Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Why must it be difficult?

Earlier this week I got blister on my hand (insert joke). This annoying bugger was definitely going to interfere with my weightlifting. No worries; pop that sucker, then tape it up before handling the barbell.

I needed a roll of athletic tape in a hurry. Shouldn’t be problem, given I live within walking distance to a Sports Basement. Except… the store did not have any athletic tape in stock. How is that possible? Even if us weightlifters are a niche within a niche, other activities that are popular in the Bay Area surely create a demand for tape? Rock-climbing gyms! Crossfit was invented right down the street in Santa Cruz.

Anyways, my friend clued me that Target may have athletic tape in stock. And indeed it does. Wonderful. I joked that I sure hope it isn’t locked behind a glass partition (to prevent theft), whereby I would need to call an associate to open. Surely the hottest item on the stolen goods black market isn’t a roll of athletic tape.

So of course it was locked behind a glass cabinet. Why can’t we have nice things? Target is lucky I was in a rush. Otherwise I would have left immediately and ordered the same item on Amazon. Vote with my feet, as it were.

When the authorities fail to punish crime, it ruins it for everybody else. Who wants to go a store where everything is locked up, and the items that aren’t are frequently stolen with impunity? (I definitely saw some shady characters while buying the athletic tape.) When enough people opt out of that shopping experience, the particular store will close. And people will then blame the “greedy” corporation instead of pointing the finger at the actual problem.

It’s long past time to hold the criminals accountable. And if they are under adult age, hold their parents/guardian accountable.

Not again!

I am incredibly peeved the insurance on my BMW M2 is going up once again. What is going on? I thought inflation has stabilized? A $180 increase for the next six month period, for a car I seldomly drive, and has had zero accidents on record. Worst of all, Progressive - the insurance company underwriting the policy - is the cheapest of all the major companies.

Contributing to the problem, a double-edge sword, is the M2 has kept its value really well. The lack of severe depreciation means in the event of an accident, the replacement cost remains high. Of course, it’s nice to have a low-depreciating car, in the event I do sell it in the future.

And sell it I just might if the insurance cost either keeps increasing, or doesn’t go down. I can afford to insure a high-performance sports car, but I kind of don’t want to anymore. Gone is the era of car enthusiasm where I would expend as much money as my (meager) income can afford to keep a car around. I’m in my having a lot of money saved in the bank as a cushion era. As the kids say these days.

The thing about hobbies is the opportunity to continually dump money into them is kind of endless. The photographer who can’t stop buying new cameras and lenses, or the car guy who can’t stop swapping cars every few years (that was me). Now that I am a year deep into weightlifting, I’ve been eyeing upgrades to the gear I am currently using. A better barbell would sure be nice to have.

Goods news about lifting gear is that most can literally last a lifetime. I mean, weights are weights. Plates and dumbbells don’t lose kilograms the more years you own them. A solid barbell can be passed onto your progeny. So can a power rack.

It’s simple, really: buy quality, keep forever.

Nice new fence you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.

Lightweight, baby

At the beginning of a weightlifting hobby, weights tend to feel lighter as you progress upwards. A 25-pound kettlebell used to feel heavy, but now, it can be tossed and pressed in whatever manner with ease. My misunderstanding was that this phenomenon would continue on. That a 35-pounder will feel light in the hand once I’ve use it a sufficient amount of times.

Apparently there’s a limit. I would say that anything under 30 pounds is properly lightweight, Ronnie Coleman style. However, weights heavier than 30 remains heavy in feel no matter how many times I’ve picked up a set of 40 pound dumbbells. The only different from before is that I can move the weights. Sure I can do many reps with one plate on the barbell, but 135 pounds on my back will always feel burdensome.

Of course it’s entirely possible and probably that I am just weak.

I’ve written before how the deadlift translates really well to strength for real-life stuff. Bending over to pick stuff up from the floor is a fundamental movement. (We bend over the sink to wash our faces.) I don’t know if squatting has a functional equivalent in everyday life. The only thing that comes to mind is in the event of a disaster, I have to fireman’s carry an immobilized person with me to safety.

But man do I love barbell squats. Of the big three barbell movements - squat, deadlift, and bench, squatting is the most satisfying for me. It’s also the most taxing. Heavy squats with reps higher than 10 will quickly deplete my cardio stores. I cannot wait for this Accutane treatment to be over with (one more month) so I can return to running outside. I’ve got to increase my cardio so that when I barbell squat, my lungs do not give up before my quadriceps do.

Fixing a puncture

As a car enthusiast, it’s always satisfying to work on your own car. You know for sure that the job will be done correctly, and any mistake made you have nobody to blame but yourself. It sure beats making an appointment at a car shop, only to wait the entire day (if not more) to get your car back. (How long does it take to perform an oil change, honestly?) Never mind the fact shop labor rates have inflated just like everything else.

DIY whenever you can to save some money.

I drew an unlucky straw recently and got a puncture on the passenger front tire. No big deal, I’ve all the tools to plug a tire, provided it’s right on the tread surface (it was). On the BMW M2 it was my first time removing a wheel fastened on by lug bolts (instead of the lug nuts). The bolts came out easy enough, but the wheel was sort of seized onto the hub. Apparently this is a thing with BMW wheels. I’m fortunate to live in a mild climate, so a few hard wiggle of the wheel did the trick to loosen it.

