Death by flexion

And life, through extension. Take a breath. Where did you feel it? In your nose? Your face or throat? Close your eyes for your next breath but first read on. Breathe by drawing air into your stomach using strength, not with a reflex. Proceed. Repaet for reps.

I worked on extension and breathing twice yesterday, as a way to come down after the trauma of the 45 miler. In past days (pre-Pavel) I would have been torched for a week with a sore back and tender gluteals after a 45 mile bike ride but today I stand tall and pain free. The ride made me tired and I for sure had some spicy quads during the end, but all day yesterday and so far today I feel no DOMS or pain. In all actuality I feel great. Due in part to this:
MONDAY
Coffee and cold water dousing at 0815
Joint Mobility including many pumps and naked windmills, halos, and light back bending.I opened up my shoulders and biceps with bungee cord dislocates and that felt too good. Taught a class at 1900 and had them rock out with Dips, Pull Ups, Sprints and Burpees. 2110 I landed at Elite and rocked out with 8 sets of hardcore hip extension/back bending variations including a long Cobra and some kneeling bridges with a Swiss ball behind me to help with the "wrappage". And then I got crazy and picked up a pair of 20kg kettlebells and hit three sets of double clean and press (10 reps) with them. Yo I have NEVER actually picked up alight pair and did a real set. It felt excellent. I added in a set of Clean & Press LEFT, Clean and Press RIGHT = 1 rep for 10 total and I was spinning. What a nice caper. Today: Swing.

LiveSTRONG and prosper

Sunday, 0515, the alarm sounds and the day to pay is on me. I tackled some dank bay blend coffee and loaded THE GEAR into Mobile-1. Made good time on the way into Mont Co. As of this day I am familiar with the layout of eastern Montgomery County, PA and I will say that it is a lovely piece of earth. I am a big fan of the drive out of Manayunk up Ridge Ave. to Conshy and so on. The roads that housed the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LiveSTRONG Challenge 40 mile bike ride were also very green and welcoming. And scenic, and bloody awful at once. Compared to the hard dogs that rode the 70 and 100 mile courses I took a walk to and from the pisser, yet at a body weight of 275+ this ol' Jarhead cannot help but rest satisfied at a time of 3:17 +/-. The opening 8 miles were very leisurely. Most of the riders were in pro form (I think?) and Mike and I had mountain bikes, he without road tires and I with some road rubber but just over 2,000 miles road experience in the last 3 years. All of it on the same bike and much of it earned up and down state road 252. So we lay back for 3 miles and then start making aggressive moves and pulling two-man jobs for a good wake up. We bust into a crop of geared up riders who lose their shit on the first little hill. Those shoes that clip to the pedals were a bitch for some folks. Mike and I ate hills and licked our chops afterwards for about the first 15 miles. When we got close to the turn around, those with more road experience held up better than I. Mike did excellent until his gears got crossed and I bailed on him. We made the turn around together and at about 23 miles (out of 44.7) I broke hard southeast. With a crotch full of motivation I rode hard for about 13 mile son my own. TOOL was in my earpods and I was livin' it. I passed the MILE 32 OF 40 sign and managed a loud "Fahk Yeah!" as I did. With in 2 miles I was feeling it. I dug down and pulled some shit out but twice I was on the verge of tears. It was a hard few miles and then I just crashed. Save for the one rest stop we made to piss (zipped and clipped in 2:30) I did not get off the bike. No hill or acidosis would get my feet to touch the earth. I got to the main road and wondered where the fuck everybody was. I was all by myself on state road 63 and the sign says 5 miles to go. I knew that the course was over 40 miles, and that a 44.7 mile ride is forever going to be called a 45 mile ride if you hear it from me. So at mile 32 of forty-f&*%in FIVE I tough I was golden, but was trashed by the time I was all by myself. So these gradual, gruesome inclines busted my ass wide open in the final 5. I was passed by no less than 15 people and when I crossed at 3 hours 17 minutes I knew it could have been a Sub 3 if I had more guts, or didn't kill some of those hills at the turn around, and thus kill my chance of a sub 3, which is what I want on my next 45 miler. Mike B. closed in at like 3:25. His legs were burnt and he went right home. Sarah and I hung out for 2 glycogen repairing beers and then went home. At 1:45 PM I crawled in bed and was out until 0800 Monday. Quite the inspiring series of events, this was. And If the LiveSTRONG Challenge makes its way to Philly again I'm buying a road bike and having 70 for dessert. OUT>

metal church

After the two KB classes were in the books I made it to the health club (Elite) in time for a rippin' 30 minute deadlift and bench session. Milked every second of this one and enjoyed the moderate volume and decent tonnage. I give you totals tonight:

