Month: August 2021

Trudging forward

Workout notes: walked 1.3 miles with Lynn (preemptive stretch breaks at .6, 1,); I circled around for her. Then more rehab at home, 62 minutes on the bike (an old Welso “band resistance” bike); 20 fake miles, and yes, some headstand.

Later: moved stuff around in the basement, carried 5 bags of trash out along with an old, rotted EZ chair.

IF I am too sore to deadlift “heavy” I’ll just do some form work..on all 3 handle settings. I have so many 45’s that I won’t have to unload/reload my two bars.

Moving: I did get some butt tingles with the moving; shoulder is ok.

COVID-19

This is from late July to mid August to current. I do not think it is has sunk in how bad it is getting…and no, break through infections are NOT rare.

Oh..someone in my wife’s social circle angrily denounced COSTCO because of their then mask requirements. You guess it: in the hospital…with COVID. Will those morons ever learn?

My protocols: I am still planning to go to the football game: it is outdoor and yes, I am masking up for the duration of the game. And, well, it isn’t as if my team sells out. The good news is that I sit among older people: 80 percent vaccinated around here. And..well, I am probably safer there than I will be in the classroom (jam packed with masked students) and at the gym…

On the go

Well, a few things came up (e. g. how to use a computer in the non-mediated classrooms) and so I didn’t get to proof what I hope I would get to proof. But I have time now to make sure I hit the ground running.

Yes, COVID is real; we’ve about doubled our daily cases from last week, and yes, hospitals are seeing breakthrough infections, hospitalizations and a few in the ICU.

Context: 46 percent of the population is vaccinated, and about 80 percent of the 65 and up group.

So, yes, I am masking up indoor and outdoor when I can’t be distant from people.

Workout notes: I’ll spare the videos this time; not much new here. I will say that getting this new trap bar will make me clean things up..lots of useless junk in the basement.

The workout: pull ups: 3 sets of 10, 4 of 5, (including wide), 3 penalty, 2 sets of 5 chins (63 reps)

abs, and yes, headstand!

push ups: 25, 25 much better ROM, 20 feel up

rows: 3 sets of 10 x 110 (new trap bar),

curls: 3 sets of 10 with 50

seated shoulder: 3 sets of 10: 44, 44, 64

all sorts of abs, etc.

And yes, prior to this: 1 mile of walking with 1 stretch break at .6; 15:50 pace. Focus: ab tight, posture, push off the toes.

1 week and counting

Weird dream last night…in it was someone I had not seen since the summer of 1977…first semester roommate …and it involved Notre Dame, ND football, etc. And yes..COVID.

Weights: well, later in the day, my 60 lb. behemoth trap bar came. Now to use it with my 55 lb bumper plates..170 min.
Yes, it is rackable, sturdier and has higher handles. But I pledge to learn to lift with these high handles first PRIOR to seeing what I can do.

Glute pain: felt it in the store but a “twisted hip” stretch seemed to help. I neglected my stretches this morning in favor of shoulders.

The workout itself: I’ll list the rehab I can remember:

pull ups: 10 singles, 10, 10, 10 singles (with pause), 5, 5, 5 chins, 5 chins. (60 reps) recovery: hip hikes, various shoulder band exercises.

push ups: 25, 25, 20 with legs elevated. Recovery: sets of moving spinal balance (keep the core steady), chest taps. (5, 8)

deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (one bad rep on the final set…rep 5 or 6)

high handle: 2 sets of 5 x 244, trying to make it “squat like”; the second set felt good.

stretch; 30:30 bike (10 fake miles), roll on a baseball.

Why COVID/delta is so difficult to discuss

This tweet sparked quite a bit of discussion:

The short answer might be something like:

  1. Risk factors have changed..in a bad direction:

2. Delta CAN (and has) spread outdoors:

“

Two recent studies have found that outdoor transmission of COVID could be more likely as the Delta variant continues to spread through the population. The first paper, which is still awaiting peer review, outlines a wedding in Texas in April. Even though the wedding was held outdoors under an open-air tent, an outbreak of the virus led to six fully vaccinated people becoming infected and one subsequently dying, Salon reports.

