My training log and thoughts

 31.08.2020 "Tiny bench" press Warmup 120*3 140*1 nice 140*1 140*3 arched on the lasted one 140*2 same 140 - decided to narrow the grip a bit, pulled my upper right pec once again. Thankfully, it's light I guess I need to learn to unrack better. Tried doing JM press with 70, but decided to stop, and then I ran out of allowed time - started too late today. Practiced some drumming, recorded a few bars, I feel like I'm done with my currect project in terms of drums.

 29.08.2020 Love the weather this time of the year. September is going to be even better. Woke up, did some important stuff succesfully, felt happy because of it, decided to skip breakfast, just had some milk and water and porridge. Received a pack of three pairs of simple drumsticks - they turned out better than the pair I had, and a set of rutes (i.e. thunder rods etc). Drummed a tiny bit, should've used a metronome, but I just was in a hurry I guess. Are you supposed to use the open end of a rute to drum with? I think so, apparently. Didn't do that today, they started to look like they're bending, but they actually just slid down alongside each other. Re-muffled my bass drum again, took the toms off it - so much less ring now, but it slides more. Removed the towel from the resonant side and put a reinforced towel on a battering side. That was yesterday, on 28th, some time in the evening, around 5 or 6 I think. Today I had a single cup of coffee - 30 beans, then 77 beans ...

 26.08.2020 Squat Warmup 60*10 80*10 100*6 130*5 150*5 170*12 - tiny pr +2 reps :D Few light squats with 60 Sack 45 kg - wrestling/strongman exercise -  sack clean to the shoulder and dash 2-3 meters 6 reps (3 for each side) 6 reps - more intensively Got some sand on myself, but still forgot to take a shower, because caffeine might have hit me hard and I went straight into the "tunnel", played with Cakewalk, loops, samples and effects and ended up making a 30 second sensationalist track - pretty cool stuff, maybe I'll link it in the bottom of the video. Played guitars too of course, put away my acoustic and now I have my electric in the stand, because it's easier to fiddle around with now that my finger is still not really functional. 27.08.2020 Light-er session Overhead press Warmup 40*10 60*10 70*20 mostly half reps 50*15 super long reps - from the lower chest 40*15 same - nice pump, tempo was alright Floor supported ring pullups - flexed wrists 20 reps 5 something ...

 24.08.2020 So, I felt pretty great after saturday. Decided I was in a good enough shape to attempt my failed bench press. Thought about it and decided to not practice drums before the session - it probably does make me a little tired. Had 79 dark roast beans over three cups, then 39 more over two. Didn't go crazy, thankfully. My ancient mp3 player's battery finally gave out, so I listened to my CDs on an old boombox - first Into Glory Ride, then Fighting The World. "Tiny bench" press 60*10 80*10 100*6 pec is splitting 110*6 prayed a lot, shifted my grip, so it was narrower and more weight was on the left. It worked! 127*6 kind of ugly 127*6 much better 127*5 - bad setup, unracked in a really unbalanced manner 127*6 - very good, high speed, all I needed was a break and an album switch (I started right with Black Wind, Fire and Steel on this set, it was awesome, as always) JM press 60*12 60*12 60*18 or more, can't remember I decided to play around and do explosive ...

 22.08.2020 Recovery is about 40/100. Felt good enough though. CNS a bit out of shape. "Tiny bench" press 60*10 80*10 100*6 120*3 had to stop here - once again, shitty shoulder technique splitting my right pec. Thankfully, I wasn't injured, just felt a tiny bit of pain. Overhead press 40*10 60*23+10+7 60*15+4 and a half 60*11+5 Nice pumping, that's what I've been missing all this week. Then a did a lot of floor supported ring pullups and variations, my forearms got tired ther most cause I've been holding the rights with just my palms (or trying to, at least). I think I did something like 4 sets of 20 plus extra, and some overhead presses and curls with 6 kgs dumbbells. It was hard, so that's good, gotta develop some endurance too. Measured my right arm to 45 cms, and left one at 45.5, which is surprising. I really have to work on my recovery. I had some sort of cold for a while, and I think it's stopping, hopefully that's gonna help me. Did some dr...

