Month: November 2023

11/18/23
The food started just after midnight, an egg sandwich with a couple slices of bacon – real small, but food in me early.

Having slept all of ninety minutes yesterday, having surprised myself by being up still – I went to bed after midnight, and barely woke up before an 1130am alarm.

I slept almost unbroken for about ten hours.

Woke up tired, my forearms sore (maybe the clean attempts the other night, maybe the kettlebell work the past few days), and really had to coax myself into continuing any form of press every day.

I got creative ;

Day 28
“Introducing The See Saw Z Press”

if you can forget the clean THIS is the ultimate press variant

↑ quite the easy movement on the body, bodybuilding/strongman hybrid “powerbuilding” movement

…..

I have a hankering to purchase more kettlebells.

Now, while I could join the local powerlifting gym, I’m not too inclined to do so despite the fact it’d be easier setup/breakdown, no snow interference, a place to squat heavy and condition on 24/7 flat ground, and get me out of the house (that probably the biggest).

I think to myself “money every month to someone else” or “pay once – own for life”, and liking fresh air weightlifting I’m inclined to spend the money that could be a few months dues instead on kettlebells.

It surprises me ; I am getting more into kettlebells.

While it hasn’t been a year that I’ve had them, and I surely would not say that I’ve maximized their use…

I could see myself finding the space and either running it as a small private gym or as a personal training studio – kettlebell centric.

That’d be reason to have access to a full line of double bells, whereas financially, and being willing to mismatch pairs on my own lifts, I can justify to myself the purchase of a 40kg bell (call it a christmas present to me), should have a bell or two between my 20kg and 32kg, but can’t really justify even that, while I’d like to a medium degree to have a 24kg, 28kg, and 36kg as well should I purchase the 40kg.

Simply it’s a balance of a few factors ; cost, clean and press ability (the main physical driver) and safety/training effect on the snatch (the secondary physical driver).

I’m mentally tiring somewhat of press every day, the setup/breakdown of a barbell moreso than anything.

I’ll continue overhead press every day – probably in a more off camera training capacity, see saw presses both standing and z press, one arm presses ditto, and feel excitement at the idea of ONLY using a 40kg bell for lots and lots of work capacity driving clean and press work.

The kettlebell shines for building strength including high levels of conditioning/work capacity.

With a more challenging press weight I’d be far more inclined to spend the time at it.

A 40kg for now, heavier another time when I’ve trained more into it.

You’re not gonna be a weak individual doing lots of one arm presses with a 40kg bell, while lots of cleans and front squats is a work capacity driver.

Simply I see myself working harder at what I must with a 40kg bell than with the 32 I currently own as heaviest kettlebell.

…..

An early dinner and some yard work.
I felt stuffed from a thick pea soup, lots of ham, some breakfast sausage, parmesan cheese, plenty of crackers, a few cookies, and honestly probably again too much coffee milk.

That’s like three days in a row of me being a little caffeine addict.

It’d be hilarious if coffee milk isn’t caffeinated, and I don’t sleep purely from placebo in association with the taste.

Whatever.

…..

I’m pretty excited to get to thirty days, show that it took me from 2×205 on a good day, 1×205 almost any time, to doubling 225lbs, hitting 205lbs for 5, FINALLY hit 10 reps with 185lbs stuck for years at 7 or 8 reps, and coming close to a 255 clean on surprisingly little clean work – and making this a video…

Then transition to kettlebell for the winter.
It’s just simpler than barbell work in wintertime, and hilariously aims me towards leaning out…in winter…just like high school wrestling did.

…..

After dark, about 6 to 630pm, I did kettlebell and bodyweight – tonight leisurely, a few burpees, kettlebell snatches, and lunges in reps of 3, real easy.

It felt great, and the final thing I did was turkish get ups, 10:00 emom alternating sides, with the same 20kg bell as the oas.

Fun to play with, while a minute period can actually be eaten up almost entirely with one up and down as I was taking my time, being deliberate.

I realized you can train certain stages, and use variety in the exact form from a to b as a way to vary between perfect form, training effect, and going for heavy singles.

One hand planted, bent leg foot planted, the transition for here to the bottom of a lunge – a lot of options here as described in the paragraph above.

Honestly, I’d like to get this to where I can tgu people.

And I view it as possible.

Also something I could do as a form of easy, longer, conditioning – just set a timer, be real deliberate on the harder stages, and continuously go up and down til the timer sounds.

…..

A funny gym floor memory :

Two guys, probably early thirties, and coworkers probably, one more fit (stocky, 5’8″), the other a scrawny unfit office type…

They were using a 30ish lb kettlebell, doing turkish get ups with emphasis on overly perfect form…making it like it was challenging.

They probably commented on my calisthenic ability, asked if I ever did kettlebells…

I recall saying the tgu is easy, they were both taken aback…”why don’t you do one if they’re so easy”.

