Turning this into a training blog - Page 2

Yeah, that's my favorite album of the year I think (and I listened to a lot of stuff). Something about it. Just keeps getting better and better over time. The guy behind the band (there is only one person, playing all of the instruments) is actually coming to play in Montreal in a few months, it's his first show in North America. I'm super pumped.

Death was good but I may not go back to it. That is just my first impression, I listened for like 15 min.

That would be a mistake. Death is one of the most influential metal bands of all time. They make every single top ten list you could possibly find along with Sabbath, Slayer, etc. They are the originators of extreme metal. I've been listening to them for twenty years (and playing their stuff). It doesn't get much better than Death to get into extreme metal.

Aosoth was good. I would listen again. Sometimes the music seems to get a bit garbled noise. Garbled may not be the right word. More like it just gets one frequency of noise. You can still here the drums going and the guitar but it sort of blends together. I don't really like that. But, other points were epic. I love Premises of Miracles.

I'll listen to more Death.

I was driving super fast and aggressive listening to Aosoth. I have to watch out for that. I have a history of wild and reckless driving and losing licenses. I wouldn't say I am that wild or reckless it's just that I drive as if it is my own personal rally race or Gumball 3000. It's one of my defects that has been pretty well under control until tonight. Good sign for the gym though.

Yeah, it makes perfect sense for you to hear it that way. You have to develop your ear with extreme music. It takes a considerable amount of time to be able to pick up on the many nuances. Especially with this type of extremely fast-paced, chaotic black metal. Usually good headphones are a must. There are a lot of bands that are more melodic and will leave a better impression on you coming from a more standard heavy metal background. This is just what I'm listening to now as an avid extreme music listener -- I shared it so you have an idea of how dark and heavy shit can really get. This is how I've personally learned to cope with life; it allows me to not do stupid self-destructive shit and injure myself or others.

I have been listening to more Death and I really like the Symbolic album.

The CD in my car was Tool "Aenima" and I had a song in my head so played it because I think that releases more endorphins.

Are these even on your radar?





Even just as music is concerned? The drumming on Ticks and Leeches though. Or, is that amateur hour compared to some metal out there?

How bout a song about LA being a cesspool and going down to natural disasters?





Anyways, my workout today I was meant to do a bunch of pullups. 8 sets of max pullups. That seems like stupid volume. I don't know if I even like this protocol. It is stupid volume followed by abs followed by cardio everyday. I am still sore from my back workout 2 days ago so said fuck it and went to the one I did furthest away which was overhead press and that is 8 sets of max handstand holds (with help from a wall). I was fucked after 2 sets so just said fuck it and rowed for 15 min. Takitum Tootem (Trance) by The Ruins of Beverast is a jammm. That whole album is great. I have to get to the other 2. So, I guess I am still in the fuck around the gym and get to know the place stage. I at least know where 2 concept 2 rowing machines are, kettlebells, etc.

I was listening to Tool 20 years ago as well, same period as Death. I was big on them. I didn't really follow/care for the rest of their career, but I still look fondly upon AEnima and it gets the rare revisit. The singer is a piece of shit though and I think the band appeals to a lot of pseudo-intellectuals/spiritualists because of some of their pretentious lyrics. For gym music, I'd rather go with one of their influences, Meshuggah.

I fucked around for a good month and a half at the gym just working out whatever wasn't sore. I went with the common rep ranges and used machines. It was fun but quite inefficient, I should have probably only done it for a couple weeks at most. Barbell training is where it's at. Yeah, Takitum is an awesome closer. I've changed my mind on the ordering of those 4 albums, I prefer the Blaze of Perdition album slightly to Aosoth. It's catchier and more varied. I mostly love the first half of Aosoth's album, but the Blaze album is really strong the whole way through.

Why is Maynard a piece of shit?

The band definitely appeals to pseudo-intellectuals/spiritualists. The last song I was listening to on the way home was 46+2. I LOVE that song but are you kidding me with the lyrics? I actually didn't really find Tool until I was in a pseudo-intellectual/spirituality phase in sobriety. I got obsessed with Carl Jung and spiritual awakenings. I fell in with some people that loved to try and interpret each song. We were all wearing black down at the coffee shop. Actually, I wasn't wearing a lot of black then but 1 guy was. It's funny to look back on that epoch. I cringe on a lot of the lyrics now and can't get as much into it but the musicians are fantastic.

Lateralis is a great album too. 10,000 days was definitely not. I don't really listen to Tool in the gym. I don't know if I have ever. I usually have one of their cd's close by in my car and listen while I am driving.

I forget who suggested Meshuggah to me in the past. That is another I need to get back into.

Meshuggah is fire. I think it might have been Maynard that suggested them but also this one guy in AA that I did not see often. I can't remember who it was. He suggested some swedish band too that was heavily inspired by Tool.

Someone politely asked if his wine was vegan (in order to know if they can buy it) and his response was one of the most childish things I've seen. Dude has some serious issues : https://i.redditmedia.com/xUESrzlIEIF...mp;s=ae64f28b8ea33422852bf23243f713e8

That is just Maynard's sense of humor. Hooker with a Penis he tells his fans to fuck off and stick a finger up their ass, shut up and buy. It's like the way he markets or something. But, I don't think it's marketing per se but rather Maynard trying to be funny (and in some ways serious as well). Some people will find it funny. (I typically do). Some won't. His fans will eat that up. His non-fans won't and he doesn't care or probably the truest is that like I said at the beginning it was an attempt at humor and he doesn't care either way.