TGU 32kg x 2 LR
Deadlift 135 x 5 slow
TGU x 1 LR

DL 275 x 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,2,5
Bench x 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,2,5
resting as little as possible and busy racking plates between to contribute to the gym. This one was nice taper before the ride upcoming Sunday. I was jacked in and the classes I taught were tough enough to have clients ingesting 3-4 cups of water afterwards, as the humidity has come to mark the weekend. Ugh.

Report for workouts spanning 070816-070821

Tuesday 0821 1320 hours, Elite Athletic Club. West Chester, PA.
Long Joint mobility opener after that ride. I was tight but not crippled after figuring out the internal draw. JM included Windmill 24kg 2 LR, and then 3:00 rest.

Press 24kg x 10 LR rest 2.5, 32kg x 8 LR rest2.5, 32 x 10 LR rest 3:00
C&P 150 lbs. x 4 + 4 military presses rest 3:30.
Long Cycle C&P 24kg x 12 LR rest 2:00
EZ Bar Bent Arm Pullover (full range) 75lbs. x 2 sets of 10 rest 1:30 between, 24kg x 10 close grip rest 1:30.
Double standing dumbbell curl 35 x 8 30 x 8 35 x 10 rest 1:15 between.

This was an interesting lift. Playing around with size after focusing strictly on strength and mobility for 3 years is quite a trip. Now that I know how to lift in the 8-12 rep range and act as Lord and fucking Chancellor over every single repetition is quite lovely. I'm looking to balance out my shoulders and traps with the lower half of my frame. I have to purchase 40 or 42 inch waist shorts and jeans (forget about khakis and slacks, on principle and logistically) to move around comfortably. The time is upon me to make a cosmetic adjustment to my weightlifting adventures. And I like it. Shoulders grow now better than ever after 3 years of hardCORE kettlebelling. Dead lifts and presses have previously failed but NOW. . .with both drills wielded as Ax and Shield I'm set to be 275 LEAN, and capped out.

Sunday 070819 rode my mountain bike 35 + miles from Art Museum to my front door. Schuylkill River trail to Valley Forge National Park, up Bear Hill Rd. to King St. Then I passed out for 6 hours.

Sinister Sabbath

Results for Art Museum event 2.0 on Sunday 0819. Also posted on OFFICIAL training blog.

The improper reconnaissance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's calendar of events was fully my misdeed. As are all logistical or personnel problems relevant to MLK. So I boogered it but a fine looking twelve made it out to the North Parking area (?) on Pennsylvania Ave. in the Fairmount section of the city. The police were far beyond cooperative when they were awash in the same question asked by no less than 5 dozen people, that being "Can I park here or not?" See the UNITY Festival had brought many brother and sister to the Art Museum, and there were NO Stopping signs all over the streets, however the police, or even the city of Philadelphia issued them. SO when asked, the officer sat in his cruiser and said "I'm not writing any tickets", placing everyone either totally at ease or crazy suspicious. Mobile One and three vehicles belonging to clients were allowed to join the curbside location. And with the bells we dug in right at this sweet patch of grass roughly the dimensions of two football fields placed end-to-end. Home of the Big Red metal twisty Statue (sic). The team and I got loose, of course, joint mobility is always outstanding in the ZER0 hours, and went right into some swings and snatches. I had one virgin, an attorney from radnor who was a gluteal amnesiac, and the rest were all snatch friendly. The rookie hung with me and while learning the swing he reached the most satisfactory point he was going to notch that day, so I freed him to swing no more than ten reps and join the group AFTER round one. 8 of which were strong on plow and the other three have performance/safety concerns such as wrist and elbow extension as well as shoulder stability issues. But all were free to run the course. Observe.

Snatch 20 LR 40 yd. suicide
Snatch 15 LR 60 yd. suicide
Snatch 10 LR 80 yd. suicide
Snatch 5 LR 120 yd. suicide
rest 4:00

We walked through the shuttle run course, and I noted the distance markers which were 65 ft. tall trees that lined this glorious patch ofurbangaea. Round two I engaged the rook.