“Okay, where’s the heaviest bell.”

The skinny one, who really was that uncoordinated as to truly be struggling, he found the 30 or 35lber whatever the heaviest one was there, and I did a rep.

They were in SHOCK that it just wasn’t hard for me.

This popped into my mind as I put my 20kg bell away, laughing at 10:00 EMOM, actually paying attention to proper form/crisp transitions now that I actually felt like doing the tgu compared to that night doing one rep with an “ooohh scary” 30 or 35lber.

Heavier tonight, still not a thing.
Kinda a thing with the 32+16=48kg turkish get up.

I can push this a long way 🙂

…..

Then I meditated, some just sitting and breathing, some standing while flexing glutes – standing like a tree – chi kung like, some rotational stretching thinking discus, some flexing through the range of motion of shot put power position.

Wes Watson audio on for an hour.

Funny, two to four years ago I was listening to his channel, thinking my circumstances – that I couldn’t make it.

I hadn’t listened to him much the past year or two.

Now, I listen a little, and notice – I’m no longer thinking obstacles are insurmountable…I now see that I’ll make it.

…..

A big late dinner ; a large bowl of pasta and cheese, a big glass of milk, and some crackers and french onion dip.
…..

Not training related, but again I bic’d my scalp.

Twice a week seems the proper rate for keeping a shaved head.

I actually find the act meditative, relaxing, calming.

Okay, it’s almost midnight, gotta finish drying off, and will do a few more pushups, grab my credit card…

11/17/23
Can you fail your way, higher and higher from a high pull to a snatch or a clean?

I think you can. It’s simply an odd take on range of motion training.

“Failing My Way Further/Higher” (High Pulls Til I Make The Clean – there’s a progression video there for the clean and press.

A high pull from blocks, maybe strapped, might as well use my bumper plates – this could really train the pull, possibly the best variation for me right now – building the extra oomph that I need.

…..

When you work hard enough, you do realize that picking a weight up off the ground and pressing it overhead DOES work everything.

My quads, I think it’s the vmo, down at the knee are sore.

My mid back has soreness, while just the other day I noticed more thickness of the spinal erectors around the mid to upper back.

My abs are sore.
The question is whether that’s from the density one arm presses or from the handful of 255lb power clean after dark fails.

…..

I think I’ll get the 255lb clean and press just about as soon as I try the weight again.

I was looking at my local copy frame by frame, seeing that I did no jump under whatsoever – the pull on the no shirt, no gloves rep is plenty high to power clean, and I think I’m good for the 255 press.

…..

Youtube has been recommending college cheer/stunting to me, I’ve watched maybe 5:00 of the stuff.

I’d make a good base with my shoulder strength.

How much tumbling skill would I need… and more importantly where/how would I learn it.

There must be a way for me to get a solid handstand, a backflip, etc.

I dislike about myself that I never go to other activities, it’s just all weights.

…..

I need far far more pulling to guarantee my presses.

So add lots of high pulls (from blocks?), and as weight is added progress down the line from snatch high pulls to deadlift variations.

Don’t just do a few minutes of pressing, but have an hour of daily pulling after it.

Snatch high pulls, clean high pulls, then low pulls, plus any and all deadlift variants as long as they’re double overhand.

Read Paul Anderson’s Words :
http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2008/01/paul-anderson-on-hip-and-back-power.html?m=1

…..

Gotch and Inoki exercises together ;

I’m sure you’ll learn something from it.

…..

The big bag of mexican mix cheese – it’s $7 or $8, 180g protein, 3600 calories…

It’d be odd eating only shredded cheese, but it’s a lot of nutrition in a ready to go package.

…..

No zzzz, so I z pressed for day 27 of overhead press every day.

z press 13x135lbs

I had the idea that I CAN shoulder the bar via clean or continental, and must’ve spent 15 attempts, getting really close – just needing a small flick of the wrist to get the bar over, and not making it.

It gave me an awesome forearm pump, some upper back, some bicep, and the tomfoolery blasted my core before I actually got the bar to shoulder.

Heck once or twice after that I failed to steinborn the bar…then I did, then I pressed, today’s z press being a very heavy set of ab training in comparison to all the lifting I’ve been doing.

…..

What have I eaten today?
Pasta with cheese more than once, a small portion of breaded chicken, a small mexican meal, some crackers, a little box of reese’s pieces, drank some coffee milk (uh ohh will I sleep 🙂), a couple glasses of milk, a can of iced tea – perfect macros, perfect dieting I’m sure.

Pretty low on meat, no eggs, just me eating what sounds good right now.

I’ll make a push for strength with a bunch of eggs starting by around thanksgiving I’d say.

I must’ve recently crossed some threshold of size and strength, it’s the feeling I get from walking around the store – the stares, glances, unnecessary apologies, etc.

