Lots of rain, flooded basement but finally it's weekend

Today was a weird day. It was raining and hailing. To make it short: the basement was flooded. Yesterday I saw a video about a flooded house lol. However it wasn't too bad (could be worse). But the floor is destroyed in some places and needs to be redone. Really tired now and gonna rest soon. It's weekend, yay!

My dog had diarrhea on my gym puzzle floor - time to get horse stall mats??

On the morning of august 23rd I woke up with a nasty smell in my nose. I wondered what it could be. After pressing snooze several times on my phone and turning around for a while I finally woke up by the smell and went into the room next to my bedroom and asked my mom what the smell could be. She said that our dog had diarrhea on my gym puzzle mats. I was like bruh. I dragged away the two affected mats under my power rack and my mom put them in the bathtub. However I needed to hurry to get ready for work.

Fortunately my mom cleaned the mess on the mats and on the floor while I was going to work (thank you) but I thought to myself - well my mats are shit I guess. I wanted to change them already but well it costs money.

Back when the pandemic started I bought these kinda cheap puzzle mats. To be honest they're great for many purposes and you just puzzle them together. But they aren't great for lifting because they're too soft and you slightly sink in.

These are the puzzle mats I had until now

So I searched for other rubber mats online. There are companies that sell rubber mats specially for home gyms but they're expensive. Often it's just marketing (they know people will buy it when it contains the word "gym" or "fitness") and you can just buy normal rubber mats or horse stall mats.

I'm still looking for rubber mats and probably will buy them soon. I will write an update in my blog once I get them.

My dog, July 2022, she's casually sleeping on my bed lol

Music I listen to work out

 ~~Check out my working out playlist here~~

Maki Oze, Fire Force

Last update: 08. Dec 2022

My first weeks of working out

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my blog. This will be my first post. I hope you'll enjoy reading :)

I just started working out again and bought a power rack in July 2022 to have my own home gym. Before the pandemic I went to the gym and also worked out at home for a few months but made no significant progress (well it takes time and I just didn't stick to it long enough).

(Izuku Midoriya, My Hero Academia)

Now I finally want to make real progress and improvements for myself. I wanna be stronkkkk hehe.

The first 2 workouts felt so hard and I felt super weak after 1+ year without activity but workout number 3 and 4 felt better. Slowly my body is getting used to working out. So far I completed 10 workouts and want to share what I did.  I created a simple workout plan so I won't feel overwhelmed. It's basically a full body plan and I think that's the best idea for a beginner. Also I'm flexible and if I miss a day it's not a big deal. I think it's not good to overcomplicate everything at the beginning. Make it simple so you stick to it. I also changed little things over the ten workouts and choosed exercises I enjoy doing. I'm not sure if it's the best plan to work out but as long as I stick to it it's good for the beginning I guess.

At the start of a workout I do a warmup with the indoor bike for 5-10 minutes.

During the workout I listen to music (I recently discovered hardstyle which really gives motivation).

My plan contains six exercises:

SQUATS 5x5

After the warmup I start with 5 sets with 5 reps of squats. Every set is heavier and the last set will be the heaviest. I try to have a stable squat but if it's too heavy my knees go inwards (I try to work against it or pick a lighter weight).

BENCH PRESS 3x5

After squatting I will do the bench press for 3 sets. In the first few sessions I did 8 reps so I get used to the movement but during the last workouts I did 5 reps and tried to go heavier slowly. However I'm super weak still but it just takes time!

(Barbell) ROW 3x8

I bought a power rack with a lat pulldown attachment and I can do rows on it too. Somehow I prefer doing that instead of barbell rows for now. It gives me more stability than doing it with the barbell. I don't use lots of weight with this exercise.

(Romanian) DEADLIFT 3x8

I prefer doing deadlifts somehow but you could do romanian deadlifts too. For now I stick with normal deadlifts. I do 3 sets and 8 reps so I get used to it. Later I could do 5 reps.

OHP (Overhead/Military Press) 3x5-8

I'm weak at this exercise haha :'D I was doing 8 reps in the beginning so I get used to it. In the last 2 workouts I tried doing 5 reps and going higher but I'm still kinda weak at this exercise.

LAT PULLDOWN 3x8

As mentioned earlier my power rack has a lat pulldown attachment which I use for this exercise. I don't use tons of weight with this exercise.

After the workout I sometimes did 5 minutes on the indoor bike but I was super done and just rested most of the times. Don't forget to stay hydrated! :D

(Akemi Soryuin, How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?)

Thanks for reading. See you soon!

PS my fortune cookie from today: