November 21st and 22nd - Light workout and Medium-light OHP 3 sets of 8

 21.11.2025

Light workout

Rubber lat pulls - 1 sets, light

Curls and then Overhead press - 5 sets with 6+6 kg dbs; all sorts of variations of curls as well as presses, testing the tissues

Calf raises and stretches, rehab - 5 sets, focusing mostly on right ankle - it's close to functional. Interesting variation - calf in a static pose, heel raised, standing on the balls of your foot, leaning against the wall and turning torso and hips, pushing side to side. I think it's giving me just what I need in terms of ankle rolling resistance.

Another idea I had - you gotta actually roll the ankle gently to stretch it to avoid it getting rolled. Done some of that too, although right is still really tight. What's important is not to overdo it, especially if you put the weight on pinky-toe rather than on heel.

Calf raises ended up pretty brutal, real burn, pushing past it. Can't get up on the balls of my right foot vertically. Lame, literally.

My toe-raising muscles are coming back. Gosh, that fricking tourniquet. Now I know what really happens when you numb your muscle like that. Lifting wraps are nothing compared to it. I'd rather bleed out than have my limb chopped off, I gotta admit. I ain't ever allowing a tight one on me. Well, of course it depends, but I still have an inclination. All because I was slightly more insane than I am now. Live and learn. I could have just made a call, asked about the key and opened that damn fucking door. But the problem is that I might have fantasized about doing it. I wasn't gonna do it, kick that damn glass, but I fantasized about doing it and then I did it at a vulnerable moment. That's why it's incredibly important not to fantasize about doing bad things, even if you're not gonna do them. God save me. Important lesson!

I can stand on my both feet with vertical foot, on the balls. That's good. The left will help the right. That's the 5th set of raises.

I have an idea. I'll do these full-range raises regularly through the rest of the night. That helps a lot if you wanna recover quickly.

***

Been doing them for a few hours. It's about as functional as before. I can almost stand on the right with the vertical foot, but it compresses. There's still damaged, tight tissue, some swelling left.

22.11.2025

Messy. Feeling too calm! I bet my old self wishes he had that kind of problem 😁

Anyway, I'm trying to write. I have a couple dozen pages where my ideas - including bits of plot - are written down. Sometimes I string them together in a list, a sequence. I had a very productive session before yesterday and I reckon I finished chapter 14 and I'm starting - well, have started - ch 15 now. Ch 15 is what I ended my Summer draft on. Late august. Ch 15 in the previous draft was early November in the story and in this draft it's still 4th of July, nighttime. I have a few groups of chapters that take place on the same day. Graphomaniac, I told you. I reckon it's still worth something. A diary is what I'm most used to writing. This. Not really a diary, just an adorned training log and a mental jakesgong, a cesspit for letting out emotion, heh. I've been re-reading some old parts of this blog, sheesh. What can I say? It's me.

Let's talk about coffee. I got kind of an expensive coffee rn, they sold it to me with a discount. All coffee is too durn expensive, actually. And at war we need that thing the most. This or develop ulcers from darn energy drinks. They're okay too, let's be real, just never have too much. At war you never wanna have too much food in the morning, else you're sleepy.

Listening to Benny Goodman. I have three jazz playlists right now. Just chronological. I downloaded Love Supreme even though I have it on cd somewhere. Couldn't listen to it, although it was nostalgic.

Writing, not the book, back to the book. I have a bunch of little tricks that allow me to "just write". Might share, might not. You're not gonna like them. My writing is exactly like working out. If you wanna accept my hints you're gonna need to touch metal.

Workout

Warmup - pretty thorough, shoulder and elbows with a stick, lower body too

Overhead press

20 - 50 - 70

93 - 3 sets of 8 - very nice, each set easier than the previous one. On the third set I tried doing my "old" grip - with the thumbnails wholly on the inner markings - and also a thumbless grip cause I recently watched a video of a press from the 70. It works for me!

It was pure curiosity, I have to preface - otherwise wrists were in a very good shape.

Experimented with my breathing. Back in 2015 I had a humongous lung volume because I focused so much on being a "bouncy castle" for my Squat and OHP. I inhaled the air past the initial perceived limit - there is a lot more space than you think, especially if you pump your intercostals (muscle between ribs) with your arms, up and down! Gulp like a fish, stretch your belly too. Whole bouncy castle. It's good for cardio.

I wanted to squat. But my ankle is still bad. I could squat but I'd end up doing the left-legged-corkscrew variation that strains it very much. Instead I decided to do some

Squat, stretches and static, ankle rehab - 3 sets

Breathing chest stretches - a few different sets, wrapped a rubber around my ribs to feel it, also doing the old 'inhale and pull on the bar' thing I do somewhat often. When you think about it, I do have a big chest, and lats too. I do this not quite consciously and very often too!

RPotD