'Nuther un

Watched "I Love You, Man" last night. Yet another movie i'm embarrassed to admit i watched all the way through. Made me think what if that were really what life was all about? Very depressing thought. If you have the chance, i'd avoid that one.

Anyhow, i went to the climbgym again yesterday after lab-- mostly to piddle around. i was wanting to meet some friends there and do some routes, but they all dissed me. Ah well. Ended up bouldering (again), and i had low expectations. Did a kind of warmup on my home wall before i went to lab, so i felt pretty good really. Ended up finally sending one of my v5 projects. i kinda' doubt it's really a 5, or if it is, it just barely is; but it has a really thin, balancy, hard finish. i've tried the thing probably 30 times, and i'd race up to the end, grab the set-up for the finish (which is a match on this huge, slippery Fontainebleu sloper, with bad feet) and barn-door off-- over and over and over. i went in yesterday mostly with the thought of cleaning up a v4 that i'd left undone a few days prior. i'd done all the moves, and i thought it'd go pretty easy. Then i popped off the crux like a gaper four times in a row, and gave up. So i was milling around doing easy stuff, looking for some inspiration, and i thought i'd throw on this 5 again, just because even if you don't finish it, it looks hard. It's a good conversation starter.

It starts with a heel hook to a reachy match on a bad pinch under a roof; campuses footless on some crimps and slopers throught the opening to the cave 'til you've rotated 180deg.; then you swing up into a huge kneebar rest. Unwind outta the kneebar into a full-extension (for me) outside gaston on a crimp, then slap for the Font setup match. If your feet are perfect, and you still have the juice left you can toss sideways for the finish crimp. And somehow i got it. i'd snagged the finish before, but my feet had always been wrong and i couldn't match on it. This was a joyful moment.

i'm hopinig to get an iron workout in today. i want to change a few things up this time. i pulled an intercostal/rhomboid in my upper back, and yesterday i managed to damage an oblique in my abs, so we'll see how it goes.

Later:

i went in for the workout. Turned out to be a fantastically bad idea. Rip in my abs notwithstanding, for some reason i decided to try maxing on deadlift. i didn't have my Inzer belt with me, so i tried turning one of the gayguy tapered belts around backwards for a platform to valsalva against. i was planning on doing a pair at 405, but i nearly gave birth to my jejunum by C-section. So i quit and left. A beer and a handful of vitamin I later, i'm seriously hoping i didn't actually herniate my abdominal wall. Ah well: it only hurts when i breathe or sneeze, which means i feel pretty ok around 50% of the time. Peace.

Collagen depletion

This has not been a terribly spectacular week of climbing, but i thought i'd record the days i went in just so i can remember for next week. Seems like i just got in tues. and today. m' hands felt better on tues. after taking 4 or so days off, but my back and biceps were still rent asunder from sunday's iron workout. went in today for two sessions actually--or i split the workout up cuz i had to go to class. i just felt stale and sluggish today. Bad night of sleep last night mostly. But i hooked up with a friend in the second sesh, and it was fun climbing. we were both climbing way off our game, and just kept working hard problems anyway, so it was a good vibe. Ended up digging deep and pulling some crazy power outta the hat, but i didn't tie up any loose ends or hard problems. But that's alright, 'cuz it was nice to have fun climbing for the sake of climbing. It's been a while since i've fallen off of nearly everything and still left smiling. And i nearly separated several tendons from their respective bones, and that usually leads to happiness.

"You didn't get the 'moped monkey', you got the 'mopey monkey.'

me likey Pearls Before Swine. It'd be a fine present if someone were to get me a book of PBS for some holiday or another. Gives me a tickle in my ribs.

worked out proper this evening. Pretty much the same workout i've been doing on sundays, but i moved upward on a few lifts.

P'lups:

20xbw (i could tell the structural integrity of m' wee biceps was not at 100% on these)
6x+45 (this bade ill)
4x+70 (couldn't get 5)
3x+80
2x+90
2x+100 (stopped after this. i didn't lock out the second rep, and i decided not to do negatives.)
This was a li'l unexpected, 'cuz for the first time in several of these workouts i didn't climb the day before. In fact, i hadn't climbed since thurs., so i was banking on feeling better. Ah well.

Straight Leg Deads:

14x145
8x195
8x215
6x235
6x255
4x275
4x305 (Here's where not climbing the day before paid off: i could hold onto the bar.)
4x315 :-)
That last set i admit i didn't do on the box. They were still straight legged, and i still had 25lb plates as the biggest plates so the bar started maybe an inch or so off my feet, but it wasn't below my feet. The liftoff from on that box is the hardest bit of the workout. At any rate, i still loosed some yells to crank out 4. i'm calling it a pr no matter what you say.

