths that are not measured in kilos, pounds, and PR's. We build up ourselves and community by helping others. Mr. Darden, even when seeing you train sick and hurt and seeing you battle, you still helped all of us. Watching someone lift with technique I could learn from helped me and I am sure it helped others. The amount of weight you could lift did not matter to me. Seeing you battle did. Be well. The plates, bars, and racks aren't going anywhere....