General life update
My shins are a lot better now, if we don’t have a morning run I can practically function normally. If we do have a morning run I’ll be limping for a couple if hours because of the pain.
During the time that I had to be careful with my legs I found out that high rep zercher squats do not irritate them and they are also a pretty good lower body exercise. (I’d still go with front or back squats but if you want to have some variety in your training they as definitely one option) I did them for sets of 20-30 reps, and I’ve got to say, they really condition your back and elbow tendons in addition to the leg musculature.
Today I had the opportunity to try some real chains with my close-grip bench, the chains were massive and felt really good. (I’ve rarely worked out I gyms with chains, they are surprisingly rare)
Some time ago I also got the change to try carrying a sandbag for conditioning work and I really liked it. (I don’t remember if I wrote about this so I’ll do it now)
If I ever decide to build a home gym, chains and sand bags are definitely on the list if things I’m going to get. And to be honest, as soon as I decide to buy a house (I live in a flat at the moment) I’m going to build one in the basement. I’m getting sick of all the fitness fanatics in commercial gyms. I just want to crank out some music and lift heavy weights.
But buying a house is not going to happen anywhere in the near future, so I’ll have to tolerate these self-claimed experts who feel the need to give advise everybody they see on every possible aspect of lifting and diet.
Really, just today some dude in his late teens came to tell me that I’m dumbbell rowing all wrong because I use the smith machine for support instead of a flat bench. I thanked him for his advice and continued on with my rowing.
A couple of minutes later he came back and told me that I cannot make gains with sets that long, and that I should never exceed fifteen repetitions during a set. (I was doing sets of 40 with a 60kg/132 pound dumbbell)
I asked him how exactly I was supposed to do shorter sets when the 60kg DBs were the biggest in the gym and there was no adjustable handle. That’s when he finally stopped trying to help me.
It’s nice that people try to help others out but man, I never asked you about how I should row!
So one good thing about a home gym would be the peace it offers, it would be just me, my girlfriend, loud music and heavy barbells.
Sidenote: it’s interesting what happens when you just start to write about a random subject and just go with the flow of your thoughts.
Lately I’ve been getting back to playing some video games during weekends, man I’ve gotten bad at them. (It’s been a while since I last played)
Sure, I could probably come up with more productive ways to spend time, but sometimes I’ve got to relax too. And what’s a better way of relaxing after a week in the army than playing some games that simulate being in the army?
Weird.