Saturday 24 July.  I graduated USMC recruit training 12 years ago.  Walked off the motivated island with Old Dad and Ma, shinier than a rifle expert badge.  Got lots done in the last 12 years.  Lots more t'do.  Feel it comin, feel it out there.  It's shaped me.  It's ate me.  Last night i saw The Black Keys play on the river.  Night of blues, big ticket, lots of changes.  Hendrix revival complete; summer marches on.

Body-weight 240 lbs.
NECK 17", SHOULDERS 49.25", CHEST 45.5"
LEFT UPPER AM 16", FOREARM 13"
RIGHT UPPER ARM 15.75", FOREARM 13'
NAVEL 37", WAIST 37.5", HIPS 43.75"
LEFT THIGH 26", CALF 17.25"
RIGHT THIGH 26.5", CALF 17.25"

STATE REPORT:
Last night i drank alcohol for the first time in two months.  I was trying to lose belly fat by not drinking, but it seems that i gained about 10 lbs. of muscle as soon as i began eating all meats and animal products again [same time i stopped drinking].  So, i have not stripped down an absurd amount of fat in 8 weeks, which was the plan.  However, i am pretty big and kinda lean and i feel that my movement qualtity is increasing and the remainder of this state report may shock you:
No multiple injury flare ups.

SKILLS DEBRIEF:
Cartwheel to handstand and free handstand QOM is getting better.
Janda sit ups with no power breathing and minimal tension are testing well.
I am going to hit some weighted pull ups and get my arms up 1", as i desire consistent measurements from neck to calf to upper arm in circumference.
Jumping rope will have to replace the Art Museum steps for now, as the last trip there wrecked me.  The run there banged me up, the steps themselves tested well and trained just fine.  But i was silly.  I was in a rush, and i ran from 30th st. station to the museum, hit the steps for 18:00 and then ran back to 30th st.  Bad idea, won't be repeated.

Next up: Handstand push up training, 24kg snatches with minimal Effective Amount of Tension [none at all], jumping rope, getting tan, moving on. . .

Overcooked, is how i woulds describe it.  Too many appetizers and too much dessert. 

Typically my sessions at The Temple involve me
A] Taking the Route 100 to the 69th St. terminal
B] Market St to 30th St
C] Walk the Schuylkill river banks to the Art Museum
D] Steps, out, invert travel course.

So, on Tuesday, i hit the steps.  After 13 hours of travel on Monday [Minneapolis to Atlanta, ATL to NYC, a bus, and four trains later i was at home] i felt crusty.  Ate a mad healthy dinner Monday, and then slept for 7 hours.  Woke up Tuesday feeling very foggy.  Sunday night we went to like 5 bars, and i again did not have a sip of alcohol, yet the crew was up late talking all night.  Adam drove me to the airport at 0500 and the travel commenced.  Tuesday was a compressed day, and against all my signals and ran on concrete to the museum and back from.  Bad idea.

In training, steps tested well on Tuesday.  However, yesterday [Wed] i was a wreck and could not shake the feeling that i was over trained, overcooked.  I did too much before the steps and too much after.  So yucky was i and i put yucky in my belly again yesterday.

But here is what is most important.  Due to the signal sensitivity i have in my body now, i knew that training anything yesterday was out of the question, and i just woke up from 9 hours of sleep feeling awesome.  So, mEA of activity to prep myself, and then, at NOON, when my 5 AM sessions are complete, Daddy begins to test.  Also, i finished The Crossing.  When that story was complete, last night, i actually held the book to my chest and had to take deep breaths in order not to weep loudly. 

Note: Thank you to fF for drawing the Faulkner/McCarthy parallel, as i would have not done it myself, since everytime i read Faulkner from 2004-2005 i was drunk.  Not kidding!

So, in the cue:
Grass fed beef
broccoli rabe
portobella
"Dune" by Frank Herbert if the library has it
"Under The Dome" by Stephen King if Dune is checked out
Handstands, Janda sit ups, snatches

I am getting an iPhone and now you can see me on Twitter @trainauthentic

Better,
Will

Route 202

What tests well? What tests better? Are you just working your strengths? Why stay away from weaknesses? It's a tent revival. It's crap, stay away from it. Nobody PRs every day. I never had a PR on a day i felt good walking into the gym.

