Had a cough yesterday. Better today. Still not quite “right.”
Commuter walk over lunch.
Morning: PT, pull ups (one was a set of chin ups) 8 sets of 5 then 2 sets of 5 singles, mixing up the grips.
bench: 10 x 134
incline: 5 x 134, 6 x 134, 5 x 134
4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 (pause at the bottom)
2 sets of 10 curls.
Well…work got a little depressing (one of my favorites might leave)
Workout notes:
pull ups: 8 sets of 5, one of 7 and one of 3. One was chin up style: I need to do more of these.
bench press: 10 x 134, 1 x 175, 4 sets of 4 x 154
high incline: 5 x 105, 5 x 105, 10 x 94
curls: 3 sets.
Then a 2 mile commuter walk.
Weather: seasonally chilly (40’s); not this arctic stuff that we had recently.
Ok, it isn’t that bad…is it?
Yesterday (before the football games)
4 sets of 5 pull ups
5K walk at 15:50
6 sets of 5 pull ups with PT
bench: 10 x 134, 7 x 150, 7 x 150, 7 x 150
high incline: 3 sets of 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10
deadlifts: 4 inch: 10 x 134, 10 x184, 10 x 234 (dead stop, no bouncing)
Today: flat 4 mile course (4.22 in 1:01:21 or 14:32 mpm.) Not as quick as I could have liked but it was 17 F when I started.
On the whole, the day was fine. I did a slow (15:4x mpm) 4 mile walk on campus/neighborhood routes with decent footing. Back: slightly tighter than normal.
Then we (yes, “we”) went to a basketball game between Illinois State and Bradley. It was tight at the half 28-26, and BU built the lead to 40-30. Eventually, some 3 point shots fell and cut the lead to 42-41, before Bradley pulled away to win 61-57. 9646 saw the game. It got loud at times.
Now about the title of the post: I won’t go into the age related issues B is dealing with. I’ll talk about my own (at 65)
I thought about this when getting ready for my walk: 30 minutes of PT first, with exercises for my lumbar (LOT of them), piriformis, knees and shoulder. I do these daily; I have to in order to keep training.
Then there is the strapping on the knee braces. They appear to be helping (I use them for longer or faster walking and for lower body lifting).
So, all of this preparation just to be able to perform at something like 60 percent of my lifetime best. Today’s 4.2 walk took about 1:06. “In the day”, that I was an 8 mile training run or a 15K race.
When I do my bench presses: my max right now (legs up due to lumbar stenosis) is about 175. That is 135 less than my lifetime PB. On occasion I’ll do a few reps with 300+ in the trap bar deadlift; that is my old bench press best.
Pull ups: I can’t *quite* get 10 good reps. That number used to be 20-25.
And yes, I have to do all of that PT just to do this.
No wonder many get discouraged and quit. I don’t, because I still enjoy the workouts, I still like seeing what I can do, and I see what happens when people don’t. It really is “use it or lose it”, especially as one gets older.
Yesterday: morning:
pull ups: 10 sets of 5 (these were very hard)
bench: 10 x 134
incline: 5 x 134, 6 x 134, 5 x 134
curls: 2 sets of 10
4 inch dead: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234 (no bounce)
6 inch dead: 10 x 280
lunch: 10 fake miles in 36:55. Ok, so far.
But after lunch, walking from the house, I went down the steps and had a flash of burning pain in the inner left thigh; kind of high up but well below the groin. It seems to have gone away but I wonder if that was statement about my deadlift plus bike.
Today: 4 mile walk (campus and plowed neighborhood streets): 4.11 in 58:17 (14:11 pace) It was 5F so I was ok with the pace.
No night knee pain in a while. My back was somewhat stiffer than normal though.
Got up at 4:30, and I walked a steady 4.17 in 1:00:33 (14:32 pace). It was ok but it tired me out too much to do my cycling over lunch. I might do that tomorrow. Piriformis is slightly sore. The course was a campus, Moss/Cooper type course.
LOL…yes, there is less outrage this time around. Many of us expected it. As far as DEI: there has been some overreach and, IMHO, too much “groupthink” and feedback looping. Sometimes, it has degenerated into nonsense (e. g. “math is racist”, “women are just as capable as men in the popular sports”, etc.)
And hey, this is what the country voted for, and my throwing a tantrum is just wasted energy.
Ok, as Trump settles in and signs a bunch of performative executive orders…we see the usual rage. There was the “Musk is doing a Nazi salute” thing (he probably was not; it is not as if Nazis are popular in the US).
More importantly: we are seeing the Democrats trying to figure it out. No, I cannot tell you exactly why Trump won; there are probably a number of reasons.
What I can say is the following:
Trump won men 55-43
White 57-42
50-64 age group 56-43
over 65: very close, depending on the poll. This NBC one has 50-49
No college at all 62-36 (support went down up the educational ladder: some college, associate’s degree. Bachelor’s went for Harris)
30-99 thousand dollars household income 52-46 (Harris won 100K and up)
First time voters 55-44
Veterans 65-34
I don’t quite know what to make of this.
But what about the Democrats? I have to be careful here. I work in academia and the stuff I am tired of might not be that big of a deal to everyone else. So I cannot say “Trump won because the Democrats did Y and I don’t like Y.”
“Kamala is for they/them, Trump is for you.”
And I think this might have been the crux of it. The D’s are saddled as the women’s / “every social demographic outlier” party; a party that is hostile to the social mainstream and to men (the “privileged” class; the oppressor class)
Note: Harris did NOT run a “woke” campaign; it was very “red/white/blue.” But she was saddled with the “Democrat, oh “yuck”” image.
I cannot say it is all of it, but I believe it was a significant part of it.
Another part of it, I think, is that many of the current liberals have a “are you with me 100 percent or are you the enemy” attitude. Again, I am NOT charging Harris with this; she got help from Liz Cheney and other “never Trump” Republicans. This really helps make the Democratic brand toxic.
It was -4 when I walked 2 miles.
Pace was 15:30’ish.
This came after weights: pull ups: 10 sets of 5, indoor right away.
bench: 10 x 134, 8 x 150, 7 x 150, 7 x 150
high incline: 3 sets of 5 x 105
curls: 3 sets of 10.
I do have a tad bit of left hip/piriformis pain; this isn’t quite the radiating back pain. I think it is due to the bike.
I stopped briefly to tie up the jacket hood; the stocking cap wasn’t enough.
2.2 miles at 15:47; good footing but it was COLD (5 F, wind)
Before that: an extended weight workout:
mixed pull ups with PT: 10 sets of 5 (probably not perfect)
Bench press: 10 x 134, 5 x 155, 6 x 155, 5 x 155
High incline: 7 x 94, 7 x 94, 10 x 94
curls: 3 sets of 10
4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 234
6 inch trap bar: 10 x 280
back: slight “almost pain” in the glute again; wonder if it was the overhead work with the kitchen light.
It appears that B and I caught some sort of bug. She is not well today and my nose is stopped up.
Still at the Riverplex: 34:50 for 10 bike miles (I know these are fake) and outside, it was cold and windy but I got in about 4.2 in 1:06 (with knee braces) Pre workout weight (with shoes) was 195; too heavy.
Ironically, pull ups are going well.
Life of an old goat 