Category: Uncategorized

Lately I’ve been enjoying writing to youtube community posts moreso than to the blog.

The youtube community posts can function as a blog, and where the enjoyment lays currently for me is that I know via engagement those are being read.

However, even if it’s a single one off posted to the blog each month, even if/when it’s a crosspost – I’ll likely keep the website/blog for forever…

It’s New Year’s Eve. Tomorrow is 2026.

My training at present is a few daily things, mostly calisthenics, then the lifting that happens happens.

Daily :

•Pushups – May 13, 2026 makes a decade without miss

•Hindu Squats – I’m running these to the year mark which is also in May.

•Horse Stance – I’m running these to either the three month mark or the one hundred day mark, then intend to keep them in not mandatory daily, but regular usage rotation.

•Martial Arts Belt Arm Wrestling Inspired Wrist Work – I’d put off buying a karate belt for a winter or two already, and this year as an early Christmas present to myself spent $6 or $7 to purchase one, and the day it arrived (early this month) I’ve been spamming many reps and many angles with it every day. It covers “pull” (as in push/pull/legs), is showing a bunch of forearm hypertrophy (which I didn’t measure before starting), some bicep size, and sneaking suspicion since it’s a LONG isometric hold and since starting my easy gainer upper back is already firing more than it’s usual of practically all the time will do something serious for upper back strength. I have no end it’s daily use idea/time frame in sight, though I’m not going to be compulsive about life seeing a day off happen on rare occasion. It’s good work, and I find it fun.

Legs :

I have not put the proper amount of effort into hindu squats as would make for serious performance ability.

I’ve been running barbell squat every day for about two weeks now. I intend to run this to Day 90, and then focus on hindu squat performance for the six to eight weeks left from then to it’s respective year mark.

Once the barbell squats stop it’ll be looking for hindu squat PRs.

There’s a leg focus, which is done purposefully, as I’m pointedly going back to my roots in training.

A gym floor nickname for me a decade ago was “Leg Day” this coined by a then 40ish, 5’8″ 260lb male nurse who was the first I’d ever seen military press 225lbs (his regularly working up to 1×5 of 2-3×3 with them).

The two weeks of squat every day already has me feeling more fit, and in PR territory on all sorts of high rep rep ranges.

The funny part is how light the barbell is grand scheme, how cold it is outdoors, and how well and used to the cold I am even without warm up sets (besides setup, and occasionally stepping back inside for rest periods).

I should do some barbell press, one arm snatch, bent row and the like, but it’s equal parts discipline and laziness which see me doing all my current daily things without miss, and little else.

As the new year starts I’m thinking I’ll do either 5:00 of step ups, 5:00 of pacing (walking) or “trudging ” (what I call jogging through the snow), and/or 5:00 of shadowboxing/shadow wrestling – preferably all three each day.

Squat Every Day started as a step I’ll actually do for fitness.

2026 is intended as a year of fitness.

How far will I go with a 300lb barbell?

Strength.
Persistence & Tenacity

Without training partner(s), and a good pullup bar admittedly, though done I’m the past, this is currently mostly in theory stage.

As I age into my thirties getting longer and longer removed from the organization of high school sports I find myself thinking that bodybuilding and/or powerlifting (pick your poison) has lied to me.

Lifting weights is far from the most masculine expression of a man’s physical ability, and these two sports both aim for a far more…overweight (yes overweight like your doctor would say) build than should be created for use in life.

The scariest fighter is a welterweight.

I’m strong now, absurdly strong at times (though I doubt my powerlifting total would reflect my odd object kettlebell strength), but moreso then continued strength gains I’m most pleased with the increasing feeling of wind I’m getting with my training at present.

I’ve been doing daily horse stance holds for about a month now, and increasing hold time on these forces you to be very conscious of your breathing.

Compound the horse stance training with some experimentation again with Wim Hof breathing, and I’ve started increasing breathing efficiency during my daily hindu squats.

That leads to higher reps. The higher reps lead to more wind.

I’ve got a good compounding effect going.

I’m strong. I feel fitness (wind) coming back, and though a few kettlebells and a few calisthenics isn’t exactly ideal…

It’s highly workable!

