"As a young lad of influential age, I was counselled to live by three rules... Get eight hours of sleep. Real men don't wear pink. And summer muscles are made in the winter." -- Achieving ODJ
When its strength phase, a partner is always appreciated. First and foremost as a spotter (safety first!) Then as a comic distraction during the long rest. Strength phase is a slow grind with short burst of excitement followed by three minutes of sitting around. Every exercise is five sets of five with 180 ticks between each. The worst math student would have little trouble surmising that four exercises can get a touch long in the tooth... so having a partner is key. For Jaron and I, a great deal of our raw material for the blog is produced during rest periods.
As stated in the last post, we had to clear up a matter of contention surrounding concentration curls. Long story short, my poor technique inflated my weight selection. To the excitement of Jaron, who held his composure, but admittedly felt concern over the possibility of a large gulf in bicep curl weight, we are still equals in the right arm. However, I am taking a 5lbs leap for my left. Jaron quickly resolved my look of confusion over the difference in weight. "You carry around babies!" He went on to state; "We're right-handers. We carry all the bulk in the left hand so the skilled operations are handled with the right." But I'm still not sure I believe his theory... he is strong in both arms. I guess some mysteries are not meant to be solved. Maybe we'll tackle that one in 2015.
To all our loyal readers who read in spite of our dribble, and to my partner in pain who writes with me in spite of our audience, I wish everyone a Happy New Year. May your resolutions make it past MLK Day. I end another great year of snark and self-deprecating humor with this quote: "Don't blame the holidays. You were fat in August!"
Chest & Triceps
Incline press - Hammer Strength 105lbs/side
Decline press - Hammer Strength 125lbs/side
Tricep press - machine 230lbs
Chest Fly - machine 2 arms 190lbs
Back & Biceps
Pull ups - overhand grip
One arm rows - Hammer Strength 135lbs
Concentration curs 30lbs
Bent over one arm DB rows 65lbs
Legs
Leg press - weighted sled 540 + sled
18" box step ups with DB Two 40's
Front squats on Smith Machine 135lbs
Donkey Calf 135lbs
Surely I posted this last year, but here you go, rubes: according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, 70% of all New Year's resolutions are broken in the first week! Another 22% in the first three months. Less than 8% make it the whole year! Seems about right. My guess is roughly 92% of people think they know how to lose weight, but are sorely mistaken. Do you know why guys won't stop for directions? Most people (women) would argue it's because we are stubborn. Not true. We won't stop because we "KNOW" where we are going. We honestly believe that. And if we are not lost, why, dear god, why would we ever stop for directions? You see, we don't stop, not because we are arrogant; we don't stop because we are ignorant. We don't know what we don't know! 92%...
ReplyDeleteI recently read an article that proffered the idea that one has to be mildly smart to know one is stupid. In other words, many stupid people are actually too stupid to realize they are stupid! They are simply not smart enough to make the connection. Hence Fox News correspondents, and the huddled masses of New Year's resolutioners who will inevitably fail for lack of stopping for directions. Periodically, I am asked to justify $50 a half hour for my services. My response has always been: "how can you justify $50 a half hour for labor on your car repair?" The typical response: "I can't fix my own car". Great point. Your body is the vehicle you have to drive for the rest of your life; can't trade that bitch in. Well, guess what? I charge $50 a half hour because you can't fix your own vehicle. If you could, I'd be out of work.
I was thoroughly expecting to find that Ole JT was using some convoluted cheat technique for his concentration curls when he told me he did 40 lbs. I stop short of claiming cheat, but he was dreadfully short of good form. Thank goodness, cause my ego couldn't take him kicking my ass by 10 lbs on a secondary muscle group!
It is New Year's, and I do want to thank any few of you that still put up with us! We appreciate your understanding, possibly more than your support. I fell well short of my goal of alienating all readership this year. But, I guess that's what resolutions are for. To a New, brighter, thinner, fitter, possibly boozier Year! I promise to do better.