Dani's Rebel Log

Training Training Logs
1950

I’ve been feeling unusually unchatty lately (online in particular) and I’m not sure if it’s the schedule I accidentally packed for the next few weeks. But everything is good.

The digestion weirdness is mostly cleared up except for a hypersensitivity to eggs, which will go away with a few weeks of avoidance.

Today’s Workout

Giant full-body mobility session: when I walked in the gym, everything hurt. Then it didn’t. Stretching works.

  • Seated Chest Press: 140 for 4 x 10-12
  • Lateral Raises: Pauses at the top: 4 x failure
  • Cable Rear Delt Flye: 4 x failure
  • Cable Straight Arm Pulldown: 4 x couple reps short of failure
  • Tricep Pulldown: 4 x failure

Slowly Working Through The OT

In the next couple days I’ll be finishing 2 Kings and beginning 1 Chronicles, which I heard is not the easiest book of the Old Testament. But honestly, 2 Kings was so complicated for my simpleton brain that I had to watch two different YouTube videos on it before things started clicking.

I love The Bible Project for summing everything up. And this series called, The Bible from 30,000 Feet was a little more detailed and incredibly helpful on the subject.

One of the craziest things was a tiny four-sentence story in 2 Kings 2:23-25 about the prophet Elisha, some bratty kids who taunted him, and the two bears who consequently ripped them apart. You can’t read in a daze or you’ll miss the best stuff.

Another thing that completely changed my thinking on the Old Testament – and how insanely epic it is – was watching some AI video depictions that have to be somewhat more realistic than the cartoony little pictures we saw in our books as children.

And obviously, AI is full of major flaws. In fitness pictures, people often have six fingers and extra triceps. But it does help awaken your mind to the gravity of stories, creatures, and situations that are incomprehensible without being there to actually witness it.

You can easily read the Bible without giving it your full attention. If you’re just trying to get through it, it’ll be boring. Or you can wake up and realize how mind-blowing it all was.

Other Things That Make Me Happy

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After 9 months, the monstera propagation a neighbor gave me is finally growing a new leaf!

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Chris and I played ping pong in the dark with a group of friends from church.

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This meme is so relatable, that I no longer try not to be awkward. It’s just part of the deal. You know what you’re in for.

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Also, I will never not think about N’Sync this time of year.

1 Like
1951

SAME! And that meme will never not be funny.

2 Likes
1952

I LOVE that you can relate! So on a scale of one to ten, how much of a fan (or secret fan) were you as a teen? And were you kind of disappointed when Lance Bass came out of the closet? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I had one of their keychains, ironically, and got many laughs. I was always more of a rock/alternative girl. But truth be told, their stuff was fun! And Bye Bye Bye has to be the ultimate break-up anthem.

Just for funsies…

1953

I just thought you didn’t love us anymore. :joy:

1 Like
1954

Thats a lot of sets to failure. You dropping weight on following sets?

2 Likes
1955

Seems like it looking back on it. But I went relatively light, and have missed enough workouts that my upper body was very fresh.

2 Likes
1956

WHAT?! Never! Just busy and not feeling like I have much to say that’d be of value.

1957

Sometimes even if it’s not valuable we still want to hear it.

1 Like
1958

My opinion on failure training is that while heavy weights are better - failure at any weight is still productive. At least within reason.
To carry on with that, i also believe that the weight being used has little bearing on recovery thereafter.

What I’m getting at, is that id be aiming for less sets with more weight, or a top set with backdowns - all to failure.
*just my unsolicited opinion.

Tbh i initially followed your log for the training, but the conversations on the side were entertaining and educational on their own.

1 Like
1959

Tell that to my ar$e after heavy sets of Bulgarian split squats.

2 Likes
1960

I enjoy your opinions! Today’s workout was out of the norm. I took some days off and had the desire to hit those burning reps.

Will it prevent me from building muscle? Eh, who knows. I’m not really expecting to grow much bigger than I already am, nor am I needing to.

As far as hypertrophy goes, I likely hit my natural genetic limit years ago. And even if I haven’t, I’m told on an almost weekly basis that I’m huge (that might not be a compliment lol).

So I’m just not super worried about missing out on gains right now. :joy:

Obviously, there are loads of women far more jacked than me, but I don’t have their bodies in mind as a particular goal — even though I admire the heck out of them. I just enjoy the act of challenging my body.

Also, maybe you can relate to this: now that my shoulder is feeling good, I crave those higher rep ranges that set the delts on fire. Especially since I’m afraid to use more load and potentially hurt what just healed.

4 Likes
1961

Like down on a knee so I’m at eye-level or…?

If the set was taken to failure, I believe the weight to not really matter regarding recovery.
*recovery =/= DOMS

Soreness can increase or decrease with novelty training stimulus, but soreness =/= growth either.

1 Like
1962

I always used to like a long drop set for this, start at one end of the dumbell rack and work down. :fire: :fire: :fire:

1 Like
1963

what ever takes your fancy mate, I am open to most suggestions.

I think with some exercises the weight does play a part. When slit squats get really heavy the force needed to be applied each rep, seems to give a deeper burn in the muscle, or maybe just recruit more secondary muscles to stabalise the lift. If the weight is very light for high reps to failure, I feel like the build up if lactic acid is a bigger factor but it doesn’t create that deep pain in the muscles.

3 Likes
1964

I assure you, I cannot relate to wanting to do high reps :joy:

I had a whole thing typed out but it felt incoherently written (likely).

I’ve found that less volume at higher intensity is far less aggravating than higher volume at lower intensity.
*assuming the injury was tendonitis. If it was an actual tear, then I 100% agree with your approach over mine.
Either way, it sounds like your approach is working great for you, and I’m happy it is :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes
1965

NSYNC: 8
Backstreet Boys: A solid 9.5. lol

I’m still in denial on this. He was most definitely “the hot one”.

SAME!! But for NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys, exceptions were made.

Not gonna lie, I just watched that whole video and may or may not have done the little jumpy dance with them… :joy:

Seriously, this little flashback just made my week. So, thank you!!

1 Like
1966

Interestingly, we’re posting an article next week about failure vs. near-failure training for size gains. The study had experienced lifters train to failure with one leg and near-failure (1-2 reps in reserve) with the other leg. Spoiler alert: No difference in hypertrophy. It was a well-done study too. They thought of every variable and ran every type of test. Details in the full article.

4 Likes
1967

Whoa! If they tour together, wanna go? How fun would that concert be?!

True, but you know who I’d rather meet out of all of them? Joey Fatone. He was considered “the fat one” so he opened a restaurant called Fat Ones, which is also a play on his last name. Too funny!

I’m with ya. Super fun workout music too.

What?! I hope your week skyrockets from here. haha!

Did you ever see the documentary about Lou Pearlman, the guy who put together (and swindled) both boy bands? I think Lance Bass did most of the interviews and it was riveting. These young guys were doing all the work and making next to nothing. Bye Bye Bye was actually written as a message to Lou.

1 Like
1968

Was this a Schoenfeld study, by chance?

There’s 2 pretty reasonable criticisms against it, if so.

1 Like
1969

Refalo, et al. “Similar muscle hypertrophy following eight weeks of resistance training to momentary muscular failure or with repetitions-in-reserve in resistance-trained individuals.” J Sports Sci. 2024 Feb 23:1-17. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2024.2321021.

2 Likes