Exerbabble for 3-8-6

First, a milestone. I can squat my own weight.

Now, excuse my expounding on bodily functions, but. Everybody know what a courtesy flush is? At least, in the dorm, I understood what it was. Something to do with creating noise so it isn’t so goddamn quiet, allowing people to relax and go about their business. Well. Ever give yourself a courtesy flush? Except, not for those reasons. I know how I sometimes tend to use a lot of toilet paper, so I like to sometimes split it into two flushes. Sometimes, hell, I just don’t want to LOOK at it, or I just want it AWAY FROM MY BUM. So I flush, relax and uhhk, LET’S MOVE AWAY FROM THIS TOPIC.

So. Today’s workout (Not necessarily in order performed):

Squat: 3×8 @ 135 lbs
BB Overhead Press: 7, 5, 5, 4 @ 65 lbs
BB Bench Press: 8, 7, 4 @ 85 lbs
Pull-up: 6, 4, 2, 3
Back Row: 7, 7, 7, 9 @ 45 lbs
Seated Calf Raise: 3×10 @ 230 lbs
Crunch: 3×10
DB Incline Press: 10, 7, 7 @ 25 lbs

Depending on what my weight is today, I may have squated more than my bodyweight. *smirks* I realized I’d done 125 @ 3×8 in two consecutive workouts. This is actually a nice number, as it means from now on, I’m starting by putting on two 45 plates on the bar. Coooool. Since it’s such a cool number, I may try to increment my reps up to ten to twelve, as I’m expecting myself to hit a wall eventually. No point in pushing myself too fast, eh?

Yeah, yeah, increase the weight, grow faster. But it’s still a hunk of weight I’m loading onto my back. I’d prefer feeling confident that I can handle the weight, you know? Confidence is everything. If you don’t feel comfortable with the weight, you won’t be as aggressive. Control the weight.

Two months ago, I was squatting 85 pounds for a similar set/rep pattern. Literally two months ago. That’s a fifty pound increase.

I really didn’t feel like loading three plates on each side for the bench press, so I just upgraded to 85 lbs. I was one rep short of completing 80 lbs, anyway. I actually did the bench press first, so to manage an improvement on the shoulder press despite this, is.. good! One more rep in the first and third sets. My goal is 4×7, but once I hit that, I’ll probably try to hit eight or ten reps, as 65 is a round number.

Have I mentioned I want to favor the shoulder press over the bench? I think I have.

I felt rushed for the pull-ups, as it’s the only squat cage there is. I’m up to openning with 8 pull-ups.

Back Row is one of those things that becomes suddenly hard to do. It’s the end of the rep that is hard to complete, as the focus is more on the posterior deltoid. I’ll probably upgrade to 8 per set next time, see how it goes.

I think I’m finally plateauing on the calf raise. I let my heel go down, so that I get range of motion, but towards the end of the sets, I find it harder to push upward. I could add weight, but what’s the point if I can’t get range of motion?

(Unless I increase the weight and drop the reps, but it’s my CALVES. Do I really need to do that to my gastrocnemius? Though. My calves ARE coming along. I should try to photograph them, they don’t look non-existant anymore. Ahem. Calves are the sort of thing I’d favor muscular endurance over strength. No?)

Crunches. I did them with my feet over a bench so my legs wouldn’t stop coming up.

My only dumbbell exercise. *twirls finger* For fun, I also did some lateral raises. Have I me – yes, I have mentioned it.

Hit up the café. Real food wasn’t out, so I had a slice of greasy pizza and wrote in my journal while reading Bertrand Russell until I was sure soup was ready. Corn Chowder. I like that stuff.

Next week is this strange thing called “spring break”. If I continue a preferred every-other-day cycle, I can get in five workouts. I bet I can grow in the span of a week. *winkwink* Since I’ll want something to do in the morning, I may even try doing some cardio on the days I’m not lifting. Gotta start somewhere, eh? My body’s been broken in. As long as I get a good night’s sleep, I’ll be just dandy. *purrs* You know, since I rested from that shoulder tweak two months ago, I haven’t missed a workout. I’ll have no more than one day of rest before I’m up and running again.

Seriously, that’s an accomplishment. Oh sure, I get soreness now and then. My lats were sore after Saturday’s workout. Or was it Monday’s. *giggles* But I’m never sore the day of the workout. Okay, abs nonewithstanding. Decline sit-ups kick the shit out of them. BUT SERIOUSLY. Supposedly it takes around six months for tendons and ligaments to become accustomed to the stress of working out. I’ve been working out for about four months now. Only four months. That’s it. *smiles* My quads are exploding – at least in the capacity for me to do squats. Soon enough, my gluteus maximus will follow suit, and my deadlift should rise. And my abs. To think I’m not doing anything complicated. I have pictures, dude. I have sexy abs.

Just given my nature of taking nude photographs, there’s a noticable difference between nakie me now, and nakie me then. I’m not even concerned about my boobs – I mean my pecs – but I notice how flat they seem in old pictures. My deltoids don’t seem like they’re getting better, but I can see the curves my body is taking. I can see my quads, I can see my calves. To think this has only been four months, with only really understanding what I’m doing in the past two and a half, or so.

If I can do it, anybody else can.

This must be what they mean by people noticing the most amount of change in the first few months. I’d like to think I have a few months of easy growth left. COME ON, DELTOIDS, LET’S GET THE SHOULDER PRESS UP TO 95 POUNDS. Grawr.

I think I’ll write a post later today for the Men’s Health forum. Don’t be fooled by the name of it. The magazine isn’t worth anything, but the guys in the forum have their heads on right. Yup, I’m going to go make fun of mistakes people make in the weight room. Like my partner today asked, when I said I don’t do curls, “What do you do for your arms?” I said, “Pull-ups and Rows.” Seriously, the bicep is ONE GODDAMN MUSCLE. Am I the only one that sees the danger in loading up 500 lbs on the leg press? That’s a lot of stress on your knees, far more than squats. *rolls eyes*

A lot of my opinions and tendencies were influenced by them. For example, they reiterate the danger in going to failure. Yes, it’s important to know what your limits are, but only so that you do NOT reach them. How many times in life is it good for our muscles to give out? No, I don’t think so. Going to failure during any exercise teaches your muscle to fail prematurely. Weight Lifting is as much mental as it is anything else. Use good form for all your reps, and that is what your muscles will learn to do. Teach them to fail, and that is what they will do. End of story.

Ahem.

I browsed the chapter in child psych while eating the aforementioned corn chowder. As you can tell, I purposely put off writing until afterwards, so I’d have something to look forward to. And now I’m properly relaxed yet again, so I think I’ll go study some spanish. When I go home, I’ll down aliter of water. Because. Because I’m hardcore like that.

(Later on, I’ll find myself a protein snack. : D Cottage cheese, anyone?)