A Tale Told by an Idiot

[EricK]

What if I told you that G and B7 were almost the same chord?

I haven't told you enough how much I love you.

I'm tempted to just play Save Tonight and take credit for learning to sing and play another (fun) song just because it's an easy 4 chord song...

[MailmanMuscle]

I don’t know anything about playing guitar, but I love that you include your practice of it in your training log. It’s cool to get insight into the people behind the numbers in these training logs.

Thank you! Welcome to the forum (again) and I look forward to your journey to competing and squatting 500 at 50! (I'd love to hit 500, maybe we can work on that together, although I suspect your way ahead.)

I have no idea what my squat 1RM is at the moment. I haven’t competed in over 2 years (Nov. 2021), but I was still over the mark back then (501.6). It has to be lower at the moment due to the lift being detrained, and lower bodyweight. But once I get back on that powerlifting grind, I’ll be glad to buddy up with you on it.

[EricK]

Fri, 1/19/24

197.7

Guitar:
1:00, but it wasn't very focused. Went through Save Tonight a few times, Times Like These, Fire and Rain and some more practice with G to B7. I'll probably have some time later today to get some decent practice in.

Front squat:
135 x 8
190 x 5 x 3

Press:
140 x 5 x 3

Deadlift:
225 x 8
295 x 5 x 3

Really dragging ass this morning.

I have no idea what my squat 1RM is at the moment. I haven’t competed in over 2 years (Nov. 2021), but I was still over the mark back then (501.6). It has to be lower at the moment due to the lift being detrained, and lower bodyweight. But once I get back on that powerlifting grind, I’ll be glad to buddy up with you on it.

Hopefully in the time it takes you to complete your BB goal and recover, I can get back into lifting shape myself. My best squat is 446 at 181 (24 hr weigh in, so actually 190-something).

[EricK]

I did have more time for practice. I played through the A Horse With No Name solo quite a lot. I got it a few times and my fretting hand is pretty tired.

[KarlM]

Unsolicited guitar practice advice incoming. When you’re ready to bring finger picking in, look up some videos on Travis picking. It’s approachable and interesting enough to take your singing/playing to the next level.

[mgil]

Can I be the walnut?

[MailmanMuscle]

I have no idea what my squat 1RM is at the moment. I haven’t competed in over 2 years (Nov. 2021), but I was still over the mark back then (501.6). It has to be lower at the moment due to the lift being detrained, and lower bodyweight. But once I get back on that powerlifting grind, I’ll be glad to buddy up with you on it.

Hopefully in the time it takes you to complete your BB goal and recover, I can get back into lifting shape myself. My best squat is 446 at 181 (24 hr weigh in, so actually 190-something).

Sounds like a plan. And that’s a damned good squat too.

[EricK]

Unsolicited guitar practice advice incoming. When you’re ready to bring finger picking in, look up some videos on Travis picking. It’s approachable and interesting enough to take your singing/playing to the next level.

All advice/discussion welcome! Thank you. I did a bit of finger picking last year, that was my general focus because it just genuinely like it. I played a lot of songs like Dust in the Wind, Tears in Heaven, Blackbird, See You Again, Landslide. I think you're right that I should practice Travis picking as a recurring exercise more; I'll keep that in mind.

Can I be the walnut?

You're always my little butt walnut.

I have no idea what my squat 1RM is at the moment. I haven’t competed in over 2 years (Nov. 2021), but I was still over the mark back then (501.6). It has to be lower at the moment due to the lift being detrained, and lower bodyweight. But once I get back on that powerlifting grind, I’ll be glad to buddy up with you on it.

Hopefully in the time it takes you to complete your BB goal and recover, I can get back into lifting shape myself. My best squat is 446 at 181 (24 hr weigh in, so actually 190-something).

Sounds like a plan. And that’s a damned good squat too.

Thank you! Makes me think how hard it's gonna be!

[mgil]

[EricK]

Mon, 1/22/24

202.5

Squat:
135 x 8, 225 x 5
255 x 5 x 3

Bench:
135 x 12, 185 x 5
205 x 5 x 4

RDL:
245 x 8 x 3

No guitar this morning because I'm...not very disciplined.

ETA:
Felt like a dirtbag so I practiced the solo from A Horse With No Name and the G to B7 transition for 20-30 minutes.

[EricK]

Tue, 1/23/24

200

Guitar:
2:00
-A Horse With No Name solo
-Like a Stone
-Learning to Fly
-Fire and Rain
-Carolina in My Mind

[EricK]

Wed, 1/24/24

200

Guitar:
0:45
-still working through learning Carolina in My Mind, I think I've just about got the intro down (although I'm not super consistent, so I'll still need to drill it), working on the chorus

I should get back to Sitting On the Dock of the Bay, but this song is fun...