Initially I started the flow write thinking about strength, wrestling/grappling, and what I think of as “gorilla calisthenics” which is mostly the weighted calisthenics and less common strength training you’d see peripheral to wrestling training.

Having a rope to climb is common in the wrestling world, uncommon outside of it, and a real builder of strength.

Wrestler’s bridge ditto, and it’s my opinion an old time strongman like training up of the position in both pullover and press is the ideal way for ruggedness building to bench press and whatever pullover if any would be done at a gym.

Getting strong on squats is important, but enough strength with a greater demand on the midsection is shoulder squats with a training partner your weight or a weight class higher, that or with a sandbag around your weight.

Weighted pushups are a great movement. Probably my favorite press. And you can manipulate leverages while building strength til you have large humans standing on your upper back.

Without the rope climb, and even with it – apply “human forklift status” (as heavy an 8rm to 12rm as is humanly possible) to both weighted pullups and weighted chin ups will sort a lot of strength training out.

Not wanting to (or being able to do all that), well strength training can be boiled down to lots of the clean & press alone.

Kushti has been impressive at taking a lot of strength training history from the ancient and into the modern world.

I would make the argument that wrestling itself is a form of strength training.

Building muscle is not a complicated task. Using your muscles, being highly physical, and doing anything that qualifies as strength training will muscle you up so long as the calories are present.

The whole gym sphere in america is rationally a hilarious assortment of first world problems.

You’re telling me you can’t take $15/day to the grocery store and make it work?

It’ll work for any goal, and by god this is america.

Even in this inflation land of freedom units you can figure out $15/day (the most possibly needed) to sort out eating right.

It really ain’t that expensive to buy meat, dairy, and produce so long as you’re not a snob about it.

While the stereotypical jacked convict or the jacked soldier deployed in some rather austere environment show you that in your cushy life it too is possible for you.

Strength to ya,
Persistence & Tenacity

While having equipment is ideal for strength training – one would be surprised how far both improvised equipment and zero equipment can be when the commitment to making it work is there.

I’ve thrived on high frequency calisthenics as a no excuse backbone to the rest of my training.

In about two weeks I’ll be at the nine and a half year mark of daily pushups with no missed days.

In about a week I can say the same for six months of daily hindu squats.

On paper these are very common, simple, “vanilla” exercises.

Many say that “you won’t build much strength with them”.

Like all things it’s in how you go about doing it.

Mindset too matters.

Believing in limitation will get you limitation.

Believing in the ability to improve will see you improve.

Something I’ve learned over the years is that the longer you’ve trained for the better you become at activating the muscles/at mind-muscle connection.

My two daily calisthenics and whichever kettlebell things I do most days all feed into each other well.

In a sentence my muscles always fire intensely.

My lats for instance come alive from the kettlebell, but then reactivate from both calisthenics.

And the other day I made another breakthrough.

Mostly having been going through the motions on hindu squats, I thought about how to make them more useful in the low volumes I do.

I realized were you training them with the idea of carryover towards a no touching a knee to the mat wrestling double leg takedown that the best way would be to pause at the bottom, explode up, and row the arms in at the top hard.

I applied these, and suddenly my interest in the movement went from very little to enjoying them again…

With pushups visualizing a very heavy bench press rep can make the pushup more a strength builder than it’s on paper .66bw multiplier would otherwise be.

There’s many things like this.

As I said your training is what you make of it.

A small amount of pushups and hindu squats will do it – the rest of strength training is icing on the cake.

Persistence & Tenacity

Mostly I do my pushups in the kitchen. When I stand I see my reflection in the microwave.

May 13, 2026 will make ten years of daily pushups unbroken.

Wouldn’t it be something if it went back unbroken to ~July 4, 2012 or even moreso to summer 2008.

At some point in November I’ll be at six months of daily hindu squats.

…goes and checks calendar…
On November 5th.

They, like pushups, have fallen into a very low volume though every day slot…

Recently I bought a set of powerlifting type bands.

The main idea was to once a week train band assisted pullups – just get more volume that way vs doing a set or two of 3-5 reps before losing interest weighing my current 295 to 297lbs, as well as regularly do band weighted pushups.

