The Daily Grind!!!

Only 2 weeks away

Well, first and for most, I got a great gift today!!!  Wanna see????

It’s a spare tire for my truck!!!  Yeah, right   After my first try I was certain I wanted to incorporate tire flipping in my training.  I haven’t actually flipped this one yet, but I did one a bit smaller.  At first I was told this tire weighed only 450lbs, since it took 3.5 powerlifters to first load it into my truck I was anxious to get it on a scale.  Good thing I left my old job under good terms, they have  a drum scale that goes up to 1000lbs and is accurate to the 10th of a pound, I used to use it all the time when making various batches of whatever.  Anyhoo, the official weight of this bad boy….wait for it….. a grand total of 625lbs!!!!  This is real folks, that is  a lot of rubber and steel belting.  Anyhoo I’m aiming to get another one a bit smaller(hopefully half the weight) so I have something to warm up with, this beast ain’t no toy.

So that was the beginning of a great day and it ended with a sweet bench night.  I was working "Top Band", where the bands resist the weight as you lower to your chest.  At chest height they took off about 50lbs total.  It has been now 7 months since my surgery and I hit 355lbs at the top, 305lbs off my chest!!!  I’m so stoked, it didn’t hurt at all!!!  I’m still working on a bunch of muscles that lost some during my convalescent but I’m very pleased with the comeback.  Look for me to be pushing 400lbs again by April, maybe more???

Until the next time….

-Oak

Okay, first off, have you seen all the videos AAEFX is posting on youtube??? I love these!!!

Anyhoo, I started back at the gym on monday, totally kicking my butt with a “volume” workout, hitt’n sets of 20 on flat bench, sets of 15 on incline, and 20’s again on decline, in between I did work on back, low rows, and lat pull downs, I also hammered out some pull-ups.

Seriously, I felt like I was going to loose my guts on the low rows, but I pushed through and by the end of the evening I felt fairly good, but totally wiped out.

Last night we hit some “light” squats with the safty squat bar going to t a “low box(about 1-2 inches below parrallel. We did sets of 3 which made it a light night but I still pushed to the point of feel’n fuzzy. After that we did some good mornings with only the bar and band tention, it was definitely a different move and certainly was a lot harder then it looked, still we hit sets of 10, so that is very high volume.

I’m starting to get anxious for this up coming meet, I really want to kill it so I hope the next 3 weeks go really well.

Until the next time…

-Oak

A scary weekend…

Once a year I participate in an event the men of my parent’s church put on called the “Ladies Night Out”.  This was something the men of the church came up with to show their appreciation for the women of the mountain and their friends.  Now, when you get 60-70 women of all ages in a room together it can be rather interesting.  I realized after the first year I didn’t want to hear the conversation, so now I tend to keep my vigil from a distance, but it is great to see some many woman simply having a good time not having to worry about serving anyone else, all they need to do is look up and whatever they want is taken care of.  From the set up, to the dinner, to the entertainment, to the clean up, the women don’t have to do a thing.  I have to say I’m happy to be a part of it every year, if anything just to give back a little.

Anyhoo, I thought I’d include some pics of me and “My Table”  I do enjoy playing the part and actually have fun simply setting the table in a manner that will hopefully delight thought under my care.

The start:

And now I’m ready to serve!!!

I hope you all had a great weekend yourselves!!!

-Oak

No, I don’t think I’m better then you, got to get that out right now, but that doesn’t mean my actions don’t sometimes reflect the title of this blog. You’ll see what I mean shortly.

I got to thinking about this after a conversation I was having in the office, mainly about how our society is in this mind set that “we DESERVE to have nice things”, cars, cell phones, a nice house, you name it, we all seem to thing we deserve to have these things even we we aren’t willing to work half as hard as our Grandparents did who had much less, materially speaking. It s the mind set of, “I deserve”, that has lead to a society of people who think they are better then there neighbors and friends. If you don’t think your one of them, then take a minute and see if you’ve ever done anything from the following list.

Have you ever cut someone off on the freeway? Cut in line at the supermarket? Answered your cellphone in a quite public place(library, the office, in line at the bank or store), have you ever taken anything that didn’t belong to you? Maybe something very small, it doesn’t matter, or have you ever taken advantage of another person, in other words you requested something of that person because you knew they would be willing to do anything for you but you were simply using that to get what you wanted without considering the person at all?

