High Functioning Cripple

i'll try to recap the last few workouts. Last monday (i think) i went in for a quick abs/ chest workout. I did some light bench--few sets of 10 with 135, then a set of 4 or 5 with 185. i'm still real anxious about jacking my shoulder up again. i really wanted to do db flyes, but there were swarms of folk on every flattish bench and i took a pass.  Abs was...painful. This time i did straight leg raises first: a set of 30, then a couple sets of maybe 20. Then i did decline crunches. Much harder after the straight legs.

For the remainder of the week i thought i might have hip arthritis. i just tore the poopey-doodey outta my left hip flexors. Only today do i feel like there might someday be hope that i might ever run again.

And on that note, if you have the opportunity to avoid putting Tiger Balm on yer yamsack, i would seize it. You'll sleep better.

Friday i went in for back and grippy. 3/3/3 day for both. Deads was 350, 400, and 450. i went in feeling a li'l anxious about how it was gonna go, seeing as i still couldn't actively flex my hip to 90 degrees. In the end i locked out 3 with 450 reasonably easily, although it took some teeth-grittin' and a growl on the last rep. But i think i could'a picked up a fourth; only i didn't try. And i regret that.

But dang! that's a weird sport, deadlifting. Not 4 weeks prior, i went in fairly rested and couldn't lock 4 reps with 50 lbs less. i've honestly come to believe that pre-workout Tums is the answer to pulling hard.

Finished back off with 4 sets of 12 on Good-mornings (1 x 95, then 3 x 105), and some bent o'er BB Rows (10 x 135, and 6 x 185). Only did a li'l of the rows, and skipped p'lups cuz i've been fighting biceps tendonitis for a very long time now.

On the Rolling Thunder, as mentioned above, it was 3/3/3 day. i'm working off of a 130 max, and rounded to the next highest nickle. Think it was 95, 105, and 120. That went well enough, so i tried a new ME and got 135 on each hand. That 5/3/1 thang applies pretty cleanly to the RT weights. i have a feeling that i'll keep bumping up on max weights for a while just cuz the movement/ muscle patterns are so different. But i gotta say that 200lbs on that thing seems like a boat-ride to Africa from here.

Also took the Hub with me. Still haven't quite figured out a proper workout on that thing. But i sorta like it. i've been doing a "workout" with timed hangs. So i'll put, say, 25 lbs on and hold for 20 secs on each hand. One or so reps of that, then add 5 lbs and hangs for maybe ten or 15 secs. (i try to keep 'em sorta symmetrical). Think i got somewhere in the vicinity of 8 secs on 35 lbs, so i tried 40. Definitely got 40# up on the right hand, and i got it off the ground on the left. Can't say i "locked it out" or had particularly good control of it, but she did relinquish hold of Terra Firma for a bit. So i'm gonna say the timed hangs are working for now.

So anyhow, i'm truly hoping to pull 5C on deads before i succumb to TB. i still have an indurated nodule on m' forearm from that ppd. i'd cherish your prayers that i don't actually have a disease. That'd be just fine.

Uphills

Think i'll just post up a quickie just to mark the last couple o weeks. This last week i did an hour run and a half-hour run. The week before i did two one-hour runs. This has worked out to be less than beneficial, because i've done all the runs on a very steep hill, and now i have something like a peroneal nerve palsy, and am having some trouble with dorsiflexion. Foot drop notwithstanding, i'm probably in mildly better shape than i was two weeks ago.

Climbing-wise, i've developed something like a biceps/brachioradialis tendonitis that i've yet to shake. i am not climbing well; but i've been on the wall several times, and'm trying to keep at it with what vigor i can muster.

Lifting-wise, there's a mixed bag. Three weeks ago (i believe) i got a double on deads with 470 on 5/3/1 day. About a week later i did a "deload" day, and cranked out 405 for 5 or 6 reps. About a week after that, i tried starting up with 5/5/5 day off of a 500# max, which calls for a final set with 425. i got maybe 2 or 3 reps into the second set with 400, and called it. Just nothin'. i think this owed partially at least to my having acquired the Rolling Thunder just some days before. i do believe the one-handed deads jack with my dorsum more than i wanted to think. i did finish out with 20 pullups, Good-mornings, and a 5/5/5 day on the RT. i forwent the rows in deference to my fiery biceps.

