Thicker is better

It's true! I got my newest toy delivered yesterday and decided to take it to the gym, Fat Gripz Extreme
Was I in for a treat. I know thick bars are the best for grip training but I had no idea what to expect with these things. A bit bigger than the regular Fat Gripz, the Extreme version is definitely for experienced.

I added these on to the HS chest press and was amazed at how much easier it was to press. I was not gripping the handles like a boa constrictor around a small animals neck. I was actually using my hands as hooks. 320 went so easy I decided to jump to 360 and banged out 5 sets of doubles. My next experiment was with Zerchers. This was ok, probably something I might do again. Felt awkward but effective, adds a little different stress to the lift. The final kicker was Behind the Back wrist curls...wow is all I can say. % sets of 6 reps with 135 was all I could handle.

I also did some back and other chest work today. Was surprised at how long I was in the gym which included 35 minutes on the treadmill. Thankfully I was fueled up with Shock Therapy and Atomic 7 from Universal Nutrition. I have decided that I enjoy the simplicity of their products and the fact they work for me.
The company has been around for almost as long as I have, so they must be doing something right.

I checked my weight and bodyfat today. Happy to say I am under 250...248 to be exact. I was surprised by the bodyfat readout I got, 14%. Serious? Really? Well I suppose it could be off since it was my first time. I would guess I am probably about 16%. I will do it again to see if there is a difference.

Like Al Pacino in Godfather 3, I cannot get away from strongman. No, I have not flip flop like Romney but I have decided to do a strongman competition in December. It is for fun and charity and I somehow convinced myself to do it. So if you are anywhere near Bradenton Beach on December 9th come out and watch, Brawn at the Beach.



 

Born to rage...

So I caught this video from National Geographic this morning...




Was certainly a little eye opening for me. Not that I am violent, but I think the "warrior gene" could explain a whole lot about me. Anyone that knows me has probably witnessed a little of my temper. Funny how the gangbangers, Buddhist monk, and Navy Seal all had it. All of them were soldiers in a sense, disciplined in their training, and focused. Yet all could leave the violence and focus on other pursuits.
Strange how much focus and discipline played in all their lives. I find it very similar to my pursuits in the gym. There is a certain level of focus, discipline, and insanity needed to to this stuff.


So grabbing my stuff I headed to the gym fueled by a cream cheese danish, coffee, and some Limp Bizkit. Was shoulders and triceps today.
I was dreading the gym since I took the whole week off after feeling like hell since Wednesday. My feelings were for nothing because I actually did better than I have in a long time.
Shoulder presses were 250 for 6 sets of 6 reps, nailed 5 giant sets of laterals, front raises, and rear laterals. Ended the shoulder session with some high pulls. The high pulls were a little too light so I need to add some more weight next time.
Triceps were brutal. I started with Lockouts on the Smith, 300 for 4 singles! Last time I could not budge 275... Finished the tris off with pushdowns, 50lbs. 20 reps, 7 sets. That was all I could handle, except I did cardio on the treadmill. 30 minutes, wanted to do 45 but my right calf was cramping the whole time. Want to talk about pain?!?!
That's it! Looking forward to watching some football and eating some food...

benadryl and squats

i feel a bit like Wheezy today. the pollen is high and so am i...on benadryl. this is not a great time of year.
training is horrible when you can't breathe. i as gasping for air like a fish out of water. but i managed to make it through...

squats 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 405x10,5,5---wanted 20 straight but that was not happening

hacks 270x8 6 sets 180x10, 90x15

reverse grip benches on smith machine  185x8 5sets

pushdowns 100x10 5 sets, 80x8, 60x8, 40x12, 20x20

tate cable extension 20x10 6 sets

although today was sucky in the gym i am really happy with stuff going on at RXmuscle.com. strongman is a big priority and i get to be part of that! finally after all these years there is coverage and recognition for the athletes that put in the hard work for a sport that i not only enjoy watching but participating in.

on the crapper

ever have that epiphany while sitting there unloading your bowels and stinking up the place? yeah had a few in my life...mostly just stinking up the place though with a few bright and shining moments. i wonder if Einstein came up with his theory that way? but i digress....

the past few weeks are a true test of who i am and what makes me tick. it is a struggle somedays to get up and function. i apply to jobs with the hope of just hearing "we want you to work for us."  i check my resume to update and change details, just to fit a job, praying that the HR personnel like what they see.

