started the day shoveling snow
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Having bought groceries already I’ve got plenty of meat on hand – ground beef, steak, rotisserie chicken…
I completely forgot all desserts I’d possibly want – having neither frosted animal cookies nor donuts on hand.
We’re all little sugar addicts, and somehow can’t just eat the ground beef alone…
Was the ramen with it an act of weakness?
And while I was thankful for and enjoyed the pizza at work on tuesday – there’s for the most part been zero draw to having any at home.
That’s with the knowledge that the best bulking food is a good meat lover’s pizza.
While I’ll have to shovel again today, I’m feeling a bunch of workout volume, probably throw the forearm forklift around a tree for a bunch of, I’m feeling trx style, rows.
A bunch of little shoveling and workout mini sessions and a bunch of feedings strikes me as an enjoyable day.
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My kettlebell is shipping.
With how I intend to use it I’m feeling a bit antsy, hoping it’ll show on the short end of the expected delivery time frame.
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Even though I’m far less slave/addict to my cellphone than most, I’ve noticed while reading the bible that my attention span is far shorter than it’d been when I was a student in the formal education setting.
I read for hours growing up.
And does a few minutes of duolingo really count?
It’s worth doing educational things for lengths of time.
The funny thing about the above is I can sit quietly and almost motionless for hours – it ain’t a thing to me.
Relatedly; the crew I’ve been with most shifts drives in a hilariously quiet cab – to the point when I’m with the other crew they’re going “J, you’re awfully quiet”.
While the driver will turn on the radio, it’s almost naught a word spoken between we three during truck time.
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•ground beef w/ramen mix (from last night)
•chicken quesadillas
•banana bread
•milk
•four hershey chocolates
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heard a goose honking, couldn’t see it – laughed to myself thinking “it’s flabbergasted, thinking – didn’t go far enough south for the winter after all”
threw a few snowballs at a tree – that’s play, something we did as kids, not enough of as adults
“went to the gym” ie shoveled out where I lift
waited awhile, then…
Lift :
Strap Isometrics + A Couple “Ring” Pullups :
a little bit of isometrics before and after lifting, and discovering that I can do ring pullups with the straps – could gtg that easily enough, step outside, throw strap over branch, low reps…eventually REALLY strong
Fat Grips Deadlift :
41x135lbs in 2:30
31x135lbs in 2:30
probably 3:00 between density periods/sets
it’s obvious that I have lats and glutes from this – great pumps – I respond real well to this type of stimulus
progression standard is roughly 50 reps in 2:00, then bump 20-30lbs bar weight – I figure 50×205 in 2:00 is plenty of real world ability, not that I intend to stop there
i’m really digging the light thick handles deadlifts
this the first time I didn’t press in awhile – wasn’t looking to shoulder the bar in sketchy winter footing, main reason I didn’t do isabel a little harder today
the footing will be good enough soon
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“If I ever go back to a gym.”
Do I have a heavy lifting and strongman itch?
I’d still like to bench 405+, 455lbs sounds nice frankly.
And the labor job really has me caring about real world strength with odd objects and having a high level of work capacity and conditioning.
More and more it seems I have to open my own gym…
Enough power cages, platforms, all the strongman equipment, and plenty of wrestling mat square footage.
I’d like to bring in some high level grappling instruction, and run the lifting side myself.
You could train people out of the local powerlifting gym or move and train people out of anywhere – parks can even work.
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followed along to this
felt complimentary to all the time outside in the snow today
i’m looking forward to turkish get ups with that kettlebell laying in the snow
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scourby kjv in headphones for about forty five minutes
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How exactly am I going to use that kettlebell once it arrives?
•lots of swings – since new to having access
•lots of front squats – as I see value in adding lots of squatting to what I currently do, and for whatever reason loaded squats feel better to me than bw squats –
Video :
•flip & catch
•bottoms up press weak side
•bottoms up turkish get up, eventually laying and standing
It’d be interesting if for a month or so I was to for all my lifting just use my mismatched pair of bells, 75lb db & 32kg kb for swings, front squats, see saw presses, etc.
