No, not 100 percent; not even close. But I did have a leisurely paced workout that didn’t kill me.
PT with 5 sets of 10 push ups
Pull ups: 2 sets of 6 crunch style singles, 2 sets of 6 and one set of 6 singles.
bench: 6 x 134, 6 x 145, 6 x 145
high incline: 3 sets of 6 x 94
4 inch dead: 5 x 134, 5 x 184, 5 x 228 lb.
Then a 2 mile walk: Put a slight effort into it.
The deadlifts: second 3 reps looked better than the first 2, where my hips shot up. Overall: slight cough is there at times, mood: I get irritated easier, sort of tired.
First 2 miles felt really good; rolled on the hip/glute afterward.
Well, I had a great day last week. I had a good day the week before that. Today: would have been a GREAT day (for me) as recently as 3 weeks ago…very encouraging. But I just didn’t feel right at the start and it was a chore..and well:
10 x 134
10 x 184 (oh no…shouldn’t be this hard)
3 x 224 (ok..)
3 x 260, 3 x 260, 3 x 260 (1 and 3 are shown)
3 x 265, 3 x 265 (4 is shown); this exhausted me.
1 x 285 (quit)
1 x 301 (quit..probably a good thing)
1 x 285 (done)
I found that my “off the ground” speed was actually ok; I struggled a bit higher up..this was just the opposite from last month (5 weeks ago) where I struggled with the off the ground part. I am wondering if I should “go high” every 2-3 weeks or so…or maybe just write this off to a “regression to the mean” effect. This WAS the best I have ever done in my low handle sets..but these just were difficult and taxing.
After this I had a good but not great walk. Some ache toward the end; for the week I had 4 training walks and 2 social ones, all short.
My current wife. My ex wife got her first. My “Facebook wife” is scheduled for her first next week. Several of my work colleagues…my friends…just…not …me.
FMD.
Oh my walk; Some prifiromis issues at about mile 2.7 ..up from 2.5. Damn..I need to get vaccinated so I can swim.
But yeah…I am remembered when it is time to give money to charity..or time for the Red Cross to stalk me for blood/platelet donations..or the county give me a jury summons.
Shoulder remains sore…though I think, improved a bit?
Emotionally: it was a good day, though I think the pandemic is finally getting to me a bit; I see so many getting vaccinated and I am champing at the bit for mine..knowing all the while that, in the name of fairness AND public health, others should come first.
And yes, others…people I used to like, are starting to grate on me. I suspect my friend’s list will be culled quite a bit afterward, and I know that my days of seeking out crowded events won’t return anytime soon.
Weird times.
And no, I am NOT looking forward to other things.
I know; this is a bit cryptic.
Workout:
rotator cuff and hip hikes.
pull ups; sets of 10 singles (4 sets) then 2 sets of 5, very controlled, and above average quality.
Bench: 10 x 134 half-assed, 10 x 134 decent, 2 x 170; decided to stop there, then 10x 134. Not ready for full benches; maybe try some light pin presses on Tuesday.
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 134 (0k)
shoulder press: 3 sets of 10 x 105 (pretty solid; ok)
curls: used 10 kg plates (perhaps 23 kg total?) 3 sets of 10.
Then: a reasonable walk; 5K at 14:48 mpm. The walk was almost totally pain free.
Note: my pull ups. Given I can do 10 pull ups (not done today, but I can do 10 respectable pull ups), you’d think I’d look better or look more muscular than I do. But I don’t. Sigh…
Confession: I like learning new things, even if they are kind of silly (e. g. learning how to use an online HW system and then showing my students)
So far, so good?
Well, the walk, while not totally pain free; there was some back soreness and some tingle, was ok. And I rolled around a bit afterward.
Mile 2: a bit too much for me to sustain; maybe deliberately wait until mile 3?
Time: finished at 7:30 so; perfect.
Social/Political
I am surprised…honestly. I thought that Trump losing and leaving office after a stinging defeat would brand him a loser. I thought that McConnell’s rebuke would create some distance; that corporate America would win.
Part of me can’t figure it out. But part of me doesn’t want to accept it; Trump being embraced by the party might not have been about the party bending to him but rather about him recognizing that the party actually is.
I do want to share a meme that I made with a friend of mine: I like to lampoon my single days and my days of unrequited love..
I am kind of proud of this one, though, of course, a true Mobius Strip is 2 dimensional and what we can see is a thickened one, which does have a genuine local product structure, so it is locally two sided.
