October 14th - Nice OHP day

 12.10.2024

Kind of a strange, long day. Feels nice. Slept little, woke up too early, couldn't go back to sleep, had one moka (one cup, since I recently realized that my brewer is tiny), fell asleep. Woke up later, finally gave a lesson. Had a nice couple of actual large cheeseburgers yesterday - nowadays we can finally buy all the ingredients easily, and I purchased the groceries.

Workout

Warmup - a lot of BW squats by the bed, controlling the knee and hip angle

Squat

50 for 2 sets of 2 - those were not just squats, those were squats with what feels like 30 seconds in a hole, doing my best to breathe *while* bracing, bouncing up and down, opening up my hips and ankle a bit more.

70 for 2 sets of 2 - feels good, going very deeper somehow?

90 for 2 - I kinda felt like I wanna keep going, even though my oblique was starting to hurt. You see, I think it hurts because I literally overinflate myself! I'm like a balloon, man! And then I really stress that ballon when I bounce down in the hole, the balloon is tearing, getting all striated in connective tissue!

100 for 2 okay, feels good, but a little painful.

Some time later - a tiny bit of punching that heavy bag, more like conditioning but also trying to keep a decent technique, without telegraphing. I think if you punch a lot your grip might get weaker. Only makes sense. I really, really need to improve my diet and recovery... Like, thankfully, thank God, it's been getting better, but it needs to get much better.

14.10.2024

It's dreadfully depressing knowing I won't be deadlifting this Wednesday... Well, I will, just not heavy. Pain has been lowkey the worst today. That squat workout? Brought more pain. It hurts the most when I wake up. Today I took a pain pill. Yesterday the pain was very bad at first but then got better and better... Today seems to be similar.

Purchased coffee again. This time it's Jardin again, but Cafe Eclair. I think I had that before. It's decent.

It was snowing today. Pretty amazing. The feeling it gives is nostalgic, almost hopeful, but in a different, less conscious way. Like, all my life seeing snow means I get to get excited about Christmas, New Year, all the ways you can play in the snow etc. Well, I've been either a child or a teenager for two thirds of my life so far, so that makes sense. I need to do more fun things that adults can allow themselves to do. Like go in public and play pranks on people and get away with it because I'm adult and most people would be afraid to chase me down and kick my ass, hehe. Those who wouldn't be afraid are likely fat skoofs, hehe. (zoomer Russian word) I am, of course, kidding, just have to be clear about it. I can see myself leaving my home again like I did recently. But I kinda just wanna do something simple, like camp all alone. It's been amazing. When I sat in that concrete little box? Honestly, super amazing time, 99% of it. I keep remembering it with fondness. I spent more time there than anyone else. I'm fit to be there, alone, guarding the crossroads from aerial dangers. Not afraid because I'm just too chill, too laid back. Slow ride, take it easy - that's me. Remember when I used to be neurotic? That time that was was in 2021. Since then it's been all over. A new thing, a new time. Overconfident 2022, an actually depressing 2023... Seems to mirror the previous decade, sort of.

You know what would have been amazing? If they made an edgy irreverent version of Pink Panther, a new movie with Inspector Clouseau. The one where an innocent bumbling inspector gets accidentally drawn into the world of clandestine international operations and has to try his best to prevent a false flag terrorist attack while dealing with new friends and enemies. Something like Archer, but I'd make it so much more absurd and edgy - in a sufficiently subtle way. And definitely violent, bloody, gory, traumatizing, something that will make the viewers' limbs shake from residual PTSD. No comedy whatsoever in that part - violence and death are serious business! The characters inside of the intellectual property, however, would try their best to deal with the stress of the situation by attempting to make light and humor of it, he he. While doing their best to hold back dreadful wails and stopping their hands from tearing out the still remaining hairs on their head. That's the kind of art I want to see in 2025. And the ending will be really upsetting and unsatisfying, the main reason for it to bomb at the box office. However, the most diligent viewers would be able to see the subtle hints about the 'true ending'. And about a decade later a director's hyper secret cut gets released that sets everything in place. That's the art that prioritizes not-so-obvious meaning. The art itself is a cover, much like a chocolate cover in a cadbury egg. Chocolate is sort of more important that whatever kind of cream they stuff inside of it. But to you, the guy who makes the egg, to you the cream matters very much. Hmm. I swear I'm not making any kind of innuendo over here. So, we'll stuff the bitter chocolate in the box and you'll be able to find that cream egg in the bottom - if you have enough subtle, refined taste to enjoy - not just stuff your mouth with it! - the dark chocolate, he he he.

So, OHP, session 12. 5 sets of 2 with 85%. Just 102. Not too heavy, I can feel it. But I want one more coffee. It just takes a little too much time sometimes.

