tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4364533050091005692024-03-13T19:28:04.710-07:00Hard CodedDevlifters Welcome.<br>
For those of us who spend our spare time away from training creating digital content, be it code, art, or anything in between.<br>
Email <a href="mailto:seth.gibson1@gmail.com">Seth</a> if you'd like to contribute.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.comBlogger459125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-10379288536930081862015-04-05T12:33:00.003-07:002015-04-05T12:33:50.673-07:00Shogun Speaks: On the Onnit Academy L1 Certification, Part 2<div>
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Greetings, seekers and walkers, Shogun back again. Alright, so in <a target="_blank" href="http://devlifters.blogspot.com/2015/03/shogun-speaks-on-onnit-academy-l1.html">Part 1 of my Onnit Academy Certification experience</a>, I talked a bit about my own backstory, at least as training relates to it, and of course I spoke a little bit about what it was that led me to the Onnit Academy. All well and good, but what actually happened that weekend so long ago (well, ok, like a month ago), what did I think of it, and what should you be aware of if you’re considering going through the certification? Well, some thoughts and a couple pieces of advice…
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<center><b>This is going to be a long post, so let’s just get right to the TL;DR:</b></center>
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Obviously I had a positive experience or I wouldn’t be talking about it, so yeah, go do it. Even if you’re not interested in getting certified, you’ll learn quite a few new ideas that you can roll into pretty much whatever you’re doing, including basic open chain mobility (which we ALL need), some new ways to use old tools (I’ve been swinging kettlebells for almost 10 years and I learned all kinds of new things), and some new tools you probably haven’t spent much time with (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.onnit.com/onnit-steel-mace/">Steel Mace FTFW</a>). Overall, the seminar was both educational and entertaining, the content well presented, and worth your time and money.
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Cool, now for those of you who are still with me, let’s get to some details. As I mentioned, I didn’t really know too much about the Onnit approach going into the weekend, but I think that was good as it put me in a “tared” state right away. I’ve noticed this is something that’s served me well in my pursuits of physical training knowledge, that idea/ability to just let go of any experience I might think is relevant and just accept whatever is coming. I thank <a target="_blank" href="http://www.russianmartialart.com">Systema</a> for that, because they certainly do things a bit differently at the Onnit Academy, but in a good way.
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My first piece of advice, then, would be to approach the weekend with an open mind. Hopefully that’s why you’re there, right? <b>To Learn!</b> And learn you will, for example, I’ve been working with kettlebells for quite some time, and Coach Wolf at one point asked everyone, “So what do you do when you run into someone who can’t do swings?”, to which my response was “Well, I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t swing,” which is true, or so I thought, but after the seminar, I realized that I’m probably not assessing people correctly and underestimating the complexity of a swing, and not just a swing, but all the foundational movements that connect to a swing (which is a big part of the Onnit approach, and I’ll talk about that in a bit). I’ve used zercher sandbag good mornings as a teaching tool for swings in the past, but after what Coach showed us at the seminar, I’ll be doing something different going forward. Old dog, new tricks, confirmed.
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Speaking of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/coachjohnwolf">Coach Wolf</a>, let’s talk about him for a second. I won’t linger on this too long because I don’t want to seem like I’m blowing sunshine up anyone’s ass (and you guys who know me know I don’t do that anyway), but, the man was on point and set a pretty high bar for not just future Onnit seminars, but training seminars in general. Some of the best seminars I’ve been to were due largely to the fact that the presenters could keep an audience engaged for the duration, and Coach Wolf did that in spades. He knew the subject matter, presented it well, walked the talk (seriously, dude is jacked AF can clean and press The Beast, like, smoooov), and I tell you what, the man’s funny. All in all, he definitely gave me something to aspire to as a coach/instructor and presenter. If you’re reading this, John (well, even if you’re not), a personal (or as personal as a blog post can be) thanks, for making it a great experience, and I’m definitely looking forward to our next meeting.
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My second bit of advice should go without saying: Be in decent shape when you show up! Personally, prior to my certification weekend I took a week off of everything else just to work on things like mobility, basic strength and cardio, as well just to make sure that I wouldn’t show up totally gassed from my usual training week. As you can probably imagine, you <b>will be</b> doing work, learning new movements, and more importantly, new <b>movement concepts</b>. I mean, it wouldn’t be terribly beneficial to just watch someone else go through the motions, right? Who knows, there might be one or two surprise physical challenges as well (hint, hint).
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Being able to "feel all the movements", or as Arnold says, "...put your mind into the muscles," is the other reason you’ll want to show up fresh, relaxed, and ready to work, and here’s why. The thing I like most about the Onnit Approach could best be summed up by this thought from Coach John:<br/>
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<b>“Most people say to start with strength, but if you don’t have mobility, you can’t build strength. So start with mobility.”</b>
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In retrospect, it makes perfect sense, and it probably goes without saying that <b>not</b> starting from mobility is why we all end up gimped out, banged up, and not concerned about mobility until it’s a huge issue. What this translates to in practice, at least in my interpretation, is learning the specifics of both performing and teaching the basic, foundational movements of which the more complex movements are comprised, and that's the key reason you need to be able to really feel the patterns. The more aware you can be, the more you’ll still be able to recognize those basic patterns as the movements get more complex, e.g feeling the proper tension in a hip hinge or a squat, so as you move up to, say, steel club cleans and steel mace flows, you'll recognize how those basic movement patterns fit into them and therefor always have a reference point for both performing and teaching those complex movements. A little sub-bit of advice here is go lighter with the implements than you think you might need. For the kettlebell section, even though I work in the 24-32kg range, I used a 12kg bell. Basically, find a weight that gives you enough control to progress through the movements with good form, but enough resistance that you're not fighting to keep the weight from "blowing in the wind". Remember, it's not a competition, it's an educational experience!
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To summarize, I’ve paid a lot of money to spend a lot of time in a lot of different seminars, and this one ranks up there with <a target="_blank" href="http://wheelersystema.com/2214/2015-masterclass-north-america-tba">Martin Wheeler’s Systema Master Class</a>. If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that's one of my favorite annual seminars that I pretty much earmark the dates for every year, so that’s saying quite a bit. If not, well...all I can do is reiterate the point I hope I’ve made several times throughout the course of this post, which is, even if you’re not looking for a certification and you’re just interested in adding some new tools to your toolbox, sign on. If education is your goal, you'll get that, and I guarantee <b>you will learn at least one new thing</b> (have I beat that horse into the ground yet?). For myself, the major takeaway was learning how simple movements like a hip hinge and squat actually apply to each other, how to progress into and through those movements, and how to apply those principles and practices to higher order movements, not just for people I'm working with, but for <b>myself</b> as well. This progression and understanding the connections is already improving my own work, and I’m excited to see how I can bring this to other folks. One of the things I say about Systema all the time is that Systema taught me how to walk. In a similar vein, I say that Onnit taught me how to stand, and what I mean by that is that both Systema and Onnit have given me very solid ways to consider and apply foundational ideas that extend to everything else I do, and I can't think of a more valuable takeaway than that.
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So what's next for me? Well, as far as gettin’ and bein’ Onnit (c’mon, you knew I was going to drop that in at some point), I’m looking forward to doing some work with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/events/938452256176470/">Duane Ludwig later this month</a> (not an official Onnit event), attending the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.onnit.com/academy/certification/certifications/level-2/">L2 Durability and Steel Mace courses</a> in September and November, and certainly rolling some of this stuff into my teaching opportunities. Just to fanboy a bit on the way out, I’m excited to be part of this org. This is the first of my planned certs for this year, and I think I chose...Wisely. If you have any specific questions about the certification process, please don’t hesitate to reach out, and I’ll respond as best I can. Once more, a big thanks to Coaches <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/coachjohnwolf">John Wolf</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/travisjaneway">Travis Janeway</a>, as well as the management and staff at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vigorgroundfitness.com/">Vigor Ground Fitness & Performance in Renton, WA</a> (friends in the area, check it out if you're looking for a place to train), Let's Train Again Sometime.
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<b>So Cheers, friends, keep seeking, when you find it, start walking. And when life starts to push, push back, F**k Life, Go Train!<br/><br/>Shogun, Out.</b>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-63125223703889827582015-03-21T20:32:00.000-07:002015-03-21T20:32:09.567-07:00Shogun Speaks: On the Onnit Academy L1 Certification, Part 1<div>
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It’s been a week since I participated in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.onnit.com/academy/certification/certifications/level-1/">Onnit Academy L1 Certification</a> weekend up in Renton, WA at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vigorgroundfitness.com/">Vigor Grounds</a>, and I’ve been thinking about the process itself, what I learned, and what I want to do next it quite a bit. It’s a lot to talk about, but part “what I want to do next” is talking, or blogging, vlogging, basically just putting info and perspective out there, so let’s get started. I know, I know, I’ve been promising to training blog and vlog for a while now, trying to scale back time spent at the office so I have more time to pay attention to this sort of thing. It’s basically either work less or train less, and I think we all know what I think about the latter…
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Alright then, for some background, one of the goals (no, I’m totally not afraid to use that word) I had set for myself last year was to get some personal training certifications. Not to sound too head-in-the-clouds or anything like that, but one of the things I’ve been trying to do for the last couple years is be open to the universe, you know, go with my own energy, and I notice when I do that honestly, I always come back to physical training, whether it’s combatives/martial arts, powerlifting, or just general strength training. Truth be told, I’ve probably studied, read, planned, programmed, and of course, PRACTICED, as much as any CSCS or NCSA certified coach, well, RECENTLY certified, let’s say, so I figured it was probably time to get at least a little serious.
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As I’ve stated a few times previously, I didn’t really know much about Onnit other than seeing the occasional pop-up in my facebook feed and for some reason I didn’t really pay attention. Call me a snob, I think I just have an overdeveloped facebook ad filter. It’s weird, my curiosity was definitely picqued by seeing that they were working with the likes of Joe Rogan, Jason Ferruggia, and Joe DeFranco to name a few, but yeah, again, for some reason I didn’t really dig too deep. I have my good friend Brad, he of <a target="_blank" href="http://riggingdojo.com">RiggingDojo</a> fame, to thank for pushing me over the edge, as it was his sharing of the <a target="blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL8zIerbzII">Onnit podcast with Kelly Starrett</a> that was pretty much my gateway drug. Dr. Starrett, of course, dropped some great knowledge bombs; finding myself impressed by both the scope of the conversation and the presentation in general, I spent the rest of the day watching the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphzOVq91NMaqadsVdhvySrnx61Z021Xk">Onnit Total Human Optimization Podcasts</a>, which I definitely recommend if you’re into training at all.
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Pretty much everyone of the vidcasts is a gem in and of itself, but the one that really resonated with me was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF7WfrN80QM">#44: Unconventional Training, Attitude, Mobility, and Your Questions Answered With John Wolf</a>. Definitely watch the whole thing, but it was some of the comments he made at around 27:11 about mapping tension between the body and the psyche that really grabbed me. As you can probably guess, a little bell went off in my head and I thought “Wow, that’s Systema 101, ok, now you got me.” I think I’ve mentioned this a few times, but that’s really the most valuable thing I’ve taken from Systema, the tension awareness and management, so anytime I come across a system that addresses that idea, I’m immediately interested.
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So as I dug through the website, I naturally came across the Onnit Academy section and started reading a bit more about the certification. It seemed like a fairly low overhead approach, at least the L1, and I figured that since I had never done any sort of fitness/training certification courses, this might be an easy one to jump into (truth: it definitely wasn’t “easy”). I had planned on being up in Seattle the weekend they were offering the next L1 Certification, so…listen to the universe, right? Signed up, and off I went. In retrospect, it’s a little funny, I went from 0 to L1 Certified in the course of about a month, but you know, that’s cool. The river just sorta pulled me along, and there I was.
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I think I’ve rambled quite a bit, and I need to go swing some kettlebells before it gets too late, so I’m going to break this into two posts. Next week I’ll talk about the specifics of the weekend and some overall thoughts on being Onnit.
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<b>Stay Fast, Stay Strong, Stay Mobile, Stay Hungry, and remember, whenever you start questioning life, Fuck Life, Go Train.</b>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-89907007420056016332015-01-19T21:00:00.001-08:002015-01-19T21:00:38.871-08:00On to week three<div>
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You know it's funny, every year for the last few years I've said something to the effect of "I'm going to blog more this year," and some years I do, some years I don't. It's not that I don't feel like I have things to say, I just get demotivated for no reason. Well, that's not entirely true, and in fact makes me want to read more on the human psyche and the biochemistry behind emotions, I mean, there may actually be something to that whole "toxic people" thing, maybe you really are poisoning yourself the longer you spend around 'em. It's crazy how our minds are able to affect our mental states, both positively and negatively, isn't it? Anyway...
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Some interesting things happened going into this year with my training schedule, some changes I was anticipating didn't happen, and some changes I wasn't anticipating did happen (isn't that always how it goes?), so I'm having to rethink my training schedule for this year in order to hit all the points I've been setting up for the last few, and to be honest, I'm still moving things around, but hopefully things will start crystallizing by the end of the month. I'm getting closer to something workable, trying to stay flexible, but going forward, there are definitely some immutables.
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One of the big hard-fasts for this year is to get my <a target="_blank" href="http://www.strongfirst.com/faqs/sfg-kettlebell-instructor-certification/">SFG Kettlebell LI Certification</a>, which some of you may recall I had slated for last November. Well, November came and went, and my snatch test time was hovering around 6m30s-ish. Given that the overall cost of the trip would've been around 3000 and the recommended standard going in is "plus two minutes", which either means seven minutes or three minutes, neither of which I was confident about (especially the latter), I didn't want to bet all that cash and a weekend on hoping I had a good day. That in mind, I'm planning my training around <a target="_blank" href="http://www.strongfirst.com/strongfirst-sfg-kettlebell-certification-prep-guide/">Brett Jones's SFG Kettlebell Certification Prep Guide</a>. Simple, straightforward, and hopefully effective.
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Ironically (extra points for proper use), I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with my SFG Cert, but I think it'll be a good thing to have. I know quite a few folks who are interested in being high-performance, and I'm a firm believer that kettlebells are the way to get there, at least for the levels that most people are trying to achieve, so who knows? For now, I just want to live through the event.
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<b>..."get ready to face the floor"</b>
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This puts me in a good place mentally by giving me some breathing room to do other training, because there was no way I was going to give up my mat time this year. Towards the end of last year, I was only doing Kajukenbo, and oddly enough, not training all my other styles really affected my Kaju negatively. Well, that's not true, I've always held that I don't train a specific style, I train my style, and if I only train one style, then my style suffers.
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I don't think combatives training is going to be an issue this year, it's funny, thanks to a seemingly innocuous post on one of my Facebook groups, 2015 started off at a dead sprint, but then, I didn't actually do anything for NYE, so being able to get up and train on Day One was a great opportunity and a really cool way to set the tone for what's coming. I'm going to go on record and say the best training decision I've made for this cycle is to just fuck everything and get to <a target="_blank" href="http://10thplanetsm.com">10th Planet San Mateo</a> as often as I can. Ditto Systema and Silat, I went back to Systema last week and you know, there's just nothing like that feeling of being free. <b>THAT'S</b> the thing my style has suffered from most, it's almost like for the last couple of months I've had this fear of movement, and for a time I'd forgotten how to breathe. And you know what happens when you stop breathing and stop moving...(hint: you're probably dead). It's cliche to say, but it's like being born again. After birth comes life, time to get to it.
