Saturday, May 13th (second Saturday of the month) - Nice pushpress (80% 5 sets of 4)

 13.05.2023

Nice day. Actually better than average. Sleep - 7/10, albeit fragmented but actually longer than average. Food - 65/100 or more, definitely enough nutrients.

Little adventures outside of home today. I think I can write about them and ponder. Maybe I won't, however.

Yesterday I got little sleep, so I fell asleep early almost involuntarity, contemplating staying up. Woke up on time, gave a lesson. Before I had to wake up I had some really strong vivid dreams. Had a lovely breakfast, went back to bed, woke up and had a coffee, then this adventure happened, I drank my second moka on the way, and now, at 9:25 PM, I'm having my third coffee.

Curious thing about RPE. Due to it being "perceived" it always wither 6, 7 or 8 with me. 6 - easy, 7 - average hard, 8 - struggled. 9 or 5 feels unimportant or unrealistic. When i max out it's almost always RPE 8, cause when I max out I usually feel good and can do a quick well-accelerated rep. This RPE doesn't belong to any coach or organisation. It's just a set of words people have adapted to use instead of percentager or "easy/medium/hard". But it sort of help to quantify the efforts. Although this RPE, the way I use it, almost always directly corresponds to percentages. 80% is RPE 7 or 8 (considering it's percentages of the established max), 70% is 6 or 7, 90% is 8 or 9. But it sort of adds an additional layer of quantification to your training recordings. Helps you understand yourself, albeit not necessarily correctly.

That's a funny little adventure we had. Funny and very uncomfortable, cause we have some indirect problems. I wasn't a little thief growing up, but my dad was generous. I don't remember a time I snatched money from anyone. I once snatched a single hazelnut from a supermarket. But it in my pocket! Well, I confessed and repented this sin a long time ago. Also, in school I stole random stuff - mostly tools - for a goof. Then, when I was 15, I sort of became a born again Christian. I did it on my own, but I guess I wasn't without influence. If I didn't get sent to an external education school I reckon I'd have stayed a piece of hooligan shit. That helped me in life, although some would argue (me) it made me lazier.

Anyway, when I was fifteen I went around apologizing to everyone I might have upset in my life. I particularly remember when I asked for forgiveness from my maternal grandfather. It's still sort of a touching moment. After all this time my maternal grandparents are sort of shadowy figures in my head, cuase I only really intercated with them when I was a kid. Anyway, one day I went to school having gathered all the stolen items I could find and gave them back tot he school principal and even offeren 500 rubles, which back was more money than it is now. She accepted the broomstich handl, the aluminum wrench of some kind and a geological rock that some other kid brought to school. Those are the items I remember that I gave back and apologized. And refused the money, which is a smarter move.

What a time. I was so innocent. I had strong faith, albeit my image of Christianity and Christian dogmats in my head was very incorrect at the time. And, of course, my image of God was a little wrong. It's a mistake, a psychological mistake to imagine God as some evil genie playing with people's lives. And I was a bit shamanic too, convinced that enough prayer with most likely make something happen. That's not what faith is about. Maybe we'll talk about it later at some point.

Anyway, my little brother is going through a transitory period in life. I dread to imagine what he'll be like when he'll start turning into a man. I think he will try to not upset me, but that's one of the problems, cause he will be hiding stuff, like today. I heard him come home and shuffle around and knock on my younger brother's door. Then I met him downstairs (⏳) and he asked me to call mom. He was lying way too much. Honestly, I can't be bothered talking about it right now. (I'm writing it later, as indicated by ⏳ hourglass emoji). I can only sigh.

I established in my head yesterday what I need to lift. It's Week 7, Session 2 - 62,5% for 5, 72,5% for 5 and 80% for 5 sets of 4. Minimax is 145, supermax is 155. So, 93 kg, 108 kg, 116 - 124 for the working sets. And, of course, we can round it. So 90, 110, 115 - 120 - 122 - 125 - 125. Sounds reasonable? Let's see how it'll pan out.

Workout

Warmup - shoulder moves with light dumbbells, stick stretches, BW squats.

Pushpress

47 kg ez bar - a few presses. Shoulders have been feeling creaky. Not sure why, probably cause I often accidentally engage in wrong-techqiue-pushpresses.

I wanna change 10-46 Ernie Balls on my SQUE strat. And it's not exactly a strat, but I guess it's more strat than anything else. 25.5 scale, but a tune-o-matic bridge.

20 - downstairs

70 for 5

90 for 5 pretty easy

110 for 5 - okay (less than nice), made sure to lock out every time, but it wasn't perfect.

115 for 4 okay

120 for 4 nicer

120 for 3 and almost got 4th - not so nice. Tricep weak, but also my pushing is weak, In between these three sets (115-120-120) fiddling with drums. Retuning the bass drum. Tuned it high to what feels like D. It was curious, cause it felt like Db when I was doing the front, then it got sharper, then it finally felt like the note.

120 for 4 a lot better

122,8 for 4 very nice. Manowar, filming myself - that adds to CNS power. I keep warming up during the working sets 😁

Unloaded the plates, put 70 kg bar on the floor. Then I cleaned it rather awkwardly, once.

Played with the video, uploaded it as a short, but this time non-public. The same song I was listening to during the set.

Squat

70 for 20 - nice, pumped up my left leg, also did them very deep. Feels good. Random impulse.

Overhand curl 15 reps / Underhand curl 10 reps with the bar. Strangely easy pump.

Hanged on the bar a tiny bit. It's more for my shoulders than for back. Back is okay, thank God.

Went back upstairs.

I wanna go there. Again. Partake. Vainglory? Most likely. I just don't feel much like a man. Well, I comitted to becoming a programmer. Wanna work and save up some money. Army could do me the same, but away from home. Not optimal. If they were a bit more thorough I probably would have stayed there. Bureaucracy. Well, no more, somewhat of a touchy subject. I believe I still might do something.

Curls / Tricep presses

6+6 kg dumbbells 

10/10 first set

A lot of reps - second set (don't remember)

20/30 third set, extra 5 on left

47 kg ez bar - 10 curls / 15 presses - 2 sets.

I did tricep presses with a narrow/medium grip from behind the back of the head. Not extensions. On the last set, I've switched the grip to it's narrowest and it was difficult for my wrists. It was easier when it became more of an extension. Mildly interesting.

Did I mention I've been binging on Disco Elysium? Awesome game, I've really missed this type of gameplay. Unique in very many ways, of all the games I played the most it most closely resembles New Vegas, which is one my favorites of all time. (So loved I can't allow myself to play it often, so it doesn't wear out). Apparently, in this game I'm mostly the "sorry cop". And this game delves into political stuff unrealistically deeply. Or maybe I'm out of touch with the grander reality. Or maybe it was more like it in 2019, when the game came out.

RPotD - at the start