New Blog --- Eastern Strength

I've decided to go in a different direction with this blog. I have not posted on this blog in quite some time obviously, mainly because I lost interest with the direction in which I wanted to take it. I have been doing some work and putting thought into a new blog that I can hopefully turn into something more in the future. I should have taken the time after I returned from deployment (in which I had nothing at all to do) but I was very lazy and didn't do anything. I did put thought into what I wanted to do, I just tend to write things on paper so most of my notes are in a green field notebook.

I am starting up a new blog called "Eastern Strength". (http://easternstrength.blogspot.com/)

The blog is currently under construction, and I will likely repost some of the videos. I want to take a few of the post on here (granted there aren't very many), revisit and expand on them. Either way, keep and eye out  for new posts and new material @ Eastern Strength. I also have another idea for a related blog that will tie in to Eastern Strength, so keep and eye out for that as well.

See you at Eastern Strength!

New Videos

So for about 6 months I pretty much abandoned this blog. However in that time I finished my Infantry BOLC and have since moved to my new duty station of Fort Bliss, TX (EL Paso). I have still been training consistently and if all goes accordingly I will be doing my first meet on 4 June in Albuquerque, NM!!

In the mean time, I hit a couple PRs in the classic lifts. In March I hit a 215 lb Snatch, a 270 lb Clean & Jerk, and a 280 lb Jerk. This was while I was still at Fort Benning. Since coming to Texas, I hit a 220lb/100kg Snatch, a 129kg Jerk, and most recently a 275lb/125kg Clean & Jerk!!! I finally filmed myself again on Friday so I got that on film. I finished making a video of the Snatch training on Friday and should finish the Clean & Jerk session today. The last time I filmed myself was back in February when I went home for a weekend, so I'll put that video together too. I've also hit a few squat PRs, namely a 139kg/308lb Front Squat.

I am currently doing a short notice taper of work volume to prepare for the meet (just found out about on Thursday). My goal is to open with a 90kg Snatch and at least 118kg Clean & Jerk, but of course it's dependent on how the warm-ups go. I have one more training session this week on Tuesday then Wed, Thurs, and Fri will be rest days with maybe some bar work.

I will actually post the videos from Friday this time. The article I was working on, well I pretty much abandoned it. During my basic course I was usually just too tired or had other stuff to do so it wasn't exactly a priority. I might come back back to it later.

In the mean time, here's some pictures from the journey to Texas
Narzullo & Me at IBOLC Graduation

 ATB @ Club Fur in Washington, DC

 Pensacola Beach, FL

 Lucedale, MS (where my mother's family is from)

 Finally, El Paso, TX

 Grilling

 Grill Master Jeff Kim

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all!!

I'm currently working on an update post. Since I haven't posted since September it will be pretty lengthy, but will cover my recent training and some commentary on Infantry BOLC.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is enjoying the holidays!

On The Road Home

I'm sitting in a hotel room right now. I had to drive down to Fort Benning yesterday to find out the Permissive TDY thing is a no-go. Well sort of. I won't get 9 days like I was planning on. It was really late last night on the way home and I was too tired to drive so I just decided to stay for a night.

I did get to the gym twice last week. I went to Brickhouse on Monday and did some Snatches, Clean & Jerks and Front Squats. After not training for a week I still snatched 185, clean & jerked 230 and cleaned 235. All in all I was pleased. I went out to Fort Jackson on Wednesday and did some squats and deadlifts.  Otherwise I've just been using my kettlebells.

I'm really trying to work on my grip with kettlebells. My left hand is especially bad about overgripping the bell, especially on snatches. I'm trying to get the corkscrew motion on the drop down right.

The is a great instructional video on an overhand drop:

This is 22 year old Master of Sport, Pavlos Giorgiadis doing 180 snatches with only 1 hand with a 32kg kettlebell. You can see how he uses the corkscrew drop, which is the standarn way of  dropping the bell in Girevoy Sport.

I'll post up my workouts later on. Cheers!

Back Home

I'm finally back home from Fort Lewis. I got home at 12am Wednesday morning after driving from Columbus, GA. It definitely feels great to be home and relax for a bit!

