11/26/2013

  Sometimes I sit here and stare at this page blankly trying to think of what to write.  Tonight is one of those nights.  One night I may get a little drunk and see what sort of epic I can compose.  Okay, it'll probably be me telling people how much I love them.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I'm a happy loving drunk, which is good because I'm a violent angry sober.  

  Rack pulls were pretty fucking amazing tonight.  Went to 675 pounds, which is a new PR by 10 pounds.  Also, that bar is even more bent than before.  Fuck that place needs 3 new bars.  Pretty much killed it too, it'll be at least five weeks before I'll do rack pulls again.  Might try 700 on that, although I can imagine that going like "Well, bar didn't move, was a moral victory!"  

  I've got a little bit of a test for next Wednesday.  More on that later though.  Yeah, I got nothing else to say.  Go listen to Pat Benatar, that'll fix everything.  Oh yeah!  Plan on uploading the final unboxing video tonight!  Well, final of the next-gen console wars.

11/25/2013

 Okay, lets get the gym stuff out of the way first.  Dynamic effort bench night was good.  Used 315 for all of it but the warmup.  Speed was good, could be better.  It will be better.  Still doing overhead triceps extensions with the bands.  I really think that's the best triceps workout I've done ever.  Ended doing some drag curls as the experiment continues.  Final set did 7 reps with 185 pounds.  One day I'll have large arms.

 Not sure if the next unboxing video will be up tonight or tomorrow night.  It makes me giggle, but then again, pretty much everything I've posted makes me giggle, that's why I post it.  Now, I hope you're ready for a HUGE announcement.  Poorly (non)Animated Theater is going to make it's triumphant return.  Got what I wanna do with the next one down, just gotta draw it out and record the audio.  This one will deal with an inside joke but at least some people will find it amusing.

  Today, I leave you with a Buzz Aldrin selfie...

11/22/2013

 Dynamic effort squat night was pretty relaxing.  That felt almost dirty to type.  Pretty solid night though.  Box squats, doing them with 315 didn't seem that bad.  Yes, that does sound light but that'll be a story for another post.  Some stiff legged deadlifts, abductors and adductors, then some makeshift reverse hypers.  No curls tonight thanks to an elbow tweak in the partner so, I took this as an excuse to not do them.  Unfortunately it means drag curls have been moved to Sunday night.  One more night this week, but thankfully, next two days are off days.

  Upped my Xbox One unboxing video tonight.  I'm actually kinda floored at the fact that in five hours it's gotten over 50 views, 3 likes, and 1 sub.  Sure those numbers are tiny compared to some of the people who post stuff, but that's my fastest pace to 50 on any video yet.  I've got another unboxing coming next week, part three of the console war trilogy.  I had to make the Battletoads shoutout to a friend, since I know he loves them so much.  Link to the video down below incase somehow you just read these for some reason and aren't on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.

11/21/2013

 Okay, so tonight was pretty awesome.  385 pound dead bench, had the cage set so that once I got my arch you might could have slid a quarter in between my chest and the bar.  Followed that up with some unracking of heavy weight, went to 585 on that.  The most fun part was the one armed dumbbell rows that followed.  Using 135 on those feels pretty good now.  A week and a half into what I'm calling entirely too many curls, arm measured at 21.5" so that's up a half inch in a week and a half.  I'm going to be glad when this curl experiment is over.

 Saturday I got my new mattress which is pretty awesome.  Pillow top so if I sleep on my side my shoulders don't scream at me the next day.  Hopefully soon my back will be 100% straightened out.

 Probably post something a bit more meaty here tomorrow.  We'll see.

 Watch this, they're pretty fantastic.

11/19/2013

 Tonight was pretty great.  It was punch and pie night at the gym.  We've decided to call it punch and pie night since punch and pie doesn't have the same sense of dread as zercher squats.  Ended up doing 465 pounds which was a new PR by 10 pounds so it's worth the tenderized forearms.

 I bought a new pair of sneakers, Skechers.  First time in about 12 years that I haven't worn New Balance.  I gotta tell ya, these are pretty nice.  Huge amount of heel in them, so no way I can dead lift in them, that's okay I usually slip them off for deadlifting, but man.  Tonight on box jumps these things were a little slice of heaven.

 Tonight it finally hit me, the BCAA powder I'm using taste like grape Gatorade G2.  Fortunately I love the taste of the G2 so the BCAA powder is pretty good.  I'm really hoping I'll see a bigger recovery rate off them.

 I'm gonna try to get another Hearthstone speed play video up Tuesday or Wednesday.  After that one I'll probably end up putting my headset on and you'll get to hear me bitch a lot at how slow my opponent is going.  I've been playing GT Racing 2, it's pretty fun but a little buggy.


 This should make ya feel like lifting a bit more.

11/18/2013

 Dynamic bench night was a pretty wonderful success.  I think of the four nights per week we train, it's probably the easiest, at least it feels that way when we're done.  Using 315 for speed pretty easily which is fantastic considering many years ago 315 seemed like a number I'd never ever be able to bench once, let alone multiple sets for speed.  Video of the benching will be at the bottom here.

