Results matching “Bird”

It's a sunny Labour Day here, which means that nearly everything is closed and I finally had an opportunity to catch up with Eric Cressey's latest piece on T-Nation, 13 Tips for mighty elbows and wrists.

If you read Jim Wendler's recent article Casting your wrists you may recall the opening paragraph :

When I started using a bench shirt, I miraculously gained 150 lbs on my bench. No practice, no technique work, nothing. That is the magic of these cheater shirts—you automatically “get it.” Anyway, with this increase in bar weight, my wrists were taking a beating and I needed some help. This is where I was bestowed with this knowledge, which I am now giving to you.

If that's a familiar feeling (suddenly asking your wrists to do a lot more work), Eric's article is definitely for you. It's far more wide-ranging than I'd anticipated, and the section on 'checking your workstation' was certainly food for thought. Heavy benching with chains and correct keyboard use in one article? Perfect.

Check out the blog of Belfast personal trainer Neil McTeggart. As you can see from his training notes (bp:155kg sq: 180kg dl: 220kg) he knows what he's doing.

Long time Olympia runner-up Jay Cutler has finally switched places with Big Ron; preventing Coleman from beating Lee Haney's record of 8 Mr Olympia wins. To say Cutler looks pleased is an understatement.

The top 10 (from this year's finals) :

1. Jay Cutler
2 - Ronnie Coleman
3 - Victor Martinez
4 - Dexter Jackson
5 - Melvin Anthony
6 - Gustavo Baddel
7 - Toney Freeman
8 - Marcus Ruhl
9 - Dennis James
10 - Gunter Schlierkamp

For a few photos from the final, check out this site.

Slept a little under 3 hours; woke naturally. All feels well, other than the fact that I'm excruciatingly tired. Another rather lengthy day ensues.

Following nap

Did it again - another 6 hour marathon. Today's weariness even ruled out a scheduled session of rack pulls; so it must be serious. My current thinking (although somewhat hazy) is to try a series of brief naps tomorrow in order to get back on track. The alternative - another day of extreme tiredness - does not bear consideration.

Fredericton's Sam Arsenault is defenitely a powerlifter and strongman to keep an eye on. Although originally scheduled to be a helper at a recent Strongman contest in the nearby Acadian Festival, he was quickly inspired to try out a few of the events and enter the contest himself. That's enthusiasm.

Not quite in Zombie mode, but near enough. Last night included some late (even by my standards) work on the PC, and I didn't end up getting to bed until a little before 05:00. In order to wake up at a reasonable time this morning I set the alarm for 08:00; but feel as though I spent about half that time simply rolling back and forth trying to get to sleep.

Today's going to be a long, long day.

Following nap

I knew I was tired, but 6 hours? I have vague memories of picking up the alarm, switching it off and dropping it on the bedside table again. And then sleeping for another 4.5 hours.

It seems that there's a time penalty for overstepping the mark on the nap. This has happened on a few occasions now, and on each of them I feel as though I needed a bit extra; but not that much. After 6 hours (with a further 3 or so to come) I feel about as refreshed as I do following a 6 hour biphasic days' total. The quandary is that unless I get a further 3-or-so hours in a few hours' time, tomorrow will be the same - tired all day, oversleep the nap, wake up mid-morning more than a little annoyed.

Boston-based physical therapist Nick Liatsos takes a look at the relationship between exercise and free radicals.

Although it starts ominously :

Although exercise in the form of endurance (i.e. running a 2K) or resistance type training (i.e. weightlifting) has numerous benefits such as increasing oxygenation of tissues and improving insulin sensitivity, it also has a downside. With every breath that we take, we use oxygen to aid in the process of converting carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to energy. This, in turn, creates an unstable molecule of oxygen. These molecules are highly destructive to the molecules and tissues surrounding them and have been named free radicals. The free radicals that exceed the body’s antioxidant stores are the cause of oxidative stress. They occur in the body inevitably from energy metabolism and respiration. Exercise uses 12–20 times more oxygen and sends free radical production into high gear.

it quickly adopts a more positive light and looks at the potential benefits of a bit of supplementation. With vitamins C and E heading the list, this isn't exactly going to require a radical re-working of the diet. Not that I need much of an excuse to start taking more vitamin supplements.

More juicy video goodness via Powerlifting Watch : a Bolton vs Magnusson deadlift compilation [streaming, 7.5mb .flv download via KeepVid]. Brilliant.

This [.wmv, 7mb] is a great video find by Tom Furman. The clip is a preview of the Dog Brothers DVD 'Die Less Often: Introduction To the Interface of Gun, Knife, and Empty Hand', and definitely makes you think about the terms of a close-range knife or gun fight.

A knife never runs out of ammunition.

Very good stuff.

Serious bedhead. Judging by the way I feel there were no more than 3 hours of decent quality sleep in that 4.5 hours. That isn't too bad - although this afternoon's squats should be interesting.

Following nap

One of the things I'm noticing with this test is that I'm getting quite tired by around 19:00 (the usual nap time); making the nap more than welcome at that point. This evening was certainly no exception, and waking after 90 minutes was frustratingly soon.