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Weight off my mind, weight on my back
Nov. 20th, 2011 10:14 amRight, I've discovered that Tinypic videos don't work on LiveJournal. Not only that, but if I try to embed the code, it wipes everything that I typed after the embedding. Cheers. So, let's start again. Memo to self, future videos should be uploaded to YouTube.
So, I've come through one of the more severe attacks of bipolarity that I've had in recent memory. You all saw evidence of the depression, and a few of you will have spotted the onset / experienced the impact of the bounceback into mania, which took place over a mere 48 hours. My estimate is that both lasted about a week, with a 24-hour session in the middle of each (Wednesday one week for the depression, then the following Tuesday for the mania) when it was at its most severe.
A few rather unfortunate consequences, but no-one died and I didn't go bankrupt, and I can live in hope that some of those consequences are repairable, but won't top myself if they aren't. All in all, a rather weird experience. Not one I particularly want to repeat, either.
I've always been a bit ambivalent about the Stephen Fry TV programme on bipolar syndrome, or whatever you want to call it (is it a syndrome?) Is Fry really a sufferer? Possibly. Carrie Fisher most definitely is. She's up there with the fairies. Spike Milligan definitely was. Tony Slattery? Probably. But Fry? I'm really not so sure. And if people take what Fry has as representative of the illness/syndrome/mental state, then some wrong conclusions might be drawn. But, hey, let's not get picky.
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The video I tried to upload was one that Facebook friends will already have seen. Embedding doesn't work, but a straight link does. So, if you want to go look at the Birks 140kg squat, it's here.
http://tinypic.com/r/10rpcoz/5
This has been an odd year, with a few disappointments, but one marked success -- that being the fitness training. Three inches off the waist, 150kg dead lift (possibly 160kg attempt before year-end) and, finally, some noticeable muscle growth (the initial strength increase comes before the growth, for reasons too boring to go into at the moment).
That led me to set some (tough) targets for December 2012 -- viz, 190kg dead lift, 165kg squat, 10 unassisted dips, 10 unassisted arms wide-spread chin-ups where palms face towards you and you pull up your own body weight) and 5 to 6 unassisted pull-ups (where your palms face away from you).
This won't be easy and will definitely require some serious focus -- particularly in the diet area. I'll have to put on some muscle to get to a 190kg dead lift, no doubt about it.
Keith (Shapley) made a passing comment on FB about testosterone levels when lifting weights. Serious weight sessions see a marked spike in testosterone levels during the session. This is followed by a dip below normal testosterone levels, and a slow recovery to normal levels. The net result is, if you will pardon the expression, that you definitely feel less horny for a good 12 hours after a tough weights session.
About two years into weight training, it appears that your "standard" testosterone level increases slightly. So, when people remark on the "smell of testosterone" in gyms (particularly the weights area), they are telling the truth, except for one small fact -- what actually IS the "smell of testosterone"? I think that most people just smell sweat and associate it with testosterone. Speaking of which, last Monday I went in the afternoon rather than in the morning, and the weights room smelt noticeably more of sweat in the afternoon than it did in the morning!
Thinking about heading off to the gym now, actually, but may relax with the newspapers instead.
+++++++++++
So, I've come through one of the more severe attacks of bipolarity that I've had in recent memory. You all saw evidence of the depression, and a few of you will have spotted the onset / experienced the impact of the bounceback into mania, which took place over a mere 48 hours. My estimate is that both lasted about a week, with a 24-hour session in the middle of each (Wednesday one week for the depression, then the following Tuesday for the mania) when it was at its most severe.
A few rather unfortunate consequences, but no-one died and I didn't go bankrupt, and I can live in hope that some of those consequences are repairable, but won't top myself if they aren't. All in all, a rather weird experience. Not one I particularly want to repeat, either.
I've always been a bit ambivalent about the Stephen Fry TV programme on bipolar syndrome, or whatever you want to call it (is it a syndrome?) Is Fry really a sufferer? Possibly. Carrie Fisher most definitely is. She's up there with the fairies. Spike Milligan definitely was. Tony Slattery? Probably. But Fry? I'm really not so sure. And if people take what Fry has as representative of the illness/syndrome/mental state, then some wrong conclusions might be drawn. But, hey, let's not get picky.
++++++++++++++++++
The video I tried to upload was one that Facebook friends will already have seen. Embedding doesn't work, but a straight link does. So, if you want to go look at the Birks 140kg squat, it's here.
http://tinypic.com/r/10rpcoz/5
This has been an odd year, with a few disappointments, but one marked success -- that being the fitness training. Three inches off the waist, 150kg dead lift (possibly 160kg attempt before year-end) and, finally, some noticeable muscle growth (the initial strength increase comes before the growth, for reasons too boring to go into at the moment).
That led me to set some (tough) targets for December 2012 -- viz, 190kg dead lift, 165kg squat, 10 unassisted dips, 10 unassisted arms wide-spread chin-ups where palms face towards you and you pull up your own body weight) and 5 to 6 unassisted pull-ups (where your palms face away from you).
This won't be easy and will definitely require some serious focus -- particularly in the diet area. I'll have to put on some muscle to get to a 190kg dead lift, no doubt about it.
Keith (Shapley) made a passing comment on FB about testosterone levels when lifting weights. Serious weight sessions see a marked spike in testosterone levels during the session. This is followed by a dip below normal testosterone levels, and a slow recovery to normal levels. The net result is, if you will pardon the expression, that you definitely feel less horny for a good 12 hours after a tough weights session.
About two years into weight training, it appears that your "standard" testosterone level increases slightly. So, when people remark on the "smell of testosterone" in gyms (particularly the weights area), they are telling the truth, except for one small fact -- what actually IS the "smell of testosterone"? I think that most people just smell sweat and associate it with testosterone. Speaking of which, last Monday I went in the afternoon rather than in the morning, and the weights room smelt noticeably more of sweat in the afternoon than it did in the morning!
Thinking about heading off to the gym now, actually, but may relax with the newspapers instead.
+++++++++++
