I even lift, bro. in The Napkin.

I gave myself permission not to lift today. Slept as long as I felt comfortable. Still ate my oatmeal, because oatmeal is healthy whether you’re on your deathbed or a healthy 29 year old.

Actually, my thighs are mostly muscle. When I see girls with tiny thighs, I think OH MY GOD YOU NEED A CHEESEBURGER. Oh, they look healthy and beautiful, but still. I couldn’t have tiny thighs if I wanted; I don’t want tiny thighs.

Have I mentioned I’m kind of doing 30 sets of calf raises a week? Five sets seated, five sets straight on the leg press, 3 times a week. 5x2x3=30. I haven’t done calf raises with such volume or frequency before. Fat chance I could get a “before picture” if I tried. But I will say I judge guys with tiny calves. Do you even lift, bro?

After all, given that I wear shorts a lot, my calves are always exposed. EXPOSED. NAKED. VULNERABLE.

Ya know, for years I bought into the “just focus on strength and big compounds.” Never really got me looking great. Good, maybe. Not great. Maybe it’s just a psychological thing, but I’d swear I feel different since adding more isolation. I can’t even say focusing, as my upper days are nearly an hour before I start doing isolation work. I figure if I just keep at it, it’ll do SOMETHING.

Like… So, I work in a kitchen. I have to use tongs to grab pans on a regular basis. When I started, phew, I could feel it in my left forearm. Grab it at the edge, then raise it up over my head. Dozens of times a day. Now? Don’t feel it at all. Granted, this is my forearm, so I don’t SEE a difference. But the strength difference is there.

Sometimes I get caught in the minutiae. One rep here, three reps there added. But it’s not just one rep, one set, or one workout. It’s the last day of the month and I’ve accumulated… 25 lifting sessions this month. I’M INSANE. So glad I broke that rule of “rest after two days in a row”.

It’s that if I keep this up for another month or two, phew. And I know I’m not posting numbers right now, but I’m adding an inordinate amount of reps per session. I know what I usually progress, and this is faster than usual. That whole “oh, rest, and you’ll come back stronger” hasn’t really worked for me.

Gosh, this is turning into just me talking about lifting stuff. Whatever. At least it’ll be nice to look back upon.

What was I actually going to say? Oh right. Main lift, deadlift, 10x3 @ 255 lbs, one minute rest periods. And I feel more energetic right now than I did yesterday. (Though, I did lay down for 90 minutes.) I wonder if my frazzled state yesterday was just recovering from my squat day two days ago.

Oh, and my last set of deadz today still had good speed, so I’m going to increase another 10 lbs next week. I had to talk myself out of ramping to three plates today. I’m recovering BECAUSE I’m NOT destroying my CNS.

But yeah, next two workouts aren’t as taxing, so I’ll be fine tomorrow and Saturday. Lifting six days a week. Ha ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha!

(I might ease up next week as a reward. Or do something a little different before continuing to the “next week”. We’ll see.)