Vacation...

Trap Thursdays!

A much needed break was had from work.The wife and I went to Chicago for a few days. I had not been in that city for ~15 years, so it was 'new'. I got adapt at navigating the bus system, and using an app called "Uber"  which auto-pays and calls taxis, private cars, and SUV's. Between my wife and I signing up, we scored a solid $60 of free cabs.

Observations:This city is expensive as piss... I've never thought in my life "Wow, Starbucks is cheap."  But in Chicago, I did... Combine that with a massive bottled water tax, and all I saw was $4 bottles of water. It's fucking absurd. Boots are a necessity, especially in the slush and snow. I think we walked a total of 15 miles or so just touring the city in sub-zero temperatures. It was pretty sweet...

Hilton ceiling. Pretty swanky hotel.

Yes, I can one handed overhead press 16 tons...

View from the 'gym'.

Lifting

lifting went well this week (week 4), no real issues. Starting to add back in some heavier sets. I still feel a little weak in the squat, and my bench technique, while improving, is still pretty sad.  I deadlifted at the hotel, got yelled at for 'dropping weights'.  I said fuck off, I paid $27 to use this facility for my stay; either refund it or let me finish...  I finished. Not to mention, I ran out of weights... so was doing sets at 300-400...

 

 

   Week 5 lifting:

-9 degree weather made this a rough week. Espeicially combined with my 'conditioning' of shoveling the 30" of snow... 

Squats went poorly. 330 moved slow as shit. and... my camera doesnt function at these temperatures... I did find a bit of benefit that as i descend, I force my knees out. It lets me drop in a straighter pathway and seems to give me good rebound.   We'll see if it continues to hold true.

Bench. 275 top set.   I feel like I should be lifting more than this or at least moving this weight faster/easier... maybe the cold was the cultprit.

Deadlift: It was a warm 31 degrees out that night!  Holy shit, I almost wore shorts... 

Weights moved fine, My knee was was not happy about the sumo deads though, and really, my right knee was not letting me pull equally right to left. This lead me to i feel lean and rely more on my left side to complete the initial part of the pull. 

315 speed single moving fast as shit. 

Top set of sumo... this was followed by 100000 more deadlifts in various forms. I fucked my thumb up bad during one of these torturous things...

Week 6

 This was a VERY cold week... -5 degrees Fahrenheit for most of my sessions... and working a solid 146 hours and counting these last 2 weeks...

This is how I stay so thick despite working 90% of my life in the hospital...  Simply thick!

Squat

Top Set- last of 4 sets at 285

   

Bench

Rep PR by default (225x10? no record of any higher weight for 10 reps... seriously... did I mention I hate reps?)

  

Dead

Last set at 365.  Nice and fast... fucking gloves on an already fat powerbar... someday I'll invest in a deadlift bar... and a safety squat bar... and a GHD... and a reverse hyper... uh... yeah...

Looking forward to a deload week...   Also--> I joined a fitness center... $10/month with Daycare included?   I guess I have no excuse not to do my conditioning anymore... The weight area is not half bad either...  

Something I've noticed being out of the 'gym' environment for the past year +?...  I have some strange body dysmorphic disorder. I swear EVERYONE in that gym is bigger than me. Even these 160lb guys make me go "Man, he has bigger muscles than I do..."

The fuck is wrong with THAT thought...?