August 20th, Sunday - Talking about new exercises and my lacking abilities, doing a lot of rare underrated exercises

 20.08.2023

Nice day. It's all okay. I can feel yersterday's volume. But I still wanna train today too. It'll be an easy and invogorating one, the whole workout is gonna be a like a nice warmup. I need to work on some of my weak spots. My abs, my obliques - they feel a little unstable.

Took a walk to the store. Ever since covid I've gotten addicted to buying groceries online. Some of them were, in fact, cheaper than the ones in some other stores. But today I ventured up to the store where I used to buy food in 2019 and realised the prices there are lower. Stuffed my backpack and had to buy an extra bag, should have taken one. In fact, it makes a moderate amount of sense to always carry a couple plastic bags with you. Extra inventory slots! Or they can be used in a variety of other ways - clothing, shoes, small rope etc.

I loved how easy walking felt today. I tightened my boots properly so they weren't chafing my ankle bone. First the strange muscle in my legs felt tight as I walked there. I think it's the adductor muscles. That's right, it starts around the groin area and continues under my hamstrings. Makes sense? It's probaly my adductors.

On my way back I felt very loose and easy. It's strange how walking used to be so hard for me for a loing period. And I've no idea why. Generally too tight and tense? Trying to walk too quickly sometimes? No idea, honestly. I've just been having this strange feeling about walking and today I was proven that this feeling was unwarranted.

I've been watching a curious channel on youtube. A bald guy is talking about "powerbatics". It's a little cringe. Some of the stuff he says can be qualified as fearmongering and nocebo as he's trying to convince the viewer that his way is the best. But, regardless of that, some of the stuff he says resonates with me a lot. There's this video with a horrible clickbait title - "Stop doing pushups". But he explained a lot of things that aligned with my experience. Curlturally, pushups are too prevalent, and they are sort of an ugly unhealthy joint-breaking exercise - the way most people do it. And I myself have been having problems with them as they flare up some of my issues. He showed interesting ways to do pushup that I've been thinking about myself - pushing the shoulders away and curling your torso. That sort of makes it harder and works the forgotten muscles. I often mention "forgotten muscles". There's a lot of things us physical culture practitioners tend to overlook. Most likely this guy is not an exception, but it felt nice to have an unexpected perscpective that made a lot of sense.

Doug Hepburn could easy do handstand pushups and such. I can't, only by the wall, facing the wall. I should ask my brother for the supports I gave him for his birthday, on Monday, so it aligns with my OHP and PP.

That bald calisthenics guy also talked about bridge pushups and then felt like a revelation. I should be able to do some kind of bridge! Sure, some flexibility might be excessive for me, as I value my weightlifting strength the most alongside my general health. But a bridge? Should be doable. Or you can do partial bridge against the wall, do bridge pushups in that position. I believe it can be nice accessory to OHPs, including continental cheeseballs press (it's a valid type of a movement and an exercise, just so we're clear).

I like watching that Kendall Gray channel. I wish I was a bit more like him - down to earth, to nature, in his own way. More interested in some things, less in some other things. Hunting and eating off the land. I live in a semi-urban environment. If only my father hadn't died so early things would have just been completely different. Him and I had a good relationship. So, when he died, it's like, more than 20% of people I had a nice relationship with died. Oh fate, whither dost thou take me?

***

Genuinity and fidelty. Those are some virtues that matter to me. So, when I see an idiot that goes around insulting everyone and claiming he's just saying "truth without covering it up, the way it is" I can't help but crack a gentle smile. Sure, those people are most likely unitelligent and misguided, but there is still that degree of undeniable genuinity. And if you're lucky might meet a person who is both genuine and polite (rare encounter). I've known a few people who were like, they were delightful and they could take an insult like a bouncy castle. I had slightly unusual dynamics with people around me back in the day, when I was but a mere teenager. Two years of being in the big world as a teenager. Few more years as a person succumbing to depression, and then finally the depressive period that took so much time to climb out of. Oh well. Let's hope God will protect me, at least in some way from some things.

Workout

Warmup - all around warmup, focusing on my shoulder blades and L-flys (not flies!) a bit more.

Dummbell back flys combined with L-flys

6+6 kg dummbells - 5 sets of 15 reps - surprisingly hard variation. I must do more and get better at it. Also I supersetted it with the next exercise.

Calf raises/toe raises (superset between each other)

2 sets of 20 both feet

2 sets of 20(10+10) each foot - had to use some support here. 10+10 means I switched feet and then came back to do the remaining 10 to get 20 overall.
Used plates in the later sets. Went between shoes, barefoot and back. Crocs are pretty great.

Standing scissors - basically leg stability exercise, the hip joint is moving in frontal plane.

4 sets of 10 each side, torso fixed in line with the moving leg

2 sets of 20 torso still, only leg moves

It's possible to combine these two variations into something like a sumo stomp. You know, when they stand on one leg and stomp with their whole bodyweight.

Donkey kickbacks, straight leg, leaning on the wall

2 sets of 20

3 sets of 20 - with added knee kicks/raises and bending the leg on the kick back (a tiny bit like a scorpion kick now). Really struggling against mega tight quads and hams 😂

Underrated! Must work on it too.

Straight leg goodmornings

3 sets of 20 - with the PVC pipe, trying not to overstretch hams

Standing leg curls - 2 sets of 20, partial

Trick plane - I'm losing myself trying to describe them, but it's basically leaning forward into the wall on one leg, other leg kicked out, rotating pelvis in frontal plane like a plane passing in between two buldings.

3 sets of 10 - awesome. Discovering so much today.