Thursday, April 28, 2005

Shaf's Blog

Shaf's Blog

Finally!

Speed Bench with doubled minis (narrow/wide/medium grips)
135x3/3/3, 155x3/3/3, 175x3/3/3

-175 was slow as hell. The minis are also delaminating

JM Presses:

45x15, 15, 15, 15

-did these very light to get my elbows used to them again

Pushdowns with mini around neck:
-3 sets from 15 to 7 reps

DB PCs, Face Pulls, some biceps work

WESTSIDE RULES

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Nasty Cold, Training

The l'il boss and I have nasty colds. Snot everywhere. We seem to be getting better, though.

My training yesterday sucked.

DL: worked up to a 455 single, and it was hard, and the movement felt crappy.

Shrugs, kelso shrug, cuff work

Ab work.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

The Little Boss and more yard work.

Shaf's Blog

She's killing me because she's teething and has a cold, so she's up all night. Holy crap.

Today I have 5-6 yards of topsoil to move around my yard via wheelbarrow. GPP my ass. This weekend was a rototilling extravaganza, and I can almost see the landscaping taking shape.

Friday, April 15, 2005

Busy or lazy

Too damn lazy to post anything lately. I did do pushups, bodyweight squats and ab work yesterday

Wednesday, April 13, 2005


The Little Boss Posted by Hello

A closer view of the Diabolical Yakuza Necklace Posted by Hello

Magic Yakuza Necklace. No messing. Posted by Hello

Shaf's Blog

The below picture is of the magic Phiten Titanium necklace and my favorite hunk of unweildy pig-iron.

2 Pood and Phiten Posted by Hello

Kirby and PowerMax Kettlebellls Posted by Hello

More KB work

Wife's travelling on business, so I can't really get away to the gym, so be prepared for more KB madness.


Snatches:
12 kg: 5 R, 5 L, 10 R, 10 L
16 kg: 5 R, 5L, 10R, 10L
24 kg: 5 R, 5L, 10R, 10 L
32 kg: 5R, 5L, 5R, 5L

-moving fast, not too bad, heavy breathing and sweating though

1 Arm KB row dropset (right arm, then left arm)
32kg/24kg/16kg x 8/6/5; x 8/4/4; x8/4/4

-this makes my poor detrained back burn. definitely always been a weak point though. making sure to squeeze the shoulder blades together.

1 Arm Presses:
32/24/16x5/5/5; x4/5/5; x3/5/5

-despite coach x's warnings, I like 1 arm kb presses. For some reason, this really, really put a cap on the session.

Ab work: vups, knee hugs, crunches, plank

Last known meet. Humiliation by a blue haired teenager takes a while to recover from. Posted by Hello

Magic Necklace

Phiten

My new magic necklace is magic, I tell you!

A renegade, outlaw, whoremaster in the Far East sent me one.

To tell the truth, it might or might not have helped me with a stiff neck, and given me more vivid dreams.

Could be entirely placebo, but I DON'T CARE!

It's a great new Japanese fad, and I like it better than I like my kids Pokemon cards.

Actually, I prefer this Phiten dealer, because they are powerlifters, and I'd rather support a brutha then some moneygrubbing pricks I don't know.

http://www.strengthandperformance.com/

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Another Training session

Shaf's Blog

Spinal Flossing again, only one run through.

Then kbs again, why kbs, my fans ask? Because, right now, it's the only damn tool I have besides my jumpstretchy bands

-hack squats
-windmills
-1 arm presses
-passthroughs (under and between legs, and around torso)

3 circuits

This is all part of my "get off your ass and do something each day" plan.

TKEs: 2 sets of 20

Abs (same as before)

Training Crap

Monday:
Warmed up with "spinal flossing" (Spinal Flossing)

Then two sets of TKEs with the bands.

Then did some kettlebell stuff while the little boss was napping:

Circuit 1:

-windmills
-shoulder presses
-ratchets (it's graduated lateral raises with a kb working in 3-4" ROMs from bottom to top)

3 runs through

Circuit 2:

from Resiliant

-hack squats/hip openers
-RKC armbars
-the funky triceps/chest opener deal

3 runs through.

Ab Circuit:

-legendary abs leg raises (two sets with 10 sec rest in between)
-crunches (Pavel style)
-russian twists
-plank hold

Just 1 run through.

The Weekend

I built a big swingset/clubhouse I got from Sams Club for the kids. Then I hauled 4 yards of sand through the fence to put underneath it.

Very spiffy. My father in law helped me out. I probably worked for 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday to get it done

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Mongolian Shitique

The new Ghengis Khan Mongolian BBQ opened up in Midland. I love Mongolian BBQ, so today I hit it for lunch with the boss and the little boss.

So did everyone else in Midland. If I would have known that I would be waiting 20 minutes in line to get my stuff on the grill I would have just went to my amigo Billy Bone's new BBQ joint.

