A Tale Told by an Idiot

[EricK]

Got my run in and felt like I owed myself a little more bench volume.

Bench: 185 x 12 x 3

TM:
30:00, 404 cal, 3.07 mi

I'm not sure how to gage high rep hypertrophy stuff yet. In some sense this felt too light, but the sets were pretty high RPE, which I think is the best measure of "effective sets" (?)

[EricK]

I am haz try sing.

*Sorry, I know it sounds like I recorded it on a potato and my singing voice leaves much to be desired...

[alek]

I am haz try sing.

*Sorry, I know it sounds like I recorded it on a potato and my singing voice leaves much to be desired...

That's cool, man. Keep it up!

[EricK]

Fri, 2/28/24

201.9 [forgot to do it before I had my coffee, so I assume this measurement is 6 or 7 pounds over the real measurement (shut up)]

Press / BB row / HSGHP:
135 x 8 / x 10 / x 10
150 x 6 / 170 x 10 / 150 x 8
145 x 8 / 165 x 10 / 155 x 10

RDL / Dip:
[ 275 (straps) x 8 / BW x 20 ] x 3

Taking it easy today because I have a cold with a sore throat. I may try running later.

That's cool, man. Keep it up!

Thanks man. I just acted on a sudden impulse. First cut!

[platypus]

I enjoyed the Like a Stone cover, nice work!

[DCR]

Nice. Now, if only I could regular squat your pause squat...

I sympathized with this in alek's log.

But wait.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 12, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
H - [ 275 x 8 / BW x 10 ] x 4

275 for 8s, while also being able to hit double digit chins? I agree with your three year old: You am strong, and I am envious.

Haha, those work sets made me question my life choices.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 15, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
H - 285 x 8 / +25 x 5, [ 285 x 8 / +15 x 8 ] x 2, 285 x 8 / +10 x 8

Way to not learn your lesson at all, in a good way. Nice.

Also love that you’re messing with Nothing Else Matters. When I played guitar for ten minutes, that was my jam, solo and all.

Also also super cool video. Keep em coming.

[augeleven]

Guitarin’ sounds great!

[KarlM]

Damn man! That sounded great! Whatever about your rhythmic whiteness. You kept a tight tempo throughout the entire song. You’ve got a nice low voice too. Keep it up man!

[EricK]

Nice. Now, if only I could regular squat your pause squat...

I sympathized with this in alek's log.

But wait.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 12, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
H - [ 275 x 8 / BW x 10 ] x 4

275 for 8s, while also being able to hit double digit chins? I agree with your three year old: You am strong, and I am envious.

Haha, those work sets made me question my life choices.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 15, 225 x 8 / BW x 12
H - 285 x 8 / +25 x 5, [ 285 x 8 / +15 x 8 ] x 2, 285 x 8 / +10 x 8

Way to not learn your lesson at all, in a good way. Nice.

I'm about to @broseph my reps up in this bitch.

Also love that you’re messing with Nothing Else Matters. When I played guitar for ten minutes, that was my jam, solo and all.

Also also super cool video. Keep em coming.

I enjoyed the Like a Stone cover, nice work!

Guitarin’ sounds great!

Damn man! That sounded great! Whatever about your rhythmic whiteness. You kept a tight tempo throughout the entire song. You’ve got a nice low voice too. Keep it up man!

Thanks! I really enjoy my hobby and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to work on it, make progress and share it with people.

[EricK]

Mon, 3/4/24

204.8



I went tubing with my oldest yesterday and I "encouraged" him to walk up the conveyor belt each time we went to the top. We went for 2 hours straight, so I could feel it afterwards. It felt good, mostly. It was warm out. First time snow-tubing where the only reason my clothes were so wet was from sweat. We did it at a ski resort that still has snow leftover, but the quality wasn't great, so I really had to run and dive at the top to get some real speed. Usually, my son would stop part way down and I'd ram into him like a shuffle board puck and get him going again. It was a lot of fun. Really wore us both out.

So I was pretty tired this morning and wanted to rest a little more before lifting, but then my 3 year old came downstairs crying because he wet the bed. This is his first time, but the fact that he’s already off pull ups is still impressive. It was a hectic morning with both boys out of sorts and screaming at each other and having general emotional turmoil. One of these weeks I'll actually start on Monday properly...

