HA!! Congrats on both things and I hope you crush that interview!
True. They’re likely not, but ya never know!
We’re definitely on the same team with the intentional use of shortened ranges of motion. That’s a great article from the archives I should probably check out again!
Speaking of range of motion, I saw this video from Dr. Joel Seedman on reducing the top of the pull-up and it hit home. My shoulders often ache after doing pull-ups, so I may have to try this…
So the gist of Paul Carter’s full body training plan – the one linked above – is to do compound lifts (geared toward performance) at the beginning of every training session, then fill in the gaps with isolation pump work.
Then you alternate musculature that the big lifts and pump work hit every session.
Here’s a 2-day example of the workouts:
Man I love this! But I’m kinda on the fence because of that stinkin’ high ham strain that rears its ugly head every time I accidentally do something wrong.
It’s doing well right now, but as soon as I add direct ham work or compound lifts that emphasize the posterior chain, it gets ticked off again.
So the current compound lower body lifts that don’t irritate it are walking lunges and leg press. I thought about doing front squats because those are pretty quad-dominant, but coming out of the hole hits the glute max + ham area.
Can’t believe I was doing hip thrusts, ham curls, and RDLs at the end of the summer. I’m guessing – even though they were doable – they prevented this thing from healing for good.
So… Got Recommendations?
If you have ideas for a lower body compound lift that’s more quad-focused, let me know! I’m just trying to work around that high ham until it’s 100% healed.
The good news is, I’m liking the look of bigger stronger quads. And the more I blast them, the better that high ham feels.
Was that injury just a sign of a muscular imbalance? 
Hikes and Weekend Eye-Candy
Our Saturday morning hike was gorgeous.
This time of year, it’s too cold for normal people to go outside early in the morning, so Chris and I bundled up, drove 8 minutes across town, and got to explore by ourselves.
NOBODY WAS OUT THERE. So we let the dogs off leash for most of the walk.
This guy loves streams.
The sunrise hits this mountain straight on, turning it orange. If you sleep in, you miss fire-colored mountains.
The Marriage Book
Chris and I are part of a life group for married couples, and we’re going through a book titled, Complement. For the most part it’s been good! But there are a couple Biblical inconsistencies that Chris and I have been secretly questioning. All in all though, the outcome of going through it together has been incredible.
So anyway, we’re in the sex chapter and we decided to go through it in a coffee shop over the weekend. We read it together in hushed tones, and yes, the people at the table closest to us might’ve gotten weirded-out. But oh well.
Check this out though. I was able to snap a picture of this plants-on-a-stick decor because it’s what I recreated in our house. It made me want to redo my version.
Googled the book(s) interesting format if I’ve the right ones, if I remember correctly Aaron Ivey’s the worship pastor at Austin Stone Texas? Curious as to the biblical inconsistencies?
I’m excited you’re curious about that! It actually makes my day that you took the time to read my post and ask a thoughtful question. I didn’t think anyone would care about this topic, so first, thank you!
Off the top of my head, there’s a chapter on fighting and reconciliation, right? Tons of good stuff in there.
However, during some of the exercises, they instruct you to think back to a previous fight and as Chris and I were reading through these exercises, we realized that they were basically asking us to reopen old wounds that had already healed. We both feel like that goes directly against the idea that love keeps no record of wrongs 1 Cor. 13:4-7.
And in fact, they state “love keeps no record of wrongs” on the same exact page where they tell you to bring up your old record of wrongs.
There are a couple other mental exercises you’re supposed to do with your spouse, which both of us thought would create more division than unity, so we wrote “NO” in our book and moved on to the next thing.
But don’t get me wrong, overall, the book has opened my eyes (and Chris’s I’m sure) to some amazing truths and the beauty of what God intended. It’s brought us closer together than we’ve ever been, which is a huge testament of how good it is, despite the things that’ve rubbed us the wrong way.
