Today's workout

[Texican]

Shoulders/back

 

[MikeNice]

After breakfast walk on a gravely hill with my 11lb pack.

 

[MikeNice]

6 KB swings / side
6 two hand KB swings
6 KB OHP / side
6 crush grip OHP
6 pushups
6 pull overs

3 circuits 90 seconds rest

 

[MikeNice]

Probably skipping today.

We stopped by a sporting goods store after dinner because I was looking for some new workout shorts. Mine are at least ten years old at this point and the elastic is giving up.

Anyway, they had a bunch of kettlebells lines up and I wanted to see if I was ready to move up in weight. I didn't realize they were stamped in kilos instead of pounds. I realized something was off as soon as I started into my back swing for a clean and press. But my wife was standing there so I had to follow through with it.

Instead of 26 pounds I was swinging 57pounds. It looked a lot more like a clean and jerk than a clean and press. Plus I had to do the other side to keep everything equal. My left shoulder is telling on me today and making me feel like a punk.

 

[icehog3]

"Rehab" on the chest and shoulder Friday, lots of reps with fairly low weights. Feels like it's getting better.

Saturday was cardio, legs and triceps. After 40 minutes of hills on the Precor bike and some heavy leg presses, my legs were jelly the rest of the day.

 

[Texican]

Biceps/triceps

 

[Texican]

Shoulders/back

 

[MikeNice]

.70 of that was actually my morning walk. There was no extra weight and I went to the park where they have an asphalt track with some decent elevation change. Asphalt is definitely harder on your feet and ankles.

 

[icehog3]

Back and bis yesterday. Skipping the shoulder rehab this time around, I'll be back Thursday.

 

[MikeNice]

Long rough day yesterday, and besides my walk, this morning was pretty hectic. I'm just not feeling good today. A new push-up board arrived yesterday. That means I still had to test it out regardless of how I feel.

5 pushups
10 two hand KB swings
20 seconds of high knee running in place
Two or three sets every couple of hours.

I'm really liking the little push-up board. It stops me from using the same hand position every time and takes a lot of stress off my wrist. Softer handles would be nice, but a little adjustment and they are good enough.

Pushup board

 

[Texican]

Chest/400 squats

 

[MikeNice]

Super slow stroll after breakfast. The last two days finally caught up with me and the PCS symptoms are raging.

 

[Texican]

Biceps/triceps

 

[MikeNice]

An after breakfast walk with the 11lb pack was immediately followed by weighted carries with 25lbs on the adjustable kettlebell.

Seven point carries: Suitcase, front rack, waiter, two hand low carry

Yesterday evening I worked out even though I felt like shit. I pushed the resistance up and did low rep two hand swings, single arm OHP, and pushups. Then I hit some high rep arm and lat work because I needed a pump before picking up my kid.

I was wearing an Animal brand Iconic T-shirt. I had to look like I was supposed to wear it.

 

[MikeNice]

I decided to really push it this morning. I hit five sets of pushups with hand position change each round. Then I hit every muscle that didn't feel like it was worked enough with isolation work. I just kept going until I needed to catch my breath. Every set was a different form of "intensity" set. Drop sets, revers drop sets, isometrics, 5 second negatives, and other variations were employed.

I stopped when I was shaking and so dizzy I started wobbling.

Now, I'm baking up some chicken breast tenders coated in Panang curry powder, chipotle powder, dried sumac, smoked paprika, and cayenne powder.

 

[MikeNice]

Baked chicken and half of a Bird's Eye Veggie and Grains bowl. I'm having flashbacks. At least this time I know baked chicken doesn't have to be bland.

 

[Texican]

I was wearing an Animal brand Iconic T-shirt. I had to look like I was supposed to wear it.

That is definitely one of those shirts that you gotta earn. Like a Met-Rx shirt. You see a dude in one of those, there is a 99% chance he is the most hardcore of gym veterans who has been lifting since King Ronnie was in his prime.

 

[MikeNice]

That is definitely one of those shirts that you gotta earn. Like a Met-Rx shirt. You see a dude in one of those, there is a 99% chance he is the most hardcore of gym veterans who has been lifting since King Ronnie was in his prime.

Back in the day if you showed up in an Animal Iconic people knew it was going down. Now people's eyes glaze over and they don't even recognize the brand. Universal Nutrition diluted the brand and over extended the number of folks they sponsored under the Animal name. It lost some of that special vibe from the Wrath, Ox, House, Higa Monster, and G Diesel days.

The old black and white advertisements and G. Diesel's "Diary of A Mad Man" blogs on the website gave it a completely different image. There weren't many companies willing to embrace the grind of lifting as a marketing angle back then. G. Diesel openly talked about the effect of his friend's suicide on how he viewed life. It was more than a brand. If you saw somebody in an Animal shirt you knew they had a certain mentality and were coming from a certain place.

