Day: January 10, 2020

My current athletic obsession and how it will end

i am the type of “athlete wannabe” that cycles through obsessions.
In the beginning, it was football. It later became weight lifting (as in, weight training), distance running, swimming, walking..yes, even yoga for a bit, and so forth.
How it worked: I’d become obsessed with a sport and a particular event in that sport (say, the 5K swim, or the 5K run, or, say the bench press). I’d do it over and over again, train, practice, wear my (few) friends out as I talked about it incessantly …and eventually….it would end because:

1. I got injured or burnt out and
2. I’d found that I really wasn’t any good at it…

or both.

My current obsession: the dead lift. Why? Because I am pitifully weak at it right now; I once did 425 (in the gym, back in the late 1970’s-early 1980’s) and right now, I am mired at 240…less than a strong 80 year old granny. The good news is that a technique I’ve found is helping me do these sans back pain (and doing some reps with the hex bar helps too. And this video has helped me focus on correcting deficiencies.

Where will I end up? I don’t know. But I might buy a hex bar and 2 more 45 lb plates for the house.

I’d like to get to 300 lb eventually (and I have some Walter Mitty in me..with better form, who knows?)

Weight: 194.5
rotator cuff
pull ups: 5 sets of 10 (not that bad)
light goblet squats (2 sets of 6 with 25)
hex dead: 6 x 135, 1 x 185, 1 x 225 (no fail), 1 x 245 (new best), 4 x 225, 6 x 205 (all with handles DOWN)
Sumo dead: 6 x 135 (was easy, should have been)
experimental: 2 reps with 35 lb. dumbbells (seeing how low I could go with stiff legged and keep the back straight)
incline press: 10 x 135, 6 x 150
decline press: 10 x 165
shoulder press: barbell: 1 x 95, 1 x 105, 5 x 95, 10 x 85
shoulder press: dumbbell: 10 x 40
note: barbell presses hit my deltoid muscles harder
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 100 seated machine (different one than normal)
plank: 2:30
headstand

This took about 80 minutes to complete; I did not rush through my sets as I often do.

Yes, I can accept criticism …from some…

Some time ago, someone complained that I didn’t accept criticism. The person complaining was correct, to a point.

I did NOT accept criticism from them because:
1. I did not solicit it from them..
2. They were not a close friend who knows me well and that I trust…
3. They weren’t between me and my paycheck …and
4. They have no special insight, expertise, etc.

Yes, I do solicit feedback from select people.
Yes, a handful of close, trusted friends do have a green light to “set me straight” or to point stuff out to me.
Yes, I do have to take some directive from those who pay me, though I don’t necessarily have to buy into what they say (see the next point)
Yes, if the criticism is coming from someone who has something I want to have for myself; say knowledge, achievement I respect, expertise, relevant experience, then I can be grateful for it.

I know that I don’t “know it all”; far from it; I know only a little about a few things.

But that doesn’t mean that I am going to take criticism from average losers that I don’t know. That is what “noise cancelling headphones” are for (aka “block, mute, unfriend, etc.”)

An online pledge and frustration

One downside of the internet age is that it is very easy to spread “plausible disinformation” about those you do not like; here are but two examples (here and here).

What makes this worse is that other countries have paid trolls to do just that.

It is so tempting for me to want to believe the worst about those I do not like or do not agree with (e. g. MAGAs, wokes, the sanctimonious know-it-all-activists, religious nutters, etc.). So when something comes out that purports to report an incident where they say or do something outrageous, immoral or stupid, I want to believe it..and even pass it on.

That isn’t good for anyone.

So I am pledging to fact check first..prior to believing ..and fact check multiple times prior to passing it on.

Frustration
I complain about liberals quite a bit, mainly because they tend to be the people I talk to the most. And another complaint is to follow:

some yoga person complained that she got nude photos sent to her..she admitted that she sometimes posed in a thong.

One of my friends said something to the effect: “what do you expect to happen”…and that angered some feminist friends of mine (yes, I still have some).

No..that doesn’t mean “it is ok to do that” but it does mean “that is a predictable result.”

It is a bit like leaving your stuff unlocked on the porch..yes, it will get stolen, and if you don’t want it to get stolen, lock it up. Most people do that.

No, that doesn’t mean that it is ok to steal.

But that is “victim blaming” to the feminists.

In a way, the social justice liberals are a bit like the old Bible Beaters…the Bible Beaters say that if we all turned to Jesus, human evil would vanish.
The SJW’s appear to think that humans can be trained/peer pressured into eliminating evil.

Sure, peer pressure and education can help REDUCE bad behavior (and yes, sending unsolicited nudes is bad) but it will never eliminate it; most of the public understands that.

And that leads me to David Frum’s book Trumpocracy

I am early in the book where he is setting up the conditions under which Trump arose. Yes, he took many to task; even Obama (for retreating on principle when it was politically expedient to do so).
Then he talks about Trump supporters and how much of Trump’s support comes from those who are sick of political correctness.

The irony: many liberals on my friend’s list see political correctness as just plain politeness as they don’t:

1. Live in an academic environment nor
2. Watch right win media sources, which focus on the foibles of 1.

Yes, reports of PC-ness on college campuses are exaggerated; most STUDENTS are far more reasonable than that. Come to think of it, most non-humanities faculty appear to be also.

Well, Trump may be crude, vulgar, dishonest, bombastic and just plain ignorant, but at least he hits back at the noisy wokes and tells them to kiss off. And that makes him appealing to many.
Of course, he tells off anyone who contradicts him, not just the wokes…and that includes experts who are giving accurate analysis and information, but..well, those are just petty details ..and a price some of his supporters (the ones who know better) are willing to pay.

I am not. I’d vote for a rubber chicken if that was Trump’s major opposition.