A Word to the wise (training for any amateur sport)

Ah yes, one of those looking back I would do this and change this epiphanies. Why not write them down? Maybe someone out there will benefit.

#1 - Compete Less

I know what you're thinking. (But what about Bulgarian training? A competition is just another day at the office.). Sorry, it isn't. Competition, even if you are in a weight class all by yourself is stressful. So skip out on the local meets, save your energy for the ones that count. Every competition should be strategic. If you aren't there to qualify for something, tune up for something, or beat someone, then you are just wasting your fuel, fuel that runs out eventually.

#2 - Train Less

This means taking rest days week to week, and even taking down time after big stressful competitions. The best lifters in the world take a down year after winning gold at the Olympics. You are not one of the best lifters in the world, obviously, but you're still human. This means you can take a week off after a local competition, or two weeks off after a National competition. If you qualify for a world team, travel to another country, and make your lifts, then take a month of down time if you need it. Down time seems ridiculous if you concentrate on the short term, but if you look long term, like a 10-15 year amateur career, then that down time is going to benefit you. Your competitors will be tore up and beat down while you will be rested and ready to be tested.

#3 - Lift Less

I know, I know. Lift less? How the hell would that work? I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here. All I'm saying is don't work up to misses, there is no need. Save the risky lifts for the big day.

*Summary

Be conservative, less can be more. Spend less make more.

Just how did I get through college?

I was watching an elliot hulse video and he was going on about how he was labeled ADHD and he was helping some college student with a question about how to manage through college with ADHD. Elliot said ADHD was bogus but that's beside the point. It made me wonder, how did I get through college?

It's never been suggested that I have ADHD and I wouldn't think something like that is an issue. For me, it's more of a depression issue. I struggle with initiation. Going to class can be a problem, reading the book, doing the work, etc, etc. I'm not learning dissabled, if I go to class I'm going to learn and gain intellegence. If I read the book I'm going to comprehend it, like I said, it's all a matter of initiation. "What's the point?, I don't have the energy, I lack the motivation, I'll do it tomorrow." This is the type of self talk I deal with. So, how did I get throgh college?

For starters, there was an entire year that I gave up alcohol, not a drop. I'd like to be able say that it was the best year of my life but I can't say that. I had bouts with insomnia, I drank way to much coffee, I dated the wrong woman, winter laster too long and spring came too late. BUT, I really got to know myself. I didn't go out much, I watched a lot of Netflix and Redbox, I got into green tea. In a nut shell though, I'm from northeast Iowa, and if you can be from northeast iowa and give up alcohol for an entire year, than you can do almost anything. Most of the time it's not about what you give up, it's about enhancing your willpower, and will power is somethign that I was lacking. A problem with initiation is a problem with willpower.

The other thing I did is I lived by myself in a small crappy apartment. This was probably bad for any depression sympotoms I have but it was very good for keeping things simple and keeping distractions down. I didn't many people at my apartment complex. I didn't party with anyone there and I kept to myself. This meant that I had a place to read and study all to myself. The library at school was even too loud and distracting for me. There was a second floor at the university library that was suppose to be a talk free zone but nobody took it seriously. So living alone had it's pros and cons. I didn't meet people and kept to myself which was a negative, but I also didn't have anybody possibly leading me astray to go drink or whatever. There weren't many like me at college and most partied on the weekends. It's college, I get it. In the end I would say Isolation was a tool that probably helped me get my degree but at the same time it could have hurt me as well, it's tough to say. I lived on campus the first year I was there and there were more distractions for sure.

Caffeine is another one of those things that possibly helped me or possibly hurt me. I admit that it got out of hand. Torwards the end I was drinking coffee or energy drinks and caffeine pills on top of that. Caffine does help me with initiaton, though. Those days when I just didn't feel like doing reading or going to class caffeine would help me get there or read. I also struggle with being a little anti-social and for some reason caffeine helps me converse, it helps me initiate conversation.

The University was depressing, though, now that I look back. Classes were small, and most people were off the farm. It would have been nice to go to a larger University for the atmospher and the diversity. BUT, at the same time it would have been nice to go to a upscale private school with even less distractions. It's a tough call.

I didn't date much in college. This was a good thing I'm sure of it. The little I did date seemed to really distract me from my studies. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't date at all. Dating always seemed to bring on more stress and drama, two things I didn't need more of while I was trying to get my degree.

I wish there would have been more to do in my college town. There were 13 bars and about as many churches so mostly you could either get drunk or go to church. I probably should have gone to church more, but at least I wasn't getting drunk.

Overall, even though it sounds sad, Isolation and Caffeine helped me get through college, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would say that. Other than that, you have to go to class and you have to read, and you have to do the assignments. Getting a decent grade wasn't much of a problem for me, I mean I didn't get A's, but I could pull a B if I read and did the assignment or took the test.

My suggestion for future college people? Learn to read large amounts now. If you are a good reader and you don't mind reading a bunch, you will have a big edge on others. I was never really much of a reader. I read slow and I'm not very good at skimming. So, I read slow but I really take it all in. Reading is huge in college. If you kick ass at reading, you'll kick ass at college. I didn't read much in high school and I didn't read for fun. I would suggest to start reading for fun at a young age and keeping it up, it could be a game changer. That's about it, maybe I will update this post at a later date. That's all for now.