Snatch :30 each arm 40 yd. sprint out, walk it back swift like to the bell.
repeat twice

Snatch :45 each arm 60 yd. sprint out and back
Snatch 1:00 each arm full suicides sequence from round one administered, and completed.

It was a tough workout. After all were secure I geared up and rode my mountain bike over 35 miles back to my front door along theSchuyllkill river trail. Then I ate a chicken salad sandwich and went to sleep for 6 hours. Woke up watched Adult Swim till 0200 and then slept again. Woke up Monday to rainy and cool temps, I though I'd died and gone to Seattle in 1988, I was in heaven all day. I dig the unseasonable weather. Spring for Christmas or Halloween in summer, I just like the polarity. HA! Check you out for Monday.

Walkin' like brando? Not yet at least.

this is me last week. Post a comment and tell me how nasty I look. Please I need your help I am spinning out of control! This teenage cheerleader has lost her mind
Something is wrong with me. I have not been able to sleep well these last two weeks. Which is odd when considering that the weeks prior were some of the best sleep I ever got. I think it may have to do with my celebratory habits that always arise late summer. I worked like a donkey all April May and June, eased up in July, and now in August I'm hardly doing anything more than classes at all. And you know what? Maybe NOTHING is wrong with me. I'm just upset because I slept until 1130 today. that is unheard of in this house. I feel like a slug because I'm here with coffee in hand fresh off my cold water dousing and instead of a pre-dawn sky, which I am usually looking at, I'm staring out into a driveway empty of any vehicles save my own (there are 6 vehicles on the compound) and ready to turn on the Noon news. But I shouldn't feel too bad eh? You know I just finished the se3codn cycle of medication which is designed to prevent seizures, and it makes me really, really tired. If I take it right. Which I did yesterday, but then a glass of Pinot really whacked me out and I fell asleep on the couch, then trudged upstairs and slept with the rest of the family (female, dog). Well I was quite peeved when I looked over at the clock and it read 1135. I felt like a scum. I felt like those west coast cats who don't start their day until the sun goes down. Vampires. But what can I do? I cannot lift today, for I have my final preparatory ride for the LiveSTRONG challenge tonight, and my back has said no to lifting weights before. I should listen. "Oh just deal with it!" I'm yelling to myself right now. And here is the secret, real reason I went to shit last night: I went to Wendy's. I had some chicken sandwhiches and chicken nuggets and a lemonade. And soem fries. And a Classic triple with Cheese. Easily 1800 calories. late at night. Did not lift yesterday. What am I doing? I wake up Monday and say "watch the sodium Willy, the humidity is gone for the week and you're not going to be losing water at the rapid". But then I went to Wendy's? Because Wendy's is a great way to avoid sodium! I just wanted to eat a burger! Why don't we have IN-N-Out in Philly? Why did I give up control? I feel so helpless. Nothing is going right. I should just run away. Far, far away where no one will ever find me and where there is no fast food. Learn to swim, cross oceans, hide in plain sight. Watch X-Files reruns and climb coconut trees. Indonesia here I come.

Workout for Tuesday 070815 1300 hours.

Today's workout: Joint mobility prior to the lift and a brisk walk with the dog in the AM.

Stiff Leg Deadlift: 185 lbs. x 3 sets of 8-10-8 rest 2:00 between.
Bench Press 155 x 5 210 x 8 220 x 8 225 x 8 rest 3:00 between all sets.
Wide grip pull ups x 2 sets of 8 reps
DB Shrugs 80 x 10 reps 95 x 2 sets of 10 reps rest 1:30 between
Skull Crushers 75 x 8 80 x 8 90 x 6. I was beaten like an inmate when I was done.

A night like this

When I use music which cemented itself into my housing vault in the ever-important Formative years to settle the wolf or to actually fuel an endeavor, I always come out on the other end quite spiff. Bands that have always meant the world to me, like The Misfits, The Cure, NIN, and early Nirvana will do the trick when I feel blurry and uncalm. So recently these fits of aggro have begun to annoy ME, and that is always when I make the change. Not when it's eating someone Else's ear but when it jitterbugs its' way into my Perry Farrell. So fuck it I eased up on the metal and worked out to the Cure these last two days.
For those of you who have not been following fully the last 6 weeks have seen mighty change in my daily and some marked improvements in all areas but let me tell you something I learned from my own Labratiosis: When I switched my weightlifting pattern up I went way South. I mean some tweaking in my intentions of working out for the next 4 months really kicked like a yuck mouthed mule. Dude all I wanted to do was gain about 8 lbs. of size and balance out my top/bottom. I wear a size 42 waist because my ass and legs are so big. Gross right? But hey now, that is how I'm dealt. Even if I didn't lift I'd be no stick figure eh? Booty over here.