[EricK]

Decided, "Fuck it," and took an early lunch to haze myself:

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 16, 225 x 8 / BW x 12, 275 (belt) x 3 / BW x 12
SH - [ 315 (belt) x 5 / BW x 12 ] x 3

@DCR inspired me. Wanted to do 4 or 5 sets but the last one was a bit of a grind.

Bench / curl:
W/u - 135 x 12 / 87 x 12, 185 x 8 / 87 x 12, 225 x 5 / 87 x 12
SH - [ 245 (belt) x 5 / 87 x 12 ] x 3

Same as above. I was in a rush, maybe if I rested longer but I'm ok with less rest.

[DCR]

Decided, "Fuck it," and took an early lunch to haze myself:

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 16, 225 x 8 / BW x 12, 275 (belt) x 3 / BW x 12
SH - [ 315 (belt) x 5 / BW x 12 ] x 3

@DCR inspired me. Wanted to do 4 or 5 sets but the last one was a bit of a grind.

I assume that you mean in terms of saying suck it to everything in between 285 and 315, because you sure as hell aren't referring to what you actually lifted versus what I have any ability to lift.

Seriously seriously, that's awesome. 315 for 3x5, and you picked this up again what, like a few months ago? The double digit chins at the same time are the cherry on top.

[EricK]

Tue, 3/5/24

201.9 (better...?)

I got like 10 minutes of guitar practice in. It wasn't very productive as I'd say I was still warming up. But the whole family came down one after the other at that point and I lost any hope of focus. So, nothing to record except some thoughts on my progress.

Thoughts:

I'm pretty motivated by my progress so far. My lifts are all already back in decent shape and my work shirts are tighter in the right places. My weight is kind of all over the place and the trend line has a positive slope, which is the wrong direction. I can't claim too much surprise because I haven't been very consistent with running or eating. My initial plan was to get settled in a good workout routine first, then start focusing more on my diet. I'd say I'm partway through the first part, because I haven't had a consistent week for a few weeks now. With the boys coming down in the basement so early now I'm going to have to learn to deal with it productively. I can't reliably count on going home during the day to workout or get some extra practice in.

On a slightly longer view, I still want to lose weight. I really need to cut off my lifting to allow at least 30 minutes of cardio at least 3 times per week, working up to 5 or 6 times per week. A friend at work invited me to run part of the Appalachian trail up by Harper's Ferry with him for his birthday in April. It's a 16 mile stretch of trail. I said yes. It seems like a pretty good opportunity without being too difficult to prepare for. I don't expect to set any land speed records, just complete it.

Beyond that, things get fuzzier. Making some reasonable assumptions about what my lifts are now and about moderate, continuous progress, I could be back in prior PR territory in a year (?). But the second assumption has a big problem in the fact that I don't want to just gain back whatever weight I manage to lose. Fortunately, I don't have to make any big decisions that far out, my general direction is to start getting more serious about losing weight, improve conditioning enough to not totally embarrass myself in April and keep lifting to look good at the pool this summer.

Decided, "Fuck it," and took an early lunch to haze myself:

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 16, 225 x 8 / BW x 12, 275 (belt) x 3 / BW x 12
SH - [ 315 (belt) x 5 / BW x 12 ] x 3

DCR inspired me. Wanted to do 4 or 5 sets but the last one was a bit of a grind.

I assume that you mean in terms of saying suck it to everything in between 285 and 315, because you sure as hell aren't referring to what you actually lifted versus what I have any ability to lift.

Seriously seriously, that's awesome. 315 for 3x5, and you picked this up again what, like a few months ago? The double digit chins at the same time are the cherry on top.

Inspired by squatting 315. I think 315 is a big milestone for each of the big 3. I'd say I lifted intermittently last year, enough to avoid losing everything, but started being serious again at the beginning of the year. I'm only here now because stuff comes back faster, although I should probably be a little more conservative moving forward. I still have a ways to go before I can claim any PRs (and I might not have any PRs in front of me anymore, but who knows?).

