I got a “revise and resbumit” that was not what I feared it would be.
Time to get to work.
Sunday: 4.12 mile (West Peoria course with out and backs) in 1:00:35 after deadlifts.
The lifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 204 low
Wagonwheel: 10 x 255
6 inch: 10 x 280
I have to remember that I am 20 lb lighter now.
Weight: 180.0 after walking.
Today: kind of fatigued; napping a lot. but PT and a 7.1 mile in 1:45:15 (1:13 at mile 5) Slightly warmer than what I was used to. Still: pleasant weather.
I have to remember that while my miles are the same, these are mostly “all at once” walks rather than 3-5 mile plus commuter walks.
9 May: walk before an early campus event: Moss out and back plus campus loop (3.2 in 45:30). Lunch: weights. 2 sets of 5 pull ups, bench: 5 x 134, 1 x 154, 1 x 160 miss 174, make 170, 3 sets of 7 x 145,
Then I went outside to finish pull ups: sets o 5-8 to get to 40 reps total. Then back downstairs:
high incline; 10 x 80, 10 x 85, 6 x 90, deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 4 inch: 10 x 234
10 May West Peoria 5 (didn’t finish) plus “the Barbara” for 7.25 in 1:47 (14:46)
11 May: weights plus a slow 4.2 (W. Peoria plus some Moss stuff) at 15:01 (very slow)
pull ups 3 sets of 10 pull ups, 3 sets of 7 chin ups
bench: 10 x 134, 4 sets of 4 x 155, Swiss bar: 8 x 134, 7 x 134 High incline (exhausted by now) 10 x 80, 10 x 85, 10 x 85
After eating lunch weight: 184
Tired today; slept a lot. Not sleeping well overall.
Grades in, one committee meeting tomorrow, and I task done.
I did get in PT and a 7.3 mile walk : 1:12:20 at 5 (hilly out and back Bradley Park course), then 29:30 Moss and back (1:41:50) plus a Laura to Bradley loop on Cooper (1:45:44 or 14:29 pace). Kind of slow given how lovely the day was. Weighed 181.5 afterward.
Well, one page to grade and I am getting tired. I should be done tomorrow before more stupidity on Thursday.
Walking: 3.27 miles to work, 1.3 over lunch all at a commuter pace (4.57 total)
Weights: PT, pull ups (rain storm) went has follows:
pull ups: 7, 10, 7, 10, 8+5 chin ups: 6, 7 for 60 repetitions Felt the burn. bench press: 10 x 134, 4 sets of 4 x 155 (tough) high incline: 2 sets of 10 x 85, 7 x 90 (all tied in) these hurt curls: 3 sets of 10.
Yesterday: 5.2 miles at 14 minutes per mile (lower loop plus campus) and commuter of 2.4.
Note: radiating pain is way down…and I think it is a result of my being more strict with the high incline.
I’ve seen some ads for Trump and I thought a couple of them might be effective. No, I did not think to save them.
But here is the gist: they admit that Trump is flawed and they admit that some conservatives might not be able to stand him. But they get right to the point: “LIBERALS WILL DESTROY OUR COUNTRY” and tout judges, business deregulation and rampant wokeness and breakdown of traditional norms (the bad way..they mean)
They more or less concede that Trump is a horrible human being but he is what they have.
This election is a toss up; uncomfortably close.
And what does the other side offer: leftist students occupying college campuses, blocking roadways in some locations and…Bears?
A question floating around social media asks: Picture yourself alone and unarmed in the woods. Would you rather encounter a bear or a man? Nearly all women (and I truly have not been able to find one woman who disagrees, but let’s just say nearly all) choose the bear.
Wait, I need more. What’s the background here?
It’s unclear where exactly this debate originated, though some are crediting the viral TikTok news account Screenshot HQ, which posted a video of two hosts debating the topic last week. However, they seem to reference a conversation already in progress, so the first to posit this question is still a mystery.
“
Now of course, none of this is scientific and many of the women I know in my life find this ridiculous. And, of course, it is. True: men have raped and assaulted women, but, only a tiny percentage of men have. Nearly all bears would prove lethal.
But that isn’t really the point. What I think is going on: feminists like to conflate all ills done to women by men, from sexual harassment at the workplace to stranger rape. And they appear to argue that if men would only live by the script that feminists give them, the evil patriarchy would no longer exist and all of those ills would be gone.
Many men counter with the fact that stranger rape is done by sociopaths and they are hardly representative and they are NOT the fault of “all men” or even “most men.”
My opinion: yes, some things like sexual harassment or “hostile work environment” can be improved by a combination of training and peer pressure. There is research that appears to show that training can help reduce certain kinds of rape (sex with a woman too drunk to consent ..yes, I know..double standard but that’s unavoidable given the nature of human copulation )
But I doubt that the other kinds of rape and sexual assault can be improved. You can report him to the police and you can ostracize him. But you can’t do much more than that, realistically.
But when it comes to being angry that she chooses the bear, why?
Now in terms of politics: the D’s are over a barrel. Thank goodness the student protesters don’t like Biden. But you have the feminists (fired up about abortion but anti-male), racial and religious minorities, labor, etc…all with separate but conflicting agendas..everyone feeling as if they are taken for granted and each wanting to take their ball and go home.
UIC has a good team: 30-13 overall, 13-7 in a tough Missouri Valley Conference. BU is 12-32-1 (yes, one tie) and 1-9 at home. The team is trying but, well, circumstances are tough.
My workout: PT, deadlifts, 4.3 mile walk (W. Peoria via Moss plus a 1.2 Campus loop) in 1:02:05. First mile was predictably slow. Weather: glorious. Perfect.
