Monday, April 18, 2011

Thoughts about life, training, crap and stuff

I like Jon Jones as a fighter, but even better as a person after the last few weeks.......

http://mmaweekly.com/ufc-light-heavyweight-champion-jon-jones-saves-the-day-again


Guy leaves a blowup doll in boss' car.  Comes in to this the next day in his cube......



As I was leaving the gym this past week, I had to walk around a guy that had 1 foot on a Frisbee while he was pulling himself around by his hands.  21 years of lifting and this is a first.

Walking - I see so many people "walking" for exercise in a completely unproductive way.  They walk casually, like they are checking out animals at the zoo or window shopping for prostitutes in Amsterdam.  Walking productively should be at a CRISP pace.  One that leaves you with labored breathing after half an hour to forty-five minutes.  I can't believe how many fat people I see "walking" that stay fat.  Walking with a purpose is a great way to accelerate fat loss.  Walking at a zoo pace is not.  No matter what kind of exercising you are doing if there is virtually no real effort required, then it is not productive.

Movies -

Faster - That movie with The Rock.  Loved it.  I can dig a shallow action movie if it's faced paced and not too unrealistic.  This was exactly that.  I thought this was really his best work ever because he seemed very believable in the role.  He seemed to actually be in pain and hurt from the loss of his brother.  This is one of those cool action flicks that you would change the channel to every time you see it on TV.  Highly recommend it for a good popcorn action flick.

Faster - Solid Action Flick


Ironman II - I know this is not new but I just got around to seeing it because so many people told me it was a let down from the first one.  Well, they were right.  All I can say is they spent too much time trying to make it a "real" movie by having so much dialog and character development.  Usually this makes a movie good for me because I love that stuff, however there simply was not enough action in the movie to break up the dialog.

Was watching some new music channel this week and it featured Foo Fighters.  Dave Grohl is a heck of a lucky guy.  Played the drums for Nirvana and made millions and millions.  Then headed up Foo Fighters and is now worth like 200 million dollars.  Who knew the most talented guy in Nirvana was the drummer?  Because Cobain was not talented and I don't give a shit what anyone says about that.  Dude couldn't sing in tune live to save his fucking life and played melody line guitar solos.  Grunge (outside of Alice in Chains) sucked anyways.  So glad that shit is over.

Interval Training and low carb do not mix.  I always see this as the recommendation for fat loss.  It'll get rid of fat alright.  And a lot of muscle along with it.  Interval training is not a lot different than lifting, especially if you are busting ass.  If you're going to do it for the thermogenic effect, at least have some carbs beforehand.  If you're going low carb for fat loss, do steady state.  Be smart.

I hate my lawn mower.  Every single year it's a complete pain in the ass to get this thing going again.  A total lemon.  Something is constantly breaking or broke on it.  I want to go Office Space copying machine on this damn thing so bad.  I should just buy a push mower and consider that my Sunday cardio because it's 3 hours to push mow my yard.  On second thought, fuck that.

Seems like all of my injuries are healing about the same time.  A stroke of good luck for me in that regard for once?  Maybe.  I think I deserve it after the last year.  The elbow is day to day but as of this morning, it feels really good.  So medium-heavy inclines don't bother it at all.  My left bicep is fine I think.  The shrugs last week with 500x15 felt fine.  So good there.  Leg is feeling ok but I'm going to continue my pattern of 20 rep squats for a while.  Then after that I will bust into the 10's, then 8's, then 5's and see where I am at.  I do think it would be fairly badass to be able to do 315 x 20, 365 x 20, then 405 x 20 all in the same workout.  I don't think that is going to be possible for me at this time however.  LOL  I've done 405x20 on several occasions and it's generally a max effort.

I'm keeping my routine really basic and getting back to 1 or 2 big sets and focusing on progression on everything.  This is easy to do when you have only 2 or maybe 3 movements per workout and they don't change a lot.  I don't get systems that have you change the main big movements on a set basis.  What if you end up missing out on weeks and weeks of solid progress on a multi joint movement?  This seems dumb.  Oh wait I know, "CNS burnout".  I will be so glad when that phrase dies forever since there is no such fucking thing in regards to weight training.

