I’m disappointed that Family Guy made it to Australia since it’s a real shitty show (Edit: Tom was watching it as I was typing this). Tom and I went into Sydney today. I continued asking various Asians what their APM and race preference was. That’s pretty much all I’ve got.
The past couple days have been eventful. Tom and I were able to put some rounds down range with an M4, we visited the local nature park (where I played with wallabies, pet drop bears (see vid below), and fed kangaroos…among other things), and some how got the opportunity to get savaged by trained attack K-9s. You read that right: Tom and I received attacks from trained Shepards that were aiming to take our arms clean off. Yes, there is video. Plenty of video. Here’s a preview:
The workshop weekend is complete, and it was pretty solid. I rolled into Shire Speed and Strength with no sleep for a few days (this seems to be my thing) and Pete Upham is a top fucking bloke. He took us to a breakfast joint, got me coffee, had the gym all set up, barbecued chicken for lunch, kept me supplied with water and even an energy drink mid-day, and was taking care of me like a mum should. Thanks for a great weekend, Pete. Here are various pics that Pete took, and a video I have from the morning I arrived.
I met Ben Claridad at the 2010 USAW Senior Nationals. He competed this year and has been Olympic weightlifting for 6 years. He’s a pretty interesting dude, so listen to this podcast to hear about
– 2011 Nationals (click here for Ben’s recap)
– The importance of competition experience (and how many meets he has done)
– California Strength
– General weightlifting philosophy
– Coaching
– Art
Download
30:41 minutes
I met Ben Claridad last year at the USAW Senior Nationals when we weighed in, and we became buds. Later that summer, he let AC and I stay at his house when we did a workshop in Sacramento. Since then I helped convince him to start a blog for his artwork and training, and we still are yet to edit a story that he wrote (fucking call me, bro). Ben competed in this year’s Senior Nationals in the 105+ category so that he could get some extra points for his team, Hassle Free Barbell Club (shout out to Paul Doherty again — he helped me last year at nationals and is a really great guy). Anyway, last year Ben hit 132/160 at nationals and self-described them as looking “like garbage”. This year he hit 143/167 and totaled 310kg after rehabbing from a back injury.
Nice job, Ben. He put on some extra weigh for this competition and will be dieting back down. I assume he’ll be growing his hair too? Ben’s a really good guy and trains really hard.
Now for another video from the continuing saga of Justin and Brent hanging out. A lot of you probably avoid mobility work because it’s hard and uncomfortable. Yeah, it’s a lot of both of those. Here’s the proof.
I also made a video for Saul, because his life is on its last thread.