What I did: Saturday, some rehab and 32 minutes on the exercise bike; I did walk to and from the football game (.7 miles each way) and made it without stopping due to pain.
Sunday; deadlifts, and stationary cycling (31 minutes) and some stretching.
Note: as far as the cycling: a few months ago, I started with .25 miles hard, .75 miles easier resistance. Now it is .5/.5 or 1/1, Today: .5 easy, 1.5 hard up to mile 9, then 10’th was all easy.
Deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, then 10 x 224. on the 3: 4 sets of 3 x 262, 1 set of 5 x 262 (best for 5 reps; still had more in the tank. 4 inch: 3 x 274 (easy), 3 x 301 (3’rd rep..right side of the upper glute/lower back; slight twinge
8 inch: 10 x 270
Note: now that I have gotten up to doing reps with 260+, maybe I’ll try my bigger bar for my sets of 3, not that it really matters.
I waded into a couple of somewhat heated discussions on Twitter.
One involved Steven Pinker, who, while loved by many, is absolutely despised by many of the Twitter woke.
I was amused; someone referred him to as a pop-writer and I reminded him that Pinker is in the National Academy of Science…(he is: linguistics) and stated that he was far more accomplished and smarter than the vast majority of his critics.
OMG, was there some butthurt!!! I love it.
Sure, Pinker often writes pop stuff over things not in his area, just like Paul Krugman does. And I am sure that some of it (at least) is an over simplification and he probably gets some things wrong, or at least gives a misleading impression.
And yes, some very smart people ..even Nobel Laureates in physics…have gone full crackpot. So the probability that some of his mediocre (or worse) critics are right and he is wrong is non-zero. But I know which way I’d bet.
And, IMHO, that is just reality.
I see an issue that I don’t know much about. On one hand, this proven smart guy, who is outside his specialty, makes a case saying “it is probably this way”..and some nobody says he is wrong.
I don’t have access to a CV..and unless I see the critic has at least some respect in said area, I am not going to take them seriously. …no more than I’d take “COVID is an overblown hoax” nonsense seriously.
it's funny, "nobodies" is how pinker described the signatories of the letter last year, and it was both as deeply gross as an attitude and also untrue then as it is now.
Deeply gross?? What is “deeply gross” is how people want to be taken seriously when they’ve given no objective reason to do so.
Oh well…
The other issue was this one:
My wife walked up to the server at our local cafe. The person was possibly transgender. She wanted to engage the individual but was frozen in fear that she might use a pronoun that might offend. Therein lies the problem with this language policing. It takes perfectly natural
I had pointed out that in some cultures it is extra polite to take on a “sir, Madame”, etc. and of course the loudmouths threw a fit.
It is no skin off of my nose; I was merely pointing out that this could be awkward, but the noisy were not having any of it.
In my honest opinion, IF your goal is to win more acceptance into the broader community, you probably aren’t in a position to DEMAND it or to order everyone to bend to you..and your saying something doesn’t make it correct.
And speaking of Chappelle:
Streisand effect: Dave Chappelle threw shade at Hannah Gadsby so I decided to watch one of her specials on Netflix. I was expecting to be OUTRAGED. Instead I nodded off and fell asleep. Woke up, watched a short Bill Maher clip from a recent show and laughed so loudly that B wanted to know what was up (it was “woke Halloween Movies”; clip is elsewhere on my wall. I am not saying Gadsby was incompetent; her stage presence and delivery were pretty good. And some of her stuff was funny (her joke about making fun of Americans was “still punching up, but perhaps for not much longer”..But for me, the best “thought comedy” is the stuff where they say something that perhaps you thought of or felt but hadn’t put into words….even if the feelings aren’t the most noble ones.
Now, I would NOT say that Gadsby “wasn’t funny” but I would say that her humor really isn’t designed for me. There are all sorts of instances of that: sports specific jokes, discipline specific jokes, etc.
My last PT appointment was yesterday. I’ve made great progress with my shoulder and decent progress with my glute (a tougher injury to recover from) I noticed that most in the clinic while I was there were elderly (ok, some ..ok..many …were age peers). I also noticed that many were trying to recover from very tough things…to be able to walk, do functional things. I was there for sports injuries and felt a bit guilty about it. The PT …(who was trying to get this old man to feel better) told me that I was where I was (in terms of what I could do) due to decisions I made and things I’ve done (deliberately stayed active)And when I think about it, yes, it was *part* of the story. But much of the story was simple good fortune: a job that doesn’t break my body and gives me time to work out, not having a severe accident which disabled me, not getting a severe illness (up to now) or being born with a disability …these are factors that I did nothing to “earn”. So I might say that I was lucky (up to now…luck can change at any time) and I did things to take advantage of said luck.And that brings me to part II.
I know a lot of aging runners and some aging lifters. It seems as if many of us have that one period in our sporting life when everything clicked…we were as fast/strong/whatever as we were going to be..and then things like age/illness or circumstances meant that period of our life would be gone forever…”you can’t go home again.” Oh, I get that. I am not ever going to see certain performances again (average performances in the great scheme of things). But I can focus on activities that are fun for me and to still do the “continuing rehab” that will enable me to enjoy the fun activities just a bit longer, albeit at lower levels and to keep some level of independence (e. g. if I can do squats and pull ups, I can get up when I trip and fall, and if I can comfortably do 10 reps with 100kg in the deadlift, I won’t win any contests but I can move boxes around the house without risking my back.
And yeah, I ended the day with a slightly achy glute.
