DCR - Can you believe how much I am in heaven?

[augeleven]

Metal rec of the day: New Metallica out today. I know what I’ll be doing late night.

Metallica was my favorite band as a teenager, but I've enjoyed nothing since the Black Album. I remember waiting on line for Load on release day.
Fuck it. I'm gonna listen.

I checked out Sigh yesterday. s'ok. I made it a couple of tracks and put on Carcass's Necrotism. I'm old and obsolete.

[DCR]

Metal rec of the day: New Metallica out today. I know what I’ll be doing late night.

Metallica was my favorite band as a teenager, but I've enjoyed nothing since the Black Album. I remember waiting on line for Load on release day.
Fuck it. I'm gonna listen.

Same, and for Reload too.

There are tracks on Load that I dig a lot, but I can take or leave most post TBA material. However, I really like the last record and so hopeful about this one.

ETA: Check out Spit Out the Bone off Hardwired. Other than Kirk mailing it in as has been usual for 25 years, best Metallica track since TBA. (I’d listen to an argument for The Outlaw Torn, though.)

I checked out Sigh yesterday. s'ok. I made it a couple of tracks and put on Carcass's Necrotism. I'm old and obsolete.

Yes.

I’ve seen saying for years that I’m only going to listen to new material from older bands that I already love, but I haven’t been able to stick to that at all. I have awful FOMO in this context.

[DCR]

The day I’m supposed to begin a written program for the first time in years and of course I’m fucking sick. Third day of a three day cold and I’m really tempted to go anyway. Probably won’t but really aggravated about what switching to tomorrow is gonna do to my schedule this week.

[Renascent]

Metal rec of the day: New Metallica out today. I know what I’ll be doing late night.

Hmm. Somehow I missed this. Didn't even know they were about to release something.

[DCR]

Metal rec of the day: New Metallica out today. I know what I’ll be doing late night.

Hmm. Somehow I missed this. Didn't even know they were about to release something.

Gonna take a minute to form real impressions because it’s long as fuck. Initially, I like it, just the dad metal I needed, although not as much as Hardwired, of which I’m a big fan. Kirk showing up after more than two decades with solos that he didn’t mail in is pretty cool. James filling every song with angsty lyrics is less cool. (72 Seasons is a reference to the first 18 years of one’s life. Bro you’re 60, get a grip.)

[Renascent]

James filling every song with angsty lyrics is less cool. (72 Seasons is a reference to the first 18 years of one’s life. Bro you’re 60, get a grip.)

Yeah, there's some videos from a documentary that I came across on YouTube by accident a few weeks ago. Possibly from around the time of St. Anger? James and Lars were beefing real hard, and there was Kirk and a mediator (Bob Rock?) between them.

I know that people in any kind of long-term relationship are going to have ups and downs, but something about it made it very hard to watch. I cringed a few times, moatly because a camera being present made it all look too voyeuristic and suspect, like bad reality TV from the early aughts with a lot of semi-fabricated angst.

Like, bruh, ya'll are fucking millionaires. Tantrums for what?

[DCR]

James filling every song with angsty lyrics is less cool. (72 Seasons is a reference to the first 18 years of one’s life. Bro you’re 60, get a grip.)

Yeah, there's some videos from a documentary that I came across on YouTube by accident a few weeks ago. Possibly from around the time of St. Anger? James and Lars were beefing real hard, and there was Kirk and a mediator (Bob Rock?) between them.

I know that people in any kind of long-term relationship are going to have ups and downs, but something about it made it very hard to watch. I cringed a few times, moatly because a camera being present made it all look too voyeuristic and suspect, like bad reality TV from the early aughts with a lot of semi-fabricated angst.

Like, bruh, ya'll are fucking millionaires. Tantrums for what?

Some Kind of Monster. I never watched it because, despite my best efforts to separate artists from their art, I knew it would not only kill Metallica for me, but Megadeth as well, given what I’d heard of Mustaine’s appearance.

Of course Megadeth, who were my favorite band for a very long time, soon would find many, many other ways to ruin everything for me.

[augeleven]

Some Kind of Monster. I never watched it because, despite my best efforts to separate artists from their art, I knew it would not only kill Metallica for me, but Megadeth as well, given what I’d heard of Mustaine’s appearance.

