Kicking my workout off at 3:58 AM this morning, I had a FANTASTIC performance. Not only did I check everything off, but I also added an additional exercise of 5 sets! But, here is the kicker: I did it in 2/3's of the time!

What, did I pop back Pervitin, the secret sauce of the Nazi blitzkrieg? Did I drive my Chevy to Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets on the radio and swing by my local Walgreens to snag a bottle off the shelf as I danced my way back to the checkout?

Here's a The More You Know Bit 💫 on Germany's economic recovery and war mobilization:

...the population welcomed the energising substance with open arms. It was cheap, helped people work, spread euphoria through the country and was not considered a drug. Basically, it only seemed to have beneficial effects. Sometimes even mixed with chocolate, pervitin appeared as harmless.

...Otto Ranke, director of the Institute for General and Defense Physiology at Berlin's Academy of Military Medicine, suggested that methamphetamine compounds could improve the soldiers’ performance. Introduced in the daily rations and consumed up to twice a day, the drug gave the soldiers supernatural capabilities. Fearless and cheerful, they could spend more than three days without sleeping and walk up to 60 kilometres without interruption. This allowed for the fast invasion of Poland in 1939, the Blitzkrieg through the French Ardennes in 1940, and the Balkan Campaign of 1941, fought without rest for 11 days.

Pervitin: How Drugs Transformed Warfare in 1939-45

You're tellin' me we ought to trust doctors? Interestingly enough, meth wasn't banned in the United States until 1970—not so fast...

Today, doctors prescribe Desoxyn® to "treat" "ADHD" (and the DEA adds that it is used to treat obesity). I am not making this up: doctors LITERALLY prescribe meth. TODAY.

I mean, if I had to go with an "expert" practitioner for my health...

That just makes me giggle. Ah yes, trust doctors and their silly, arbitrary numbers to fit their worksheet when they literally prescribe meth; trust the government to do what is right as they say 65% of our dietary intake ought to come from sugars.

No wonder there's an opioid issue with our country. This didn't start out in high school parking lots, but the backdrop of Kenny G waiting rooms. Puts a dark spin on terminal degrees.

OK, slide off all of that to the side. If the Faustian handiwork of doctors did not speed me up by 50% while adding 25% more content, what in the world happened?!

After mining Arnold Schwarzenegger's The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, last night, I finally decided to superset things. I did a 15-rep set of seated lateral raises and immediately followed it with a 15-rep set of upright rows. Then I took my standard 1-minute break. I ran this combo 5 times.

Now, with my Arnold press, I dropped the target weight because I really wanted to focus on using my tools to develop my musculature. Can you tell I just don't care about arbitrary numbers?

I want to work on my form. Arnold suggests that we do not lock out our arms when at the top of the Arnold press—isn't that rest a tendency of ours even when its just for a couple of heartbeats worth?

Speaking of rest, I did superset that exercise as well. After the first set, I benchpressed, but after sets 2,3,4,5, I used the 1-minute "rest" to crank out situps until it was time to lift again (after the final set, I just matched what I did in the preceding sets).

Clearly, I can free up ample time in the morning. How will it shape Week 9?

Next month's 45? Just another arbitrary number.