MUSCLE CHURCH: Our Father, the Iron

So only about, what, 9 months between posts. Not bad, right? Well here I am, back again to underwhelm and disappoint with my tales of woe and injury.  At least, that's what the testosterone fueled, excitable and immature young adult version of myself would say. The mature, injured and somewhat refined man that sits here typing on this ergonomic keyboard feels very different. The truth is that I am injured, pretty badly. I have a minimum of two hernias, at least as of my last MRI/X-Ray which went down about 16 months ago. I also have diastasis, which is essentially a tear in my abdominal wall that probably won't go away. Aside from that, I still battle with problems in my surgically repaired left knee which has very little cartilage left, arthritis in both hands and a little tear in my left Achilles tendon that flares up once I put in too much cardio. Fortunately, the worst of my problems, my stiff, nearly straight neck with precious little space between discs, is the least ...

So I'm sitting here getting over the first day of 2017, which was pretty good. I watched Lost with my fiance' almost all day and now as I catch up on the day's news and go over my finances, I have Lethal Weapon on to keep me company. Not bad at all. Well I was also preparing for a couple of strongman contests and much like last year, well, my body has other plans. I was preparing for one of Georgia's Strongest Man contests and hitting some decent numbers. I had done a session and hit 275 for several reps in the Strict Overhead Press and later in the week gotten up to 800 and some change doing some parallel deadlifts or, as I like to call them, Car Deadlifts (because it's similar to that apparatus.) I was feeling strong, but damn it hit me when I got home. My pesky hernia. There's no way to ignore it, it's there. It's small yes, but I'm not in the mindset of making it worse. There's a part of me that wants to go ahead and get surgery and be ...

I went in with every intention of doing some deadlifts but my good friend Sciatica had other ideas. The problem with being and old war horse is that sometimes those old war wounds dictate your future battles! However, I managed to shift to a shoulder routine that would keep me from standing so much, but ultimately pain won the day and it got cut short. No regrets though, shit happens and you have to improvise, adapt and overcome. I'm not quite at the level where I can 'redesign, rebuild and reclaim' but I'm getting there. Hoping to post a new video this week and update the columns on the site.With that, enjoy this moderately heavy shoulder workout! Stretching 8-10 minutes Elliptical 20 minutes Side Raises 15/12 reps x2, 20/12 Seated Overhead Press 105/15 x2, 155/12, 195/10, 215/8, 230/4 Shrugs (Neutral Grip Apparatus...I'm sure there's a better name) (add about 30 pounds for the apparatus) 270/20, 360/15, 520/15, 660/15 (with a reverse grip) 270/15 ...

Today could be called an 'assistance day' or to some 'chest day.' I'm not really into that mode of thinking. I like doing one bench press and some bicep and tricep work all together. My chest is so big now I don't like to do too much for it because it's just too big and I gotta live in this world! My biceps are growing too and following this workout I legit popped a seam in the sleeve of my Hulk shirt! What can I say? As C.T Fletcher so famously said, I commanded them to grow!  Poundages were about 60-75% of where "I am," for those that keep track of that. I train instinctively unless there's a contest on the horizon so the pounds kinda just are what they are. Certainly nowhere close to maxing out on anything.  Enjoy! Always start with some real good stretching for about 10 minutes! Elliptical, steady for 20 mins Ab Crunches 50 x2 Side Bends w 35lb plate 20 x2 Incline Bench 135/15 x2, 225/12, 235/10, 240/10 Close Grip I...

I can't put it into words most of the time. Sometimes when people give me that look that says, 'why do you put yourself through all that' I just don't have an answer. I just smile back and say 'it is what it is' and the conversation falls away. I even had the idea that I'd create a website to try to tell the world why I do it but the truth is I really couldn't tell you. There are moments that stick out. I can remember workouts from years ago like they were yesterday and I remember how I felt and the moments when I broke through a barrier or in some cases, and perhaps even more rewarding, helping others break barriers. I guess in a way I look back at my lifetime in the gym thus far and I feel like it's a career of sorts and there are times when I realize that my life has been more defined by my time under the weights than anything. I remember the first time I loaded six plates on the military press and how it was so easy and looked so impressive! ...

Well I guess funny things happen all the time right? So, as you may know from following me, I'm kind of on a half-rehab, half-diet thing now and I'm not doing any heavy training. Cardio. Stretching. Heavy bag. More cardio. Annnnnd the most dreaded two words in the world...light weights. I know, I know heavy training burns more calories yadda, yadda but you guys don't wake up with my knees and ankles everyday, a break is past due. Indeed. Time to take a step away from the heavy training... ...okay it's been 3 weeks, that's enough right? I can't put into words how miserable I feel right now. I've posted on here a lot about how the concept of 'muscle church' is something that transcends lifting weights or competing, it's something so close to my core that I haven't always been able to separate the workouts from the man. My identity is wrapped up in the iron and anytime I have to step back, even just a little bit, it's literally t...

An old pic of the guy I used to be! There's the old saying, 'the more things change, the more things stay the same.' Sometimes I think it's true because we don't venture too far from our roots, and when we do, we come back when things go haywire. Maybe not even haywire, just when things get to be sightly off-center we revert to what is learned because there's comfort there and something proven. That familiarity allows us to settle down, regroup and still feel like progress is being made. If you follow my post you know that I'm in a weird sort of limbo right now, and it looks like my career as a strongman is on hold for a wee bit. However, that doesn't mean I can just give up training, and in fact I need to get in even better shape to help me take care of the situation I have now. So I found myself thinking, 'what kind of training should I be doing?' The answer came to me quickly, and it was Jeet Kune Do. Now to be fair, I don't have a...