Can confirm. It was definitely the nail in the coffin for me for a good long while.

[Renascent]

Some Kind of Monster. I never watched it because, despite my best efforts to separate artists from their art, I knew it would not only kill Metallica for me, but Megadeth as well, given what I’d heard of Mustaine’s appearance.

Can confirm. It was definitely the nail in the coffin for me for a good long while.

I probably wasn't fair to what little I did see, as I had little context at the time.

[DCR]

4/17/23

Shawn Phillips Bench Program
Week 1, Day 1

(During this program, given that I’m going to lift every other day and there are four session days, a “week” won’t mean a calendar week but rather the period in which I complete those sessions, i.e. an eight-day period unless something goes awry.)

Squats 45,145,240x10 295x2 315x1 250x6
Bench Press 45,135x10 180x9 200x6 220 x3s x5r
DB Flyes 25s x3s x8r
Press 105 x3s x6r
French Press 40x8 50 x2s x8r

Session thoughts:

Was tired and my right shoulder was bitchy, but glad to have gotten started. When I last renamed my log, I’d been doing a lot of DC sets and moved away from them for no reason other than enjoying the feel of heavier, separate sets. I’m curious as to how they’d work within this program, because they’d save me an awful lot of time. Tacking squats onto each session is going to cause mine to be longer than intended; if it becomes an issue I may throw in some DC stuff here and there, but I’d prefer to stick with as written.

Metal rec of the day: Omnicidal / The Omnicidalist (Rimfrost dude’s other awesome band)

[DCR]

4/19/23

Shawn Phillips Bench Program
Week 1, Day 2

Squats 45,145x10 245x5 295x2 315x1 255x5
Lying Leg Curls 60x10 110x7,6,6
Rows 165 x3s x8r
Pulldowns 105,110,115,120,125,130x6 135 x3s x6r
EZ Curls 58 x3s x8r

Session thoughts:

Perhaps one of the benefits of actually running a written program is that it's more likely to get one in the gym when one otherwise wouldn't even consider showing up. (Or maybe it's a function of my neurosis over hitting things less frequently on this particular program.) I slept for four hours last night before flying home to New York (which, given how much time I now spend in Louisiana, probably isn't "home" anymore), did a bunch of work, then slept three hours in the early evening. Woke up feeling like shit, with next to no calories in me, and in a million years never would have gone to the gym except for this damn program and not wanting to get off track, particularly because skipping today would have had a domino effect given some obligations over the next few days.

Started horribly, couldn't brace for shit on squats and fuck me that 245x5, which should have been nothing, felt like at least 50 lbs more. (Besides the shit circumstances, I also was reminded, as I've said before, that the plates definitely weigh more in this gym versus my Louisiana spot. It's beyond debate at this point.) Ultimately, though, glad I gutted it out, mostly for earning the right to increase the rows next time.

I really wanted to substitute pullups for pulldowns, but I'm trying to stick to what the man laid out, and I wondered if there might be some benefit to the increased ROM (i.e. touching the bar to my upper chest, which I absolutely cannot do with pullups). I used an old straight bar, which I hate, but it was all that I had when I did this in the last century and I'm not fixing what wasn't broken then.

Note to self for next time: Don’t use tonight's bracing issue as a reason to be a pussy and pull back on squatting for reps.

Metal rec of the day: Tryglav / The Ritual. Listening to this for the first time now and it has a great early Necrophobic and Sacramentum vibe. That's among my favorite stuff.

[broseph]

Perhaps one of the benefits of actually running a written program is that it's more likely to get one in the gym when one otherwise wouldn't even consider showing up.

As someone who just yesterday put on his workout clothes, stepped in the (home) gym, and promptly turned around and played video games instead; can confirm.

[DCR]

4/21/23

Shawn Phillips Bench Program
Week 1, Day 3

Squats 45,135,185,225x5 275x2 295,315x1 275x3 225x5
Bench Press 45,135x10 200x5,5 225x3,3 250x1
DB Bench Press 50s x3s x10r
DB Press 40s x3s x8r
Lateral Raises 20s x3s x8r
Pushdowns 50x10 70x10,10,15


Session thoughts:

Note to self for next time: Don’t use tonight's bracing issue as a reason to be a pussy and pull back on squatting for reps.