  I finally got all my AdSense stuff straight so fortunately I won't have to upload all my videos again. That'll be a huge time saver.  I'm going to start trying to post something new at least once a week or so.  Gym, game, or entertainment related.

11/15/2013

 So, I was kind of going into tonight thinking that since it was speed squat/dl night it would be the one that kicked me in the balls this week.  I gotta tell ya, I was pleasantly surprised.  Speed box squats went up pretty damn easy.  After that did some ham string work, some static oblique work, and once again some curls.  It's really getting to be entertaining to hear my partner say "Seriously, bar curls again?" When he's the one always wanting to do curls.  Apparently four nights of bar curls makes him want to curse me.

 I got in a few minutes early tonight and used the foam roller for a bit before I started, that really helped with the mid and lower back tightness which was nice.  I looked at some foam rollers for home on Amazon.  Found a "great" review which was title "I'm a big guy and this thing is tough."  Little further in the interview he points out he's like 210 pounds and I'm thinking "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you said big."  I did eventually find some other reviews from some larger people who said it has held up nicely for them.

 Also a few of the people there had a chat on doing the Smolov squat routine in 2014.  Best reason we could think of is because misery loves company.  This is one of those odd moments my knees and head are in agreement that squatting four days a week would be very painful, but it generally puts around 100 pounds on your squat in those 13 weeks, so that's a pretty tempting number.

11/14/2013

 Holy hell, last night was amazing.  Was planning on doing floor presses however ended up doing chain bench since the cage was taken.  Ended up doing 365 plus approx 150 pounds of chain which was pretty amazing as well as a new PR.  Partner also ended up doing a new PR.  It was a good night in general.  Lots of good talk about lifting, a few jokes/cracks were bandied about.

 I used a Hemo Rage Ultra Concentrated Turbo Shot for my pre-workout.  Holy hell that stuff has a kick.  I did drink the full bottle so that might have had something to do with it.  It was a green apple flavor and had about the same color as antifreeze.  So that was an added bonus.  I think I'm going to pick up some more of those.

 Thanks to one of the guys who doing some rack pulls I now have a new answer when someone ask "What's the leg press good for?"  The correct answer is now "About 15 cents a pound scrap."

 I'm still having a small amount of lower back pain.  Nothing too major but might make box squatting kind of interesting tonight.  I've said I want to try massage before but in general I seem to like avoid people touching me.  I'm probably going to have to reconsider this.

 I found this lovely item while cleaning up some old junk in the spare room.  It of course ended up getting posted on Google+ and Facebook.  A friend made a comment, now I have to bring some Debbie Gibson music to the gym Sunday.  That will either be amazing or absolutely horrible.

11/12/2013

 So, tonight was great.  Partner is back so I was able to push him and by doing so it helped to push me. Ended up doing a new PR on good mornings(440lbs) which was nice, sadly, the 405 was harder, then I realized the new shoes I was in had a lot of heel so I took them off and crushed the 440.  He too set a new PR on them.  My person favorite moment of the night came from "Okay, what's next?"  "Static suitcase hold."  *starts setting it up*  "Fuck, you weren't joking."  We ended the night doing some curls because, chicks man, it was awesome how badly our obliques/abdominals were already hurting after the static suitcase holds and a static standing crunch, it really showed there.

 I used another sample of the preworkout drinks I have.  This time it was Hypershock Rage by Myogenix.  It certainly wasn't the best I've ever had.  Taste was good, fruit punch.  The color was kind of a scary bright red.  It also has about 50 calories, which I prefer a preworkout that doesn't have any calories unless it's calories from protein, this was all carbs.  Did't get much of an energy boost off of it or much of a pump.  Only really good thing I can say about it is that it doesn't keep me up since I'm actually sitting here yawning as I write this.  Although that could be because of the lack of sleep last night.  Speaking of that yawning, I think I'll see if I can sleep a few hours.

11/11/2013

 Fortunately, deload week is over and my training partner is back in town.  I've devised some exquisite forms of torture for us over the next four weeks.    I have a couple more samples of various pre-workouts so I'll use one of those next to max effort nights and see how they go.  Glad my deload week is over, I just wish that achy part of my back would have healed up.  Had a friend pop my back at the gym tonight and that seemed to have helped a lot.  Friday or Saturday I'm going to get a new mattress so maybe that'll will help with the back pain, also hopefully it'll help me to sleep a bit more soundly at night.  2-3 hours at a time is kind of ball breaking.

 I've had the Nexus 5 for a week now and I absolutely love it.  Although, once you see your over the air data speeds actually rival your at home data speeds, it makes you start to hate your ISP even more.

  I really thought I'd have a bit more to say tonight, probably will after tomorrow night's training.   

Protein Pancakes

 So, I figured I'd post this, deload week ends tonight so I'll post something with more rambling in the early AM.  I get tired drinking my protein shakes all the time and pancakes are delicious, so here we go.

1.  Heat up a non-stick pan on medium heat.  

2.  Put two scoops of muscle milk in a bowl.

3.  Add one egg and a splash of milk.

4.  Stir with a fork till it has a smooth consistency. 

5.  Pour in a pan, you'll probably have to use a spoon to get all of it out of the bowl since the batter is pretty thick.