So changing my focus from pure strength (working with real heavy weight in 1-3 repetitions per set) to muscular hypertrophy (growth) on par with my height and weight made for a large boost in testosterone levels. WHO knows how it worked. I end up on meds that let me sleep at night and then I lift for looks and all gets loose in my grasp. Whu-evuh (British), I'm my own grip right now but that was rough.
Here me now this is what's happening.

Jim Murphy (Blog to the right, The Ultimate Survivor) just left University Hospital after his third round of Chemo. He's a bloke in a bubble for the next few weeks. And you bastards want to know something else? his wife, the lovely and talented, is an Immunologist. Yeah! She studies how the body will fight disease. Think homey knows what his white cell count is? He'll rip you a playlist of dope tracks straight from the Cancer Survivor Library. We won't be seeing Jimmy for awhile, but he's at home right now pumping his fist to the hearty clap of a war drum and telling Cancer to get fucked! OOH RAH.

yes yes I'm clearly unsupervised today, so don your flak jacket. This Sunday we meet again at the Art Museum to lift ON for Jim and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Taking donations on the spot and online at philly07.livestrong.org

Come down to the East Entrance and pay homage to human triumph. When you always believe you can, you can always.

Offbeat bare ass kid

So if you read the final words of my last post, you should know that I did stand up, dig down, and whip it out. I busted this workout. It got to me.

Snatch, 24kg x 20 LR rest 3:00 20 LR rest 3:00 10 LRLRL rest 2:00 18 L, set it down, my back was touchy.

2206 hours EST.
Just wrapped John From Cincinnatti. The ten episode tale had me jacked the F in to HBO every sunday night for the lat 2.5 months. Quite real, this little storyline. They dubbed tonight's episode the Season One Finale. but it smelled to me like this show would not return next season. If it were, however, I'll be stoked to speculate on what would come.

Children in Heat

Elite Athletic Club 0815 Saturday 070811
Lots of joint mobility, continuous throughout the workout. Simple lift.

EZ bar skull crushers 75 x 10 85 x 2 sets of 10 resting 3:00 between.
EZ bar curl 75 x 3 sets of 8 resting 3:00 between
Dips x 3 sets of 10
1 Arm rows 32kg x 3 sets of 8 each arm.

I spent a lot of the 35 minute session hanging off stuff, stretching out, doing pumps, reaching up overhead, doing windmill stretches with no weight, re-racking plates that fools left out. What I realized at the end is that I didn't even fire up the iPod. A student for the 0900 class showed up at about 0840 and we rapped for a bit. I wasn't all about hugeness today anyway. I can hear my abdominal fat rallying for snatches, and I just may. It is 1946 and I have plans to meet friends by 2100. But again, they are always late. Save when it is Loe and myself. Two guys can usually meet H-Hour. Yeah, snatches right now. At least 100. I'll be back.

Horror Hotel

Wed. 070808
For those of you who do not know me The Misfits are my all time favorite band. I just picked up the boxed set today. I had downloaded from an illegal website and it was real good quality, but today I got a call from the guy at this local new/used record store that he had received a copy he ordered just for Willy. Four discs, over 100 songs. My goodness man, it's been a 'Fits fest all day! Never tire of the 'Fits. Also, I make a long time since bloggings, now I come to from recent news, and make new postings. I could talk all about how I want to erase the last two Saturdays from memory, and how I have been really disciplined in avoiding eating out the last two weeks, but this post, like others when I am short on time, will cover my last few awesome workouts!

Thursday 070809 REST

Wednesday 070808 1015 hours Elite Athletic Club
Joint Mobility for a full 15 minutes included HALOS x 3, Pump x 7 (the new Willy Style pump, we'll talk about that later), and one Get Up each arm with a 32kg and 40kg bell. Moved around, racked the bar, bought a Gatorade, shook my legs out, just got ready.
Bench 160 x 5 205 x 8 215 x 8 220 x 8 220 x 8 resting 3:00 between all sets.
Stiff Leg Deadlift 185 x 8 rest 2:00
Deadlift 225 x 2 sets of 8 reps with wide grip and flexed wrists on the pull. Rest 2:30 between sets.
1 Arm rows 32kg x 3 sets of 8 L,R with 2:00 rest between.