Last Saturday i went in for a first ab workout in many, many, many moons. Did a couple sets of 30 crunches on a decline bench. And they hurt. Then i did two sets of (i think) straight leg raises--the first with 20 reps and the second with 15ish bad, grimacing reps. i tried valiantly not to cry. To think a year or so ago i could rip out 90 of those with ankle weights on... Got a goal to work toward there. No ab muscle is screwing with my climbing and pulling. This i'm certain of. Yesterday we went to a fitness store thingy, and i got to try out some inversion boots. Gunna get me some of them ther'. That is a wicked ab workout, and it kinda feels lovely to just hang upside down.

Respecting the grippy trainy, i've (for whatever reason) decided to do a two-per-week version of the 5/3/1 thang. So last week i did the 5/5/5 day on RT on a 120# max twice, sundered by a few days (weights being 85/100/105, i think). This go round, i waited for the #2 gripper and the hub to come in for 3/3/3 day, and made a grip-only sesh of it. Surprisingly, i'm super close to closing the #2 straight outta the package. i wish i could find my #1 for comparison and to train. i made myself wait to try out the hub till i did 3/3/3 on RT. Weights there were 85/100/110. Then i've been trying for an ME at the end just for fun, and i locked 130 right pretty clean, and got real close to lock on the left. 200# on that thing seems a loooong ways away. But a brother'd have some fetching, waxable, stage-ready foreguns to show for it.

Then i thought i'd just go ahead and throw a plate on ol' hub for our maiden workout. And i might as well ha' clipped 'er to a tree for all the movement i got. So--humbled--i started with a dime, and worked my way back to a max with 35# which i got right and left. That's gonna take some work, but it's doable.

i think you people should get in the ring on this grip thang. It's kindof a nice mental change up, 'cuz the difference between a really respectable lift and an anemic li'l girl lift is really not all that much weight by any other standard.

i pray you all are well.

The Thunder

Did an hour run today. Tried to keep 'er in the mid-150s for a heart rate. And it was a seriously pretty day for once. As much as i'd like to get on a snowboard, i hafta say i wouldn't mind some sunshine and not having to scrape my windows every morning.

On a somewhat oblique note, we've basically shut down the looking-for-a-house thing. i knew we'd hafta pay "mortgage insurance" until we'd paid down 20%; but it turns out that would cost us around 300 quid the month. i was thinking, "Hey yeah i could also take 4K each year out onto the lawn and burn it." That way at least we'd get some heat out of it. Piss. On. That. That is piracy. Why would anyone in their right mind pay that? So anyhow, i guess we'll just be on a holding pattern 'til we've a 20% dp. As such, i went ahead and purchased the rolling thunder from ironmind. Sounds like a good workout. Next i'm a get some gravity boots. But i'm gunna get down below 200lbs this year.

"She's little, but she's Strooooong"

Well if even you are gunna go posting up, then i guess i should. Plus i need a benchmark. i've been hanging at just over 215lbs, weight-wise. And that's gross. i think i can get a bit more motivated to shave some fluff off when we stop averaging a daily temp high of 19ish. Just finished up a 5/3/1 cycle on deads, and i get to bump the max up, so i'll record that for future reference. Weights were based on a 490 max and went 370, 420, and 470. Got a double with the 470 which--kinda strangely--went up fairly easily, so i thought i'd try to lock 500. But i missed. Got 'er to the top of my shins, but my head wasn't in it for some reason. Funny really: i'm getting set up on the bar, and Annie starts asking me if she can do something-or-another, then i shake that off and i got a text from one of you as i was squatting, and by the time i started pulling i was thinking about birds or Tahiti or something. Ah well. i think 5 Cs'll lock up for me in the near future. i do like the idea of that Iron Mind thing. And i'd bet Annie would get into that too. All right: i've posted. Peace.