"You know why you and I are friends, even though other people dont get it? They all think its a service connection, but that's not it.

We are beasts pretending to be men. Some days we do better than others. One minute we are laughing, shaking hands and telling pleasant stories, the next we pee on some ones shit and demand they fight us over the last pork-chop.

Instead of hating that, I say embrace it. Be the best man you can, and never try to hide the beast. We will talk more when you arrive"

You're my hero for doing it. I love you brother.

All of these words are direct quotes from people who have affected me greatly over the last 6 years. Craig Sjostrom RKC 2004, RKC II told me to go to Vegas. Sh!tfaced drunk at 0230 and then snatching on a field in the desert 8 hours later, then on a plane and at a King of The Cage event at Soboba Casino 8 hours after that.

Yes, that is what really happened at the 1st National Kettlebell Convention, and that is the day i rolled up and posted 202 the one, and only time, i went 10:00 with a 24kg kettlebell.

We might as well be numb, he said.

Yesterday, 11 weeks to the day after ANOTHER WORD TO YOUR MOTHER hernia surgery, after about 6 weeks of consistent biofeedback testing and training hardly anything other than handstands, headstands, hanging knee raises, and Janda sit ups, i went for 10:00 with a 24kg.

Snatches test well, but not how you would think. If i slightly shrug my shoulder at the top, and 'unpack' the joint, they test well with ROM and grip strength in KG/psi. Yesterday, i went up Route 202. Got off two exits early. Bummer! [not really]

11 right, test + ROM
11 left, test + ROM
11R-11L, test + ROM
11R-11L, test negative ROM
17R-17L test negative ROM
20R-20L, test negative ROM
15R-15L-10R-10L-5R-5L
done, at 10:12

Why did i ignore the tests and keep going? Well, it was competition day. When you train calm and relaxed, it pays off on comp day/test day/rent-is-due-today-day.

I have not snatched for real since last 4th of July at Delaine Ross' Condition Gym in Atlanta [i love that gym]. I have, however, unpacked my shoulder and after 14 months of not moving with weight, after understanding that i should not pack two banged up shoulders [one side with a torn levator muscle and another with a scapula that has been forever altered], after testing and obeying tests, i went all out, balls out, donate your lunch, don't fall out, and today, i am in no pain at all.

Let me detail my recent history for those readers who aren't familiar wit my issues regarding pain and depression and irresponsibility and the cycling of those three elements that nearly defined and destroyed my career. Until i spoke with Adam Glass in March, i was in pain after every single training session from September 2008-April 2009. Then i stopped moving.  I'm moving again.

Guess what? I am leading me. My system, my rules.

Next goal? I don't know. We'll see what happens in continuum with this amazing return to the dance floor.

And, if by any chance at all, You are reading this, i miss you. Every minute of every beautiful day on this Earth.

Ring it.

It beats for you

All things come along at the right time. I feel that I chose to begin eating animal products with omnivorous intent at the right time. I feel that She and I broke up at the right moment, allowing me to focus on Me and for her to realize that maybe it was time to go back to the Golden State. 10 years ago I opted to not to watch a movie titled Donnie Darko. 6 years ago the DVD fell in to my hands at an important time. Floored by the concept, casting, script, effects, and music, the movie left me with quite a feeling. It put me in a place I tried to stay in, using the soundtrack and communing with pals who had been affected similarly.

Less than a fortnight had passed since I recalled a song from my high school years that I heard only once. I discussed it the very next day in AM Study hall with a kid who sang in a band that I may describe as heavy like Helmet, mellow like early Smashing Pumpkins. I had seen the video for this song late the night before and it appealed to me as a fan of The Cure and having recently discovered Smashing Pumpkins. The song was “Black Metallic” by Catherine Wheel.

So two weeks ago, in a moment I can't recall with clarity, this song came to mind. Out of nowhere. Last night, i opted to watch S. Darko, a movie I was advised against by some kid, as he was a fan of Donnie Darko and said that the movie did not stand up to it's predecessor. Knowing that Richard Kelly, who was at the helm for Donnie Darko had not written, directed, or produced it, I waited until I was truly hungry for a mind bender and not in a spot where a cinematic disappointment would wreck my evening. That night was last, and through the first half of the film I was truly pleased, as the movie bore an appropriate, not direct, resemblance to Donnie Darko. If you have seen Richard Kelly's Southland Tales or The Box, you may know that he uses music, pop music, effectively in his films. The scores seem to revolve around the song selection and create a mood which allows the drop point of the songs to be a memorable one.

