Started drafting this month reflections earlier. Re-reading what's was written, it seemed kind of repetitive to the contents of Jul Reflections.
The progressions tracked on the daily log got to me somewhat. Ego? No, maybe close-- it was all about pushing harder each day with the various intermediate goals. But the ultimate goal remains :-
"To pack as much muscle mass while maintaining good flexibility and stability in combating the aging process. To optimally function in time, minimizing the possibility of being a burden to others by doing what I can maximally prepare from now on".
Yet the initial Aug reflections was actually glorifying all about the intermediate goals... that's why it was deleted in case the fker, Ego, creeps up silently again.
Had to keep re-setting my intermediate goals almost at a rate of every 5-7 days in the last 1.5 months. Max reps in pull-up sets went from 2, 4, 5-6, 7,8 to 10, then it was 12...13, until it was revised to "15in1"set.
Total count for each day session gone up in quick spurts of 10, 15, 20, 25..... and more. And each time after hitting those numbers, I will try to reduce the number of sets taken to complete it as well.
All was good until...
...fast forward 2 weeks later, finally found myself having to slow
down. Should have heeded the klaxon that sounded off in the head when Nic told me my
intensity and volume is getting a bit out of hand late last month.
After dinner with some old friends where we talked about tendonitis in mid Aug--- I realize there was this slight pain in the forearm and just above the medial side on the upper arm, both ends connected to the bony bit of the elbow joint. Damn! Golfer's Elbow.
Trying to recall what might have happened..
In my over zealousness I knocked out 302 pullups in the first week and 189 in the second while the entire month of Jul was at a "paltry" 443. The volume wasn't the problem but in a bid to "up the numbers" while looking for more ways to train the lacking biceps-- I suddenly switch to an underhand grip one day for a couple of sets to doing chin ups while keeping to the same explosiveness of my usual pull up movement. That together with a couple of sessions on muscle-up training with lots of explosive swinging plus kipping probably injured the area/ tendons around the right arm.
Slowing down and decreasing the intensity I did, after realizing... The daily pull-ups is still on track but switched back to the usual over-grip. Dropped the daily sets on full dips which I thought is an exercise that would put stress on the affected area of the arm. My mostly diamond pushups up till then were partially replaced with normal wide pushups for the same reason.
The slight soreness is not overly bad and I don't want to stop training fully which I reckon will warrant some big-time catching up later should everything grinds to a halt. Researching on, its possible to continue exercising but would have to make some adaptations while doing specific exercises for recovery, like the rotator cuff issue (which by the way is almost fully recovered).
While mostly off the dumbbells and free weights around this period of "recovery" and focusing on the "daily trinity" of pullup, pushups and dips, albeit also adapted for this period after ~ 2wks of dipless days, I took the opportunity to increase in other areas that had been lacking. Namely abs.
Still on track for this month 1000 pullups. This being yet another intermediate goal set after the first week of Aug.
Maybe it's all a silly number game in the mind but there are days when I just feel not like doing anything and it's these numbers that push me to mount the bar.
29 Aug: 1001 Pullups. DONE!
Month end is coming and there will be a 6 days trip to Turkey. Hopefully I can find pullup bars there else can only hope my favorite sweet stuff, baklava can help increase pullups when I'm back.