Food wasn't bad, but service sucked and the interior design of the restaurant obviously didn't take into consideration the grotesque lunchtime rush.

A good friend of mine's brother manages the joint, but I wasn't able to try to schmoozle my way in for a free meal.

And, they charged me $3.99 for the little boss, who ate a handful of rice and two spoonfuls of my soup.

Maybe in a few months it'll calm down, but right now I say it's just not worth it. BD's Mongolian in Traverse City remains the best place to go, simply because there aren't any crowds there with the insane, Darwinian eatery competition up there.

400 Pound Trees and the Jellybean Conspiracy

A retraction may be in order. They might have only been around 300#.

They were heavy though. My wife wasn't helping with all her suggestions about where they should go, either. I was dragging them, one at a time, around on a tarp.

Anyway, they are planted now, and now I need to go water them.

Now onto the Jellybean Conspiracy. I have been conspiring to eat all of the jelly beans left over from Easter. However, my daughter has realized when she hears that bag rustle, that I am eating jellybeans, and will run into the room insisting that I give her one, too.

Tagg vs Shaf

Tagg:
~5'9", 220 or so
-full head of hair
-actually trains regularly
-totals ~250 lbs more than me
-is employed
-has 3 kids
-master of the fanny pack/pepper spray martial art

Shaf:
-5'11 1/2", 265 or so
-bald, goateed
-detrains regularly
-won't mention my total
-househusband livin' the dream muthafuka!
-has 3 kids
-master of the law mower throw



Green Tea, Yerba Mate, and Coffee

The wife likes green tea. So do I. Nobody I have ever met likes yerba mate except me. Its' referred to as "dirt tea" in my house. That's what it tastes like, insists everyone who's tried it.

Coffee: Now there's a drink. I love coffee. Fresh ground, fresh brewed pot of delight. But, since I've been drinking too much of it lately, I've been cutting back.

So, it's green tea this morning, then maybe some mate or coffee later.

Mate is, interestingly enough, a drop in coffee substitute for most people, which means you can wean yourself off coffee using the milder mate, and eventually drop any caffienated beverages entirely.

I make the tea and mate in the coffee maker anyway.

I am sure I'll become a bit more comprehensible as soon as some kind of stimulant hits the brain.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

BLOG WAR, EPISODE 7

I am dedicating myself to the purpose of destroying Tagg's blog. He doesn't even know this is on the horizon yet.

http://crashdoll.blog-city.com/

Hey Tagg.

HAHAHHAHHAHAHA.

This is all your fault.

I Hate Yard Work

For all you goddamn haters, I just wrestled 2 400# pine trees about 35 yards across my lawn, dug huge holes in clay soil, planted those bastards and then cleaned up half the garage. My neighbors love to see a sweating, cursing bald man with his ass hanging out of a pair of cut-off sweats dragging shit around.

I only got into 2 fights with my wife and threw dirt on my daughter once.

I am covered with red pinpricks from the pine needles, and my damn biceps are still really sore from Monday's session.

Dragging pine trees around is better than kettlebell work, isn't it? 8 out of 9 P&B Secret Board members say it is. The ninth is a RKC, and doesn't want to upset the party line that much.

Filthy Tricks By Devious Canadians

That bastard Poliquin posted an article on T-mag called "Arm Yourself".

I tried the "Fixation/Insertion Super Set" method to see how it worked, but cut the volume by 1/3.

I am in agony. One more reason to mistrust Canadians.

The Art of Not Training

I am sitting here online, with the little girl napping, messing around with this blog instead of getting any kind of training in.

I could be doing kettlebell work. I could be stretching. I could be using my jumpstretch bands for assorted assistance work. I could be flipping tires and pounding them with sledgehammers. I could be dragging my sled.

I'm not.

Instead I'm sitting here.

I think that's 99% of my whole detraining problem.

I'll be glad when my gym is assembled.

Talking to yourself can be therapeutic.

Taylor and the Cage Match

Taylor wants to have an NHB style cage match in my backyard, after we both start training again. Instead of a cage, we are going to lay string down on my lawn. We'll have some of the drunken monkeys from the P&B stand around with folding chairs to bash the shit out of anyone who falls out of the stringed area.

I told Taylor he could have a moderately sized stick to break over my head. I will make sure it's dry and fragile. It'll be more for looks and cool photo ops than to deal any damage.

Testa suggested the loser do a rugby style anal boot. I suggest to Taylor that we get in the car, drive to Pennsylvania, and make Testa do the anal boot. I will make sure Taylor gets plenty of driving practice on the way down, too.

I expect there will be no cage match, though. The green haze of blissfulness has Taylor caught up in it's web. That's the danger of being too smart without any kind of ambition.

First things first

I obviously have developed a case of Blog envy. This blog will make Taggert's blog seem like a bad joke