Rant 1027 / Shoulder Workouts

The singer sucks but the song made me want to play Dead Money again.

Then I thought about it and decided it was not a good idea.

The plot of Dead Money was certainly better than those of the other DLCs IMO but I just dislike the dark and creepy setting.



















All those Korean- and China-made shoes are so damn cheap, and that's what I actually wanted when I looked through the catalogues on a few websites.

I need a pair to wear on rainy days until the Christmas sales begin and I can get a real pair of leather shoes that are more water-resistant than suede.

The problem with those shoes I mentioned is that they never seem to exceed US size 11.

I need size 13.

Like I said before, it looks like I will never be able to buy those cheap shoes I saw on websites like Qoo10 and DHGate.




















Now I wonder whether the accident that killed Bashar Assad's elder brother was really an accident.























So I was right. I just asked my bro what exercises he did to get the shoulders he has and of the three he showed me, I've already been doing two of those for the past few days.

The first was the second half of what this website calls the "Alternating Deltoid Raise", which is just this:

Btw I've also been doing the first half since yesterday:

These workouts are hard, especially the sideways one, also known as the "Side Lateral Raise". I even feel pain in my left shoulder where I had my surgery some years back whenever I get tired. Generally, it takes about 10 repetitions (2 sets) before I'm properly warmed up so that I can do it perfectly and feel no pain.

The workout in the second image, aka the "Front Two-Dumbbell Raise" was less stressful on my arms and more on my back.

The other was what the website calls the "Dumbbell Shoulder Press":

This is much easier, so much so that I decided not to lock my elbows when my arms are stretched upwards just to make things slightly harder. My dumbbells are probably too light for this workout but I don't have more weights to add on to them. Moreover, they are more than enough for the Alternating Deltoid Raise.

The third one that he suggested, the one I didn't already know when I asked him, was the dumbbell version of the Upright Barbell Row:

I think it's quite easy to tell how this works with dumbbells.


Another workout I tried was the Dumbbell Raise:

But I thought it was too easy and decided to drop it since yesterday. Now that I see that it's a legit shoulder workout, I think I'll add it into my workouts again, albeit with more repetitions, perhaps ten or fifteen per set. Maybe even as a filler between sets.

There was one workout I tried but found it way too hard for me, which the website calls the " Standing Dumbbell Straight-arm Front Delt Raise Above Head", and was basically the Front Two-Dumbbell Raise but instead of stopping in front of you, you raise it all the way above your head.

 I want the workouts hard but not painful.


Initially I started with just a simple three sets of five for each workout but since yesterday afternoon I'm moving on to four or five sets each.

Per session.

Mostly I've been doing this right before meals. I prepare my food and sometimes I put the food on my desk right in front of me before I exercise.

Just inspired by the story told by a MG gunner in my unit about his company OC during his NS. The man, he said, was really buffed and was into bodybuilding. He also noticed that he worked out with dumbbells before lunch everyday, so he went up to ask him how many he did.

"Until my arms are shaking," was his answer.

And he wasn't kidding. After that, he watched his OC at lunch and noticed that his hands were trembling as he held his fork and spoon.

Though there's no way I can match that kind of motivation, I just find it convenient to work out after cooking since I'll be sweating anyway.

I'm not saying my exercises are light; I have difficulty lifting my arms up to shampoo my hair after each workout, so what I'm doing is hard for my physique.

However, this means I'm showering at least twice a day now instead of only twice a day, so I have to do the laundry more often.



As for why I'm only focusing on my shoulders, it's because I've always needed to strengthen my shoulder muscles to prevent future dislocations due to my already loose tendons, so it's a good place to start.



...

Tried the Iron Cross just now.

Holy feck that's way too hard for me! Did it twice and gave up on it. This workout is far too painful for me. The funny thing is, this workout is labelled as "Intermediate" on the website.







Anyways my bro advised me to take a day off at least twice a week to recover. While I worry that this can ruin my momentum, I think he has a point too. My arms felt weaker this morning, so I might have overworked my arms in the last few days.

Now I'm considering doing much less than normal instead of completely stopping. Maybe two sets in total for the entire day.

However, while I was changing my terrapin's water today, it felt way lighter than it used to. I almost thought I had starved it for too long... then I recalled the last time I fed it was two days ago.

The workout must be working!























Finally got another pair of shoes that will likely cost me about S$90-S$100 in total. The shoes themselves cost US$59.95 on Amazon, the ground shipping within US cost nothing and the international shipping by ComGateway will likely cost anywhere between S$15-20.

Visa tells me that its current exchange rate inclusive of the 2% foreign transaction fee is 1.28615 SGD per USD, Amazon says it's 2 pounds, which slightly over 0.9kg, so yea, it's going to be around S$95 unless they stuff more paper cushion into the box than expected.

It's just a pair of leather oxfords (again), except this time it's not suede.

I just like the simple casual style, I guess. Spent quite some time looking through the oxfords between US$50-100 and decided on this partly because of the simplicity and partly because of its latex sole.

Anyway I bought it from Amazon because it's the only place where I can find decent leather shoes my size right now that cost less than or around S$100 inclusive of shipping.

Initially wanted a pair of chukka boots but decided it didn't seem formal enough for work. Oxfords, on the other hand, seem to be the perfect compromise between work and play to me.

The rains are coming and I don't want to wait till it's raining everyday before I buy a pair, especially since they usually take 2-3 weeks to arrive.