Father Time-less?

2008 was a very good training year for me for many reasons. I am thankful for all the accomplishments, events, but mostly the people who are a part of my training life. They kept it fun! Here are a few of the reasons: Read the rest of this entry

Highlander Scott Brengel

Sometimes it takes a kick in the ass to jump start your dream and that may have happened to Scott Brengel when he got “terminated’ from the gym where we trained. This gym had a top-notch coach and trainer at their disposal but they opted for “fitness for the masses”. Their loss. Read the rest of this entry

Thanksgiving is the day to acknowledge all we are thankful for and so in that spirit, as I wish all the readers of MFBB a Happy Thanksgiving, here is what I am thankful for from the perspective of health and fitness.

• I am grateful for my good health. I recently got the results of my physical with blood test and passed with flying colors!
• I am thankful for all my gym friends, freaks, acquaintences and training partners who can take a share of credit for my successes.
• I am grateful for my personal bests over the year.
• I enjoyed competing in my first, (and possibly last) Highland Games.
• To the Moynihan Institute for all the smack and humor.
• I am very happy that our gym found a way to not only stay open but to upgrade the facility.
• I am grateful to have a gym that has allowed me to bring in my bumpers and do Olympic lifts.
• I am fortunate to have found good teachers to help me with Oly lifting, kettlebells and powerlifting.
• I am happy and grateful to have enough equipment to be able to train independently of the gym if I desire.
• As I expressed to Nico Coetzee, I am thankful for all his hard efforts in keeping Met-Rx open during the lean times.
• I would be remiss in expressing gratitude for a relatively injury-free year.

Recalling all the things I have gratitude for is all fine and dandy, but their are some turkeys that need to be called out and get the Scraggly Turkey Award.

• To the trainer who dropped a Silent But Deadly fart while training his clients and gassing out the rest of us. He may have even shit his pants for all I know. It was nasty!
• To all the trainers and their clients who are too lazy to rack their plates and put things away when finished.
• To gym management for making me remove my bumper plates.
• To the knuckleheads who walk perilously and obliviously close to me while I am snatching or kettlebell swinging.
• To all the chatterboxes who distract those of us who are training hard.
• To all the mirror narcissists and big egos.
• To the crappy music the gym generally plays.
• To the dweebs who use the squat racks to do bicep curls.
• To trainers teaching and allowing lousy technique with their clients.

Mostly, though, I would like to thank all of you who read this blog and hope you continue to check back often. Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving!

  

Cleaning the Bag

Originally uploaded by MarkFu2U

Earlier in my sales career the company would have monthly and annual sales contests for it’s sales people. There were two dominant strategies to win. The first was that of the front runner. Start strong, fast and never relinquish your lead, which was difficult over a 22 day sales month. The cagey veterans saved all their big stuff from their money customers until the last possible moment and then posted big sales numbers to take the lead away from the front runners. These were the “sandbaggers”. The front runners hated sandbagging because they claimed it was “unfair”. In the end, it was usually “scoreboard” for the sand baggers and it was they who left with the big prize.

I am sandbagging once again, but here the idea is not to hold back and for my first sandbagging workout, I let it go… literally.

I am not going to go on about how sandbagging is superior to other forms of training and go into the details of the tool. Like so many other things out in fitness land, somewhere there is a sand bag guru who has the Enlightened Path to Fitness Nirvana by way of the exalted sandbag. (Please, no sandbag certifications)! It is, however, yet another effective way to train, just not the only way and for me, another way to stay interested in the workout.

Maybe I have ADD, or just like some variety in my workouts which is why I have added sandbag training to kettlebells, Olympic lifting, powerlifting, Crossfit-style, metcon, running, bodyweight, hill climbing, skating, Highland Games and dog tossing to my personal fitness regimen.

My first session of sandbag training looked like this:

70# Sandbag Workout

Stair Climbs
•Zercher Carries: 3 x 3
•Over the Shoulder, L: 3 x 3
•Over the Shoulder, R: 3 x 3
•On the Back: 3 x 3

Back Squats: 3 x 10

Side Throws: 16

Every now and then in the world of Hacker Athletics* comes around an event that is just too good to pass by. I have had several of these in my lifetime like doing my first marathon with less than 6 months of training-none of it long distance. I was asked, and did, a 1000 meter inline skate race around the Dominguez Hills velodrome during a cycling event. I have, on a whim, raced in a couple 100+ mile inline races; Fresno to Bakersfield at 138 miles and from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the beach in Santa Cruz, 100 miles away. I would also have to include my Olympic style lifting efforts proudly as Hacker even though I have not yet competed in the sport.

(I was going to include Crossfit in my hacker athletic career but it really needs to be considered a recognized sport in order to pass the muster. As my friend Mike pointed out, to paraphrase, air squats are not considered a sport).

The 2008 United Scottish Society Highland Games at Costa Mesa was one of those Hacker Athletic events for me. Please keep in mind, there is no disrespect to the other participants or the games themselves. I am the Hacker, but more about that later.

The Scottish Heavy Athletics is part of the Scottish competitions called the Highland Games. If you don’t know much about the Highland Games you probably have at least seen the Caber Toss.

When my three chances to heave the caber came, that missile never left the launch pad. I have nothing to add to that. Mark that as a “scratch”. Speaking of scratch, the first event of the day was called the Heavy Hammer. I scratched that too, by fouling on all three attempts. One foul got style points for the way I bounced off my head. Allow me to show you what the Heavy Hammer looks like when it is done right. It is really a thing of beauty.

We enjoyed other challenging events including a couple types of stone tosses with what is called a Braemer Stone. These are of difference weights and different rules for throwing them, but both are measured for distance.

Other events included Weight Over Bar for height, the Heavy Hammer, the Light Hammer, the Light
Weight For distance and of course the main attraction, at least for the spectators, the Caber Toss.

Mike Covert covers these events well, with pictures at Clandestine Experience. I also have some pictures of our fellow Highlanders as well as some Highland games exclusive video.

Basically, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing but had a helluva good time doing it with a great bunch of Group C guys. (I would say Class C guys but for some reason that just doesn’t sound right. Some of those were from my gym, Met-Rx, including Mike Covert, pro strongman athlete, Scott “Circus Boy” Brengel and two of his proteges, Pete Danahy and Kevin. Another cool dude, Peter, while new to Met-Rx is an experienced Highland Games competitor and a heck of a nice guy besides. There were three 17 year old kids, two over 6′5″ and 300# and the other, a high school thrower. There were a couple other quiet guys that just went about their business rather well. I got plenty of help from these guys and the event officials, Nathan and TJ who were very generous with their time and tips.

Additional support, lunch and camera work game from Valerie, her sister and niece and Mike’s girl, Torri, the kettlebell painter.

As I write this, I am still gassed. Would I do this again? Sure. It IS a big man’s sport, but one of the two things that impressed me the most about the Games is the technical aspect of each event. Tricky stuff. The other, I already alluded to and that is the camaraderie in our group. Everyone gave and got a lot of support and we all had a great time.

Peter, Mike, Mark & Pete

*More on Hacker Athletics in another post.

Image via Wikipedia

Now this is interesting. The Scottish Highland Games are coming to the Orange County Fairgrounds on Memorial weekend, May 24th-25th. I have wanted to do this but have no idea how to do the events or anything. It does sound like a lot of fun though!

I’m not even a novice! I’ll have to see if I can find someone to get some quick training, so I know what to expect.

Excuse me while I go shop for a kilt!