The authors point out two guests who had tested negative for the variant before traveling from India, but likely infected the other guests, who all later tested positive for the variant. They wrote: “With no histories of vaccine breakthrough, this suggests Delta variant may possess immune evasion in patients that received the Pfizer [vaccine], Moderna mRNA [vaccine], and [the] Covaxin [vaccine].”

The second case in question involves the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest, an outdoor concert held on July 10 in Oregon that has so far had 64 COVID infections connected to it. While it’s unclear how many of those who contracted the virus were vaccinated, state health officials launched an investigation into the event, saying in a press statement: “This outbreak is the first one of its size and scope to be traced to an outdoor entertainment event since the lifting of statewide COVID-19 prevention measures at the end of June.”

“

3. Infections are increasing among the vaccinated.

Now as far as the science goes: true, most spread is via aerosols…indoor. But the delta variant is much more contagious and the outdoor spread is more like droplet spread.

So…these together means that “masking makes sense” in that situation.

But discussion…OMG… it is problematic because:

  1. Things change very rapidly. It was only weeks ago that mainstream articles declared that “breakthrough infections are rare.” (pre delta articles). So, someone who is reasonably well read might have bad information.
  2. Conditional probability is hard for some to grasp. Example: a few weeks ago, it was said that there were 1400 deaths out of 125K breakthrough infections. That is 1.1 percent..similar to the 1.7 percent overall. But that was conditioned on having a breakthrough, and it is a reasonable conjecture that the elderly and more immunocompromised might be more prone to breakthroughs.

    Or, when the NYT released an article that vaxxed people could spread it as easily as vaccinated ones, that was, yes, conditioned on being infected to begin with and the best current data I’ve seen would indicate that a unvaccinated person is 9 times more likely to become infected to begin with.
  3. Mitigation is hard for some to understand. “you might need a mask even if vaccinated” means, to them “oh, vaccinations don’t work?” Or: “X got infected though they were masked” means “your mask doesn’t work?” Risk REDUCTION is the goal; risk ELIMINATION is impossible.

And so…discussion is often confused and frustrating, even when talking to others in good faith..even when the others are neither evil nor stupid.

PT reevaluation

I probably have a few weeks left of formal PT; the shoulder is doing MUCH better; butt a bit less so, though improved. The latter just takes a much longer time to heal up.

A recommendation is that I walk, stop and stretch, walk some more, stretch again, but don’t let it get to pain.

So today: walk with Lynn (lots of rehab); made a mile with tingles (one break), ok, 19 minute mile but…
and I found a way to fiddle with the resistance of the home bike to make it challenging ..1:03 for 20 miles (.25 mile intervals from mile 5 to mile 18)

COVID: on the upswing again; past the “case an hour” mark; it seems that some cannot figure out that breakthrough infections are not that rare.

The approaching storm

We are now in the HIGH transmission stage

So far, starting with January 2020, we’ve had 1 out of every 7 residents get COVID and 1 out of every 423 die from it.

And, for the most part, few around here are taking it seriously. Today, at the store, perhaps 1/3 were masked and that is an increase from the norm. We are so going to get creamed by this approaching wave, and few care.

Via the New York Times: late July, 12 August, and 16 August. Look at that purple splotch..growing like a mold…and to think:
1. I was whining about not getting vaccinated; now we can’t give it away.
2. In June/July I thought it was pretty much over (wrong)
3. Now I am wondering if the worst is yet to come..which is possible.

Prestorm fun

Well, baseball on Saturday night. The Chiefs had a Cardinal pitcher making a rehab start…and he promptly gave up a single and a double with his first 2 batters; a double play allowed one run to score and so it was 1-0.

