Whiskeyjack’s BodyBlog

Yesterday’s workout, while not particularly heavy, nonetheless has my neck, erectors, traps, and hams super sore. My plan was to work out again on Tuesday, but with this DOMS it’ll have to either be later, or other bodyparts/exercises.

It’s 5AM and pitch black outside. Only a month ago it was light. Already the long downward reluctant slide into winter. To stave off the damned black feeling, I’ll have to step up my training.

We’ve had a lot of very fair weather - almost no rain for 2.5 months. This morning it was light rain, hanging mist in the trees, warm, no wind. Actually rather nice. I knew it’d be humid working out so I threw open the garage door and it sure was humid.

Inspired by my friend Slecontev’s FB vids, I decided to add some olympic lifting elements, albeit light. I put on my OLY weightlifting shoes. With the humidity I couldn’t go beyond chest and back, so I might as well return to the split or just go back to 3x/week.

1. Comp. WUP - already sweatin’.
2. Flat benches - 3×8.
3. Seated BB front shoulder press - 2×8. I’m a bit leery about doing these for fear of spinal compression - a very real concern to me because I take prednizone which over time reduces bone density. I can’t do much weight, either, without leaning back against something. So I kept the sets down. Besides, 5 sets of pressing moves is enough considering the other stuff I wanted to do.
4. Power cleans - 5×5. I went a bit heavier than of late but still not much weight. The form got a bit sloppy on the heaviest set so I returned to what I used on my first set and it felt very light.
5. Power snatches - 3×5. This was my first time doing these in…years. I only used about 35Kgs and worked on form, which I felt was good. The last set felt lighter than the first.
6. Bent over rows - 3×8. Doing them very strict.

That was it. I drank 2 bottles of H2O and was sweating bullets and gasping like a stuck pig. Clearly I need to get in better aerobic ship, but then my CNS would’ve suffered a shock.

Today Mrs. WJ wanted me to hit the fish market and pick up some clams - her clams and black bean sauce recipe is SO good and I like to dip multigrain baguette into the liquor. So I did a drop-in workout in a local gym near the market. Kept it short and sweet, getting back in stride, but it was a good one. All in all, though, I still prefer my home gym.

• Roman chair situps and stretches 3×25
• Seated front barbell shoulder press 3×8 - wanted to do more but also don’t want DOMS such that I can’t train in a couple of days.
• Straight bar upright row 3×8
• Side lats 2×8
• Close grip BP 3×8 - not as weak as I thought I’d be after the break.
• Lying tricep extension 3×8 - ib.
• Standing barbell curl (varying grips) 3×8
• Forearm curl 3×10
• Alternating dumbell hammers 2×10 superset with some bench tricep dips 2×10 going it bodyweight and grunting fast!

A good grilling all told. I got the clams, albeit frozen, but forgot to buy the black bean sauce!

Yes, I am training. I did have a layoff for a bit due some emotional and physical issues (2 short bouts of bronchitis, pressure headaches), travel, stress, etc. I have no one to compete against except myself, however, so I don’t sweat it. The main thing is getting back on the bandwagon.

I have been biking a good deal again - not the vast competitive distances some of my O35 compatriots here are, but enough. Biking downtown and back all the time, biking to the store, the pub, and a 33km stretch on weekends. It feels good. The other day I was cycling through a playground and did some chins and dips and pushups. It woke me up a bit.

Today I got it going again on a proper split as I was doing a few months back. I did:

• Comp. WUP
• Flat benches 3×8 (less weight than formerly but not by much and it felt fairly light, actually)
• DB incline benches 3×8
• Flat flyes 2×8 (really stretching). Actually exerting the pecs is really alien to a normal human being’s normal daily activities, so it felt great to hit them.
• One arm DB rows 4×8/side, going light with 75lb dumbells. Didn’t do pullups because the lats were still sore from the playground sets, such as they were.
• Power cleans from hang 4×6 going very light but really enjoying these.

So that was it - short but sweet. Tomorrow it’s shoulders and arms.

No, I haven’t slacked off since restarting my more intense garage training last week; those 2 workouts gave me such intense DOMS that I’ve been awaiting recovery. Even today, 4 days later, I still have pec/triceps DOMS, though it’s almost gone. Tomorrow I should be ready again.

So as indicated in the previous post, I’m back, and today did my 2nd workout after a 40-day hiatus of being “plagued with flies” as the Bard put it. The weather being fine, I rolled up the garage door again and went to it with the continued logic of doing a few less sets and weight to readjust.

• Comp. WUP - situps easier than yesterday. DOMS all over, even from rolling around the bells and plates.
• One arm alternate shoulder press - 45×8x8×8 - doing them fairly easily and strongly. Soon will return to former weight and set numbers. Interestingly, I couldn’t feel the old left RC injury. Not yet.
• Upright row (70×8x8×8) alternated with side lateral raises (25×8x8) - these were alternates, not supersets. Going light. Massive delt pump.
• Close grip bench press (105×8x8) supersetted with seated dumbell curls (35×8x8). Tempted to do more sets but worrying about such DOMS as to prevent another workout this week.
• Lying (on cement floor) tricep extensions (70×8x8×8) supersetted with standing barbell curls (70×8x8×8).
• Seated forearm curls - 70×12x10.