[augeleven]

A friend at work invited me to run part of the Appalachian trail up by Harper's Ferry with him for his birthday in April. It's a 16 mile stretch of trail. I said yes. It seems like a pretty good opportunity without being too difficult to prepare for. I don't expect to set any land speed records, just complete it. knows?).

this sounds awesome

[Clearwater47]

I'm far from an expert, but the guitar work sounds solid man. Kudos for having the guts to put yourself out there while you're learning. I always feel like a willingness to learn new things it what helps keeps us young and engaged in life.
That Appalachian trail trek should be fun!

[DCR]

keep lifting to look good at the pool this summer.

I’m glad that your priorities are in order, and I’m not even slightly joking.

[EricK]

Wed, 3/6/24

202 (really?)

Guitar:
-1:10
-Times Like These
-Why Georgia
-Started a little of Layla

Bench / chin:
W/u - 135 x 15 / BW x 18, 185 x 12 / BW x 12
H - [ 205 x 10 / +10 x 7 ] x 3

Really blasted those bicepticons. I feel like I should be able to do 205 for sets of 12, but I guess reality has a way of disappointing you...

RDL / Dip:
W/u - 225 (DOH) x 12 / BW x 2
H - [ 275 x 8 / +25 x 12 ] x 3
First set of 275 DOH, but I almost lost it and, technically the last rep was just a regular deadlift. So I used straps for the next 2 sets. Some of the reps on the last 2 sets of dips were partials because my arms were very tired.

Treadmill:
21:09, 130 cal, 1.71 mi

A friend at work invited me to run part of the Appalachian trail up by Harper's Ferry with him for his birthday in April. It's a 16 mile stretch of trail. I said yes. It seems like a pretty good opportunity without being too difficult to prepare for. I don't expect to set any land speed records, just complete it. knows?).

this sounds awesome

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I just gotta get more consistent with running...

I'm far from an expert, but the guitar work sounds solid man. Kudos for having the guts to put yourself out there while you're learning. I always feel like a willingness to learn new things it what helps keeps us young and engaged in life.
That Appalachian trail trek should be fun!

Thanks, man!

keep lifting to look good at the pool this summer.

I’m glad that your priorities are in order, and I’m not even slightly joking.

I see you creepin' my onlyfans...

[EricK]

Thu, 3/7/24

201.5

Guitar:
-1:10
-Times Like These
-Why Georgia
-Sitting On the Dock of the Bay

DB press / BB row:
[ 52.5 (ea.) x 10 / 185 x 8 ] x 3

Treadmill:
30:00, 404 cal, 3.06 mi

[EricK]

Fri, 3/8/24

199.9

Guitar:
-Times Like These; I can sing the chorus pretty consistently while still playing. The verses are a little more difficult at the moment
-Waiting on the World to Change
-Why Georgia; despite the nuance of the riff, it fits so well with the lyrics that I can already sing and play most of the first verse

Bench / chin:
W/u - 135 x 20 / BW x 18, 225 x 3
S - 275 x 2 x 2
H - [ 225 x 8 / BW x 15 ] x 2, 225 x 8 / BW x (13 + 2), 225 x 8 / BW x 10

Deadlift:
W/u - 225 x 3, 315 x 1 x 2, 365 (o/u, belt) x 1
S - 405 (o/u, belt) x 1, 345 (o/u, belt) x 5 x 2

Squat / curl:
135 x 8 / 87 x 12, 225 x 8 / 87 x 12, [ 275 (belt) x 8 / 87 x 12 ] x 2

Treadmill:
30:00, 393 cal, 2.98 mi

The trail run is intended to be somewhat social and leisurely, with planned breaks, so I figure I'll be all right with pretty minimal training. I want to stay consistent about running during the week (at least 3x) and over the next 5-6 weeks maybe I can try and do a longer run on some Saturdays just so it's not too challenging to enjoy the trail.

[EricK]

Mon, 3/11/24

200.7

Guitar:
1:00
-Times Like These
-Why Georgia
-The Weight

Squat / chin:
[ 135 x 8 / BW x 8 ] x 2, [ 225 x 5 / BW x 8 ] x 2, [ 275 x 3 / BW x 8 ]
315 (belt) x 1 / BW x 8, 345 (belt) x 1 / BW x 12, 315 (belt) x 3 / BW x 12

Just felt awful.

Bench / curl:
135 x 8 / 87 x 8. 185 x 8 / 87 x 12
[ 235 x 8 / 87 x 12 ] x 4