Leg Raises:

30xshoes
3x12xankle weights
The sets of 12 instead of 10 was an improvement.

One Arm Cable Rows:

8x90
8x105
6x120
6x135
4x150
Felt pretty good about these. No cheating; no rocking. i wanna try these with DBs to see how it compares.

Bent O'er BB Rows:
10x135 (These felt airy)
2x6x185
This was a 10 lb. step upward.

WG Pulldowns:

10xsome weight
2x5xmore weight

This was a good workout, in my opinion. And as light as that chest workout was a few days ago, i'm still sore from it. i have caved in, withered boobs, and a tolerable back. At least i'm half a man.

Later That Night...

i'm sitting at Golfernoggins watching reruns of ca. 1954 Popeye. i think i'll make it my new goal to be able to crush open a can of spinach. Crud, i'd be fairly happy to be able to crush open a can of pretty much anything.

Popped in fer a 30 min. workout at the irongym. Engaged in sundry pushing motions. i have no chest and no anterior deltoids. Then i hopped on a bike ergometer for "1 mile." Turns out i have no quads either. But i burned like 46 calories.

Humiliating, but i guess ya gotta start somewhere.

Reality Check

Climbed mon., wed. and thurs. Thought mon. would be good, but i wasn't healed. Wed. was interesting. Sent a couple of 4s--one of 'em flashed. Then i talked with a guy for a long time about his marriage. That's a guy that could use some help. His wife and he are separated, but still married--neither of 'em wants a divorce--but she's dating another guy. And they have a two year old. Kindof a messed up couple o' people, and i don't get the impression they're very happy with it. Pray for them, would you.

went back yesterday for a 30min. session. Thought i'd just get some blood moving and kinda warm up. Did a long traverse on polished wooden holds; bunch of slopers and pinches. By the end of that i had this mega-pump i couldn't shake off, and my hands waxed arthritic. So i thought i'd try one of the 4s i'd done the day before. That didn't go so well. So i thought i'd jump on a 5 project. Needless to say, a sucking vortex opened in the continuum, and things took a steep downward spin. Fortunately, i had to go to micro lab, and i left.

Then i was leaving class and i called my mother in law. She said the kids and she had just been in a wreck. Annie got banged up a bit, and we ended up taking her to the er and sitting for 3 or 4 hours. Finally we left because they were only gonna do a c-spine and jaw x-ray, and there were maybe 8 or ten people in the er, and they appeared to have no motivation to do anything to anyone at all. i'm sure there was a constant stream of gurneys lined up for x-rays. Actually, i think the triage creature needed a chain-smoking break, figured there was probably no internal bleeding, and said Mehh, let 'em sit there till they give up and leave, and we'll have more time to eat donuts. Anyhow, seeing as she spent nearly a whole minute triaging her, and her blood pressure was just fine (whew!), and i didn't take her in for a flippin' x-ray to begin with, and there was approximately zero chance that she had anything that'd show up on an x-ray, and it wouldn't have been till around next mon. before a radiologist would've bothered looking at it anyhow, and they almost certainly would've been happy to let us sit in the waiting room until then, and there was no hope of getting a CT (which is what i went in for, since her head was killing her and i was afraid she'd banged it badly) we left. As far as i can tell, that's the way to run an er most efficiently and cost effectively: make a pt. wait until they figure out for themselves that there couldn't actually be anything seriously wrong or else they'd already be dead, at which point they decide to leave. i guess it limits liability.

But seeing as it probably would've cost an insurance company $8,000 to do a CT (that this hospital wouldn't use again for the remainder of the year), i guess head trauma in an mva is a poor justifier. It starts to feel like a Monty Python sketch after a while.

Engaged in crime i grasp my throat/ Enraged my mind starts to...

...yearn for a cup o' chamomile.

Skeletal workout this evening, but fine one, notwithstanding.

P'lups:

20xbw
6x+45
4x+70
3x+80
2x+90
2x+100
Um: 5x+110 Did the first one solid, but couldn't squeeze out a second clean, but i stacked some milk crates beside me and cheated me to the lockout for 4 negatives. Some myofibril ripping action there.

Straight Leg Deads:

14x145
8x195
8x215
6x235
6x255
4x275
4x305 :-) Busted out the chalk bag for this set. And i didn't fully roll my shoulders back for the lockout on the 4th rep, cuz my pinkie was coming unglued. i'm coming after you baby Bryant. It's on.

