Monday, May 9, 2011

Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff

So I walk into my work breakroom the other day.  This guy that works here goes in right before me.  This guy always has on a leather vest that reads "Harley Davidson" or "Vietnam Vet" on the back.  He's got a big gray beard and always has this look of "I'm ready to piss razor wire!" on his face at all times.

We walk into the break room and on the table there is a box of "fruity snacks".  He looks into the box, and then his face visibly turns to disappointment.  He picks up the box and throws it in the trash.

Look, you can't live your life by leather vest standards, and also be disappointed if you miss out on fruit snacks.  God dammit you can't.  You can be a vet, or ride a harley, and be upset that you missed out on fruit snacks.  But you CANNOT wear leather fucking vests everyday that screams how proud you are that you ride a Harley and served in The Nam, and be disappointed that you missed out on fruity snacks.  It's just a rule.

Fruity Snacks Prohibiter 


This is a cool ass story.  Dude saves his Porsche with a floating parking spot.  Rich people eh?

http://gizmodo.com/#!5798604/ingenious-owner-saves-rare-porsche-from-flood-with-floating-parking-spot

A list of compiled quotes from Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg during UFC matches......

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/95532-the-best-of-joe-rogan-mike-goldberg-part-one

I've been laughing at the media about all of the warnings they have before they show the pics of the people killed in the Osama raid.  "Warning, these pictures are graphic!"  No shit Sherlock.  I mean, do people think you should people with tons of bullets and candy comes out?  No, it's bloody and nasty.  Plus, do these people at MSNBC and shit know what people see on the internet?  I mean have they ever heard of two girls-one cup?  Or the shit Wendler sends me?  I mean, most people have seen this shit already on the net at some point unless they never venture outside of pbskids.com.  I do laugh thinking about someone sitting at home with a weak stomach that has never seen shit like this, and then the MSNBC guy goes "Warning, these images are graphic" and it cuts to the pics, and that person starts blowing chunks all over the place.

Yes that makes me laugh.

So I'm in the work breakroom this week filling up my half gallon water "cup" and these two ladies I work with ask if they can feel on my muscles.  I am fine with this and say yes.  But, as they are doing so I think to myself "what a double standard we have in society and the workplace."  If a female co-worker walked into the breakroom with her boobs hanging out, and I'm like "WOW!  Looking good with the jugs!  Can I feel em?" I'd lose my job and get slapped with a law suit.  Women can get away with asking men if they can touch and feel on them.  Again, I'm not complaining nor do I mind, however I do mind when a woman bitches about the double standard for sex.  That a man who bangs a bunch of women is known as a stud, and a woman who bangs a bunch of men is known as a whore.  Well, that's just how it is ladies.  Don't sleep with a bunch of men and you won't be called a whore.  Seems simple enough (ducks the objects thrown at me by my women readers).

This is workplace acceptable 


Yes it seems like I have funny stuff happen in the workplace break room.  Maybe I should go in there more often.

I think that the chest pains I was having may have been caused by Jack3d.  Which really sucks because it's by far the best workout stim I've ever used.  I'm going to lay off of it for a while and see if they subside.  If so I will use it sparingly.  We all know this stuff isn't FDA regulated so the truth is, you never really know what you're putting in your body.  I find it funny that so many guys will take shit right off the shelf, not knowing what's really in it, but have all sorts of fears about putting anabolics into their body when we have 60 years of research behind them.

Don't you hate it when  you go to a site and you're reading an article, then 3/4 of the way through the article you realize that the whole thing is based around selling something off of that site?  This is the case with most mainstream lifting sites in my opinion.  It's difficult to find information that isn't geared around selling you something.  So how reliable is the advice when you know it's slanted to make you think you need to buy this supplement of piece of equipment?  When the training protocol is built around making a supplement the foundation, what if you don't have that supplement?  Then the training protocol is worthless.  Wow, so thanks for sharing nothing with me asshat.  This is another reason why I harp on just using basic movements and bullshit weak point training.  If you can do 500x10 on stiff legged deadlifts you don't have a weak posterior chain.  If you can do dips with 200 pounds for 10, your triceps aren't a problem.  So why do you need all sorts of special shit in order to get bigger and stronger?  You don't.

On the flip side, I can't recommend the Animal Flex enough.  My elbow is the best it has been in years.  Yes, I have figured out rehab for it better than before, but I honestly believe that the Animal Flex has been huge in getting me over the hump.  And you just take 1 pack a day so no showing pills down your throat all day long like Keith Richards.

Awesome shit
  So I took the fam to see Thor.  Awesome awesome flick.  Loved it.  Even better than I thought it was going to be.  There was a really nice underlying message to the movie.  The action was great, and when it did slow down there was a fair amount of comedy to keep things light and interesting.  Definitely worth a look see at the movies.