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I'm going to finish by leaving this video here, I actually found it while writing this and the overall tone, well, the overall tone as I perceive it, is something I've been thinking about since sometime last year. But as I've already rambled, ranted, and raved enough for this post, we'll have to discuss it next time. That said, I'm going to go grill some sausages and finish eating. <b>Eat food, lift weights, and MOVE YOUR ASS.</b>
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<b>...maybe it's better to be the villian...</b>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-61961545205158145762014-12-28T19:47:00.002-08:002014-12-28T19:51:04.487-08:00Anabolic Fast Food: Surf 'n' Turf v1<div>
<i>DISCLAIMER: This works for me and is the result of a few years of experimentation in both training and meal timing. Your milage not may, WILL ABSOLUTELY vary if you try this as written. Anyone who's not me should just use this as a loose reference point or friendly suggestions for whatever it is you're trying to do. If you have specific questions, post in the comments or Email Me!</i>
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I often get asked about what sort of food combinations, otherwise "meals" one can eat when eating high-fat/keto. Fair enough, it's definitely a daunting question, especially if the last time you did any sort of nutritional research was when fat, salt, butter, and the nitrite content of bacon were horrible things that would kill you multiple times over. Hint: they're not, they won't, and I'll try and clarify when necessary. Just remember...<b>Fat Is Our Friend!</b>
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<b>This is really what he's been trying to tell us all these years...</b>
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So welcome to the inaugural post of what I'm calling <b>Anabolic Fast Food</b>. Anabolic Fasting is the term I use to describe how I eat, but careful not to confuse it with Purium's Anabolic Fast, which is a super low calorie 7-Day fast weight loss Fast. In my case, the Fast refers to the fact that I follow a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.leangains.com/">Leangains/IF-type pattern</a>, though maybe a bit more...well, for lack of a better term, extreme. Traditionally, IF calls or a 12-16 hour fast window and the remainder as an eating window, I tend to fast until after my last training session for the day and cram all my eating into about a 2 hour space, including prep-time. If you think about it, it adds up to about a 20+ hour fast, and somehow this all works for me, including the hard fasted training part with no carb intake. Now, keep in mind that your mileage may vary with both meal and training timing, so definitely feel free to tweak. That said, here are a few other points to keep in mind:
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<li>I use the term keto and anabolic interchangeably. Herein, I'll just be using the term anabolic, in honor of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.metabolicdiet.com/">Dr. DiPasquale's work.</a>
<li>I also use terms like fatty, fat-heavy, and fat-laden quite liberally. These are not negative descriptions! Remember, Fat (from natural sources, especially animals!!) Is Our Friend!
<li>The goal of each of these meals is to favor fat and stay around 2500 calories. That means I don't necessarily count macros, but I tend to stack my meals with more fat-primary foods as opposed to lean proteins, as you'll see.
<li>Yes, I eat the same meal every day of the week, so I'll only be posting these once a week.
<li>Corollary to that, I only eat once a day, hence the term "Anabolic Fast," and hence why each meal seems huge-ish (relatively).
<li>Even though intermittent fasting is meant for weight loss, Anabolic Fasting is not, in fact, I'm currently in a strength, mass, and performance phase. As I said earlier, tweak calories and timing for your purposes and training schedule.
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Alright, now that we've gotten all the boring stuff out of the way, let's get to what really matters, FOOD! For Surf 'n' Turf v1, we'll have:
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<li>1.5 lb Tilapia (~880 calories)
<li>1 lb uncured bacon (~630 calories)
<li>4 oz smoked salmon (~160 calories)
<li>4 oz garlic and herb goat cheese (~360 calories)
<li>6 eggs (~420 calories)
<li>garlic and green onions (for the eggs)
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIHmEOs0RUsdgmdp2XVp1Q9ugDzWJkTol-ZnJjmTVfoCDb3NvysfZr5ltIoMisbC0UrP3_pZHPepDS-wHFZmaXJvmmrqoPWM5fbJuENuTuKn2O4xjBcGapaMndmciUOMFAer8NNehVx_Hi/s640/IMG_20141228_160623.jpg"/><br/>
<b>Yes, I will eat all of this, yes, it will be delicious, yes, you should too.</b>
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This comes to around 2450 calories, and could definitely be split up over a couple of meals. Actually, I usually eat the smoked salmon and goat cheese first, then the bacon a little later (which gives me all that awesome grease for the fish and the eggs), and then of course, the fish and the eggs. That's just me, I'm lazy and uncreative. One could conceivably combine this or other ingredients into a pretty wicked frittata and eat on that all day. I mean, ultimately, as long as it all gets eaten, it doesn't really matter, as long as you find something that works for you. So that's it for this episode of Anabolic Fast Food, tune in next Sunday and we'll see what I'm eating for the first week of 2015...
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-39160583353827122602014-11-30T11:09:00.000-08:002014-11-30T11:37:50.321-08:00Feed Me Fame<div>
I should be writing code right now, should be doing that thing I get paid for, but instead I’m writing this post because, well, it’s been way too long. It’s funny, I had all these great plans at the end of last year, but...that thing they say about plans. Even now, I haven’t really trained in about two months, haven’t lifted in about three, and probably won’t get back to it until January, some commitments notwithstanding. Usually I write my year end review...closer to the end of the year, but hey, it’s December. This year has 31 days left to its credit, so that’s close enough.
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Not sure it was a coincidence that this came across my desk when it did, but this was definitely the push that inspired me to start writing this (and if I do anything better next year, it’s seizing inspiration. Call it trite, but hey, it works for me):
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<iframe width="500" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/qHqtfS29wXY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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I jive with the idea that you are what people perceive of you. That’s a thing, I’m not really into all this GenX/Y/Z/Millennial/whatever bullshit that “It doesn’t matter what people think of you, do what’s best for you and fuck everyone else,” or whatever other “motivational” type things people tend to post on their facebooks about how much they don’t give a shit (or what do the kids say “no more fucks to give”), you know, because loudly proclaiming your indifference through faux shows of independence is somehow a show of strength…
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8qfgHQKOaxB5-8bUXlM6pwY2z_Z1kKJcoCk56vgo5HjK3oihBM-KpRvT6mrnZkMeE4A2uWI1xTOV1y8OyoaOszp-kzAs-WtQUR2GFmg81MN6OUHyPH_Yy56MbfsV7vYZBkF9zJfS7lyyc/s800/ifyousayso.jpg" height="378" width="500" />
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Oddly enough, that’s an issue I’m facing right now. I don’t care what most of the people around me think about me right now, and <b>I DON’T LIKE THAT</b>. I want to care what people think about me because yeah, it does make me be a better person (“Well you should just do it for yourself,” yeah, shut the fuck up). I LIKE when people have some sort of expectation of me, it gives me a clear target. Now, that’s not a blanket statement, sure, there are some expectations and some people whose expectations of me don’t matter (not that they won’t ever, they just don’t right now), but I’d be lying if I said I subscribed to the notion that expectations don’t matter.
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I guess it’s not entirely true that I don’t care, I do care what most of my training partners think about me, I do like that people expect me to perform to a certain level in class, I do <b>TAKE IT REALLY FUCKING SERIOUSLY</b> that some folks in my Kaju class consider me the spiritual leader...and that’s what I always come back to. Training. I know I’ve fucked up when I’ve made decisions that take me away from training because to date I’ve never chosen anything that required a fundamental change to my training schedule that made me happy in the long run. Hell, I’ve been to both some really bright places and some really fucking dark places over the last year, and it’s cliche, but I always come back to training, without fail.
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This year, I gotta admit (just to be a little goth, because why the fuck not), some of the darkness came back with me (poetic, right?). I realized one of the reasons I train is because so many people don’t, and some of those people, well...training makes me feel better than, no, it makes me feel superior to them. Yeah, I said it, and I’ll even go one more and say I NEED to feel superior to those people. How’s that for dark places? I went through a lot of personal shit this past year, as did many people I know, and the thing I learned is that everyone needs to deal with things the way they need to deal with things (or to take a small dig because that's where I am right now, I learned that "Bros before Hos" is <b>TOTAL FUCKING BULLSHIT</b>, thanks guys if you know who you are), and I’m cool with that. What I’m not cool with is people “doing what they need to do” and not giving a shit if that makes me uncomfortable, but then turning around and getting pissy when me “doing what I need to do” makes them uncomfortable. So that’s part of it. A big part of it. Yeah, it’s probably shitty, and “not alpha” as seems to be the thing to say nowadays, but it’s where I am, and I’ll work from here. So I need to get back to it. Kaju, Systema, Silat, Grappling, Weights, Conditioning, the whole nine. Especially Systema. Maybe I can breathe some of that darkness, that tension, back into myself like Martin was talking about.
</div>
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<div>
Here are some expectation:<br/>
<ul>
<li>Wear my kaju brown belt at Vegas this year
<li>Get my black belt in 2016
<li>Help teach Silat again
<li>Start that Systema study group
<li>Get back on the instructor track for Systema
<li>Finally take grappling seriously
<li>Finally take teaching Kaju seriously
<li>Hit all the seminars I've scheduled
<li>Deadlift 500+ again
<li>GET MY FUCKING SFG (this one's going to be tough)
</ul>
</div>
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Focus. It’s nice to have focus. It’s nice to have a standard to live up to. Because let’s be honest, as much as we all talk about living up to our own standards, our own standards are also the easiest to let slide. Don’t lie. My ego is definitely whispering in my ear saying that some of these expectations come from other people (which they probably don't, no one gives a fuck what I do, because that's what we do nowadays, right?), but it's what I need to do here now.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnl9XJ8SNxsqniZfD6K_0exToc7p0Lt7LIOyZ4bQfNXrafhhSOMfk-KfrkWSfOxVaZvYZNe4s3orKmuZYWJQYDpbgAVodrRijVQgLx7bHBkbJap6ln3bTuv4C9ZJyKrLR5Dt9Lb4c-wyAz/s800/qbear.jpg" height="333" width="500" /><br/>
<b>"...it's time to come home."</b>
</center>
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I don’t want to post this, but I’m going to. There are a few blogs I started following this year that have really changed my view on things, and recently I read a post on one wherein the author asks:
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<b>“Do you feel sick when you hit publish?”</b>
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I’m not going to recap the whole post, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dangerandplay.com/2014/11/25/open-letter-website/">but you should read it</a>, in fact, you should read <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dangerandplay.com/">the blog</a>. This is a metric I'm going to hold myself to, because I do exactly the thing he calls out in this blog, artificially inflate. Hell, look at my facebook, it's all just art and training and no drama, which is cool, but is it complete? Not sure, but then, maybe facebook's not the venue for that anyway. So even though all I’ve done on this blog for the last year (the scant times I posted, anyway), is whine, if that's what I got, that's what I got. Here’s to the new year.
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<iframe width="500" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/qhq4w2LtHkk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-974203256438121142014-07-20T09:22:00.000-07:002014-07-20T09:22:21.265-07:00Jiu-Jitsu and the Cardboard City that GlittersI have always found Las Vegas to be a sweltering death trap and bizarre social phenomenon. Usually when I go, it's for work, and so I only see it from the third person perspective. This time, I went for a Kajukenbo seminar with three of my other gymmates; Seth, Carlos and Ronnie.<br />
<br />
The first day was lessons, and the second a tournament. Of all the things I saw that first day, Grandmaster Jay struck me the most. He is an old man (who doesn't look old) covered from neck to feet in tattoos who lives in the woods on the border between Oregon and Washington. He spoke of the body by referring to technical names (Vegas Nerve, Trapezius, ect) and referred to humans as first bioelectric, and second biomechanical creatures. A lot of things he talked about resonated with cross-disciplinary research I've done, tightening circles, strike points, breathing practices.<br />
<br />
I would really like to take a long weekend here and there to visit, just to get a training dump. Those sorts of concepts are where my curiosity is heading... propreoception and thinking of the work in terms of the opponents local axis (as opposed to world). That is really where the soft martial arts go in a lot of scenarios I've seen... moving with the body so that they can just feel you on the outskirts, like a breath on the fingers, in order to lure them into holes. (Push Hands, for example).<br />
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It reminds me very much of a project my group discovered at Siggraph last year, made by <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/8/5188684/virtual-reality-device-lets-you-feel-the-weight-of-in-game-objects">Tactical Haptics</a>. Its so clever, the controller has a mechanism that shifts its weight forward or backwards, pending on what sort of reaction the game is trying to give you. With that little amount of touch input, the game is able to convey a HUGE range of sensations that all feel real. What that project made me realize is that human touch is very sensitive, but it acts as a secondary depth cue with other senses that give us the illusion of depth and space. If you feel a little jerk in an upward direction while you watch a sword slicing upwards through a virtual object, it will feel as if you made contact. (Regardless of the fact that your arm isn't remotely close to where it would have to be to hit that target) This is exactly what soft flow martial arts teach. Touch the opponent in just the right place to give them a localized haptic feedback so that they feel they've made contact. They'll keep reaching, right up until the point where they overreach, and then you have them. Its all a game of illusions.<br />
<br />
Here are some videos of the grappling tournament. I'm happy with the progress I've made since my last tourney (that must have been about a year ago), and there is a LOT LOT LOT that can still be improved on. Regardless, I like posting videos, so that in a few years I can make a study of work over time.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GRfUM9E_X2M" width="560"></iframe>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5YYGLQLfVlc" width="560"></iframe>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10906590838946345736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-26847149501566196342014-03-05T11:05:00.001-08:002014-03-05T11:05:11.285-08:00Chaos and Pain, One Month In<div>
<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqj8CR6sw5zs1YLvFtP2ouBqOTiiu-ngsVrLj8r6gZa-T0F-E1nLeAuzrgI7cYRgYOULX6sVB58FFPXqqzehaVo-3Kky4gsdLv4nK3k0J9mZb3wb48BtsQaMdviG09pm_JneiVzSbOOpAZ/s800/robobear.png" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>...strong as a mechanical bear. If I were a ranger, my Jaeger would be called Kodiak Riot.</b>
</center>
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<div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ybTKgQbEmYtwL_nxPSLLAWOxlcEplIDMCUqkNzC9w8GGpE4Xmr2P4c_jN__Hg-MBjF31-YRQUMauLPzGOXNThLWaMKasdk1XeOOFF-7bMU3-jFOy-hZteaDhE6cs9sHaqFgXqb0j9hsN/s800/peeking.jpg" height="85" width="85" />
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A spicy chocolate stout? I wonder if that's what they mean by "Mexican" style. Either way, it's freakin' delicious and I recommend you pick up the Clown Shoes Chocolate Stout, if you are in fact, a fan of the chocolate stouts. If not, I can't say that it's the one that's going to change your mind, but there are many other chocolate stouts. Mayhap you'll find the one you like and work your way back. Anyway, I realized that I've (somewhat inadvertently) been on <a target="_blank" href="http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com">Chaos & Pain</a> for about a month; figured it might be a good time for a check-in, so here we go...
