Monday, February 7, 2011

Thoughts about life, training, crap and stuff

Congrats to the Packers and their fans.



They should have issued a warning to all the women in the Arlington area that Ben Roethlisberger might be in a bad mood last night.

Right now I'm more concerned about shedding as much bodyfat as possible.  I am doing this by eating less, and doing more conditioning.  I know, it's a crazy concept but it's working.  I'm now generally sitting at the 238-240 range rather than the 245-248 range.  I'm not as concerned about where my strength levels are at the moment because you're not going to shed bodyfat and improve conditioning and get stronger on a limited calorie diet.  Remember to keep things in perspective.

I saw some interesting movies over the last week.  Out of my norm on some of them.

Undisputed III - Ok, sounds like a total steamer.  B-movie without a big budget.  As I'm watching it however, I keep thinking to myself "this dialog isn't that bad."  It wasn't cheesy, the plot wasn't stupid for what the movie was about, and the acting wasn't that bad.  Overall, I came away pretty impressed, and wondered if I was losing my mind.  So I looked it up and it got good reviews across the board.  If you want a decent popcorn martial arts flick, I highly recommend it.   I was also jealous of Scott Adkins conditioning level.



Fast and Furious - Meh.  Predictable and boring actually.  Vin Deisel also looks like he barely lifts anymore to me.  Apparently making 10's of millions of dollars takes away some peoples desire to lift hard anymore.

Restrepo - A documentary about a squad in Afghanistan.  I heard it was good.  Maybe it was my mood that evening but I just couldn't get into it.

Edge of Darkness - Loved it.  I don't care about Gibson's wacky personal life BS.  I watch his movies to be entertained and I really liked this one.

The A-Team - Pleasantly surprised.  Again, if you're in the mood for a really good popcorn action flick, this one delivers.

Was talking with a buddy the other night, who is an exceptionally strong guy, but got there by doing a lot of low rep work and is now starting to do high rep work to fill out, and become more muscular all over.  This kind of takes me back to the whole "What Constitutes Strong" standard.  You take two guys, all things being completely equal.  And you train them until they can squat 700, bench 500, and deadlift 800 but one guy does it using singles, double, and triples and the other guy gets there using sets of 8-15 and the higher rep guy is going to look far more beastly than the lower rep guy.  If you simply want to be strong, that can easily be accomplished by sticking to a program of singles, doubles, and triples.  If you want to be strong and look strong, you better have some rep work in there and do some bodybuilding.

Worst Super Bowl halftime ever.  I kept wishing that Slash would punch out Fergie and then sodomize the rest of the Black Eyed Peas with his guitar.

Ok so I see the trailer for Captain America and I see that it's skinny Chris Evans that has bulked up for the role.  He looks like he gained 30 pounds at least, and he's lean.  In no time flat you have these sites that are running "Chris Evans Captain America Workout" bullshit.  They don't really know what he did, they just take shots in the dark.  Every time an actor gets himself in better shape these pop up all over the place.  Here, here's what he did.

He lifted weights
He ate some food
He got in "shape" (conditioning)
He coulda done some gear (optional)

There ya go.  I expect my check in the fuckin mail for releasing all the secrets of the stars training programs!

What a shitty card for UFC 126.  On paper it looked good, but failed to deliver.  I see Shogun blazing through Jon Jones.  I know people get all up on a fighter when he wins like Jones has, but he still really hasn't fought anyone, and Shogun is going to put an ass whuppin on him IMO.  I also see GSP handling Silva.  Some may scoff at that, but Silva has shown he has a real problem with guys who can take him down.  GSP will be able to do that, and control him on the ground.

Enjoy it, because Shogun is coming...


I've been doing boxing for my primary conditioning source this winter and am loving it right now.  I do around 20-30 minutes of 2 or 3 minute rounds.  I usually do heavy bag work or boxing mixed in with hill sprints but not as often as I'd like, because I love hill sprints and regular sprints so much.  However I'm going to do more of it from here on out.

