Results matching “bodybuilder”

Bodybuilder and weightlifter Val Vasilef performing a straight-arm flag with a reverse flip; at a bodyweight of 225lb.

It's been a busy week. We've passed the 2000 post mark, survived another week of mayhem, and trained hard for next month's Virtual Meet. In the meantime :

• Articles : Jedd Johnson - a goldmine of information on all things grip - compiled his superb Straight to the Grip Contest series in a handy PDF (print it out and give a copy to your friends), Bucknell University's Jerry Shreck discussed the prevention of ankle injuries and I took a look at the current state of affairs regarding mainstream media coverage of strength sports.
• Videos : Zach Ruffo demonstrated some of the basic speedbag techniques, bodybuilder Mario Strong performed one of my favourite strength feats - blowing up a hot water bottle and Priscilla Ribic showed us what sumo deadlifting's all about with an incredible WR pull of 556lb at only 148lb. Not bad at all.
• Sites : Enjoy the fun of climbing and bouldering in Finland with Slouppi, calculate the length of your run with RunningMap.com and find out what to do about that nagging shoulder pain at the Shoulder Doc.
• Food : Chef Lisa McGovern begins cooking the power foods, Mark Sisson points to 44 finger-lickin' recipes and I discuss the things to look for when buying fish.
• Bonus : If you missed the EliteFTS Boston seminar, take a look at these - several clips of the guys discussing many things to do with strength training, and a few that don't.

  To get you started, here's Matt Kroczaleski discussing change in your routine (in this case, heavy DB rows). For more clips, swing by the EliteFTS page on YouTube. There's some great stuff there.

It's been a busy week. We've passed the 2000 post mark, survived another week of mayhem, and trained hard for next month's Virtual Meet. In the meantime :

• Articles : Jedd Johnson - a goldmine of information on all things grip - compiled his superb Straight to the Grip Contest series in a handy PDF (print it out and give a copy to your friends), Bucknell University's Jerry Shreck discussed the prevention of ankle injuries and I took a look at the current state of affairs regarding mainstream media coverage of strength sports.
• Videos : Zach Ruffo demonstrated some of the basic speedbag techniques, bodybuilder Mario Strong performed one of my favourite strength feats - blowing up a hot water bottle and Priscilla Ribic showed us what sumo deadlifting's all about with an incredible WR pull of 556lb at only 148lb. Not bad at all.
• Sites : Enjoy the fun of climbing and bouldering in Finland with Slouppi, calculate the length of your run with RunningMap.com and find out what to do about that nagging shoulder pain at the Shoulder Doc.
• Food : Chef Lisa McGovern begins cooking the power foods, Mark Sisson points to 44 finger-lickin' recipes and I discuss the things to look for when buying fish.
• Bonus : If you missed the EliteFTS Boston seminar, take a look at these - several clips of the guys discussing many things to do with strength training, and a few that don't.

  To get you started, here's Matt Kroczaleski discussing change in your routine (in this case, heavy DB rows). For more clips, swing by the EliteFTS page on YouTube. There's some great stuff there.

There are some strength feats that can never be seen too many times; and this is one of them. Bodybuilder Mario Strong blows up a hot water bottle at the 2007 NGA Championships. Love it.

There are some strength feats that can never be seen too many times; and this is one of them. Bodybuilder Mario Strong blows up a hot water bottle at the 2007 NGA Championships. Love it.

Jerusalem Street Sign - Keren Hayesod Street.

I spent 2004-2006 studying in Jerusalem where I was fortunate enough to find the best gym I had ever trained at before or since. It wasn't a large place, but what it lacked in size it made up for in seriousness. I moved back to North America when I finished my studies and found it very difficult to find a new gym. I ended up finding two, neither of which comes close to replicating what I had previously enjoyed.

