For Your Health (a hunk's log)

[broseph]

4/9/22

We drove the kids down to Florida to visit my brother and have a little spring break. I was able to lift at his globo gym this morning.

Bench 275x4x4

Squat 315x4x4

Pullups BW x3x10

EZ Curls
French Press
DB Lateral Raises

Should be enough to stave off the atrophy while I sit around eating and drinking. Though to be honest, my real goal is avoiding crippling DOMS when I get back home.

[broseph]

I’ve decided to stop online logging. When I lifted at home, I was writing in real time with random thoughts and comments, which made it fun.

Now that I’m at a gym, I take a picture of that day’s session from my paper log (which I’ve always kept) and transcribe it online. The process no longer adds value.

I’ll still keep up with the rest of the forum, but…

This is my last (log) post.

#shuggybear #drama #goodluckwithyourlogging

[mgil]

@broseph, I hope things are in good order otherwise. Stay swole.

[augeleven]

I’ve decided to stop online logging. When I lifted at home, I was writing in real time with random thoughts and comments, which made it fun.

Now that I’m at a gym, I take a picture of that day’s session from my paper log (which I’ve always kept) and transcribe it online. The process no longer adds value.

I’ll still keep up with the rest of the forum, but…

This is my last (log) post.

#shuggybear #drama #goodluckwithyourlogging

100% better ending than Lost. Keep us updated on your eternal struggle with the gym douche guy though…

[Renascent]

I’ve decided to stop online logging.

Well, shit.

As was said above, hope all's in order otherwise. Would be cool to see you logging online again if you resume sessions at home.

[alek]

I guess I know where I'll be posting all my #dadlife stories now.

[Renascent]

Will we still get musings?

[broseph]

@mgil, @augeleven, @Renascent, @alek,

uguise, everything's fine. I'm just super lazy and don't feel like typing what I've already written down. But thank you for the support and one last little bit of log bulk. I will cherish it.

Truth be told, I might occasionally log big fitness events like 1RM's, Murph's, CF Open, gym douche encounters, etc for my own reference.

Regarding the musings, I might have to take out an advertisement section in the local newspaper, à la Peggy Hill.

[alek]

#dadlife

Yesterday evening I had my first dad vs. dad altercation after I asked/yelled at a boy to stop kicking at my son. We were at a local park with a playground for my daughter's Girl Scouts meeting, and it was near the end of the meeting and everyone was playing, including my son, the Girl Scouts, and a bunch of random, local kids. I'm standing under a pavilion keeping an eye on my kids--my son is at my 10 o'clock near the swings, and my daughter is at my 2 o'clock on a playset. They're both about 30 feet away from me. All the Girl Scouts moms are also under the pavilion milling about and chatting. Another guy that I'd never seen before was also under the pavilion talking to one of the GS moms.

My son gets off a swing and starts to run/play around the swings while some other older kids come by and start to swing. We've talked to him several times about not running amongst the swings when he's not actively swinging so that he doesn't get hit by one. Well, he starts to do exactly that again, but the older kids are being careful. I'm mulling over whether I should go over and correct him, but he seems to start walking away from the swings. However, he turns around to head back to the swings, and another boy approaches him as if to stop him from running amongst the swings, which is fine. Regardless, I turn into the Eye of Sauron since this other boy is twice as big as my son, and I want to ensure the interaction is fine. At first, the older boy just prevents my son from going towards the swings, which, again, is fine, but after he stops my son from moving towards the swings, he starts to spin in front of my son. He does this for a couple revolutions and then starts to swing his foot out at my son as if he's going to kick him. He does this once or twice and then plants his left leg into the ground and performs a trained and practiced roundhouse kick at my son's head. Thankfully, while he started to spin and kick, my son had taken a couple steps back away from him; otherwise, he would have been kicked in the head or face by this boy. After the first roundhouse, he steps toward my son and plants for another kick. I rush over, get in between my son and the boy, and yell, "Please do not kick at my son again!" Without another step towards the boy or another word to him, I turn around, grab my son my the hand, say, "Let's go," and we walk back to the pavilion. The boy mutters, "Okay" or "Sorry" as we walk.

Turns out that the guy under the pavilion talking to a GS mom that I'd never seen before was the other boy's father. He's walking in our direction towards his son and asks something like, "Do we have a problem?" I respond, "No, but he was kicking at my son," and we keep walking. We get back under the pavilion, and I just stand there with my son by my side trying not to lose my shit. The dad comes back, and we get into it. I repeat that he had performed a roundhouse kick at my son's head. He starts talking about how we should teach kids to learn how to handle their differences themselves. I agree, but repeat that his son kicked at my son's face. He then says that his son was just trying to keep mine from running into the swings. I say that yes, I saw that, and that's fine. But then he kicked at my son's head. He then says that his son is only 7 years old and is now crying. I say that my son is only 4 years old and your son kicked at his head.

It was around this point where he starts to size me up physically, and I think to myself, "Would you like to know why weight classes are a thing?" However, I can see him mentally decide not to go there. He says one more thing about the subject, but I just simply repeated that his son performed a roundhouse kick at my son's face. He says to his son that they're going to leave, and they leave. Not once did he even acknowledge that his son threatened or enacted violence towards my son. He seemed to think that I, the father of a 4 year old boy, should stand aside as another boy twice his size and age threatens or enacts violence upon him in the name of letting them work it out. I don't fucking think so.