I know I would say of some of these, “I’d never do that” even when I probably have, to others I’d say, yeah I’ve done that, but who hasn’t? Honestly, even the “smallest” of these indicates and attitude that says, I’m better then you! I figure most people here go to the gym, ever hop on a piece of equipment while the person using it went to get a drink of water? Did you even ask to see if someone was still using it, even when there was water or a towel still on or near the equipment?

I’m sure most of us don’t consciously think we are better then others, but our actions probably say the exact opposite. As a society we are constantly steeling from one another, we take each others time, we take each others opportunities, we take each others affections, and the list goes on. We’ve forgotten how to give, I’m not talking about the guy standing at the street corner holding a sign saying “I’m hungry, please help. God Bless”, that guy is steeling himself, he isn’t willing to work for a living, not when there is a shelter that will take him in each night, give him a meal and never ask for anything in return, no he’ll gladly take the little money you give him, along with the hundreds of others and live a life beholden to no one. Yes, even the homeless person’s actions say he thinks he is better then everyone else.

I can’t give any quick answers for anyone, but I don’t want to be known as a taker, I’d rather be a giver. I’d rather be the person who humbly steps back and lets other go ahead. I know I’ve already been given far more then I deserve and from that I want to give to others. I know sometime I’ll fail, I’ll still cut people off in traffic, sorry I’m a bad motorcyclist, but I do want to be more giving. If you ever try it, you’ll find giving is much more satisfying then taking, but for those who are trying to give back to me, I’ll try to be better at accepting, I tend to have a hard time with that one too.

Anyhoo, this was a “Food for thought” post, comment if you like, more then anything I wanted to get people to stop for a moment and think!

God has blessed you!

-Oak

I need a break,  the other day I stopped to think about it and I haven’t taken a tuesday off in probably about 4 or 5 months, ever since I started lifting again.  Mentally and physically I know I’m not at my best and sometimes the only remeedy is rest.  I’ve got my competition coming December 5th, and I’d like to hit some of the goals I’ve set for myself.  If I’m 100% and God is willing, then I’ll be doing just that.  Have a great week everyone!!!

-Oak

Back when my triceps tendon tore I had plenty of time to think. It is fun to be big and strong, but I was reminded that I’m not invincible, I was also reminded that my strength comes from God and not myself. I can work as hard as I want, but the my potential and health are dependent on the One who made me. Whatever I do accomplish in powerlifting, I will always point to the One who deserves the credit, and He is not me

Tonight I was more then happy with my recovery, everything is coming back fast, very fast. Once again we did a bench with suspended weights and chains, and again I was able to push harder this week then I did last week. The weight broke down like this, 45lbs bar, each side contained 50lbs in kettle bells suspended by resistance bands, and I worked up to 6 12lbs chains per side. All the weight was off the floor at lockout and about half the chain weight was on the floor with the weight on my chest. If you did that math, that was 289lbs on lockout and 215lbs on my chest, I did manage 5 reps at that weight but the 5th was certainly a struggle, still, I’m very pleased.

I’m going to keep going as hard and as fast as God lets me!!!

All the best!!!

Yesterday was an ME day, and my favorit of all. Last night we hit deads, but as always there was a twist. Ken couldn’t have us pull fresh, after all, in a meet your never fresh by the end so you mine as well suffer a little pre-fatigue before you actually pull. That is what we did, got nice and warmed up and just a little tired from Box Squats, off the box. Basic we set a bar up in chains at just the right hight to sit under while on a box, and that was the starting point. Trust me, it is tougher then it looks, without a chance to “load” the weight with your legs and back it’s a dead start and that definitely changes thing.

We didn’t go too heavy on the box squats so it wasn’t like we were toasted when we did start pulling, and we did get to use the deadlift bar, but with another twist for the night, we were standing on a 45lb plate(about 1 1/2? inches off the floor. It wound up being a great night for deads, I did almost strain both biceps with 405, it wound up being good warning not to pull with my arms. By the end I got 585lbs really clean, so I’m looking forward to what is going to go down in 5 weeks!!!

Until the next time…

-Oak

While at the 2009 Olympia, each EFX athlete was given some camera time so that all our all our customers and fans would have the oportunity to get to know us just a little better.  This is my video, but I hope you check out all the others as well, enjoy!!!