5/11/24
It’s been like 21 months since I worked with the guy, but I was just laughing to myself at our running gag in the kitchen of me pressing his 5’6″ 200ish lb stocky muscular ass of polska genetics overhead by the back of the armpits.
It was a significant show of real world strength for me. The first time I pressed him he came down laughing unable to finish a sentence saying stuff like “I can’t believe you just manhandled me as if I was a wee babe – I’m not small”.
And friends that is why there are weight classes.
It too is why in professional wrestling picking another man up overhead is a show of force, a show of dominance…
My dad’s coworkers at his labor job are ballpark my age, speaking with him the other day he was saying something about “alpha males” and I laughed “you’ve been talking too much with your coworkers haven’t you – the dudes are all roughly my age right”…
Yep.
One dude he worked with recently is like 6’3″ low 300s and coming down. Dude says he feels so much more able to move – had been in the 400s, fully 100+ lbs heavier at his heaviest.
Whereas in the past I worked with a guy who was like 6’2″, at least 280lbs who showed me a pic that vaguely looked like him but two or so years earlier – all jowls and shit…at, I think he said his top weight was, 450lbs working in a school, before moving and getting into a physical job.
Dude might not have worked out, but you could tell he was strong on the fact he was on his feet all day working, able to carry himself like that, and his thighs + calves had a lean sumo wrestler type development.
I’ve been reflecting lately on my having been just a handful of pounds under 300lbs just under a year ago – thinking to myself that certain muscles as I loose weight will show that I’m not walking around at my peak weight class.
I think the limbs show maximum development while the torso shrinks down to accomplish current weight.
My buddy, starved down in depression years back – from a strong 6’1” 240lbs down to like 165lbs – he still had biceps, thighs, glutes, and once he got part time work, reentered the gym, and upped from 1500 to 3500 calories (basically eating clean the entire time – yes even at peak conspiracy theory reading, netflix binging, couch sleeping on depression) he was back to 235lbs or so in a few months, looked like a pale gorilla in the low 250s a few months of bulking after that.
I’m pretty excited about this stage of my journey.
Daily soccer ball dribbling, brief daily walks, and daily though rather unstructured kettlebell training – random other stuff there, but not too much, and just seeing where I end up.
My arms are looking good, particularly forearms which are hypertrophied.
My torso looks tighter.
My upper back and shoulders both are knarly. Certain stimulus definitely adds to my traps…
I think what I notice most is on camera that my glutes are much more muscularly thick, off camera that my quads are far more dense though only a small bit smaller.
The kettlebell does amazing things – develop it into your own habit.
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thinkin bout you – dustin lynch ft lauren alaina
Tearing up man, tearing up – it’d have that effect if it was going while I lift on camera.
Pushups :
5×5 strict, fairly quickly – 2:00 or 3:00 minisession to the above song then drink some cherry pepsi post workout
…..
I feel like whether it’s an overhead press or not that each day I should do some movement high volume, in bodybuilding parlance a “day”.
•one arm rows
•c&p
•one arm snatch
•swings
•dkb
•deadlift
•burpees
•reverse curls
•curls
There was a time where I did both squat every day, trained full body, and trained a body part split with my training partner.
I call the body three categories; push, pull, legs, and want at least two, and preferably three categories done in the session.
Simply I’d do leg day, back day, and shoulder day with him, tacking on a little bit of the other two as he was doing some exercises I didn’t care to bother with or he was on the elliptical to end.
Arm day I’d skip half of both the triceps and biceps exercises he did, and do like squats, pullups, incline press during.
It worked well.
The daily full body session with volume on one part, minimal on the other parts, with which is what rotating is a way I enjoyed to train.
“The full body body part split.”
I “should” be doing something like this with a focus on an exercise, mostly but not exclusively one from on the list above, in addition to my minimal full body.
Heck, I’ve already a by feel rotation of how much soccer ball, walking, and lifting goes into each day.
A real lazy, minimal, just get the bare minimum in session is 5:00 of soccer ball, about a half mile walk, and one set of kettlebell pressing.
Yet too I could spend hours of my day, every spare moment really, at some combination of walk/soccer ball/lift.
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pizza and cherry pepsi
soccer ball on video (some of it) – also took shots on goal and then had the extra walking of the chase (no netting), five pullups (carried solely by kettlebell – fairly easy considering haven’t done any in a while – it’ll improve by increased kettlebell performance), walk
here here
VIDEO EDIT
more soccer ball (now barefoot at home)
it’s harder to control barefoot – requires a more sensitive touch, more control both to calibrate harder and lighter
pizza, buttered toast, honey roasted peanuts, cherry pepsi
my weekend cheat really could be simply some baked beans, buttered toast, honey roasted peanuts, milk, maybe some rice – pretty much clean wholesome foods but with carbs
there is the idea to simply enjoy whatever is on the plate in front of you, to cherish it all
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did two kettlebell minisessions after dark
presses and swings with the 24kg
if you dropped the $500 to $600 on a pair of up to 32kg adjustable kettlebells you could train a very long time with those
it may sound funny, but I feel more wiry of arms – it’s the kettlebell – mostly using the adjustable bell set to 24kg I really see how that kettlebell wth effect exists – a few pullups without issue, every kettlebell session tends to dip into the conditioning zone, while it’s training full body anyway – that’s not to be underestimated – I wonder what I’m going to look like in three months, four months, six months – it’s gonna be good, why…cause I’m consistent, and there’s little that stops me from doing any of my daily habit things
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might as well lift barefoot as often as possible
I’ve been rather enjoying half my time on the grass being in the grass
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Pushups :
x25, x30, x15
great seconds to midnight pump
Persistence & Tenacity