See the man, "Huggy Bear"

Hola, amigos.  I know it's been a long time since I rapped at you but shit has gotten off the hook.  The volvo needed new spark plugs and you know those things are platinum.  Had to melt the weddin' band down to keep the fam damily on wheels.  Since my last communique I knocked down a bruiser 8-point, began chasing an 8-min/2K on the rower and a few other things I will try to fill you up on.  In on.  In on.

The bruiser:  I knew he was out there.  A nice scrape line, rubs thigh-high on some pretty thick trees and some early morning grunting that was down low on the register.  Last morning there were deer everywhere and rutting hard.  Passed up a 5-point and a half-rack 3 hoping for my chance.  Around 8am  I heard what had to be either a buck or a man stomping in behind me.  He sneaked right in underneath my stand and at first glance I had him for a six and was doubtful I would shoot.  I was hooked up and at half draw.  Got a better look at his antlers--the first peek was straight down on top of him--and saw a brow tine.  OK, 7point, good size.  Full draw.  Had to let him get farther out for the shot I wanted, which was a first.  Usually, you're hoping they come in closer.  At about 15yds I let fly and it wasn't too steep.  Both lungs, didn't go 20yds.  Wasn't til I got to him that I saw he was a  full legitimate 8, lots of meat, several pounds of which we have already eaten.  I've read where natives said a prayer over hunted deer.  Seems right.  Also a bumper sticker that said vegetarian is Algonquin for bad hunter.  Glib, but hard to argue with.  A really terrific archery season.  Feel lucky to have done it.  If you dig meat from the hunt which is what venison translates to, let me know and I will see you get some.  Sharing is always fun.

8min/2K:  Had to get real about what my goals are/should be.  A 7min/2K is a terrific feat and nothing you can bumble your way into, but ironclad, inescapable logic says the 7min rower will also and first be able to row an 8min/2K.  Don't bother with Finnegan's Wake if you couldn't get though Ulysses.  So I put myself on the 8min ladder and have been working my way down (up?)--the intervals go down, the time and distance go up.  Tonight I was a whisker off from 2, thousand meter pieces at rate (2:00/500m) with 30 seconds rest.  The heart is willing, the mind weak.  There is no pain like C2 pain.

Nate and I finally got off our duffs and poked around the Governor Dick Park bouldering areas.  Hard to say just what a find it is.  Nate was equal to a couple of the routes.  I was good for exactly one, a V0 (yeah that's a zero) deal that had a challenging little knee maneuver that Nate figured out.  Listen, if the bouldering thing holds any interest for you, Governor Dick is pretty much El Dorado.  Chamonix to skiers, Yellow Breeches to fly fishers, Utah to candidates named Romney.  Grab your chalk bag, shoes and crash pad.  Give a call we'll set it up.  Twenty minutes from my front porch.  So too is a known Pagan hideout, but that's another post.

Finally, had a good check up Mon.  Got to catch up with Sarah, Scott and Mirany who is now in perfect health.  Stayed with Rick and Debbie and got to see a Beechcraft hanger with Adeline who was a faithful companion throughout a long trip.  Wishing you all a good holiday.  Check back next week, I'll try to be better about posting.  As ever, keep us informed of your loads, reps, rounds, times and exploits.  AMF

Just saying. . .

Cambered Bar

Good check up Monday.  Took Agnes with.

Cambered bar worse than a front squat.  This is 160 pounds (72kg or so)  99 problems, squat is near the bottom of the list.

get a pair(s)

Max push press today.  78KG.  Big jump for me.  Still far from old top, but starting to feel strong.  Here are two efforts from JW @ 95kg (or so).  Notice depth of dip.  Short and explosive wins, or almost does.  Earlier failure cost him the second rep shown here, but it clearly has the better dip/drive

Assistance work was lunged-out KB presses, delt work with axel grips, grenade (left above) pulls, rock ring (right above) levers (scaled), strict ring dips.  Finished ourselves off with some grenade farmer's carries:

and some quick body art

bluegrass hamstrings

Went on a search and destroy mission this training session.  Target:  posterior chain.

