Exerbabble for 4-15-6

I think I’m going to give myself Monday off. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

A boring Saturday.

…

Today’s workout:

I’d like my lats to grow, I really would, but I’m puzzled at the inconsistency with my reps. *shrugs*

I don’t know whether it’s good or bad, but I inverted my breathing, and it felt more comfortable. Inhaling on the concentric, exhaling on the eccentric. I just find it really difficult to exhale when I’m doing an overhead press. Maybe not the best, but it’s better than holding my breath.

I felt really good during my RDL. I don’t annotate it, but I did a warm-up set of maybe five at 95 pounds. Just to get the movement down. Any strength benefits aside, I find it helpful to prime the brain with what proper form is. I RDLed my bodyweight (at least, what it was), and I felt perfectly fine. There isn’t a struggle or fear as with higher-weight squats. Squats, you respect the low position. Hell, that’s why most people don’t do deep squats. I did the sets with perfect form, a controlled speed, fully aware I can totally do a lot more. It’s something to work towards. I’ll move slowly, as I’m sure there’s little parts of me that are still growing stronger.

Added weight to my crunches. Hey, 2 kg isn’t much, but you have to start somewhere. You know you’re bad-ass if you can still crunch while holding a plate on your chest. To think a few months ago, I could barely crunch my torso up.

Repeated my overhead squat sets that I did a couple workouts ago. It’s absolutely imperative I have good flexibility, and that my body knows proper form. I got that same good depth I got last time I did this set arrangement. I felt good about keeping the bar “back”, the way it’s supposed to be. Next workout, I’ll try doing 5×5 @ 55 lbs again. Hopefully I won’t wipe out. : D

I was given a suggestion online regarding calf raises, that I hold the concentric for three seconds. I was just making an off-hand comment that calf raises won’t tax me. They still didn’t. But given how the calves are, it makes sense to hold the top of the concentric a little bit. I felt it more. No, wasn’t any more tired. Please, sets of calf raises will never tax you as much as a squat or deadlift can.

Bent-over rows is a very functional exercise. While my arms will get tired from it, it’s been my lower back that’s been a little tight afterwards. Well, maybe tight isn’t the right word. I can just tell that I’d been flexing it. And rightfully so, as proper form dictates that you bent at the knees slightly. My back S shape is fine, so … My point is that the pressure I feel in my lower back is going away with each successive workout. It doesn’t even really feel like my lower back. It feels like the spot between my back and my glutes. Or something. I know how my back feels after extensions, and that spot is a different spot. I digress.

I realized I was kind of intimidated about progressing with the decline press, so I decided to do a weight I knew I could do, and pay attention to form. Do I say that a lot? Pay attention to form? It’s intimidating because I don’t work with a spotter, so I have to be very aware of myself.

Ah. I felt something in my right shoulder while decline pressing. Not a pain. Maybe a pressure. Not really anything I’ve felt before. But, I’m smart, you see. I push myself rather hard. I’m going to give myself Monday off so that my body rests 100%. Body needs 48-72 hours to heal. I’d assume my recovery time has gone down as I’ve progressed. But even so, little things can become big things if there isn’t adequate rest time. I do intend to give myself a week off eventually. But. Not yet.

I’ve also read that doing the decline press too much can hurt your rotator cuff. Actually, that’s what I read about all the presses. General advise was to toss in an incline press every third workout or something. Not something I’ll do quite yet, but something to keep in mind. I think finding a way to add cuban rotations (without any presses) at some point would be helpful.

I spontaneously felt like doing a little more, so I supersetted leg raises with back extensions. Gotta rox0r the core muscles. Supposely sit-ups and crunches hit the upper abdominals more, while leg lifts/raises hit the lower abdominals more. Not something I need to be terribly concerned with, but it’s motivation. I felt like doing more back extensions? Plus I’ve never actually supersetted anything before, so this was a fun way to try. Quite a simple concept. Do one set of one exercise, then move to the second without rest, and repeat for the prescribed set/rep.
I broke a sweat from deadlifts, but that pretty much dried up by the time I finished decline presses. Doing that extra core work caused me to break another sweat. …I liked it. Afterwards, I did some light hamstring and back stretches. One can not auto-fellate with tight hamstrings! *giggles*

Came home, and rather quickly ate a small bowl of cottage cheese. Protein? Protein. My dad’s making dinner at some point, but I’m still rather hungry.

OH.

I keep forgetting to mention my weight. I think the whole EAT MORE, SKINNY BOY has been paying off. Last two workouts, I’ve maintained over 138. And today. 139.8. WOOO. I’m almost to 140!

We’re supposed to meet at the pool for Lifetime Wellness on Tuesday. *looks at himself* I’m pretty sexy. *giggles* It’s quite an amusing thought that if I wanted to, I could drop a pound doing cardio. If I wanted to. Okay, seriously, I am eating a lot better than I have in years past. I’m willing to bet the reason I wasn’t gaining weight initially was that I was losing body fat percentage at the same time. It’s a logical conclusion, no? Maybe. Once upon a time when I was 15, I weighed around 155. I had a skinny-boy belly. I’m not kidding. I cut out a lot of my junk food, and *snaps fingers*. Oh sure, my diet was still pretty bad, full of donut binges and root beer. But, for many years, I’ve maintained around 130 – 135 without doing a goddamn thing. Of course, it probably helped that I had a tendency to forget to eat.

Or maybe it was the scale. Who knows.

Point is, I haven’t weighed over 140 in a long time. I know how incredible my metabolism is. This is the shape my body wants to have. *purrs* Um, yeah. I’m looking forward to donning a bathing suit. I think I’m well on my way of my goal of filling out a wife-beater.

And before I forget.

“You’ve been pestering me for years about going to the Y, and now that I am of my own volition, you’re telling me to eat a fucking cookie?!!” – Me

I was stating how I prefer eating right after I work out. For whatever reason, he has a plastic-sealed cookie in his car. He said, “You can have a cookie anytime!” I retorted about the logic of going to McDonalds after you work out. There ARE people dumb enough to do it.

OH. And someone stole my towel! Well, not stole. But. He took the wrong towel. So I’m there wondering who the hell took my towel. I can’t just take a different towel, because I could take the wrong one. I took a moment to sit in the sauna. Then I decided what to do. There’s some hair dryers. I simply used it to get most of the moisture off my body. I air-dry my hair, anyway. I was able to put on my undies, when I saw someone with my towel. He blamed it on the percocet and a messed up back operation.

*smirks*

I have no problem walking around nude in the locker room, it’s just a little funny when you’re walking around with nothing in your hands.