Month: December 2021

My COVID strategy: treat it as a storm

We are at 18.55 percent positive tests. And yes, what we have here is mostly delta as opposed to the less damaging omicron.

Hospitalizations: I’ve listed August 18, December 22 and December 29. Note the change in 1 week, and in that week, cases exploded ..mostly delta.

But, well, most simply don’t care, at least here. So..I’ve got some KN-95 masks, my 2 shots and booster, and I’ll hunker down; mostly work activities only until cases subside to at least October levels..maybe early November will be ok.

I sold our NFL tickets and will probably catch the basketball games on ESPN+ (renewed my subscription); pity Bradley won’t make a vaccine mandate to go games the way that Illinois did. But Illinois is a major program; not as dependent on money from FREEDUM MAGA morons.

Now when cases go down, as they will eventually, I’ll see you at the arena. I am confident I’ll get baseball again.

But for now, I am in “storm mode” and will leave shelter when the storm passes ..and maybe the next variant will be more mild than omicron, which is a step down from delta.

Workout notes: yes, yoga class: 3 masked, vaccinated and boosted individuals in a large room, followed by 1:02:30 on the bike. I’ve made moved to up the intensity to give myself a better workout. The butt feels better but I am not getting the calorie burn that I got with walking, so I need to cut back on eating a bit.

Another day with good old delta

Yes, omicron has arrived but right now, the dominant strain is still delta and we are at 18.36 percent positivity (as of 29 December). We are getting creamed.

Yeah, we sold our NFL tickets; can’t risk it at my age and with my elderly wife.

I know that the CDC is catching heat; the argument is that they are recommending something that people might actually follow rather than something safer that they won’t.

I can’t defend everything they recommended; for example my wife followed their “vaccinated adults don’t need to mask” and ended up with a breakthrough that required BAM treatment (late July).

But some of what they said “back when” was reasonable advice at the time. Example: the older variants of covid required a larger dose (viral load) to infect, so cloth masks did provide some protection..and they still do a decent job of filtering droplets released by the wearer.

But sure, now that delta came a long, you need a better mask (NK-95, KF-94) for personal protection.

I admit that I’ve become a bit bitter. Last year, I was whiny about being toward the back of the vaccination line.

Now, my anger is mostly at the COVIDIOTS who won’t get the shot, now with those who won’t mask in indoor public places and institutions who won’t create and enforce vaccine mandates.

And yes, I am still steamed at liberals who, back in the summer of 2020 were all “no large gatherings, unless it is a protest we approve of” and those who wildly exaggerated the efficacy of vaccines by using statistics in a very stupid way.

Yes, it does turn out that outdoor stuff wasn’t that bad, but one needs consistency when one makes recommendations. Liberals were downright hypocritical at the time and, well, why would a conservative trust what we say?

There is a ton of blame to go around.

But there are those doing things right.

Workout notes

Pull ups were harder than usual: weight gain? Cold? (29 F)

5-5-5-5, 10, 5-5-10-5-5 (chins, wide grip included)

push ups: 30 sissy, walk 10 (hard), 10 deficit, 10 legs up the steps (touch the chest).

Deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224, 10 x 244 (all low); technique is improving a bit. Felt slight back tingles and decided to end with the 10 x 244; it was the best I’ve done at 10 reps and 244 is more than what I could do in Jan, 2020.

Dec 28: omicron

Workout: yoga class, some rehab, 1:04 bike (home: 20 miles; did 3 of those at a “new to me” higher resistance); glute feels good. But …not much walking at all.

Later: first snow of the season. Not the worst but..yuck.

Local: COVID numbers are awful.

Positivity rate: 16.95 percent.

So, we cancelled our trip to Indianapolis to watch the Colts vs Raiders; leave that to younger people.

So, omicron is here, though some of what we are seeing is pain old delta.

Yes, I am seeing reports from social media follow/followers who have close relatives in ICU’s.

Yes..this was 5 days ago…this is not something that is mild or “just a cold”. Look at the contrast. And remember hospitalizations are a lagging indicator.

Now the CDC has new guidelines for vaccinated, asymptomatic people. This is the science they are based on:

Sadly, there is still a ton of ignorance out there and I’ve taken to muting and scrolling past.

Awful local numbers

12 percent positive rate..with a LOT of testing.

Today’s workout: leisurely; no areobic. Some rehab.

pull ups: 5, 5, 10, 10 (3 penalty set) 5-5, 10 singles, 5-5

push ups: 30 sissy, 30 feet elevated, 2 sets of 15 deficit, 20 flat (touching)

rows: 3 sets of 10 with 60 (single arm)

bench presses: (Swiss bar) 10 x 95, 10 x 115, 7 x 135 (cautious)

curls: 3 sets of 10

shoulder presses: 10 x 93, 5 x 108, 5 x 108, 5 x 104 (better ROM?)

Felt ok.

26 December

We shall see; I am seeing some COVID anguish on my time line.

Today’s workout: yoga, PT and 1:02:30 on the bike (20 fake miles)

The video is very boring as it is 50 seconds of me being in headstand; at least I did get up there.