The deadlifts: I was sort of a head case this morning: low: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 7 x 225, 7 x 225 (wanted to not bounce my reps) Wagon wheel (4.25 inch) 5 x 255, 10 x 255 6 inch: 10 x 280
Legs were quivering and that was the goal.
Deadlifts: today went well.
The monster walks: this is part of my daily PT that is boring, time consuming and unrewarding, at least in the short term. There are no PB, PRs to set. But I do them anyway because I sure don’t miss being in pain 1/4 of a mile into walking.
I am 64 and will turn 65 at the end of the summer. I’ve been lifting weights in some form or another since 1972, when I lifted to get ready for 8’th grade football.
I was never good; for the curious, my bests (late 1970’s to mid 1980’s) were, in the gym, 310 touch and go bench press (butt on the bench), 410 deadlift (probably not powerlift legal) and 195 in the clean and jerk (intramural meet); my pull up PR is 27 (early 1980s)
So, it isn’t as if I am pining for past glories; I had none. Still I miss being able to bench 2 plates. I think my last time was in the mid 1990’s. 1993 was the last time I got 300 on the bench.
So, what’s up now? Like most lifters my age, I had some chronic conditions; I’ve had 5 knee operations and putting power with my knees bent at 90 degrees hurts. I have spondylolisthesis (foraminal stenosis as a result) which means that I have to make a few modifications, and os acromiale (minor shoulder defect that make me prone to rotator cuff problems)
But again, most people have some sort of chronic condition and these tend to show up at this age.
The real issue, for me, is just plain age. Here is what I have to watch for:
Am I pushing myself or am I trying to lift for the ego by handling a weight that is too heavy for me, right now? Yes, there was a time when I used 225 (two plates) for 7-10..then that became 205, 185, then 12-14 years ago, 170. Now..I am ashamed to say, that is 145. I admit that part of the issue is that I now have to bench with my feet on a chair and a flat back; arching (even a legal arch) causes radiating pain due to my lumbar conditions.
Are my gains (local gains) real? Example: I felt I was making great progress in my high incline press; I even maxed at 134 and did a set of 10 with 105 and sets of 5 with 115. BUT video showed I was sliding my hips away from the back support, and tying myself to the support…well…I am not as strong as I thought I was. It is so easy to compensate to make myself appear stronger than I actually am.
Recovery time. During a workout: if I am working regular hours, I have only so much time. If I compress the rest periods, I have to lighten the weight used, period. If I walk first (usually brisk, vigorous walks), I need to lighten the weight used. Fatigue last longer. I recover slower. And it, say, pull ups go very well, the lifts afterward suffer.
One rep maxes: usually a bad idea, especially for the deadlift and bench press. At all out efforts I lose form discipline and that leads to my chronic conditions firing up.
Small aches and pains: here, I compensate by using different equipment: different handle heights for trap bar pulls, different hand positions for pull ups and chin ups (and sometimes mixed grip), Swiss bar (football bare) for bench on occasion.
Sometimes, I get down and need an attitude check. My old levels of strength are not coming back. BUT I am stronger now than I would be were I to quit. And my wife reminds me: “be grateful you aren’t picking out tennis balls for a walker.”
Yes, it is a different mentality now that I don’t have PBs to look forward to. I am working to slow my slide. That is all I can do.
I’ll have more to say about other topics in a bit, but right now is workout recording and a baseball comment.
Friday: 7.1 miles in 1:45:44. It was a bit slippery and I started slowly. Still I was at mile 5 in about 1:13:50. Then a final and a lot of grading.
Saturday: started with 5.2 in 1:13:04 (lower 4 plus a campus 1.2) Perfect walking weather and it felt almost effortless. I did 3/4 of my PT before the walk and 1/4 after (super setting with pull ups) 5 pull ups, 5 chins 5 pull ups, 5 chins 10 pull ups
8 chin ups, 4 chin ups
6 pull ups, 6 chin ups. Had the burn going.
Downstairs: bench press: 10 x 134, 4 sets of 4 x 155 (difficult..every set was hard)
curls: 3 sets of 10 high incline; 10 x 80, 10 x 85, 7 x 90 all being strapped in. Those latter reps were difficult; strapping myself in prevents recruiting the upper chest when tired. BURN.
Much to my surprise, B went to baseball game with me. Bradley lost to a strong UIC team 18-4; it was 15-4 when a rain delay occurred in the top of the 9’th. We left, ate Indian, and then I followed the carnage. One BU player had a 3 hit game. One of their players hit 3 home runs, got one walk and a double.
And today was one of those days. Pull ups: awful. I did 2 sets of 10 singles each (chins, pull ups), then sets of 5 (chins, pull ups) and it was a struggle. 50 reps.
Then downstairs: bench: 10 x 134, 7 x 145, 8 x 145, 7 x 145 (ok, not the worst I’ve done) high incline (careful) 10 x 80, 10 x80, 10 x 85 and deadlifts: 10 x 134 low, 10 x 184 low, 10 x 234 4 inch, then 1 x 280 6 inch (bailed..just not there).
Walked over lunch after eating. disaster; 5k at 15:06. No, I didn’t hurt myself and yes, I had a great walk yesterday.
I am at the point where “good, high energy workout one day” means being off the next day, even if the next day is a different kind of workout.
But I didn’t hurt myself and I weighed in at 183 so there is that.
And yesterday was “the talk” in the University Senate.
First one tomorrow. Sleepy. Still walked 7; first 5 (out and back 5 hill course) was 1:12 and the Moss out and back was 29:20 (about 2.06) for about 7.1 in 1:43:53 (14:38) Great walking weather.
Life of an old goat 