The workout: I started with a 2 mile walk (tingles and slight ache)
Then I did a “transition” workout, given that I am switching to a Tu, Th, Sat, Sun lifting schedule, given that my walks will be so short (2-3 miles at a time for a while); this is just a “one day forward” schedule.
Pull ups: 5-5-5-5-10-5-5-5-5 with one of the 5’s being singles and 3 of them being chin ups. So so… rotator cuff and hip hikes.
Bench press: 3 sets of 10: 134, 150, 150
Rows (super set with shoulder) 3 sets of 10 x 134
Shoulder presses: 3 sets of 4 x 109 (44’s on each side) 1 set of 10 x 92
Dumbbells: 1 set of 12 x 44 (note: I need to be more careful about going down far enough: most reps are too shallow.
Afterward, a brief, socially distant visit with Tracy and cats.
Note: watching the games on Yahoo TV as the Direct TV signal is out at the lower channels.
Good news: B got the Moderna vaccine Friday; Tracy gets it Monday. In 6 week’s time, both of them will be better protected than I am and THEY will have to look out for me.
I admit that my pull ups have gotten kind of ragged as of late…weight gain? Weakness? We’ll see. But for now…when I attempt a set, AFTER being warmed up, my first few look nice and high:
(from earlier in the year).
But on my final sets..oh my…this was 45 to 50…still don’t quite fully trust the shaky bar.
My fat gut gets in the way, but as you can see, I seem to want to center my body directly under the bar so as to keep my slightly unstable apparatus stable. I’ll have to work on finding stuff to shim it with.
And that is the thing will pull ups; there isn’t a standard definition. By some people’s standard, no reps counted (ok, I was toward the end and tired).
This guy wins competitions though I suppose some might not like it as he looks up all of the way:
I might try some of these.
Workout ok, 51 reps in singles (some with 10 count rests), 3’s and 5’s. Better than Wednesday but I need some work..and I need to lose a bit of weight too.
Bench press: 10 x 134, 3 x 184 (light touch..mini pause), 3 x 174 (missed no. 4), 4 x 170, 5 x 165 (had to grind out rep 5) Thank you spotting pins!
rows: 4 sets of 10 x 134
shoulder presses: seated, 2 sets of 10 x 48, then 2 sets of 8 x ??? I am calling it 96 (10 kg, 6 kg on each side, 10 kg bar? 1 kg for each collar)
Push ups: 40, 30, 10.
Head stand.
Note: did my usual back and later, rolled my left glute.
I am going to have to get a bit stricter with eating as I cannot do distance ..yet.
First, my pirifiromis: not so good this morning, though 3 miles on the treadmill (or 3.3 if you use the treadmill odometer) was ok, after a sluggish, “more painful than it should have been” 2 outside.
Yes, I forgot to start my watch. I also did a lot of mat “glute stretch” exercises.
Once again, it seemed to appear after squatting. So, perhaps I ought to cut that out.
5 miles total: better than zero miles.
Capitol attempted insurrection
Ok, what caused this…I mean, how did conditions get to where Trump was able to get so many to behave so badly?
Now…in case you might have underestimated the degree of violence:
So, what caused this? I’d guess there was a perfect storm of several factors.
Seriously. Yes, this applies to Republicans at the “Beer Belly Putsch” and perhaps to some liberal protesters. Life..well, much of life consists of doing ordinary, boring tasks…nothing that will get you kudos on Instagram or Tick-Tock. And the same applies to doing good…basic stuff like giving your money to charity, volunteering your time to serve some, well, non-famous people.. etc.
But…to STORM the Capitol..that would be just AWESOME!!!! BAD ASS!!!
Well, untill…
But I digress a bit…I’ll direct you to this excellent Tom Nichols thread:
Watching footage of the Loser Sturm overrunning the Capitol during the Beer Belly Putsch, I am struck again by how much of what plagues us is an addiction to the narcissistic idea that everyone is the most important person ever, that everyone should be the boss of everything. /1
People who want to be heroes seem to have no patience with a normal workplace or the self-disciple involved in showing up and doing your best no matter what the job is. After all, Thor and Captain America didn't have to listen to their supervisor. /8
But life is heroic exactly when it is not dramatic. Taking care of your loved ones, looking after a sick friend, letting someone go ahead of you at a stop sign, hold the door for someone at a store. Adults know this. Stunted, selfish, undisciplined, stupid adolescents do not. /9
Read the whole thread. A lot of winning in life is grinding…instead of trying to do something big and being viewed as a BAD ASS.
And that might be part of the problem: real life is NOT fantasy. It has a lot of “ok, let’s take care of that even if it is not fun and won’t get you kudos.
Life of an old goat 