Shartnado

The lat pulldown machine at our work gym is not all that good. Also, it's been a year since the move to the new facility and the damn thing still isn't bolted to the wall/floor, so heavy weights are out of the question. I have solved this by using two strong resistance bands by looping them to the attachments of the squat rack. We have a bench that I can use to get enough of a distance from the rack to make the resistance quite heavy. I also like the slow eccentric part of the move that the bands allow especially well. I credit the resistance band work for the fact that I was able to get some extra thickness on my lower lats that definitely was not there before I started going to town on the resistance bands every week, sometimes on several different days. One part necessity, one part preference, I guess?

Another 4 day work week, so 4 workouts. Monday was incline dumbell bench and hammer curls. Was able to do another set of 10 with the 88's bench straight up, followed by an 8 and a 5. One notch down I did 2 sets 10 and 8 with 88's and 83's respectively. Every set followed by hammer curls and a set of resistance band lat pulldowns. Tuesday I did regular bench and more resistance band lat pulldowns, but this time using a loaded up EZ bar for grip (bar +22lbs and +44 lbs). On bench, I decided to do sets of 5 until I couldn't complete one. So, I got 5 with 164, 208, 230, 252, 263 and 274. Then 3 with 285 and 3 shitty partials with 290,5. On the way down I did one more rep with 274, and 2 with 263, then something, and remember doing 12 reps with 224,5. Around 9 with 208 and 15 with 164 followed by additional 4 with rest-pause. Wednesday was Seal Row. Went up to 297, did one set without Versas and two more with Versas. No clean reps in sight, but quite a few partials. Also did a few sets of skullcrushers on the incline bench, using the EZ Bar from Tuesday (so 64lbs). I decided not to do Seal Row with lighter weights but do deadlift off the small blocks instead. I did singles with 297, 341, 385,5, 429,5, 451,5 and 457. I stood on a small block that was only two or so inches below the blocks that the weights were resting on so these were pretty damn close to actual deadlifts, by the way. Thursday was Trapbar. Started with the deficit lifts (using two blocks) 5x139, 2x249, 1x359 and 1×453,5, then using the higher block 1x475,5, using lower block 1x498, then 542 off the floor. Then off the half blocks 1x636,5, off the 3/4 blocks 2x659,5, off the 4/5 blocks 1x698 and off the full blocks 2x749. Tried 843,5 with shoes on, but nope. Took shoes off and got a F'n 2. Then 1 more after a rest. Shoes back on and 2x754,5, 5x659,5 and 10x554 off the 4/5 blocks. 3 sets of shrugs followed with 453,5, 359 and 249. This was a rough week, I'm ready for some rest now.

That was one HELL of an episode of Rampage! Holy shit! So, Jake Hager is now using the chain as a rebound to the hat that he still obviously loves? OK, Jake, do what you have to do in order to cope, but you do realize that everyone who sees the chain, will automatically think: "Hey, that chain would go so well with the...oh, yeah. Right. Nevermind." Do you really want that, Jake?

Was Snake Eyes just a highly promoted house show, or is it/will it be available to watch somewhere?

Hell, it could Josh Barnett before his Bloodsports endeavour, trying to get his feet wet in the business in his early tweens, then going to MMA when it didn't pan out...yet.

Can we be sure it's actually the same hat, or if they are all just fucking with him now that they know that he's not really over the hat yet, or really ever? They found an obvious weak spot and are cruelly and efficiently exploiting it?

Ok, Vince is basically gone, they have a brand new producer and if Pete Dunne is becoming himself again, then all the things that made me quit the WWE Network are now being remedied. I may have to reconsider picking it back up sometime this year, maybe.

That was the joke, yes.

Ok, maybe they have just replaced it with something shitty on Triller due to copyright reasons, idk?

Damn you, Action Bronson! Damn you to hell, so you can learn write better themes. And Baltimora wrote his only hit well in advance for Jungle Boy and not only did they get rid of the theme, they got rid of the Jungle Boy!

I think it was around 22e on Triller over here (and 30 something on TNA+), but if the delay is only 30 days, I may be tempted to wait it out. There's just so many PPV's I haven't seen yet in the meantime. Started with Multiverse United 2 after this week's Impact.

Speaking of HOOK's lame theme, I think something in vein of MOOSE's Impact/TNA theme would give the needed "Oh, shit..." effect when he decides to assert himself to a situation. It could also have the similar beat for the crowd to chant "HOOK" to.

I'd target THAT Nathan Jones who had that strangely good match with Scott Steiner on that WWA PPV, as well as trying to pinpoint the healthiest and buffest Big Poppa Pump and snatch him while I'm at it and have those two terrorize Hogan as a tandem for a half a year.

Here's the dilemma guys: The PPV's show up on TNA+ after, what 90 days after they originally air? At least the 2023 stuff is already all there, I think? Buying the PPV is cheaper on Triller TV than it is on TNA+ if I decide to watch it now, so that would be where I get it from. So: Do I pony up the cash now, or wait until spring to watch it free? Suggestions?

If the Bucks are willing to try it, I'm sure Darby can be talked into taking it.

Wait, is that one of those fake Stings?

Heel Hardys and Jeff can finally get his win back from that one PPV main event on TNA!

