Dad Life pt. 5
Dad Life, Fatherhood VS The Comeback
By: D.J. Shuttleworth
After being somewhat of a bitch after Henley was born with training, I finally decided to get back into it. I did a little max out on clean and jerk just to see what I could do. I haven’t back squatted above 160k or clean and jerk above 150k since May, so of course I clean and jerk 170k without barely training. I comeback and lift 5 days per week and then this week, I literally can’t sleep without shoulder pain.
Before I would just try and push through it and it would continue to get worse, but with the past couple months and learning from my previous lifting, that is no longer the case. I know Dane probably thinks I’m soft already and going to quit, but I would rather attack the problem right now and fix it before it lingers and eventually turns into me quitting, again. I know the one day I should have squatted or did something productive, but I chose to go home, so a couple chores, ice and stretch my shoulder.
What does any of this have to do with being a father? Well, it has everything to do with being a father, learning from past experiences to be proactive and not allow history to repeat itself. For example, we had minor issues with Henley originally trying to take a bottle. We tried different nipples and brand and flows and still she was giving a hard time especially before bed. So we decided to look at the difference between the fresh breast milk Lauren just pumped compared to the breast milk we would give Henley. Upon examination we were giving her milk that was basically room temperature and feeling the fresh milk it was basically hot. So, lesson learned Henley likes her milk on the verge of being hot, she has been good ever since.
Somethings I hope to change from before now that I am back in the lifting game. First lesson, don’t care about anyone else lifting. This sport is fun and challenging, the only reason you should ever compete in olympic weightlifting is for yourself, no one else! Second, stretch, one big reason I stopped lifting was because I was just in pain all the time, not even just lifting, but also in everyday life. Third and most important, when you want to quit, do it for your kid! Lauren is a huge motivator in my life and she is amazing. Henley just adds fire to the pot, a different kind that you wouldn’t understand until you before a dad.
Overall, not lifting, being a bitch, becoming a dad, has been a roller coaster the past couple months. Lots of ups and learning more than ever to deal with hard days. I say hard because there is no such thing as a bad day when you come home to a beautiful woman and your unbelievable child. The past 2 weeks, life has kind of gotten back on schedule and now I can focus on both my family and lifting. I hope to continue the pursuit of being great as a dad, a partner, and a weightlifter.