{The Most Loathed} does the work

[The Most Loathed]

First time I saw this magazine. It's great (because kettlebells) and horrible at the same time The language is just painful and the font + overview is terrible! But still, great stuff. John Lesko definitely seems like someone you can learn a lot from (I want to learn too, by proxy, so do share!)

Yeah, the magazine needs some professional help but I'm glad to see them working on it.

I plan to keep logging and sharing here John has the link as well. I don't plan to conceal anything but if he ever has something that he asks me to not share I'll keep the confidence.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I plan to keep logging and sharing here John has the link as well. I don't plan to conceal anything but if he ever has something that he asks me to not share I'll keep the confidence.

Ooh, secret Kettlebell information, color me intrigued.

[The Most Loathed]

Ooh, secret Kettlebell information, color me intrigued.

sooper sekret

no, I don't think there will be secrets, all I'm saying is that I will respect Johns wishes with regard to sharing or not but my default is status quo. I have been taught a sekret kettlbell exercise by someone else. He called it "black". You've probably done it at some time without knowing it was secret. But the guy felt it was his special movement that helped him so I haven't shared it.

 

07/09/2015 - watched Portlandia with Laura rather than run

07/10/2015 002.2 - run 5 km, roughly

07/10/2015 002.3 (yes, two in one day)

one arm long cycle 32 kg 10/10 x 3

  "                 "         24 kg 10/10 x 2

 

I kept playing with half snatches after this but my hands hurt. It seems like the biggest thing I lost from my multi week layoff is my hands are inflamed after my long cycle set a couple days ago and haven't recovered. Tonight I'll likely jog again just to give my hands a rest. 

Tomorrow my parents arrive so probably no workout. I'll be lucky if I can squeeze one in on Sunday, very doubtful at this time so Tuesday may be my next lift.

[The Most Loathed]

almost forgot, job interview update.

I went and talked to the local children's hospital network yesterday. Going in I knew it'd be a no-go because I would have to give up my no-car lifestyle to take the job and I had warned them of as a much. While there the interview went really well until the very end where I was talking to the hiring manager and her boss. They were both visibly excited and as we talked they managed to get me pretty excited to. If I work with them I may have the opportunity to not just do analytics and reporting but to work with some of the syringe pump manufacturers and impact how those work nationwide, that's pretty cool.

 

As i drove home I thought about it a lot. Laura has been pushing me to move past my insistence on mass transit and she's been talking about looking at new houses in a couple years. Those two things would be harder if I go with the other two jobs on the table, plus the opportunity to impact pediatric care nationwide make me really think that this is a great opportunity.

 

On my way home I got a phone call from the first hospital I interviewed at, the ones who had me back on Tuesday for a really awkward interview. They decided that they really need a developer so bad that they're just going to  make a new position and do I want it. I've been trying to play it safe, not turn my nose up at anything so I said yes. They said great, we'll just skip you to the last step and call your references and get back to you in a few days. And that was it.

 

So, right now I have two great opportunities that have both said that they need to step through to paperwork but want to hire me. I also have my fail safe opportunity with that last one that called me. The agreement with all three is that the first one to call me has to wait two days while I contact that other two. Everyone gets their final offers in and I just pick one. 

 

That is not a bad place to be. 

 

Since it looks like driving may be in my future again, I am looking at a Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid. Laura has a Forrester and loves it, my folks love their Outback and my last care was a non-Subaru hatchback so this seems like a good possible fit. I got in touch with the dealership who sercices Laura's car and it looks like they have 0% interest on hybrid Crosstreks until the beginning of August. Since it looks like this job thing should resolve by then, that'll be what I do if I have to go back to driving like a chump.

 

======unrelated======

For my birthday my mom sent me Dan John's Can You Go? and I have to say that if you like to listen to Dan John and like his blindingly simple approach to training and wellness, this is a great book. Dan John made a round of the podcast circuit a few months back and outlined what's in the book. If you heard any of those and thought "That's great but I'd like just one level deeper" go get the book. If you heard it and thought it sounded dumb or wanted tons and tons deeper, this book isn't for you.

 

The basis of the book is how Dan John likes to assess trainees who are new to him. He begins with a couple basic things that he expects everyone to be able to pass, if you can't he sends you to the doc to get checked out first. Once you get through those it's a couple basic things to group people into one of seven groups.