Workout

Warmup - very thorough, cool interesting moves a-la the good old 'twerking' for legs and variations of the planche walk for upper body and abs. Some general hinge movements for back. Really difficult, immediately fun, breathing heavy. Then some hangs, adding interesting tweaks, such as chaning the angles, gripping harder with one hand, standing, alternating it with pushing the bar up (if I stand on my tiptoes)/lockout in press, some flys (not flies) with 2 kg dbs. Legs and arms warmed up, but midsection still feels soft and fragile, cold. What to do for it? I think I have it... Leanbacks onto the wall - making sure feet don't move! Back and forth, using legs and abs. Legs work more, admittedly... But you can isolate your abs carefully. Best to do without a wall, just leanbacks while grabbing onto a rope or a rubber band above. Side leans with the rubber. Actually getting sweaty. Now that's almost excessive for a warmup... And it is intense today, comparing to so many other days. Remembering how structured and strict is used to be.

Overhead press

20 - 50 - 70

90 for 5 shoving it in my neck, not even on my collarbone but past it, elbows forward! Heck yeah, I'm glad I can do it.

103 for 2 super good, nice and easy

103 for 2 even better, strict without stiffness

103 for 2 same, listening to Manowar

103 for 2 - so good, like I'm jizzing forr minutes

103 for 4 lovely, all strict

73 for 16 amazing, set to almost failure

53 for 12 to failure

20 for 10 - not to failure, but feeling a very strong burn

Amazing feeling today, all around. Can't I have days like today every day? Surely there is a way to improve it all...

Tricep extension with thick rubber, both arms - 3 sets of 50 - from behind the head to in front of me, not always fully extending. Strong burn! Watched that Alexander Bromley video he made recently - about weird stuff that XEPLOEDED his triceps - and decided to try some of that stuff today, on a pressing day. I got rubber, and I got a spring chest expander, might wanna try it. Third set was simply dreadful! And you gotta do real high reps here, cause time under load is way lower than with metal.

Decided to try that blood occlusion training. Because factually I've done it quite regularly and it might be one of the contributors to my huge ever-swollen calfs... (kneewraps lol) Well, just FYI I had big calfs since I was a teen.

Tricep pushdowns (different angle) with rubber band - 2 set of 30 with short elastic wraps on shoulders - in between shoulder and bicep. Those are the short old wraps I use for wrists sometimes. So, they're not really tight... Second set I did it one arm. I think I just don't like the idea, still. Too dumb, too stupid, too senseless. I'll just stick to high reps.

High reps on grippers - rubber and old spring one. CoC№1 for 30 left TNS, then right. Both harder and easier with the right - hard to do it consecutively, but very easy it I take micro-breaks. Vulcan gripper chrome spring (twelve year old one, admittedly) - wide set 19 reps left, fail to touch end on 20th rep. 25 right. CoC1 - 26 left, 29 right full range, most reps TNS.

Looking at my vids from 2014... I was so well fed, so swollen. Weaker muscle, but so well fed, such nice eating habits. Only two workouts per week, until 2020. Well, there were periods when I tried alternative training methods... It's a shame I had to go through utter trauma for me to really recover my taste for life. Thank God I have it now. I can't imagine what I'll have to go through in order to happily live like a 'normal' person. And when I say 'normal person' I mean the kind that you see in movies and TV shows - not very realistic, but not completely impossible to achieve. Do you hear that music? That guy, he plays his bass - upright bass - very characteristically. Or is it, maybe, a fretless bass? He sure loves his sussy bends, and he loves to make them sound kind of like shy farts, he he. But it is very groovy. You just know he's making a proper bass face - so much more expressive than any guitar face - when he jams. And he does jam, all the time...

Metal. Metal is just harder plastic. Except you can burn plastic easily, but metal will actually become bendy. Be reshaped. Like my life-changing experiences, he he. If I was plastic I'd be able to find my way in more places. I'm hard (lol, this time you're the one who has dirty mind, not me). I'm hard, and if I get damaged, I stay damaged, unless I find a way to heat myself up painfully and reshape myself. He he. Some flattery to me from yours truly. You can be like that too. Like me. Take my mistakes, take my experiences. Look at my pain without having to feel it. But you can feel my joy vicariously, like today. Feel inspired to lift, do create. Lifting is actually quite the creative endeavor. But you only really create for yourself - unless you talk more about your training and perhaps record a nice video, either talking about physical culture or showing off your amazing lift to inspire and motivate the viewer. Ten years... Four years for noobie gains. Ten years since then. So much damage overcome, so many holes fallen into and crawled out of. Thank God.