Glute feels better.

I do notice that my eyes feel scratchy but..no runny nose, nothing resembling a headache, no runny nose, etc. So, given I haven’t really been many places in a week…and I don’t want to waste a rapid test unless I go somewhere…

I suppose if I have something resembling symptoms AT ALL, I’ll rapid test myself before yoga. But..nothing running, no sore throat..only slightly scratchy eyes.

Airing of Grievances: Trap bar deadlifts

Today: some rehab, 30:30 on the bike after some deadlifts:

10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (safely called a warm up these days)

Working set: 5 sets of 3 x 270 low, taking care of my back (big breath at the bottom); right at the knife edge of stiffening up toward the end.

That was enough for today.

Progress: well, it was 2 years ago that 240-245 was my tough one rep max; now 240 goes up 10 times…easily, and I’ve gotten 314 low handle (ok, after my working sets; dumb idea).

Best sets as of now: 10 x 240, 5 x 274, 1 x 314. Can I improve some more? I think so, IF I keep improving technique and give my body a lot of time to adjust. Today, I was limited by not wanting to aggravate that back tweak from 3 weeks ago. Each rep was, well, sort of easy.

And yes, I score an 84 on the Army’s trap bar deadlift contest. I want to improve.

Now about the exercise itself. Yes, other athletes use it. This is Quenton Nelson, all pro guard for the Colts. He might be a bit stronger than I am.

This exercise has its detractors:

It has its defenders too:

For me: it is a concession to age. It allows me to pick “sort of” heavy stuff off of the ground and not hurt myself in the process, and I enjoy doing that.

Christmas eve

Yesterday: slept in, did some rehab/yoga on my own, and had a somewhat slow (17:30) painful 2 mile campus walk with stretch stops ever .5 miles. That walk was, well, not very good.

The day was too nice to not get out.

I have backslid since that extra week two weeks ago; part of it is that I slacked just a bit on the PT and did too much walking on that week. And part of it: I added one legged stands and OUCH..those are tough. But some of the ache is on the side rather than in the meaty part of the glute. I am chasing the trigger point around.

Today: I got to skip B’s family gathering (in return for her mentally challenged nephew staying with us for a few days); I did spend a bit of time with Tracy and her cat.

I had a leisurely workout as well:

pull ups: 5, 5, 10, 10 chins, 5 wide, 5 wide, 10 chins, 7 pull ups, 5 (62 total)

push ups: 30 sissy, 30 feet elevated, 20 deficit, 20 regular.

rehab: included hip hikes, one legged stands, banded walks

curs: 3 sets of 10, rows: 3 sets of 10 each arm.

shoulder presses: 10 x 88, 5 x 103, 5 x 103, 5 x 108

32 minutes bike.

Glute: as I said: sort of sore.

Omicron arrives

Current positivity rate: 11.2 percent.

For contrast:

The silver lining is that omicron, while more contagious, appears to be less harmful, at least to vaccinated people. But remember it is summer in Africa. And in Denmark, the “hospitalization per cases” ratio might be lower, if the cases are high enough, hospitalizations might be up.

So what am *I* doing: masking indoors, doing most of my social stuff outdoors or in big arenas (with mask), shaving my beard for a better mask fit, and not spending unnecessary time indoors especially in places that don’t have enforced mask mandates.

No eating indoors with strangers. And even in the gym: I do a lightly attended morning yoga class and then go outside or go home (treadmill and bike).

Workout notes pull ups went ok; 2 sets of 5, 4 sets of 10 (including 1 set of 10 chins), 2 sets of 5 (wide, chin)

push ups: 30 sissy, 30 feet elevated, 2 sets of 10 flat deficit, 1 set of 20 flat. After my second set of 30, a visitor of my neighbor gave me the “are you ok” look.

Then downstairs for deads: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224, 10 x 240, none were that hard.

29:30 for 1o miles on the bike; then stretching.

Glute DOES feel better than yesterday; a lot better.

Dec 21

Workout notes: yoga with Ms. V, 1 mile walking (went ok..not great) then decent 30:30 bike and rehab.

But oh my goodness…very sore..to the touch on the side. This is as sore as it has been in a long time; not sure; perhaps I overdid the standing on one leg? Just achy… does this mean I need to do this exercise MORE or is this bad for it? Hard to tell.

Later: to the Peoria Museum with Olivia and Barbara; dinner with Tracy later that evening.

Daughter day 2

Well, a (masked) trip to the museum was aborted because I forgot to check the hours. LOL.

Yes, we are all boosted and we mask indoors.

Workout notes: slept in late. Did some rehab (single leg balances, banded walks) and finished with 32:30 on the bike.

pull ups: 5 sets of 10, then 6, 4 singles with chins and a penalty set. Went ok.
push ups: 30 sissy, walk 10 (55 reps), 20 feet elevated.

rows: single arm with 60: 3 sets of 10, curls: 3 sets of 10.

presses: 3 sets of 10 with 88, 93, 98

I did some goblet squats..still too “stripper like”.