First things done upon coming home:
-Drove my new car!!
-Commissary: purchased generous quantities and varieties of meat, steak, potatoes and eggs
-Class 6: Sam Adams Cream Stout
-Cupcake shop: 2 Peaches & Cream Cupcakes
-Kettlebells: 2 x 24kg, 1 x 28kg, Scivation Xtend (www.southcarolinabarbell.com)
-Bought my mom some Vibram FiveFingers KSOs (yes I'm a mama's boy)

Yesterday morning I did my first workout with my new kettlebells:

1-Arm Snatch 53 x 10/10, 12/12, 15/15, 18/18
1-Arm Clean 53x 18/18, 18/18, 18/18
Push Presses (2 KBs) 53 x 10, 10, 10
Giant Set:
-Goblet Squat 62 x 15, 15, 15
-Swing 62 x 20, 20, 20
-Pushups 20, 20, 20

I have about 2 weeks of leave before IOBC starts at Fort Benning. For the most part I'll be away from the gym and just doing kettlebell work. I'm taking a break from O'lifting while on leave. I need to relax and concentrate on preparing for IOBC.

Today's Training:
1-Arm High Pulls 53 x 20/20, 20/20
1-Arm Long Cycle 53 x 5 x 10/10 (100 total)
KB Front Squats (2 KBs) 53s x 7 x 12 (90 total)
Walking Lunges with KBs 53s x 2 x 28 steps
Swings Hardstyle 62 x 3 x 30
Planks 1:30 x 2 times
Pushups 1:00 = 50 reps

After today, I'm thinking that I will pick up two 20 kg kettlebells. I've gotten pretty strong but I need to work on conditioning and longer timed sets for better endurance (I'm going to need it). The last two days have been great though.

Last night I made my Sweet & Spicy Burgers. The last week at Fort Lewis and through the Labor Day weekend we had nothing to do and spent most of the time in the gym or grilling. So I love burgers and came up with these.

Sweet and Spicy Burgers with Green Apple
-Ground Sirloin (I prefer to use ground sirloin but ground beef of any kind is fine)
-Grill Mates Applewood Rub
-Honey (Preferably local)
-Sugar in the Raw
-Chili Powder
-Crushed Red Pepper
-Diced Green Apple

For toppings:
-Cheese: Last night I used an English Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries and it was delicious! I wanted to use a Stilton cheese with Mango and Ginger I found in Washington. If you can find it I highly recommend buying it. It was the best cheese I have ever tasted and went really well with the burgers. I prefer a sweeter cheese as it goes better with the sweet and spicy taste of the burgers. Provolone would also be fine.
-Prosciutto: sliced Boar's Head Prosciutto
-Sweet Onion
-Green Tomatoes (yes Green Tomatoes)
-Sauce: I didn't use any as I don't think the burgers needed it. If you want to use a sauce I recommend the Bull's Eye Carolina BBQ Sauce (someone bought it and I used it on the burgers in Fort Lewis and it worked really well)

Sorry I don't have any pictures. I need to get a micro SD card to get the photos off of my phone as my camera stopped working. Will have some soon though!

Cheers!

Last Night at Home!!

Well tonight is my last night at home! I leave for Fort Lewis, WA tomorrow @ 7:30am. I'll be working there until early September.

I strained my lower back ealier this week so Wednesday and today's training was off as I could not train the full lifts or even very heavy. I got in a good, long training session today though as my back was feeling better. So my max effort day, which was supposed to be today, was obviously a no go. But, like I said, I got a workout in before I leave so I'm happy. I need to start stretching more again. I can feel that I've tightened back up since I stopped stretching a lot.

Training wise, the only new things I have to report at that I doubled 185 in the Snatch 3 times and doubled 230 in the clean.

I've been spending a lot of time on Food Gawker. I could spend all day on that site. It's quite addicting, so if you have important things to do I suggest staying away.

That's really all for now. I'm excited and ready to go tomorrow. I still don't know what I will be doing there. I do have a pretty big food stash so I don't have to buy too much food.

Food Stash:
--Garlic Tuna Creations Packets
--Salmon Packets
--SunButter
--Almond Butter
--Peanut Butter
--PB & Co Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter
--Jerky
--Dark Chocolate
--Mixed Nuts

I'll hopefully have time to update when I'm there and will be able to give some insight into being a new Lieutenant.

Nu davai poka rebyata