…..

Macros are real easy to hit when you don’t have them. 🙂

…..

The z press as the main press, with some heavier power cleans after it would work as a way to train the clean and press – kinda westside breaking the thing down into pieces.

…..

Almost never have I done continentals…they do open up shouldering a heavy bar opportunity…

…..

Did 10:00 of conditioning after dark.
Odd minutes snatching the 20kg bell for 5/side (ie 10 reps each period)
Even minutes doing 5 one pump burpees.

…..

I just realized something ;

While I definitely feel a lot of fear about the 255lb-300lb power cleans, without realizing it, while at the store I did this subconsciously…I grabbed the bag of breakfast sausage that was acting as key to my egg consumption.

I fell into the pattern of having at least one sausage link in the pan per egg.

Maybe the fried eggs are coming back sooner than I’d thought.

I type late night, not much in the way of protein ready to go, tired but not yet going to bed, hungry and not yet eating…

11/16/23
I’m capable of 5 pullups at 290lbs.

The other day I did 2×4.
Today I tried again, got 5 reps.

All extra pulling helps, as I’ll get to later.

……

Today I almost ate vegetarian.

Maybe two hours after the density training of the one arm press I ate about half of a loaf of french bread with butter, drank a pint of coffee milk, and a glass of milk.

I boiled up a goodly amount of pasta, shells to be precise, probably 1¼ or 1⅓lbs.

A full box and some left in the box from yesterday.

Now, pasta costs anywhere from $1.25/lb to like $2.50/lb before we get into the alternative choices of flour, the chickpea pasta, the vegetable pasta, etc.

I’ll occasionally have the chickpea pasta, but generally regular old grain – the wheat is good enough.

Unless the generic is sold out, I never pay more than the lowest price point in the store.

No need, it’s all the same semolina, all the same color box, just some say barilla, some the store’s name.

So for $1.25 you get 1600 calories, about 50g protein, and simply I just prefer pasta to rice.

It might sound strange, but rice to me tastes too sugary, while wheat just feels like it’s a builder of greater robustness than rice.

Trust your body. Follow it’s guidelines.

…..

Almost a day of bread, butter, pasta, and cheese.

I ended up having a meatball sub for a late dinner, drank (another quart probably being too much for good sleep) coffee milk with it as post workout meal from after dark, no warmup, 255lb clean and press attempts.

I made pulls, maybe you could call them high pulls, but they were surely not cleans.

I was pulling high enough for full cleans for sure, but that’s not a skill I really have.

Interesting the difference between 225 and 255lbs on a clean to me.

I feel that I’m close to the 255lbs, and honestly – it’d actually be a backyard PR.

I’ve cleaned 275lbs on a half dozen or so occasions INSIDE GYMS.

As far as backyard weightlifting I’ve done 245lbs…so high pulls with 255lbs tonight, feeling like had I actually warmed up that I’d have made it…

Well it’s PR territory.

…..

I can taste 255lbs, and have already started thinking of 300, 365lbs.

in a whim going for 255… cause I can taste it…and after dark sounded quite whimsical and fun

…..

Man do the night’s pushups feel strong lately…it’s all the overhead pressing 🙂

Persistence & Tenacity

11/15/23
Unable to sleep (too many amping myself up factors to allow it), at 545am I’m in the kitchen letting my phone charge as I do the day’s duolingo (spanish today), and eat a bowl of pasta with shredded cheese.

…..

I didn’t end up going keto or carnivore on that, run if you can call it that.

I ate enough desserts to not be on a diet at all, and it had evolved to eating lots of eggs as eating for power.

“Egg Power Diet”

Right now this is probably going to be the third day giving myself a break.

There is Vince Gironda precedence here, to go vegetarian after a protein/fat heavy period.

Last night I ate a salad, and it was delightful.

lol I almost can’t believe I wrote the above sentence.

…..

Part of my sleepless night was rereading my own content.

I read “eggs are the superfood” laughing that I just recently came to enjoy eating them fried, not drinking a single one, though doing so could be on video during a 5×5 lift and talk type video.

What also struck me was “vegetarian bodybuilding – how I’d go about it”, and honestly I could see myself doing this for a brief period.

And I expand ;

As I sit here typing, leisurely eating from my bowl of shells and mexican mix cheese, having boiled pasta three or four times in the past two days, expecting to do so again later today…

I’m really liking pasta with cheese and/or butter right now.

I had the thought “what if you alternated periods of carnivore with periods of vegan/vegetarian”.

I feel like it’d work well.
Plants for dropping weight.
Meat for the strength push.

…..

Will I eat primarily pasta and cheese for a time?

We’ll see.

I’m plenty fucking strong right now, and right now whether it’s mental in origin or physical in origin right now my body says “eat pasta with cheese” instead of eating meat.