20.08.2020 Had stitches taken out of my finger, feels great. Didn't have good sleep though, recovery was about at 39/100 Zercher deadlift from the rack (above the knees) 70*5 110*5 70 - 2 sets of 5 Wrestling exercize with a 45 kg sandsack - bearhugging it, standing up with it and flipping it to the side, and the opposite side on the next rep 10 20 nice Ran out of energy. 21.08.2020 Recovery day Cleaned up a bit, spent a lot of time practicing and recording drums. Just learning to stay on time, I seem to have problems with my pedal skills, but I got better today. I accidentally developed a habit of pressing it with just my toes and stopped doing it today. Spent a lot of time mixing the drums I recorded today, but I'll definitely have to re-record them a lot more. Hopefully in a couple months I'll learn to stay on time a bit better. I want to create a side project called "Scroll of a Champion" - for all the music that I end up creating that's just not too good a...

 19 aug 2020 Overhead press - keeping it light, hoping to score a good bench on saturday. Technique is all bad 60*5 70*5 80*5 90*5 80*5 70*5 60*5 40*5 Squat 60*10 80*10 100*10 100*11 Filled up a sack with sand, put into many other sacks, measured it at 45,9 kgs. Nice and small, heavy enough for cardio and pumping, I hope. Carried it to a safe space. Had a nice practice session on drums, edited the new song a bit, also practiced the beats for the songs, there's basically two beats and two "solo" parts. Did some other fun things, failed at them, but it still felt good, cause I didn't have to sacrifice as much effort.

  Recording guitar for the first time after surgery Today is one of those days I used to call "empty day" - just nothing to do, nowhere to go (and no one to talk to (lol))*, so, after watching some random youtube music tutorials I couldn't help myself but start writing another song - or rather a track so far. Reinstalled Musescore and ASIO to fix some issues, had to make sure to turn on my audio mixer in audio devices - when it was turned off, ASIO took control of Musescore and couldn't function. I started by picking a random mode, I think aeolian, and changing it a bit, and then, well, just slapping random note sequences as a melodic part (verse). Changed one of the guitar strings in musescore to drop D, and wrote a nice repetitive chorus with easy power chords on the last two bottom strings. (And downtuned the guitar later of course). Went through my normal creative process, going in between not knowing what to do and doing random tunes that I hear in my head, used ...

17 aug 2020 Pretty nice day. I realised that I messed my sinuses by overuse of ammonia. At least I didn't scream too much this time, so my throat stayed safe. Did some exercizing on drums today - learning to incorporate the crash cymbal. Finally set up a mic correctly - far and away from the drums, and in stereo mode. Recorded some live drums for my "training montage track" with my little brother. Also jammed and improvised a piano track along the beat that I was practicing today. Should I post the tracks? Probably not. Training session Floor supported ring pullups on wrists 10 9 Some wrist curls with a ring and a 6 kg dumbbell for my left. Squat - still pretty sore since last week 100*2 130*2 140*2 then it's just doubles 130 110 90 80 60 - 4 sets Overhead press 20*10 40*33 Some L-flies. AND one very important thing - the reason my bass drum was buzzing so much was because the striking head was literally too looseSo I tightened it, and everything else along the way. A...

Pretty great day. Throat a bit raspy, it's getting cold.      15.08.2020 "Tiny bench" press 60*10 80*10 100*10 115 - 2 sets of 10 115*9 - well, 115 is a volume PR. Now I can confidently say that my new bench is better than my old floor press (my best result in it was 120*10 with just shoulders). Due to my finger, technnique today was pretty atrocious. On the last set I failed to keep my shoulder blades together. Not gripping with your middle finger is pretty stressful for the wrist. But I'm really happy that my bench didn't actually go down, after my 4 day hospital vacation messed up my metabolism. Narrow grip bench - tried doing sort of a JM press, but couldn't really control it well 60*20 70*20 Mostly half reps, nice pumping however. Accumulation squat 60*10 80*10 100*10 100*10 felt pretty exhausing, considering I managed to fit all this volume in one hour. Got really sweaty there. Right after that I went to my new drumming room - sort of a studio - and star...

14.08.2020 Training session. Zercher lift - sort of like a deadlift, I just unracked it and lowered until my elbows touch my legs 60*5 100*5 130*3 tough for my forearms 150*5 160*5 - small PR :D never done 160 on any kind of zercher like that 80*10 One of the best times to practice drumming is during a training session, what a lovely way to amp up your CNS Goodmornings - accent on my hamstring 20*20, 15, 10 Accumulation squat 60*10 80*10 100*10 100*10 And that was it, felt pretty great, only took about an hour. Coffee isn't punishing me as hard today, only had 60 dark roast beans. Doctor said the purpose of the cast isn't to keep my finger stretched, but to generally protect the hand. That's great news for me, that means I don't have to wear it all the time, especially at home. Have to make sure to stretch it regularly, like right now. My joints hurt a bit from it. I wonder if potassium supplements affect one's ligaments in any specific way. Let's google it. Cou...