JW and I started with a 3RM good morning with the spider bar.  Sorry no vid or pictures.  My lower back was pissed after warm up.  Lots of experimenting with technique.  I think the hardest Good AM one can do is: wide leg, big camber, safety squat bar (spider), sending the caboose way back and pushing out on the yoke handles.  I did stand up with 180 or so, but my form started to crumble around 160.  Then we stripped weight and did a few reps at 60 (kg).  The spider bar is over there in the Oly area so we end up using communist plates.


4x10 Belt squats. Worked up to 50lbs.  I did a couple narrow, couple wide.  Wide= harder.  you'll note the way my torso folds forward at the bottom.  This is to be avoided.  Really hard on the hips. Good exercise.

We were thinking some good-form/bad form deads, but JW went Kurtz on us and we ended up doing good form/bad form banded GH raises.  Worst exercise ever.  At the top it felt like some one was driving railroad spikes into my proximal hams.  To be clear:  this is too heavy.  I should have done them unweighted.  Just thought I'd give you a look at the torture.  3x8.  NB: THE NEXT TWO VIDS ARE MIXED UP.  THIRD ONE GOES HERE.  THIS ONE SHOULD BE BELOW.

Conditioning:  12x 2 dead lifts @ 60% + 25% band tension/8 KTE.  No one in their right mind would count a few of these reps. but i wasnt in a right mind, I was hypoxic.  This is part of the last round.  11:29  I called KTE's ab work and quit.  JW scorched this.  Much heavier dead (245 i think) and band and much shorter time.  Matt had a similar dead (225ish), blue band and 13 and change.  I was most challenged in the core and shoulder girdle.  Matt said his grip ran away.  JW really did not blink.   he was done and i still had 4 rounds to go.  Impressive and a bummer at the same time

DNAB

Reverse band.  Lots of help in the bottom, less and less through the range, none at the tip top.  Good for lock out strength.  It also shows me how often I am beat psychologically at the top and how much speed matters out of the bottom.  I did 110kg  This is Matt and JW doing around 140-ish.  I'll be frank: I want to like Kilos, but I don't.  I just put plates on the bar and count when Im done.  This makes me an ugly American and Olympic lifters a little snooty.

Assistance: Decline, banded dumbbell presses, pulls, dips, tabata handstands
Conditioning: 10min max 1 pood KB snatches: 174.
Trunk:  GHD sits and:  New favorite exercise:  GHD bench press.  Give these a try.  There's a vid on the mainsite.  Wow is it demanding.  Let us know what you're up to.

completely lost count

Vid from training sesh at Chupacabra.  My man Willard has a keen eye for sloppy movement.  He caught me drifting ankle-in, toe-ward.  This would probably be more instructive (to you) if we caught some of the bad reps.  Here, I improve, but you can see me working for it and it's far from perfect.  The front squat can really challenge sissy and/or unmobilized ankles.  If you're ankles aren't right you're gonna push to the toes.  If you're out on your toes, well your neck can't stop the barbell b/c it's a front squat and the whole whole house of cards is coming down.  This is rep 40 or so of assistance sets @ 95#.  Woking on a stronger back, got the bonus plan.  Need some coaching?  Come see the Chupacabra.

100 thruster wed got moved to Tuesday, so we're gonna call it 100 thruster Tues from now on. 75# 15:44.  first thirty were simply awful.  Kinda hit a stride 30 to 70 but time was shot.  Finished okay.  Shoulda warmed up more.  I started in a sweatshirt and hat.  clothes came off every 10 reps or so until i was thrustering naked except for Minimi footwear.  Which is also how i sleep.  I just wanted to get them finished and get on with my day.  So much more satisfying to say that you did a 100 thrusters.  Saying you have to do 100 thrusters is worse than saying you have an enema appointment.

Check your calendar. Do your thrusters.

Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, "whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches," by which he meant Everybody.  Had the man looked though another peephole he might have said, "Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men," and he would have meant the same thing.
                                                                  Steinbeck, Cannery Row
(148 I think)

Lettuce be married

WARNING:  this vid is very hard to watch.  I know.  I watched it.  I'm making corrections to my technique.  I've fired my cinematographer.  I'm going steady cam from here on out. And more pauses. Still, gotta start somewhere.  I don't know about the walleye effect.  I do know (now) not to cook and vid with the same pair of hands.    Excepting all that, well, like I said, gotta start somewhere.  Appreciate your thoughts.  Especially if you try it.