< 1 month

Hard to believe i have this much trouble posting up more frequently than once a month. But it's been strange times in the 'hood--as, i gather, it's been for many of you. But i have been working out. It's been a li'l tenuous, a li'l sketchy, a li'l i-dunno-what-to-think-about-this at times; but i have, quality notwithstanding, doused the earth with some litres of sweat.

Last week on Wednesday i got 5/5/5 on deads with 360, 385, and 410. Followed that up with bent o'er BB rows and (finally) Good Mornings. i'm beginning to believe that Good Mornings have such a freakishly awesome crossover relation to deads as to be indispensable thereunto. Today was 3/3/3 day, and i felt like poopy doody. It was 385, 410, and 435 for weets, and 410 sucked so bad the week and a half before that i had only tenebrous, vague hallucinations of completing with any dignity--- not to mention i'd failed to pull a single with 455 those 2 or 3 weeks ago. But 435 locked out thrice with so little of the usual eyeball-bulging and near-loss-of-consciousness that i gave serious fractions of seconds'- worth of thought to pulling it a fourth go. i didn't; i just racked. But the presence of such a thought did wonders for morale. So i cranked out 4 sets of GMs, grabbed a chain belt, and headed to the pullup bar. In spite of weighing in at 213, i yarded a set of 20, then strapped on a 45 for another set of 8 and a set of 5 or so.

Then we went and looked at houses, which ate up the rest of an otherwise totally gorgeous Saturday. But at least i managed not to get bitten by a brown recluse. Word.

time for the purge

BLEEEEEEEEHHHHH. Been a strange couple o' weeks on the ol' workout front. i did finally get a problem on the climbwall that had been eluding me; but it probably went at solid v4. Not exactly a notch on the belt. But it was nice to lay it to rest.

Just finished a 5/3/1 cycle on deads. That's the odd bit. i just have had no time or energy to do the other workouts. Started out strong: got through the 5/5/5 bit on bench and OH press, and got 7 with the last set of 5 on bench. Then i just ... i dunno ... fell off. Went in on friday to see what happened, and gave up after a warmup set with 135--- it just hurt. Bleh. And then this 5/3/1 on deads was just sad. i couldn't pick up 95% of my max once. verylongsigh.

On the other hand, the last week of work went reasonably well. And there's Thanksgiving this week.

And i think we've found a church. That would be happy.

Gotta find a new start here soon.

Cupcake in the wild

It has been a long freakin' time since i've posted up. And you people are even worse. But i got a text from all of you about bringing bikes up here, so i'm confident you're still alive.

we're presently discussing churches here. i think i need more faith.

Bleh.

On the fitness front, the last two weeks were kinda intense. Two thursdays ago i did a bouldering comp here. Then, on saturday, i did the big comp at querque. Now a week and a half out, i can finally make a tight fist again without grimacing.

This last week ended up being a max week, so's i could get a baseline. Got 225 on bench (yeah...i know), missed locking out 470 by a smidge, and pushed i think 155, but not 160, on OH press. Something like that. Now i'm gunna try to restart the 5/3/1 thang. We'll see how this next week goes, and if i'm still employed at the end.

Quickie

Sloped in to the climbgym on the way outta town yesterday. Friday they had a bouldering comp so there were tons of new routes up. Good times: kinda wipes the slate clean. They take down all the frustrating crap you've been flailing on for the prior few months. Supposedly i snagged a v5 (which i'd downgrade) and several 3s and 4s. The one striking thing is how fast i get worn out these days. i don't think i've lost much power, but if i'm gonna compete, i've gotta start working on endurance. i need to just do tonnes more volume. And it wouldn't hurt to lose a stone or two.