Their forums were also awesome. You could actually get in there and talk to the athletes about everything. They worked hard to make it feel like a community of committed "hardcore" lifters.

 

[Texican]

Back in the day if you showed up in an Animal Iconic people knew it was going down. Now people's eyes glaze over and they don't even recognize the brand. Universal Nutrition diluted the brand and over extended the number of folks they sponsored under the Animal name. It lost some of that special vibe from the Wrath, Ox, House, Higa Monster, and G Diesel days.

The old black and white advertisements and G. Diesel's "Diary of A Mad Man" blogs on the website gave it a completely different image. There weren't many companies willing to embrace the grind of lifting as a marketing angle back then. G. Diesel openly talked about the effect of his friend's suicide on how he viewed life. It was more than a brand. If you saw somebody in an Animal shirt you knew they had a certain mentality and were coming from a certain place.

Their forums were also awesome. You could actually get in there and talk to the athletes about everything. They worked hard to make it feel like a community of committed "hardcore" lifters.

Damn, that is interesting!! I wasn't too familiar with the brand other than seeing Animal Stak ads in Flex back in the day.

 

[MikeNice]

The second photo is from 2005 and was captioned, "4:27am. . .Why am I here?"

This is what their marketing was like up until about seven years ago. It was very different from everything else at the time. They also had an area on their homepage where athletes and associated people would post articles and blogs. It wasn't the type of stuff you saw everywhere else.

From 2009

November 11: Comes The Executioner

Freud believed that the id (the part of the unconscious mind responsible for pure pleasure seeking) is what drives most of our external actions. Irrespective of your sensitivity to the inner workings of your mind, you are driven to covet the things that you desire most. This complex mental process has been written about and puzzled over for decades, but at its core, it is the supreme element of human truth. Perhaps at your core you desire the warmth of blood rushing to your well developed muscles. Maybe you have become enraptured by the images lodged deep within your unconscious mind, images of heavily muscled warriors, straining to move heavy objects. The problem begins on the battle ground. The battle rages between the forces within your mind and the reality is brought to bear when you are trying to achieve this mental vision. In short, it ain’t that easy to get those muscles… Is it?

Every one of us is susceptible to the waking visions that project our deepest desires across our imaginations, but the pick and shovel work, the ugly part of it, is far less coveted. Contrary to popular opinion, desire, in and of itself, is not the key ingredient necessary to achieve pre-eminence. While desire might be likened to the high octane fuel that drives the machine, or the vehicle, it is execution that forges champions, winners and survivors. While desire is critical to your success, and vital to your survival, execution is that all important element that is absolutely necessary to obtain whatever it is that you want in life. For example, take two professional football teams that are each filled with elite talent that has made the necessary sacrifices to achieve victory. Each man on the field is filled with a burning desire to win, but only one team can prevail. The team with the ability to execute the given plays and carry out the plan of attack is the team that will walk away victorious.

My point here is not complex. Any man can wave a flag and any person can rave about something they want, but to actually achieve these great heights, to truly own the images we hold so dear in our hearts and in our minds takes something more than daydreaming and empty rhetoric. The word, my friends, is execution. I will grant you the word execution is not as sexy as some of the other buzzwords that are so often associated with success and victory. We always hear words like determination, perseverance, courage, fortitude, and of course the sexiest one of them all, desire. I submit to you now that desire without execution is like a sword with no blade, a gun with no bullets, or a bird without wings. Furthermore, the result of missing or failed execution will produce a man without achievements...

December 3: Comes The Executioner, Part 2

... Notwithstanding the power of all these five dollar words, I can readily assure you that words will be of little comfort to you at 5:30 am, when the snow is knee high and you are the only swinging dick in the weight room. However, if you happen to remember a single word when you’re alone in the dark or on leg day when you’re on your knees in front of the fucking toilet, in the name of all that you hold sacred in this world, remember the word EXECUTION. It will serve you far better than any romantic notion you may harbor about what is necessary to achieve something in this hard, cold world.

Modern, socio-cultural, pop-psychology enthusiasts would have you believe that all you need to do to achieve something in this world is to want it bad enough… I say nonsense. I am here to tell all the kiddies that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the impossible dream just ain’t enough to get you that brass ring; that’s just not the way life works. It takes more than a dollar and a dream to make something of yourself, but then, that’s the beauty of it.

Not everyone will endure the rigorous challenges that stand between you and that which you seek to possess. Not everyone can see it through to the end, using their basic animal instincts, a burning desire to become something and most importantly, a conceptual understanding of the word execution. Execution can be the difference maker that stands between what you are and what you could become. It is the word that stands between emerging victoriously and retreating ingloriously. A champion executes a well conceived plan of attack, he never wavers from that plan and he doesn’t panic when the pain sets in.