A powerlifting type resistance band works for solo training weighted pushups.

Quickly I realized the medium band is a ~12rm on one arm overhead press.

Same band – real fun for a few various yielding isometric holds for upper back/triceps/shoulders…

“Archer” pose. “Double Arm Pushout”
Probably stuff done with ye olde cable chest expanders 50+ years ago.

But where I’m getting the most usage of the band is full on total broski – whether a set at the end or as supersets, it’s some angle(s) of band curl to compliment the pushups.

And though I’ve long liked it, I’d long been away from the pushup + curl combo.

It’s nice to be back to it, which brings me to a strength training philosophy point ;

Volume makes me strong.

A pushup is light to medium in the “weight” sense.

Band curls with a medium band are relatively moderate in “weight”.

Whether superset or just a good single curl set after a few sets of pushups – it’s a solid upper body pump, and I know from years and years of my personal n=1 disregarding of “science” combined with simple, continued, daily “with what you have, where you are, right now” style of strength training…

I’ll be stronger on everything upper body as time ticks – it’s all about showing up and not being an overly lazy goober about it.

Besides this is the no excuse pump training, to which I’ve always been a high responder.

…..

Food Things :

1. I can sense vitality in certain foods. I’ve been drinking raw milk since finding it somewhat locally back in May. It’s the raw milk where this is noticed most obviously.

Raw, local to fairly local, honey – it applies here as well. I consider THIS a source of pure energy.

Silly internet trend to drizzle honey in meat?
Either way I like it.

A real course bread vs most bread in stores ditto. You can tell the difference.

2. Meat tastes better, digests better when cooked correctly in a pan vs baked in the oven.

I’ve been buying four to five pound packs of chicken breast – partly financial, partly I’ve learned to cook it well and now enjoy it.

Work an asterisk. It has to be cooked right.

Chop it up real small. Throw all that into your biggest frying pan. All the chopping and turning it in the pan may take a more hands on forty minutes, but it’s way more enjoyable a finished product compared to baked for an hour.

I’m eating anywhere from12oz to 24oz most days.

The simplest meal is to make a combination of quesadilla and burrito.

Simple in that it’s just line the largest of flour tortillas with cheese and the aforementioned chicken.

Burrito in that after a minute or less in the microwave it’s rolled up like a burrito.

3. I still think 200g of protein a day is plenty in any circumstance, though not necessarily a stop point.

That there’s no point to protein powder.
That plenty can come from eating just fine.

And that even 150g/day will do it for most.
That’s a little less than from a pound of chicken breast, three eggs, and a quart of milk.

Besides you’ll always have incidentals. The cheese that went with the meat. The protein in your carbs. Like I only drank a quart of milk.

4. There is no such thing as too much onion or too much garlic.

You’ll be content with a bunch of fried onions over any type of meat.

You COULD pretty easily do one meal a day with a pan, a meat, and a couple big onions.

5.

Persistence & Tenacity


the following has been on repeat lately ;
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=loTjRIL7qWo
resist and bite – sabaton

I had an idea, an awful idea, I had a WONDERFUL AWFUL idea…

This ain’t nothing but a peanut (yeah buddy!) to girevoy people I’m sure, and it likely has been done before ;

5k Kettlebell Snatches In A Month

Guidelines, Thinking, & Things :

•the 10k swings challenge is a thing

•the snatch is ≈ double the distance of a swing per rep

•change 10k reps to 5k reps and here we are

•it’s no concern of mine how you get to the reps by the end of the month – could be twenty sessions of 500 (aka the 10k challenge as written), could be whatever daily, could be…free will & creativity = have at it y’all any way, shape, or form

•bell size ditto – choose whichever(s) – could be light or heavy or medium/moderate or varied (even doubles, etc)

I’ll post again when finished.

5k Snatch Challenge starting tomorrow if any of y’all are interested in running it concurrently.

as seen on reddit first ;

https://www.reddit.com/r/kettlebell/comments/1n4p5l4/kettlebell_snatch_september5000_snatch_challenge/

Woah! I hadn’t typed anything up for here and posted yet this month.