This past week I returned to Jerusalem and went back to the gym. I was nervous about going back. When I first landed in North America I was determined to go back even stronger than when I left. But new job and new life interfered, and eventually I realized I had lost too much strength to make that possible. Then I just wanted to go back as strong as I was when I left. That too became impossible, and at the end it was simply that I needed to go back and re-experience the environment that made the transformation possible in the first place. I was nervous and embarrassed, but my desire to see the gym, the Coach and the other people who train there overrode the fears.

I landed on Monday afternoon, dropped off my belongings where I was staying, and headed off to the gym, frumpy and jet-lagged after my 16 hours of travel (2 flight + 3 layover +11 flight). I didn't recognize the young man at the front desk and for a moment I worried that everyone I knew would be gone. Coach wasn't there that evening but Trainer was. He looked at me like I had dropped in from the moon.

Didn't you go away to teach? he asked.
Yeah, I said.
When did you arrive?
Three hours ago.
And you came here?
Where else would I go?

Really, where else would I go? I transformed myself here and I worked harder than I have at anything else in my life. This gym is what I miss most about Jerusalem. (Ok, vegetables that taste like vegetables were meant to taste and not like plastic are a close second.) I don't know if a person who doesn't train or who trains at some commercial gymplex can understand what it means to be in a gym where "serious" is the default mode. And it's the default mode for the majority of those training: female, male, young, old, bodybuilder, powerlifter, or just training for health, rehab or a child's wedding.

I came back the next evening. Coach was there.
Came to train? he asked.
Yes. I said.

Coach had designed a program for me before I left. I had to modify it due to what the gyms in the US had. For example, I haven't done negative pull-ups in a year because there was nothing at my US gym to hang or descend from, with a predictable impact on my back strength. Over the next four evenings I went through my current program so he could check my technique, establish new maxes and modify my program accordingly. I found out that I had lost strength (no surprise there) but my technique is still solid. I need to grip the bar tighter on the bench press but that's about it. It could have been a lot worse.

I missed so many things about this gym: I missed hearing the cacophony of Hebrew, Russian, Georgian, Arabic and English. I missed working in with people who are generous about sharing a rack even if they are lifting three times as much as you. I missed seeing familiar faces every evening. The questions came quickly as people noticed me there and did double-takes. "What are you doing here?" (teachers' workshop.) "You're back! Are you staying?" (No, unfortunately, but I'm going to come back as often as I can afford it.) "Did you find a place to train there"? (Yes, but it can't compare to this place.) "What's it like over there?" (Too many treadmills and too many tvs.)

One person, with typical Israeli bluntness, got right to the point: "You lost fitness. What happened to the biceps"? (I slacked off and lost them, but I'll get them back.) I'm glad someone called me on it, actually, and glad to discover that they had noticed the biceps in the first place.

In three weeks I have to go back to my gyms in North America. I'll be going back having given myself a booster shot against the malaise of the standard North American gym. In the same way that Jerusalem recharges my spiritual batteries, this gym recharges my physical ones.

Portnoy's Cheers theme put it simply:

"Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came. "

Especially when it comes to gyms.

That is a trilingual (Hebrew, Arabic, English) Jerusalem street sign, and this is a story about going back.

I spent 2004-2006 studying in Jerusalem where I was fortunate enough to find the best gym I had ever trained at before or since. It wasn't a large place, but what it lacked in size it made up for in seriousness. I moved back to North America when I finished my studies and found it very difficult to find a new gym. I ended up finding two, neither of which comes close to replicating what I had previously enjoyed.

This past week I returned to Jerusalem and went back to the gym. I was nervous about going back. When I first landed in North America I was determined to go back even stronger than when I left. But new job and new life interfered, and eventually I realized I had lost too much strength to make that possible. Then I just wanted to go back as strong as I was when I left. That too became impossible, and at the end it was simply that I needed to go back and re-experience the environment that made the transformation possible in the first place. I was nervous and embarrassed, but my desire to see the gym, the Coach and the other people who train there overrode the fears.