I know this guy, totally whupped.  Won't go out to eat at places his woman doesn't like.  Watches chic flicks. Listens to her music.  Has never been with any other woman but her, and never been in a fight.  How much could you ever know about YOURSELF if your entire existence revolves around catering to another person?  I'm not saying you shouldn't be the best husband you can be.  You should.  But a relationship should be a partnership.  There should be a give and take to it.  Your woman should respect that too.  You get one go round.  Make it count.  Dedicating your entire life to catering to the whims and wants of another person is a dog shit existence.  I want to experience as much as I can with my wife, however I have things outside of her that I love to do and experience and she wants that.  And vice versa.  Because part of living is finding out who you are, and having unique experiences that speak to you.  If your entire life is worshiping the ground someone else walks on, I feel sorry for you.  It's very unmanly and unbecoming.  If you are whipped, and you know it, please seek help or pray for an intervention for guys who are p-whipped.

If you are watching this shit to please your girl, someone should be waiting to have an intervention on your behalf


Everytime I am behind someone that is driving like dogshit, they are on their cell.  WITHOUT FAIL!  Everytime.  100%!  I got bluetooth in my car, so it's no different than having a passenger.  When I was in Cali they have a law you can't drive and be on the phone and I wish that shit would pass everywhere.  I've almost been hit a dozen times by people on the phone that were not paying attention, that would veer into my lane.  For the love of God, how did people get by before cell phones?  Somehow we all managed.  If you don't have a douche bag phone (bluetooth ear piece) or BT in your car, just wait.  For the rest of us, please just wait.  Thank you.

Just a reminder......

1.  Weights are to get stronger/bigger
2.  Conditioning is to get you in shape and supplement bodyfat loss
3.  Eat more to gain mass, less to lose bodyfat.

Again, I expect my check in the mail for giving up all of these fitness secrets.

Speaking of fitness secrets, trainers never cease to amaze me with not only the shit they have their clients do, but the shit they do.  Why does every trainer do their own workouts on some kind of balloon/ball/see-saw?  See the point above.  Be in the gym to either get stronger, or get in better condition.  Use the proper tools to do both.  Doing side plank trunk twists with a kettlebell on top of a swiss ball that is balancing on a wobble board is fucking full retard.

DUMB!!!!!


Seriously guys, manscape.  Nothing I hate worse than walking into the shitter and seeing 14" long pubes all over the place.  It's 2011.  Not 1974.  Get some clippers, manscape your shit.  Hair makes you stink, traps in bacteria, and is just generally overall nasty.  If you didn't know you were supposed to manscape, now you know.

Valentines day is coming up.  You want to give her a great present?  Don't get candy or flowers, whatever.  Get some new sheets, satin or Egyptian cotton and bang it out like you never have before on em.  Seriously.  Do the candles, some dirty music, whatever ambiance you need.  Give her a night to remember so in case you're not together next year on Valentines, and she's with someone else, all she'll think is "hmmmm last year ol boy was banging it out like he was a porn star and all this bitch got me was some chocolate.  Shit."  Think ahead guys.  Always thinks ahead.

Egyptian Cotton for Valentines Day


I get asked about calf work.  I have good calves now.  How?  Walking around at 270-280 for two years.  After I dieted back down, they just stayed.  I did the same kind of calf work I always did, but being heavy for that long made my calves grow.  The work I did just kept em.  Now they are 18+ inches and I rarely do calf work and they stay.  So if your calves suck, bulk up to fat guy status and stay that way for a couple of years.  Everyone knows that fat ball coach who has awesome calves right?  There you go.

 


  

15 comments:

  1. On trainers and silly bullshit: there's one guy at my gym who works with high school athletes. He has them do all kinds of bullshit. All sorts of wacky plyometric jumping, tons of single leg stuff. A little bit of trap bar deadlifts and benching, but mostly pretty useless movements, basically wasting time. And when this guy trains himself, every session he does the same 3 lifts - bench, deadlift, and DB snatch. You could be a monster without having to spend tons of time in the gym if all you did was those three moves and practice your sport. Clearly this guy knows that, that's what he does himself. Why do the kids have to spend all this time and energy on bullshit movements? Make the sessions longer and get paid for more hours by the parents? Oh, it starts to make sense...