Hanging Leg Raises:

30xshoes
3x10x+ankle weights
It's weird how these don't really ever quit sucking.

i went back home in order to put my babies to bed with the intention of going back and finishing, but this squishy chair magnetized my buttocks to it, and i failed.

i climbed yesterday for one of the worst workouts i've experienced in a good while. i climbed on fri. and linked to the finishing holds on two v5 projects (although i didn't stick 'em for the send). Yesterday i couldn't stick the second move on my main proj. That was frustrating, but it was also illuminating: that is some steep, thin juju i'm trying to swing my chubby arse on, and people of my girth shouldn't have any sort of expectation of defying that much gravity. In fact, i'd bet there isn't anyone within 30lbs. of me climbing what i'm climbing. Crud, a year ago i would'a' chuckled at the thought of sending this climb; so i guess that's some improvement.

Now i just hafta get my bulbous ass to the top so i can quit trying to eke out slivers of sappy affirmation, and get on with seeing my enemies driven before me and to hear the lamentation of the women.

Why i feel safe in New Mexico

There was some traffic in the way, but i thought i'd post this otherwise lovely shot of a rainstorm moving over the scenic Sandia Mts. teeheeheeSNORT!

Ended up getting a pretty decent workout in at ye olde climbgym after taking that pic. Strange, but i just felt a li'l lighter afterwards; everything felt a tad easier. Somehow seeing a chick cop drive her auto all the way under another cop car left me with an unshakeable sense that maybe there is justice and beauty in the world-- and even i am occasionally in the right place in the right time.

And i feel pretty sure that if i'd just gone a li'l easier on the spicy Italian sub, and maybe'd taken the alpha gpc before working out, i'd'a' sent two stiff v5s back to back. i linked to the end on both of 'em, and just ran outta juice. i might try to sneak back in today after lab, and see if i can clean up one loose end or the other.

Ooo, and we watched Seven Pounds last night. i do think i might buy that 'un. i had low expectations, but that was a fantastic flick, in my opinion. Peace.

fried eh

For the ten thousandth day in a row, i slept miserably. i was visited again by j.w.s this afternoon, and i didn't feel like talking. So i gave 'em my phone number for a study. i guess i'll have to start boning up on my Bible, cuz i'm sure i'll get a weekly phone call for the remainder of my life until i sit down for a "study" with 'em. Who knows? Maybe they'll convert me. Maybe they'll proof-text me into submission with specious references to sundry prophets. Or maybe i'll convert them to my wishy-washy, cynical mode of belief. They just seem like such upbeat, boppy people. If only everything that proceeded from their mouths didn't seem like such trivial drivel...

And speaking of trivial drivel, i worked out on tues. i think at the climbgym. Definitely not fully healed in the ol' tendons, but it was an ok workout. Gunna try to squeeze one in today.

System test

Made it to the irongym yesterday evening after--what?-- two or three weeks off. It's basically the same workout i've been doing, but i edged up on a few sets, and generally felt pretty good. Didn't tweak the workout much; mostly 'cuz it'd been so long since the last one, and i wanted to get my corpse back into it with some stuff i knew i could do.

P'lups:

20xbw
6xbw+45
5x+70
4x+80
3x+90
2x+100 (tried a third, but it failed at launch)
2x+110 (really didn't lock that second one out clean)
All in all, this was definitely upward motion for me. i haven't been able to pull reps with that much weight since lcu, and i weigh more now than i did then.

Straight Leg Deads:

14x145
8x195
8x215
6x235
6x255
4x275 (didn't lock out the last rep. Had to set the bar down (very quickly) so's not to drop 'er on m' feet. Hands were just coming unglued.)

Hanging Leg Raises:

1x30xshoes
3x10x+ankle weights
These sucked. Abs seem not to be the sort of muscle that just wake up after 3 weeks and say, "Alrighty, let's get it on!" i need to do these really more than once per week. And i wanna start doing some different ab work too. Some scissors maybe.

One Arm Cable Rows:

8x90
8x105
6x120
6x135
4x150 This was also an improvement. Didn't go to a heavier weight, but i started the rep pyramid a li'l wider.

Bent O'er BB Rows:

1x10x135
2x6x175 These felt good too.

WG High Rows:

8x180
2x5x210 Did these as kindof a cooldown, but they came off pretty good.

This was a control session. i didn't take any ergogenics before or during. In fact, i ate nothing but several handfuls of chocolate chip cookie bar before the workout, and i drank mineral water during. i wanted to do some chest, but i was moving at a snail's pace and had a nauseous pregnant woman at home with the trolls. i'd rather split it off for a second workout anyhow. Happy workout. we were pleased.

DUUUDE! SWEEET!