Few weeks in

Methinks you people have checked out. But i'll post for me so's i can 'member what i've done. Week and a half ago i did a bouldering comp at the college wall there. That was kinda cool actually. They set some pretty fun routes. This last week i went reasonably hard on deads. i tried for a double with 455, but missed. Got that second one off the ground, but it wasn't gunna happen. Then i missed a single with 465 i think. But it worked out to be a good workout. Last monday on the way outta town, i popped in at the climbgym, and snagged a v5 i'd been missing. That was nice. Thurs i stacked shoulders and bench for a heavyish day, then swam a while. Swim's getting better. And there's a light at the end of the tunnel on the job-front, it seems: i might actually get privileged in the hospital soon. And i think it'd be just dandy if i could actually engage in doing the job i'm hired for. And i finally got a full paycheck this last week, and after a nearly-three-year drought in being payed that's a breath of oxygen. Now to find a house there large enough to store my wives and children and livestock...

Gyming again

i've (temporarily) rejoined the Borg Cube here for out-working, and i've thus far put in a hearty effort at getting my money's worth out o' it. There's a pool there, and i got in my first swim yesterday in-- well, since whenever i last was here-- 9 months or so. It actually surpassed my wildest imagination of how it was gunna go. My shoulder issued a filthy click through a certain arc in a certain plane of swing, so i had to tightly clean up my stroke: pro'ly a good thing at any rate.

Today i did sort of a free-form deads workout. Something like: warmup, 1x10x135; 1x10x225; 1 or 2x5ish x 315; then 2x2x405. That was happy juice, cuz that(ish) was my max a year or so ago, and i was afraid i might return to baseline after sitting on my arse for so long; but the couple of doubles didn't feel all that terribly stressful. And i didn't have a belt or chalk. So there's hope it won't take me ages to get back in the game. Also did some bent o'er bb rows (1x10x135; 2x6x185) and face pulls. Turns out their cable row pulley is mounted so high it's perfect for face pulls. Also did some p'lups, but mainly to remind my lats that they're needed and could they please not divorce me for my neglect.

Did shoulders on monday, and that went surprisingly well also. i think i have probably lost a lot of strength on OH presses, but i was just happy my shoulder didn't collapse and leave me crying in a crumpled heap in front of all the frat boys. Cuz it's hard to get your menacing glare back (and the elbow room that comes with it) once you've lost it.

Anyhow, so far i don't have any formal plan for getting all jacked--i'm just super happy to be stressing my bones again. But i'm encouraged that maybe i haven't slipped too far down the steep, steep slope. Still haven't managed to pull on the runnin' shoes, but that's coming.

tagup

i thought i'd post to post.  Nothing much to say. i've made a li'l progress on some projects in the climbgym. Gunna go in today if i can--see if i can put an end to one or two. Still haven't been in to the irongym. my shoulder is still bugging, and in the last few days i think i've surreptitiously strained (badly) my left iliopsoas. Which is kinda weird. i don't know how, and i didn't even know that was possible heretofore. Sometimes i think things happen just to remind you that you're rocketing towards old-geezer-hood. Ah well: this old geezer is planning to pull down some v5 today in as poor a fitness as i've ever been in.

Work starts monday, and i have a feeling that's gonna do wonders for my psyche, and my workouts. Nothing like having no family around and no climbgym to inspire me to go lift and run. And i'm pretty amped about the job. Feeling like a n00b once again; but i'm amped. Prayers please.

More two-a-day

Went again to the climbgym twice today. Got a v5 sloper problem in less than 800 tries.  nice day, really. And i have a start date for work. Pretty encouraging, really.

Two-a-days

i clumb this morning. Which was a bad idea upon retrospection-- i had not enough coffee before going. The grogginess was high, and the pain tolerance was very low. i was fairly well rested after the two day lay-off though. i nearly sent one of the Unclimbables; only i didn't. But i came soooooo. stinking. close.

So i went to the house, drank three cups of superblack, put some baseboard down in a room or two, then went back to the gym for another go.

i failed again. But this time i don't know why. i think my left hand has nearly adapted to the stress the penultimate hold demands of it. i really do think it'll fall next time i go in healed.

But the second time round i ran into a friend, and he asked me if i'd like to rope up. Hee hee! That was pretty amusing. i think the last time i'd been arope was long about December. i've developed into a very strong climber over about 6 or 7 moves. i fell off of some pretty sad holds to fall off of. Then we bouldered some more. And now my hands are meatloaf. It's kinda tricky to type just now, in fact. But i might just send that stoopid proj if i heal from this. And if i could keep that up, i might just be a fairly fit climber come comp season.

mundy...wait...MONDAY!!! (WooHoo!!)

