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.

What's that mean?

  So this is my first try at writing a blog.  I was skimming through photos from the Jacksonville games over the weekend and one photo stood out. I looked at the photo above and said, "that had the height for like 40ft". But it didn't go 40'.
  That's a lot of things isn't it?
  Your inches away, degrees off. We set goals and work toward them, and some times we just don't quite make it. I had a disappointing day by all accounts. This won't be about my throwing every time. Just, today it's on my mind pretty prominently. Sometimes you have to clear some things out and get your head right. Some of us need a little holding our feet to the fire.
  I have had a bunch of projects in mind for some time now and haven't made a lick of progress. I routinely cheat on my diet, although I'm not really in it for weight loss. And, to bring it back home on today's topic, I routinely allow myself to reinforce bad habits in my throwing. It's pretty easy to get wrapped up in numbers and let things get lost. So, I think the new plan for my bad events needs to be establishing a solid routine that builds the good habits. No skipping drills or loosing good feeling to try to get an extra couple feet in a training throw.

That said today's plan:
10 cast drill
5 line drill
10 release tosses
10 one turns
5-10 full throws
8x8 back squat
5x8 hang clean

No shortcut for doing the work.