So I ain’t worried about it.

…..

You want to be jacked?

Lift some damn weights!

If I am going vegetarian for awhile, well the cleans, presses, and bent rows will continue to build me as always.

My delta look more 3d, the right side angled to the mirror looks awesome – heck seems people in public notice me more NOW with this growing shoulder girdle and press PR after press PR.

…..

I got between three and four hours of sleep before going for the 10x185lb press.

I’d have been better off having been up ~26 hours by the time I’d lifted.

See, I woke up groggy as all get out – the lift ended up a little later than my usual filming time frame by forty five minutes or so – it annoyed me to be setting up late in my eyes – honestly I didn’t want to lift…

But I made myself, and feeling all tired and shit it was a good test of “just how locked in is this level of strength”.

I didn’t even clean the bar, it was one of those heaves, a bent row into a flick of the wrist.

Makes me wonder…what can I curl?
Five years ago I was silly close to strict with 155lbs, in spitting distance of 185lbs, and that was running similar training at the “SoCal Bodybuilding Gym”.

(you know clean and press press press almost exclusively)

The sleepless night? The general tiredness?
lol too much coffee milk – I am still like a squirrel having no tolerance to caffeine 🙂

Had I actually been well rested… probably a 15rm.

…..

I think tonight I’ll eat lightly.

A little pasta with cheese, maybe a salad, probably three fried eggs whether I have a little meat with them or not.

…..

Yep. I ate pretty lightly tonight.
Some more pasta with cheese, then three egg sandwiches, a tad of meat on those.

I could still eat. We’ll see.

…..

715pm – Conditioning After Dark
Burpees & 20kg KN OA Sn
15:00 of :15 work/:45 rest
Odd Minutes : 4-5 one pump burpees
Even Minutes : 8-10 snatches alternating hands each period

last :15 of the final rest I did the missing hand’s snatches

the combination of the two results in the oft spoke of in the 1950s “rib cage expansion”
you feel.your sides, your intercostals, your lats from the combination
your glutes depending, your hands/forearms pumped on delay

I might be 290lbs, but there’s no reason I can’t be in shape – burpees and kettlebell snatches with monitored rests and rep goals per work period… that’ll sort it out.

I can’t be out of shape.
Fitness is mandatory.

on repeat :

J Vengeance – Rep City

…..

I wore a long sleeve shirt that I hadn’t, possibly in years, for this session.

I was filling it out! Completely!

It’s a a big shirt.
I may have a gut, but I’ve definitely put on shoulder girdle size with all this pressing.

…..

10pm – A small bowl of chicken stew with cheese mixed in, some triscuit crackers, a glass of milk – maybe dessert after

(no dessert after all)

Persistence & Tenacity

11/14/23
Waking up my right lat was massively sore, down at the lower attachment.

This was the kettlebell hand for yesterday’s see saw press – the soreness makes sense as ;
1. I hadn’t done the movement in a long time.
2. As I saw during video editing, you do want to lean during the movement – reach at the top of the rep, kinda side crunch at the bottom, and I did a better job of this with the kettlebell side than the dumbbell side – so obviously it hit more lats than the dumbbell on the left had.

This is what puts the see saw press up there ; when all the parts are in motion you’re building shoulders well, and very much working your sides – the lats, obliques, plus your midsection, your abdominals.

I know I’ve read of a 1950s bodybuilder, who won a, one, singular, either mr olympia or mr world, or similar – who at something like 5’11” 195lbs was said to do no upper body work than see saw pressing a few sets of 15-20 a few times a week with something like 105lbers.

Dang!
Slightly over half bodyweight each hand, AND high reps.

I’d say 10 or 15 sets weekly like that WOULD be all the upper body work you need.

Gives me inspiration this anecdote, as I’m much heavier, and my bells are only in the 70lbs range.

…..

today’s 2x225lb press

I did two back off sets with 185lbs after today’s 2x225lb press.

Neither hit 10 reps, and had I not done the 225lb set – I’d say I’d have hit the 10x185lbs as a first/only set.

Here’s to tomorrow’s overhead press every day video – I’ll go for it again.

Tomorrow I go for 10+ x 185lbs.
I expect to get it.

At some point however these are going to have to change to the 5×5 and talking type video format, allow me some more training than what is a mix of training and showing strength.

…..

The lat soreness went away as soon as I’d done the first press set.

Soreness tends to be like that.
As I wake up I’ll “flex around”, flexing, and moving around what is sore – that tends to get me functional pretty quickly, and besides we perform just as much as we demand of ourselves to perform.

…..

My bar speed pressing 185lbs is staggeringly fast.

More speed = more power, which correlates to more strength (which today’s 2x225lbs had the possibility of being a triple, the 2x220lbs just days ago was effort level primal groans – so obviously I’m stronger)… = MORE GAINS!