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I say inadvertently because I had originally meant for February to be a draw-down month between the higher rep work I had been doing in January and then I'd start CnP in March. As you might recall, I came off of 10K Swings in December, so January and February were going to be my ramp-ups back into barbell training. January went alright; my original plan for February was 8x4 in preparation for CnPs prescribed sets of triples, doubles, and singles. That lasted for about, oh, 3 sessions before I realized it was a) really damn boring and b) after a month of nothing but kettlebell swings, I really just wanted to crush some plates, especially since I'd felt a little stalled out at the end of November (though I was happy-ish about my deadlift, kinda). So week two of February came, and away I went...and what a freakin' awesome ride it's been.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1MYqDUj-zQGerQvdl1ZRCDCuHPW7gyM8E3nrmZgfzf-3kVWBV5238M5JaNQY2vww5Pn6RnPivwSrU2wT-UtEqabmW0Or4_9Ahm977edOw-P9QJ2g12gGPw5V_tZO2Chb75rmoaa8Fira/s800/lana-and-archer-airboat-ride.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...CnP is pretty much the airboat ride of barbell training.</b>
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Ok, so what exactly is "Chaos & Pain"? Well, in addition to being the <a target="_blank" href="http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/">blog</a> of one Jamie Lewis, of raw powerlifting fame, it's also the name of his training program, although even Jamie himself admits that it's not really a program or a protocol so much as it's a set of concepts that one could apply to their training. I guess it's kinda like the Wing Chun or Systema of barbell training, in that sense (my words, not his). For the full rundown straight from the bull's mouth, I'll point you to his articles outlining the program:
<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-fuck-is-chaos-and-pain.html">What The F*ck Is Chaos And Pain?</a>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2009/03/chaos-and-pain-basics.html">Chaos and Pain: The Basics</a>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/2009/09/chaos-and-pain-for-new-jacks.html">Chaos and Pain for New Jacks</a>
<li>These articles (and more) can also be found in Jamie's Issuance Of Insanity e-books: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.chaosandpain.com/issuance-of-insanity-training-ebook-2008-2010/">2008-2010</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.chaosandpain.com/issuance-of-insanity-2-0-training-ebook-2010-2013/">2.0:2010-2013</a>. The CnP articles are in the 2008-2010 edition.
</ul>
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My own take on Chaos and Pain varies a bit from Jamie's prescription, but if you've read any of the CnP articles, you've probably gotten the idea that CnP is about taking the general guidelines outlined in the articles and making them work for you, and I definitely feel like I've done that. I've read time and time again from different program authors that if you don't do their program as written, you shouldn't call it that program, but with CnP, I think it's <i>imperative</i> that you do your own thing.<br/>
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First, I'm keeping to the idea of a session consisting of a squat, push, and pull at least three times a week. I also kept the total number of reps to around 30, well actually 30 reps exactly, not counting warm-up sets. Additionally, I add in two or three days of lighter work on off days, usually consisting of kettlebell work, so it's three days of squat-push-pull, and two or three days of kettlebell work, for a total of five or six sessions a week. Lastly, I adopted the eating plan outlined in Jamie's Apex Predator Diet series, which I'll touch on in another post.<br/>
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As far as changes, they've been pretty minor. I was mucking around with numbers and I noticed that 3x4+3x3+3x2+3x1=30, so even though Jamie recommends triples and lower, I adopted that as my set rep scheme for this first month. I like it because it lets me hit different weights and the non-linear loading presented by the different rep counts keeps things...er...chaotic. The other major-ish deviation I made was leaving in cardio in the form of my martial arts training. At first I figured I might just drop my kickboxing class since that tends to be the most energy system intensive work of all my training, but then I figured it would give me an opportunity to experiment with caloric intake, which has actually been the most interesting part, and I'll touch on that in my future Apex Predator Diet article (which I've dubbed Cherno Fuel).
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IyXkWsPfkblkK8myDYftJC7yUhCHbD3NP-9pdNN7J2LyAURUA53NNnRmDaJF2HPH5KVdC_s5318yOOGTFjHLNTAbIA5n4a8bQ83SE3gKQBDnfqNp6NlKIIHgXLm-IiMVEsY0zrX1Xhii/s800/ship02.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...takes a lot of resources to build a fighting machine.</b>
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What, then, does a typical session on my version of Chaos & Pain (called Vladivostok, you may get the reference...) look like? Well, here's what I usually do on Days 1 and 2 (whatever days of the week that ends up being):<br/>
<br/>
<b>Day 1</b>
<ul>
<li>Squat
<ul>
<li>Warmup: 4x4
<li>3x4
<li>3x3
<li>3x2
<li>2x1, 1x1-3
</ul>
<li>Behind-the-neck Push Press
<ul>
<li>Warmup: 4x4
<li>3x4
<li>3x3
<li>3x2
<li>2x1, 1x1-3
</ul>
<li>Rack Pull
<ul>
<li>Warmup: 4x4
<li>3x4
<li>3x3
<li>3x2
<li>2x1, 1x1-3
</ul>
</ul>
<b>Day 2</b>
<ul>
<li>Warmup: Two-hand kettlebell swing (10/15/25/50)x2 16kg
<li>Kettlebell circuit with a 16kg bell:
<ul>
<li>One-hand squat x8
<li>One-hand press x8
<li>One-hand clean x8
<li>One-hand swing x8
<li>One-hand snatch x8
</ul>
<li>Perform one one side, then repeat on other side
<li>Repeat both sides for a total of 5 circuits
</ul>
Add in my martial arts training and it's a pretty solid week in general that hits all the bases: Mobility, conditioning, maximal strength, and skills. Could almost be training for an MMA fighter...or a masked vigilante, I suppose. Either way, it feels complete, and I'm having a pretty good time with it.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtn3YOUQOY3qb3bSqYHuwtrD18lcuKG8Txnu9TZ5dT6MX6naFfGi6jFS3kuInEK3D_OJlhZLVricAAu0sU5pvCG9qkqljkkRS8ES0hmj3emQJiQ-046gIn5T-w-iSY994U9T5ok3_GKSJH/s800/Cherno_Alpha_Taunt.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...or training to fight monsters, zombies, or rogue soldiers. The day is coming...</b>
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So my expanded thoughts on CnP one month in go something like this. To start with, unlike <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showpost.php?s=87fb92d154bc3b555294fe121f8a809f&p=361191&postcount=1">this fine gentleman</a>, I'm am(sic) certainly not waaayyyyyy overtrained. If you read Jamie's articles, I think you can understand why it's imperative that you figure out how to make the CnP principles work for you. It sounds to me like the dude in the ironaddicts posts tried to pretty much do the hardest version possible and missed several points which are clearly outlined in the articles, so of course he got overtrained. Basically, RTFM and don't be a jerk with something to prove to your sycophant forum readers. You just end up disservicing everyone at that point, yourself included.<br/>
<br/>
Getting back on track, not only am I not overtrained, I feel great. One of the reasons I wanted to try Chaos & Pain was because I missed lifting heavy for low reps, and while I won't claim that I'm lifting "heavy" yet, the loads are certainly taxing enough. I really believe I'll be deadlifting high 400s-500 (though with straps) and front squatting in the 300s again by the end of April, when I switch over to SFG prep. It's also been great to revisit partials, I can't remember the last time I had them in regular rotation. Some people aren't fans, but I love them, and I think they'll be another useful tool to help me smash through this plateau.
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As far as side effects, well, for one, I love the post-workout feel I get from CnP. When I do higher rep, shorter rest sets, I feel gassed, not that it's a bad thing, but the exertion definitely hits right away. With CnP, it's more like, once I'm done, my whole body is just...not tired, not worn out, but very relaxed. Granted, if I don't warm up properly, then I feel beatup, but I've never had that feeling for more than a few hours, it usually just gets slept off. Who would've thought that shouldering heavy loads would be such a great tension manager?
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ5M-B1OZVdOq-ieRBz78JjxycdfRJ32GdkZ9E7nRwp95EsrtHYXhqodMlJy8v2rDSO-uZcL1SFkVLraABkqdSpe9h2WtW6iB2uKKm8p4D2S-me-1c29TWatEPEHPTqQemu8-3gzh7w1-y/s800/back-squat-torrance-crossfit.jpg" height="201" width="500" /><br/>
<b>...almost as good as percussive massage. Almost.</b>
</center>
</div>
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<div>
Another side effect, which I alluded to earlier, is that I've had to really go back and rethink my nutrition, everything from caloric intake down to macronutrient breakdown. Haven't had to futz with timing too much yet, and I'm noticing it doesn't really tend to matter. Either I get my protein during the day and slam a serious hunk of cow at night, or I'm pretty much screwed the next day. Speaking of protein, total intake is another thing I've really had to adjust, but I'm glad I did. I try to stay around ~350-400 a day, and the restorative effects I've been experiencing are nothing short of awesome. No soreness, I'm sleeping great, getting bigger, and not really putting on much fat, in fact, when I went off 10K Swings, I could sorta see my top two abs in the right light. Now, almost two months off of it with increased calories and macros, I'm noticeably bigger, but still can see the abs.
</div>
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<div>
What about my performance on the mats? I mean if guys are out there getting overtrained on this, I must be worthless, right? Quite the opposite, I feel more explosive, more mobile, more flexible, and more focused. This could be from a number of different factors, but I'm not going to be so arrogant as to say that my martial arts performance is going up in spite of the program. Like I said, as long as I sleep and eat enough, I'm not having any problems. No such thing as overtraining, just undereating and undersleeping.
</div>
<br/>
<div>
<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCN0ZkqT2ls-a3eSk2e0B2Dzj-9GaTxoChG-2W7NLrJb71CSIyNT2SYW3g-8i2wHgYsAM2TDrNL13VWN1mHHo1Yacc89m4LsUu7wLCqpG-fY2wuTMPLbrK1h04B5xHmahzHDJBwsiqV_S/s800/asuras-wrath-wallpaper-hd-2-1080p.jpeg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...like a six-armed demigod facing giant space bhuddas. That's how CnP makes me feel.</b>
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The short of it, then, is this: Next to 5/3/1, this is the simplest, most fun program I've ever been on, so much that I'm extending it one more month through April. Originally I was going to hit 10K Swings one more time in April and cut a little more, but to be honest, that was more for vanity than performance. Looking good is not part of my work anymore, and you know, I really don't care if I never get laid again (and that's real talk, not some sour grapey nonsense. No Ego, Just Work). Much like I always return to martial arts and strength training, I always also return to the idea that I want to be strong as a mechanical bear, and I can't see how that's not going to happen if I stick to this, eat properly, and sleep well. I'm making one small tweak to my set-rep scheme going forward, I'm dropping the 3x4 and going 5x3,5x2,5x1. Still 30 total reps, but more opportunities to muck with numbers. I imagine there'll be some dietary tweaks required too, which I'll talk about in my next post. Till then, Eat, Lift, Fight, Live. Peace.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr1ZDTCIU9ZIJp6EMQa0FZ1BtFiw754tcFN4K-ibX4sFgBqW-sKyXMJyDMqnnlQgXC32wt1_xX5a8a3i2-oqo2LIbuF5CoTkReEG5QbkikwmcNSnUOLM2W-KawvO9TTZLcSeKfWZz1Frwg/s800/bbq_beef_ribs_smoked_ribs.jpg" height="200" width="331" /><br/>
<b>There'll be this next time. LOTS of this.</b>
</center>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-80054782244927771732014-02-17T13:34:00.004-08:002014-02-17T13:34:47.585-08:00An Unscheduled Rant<div>
Feeling like, despite your best efforts, you're still just not hardcore enough? Like maybe you could still somehow be even more caveman like? You have that yearning for something, something maybe you've forgotten consciously but your body remembers, but just can't put your finger on it? Well, have I got the thing for you...Yes, friends, I give you:
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBcZBJ0c_eQX2o3W4Ncn-s6DHdZyRUA30ozDiz3JxzmI6tFtM37ipUpQeNWQdHZ7BuakX2PYXusdf2_8fm86d9xbpMLZqmcsLUO2Hp4QL5qq5ncNYgfOSd7j-9bSkZsjIZdgwPJPcs3H5/s800/killertom.png" height="200" width="197" /><br/>
<b>...these ain't your mama's vegetables...well, unless your mom's a bear</b>
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PRIMAL VEGETABLES! Because they're the kinds of vegetables BEARS EAT! Bears have been documented getting together in groups of over 100 and sprinting through the forest, sometimes for days, chasing these nutrient packed sonsa'bitches down and eventually gorging themselves on loads of alkalizing, protein packed, and best of all PRIMAL, PRIMAL VEGETABLES. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THEY SLEEP IN A CAVE FOR THREE MONTHS WITHOUT EATING?!?!
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Look, this isn't the same weakass, organic, grown-in-the-dirt, no-pesticide, bullshit you get at your local farmers' market, THESE PHYTOMONSTERS WILL RISE OUT OF THE GROUND TO HUNT AND KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T HUNT AND KILL THEM FIRST! You've done Crossfit, but you haven't gone FULL PALEO until you've feasted on PRIMAL VEGETABLES! HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK ALL THE CROSSFIT GAMES CHAMPIONS TRAIN?!?! BY HUNTING DOWN THESE MOTHER FUCKERS, THAT'S HOW!!!!
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCUklfIPPCy4Gq0mpYRYFmHp0GK-SBhra3dHJY_JxGFesR9B4XOUMsjDk15h3cmIwY1WXPgO-35-8KIG84lJezhmuV2CX9dONt6Cz32DsBQE23-5dBO59WMUYmfbJoOAtZrmYUiW0BX72/s800/alienveg.png" height="200" width="288" /><br/>
<b>Look up again, Mother Fucker...</b>
</center>
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Ok! Ok! You've decided you've gotta have 'em, so where might you be able to hunt, kill, and consume these PRIMAL VEGETABLES yourself? Well, that's the best part! The usual expedition price is $10,000 a person, no refunds given regardless of outcome, but if you act now, I'll take that one and turn it into a 5! Yep, $50,000 and the best part is, you'll never miss the money, because at the end of it all, your body will remember that it never needed money in the first place! SO ACT NOW AND LET'S GET TO BEING LIKE CROSSFIT GAMES CHAMPION BEARS!!!! PRIMAL MOTHERFUCKING VEGETABLES FTWOMGROFLBBQSUNOVABIIIIIIITCH!!!!!!