I'd bet that was not the first time he had done that to another kid.

[JohnHelton]

@alek Well handled, Dad.

[alek]

alek Well handled, Dad.

Thanks, John. It was pretty surreal.

[EricK]

alek Well handled, Dad.

Thanks, John. It was pretty surreal.

You always make it weird when I call you daddy...

But, yeah, I think you handled that well considering what a wacky situation it was...glad your boy didn't take a roundhouse to the face...

[alek]

You always make it weird when I call you daddy...

That's because you always use that little girl voice.

But, yeah, I think you handled that well considering what a wacky situation it was...glad your boy didn't take a roundhouse to the face...

Thanks. I shudder to think if he'd actually been kicked...

[broseph]

Dude… @alek, at first I thought you were joking about this becoming the dad blog, but holy shit. I got pretty riled up just reading that.

I can never tell if people like that are acting irrationally because they’re riled up and fight/flighty, or if they are actually just irrational people. Sounds like you did the right thing at every choice point.

When I rehearse situations like this in my head, I picture myself being cool and collected. But in real life, sometimes I just see red. I really don’t know how to stop my brain from bypassing my own higher functions.

[alek]

Dude… alek, at first I thought you were joking about this becoming the dad blog, but holy shit. I got pretty riled up just reading that.

I was not expecting anything like that to be the first entry, but that's the world we live in apparently.

I can never tell if people like that are acting irrationally because they’re riled up and fight/flighty, or if they are actually just irrational people. Sounds like you did the right thing at every choice point.

I definitely when into fight mode--tunnel vision, loss of situational awareness outside of intervening. It took me a couple seconds to remember where I was and why after getting back under the pavilion, but it's weird that I have such a vivid memory of the "scene" before I rushed over.

I still have only guesses as to why the dad never once would acknowledge, deny, or say anything about actions his son took. The closest he got was saying that his son was just trying to keep my son away from the swings. Like it was a car accident, and he didn't want to admit fault.

When I rehearse situations like this in my head, I picture myself being cool and collected. But in real life, sometimes I just see red. I really don’t know how to stop my brain from bypassing my own higher functions.

I'm honestly amazed I didn't rage scream at the dad. I definitely wasn't speaking to him in a whisper, but I wasn't shouting either.

[broseph]

5/14/22

Dear Diary,

I'm back to lifting at home. CrossFit can suck it.

I gave CrossFit a pretty honest attempt, but I just can't force myself to care about it. My goal was to see if I could be decent in The Open (February), and after 5 months of training I placed in the top 41%. This just barely met my definition of decent, though I was expecting to do worse.

I thought I'd train another whole year and see how good I could get, but I just don't care. I like being strong, looking good, and being healthy. I don't like feeling like I'm going to die, and I don't like trying to be super cereal about 20 different aspects of athleticism.

Maybe I'll get more interested in the fall, after all my summer projects. That would be fine. Or maybe not; that would also be fine.

For now, I'm running Montana Method sessions wherever they fit; hoping to preserve strength and size while building an above ground pool and associated deck and several other odd jobs around the house while also working extra because I think things are going to change at my place of work soon and I should make extra while there's extra to be made.

For your update.

[JohnHelton]

I did crossfit before powerlifting. I came to the same conclusion. It kinda sucked after awhile. I realized that I just enjoyed the pure strength stuff. There was just way too much silly stuff that only served to make you tired / get your heart rate up. And I don't believe it is necessary to redline your HR that often.

[broseph]

I did crossfit before powerlifting. I came to the same conclusion. It kinda sucked after awhile. I realized that I just enjoyed the pure strength stuff. There was just way too much silly stuff that only served to make you tired / get your heart rate up. And I don't believe it is necessary to redline your HR that often.

Right? I think some time should be spent doing actual WOD's and feeling like your actually going to die, but not much.

I tried to be intelligent about programming, where I kept strength, cardio, and skill work mostly separate all while rolling my eyes about whatever WOD the rest of the gym was doing that day and how sore and beat up they all were from yesterday's WOD. In fact, part of my goal was to be better than most of the gym members at CrossFit while not actually doing CrossFit (succeeded).

Even still, I just can't make myself care about it as a sport anymore. Every sport is arbitrary and pointless, but CF seems to really take the cake. Especially with the way it's organized and the inconsistency with judging and drugs. Being better than the locals at a thing is no longer motivating.

[Renascent]

So, like, did you say your goodbyes? Or did you kinda silently decide in secret, "Eh, fuck this," and stop going?

[broseph]

So, like, did you say your goodbyes? Or did you kinda silently decide in secret, "Eh, fuck this," and stop going?

It's not a huge gym, and the few people (mostly women) I purposely interact with will be seen socially outside of the gym (via my wife).

I feel a little grief about this one younger dude who's always asking me nutritional and lifting questions. I've helped him with programming for the big lifts and stuff and I always spot him when it comes time to test 1RM's. Just another casualty of my pathology to go 110% into a thing only to completely pull out at a moment's notice.