Machete

 

And tonight's meal is called "Too Lazy To Cook".

 

#AsianWarrior

I'm pretty convinced you'll be in the 800 club sooner than you think. You've got great bench and deadlift numbers, and it won't take long to translate from front squats to back squats.

On a different note, I watched an old training video that you posted the other day. Those muscle-ups were amazing! How long did it take you to get there?

 

Thanks. The muscle-ups, I couldn't tell you. I'm a natural; I was able to execute them on my very first attempt years ago. (I've also pulled-off somewhere around 50-60 consecutive regular pull-ups at some point.) This is the perfect illustration of how you shouldn't automatically believe everything someone tells you just because s/he is jacked / ripped / a pro athlete. If you asked me how I trained to be able to do muscle-ups, I would tell you that I walked up to a bar, pulled as hard as I could, and got my hips up there. And repeated 9 more times. (If you asked me how to make someone else be able to do it, there would be a completely different answer.)

 

The principle of individual differences. Something apparently unknown to most people who follow all those celebrity workouts they see in Men's Health.

A bit weak on this week's numbers. We shall see how Squat day goes.

What I've discovered is that I suck big-time at determining what other people are thinking. The beauty of it is that it goes both ways - I don't realize when I'm fucking up, but I can't tell when I'm doing brilliantly either. So I figured I'll just stop trying to manipulate what I can't. People will think what they want to think; there's no changing that. And if they think I'm a creep or an idiot, then nothing I do on my part will convince them otherwise. Sure, I'll cry myself to sleep a little about an anonymous peer review at work where 98% of my co-workers think I'm a piece of shit, but I won't worry too much about it later. There's nothing I can do. If I knew how to make people love me I'd probably be a congressman by now. Just remember that our perceptions of the world are always tinted. We see what we want to see. What we see happening may not be what other people are seeing, and we may actually turn out to have much more influence in others than we think.

 

Social awkwardness is more common than one would expect. There's just a lot of barriers in introvert-extrovert communication that it seems like you're speaking different languages. Put an extrovert out of place (i.e. in our territory) and s/he will look like an idiot too. I think that most of us just find a way to hide said awkwardness as much as possible. Some put on a game face and cultivate a separate social persona, some develop a dark air of mystery and intrigue, some just fuck-up so much that they eventually learn how to actually do it, maybe not too well, but well enough. Me, I just stopped giving a fuck about fucking-up. I walk into every interaction expecting to fuck-up, expecting to look stupid, expecting to get hurt. Whatever happens, happens. It's just another interaction that I'll have to power through before I can eventually retire to my chambers; I might as well try to entertain myself. If they think I suck, fuck them. They don't know me, who gives a shit what they think? I'm an autistic midget with cauliflower ear who couldn't get a hooker to sleep with him. What more can they say?

 

 

Another thing though, once you find someone who is currently sucking worse than you, you will probably look back, smile, and say "I've been there" (even if you don't know the exact details of the other person's situation and/or level of resiliency). And maybe you'll tell the poor soul "It gets better. Look at me - I'm still here." and that poor sap will probably not believe you. Until s/he meets someone who in turn is worse-off.

 

"Life's greatest comfort is being able to look over your shoulder and see people worse off, waiting in line behind you." (Palahniuk)

 

I'm not going to tell you that it gets better, because I'd probably be lying. It doesn't get better - you do.

Some organizations like to separate their macrocycles into phases focusing on these different aspects for increased overall performance. It usually goes endurance -> hypertrophy -> strength.

 

The NESTA Pyramid looks like this:

 

The NASM's OPT model looks like this:

 

The SL progression allows one to touch upon these phases a bit by starting very light and learning the movement and slowly progressing, and eventually increasing weight while lowering volume for strength.

 

Other organizations on the other hand like to utilize an undulating periodization model. Rob Shaul from Military Athlete / Mountain Athlete likes to use this model, but he recommends meeting certain strength requirements ("base fitness") before actually participating in specific training programs.

 

Cycles vary in duration depending on how you adapt to them. SL 5x5 is a strength cycle that goes for up to 3+ months, as long as you keep progressing.

How to fix a broken diet by Dr. John Berardi

 

Excellent stuff.

Undulating periodization.

 

Kilts, accents, and I remember someone talking about "The Hound" Sandor Clegane.

 

 

Well, check this out:

 

 

So wonder Sansa fantasizes about him.

My best ones have been a 225 Squat for 3, a 205 Bench Press for 2, and a 300 Deadlift for 1. Quite a way to go, though I think my Squat will be much better once I learn to stabilize it.

I was in your situation before. 5'3, 130 lbs. I lived in a two-bedroom apartment with 6 other people and had 7 months before my Basic Training ship date. That's A LOT of time for specialized training and self-reflection. During that time I was able to achieve benchmarks of 1'000 bodyweight squats, 140 pushups, 100 Hindu pushups, 100 Burpees in 4:33, and hiked a total of around 100 miles and ran 200 (I'm terrible at locomotion).

 

You can actually do a lot of stuff with very limited equipment by modifying leverage. With a lot of patience you can progress to some pretty impressive feats and eventually become a beast. Here are a few ideas:

Beast Skills

Building The Gymnastic Body by Christopher Sommer

The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline

Never Gymless by Ross Enamait (and a lot of his other stuff)

 

Vezh fin saja rhaesheseres

Squat day. Found out I have a really ugly back squat (probably from years of only front squatting). Unstable, and really bad butt winking down in the hole. I also have a big ass.

