Entry #581

In the hour and a half of free time I have before class, I've been waiting in the campus library and reading The Old Man and the Sea, which is rivaled in being badass only by "He smashed his fist into her solar plexus" 1984 and the book which boasts a plot climax of Montag melting his boss with a flamethrower, Fahrenheit 451. In this one, the old man reminisces about the time he had a two-day arm wrestling match, with blood seeping out from each's fingernails and the referees having eight-hour shifts so the other could go to sleep. He also got pissed at a Portugese Man o' War and called it a "whore", just because he felt like it. Who hasn't, I ask. But I had to leave the library because I was laughing too loud.

DE upper

Speed bench:
10 x 3     185 lbs.
> Great drive. Have been utilizing some form reminders from Pavel's The Naked Warrior. It's about calisthenics, but the chapters on tension have great application to powerlifting. Tear the bar apart, keep shoulders tight but low (that was new to me; I've been shrugging them), curl toes into the floor, and kill all infidels.

Olympic bar skullcrushers:
1 x 8     135 lbs.
2 x 8     140 lbs.
> These rule. I have to clean the weight up, hold it in position while I scoot forward, and lie down with it, which disturbs the noodle kegs standing around and watching the television next to me. Finishing off, I sit-up with the weight on my chest, ramming it into the pins. It's the breakfast of champions.

Cable pressdowns:
4 x 8     150 lbs.
> These do not rule.

Weighted pull-ups:
1 x 8     45 lbs.
1 x 7     45 lbs.
2 x 5     45 lbs.

Bilateral dumbbell curls:
1 x 8     40 lb. dumbbells
1 x 5     40 lb. dumbbells
1 x 5     40 lb. dumbbells
> One rep better than last time. The muscles get so pumped at this point that it's extra resistance to push my forearm up into the engorged bicep. Maybe I can get them to explode. That would be an awesome PR.

Went to the track at night and did a shadowbox/jump-rope circuit. I figured out that I've been holding the rope too narrow, which is why I could never do any fancy cross-through tricks or anything. Also did some gymnastic stuff on the pull-up bars, but not without protest from my arms.