So this past week I found out a "friend" totally shit all over me.  This was someone I helped through some tough times and was there for a lot.  I'm a very "emotions on my sleeve" kinda guy.  I say what I mean, and mean what I say.  I never BS or backstab.  I always want people to know exactly where I stand.  Some people like this, and some people like their life sugar coated to them.  So I end up finding out through a mutual friend all the shit that has been said.  And none of it had anything to do with me (I know this seems vague and strange but the situation is strange) in the situation.  In other words, I was getting talked shit about but I had nothing to do with why the situation was in that particular state.  But it comes back to my belief that in life, the people you can REALLY trust will be narrowed down that you can count them on one hand.  Don't think for a second that your BFF/best buddy/ whatever wouldn't shit on you in the right circumstance.  A TRUE friend that would give his blood for you, go to bat for you no matter the circumstance, is more rare than anything else I can think of in this world.  I have 1 person in this whole world I know I can trust fully.  My wife.  Outside of that a good dog.

Speaking of dogs, it's time to look again.  My best buddy in the world Dozer passed away October 22, 2010 and I think I've healed enough to start looking for a new good buddy.  I brought Doz's ashes home a few weeks ago and I felt like that kind of gave me closure.  I was going to spread them but the box they came in was so nice it's now a decoration.  I will be getting another bullmastiff because well, they are the coolest dogs ever.  I honestly wish I could get a place out in the country so I could have like 7-10 dogs.  A couple of bullies, an Akita, a German Sheppard, an English Bulldog, a Cane Corso, and a Presa.  At least that many, maybe more.



I really can't believe the time and money spent on that whole Barry Bonds trial bullshit.  It's amazing to me, that with a government shutdown in effect at that same time we cared if Barry Bonds or some other baseball players took steroids and lied about it.  He wouldn't have been in court to lie about it if our government gave a shit about more important things.  Like gas prices, jobs, and the economy.  But no, we need to know if Bonds took steroids.  And if he did so the hell what?  Accusing people of doing steroids is the mating call of the insecure loser.  I had a board I used to go to that was just chock full of guys that constantly accused me of using roids.  Nothing is more pathetic than to watch a bunch of guys accuse another guy of being "on" because they are insecure losers.  What I find funny about this is that the same group of fuckwads will go on and on about how weed or even hard drugs should be legal, but then condemn the usage of anabolics.  "Cheating" some of them say.  Yeah well crack heads and meth heads and coke heads cheat themselves and everyone who cares about them out of a life.  So shut the fuck up with that nonsense.

Bonds did roids.  Who gives a shit?


Mondays suck.






26 comments:

  1. Mondays are why God gave us coffee.

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  2. Bonds' transformation is pretty impressive irrespective of drug use. This looks like 40 or 50 pounds of mass from before to after.

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9RkPP5l-xlY/TVaU-gUoSuI/AAAAAAAAQRM/TB757fwBWo8/s1600/bonds+b+4+and+after.jpg

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  3. ...and sick days

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  4. Heck yeah it is. I love those old pics of him compared to the new.

    Better living through chemistry. :)

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  5. I am picturing you right now with an English Bulldog. I've had two myself but they can have their health problems and be costly.

    Good luck with your search.

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  6. I would love to get an English but yes, they probably have more health issues than any other breed out there. Since the bullmastiff is 40% bulldog I get some of that as it is.

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  7. I have 2 bull mastiffs, they are 1 year old and just the best poochies ever, snoring their heads off at my feet at the moment! Good luck in your search.

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  8. You mention MMA here a lot but also mention doing some boxing. Do you follow it? Here lately I find myself back to enjoying boxing more although by not following it for awhile it is harder to know who is actually good (well that was a chore even when following it)

    Al

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  9. BabyWilt - Lucky! I would like to get 2 but my house isn't quite big enough for 3 dogs right now.

    Al - I don't follow boxing but my background in martial arts and fighting let me use a lot of boxing as conditioning work so I do so.

    I find boxing boring and a scam. Guys dodge other guys for whole careers and run up shit like 75-3 records that don't mean shit. This is why MMA is much more appealing to me.

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  10. Love the Bull Mastiff. My buddy has a French Mastiff, scary as hell to look at, but a great dog. I tried to talk my wife into getting a Bull Mastiff, but she complains that the house is too small (that's what backyards are for).

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  11. Yup. Dozer spent all spring and fall in the backyard. He hated the summers tho. The heat didn't agree with him.

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  12. Sorry to hear of your dog passing away mate. And of your "friends" treatment of you. It kind of reminds me of a saying that goes like this. "If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again it was probably worth it."
    At least you can trust your wife. Many can't say that.

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  13. That's a damn good saying Paul.

    these things happen and it's part of life. I threw my baby fit about it and now I've moved on.

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  14. the pretty boy "hitman" in faster was an entirely unnecesary character imo. his wife, too, the blonde from lost. would of been far better without them, imo. they ruined it for me.