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-41715383277754734912014-02-16T11:30:00.000-08:002014-02-16T11:30:00.910-08:0010K Swings Post-Mortem<div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ybTKgQbEmYtwL_nxPSLLAWOxlcEplIDMCUqkNzC9w8GGpE4Xmr2P4c_jN__Hg-MBjF31-YRQUMauLPzGOXNThLWaMKasdk1XeOOFF-7bMU3-jFOy-hZteaDhE6cs9sHaqFgXqb0j9hsN/s800/peeking.jpg" height="85" width="85" />
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Completely unrelated, but I was up in Seattle for the Super Bowl, though less for the Super Bowl and more because my favorite bar is closing, so they were holding a special event. Moon Temple, you will be missed! The really cool part about the trip, though, was the vibe. Everywhere I went, you could feel all the goodwill from the fans, it was awesome. So to the 12, I say, thank you for sharing such positive energy. On the (very tiny) downside, since I was travelling that Monday and sick most of the following week (funny how I get better just in time to go drink myself stupid), I had to break from my scheduled post, the second in the Mapping Your Space series. Instead, I started putting this together, my long overdue post-mortem of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.t-nation.com/workouts/10000-swing-kettlebell-workout">Dan John's 10,000 Swing Kettlebell Workout</a>.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmgoVrPW2JAZM5F7zOBjdOe0WldfFWryry2q9gAwFZKWkPOEoeGOydakxFBsOdFjHTcBPFSqv3Q2W-jAaSUXdwXej6MJi-MkSWTlEeoAPvrg5lQxzwHwNNHXJKr-122Rofdod91xJEIoQW/s800/dblKBs.png" height="250" width="500" /><br/>
</center>
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<div>
This post got a little long, so feel free to jump to any specific section if there's a particular observation you're just dying to get to right away:
<ul>
<li><a href="#overview">Overview</a></li>
<li><a href="#dislikes">What I Didn't Like</a></li>
<li><a href="#likes">What I Liked</a></li>
<li><a href="#prep">Things To Consider</a></li>
<li><a href="#mywords">Through My Lens</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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<div>
<a name="overview"><b>Overview</b><br/></a>
I mentioned in one of my last posts before the new year (<a target="_blank" href="http://devlifters.blogspot.com/2013/11/10000-kettlebell-swings-in-air.html">10,000 Kettlebell Swings In The Air</a>). I won't rehash the entire post, but to recap (not so) briefly, most years, I try and do a cut between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day to help me finish the year out strong and slingshot me into the new year (and give me an excuse to skip Christmas/Holiday parties), which I call "Turkey-To-Tree", or T2T. For 2013, I chose to do The 10,000 Kettlebell Swing Workout for a few different reasons:
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First, there's the absolute simplicity of the program. I had planned a pretty hard cut for 2013, so I wanted something that wouldn't require a ton of mental commitment, something I've learned from past experience. Also, given the fact that T2T period is also pre-CES crazytime, the simpler, the better. That in mind, having to only do a single movement seemed like a pretty sure bet, and I figured the structure of the clusters wouldn't require too much concentration, even in my mentally-impaired-by-low-caloric-intake state.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9Dfz3Nk5eUAQS9BuQzxfDbr3MRa4ndHspPWiSYX09bHnPZxkaSDHaBbvcCrqQ1z4756px9OOud8nfgmJ4P7utxbC-_a84gjtYtUXXn4CQVLOO61sy0WO8fvgTBMyrDhbD54WOQrOFj8m/s800/onejobphil.png" height="200" width="390" /></br>
<b>...I mean, how hard can one thing be?</b>
</center>
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<div>
Second, there's no disputing that kettlebell work is great for fat loss. When you consider everything that goes into a <i>proper</i> kettlebell swing, which, having done this program, I can confidently say I can do now, it's basically your core, glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, grip, pretty much all points extreme and in-between getting hit like a...whatever the unholy spawn of a raging bull and runaway freight train would hit like, pretty much knocking the fat off of you. I've done tons of different fat loss programs, and when it comes to bang-for-buck, I really gotta give it to the kettlebell swing, yes, even over the thruster, burpee, and any sort of tabata. Your results may vary a bit on that depending on how experienced you are with kettlebells, but I really doubt they'll vary that much, seriously (if fat loss is your goal).
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibrOM1c7jbi5qNMXdFmbpCgY1RMWEIsdvo22Xhyphenhyphenh37Pr8mM3kxsHeurA65GBTbYl59-D4awN5yMXj3YNGium-H7jwVM029Fo3JzNv-NM25zQFsoEFqQN8vfJJURer1K3W_XoOqMobUY5bT/s800/redbull.png" height="200" width="382" /><br/>
<b>The kettlebell swing in creepy, disturbing, cartoon form.</b>
</center>
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<div>
Third, I wanted to do kettlebell work specifically because I've been paying quite a bit to mobility since I injured my knee last August. My posterior chain lost quite a bit of strength and stability while I was rehabbing my knee, and as I've mentioned wanting to do some powerlifting meets this year, I needed a way to address these concerns while also losing (massive amounts of) fat. Yep, I figured I'm would try to proverbially "ride the two (or in this case three or four) horses with one ass." Look, I get why internet says it's not a good idea and all that, but I'm not the run-of-the-mill trainee looking for a quick fix (more on that in a future post).
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Finally, I wanted to see if I could just <i>do it!</i> I'd been planning my content schedule and all my activities therein for a bit leading up to the launch this year, but I have a bad habit of letting work and life derail stuff. I'll be honest, T2T 2013 wasn't just about finishing and starting strong, it was about Crushing Demons, and one of those demons was the aforementioned letting life and work derail. Training is part of my life, so I figured if I could stick with this, it's a step towards re-integrating and re-framing training in the context of life. I know that sounds a little feel-goody-new-agey-hippy-dippy, but hey, it's honest. So that all said, let's talk some specifics.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jQdwi7e9Y-Y7nmMlWuMygSHrCrDPac0GeI2LQ-KACvSUZprTjBSv7fInvcb7SuhOb0aBZV9EB5fDvLzLbBqaS1mO4dskXAW30BpkKJvbNGnfAIaib5V48lK5qhzvcJJyoKtI1r_4dXwI/s800/asura_inspiro.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...coming to get you, Demons...</b>
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<a name="dislikes"><b>What I Didn't Like</b></a><br/>
Full disclosure first, I am both a huge Dan John and kettlebell fanboy. That said, there's nothing about this program I didn't like. While there are a couple of points that could be potential stumbling blocks, I'm going to put them down as <a href="#prep">Things To Consider</a> more than dislikes; they really aren't negatives so much as things to keep in mind before you start or in the event that you're programming this for someone else. However, if I were <i>absolutely</i> pressed, I would say I have some issues with the T-Nation article, but you wouldn't really know of its "shortcomings" if you weren't an obsessive researcher like me, and this is another Thing To Consider I'll address below. But first, let's talk about what I liked.
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<a name="likes"><b>What I Did Like</b></a><br/>
What I liked best about the program can be summed up in two points: Simplicity and Time. Like most kettlebell workouts, this one is simple enough that you can pretty much do it wherever there's a kettlebell, but the way the template is presented allows for enough customization to keep "simple" from being "boring". Coach Dan suggests a few different strength movements to use with the program, but I'd think you could substitute any good full body pushing and pulling movements, or carefully measured intensity/sprint work, which really gives you the opportunity to program either for general activity or tailored towards a specific goal. Imagine doing TRX rounds, rope jumping, or bag work in between sets, or any sort of movement patterns that are relevant to your pursuits, and you start to see that the possibilities for this program are endless.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNveJqKmaQaTAAfX4VJ0uuiGNEtKpheMuhPfk9ZR83XJIilk3sXrZILDU4maJn92jnAhLZCW1ECTp8CdJTdhF03yJwNAvvandAx7U_lH-Td3tWJRT23NRwygBWuEDdX34hhFmijDT1wPJ/s800/sopmod.png" height="178" width="450" /><br/>
<b>Make the tools fit the work</b>
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<a name="prep"><b>Things To Consider</b></a><br/>
Now the moment you've all been waiting for, the things I sorta didn't like, but not really didn't like, but feel like they're worth mentioning so you'll be aware and hopefully make productive decisions if and when you encounter them. Some of these are probably just conjecture based on my experience, so take most of the following points with a grain of your favorite savory food additive:<br/>
<ul>
<li>As I mentioned above, the T-Nation article leaves out a few very important points. Lucky for us, Coach Dan included them in a post on his forum, and I <i>highly</i> recommend you read it. It's probably safe to say that your progress won't suffer significantly if you don't read the article, but I will go so far as to opine that you'll develop better overall technique and progress <i>faster</i> if you follow the tenets in the post, and c'mon...it's Dan John, the dude knows what he's talking about, so you can't go wrong - <a target="_blank" href="http://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showpost.php?post/783846/"><b>Two Things That Didn't Make The T-Nation Article</b></a>
<li>Since you're pretty much doing the same movement 10,000 times, you'll adapt very quickly, so be honest with yourself. Start heavier than you think you should, or be ready to move up in weight. It gets pretty easy to get to a point where you can just sorta coast through, but I would suggest instead to go heavier and keep pushing your time as hard as you can, in fact, I would challenge you to cut your starting time by at least 30% by the end of the program. That's actually the one thing I could've done better, keeping my intensity level up. Next run, sub-24 minutes or bust...
<li>Corollary to the above point, do <i>not</i> ignore or marginalize the following piece of advice: <i>"This is a stand-alone program. If you feel you're able to do a second workout in the same day, then you are 'underbelled' – you're either not going heavy enough or not training with maximal effort."</i> I mention this because I've seen a lot of folks on various forums and workout sites using the clusters set as a supplemental workout to their "main" training, and I'll admit that even I was still hitting the mats, albeit on a severely reduced schedule, so no fight cardio days, no kickboxing or sparring class, just technique classes (Kaju, Silat, Systema, etc). But that was <i>all</i> I did, there was no trying to hit my big three in the afternoon or alongside (which honestly, would be insanity). In retrospect, even doing two cluster set sessions a day, which I did a few times to stay on schedule, is also cheating. I know, I get it, it's a simple program and you'll be tempted to muck with it, or your ego will tell you that it's so simple, of course you'll have overhead for another workout, you're a member of that "trained population" the studies love to cite. I say, in the words of Marsellus Wallace, "Fuck Pride", resist that temptation, check your ego, and go all out. Use a 28kg bell if a 24kg is too easy, or heck, step up to the 32 or 48. Do whatever you need to do to ensure that the program is challenging enough that you can do it at least 90% as presented. I'm buying both a 28kg bell and a 32kg bell in prep for my next one, doing what I have to do to go as hard as I should be. I invite and challenge you to do the same.
</ul>
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg5bcan1yBiMCr02LPRsRum5WHOlmARj_jvjv8X2ApbXCDeMJV9BXldiWlh-Idcwc8P0fe9QMtXpMx_XkaaXAs_vhcoTTjIi22Z-sKCUiabKAptmxafMxmdethanGJXyL77CIfzNQw-Eg/s800/coach.png" height="200" width="450" /><br/>
<b>"...and I'm telling YOU, Marsellus, Fuck Pride and do the program right! So, we cool?"<br/>
"Yeah, we cool."</b>
</center>
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<a name="mywords"><b>Through My Lens</b></a><br/>
So I hope that I've come across as having an overwhelmingly positive opinion of this program, if not, guess I really need to work on my delivery, because, yes, I like and absolutely recommend this program. I've already planned on doing a second run, with some tweaks based on my first go-around, and I've gotta say I'm pretty excited about it. Having a reference for what kind of times I should be hitting, as well as what levels of physical exertion I should be reaching should make my second run even more beneficial than my first, provided I can figure out my calories so I'm not passing out tired and eventually stunting my fat loss, which, sadly, happened (although 18 lbs lost isn't that bad). To summarize the rest of my thoughts:<br/>
<ul>
<li>The 10/15/25/50 cluster with a lighter bell makes a great general warmup; I'm using a 16kg for 2 or 3 sets to warmup for my heavier kettlebell work.
<li>I'm pretty much convinced that the two-arm kettlebell swing is one of the most underused movements in training. If you're like me and need to work on your mobility, you're doing yourself a huge disservice by not including kettlebell swings in your mobility programming.
<li>This is a great program to introduce someone to kettlebell work. I'm a firm believer that the swing is the first movement someone should learn, and the structure of this program, along with Coach Dan's notes on technique, makes it near impossible for someone to learn to swing improperly.
</ul>
Even if you're not a huge kettlebell fan, give this program a shot. As I mentioned above, I'll be using it again as both another cut and to springboard me into a six month kettlebell training cycle, wherein I'll be prepping for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.strongfirst.com/faqs/sfg-kettlebell-instructor-certification/">StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor Level 1 Certification</a> in November. Wish me luck, and if you have any more questions related to programming for this program, <a href="mailto:seth.gibson1@gmail.com">Email Me</a> or post a comment below and I promise I'll get back to you.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0w_Z8oAzkOnNy0eNlkAKSvsYeTtyuozUOnGx5RKZyS5QaPhJYd0JKLeaggnWPgGlfrBfz_pGaXNWEG5qYuDi0G2zfqCuU8_tYjhxM8iB8rzWsXZybg23KfwnV8iU1ql77WYa1Gsun9G9/s800/sfci.png" height="91" width="450" /><br/>
<b>...next step down the new path.</b>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-90705277167943816012014-02-07T22:59:00.000-08:002014-02-08T12:01:01.171-08:00Shake The Ground<div style="float:left;margin:0px 10px">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ybTKgQbEmYtwL_nxPSLLAWOxlcEplIDMCUqkNzC9w8GGpE4Xmr2P4c_jN__Hg-MBjF31-YRQUMauLPzGOXNThLWaMKasdk1XeOOFF-7bMU3-jFOy-hZteaDhE6cs9sHaqFgXqb0j9hsN/s800/peeking.jpg" height="85" width="85" />
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Ok, I've officially failed at staying on my content schedule not two weeks into it. I'm late posting this week, the original post I had scheduled for this week is barely even started, and the replacement post I wrote for that post is ALMOST done but still needs some serious editing, so I guess we're falling back to (a hastily concocted) Plan C: Shake and "Juice" Recipes! I'll admit that I'm the last person to be posting recipes since I don't really cook anymore, but I figured maybe some hard information as opposed to my usual load of anecdote and observation might be a welcome change. That and how hard can it be to screw up shake recipes? Of course, I make no promises to the effectiveness of these recipes for you, I just know they work for me. But they are pretty tasty (again, my opinion).
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2M-sM4HSeCmUUYWLefcJo9NyRL2eNvximQNERuRKGlPcI7ZwULzTnjaE6r6Ws0BYTb_RLM9RHJ1elTtwcisxG_ZguypBcJ7x-qnwDEn7hhpxA298q1LHrzyV2RiUOzPS98LHgtdE68fth/s800/liqlunch.png" height="305" width="475" /><br/>
<b>...Burroughs had his own ideas about what should go in shakes, I'm sure.</b>
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The astute among you are probably wondering why Juice is presented in quotes above. I'm glad you asked! See, when most people think of juice, I get the impression that their idea is basically the combined humours of various members of the vegetable kingdom. This is both valid and correct, however, here in Landbear Territory, juice basically means pulp. Pulp means fiber, and for someone that eats meat like I do, fiber is good. With that in mind, I have to take a moment and plug my shakemaker of choice, the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ninjakitchen.com/mega-kitchen-system/">Ninja Mega Kitchen System</a>. Now, I know this thing has gotten some bad press from some juicing sites, and rightly so if your idea of juice is purely liquid, but for me it's great because I don't have to have two devices, one for juice and one for blended shakes. So if you like your juice with some punch, grab one of these. Really, my only complaint would have to be the choice of names, I mean, the way this thing goes to town on just about everything that make the bad decision to wander to close to its six blades designed only for the massacre of foodstuffs, I think "Berserker" would've been a much better historical warrior for this thing's namesake. Seriously, that's my only complaint, so onto the recipes...
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigQ6T7vHS2cPNVMn8HVOTztp8mYOnJizixnyt5FyG9blfWopFGzzDupx7LLjk3evsUA1d02GbShddFbgrSNQToxrvc796MyoGkhCK4i0lElGGxgF9DXLw-9JHTMjNyS0FW3e7ORYLNtXpV/s800/ninjamk.png" height="200" width="400" /><br/>
<b>...it's basically a whirling tornado of food evisceration.</b>
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<b>I Drink This In The Morning</b>
<ul>
<li>2 small cucumbers
<li>handful or so of kale <i>(a handful is about 3/4 of a wet cup, I don't pack it in, I just grab a handful...or so)</i>
<li>handful or so of spinach
<li>handful or so of lettuce <i>(greenleaf or romaine, iceberg is somewhat nutrient devoid)</i>
<li>handful or so broccoli florets
<li>maybe two handfuls of frozen berries <i>(or 1/3 of a package of Trader Joe's frozen berry medley)</i>
<li>1 fuji apple
<li>2 stalks celery
<li>6-8 "baby" carrots <i>(I know, they're not really baby carrots, just peeled and cut down normal carrots)</i>
<li>5 or 6 cherry tomatoes
<li>16-20 oz chilled green tea
<li>Water to top off <i>(or sugarfree beverage, I use Crystal Lite)</i>
<li>(Optional) 1 scoop protein powder <i>(something fruit, vanilla, or plain flavored, I use Isopure)</i>
<li>(Optional) 1 or 2 servings of your greens powder of choice <i>(I use Biotest Superfood)</i>
<li>(Optional) 4 packets of stevia, Splenda, or other low/no-cal sweetener
</ul>
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<div>
<b>Sometimes I Drink This At Night</b>
<ul>
<li>16oz almond juice <i>(or some other nut juice, I refuse to call it milk, sorry)</i>
<li>2 scoops chocolate-ish protein <i>(I use one scoop of Sun Warrior and one scoop of Isopure)</i>
<li>1/2 cup yogurt <i>(I use Pavel's Original Russian, it's the only full-fat stuff I can find around here)</i>
<li>4 packets splenda, stevia, or some other natural sweetener
<li>1 tbsp PB2 chocolate
<li>4 tbsp peanut butter <i>(PB Co White and Dark Chocolate are awesome)</i>
<li>sugar free chocolate syrup
<li>5 ice cubes
</ul>
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<div> No clue about macros, calories, other than I think the first one has a ton of fiber and no fat, and the second one should have more fat and protein than carbs. May not be the best choice if you're trying to keep calories down, but if I've learned anything in the last few months, it's that I've been keeping my calories <i>too</i> far down, so I'm trying to focus more on keeping my macros in check and not worrying so much about total calories, given the volume and types of training I'm doing. Enjoy!