through all this i find a way to keep sane and away from the ledge. the gym, hulu, netflix, pandora and my weekly trip to the little diner down the street. funny how the simple things make a difference. i talk to my friends and kids which is a great way to bring me off the edge. also i am going through old art and stories, rethinking that i should just do this stuff again.

strongman...now there is my passion. love the sport. you just have to watch the Arnold Classic to know what i mean. hurts the most that i cannot compete and training can be too much to bear right now. but i stay in the gym and keep that fire burning. hopefully i can stay healthy...which is why i will be taking a week off. damn shoulder is tweaked. funny how an ancient injury will come back to haunt you.

so to sum this rambling wreck....i need the focus and intensity to see it all through!

http://www.rxmuscle.com/strongman.html  just had to share a pic of Travis Ortmayer.

back to it!

monday is here again. so that meant more job searches and sending of resumes. the opportunities are there, i just have to keep pushing. been a bit down about it though. i send and send but rarely do i get a reply. if i do they are mostly "thanks, but.." ah well... nothing ventured, nothing gained.

i spent my weekend playing with my new toy...an android phone. desperately needed a new phone and this was a good deal. i am slightly addicted to angry birds, it is video game crack! got some great and fun apps..fart button, nuff said! also found some great soundboards from some of my favorite movies. wait till some of my friends hear the ringtones i created for them..hehe! after all that i did take my butt out to get groceries and new socks and undies....that is sooo much fun. i did however have a great breakfast at a little diner down the street. a well deserved treat. anyone out my way has to try Izzy's Diner.

alright now for the good stuff....
new Muscle and Fitness has Derek Poundstone on the cover. thought "whoopeee" another training article. but was i wrong! it went into what makes this man tick. a must read! one quote from it stuck in my head..."An injury is an injury. Death is final."  so that being said....




close grip bench press  225x3  260x3  290x3+5

HS iso row 1 arm  125x8 5 sets

HS iso wide chest 1 arm  90x10 5 sets

shrugs 405x20 3 sets

dips   bodyweight  8 reps 5 sets

face pulls 120x10 5 sets

the beatdown...

was a day for squatting...and i am feeling like the iron won today. oh i got my numbers but i am feeling like i was run over by a herd of fat women chasing a truck full of twinkies.

squats 360x5 415x5 470x5+5

hack squats 270x8 5 sets

hack lunges 90x8 5 sets----oh brutal! a must try!!

single leg extension 100x10 2 sets drops 87.5, 75,  62.5, 50, 37.5, 25  8-10 reps

standing calf raises 200x10 5 sets

seated calf raises 90x25

a good gym.

abs, forearms, and cardio....

you know you have a good gym when they have a tire out back.
overhead squats 115 5x5
ab pulldowns/side bends/leg raises 180/150/bdywt 10reps 5sets

underhand/overhand wrist curls 185 5x5

twist you wrist 40x5 4sets

herc hold 200 each hand 1minute, 30seconds, 30seconds

tire flip bout 300lber 10flips 2sets

treadmill 20minutes


happy with today. winded but in a good way. just need to keep this up till september. 

from last night

was too tired and preoccupied watching the waterboy last night.

went to the gym after work....at first i was wavering, kept telling myself go home...who freaking trains on a sunday night? well since i pass the gym on my way home there was no escaping. i went in and trained. to my surprise there were people in the gym.

push presses...worked my warmupswith 3 reps each. got to my work set of 225. did 5sets of 2reps. very happy with this. no misses but i stalled on a couple reps and wasable to push through.
next was seated presses on the snith machine. i wanted to go as heavy as possible and do lockouts. went from nose to overhead with 265 for 3 reps. did 4sets...these were tough!!
jumped to the dumbbell rack next and did side raises with 20lbers. 10 reps 10 sets! i found a way to hit the side head better...or at least for me. i keep my palms facing my body from the front, a pronated grip.
went back the the smith machine and did one more set of presses. this time full presses! 135 for 25 reps.

was very happy with this workout! i think 275 should be easy in september....hoping things work out for september. i am looking forward to doing this comp.

i am almost done with Poison....still feel the same on it as day one. usually my body adapts to the fat burners but this stuff is intense. energy levels are great. lot of focus throughout the day. i have noticed small changes in my body. i have dropped a few lbs without doing a ton of cardio and a crappy diet. makes me think of the possibilities whren i clean up my diet and do more cardio...
Chain'd out and WTF are still my mainstays for pre-training and during training. Gym manager/owner asked me if i was drinking Kool-aid...haha.

event training today. not my normal day but training partner is competing this weekend.