High frequency training and overhead pressing every day = the gains train, that’s where it’s at!

(a however many powerful sets of 3×185, basically treating it like a speed day – that is an option)

…..

…..

Like Vince Gironda advised ; after that egg heavy period I’m giving myself a few days without eggs.

Today ate frozen chicken, some pasta with cheese, and a salad.

Drank a BUNCH of coffee milk, and it ain’t cheap.

While milk is $2.59/gallon, coffee milk runs that or more per QUART.

I pay $12-16/gallon for those, today I drank a quart and a pint, saving a quart for tomorrow.

…..

Note : it’s been 7½ of daily pushups, no misses.

…..

Lunch : small, leftover pasta, drink coffee milk

Snack : while cooking dinner, leftover pasta, drink coffee milk

First Dinner : most of a bag of popcorn chicken, a bag is $8 or $9

Second Dinner : finish popcorn chicken as I cook more pasta, eat pasta, drink coffee milk and milk, have a couple brownies

…..

At $8 or $9, and I’m real lazy about chicken, most often eating it as a bag of popcorn chicken for dinner – I’ve done this two days now instead of eggs – well, it makes sense to me to do maybe a week like this, maybe less, and if I’m truly enjoying chicken to the use that same money for 12 or 18 eggs, 1½-2lbs of chicken breast – cook it from scratch for myself, all the while letting the pasta kick and dessert eating run their course.

Hop back on the clean eating, maybe even a little cleaner, and pick up kettlebell work/volume, probably having purchased another bell or two (might as well christmas present for myself to me some implements that can condition and strengthen for life).

…..

Tomorrow we press, and I can’t be happier.

Persistence & Tenacity

11/13/23
Okay, today I made two shorts.

…..

It’s a struggle in my mind debating whether to eat the day’s nine eggs, fast, or eat something different.

…..

My mood wasn’t good for lifting.
I took a hot shower upon waking ,(what a joy hot water is), the entire time just scared for no real reason about 225+ lbs.

So, I called the audible, kept the overhead press every day going by doing the see saw press.

…..

See I’d been meaning to film see saw pressing this entire time, and honestly, I want good stuff to be on video, not just the same workout each day, so see saw press hadn’t been getting done.

However, it’s a perfect in between/off day/light day lift.

Not only is it arguably the #1 upper body exercise, with my mismatched pair of 32kg kb and 75lb db, it’s only moderate in weight, so it’s perfect for giving my body a break while still putting weight overhead every day.

…..

The turkish get up was a whim.

I’d stood up with a 95lb barbell before, it’s stuck with me that people online are scared to use two bells on the movement, and 48kg would be considered heavy…

So I tried it out.

Slick grass, not perfectly level, lol – maybe I’ll actually take the bells to a park or something, film there with at least flat ground.

It was super close.
Really, not picture perfect form, just getting it done – I think had I plotted out each step I might’ve made it today.

I’m sure that I surely did it wrong 🙂

…..

I decided to skip the squats, so the light barbell squat every day ran almost five weeks.

Frankly I have a hard time calling a few empty bar squats “squat every day”, it’s more like general human motion.

(Note : make a video just showing the bent bar, talk it’s history, the value I put on all the starting out and little equipment times sweat I’ve poured with that bar, and how I still use it.)

I too decided that it may be a longer than twenty four hour fast – felt like eating nothing or lightly.

Decided to skip the eggs, then changed my mind around hour 17 of fasting, had some yogurt pretzels, a bowl of cereal with heavy cream, and a glass of milk as I cooked a frozen pizza – of which I ate about half, then drank a can of iced tea.

Gave myself a break…

And giving myself breaks is a real struggle for me mentally/emotionally.

…..

Tomorrow may be a shot at pressing 10+ x185lbs whether as a back off set (from working to a 1rm), one of volume/sets at that weight, or stand alone.

…..

And lookee ; about 9pm I’m again in the kitchen, finishing that frozen pizza, drinking milk, and boiling a bit more than half the 16oz package of pasta.

Shells today.
That sounds real good with butter and cheese.

(It was.)

…

11/12/23
4 pullups.

Whatever I weigh, 290ish, that’s all I got – four, good, strict pullups.

I did two sets, so make it 2×4, but a 5th rep was not happening on either.

Interesting I thought, as my clean is going up.

However, my grip strength was SOLID.

…..

The pressing IS really going up.

Day 22
I never defined if/when there’s a stop point.

30 days?
40 days brings me to last of this or first of next month.

I had said I was aiming for a 255lb clean and press on or before December 1st.
Still am.

As far as the overhead press everyday streak – we’ll see, this could go indefinite, or I could switch the every day lift.

Had the idea that “225 nfl bench for reps test DAILY”, that could be the next on camera phase – let the world see me make do for reps on the most hilariously unstable set up.

