Monday’s workout
No workout to log for today since it’s Thursday. I’ve been doing full body sessions on a M/W/F schedule, and didn’t have time to log this on Monday.
Compound Lifts
• Kettlebell walking lunges: Out and back x 4, alternating between right front rack, left front rack, and one-arm overhead position.
Hot Take: Overhead walking lunges should count as cardio!
• T-Bar Row: 3 x 10, 8, 8 (I’m now using more than twice as much weight as I used when we shot the vids for this article)
• Seated Chest Press: 3 x 15, 10, 8
Pump Work
• Arnold Press: 3 x 8-10
• Bent Over Dumbbell Flye: 3 x 12
• EZ-Bar Bicep Curl: 3 x failure
• Tricep Pushdown: 3 x failure
Unholy Moly
I have a dermatology appointment today and the doc is going to check out a handful of concerning moles. My prediction is that I’ll need a biopsy on one or two of them. No biggie, been through this before.
The thing I’m NOT going to confess is how I spent all of last year and most of this year visiting the tanning bed. Why? Because being tan makes people look leaner and more muscular. The blue light you get from tanning beds improves mood. And it just plain feels good.
But now that the tan has completely faded, I can go see a dermatologist without being berated for my “unhealthy habit”. That always bugs me. Are dermatologists also talking to patients about their alcohol intake or their crap food intake? Because those affect skin quality too. I’m guessing nobody bats an eye about those things.
Plants On A Stick
Remember that coffee shop I took a picture of last weekend? Well, here’s my version of their plant wall.
A few years ago, Chris and I found a huge tree limb on the ground while walking around a local lake. He carried it back to the car for me, while I held the dog leashes. And that’s what kicked off my plant wall obsession.
Here’s the evolution of this thing.
Cleaning it up and hanging it was kind of a process. And once it was up, it took a long time to get it right!
First I started with succulents. BAD IDEA. They were hard to keep alive and could never grow big enough to climb or trail.
Then sometime during C-19, I ordered some vining plants from a company called “Bros with Hoes” (like gardening hoes) and fell in love with them.
But they were too sparse and young to look right hanging from the stick.
We also found a long, narrow bench from an antique store (it was not antique, just preowned), so I sanded it, then painted it, so that it could hold propagations.
So as they matured, I started propagating like crazy to get a jungle effect.
Then more growth.
And more growth. But something still wasn’t right and I couldn’t figure it out.
Finally I had enough vines to hang on the stick. Things started coming together here.
I still have a few of those old succulents, but kind of resent them. Certain succulents are just freaking hard to keep alive and most of them never grow to show-stopper size, like a fiddle leaf fig, monstera, or the huge Philodendron Brazil hanging on the end of my stick.
For instance, this FLF in the corner is now several inches taller than me.
Anyway, plants! I recommend them.