The Pursuit of Mythical Gains

Training Training Logs
1766

5/20/2024
Measurement Monday - 193.8@16.5%BF

5/21/2024
SQ 45x5, 95x3, 155x5x3
DL 165x5
BP 45x10, 95x3, 135x5x3, 145x2, 155x2, 165x2, 175x2

Assistance - BB Curls 10x2, machine curls 10x2, dips 10x2, TPD’s 10x2, ab machine 15x4.

I lifted fasted about 2:30 this afternoon after a three hour volunteer shift and about 3 1/2 mile bike ride so I decided to do some joker sets rather than 5x5 on the BP and am pretty happy with how they turned out. I figured since I was fasted I would do jokers rather than 5x5 or 10x4.

Total bike ride was about six miles and will likely get in a three mile walk later this evening.

1767

I would love to hear more.

1768

I looked for the presentation in my files, but it’s long gone, although I can still fill in some details.

So let’s paint a picture of the first day.

I show up with a backpacking backpack full of all the shit I need because my license was suspended and had to wait until 4 pm to get a ride to work from my buddy. Because unlike most of the students, I do work.

I’m already the biggest guy there (not bragging, just taller, and wider shoulders than the typical lit major.) So I’m assumed to be stupid, especially because of my tote. Lit majors who lift are a rare breed.

I’m a friendly guy, get to know all the people around me, have a thermos with coffee, disposable cups, tissues, hair ties, granola bars, what the fuck ever. I like making friends.

But there is this one guy I sat next to. Seemed nice at first. I hate to describe anyone like this, but it’s accurate. Overweight, pimpled faced guy who expected to be the alpha once he climbed the ladder. Still not sure if he was gay or just soft.

I’m not trying to be alpha, because it’s stupid. So we trade papers one day and agree to edit each other. I offer a couple of adverb changes, but for the most part encourage him that it’s good work, go forward man!

He didn’t give me any feedback on mine, but during his presentation he criticed passive voice in writing, and used quotes from the paper I was going to present the next day.

Well, fuck you Judas. I was pre-med, took the LSAT for fun, and already have a certificate in technical writing from another school. You double-crossed me. Everyone else is nice, what are you trying to prove?

One of the students had some Adderall, so I stayed up all night and wrote this magnus opus about the passive voice and brought all the points about its ubiquity and professional value.

The guy never even looked at me again.I might have gone a little to hard, because out of a class with 2 guys and 20-ish women, about half of them stopped talking to me, but I became better friends with the other half, and got my degree.

1769

Lol!

A few things -

I can relate.

I wasn’t a Lit Major, but I took a lot of Lit classes while in college when I got started lifting as a fat boy.

To go with being bigger than most and a Goth (trying to get a picture, this is not intended to be aggressive at all).

We can assume both. One does not imply the other, but we can assume both based on the further interaction.

Well, you mean he suggested he kill his little darlings?

This is the refuge of the poor writer.

Great writers are born. Good writers are made. Those of us that suck at writing hide behind passive voice criticism. I am not sure what kind of Lit class it was, but writing in active voice is more powerful, so could have been valid.

But that is a one trick pony deal - avoid passive voice if possible. To quote your shit in his presentation was a total douche move.

Pre-Med or Lit Major? Were you in a class with Lit Majors? Were you Pre-Med with the intent of going into Orthopedics? That is where the most often asked interview question is “What’s your bench?”

Doubt it, because

Goal accomplished!

Did you go to Med School?

1770

Worse. I pulled a 180 and was working at Abercrombie as one of those shirtless guys wearing jeans, flip flops, and a santa hat.

The hair tie thing is an amazing tip for guys. Anytime a woman has a hair issue and you have one, you win all the points from her and the audiance. Plus they’re useful for a ton of other stuff like first aid and engine repair.

I did. It was too arrogant.

You hit the nail on the head. He saw writing as something to be perfected, I see it as something to be fluid, creative, and adaptive.

English Lit and Microbiology.

. . . . maybe

No, couldn’t afford it. Went to culinary school instead.

1771

Appreciate the elucidation.

I met my first wife in college - she was a Microbiology major and ended up going to Med School.

Bet you pulled some girls with that gig - which was all important when I was young and dumb (last week).

I haven’t cut my hair in a year (other than a trim) and am getting close to being able to put it in a pony tail. It goes really nice with my bald spot.

Shepard Smith - no verbs, sparse AF.

The hallmark of someone not born a great writer (myself included).

A hallmark of a great writer.

I spent a week in a Techniques of Fine Cooking course at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, formerly the Peter Kump School of Culinary Arts. Also did a Sausage making class for a day. Loved both of them. Today was my first day volunteering in the kitchen at a homeless shelter. I broke down cauliflower and peeled carrots. It was cool.

The Maitre D at The Taproom when I was there was a guy named James, kind of arrogant but just trying to survive. A few years later I visited friends in Melbourne and she ran an assisted living facility - bragged about their head chef.

It was the Maitre D from The Taproom.

