Just a few short days ago, my body was a wreck, my mind a shambles, and my future uncertain. I sit her today energized and in need of something to do. Remarkable what allowing fatigue to dissipate can do for a man’s spirits. I also had my follow up at the VA’s Endocrine Clinic today and was officially released from their care, back to my primary doc. My cholesterol numbers are now so perfect, they are using them as a chart to show other patients what awesome looks like. In fact, when the nurse took my vitals, I looked up at the machine and assumed it was set to some idealistic goal, not my actual results. My blood pressure was 110/72, my O2 saturation was 100%, pulse was 62 BPM and temperature was 98.5. I am in such incredible shape, I stopped at the Circle K on the way home to pick up a pack of Marlboro. I mean I don’t want to live forever!
My training is reaching the end of its long overdue deload and my body is thanking me. I did some easy chest/shoulder/tri movements and was done in a flash. Now that I’ve decided to focus on hypertrophy (I really don’t know what the hell to call it. I’m not a bodybuilder and I can’t even think of a way to use physique in a sentence), I found it easy to lift even lighter weights with some kind of focus. I’ve even convinced myself that deloading every three weeks, which is what is called for in Helms’ template, isn’t too often, since I’m freaking 54 years old. Why shouldn’t I back off every few weeks and then start again? It’s not like I’m going to shrivel up into an atrophied pile of skin and fat stretched over a skeleton because I took the load and volume down a touch for a few days.
The ongoing issue remains my left quad strain, but amazingly, I’ve even told myself that if I can’t squat for a while, I can just do a few leg extensions and focus on hamstring work. This, my friends, is shocking, even to me and I’m the one who thought it. Not squatting if you’re a powerlifter is equivalent to not running if you’re a triathlete. You’re just done. You’re out of the game. Why bother doing anything at all if you’re too lame to squat? I’m also very comfortable with my decision not to deadlift anymore, or at least not to do so with any regularity. As much fun as deadlifting is, it really beats you up. I did 6 sets of only moderately heavy pulls the other day, and the ache in my middle back all night was annoying as hell. The fact is that for hypertrophy or physique improvement or whatever we’re calling it, the deadlift isn’t important or necessary. It’s not a good muscle builder for any of the muscles involved in the deadlifting. It’s an OK hamstring movement, an OK glute movement and an OK back movement, at least for the erector muscles. But it’s not the best movement for any of those muscle groups. The Romanian version of the deadlift blows the doors off the Conventional or Sumo style for development of all those muscles, as does the Good Morning, particularly when done with a Safety Squat Bar. The only reason to deadlift is if you have to deadlift in a competition. Good riddance I say.
Tomorrow will be a brief back and bicep type session, which I may just do in my apartment gym, and then I’ll kick back and take one final off day before starting up what I hope will be a long, enjoyable journey doing something productive in the gym that doesn’t destroy my body in the process.
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