Now for the workout: I wanted to get out early; I really didn’t. I did get 31 minutes on the bike and some stretching; part of my rehab included planks of various types, chest taps, weightless squats, etc.
pull ups: 40 singles every 10 seconds, 10, penalty set of 5 then 2 sets of 5 chins. (65 reps total)
push ups: arms elevated (“sissy”): 2 sets of 20, feet elevated: 2 sets of 20, full, touch the bowl push ups: 2 sets of 10 (100 reps total)
deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (slow..1/2 count at the bottom), 10 x 246 4 inch handle, 10 x 270 high handle.
Then the bike after rehab.
The deadlifts felt…good. Pull ups felt, good. And I think that I can finally squat to a deep position without turning it into a stripper squat.
For a few minutes anyway; just wrote up an exam. Now I’ll rewrite a proposal. No, the proposal will not teach the students a single thing more but…
Yesterday: stayed up too late watching the Colts game. They won (Bears looked awful).
pull ups: 8 sets of 5, 10, two more sets of 5.
push ups: 20, 20 (sissy), 20 (feet elevated), 20 (normal), then two sets of 10 taking care to touch the target. I have to take this slowly; I don’t want to regress.
curls (3 sets of 10), rows (3 sets of 10: 116), shoulder presses (10 x 76, 76, 82) and then some rehab.
Today; yoga then 3 miles of 15:47 mpm walking outside. Ok, 3.27 miles. I stopped at 1.18, 1.7, 2.2, 2.7 miles (one break more than usual). I did NOT push into the discomfort zone. This glute pain is something else; it appears to be improving oh-so-slowly ..the first mile seems GREAT then it goes south very quickly. After the stretches, it is good for 5-10 minutes then… I also notice that indoor/treadmill is easier; perhaps it is because my back stretch is longer and more thorough.
Shoulder: not QUITE there…but oh so close. Maybe bring bench presses back over Thanksgiving?
Last night: Tracy came over to watch Ohio State massacre Indiana. It was 44-7, at the HALF. Bears were down 35-3 to Tampa, AT THE HALF.
Workout: 2 mile warm up on the bike, stretching, rehab, 3 one mile segments (3.2 miles total in 46:02 on the treadmill), with rests between each mile, then more rehab, then 8 more miles on the exercise bike.
Should be good to go tomorrow…thinking of exercises for my life contingencies class.
pull ups (8 sets of 5, set of 10, 2 sets of 5 chins)
some rehab
push ups (superset with pull ups: 2 sets of 20 sissy, 20 feet elevated, 20 normal, then 2 sets of 10, 1 set of 5 where I touch a target with my chest to get more depth.
shoulder presses: 10 x 70, 76, 81, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 116, curls: 3 sets of 10 x 50
then 33 minutes cycling (Indoor)
Today: deadlifts, mild rehab, cycling (31:30)
deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 226
on the 3: 5 sets of 5 x 261 (not that hard; focused on hip hinge)
4 inch handle: 3 x 274 (easy), 2 singles with 306 (felt hard) Slight back strain.
8 inch handle: 10 x 265 (pretty easy)
Deadlifts are moving along, though there appears to be a big difference between 301 and 306 in the 4 inch handle.
Shoulder: were the “touch the bowl” push ups TOO much ROM for me, right now?
The clip is mostly asking Democrats to “dial it back.” Yes, he acknowledges the rage from the right wing is more shrill and more intense.
But there is something. The block of rabid, right wing MAGAs is, frankly, larger than any block the Democrats have. And it seems that much that comes from liberals (at least on social media) is “oh, you believe this…I HATE YOU…don’t you KNOW how BAD I HATE you!!!” and that is supposed to convince someone.
If you are in a tiny minority…no matter how righteous your cause is (or you THINK it is), rage will not change anyone’s mind. It is the wrong game plan, FOR US.
Maher goes on to note how it is NOT about “the issues.”
You can’t win over people who HATE YOU…and we seem to seek out such hate. There is an asymmetry here.
Now about the “National Divorce”: I want one. But I don’t want 2 countries. I want THREE. I don’t want MAGA-land (and their insistence that COVID is a hoax, or overblown…denial of science). I don’t want woke-a-stan either where even BRIDGE OPERATORS (they make a draw bridge go up and down) have to pursue equity and social justice
If you would like to be a bridge operator for the Seattle Dept of Transportation, you must also “promote equity, diversity, and race and social justice.” And mop the floors. pic.twitter.com/QEf9dxmtjk
and any semblance of merit is called “white supremacy” and sex is a social construct. I don’t want the police abolished.
I want a third country which has a mix of people who can at least agree on some kernel of reality and have arguments/discussions on how to proceed from there.
I watched Illinois beat Penn State 20-18. Ok, this went to 9 overtimes, with overtimes 3-9 being a single 2 point conversion attempt. It was 10-10 in regulation and the teams traded 5 unsuccessful attempts at a 2 point conversion. Then in the 8’th, both teams made them.
Statistically, SAVE THE TURNOVERS, Illinois dominated the game, running almost at will between the 20’s. This was the mirror image of the Wisconsin game. But at the end of regulation, it was 10-10.
But this time, Illinois made the plays.
After that, I switched on ESPN+ to watch the conclusion of the Illinois State vs no. 15 South Dakota and the Redbirds held on to win, 20-14, making a stop on downs with 2 minutes to go (at the 4 yard line) and then getting an interception to seal the win.
Life of an old goat 