OR
I’ve had a 20lb kettlebell since early in high school, something my mom got me since “I was getting into getting into shape” – Mom, this long ago gift with the other bell…
I’ve a wonderful awful idea ;
To blend mythical strength’s take on dan john’s “tabata front squats”, a 20lber and 70lber making for ~95lb barbell, and quite possibly doing two sets this a day.
It’s only 4:00 or 8:00 minutes, and the set up is silly quick.
I bought the 32kg kettlebell (I keep wanting to write 70lb lol) for work capacity and conditioning – it’d be cool to just devote a brief period to that.
And for the silly quick set up.
I can use a bell in situations the barbell isn’t happening.
Barbell lifting can come back later.
I expect the kb work will mentally get me more into barbell work again.
I’ve been mostly ignoring squats for 15+ months now. A bunch of one or mismathed kettlebell front squats, and I expect come warmer weather I’ll be more into high rep back squats again.
There is a way I can make my living from all this. I love lifting. I can teach it.
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Gym culture, all the certifications, etc it often strikes me as a bunch of people who’ve never done manual labor.
The labor world is “get it done”, the gym world too often is “perfection or nothing…so nothing”.
I don’t much want to be physical indoors.
I actually like carrying boxes, delivering houses, it’s as a laborer not enough money.
Even in my 20s, my blending of the labor, gym, and lifting worlds has shown me the value of brute force (labor & lifting), getting the job done (labor), and from the gym world actually doing stuff for your health like getting a good pump, training the whole body – I’ve learned from both, getting to blend both.
Getting A Good Pump Is Healthy :
With my proportions my lower back gets tight, sore fairly quickly.
At 6′ my limbs are the length of some 5’8″ guy at best, pretty short legs, and REALLY SHORT arms, my wingspan is only kinda short as my broad shoulders make up for the super short arms.
Muscular glute size, more ass as it were, takes stress off the lower back – the best thing I can do for physical longevity as a mover is get good glute pumps on a regular basis.
I’ve got a small, dense, powerful ass – the best hypertrophy stimulus for me is metabolic stress, I need to do a bunch of reps and cause my glutes to lock up – that’s how they grow, that’s how they function in place of my lower back.
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•chicken quesadillas
•milk
•three hershey chocolates
•pb&j
•bowl of cereal
the rotisserie chicken came in clutch today, that with mexican mix cheese, and these “spicy” (mild/moderate really) tortillas from trader joe’s for the bulk of my food
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I realize how much more energy I have delivering houses than I had working as a line cook.
How many days a week did I lift while cooking?
While immediately as a mover I’m racking up the mini sessions, constantly wanting to get more work capacity, move faster, etc.
I’m still butting heads with “nothing to do – nowhere to go” (slow boil debating moving away from new england cause of this – to start new in a new region), just doing loads of mini sessions at home, and slightly cleaning up how I eat.
It’s harder on the body to stand in your little ft² of commercial kitchen hell – stewing in your own juices in perpetual 95° next to the oven, than it is to have the (yes seriously) joy of carrying stuff in and out in and out of the truck/house.
The worst part of delivering houses recently was the 5½ hours total of truck time the other day – it’s tedious to sit there that long in a smoking area when you don’t smoke.
I count this as a blessing ; as a mover I do not have massive thigh, and even worse, right armpit chafe.
That was terrible.
I’ve had small amounts of thigh chafe as a mover in the summer, but the sweat/heat factor is easy on the body in the winter.
The cold does not bother me.
They’re looking at me as if I’m nuts for working in shorts and a long sleeve shirt, skull cap as needed, in this rather warm 30 something ° winter.
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Today was again strict lower rep pushups.
This is what I’m looking right now – the stimulus feels particularly good, and is something I intend to mix with my kettlebell when it arrives.
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Persistence & Tenacity