Also the idea to just do 5:00 or 10:00 density periods of one exercise on camera.

Also need to do more talking videos.

…..

Today I made the day’s eggs a bit dirtier, sausage links and hot dogs with them.

While I realized it is not animal based in the slightest, trail mix is pretty affordable, provides a good deal of calories and nutrition while always being on hand.

…..

I had to laugh.

Today I “discovered” speed pulls.
(meaning I realized what I was doing is called that generally)

About an hour after that press set, I pulled 9×3 rotating between sumo, snatch grip, and conventional at the same 205lb bar weight.

I don’t know what my max is, mixed grip, double overhand, or otherwise (straps lol).

I do know that I respond real well to lots of sets of low rep, powerful, light, double overhand deadlifts with my glutes firing hard.

Light, powerful, “leg pressing” the bar off the floor if my glutes pump I’ll be on both cloud 9 AND the gains train.

When I train in a manner that pumps up my glutes everything hip related improves.

The “leg pressing” off the floor too carries my legs well.

…..

Well, I’m impressed.
I cooked eleven eggs, four hot dogs, seven sausage links, and I’m about to finish it.

Not a small meal, but not huge, still most would be impressed by that.

Had two glasses of milk, and a 16oz coffee milk with it, a bowl of white chocolate chips stirred together with peanut butter for dessert/as an appetite builder.

I’ve long known sugar, if you go back and forth between a candy and a main course to allow you to eat much more.

In the bathroom mirror, having just eaten, it’s like the pump in my shoulders that I didn’t have a few hours ago while lifting, went right into my shoulders.

They look monstrous!

…..

Press all the time, every variant, every rep range, and eat.

This puts on mad shoulders.

…..

Did the after dark fall/winter thing again, the freestyle session – firstly getting the day’s empty bar overhead squats done (squat every day is past a month now), then with a 20kg kettlebell and a sense of play…

It was some one arm swings, some one arm snatches, some burpees, some handstands (one good one), a little bit of dancing around, primal round the fire type movement, a little bit of backwards walking/sprints, a tad of footwork drills.

I laughed at myself for how quickly I got out of breath, and how for the entire forty minutes or so I was out of breath…off so little volume/reps/work.

I realize that ; this session is entirely time on my feet, that I didn’t stand still once, and that this is all basically an obese body building work capacity.

I recall at 20/21 going from 235 or so, to the vicinity of 195-205, and that alone magically saw me able to run well, have good wind, etc.

So I consider this movement basic human being, part of life KNOWING that it pays a million fold vs a little lifting volume being basically my sole physical activity vs being sad sack sedentary.

…..

There’s no doubt in my eyes that RIGHT NOW had I access to a 48kg kettlebell that I could snatch it.

One thing I realized during the play session was that when you’re snatching the kettlebell from the ground “dead snatch” the parlance to my knowledge – you’re doing something I read chinese weightlifters are taught to do…you’re lifting with quads, a thigh lock, what I call “leg pressing” off the ground in the context of barbell deadlifts.

THAT technique added a lot of power to the kb one arm snatch.

Then on subsequent reps you’re ripping the bell down “hiking”, a real functional strength thing for the lats, down from lockout, these reps going between the legs.

…..

Not a bad day.

…..

hadn’t listened to wes watson in a while, gave two relistens as I sat outside breathing the fresh, apparently 25°f air, cooling down after that after dark session

I’m building THIS ↓↓↓↓, just as I’m building my press.

…..

And man did the night’s pushups make a crazy pump in my upper back, my side delts poppin!

If you’re even halfway interested in bodybuilding or strongman – you owe it to yourself to do lots and lots and lots of clean & presses!

Persistence & Tenacity

11/11/23
Imagine if everyone (you?) worked out an hour for every hour everyone (you?) watched others workout…

It’d make for a very different usage of time during nfl season for instance.

…..

I realized today that I’d heard no nfl news thus far, what halfway into the season, other than that taylor swift is dating some kansas city quarterback or some shit.

Then today I heard the new england patriots have a losing record…not that I give a flying fuck.

Those results?
Why would I care…

There’s weight to lift!

I’m infinitely more concerned with what press performance I’ll have tomorrow, what little bit of extra exercise I’ll have after dark tonight – laughing at myself for actually hitting a 6x195lb press a few hours later off camera (cause I do lots of minisessions – not all under camera), having posted a rep less.

see, only 5 reps lol

…..

Today I ate eleven fried eggs with eleven sausage links for lunch, followed by dessert of (store bought – confound it…I didn’t end up baking – a skill I shall soon develop) reese’s pieces cookies, four of the six, drank plenty of milk.

A dinner hour snack of the last two cookies and some more milk.

Now for dinner is a conundrum.
I’ve chicken stew ready to eat, a frozen pizza in the freezer, eggs that can be cooked.