About halfway through the film S. Darko, set in 1995, waiting for a Smashing Pumpkins tune or another song marking post-Cobain young America, Catherine Wheel leaves my speakers in a timely, almost arousing fashion. The scene in which Sam Darko, or her specter, whatever it is, lift up off the motel bed and approach the camera is very promising, and when the film ends you may realize, as I did, that it was not meant to be a head-scratcher of a conclusion, as it was Donnie Darko's storyline paralleled and all that was not meant to happen, well, go watch it.

In the film there are several references to fate, destiny, God, and His will. As I watched the film I felt connected to the script as recently I agreed with myself that it was time to stop rushing around, and quit barreling towards every appointment, or date, or goal that helps plot my life. Slowing down, smelling, tasting, touching, and knowing that I am where I am supposed to be could be a course of action that may help me persist and understand. It came to me last year that my life is not what I will be or where I am going, nor even where I have been or the stories I have to tell. My life is every day, every minute. This is my life. Without Her by choice, missing Her company as consequence, and hoping that She is not as angry with Herself as She may be with me through contemplative, and action-less observation. Every day is my life. Not the shortcut I could have took to the airport or the concert I didn't go to since I was hungover. The road I took instead, and what I did the day I opted not to see The Cure in 2004 were the moments I lived. The truth I could have told, the minute I could have said “no”, they are simply false memories I could continue to feed myself in order to promote something I never understood yet do not need.

I feel often that the things I have done in my life that have left sadness and anger in their wake define me, and that in order to exhibit my regret I must disclose all of my misdeeds and let the viewing audience judge me. That method has invaded nealry all my personal introdutions, save for my business relationships. I have met girls and ran away from them yelling “I'm white trash! I have two credit card accounts in collections! My parents use drugs! Caveat emptor!” An inverted suit of armor.
“Hello, would you like to know everything bad about me as I buy you a beer?”
Knowing even then that it would do me no good, I persisted. When She and I met, that is precisely what happened. And She vowed to love me through all of it. The ugliest moments and the most manic of weeks. She said She would, and in the end I would not let Her. In the end, my inability to quit animating Her past in my head was what defined our separation. Quite sad really, as only now, as I type this, do I realize that what I was trying to convey in this post when I set out to write it, and what happened with Our messy severance, are actually manifestations of the same warped application I used for emotional effectiveness. Wow that is weird.

So, to paraphrase Descartes and to regurgitate what I have been hearing often, from multiple sources lately, 'as I think of myself, I am, and as I see myself, so shall I be'. Quite a profound meaning, even more so to me, as it took me 31 years to figure that out. A semi-public figure in the personal training industry, and high visibility my entire life [I have been forever tall], I was terrified that people would find out “all the bad stuff about me” before they met me, leaving me with no chance to make that golden first impression that I often do. Or, that someone I had scarred would tell my story to receptive audiences and my image as a trainer and a US Marine would be forever flawed. Here I arrive at a half truth yet a whole realization. I am not the things in my apartment or the frames on my wall. I am not the train I take or the money I make. I am what I leave people with, and they are to me the same. So, when I was concerned with preempting people's opinion of me I was sinning, missing the mark, as it is important to allow people to know who I am and what I can do, but only for their benefit, not for mine. To race towards an interception point facilitating my own glory is a misguided act leading to misrepresentation of myself. I can protect and I can help you, irrespective of who I cheated on or what bank I owe money to.