I landed on Monday afternoon, dropped off my belongings where I was staying, and headed off to the gym, frumpy and jet-lagged after my 16 hours of travel (2 flight + 3 layover +11 flight). I didn’t recognize the young man at the front desk and for a moment I worried that everyone I knew would be gone. Coach wasn’t there that evening but Trainer was. He looked at me like I had dropped in from the moon.

Didn’t you go away to teach? he asked.
Yeah, I said.
When did you arrive?
Three hours ago.
And you came here?
Where else would I go?

Really, where else would I go? I transformed myself here and I worked harder than I have at anything else in my life. This gym is what I miss most about Jerusalem. (Ok, vegetables that taste like vegetables were meant to taste and not like plastic are a close second.) I don’t know if a person who doesn’t train or who trains at some commercial gymplex can understand what it means to be in a gym where “serious” is the default mode. And it’s the default mode for the majority of those training: female, male, young, old, bodybuilder, powerlifter, or just training for health, rehab or a child’s wedding.

I came back the next evening. Coach was there.
Came to train? he asked.
Yes. I said.

Coach had designed a program for me before I left. I had to modify it due to what the gyms in the US had. For example, I haven’t done negative pull-ups in a year because there was nothing at my US gym to hang or descend from, with a predictable impact on my back strength. Over the next four evenings I went through my current program so he could check my technique, establish new maxes and modify my program accordingly. I found out that I had lost strength (no surprise there) but my technique is still solid. I need to grip the bar tighter on the bench press but that's about it. It could have been a lot worse.

I missed so many things about this gym: I missed hearing the cacophony of Hebrew, Russian, Georgian, Arabic and English. I missed working in with people who are generous about sharing a rack even if they are lifting three times as much as you. I missed seeing familiar faces every evening. The questions came quickly as people noticed me there and did double-takes. “What are you doing here?” (teachers' workshop.) “You’re back! Are you staying?” (No, unfortunately, but I’m going to come back as often as I can afford it.) “Did you find a place to train there”? (Yes, but it can't compare to this place.) "What's it like over there?" (Too many treadmills and too many tvs.)

One person, with typical Israeli bluntness, got right to the point: “You lost fitness. What happened to the biceps”? (I slacked off and lost them, but I’ll get them back.) I’m glad someone called me on it, actually, and glad to discover that they had noticed the biceps in the first place.

In three weeks I have to go back to my gyms in North America. I’ll be going back having given myself a booster shot against the malaise of the standard North American gym. In the same way that Jerusalem recharges my spiritual batteries, this gym recharges my physical ones.

Portnoy's Cheers theme put it simply:

“Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came. “

Especially when it comes to gyms.

Stuntman and bodybuilder Joe Bonomo. Image via Sandow Plus.

With the rain continuing, the indoor gym definitely had some attention. Between sessions the following appeared :

• Articles : Matt Danielsson looked at supplementation for natural bodybuilders, David Ostlund chatted to Chasing Kaz's Ben Hanson about his Venice Beach win (and the new points system) and Blaine wrapped up this month's conditioning series with a look at a great form of exercise-without-trying : dancing.
• Videos : Mobster did a little heavy juggling, the guys at Kentucky Powerlifting tested out the bed-of-nails once again and Andy Bolton demonstrated his training routine (note the lightning fast speed pulls).
• Ideas : There were some very interesting exercise ideas this week, notably - various grip combinations on the promo video for Grip Dominator II, the Ice Chamber's Kettlebell Windmill and John Brookfield's Plate See Saw.
• Sites : The sites added to the reader this week included Wrestler Nation (some great stuff on there), the kettlebell training diary of Texas Tom Healy and Personal Trainer Fred Fornicola's Premiere Personal Fitness.
• Bonus : Dave Barr takes a fascinating look into the subject of Carbohydrate Tolerance. If you eat as much rice as I do, this is definitely one for your reading list.