I’m not unwell, just a bit sore. I guess the two days hunched over a jigsaw didn’t help much either!
Today’s workout:
Deadlift:
Bar x 10
2 x 60kg x 5
1 x 70kg x 5
2 x 80kg x 3
1 x 90kg x 1
1 x 100kg x 1
Concentrating on form on most of the sets, and mobilising/stretching hips in between sets.
Pretty sure the 100kg was ugly as hell, though (didn’t take the camera today). It took its sweet time going up - I almost thought I wasn’t going to manage it but got there in the end.
3 x Superset:
20 Hyperextensions
Swiss ball bridge
Basically I stick the Swiss ball in front of a wall, lie back over it and try to walk my hands down the wall to the floor. Goal is to get them flat on the floor but currently I can only get my fingertips there. This is to work on t-spine and shoulder mobility.
Close grip pulldowns:
50kg x 10
60kg x 4 (grip went)
60kg x 5
Bosu ball squat/sit up thing
20 with a 4kg medicine ball. Then put the ball away and did 20 more with no weight.
I think I’m going to have to video these so you don’t think I’m a pussy for doing them. Believe me, it’s not a pussy exercise.
Stretching.
Was going to do some handstand prep drills but some guy went and lay right in the middle of the mats, so I said screw it and went. I was tired anyway.
I’m interested in the gym ball bridge thing because I’ve been working on this, too. One thing I’ve been playing with is different sized balls because my gym just got some fairly tiny ones and I was wondering what difference that would make for bridges. My issue is lack of hip flexor flexibility. I didn’t think of planting feet and following a wall to the floor with my hands. I’ve been rolling back so my hands are planted then trying to stretch my feet down to the ground. Seems to be different with different sized balls - but hard to say about better or worse for a good stretch. Might give the wall idea a try…
Last workout of the year. (After doing nothing yesterday. And I mean, nothing).
Millies:
Bar x 10
25kg x 10
30kg x 10
35kg x 5 (rep PR!)
Left shoulder was aching a bit (rotator cuff issue) so I left it there.
Negative pullups:
4 x 3
Was going to do chins but I did one and realised that I’d let myself get too fat over Christmas. Scales at the gym are broken so I don’t know what I weigh, but from the way my thighs are rubbing, it’s not good.
Krocs:
24kg x 15, 15
26kg x 8, 10
Again, right hand is the weak link. Why I’m stronger on the left when I’m right handed, I don’t know.
Close Grip Pulldowns:
50kg x 10
55kg x 7 (could have got 8 but grip failed)
60kg x 5
Did some swiss ball bridges, then:
Dumbell Snatches:
16kg x 5, 5 (no rest between right and left)
18kg x 5, 5
20kg x 3 (right only as left shoulder was giving me shit).
Dumbell windmills:
2 x 3 per side (14kg)
Doing these for posture and shoulder mobility/stability.
Then some mat stuff - headstand, handstand drills, stretching.
Tonight, going to a big gay party and hopefully I won’t be vomiting up my glutamine tomorrow morning like I was last year.
There was no unfortunate vomiting incident this year. There was a lot of food there. It was a fairly cosmopolitan crowd - some South Africans, an Aussie, some French, an Anglo-Pole, a Brazilian, a Swede (and the usual crowd of Brits) so the host asked people to bring in a dish from their own culture. I ate a hell of a lot, which was bad in terms of calories and general food toxicity, but good in terms of soaking up the booze. So aside from being very tired and slightly grotty this morning, I was mostly OK. (Not OK enough to go for a run, mind you, but OK enough to watch Alice in Wonderland on telly with a big bowl of soup).
Here’s a pic from the party (well, from the beginning, when things were still quite well mannered). It was a nice party, at any rate - much like last year’s. I hope everyone else had an equally good time.
@Nadia - nothing really beyond persistance. I try to press twice a week, vary my reps but I do like doing sets of 10 at a decent weight as well as lower reps. Of all the main exercises, it’s the one I’m most likely to stall at and I don’t think that’s all unusual.
Wow! You have such a beautiful face - your eyes are lovely!
Glad you had a nice time and got to eat lots of yummy international foods. I also ate a lot last night, which was great, but now I’m currently “fasting”. sigh.
But you know I really want to see the pics from the end of the party…hot mess!
It’s not my cat - she belonged to my hosts. They have two lovely Burmese cats, Boyo, the father (here) and Momo, the daughter (in the other pic). They also had Momo’s mother last year but she’s gone to live with my host’s sister as she wasn’t getting on with Boyo and both of them were starting to leave territorial peepee around the place.
One of my friends has Momo’s two brothers, who are orange like the mother, but big like dad. They’re nice cats.