My pleasure, I actually stopped lurking and joined the forum, however long ago that was, because there were a number of people who openly talked about their Christian faith and the forum was always a respectful place, a lot of them have stopped posting now, but fortunately the forum is still an awesome place.
Having not read the book I’m not qualified to comment, but do you think the intent was more to get you to reflect on your actions/words/feelings in those situations, to attempt to ensure they aren’t lurking (let no root of bitterness spring up and cause trouble - paraphrase of Hebrew 12:15) or was it designed to stop you repeating patterns?
Keep no records of wrong, absolutely but be prepared to examine yourself and let God search you (not implying your not, just stating the obvious). As you say if it was bringing up resolved things and potentially causing issue within your relationship or causing you both to look back at each others wrong then your response:
Is spot on!
That’s a great review, think that might make an appearance in my wife’s Christmas stocking!
I’m so pleased to hear this! I usually hesitate to share anything faith-related because I get the impression it makes some people uncomfortable. So thank you for the encouragement.
Absolutely, I think those are the intentions of the author. But when Chris and I were reading it together, we just felt like revisiting stuff that we’ve already learned from would be more damaging to us than life-giving. And though none of the things from recent memory were huge, digging up even little spats felt deeply sinful.
At one point I tried to do one of the exercises and it felt like I was acting against my conscience and sinning against my husband.
Luckily rehashing conflicts isn’t even necessary to learn from them. The longer we’ve been together, the more we’ve learned how to disagree with one another without actually fighting. And on the rare occasions when we have a spontaneous kerfuffle about something silly, we move on quickly and keep no record of it.
People aren’t perfect and we don’t hold each other to perfect standards.
This is something worth keeping in mind, always.
This is exactly it. If it was unresolved, that’d be another story. The book’s exercises would definitely be helpful. But if we’ve both done the work and learned from prior mistakes, then ruminating over what one person should’ve done differently is not healthy for us.
Excellent! There are videos that go with it as well. It’s possible though, that you and she may be more advanced in your knowledge of the Word to get a whole lot from it. But even so, it may be a great refresher too.
Just to drop some encouragement, I don’t have anything to add to the faith conversations, but I truly appreciate when I see you all sharing them in here. That’s just a great community thing no matter what one believes
Awww well you’re always encouraging and informative! Thank you for swinging by with seriously great advice and fun conversations.
Chris and I almost annoyed the heck outta you. We thought it would be funny to just have an ongoing conversation on your log about dinner tonight, errands, and other stuff that would give you a notification for no reason.
But then we decided not to be turds. You’re welcome! 
I would have loved it! Now I’m holding you to it. I expect to see grocery lists, people!
Haha well now that everyone visiting here knows you’d be cool with mundane chit-chat on your training log, we all need to do our part!
Let’s all meet over there! 
No worries at all, I get the impression most people here are ok with it, and it’s your journal so you’re not foisting it on others, just sharing in your own space, I often say that the journals here are interesting because of the journeys and the personal stuff shared, a list of weights lifting, or discussions purely on lifting get stale after a while it’s the rest of the stuff that’s interesting.
Yea that’s definitely the key, you’d already completed the exercise!
And that’s definitely a no go; you made the right choice (Romans 14:23 But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning).
Definitely necessary, lots of grace needed in marriage
Sounds fantastic, my wife’s only been a Christian a few years (I’m about 11 years now, and have been reading the Bible avidly since), but regardless I think, a bit like lifting we often think we’re more advanced than we really are and actually it’s still just as important to ensure that we cover the “basics” and refresh ourselves now as it was to learn it in the first place - it’s far too easy to know what to do but not do it (James 1:23) and refreshing helps to prompt us to “do”.
You found it for me!!! I was trying to tell Chris about this idea/verse while we were walking the dogs this morning. I gave him the context for it, but couldn’t remember what Paul had actually said.
You basically read my mind. Thank you!