The whole catapult vs jump shrug debate

o.k., I am really tired because I just got in from a session of training that was entirely focused on one of my weakest links, my pull. Something dawned on me though during my training and I have to put it down in words. I might be wrong, but this whole catapult vs jump shrug debate is in my opinion is a debate of body types. These long legged lifters with short torsos scuff at these other lifters with short legs and long torsos working so much on pulling the bar high. Think about what I just wrote. Long torso vs short torso. Who is going to have to pull the bar higher to get it overhead? If you don't have much of a torso the bar is that much closer to being locked out at the end of your pull compared to someone with a long torso. To put this in perspective lets flip the coin. Lifters with short torsos usually have long legs and squats are a big weak link for them, these are the lifters who fail to recover from cleans. It would be easy for lifters whith short legs to scuff at the long legged lifter training his squat so much, but there would be no reason to. Each lifter has strengths and weaknesses based on his or her own body composition. Training is individual. The fact is long torso lifters may need to work on pulling higher and long legged lifters may need to work on squats more than the "norm". Same thing goes for overhead strength. We all know the guy with short little T-rex arms that can jerk anything from the rack, Sean Rigsbey comes to mind, but there are others. Some people are just built to jerk, or built to squat, or built to pull, and working on those God given strengths to a certain extend may be a waste of time when you have a closet full of weaknesses waiting in the wings. Your strength isn't holding you back, it's your weakness.

40 days of static

Some of winter is like a depressing but pleasant and appreciated radio station. That station can be found in the 10-30 degree days. Bands like David Gray, The Decemberists, and Band of Horses would be on that station. It's nice, I wouldn't listen to that station all year, but it's nice. The below zero winter days, though, those days aren't a radio station at all, they are static on the radio.

40 days of static.

Winter 2014.

epiphany thought of the day

Actors get paid to do what everybody else does for free.

The girl I hugged at the Think Floyd concert

It was years ago, I was at the "Think Floyd" concert at the historic Surf Ballroom. I was with my friend and we were making our way to the front of the dance floor to get a better look at the Pink Floyd cover band which also included spell binding visual effects. As we were making our way to the front I blacked out of conciousness and when I came to I was hugging this beautiful girl and she was hugging me. I had no idea what had happened, we gazed at one another for a short time afterwards, and then I moved on with my friend, bewieldered to the event that just occured. I asked my friend what had happened, he said I just verred off and hugged this girl, like a heat sensor went off or something, I was an arrow and she was the target, it was unexplainable. I had completely let go and a part of me that was unknown took control.

In Psychology, George Herbert Mead calls this the, 'I and me' complex. You might know 'me', but you don't know 'I', I don't even know 'I' that well. Basically the 'me' is the part of us that follows the rules, 'me' also holds back the 'I' from breaking the rules. Like walking up to a stranger and hugging them, that isn't something 'me" would do, it's something 'I' would do. I'm pretty sure 'I' kicks ass. 'I' is the part of me that says what he means and does what he wants.

Here I am years later and I still remember that girl I hugged. It felt like fate because I barely give more than a hand shake to those I know very well, or should I say 'me' doesn't hug strangers. Yes, every now and then the walls and borders come down and we see just what life could be like if we let go and let if flow. We get lost, and in doing so we find something special along the way.

Here is to getting lost.

Winter 2014

I'm not there

My problem is escapism. I"m not there. A lack of appreciation for things, failure to see the beauty that is always present but is hidden to me, or maybe I ignore it or reject it. I see it every once and awhile but it doesn't sustain. It fades away and I'm left with this person that doesn't feel like myself, a shadow of myself. I look in the mirror and see a stranger, and so I am a stranger to others, closed off and uncomfortable. I will read this later as a stranger and throw it away because he has no time for problems. He is not there.

sappy poem in progress

I like country music and I've probably
been to more funerals than weddings

underneath it all

Underneath it all. I love that phrase. like underneath it all, what's really going on. Or underneath it all who is someone really. It implies that there is a lot of crap on the surface before you get to what's really going on or who someone really is. Underneath it all is like the basement. It's not the closet where you keep all your skeletons, it's the basement. It's not pretty, it's not as superficial and kept up as the living room, but it's cool and it's where you can play billiards or darts if you feel like it. In other words, our basements have a lot more in common than our living rooms. Basements can be a little scary, but just like Kevin in home alone realized, it's not so bad down there.  

the flu

I've had the flu lately. My temperature got up to 102.4 before I went to the doctor for some Tamiflu. Tamiflu helped me in the past and I'd say it's helping again. The weird thing about this flu is the nostalgia. You know how some people can only play billiards or darts well when they are drunk? Same thing is happening with this high fever, I'm remembering things from child hood. I used to love orange Sherbet ice cream as a child...then it passed, but right now I'm eating orange sherbet ice cream. Old nursery rhymes popped in my head like the Rinky dink some above. All kinds of stuff like that. I started to crave child hood cereals so I went out and bought one of those fun packs with all different little boxes of fruit loops, frosted flakes, etc, it was a good move. The worst part of this flu is the body aches. There was one night were I was, for lack of a better expression, riving in pain, and I was vocal about it all night. Something good about it that I feel is that it's like I went to a different place in my head for awhile, sort of like a vacation. Even at the gym I can't zone out for a second without someone calling me out, even though I'm not training with that person at all. Just the other day I was zoning out, I was escaping, at the gym, it felt great, and then "that guy" called out "dude! you are in the deepest stare". Yeah, I was, and it felt great, I almost got away for a second. This was the same guy that called me a goon when I grew a mustache for a day. My point is that although the flu really sucked, it was kind of nice to escape, and today I'm feeling a little better and I actually got some stuff done that I was neglecting. Maybe that's what I need, a little escape every now and then so I can come back with a better perspective. Maybe growing a mustache is a short escape from looking like myself for a little while, a mask. Too bad people have to call me out for it. Same with the zoning out, "dude he's escaping!". I always have to get called out. I'm getting negative now. I just want to get my degree in the mail for a confidence boost. That will make all the work I put in real, bring it to life.