Yeah, about that. Was really bothered by the hip shift the other night (both mentally and also in that my left side was killing me per usual) and my lower back was pissy too. Seemed a good time to tighten up all of the reps, which I successfully did - everything was spot on. Also, I was a pussy.

The assistance reps are all over the place versus the written program because I haven't done these movements in a very long time and am working on finding the place to sit in the prescribed ranges. It'll be better next week now that I have bases for comparison.

Metal rec of the day: Watain / The Agony and Ecstasy of Watain. How the fuck did I miss this last year? They continue to be the best band in the genre, and whomever's in second is getting lapped.

[augeleven]

Loving the metal recs. This Watain is way proggier than I was expecting for black metal. Fun stuff.

[DCR]

Loving the metal recs. This Watain is way proggier than I was expecting for black metal. Fun stuff.

Glad to hear it! My recs for the next half dozen sessions could just be every other Watain record. It’s crazy how many ideas they have, as a three piece and in a stultifying corner of the genre.

[DCR]

4/23/23

Shawn Phillips Bench Program
Week 1, Day 4

Squats 45,155x10 245x6 295x3 320x1 255x6
RDLs w/ straps 190 x3s x8r
One Arm DB Rows 65s x8,8,12
Close Grip Pulldowns 120x10,10,12
Incline DB Curls 30s x3s x6r

Session thoughts:

One “week” of seven in the books.

Back on the train with squats, everything felt good. Remembering to let the weight sink a bit and permit some bend in the joints, rather than descending from a hard lock out, helped. Moved the bar up a bit on my back, not sure that it made any difference but I really was trying to keep my torso as upright as possible and keep the weight from shifting at all in terms of where I felt the foot pressure.

Had an event yesterday with my close college friends. I am much, much stronger and more athletic than any of them, but also significantly fatter. Felt really uncomfortable. At some point, I need to make a change.

Metal rec of the day: Krofluelder / Altari. This is new and weird and I think it may end up on my top three or five for the year. It’s just got that vibe.

[EggMcMuffin]

Had an event yesterday with my close college friends. I am much, much stronger and more athletic than any of them, but also significantly fatter. Felt really uncomfortable. At some point, I need to make a change.

That's a horrible feeling. This kid I knew who recently graduated with an MBA from Stanford saw me at my crappy restaurant job a few years ago right after having finished my SS dreamer bulk and he sort of smirked when he saw me (I used to be freakishly skinny, like 120lbs at 5'9) and apparently he told all the people I used to know that I got fat. lol

Just more fire for the flame. When the fifth set of deficit deadlifts is wailing a tune on your will to continue, those nuggets of ire are what you smelt to turn shit into gold

[BostonRugger]

10/10 training log title

[DCR]

4/25/23

Shawn Phillips Bench Program
Week 2, Day 1

Bench Press 45,135x10 185x8 210x6 230 x3s x5r
DB Flyes 30s x3s x8r
Press 110x6,6,8
EZ French Press 53 x3s x8r

Session notes:

Didn't have time to squat and maybe that was for the best, as everything's been sore, but felt very much like something was missing afterward. Bench was easy enough and next session seems like a breeze, so plugging along. Assistance stuff way too light, as if doing the movements once last week was sufficient to wake up some very old muscle memory. Not going to push it unnecessarily, though - there's another five weeks in which to add weight and if I get the idea after that I might have benefitted from going heavier all along, I always can rerun the program later this year.

Metal rec of the day: Hellish Form / Deathless. Funeral doom, for very few people, but rewarding.

[DCR]

4/27/23 (LA Fitness, West Orange, NJ)

Shawn Phillips Bench Program
Week 2, Day 2

Squats 45,155x10 245x7 295x3 315x1 260x4
Rows 170 x3s x5r
Pulldowns 140 x3s x8r
Lying Leg Curls 70x10 115x4,5,5
EZ Curls 68 x3s x6r

Session notes:

Weights went from too easy to a bit heavier than I'd have liked, because I was forced to use a leg curl machine in which you could add interval weights but the numbers all had been rubbed off from years of use (thanks, LA Fitness!), and I mis-loaded the EZ Curls and then was too lazy to change it (plus the 25s looked cooler). Uneventful session.

Metal rec of the day: Watain / The Wild Hunt. This is the one that people dislike. Said people are dunces.