Feeling then, of course, that my blunt honesty was a fabulous virtue and everyone who met me could defend me if anyone else said anything less than complimentary led me to where I am now. Now, knowing that honesty is crucial yet firing arrows of truth from a quiver of greed and lust only brought pain for the mark, I feel that it was worth it all along to have misfired and misrepresented myself, for only so many years under that cloud could have enabled me to see, truly see, what it is I had done and what I was hoping to gain. I should work not to gain, and give not to be glorified. I should speak not to be heard and listen not to placate. I have seen and not believed why hearts beat the way they do. From this point, be it high up or far away or frighteningly close or dangerously low, I can see. Who I was then and who I told people I could be or who I told them I had been, that is my life. Every day, every trigger pulled and every favor returned. All my truth and lies, and the words spoken from everyone who wanted me to stand up and look out has been my life. I am my life. I am right where I am supposed to be, for every choice I made and didn't make has put me here. Where I am going is only relative to where I am, and where I have been is part of me yet can not dictate anything more than history, fact. I would tell you that I regret not having Her here to share this with me, but if I had not told Her I needed to go, I may not have had this revelatory post on a rainy Saturday afternoon where I should be doing my business taxes. Where I was doing my business taxes until I chose to have a cup of coffee and listen to the song that started this post, one more time. I would thank Her with a song but that is not my place. My place is away from Her right now. As I wanted, as She did not believe, yet, as I am. As I think of myself, I am. As I believe of myself, so shall I be.

Taken from my instructor page at Dragon Door publication's website.

-used with permission on my blog by the reviewing trainee-

Will is a big guy with an impressive physique that gets more impressive when you watch him move. It is incredible that such a big man moves with such fluidity and grace. Watching him execute a movement elicits wonder and dismay at the same time. When you realise that such perfection in movement is where each one of us should strive to attain, you know how much more you need to work on, how imperfect your current form is, and that causes some dismay. Especially when you learn that this man has suffered some major accidents in life that would have permanently kept one off training.
As an instructor, Will strikes one as being one who belongs to the highest class. He has a keen clinical eye when it comes to interpreting movement errors and compensations and has a ready bag of tricks to fix those up. The CK-FMS seems to be a major instrument of torture that he uses, and this might not go well with the typical learn-more-tricks attitude of the typical trainee. I am qualified to say this, as I came with the idea of learning more fancy kettlebell tricks and programs. Will may actually do you a favor and focus more on your basic corrections. Not that this is bad in any way -- he may actually be doing you a big favor in the long term. That said, as a kettlebell instructor, I cannot recommend this man enough. He actually deserves the kudos that come his way.
Extreme politeness is another hallmark of Will's demeanor as a trainer. His behavior with female clients, whether young or old, is remarkably gentle and kind. This strikes me as one of the most impressive combos: strength with kindness.
One more thing that struck me about Will is his versatility. He seems at ease switching between Oly lifts, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells and even newer approaches to strength training. If I could, I would send him my post-bariatric surgery patients from India to maximise their fat loss!
If you are in the East coast of the US, you could do yourself a favor and get trained by Will Williams. I, for one, am better off for it.

Dr. B. Ramana - Kolkata, India

Setlist! The Roots Crew at 'Welcome Philly' free concert, July 4th

"Thought@work"
[Apache segue]
James Brown/showtime filler with "Can I get some help?!"
"How I Got Over"
and then Black Thought said good night to everyone and Chuck Brown came out for 15 minutes
-real soulful flow into-
"The Fire"
Chrissette Michele came out and played two of her songs, saying that The Roots crew were her favorite band in the world and she was beyond happy to be with them in Philly.  They kicked into
"Rising Down"
"You Got Me"
Captain Kirk's flow, with hints of OutKast's "Spotie Otie Dopalicious" and John Cougar's "Paper and Fire"
"The Next Movement"
"The Seed 3.0"
Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield
and then two more songs I did not even recognize.  When they were done, it was almost 945PM, and i believe there was still a blue ridge of evening twilight on that western sky.  Great show.

Three young boys were shot and wounded at 34th and Haverford after the fireworks.  The youngest was shot in the chest and the back of the head.  The gunman apparently opened fire into the crowd and fled in a car.  This was two hours after we left.  Let us think of his family and hope that the gunman slips up later and gets caught before he hurts anyone else.

Addendum,
The high school spohmore died last night of his wounds. 


The Black CNN

Debrief for Crossfit Kettlebell Instructor Curse and Tactical Athlete Instructor Course

Part of me wishes that I could give an unbiased review. The rest of me says “to hell with that”. I was a teenager during the Clinton years, which is to say that hyphenated words and dancing around raw subject matter were once temporary solutions, and now and again find their way into my world.

He's not from Fiji, he is a pacific islander. She didn't have an abortion, she terminated her pregnancy. That child is not a cripple, he is physically challenged. Really? Because people from Fiji refer to themselves as Fijian, the act of terminating a pregnancy is known as 'aborting', and the correct English for one who is crippled, is, well, a cripple. What is the PC term for white trash? Economically disenfranchised Caucasian? Forget that. I can't be PC, not in this review.

