June 14th - Nice OHP and PP day, some improvements

 14.06.2026

For two days now I've been waking up kinda late. Moving back to nighttime, apparently. I gotta deal with this.

Gave a lesson yesterday, somewhat busy with random stuff. Fantasizing about going lol. Foot often hurts in a healthy way, like it's healing, stretching back to normal. Need to walk more. I do stand all the time, as you might know - I only ever stand in front of my pc. I only really sit when I read. If I feel tired during the day I lie down - not the greatest habit to have if you're not supposed to be seen lying down lol.

Yesterday was kinda weird. Nice day overall. I had a lot of coffee and zoomed in onto random stuff and ended up purchasing some foam blocks/jump boxes to be delivered from China - not too expensive. Should allow for easier weightlifting training.

Speaking off - today's the day of pain. The upper side of my forearm, the wrist extender - it hasn't been hurting. It's a really unique kind of pain by the way, I think I only felt it this year. So much stiffness in tissues and I keep growing just because I eat and deadlift - and I do other things too, of course, not to become completely shapeless. Today is the day dedicated to other things.

I expect my warmup should go better than previously - good enough amount of time doing all the moves for press/push and parts of clean. Squat too, don't forget!

Shoes, and boots... They bother me. I need flipper-shaped boots. I need boots, not those silly barefoot shoes. They need to be hard AND flipper-shaped, not either or. I have to settle for humongously long boots that fit my width but leave me a lot of length. The cheap Chinese ones I was given, they're pretty good, although a bunch of people couldn't stop talking about how big and ridiculous they are. And they're really comfortable, I noted it many times. My expensive winter trekking boots are very good - when I can avoid ankle chafing. I was there, close to achieving it! The secret is to have a tight lacing over the joint, over the "angle".

I've been wanting to write more critiques on destructivereaders but it's all too alien to me. I'm sick of reading about ai in any form and it's in many stories that seem alluring at first. I understand that people who write stories like that would likely not be interested in what I have to offer. If I don't like their stuff, the stuff that they presumably wrote because it's something *they* wanted to see - it's only reasonable to assume that if that's the case and if I don't like it that means they're not very likely to enjoy my stuff.

I'm sort of resting, having completed chapters 1-7, the first "arc". It sort of has a beginning and an end, the next one is more focused on Zita - just like what the intention of RW3 was - but this time much better and clearer. If I ever get into a long-term relationship with a woman again she'll also have to become inspiration for Zita - I'd have to again end up offloading negative emotions into a book. No, this book is an expression of hope, especially the first part, especially the first chapter. I was able to capture what I intended, what I meant to express with chapter 1 in rw4 - but it could still use a *lot* of work, a lot of refinement.

I wonder if I'll be able to lift some big weights today. Kinda feeling like trying to.

***

A while later. I read, finished reading "The Big Sleep". It's interesting, vivid, a little too quick in the end. My forearm though, sadly it does hurt. BUT it doesn't mean I can't do what I need to do today. It doesn't hurt a lot, and it's not the kind of pain that breaks.

I think it'll be a typical workout, the kind I've been having, but with more warmup, with less "middle volume" and more pushpresses and some heavy-ish squats in the end - cause I feel good.

Workout

Warmup - slow, gets faster; wall pushes for wrists and forearms, shoulder high pulls, rotations, L-flys one handed; overhead stretches with a stick and rubber and various grips, as well as thumb stretches with the rubber.

Overhead press and pushpress

20 kg - first I did the usual pull and rack for two sets. I also tried the "horizontal bar dip" I used to do - I believe it helps open up your upper back a little. I struggled a lot with the grip and unevenness and covered the rear of the car with dirty rag and put it away cause it irritated my nose lol. I kept fiddling with the grip.

I discovered that I need to keep my grip a little higher and maybe not force my elbows together. No, sadly engaging the "L-flys" might not be the best idea for me right now. I took a grip that felt natural and it landed completely evenly with just my thumbnails on the inner part - that surprised me pleasantly.

I felt a lot of pain in my outer forearm so I'm wearing elastic wraps on my wrists. I ordered leather ones similar to what I used to have.

20 for 3 and 3 pushpresses, and some BW squats

40 for 5 and 3 pushpresses, and BW squats - feeling good here, afraid to hit the ceiling 😁

60 for 5 and 5 pushpresses, forgot the squats but did them upstairs - just some BW squats to keep it all going

80 for 5 and 5 PPs - feels nice. Some BW squats and side-to-side deep squat jumps - feels even better

I remember how in Spring 2023 I reinvented my Squat. It was a good time, one of the good things that happened in 2023! I *started* reinventing it, full depth, pauses, max ego - not from weight but from adherence to technique. 140 felt heavy! As it should - never treat a light weight like one.

YOU are NOT supposed to flex the L-fly muscle BECAUSE that pushes the hand away from the shoulder! Crazy.

90 for 5 and PP for 5 - I took a small break to make it 2 sets. OHP looked good on video, a little crampy in my neck on the left side lol. PP looked okay - I kept trying to fix it throughout.

I realized I'm supposed to have my belt over my navel on PP - rather than under belly. BECAUSE I'm supposed to bend my lumbar and thus allow the transmission of force through hips! ⬅ important tidbit.

On 90 kg PP I did one okay rep with a low enough dip, then another immediate rep with very short dip, so I tried to fix it, paused it and did a lower dip; third rep was okay but not as fast as I liked, on the 4th I dropped my right arm a little - i.e. "spilled water" from the bowl that is the bar, and then, on the 5th rep I fixed it somewhat, with a tiny pause before the push.

I was upset at my forearm pain at the start of the workout but I didn't stop and I had a rather satisfying session - even though my weights are still very moderate. I know I am improving in technique, and I am satisfied with the improvements and the stability! For example, not a single time when I was unracking today I felt unstable 😀

I kinda really wanna squat a tiny bit, weird, isn't it? Maybe I will.

Squat

90 - 3 sets of 8

I was doing a weird unrack, diving under a "curtain" I hanged on the bar - a t-shirt; on the third set I realized it's silly and just put it on my back. The technique was good, although somehow my RIGHT leg got stiff and it only got loose on the third set there. Should have done some warmup with a weight perhaps? lol (yes). But my legs were almost warmed up, loose enough, just not coordinated for barbell squat. I'm glad I did something.

Overhead squat - partial reps and one full squat

20 - 30 - 20

And I also did some walking back and forth with the bar overhead, which was the initial idea, but I realized overhead squat might be even better as an accessory exercise!

I have don't have *enough* mobility for a full squat with a light weight, so I ended up rising on my heels a little in the bottom. BUT I'm pretty close to having good mobility - in my lower body. Upper body - less so. It's such a good exercise, I need to do it more often!

I did some static overhead holds too, in the start and in the end.

I'm honestly super satisfied with my technical progress. My lifting still doesn't look pretty but it's one step away from not looking ugly! 😀 (if I'm being generous 😉)

RPotD - File:UV cure.jpg - "Curing a polymer gel with UV light"