Training session. 12.08.2020 16kg kettlebell + 16 kg dumbbell press 2 sets of 30, 1 set of 28 Many flies with 2 kg dumbbells, trying to figure out why my roght arm gets fatigued easier Accumulation squats 20 - 40 - 60 - 80 100 - 2 sets of 10 Floor supported wrist pullups 2 sets of 20 Feels very nice, bodyweight is returning rapidly.

09.08.2020  Did 3 sets of bodyweight squats today, 30 reps each. Was pleased with my improved cardio, compared to yesterday, when I did 4 sets of 30 with longer breaks. Had my bandages replaced with lighter ones, my finger leaves an optimistic impression. Perhaps I'll be able to play guitar in just a couple weeks. Holding my finger straight feels great. 10.08.2020 I was released from the hospital, felt really happy about that. Had my hand encased, but doctor told me that I can take it off from time to time. After returning home and getting some hydration, I had 70 beans of mostly dark roast coffee and went to my garage for a short training session. Squat 80 - 3 sets of 10 - felt ok "Tiny bench" press I didn't grip the barbell with my left hand and just sort of put it on top of my palm. Felt very, couldn't really rotate my elbows because of that. Worked up to 115 for 5 reps and had to stop - my plan for this saturday was 3 sets of 10, but the surgery and staying at...

 Once again, I feel a great urge to write, even though I'm away from a normal keyboard. Here's my wednesday session - 05 august 2020 Kettlebell clean & press - arternating arms 32*12 32*30 Then I decided to have some fun and juggle with it (flip it and catch it in the air) Did a few reps with right and left, a couple times had to try and catch it with my two fingers, but dropped it on the floor. Then I looked at my hand and realised that I can't bend the fingertip on one of my fingers 😂 Long story short, I got operated on next day and had my tendon reattached. Now I'm not allowed to move, staying in hospital for the moment. I didn't expect to have an operation so quickly, maybe I'll share my thoughts on it later, since I love talking about healthcare in different counries. Some time later Getting a fewer, must be from operation. Fewer dreams are really entertaining. Once I had a pretty severe cold and I fewer dreamt that my whole body is a city made of sand...

So, well, it's really overwhelmed, can't even figure out where to start. It was really hard battling my "perfectionism", in order to not slow down my creative process. You know what helped me? A funny clip from a video about black metal musicians, hehe. I thought to myself - "If people can appreciate lightly produced music, then mine is at least ok" (it was a video by Farvann, can't remember which). I myself am pretty far from black metal, although I definitely can appreciate expressiveness and simplicity of a music style. And I do live viking metal, which is a rather similar genre in a lot of ways. I always loved seemingly simple things, but made sure to remember that nothing is truly simple, nothing is absolutely understandable - it's one of my principles as a thinker. And I shouldn't be ashamed of sounding pretentious, because I do believe this to be important. Today I have a training session - since july is over, I'm planning to go a but...

https://spire4.bandcamp.com/track/steel-of-my-spear Welcome! This my one-man project Spire. I want to make more heavy metal with some epic doom inclinations. My inspirations include Manowar, Bathory, Entombed and many other bands. So far I'm only a beginner musician, but I can feel the endless fire of inspiration burning in my heart, energizing me to produce more music. More to come! In this blog I post a lot of information about my process and my way of thinking, alongside my lifestyle chronicling. I'll tell you more about this song in my other post today, as well as many previous posts here. https://spire4.bandcamp.com

So, today started out very simple, ended up having a decent breakfast, recovery is about 70/100 I dare say (very good). Did a couple meaningful things, then I went dowstairs to make my coffee, couldn't help myself but to try and practice yesterday's lesson on drums - just doing the thing where you do 8th notes on hi hat, 1 and 3 beats on bass, 2 and 4 on snare, and then double bass and snare. Can't keep it for too long without making mistakes, plus yesterday I felt a little worried drumming at 4 am (just kidding, it was a bit earlier 😁) Then my mother and my two younger brothers suddenly came, and all asked to play, so I let them, while trying to make them do it along the metronome. Then they left. expect for my little brother, who enjoys playing with the drum sequencer on my phone while I work out. I brought my bass and connected it to an old boombox that we have, and through all the mess that happened we managed to get into rhythm. He got really hyped when I actually pla...