Dead Lift / Dead Tired... *Shrug*

Today I had to go out to a far away food store to get coffee and extra virgin olive oil as the one in Fukui went bankrupt. We cannot find the coffee or the oil at the prices they offer in that direct import store. On my way back I went to Relaim and buckled down to do my "heavy workout". I noted that the last time I was there was on 4/28 so it has been two weeks. I should have gone a week ago, but with my cold last week I didn't want to push it. Also I have been doing more cycling, and a fair bit of pilates recently which kind of keeps me away from the gym, and away from these "big workouts".

In all honestly, I am not a fan of exercising indoors when the weather is fine; I would much rather be out on my bike to tell the truth. So usually during the good weather seasons (like May, June, July, September, October) I spend more time logging elevation, and less time logging kilograms.

But as my workout sessions now are about one week apart from each other (A, B, A, B spread apart by a week each) I get back to each muscle group every two weeks. That's just about right considering the weight I do impacts greatly the frequency at which I can successfully perform it.

I stopped working on my machine at home for several reasons:

1. As I no longer needed to go to the gym, I didn't have any opportunities to meet with anybody at all, and I got pretty damn lonely with no outside communication.
2. The machine forced me to work out with greater and greater gaps between so that I was about at a month between workouts. This had a negative impact on my strength, but I was still too tired to become stronger. Also, my full range of movement decreased dramatically so I went back to the gym and started a hybrid program which seems to work quite well for me.

Today was Workout B day which included a lot of heavy leg work on the machines as well as my dead lifts, and shrugs. Because I am at such insanely heavy loads, it is imperative I focus completely on my task at hand, and am 100% present in what I do. The slightest break from that concentration, the slightest eye movement off to the side.. and well, I hurt my jaw back a month and a half ago and it took several weeks to finaly stop being locked at a funny angle in the morning.

I went to my dentist and got fitted for a custom mouth piece which will probably be ready some time this week. The mouthpiece itself will only cost JPY 5,000 (about USD $50), and the time at the dentist cost me a measly JPY 700 (USD $7.00). Insurance will not cover the soft mouthpiece, but it did cover the visit. I just dropped in, and didn't even have to wait! I love Japanese health care!

Here is a photo I took in the gym today right before I started on this, the heaviest part of my workout.

The large plates are 20kg each ((44lbs), the bar is also 20kg. Medium plates are 10kg ea (22lbs), and so on. Total weight is 205kg (451lbs) for my three sets of dead lifts, and three sets of shrugs.

I had to cut back to this weight as I found that 210kg was jussssst beyond my limit. I tapered back to 200kg for a few sessions, and then worked my way back up to 205kg today.

This heavy workout is what wipes me out for about five days after doing it and why I considered trying the BCAAs. Today I did not take the BCAAs for two reasons: the first being that I did not eat a large lunch and had the insulin started coursing during the workout I would have gotten the "so hungry I could puke" feeling that I felt it would distract me from my task at hand. Secondly, I want to see how my recovery is after this workout. I can tell you that during the workout I started yawning, and now I am having trouble staying awake. This doesn't happen with BCAAs as recovery is very rapid and the extra energy it gives is phenomenal. But we will see how I feel tomorrow, and if I am up to pilates or not.

I did go to McDonald's and eat four cheeseburgers (tossed all but one bottom bun) and two cups of delicious Premium Roast coffee for a whopping total of JPY 500 (USD $5.00).

I love you!

Rip van Cam-El