Saturday, Eighteenth of June 2022 - Trying Moka coffee, deadlift, fulfilling music tasks (sanding, bass)

 18.06.2022

Nice day. Woke up early, slept just about enough, worked some. Yesterday I was sleepy all days long cause I woke up early but couldn't go to sleep. Started feeling sleepy during the day. That's about the only interesting thing about yesterday, except, perhaps, how me and my brother played Minecraft yesterday. I made sure to not tell him what happens if you use a bed in the nether, but accidentally mentioned that you can beat the dragon (end game boss) with beds, so he was curious. We're still playing in the dimensions update.

This whole week I wanted to continue recording the song, but kept procrastinating/feeling not right. However, it's not the same as procrastinating with learning for school or cleaning the house, for example. Because, just like with weightlifting, performing music requires you to be in the right condition, with enough energy.

I think I have good chances to fix my sleep a bit more. I got a few things delivered to me yesterday - a set of "not even slinkys" strings (12-56), a tub of melatonin pills and a moka pot. Apparently, the melatonin I used to have was "phytomelatonin" i.e. not exactly what you'd be expecting (grass). The one I bought was a bit more chemical. I'm not sure if I can judge if it worked. But I managed to sleep tonight, and I took only one pill. this morning - feeling a tiny bit sleepy occasionally, but not falling asleep, so that's good. I know I got CNS energy to feel great.

I think I wanna wavoid overloading my hands and wrists. I have an insane amount of activites that load it directly and heavily. Guitar, drums, pressing movements, grip, using a mouse even. And on top of that - occasional heavy bag work. They've been feeling stiff. Just have to balance them all out, pace correctly.

Impulsively ordered takeout food yesterday. But I shared a plenty, I think I didn't even have a third of what I bought. Maybe I did. They added the nearby Burger King to the app that I prefer using. So I bought some of them "whoppers" and a few other burgers. It's weird, but I think they're not adding as much stuff to these burgers as they used to. Perhaps that's the difference between locations. What's great is how fast it got delivered. It'd only take thirty minutes on a bicycle to get there, even faster in a car. I wonder if I'm too heavy for bicycles. But then I realise that when people people use mountain bikes, for example, they just around and hit the ground. That's definitely a great load of weight. So I think I'm not too heavy. Besides, I don't look that oversizes (compared to professional strongmen).

I am a natty, a natural, and an angry one, even after all these years. The emotions have subsided, but evil I shall judge regardless. Lies won't get through. Drugs are bad and evil and fake. Argue all you want. It's barely acceptable to (ab)use drugs even in an extreme sport like strongman. Why? Cause it's anti-human. Even if only few strongmen die to it. Mike Jenkins - he could have been the log press record holder. He abused stuff and died early. The icelanding chapion of the old... can't remember his name. Jon Pall Sigmarsson. He was light but not too weak, especially pound for pound. That one WSM was BS though, the one where he was given a win above O.D. Wilson cause the final even was running with a hundred kilos, and that's not really a strongman event. A lot of average men can run with a hundred kilos. OD Wilson was a fat guy, a static strength monster, but that extra muscle and fat hindered him a plenty in an event like that. Silly. But hey, that's the organisers. That's why tournaments like Arnold Strongman Classic get a reputation as a "real WSM contest", cause it's more about strength rather than speed and such. It's perfectly alright to combine strength and speed for strongman events, but you gotta balance it.

Made coffee in Moka. Apparently it's a myth that you're supposed to keep it dirty. Curious. I've seen that funny video where a wife washes her italian husband's mika pot with coffee and he gets upset. But it is a myth, apparently. I make it with cold water today though. 21 grams of beans over 270 something grams of water. Ended up very bitter. Not a very large portion, but sizeable enough for me, I reckon. You want to pour hot water into it, apparently, and cool it down as quickly as possible.

