Good news is I tried to put my belt in the third hole and it got there after some convincing, when I started lifting again in July the first hole was nearly as hard, so I’ve lost at least a few inches off the waist while only dropping a few lbs. Bad news, looks like I’m balding, time for a haircut.
Do you like pulling with the axle? Or would you rather have a smaller diameter bar?
Oh, I’m not pulling with the axle, I have the Rogue power bar that i’m using for deadlifts. I’m doing close grip bench, ohp, and curls with the axle on the regular and a few other movements occasionally. I’m like 6’5.5 and can’t really palm a basketball, my shortish chubby fingers couldn’t hold onto an axle for shit. I’m getting some longer straps though so I might give it a shot, just to see what’s different about it.
Ah my mistake, I read the axle curls and just assumed for some reason. I was going to say 400x5 rack pulls with an axle would mean crazy grip.
Damn, you’re a big dude!
I actually used the trap bar for that but forgot to add it! My grip and forearms are getting hammered by the axle though, even the curls had my forearms begging for relief.
Yea man, mom is 5’3, dad is 6’, brother 5’11, sister 5’5 and then me, doesn’t make a lot of sense but makes carrying nearly 300 a lot easier.
Yesterday was off, was feeling poorly both mentally and physically. Still way off mentally but physically okay today so I did the work and it turned out well enough.
Shoulder warmup
OHP: bar x 20, 80 2x5, 120 x 5, 140 7 x 5, 1x 16
Facepulls 3 x 20
Upright band rows: 3 x 15
Lateral/front raises: 3 x 10
Clean pulls: 95 x 10 (left shoulder pain on descent)
Weight has been 296, 294.6, 294.5, 293.2, 293 over the last 5 days. I was expecting an uptick this morning but that I got a small decrease instead despite weighing in a bit earlier than normal, having some bloat and drinking a half glass of water beforehand. My appetite seems to have dropped a decent amount, which is completely fine with me, I’m happy to drop some weight and not be in the kitchen all damn day.
Fuck work, I need to fucking quit, too many stupid fucking messages about too much pedantic shit while ignoring our direct user feedback. Such bad practices, such a waste of my time and talent, and they aren’t even paying me enough.
Stress squats:
FS: 90 2x5, 135 1x3, 205 7x5, 1x7 (knee felt tweaky and I was too distracted to commit)
Trap rdl: 150 2x8, 240 2x5
Need to do more later but we’ll see how I feel. I might give my two weeks notice the day I get my bonus.
Woke at 293 again today, hopefully trim out a bit more snacking to get down to the 292s tomorrow.
It seems like COVID is a popular time to make career changes (not counting those who unfortunately don’t have a choice)
I’m not planning on switching careers at this point, I generally enjoy software (as much as I do any job), I’m just really tired of the people with whom I work. I’m taking a few courses to brush up on aspects I’m less familiar with and plan on applying to a few places, just to get better at interviewing before making the jump. I could move back to Vegas and make more money than I do currently (~30-50% raise when considering COLA) but that isn’t super feasible given my current situation and I don’t really want to be back in Vegas, any time soon.
I just need to focus for a few months on learning some new stuff and start applying. I’m not worried about getting something better, I’m worried about my emotional capacity to both maintain a job and extend myself into the application process, I’m an easily overwhelmed human.
Only worked about a half day, which was fanfuckingtastic. Took a few walks and decided I’m taking a bodybuilding deload before I go home instead of pushing through juggernaut. I probably didn’t need to lift tonight but I wanted to
Back/bis
BB row: 115 2x10, 165 3x10
Pull-ups: GB 2x5, FB 1x5, BB 1x5, 1x8 (some partial reps)
Axle curls: bar x20, 50 4 x 12
Standing band rows, curl variations, straight arm push downs.
Got some new straps from my sister for Xmas that I opened early, so used them. They’re very pink lol
Gonna hit chest tri with some friends tomorrow
Probably should have said “jobs” instead of “careers” for sure. My friends in this position also aren’t hopping fields. I don’t have much personal experience with this, so my words are probably worse than anybody else’s. Either way, not a bad time to do it if you have the mental energy for it and are not pleased in your current situation. Moving is annoying but maybe worthwhile and exciting.
Switching jobs is likely to happen in 2021, moving maybe.
I think i’ve mentioned this before but my gf of a few years is a veterinarian and looking to do a residency or an internship, starting next year. It is contingent on where she would get accepted, she is a bit late to apply to some of her preferred locations (Colorado state, where she did her vet school and UC Davis, both of which are top tier schools), so it may only be an internship this next year (starting in summer). At that point we’d likely move somewhere for a year then move again a year later. I’d prefer to just go to one spot for the 3-4 years but it’s really hard to tell whether that is likely at this point. In the mean time, me taking a job that is rooted to one spot, in the next 18 months, doesn’t make a ton of sense. Fortunately, I’m in a position that is effectively 100% remote right now and most jobs have become remote in the field but not all. Assuming nothing drastic changes, she would be finished in 3-5 years and come out making 2-300k and be able to work from wherever, which would make my income entirely disposable.
tl;dr I’m trying to figure out a 5 year plan.
Those both sound like not too shabby places to live… hope everything works out fine nevertheless.
I don’t even know what I would do with all of that money hahaha
Yea they would both be fine Cali is a bit expensive but not really worse than Seattle, at least near Davis.
Some of the one year options are in Indianapolis and Missouri, which sound less fun but I think I’d have fun for a year in any place.
She was interviewing with a company that sponsors some of the residencies and their starting salary is 216k but said most people were over 300 and one dude who worked a ton was nearing 1 million. I was definitely surprised too. Apparently there is a serious deficit of radiologists in the veterinary world.
I imagine if I put in a ton of effort I could get to the lower end of that range in 3-5 years but I don’t care enough about money to do that.
With the exception of a few places, the Midwest is bland to say the least. Don’t get your hopes up if that turns out happening…
Ha, I’m hoping that I’d only have to do one year and I’m bringing my home gym. Buy a couple fans and a space heater and it can’t be much worse, is what I’m telling myself.
292.2 yesterday (late weigh in), 291.4 today at roughly normal time (8am).
Had a fuck around session, couple friends came over. One has historically been in good shape but blew his Achilles out in Feb, so he’s just getting back into shape. The other is 6’7” and hasn’t done a ton of lifting, so he’s still figuring things out. Just did the movements they wanted, was entertaining.
Bench: light warmups, 205 x 12, 255 x 10, 225 x 15
Tri band work
Push-ups, with chest elevated lol
Standing skullcrushers: 65 x 10, 75 x 10
Bench dips
Some front squats for warmup
Back squats: 135 2x5, 225 x 5, 295 x 3, 345 x 2
Did some other stuff but nothing noteworthy. Didn’t wear sleeves for back squats, knees were groaning but not really painful. Going to take awhile to get these back In the rotation when the time comes. Love that 225 x 15 is pretty much a guarantee for bench any given workout
You running a giants only training camp? Do they make a rack you can OHP in?
Ha, i have a really tall set of Seattle friends. I hit my head on my pull-up bar if I’m not careful when back squatting, 0 chance I can ohp. I don’t have the tallest titan one but I don’t think they make one big enough. I’ve actually enjoyed seated ohp in the past but don’t have an incline bench, yet