If I had never heard of Pavel and rolled up on the TAIC, I would have been awash in the glory of Jeff Martone's ability to promote the kettlebell. Yet, since I have been to 10 Russian Kettlebell Certifications, I can tell you that there is no comparing the two, as the comparison hearkens the old expression “you would be comparing 2Pac to Brahms”. Both are excellent on their own plane, yet to align the two is to make a mistake. Now find out why.

Pavel introduces kettlebells to the US. In hopes that only the toughest bastards step into the realm, the magazine advertisement in 2001 and 2002 declare that if you train with kettlebells you will soon wake up with better wind than a storm, and harder than a coffin nail. They promised and delivered.

2007 Jeff Martone, formerly of Pavel's staff, introduces the RKC curriculum to Crossfit, and becomes their go-to Kb guy. After 9 years following Pavel, and 5 years certified under him, I finally went out and trained under someone else. Jeff Martone's kettlebell curriculum was part of his four day Tactical Athlete Instructor Course. If I had the option upon registration I would have skipped the two day kettlebell cert, known as Crossfit Kettlebell Level I, though after completing that portion of the course, I am quite glad I did not.

“What's better, crab cakes or sushi?”

“Yes.”

Both dishes are served in an optimal setting if you are near the ocean, however in some cases, one is more appropriate than the other.

Out of the small p-way she walked, small enough to be obscured by anyone taller than her, yet possessing enough beauty to halt foot traffic within the dining area. Hers was a beauty unmatched by anything structural within the restaurant. Her light eyes and dark hair spinning men's heads around and eyes on said heads soon looked up and down the length of her, albeit quickly, as her body was just as enticing as her facial features. She was the prettiest waitress in the sushi joint, and whatever geographic origin her ancestors could claim was visible in her non-specific exoticism. When she delivered my plate of edible art from the sea, I opted to marvel at her skin tone as she walked away, rather than tripping out on the deliciouss appeal of my fir dragon roll and unagi tataki.

Do you hear me?

When he was done washing his hands in that closet which featured a toilet, his mitts were actually more filthy than when he entered. His dick was the cleanest thing in that bathroom, by a light year, and when he used his foot to lower the toilet seat, and flush, it occurred to him that if he could only do them same for the faucet, soap, and paper towels, he may be minus a few diseases after 4 quarters were through. With an exaggerated grimace on his unshaven face, he prayed for a sanitary plate on which his crab cakes would be served after he left this biological disaster zone known as the bathroom at “RD Doherty's Public House”. The Patriots were about to put the hammer down on the Jets, and when he got home he could have a shit in his own bathroom with the autumn breeze on his face and no one's remnants on the toilet seat. Go Pats.

You got to be feeling me by now.

Each paragraph was given some plausibility by the food selection relative to the environment. How many times have you been to a grungy bar to watch sports and wished you hadn't entered the “lavatory?” If you are like me, you went to an upscale sushi joint once and fell in the love with the server. Dirty boys, crab cakes & beer. Fine, exotic women do well around fine, exotic foods. RKC Standards set by Pavel work well for the Pavelian student body. What Jeff Martone does is perfect for Crossfit. The examples given have set the context, now check the specifics.

-RKC drills are very linear and involve power production on nearly every rep of every drill. RKC drills come with a lunchbox of cues and enabling drills to fix 'poor mechanics'. RKC weekends are physically arduous and should entitle you to a week off work. RKC instructors are quite capable and sometimes righteous, but do have the best in mind for their clients.

-The Crossfit system, to include the 'elements' and the 'Workout Of the Day [WOD]' derive their power from the Olympic lifts. Crossfit offers somewhere around 100 certifications a year with regard to their various elements [endurance, power, kettlebells].  Crossfit Kettlebell Level I course was only flecked with moments of physical distress and the most challenging portion of the course, other than continuously scrubbing my neural whiteboard of Pavelisms, was the testing at the end. We were tested on about 12 drills, and each set flowed into the next, and into the next, so that when you completed your push presses, if you are like me you thought “Hot damn, it's chow time!” Their was much talk, and good demonstration, yet those two days were so decidedly not RKC that if I hadn't been introduced to Gym Movement, I would have been in trouble. And by that I mean that my mouth would have fired off a three round burst of self righteous crap that would have disrupted my ability to learn from Jeff and made me look like an arrogant Yankee in a room full of, well, nicer people.