Lettuce Wraps

LINK

Ingredients:
1-2 pounds ground or finely chopped chicken.  Thigh and breast works.  All thigh is tasty.  All breast would be bland, I think, though I have not tried it.

1-2 tb peanut oil
big onion, chopped
couple cloves garlic
can o' water chestnuts, however you like 'em whole, sliced, chopped.  I like chopped
rice vinegar
sesame oil
brown sugar

 Dipping sauce:
2Tb soy
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup
sugar to taste
dijon
sriracha garlic chili sauce

head of iceberg lettuce

Method:
1. Gather ALL ingredients on countertop. Measure them out if you cook like that. Eyeballing amounts over the pan would be fine too. 2. Remove top layers of iceberg, rinse head, whack the stem out, peel carefully in to leaves, place leaves on towel to dry. 3. Heat on high, let the pan get hot. Add oil.  When it shimmers like a skinny-dipper's hair in the moonlight,  add onion, garlic. Sautee until going soft. 4. Add chicken.  Keep the heat high.  Cook until no longer rosy.  If you chopped your chicken it will release a good bit of liquid/fat.  You could use a slotted spoon to remove the meat/onion mix and reduce the liquid until it is like a salt on the bottom of the pan, don't burn.  It's a nice touch that intensifies bird flavor and controls the wet wrap problem, but in no way necessary. (put the meat back in)  5 Add chestnuts.  When they are up to temp, add a splash of vinegar, a touch of brown sugar, turn heat low and make sauce.  Sauce is a totally add hoc invention, do it by taste, but remember what you do so you can do it again (or avoid it next time) 6. serve chicken mixture with lettuce cups and sauce with napkins. Make your own wrap.  Eat faster than the kids, you'll get more.  It's your food, anyway.

Some additions/substitutions you may want to try, or reject out of hand:  5 spice powder, chopped peanuts or cashews, mung bean sprouts, grated carrot, cilantro, scallion, chopped boiled egg, romaine, red leaf, ground pork (beef wasn't that great, but try it if you like), shitakes (right after onion).

This is week 2 of current wave.  Max dead of some variety.  I'll probably do a Zercher.  Press conjugation very well may be reverse banded bench, which will make for some good footage.  Let us know what's cooking.

Love Gun

The Boston trip threatened to mess with my exercise schedule last week but I managed to cram most of it in.  Last week completed 3wk wave.  I urge you to give the suspended KB a try for squats.  Good for stability, control and keeping those knees out.  This week we start a new cycle in which we will use the safety squat bar, newly acquired at the Collective.  This is rarefied training.  The SS bar is cambered and has a yoke.  The effect is you must remain stick straight throughout the movement or get your nose broken on the deck, for that is indeed where you will end up should you not stay up right.  The bar insists, neigh, demands that you find your hamstrings and recruit every fiber of them while firing the mid back.  Sorry for the poor pic quality.  I was shaking from my PR rep. J's shin is just passing through to positive (it's a boat load of weight-those are KG's).  Ideally you want the shin pointing back at you.  Keep your back straight.  I tapped out when the bar started to fold me over, even though I thought I could have stood more up.  Don't lift ugly, lift pretty

Been working on my cast iron.  Believe I finally have something nice.  Secret: (lard)

If you're observing the Waldorf calendar, and why wouldn't you be, Happy Michaelmas.

So, if you're following at home:  Max squat today.  Come and use SS bar if you are able.  Assistance: Zercher deads, Pistols, hanging L lifts, Reverse hyper, bandy good mornings.  Conditioning: medium sled (240) 40yds/10 wall balls  x 4

INVITING YOU ALL TO COME TO LANCASTER FOR SOME EXERCISE AND/OR good company.  Truth is I don't travel right now.  But if you have access to this blog, I'd love to see you.  Give a ring, we'll set it up.

I love this line:  "In the fall the war was always there but we did not go to it anymore."

Hem, In Another Country