Haven’t had much interest in blogging.
I prefer to write where it’s seen, read…

Basically I leave a lot of replies on reddit mostly on r/kettlebell, and sometimes write an ig thread, screen grabbing them for future video overlay use.

Why all the comments? …
Just to get a rep!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dkm7sPdEcH8
gang starr – just to get a rep

I’ll probably forever care more about youtube than all the other platforms.

Though I can be reached at any of the aforementioned above as I check them all way too often.

My youtube videos are on a hilariously long delay. On shorts alone I could schedule out six months, maybe eight.

I tend to post kettlebell stuff to reddit first as u/J-from-PandT.

My ability on kettlebells is getting impressive, particularly on strength juggling and the high wrist demand press variations.

I basically freestyle the kettlebell most days, jump rope some days, and besides my daily pushups I’ve been doing daily hindu squats.

Been living on large pieces of pork cooked in the crockpot, and copious quantities of milk.

It’s like the poor strongman’s diet, which consists mostly of milk, pork, onions, instant mashed potatoes, ramen, and lots of those snack packs of sandwich crackers.

There’s a little bit more foods included, but those are the “meal prep” – the rest a night or two a week or something, and it’s really only $70/week TOPS.

I’m not tracking that too closely. It’s probably more like $50/week.

1lb pork = $2 to $2.70
Milk = $2.60/gallon

Round those to $5/day, $35/week.
It’s at $70/week tops right now.

My weight seems to be staying in the 295lb area.

There’s not much training volume, but (nicely) appetite is pretty high, and I can see more thigh + a little less gut.

I feel more fit from kettlebell, hindu squats.

Been focusing on how I breathe a lot during workouts.

I like in/up + out/down both on hindu squats where that comes completely naturally, and on kettlebell swings where it takes a bit of conscious effort to stick to – if you’re mental keeps on point it feels a more effective, if counterintuitive, way to breathe.

I’m coming to believe in strength training that you can do well enough, and do so forever on basically everything being moderate ; weights, reps, effort, etc.

Or maybe it’s that I’ve plenty of base built with far more challenge before getting here.

I can already see over the next three to fifteen years that I’ll get to a spot where had I gone the powerlifting route I’d have ended up world class at it…but I hadn’t, the all over the place methods and tools with god tier consistency – now having found kettlebells…I’ll be that strong on “Backyard Circus Kettlebell” which is what I’m thinking of what I’m doing as.

To be freakishly strong at bottoms up variations, at flipping the bells, these moreso than the more traditional kettlebell lifts.

It’s 2am and I’m stupid hungry.
This is why I make sure ramen, peanut butter, cheese are always on hand.

Any two, or all three, combined may not be fancy, but it’s plenty of nutrition for your dollar.

-J

July 9, 2025 ~655pm (I’d napped for not quite two hours)

I took an evening nap, in it I was in a gym (a place I’ve real world been) but with the 300lb weight set and replacement barbell I grew up lifting, and still have.

A 300lb weight set only loads to 300lbs, and I was asked how many reps I could do with it by someone who’d seen me warning up with light snatch grip deadlifts.

I was my present build, 6′ 290ish, not in condition.

Real world it was about nine years ago that I no warm up pulled 20x315lbs in a gym, and almost ten years back when in between gym memberships (but with the 300lb weight set) I built up to 30x275lbs as a goal to “earn” rejoining a gym with more weight.

In the dream, the bar loaded I started to pull reps.

I had realistic self talk, thinking of how “hard” high rep deadlifts are on the wind, but around 25 reps in…I half understood this to be a dream as my weights wouldn’t be in that gym (though it was an otherwise realistic setting).

It turned somewhat lucid dream and I kept going, well past my 20 to 30 rep expectation.

Like in reality with high rep kettlebell swings I miscounted severely.

The count was “officially” 100x300lbs, but likely was between x125 and x150 due to many, many, many miscounts.

Just like with kettlebell swings.

Snatch grip. No straps. A few people (the manager from the gym where this took place real world, a buddy who I train with real world, a handful of other real world have met at some gym or other faces) tried to talk to me during the set.

Groaning out “when the sets over” in reply.