Funny you should say that @Coletti, as I also fell asleep on the couch this morning and therefore missed most of the main event, except for the Bucks coming out. Hangman vs Claudio ruled, obviously. Surprisingly strong victory by Page, not that I'm about to complain about Page going over too strong, unless he's in the ring with PAC or Buddy Matthews. Both 8-person matches were alright, with the biggest thing coming out of those being Anna vs Julia and Cage& Gates of Agony vs Archer & The Righteous on Saturday. Roddy wins over Bounty Hunter. Undisputed Kingdom will be facing The Scissor Club soon enough, you can see Austin Gunn being the voice of reason between those teams. Wait, what? Sammy with another win over Starks. I hope this doesn't mean there will be a title switch on Saturday. Who am I kidding, it's a Battle of the Belts, of course there isn't! Joe with a strong promo, good for Swerve and Hangman to come and do exactly what Joe said was not gonna fly anymore. Well, at least HOOK has the win-loss record for a title shot! I like HOOK. A lot, actually but the fact that he has the absolute shit-worst, negatively inspiring theme music of the entire roster, does not do him any favors, with me, anyway. Some people must like it, he wouldn't use it otherwise, right? Either way, this is a good way to use him, and the fact that he has won almost all of his matches. He actually deserves a shot at something! Didn't see enough of the main event to comment, except for the Bucks. Yeah, no. This is not the time. Because who ever it was going to be, they had better be going over Sting there. Well, Matt Jackson pinning Sting to retire him would be quality trolling, I must admit, but still!

Checked the measurements of non-pumped arms and as I suspected, around 42cm each. So, Trapbar. My new found gut was getting in way of deficit lifts, so I opted out relatively quickly on those. Just the light warm up. Got 453,5 off the floor level without gloves. Then with gloves and Versas 548,5 off the half blocks and 643 off the 3/4 blocks. Needed to go to full blocks for 738 and then 2x749. Had to jump straight to 843,5 at this point so the shoes came off, too. I did 3 singles, all with proper lock out this time. Tried one with the shoes on, but failed that one. On the way back down, I did another 2x749 then 3x698, 4x654 and 7x559,5 off the 4/5 blocks with shoes on. Two sets of shrugs with 359 and 249. This went better than I figured it would. So yes, good week. No work tomorrow, so that was it for me.

That may be the case, but shouldn't there be "we are sorry/we fucked up" dueling chants now that the fans were completely in the wrong during that fiasco? It should work both ways, goddammit. Hey, Jericho has done a lot of shit, just not that particular shit, so people should own up. To their credit, Dailys Place crowd seemed to be cheering for him, so good on them. Also, it could have been a reference to the previous arena brawls during which music was played, sort of promoting the upcoming street fight?

Neither here nor there, but I think there was some light touching between the two during Blood and Guts last year! But this is pretty much one of the top opponents for Hangman! Also, soon, Samoa Joe!

Thanks, @StretchMediatedHypertrophy , I'm trying! I usually measure my arms not pumped, but always flexed. I would imagine they have to be close to 42cm now, if those were the pumped measurements. But you can rest assured I'm not walking around with 45cm arms on the regular, that's for sure. Today was basically just seal row. Did 10 reps with 176 and 242, then 10 "reps" with 264. 286 for 2 sets of more than 5 "reps", maybe 2 of which were close to OK. Unlike normally, I put the Versas on when going back down. I wanted to see how that changes things, although it's usually not the grip that taps out first on this move. Well, I did get more partials out of each set, but no change in the number of good reps. Sets downwards were 275, 264, 242, 176 and 154. Reps, no idea, but continued until I was barely getting the weight off the ground. Good week so far, but the thought of a leg day or Trapbar is not appealing to me at the moment!

And a very fitting one at that!

Heavier dumbell curls, behind the neck two hand, single dumbell presses, and chest flies with resistance bands was on the agenda today. Last time, I had trouble supinating my wrists with the heavier weights, so I tried a reverse pyramid, to see if I could do it better with a short warm-up and then straight to the heavy shit? Yes and no. The warm-up was 5 with 39,5's, 3 with 48,5's and one with 53's. Then a set of 10 with 61,5's. Maybe 3 reps were actual curls, with some Body English thrown in, rest were pretty much very high hammer curls, like last time. But the weights were bigger, too! Following a similar strategy, I did as many good reps as possible, then rest as hammer curls until I got to 10 with 57's, 53's, 48,5's. Got 12 with 44's and stopped there. After each curl set, I did a set of behind the neck presses with 66 to 88lbs. 25 reps from 66 to 75, 22 with 79, 15 with 83,5 and 12 with 88. After one set of these, I did a set of chest flies before going back to the curls. After the workout was done, it felt like I had a decent pump going, so I measured my biceps. The left one was 45,2 cm (fully flexed) for the first time that I can recall. The right one was 44,5 cm, which is funny since my right arm is the dominant one, but hey I'll take it! I guess that would be around 18 inches, then?

@Curt McGirt Drink plenty of water, tap or bottled but not carbonated. I would strongly recommend some resistance training to go along with the cardio. Even a slight increase in muscle mass will help you burn more calories during the day. Black coffee in the morning, green tea through out the rest of the day. No sugar. These are just tips. Whatever you decide to do, the changes should be such that they don't feel unsustainable. It should be a gradual process. Good luck with project, hopefully it will be successful and long lasting.