It's not a joke. It's part of his whole spiritualist crap "life feeds on life, man". He has called out vegetarians in the past at his shows. He thinks it's something an unenlightened person does.

Hmmm, he's got some weird views. I still like him but he's got some weird views and some of his lyrics almost ruin songs for me. I think one in particular is Parabola. Such a great song but Maynard starts going off on stupid spirituality stuff. I think maybe it boils down to he just did too much acid as a younger person. I could see him having that kind of meathead attitude regarding eating meat that a whole host of people have. Oh well. I still enjoy a lot of Tool's music. Not a fan of A Perfect Circle or Puscifer and really fuck it I have been listening to Meshugga and they are probably better than Tool. I don't think I have leveled up to the extreme extreme metal but it was funny the owner was playing some sappy rock this morning and I have been listening to nothing but metal for days and was like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!?!?" I know what you mean. You get desensitized even to rock or metal. There has got to be some other albums that I have to listen to.

Well, I'm definitely not desensitized to non-extreme music. I enjoy so many genres including pop music. It's only when it's music that's supposed to be heavy but isn't (to me) that I get bored or annoyed. In that case I feel like an F1 pilot driving Go-Karts or something.

There's certainly a lot of great albums for you to discover. I've discovered a lot through rateyourmusic's top lists and alternatively http://www.metal-archives.com can be used to find similar bands to what you like. Every band page has a "similar artists" tab with a similarity score.

I have been waking up and training before dawn (wake up 5am) and I kind of like it. No traffic to the gym, barely anyone in there, get it done out of the gates. The guy who suggested it trains fasted so really just wakes up, brushes teeth, throws on clothes he laid out the night before and gets after it. I have decided to get some sort of protein in me before and maybe wake up a little bit. There is something to be said for just doing it and getting it done. I inherently browse message boards which I am finding is really quite a bad habit. I think it is worth it though to get some food in me before I train. I feel better during the day. My brain seems to work better.

I need to find better things to do than browse message boards though. I had nothing better to do today than lounge on message boards and followup on BTC which I can't really do anything about currently except for weep over missed value. The irony here is I am complaining about being on message boards too much while being on message boards too much... I'll figure out because there is value on this site. I don't know if many worthwhile projects have ever fallen into someone's lap. At least waking up early and going to the gym is waking up my life.

Yeah I saw the guy that inspires you. Seems to be a guy who made the rounds on the popular silly podcasts. I dunno anything about him except he's disciplined but if he's smart he's not training fully fasted after sleeping for 6-8 hours. You might just not be aware that he's popping a few BCAAs before the workout. If you think he's not and there is something to it, then go ahead and experiment with it. It's not like you need to do everything optimally because you're going to be competing.

Yeah, I actually like his (Jocko's) podcast. It's something different but he is a silly paleo guy. His ideal breakfast is eggs and bacon. He was in charge of training the Seal teams though so he is no dummy in training regards although a bit biased towards the bodyweight exercises and calisthenics. There is not going to be much more peak contraction or tension on the muscle for the respective body parts than pullups, dips, handstand pushups (or holds or wall walk ups), deadlifts, and squats. Pushups are still difficult for me to bang out a lot of them so for now are probably similar to the bench press.

8-10 hours is optimal sleep?

In many ways or at least with certain things I have the attitude that if I am going to do it I might as well get as close to optimal that makes sense. Grabbing a protein shake and a banana in the morning before I train is not a big deal. Eating a good breakfast after a shower is not a big deal. If it were optimal to get 10 hours of sleep it's not like I am missing out on a whole lot at the moment. It's not like I am some socialite. I have been liking going to bed early.

I need to find better things to do than browse message boards though. I had nothing better to do today than lounge on message boards and followup on BTC which I can't really do anything about currently except for weep over missed value. The irony here is I am complaining about being on message boards too much while being on message boards too much... I'll figure out because there is value on this site. I don't know if many worthwhile projects have ever fallen into someone's lap. At least waking up early and going to the gym is waking up my life.

That ultimately comes down to reconditioning your brain so that it feels more pleasurable/purposeful to do other things. You're stuck in instant gratification feedback loops and you crave them, so your task is to make it as boring as possible to use the computer to counter them, and as enjoyable as possible to do other things. That's how you change your habits in a smart way. So for example, I quit social media a long time ago which was the most important thing. There's a lot less to do on the computer as a result. The second most important thing is that I got a standing desk. I did so because I was spending a lot of time at the computer and it's a healthier choice, but what happens now that I have it is that I don't particularly enjoy standing for long periods, sometimes it gets very uncomfortable if I'm not moving, so it encourages me to go do something else.

It's also about training your mind to be more rational. To catch yourself deceiving yourself more often. Saying "I had nothing better to do than X" is almost never true. It's just an excuse because you crave stimulation and you feel like you don't have the willpower to find stimulation that is productive. You have to learn (slowly build up) to do things you don't feel like doing in the present but you know you will benefit from doing, and you have to learn to feel relatively good when you are on your own in an environment without stimulation. No audiobook, no music, no anything. Just you and your thoughts. If you absolutely crave stimulation then you have a very deep issue to resolve. I've known some people who couldn't even go to the bathroom without their phones. That's a really bad place to be in. Working out with a regular schedule will help a lot but it's only one supporting element.