It's been a while

   So, I have gone a pretty long stretch without having a thought that I felt worth taking the time to write about. Maybe I still haven't I am not sure yet, but I thought maybe it was time. I am a fan of the blog Chaos and Pain, found elsewhere on blogger.com. I have had the pleasure of knowing Jaime and witnessing his intensity and passion that he brings along with his opinions on ANY topic under the sun. He is very prolific at putting things out here. I am just no match for the volume of cognitive flow he has.
   I try to keep things sports related here because we all have life stuff. If you don't have life...STUFF you are either too wealthy to worry or too boring to worry about. Some folks know I suffered a labrum injury this summer that has taken still more steam out of my motor. It has left me a little more limited as to what I can do, how I can push etc.  Couple that with the reduced time and what not, ya da ya da.  It's been a hard transition because I have been very proud of my strength over the years. I revere heros like everyone else. I take enormous inspiration from the story of Ernest Shakelton and the ill fated final expedition he led to cross Antarctica.  We can't all have an opportunity to demonstrate courage and leadership like Shakelton. But, sometimes men and women can become legend for their physical prowess.
   Donald Dinnie lifted and took 12 paces with about 900lbs of good Scottish stone in hand. Today you can try it yourself because the very stones have been preserved and made available to the strength thrill seeker.
   The strength world has the names that you HAVE to know. Paul Anderson, Jon Paul, Kaz, Andy Bolton, Ed Coan, etc. I knew I would never have a feat that added my name to strength legend, but I was at least on the path. And lately I've gotten off that path and feel it pulling me back. It made me happy. There was a sense of accomplishment like the skilled craftsman finishing a job. A night of good dead lifting was like building a fence, or harvesting a barn full of hay.  I did something.
   I suppose that is why I love my Kaigen so much. Amanda and I did something. We did it right and the result is beautiful. I want to be strong now for him. I want to do things to make him proud one day of what his dad could do, and maybe he will want to follow down that path. I believe good things are gotten with hard work and perseverance. And, for Kaigen I'd like to  prove that.

Do you mean hippies?

Amanda has had to put up with this particular flight of fancy many a time and I know it is only barely feasible under the best circumstances. But whatever, dream big or go home right? And this is my little dream.

I kinda want to live in this thing. It's simple and elegant and inexpensive. It can be adapted to your season or environment.  It is a wonderful alternative to traditional housing that cost the arms and legs of your enemies to build, only to rot decay and fall down around you. 

  But, more specifically I want to put one of these out in the country and implore other friends to put up similar alternative shelters with me. In my head we form sort of a wagon circle around a central lifting and throwing facility with a couple fire pits. Several families living happily and cooperatively as peaceful modern primitives. Training and eating together or separately as we desire. 

  It would be my plan to have several small fields and try to grow as much of our fruits and vegetables as possible, perhaps raising chickens for eggs and meat, or hunting. I imagine we could install enough solar panels to provide free power for necessary lighting at night and powering freezers for storage. We would still need part time jobs I suppose, enough income to buy clothes and various items etc.  Every couple years I seem to burn out a coffee pot. 

  It's a little crazy, but I think it would be good for all. Our children would learn valuable skills that just don't get shared anymore. And, they would learn that everyone pulls their weight, everyone has to help out. It's not really that crazy an idea it's just different. I've reached the age where I am starting to get weighed down by material possessions, I just don't want things anymore. My favorite gifts recently have been the necklace that got its own post last week, a new razor and a pocket knife. They are useful, or symbolize something that I feel strongly about. I can think of a truck load of things taking up space in our house that don't serve a purpose right now, or haven't been touched in quite a time. Yurt living would definitely solve some of the junk problems because it would HAVE to be pared down. 

Could it be?