'K. Being a natural skeptic, and generally bending toward hurling aspersions at hype, the claims by Biotest of their Alpha GPC ring of, well, content-free advertising. But i'm in for anything that claims to "increase[] peak force by 14% over and above the placebo value" in a single dosing. So as my own personal breed of starting a double-blind crossover study* i took the stuff--along with a half-dosing of Surge workout--for my eighth day in a row of climbing. i haven't yet bothered to read what sort of crack-rock they claim to employ for the job, but i crushed some plastic--as far as i can tell, without any tendon material left in my fingers. DUDE! That was bizarre. i went in with the idea of maybe stretching a li'l and warming up, and generally feeling worn down. But i nearly sent a v5 i've been working on for a few days. Got tired of the throngs after a burn or two, and meandered off. Ran into another five that looked brutal, and i absolutely knew i couldn't send. But i thought i'd see if i could work out some beta on it. i wrenched through the lower crux on my second try, and then i worked out the top crux. i didn't end up linking it, 'cuz i had just nothing left by the end, but i did all the moves. And by the time i finished i had a crowd of folks working it with me, and i watched some sick strong homies fall off it. There was this group that'd been making good progress on a 7 in the cave came over, and only one of 'em could pull it together.

Then i floated a 4 and a handful of 3s and 2s. That was a craaazy workout. i don't care if it's placebo or what: me likey. But now i wanna take some nice days off to heal, and see if i can get back and crank superhuman on that dope.



*While anyone outside of politics would scoff at a double-blind crossover study with a sample size of one, and in which i know what i'm taking every time, i do, in my defence, exhibit bipolar personalities, and am terribly forgetful.

Zipperhead

In between A&P lab (which, coincidentally, comprised perhaps the most boring three hours of my life since Thanksgiving in Midland) and Micro lab i went climbing for a 45 min. session. i think today made seven days in a row. Interestingly, i no longer seem to need to warm up; i just show up and all my blood knows where to go. i did a warmup of sorts anyhow, but it didn't feel like a warmup. i just got on a wall and cruised. Very refreshing. Then i sent a crimpy v3, which was painful because my fingers no longer even straighten--much less do they like to bend backwards. Then i came really close to sending a project 5, but i kept jacking up the finishing moves. Plus i could tell i was very low on endurance. But the cool bit was that i felt powerful and ...crisp?...crisp. i mean i was latching stuff proper and solid; just couldn't keep it up for enough moves--and i could tell it was just from raw exhaustion. i really believe that when i take a good long tendon recoup, and get maybe a few contiguous nights o' sleep, i'll come back and see a li'l mini-rampage.

Plus i got m' protein, more L-leucine and Alpha gpc in today, so i'm amped to try that stuff out. i feel really good, but really sleepy. i like this super accumulation gig. And i've lost the five lbs i'd gained.

Oh, and i really liked Gran Torino. "And what's with this 'bro' shit? They don't wanna be your bro, and I don't blame 'em." Heh heh.

Amazing chicken, man!! Hugs!!

In an effort to be more like Papa Gargamel The Non-Bodybuilding Boxer-Wearing Bodybuilder, i've decided to take no more rest days; instead forcing my corpse to adapt to rest hours--with the goal of eventually being able to work out more than i'm not working out. Also, i've invested in some Alpha GPC, which of course will take me to the next level with or without me, rivalling crystal meth and transcendental meditation for efficacy. There are--even with these elements in place--a number of things presently impinging on Ultimate Performance. The first is the perplexing and frustrating inability of my widdle pinger tendons to heal at even close to the same rate as my muscles. i take glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, protein, much water. Makes no difference: i still circle the drain with crippling arthritic pain 'til i take some days off. Maybe if i hung weights from my tips and tractioned the digits whilst i sleep....mmm.

Which leads to the second problem: i have totally lost the ability to sleep. It's been so long since i last slept well that i don't remember what it'd feel like to sleep. Which leads to the biggest problem of all.

i think i've packed on 5 lbs or so of squishy lard since moving to the peeps-in-laws' house. i've gotta do something about that. Amazing what an extra five pounds'll do to one's ability to latch a quarter-thick fingernail crimp.

Bleh. It's all a viscious cycle, and i don't know where to begin stopping it. Being groggy and sleepy all the time is unbelievably demotivating; not having sent a single cool problem in a month or so is demoralizing. Getting fat because i'm not in control of my world, and because no one else in my world gives a shit about eating well is maddening. i think i'm becoming bipolar. Maybe some lithium would help my tendons heal faster.

Later that day... [Amendment]

i finally sent a problem. True to my commitment to take no more rest days, i whipped in to the climbgym for a whirlwind sesh. Sent a v6 that goes fer sure at very stiff v4. Almost snagged another 5 right after it, but i was juiced. But i got something!! Joy! Mayhaps i slept better'n i thought last night; fo' shizzle wasn't as groggy as i was yesterday. i also picked up some flaxseed oil at the store, so i'm anticipating that i'll feel superhuman within a week or two.