An impressive feat. Just a dream.
In it, I worked myself into a rather girevoy sport like controlled breathing pattern…

I woke up. Finishing off that breathing pattern for about two more cycles as my eyes opened and I came from asleep to half awake to fully awake.

Seemed I was breathing that girevoy sport pattern as adapted to very high rep deadlifts in reality as I was doing so in a semi-lucid/lucid dream.

Interestingly my quads were sore.
Like they were firing in activation patterns rather like they’d be doing were I doing snatch grip deadlifts in reality.

Over the years I’ve had many dreams where in them I do super human feats of strength-endurance.

I take this as a sign to, like in fall 2015 real world, get back on the high rep outdoor deadlifts train.

I don’t train hard enough at home, strength training mostly is easy to moderate efforts, and I almost entirely to entirely skip cardio.

Relatedly ; after leaving the psuedo-powerlifting gym in fall 2018, on the 4th of July I rowed a 2k on a concept2 rower.

About seven years since I used one last.

My dwarf like proportions scales up to 6′ mean I am built to be a bench press specialist…I take the dream, my mood, the vibes, and the feeling in the air (look at me talking all hippie)…

It’s time for ;

Fitness & Pulls

Persistence & Tenacity

At 1000 subscribers + watch time requirements you’re eligible for monetization on youtube.

Today my channel hit 750 subscribers.
Three quarters of the way to that 1k.

Keep posting.

#influencer #gym #kettlebell #calisthenics #gyminfluencer #contentcreator

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gYc88gk4HQg

animus – beast

June 21, 2025
With the summer solstice occuring last night, today is the first full day of summer.

With my having been putting off announcing it – videos still quite far back on delay between filming and posting…having run it to Day 600 Overhead Press Every Day, well I decided that had run it’s course, and to again free up my freedom in strength training.

It’s…I pause to do a set of hindu squats…the 48th day of my doing daily hindu squats.

My “__ every day” roots, well before I ever filmed a lift were that of running “squat every day”, having multiple runs of them (squat every day in general, even hindu squats specifically once in the past)
as well as in my training history having very long term pushups every day, and six years ago now having what I called “Dip Odyssey” where I did 300+ bodyweight dips daily for the summer.

The lift most amusing to me right now is the sandbag shoulder squat.

For a month and a half now I’ve been treating hindu squats as a main movement, and daily thing, even starting that while still doing “Overhead Press Every Day”.

I sit here pondering training – the continued daily hindu squats specifically, and “The Summer of Squats” more broadly (to encompass working mostly on that aforementioned sandbag thang in addition to the hindu squats)…

Just. Makes. Sense.

The 2h swing with 40kg kettlebell makes sense in the same context as the hindu squats to me…but one requires something, as well as not being something I naturally enjoy, while the other…

The hindu squat…

Requires nothing! No excuse! Has perfect logistics, and is one of those movements I’ve naturally enjoyed over the years.

(though for a very long time were something I felt very self conscious doing anywhere but indoors at home)

But now, now I love them – I no longer feel that inhibition, and I see a focus on legs, the step ups if I don’t make myself do other cardio, the sandbag shoulder squat and the kettlebell swing as the main weight training, and the hindu squat the main movement even more still.

A “leg day” focus, where “every day is leg day”, well that’s never seen me weigh more than 235lbs – this is the path to being in shape again. 295lbs is too heavy.

Summer 2025
Welcome to “The Summer Of Squats”!

-J

diggy diggy hole – wind rose
(the main lifting song on repeat)

I had set a cold glass of water down on a paper towel to my right, moved my giant print kjv bible to me, opened it, set a timer on my plugged in and charging cellphone for just over an hour, started the timer, set my phone down to the left, pressed screen off, and started reading.

I say that I’ve done too much “doomscrolling” on instagram since I actually started posting there, and generally disliking when I watch anything have even noticed it’s hard for me to sit through not even a movie, but a cartoon.

The last thing I watched was a tom and jerry episode on youtube, and with that I’m starting a fast from watching television in all its forms again.

Feels to me that my life is lacking discipline, and that’s a step which makes sense to me.

But again, I’d been noticing I don’t pay attention to much of anything for any length of time really.