  So I'm a little sad today cause I don't have anything weird and wacky to talk about. I took full advantage of the beautiful day to get out and throw and lift some before cooking dinner for the family. Where as the last few times out throwing have been a frustrating mess this was a very pleasant change of pace. Today we played throw it over the Alttoids tin, and that seemed to take some of the grrrrrrr out of things and get a little focus on feeling it rather than trying to hit a number.
  I wasn't destroying things but a good 5-6 throws right at 36-37' with a 17.8 lb stone. I hung it just short of 40' at Jacksonville but I would like to go over that at every game this season barring injury or illness. I was discussing with Adriane Wilson that I, at least feel I have, hit a point where I am not going to get signifigantly better technically. I lack the years of repetition with coaching to make another 20' possible, but with some of the throws that I ticked off before things got destabilized in my training I think 50' should be possible before I hang things up with this. So I have to get the strength level back that I had post strongman.
  Now LWFD that is a whole other kettle o fish. I felt good for a handful of throws today I may have found the key. The phrase that runs through my head that makes the next throwing evolution happen. I felt the weight really pulling my hand coming into turn two and it felt smoking fast but the release thing just baffles me. 
  Wow, that is a three short paragraph spout that no one but me would really care about. 
  Okay a bit of fun. A lesser known lifting music top 5 to Jack up some big lifts, in 5x5 spirit. 
Wires- Red Fang
Winters Wolves- The Sword
Frost Hammer- High on Fire
Animal Farm- Clutch
Mary Anne's Place-Volbeat

Get to the choppah

  Arnold.  

  So we are driving in the, now ridiculous snowfall to Greenville hoping to see Carolina Baseball. Amanda admonished me for not posting yesterday. I just didn't have anything. But, today the games will be contested for the first time at the Arnold Sports Festival. I have people that are near to my heart braving the Ohio cold today in the name of the ancient sport and strength. Eric, Adriane, Joe, and all the Sorinex guys at the Mighty Mitts, stay warm and good luck. 

  Arnold. 

  Think of him for a second. Now think about a scrawny, threshold of poor, son of an Austrian policeman. After serving in the army he becomes successful enough as a bodybuilder to move to America to pursue his dreams and becomes the icon of the sport.  Not just a movie star, top grossing star in the world at one time. Some real estate tycoonery, a Kennedy, and a president's council on fitness later...  

  I don't know any other guy out there with his own tribute metal band (Austrian Death Machine), or as many various homage/parodies out in the world. Not to mention his own festival that is basically the Olympics for a bunch of non Olympic sports. Power lifters and strongmen will never get to go to London or Athens, but they damn sure look forward to and work to go to Ohio every year. Few of us really get to put our stamp on the world and Arnold is like a graffiti tagger with his mark all over everything. 

  So praise be to Arnie Strong and to the power of strength and athletics for wich he has become the symbol. And...out of legit ideas. 

It should be simple physics.

  So, I started the day off with a couple muscle samiches there. This represents a little over half my pr 18" pull. So let's not call this the first step of the 1000 miles, but the bags are packed. 

  The deadlift is a perfect tie in to the idea I was thinking about last night, it's things that look really easy that end up being a pain. 

  Farm Fiddlin by Zakk Wylde, just watch the first 2:00. I have spent 2 years off and on on this intro. Just good old chicken pickin', it's only one note at a time for the majority. For non guitarists, chicken pickin' involves picking a note on one string, with plectrum, then plucking another note on the same string or an adjacent string with a free finger. Pick, pluck, pick, pluck. Easy right? 

  Lets leave that for a minute and look at Ryan Vierra. This throw looks so easy I can't figure out why I can't replicate more than the most rudimentary semblance. Watching him here if you told me he throw the next one 150ft while the camera was off I'd believe it. 

  How are these two things connected?

  It IS simple physics. Zakk picks and plucks, Ryan sits and sprints to the trig. Why can't I replicate either of these things?  Coordination. Zakk has been chicken pickin' almost as long as I've been alive, and Ryan has thrown longer than I've been alive. Refined coordination by repetition has made them REALLY good at something. Last night practicing 28 I found the more I threw the higher the frustration level got, the worse I threw, spiral spiral spiral. I spent more throws reinforcing bad habits than I did good habits. Net loss. Now I have more fledgling bad habits to tame before improvement can be made. 