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Made another portion. Man, that'a s lot of steps you have to take. 20 grams of coffee (a handful), 200 grams of water. I think it's pretty strong that way. Less bitter than the first batch. This time it didn't start by spitting out, it oured out slower. Did everything by the book. Intense taste. I think it'd be unfair to just call it bitter. It's intense, and thus has to have more caffeine in it. Stays hot for a long time.

Feeling the caffeine. And it's only 3 PM. I think I wanna DL today. Just gonna do 160 for 2 sets of 12, maybe. And then a single or two with a heavier weight. And then I could play music, perhaps.

Well, I can attest that the coffee is okay. I'll make the third portion now. And some time after that we shall get to our warmup.

Made it. 20/220. Still surpringly bitter. Hmm. I think it definitely wouldn't have as bitter if I just used pourover...

Workout

Deadlift

Short distracted warmup in my room

20

60 for 12

110 for 12 nice and easy

160 for 12 - nice and quick, glutes pumped
Belt low. Not resetting each rep. Feels easy. Breathing does get heavy after the set though.

Wondering what I should do for "heavier weight". I'm thinking of 70%. So between 196 and 224. I know, it's wide. I still plan to do a "powerlifter" program once I'm done with PP. Should be nice.

160 for 12 - nice, done even faster

Played drums a tiny bit. I could feel my right wrist still being fatigued. So I played with a pedal hi hat more. First my warmup 8-1-8, then basic rock beats, then I contemplated on the idea of fills. I'm often dissatisfied with my fills. So I played simple hertas on toms and that sounded great. I naturally tend to make half-bar fills though, rather than a full bar, like in softer music. What if there was a fill that lasted 4 bars? Could do, fun idea. Only in high tempos though, probably.

200 for 1 nice, got a little dizzy. Low belt doesn't feel as comfy on a weight like this

210 for 1 okay. Felt so unusual. Got very dizzy. I'd like to get back into heavy training soon. My PP program is going to have 10 more heavy workouts. Does that mean all summer? Probably not. Actually, it would be nice if it did. I've been having this dream of a "diverse exercise summer" for a long time.

Took a break, doing stuff. Getting a little "distracted". I wish I could play some bass today, but I'm wondering about my wrist. I do only have one chorus to record though. I think I should try.

But first, of course, I wish to do something that'll help me in my OHPs plentifully - squat.

Today I'm thinking of doing less than ten reps per set, because I already fatigued my "strength endurance" muscles slightly. I want to try doing sets of 5. And I'd like to sdee if I can reach RPE 6. Don't know what it'd feel like yet.

First - some BW squats - 4 sets of 5. My hip is bothering me slightly. Should have been more careful on thursday. Wide stance helps.

I was wondering if a buttwink is really such a big deal. Maybe I'll empirically find it out.

60 for 5 - decided to stop, just let my hip recover.

Played drums some more. Then sanded the G310 a little bit, until I started cramping in my pec. I'd like to find a way to stop cramping. Perhaps I need to drink less coffee and eat more salt. Had some tomato - maybe it has potassium or something.

Rubber lat pulls - 2 sets of 10

High pullups on a thick bar - 8 reps overall, a-la 5 + 3 but with break between reps.

That's about it for my working out. Let's see about that bass...

⏳⌚⏰

After some time, after being "distracted" and busy with the Order's stuff, I finally got to recording it. Wrist feels okay, more or less. I'm making sure to take breaks. Recording it, making mistakes, trying agiain, listening to different tones. I thought the new cable radically changed the tone, until I realised that I had the "listen through" button pressed on the interface 😁 Gotta be diligent!

Well, I think I'm done with the bass, unless it doesn't fit in the mix well. Unless it turns out I'm realy off beat on some parts. Have to keep moving. Ended up using my Big Stubby for a pick, cause it got holes on it. Very useful for picking articulation. Upstrokes.

So glad I manged to fit in all those small tasks into today. And it's 11:20 PM *enough with the jike, I guess* 🤪

Here's a little demo of a certain part. Just for memory. Just for fun.

Random pic of the day

Oksenvadskov - Vadstedvej (Denmark)

Dark brown soay sheep on Holy Isle shore