Exerbabble for 5-17-6

I had issues last night. I fell asleep – eventually. Not really that long. Once I decided to calm my brain and lay back, I fell asleep. I woke up at least three times, eventually noticing it was almost 6 AM. I’m dittling today, and as usual, took some pictures of my early morning. It’s fun finding creative ways to avoid including my package.

My plan for this morning was to make the base for a protein smoothie, toss some in a mug I had in the freezer, then toss some oatmeal in the rest and voila, breakfast and a post-workout snack. It was rather tasty.

My dad said we’d go work out around 7 AM. In other words, he’d get up at 7, and we’d leave at 8. He’s such a lier, I swear.

Running my dad through the hoops couldn’t have taken longer than fifteen minutes. In part because he’s too much of a n00b to understand things like proper rest periods, or breathing patterns, or, most importantly, freaking pushing yourself. I knew he was flat-out lying when he said he was serious about freeweights. But I’m patient. Just like you can’t be afraid of the ball in volleyball, you can’t be afraid of the weight.

Given his horrid lack of flexibility, I decided to start him off with some bodyweight squats. I remember when I did them last October. I could do maybe twenty? And boy did it give me the owwies! He was extremely hesistant, but my own model squats helped keep him in pace. I did it like you see anybody else doing it. Stand start, squat down while putting your arms out. I think it’s for leverage, but I’m not even sure. He kept swinging his arms when he stood up, which made me internally scratch my head. I kept an eye on his spine. Yeah, it’s going to be a few weeks before I bother putting a bar on his back. I could tell he was struggling, so I stopped at ten. He said, “That’s enough for me.”

!^#@$%#$%#$%

That’s what he always freaking says. And he wonders why he has no energy. Fucking lazy American. I said, “Two sets. We’ll start two sets of ten today, ten do two sets of eleven next time.” Very gracious incrementing. Heh, it was a nice pre-warm-up for me. Hrm. I wonder how many bodyweight squats I could do. Perhaps another time.

Moved over to bench press. Because everybody knows how to bench press. He actually did less than last time. *taps head* I notice. Last time he did two sets of five. Today, four and two. I suppose I can only encourage him so much. If he wants to not push himself, that’s ultimately on him. I must underestimate my own drive.

Pull-ups are intimidating when you can’t do that many. I can do a lot more than I used to be able to. He did one last time, so I decided to use the assisted machine. I set it to negative ten pounds. He said, “Oh no! I always have it all the way down here..” Which would have been around sixty or a hundred pounds of assistance.

…

I made it negative thirty pounds. As long as it’s more than he’s done before. How many was it? Two sets of four? I forget. After his first set he said, “Hey, you do it.” I shrugged and knocked out fourteen before stopping.

Afterwards, he started doing a dip. Except I bet he has no idea what a dip is. I have issues with dips, so I got it, and felt a discomfort in my left shoulder. I DO NOT LIKE THAT.

Someone was using the cushion-y standing calf raise apparatus, so I had him do seated calf raises. They feel a little weird at first, so I kept the weight light. He knocked out two sets of ten.

What the hell is it with him liking that damn sit-up/crunch metal thing? I’m sure you’ve seen them. They obviously aren’t that effective, because his abs seem about as weak as mine were. I said, “Two sets of however many you can do.” Myself, I did two sets of fifteen. For the heck of it, I didn’t have crunches in my workout today. When I started doing crunches, I could barely lift myself up off the floor. It was such a pain in the ass, but I stuck to it, and now I can more or less sit-up without my feet restrained.

I find myself suddenly having less sympathy for those who have empty goals. You want to lose ten pounds? Then fucking do something about it.

I suppose I have my own empty goals, as we all do. But as far as lifting goes, I suppose I don’t have problems pushing myself.

Today’s Workout:

Back Squat: 3×8 @ 165 lbs
Romanian Deadlift: 4×6 @ 165 lbs
Arnold Press/Pull-ups: 4×6 + 4 @ 30 lbs / 4×3 @ bodyweight
Standing Calf Raise: 5×5 @ 380 lbs
current bodyweight: 147 lbs (+1 lb, weekly average of 146 lbs)

Never do the same thing in consecutive workouts. ..Okay, it’s not consecutive-consecutive, but I know what I mean. I dropped back to 165 lbs for my squat and decided to try a 3×8 set/rep. It felt really good. Between my second and third set, I had to go get a drink of water.

Kept my RDL at 165, and went from 5×5 to 4×6. It’s kind of a marathon. By the third and fourth set, I’m sweating and wondering how much gas I have left in the tank. That is pushing yourself. I think this is why people don’t squat and deadlift on the same day. If I increase the weight, maybe I’ll try 8×3. Maybe. I’ve never tried a pattern with that many sets.

I decided to try supersetting Arnold Presses with pull-ups. I realized I’d already done pull-ups, so I figured I’d just keep it conservative. I did my 4×6, and decided to do a fifth set. I decided to just do whatever felt right, so I wouldn’t set the mark too high. Four. I guess my next goal for Arnold Presses is 5×6 @ 30 lbs. Maybe in two weeks I’ll see if I can lift 35 lbs.

I need to read up on supersetting rest periods. I know you’re supposed to do them in a row, but goddamn, that knocked the shit out of me. I had to just trust I’d still be able to Arnold Press what I’ve done before, though part of it was willpower more than anything else. Not so much maxing out my muscles, but my own internal energy level dropping. And to think this was a shorter workout.

I was almost ready to call it a day, but remembered that calf raises aren’t that taxing. This is why you do your heavy lifting first. I noticed I did 3×8 @ 360 lbs last time, so I increased the weight. For the record, the max on the apparatus is 400 lbs. If I want to do more, I’ll have to toss some plates on, or do them one-legged. We’ll see.

I wanted to go shower, but I made myself do some post-workout stretching. It’s just something I want to stick to. In the locker room, I went for my smoothie and drank it rather quickly. Protein drinks, my ass, I’ll make my own!

Such a beautiful shower. So nice putting on clean undies!

In case you’re wondering, my dad still wants to do cardio. Okay! Whatever, dude. I say if you hit the weights hard enough, you won’t want to do cardio afterwards. Remember Saturday, he wanted to do cardio first. NO, BADWRONG. You want to have max energy when you go lift.

My dad has this habit of saying “yeah” to everything, completely ambiguously. It’s something I’ve had to just tune out over the years, because it drives me up a wall.

“Diner?” – Dad
“Nah, let’s go home.” – Me
“I thought you’d be hungry after a heavy workout.”
“You probably didn’t notice, but I brought something with me.”
“Yeah.”

..Yeah? Yeah what? I’ve stopped myself from obnoxiously saying “Yeah what?” as he’s usually incoherent afterwards. He could have said, “What did you bring?” He could have said, “Oh, I didn’t see it.” Yeah? Yeah.. you didn’t see it? Yeah.. you know I brought it? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? (Exclamation for comic effect.) He’s not too old to change, but he’s too stubborn to. Age is just a convenient excuse for the lazy.

He’s off to work. I hope he bothers eating. *smirks* He’ll need it. The smoothie let me relax a little, in terms of getting food in my system fast, but I believe it’s time for lunch. Cliff left me an IM last night, stating that some bad circumstances have befallen him. *nods* Logical explanation for everything. I’ll give him a call and see if he needs a distraction.