Exerbabble for 5-12-6

I know better than to GOTO bed unhappy without a plan. In fact, I had a plan. And no punches pulled, I stuck to it. Sleep, get up, have some milk with whey, eat oatmeal, finish the milk with whey, go work out, come home, eat, and freaking relax. Taco meat is simmering and I’ve already had some post-workout whey, so I’m in good shape.

On a side note, it occurred to me that it’s probably better to consume whey slowly. It supposedly gets into the system fast. So it’s good if you want protein RIGHT NOW. But once it’s in the bloodstream, it supposedly doesn’t last long. Keeping the theme of small meals over a longer period of time, it makes sense to space out how long it actually takes me to “finish” a glass of milk with whey. Current glass I had, I drank half, and filled the rest up with milk, figuring I’ll finish it with my meal. I don’t play mindgames, except with myself.

Today’s workout:

Front Squat: 5×5 @ 115 lbs
Good Morning: 3×10 @ 55 lbs
Upright Row: 5×5 @ 65 lbs
Leg Raise: 3×9 @ bodyweight
Seated Calf Raise: 3×8 @ 90 lbs (+60 lbs)
Decline Press: 4×5 @ 110 lbs
Reverse Flies: 3×8 @ 8 lbs
current bodyweight: 146.4 lbs (+2 lbs; weekly average of 144.6)

I try to do warmups before most of my compound movements. I put 65 lbs on the bar to warm up for Front Squats. About the third movement, I felt a searing pain in my left knee. For whatever reason, my left knee has been softer than my right. I reracked the weight, counted my blesses that I bother to warm up, flexed and extended the knee a few times. Hrm. Gone, I noticed. Thing is, it wasn’t at the bottom of the rep. It was at the top. I made a mental note not to lock out my knees at the top of the rep. I did the sets without any issues, feeling more fatigue in my upper body to keep the weight up than my lower body. Not a problem.

Conservatively adding weight to my good mornings. I feel it slightly in my butt, which is the target muscle. Once I feel fatigue in my back, I’ll probably stop adding weight. It’s simply not an exercise you go heavy on.

I improved my upright row form by holding the weight at the top of the rep. Made more sense than getting the weight up and immediately lowering it. Pushes like benching or overhead, you can sometimes lock your joints at the top of the rep, whereas a pull like an upright row the only way to hold the top of the rep is to keep firing those muscles. I’ll keep this in mind next time I do bent-over rows, holding the end of the rep will slam my back more. And we all know Timmy Got Back.

Did the leg raises quickly.

I went more deliberately with the seated calf raises, holding the top of the rep like I was for standing calf raises. My calves were yelling at me after I was done. I like that.

I felt some discomfort in my shoulder(s), mostly in my left one, while decline pressing. Strange. I thought it might have been doing the upright rows before, but in a previous workout, I did upright rows before decline anyway. I’ll rotate in incline bench next workout. I should have known better than to keep declining.

And look at that, I’m up two pounds. If I keep eating and resting (and exercising), I should hit 150 lbs by the end of the month.

There is something to be said for sweating a little, taking a shower, and putting on clean undies. At least, I like clean undies. I feel energized, more alert, productive, and most importantly, clean. Maybe I’ll shave tomorrow.

Reminds me. Dad expressed interest in taking up freeweights. Only time will tell whether he’s actually serious. He already has a good cardiovascular base, so it’s not like he’s starting on empty. Frankly, the fact that he’s “old” doesn’t mean much to me. He’s far better off than a lot of people. He casually goes on a cross-trainer for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. Good for him, I say. Freeweights depends on what he does with the rest of the week. I know he frequents the Y. Hell, he’ll GOTO the Y just to take a shower. I’m thinking of something so stupidly basic that I haven’t even done it yet.

Day A

Squat
Bench Press
Pull-up
Calf Raise

Day B

Deadlift/RDL
Bent-over Row
Military Press
Crunches

It doesn’t need to be heavy at all, just more than he usually does. Squats and deadlifts will do more for his flexibility, more than anything else. It’ll give him a two-month learning curve to get form down. If I can squat over my bodyweight, anybody can, if the drive is there.

We’ll see. Would be nice to have a freaking spotter if I’m going heavier than usual.

Addendum:

TimmyTummy.