I’m kinda inclined to up the eggs slightly, have maybe four or so more…

…..

See, on this egg based manner of eating I feel very strong.

VERY STRONG

I basically eat my 9+ eggs with similar numbers (usually same or slightly more) of sausage links, then the rest of the day’s food is fair game, anything goes.

It sees me eating a lot of frozen pizza, a lot of peanut butter cookies, lots of milk, and occasional other stuff.

Needless to say keto and carnivore both are out the window.

I most assuredly am not dieting, and am not trying to burn off any of the many far pounds contained within the 290 that I am walking around weighing at present

…..

Okay, dinner is five eggs, five or six sausage links, then if I’m still hungry – chicken stew and/or greek yogurt.

The amount of food is becoming a mission ; gonna have to make habit of buying eggs and milk daily.

Cause an 18ct of eggs each day with gomad is just a few eggs and like a quart away.

WHILE I too am eating other stuff, desserts, other meat, etc.

cause you’ve gotta feed the beast

…..

Got in a few minutes, a few extra overhead squats, a few burpees, a few handstands, then boiled some pasta (still hungry) to end the night.

Hadn’t had pasta since I started eating eggs daily, the last quarter or third of the box, doused in butter and both shake and shredded cheese.

A couple subscribers came in today.
I was looking at the statistics/analytics, and realized this week is 1/20 of my TOTAL views over the past almost seven years, that this month is about a third of my views, a third to quarter of my watch time, that it IS going up exponentially.

Get to monetized.
Have home based lifting be my life.

Have the two feed into each other.

I’ve serious potential in pressing.
Could I press to 365lbs, then transition to actually competing in oly from there, have a 500+ c&j.

Almost 30, pressing in the low 200lbs, and I’m thinking about making team usa…

11/10/23
Today I attempted a mismatched bell Sig Klein challenge with my 32kg kettlebell and 75lb dumbbell.

I did not get the full 12 reps.
I got nine.

Soon.
Soon I’ll hit the full challenge (even extra reps past 12) with these bells…on camera.

(man did the camera not focus properly – in the part I edited out it focused on the hair of my shin while I was standing there close to the running camera)

My “overhead press every day” would rightly turn more towards every rep style.

That’ll give me more strength, side effect muscle me up more.

I was thinking see saw press today on camera (did so off camera), thought it’d be tomorrow’s, but then – amrap hang clean and press every rep style – 135lbs maybe against the clock… say 3:00.

That makes more sense…
Could I hang clean and press the grace wod in three minutes?

…..

Right before lifting was a small meal ; a peanut butter and honey sandwich, fritos scoops dipped in guacamole, and some milk.

Milk consumption is getting close to a gallon a day, and nine eggs or more daily is a pretty fast pace through a couple 18ct packages.

…..

My second meal is ten fried eggs.

Nine sausage links with it, a tall glass of milk, the whoopie pie alongside it completely killing any semblance of keto or carnivore lol.

It doesn’t matter, in the mirror I feel I’m getting slightly leaner as the press every day continues, the temperatures are dropping which means the time outside is more metabolically demanding, and frankly…

With low temperatures, while rather underdressed for the weather, and going close to all out on these on camera sets (even if they’re the only set that day) it IS metabolically demanding.

…..

Nighttime :

30°f, barefoot, though otherwise dressed for winter – I step outside and basically do burpee form work, pausing on the ground, exploding off the ground with a hard (imagine a 405+, 500lb bench worthy) push, and jumping my feet to where my hands had been on the ground a moment prior.

Filling in the rests with 4ct jumping jacks, it’s hard to call it a conditioning session – maybe 20 one pump burpees as described, maybe 30 4ct jumping jacks, really just a few minutes of movement (about eight), more playful than militant – just outside to enjoy life, working on my mindset.

Ecstatic to see that daily posting IS growing the channel.

From 50 to 60 (61) subscribers in nine, ten days. That’s more growth than in the first year and a half.

…..

As the burpees were done the frozen pizza is in the oven.

I ate the entire thing.
Pizza is the ultimate big eating food choice.

…..

The world is in our mind.

Most important giving yourself purpose.

•Today I press.
•Today I film myself pressing.

It’s giving me something, while it’s looking to the how’s, the where’s as to making the gym truly my life.

Grow this to monetized, and I could train home based for a living, make my entire life revolve around training.

Dream to reality…

…..

Tomorrow?
After the day’s press video, no joke ; I think I’ll try my hand at baking cookies. At 6 for $6 from the store, I’d rather just buy the ingredients and have a few dozen for like $10.

Basically I can’t have enough meat, pizza, milk, and cookies right now.

Eating big truly is eating for strength.

My 9+ eggs a day habit has me just about the most regimented I’ve ever been with eating.

