Let's try this again. in Exerbabble III
- Feb. 24, 2015, 11:24 a.m.
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- Public
Going to try something different for a change, in terms of how I post.
It’s unfortunate that I can’t just go to the gym without some mental plan. I need to feel like I’m doing something, or going somewhere with it. I compensated for that by using really light weights. It takes longer for muscle to atrophy than we think. My strength will come back quickly. But metabolically, I know I’m quite terrible right now. Maybe metabolic isn’t the right term.
Like, I could have gone way heavier on deadlifts. I also could have probably done more on the top set. But I’m stronger than my body can handle, if that makes any sense. I’m normally pretty winded after a top set, but today I almost fainted. THAT is why I started light. Given a month, I should be back where I was before. That alone will be self-motivating.
Hard to believe a single vacation would absolutely wreck my lifting streak. Time off doesn’t suit me.
It’s unfortunate that I had to use coffee pre-workout. But after I broke myself of coffee over that week off, I just couldn’t get going in the morning. I’d rather have a slight caffeine addiction and be lifting, then not lifting at all. I was THIS close to breaking all my personal bests. I can’t express how frustrating that is, especially knowing the longer I stayed away, the longer it would take to “come back”. And that frustration lead me to not want to lift.
I’m at a point where the physical health will help the mental health. Even if it takes a billion starts and failures, I have to keep trying.
Fawkes Gal ⋅ February 24, 2015
Nearly fainted? That doesn't sound good. You write interesting Bs and 4s.
Timmy™ Fawkes Gal ⋅ February 24, 2015
My B's end up looking like 13's at times. My 4's would look like 9's if I did it the way this "4" looks.
It's normal to feel light-headed after a heavy pull, but this was FAR more than usual. I'll know I'm back to normal when I can pull heavy without being so close to fainting. It's about building up a tolerance and getting everything involved stronger.
Fawkes Gal Timmy™ ⋅ February 24, 2015
If you don't mind mind asking, where did you learn all this stuff about weight-lifting and exercising? My exercising seems so half-assed compared to yours. I just do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and if I feel stiff or sore in the morning, I figure I'm doing something right.
Timmy™ Fawkes Gal ⋅ February 24, 2015
The internet? There's only a handful of "premade" workouts that I've given a full effort to. Offhand, "Home Grown Muscle", some modules from The New Rules of Lifting book, Starting Strength book, and the 5/3/1 e-book. You do enough variations of implementation, and you notice what they have in common, what you like, what you don't like, and what's critical to continue making progress. I used to spend HOURS a day relaxing while reading endless forum posts and articles online. I don't really anymore, because I really just need to kind of do it.
I'm at a point intellectually and strength-wise where I HAVE to have a plan or it feels like an utter waste of time. I literally can't do a bunch of random stuff. I know too much. This is part of what's so frustrating. I already know what to do. And I know the level of effort required to get there. It's freaking daunting. I miss when doing kind of semi-random exercises week-to-week would still yield some version of progress. Now each week needs to build on the last. Each month builds on the previous. I make tweaks here and there, but it's intelligent tweaks. That's why missing the gym for this long messed with my head. Because I wanted to come back near where I left off, with logical backcycled weights that I could easily progress from. Now I need to work back up to where I was before I can even move forward. Lifting's hard, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Half the reason I don't like cardio is I don't get the sense of progress out of it. The other half is I physically hate doing cardio. : D