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  15. Yeah they probably were unnecessary but a little eye candy doesn't bother me. I thought they could have made him grittier instead, which would have been better.

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  16. Paul, you think something like this could work..vary the reps depending on how I feel, and eat like a horse..I think this plan could pack on mass…I want bigger traps as well, haha..only a few lifts but get better at them
    Monday-push.
    r/p flat db
    one hang clean to OH press
    heavy front squats

    wed-pull
    hang cleans
    chin up’s
    bi’s
    calves
    Friday-push
    r/p flat db bench
    one hang clean to oh press
    heel elevated fron’t but for reps
    mon-pull
    hang cleans
    trap bar dl
    shrugs
    calves
    wed
    r/p flat db bench
    r/p 1 hang clean to oh press
    hack squats or sled
    fri-pull
    rack pulls
    shrugs
    one bicep lift
    calves

    perhaps add in dips on push day. what you think?

    thanks

    greg

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  17. Too many cleans. you're looking at a big time overuse issue there if you're cleaning almost every single workout.

    If traps are the issue, rack pulls, shrugs, and cleans are fine. No need to over do it. Just pick 1 per workout and do it.

    I would also not just wing it, in terms of how you feel every workout. I would have a solid progression plan for the major lifts, whatever those are going to be. Otherwise it looks fine.

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  18. Thanks Paul for the suggestion regarding the cleans! Yeah, I am just trying to figure out a game plan for the start of my next plan…I like lower volume and frequency and lifting 3 days a week…I thought about DC but I don’t feel like r/p-ing all lifts but I do enjoying rest pausing some lifts though, plus I enjoy doing hang cleans and hang snatches and those don’t fit into the DC scheme, LOL…I did get your manual and will probably base something off that 3 day split…just a simple powerbuilding routine and try to add some lean mass/strength to my 6’3 frame..I need to get out of this whole bodybuilding mindset, I will never compete , so I need to stop OCD-ing with angles of lifts and what days to train what bodypart…time to go back to working the body as a whole, eat and the size will come back again…thats one of the reasons why I liked the DC two way split, progression and frequency...
    greg

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  19. Remember the theory about the well and the bottled water Greg. Find a philosophy and train around that, rather than routines.

    If you get your hang cleans, shrugs, and deads up significantly then your traps will be manly. Just focus on what you need to do rather than every minuscule part.

    If you're not competing and just want to look like a bad MF'er and be strong that is easy. Squat (any kind), dead (any kind), push a lot and pull a lot. Do some arm work. Focus on simple progression and milk the shit out of the times when gains are coming. Condition a few times a week and eat correctly for your goals.

    All simple stuff my man.

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  20. Hey Paul I thought you might like the American bulldog there the closes thing to the original Bulldogs used to help butchers catch and hold the bulls for butchering.

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  21. I love em! Actually I have a friend that is going to get one in the next month or two. I have been helping her look around.

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  22. Hi Paul

    Just found your blog and am enjoying looking through it. Funnily enough it is the 3 year anniversary of having to put down my first dog, an English Bull Terrier, today. Because of what the little fucker brought to our lives we have decided to do the crazy "pick up and rescue every little raggedy ass mofo we find on the streets" routine. Currently got another Bull terrier, a Dogo Argentino/Boxer cross, a Malamute, another Boxer and a Podenco (kinda like a Lurcher hunting dog). We ain't got no big house in the country neither so it keeps me out in the fresh air up in the mountains, having to walk em every morning and night. Good discipline to keep us out of the bars, that's for sure.

    Anyway, just felt like popping in to say hi from Spain.

    Oscar

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  23. That is awesome Oscar. Unfortunately it's not just house space for me but kids and a wife in school and just not enough time to give that many dogs the kind of attention and exercise they would need. You got some awesome dogs. You should send me a picture.

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  24. Hey Paul

    Not too sure if my last post got through as I wasn't asked for a verification code.

    I'll link you again to a few pix of some of my rescues. The Bullterrier was a nasty rescue case having been mistreated horrendously but has recovered 99% from his former shitty life and the other 3...well you can see from the photo that they've got a fairly comfy existence lol. I don't currently have any photos of my latest gal, the Dogo/Boxer mutt.

    http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt27/elcasoshaun/

    Any developments for yourself with a new addition?

    Regards

    Oscar

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  25. Love that bull terrier! The little guy we have now is half bull terrier. He's a riot.

    Prolly will be later in the year before I get my next bullmastiff. I have at least 3 trips planned in the next few months and I don't want to have to find someone to care for a pup while I'm gone.

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