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-68269218026476851112014-01-29T09:30:00.000-08:002014-01-29T15:29:45.462-08:00I've Come From Where I've Been<div style="float:left;margin:10px">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ybTKgQbEmYtwL_nxPSLLAWOxlcEplIDMCUqkNzC9w8GGpE4Xmr2P4c_jN__Hg-MBjF31-YRQUMauLPzGOXNThLWaMKasdk1XeOOFF-7bMU3-jFOy-hZteaDhE6cs9sHaqFgXqb0j9hsN/s800/peeking.jpg" height="85" width="85" />
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So I really haven't been blogging much the last...well, forever, and I realized the main reason is that I wasn't writing in my own voice. For some reason I felt like I had to sanitize, organize, and basically go through all this process that made writing hard and not fun. Not that process is bad, just that mine was so scattershot and focused on the wrong things that it became the epitome of process that just gets in the way. So, I'm going be better about blogging this year (that's the most of a resolution you get out of me), this time with a new process, approach, and an actual <i>schedule</i>. I'm not a professional writer, so when my writing voice can be the same as or near my thinking and speaking voice, I tend to write more, and have more fun doing it. Corollary to that, I'm going to try and not post too many NSFW images (no porn or anything) or get too vulgar, because really I don't swear that much in real life, just when I get excited...and I guess "NSFW" depends on where you work.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJFJ0ImoTAR3tU9F5JAynKTPKqphzOKJTf8qd5TCfcnJ_Xro8cBop7mU3yl-BBSEvwb2p3fVRYKgEdGER_9y_MiCDUpVb9TQuBEKrAHcd5xGv6WYMZGFYV1m8aesPSLoNWYOo74BnPENY/s400/skin_beat_band.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...probably the most NSFW thing I'll post, boo if your co-workers can't take a joke.</b>
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To give a bit more context before I jump in, one of the main things I learned in the last few months is that I have an unnatural love of training, to the point where it feels like a second job (but it's that proverbial "DWYLLWYD" type job). This realization and acceptance was a big part of me getting on track and focused, which I credit for the huge upswell in positivity in my life as of recent, and it's been a marked change (people say I smile more). As a result, it's going to seem like some of these blogs are super random and have nothing to do with training, technology, or any of the topics I originally set out to pontificate on in this blog. In the interest of organization (a little), I'm starting another blog for stuff that's obviously not training related in any way, personal philosophy type stuff, random observations, art and creative process, etc. If I start out on something and it obviously belongs there, it'll make it's way there (and you'll never know the difference;))
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/EXLLHfhX5gU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br/>
<b>The blog is called "Finding My Mexico", if that phrase means anything to you (hint: it should)</b>
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OK! Onto the meat of this post. I've noticed a trend over the last couple years, this idea that, without fail, "Man, Last Year Sucked." Seriously, take a moment, browse your social feeds from around NYE/NYD, and verify this for yourself. In retrospect, it was the same last year, and I imagine if I were to scrape feeds from all the years I've been on social networks, it'd be the same (hmm, visualization project?). Now, I don't mean to brag when I say this, but when I look at last year and going forward, I'm pretty happy! Sure, I didn't do <i>everything</i> I wanted to do, had some false starts, some changes of direction, and some running through molasses, but I feel like I came out of it all with some good direction, and most of all, a destination I think is <i>reachable</i>. I'm terming the process Mapping My Space (which I guess is a nod to work, so i'm not leaving it completely behind), and I'd like to share some thoughts on that over the next couple posts. Granted, I can't give you a step-by-step that's going to work 100% for you, but maybe the Cliff's notes will give you some ideas.
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I'll be honest, the <i>real</i> motivator for me was me was in a nutshell thinking: I need to Fix My Shit, which is something I think we all need to do to some extent. Now, I don't want to come across as some tough love peddler, because that's really not what it's about. I realize that some people, probably quite a few people, went through very real situations that they had little-to-no control over, and I'm not trying to make light of that at all, in fact, my heart goes out to quite a few folks as I know people have lost loved ones, had horrible accidents, business mishaps, relationship problems, from ugly breakups(definitely feel you on that one) to divorces (involving children, alimony, petulant ex-es, etc) and the like, so I understand some things <i>do</i> require a bit more than just a simple flip of the switch. In fact, let me indulge myself a bit (further) and whine...uh, I mean elaborate to give a bit of context (although "break up" is a slight misnomer): I went through what to me was a pretty jarring personal incident literally <i>the week of Christmas</i>, made all the worse because it really did come out of nowhere, you know, it was one of those situations that you feel like, ok, I've finally got a handle on this, I can get a little comfortable, and then <i>Crack!</i> Right on the button (down goes Frazier, DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!).<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4tEa0upUI0LphcLKKbEZwPb8hjRurx27wUYHbQZyKZLo-B4Kd5URqnDiU3-R_wRxcv3P2X2OzPCNqQVyF8d8aV58UyA2h2ToFwEf78IRatW-W6Lgf1D57H0nQlECdq2qSckHr55vj91LY/s800/facepunch.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>You never see the one that gets you. Probably why girls make such good fighters.<br/>Ok, no more negativity directed at women ever again. Moving on.</b>
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From my perspective, it was definitely bad enough that I could've just said, "Fuck it, 2013 is a wash," (though, in retro, it now seems so small and far behind, even just a month later, that it's laughable to think I could've gone down that road, in all seriousness, not being petty) and let me be clear, the outcome was shitty, i mean, i lost someone out of it. That's never good, but choices had to be made, action had to be taken, and the best course was just walk away. I'm not saying it's easy and over, it's still a thought and I'm sure i'll be dealing with it for the next few months, but the fact that I have a plan for how to transition my energy keeps me comfortable with saying "that's just how it's going to go," and letting the plan flow. I know i've sorta skirted around my weird relationships in other blog posts, I'm not going go into detail about them, but I also promise that I'm not going to ever mention relationships again, even in passing. Over, said, done, keep breathing, keep moving. So let's pull back out a bit now and start setting the stage for the actual process...<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijWI2oav-N2FyYPLi9E9PP3fFvdwHqyRpM6qxw9PJS2aUPhwtRhvZr8JIw9Kd0JfOVmuK982e5YOqJufvFrm4JBy6pNE_AKB5biSXUo3M5PybH-F2mnGwqqKcEhCEAE0WuouROyeUI8Rv0/s800/Quitcherbitchin.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...or hallucinogenics, because this MIGHT require a bit of a shift in thinking on your part.</b>
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Here's the thing, I'm actually <i>not</i> opposed to people declaring that it's a new year, new me, or that this year is the year that they're going to become a badass at whatever their chosen focus is, and fuck all the folks who love to meme that shit, you're all kinda dicks. Personally, I think it's fuckin great, it hypes me up too! I get excited to see that people are passionate and I get even more excited to see people succeed and become that new them or hit the levels of awesomeness they're after. It actually amazes me a little that more people aren't supportive of that pursuit, although I guess it could be chalked up to ego, something about how we view even the slightest bit of emotional investment as tantamount to full commitment, and so we take it as a personal slight when we encourage someone to get after it and then they don't live up to our expectations...of what they were going to do for themselves. Put like that, it seems even weirder that people instead tend to have this sort of attitude (with friends like that...):<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDWKCU8necCLg90lZSpxIiu-uqTbQDvmaI4FhxxGQnRa31n20MH0HVlx3GGPUZojexrT3xUxnkSyc147QXgM3-SS6LPnogHo2Emzfv__JOjtXLe0wMOHy8c1Z3UYp4zJgqoQwlLRRy0AlP/s800/new_year_new_me.jpg" height="200px"/><br/>
<b>...honestly, this meme pisses me off more than most of the others combined.</b>
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The problems set in after the initial New Year excitement wears off and we're left wondering...Ok, where do I go from here, or even worse, everything just sort of fades out and we continue to trudge on along a similar path unless something major like a move, new job, or unfortunate tragedy jars us onto a new path. That's exciting (in a good or bad way) for a bit, but eventually we tend to drift back to the same courses of action from our previous state, right up until, oh, say about the 31st of a December of a given year, whereupon, we look back and decide, "Man, Last Year Sucked," made all the sadder because this year was the year we really decided to do it and make some changes, you know, do things differently, become a personal badass, be the new me, and all that such positive affirmation (despite whatever snarky memems internet decides to foist on us). So where did it all go wrong?? We came seeking awesomeness! I'm going to hypothesize a bit based on my own experience and say that often it boils down to a few points, including, but not limited to:
<ul>
<li><b>Lack of focus</b>, because of
<li><b>Too short- or too far-sightendess</b>, which lends itself to
<li><b>Unqualified expectations</b>, leading to
<li><b>Lack of perceived progress</b>, all of which stems from
<li><b>An unclear plan</b>, due to
<li><b>Lack of personal honesty</b> (my words applied to myself, not commenting on you)
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As I said, including, but not limited to, so I don't mean this to be a definitive list or a call out, nor am I saying this is what's going on with you. Again, this is based on <i>my</i> experience and observation, thus, these are the things <i>I</i> noticed in <i>my</i> own process. But let's be honest, I'm sure none of these sound out of the ordinary at all, and if you take a moment and think about it, you may even be able to identify some of these as your own sticking points, I mean, I read this list myself and it does sounds like Self-Help 101, which is probably just a commentary on what a textbook case I am. I promise, this is as generic self-helpy as this is going to get, my intention going forward is not to give you a blanket process for solving the problem, instead, I'd like to take a look at how I solved (am solving/addressing) these issues through my own lens, including my training focus, well, <i>especially</i> my training focus, in the hopes of you being able to replace training with your own personal equivalent focus and move forward from there. In the next Wednesday's post, I'll talk about how this all started with me and how I addressed the first couple of these posts, so stay tuned. Serious as a heart attack when I say I'm going to get back to blogging this year. This is going to be one (of many) awesome year(s) for me, you should do the same...
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddAmTZg2PoPNy8_r3i8rxAarE777GsAEehsjtSATvJpZ1hPUnD261goKcgNLRbWjmI1fLtpV72BWWv03B7vU2CrRLRpAPcS0ODJj1gy_c6VwgrjuuERtioBMNpFE_N2SvlRQJ1rR1p5Ks/s800/corgieawesome.jpg" width="500px"/><br/>
<b>...because 9 out of 10 fence-jumping Corgis already think you're awesome.</b>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-41918549862545287692013-12-16T12:15:00.001-08:002013-12-16T12:15:23.401-08:00My Thoughts On The Desolation Of SmaugFun thought experiment for my Martial Artist/Fighter Friends:<br/>
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I was watching The Hobbit 2 yesterday (which I enjoyed, yep, I said it), and I got to thinking, if the races of Middle Earth had their own martial arts, which I figure they probably do, what would the be/be based in? Here's what I came up with (this is just a few of the races represented in the movies, i'm not going to even try to hit up all 25+ including variants):<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRxEj7HHeuCBXvYWXNlQjlPShnUzjGXRpR6193FizOEhfK-RGsvGgYsaiIyvs4KMmD8Y3aV8pByC63mlEkvd_SBrfLqK9Lb-9dQr5qzmymnyYRNnHozQyQdyO2qQP2ufWJ0wRgEid4PxT/s288/mer_sambo.jpg">
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<b>Dwarves:</b> Definitely Sambo. Those stout dwarven builds I think would give them quite a bit of leverage to work with and they're at just the right height to apply all those great sambo leg techniques.<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUQ0HW-x8-VdwfnIdG_w-XvLhjO4-h7bnlB0Msrnq2tyuQR_OT2XWanVRhc5GsoYZ7Ojk0xbi265p3C27wpDoOMLOZtGGy_X9indVupfOx_nV7B3wHTKFSqCwj5b4ssYolJzqwMG974fa/s288/mer_silat.jpg">
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<b>Hobbits:</b> Silat for sure. Perfect height to strike upward into those soft, unprotected spots, very compact builds, great for moving around the body, and let's be honest, with feet like that, they can foot and ankle trap all damn day and not GAF. Also, hobbits just seem perfectly suited to the karambit.<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZZKgaWuILrhcWiArhJ_RFlBfprDM51OUzXeqYHYZ7jfju9VKQy4Iqk7pHjeZyKhyphenhyphenF-RfBCcRTDQ0VzoCYiIQW0ajO5x_tyylHwsX1I3yCSdqnHdVdaz1sTDHo2i3hcD_AFV3g1ilK4PC/s288/mer_kalari.jpg">
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<b>Elves:</b> Kalaripayattu, given their penchant for flowing, continuous motion and longer range work. Actually, I'd love to see one or more of the elves bust out a flexible sword in the next hobbit movie (or any movie involving elves)<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-AAzEvd6fOq969hHkbxXDVimshnLr-agYIQvaZ90wL1Hlsp2Ao1txe80PKN7SshCbHxW_BvHByjQwwNJ_b49j0L0YfPf79Whg1N8qKQ8ab2NVco1jDnxiRxTnZHy8DF78I5enVfoww7vM/s288/mer_boxing.jpg">
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<b>Humans:</b> Some combination of different classical western boxing styles, I'm thinking british and irish, with that Mexican boxer ferocity.<br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZZbGcmnv_ViWOMMlGhHLlH2_Wh5GiSqVG-talpZAmp9ZsZ4zh7dq27tDfXphVv7KDlVbxyEKqkUfaCM_f0YUd7uxBsVYBC9DU0SXEKhaMIOmjxLXEIaCPwKcR_I84IixGigICBAos-Bd9/s288/mer_kaju.jpg">
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<b>Orcs:</b> Kajukenbo, but not just any Kajukenbo, we're talking Master Brother Abe Pilau Style. Lots of super heavy upper body work, forearm strikes, and every hit breaks something.<br/>
<br/>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-9084974700971592952013-12-01T12:08:00.000-08:002013-12-01T13:59:55.398-08:00Seth's Birthday Training Extravaganza! I know I'm totally late to this party but Arrow? Great show, i mean, GREAT FREAKIN SHOW. It's exactly what I want a comic book TV show to be (minus Thea, god I hope she dies horribly, what an annoying, unnecessary character). I do wish that Kelly Hu's character would quit with the karambits. It's not just a cool looking knife, there's real technique that goes with it. Ah well, I know, that's a total martial arts nerd/fanboyish thing, sue me. And honestly, I'm totally ok with Kelly Hu getting tons of screen time, though truth be told, the world needs to see more Rinko Kikuchi, mmmm...Not sure what it is, but in the last couple months I've become really attracted to Asian women. You know, in the last couple of months, my whole concept of what I find attractive in women has changed...well, changed is not an accurate term, let's say broadened? Coincidentally, my definition of relationships has broadened quite a bit too, well, let's not say broadened, let's say I'm giving myself permission to be ok with the concepts of relationships I've had for a while and felt guilty about because..well, yeah. Really, it's just that I'm all about options, but that's a post for another day and blog entirely. Also...there are a lot of really in shape, hot dudes in Arrow, and the writers find a lot of excuses to show them shirtless. Tasty.
