Workout today: pause curls and 1.5 pushups. Just posting these as a demonstration of how to make simple equipment do big damage. I’m a BIG fan of pauses on the way up for the MMC. With lateral raises, I think they’re one of the most effective ways to feel the muscle contracting. Especially with a muscle you can’t often feel, stopping on the way up, when the target muscle is already inadvertently contracting, and then finishing the exercise solely by contracting said target muscle is a foolproof way to feel that sneaky muscle activate.
The pushups are just because doing fucktons of pushups can get boring quickly, and pushup bars allow a REALLY deep stretch. Going down, halfway up, back down, and all the way up hits the chest and the arms really well. Big fan of them. The videos for the curls and the pushups were both at the 4th out of 4 sets, and the pushups I had to stop at 9 because I was doing them right in front of my front door, and the light you see on my face right before I stop doing pushups was my wife opening the door, which would have hit me in the face if I didn’t stop, haha. It’s fine. I was smoked and my core tightness was starting to fail by that last rep.
Yesterday, food was eggs in the am with taco meat, eggs in the PM with more taco meat, and dinner was a 1 lb strip steak with homemade garlic mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are something I’ve had a million times and rarely make myself, so I searched around for any tips and found two: once the potatoes hit boil, to cover and boil them on a low simmer at medium-low/low heat instead of keeping them at a full boil the whole time, and boil them whole after peeling (russets, that is) instead of cutting them into pieces. After that it’s the regular routine of adding a buttload of butter and milk, because mashed taters ain’t the thing to fuck around with. All or nothing.
But I definitely noticed, there were no lumps because the potatoes cooked slowly all the way through instead of unevenly at a higher temperature. Sweet. The strip steaks I just cooked in an iron griddle on just over medium heat for 3 minutes a side, finishing with a 4th minute on their side to render the big strip of fat on them, and let them sit for 5 minutes afterwards. Watched a funny movie with the wife while eating awesome food. Can’t go wrong.
Yesterday’s training was 4x10 of BB curls with 65 lbs and a pause halfway up, and 3x10, 1x9 of 1.5 pushups, as in the videos. I woke up today at 218.2 lbs, a drop, possibly because of increased activity the past few days (running around with the kids to keep them occupied is not documented on here, but well documented on my body). I’m still seeing muscle growth - or what looks like it - so I’m kind of hoping I don’t hit that 230 mark after all, I don’t think it’ll be useful weight. All depends on how active I stay though.
This reminds of elitefts video I saw on YouTube a while back where it appeared the entire tris work was like 3 sets of 3 light reps of pushdowns, done hilariously slowly (like minutes per rep)
What happens when you channel your inner @T3hPwnisher but you’re not a robot:
Misgrooved a step on my squats and something twinged in my lower trap. Said fuck it, push through. Finished squats, went to OHP. First set, okay. Second set, feels alright. Starting to numb up. Let’s do the 3rd set. Halfway up: TWINGE, SHARP PAIN, TEARING SENSATION. Unable to turn my head properly right now. Thinking it’s just a muscle strain, now that I’ve dug into it with a golf ball and iced it a bit, it’s already starting to subside, but still hurts a whole lot. Gonna shut it down for the day and reevaluate tomorrow, may sit tomorrow out so I can go hard on wednesday. Missed my first ‘mandatory’ exercise - the 100 pullups. I’ve done well over 100 extra pullups besides what this program prescribes though, so I’ll live.
Yeah, it’s definitely my most common injury. It also wasn’t random - my squat surface is a tiny bit uneven if I stand even the tiniest bit wrong, and I started my set with my feet out of position a little bit, and looked down prior to starting my set - lost all tightness in my neck and upperback, ascended with a bent neck. Following that with OHP was a recipe for disaster. It’s incredibly painful and annoying, but always goes away.
I have a pretty even footing where I’ve been squatting and it feels fine. It rained last night and there was dirt and mud everywhere, I just felt wrong, lost concentration. I had some muscle relaxers left from when I fell and fucked my leg up a year and a half ago, took half of one and will take a full one right before bed, which will let my muscles heal overnight. I think it’ll be okay. But my arm is definitely tingly - nerve was pinched too.
I was frustrated when it happened, but I feel kind of grateful now - it wasn’t a hip/back/SI joint/knee/shoulder injury, which are all of the injuries that can actually sideline me and the ones I’m most afraid of getting. Today I’m stiff but noticeably improved. It means I can continue lifting with the big exercises.
Yeah I’m gonna build a platform this weekend. Or maybe one day this week after work. Just gonna grab two pieces of plywood and 2 rubber mats from Lowe’s. Since my 45’s are a smaller diameter I don’t even need a piece of plywood in the middle between the mats to even it out - can just use them as 1” blocks and be perfect.
Fortunately, deadlifts were light today. Neck is pretty much healed.
Deadlifts
195x5
235x5
255 3x5
Bench
130x5
150x5
170 5x5
Rows with 50 lb KB
5x20 each arm, added a pause at the peak to give a bit more work
100 band pullaparts
100 curls
Finished with 100 pushups on the pushup bars and 200 squats, in 10x10 and 10x20 superset style. Felt like making up for the half-day monday and the off-day yesterday. Tomorrow, probably going to do some sprints, really hit the anaerobic threshold and sweat buckets, then get after the weights friday.
In food news, I’ve been struggling again with the beef and eggs. Just so bored of the taste, no matter how I make it. Made shakshouka again @Voxel - not sure if I fit enough eggs in there, haha. Sucks, i felt like I hit a groove and would just cruise out the rest, but I think my appetite is what hit the groove, and like any normal human being, I’m sick of eating a variation of the same fucking thing every day. The GOOD news is I only have a week and a half left of this shit, haha.
Breakfast was eggs and beef. Lunch was a meatloaf my wife made, covered all my beef by like 4 o’clock. So now I just need 6 eggs in a bowl of the shakshouka and I’m set. Gonna make some ground beef stroganoff with egg noodles tomorrow, then probably a giant batch of chili on friday and just stuff it down.
I think the eggs would be the only thing that kills me with that diet. I have eaten nothing but beef for almost a month before and loved it. Rice, beef and BBQ sauce is my go-to.
I love fish, and like a lot of chicken dishes. Variety has been my way of maintaining a 200+ lb weight for years. This gave me a great insight into food as fuel for performance instead of just for pleasure. I’m hoping to combine variety with this new outlook to really bust through to new strength levels this year.