But the Chiefs had a pep in their step all evening, and the pitcher got comfortable and frustrated Kernel batters with sharp breaking balls the rest of the evening. Result was a very nice 7-3 win.

The game featured a Chiefs player being ejected over an argued 3’rd strike call and a brief stoppage due to a drone over the field.

It was “Faith and Family” night..and I wondered how many were vaccinated. When someone standing behind me complained about a vaccine mandate at work, I moved.

Still..great game and perfect conditions.

Sunday: sparse Sunday crowd as usual but Lynn joined me and ..of course, B wanted to go (someone she could talk to).

The Chiefs lost 3-1 and didn’t get their first hit until the 7’th inning…and still had 2 on base in the bottom of the 8’th when they got their 3’rd out; it was a winnable game. Kernels’ pitching was too much.

The Kernels got their first 2 runs via towering solo home runs.

Later B and I attended a Cornstalk production of “Complete Works of Shakespeare” (comedy)

Note: in the “3 of us photo”, I had taken off my mask; for much of the game our row, the row behind us and the row ahead of us was completely empty. I did wear the mask in the concourse and to and from the stadium..every time.

Waiting for the storm to hit: workout

15-16 August workout post.

15 August (Sunday) deadlifts, rehab, walking (1 km 16:20 pace), 30:30 cycle (10 miles)

The deadlifts:

warm up: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224

Work set: went VERY well: 255 for sets of 3, 3, 3, 3, 5 “on the 3 minutes)

High handle; 2 bad misses of 334 (44 bar, 45 bumper, 55 bumper, 45 steel); did not budge

High handle: 305 (44 bar, 45 bumper, 55 bumper, 25, 5.5 ) bad form; felt a right back/glute medius tug..felt the back round just a bit.

High handle: 2 sets of 3 x 244 really focusing on upright torso and knee position; these were super easy.

Romanian. 2 sets of 5 x 134; got a bit more into it this time.

Deadlift from here onward I think that in the recent past, I’ve lost form with the high handle deadlifts. So, for the time being, I’ll focus on the high handle deadlift as a type of squat with a more upright torso and not worry about the weight until I get the form smoothed out. I’ll stick with what I am doing with the low handle stuff.

Today: heavy on the shoulder rehab; workout took 2:27

I did a variety of rehab work between sets.

Pull ups: 10 singles, 10, 10, 5 pause, 5 pause, 10, then 2 sets of 5 chins.

push ups: 25, 25, then 20 with feet elevated, 5 more for the video (check depth)

shoulder presses (10, 2.2 on each side..maybe 27 lb total?) 10, 10, 15, 15 focusing on shoulder blade squeeze and not overusing the deltoid. Form sucks.

rows: 3 sets of 10 x 134

curls: 3 sets of 10 x 50 curl bar.

30:30 on the bike, with 1 mile of harder resistance (home bike)

Finished with rolling on a baseball.

Good Lord, this takes a very long time.

Rehab: my shoulder appears to be further along ..but …well…maybe by October back in the pool? Glute: if I can make it at the start of next year, I’ll feel good.

And along came delta

First things first: I am not a hermit this year; I will be going to another (sparsely attended) baseball game..tonight. I am doing things.

And after: 2 miles on the bike, stretching, 1 km walk (15:35 pace), rehab, then 20 more fake miles on the Matrix bike (19.6 miles at 1 hour; 1:01:51 for the 20)…at the Riverplex…

Yes, the pool at the Riverplex is undergoing huge repairs…and this week, much of the top of the building will as well….but I am wondering: by the time the pool closes, will my shoulder be up to snuff?

I am no longer getting night pains in my shoulder (famous last words) and, well, though the glute was on the verge of hurting after 1 km…it never got there; even the tingles were sort of minor.

Things ARE getting better; just not as soon as I’d like.

Then there is delta: top is today (August 14), next is Aug 12, last is late July.

Long gone is all that green. Long gone.

What is going on with the Delta variant? This explains it well.