I talked to an old friend yesterday that I haven't spoken to in forever.  We ended up getting around to talking about lifting and he asked me about my lifts.  I told him I'd like to squat 650, bench 450-460, and deadlift 700 this year at some point.  He proceeded then to tell me if I remembered so-n-so and I said yeah.  He then told me that one time he was in the weight room and said guy comes in with his girlfriend and proceeds to load up the bench to 450 and asked him for a spot.  He says sure and then he tells me he goes to press it and he can't get it.  But instead of asking for help, he lowers the bar back down to his chest, pauses for a minute then presses it right up.  This is perhaps the biggest bullshit story in the history of bullshit stories I've ever heard about lifting outside of the guy telling me that his dad benched 700 pounds (this was back when only Arcidi and Ken Lain had done it).  So let me get this right.  This teenager I grew up with comes into the gym, loads up 450 (I don't remember anything about warm up sets which was a key to me that the story was bullshit), lowers it and can't press it to lock out.  But instead of calling for the spotter to aid him, he says "no, don't touch it" and lowers it back to his chest, where I suppose he received gamma radiation at that moment, and then presses 450 back to lock out with no problem.

As if this story was not bullshit enough, he then asks me if I remember another guy.  I say yes.  Then he tells me that this guy is one of the biggest guys around town now (he was a stick back in the day), and he was in the gym some time back and benched 450 for 2 with his feet up.  Making him a 500+ bencher easily.  I then say "wow is the town full of 450 benchers?"  450 pound bench presses aren't common.  Not even in raw powerlifting.  But my old friend has everyone benching 450, which just happens to be the number I should/could hit later this year if I do a meet.  This folks, is a combination of a war story ("I used to lift too" "my son is as big as you") and small town horseshit.

Doesn't everyone bench 450?  Oh wait that's only 375ish.  450...375, what's the difference?


What's funny is, the small town I grew up in is full of stories like this.  But even funnier is that I've never once witnessed any great feats of strength or shit like that.  It's always just some myth about a guy.  I've heard more crazy stories about the guys I grew up with than you can imagine.  Guys taking 2x4 shots to the head then wiping the floor with 17 guys in a fight afterwards, beating up 100 cops, just all sorts of small town big headed bullshit.  I do know for a fact that a friend of mine benched 580 at one point in a competition but I'm not sure if it was raw or shirted, and yes that fucking matters.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Monday sucks.

14 comments:

  1. ive been in three diferenst gym in the past 3 years..never seem someone benching 315...only seem like 10 people able o benching 225 or alittle more

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  2. This is pretty much the standard fare.

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  3. Hey I am one of those 225 benchers! >:/

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  4. About 6 years ago when I could maybe bench 185 max a guy had me spot him for a 500lb bench. I ended up not having to touch the bar at all and it was only me spotting. I looked up him up recently and he had benched a little over 600 in a national competition close to that time but died of cancer a couple years ago at 55. I think 1 guy at my gym can do 405 but benches on a day I'm usually not there. Possibly been more than a year since I've seen anyone bench 315+ for full ROM at a gym.

    -Andy

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  5. what happened to the "man rule" comments?
    geoff

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  6. "Guys taking 2x4 shots to the head then wiping the floor with 17 guys in a fight afterwards,"

    Lol. Is this a standard legendary story for small towns? I heard this same exact story when I was in high school.

    Great blog by the way!

    - Tim

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  7. i worked part time in a cardinal fitness in indianapolis for all total about 2.5 years. this is not a strong persons gym. i worked a t 2 different locations. i would have to use 3 hands to count the guys i saw benching 315+ there. there were 3 guys in there regularly who could triple 365 raw. one guy could do it on the incline. the gym i go to now is a little more serious. a few eeks ago i saw a guy who couldn't weigh more than 190 do 315 for 5x5, also raw. we had one guy there a while back who i saw do 455 raw. i don't know what happened to him. it sucks. i have bench envy...

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  8. There are def gyms like that Adam. But they are few and far between.

    Geoff - Issue was handled.

    Tim - I think it is standard fare. Every small town has at least 2 legendary bad asses that never square off but beat the shit out of everyone else in town twice.

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  9. you know after reading what i posted last, it sounded kinda snotty. i wasn't trying to be arguementative, i was just sharing my experience. sorry if how i wrote that was offensive.

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  10. LOL I didn't take it that way at all.

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  11. I have some lifting stories that are shaky on the truth side because I can't remember them.

    For instance, there used to be a big barrel-chested dude with a mullet that would come into the gym (I was in HS) in his work overalls and boots. He would work up to (I think) 495x5 every time he lifted, no spotter, no liftoff. Now that was almost 15 years ago, and I can't remember for sure if it was 405 or 495, LOL. Kind of a big difference.

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  12. Yup. I have some of those too from when I was young because I didn't know what the weights really added up to. I think that's prolly the case with a lot of these.

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  13. Really late to the show posting this, but when I was a senior in college, someone at the university gym warmed up to 495 and squatted below parallel for 8 reps like it was nothing. Somehow in a room full of people, I was the only one who thought that was impressive enough to stop and watch. Guy was LEAN too. Not sure if he was on the football team or what, but never saw him again.

    Love the site and info, reading through your archives during downtime at work.

    -Jess

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  14. that's a nice squat. Lots of dudes in douche bag gyms don't notice anyone with real strength. They are too busy doing 100000 curls.

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