May 31st - Decent Bench 5 sets of 3, some Squat, DL postponed

 30.05.2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnC5e7vn4WU

Here's an interesting idea in that video. An idea that's been obvious to me but never really focused on - when you're lifting too hard and your technique consistently breaks you're learning a wrong motor pattern - the weaker, broken one! - and you grow weaker just because your nerves aren't learning to push. That's a reason to really reign in your horses - let them gallop on open road, go slow over the rocks. Something to think about for a while.

***

I really need to buy a mouthguard. Why? Obvious reasons. Occasionally clenching my teeth wrong during lifting. I might have done some yesterday. Need to go visit a dentist. And could also go ahead and have my deviated septum fixed - that'd take a week off training. Stuff to do! Glad my foot is doing better though, that makes me very happy 😀 I'm now able to stand on it rather well, basically as good as left! Well, almost. Pain has been reduced too.

I ended up experimenting with "one legged walks" - walking sideways on one leg, shifting the weight from toes to heel. Interesting, I wish I'd done it earlier so I could compare my current state to it. I gotta continue working on all those small muscles, never forget about them.

I got better at it. The right one is stiff. It's pumped, but it doesn't hurt. Hallelujah!

Gotta make sure not to hinder my tomorrow's energy though. Believe it or not, I am actually in the daytime more today - could not fall asleep at all after I woke up, even though on occasion I felt pretty tired in my head. That's the price of gym fun! 😁

31.05.2026

I should not have had coffee yesterday. I've been way too tense. I managed to fall asleep well but then I woke up early in the morning and could not go back to sleep, could not even relax my face. So I got up and ate and boiled a couple of spoiling chickens because the fridge has a tendency to take breaks from functioning.

So I woke up and ate and tried to go back to sleep but couldn't, vibrating with energy and tension. The student ended up skipping out on me, makes me a little angry. Tried to go back to sleep so I can make up some of that time before supposed DL and I couldn't. Made coffee - fake arabica (robusta). Had a cup and got knocked the heck out and ended up sleeping til dusk. Woke up, ate some more spoiled garbage and then I felt drowsy and went to lie down. Now I'm fully relaxed and could fall asleep but I kept wondering about the DL.

I came to conclude I'm going to postpone DL to tomorrow. That pisses me off a little, the EASE with which I'm moving a workout nowadays but maybe there's a droplet of wisdom here somewhere, soaked into the fabric. I don't feel perfect and springy and also I happened to have run out of creatine.

However, that means that today is a nice enough day for a Bench workout and maybe I'll even do some Squats.

Yesterday was a sort-of productive day in terms of writing. I can't finish the main text but I am writing the background events of other main character and that gives me a lot of structure. I am searching for the oily, wiggly worm of memory and idea, hand in the rotten stump, cannot see or hear, have to dig through the wood itself and try not to squish that worm and pull it out. Hmm. It's at least the fourth time I've compared my thoughts to worms.

***

Workout

Warmup - wall pushups, floor plank - pretty stiff forearm. I was reminded of what I did before yesterday lol. That makes me feel a tiny bit easier about postponing my DL.

Bench press

20 - 40 - 60

70 - 90 - 110

120 for 3

140 for 3 - rather nice, very controlled. Spoto press

Kinda wasting time loading up tracks to my new mp3 player lol. Not too much time, hopefully. Just one more album... (Tribute to Officium Triste 😀)

150 for 3 nice, controlled

160 for 3 lovely. Ended up with a short break after this one

160 for 3 not as good, technique faltered on the third rep. Need to take my time.

160 for 3 better, fixed, although the third rep was a bit of a push.

160 for 3 + 1 + 1 - I planned to lax up my technique and bounce it a little, see how it feels. Well, it kinda messed with my technique. The first three were easy but the first rep was really short and lazy. And I wanted to push more, turn all this into an additional win, so I sat there, on the plates, for 8 second (according to video - I did film this final set), dove back in, set up and did another rep - it was easy but it looked rather unsure, because instead of getting extra speed off the chest it sort of dampened it, it was slow off the chest. I sat for another 8 seconds (amusing how it's roughly the same period of time!) and dove back in, set up, unracked and did the "fifth" rep - this time the bounce was there, much more present, quick off the chest and slower on the lockout. Feels good! BUT, I have to admit, doing it like that, doing all that extra stuff in such a manner - it raises questions.

I wanted to do some Squat today too. Not too much, but definitely not too little. However, before that I'd like to work on my accessories some more.

120 for 12 - bouncing narrow grip - you know what, this is a narrow grip PR 😁 Completely unique feeling. AND I feel way more loose in all my joints compared to how it used to be last year!

90 for 12 soon after - somehow even more intense, pushed myself here. The lighter weight allowed for stricter technique

Squat

70 for 3

90 for 3

110 - 2 sets of 3, wearing wraps over pants, loose. Well, that felt okay. It's infinitely better than nothing and recently my knees have been feeling great, so I do believe I gotta keep squatting. Barbell squat is an insanely underrated exercise for me. Great many problems I have are solved with it, by doing it regularly enough with at least a semi-decent weight (which today wasn't).

Lean-forward stretches - a set, lots of pain. My mood, strangely worsened during the squat, really took a dive here for some reason. Possibly caused by pain. BUT I can tell my arms are better than before.

Overhead press - some, focusing on utilizing rotators

Upstairs - pondering the realization that you're not supposed to put polyester clothes on heat for drying. Well, they're not melting, the heat is not extreme. But I would not want micro-particles around here...

I have a lot of somewhat unpleasant dark thoughts. However, they are way lighter than what I used to have before 2024. I just need to get my shit together and do some cleaning and ordering. Also, I have been eating rather poorly.

Stretching - a lot of it. Rubber front rack, outward rotation with a stick - focusing a little more on the left. I think I'm making improvements.

Went downstairs to try and get anything to eat and ended up throwing away so much garbage, a lot of cleaning. Our family has a tendency to generate garbage and store it for literal years, if not decades.

RPotD - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Girdle_books

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Girdlebook-NewHaven-YUL-MS084.jpg
File:Girdlebook-Stockholm-KB-C109.jpg

"To minder fra de aabne Ting" - "Two memories from the open things"

Very interesting concept! I basically have an item similar to this in the book... Makes me wonder.

"Girdle books were small portable books worn by medieval European monks, clergymen and aristocratic nobles as a popular accessory to medieval costume, between the 13th and 16th centuries.[2] They consisted of a book whose leather binding continued loose below the cover of the book in a long tapered tail with a large knot at the end which could be tucked into one's girdle or belt. The knot was usually strips of leather woven together for durability. The book hung upside down and backwards so that when swung upwards it was ready for reading. The books were normally religious: a cleric's daily Office, or for lay persons (especially women) a Book of Hours. One of the best known texts to become a girdle book is Boethius's The Consolation of Philosophy, although it is the only surviving philosophical/theological girdle book."