I read hours…of articles, and notice that often I am just skimming them, besides them being only minutes long.

So reading, timed without allowing myself to get distracted makes a whole lot of sense as a drill in self improvement.

The hour felt long.
My internal clock wasn’t great as to figuring how minutes it was compared to pages.

I even started to have doubts as to whether I’d hit start on the timer, yet knew that I’d watched the seconds start ticking down – 1:01:00, 1:00:59, 1:00:58 -I’d set an extra minute to make sure it truly was an hour, not a few seconds less even.

Now I type this up while drinking the not quite room temperature water I hadn’t touched while pointedly and purposely reading.

In youth I was a voracious reader.
Public school somewhat damaged my inquisitiveness, and in adulthood it’s been ____ (I don’t want to really call it struggle) to get that back.

Can’t make excuses. Heck, I’ve had roughly equal amounts of time away from schooling as I had in.

Part of adulthood to me, is to be and become, to become and be self taught looking towards success at concept of “renaissance man”.

In many aspects my grade would be an F.
Money. Dude, money. Bro, money. The fact I’m not fluent in any language that I’ve been practicing. The fact I do not play an instrument consistently.

(my trombone collects dust while a used saxophone or trumpet is something I have not purchased, and I do not have space for piano and have not went down the more easily done modern route…the keyboard)

This month is russian.
Next month is spanish.

I’d already chosen this as another act of self discipline.

But there are things where I get an A.

The fact my pushups every day are past the nine year mark for example.

In a way my strength with kettlebells, though I feel I could be far more elite and advanced with them.

And it’s at least a C+ to be aware of all the needed improvements to self.

Anyway, I felt I should read, READ, and not be all a.d.d. about it – to actually insist I at least go through the motions of paying attention.

Sit. Read. Turn Page. Repeat. Til Timer Dings.

Because we can do this sort of discipline.
It is both a choice, and a “muscle” – both choose and develop.

I’ve got a book out from the library. A classic. Why not read through those…for free. I haven’t yet opened it. It may soon be due.

…I go and check…okay, I’ve got time still…

Yesterday I had zero calories.
Today I had around 5000 calories.
Based on today it’s possible that 6000 calorie days haven’t been infrequent/aren’t uncommon.

Yeah, dude that’s why you weigh 295lbs.
You eat bunches and overall.don’t do a meaningful volume of cardio.

That seems to be my struggle in bodybuilding, to actually not eat so dang much – I’m dang good at force feeding, cause it no longer seems to be force feeding!

I can put down food!

Tomorrow will be an almost keto, almost carnivore 3000ish calories.

I’ll cook up ground beef as either burgers or as chunks, will dip it in a small amount of guacamole, and will make instant mashed potatoes in the dripping.

I do not like wasting nutrition. Instant mashed potatoes is the easiest way to use fat.

Maybe a glass of milk. Maybe try a drizzle of honey on some of the beef.

I think a rotation like that will work for me.
Fast day at least weekly. “Free” (within limits) day after the fast day. Keto/borderline carnivore days – working towards more of the days being these.

Shockingly I have been doing cardio consistently.

(it’s just not enough to justify 6000 calories/day)

Step Ups
Bleachers recently seemed a decent bit harder on the wind than them however.

Maybe that’s the truth, that perception. Maybe it was simply the mugginess.

No matter.
I don’t own a concept2 rower. Every other available type of cardio feels like a chore.

But I’m consistent with step ups, and have been making myself do them the second I’m done with the day’s lift – often then doing the day’s hindu squats.

I’ve been doing daily hindu squats, and rocking a practically perpetual sandbag related upper back pump.

I’m still needing to do more off camera training.

The stuff for getting towards first the x100 unbroken hindu squats.

Treating 2h swings and/or both light sandbag shouldering and shoulder squats as volume.

I still kick at the idea of joining a gym, but it’d likely give me concept2 and maybe strongman implement access.

I intended to social media fast, not film for a month or three, and let my months of shorts/month of long form videos post out in schedule – talking youtube.

For whatever reason I tend to give reddit the video first, often instagram before youtube, but that one varies considerably.

State Of The Union As It Were

Be strong y’all, and no excuses.
Persistence & Tenacity