Thought i'd post up, just to not be the wet towel i've been in my last couple of posts.

i climbed thursday and saturday, and so yesterday and today are off days. Been a while since i've taken two off days together, but i think my wee hands demand it after saturday.  thursday i got one of my standing projects--a very solid v5-- which shrunk the circle of Unclimbables. Goofy thing has this finish move that's just nearly impossible if you're not built for it. I've seen lots of strong v7+ climbers hit it, bounce off, and shake their heads and walk away. You gotta hit this glassy, directional sloper from the wrong direction. But i finally got a solid(ish) left hand on it, and did something wonky with my feet and matched for almost a second before i blew off of it. Don't know if it would have counted as a "controlled" match for competition, but i caren't: i'm taking it.

Then saturday, i didn't even try for a proj. During the warmup, my hands tol' me without uncertainty that tiny crimps were not gun' happen. But they put a bunch of new routes up in the cave, so it was like being a kid in a candy store. Ended up just doing tonnes of climbing, and got a bunch of 3s and 4s. That was a fantastic day of climbing. Reminded me of how deep a rut i've gotten into. Been so long since i've done that quantity of climbing, my hands are still creaky and sore two days later. i'm absolutely going to have to interject more days like that into the regime.

Cirque of the Unclimbables

i have a new routine. it's funny.

really.

i go to the climbgym approximately every other day, i warm up a bissel, then i jump on one of my four or five standing projectos, and fall off of the finish hold.

Good, clean fun really.

But i can't help but think, "Ya know, it'd be just fine to send one of these any ol' time now, you wanker."


Oh well though. i keep in mind i'm not the only one aging at breakneck speed, and that any friggin' day now i might actually get to go to work, and in such an event i might just start feeling like a real live human again.

In the meantime i think i might be sloping off into some mild schizophrenia.

If i knew how, i'd post up an email from one of the credentialing people at the hospital. It's in maybe a 40ish pt italic font on a pink background, and it elucidates nothing whatever.

i'm beginning to hate people for a hobby. Some red flags go up about that, but i can't help but imagine how satisfying it'd be to just choke the hell out of a nearby idiot.

At any rate, i picked up a 10th anniversary Stone Ruination ipa, and it's really good. Let's just stick a pin in that thought... right there...

Speaking of which, sounds like Bolt got smacked down in the 100 and 200 qualifiers by some fellow Jamaicans. Good on 'im. His ego could use some deflation. just like mine.

Submission Hold

i don't know at this early point just what this post is gunna turn out to be. But G's right: not doing any good by flying under the radar. So post i shall.

It's been....let's just see here...aaaaalmost three months (that'd be 1/4 of a year) since i've lifted iron. i hurt my shoulder, and it's gone from "Damn, that do smart!" to i'm running out of muscles to hold my humerus in the right vicinity of a shoulder. i should be rehabbing it with bands and scrap, but ... i dunno. i'm stressed to the breaking point at the moment. i loathe waking up in the morning(ish), and i hate staying awake. Which makes it hard to find the motive force to move iron. So after months of working on it, i have my license to practice. i thought that this might maybe mean i could start working. But no. It means i  can apply now for my pharm board license, so that i can, thereafter, apply for my dea numma. And then (presumably) i might be able to start. Assuming i have insurance by then. i am so up to my effing eyeballs with this. We gotta sell our place 'fore we can get real serious 'bout buying another, and i've gotta have a job before that. So i might be living in a tent for my first month or so of working. Which, honestly would thrill just the hell outta me if i could just go get a damned paycheck.