 

The seven groups are possibly overkill but they work for a logical model. He then tells you, in less than 10 words each, how to train them. So he'll look at the weightloss group and say "caloric restriction and inefficient exercise". The rest of the book (the part I'm in now) seems to be a further level of detail on each of these. I don't think this is going to get into progressions and set rep schemes because I don't think he really thinks like that. But for broad training philosophies I'm not sure you can beat it. 

 

It's obviously no secret that I'm training for kettlebell sport, that is not what this book is talking about. So you may not see it broadly applied in my own training. That said, I'd like to start working with some folks who are interested in a more general fitness approach and this seems like a really solid foundation to how I would work with those folks. I have adopted one phrase from him that I'm using as a mantra "eat like an adult". When I see those sweets and they call my name I repeat "eat like an adult".

[The Most Loathed]

Also, I'm totally falling in love with the metal step mixes on youtube like the one below

 

[RisenPhoenix]

almost forgot, job interview update.

I went and talked to the local children's hospital network yesterday. Going in I knew it'd be a no-go because I would have to give up my no-car lifestyle to take the job and I had warned them of as a much. While there the interview went really well until the very end where I was talking to the hiring manager and her boss. They were both visibly excited and as we talked they managed to get me pretty excited to. If I work with them I may have the opportunity to not just do analytics and reporting but to work with some of the syringe pump manufacturers and impact how those work nationwide, that's pretty cool.

 

As i drove home I thought about it a lot. Laura has been pushing me to move past my insistence on mass transit and she's been talking about looking at new houses in a couple years. Those two things would be harder if I go with the other two jobs on the table, plus the opportunity to impact pediatric care nationwide make me really think that this is a great opportunity.

 

On my way home I got a phone call from the first hospital I interviewed at, the ones who had me back on Tuesday for a really awkward interview. They decided that they really need a developer so bad that they're just going to  make a new position and do I want it. I've been trying to play it safe, not turn my nose up at anything so I said yes. They said great, we'll just skip you to the last step and call your references and get back to you in a few days. And that was it.

 

So, right now I have two great opportunities that have both said that they need to step through to paperwork but want to hire me. I also have my fail safe opportunity with that last one that called me. The agreement with all three is that the first one to call me has to wait two days while I contact that other two. Everyone gets their final offers in and I just pick one. 

 

That is not a bad place to be.

 

Given how miserable I am at work, reading that you have so many good opportunities really makes me happy for you.  Hope things go smoothly from here on out and you get something awesome from it!

[The Most Loathed]

Given how miserable I am at work, reading that you have so many good opportunities really makes me happy for you.  Hope things go smoothly from here on out and you get something awesome from it!

sorry to hear work is rough right now. any opportunity to look around for something different? Getting started on the hunt sucks but the momentum builds and it gets easier and easier.

[Elastigirl]

almost forgot, job interview update.

I went and talked to the local children's hospital network yesterday. Going in I knew it'd be a no-go because I would have to give up my no-car lifestyle to take the job and I had warned them of as a much. While there the interview went really well until the very end where I was talking to the hiring manager and her boss. They were both visibly excited and as we talked they managed to get me pretty excited to. If I work with them I may have the opportunity to not just do analytics and reporting but to work with some of the syringe pump manufacturers and impact how those work nationwide, that's pretty cool.

 

As i drove home I thought about it a lot. Laura has been pushing me to move past my insistence on mass transit and she's been talking about looking at new houses in a couple years. Those two things would be harder if I go with the other two jobs on the table, plus the opportunity to impact pediatric care nationwide make me really think that this is a great opportunity.

 

On my way home I got a phone call from the first hospital I interviewed at, the ones who had me back on Tuesday for a really awkward interview. They decided that they really need a developer so bad that they're just going to  make a new position and do I want it. I've been trying to play it safe, not turn my nose up at anything so I said yes. They said great, we'll just skip you to the last step and call your references and get back to you in a few days. And that was it.

 

So, right now I have two great opportunities that have both said that they need to step through to paperwork but want to hire me. I also have my fail safe opportunity with that last one that called me. The agreement with all three is that the first one to call me has to wait two days while I contact that other two. Everyone gets their final offers in and I just pick one. 

 

That is not a bad place to be. 

 

Since it looks like driving may be in my future again, I am looking at a Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid. Laura has a Forrester and loves it, my folks love their Outback and my last care was a non-Subaru hatchback so this seems like a good possible fit. I got in touch with the dealership who sercices Laura's car and it looks like they have 0% interest on hybrid Crosstreks until the beginning of August. Since it looks like this job thing should resolve by then, that'll be what I do if I have to go back to driving like a chump.