log clean and press
140,170,190,210x2

tire flip
550 5,7,6 reps

stones
230x5 




was hot and humid...unbelievably sweaty....


prior to training i cracked open a new fatburner, Poison by ALRi, not jittery but felt energized.
very impressed with the way it feels. also 1 dose per day. most definitely worth it just for that.


prior to training i had a PBJ sandwich and cup of coffee. also drank WTF on my way to train, wicked pump during training. after training i downed a shake using Species Isolyze, peanut butter and chocolate mixed together. 

rebuilding the strongman

its offseason for me. decided to focus on my essential lifts needed for strongman. going to keep it simple with a 5/3/1 program. its 4 days a week doing push press, squat, bench press, and deadlift. 4 week cycle with 3 weeks being work and the 4th being a deload. i am going to insert an event training day every other week. that means i will not train a certain lift those weeks.

ventured to the gym for my first workout last night....
push press!

my goal is to do a single with 290lbs.

push press 170,205, 225 5 reps each
machine press 180 5 sets 10 reps
1 arm dumbbell clean and press 70 5 sets 5 reps

got crazy and walked on the treadmill for 60 minutes.

shaving my forearms and other oddities of the strongman

yes i do...just the inner side. why? because the tacky rips the hairs out. it prevents the nasty road rash too. ladies i do not envy any of you that wax!!

deadlift suits. although not exclusive to strongman, they are a fun piece of clothing to put on. super tight and designed to make you stand up. i have to learn to breathe in it. i have also got stuck on the floor. definitely not something you can be mobile in. it hurts and bruises along with the rubbing off of flesh on your fingers...just to pull the straps up requires a crane or very brave training partner.

tacky...pine rosin. looks like the stuff women and some men get their "junk" waxed with!
helps the stones suck right up to your arms. it does not work well when you are sweating like a whore in church. this wonderful substance also requires some work just to remove. wd-40, baby oil, and goop hand cleaner...wow that reads like a perverts dream.

weekend update

no its not SNL...but i bet i am definitely funnier.

did events saturday. was pleased with the results despite the humidity and 3 soaked t-shirts!
farmers was easy, need to work my turns. tire again was insanely easy. going to have to do multiple sets just for the cardio. stones were great. event though i was so sweaty the tacky came off on my first pull. worked out some issues with placement and got some solid reps after missing 2.
sunday was a different story...deadlifts sucked! 505 was all i could manage. the 2 reps i did took everything out of me. maybe my back was toasted from events. certainly know i lost a bit from the heat. pullups were easy..5x5 with the eagle claw loops, done with fingertips. pulldowns killed and made me feel real good.

relaxed the rest of the day with football.

boredom, training, plans, and a rant

yup i was bored....after all i forgot what a real day off was like. new schedule kicked in and the days off commenced with me sleeping in late, watching too much tv and playing too much final fantasy. finally got so stir crazy i made my way to the gym. did some light work that left me sore and tight a day later. overhead squats...nuff said!

november 7th is my next competition http://02d934a.netsolstores.com/pdf/Finalentryform.doc
my work schedule makes training easy and gives me enough rest. this should be fun and a great opputunity to qualify extremely early for 2010 nationals. and that is my goal!! the weights are perfect and doable for me. my weight will be easy to manage...only 5-6 lbs to drop. a good time with friends coming in and my training partner comepting too!

after that...who knows?

now the rant....
my job is simple. but someone can fuck it up! or at least cause distress among the rest of the crew. we input vital and timely information for our customers. if not done then we lose and so does our customers. amazingly that is just what the person i follow did not do. fucking retarded monkeys could do this job! i come in on a saturday morning to a shitstorm of fucked up info.
to top it off this person left as soon as i walked in...10 minutes early and i ended playing catchup for an hour.
FUCKING LAZY ASSBAG!!!
yes this person wins the "c-word" award

a flight, a competition, and tastycakes

i flew out friday to philadelphia...delayed due to some nasty rain up that way. ah well. when we did get flying it was smooth. read a bit and reworked a story i have had for years. feeling a little creative. coming in to philly was better than any ride at disney. wind gust blew the plane every direction as we soared over the delaware river.

a great friend took me to genos for a cheesesteak and then to a surprise...a star trek exhibit at the franklin institute!! yes i am a bit of a trekkie. watched the new movie on the imax too.

we made our way to jersey and i spent the rest of the weekend with, well...someoen i really care about. lets save that for another blog....