Amazing how quickly one stringent variable expands to other aspects of life.

Persistence & Tenacity

11/9/23
Doing burpees last night after yesterday’s second session 2x220lb presses, man! Burpees are a triceps/lats thing the way I drop and pop up.

Especially tricep after good, heavy, pressing!

It’s like an upper body strength enhancer, do the right other stuff, and the burpee will add a multiplayer effect.

Boomshaka!

…..

Awhile back I screen grabbed some comments on prison fitness, dudes saying they did cali time – saw guys built like hulk hogan on daily pushups, pullups, dips, and a 10+ year 500 burpee a day habit.

Honestly, I’m inclined to believe those anecdotes.

Could be entirely false or whatever, but placebo effect – I believe in that possibility, therefore my burpees are worth a whole lot more than just what they would say on paper.

Doesn’t matter if it’s real or not, ride the belief, harness the placebo, true or false = irrelevant, in your favor.

…..

Today’s Press Every Day :

I went outside barefoot, 30°f – so a tad below freezing, spent about ten minutes outside barefoot and shirtless, really only no gloves, no hat for the filming of the video.

I’d thought it funny to title the video Wim Hof in some way, use the first snow of the season for barefoot cold exposure, and on camera throw my hat and gloves off.

To keep it a short vs a video (doing my best to cut it to 59 seconds from a minute and four seconds without losing anything) well you don’t get to see me take steps barefoot.

Whoops.

…..

Interestingly, I pressed that bell for 20 reps with my right, then way later in the day, did the even it out set…10 reps left, and those felt heavier, were slower.

(plus 9th to 9th, this was a month of squat every day with tonight’s set of 12 x bar overhead squats)

Whoah! What a difference between strong side and weak side.

You see how the shot put came off the right, there’s just way more oomph, power endurance especially, to that side.

However, there’s no doubt in my mind I could press the 40kg either hand.

I’m trying not to spend money on gym stuff right now (other than food, which sorta counts – right now I’m ravenous), and I can’t justify $1000 for the concept2 rower, and am on this wishy washy line over the 40kg kettlebell.

Another, heavier bell, would open up heavier kettlebell pressing which travels and bypasses well the footing issue that the barbell presents on particle board in the yard.

Of course kettlebell cleans too!
Heavier on the grip and bicep than the barbell, and really most all from the hang which is the position I need work most.

Note : just run barbell hang clean and press every rep style for the videos for a time – that helps my clean, and to a large degree bypasses the footing issue.

A shower thought was ; go to the hardware store, get a full size piece of particle board and use that as a cover…probably as a burpee platform too.

Dang, getting a 40kg kettlebell just makes sense though…

…..

We’re now on an article type note ; with today’s overhead squatting I’ve now done some barbell squats every day for a month.

Doing something for your legs every day is a good habit to have.

Your legs are your base, and you want your base to be solid.

Now nothing I did this month was heavy, front squats or overhead squats mostly – didn’t use squat stands once, did breathing squats with 65lbs, 75lbs at the start…

Honestly I think an average of 15 squats a day, usually with the empty bar, put some size on my thighs.

The heaviest I went was 135lbs, maybe a tad heavier, on overhead squats.

The most awkward front squat variation could see more play if I decide to move in the direction of more leg work.

I also think the light squatting added some oomph/horsepower to the cleans.

Interesting that, and it does have 1950s weightlifting precedence, that leg training can be light to moderate in weight and yet still nicely build up your other lifts.

The 215 and 220 cleans yesterday were not quite crisp, but they weren’t as heavy as they usually are cold, outdoors, on this set up.

I attribute that to the squats.

It’s pretty high muscular activation just pumping out reps with the empty barbell on overhead squats…

That effect is also, more easily I might add, found with kettlebell one arm swings – go slightly underbell, I use a 20kg.

The high rep overhead squat, mostly with the empty bar, for sets of 15s to 50s, it’s MY THING.

I’ve never heard of another doing it, never seen another doing it – hope my blogging of it causes someone to benefit from the practice (note to self – 50 rep overhead squat with voiceover about the practice as video).

The real thing, the purpose behind it – it’s not a squat thing per se…it’s about work capacity, to have your legs used to doing work.

It could be lots of walking lunges/walking swamp lunges.

About this time last year, wearing nasty line cook kitchen clothing, my short thrown off, I’d be in the yard first swinging my tree branch mace, then lunging across the yard down and back.

You don’t realize how well 15, or 20, or 50-100 reps legs, light serves you in being a strong human being.

It’s just good practice.

Do your 35+ pushups, your 15+ leg reps, maybe some chins (I’ve had these as habit anywhere from 3-150 daily before, depending on the period).

That’s like the minimal, uninvested, still stay strong always programming – no gym required, can get it done anywhere…

Which is the most important thing.

Persistence & Tenacity