defenestrate.org

okay…. so the attempt at migrating to drupal was a bit less than successful –  my brain is hurting too much from my jobs — so i’ll just go back to ye olde familiar wordpress.

going to be out and about for most of the rest of the month, so this will get facelift #1 sometime after labor day.

- N

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i’m usually pretty careful in my surroundings when i’m bartending — no customer likes to have lime juice inadvertently squeezed into their eye, nor having a drink spilled on them. I must have gotten a bit careless on saturday, being grumpy from all the martini-like concoctions and cosmopolitans people were ordering. (emphasis on martini-like: a true martini is 5 parts gin or vodka - preferably gin to one part dry vermouth, served with an olive or a lemon twist — nothing more, nothing else).

so, when i got an order for an amstel lite, I wandered over to the cooler, reached in, and felt a sharp heat across the big knuckle on my left index finger. pulling my hand out, I realized that I was bleeding all over the place. needless to say, I was lucky to have a backup bartender nearby to finish my shift while I went home, cleaned the wound, and bandaged it. the bleeding stopped in 15-20 minutes, something I was grateful for, as going to the ER at 1am on a Saturday night for some potential stitches didn’t seem very fun.

2 days later the cut is healing along nicely, although I still can’t really bend my finger. On the up note, I was told by my regular doctor yesterday that I was up on my tetanus shots, and that I’d be fine. That, and the fact I’ve got the weekend off. Nice to have downtime, but I really did want to pay for the new iPod I bought the other day.

new routines all around. have I mentioned lately that I *hate* doing military presses when my arms are already jell-o?

new routine. painful as usual, especially on the forearms with some of these bicep curls — but i think there’s a fair amount of potential for improvement on this one.

I knew this wasn’t going to be very pleasant, as I really have neglected my legs for a long time… but it was the right decision to add a 3rd day and start working on them in earnest. I’ve always had large hips/thighs/calves, and while adding muscle mass up top was making me more symmetrical, it wasn’t doing much to actually address the whole strength issue.

final blowout day for this routine, so we added a bit more weight. took a bit more than an hour to do the routine, but i was pretty petered out after the combination of the rack pulls and the military presses.

superset a (4 rotations)
neutral grip chinup: BW x10
rack pull: 205lb x10, 225lb x10, 225lb x10, 225lb x10

superset b (4 rotations)
military press: 105lbs x10, 100lbs x10, 100lbs x10, 100lbs x10
upright row: #9 x10

superset c (4 rotations)
cable ball stretcher: #2 x10

cable triceps pull: #2 x10

sit-up w/ oblique twist: 10lbs x10+10

superset d (4 rotations)
overhead triceps pull: #10 x10

bent-over cable row: #12 x10

new routine. painful as usual, especially on the forearms with some of these bicep curls — but i think there’s a fair amount of potential for improvement on this one.

I knew this wasn’t going to be very pleasant, as I really have neglected my legs for a long time… but it was the right decision to add a 3rd day and start working on them in earnest. I’ve always had large hips/thighs/calves, and while adding muscle mass up top was making me more symmetrical, it wasn’t doing much to actually address the whole strength issue.

final blowout day for this routine, so we added a bit more weight. took a bit more than an hour to do the routine, but i was pretty petered out after the combination of the rack pulls and the military presses.

superset a (4 rotations)
decline cable flys: #4 x10
straight bar curls: 80lbs x10

superset b (4 rotations)
decline dumbbell press: 60lbs x10
decline situps: bw x20
reverse-grip EZ curls: 50lbs x10
regular-grip EZ curls: 50lbs x10

superset c (4 rotations)
incline bench press: 115lbs x10

r. incline dumbbell curls: 25lbs x10

superset d (4 rotations)
dips: bw x10

hammer curls: 32.5lbs x10

I knew this wasn’t going to be very pleasant, as I really have neglected my legs for a long time… but it was the right decision to add a 3rd day and start working on them in earnest. I’ve always had large hips/thighs/calves, and while adding muscle mass up top was making me more symmetrical, it wasn’t doing much to actually address the whole strength issue.

final blowout day for this routine, so we added a bit more weight. took a bit more than an hour to do the routine, but i was pretty petered out after the combination of the rack pulls and the military presses.

superset a (4 rotations)
dumbbell box lunges: 25lbs x20
dumbbell hip raises: 50lbs x20

superset b (4 rotations)
good morning deadlifts: 105lbs x10
single leg extensions: #3 x20

superset c (4 rotations)
leg press: 270lbs x20

situps: bw x30

final blowout day for this routine, so we added a bit more weight. took a bit more than an hour to do the routine, but i was pretty petered out after the combination of the rack pulls and the military presses.

superset a (4 rotations)
straight arm lat-pulldown: #12 x10
rack pulls: 205lbs x10, 225lbs x10, 235lbs x10, 225lbs x10

superset b (4 rotations)
military press: 105lbs x10,
lat pulldowns: #11.5 x10

superset c (4 rotations)
reverse flys: 12.5lbs x10
lat raises: 20lbs x10
seated row: #12 x10
leg raises: bw x20

superset d (4 rotations)
overhand tricep pressdown: #10 x10
underhand tricep pressdown: #7 x10
brooklyn press: 35lbs x10

superset a (4 rotations)
decline bench press: 225lbs x10, x10, x10, x7+3
straight bar curl: 80lbs x10

superset b (4 rotations)
3 partial + 1 full dip: bw x12
across-chest hammer curls: 32.5lbs x10

superset c (4 rotations)
1-arm pushup cable fly: #5.5 x10
deep pushups: bw x12
mid-pushup hold: 30 seconds
leg raises: bw x20

not a huge change from last week in terms of performance, although we were able to raise the weights in a few places. progress is coming along nicely with the routine, but i still hate the lat raises / rev flys in the smack middle of the routine.

superset a (4 rotations)
straight arm lat-pulldown: #11.5 x10
rack pulls: 225lbs x10

superset b (4 rotations)
military press: 100lbs x10,
lat pulldowns: #11 x10

superset c (4 rotations)
reverse flys: 12.5lbs x10
lat raises: 20lbs x10
seated row: #12 x10
leg raises: bw x20

superset d (4 rotations)
overhand tricep pressdown: #10 x10
underhand tricep pressdown: #7 x10
brooklyn press: 35lbs x10

After going to a few athletic good stores in search of them, I finally gave up and searched on Amazon, who of course, carried them! Eligible for Prime shipping, even! What, you might ask?

Lifting hooks! These little doo-hickies which remind me of ninja shukos, are designed to attach around your wrists, hooking to the barbell or dumbbell you’re trying to lift/curl/move/etc. It transfers the weight away from your hands/fingers onto your wrists and forearms.

My biggest problem right now in doing exercises like deadlifts and rack pulls is that while my back muscles are fine with the weight, I have a hard time holding on to the bar. These should help a lot.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!