 

======unrelated======

For my birthday my mom sent me Dan John's Can You Go? and I have to say that if you like to listen to Dan John and like his blindingly simple approach to training and wellness, this is a great book. Dan John made a round of the podcast circuit a few months back and outlined what's in the book. If you heard any of those and thought "That's great but I'd like just one level deeper" go get the book. If you heard it and thought it sounded dumb or wanted tons and tons deeper, this book isn't for you.

 

The basis of the book is how Dan John likes to assess trainees who are new to him. He begins with a couple basic things that he expects everyone to be able to pass, if you can't he sends you to the doc to get checked out first. Once you get through those it's a couple basic things to group people into one of seven groups.

 

The seven groups are possibly overkill but they work for a logical model. He then tells you, in less than 10 words each, how to train them. So he'll look at the weightloss group and say "caloric restriction and inefficient exercise". The rest of the book (the part I'm in now) seems to be a further level of detail on each of these. I don't think this is going to get into progressions and set rep schemes because I don't think he really thinks like that. But for broad training philosophies I'm not sure you can beat it. 

 

It's obviously no secret that I'm training for kettlebell sport, that is not what this book is talking about. So you may not see it broadly applied in my own training. That said, I'd like to start working with some folks who are interested in a more general fitness approach and this seems like a really solid foundation to how I would work with those folks. I have adopted one phrase from him that I'm using as a mantra "eat like an adult". When I see those sweets and they call my name I repeat "eat like an adult".

Awesome news on the job front. 

I listened to the Dan John podcasts and was interested but not sure if I'd be interested or not. Like the mantra "eat like an adult"

[The Most Loathed]

I just got a job offer.

 

I promised another position that I would call them before accepting anything so I have done that. They have until Monday to counter. we're going car shopping this afternoon.

[KB Girl]

That is actually a great position to be in, good for you

 

Black in the kettlebell world usually just means adding two swings to whatever it is you're doing?

[Sloth the Enduring]

So much to comment on... Congratulations- new job, new car, new dog, it's sounds like you've been rolling 20s.

[RisenPhoenix]

sorry to hear work is rough right now. any opportunity to look around for something different? Getting started on the hunt sucks but the momentum builds and it gets easier and easier.

 

I've been lightly looking.  Part of the problem is my field isn't 'popular' right now, so finding something I'd actually enjoy doing AND be able to pay the bills with hasn't quite materialized.  That being said, I have a few jobs down in Texas where my girlfriend is that are decent.  Not in my field, but both pay well and are interesting enough that I probably wouldn't hate my life.  Slowly crafting the cover letters and resumes that are required.  Not too worried since some of these jobs have been posted for months and STILL aren't filled.  (Either that's very good or very bad.  I'm not sure which yet.)

 

I just got a job offer.

 

I promised another position that I would call them before accepting anything so I have done that. They have until Monday to counter. we're going car shopping this afternoon.

 

Congrats on the job offer!  Glad you will have things nailed down soon!!

[Rooks]

Man.  Great to read your log.  So many good things happen.  Well done sir!

[The Most Loathed]

Thank you all.

Friday I picked one of the two offers. Car shopping took longer than expected so no workout. Saturday my parents arrived and we went to a load museum and I grilled for supper. Today we are scheduled to go to a baseball game but it's supposed to be crazy hot so I'm lobbying to skip the game. I'm guessing that there s a 25% chance of a workout today. Not the best odds.

The two job offers I got were great. There was only a thousand dollars separating them. This wiped away all the noise of pay and let me focus on which job I wanted more on its own merits.

Job A

A former coworker of mine works here and loves it. I can still commute via light rail so I don't me to buy and deal with a car. It is, however, with a consulting firm and for profit. The immediate work will be fine but not super interesting. There is the opportunity for far more interesting work down the road. The single biggest perk of this job is that they have unlimited PTO.

Job B

This job is about 30 minutes away without traffic. At the end of the year they are moving even further away. Mass transit commute isn't possible. The work sounds pretty interesting with the promise of extremely interesting work around the corner. It's for a non-profit which I like.

After receiving both offers I notified my boss that while i was still ironing out the details, I had formal job offers and we will need to make a transition plan for any work I have left. I notified a few key coworkers. The. I left super early.