 

I'm pretty sure I looked like this at the gym.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlpbuFGjixs

Cheers Ormac!

 

And a lot of research showed that there's a range of ways to deadlift and how to start...

 

From a motor control point-of-view.

 

 

Is that Bill Nye the Science Guy?

 

I just want to have a good time and be with people who want to have a good time. I am no great dancer, but I don't care, I enjoy it.

The best time I had dancing recently was a gay bar in Boystown, Chicago. I have never seen the dance floor so packed with men, lol! …and they didn't care how I danced!

Indeed it is.

 

I don't think men really care about how women dance, because, well, we're guys. As long you're attractive, we let you get away with anything.

 

 

No matter how white one dances.

 

I'll just be hanging out over in the corner watching everyone make fools of themselves... :-)

 

Once I step into that dance floor, I make everyone a fool, showing them that they have no business being in there with me.

 

 

 

I have a wedding next month, too, with an open bar and definitely dancing, although random conversations about love, life and politics with old people and complete strangers will most likely be in the mix. I have to read a poem during the ceremony as well, but no kids to herd or hubby to keep entertained. 

 

I recall attending one wedding as an adult. (I was the best man a gave a speech and everything. Real cheesy stuff.) I later ended up sitting with some kid by the stairs, talking about tanks, firearms, and why he should never get married.

I don't think anyone here even comes close to dancing as well as I can.

 

I find this hitting home very hard.

 

I don't have autism, but I constantly move from place to place without stopping since I was a child. I don't do deep connection.

 

I make people like me, but I feel detached to everyone. I care about them and I want everyone to be happy, but none of them is a part of my life. I feel that I can walk away from every single one of them. Sometimes I am scared of myself-- that I actually don't have a heart to truly love someone and that I am actually just a monster masked as a very bubbly, lovable man. And one day, I will end up hurting everyone around me.

 

But that wouldn't stop me from trying to truly, deeply, unconditionally love someone, no matter how long it takes.  

 

I know the feeling. I used to fancy myself as a porcupine - I try to get close to people but I end up hurting them. And the tighter they hug, the more they get stabbed.

 

So I keep everyone at an arm's distance, maybe revealing something intimate to a certain group of people whom I have nothing invested in, and a different intimate story to another totally unrelated group. People pretty much know everything about me; it's just that no one knows the whole story. And I've arranged for it to be so that they wouldn't be able to put coherent chapters together to figure one out.

 

I've generally just kept myself useful to people so that they would want me around. I've developed quite a few entertaining, albeit probably impractical skills over the years (and some useful ones.) I'm the guy at the party who does all the beer and snack runs, works the grill all night, cares for the drunks, and cleans up after.

 

This is very challenging in the military. You are thrust into a close-knit group of guys for a certain amount of time. You live in close proximity for prolonged periods and share a connection supposedly deeper than familial ties (blood is thicker than water - the bond from the blood shed by brothers in the battlefield is stronger than the one from the water shed by brothers in the womb). For a time, they are your family. You sweat and cry and bleed with them. You're supposed to trust them with your life; for them to watch your six, and you theirs. Then you get reassigned. Or they get reassigned. (Or worse, die.) And you have to start all over again, eventually asking yourself, "what's the point?"

 

Sometimes when I think of life, I feel like a piece of driftwood washed up on shore. (Haruki Murakami)

 

Not an unrealistic one though.

Some chick was talking about some workout she did where she was doing pushups and demonstrated a 10/0/4 tempo (eccentric/isometric/concentric), and said that's how you get stronger. "Like with everything, the slower you go, the stronger you get." Stud muffin, who was working out with her, drops some knowledge bombs with highly-technical terms. "Yup. Time under tension." he says. I had to leave.

Cool. Can I get in on this? It happens to be one of the goals in my current challenge. (Didn't even know this existed.)

 

P.S. I'm curious about how much the people competing here weigh.

Yesterday's concussion may be messing with my deadlift. Had a hard time pulling 270 today.

 

Still working on that butt wink when I dip down all the way for my Olympic lifts.

 

Greetings, Warriors. A [half] man maketh his presence known.

 

 

 

 

 

Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general. (Rip)

 

 

 

 

 

[GOT season 4 SPOILERS]

 

 

 

 

 

Strength, raw force production, is the foundation and basis of all movement. It is also an amplifier for athleticism. Strength may not be everything, but without strength, we would have nothing. You can be as quick and slick as you want, but in the end, more often than not, strength prevails. Some people learn this lesson the hard way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE QUEST

 

 

 

 

 

1. Stability: An often neglected area. Perform stability and foundation work 3 times a week. (CON +3)

 

 

2. Mobility: Olympic lifting is gymnastics with a barbell. Complete 12 days of Greg Everett's sample Olympic lifting program. (STR +1, DEX +3)

 

 

3. Hostility: Aggressively hoisting shit up is why Warriors are banned at Planet Fitness. I shall go and do likewise. The target is an 800 Powerlifting raw total. (STR +4)

 

 

 

 

 

SIDE QUEST

 

 

 

 

 

S&C: Finish reading Essentials of Strength and Conditioning. Because I like to break a mental sweat too. (WIS +4)

 

 

 

 

 

THE MOTIVATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Machete reporting in, Warriors.

 

Yup. Remember this? That's where they got the name.

 

 

Back on topic, here is an article that could give you some drills.

Pinoy?