This is great to hear! Sometimes listing exercises, sets, and reps is so boring that I don’t even do it. (But I probably ought to in order to improve with this whole strength and fitness thing.)
How cool is that?! You seem very mature in your faith, and I’m excited to hear about you and your wife. My faith had been pretty superficial for so long. But then Chris and I found a church last December that reignited our hearts and minds.
If you go through that book with her, keep me posted! It’d be interesting to see if you two come to similar conclusions as Chris and I did.
Yesterday I overdid the electrolytes and this morning walked around the gym like a marshmallow. It was so bad my wedding band was literally stuck on my puffy little finger-stump. Because apparently, when your hands are retaining a lot of water, your fingers look like little stumps. Lesson not learned. Being puffy beats blacking out every time you stand up.
I’m chugging plain water to flush some of that out. The workout was seriously great though. Felt super pumped all the way through.
Compound Lifts
• Leg Press: 3 x 12 controlled (warmed-up with 100-unbroken reps)
• Dips: 3 x 15, 12, 6
• Seated Cable Row: 3 x 12, 10, 8
Pump Work
• Rear Delt Flye
• Leg Extension
• Booty Machine
If there was a playlist of the best workout songs of all time, this would be on it. Even though I have no idea what he’s actually saying.
Here’s the first line though:
Freeeeeeezin’ rguolgauhebgomaieghvasoigesorigmdwhfdfrrhshfrresofr of concrete!
Monday’s workout
No workout to log for today since it’s Thursday. I’ve been doing full body sessions on a M/W/F schedule, and didn’t have time to log this on Monday.
Compound Lifts
• Kettlebell walking lunges: Out and back x 4, alternating between right front rack, left front rack, and one-arm overhead position.
Hot Take: Overhead walking lunges should count as cardio!
• T-Bar Row: 3 x 10, 8, 8 (I’m now using more than twice as much weight as I used when we shot the vids for this article)
• Seated Chest Press: 3 x 15, 10, 8
Pump Work
• Arnold Press: 3 x 8-10
• Bent Over Dumbbell Flye: 3 x 12
• EZ-Bar Bicep Curl: 3 x failure
• Tricep Pushdown: 3 x failure
Unholy Moly
I have a dermatology appointment today and the doc is going to check out a handful of concerning moles. My prediction is that I’ll need a biopsy on one or two of them. No biggie, been through this before.
The thing I’m NOT going to confess is how I spent all of last year and most of this year visiting the tanning bed. Why? Because being tan makes people look leaner and more muscular. The blue light you get from tanning beds improves mood. And it just plain feels good.
But now that the tan has completely faded, I can go see a dermatologist without being berated for my “unhealthy habit”. That always bugs me. Are dermatologists also talking to patients about their alcohol intake or their crap food intake? Because those affect skin quality too. I’m guessing nobody bats an eye about those things.
Plants On A Stick
Remember that coffee shop I took a picture of last weekend? Well, here’s my version of their plant wall.
A few years ago, Chris and I found a huge tree limb on the ground while walking around a local lake. He carried it back to the car for me, while I held the dog leashes. And that’s what kicked off my plant wall obsession.
Here’s the evolution of this thing.
Cleaning it up and hanging it was kind of a process. And once it was up, it took a long time to get it right!
First I started with succulents. BAD IDEA. They were hard to keep alive and could never grow big enough to climb or trail.
Then sometime during C-19, I ordered some vining plants from a company called “Bros with Hoes” (like gardening hoes) and fell in love with them.
But they were too sparse and young to look right hanging from the stick.
We also found a long, narrow bench from an antique store (it was not antique, just preowned), so I sanded it, then painted it, so that it could hold propagations.
So as they matured, I started propagating like crazy to get a jungle effect.
Then more growth.
And more growth. But something still wasn’t right and I couldn’t figure it out.
Finally I had enough vines to hang on the stick. Things started coming together here.