Tuesday 070807 1730 hours Narberth Ball Park
24kg snatches x 5 sets of 15 each arm rest 1:00 between.

Monday 070806 rest, my Mom's 49Th birthday (no cake or ice cream was consumed by this man), and it was also my 2 year anniversary with Sarah. YAAAY (Kermit the frog style).

Saturday 070804 0815 hours Elite Athletic Club West Chester PA: Sexy Cardio
Swing 24kg x 10 each arm rest 1:00 Get UP 32kg x 1LR rest 1:00
Snatches 24kg x 10 RL rest 1:40 x 10 RL rest 1:30 (four sets with this rest interval)
Snatches 24kg x 10 RL rest 1:00 (five sets with this rest interval)
So I did 200 snatches yaaay!
For fun: Bench Press 205 x 2 set sof 8 wide grip rest 2:00
Flat DB Press 75 lbs. each arm x 10 reps.

Thursday 070802 and Friday 070803 I rested, though after watching "The Bourne Ultimatum" with my boy Hollywood I most certainly wanted to train. Instead I went home and ate a mad bushel of broccoli rabe.

Wednesday 070801 1928 hours:
Military Press 135 x 8 rest 2:00 135 x 8 rest 2:00 Clean and press 135 x 8 rest 2:00
Asymmetrical 2 KB Front Squat 40/32kg x 2 sets of 8
Barbell Squat 2 165 x 8 rest 3:00 185 x 2 sets of 8 rest 3:00
Skull Crushers (EZ bar) 75 x 8 80 x 2 sets of 8 resting 1:30 between.

Monday 070730 1710 hours (Joint Mobility) Elite Athletic Club, West Chester PA.
HALO x 5 with 25lb. plate PUMP x 5 real sexy slow Calf stretches for 2 sets. Windmill 24kg x 3 sets of 1 rep L,R resting 1:30 between. Pullover stretch and shoulder dislocates with bungee cord, 3 of 3 reps.

1830 hours, after teaching Introductory kettlebell class.
Deadlift 225lbs. x 2 sets of 8 reps, resting 3:00 between. 240lbs. x 2 sets of 8 reps resting 3:00 between.

Clean and press (long cycle?) 135 lbs. x 3 sets of 8 reps, resting 2:00 between. Awesome feeling.

Growth

Aiight, grab your bics and sharpies and flip to a clean page in your notebook: Professor Booty is in the house and school is in session. First order of business, the absolutely body rockin' inter-stellar electro-shockin' workouts I pulled off last week. After the C&J fest I had on Wednesday of last week, I went nuts in the gym, as opposed to my driveway, and decided that performing 8 reps of everything last week would be a good idea, and a way to wake the muscles up. I am so, so guilty of cocooning myself in my low rep C&J and high rep kettlebell drills, that it felt necessary to bang out some deadlift and bench with 8 reps on the table. I checked all of my boxes. Here's the menu:

Thursday 070726 REST
Friday 070727 1040 Elite Athletic Club, West Chester, PA.
Joint Mobility for 7 minutes including 24kg Windmills.
Bench Press 185 x 5 205 x 8 (all reps with pause as the bar touched my sternum)
215 x 10 (no pause, transitioned with bar 2" from my sternum) 230 x 8 (with pause) 235 x 8 (no pause, had a spotter, reps 7&8 real shaky) Rested 3-4:00 between sets.

Deadlift 225 x 4 sets of 8 reps, resting 3:00 between all sets, played with hook, true, and false grips. Quads actually got tired from the FEROCIOUSLY TIGHT lockouts I put in.

Dip/32kg Swing x 10 + 10 each arm for 3 sets in 5:45. Felt good, I was smoked.

Saturday 070728 0805 Elite.
Walked in and felt good, but did not want to get too gnarly. Did many pumps and halos to loosen up. Joint mobility lasted about 10 minutes.
TGU 24kg x 1 LR, Turkish Windmill x 1 LR, TGU x 2 LR. All with 24kg and 2:00 rest between. Racked a barbell and got reacquainted with the military press.
MP 105 x 8 reps, 110 x 8 reps. 1 set of pull ups, and then I was done.