Front squat:
135 x 8
185 x 8 x 3

Press:
95 x 12
Density set, 10 min w/ 135 (EMOM except last minute):
3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 = 25 reps

Deadlift (all DOH):
225 x 8, 275 x 5
305 x 5 x 3

[EricK]

Thu, 1/25/24

197.9

Guitar:
2:00
-warmup with 10 min spider exercise, C major scale and the interlude at 92bpm
-Sitting On the Dock of the Bay practice mostly focused on G to B7. @augeleven helpfully suggested a method to make the transition smoother and it has helped (so, thanks again). The main problem is that my ring finger tends to lag and also either mutes the B string or the D string because the tip of my ring finger is pretty wide, round and supple (wink wink).
-Also practiced Learning to Fly because my transitions can be a bit sloppy (especially from G to Fmaj7). It's not anything that I'm stuck on, just drilling for consistency.
-Finished with some more work on Carolina in My Mind and Fire and Rain

My goal this year is to expand my playlist of songs I can sing and play, so I realize that I should focus my practice a little better, picking a couple exercises and one song at a time. I'm pretty sure that I can get Sitting On the Dock of the Bay this week or next if I just focus on it a little better. Hope that doesn't sound negative in any way because I'm honestly pretty happy with my recent progress. The ability to play and sing a song at the same time started last year and took a while to come together even though when it finally did happen with Like a Stone it felt like a sudden revelation.

[EricK]

Fri, 1/26/24

198.6

Guitar:
2:00
-refining songs I know (Like a Stone, Learning to Fly, Save Tonight)
-working Sitting On the Dock of the Bay
-playing with Fire and Rain, Carolina in My Mind and Wildflowers

Squat:
135 x 8, 225 x 5, 275 x 2, 295 x 1, 315 x 1
265 x 5 x 3
225 x 8 x 2

Bench:
135 x 12, 185 x 8
210 x 5 x 4

RDL:
245 x 8 x 3

[EricK]

Mon, 1/29/24

202.9

Guitar:
1:30
-started with Learning to Fly; easy song, recently learned but I trip up sometimes on the chord sequence, especially from G to Fmaj7. Not bad enough to tank the whole song but noticeable. I also blank a little on the lyrics of the last chorus.
-majority of the time I worked on Sitting On the Dock of the Bay; I get the B7 transition ~90% of the time now, even manage to transition with a push (on the & of 4, rather than on beat 1) for both B7 and A. I did a few playthroughs and tried playing along to a video. I sort of lost it in the middle but did ok. I ended up running through a loop of chorus-bridge-verse because I wanted to practice each part plus the transition from 8th notes to 16ths in the bridge. I think it went well.
-to give myself a little break I also played/sang Like a Stone and played through Times Like These along to a tutorial video.
Thanks again to @augeleven for the practice advice.

Front squat:
135 x 8
185 x 8 x 3

Press:
135 x 5, 145 x 5 x 2

Deadlift:
225 x 8
315 x 5 x 2 (o/u)
DOH hold, 315 15-ct

[EricK]

Tue, 1/30/24

Guitar:

1:30
-good session; started with some songs I know, transitioned to Sitting On the Dock of the Bay

Had a bit of an anxiety attack (?) just now at work. Not the first time, but it was really intense and harder to shake off than usual. Instigating incident was typically mundane: missing a meeting I scheduled because I forgot to check my calendar this morning. Some unfortunately familiar though remarkably unpleasant thoughts ensued. Mostly settled but very drained. Cool beans.

[EricK]

Wed, 1/31/24

201.7

Guitar:
1:00
-warmed up with Learning to Fly and Like a Stone
-spent most of the time working on Sitting On the Dock of the Bay. Feeling pretty good about it. I switched from fairly simplistic strumming to a little more "funky" slap-mute strum on beat 2. It took a little practice to do that and push every other chord transition but I got there. I even think I have a decent handle on a fun little opening riff. I played along to a video and could sing some of the lyrics (mainly only at the beginning of a measure).
-took a break part way through with Save Tonight

My wife bought me a build your own ukulele kit that I assembled last recently. I'm looking at trying to learn Lava (a song story depicted in a short movie on Disney) because it's a nice little (simple) song that the whole family sings along to in the car.

Squat:
135 x 8, 225 x 8
275 x 5 x 3

Bench:
135 x 12, 185 x 8
215 x 5 x 4

Notes:
One more training day left to take credit for the first part of my resolution goals. Thinking about moving to 4x a week for 6 weeks or so. At a reasonable progression I still won't be at PR levels but I'll be back in range of decent numbers at least. I don't want to commit to anything long term yet, I just want to make sure I keep training. I just have to remember that sticking to something will leave me better than I was even if I can't reliably predict or control what that looks like.

[DanCR]

My wife bought me a build your own ukulele kit that I assembled last recently. I'm looking at trying to learn Lava (a song story depicted in a short movie on Disney) because it's a nice little (simple) song that the whole family sings along to in the car.

That was positively fucking heartwarming. (Not joking.)

[EricK]

My wife bought me a build your own ukulele kit that I assembled last recently. I'm looking at trying to learn Lava (a song story depicted in a short movie on Disney) because it's a nice little (simple) song that the whole family sings along to in the car.

That was positively fucking heartwarming. (Not joking.)

The story or the song?

[DanCR]

My wife bought me a build your own ukulele kit that I assembled last recently. I'm looking at trying to learn Lava (a song story depicted in a short movie on Disney) because it's a nice little (simple) song that the whole family sings along to in the car.

That was positively fucking heartwarming. (Not joking.)

The story or the song?

Haha the story. Given my musical leanings, I didn’t check out the song, but I’ve got a real long drive to male later so perhaps I’ll check it out.