I met Laura on the university campus so we could talk jobs and go look at cars. As is implied by the drive to look at cars I was really planning on taking job B at this point. As we drove we talked a bit. One of the things that i needed to get clear was how serious some of Laura's overtures at moving within the city had been. It also let me hang out in commuter traffic a little bit.

By the time we got into the dealership things had changed. I found out that Laura's wish to move within the city had evaporated. I had been reminded that the one week of commuting I have done in the last four years was awful and that I hated the five years of commuting in Baltimore. I had decided to go with job A.

Since we were at the dealership and had talked about getting a Subaru Crosstrek for a while we decided to go in anyway. We each did a test test drive. The outcome was that we traded in out Forrester for a Crosstrek, I sent the emails from my phone confirming that I wanted job A and declining job B.

Since then I have had a lot of time to reflect and fret on my choice and Laura has been concerned as to whether her desire to upgrade her car pushed me out of the job I really wanted. The thing I have told her, myself and others is that had I only received either one offer I would have thanked my stars for it and accepted it without question. It is only because I was so fortunate to get two amazing offers that I could find fault in either of the. Job A allows me to sustain many of my favorite habits like commuting via mass transit, going in and leaving super early if I want and with limitless PTO I get to skip those awkward months in the beginning of a new job where you can't take trips to see family or long weekends or anything else.

So I'm a Target employee for four more weeks. After that I'm headed to Salt Lake City for a few days of orientation then it's back here to do the work that they were so excited to have me do,

Now it's time to get. Back to training.it looks like my first prescribed workout starts next week. I don't know what to expect and I do feel some trepidation but this is what I'm looking for, someone to help me get stronger and lift those red bells over and over.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Congratulations. Commuting is terrible, Structuring your life to minimize it is a great idea.

I look forward to watching your new training plan.

[Rooks]

Congratulations. Commuting is terrible, Structuring your life to minimize it is a great idea.

I look forward to watching your new training plan.

 

Very much agree with this.  So far all the jobs I've had haven't allowed me to do public transit here in the Cities.  That said, I'm also pretty patient so traffic doesn't bother me too much.  The biggest thing I dislike is just the amount of lost time per day.  I lose an hour and 30 minutes every day trapped in a car.  And I only work 18 miles from my house. 

 

Someday I'll get a job that allows for working at home.  Public transit would be almost as good though assuming the company would be willing to hook me up with a laptop and I could work while transiting.

 

Either way, as I said, congrats on the new gig. 

[Bearlee]

Congratulations on the new job. That is one of my greatest fears and only amplified after what happened to my brother-in-law. Nice to see things can turn out well. I also like how you share your thought processes, very informative and interesting. I also have to echo your feelings about commuting.  I do it but I do it at night when the roads are clear, it's a nice feeling having an entire interstate road to yourself. This is one of the dozen of reasons I like working nights.

 

Good luck on the new training also. Looking forward to how that goes.

[KB Girl]

Congrats on the job

[The Most Loathed]

Congratulations. Commuting is terrible, Structuring your life to minimize it is a great idea.

I look forward to watching your new training plan.

Thanks. I try to keep my life simple and consistent (although it hasn't felt like that lately). I don't know how real people with kids and real jobs do it.

 

Very much agree with this.  So far all the jobs I've had haven't allowed me to do public transit here in the Cities.  That said, I'm also pretty patient so traffic doesn't bother me too much.  The biggest thing I dislike is just the amount of lost time per day.  I lose an hour and 30 minutes every day trapped in a car.  And I only work 18 miles from my house. 

 

Someday I'll get a job that allows for working at home.  Public transit would be almost as good though assuming the company would be willing to hook me up with a laptop and I could work while transiting.

 

Either way, as I said, congrats on the new gig. 

Thanks. I realize that I lead a charmed life to be able to make choices like commuting via mass transit or not, working from home and just the fact that my biggest complaints are frankly trivial. I used to work as a pharmacy tech and was studying to be a nurse when I got into IT. The only reason I never finished my nursing degree was that I realized that if I did I would have to take a pay cut and work a whole lot harder once I actually had a degree. 

 

Congratulations on the new job. That is one of my greatest fears and only amplified after what happened to my brother-in-law. Nice to see things can turn out well. I also like how you share your thought processes, very informative and interesting. I also have to echo your feelings about commuting.  I do it but I do it at night when the roads are clear, it's a nice feeling having an entire interstate road to yourself. This is one of the dozen of reasons I like working nights.