  In strength you can do work for work sake. More damage is more healing and adaptation. With a skilled complex movement you can't do that. If you find yourself drifting out of correct whatever, picking or tossing, and you can't snap it back after 1-2 more tries you have to be honest with yourself and shut it down before you destroy progress. Much like this here rambling post, don't let ego, frustration, lack of focus, etc ruin your complex system. Make progress then...

Time to accept I'm getting old?

  This is also, partly, a sports blog. I do try to compete as an athlete. I didn't really do much in sports earlier in life, I was a music major through college. I went from freshman in high school to late in college without going in a gym. And then, one day, I decided I was going to try that strongman thing.
  Armed only with the Internet and an early 20's zeal I launched into lifting like a mad man. But, I only read about how to get stronger, it wasn't until a couple years ago that it occurred to me that I needed to think about my body like a machine. I had to think about keeping it running instead of just souping it up more and more. Over the last few months I have been trying to figure out more about prehab and maintanence, and trying to turn some things around. Try as I might, I have to accept that I am just getting older and I'll have to try to be smarter.
  I don't do endorsements for things. It is my general idea that most modalities of training and therapy will work on anyone for a while and then they will stop. Furthermore, people want a lot of money for their ideas. Buying the materials to learn something gets expensive, just look at the book bill for college students, ideas cost a lot apparently. That soap box gotten on and off of, here are a couple of things that I have found helpful that can be made low or no cost.
  Mark Verstegen's Core Performance. You can find this book on the interwebs for about $0.18.  Yes 18 cents. It'll cost $4 to ship it, but come on. Mark's facility in Tempe is not only a training ground for NFL and NBA, etc etc leagues with initials. But, he is partnered with John Godina's World Throws Center. Godina may be the most successful shot AND discuss thrower in recent memory/ modern era. He knows something about getting this machine to work like a cannon so I'll trust him on this one.
  Next up is KStar. Mobilitywod.com. My friends have heard mention of this one before. A DPT giving the tools to fix your ails for free is strong juju. Take advantage and realize that there is no end result with Kelly's stuff other than better functionality.
  There is no age of no return when you have to start thinking about this stuff, because the truth is it should be in the routine from the very beginning, but when we are under 30 we just let it fall by the side and don't think about the importance of body maintanence until we start falling apart. A little preachy again today I guess but morning is kind of a weird contemplative time isn't it.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have willy wonka scenes stuck in my head and I'll feel like talking about that.

Tuesday and my valentine's gift

   So I got a new necklace from Amanda for valentine's day. I had been wearing a pewter Celtic cross because I felt the ideals associated with each arm were things I wanted to keep in my mind and try to pass on to Kaigen. But the thing was about to break. A quick search around the interwebs turned up an artisan on Etsy making hand forged, steel mjolnir hammers with rune inlays. First instinct is to put your initials, right?  After researching the Norse runes a bit the T made an interesting choice. It stands for Tyr. The god of the sky and a son of Odin. The interesting bit is the myth of the sacrifice of Tyr. The great wolf Finnrir became loose in the world and the gods realized they needed to stop him. But, no mortal chain could restrain Finnrir. To distract and buy time while a suitable magical trap could be constructed Tyr presented his open hand to Finnrir and placed it in his mouth as a symbol of peace and goodwill. When Finnrir realized the deception he bit off Tyr's hand. So Tyr or the Anglo Saxon Tiwaz is a symbol of sacrifice, honor, and knowing where ones true strength lies.
  The other rune in my simple bind rune is Dagaz, the symbol for the sun, specifically dawn. The expanded meaning of this rune is that unwavering faith will bring a new beginning and triumph. So the combination is the faith and purposeful sacrifice will lead us to our goals. The Anglo Saxons revered Tiwaz and remembered his sacrifice every week on Tiwazdag.
  So, literally my necklace says Tuesday. But, it's a good set of ideals to try to hold in your mind. Now what this all has to do with anything is that on mornings like this I can either get up and train because I know it's the right thing to do to reach my goals, or I can sit on the couch with another cup of coffee and watch tv.
  Kinda preachy today I reckon. But...a little history in there too.