1 Like
1772

I am curious about the parts of speech that you use for your progeny. Are you open to discuss?

If not, I will edit this.

1773

Happy to discuss. If we run into an area I’m not comfortable with, I’ll say so, and I know you’re a good enough dude that you’ll respect that.

1774

Sounds like my brother in Orlando. We suspected but he dated chicks so he kept us guessing.

Then one night in College Park, on Yale, he told me that I would getting some phone bills. I lived in his other house and got his bills. They would be big because he had a boyfriend in Hawaii, lol.

He was 39, we kind of knew, never wanted to admit it.

I thought I was being magnanimous, “Bro, don’t care, love you!”

“Yeah, I already knew that. You just need to know because you’re getting my bills.”

1775

My question, I guess, is why you, and I assume your Valkrie, have chosen to use ambiguous pronouns.

I have such huge respect for you that I assume that is a choice you two have made and I am just curious about it so that I can be a better person.

Of course!!

I’m not sure you know, my daughter is bisexual, my brother was gay, so I’m curious about the choices as it might help me with my kids.

1 Like
1776

I had a feeling it was this, haha. You’ve a keen eye for language. The ambiguity is purely an online thing. I try to keep things about my family private to the greatest extent I can, because they did NOT opt in to be a part of my online presence. I know I’m public: my name and face are out there, so as much as I can, I try to protect them. And part of that, too, is not stating the gender of my kid, just because there are creepshows out there that will take some sort of perceived internet slight and use it as an opportunity to say horrible things about my family as a means to send a barb my way. Not stating the gender/age at least takes away some of the ammunition that could be employed in such a slight, which is most likely beneficial to that person, because I’m not sure HOW much prison time I would get for caving their skull in over the matter, but I AM sure that, much like Nicky Santoro in Casino, as soon as I got out of the joint, I’d bash their f**king head in again.

Because I’m stupid. That’s my business. That’s what I do.

1777

Aw, I can be so stoopid sometimes.

I thought you were raising a trans kid, lol. I thought they were too young to make that decision, but now I get it.

I didn’t/haven’t realized you have other media presences, but I should have. I have heard about your blog, and I do TikTok, so I should have known.

Thanks!

1 Like
1778

I’d post bail for you.

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1779

I thought he’d had twins and I somehow missed it, lol.

But @T3hPwnisher I totally get it. People were surprised when I started talking about having four kids - which I didn’t do until they were 18. I’ll self-disclose all day long about myself, but the kids felt different when they were young. Particularly as I haven’t always avoided dust-ups.

1 Like
1780

@EmilyQ appreciate that sentiment! We’ve been the same with social media as well: no posted photos of the kiddo. We want them to make that decision when they’re ready, because I already feel bad for their peers that have had their WHOLE LIVES uploaded on facebook for the world to see. I just imagine nasty kids in middle school finding naked baby photos of some kid they want to torment and leveraging that.

@The_Myth if nothing else, I fully expect a VERY well written character reference from you, haha!

1781

I share too much about my kids here, but I figure we have nothing to lose. I could be wrong.

I never post pics of my kids, but I should be more circumspect about their stuff. Some creepy peeps on the webz.

I will use a lot of adverbs and adjectives, then I will break you out.

You tweaked my head a few years ago with some Nietzsche stuff, just flat affect (as much as you can do that on the webz) that sent me down a path that I appreciate. Not to be all pro you because you were just being you, but there have been a few that have helped me along.

@MarkKO was another solid dude.

Character reference is the least I can do - I will hide a file in it.

1 Like
1782

When I mention my kids, I use their gender to distinguish them rather than their names, though their ages might be a better way to do that. Given those three options, gender seems the most privacy-preserving.

At the same time, I don’t know if anyone born after 1990 even remembers or understands the value of privacy. Everyone’s coming of age was all online, shared, public. Privacy is just an affectation of old people.

I’ve always been about privacy, not as a mater of secretiveness for clandestine activity, but because it’s none of your business unless I chose to share it. I still pay attention to what I share and how. Back in the day I did a bunch of stuff with PGP encrypted emails and other cryptography stuff.

But in practice, it seems like there is something to be said about the idea of disappearing in crowds. Frankly nobody cares enough about most of us, and those who do care have the resources that make our efforts at privacy futile.

2 Likes
1783

Much love your way as well dude. You’ve been total value added to this community.

1784

As I get older I value my anonymity more.

Especially with iPhones and social media.

I live in the redwoods on the west coast, my only heat is wood. I would like to get off the grid completely, but that would mean disconnecting from my kids.

This.

1 Like
1785

Sitting at the Alaska Lounge at SFO, flight boards in a few, red eye to NY. I have been doing this for years now - fly into JFK, train to Seaford or Bethpage, walk to the house.

My son hit me up tonight - hey, I can get you tomorrow. I offered breakfast - he is all in.

Left my place at 4PM this afternoon so a fourteen to fifteen hour travel day. I got upgraded to First Class so I will definitely sleep - seems a waste since I don’t drink.

I will definitely sleep.

1 Like