6.  When you start seeing bubbles on the uncooked side it's time to flip.  Run your spatula around the edges to loosen them up, then just slide under and flip.

7.  Let the uncooked side cook for a relatively short time, around 30-60 seconds.

8.  Plate that bad boy up.

  I've used chocolate, cake batter, and strawberries and cream.  They're all pretty good.  If I eat one before I train sometimes I'll sprinkle a pinch of powdered sugar on them.  I'm gonna assume this can be used with any protein powder, just I imagine fruit punch pancakes would taste like hell.  If you use the two scoops of Muscle Milk you're looking at approximately 393 calories, 17g fat, 19g carbs, and 38g protein.  Enjoy!

11/06/2013

 I really fucking hate deload weeks.  Not as much as an off week, but it doesn't feel like I'm doing much in the gym.  Last night, avoided any sort of squat or deadlift motion.  Leg extensions, leg curls, abductors, adductors, some core work with bands, all light.  I would say I didn't break a sweat but it was above 45 degrees and I moved, so I broke a sweat.

 My Nexus 5 came in, only thing I can say is... buttery smooth.  Seriously, it's damn nice, screen is beautiful, everything loads extremely fast, it feels good in my hand.   I can't decide if I wanna get a case, but I definitely want to get one of the wireless chargers for it.  TWiT did a lovely review with their Before You Buy show as did Engadget.

 This might shock a few people but from time to time I'm amusing even more shocking I am sometimes amusing without being horribly offensive.  However, actually sitting down and attempting to write something that's suppose to be funny just doesn't come that naturally to me.  Something I'm working on requires me to write some stuff down, so best thing I can think of to do is just start recording myself as I say whatever, then take the best of my rambling and cut it down to 30 seconds to a minute.

 Two videos really caught my eye the past couple of days.  First one is some brutally impressive board benching.  Second one I saw on @Midnight which is a pretty hilarious show, comes on after The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

11/04/2013

 Okay, dynamic effort bench was okay.  Didn't push as hard as I could and only did 315 for a few sets since wasn't sure if it'd aggravate my side.  It didn't.  Followed up with some band pressdowns, double arm band pressdowns, Bradford press, and overhead rack lockouts.  None of that seemed to make it any worse which is nice.  Felt odd not doing any lat and/or upper back work on bench night.  

 Used one of the samples of Pump HD.  Pretty much lived up to the name, the pump was pretty damn impressive for a relatively simple training session.  I would have actually liked it to have a bigger energy kick, but I suppose if you aren't looking for that many stimulates it's pretty handy.  Flavor was Peaches N Cream, I cringed when I read it almost afraid to drink it but man, it was pretty damn tasty.
 I'm gonna try to get my YouTube channel straightened out with AdSense, not sure what went wrong but something did and now they're disconnected and not reconnecting for some reason.  Gonna make a few speed HearthStone videos and up them.  It's pretty damn fun.  Especially for what looks like it's going to be a free game. 

11/03/2013

 So, the way I train I don't lift on Fridays and Saturdays which is nice, my side is feeling pretty good. We'll see if benching bothers that tomorrow night with dynamic effort bench. Here's a fun tip for you when you order your supplements from places like BodyBuilding.Com or Supplement Warehouse, they'll often have a bunch of free samples you can have them toss in your order.  So I have a few couple of extra pre-workout samples I'm going to try this week and see how they are.

 My Nexus 5 is sitting at the UPS building right now about 13 miles from my house.  I'm having a hard time coming to terms with this since I need it in my hands right about yesterday.  I actually haven't done an un-boxing video in a while, so that might be something to do when it gets here.  Granted, I'd end up being kind of serious with it and no one would watch it.

 I'll try making this thing a little meatier in the next day or two, not a lot to talk about today.

11/01/2013

 I need a better name for this thing.  I dunno what, so any suggestions would be awesome, well, any good suggestions.  First, the amazing thing before the random gym stuff.  Totally ordered my Nexus 5 today.  Got the shipping notification tonight, I'm hoping it'll come in Saturday, but I doubt it, so it'll be here Monday, then I'll have the joy of not having to wonder if my phone will charge when I plug it in. 

 My YouTube channel got a bit screwed up with AdSense so I'm going to have to re-upload everything under my regular Google account.  So prepare to see repeats of videos!  I have a few new ideas of videos that I want to make but haven't gotten around to them.  Hopefully week after next I can get a couple done.  Plus another little project we've been working on, more on that at a later date.  

 So now the gym portion.  I seem to have a pulled rib cage/intercostal muscles.  So it's made doing my speed deadlifts/squats a little difficult.  Tonight, I tried doing my box squats both with and without my belt.  Neither way felt any better or worse.  After that I did some static oblique work using suitcase deadlifts with 185.  That was interesting and oddly enough didn't hurt my side too much while doing it.  After it was a bit achy.  Plan on doing a deload week next week for my squat/deadlift to see if that helps.  Only problem I see is I do a lot of seated cable rows and one armed dumbbell rows on my bench days.  So, I might turn those into limited motion overhead presses and Bradford presses.  

 Enjoy