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<b>Really? You WOULDN'T? Not even a little? ...</b>
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Anyway, I've decided my birthday week 2014 is going to be a whirlwind tour of training, friends, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Well, i mean if you replace drugs with craft beer and whiskey, rock and roll with industrial, and sex with...more training (tho if someone wants to give me a..."special birthday present", I'm open). I will say if there's one thing I'm definitely ok with it, it's the idea that spending money on training and tools is something I'm not going to feel guilty about at all. I've held for a long time that spending money on experiences outweighs spending money on things by a factor of...some very large number, but it's still a good idea to get the most bang for your buck. Go airline miles, hotel points, and couch surfing! So here we go...
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://shugyocenter.com/shop/martin-wheeler-seminar-jan-2014/"><b>Martin Wheeler Systema Seminar at Shugyo Center</b></a> - First steps on my Systema journey, I've always really been interested in the concepts behind Systema but have just recently experienced good instruction. The last time I took a Systema workshop was about 10 yrs ago and given perspective, the instruction wasn't great. On a side note, the seminar is taking place in a city where a dear friend of mine lived and passed a little while ago. Will be good to exchange energy, me thinks.</li>
<li><a href="http://mateokajukenbo.com/">Mateo Kajukenbo</a> - I went to a Kaju seminar in Portland, OR last month and got to train with one of Prof. Mateo's Sigungs. Gotta say I was really impressed, so I'm hoping to be able to drop in on these guys. From what I understand, they're changing locations, so hopefully they'll have one nailed down by January.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kellyworden.com/nsi--wds">Worden Defense System/NSI</a> - Been talking about Datu Worden since the Portland seminar too, can't say enough good things about working with him. More than anyone I think he's really got the pulse of MPMA. Can't find a class schedule for him, so might have to make some calls, but since I'm planning on attending <a href="http://www.kellyworden.com/water-and-steel-2014">Water and Steel 2014</a> anyway, may not be a big loss if nothing happens.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kajukenbowa.com/">Kajukenbo-Ge Shou Dao</a> - Another side effect of the Portland Kaju Seminar was that I got to see different groups from the Pacific Northwest (which was my main impetus for going to the seminar) and I was totally blown away. Didn't get a chance to work with Prof. Davies, but I've gotten to work and speak with his Grandmaster, GM Jerry Scott, and he's a good man with lots of useful information.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.whittlekajukenbo.com/">Whittle Kajukenbo</a> - A little on the fence about this one just because Spokane is like a 4 hour drive, but damn, Grandmaster Whittle was good and his students were awesome. Good Kaju guys and just good people in general. They have a Saturday morning class, but given what I'll be doing Friday night, I doubt I'll be getting up at 5AM Saturday morning. This one's probably worth its own trip anyway, as GM Whittle also teaches Royal Hawaiian Lua, wouldn't mind having the time to take a few classes with him.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.systema.us/wa_classes.php">Systema WA</a> - Highly recommended Systema instructor in Washington who's new to the area from what I understand, so why not drop in? Seattle...you're making it harder and harder for me to stay away.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.curisco.com/">Capoeira Malês</a> - Should set things right with Mestre probably so I can really get back to playing proper. Been away from home too long.</li>
<li>...and of course there will be some sort of weight training, I imagine I'll just hit up the 24 Hour Fitness at Northgate like I usually do just because they have tons of gear and heavy kettlebells, which doesn't suck. At all.</li>
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<center><h1>OPEN INVITATION!!!</h1></center>
Once I get the specifics of which classes I'll be taking when, I'll be posting the full schedule here, so if anyone wants to join for any of this stuff, hit me up and we'll throw down. Slightly ego-centric, I know, yes, I'm sure people are lining up to come train with me, but whatever, it's out there. It'll be a good time either way. Also, when did I get so old??
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeVlMUSLV4aTtqOs1vV7VEv-ZkzaJDe2_OS6mOf2mE_10oPMr-nWQm1sFr-xqsKCKQG4s_fpXpuBG246OAuV63yzGx-xBUMUpJRV4VoldKaYLntM3TfnDiHT16NRbM69-VO9ZuC5Ajq6lT/s800/evsrliv.png" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>Evolve . Survive . Live</b>
</center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-56626599037971360502013-11-10T14:48:00.000-08:002013-11-10T14:48:05.447-08:0010,000 Kettlebell Swings In The Air<div>
Once again I'm approaching that time of the year where my thoughts turn to what sort of crazy sprint I'm going to do for what I call the "Turkey-to-Tree" period. As you can probably imagine, it's that month between Thanksgiving and Christmas where holiday parties abound, complete with tons of horrible for you food and drink all laid out in the spirit of festive giving and sharing. Now, I have no problem with festive giving and sharing, but I decided a while back that I didn't really want to follow the pattern of bloating, err, sorry, bulking up over the holiday hibernation period and taking the following quarter to shed the accompanying...well let's just call it what it is, fat, for the beach season. So I (try) to do what I call a Turkey-to-Tree sprint every year, or T2T (catchy, eh?).<br/>
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I started doing Turkey-to-Tree sprints a while ago, but didn't do one last year for a few reasons (bad relationship, busy at work, etc), nor the year before for a few reasons (bad relationship, moving, changing jobs, etc), so I'm pretty committed to doing one this year, and since there are no relationships whatsoever anywhere near me, other than those of my dear friends up in Seattle, who I'm very much looking forward to spending a long and incredibly inebriated birthday weekend with in a few months, what better time to re-visit an old ritual that's always done me some good? I really like the T2T for a few reasons:
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<ul>
<li>It springboards me into the next year really well. I want to get back to being big and strong like I was a few years ago when I started seriously powerlifting, and I've made good progress in the past coming off of a good, high-intensity, moderate-to-low calorie resistance program.</li>
<li>It's the end of the year, why not just go out in a balls-to-the-wall, all-in, sprint to the finish? I love the holidays and everything we associate with them (well except, Black Friday, that's just some BS), but no need to shut down. In fact, I say take advantage of the empty gyms and empty offices and go hard and heavy. Cross the end of the year finish line at a dead sprint and keep going into the new year.</li><br/>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMrJFAarSW-s1mh3OFkRO1JuIiMoNkv100v1kmKep2jVp9CJ3l35ZLR1AFk0_07DyNuEERbH6Ag186tvxF-mmvg9CkuMWcCDkFY4p1zQwSWLMRgCh2M6ePLY8R2fhOBvOyQMwyORcRPbKk/s800/bfriday.png" height="288" width="497" />
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<li>It's a great way to burn away all the BS that may or may not have happened during the year. If you had a fabulous year and are riding high, awesome! Keep it up, crank hard, and finish up knowing you set one more challenge in front of yourself and killed it! But maybe you didn't have a GREAT year. Maybe there were some things that you just want to slough off and in the process refocus. Take a month, go hard, crank those endorphins up the best way possible and get yourself right.</li>
</ul>
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<center><b>CAUTION: WHINING AHEAD, SKIP THIS SECTION IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ME COMPLAIN</b></center><br/>
<div style="font-size:85%;line-height:120%"> Look, I know a relationship, according to conventional wisdom, is the worst reason to stop training. No! They say, you should train through it! Use training to get right!<br/>
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That's all well and good but you know, sometimes things just add up. I'm not saying this as a woe is me sorta thing, i'm just setting some context. It wasn't just the "relationship", it was alot of the things surrounding it as well. It had me questioning my self worth, my interaction with other people, even my value to my company, everything. Basically, it played on every insecurity I have about myself and put me in the lowest spot I've ever been personally, and because of some of the specifics, I wasn't able to really talk to anyone about it, and the other party was pretty much unwilling to try and talk, resolve, come to closure, anything.<br/>
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So, I need to do something different (and yes, I know, I need to man up. I'm working on that as well). I need to do something that gets me focused, gets me breathing, gets me moving, gets the rest of this fat off, and just gets me reset. I know it's all in my head, because outside of that one thing, everything else has been pretty solid. Work's gone...ok, my other training, Kajukenbo, Silat, grappling, even lifting, have all been spot on, even with the knee and shoulder problems. Sometimes things just get too big and out of control because you didn't stomp em down and walk away when you should've. So, anyway...(and for those of you who have some idea what I'm talking about, this is the last I'm going to say on it. Sorry if I've been a dick or treated you less than well. I can't promise it's going to get better soon, but I'm working on it. That's what I got for now, hang out and deal with my BS (which I will attempt to minimize for social grace), or check back in 6 months.)<br/>
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<center><b>WHINING OVER</b></center>
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<div>
Enter <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/workouts/10000-swing-kettlebell-workout">Dan John's 10,000 Swing Kettlebell Workout</a>
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It's funny, because you all probably know my take on extreme volume/intensity/etc programs that are poorly thought out or just done for the sake of being difficult. Well, I've been a Dan John fan for quite a while, and if there's one thing I've learned about his work, he doesn't just do random things. Everything that makes it to the public from Dan John comes from testing, observation, and of course, Dan's quite considerable amount of experience. So when I saw this, it seemed like the perfect way to end the year. 5 weeks, 20 workouts, 10,000 Kettlebell Swings. Me being me, of course, I also saw this as a chance to do that other thing that I love doing so much, which is plan around/design programs. I've spent a little bit of time planning (obsessing over) a nutrition and supplementation plan to go along with this, and it's funny, i was mucking about in my spreadsheet today, tweaking some final numbers and it almost literally just appeared. Total serendipitous moment, it was like the clouds just parted and revealed my nutrition supplementation plan...sounds silly, I know, you had to have been there. Nutrition and supplementation isn't something Dan touched on in the article, but he does make a few statements that bear some thinking on (from me):
<ul>
<li>"Every person who has completed this 20 workout plan has increased lean muscle mass while dropping body fat."</li>
<li>"Everyone got leaner, dropping a waist size or two, in 20 workouts."</li>
<li>"Every coach or athlete made visual muscular improvements in their physiques, adding lean body mass."</li>
<li>"Abs were more visible..."</li>
</ul>
These statements give me pause, not because I don't believe them, but because after years of training, I have a good understanding of how my metabolism works, and I know that if I want to make significant changes, I can't just hop on a really hard program and look markedly different in five weeks. I have to consider all facets, and I have to hit a bit of an extreme with those other facets too. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, at the end of the day, part of my drive is I want to <a href="http://www.thenategreenexperience.com/blog/built-for-show-and-go">look good enough to hook up</a> when I go back to Seattle for my b-day (not that that's on the agenda, but a little positive female attention would do some good for my self-esteem). I also set a goal of being back around 12-15% BF by the end of the year, and given where I am now, that's doable, but not without some diligence. Last, while I respect Dan John quite a bit, I also respect my own experience enough to know that, with some tweaks to nutrition and recovery, I can hit this program pretty hard and still hit the dojo as well. I have another goal of wearing my green belt when I hit Vegas next year for the KSDI Tournament, so no skipping Kaju unless absolutely necessary. Kickboxing may or may not be necessary for conditioning, we'll give it a test and see what the effect ends up being.
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<div>
So that's the preview, I'll talk more about the specifics of my plan at the end of the 5 weeks, what worked, what didn't, and what all I used specifically. November 25th is D-Day, time to do it up.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghqwqdBcxhtGX57GidqkHwWlKu7Mjeys7hBBQAQV1GvbtH-IEyB09UHcqaKfCTTlGzknm8N9b0odr3a3Y7HpxBKBjO-b1CdGagePoigIw-fdnHdMb0e6lUpcEh60c-1bP8kfXzZ0noXWdJ/s800/robotz.png" height="208" width="500" />
</center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-91340172058174636432013-09-01T19:06:00.001-07:002013-09-01T19:14:05.183-07:00Kneehab!<div style="float:left;margin:10px">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ybTKgQbEmYtwL_nxPSLLAWOxlcEplIDMCUqkNzC9w8GGpE4Xmr2P4c_jN__Hg-MBjF31-YRQUMauLPzGOXNThLWaMKasdk1XeOOFF-7bMU3-jFOy-hZteaDhE6cs9sHaqFgXqb0j9hsN/s800/peeking.jpg" height="85" width="85" />
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First off, a tiny bit of butt-cover. I am not now, never have, and never will claim to be anything close to a person who can give anyone any useful advice about rehab, PT, any of that stuff. The most I'll tell anyone for the record is "Buy a foam roller (or PVC, if you're like me and effeduproyal) and a lacrosse ball, and here's a bunch of youtube vids that'll show you what to do with 'em". If you happen to sprain, strain, or tear something, the best advice is get it checked out ASAP. This is something I did NOT do, not because I'm "hardcore", not because I was broke, not for any good reason, I just didn't know better. I definitely should've at least gotten an evaluation from some reputable medical professional so if nothing else, I would've had a baseline for how injured I was.</div>
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<div>
I <b>AM</b> going to go on record and say that when it does happen (and it WILL happen), you need to take advice on recovery from someone who understands where you're coming from, which for the practicing Devlifter means: Not your regular GP guy. Find a good sports therapist, competition trainer, someone who has experience dealing with people who train outside the realm of the general populace, because otherwise you just run the risk of getting some yahoo who's going to tell you to go get surgery and you'll never have full use of whatever you injured again. In some cases, that may be true, but me, I'd rather hear it from someone who can really look at everything in proper context. I dunno, on some level, I feel really bad writing this because it just reeks of me giving people misinformation, so let's also butt-cover this by saying, this is just MY experience and it's kinda worked for ME. You really need to figure out what's going to work for you and don't be quite as negligent as i was. However, if you insist on being ridiculous, like me (don't do that, seriously, don't ever be like me), here are some things that MIGHT POSSIBLY point you somewhere in the vicinity of where you want to go.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmGxerFB0T3DU7rKhL6ABh-DbqzmqWvcbcvVnbLtt5MaGGnbM4RYT4LtH1-lyCWJ-s3uTXIS6dIqVCKORPMFvv-LZ2NXBvhp-tVrkYMH4AgUzyDd6oTyxTAfsE9FYOiVVZTnRQFwL1c_lx/s800/healing.jpg" height="298" width="352" /><br/>
<b>Until we can heal like this, it helps to have a plan</b>
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<div>
Long story short, about 3 weeks ago in kickboxing class, I landed a flying knee wrong and jacked up my support leg. See, it's even a lame story, I wish I could be all, "Yeah man, i threw that flying knee and he blocked with his elbow and tore my sh** up," but no...it was pretty much all my fault. The best (worst) part was I didn't even do it during a drill, I was just practicing the technique BEFORE we started drilling...which meant I didn't really even get a chance to drill the movement. That's embarrasing man, that's like walking out on the floor to do your forms or something, tripping in front of the judges, and hurting yourself bad enough that you can't compete. Anyway, whining aside, it was bad enough that I figured I probably shouldn't stay for the second class, but not bad enough that I couldn't finish the class I was in, and definitely not bad enough that I couldn't put some weight on it. For those reasons I figured it was minor enough that I could take care of it myself and be ok as long as I didn't do anything stupid. A few weeks of ice, stretching, and foam rolling, and I'd be alright.