 

Good luck on the new training also. Looking forward to how that goes.

Thanks. When I used to drive for a commute I started working from 6:30 to 3 just for the same reasons you work at night. It wasn't quite as quite but it was an easier schedule for me to cope with. To this day I arrive at work before 7 and I love that I can get home early enough to walk the dogs and make supper for when Laura gets home. Then I still have time to train and go to bed at a reasonable (early to most folks) time.

 

Congrats on the job

Thanks

 

Week 002 wrap up

What a week. I didn't get my workouts in this week but I feel like it was pretty justified. Instead I got visited by my folks, got a new jog, got a new car.

 

Week 003 warm up

This week will be my first one using John's programming. I don't yet have it in front of me so there is no formal plan just yet.

Objectives for the week

• Turn 36
• Settle down life to the status quo
• Execute on John's plan

[Bearlee]

Happy Birthday! And was it the children's hospital job you took?

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on the new job! So awesome that you had your choice of jobs. 

[The Most Loathed]

Happy Birthday! And was it the children's hospital job you took?

No, they were the ones I passed on. It was a little emotionally hard to say no to them but they were the ones that required I buy a car. It's been impossible to not think and rethink my choice but I keep reminding myself that both were awesome. 

 

Congrats on the new job! So awesome that you had your choice of jobs. 

It was pretty amazing. It took weeks of trying and getting called in fro between 6 and 10 jobs to land there.

[The Most Loathed]

07/14/2015

003.1

My First Prescribed Workout

Long Cycle 24 kg 

4:00 6 RPM

6:00 rest (no prescribed amount)

4:00 6 RPM

 

Back Squat 6 x 4 100 kg

 

Pull up 5, 3, 3, 2, 2

 

Notes:

• The long cycles were relatively easy, which was nice.
• I haven't spent enough time this summer doing legit weight squats so I wussed out on 120 kg. Next time (assuming same rep scheme) I'll do at least some of the sets heavier.
• This morning I have some serious soreness on my right side, lumbar region. It's more like a muscle pull than anything else but I sure don't recall doing it. I should still be good to run tonight. tomorrows deadlift are very likely but if the soreness persists I may take a night off and deadlift on Friday. We'll see.

[The Most Loathed]

07/15/2015

003.02

Run 30 minutes

Abs 2 x 50

I ran with a fifteen minute timer going. At 15 I saw that I was close to my usual turn around so I ran a couple more minutes to it and turned around. I ended up at 5.77 km in 33 minutes.

I asked if 50 reps of abs meant anything in particular and John said no so I screwed around with this time a little bit.

TRX crunches x 25

Supine bicycle x 25/25

TRX mountain climbers x 25/25

Floor crunches x 50

TRX side planks x 10/10

Floor crunches x 50

[The Most Loathed]

Before I get to logging, if anyone has had success recording video on an iPad and uploading it to YouTube, please share any pro tips. So far it has been way more work than makes sense to me and with very mixed results.

07/16/2015 off
Laura and I both had the potential for a quiet night so we took it. We went to the coop and other random stuff.

07/17/2015
003.3
Swing, clean, jerk 24 kg 6:00 4 RPM video

Bumps 24 kg 1:00 video
A bump is the dip and drive of a jerk without any arm activation or the second dip, at least that's what it think it is

Deadlift 80 kg 1:00 on/ 1:00 off x 2 video
I made an error, this was supposed to be three sets but I had two in my brain and it wasn't until I was done and went to document that I saw I was supposed to do 3
A pace, goal number or 1RM% was not indicated so I chose to do as many touch and goes as I could, I got into the lower 20/

Pull up 5 x 3
3x10 was prescribed but that's out of my league

Notes:
Laura is shifting her work schedule in a way that will shift my training schedule but I think for the better. She will now be working later so I'm going to start training earlier then eating dinner immediately after. Historically I have eaten at 5 and trained from 7:30 to 9ish. Now I will, theoretically, train at 4:30 or 5 and eat at 6:30.

My weight has gotten out of control. I rang in at 215 this morning. I've been trying to add in more carbs but it just doesn't work for me. I'm going back to meat and bright veggies. I may retain a little bit of sweet potatoes or white potatoes but only in controlled amounts. I just feel better, perform better and weigh less when I do this.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I plan to still get a run in early but I will have Indian food and ice cream for desert and I will be sitting on my butt for 6-8 hours playing board games,