I still have a few of those old succulents, but kind of resent them. Certain succulents are just freaking hard to keep alive and most of them never grow to show-stopper size, like a fiddle leaf fig, monstera, or the huge Philodendron Brazil hanging on the end of my stick.
For instance, this FLF in the corner is now several inches taller than me.
Anyway, plants! I recommend them.
Same. I don’t have to green of a thumb yet and rodents keep biting off the shoots of my fall crops I have started this year (advantage to living in Florida), but it’s fun to try.
What do you use for plant food for your houseplants?
I usually use a liquid fertilizer during the growing seasons, but then cut way back or go without during months when they get less light. I actually don’t know what brand I’m currently using but it came from Amazon.
Didn’t know you were in Florida! You’re right, that’s a great place to grow a home jungle because of the humidity.
Well, I’m not sure what to do about your crops and those pesky rats, but with indoor plants, just start with the easiest ones: pothos, any dracaena, snake plants, zz-plants, and nearly any philodendron.
Which part bugs you - that the dermatologist is talking to you about a (minor) unhealthy habit regarding your skin, that they’re not acknowledging that you’re doing better than most in terms of alcohol/diet, or that they’re (presumably) not getting after other patients for having (major) unhealthy habits regarding their skin?
I promise I’m not trying to be an agitator haha - I’m asking because I’ve noticed that when I have that type of response myself and I look at it with a critical eye, I usually realize that my response is off-base. For example, in the three options above, #3 isn’t really something I’d need to worry about (the dermatologist should get after other people for eating poorly, but either way, it’s not really my business); #2 is important to recognize (I want validation for doing 98% right) but probably not the dermatologist’s job (I’m not paying them to validate me but to identify problems; I can validate myself by celebrating my healthy habits!); and that leads to #1, which would be a little petty to get upset about because either the dermatologist is right, in which case I should take their advice, or the dermatologist is wrong, and I should shrug it off - or the dermatologist is right but I’ve accepted the risks that come with it, in which case I can also shrug it off.
Anyway, I’m definitely not trying to jump on your post and criticize what is obviously a minor personal rant - that type of response just jumped out to me because I know it’s something I do all too often, but I’m happier when I reanalyze and adjust.
More importantly, your plant wall is looking super cool, and I loved reading all the background of how it got to that point! It’s very obviously a labor of love on your part and it looks like a great place to be in. Plants are simultaneously tricky and easy to care for, which I think is part of the pleasure.
So I was right and wrong about the derm appointment.
• Yep, got a suspicious mole removed and biopsied. Results TBD.
• But no, she didn’t ask or even mention tanning beds.
I feel bad for ranting about my previous dermatology experiences because this doc has been amazing. Would it be weird to say, “can we be friends?” to a doctor? It would. But I tend to say plenty of weird things to people.
Anyway here’s some interesting mole facts:
I’m glad to hear this! Because it makes me sad when a person never really says hello or chats about what I’ve written… until they want to challenge me. You should say “hi” more often so that it doesn’t come off that way.
For the record, I love it when people come here and change my perspective. But they’re also the ones who’ve built trust by popping in to encourage me, like a post, say something friendly, or continue a conversation.
I know excess exposure to UV rays is unhealthy, but I’m an adult who can pick her vices. Just like people who know smoking, eating junk food, and drinking alcohol are unhealthy. Luckily the dermatologist I have now is a lot cooler than the ones I’ve had in the past.
Thank you so much! That means a lot. 
We did some practical moving and shooting yesterday, and at the beginning of class, the instructor (retired SWAT guy) said, “Does anyone want to wear my heavy vest while they go through the course Dani?”
And I’m a believer in saying yes to things you’ll probably regret later. So I sported this heavy-ass thing for about two hours.
Full body workout today. Similar to Monday’s workout, but a longer distance for the kettlebell walking lunges, less weight on the rows, and different pump work exercises.
Ok, maybe it’s different enough to log, but I’m not writing it down because my aching upper back changed what I would’ve done.