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<div>
Problem: I hate icing. Actually, I hate anything that makes me feel slow or movement impeded, which is why I don't get drunk very often anymore and one of the main reasons I stopped doing...erm, other things that may be legal now. I've done the whole RICE thing in the past, and I wasn't really looking forward to doing it again, but you know, as I've gotten older and gained something like the ability to look a bit further down the road and realize what's actually important, I'm ok doing what has to be done to get where I want to go. <b><u>BUT I STILL HATE ICING.</u></b> Thankfully, I've somehow managed to find myself in the company of many people who are much more intelligent about many things than I am. Take for instance, my good friend Brad Clark of <a target="_blank" href="http://riggingdojo.com"><b>Rigging Dojo</b></a> fame, who happened to drop the following knowledge bombs on me just as I was about to embark down that treacherous path:
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWBB_dzmTRZTWy9GH3BBAWN_EAEzRdRe-TDa_J6ERWEy5mnKhUlDvWl6jAdelsTR978LciHEdUrz1pthJlhmsEhQgvADGmiJeGOgj5NjEcjvrDGvtsYX-m2kIjtzh28ldsaRsiEaLa5G5/s800/bctweets.jpg" height="244" width="263" />
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<div>
Wait so, I could NOT do the thing I hate (even though it's burned into the gospel of recovery) and still recover? Well, alllllright. It's funny, because Erica, she of <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.stuffimakemyhusband.com/"><b>Stuff I Make My Husband</b></a> fame, had mentioned <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mobilitywod.com/"><b>Mobility|WOD</b></a> to me a while back and the do have some crazy knowledge bombs. I definitely recommend checking out the following videos, and while they are a bit preachy and marketing-y (I think one of the guys is trying to sell people some machine or implement), there's a decent bit of underlying knowledge here that may change your view on things. Again, I don't have any sort of certification for therapy, so no one get all butt hurt because you've been recommending RICE to everyone and now they have an alternate viewpoint (heaven forbid). Just write it off by saying what I just said, i.e. I have no credentials, just personal experience.
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<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/08/people-weve-got-to-stop-icing-we-were-wrong-sooo-wrong/"><b>Mobility|WOD: People, We’ve Got to Stop Icing. We Were Wrong, Sooo Wrong.</b></a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.mobilitywod.com/2013/07/community-video-peoples-weve-got-to-stop-icing-a-year-later/"><b>Mobility|WOD: Community Video – Peoples, We’ve Got to Stop Icing. A Year Later…</b></a></li>
</ul>
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<div>
I think the universe sorta wanted me to go down this path anyway, as <a target="_blank" href="http://t-nation.com"><b>T Nation</b></a> posted another great article that basically amounts to Compression Wrapping 101, along with some more awesome videos that you should absolutely add to your recovery arsenal. This came out about a week and a half after I started down the recovery path so I didn't make as much use of it as I'd like to, but I'm definitely starting to think about ways to use it as a supplement to foam rolling for general well being.
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<div>
<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/2_minute_injury_fix"><b>TNATION: Two Minute Injury Fix</b></a></li>
</ul>
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<div>
To make matters even better (but wait, theeerrrre's more!!), I found this other article on <a target="_blank" href="http://elitefts.com"><b>EliteFTS</b></a> that kinda sums up this whole blog post much more succinctly and informatively than...this blog post.
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<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/how-to-be-superman-with-your-knees/"><b>EliteFTS: How To Be Superman With Your Knees</b></a></li>
</ul>
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<div>
<a target="_blank" href="http://scottabel.com"><b>Coach Scott Abel</b></a> talks alot about biofeedback and being able to read your own body, and that's probably been the most useful tool in this whole process for me. If I go back to the day I injured myself and think about how I was feeling, yeah, my legs were SUPER tight, I mean it really was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, or in this case, the load that sprained the knee, I mean my legs were uncomfortably tight, and not just because of my Kaju pants. Knowing that, I pieced together a recovery program that addresses everything based on what I remember feeling:<br/>
<ul>
<li>First, I started just WALKING again, and this was a super eye-opening thing for me because the first couple days I did it, it felt awkward. Imagine that, walking feeling weird! That right there should tell you that there's a basic mobility issue.</li>
<li>I've gotten back to taking mobility and flexibility seriously. I'm performing hour long mobility/flexibility sessions every morning, upper body some days, lower body other days, but both with the goal of just being able to move around again. I want the kind of mobility I had when I was doing <a target="_blank" href="http://www.curisco.com"><b>Capoeira</b></a>, and you know, we used to stretch and do basic movement exercises for about an hour before we started drilling techniques. This has actually been huge, not just for the gains I'm already feeling, but just because doing it in the morning makes me feel GREAT for the day.</li>
<li>Had to make some little tweaks to my lifting program, but I don't feel like it's been anything crazy detrimental. The most "extreme" change I've made is moving squatting to the end of the week so I've got a full weeks worth of mobility work stacked up before I go in. I've dropped my numbers back too, for example, this week my working max was 235, which at a normal tear I probably would've hit for 10-12, but I kept it at 5, just to be safe. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and even though I do want to do some meets next year, keeping the legs right for <a target="_blank" href="http://tribull.com"><b>Kajukenbo</b></a> is priority.</li>
<li>Lastly, <b><u>NO MORE SKIPPING PVC ROLLING EVER.</u></b> Sure, I'm doing it every morning, but I'm also doing it before every lifting session now, even if it's just 10 or 20 passes over the IT band and adds. When I take a step back and think about it, I'm putting some serious demands on my legs! <a target="_blank" href="http://tribull.com"><b>Kickboxing</b></a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dragonsdenmma.com/HOME.html"><b>Silat</b></a>, squatting, deadlifting, that's alot to ask without giving some TLC back. So, I'm sorry legs, thanks for reminding me I was being a jerk, it won't happen again (if only I could fix my relationships that easily...another story)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
To wrap it up, look, I'm not going to say don't ever ice again, that's up to you and whoever you're working with. What I am saying is that this time, I didn't ice and I've recovered faster than I did from smaller injuries that I have iced. I'm not going to run out and hurt myself again just to see if I can quantify things a bit better, but yeah, I think i'm pretty sold on mobility, flexibility, and compression. I'll post up the specifics of my mobility splits here in a bit, I'm still fine tuning. I hope these resources end up being helpful, if for no other reason than they make you think about stuff.  <b>Train Hard So Real Life Is Easy</b>.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbSxRZR3ShQTjB9U89-czV2kCeDGpM6jJcQweT6q1-1q9xhq_3cU2wbF8BC3bYUedrLBMUnQG92E-y11ywsm_-njGgpACnh-0CwsjetfWdsjYh7z9v9ML-eQTjUkCm4UvG6I26sBHhn5U/s800/rusty.jpg" height="430" width="500" /><br/>
<b>Seriously, this is how icing my joints makes me feel...</b>
</center>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-64557639298832088182013-08-25T10:56:00.001-07:002013-08-25T10:56:59.726-07:00Now back to our all new programming...<div style="float:left;margin:10px">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ybTKgQbEmYtwL_nxPSLLAWOxlcEplIDMCUqkNzC9w8GGpE4Xmr2P4c_jN__Hg-MBjF31-YRQUMauLPzGOXNThLWaMKasdk1XeOOFF-7bMU3-jFOy-hZteaDhE6cs9sHaqFgXqb0j9hsN/s800/peeking.jpg" height="85" width="85" />
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Alright, so I've been working on a slew of new content for Hard Coded and I'll talk more about all that once I get post zero done, but it's weird, I feel like I have to practice blogging again. How crazy is that? There are a few reasons for that, most of them deeply personal having to do with...well, stuff, so here's a small thought to get me warmed up:<br/>
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Like many folks who are <a target="_blank" href="http://youtube.com/fastingtwins">doin whatever the f**k they wanna do</a>, I've been on and off some for of Intermittent Fasting/reduced meal frequency thing for...wow, a bit. I started something <a target="_blank" href="http://leangains.com">LeanGains like</a> around the summer of 2011 when I moved to SoCal, then hit it back up pretty hard January of 2012 when I moved back to the bay. Been on and off for the last year and a half, experimenting with different things and I've come to a really interesting realization. I can't guarantee that it's going to work for you, but you see, I've been wanting to do the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.metabolicdiet.com">DiPasquale-style Anabolic Diet</a> for a while but I've never really been able to just pound down protein and fat the way I understand AD/MD wants you to. I mean sure, I'll be good for the first meal or so, but by the end of the day I'm like...maaaaan, i don't ever want to look at meat and fat again.
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<center>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQy8RWxm7T-7m14T3UuAI-kMVptCfwM2NtDX0kyA0wRJHtC8VAUQmrXQhSKVM76yhNbeAZQ3NI8d08-ZEBlASKtpE2XSjRKv2ugIgu2MQCsRgTheemJTjeDsuDKtOyvMNyHwc4v1SLeW8x/s800/allthemeat.jpg" height="375" width="500" /><br/>
<b>But yo seriously, right now, this looks about DELICIOUS...</b>
</center>
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SO...I decided to break a cardinal rule of everything and combine some diets. Now I know, everyone's all, hey man, the guy who trains himself is an idiot (or whatever, i know there's some way more eloquent/poetic way to say it floating around the internets, I just don't want to go look for it right now), but look, I've been training seriously for a while now and I've been under coaches, trainers, nutritionists, etc (true story, I used to play Capoeira with <a target="_blank" href="http://robbwolf.com">Robb Wolf</a> and he'd just drop nutritional biochem info bombs all the time, miss that dude), so I feel like I'm in a good place to experiment on myself and figure out what's good for me. I've been doing Anabolic Diet on an IF-ish meal timing and yeah man, it's just...good.<br/>
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It's funny because everything started the way it usually does when I've tried to follow AD/MD, for instance, yesterday I ate breakfast from Whole Foods, something like 4 or 5 egg white omelets, a container of bacon and sausage, etc, then for dinner I had some egg salad, a cheese tray (small one, snack size), a ton of carnitas, some olive oil, and yeah, sure enough, afterwards it was...maaaan, I don't ever want to look at meat and fat again. But Dude! It's only not even noon the next day and I'm thinkin...hmm...I could make myself some kind of wannabe locomoco like thing tonight, some hamburger patties, a few fried eggs, maybe make, well not proper gravy but like some sort of butter and beef stock reduction, hmm, with bacon instead of rice, maybe some grilled halloumi, you get the point. So yeah, so far, AD+IF...I'm diggin.
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-89356716485545360592013-08-04T10:30:00.000-07:002013-08-04T10:36:33.429-07:00Swordfighting!I've been up to so much that I haven't posted. Ballet, salsa, hot yoga, areal silks, and swordfighting! Well, I went to Ren Faire this weekend with Sterling and Hannah, and ran into my sword school.<br />
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At the end I got a little too into finishing the technique. >_> I guess sloppy form and good take downs is what happens when you pause swordfighting to work on your Kaju more. The pulling the sheath out of the ground part was kind of hilarious.Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10906590838946345736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-38000271268148616192013-07-20T15:49:00.001-07:002013-07-20T15:49:52.787-07:00Second Degree Purple Belt Test (for Seth)It's been SO long since I've posted, and I intend to remedy that.<br />
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This last year has been a major shift away from the classic pole dancing training I used to do. Over the past 1.5-2 years I've been in San Jose, I've been training at Tribull, which I'm sure you've read about from Seth. It's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kajukenbo">kajukenbo </a>school, which focuses on a lot of MMA fight team training, and Gracie/10th Planet style brazilian Ju Jitsu.<br />
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I've been supplimenting on and off with lots of Hot Yoga with the Buchheit / Kennison family, mideavil swordfighting with Sterling, (mainly rapier and side sword), Ballet with Shannon, Poi (firedancing) and contact juggling with Matt, and running on my own (sometimes with Eddy). Occassionally if I'm on vacation I'll go to a gym and just do traditional weights.<br />
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Each one of those things has helped to grow and inform the other. I've been through so many different shifts in the fighting spectrum. At first you enter a new hobby, and you get a lot of verbal confirmation that you're doing well. After awhile that just fades off and you become quietly watched and accepted. This is the first time I've ever stuck to a hobby long enough to get to that third stage, where you end up being a big sister/ teacher to younger people. It's been pretty touching and amazing.<br />
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Last night was a belt testing.. I've been traveling so much I didn't feel comfortable in taking part... it just felt disrespectful. I did hit the bags a bit at the beginning, however. Been working on my hooks lately... 400 a day.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iORjtsW8x1o&feature=share&list=UU-dxlmkyyBf1H2UQbnesq8g">Punching the Bag</a><br />
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In the intermediate ranks of kajukenbo, we have a thing called bull ring. It's simultaneously a way of practicing handling multiple attackers, and I suspect a way for the sifu's to judge our skill in a timely manner. Here's Seth doing his weapons bull ring.<br />
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<a href="http://youtu.be/FL6ICED-TMM">Weapon Bull-Ring</a><br />
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And I really like this video too- mainly because Seth reminds me of Kung Fu Panda everytime he does his flippy spinny things :)<br />
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<a href="http://youtu.be/sHqE_h24cNk">Kung Fu Panda</a><br />
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As wonderful as it was to be able to watch and film my friends, it was really uncomfortable being an observer, instead of a participant. I think my heart broke a little as I watched them all yell "tribull" without me being part of it. I hope to never have a repeat, which means no more ditching class!<br />
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<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10906590838946345736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-32869406142260319212013-05-13T23:21:00.000-07:002013-05-13T23:21:53.621-07:00Pre-Training, Week 4 Recap, On To Week 5<i>DISCLAIMER: I'm probably going to talk ALOT about food in this blog...</i><br/>
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Herein we see the folly of not keeping some concrete progress tracking or otherwise, I really have no way to quantify how well I am or am not doing other than the fact that my clothes continue to fit better. I can tell I'm approaching that "need state" we keep hearing about just due to my energy levels, performance, and overall attitude towards food/eating. Towards the end of week 4, I started eating a bit more, keeping to appropriate macros of course, but definitely eating dinner a few days.<br/>
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I had planned to wait till week 6 for another refeed, but judging by my performance (skipped training tuesday and thursday, made it through only one class wednesday, numbers in the gym saturday and sunday were significantly down, etc), I decided to trust the science and try a refeed a bit ahead of schedule. I didn't put away massive amounts of food like you hear people talk about on some diets, but man, definitely not a bad decision. I think from here on out, it's going to be refeeds every Sunday followed by a fast Monday. I do really well with sushi, so if nothing else, it's an excuse to try a new sushi place every Sunday now. Laaaame, I know, I know.
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<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7-7IAISslRs/UZHTipX7K2I/AAAAAAAAA4s/A7FTDiryHE4/s800/refeed.jpg" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>When You Can Clean The Sushi From The Boat, Weedhopper...</b>
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In retrospect, I have some really interesting experiences to look back on when it comes dieting down. I actually hit supercompensation once, as defined the good Coach Abel, at least I think given the evidence: I was (fairly) lean, I'd been eating around BMR for a few months, and I pretty much "ate the ass end out of a rhino". It wasn't necessarily a rhino, but it was a ridiculous amount of meat, and the wierd part was it was like I was eating on autopilot. At the time I didn't realize what was going on, but in retrospect...Eh, i'm probably just making things up, but we'll see what happens. I do like the fact that I have so much weight to lose that I'll be able to visually assess, so I guess I don't feel terrible about not actually tracking. Call it an experiment in processing and interpreting biofeedback, I suppose?