The problem with lug bolts is when it comes time to put the wheel back on. On a car with wheel studs it’s super easy to align the bolt pattern. With no protruding studs of any kind on the M2, I have to masterfully cradle wheel whilst in a squat position, then carefully turn it to align the bolt holes. I should have done some Googling before this job, because apparently they sell an alignment pin to make this as effortless as wheel studs. Hopefully it goes on sale for Black Friday…

Those of us who lift weights consistently do so for the aesthetic appeal. Anybody that tells you otherwise is probably lying. Another aim for my resistance training is to be functionally strong. I insist on doing overhead pressing because holding a heavy weight above your head is a primary movement in everyday life. I squat so that I can be in a squat position comfortably for over an hour while fixing a tire puncture. I deadlift, so that I can hand-hold an over 40 pound wheel and tire for multiple minutes.

There’s really no downsides to weight lifting, other than the time commitment. And the soreness afterwards.

Goes forever on

I think it’s kind of messed up that once you start weightlifting, you cannot stop. There’s really no goal to reach; you have to put in the work continuously, even if all you want is to maintain what you’ve already achieved. Building muscles and strength is one of those if-you-don’t-use-it-you-lost-it type of deals. Wouldn’t it be lovely if once you reach a 300 pound squat (for example), then you can stay there without doing anything else further?

It’s very much like learning a second language. If you want to maintain a decent modicum of proficiency, you have to study/practice almost everyday. I’ve lost all my one year of Japanese skills because I’ve not practiced meaningfully since high school. This is why when I started self-taught Korean back in 2016, I still practice to this day. It can never stop if I want to keep this skill.

I recently put a pause on my piano learning because I simply do not have the time to dedicate to it. I already have too many hobbies that require daily maintenance. To learn this new skill properly I’d have to give one of those hobbies up. Perhaps that may happen in the future, but as of right now, exercise and the Korean language is more important to me.

It can get dark rather quickly when you rail against change. Ever be in the moment of something great and wonderful, and all you can think about is how to best preserve that forever? I certainly have. I can’t even enjoy that fantastic moment because I’m too caught up with making it last as long as possible, which in itself is not possible. Change is a constant in life, and accepting it as a companion instead of an enemy is the way to live with it.

Otherwise is how you see a type of car collector that puts a car in a giant sealed bubble. What is the point? Even if that car can last centuries, you the human will most certainly not.

Save the elbows

I recently added a barbell back squat to my weightlifting routine, and I couldn’t figure out why the inside of my elbows were sore afterwards. Kind of doesn’t make sense for parts of the arm to sore for what is a lower body exercise, right?

At first the soreness only occurred after a session, so I figured it was simply delayed onset muscle soreness. Those typically go away with enough squatting sessions in the log book. Well, wrong. During today’s workout, the inner elbows started to hurt during my warmup set. The general rule of thumb is: if something hurts during the exercise, then it needs to be addressed immediately.

Intuitively, I moved my grip on the bar further outwards. Because if the elbows are hurting during the squat movement, then it’s got to be the position that I am putting them in. And what do you know: it absolutely worked. Zero elbow pain on my working sets simply by widening my grip. I guess how well(?) our limbs can contort is highly individualized.

I’m just glad I don’t have to give up the barbell squat movement entirely. Like I had to do for the upright row, because it was hurting my shoulder. Once you get past a certain weight point, it’s difficult to progressively overload the lower body using dumbbells. Holding a 100 pounder to perform a goblet squat is not feasible, because my grip would give out way before my leg muscles do.

Do you even lift, bro?

The only thing I bought from last week’s Amazon Big Deal days is a scale. Not for food, but to check my body weight. I’ve been lifting weights consistently for about a year now, and I was curious to see if I’d gotten any heavier. Muscle weights more than fat, I’ve been told.

And drum roll please, since last October I’ve gained a grand total of two pounds. I’ve certainly gotten stronger compared to last year, but I guess I am not eating at an enough surplus to gain lots of weight. The laws of thermodynamics cannot be violated: burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight. Intake more calories than you burn, you gain weight. It seems I’m barely above maintenance.

Sugary foods doesn’t necessarily make one fat. If I give you only one sugar cube to eat everyday - and nothing else - you’re going to be skin on bones in a few weeks’ time. The problem with sugar is that it tends to be part of calorically dense foods. Think ice cream, or a can of non-diet soda. Therefore it’s super easy to overeat. Halloween is coming up soon. Parents ought to look up just how much calorie those tiny pieces of candy contain.

If I want to built muscle mass quickly, I have simply must eat more. But, I am okay with this two pound per year pace, honestly. Besides, the point of strength training for me isn’t hypertrophy: it’s for longevity. I want to be mobile and able as late into my twilight years as possible. There’s also correlation between small body mass and lifespan. Think of the people in Okinawa.

Getting too big is also cumbersome for flying. I’m always envious of tiny Asian women, where economy seating might as well be business class for them.

My exercise goal is to be as strong as possible for my current leanness.