Through Gym Movement I have come to understand that movement quality is subjective,and if looks nasty but tests well then you have no business adjusting the hell out of it. If they swing a bell and their shins are not vertical, but it tests well, than shut your mouth and let them train. That is what I had to tell myself often during the two day CFKB1, and the light approach to technique refinement, the familiarity of the enabling drills to 2004-era RKC, and the near absence of tension cues did cause a problem for me halfway through the first day. Things were easier to deal with after I made the decision to believe that Jeff's style is appropriate for CF, and the dissimilarities between CF and RKC were necessary. In addition, the way I feel now about teaching movement, after reading much of what has been posted on Mike T. Nelson's site, allowed me to 'go easy' on Jeff when it came to my final understanding of the course and the evaluation sheet.

Crossfit has an Olympic lifting element, so they get thier power training from barbells. The kettlebell, for them, is a means to amplify the endurance element. That is they kettlebell's use for them. And bravo, as the design of the bell allows for exaggerated ranges of motion, greater musculoskeltal recruitment, and more reps. Right? So when the absence of 'Hardstyle' was clear to me, the call I made was the aforementioned. They use kettlebells for endurance, so they stay relaxed when they train. Jeff's approach the Turkish Get Up was quite refreshing, and the military press segment was with full respect to Pavel's teaching of the press, and of course, whomever taught Pavel.

The one arm swing, taught with a slightly bent elbow, makes sense as Martone explained that when transitioning from swings to cleans and snatches, having learned the swing with a packed shoulder/bent elbow, the clean and snatch are eaier to teach and learn. So, hold onto yoru manuals, RKC community, but I believe it. I believe that you can pack your shoulder and swing with a slight break in your elbow. Because I saw it. I saw a room full of people learn the clean and snatch with ease. I saw a room of fit people learn the clean and snatch. I was impressed. No best, only better. This was better for them, and that's what happened.

In later months I will offer my opinion on power breathing as it taught class wide. I will tell you now that I swing a bell in a different fashion than I did last year, and the new swing was enabled by a conversation with Dustin Rippetoe RKC Team Leader and CKFMS instructor, multiple Rolfing and Pilates sessions with my friend and source Maryanne Garvin of Silverton, CO, and the incomparable Adam Glass. “Ripper” watched me during Crocodile Breath at the Indian Clubs workshop in April, and noted to me that my belly-breathing was causing extension in my lumbo-pelvic region. I stood up and went through the pressing pattern with no external load, and noticed that my natural lumbar curve and the unnatural lumbo-pelvic situation I was left with after being ejected from a Jeep Wrangler at 70 MPH and hitting concrete was indeed affected by my application of the Valsalva maneuver. I thought back to what Maryanne said about my abdominal muslces. How my rectus abdominous was “dominating” and the tissue inside my gut was not firing to a capacity that would allow good back health for me. I thought of the numerous phone calls Adam and I have had since we met last summer. And I adjusted. To the dismay of my professor, Pavel, I began to draw my belly in, rather than 'brace' the abdomen with power breathing, on my 20kg swings. Firing from what I have read is called the 'hara', or, the area 3” below the navel, my swings felt safe and smooth. No disproportionate tension, no hard glute snap. I simply protected my back with a new breathing technique and focused on the rhythm of the swing, i.e. up and down, up and down, etc. My back only bothered me after I slept for 9 hours in the hotel bed.

And when they rolled out the Tactical Athlete Pull Up Challenge, guess who nailed that sumb*tch?  That's right.  At 237 body weight, i pulled 90 lbs. over the bar on my waist, totaling a 327 lb. neck-to-bar pull up.  Tell me who the man is?

So here I am, on an American holiday, questioning everything and gaining at a nice pace. I'm losing belly fat and getting tan. I'm keeping my Indian club swinging sessions short, and i'm testing everything. I do not have workouts, yet, and I may never regularly 'workout' again. I will, however, test everything and with the minimal effective amount, train myself into a better spot. Better.