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<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0UAYdBKkXkc/UZHXK9h8lsI/AAAAAAAAA44/-6YBF-lR9Tw/s800/biofeed.jpg" height="289" width="400" /><br/>
<b>Yep, the machine says time for a refeed...</b>
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I think i've finally hit a flow with all this stuff, weird work schedules not withstanding, now it's all about laying back, continuing to adjust, and marching on to 190-ish. No hard goal dates in mind, but definitely keeping my eye on the seminar dates coming up...Gotta live for something, yeah?
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-4877940679969932732013-04-28T12:22:00.000-07:002013-04-28T12:22:58.174-07:00Pre-Training, Week 3 Recap: up the mountain<div>
I have to admit, I'd gotten to the point where I was honestly just too wiped at the end of the day to blog something. Isn't that crazy? It's a really weird feeling to not actually be able to muster up the creative energy to write a few words, or even to just post a training recap. Some days I didn't really even feel like logging my workout on fitocracy, but what can I say, I love games. Even the little incentive of fito-points is enough to get me motivated. I am truly a product of current society. Ah well, arent' we all?
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Haven't been tracking my weight recently, I need to lose so much that I can pretty much go off of visible results and things like clothes. When I started Kaju about 16 months ago, I was wearing size 5 gi pants. Somewhere over the course of the year, I think it was about when I was prepping for what would have been test 2 around august-sept, I found myself in a pair of 6s. A little tragic because I'd been doing really well. It's a shitty excuse, but you know, life. On the upside, it's all handled and I've got some real goals that I actually care about (which is important, you know).
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP68G13nwgptf7LqXEePBldg6m9XnGW_5F_JeDk32FUxIG0L9UNJZy0xoFTj2_xqtAb4t283Ioh3AoDRklzoqh7xADJxYHkltQgeKkTnY19qKT6_Qz1pAYcZhDqNgqBK369Pu98Q4goWOW/s800/smallviolin.jpg" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>Life, it's not an excuse, it's reality. Deal With It.</b>
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Anyway, whining aside, I did the whole Kaju seminar in a new pair of size 5 gi pants, and they were actually COMFORTABLE, which means somethings happening. It' s good incentive, just have to remember that the gut fat is going to be the last to go and I have ALOT of it. Let's see where we are in 3 more weeks. I feel like this is the stride now, I'm sleeping ok, I'm training regularly, and I've got my intake schedule dialed.
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I've started thinking about carb-loading totally differently too now, just noticing that I feel way better on protein of varying levels and medium to high carbs than I ever did on protein and some degree of fat with low carbs. I mean it makes sense, I know all the exercise and nutrition science behind it and all that, I've just never really given it a serious try. The fact that I've been able to keep up some degree of fairly high energy dependent training while "eating" homemade fruit juice and vegetables is an interesting testament. All said, I'm only taking in about 200g of carbs too (well, not counting the vegetables), so it's been a cool experiment. Now I must think about how to use this power for good when I transition off. I have some ideas, I do like experimenting with training and nutrition, the whole "hacking" your training and diet.
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So on to stage 2, in which I add in some clean protein (gonna try Sun Warrior finally) and moderate the carbs a little bit. I'd like to keep lifting for a few different reasons, metabolic effect and "pre-loading" my muscles being the two main ones. And with that...off to the gym.
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-77907166550382868692013-04-22T00:58:00.002-07:002013-04-22T00:58:46.968-07:00Pre-Training Day 9: cheat day<div style="border:1px solid white;padding:1px 5px 5px 5px">
<b>Training for 2013.04.21</b><br/>
<li><b>Squat:</b> (185x3)x3/225x6/245x6/235x6/225x6/(155x10)x2</li>
<li><b>Bent Raise:</b> (25x8)x4</li>
<li><b>Lat Raise:</b> (30x8)x4</li>
<li><b>EZ Curl:</b> (70x12)x4</li>
<li><b>Rope Extension:</b> (65x10)x4</li>
<li><b>Hammer Curl:</b> (40x8)x4</li>
<li><b>One-arm Reverse Extension:</b> (25x10)x4</li>
<li><b>Cable Curl:</b> (35x15)x4</li>
<li><b>V-bar Pushdown:</b> (57.5x15)x4</li>
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<b>Food Log (cheat day!)</b><br/>
<li>Edamame</li>
<li>Kaiso Salad (Seaweed)</li>
<li>Cucumber Sunomono</li>
<li>Vegetable Puree (Spinach, Kale, Cucumber, Broccoli, Cherry Tomato, Beef Bouillon, Greek Yogurt)</li>
<li>Fruit Shake</li>
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Man, i had some really long string of cool thoughts about training and excelling and my constant weird dream of saving enough money to quit working and train all the time, be it powerlifting or fighting or whatever but then it sorta all went away...
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Good checkpoint today, took a bit of time to get through the lifts today, even on the lighter stuff had to bump up my rest periods to as much as 90 seconds. Seems about right for this far into it. Things are evening out just in time for the test this weekend, I think I'll do alright. Might have to adjust the diet protocol a tiny bit, but let's see what happens. I'm thinking this is going to be a smaller test, so I may live...
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-80263572508515423472013-04-20T19:13:00.001-07:002013-04-20T19:13:14.456-07:00Pre-Training Days 7 and 8: alignment<div style="border:1px solid white;padding:1px 5px 5px 5px">
<b>Training for 2013.04.19</b><br/>
<b>Kajukenbo:</b> Self defense curriculum test review<br/>
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<b>Food Log</b><br/>
Beef broth<br/>
Veg broth<br/>
White bean soup broth<br/>
Fruit and veggie shake<br/>
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<b>Training for 2013.04.20</b><br/>
<b>MMA Training:</b> Punch and kick footwork<br/>
<b>MMA Training:</b> Basic boxing footwork<br/>
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<b>Food Log</b>
Peach Smoothie<br/>
Green Tea<br/>
Water<br/>
Spinach, Kale, Cucumber, Broccoli Soup<br/>
Fruit shake<br/>
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I don't mean alignment in some weird self-realizing sense, nor do I mean in some stodgy business-y sense, I literally mean physical alignment, that is, two or more things clicking into place. I was thinking about the fact that I feel like whatever part of me governs sleep has finally caught up to the rest of me and now that everything's clicked into place, I'll be able to get back to sleeping like a regular person. I was actually visualizing UIs like that one scene in the fifth element right at the beginning when the glowing circles line up to indicate that the shadow planet has arrived or whatever it's supposed to mean, or all those sequences in the various star wars when some ship gets locked into someone's crosshairs and lasered to death mere seconds later.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN69UFitDiWkOvge-0eGGPC9F4vJlgOAIqzCedqAgmiQaMRYnBJhKI6R2g2xhunDLZUnM4dX36TkJnpggZ5sbazGtcgxbraOGxvj06X2nWb8L6Ovl0iabsP0g1NsQkTPAXRpEQVOFdAYx3/s800/xwingxhair.jpg" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>Almooost therrre...no that's not true, i'm still a ways out</b>
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Yeah, It's getting to that point in the head, so I imagine my writings might get a little more disjointed and lovecraftian (I just mean in the batshit insane sense, not so much speaking of sleeping elder gods and all that) as time goes by. I need the sleep bad, just because it's amazing what a difference effect the cutting has when you're actually training. I was beginning to think it was manageable yesterday, then I go to MMA Training this morning and I'm not sure if it was the coffee, but yeah, jump roping is hard and awesome. Days I (feel like too big of a wuss to/otherwise don't) train I need to start the time honored tradition of steady state cardio, or as I like to call it, going out for a lunchtime stroll.
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Almost two weeks in and starting to notice less gut when I do certain movements, but not fast enough. Need to figure out how to get the nutrition for lifting sessions in, and I think I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and switch proteins. I know i'm being a baby, but man, I seriously can't stomach that Strawberries/Cream Isopure. The peptobismol pink is the first turnoff, but the taste is totally just pukeworthy. Gotta figure out how to get the powders down too, haven't been able to find anything that makes them usable, but I think that's less to do with their chemical-flavored goodness and more that it's amplified by the nauseating flavor of the orange C4.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKeVQAw8rLDP6oaA3Ve-bVDtfS9r5Ev9KVyPGhmNRpmxdolYXB00hYLY7YcLEvPthCxWshGWrxF6ni4WGRZbVPzEik5toBT-LVd0oLqig3zEXOUWSfWff-XFdt4k4Cay9kOfl07TuzmgL/s640/human_debris.jpg" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>Great results, but man, this stuff tastes like human debris</b>
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My right leg needs the calories and materials to recover though, I'm not sure my massive fat stores alone are up to the task...Doing the footwork drills today really highlighted how much I need to get that stuff down, so no gimp legs. Making time for foam rolling and mobility, no more questions, no more f'ing around. Def a testament to the intensity of things like strongman and fighting, all that time i was just lifting in the gym I got by without too much foam rolling, though I did do a ridiculous amount of mobility work...This isn't some excuse i'm trying to make to eat more food, I'm on my schedule and what's happening is happening.
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Gotta say the Amazon Prime is paying off for sure since netflix keeps removing all the food porn shows, but you know, i feel like I'm doing cuts wrong.  Every time I've done a monster cut like this, having access to food porn keeps me sane, altho everything i read says don't think about food. Of course, knowing how weird i run, I imagine I'm spiking my insulin just by looking at food too, so I'm sure I'm just wrong on all kinds of counts. It's weird, i'm actually looking at all the stuff I take in during the day and starting to remix things, case in point, spinach, kale, and broccoli soup tonight instead of putting those in my shake. When you start thinking about it that way, it's probably a sign of some sort of neurosis, or as i call them, food issues. Thankfully, I'm not too tired or far gone to start TMIing about all that, but let's all be glad I'm not video-blogging (yet). I'm also trying my damndest not to draw parallels to the Cabbage Soup diet, but really, all I have to do is tell myself that I'm making up excuses to start eating again and it's cool. I take to self-deprecation way better than I should (for a non-Catholic)...
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYvidrPy2JPhz4LcAYkD8dH8WFKBI0EcKnzWnyl4aD1MP6jGdOJ0g0Jb-Cir1RN7zklAClG6HlnO8cbyGmLNvP0K56siAA2VPIum3_zqGYE4Ep7-Ig6HUyTAFFSLk7VZdg0jbIC2RCSJg/s400/lunch_of_champs.jpg" height="300" width="400" /><br/>
<b>Loser's lunch, Wannabe Fighter Style</b>
</center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-40758033874772740672013-04-18T23:37:00.000-07:002013-04-18T23:37:03.413-07:00Pre-Training Day 6: enter sandman<div>
It was sleep. I mean, i figured it was, but yeah, took off from work a tiny bit early and had a bit of a nap. I often wonder how productive I'd be if I split my day into a couple 3 or 4 hour blocks instead of one 6-10 hour block. I wonder if ever a company will be forward thinking enough to give this sort of thing a shot...well, an American company anyway. Are there government subsidies or tax incentives to keep employees working >40 hrs a week with only a few weeks of vacation? Or is it just companies doing the minimum they feel like they have to given most people's expectations of job perks? Even more incentive for me to get my own studio/design group/whatever off the ground. I really think it'd go over pretty well. Naps are good. I may actually try my own experiment-ish wherein I go to work super early, like say 6, bail out at like 11, take a nap till...2, then work again till I go to class. Might work at least on days I'm not morning training...you know, when I get back to morning training. For now, I think i'm just going to admit I bottomed out and stick to 4.5 days training with time off in between weekdays. Now is the time for a level-headed approach. There will be time and need for extremes soon.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWYhqWDOMRPgqtXF7WX3E_QN3VF_D6SKG2PSRPAkXlGLnWefjGh2s_uCXDF0VKWzD5tDpq3UgoiF7rQDabHMgn1kjwr4oX5QOyfydT6SXozTDSGDXBVpTNUCziU8THeimR7II7vtR9Zc0S/s400/Sleeping-bear.jpg" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>No on tells bears they can't have a siesta every now and then...</b>
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You know, this sorta thing makes me think back a great blog post called <a href="http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/your-lifestyle-has-already-been-designed/">Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed</a>, which you've probably already at least seen mentioned. Going through another cut makes me think that beyond the great points outlined in the blog post, it's even more sinister. The 80 (err, 40, sorry) hour workweek is just another construct to keep the population docile and otherwise non-threatening. Subsidize fake, nutritionally void food and work a schedule that only enables enough physical activity to barely offset that fake, nutritionally void food you had for lunch (and breakfast and last night's dinner). Oddly enough, I find myself thinking about all this more right now because I'm drafting up milestone schedules for my project, and I really hope I'm not setting our team up for this sort of schedule. I'm trying not to, I don't think I am, and I'll redirect if I need to. But now, going to try and sleep again. Really looking forward to getting this all right. This is also the last time I'm ever doing a major fat loss cut...Seriously.
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-52598049052813226412013-04-17T21:53:00.001-07:002013-04-17T21:53:31.961-07:00Pre-Training Day 5: Trenched<div>
Ok, time to be honest with myself, I am not fight training anymore. I'm struggling through class and hitting like...something that hits really weak, like i dunno, some weird creature with spaghetti noodles for arms. Skipped class yesterday, skipped two classes today, yeah, doin' great. Well, on the upside, at least I burned my two off days so now I HAVE to train from here till Sunday. See, the problem here is rather than looking at a refeed as a trade for training, I should just look at it as a regular part of the cutting process. Yeah...i have some food issues. Had to break the juice fast today too, but at least it was somewhat Renegade Diet-ish. Light broth, vegetables, and thai seafood combo. It's not the calories that are killing me, it's the lack of sleep. Maybe that's what I'll do this weekend, just hang out till I fall asleep and doze for 10-20 hours.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2PmfYJu1jx9F3cwNJ4_IyIsvPLnW_4ASxYsXZqBtb23z-w0RCjh8b_fh3RkIgWTbbzKKEGoqiclhqRvnYxurnIJSXghZy0_Z12qY2NSYMo6tbePW4aw29Drpt7FVJuo6N6rJetVdiderR/s800/igorduckula.jpg" width="500px" /><br/>
<b>Yeah, today didn't go according to plan at all...</b>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-436453305009100569.post-34535929579481589052013-04-16T22:51:00.001-07:002013-04-16T22:51:39.858-07:00Fight Training Day 4: Excuses, excuses...<div>
I feel kinda stupid logging today since I didn't actually, well, train. They say recovery is part of training, but that's a shitty excuse for missing a day of class. I dunno, i have tons of excuses right now, none of them good, you know, i have a Kaju test and seminar back-to-back in a week and a half, I need to allow myself to acclimate to the lower calories, blah blah blah, it's all bullshit, I'm just lazy. Eh alright tho, I told myself when I started blogging my fight training i wasn't going to write posts like this where I beat myself up over stuff. Decision made, stand on it and make a better decision next time.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dWmIz1H8LFFIPpuPoOvM4UnhtvwgS_HHqPomci-8732vzbYyIFISEuFKMv0aBhnQPqcXiU-zmqoDQ2hXJlHmWNIlzqZx4ph_uFL66m_rBU7ln70Yhl8jkw5s6R7wvc7J5gSslORMJT3H/s800/arnoldmot.jpg" height="319" width="500" /><br/>
<b>...gotta go through it next time. i get one day off, and today was it.</b>
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Whining and feeling sorry for myself aside, I am actually really excited for the Kaju Seminar and I don't want to compromise my performance. I suppose I could just, um, EAT FOOD the night before, but I think I want to see if I can stay on schedule and hold off till Sunday. There's this mongolian bbq place...with awesome fried chicken. That sounds like a good refeed. Alright, 12 days, and I need to hit...15 of 20 potential...no, wait, 10 percent, so...18 of 20 potential training sessions between now and then. Deal.
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16909294074810837780noreply@blogger.com0