Again, going light with fewer sets than normal - to reintroduce myself to consistent intense training. Next workout will probably be Thursday, since I reckon on considerable DOMS, and every time I workout through DOMS I seem weaker than before. That said, I’m just glad to be BACK in every way. And it’s only a matter of time, as my good friend Cyril T used to say…

Yesterday after I wrote post # 9 I was plodding through what should’ve been a fine Saturday - but feeling like crap, still hocking crap every time I clear my sore throat (sore from stomach acid), 2-3 beer in me -  and Mrs. WJ said she’d be working out the next day. I said to myself, I’ve got to snap out of this regardless! So I did.

We walked home from the pub, about 30 minutes in sunshine and fresh air, and I hammered into the weights still wearing my jeans. This was valuable because my bloodstream would’ve been flooded with oxygen, which it hasn’t been in weeks. I decided, given the lateness of the day, the length of time since my last real workout, flu recovery, beer but no good food in me, to go a bit easier on the numbers of sets and use somewhat lighter weights. Because it’s first on my 2-workout cycle, I did chest-back. It was good regardless of the time; my strength and stamina were very slightly diminished. Where I normally do 5 sets of a given “core” exercise (for back, one-arm DB rows; for chest, flat bench; for delts, one-arm alternating seated press), this time I did only 3 sets of all exercises. Because the weather was fine, the other thing I did was to roll open the garage door and work out with fresh air flowing and the FM radio blaring. This is the way I envision training into the summer, for now that I’m back on track, I will still reach my sworn goals by then.

• Comp. WUP - this alone felt great though I was a bit dismayed at finding sets of 20 rep situps to be fatiguing, plus my tailbone ached doing them on the cement floor in my jeans.
• Flat bench - 140×8x8×6 - the last set was due to Mrs. WJ popping her head in the door and saying something so I stopped prematurely to find out what it was; she was just suggesting that I take off my jack shirt but it was still a bit cool for that.
• Incline DB bench - 45×8x8×8 - these were a bit easy and as you know I was going lighter, cautious, and when on the 3rd set I ran out of steam on the 8th rep it was clearly more about stamina than strength.
• Flat flyes - 25×8x8×8 - easy and done with a super stretch.
• Assisted pullups - 2 sets - did about 5 reps on my own in the first set, a surprise that, but ran out of steam after that and had to assist myself. Nonetheless I was coming up quick before and will again. I just wish I had a proper bar rather than Mrs. WJ’s terrible universal gym’s lat bar suspended above the press seat.
• Pulldowns - 2 sets with full stack minus 1 plate - same old shit: if I go full stack the weight sort of pulls me upwards and drags me inwards so I end up scraping my belly against the leg extension knob.
• One arm alternating DB rows - 75×8x8×8/side - these seemed extremely light, frankly.
• Power cleans from knee - 85×6x6 - I went very light on these and began to feel throaty and pooped so I stopped there.

It wasn’t a bad start. Today a guy’s coming in to hang our bike rack up (I’ve no tools for stud finding, etc.) which may leave me some more room. I should buy a chin/pullup bar and bring him back to mount that on a side-wall, but my garage-gym is only about 9 feet in breadth.

Anyway, today I’ll do shoulders-arms. I’ll follow yesterday’s philosophy.

I’m glad to be “back on track.” I slept better yesterday, hitting the hay at 2000 and actually sleeping in to 0625 - amazing! It’s almost biking weather, too, so with the renewed consistency on the weights and the biking I should make my goals despite this month’s setback.

It’s still been a bit rough. Last week I was in travel mode and still fighting the flu. Still a few residual problems at home. Late nights. Lots of work. No training. The sun’s on the rise, however.

I’ve had a hell of a time these past few weeks, a "bastard triumvirate": travel, fight with Mrs. WJ, and now bronchial flu.

I haven’t trained in a month; I had a bad psychological time; I’m hocking crap. My weight’s down. I daren’t think about my poundages. I feel like shit.

BUT - I’m on the upswing on all things. Healing in all ways psychological, emotional, and physical. My little garage gym gear awaits. Although next week I’ll be on the road again, I will train.

I will still complete my stated goals by summer. I only wish I could dive in at this moment.

Well, given all the recent progress I’ve made, I hate to report to my (silent) readers that I’ve had some problems which have very temporarily hitched my training - family issues, work travel, and more. I’ve stuck to my diet but not trained in a week and my appetite’s fallen off correspondingly; I could never be a fat bastid! But in a day or two I’ll be back full bore at it, likely on my day off this Friday.