Best to you,

W

Return to the realm: Touched by ILLa5th Dynamite

Blur the line.  That's what i tell myself.
"They'll love it" says me, "it's what your known for".  Yeah, all of the 560 people on this planet who know of my work.  Though, you are encouraging.  From road trips spanning L.A. to Philly, to bail outs from airline travel nightmares, to invitation only events on the USMC base where i served my four year enlistment, you folk are the ones who've told me time, and again, that i have the sack to lift myself up, dust off, and forward march.  But when ideas float in and out of my brain housing group that may be deemed unsavory for this professional blog, i wonder aloud "do i give it all to them, or to refrain?" (stroking my chin).  Well, here are a few of the things that are going on.
-I am deeply affected by women.  When i see a woman who is attractive to me, it affects me.  Summertime, with more skin showing and more girls everywhere, is a very tough time for me.  Though i am 'broken up' i am unavailable, as the memory of her makes me happy.  And when she's long gone, maybe i'll let another girl into my life.  But i like to look at girls.  And now that i am eating red meat again, my sexual appetite is exponentially increased (and i am choosing not to satisfy it).  Make sense?  I eat the meat, i absorb the nutrients (zinc i think), and then my body gets all primal and ornery.

-How I Got Over is another stellar release from The Roots crew.  And to see them on the 4th of July at the Art Museum, where i pray, is going to be spectacular.

-Tactical Athlete Instructor Course, Knoxville [June 28-July 1 2010] deserves a post all to itself.  great stuff.

-Today's lesson was 20:00 volume/survival.  Two brief sessions of Indian club swinging before the steps tested well, as did the steps.  I went for 20 full sets in 20:00 at the Art Museum, and i got it.  I like to meet goals.  There are 72 steps over 6 tiers at the east entrance of the Museum.  I would run it more than twice a week if my body could handle it.

Start time	Tiers	End time	Step count	Rest
00:00	full run for 2 sets	2:13	144	:17
2:30	same	4:14	same	:16
4:30	same	6:35	same	:25
7:00	same	8:45	same	:15
9:00	same	10:55	same	:05
11:00	same	12:51	same	:09
13:00	same	14:45	same	:15
15:00	same	16:50	same	:10
17:00	same	17:55	same	:10
18:05	1 full set	19:10	72	no rest
19:10	1 full set	19:42	72	time to top
Work time 17:40	20 full sets	_____________	1,440 steps	2:02 rest

More to come later.  Much more ;)

What tests better?

Team,
This is real life footage.  These shots were taken at the garage the morning of June 24th.  I tested asymmetrical, unilateral movements, which are the 'FMS corrective course' for me as well as the recommendation that Adam Glass gave me in a telephone conversation about 4 months ago without even knowing my scores.  While the FMS red-lights me from standing positions, and Adam advised that i test in as many positions as possible, i took both road maps and began to test.  Regardless of how you feel about the Functional Movement System or the Gym Movement Protocol, if you have tested with biofeedback [strength or range of motion], you will not be surprised by my results.

If you have not tested yet then i should ask of you, why not?  And if you are a detractor and have not tested, then i should ask you to experiment, write things down, and then make your decision.  Quite interesting.

From Biofeedback testing shots and handstands

The B = my baseline range of motion for the toe touch, meaning, when i perform the unloaded, controlled flexion of a toe-touch, the first time my body resists, i marked it with a Sharpie held parallel to the ground.

The R = the marker for where my body resisted after testing at once asymmetrical and unilateral movements.  You will see that i am beyond my baseline, yet the movements are not as welcome as the left side loaded.

The L & I = the marker for left side loaded movements and positions of inversion.  Unreal!  If you are not familar with testing, let me refer you to two sites.  Gym Movement and Adam Glass.  Now, after you have bookmarked those pages, read on.  The movements i tested:
Asymmetrical-unilateral = 1/2 kneeling presses, contralateral single leg deadlift, pistols with my heels elevated 1.25", standing press with forward step-to-lunge and rotation [mouthful!], and handstands with controlled half-splits.

Inverted positions = Handstands, headstands, headstand with leg lowering & lifting [forming an L from my hips and lifting my legs back to 0 degrees, taught to me by Pavel at HSV], "skin the cat" on the TAPS rig, and hanging knee raises with a staggered palm position.  Inversion has tested better than anything else since i first began testing a few months back.  I think it was the second week of April.

I leave you with that.  If you are asking questions about the Movement's protocols and have ZERO experimental time logged, i suggest you think about asking other questions.