saturday was the raiders robotix strongman competition. took 3rd in the heavies. really happy with it. the events: hummer push/sled pull, tire flip 10 in max time, tire toss, treestump carry, stone over bar. i was bummed about the stone. should have been easy but it was new and baby bottom smooth. no tacky allowed either!

now to the tastykakes...http://www.tastykake.com/
things must be made with crack! had the peanut butter ones and chocolate cupcakes!! sweet mother of jesus!!

a good son

or just feeling guilty...
been trying to get in and see my mom all week. but to my dismay her therapy is going on when i show up. so i decided to stay home this morning. went to the gym instead of travelling to do events.

low back was feeling sore and tight from the earlier workout and it showed. glad i didnt go to event training. i would have quit early. romanian deadlifts on the hammer machine showed my misery...630 for 5 singles. dropped the weight in half to rep it out but i couldnt break the weight off the ground. moved over to the leg press. did 1 leg at a time. 300lbs...20 reps each. dropped 50lbs each set for the next 3. repped that out till i hurt, the good kind. zerchers were up next to torture me. 275 5 sets of 3 reps, from the bottom pin. my back hated me for that.
figured i wasnt done with my masochistic training, so i did some grip work. bar end holds and hercules holds...truly finished.

got in to see my mom. watched her finish therapy this morning. amazing to see how hard she is working. told her it was just like me training and competing. she gave me a smile and said "really?"

what are those giant rubber bands for?

went in to the gym and did my pressing...
close grip press with pink and purple bands. oh yeah also had 275 on the bar. 5 singles.
felt ok...wasnt happy with the depth.










dumbbell extension with 90lber. 5 sets of 5 reps. way too easy.
more iron next time.
pushdowns with 55lbs 8sets of 15 reps.
got on the elliptical for 20 minutes and sweated like a whore in church.




was a good day in the gym. going to feel it tomorrow or maybe sooner!

useful

abs are useful, cardiovascular endurance is, but conference calls that do not pertain to me are not!!

i want my hour back. fuckers!!

so i got up off my lazy butt or actually rolled it out of bed this morning. got cardio and abs in today. 60 minutes on the treadmill and elliptical. with ab work inbetween. 3 of my favorite moves for abs...ab pulldowns, cable side bends, and straight arm pulldowns.

i work the abs with heavy movements in the 10-15 rep range. no i am not looking for a sixpack. strongmen have kegs! but core strength is essential to all the strongman events.

up next...jersey!

my next comp. going to new jersey for this one. going to interesting because it is blind. won't know the events till the day of the comp. if the poster is any indication i will be having loads of fun!

today i trained...

felt good after the past few weeks. my mind and body hit a slump and funk...would have preferred george clinton to the funk i had.

after a wakeup call and walking the dog, i headed to the gym. pressing day today. did my close grip presses with 300lbs for 3 singles. wanted more but no use getting stuck under a bar.

from there i did barbell extensions with 185. 4 sets of 5 reps was enough. have to keep my elbows in or i will feel it bad later! did my pushdowns next. keep these light to get a pump...yes i said pump! 8 sets 15 reps with 45 lbs. this was too light, might need to move up a bit next week.

finished my lifting with dumbbell clean and press, one arm at a time. 70, 80, 90, and 100 all went up nicely. but i am not done....

hopped on the elliptical for 20 minutes. did the interval hill....whooo!

keeping the diet sort of a bit like keto. i am adding carbs in the morning and preworkout for fuel. but the rest of the day will be all protein! before i went to the gym i had a fiber bar and coffee. in the gym i took my nasty drink...6 scoops of appletini chain'd out , 2 scoops of waximaize, 1 airborne, and 2 energy drink mixes. also popped 3 jetfuel ....oh my! feell ike i am vibrating right now. came home had 3 eggs with cheese more coffee....yeah like i needed it...

rest of the day at work i will snack on cashews, a protein bar, and have 2 burgers..no bun.

relaxing weekend

thought i would get more done but my body told me other things. i slept 12 hours 2 days in a row. it just felt so good. i ate like crazy...and the scale showed it this morning...but i relaxed and enjoyed a few days off.

sunday i went to the parents and had dinner. lots of food and went home with a ton of leftovers. watched the indy500, just an amazing race.

monday i was the chauffer...drove mom and dad to the hard rock casino. lost my money in the video bandits...was better served drinking at the bar. we went to joes crab shack on the way home. walked or rather waddled out of there, stuffed!

woke up today and got back to business. worked on my pressing in the gym. finally figured out the dip on my press!! now to try it with some serious weight. shoulders are already getting stiff and sore. 10 days till comp....i feel loose and ready to have insane fun!