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  2. Well that's not the only reason. A lot of trainers just want to keep clients, so they don't train them that hard. A lot of clients just want to feel enabled by saying they have a trainer, i.e. "I'm doing something right by my body".

    There is a give and take to the stupidity.

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  3. Jones might surprise you Paul...the kid has heart and is a good fighter.

    GSP and Silva is going to be good. Silva is a technical master...but he just appears soft and weak. GSP is very technical as well, except he is conditioned and strong as hell for his weight. Should be interesting as I am with you, GSP should be able to take him down at will.

    Boxing: love it year round for conditioning. I do 10-3 minute rounds with 1 minute rest in between. I monitor my heart rate, and hit in the 170s during my rounds and low 130s to upper 120s at the end of my rest. When I started these, I am ashamed to say 1 round gassed me. Now 10 is easy, no problem recovering at all.

    -Rick

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  4. Jones is a really good fighter, but he's still green and hasn't fought someone of the caliber of Shogun. I can see him eventually becoming a champ for a long time, but not right now.

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  5. They actually dont enforce that in Cali. They did for a little while but even the police officers are back on their cell phones.

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  6. So is GSP going to be moving up a weight class or will Silva go down? Thats if the fight is happening.

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  7. Anonymous - they do in orange county.

    FA - From my understanding GSP has to go to 185. He walks around at 190 but I am guessing he'll want to go to 200 then cut to 185.

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  8. I understand that weight loss comes from simply eating less but does the quality of your food matter as well? Thanks and love your site!

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  9. I would think it would matter in the way that you feel, mainly.

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  10. So let me get this straight. For Valentine's Day, my "gift" to my wife should be banging her senseless...but on clean sheets? And you'd rather see Slash anally assault everyone in the Black Eyed Peas BUT Fergie?? AND you think GSP will own Silva w/o getting himself KTFO in the process even though GSP hasn't finished ANYONE in a long time???

    You are really losing your mind, Paul! LOL

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  11. Not clean sheets dude, NEW sheets. Get a nice comforter set. Either silk or Egyptian cotton. Then she puts em on, and you knock the bottom out of it. Make sense?

    He could anally assault Fergie too but I thought he already did that in that video they made together.

    Sonnen "owned" Silva without even winning that fight. How many 10-8 rounds do you think he had before he made a day 1 BJJ mistake? And GSP is a better wrestler than Sonnen. So there you go.

    There is a method to my madness.

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  12. Thanks for the response. I often find a theme between most fitness models/bodybuilders/powerlifters in that they all seem to eat healthier food. Of course the amount varies on their goals

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  13. As a GSP fan, I really hope he takes out Anderson, but I'm scared shitless. Soennen took Silva down at will, but he's also about 3" taller and probably 20 pounds heavier than GSP. However, GSP's top control and sub defense are light years ahead of Sonnen. I wasn't at all surprised that Anderson subbed him, moreso that it took him almost 5 rounds to do so. And I really think Jones gives Shogun a damn good fight. Don't know if he gets the win, but I don't think he gets rolled.

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  14. GSP should enter the Octagon at around 200 pounds. He walks around at 190 and said sometime back that he'd want to get to 2 bills for that fight. I believe he will.

    GSP's ability to take guys down and control them and work top game is unmatched. Silva on the other hand, is terribly fighting off of his back. Seems like a pretty bad deal for Silva. GSP could take a shot and that'd be it. That's the only way I see Silva winning.

    As for Jones, I just think it's a case of the young buck going against the Lion and he's going to get some shit he's never seen before. Just my opinion. He could totally beat Shogun. And monkeys could fly out of my ass.

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  15. I think that sounds like a fantastic Valentine's Day present.....how about a new bed too? ;-)

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