not feeling it

A very draining day at work, plus a tension headache. So this workout was a bit abbreviated.

A1: 2/2 x 2
A2: 3 x 2
B1: 20# 3 x 3
B2: 24kg 3/3 x 3

bending
3/16" x 7" x 2 - Heslep style canvas wraps
3/16" sq x 7" x 2 - DO leather wraps
got shut down on 1/4" HRS x 7"

Rings day 2 and bending

Warmed up with some Z.
A1: 2/2 x 3
A2: 3 x 3
B1: 20# x 4reps x 3
B2: 24kg x 4/4 x 3
TGU: 16kg x 3/3
Bending: 3/16" x 7" CRS x 2 - Heslep style with canvas wraps
3/16" x 7" sq x 3 - leather, 1st one kink DU, everything else DO
3/16" x 6" sq x 2 - leather wraps DO
All done within 15-20 min
Too tired for leveraging.

Baby steps

So yesterday I wrote about being strong. Maybe you wonder where to start. I'll try to expand on that. First, health comes before strength. We don't want to sacrifice wellness for strength. Who cares is you can lift 500lbs but blow out your back or shoulders after a year of training. Or what good is it if you can run 20 miles but die of heart disease at age 50. Health is a triad of physical, mental, and chemical wellness. Physical is covered by chiropractic, strength, flexibility and endurance training. Mental is about having an attitude of gratitude, stress relief, and clearing emotional baggage. Chemical encompasses having a healthy metabolism (not necessarily fast), balancing excesses and deficiencies of nutrients, eliminating toxins and having balanced hormones. I'll elaborate on these separately in future posts.
One of my favorite movies is "What About Bob?" starring Bill Murray as Bob. He is paralyzed by fears and phobias. When his therapist is out of town he is forced into action by taking "baby steps". This is the best way. If you wait until you have time to exercise or can afford to start eating right or whatever excuse you come up with you will never start. Baby Steps. If you can't walk 100 yards without wheezing, then start with 5, then 10 next week or whatever you can handle. Or if you want to lose weight, you don't have to start some super organic diet if you are sucking down 5 liters of diet cola and a dozen Krispy Kremes. Or if you can't deadlift 300lbs start with 20lbs, then 50, and keep making forward progress. If you aren't moving forward, you are moving backwards, there is no sitting still.
Set your goals, gather some basic information on how to achieve them, start where you are and take baby steps.
To those who are already working toward your goals, are you seeing results? I've seen a lot of people come to the gym week after week but they don't look any different and they aren't lifting more weight. Or people who are following a "great diet" but they still have 30% body fat. In everyone's defense there is so much misinformation out there that it is ridiculous. But if what you are doing isn't working then find something that works. I can put my seal of approval on the legitimacy of the links and books to the right. They follow sound principles that are based in history and physiology. I've heard the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
This country has been mislead for so long about what health is that we have no idea how fulfilling and enjoyable life can be when we eat, move and think the way we were designed.
So do your homework, start reading up on the areas you wish to change. Start your baby steps by walking to the mailbox, drinking a glass of water, eating a vegetable, picking up a 5lb dumbbell, keeping a gratitude journal. Keep moving forward and tell me how much better your life is 1 month from now, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years. It won't be easy, and you won't always have the right tools. But persevere and keep searching and it will happen.
I struggle and I emerge

Rings n' things

Started a new program today.
A1: Archer body rows - 2/2 x 3
A2: Ring dips - 3 x 3

B1: kb hack squat - 20# x 4 reps x 3 sets
B2: single leg DL - 24kg x 4/4 x 3

Windmill: 16kg x 3/3 x 3

block weights , cleans and h2h toss n catch with 20#. DL and hold with 25# + 5#
Grippers

It's amazing how difficult 20# can be on the hack sq. A few more lbs and it would have felt like it was glued to the floor
I had forgotten how powerful of an exercise the windmill is.
Below is a clip of the archer row. It's great for lock-off strength for climbing.

my big balls

A chin up with 2 - 16kg bells





and my attempt at a SCF UL #00 , stuck at 80 degrees

Everyone can and should be strong

This quote was in one of Pavel's books and comes from an old strength magazine. I am an example that it is true. If you've followed my blog you know I'm setting a bunch of new PR's (personal records). If I can do it anyone can. I was never athletic as a I child and was usually one of the last ones picked. I don't think I weighed 100# when I started high school. I ran some XC and could always do pullups but that was it. Off and on through HS and college I would do a few weeks of strength training but was never consistent and spent way more time off than on. Almost 6 years ago I stumbled across Dragondoor and kettlebells and the Party's way of training. I bought a barbell set, played around with bells, went to some workshops, started with a 16kg (which initially kicked my butt) , added a 24kg (mostly for swings) and even though I wasn't very consistent made some good progress. A couple years ago I met David Whitley, had him up for a workshop and had him write me a training program. Since then I have been much more consistent with my training, though I still take a month off a couple times a year. As time passes I'm much more consistent. A year ago I got my first taste of bending steel with a white and green nail from IronMind. Then several months ago I found my way to the Gripboard. So over the past 3 years I've snatched half my bodyweight, and done a get-up. Done a pullup with bodyweight plus a half. Deadlifted 2x bodyweight, squatted bodyweight for 20 reps. Gained 10lbs of muscle. Bent horseshoes into hearts and mangled 1/4" steel. My athleticism and agility have improved as well as my confidence. These are not record setting accomplishments but are things that 95% of the population can't do (unless they set goals and start training). And I've done it at 5'11" , 130-140# and while in adrenal failure. Not bad for a skinny kid.
I don't say any of this to brag. My point is, get some good guidance (dragondoor, gripboard, or click on the blog's to the right). Correct your imbalances with a FMS, build a strong base. Set some goals and when you reach them set bigger ones. And be relatively consistent. It's all about getting your starting ground and keeping with it. One of my biggest accomplishments is earning my Doctorate of Chiropractic. It wasn't easy, it took 4 years and that doesn't include the time I spent prior earning a Bachelors. Looking back it seems monumental. But while I was there it was simply one day after another. Complete an assignment, complete a semester, complete a year, complete a degree. Strength is the same way. Put your time in day after day and then in a couple years you will look back and see amazing journey you have completed.
luctor et emergo - I struggle and I emerge

New DL PR

DL: 135# x 3 ; 185# x 1 ; 215# x 1 ; 265# x 1 ; 280# x 1 (15# PR).
I finally hit 2x bw again with DL , last time was 3 years ago and I was almost 10# lighter.

Seesaw Press: 16kg's x 5 x 2

Bending -

We ended up with a cutting error in our 3/16" CRS so I'm using different bending styles to make them more difficult.
3/16" x 7" x 2 - Heslep style canvas wraps
x 6" x 1 - DU canvas wraps
barn nail x 1 - DO leather
3/16" sq x 7" x 2 DO leather

crush grip levering