But that's all about why i'm stressed. Not about working out. i have been climbing somewhere between every day and every other day. i have trouble going longer than that or i start losing my sanity at an even higher acceleration. And truly (that's without an 'e'. Don't get "truely" tattooed on your person, or i will call you a moron, and point at you and laugh) i have little to complain about there. i'm not making any progress, but i'm still working 5s and 6s, which is kinda impressive seeing as i'm fatter than i've been in most of my adult life, and i haven't done any other strength exercise in three months. It's kind of amazing how fast three months can slide past. Especially when you're living in a cloud of stress and beer and just nearly no sleep.

Well i'm pretty amped to see you people. So you better make it here safe. Peace.

Happy days and Sunshine and Lemon Drops and Crap

If i don't start working soon, i'm going to go insane. That's all i'll say about that.

i was going to post up yesterday, but it started coming out as dark, depressed diatribe, so i put it off 'til i forgot about it. But i climbed today, so i thought i'd post that up. i climbed. There.

i've been climbing pretty consistently like every other day for three-ish sessions, then i'll take two days off and start over. It's the only thing keeping me from a heart attack and MDD. Today was a pretty good workout, even if i didn't really smack down anything huge. Been working on this v6, and i finally got the crux move worked out. Didn't link, but i think it'll go on a fresh day. Po'rful moves on that 'un. Also got (i think) the crux worked out on another 6 i'd given up on. So i have several good 'uns in the hopper. And i was happy 'cuz i think this was the first session in a rather long series from which i left with actually broken down forearms instead of sore, swollen fingers. Felt like a real live workout.

On the work front, they got my signed contract and now i just have to jump through the next million hoops so i can finally do something. Waiting is not (it turns out) my forte. i feel a lot like crawling out of my skin.

Resolution and Stress

i've been not working out. Climbing a bunch for the last couple o' weeks; but not really working out. i really hurt my shoulder bad those several weeks ago. For some reason, climbing seems like the most logical way to rehab it (seeing's that's how i hurt it in the first place). i've been climbing pretty much every other day for the last few weeks. Interestingly, it hasn't led to too much carnage. Saturday i got a "v6" in three tries, and knocked out several 5s to boot. Which is an up-swing since i'd been failing at 4s up till then. Been working a hard 5 for the last couple of sessions, but i missed it today.

Got a contract at the ortho group in farm town. The worst part of all this is the paperwork. i loathe paperwork. And i hate asking people to be references for me. As in, it nearly gives me an anxiety attack. Hate. It. But at least i have a proper job in the cross hairs, and there's a paycheck on the horizon. Now if we could figure out how we're gonna afford to move there, maybe i can sleep at night.

-C

i'm official! Goes to show you that even the not-particularly-bright can make it into the game. But that large-ish planet has been lifted off'n m' shoulders, and i'm praising God. :)

Thank you for your prayers.

Horizon

i feel like i should post up something. i feel much as though there has been (and remains) a large-ish planet sitting on my shoulders. i suspect that much of my anxiety will dissolve if i find that i passed my boards. Otherwise i'm hosed, and i suppose i'll go find a job at Target. But to make the process as painful as possible, they only release scores on Thursdays; so even though my test was likely graded within seconds of my pressing the finish button, and i took it on a Tuesday, i didn't manage to make it in the cut-off as did my classmates who took it the day before, and i get to wait 'til this Thursday. And i have an awful feeling about it. If i passed that, it's because God wants me to.

In the event i did pass, i think i might just have the job in Farm Town. we're kinda excited about it. It's just hard to get really motivated when i know i might be scrubbing toilets at a gas station instead. Bleh.

Well since my last post, the only breed of workout i've done is climbing. i subtly dislocated my shoulder weeks ago, and it still is punishing me for it. But i've at least started pulling down some harder problems again. And my w'il pingers haven't really suffered from the cut-back: been doin' some right crimping even with my tubbier-than-ever butt hanging off the other end. In fact, saturday i second-tried a v5, then flashed another 5. It raises serious doubts as to whether either of 'em were really 5s, but (as usual) i'll take 'em.

i've progressed from a continuous respect of my deadlift workout to a base, gnawing fear. methinks i might just take a week and do a hard "deload" sort of workout so's not to eject a disc outta my back like it's a Batmobile toy.

'Preciate the prayers--thursday's coming like a freight train.