One of many poor decisions.

Did some pretty terrible oly lifting on Tuesday, one of my rotations for the oly lifts is snatch pull to above knee + snatch and I have been missing 225lbs with this for the past three weeks it’s fine. 215lbs goes easily, then I just hit a fucking wall at 225lbs. Mediocrity’s great.

I cleaned 275lbs from the below-the-knee hang with a jerk, which was OK.

Finished up with some good mornings and barbell rows, I could have done more volume with these and also curls and db lat delt raises.

Today I benched 260lbs x 5 and got two more doubles, 260lbs x 5 is a lifetime PR so /hand motions. I should have done more but I didn’t get to the gym early enough. I benched the 260lbs x 5 without a spotter, I could make better decisions. Admittedly I left the bar unclipped but honestly? Honestly? Honestly? Anyone ever hear about Sabre Schnitzer?

Another poor decision:

When I was 19 or so I was doing some lame shit at my college gym. Repping like 175lbs on bench probably and wearing tight t-shirts and bleaching my hair orange. Believe it or not, this wasn’t as cool as it sounded. I somehow got hooked on the idea that I wanted to power clean really well so at age 19 and 125lbs-ish bw I put 50k on the bar and did 4 sets of 6, I forgot where I read to do this from but more than likely it wasn’t very helpful. I did weighted ab work because I read it one of Westside Barbell’s articles from like 1999. This was before I read another internet article about running barefoot and I spent two or three months “conditioning” my feet to run barefoot on pavement – this didn’t work out as well as I thought it was going to (to be completely fair I got some pretty tough skin on my feet towards the end of this experiment and could run a few miles without anything on my feet. On another tangent, I was once stopped by a police car because I was real depressed one night, running barefoot at like 9pm, and they had gotten a call because some intoxicated ex-boyfriend who had physically assaulted his ex-girlfriend was also running around in the area, and was ALSO barefoot. Good. Anyways, so not only was I depressed, running barefoot on pavement, and about two degrees away from fucking ending it – I get pulled over by the cops, asked if I’ve been drinking, what I’m running from, and why I’m barefoot. My answer at the time was, “Well the Kenyans run barefoot.” The cops laughed in my face. “No really I read an article those guys are legit, the best runners in the world.”) Basically I was a gigantic fucking piece of shit.

Look guys long story short – this was before I was running barefoot. So I’m in the school’s gym running on a treadmill. My friends are in there with me. This girl hops onto the treadmill unit next to mine, and I’m 19 right? A long, agonizing series of failures and awkward moments hasn’t completely destroyed my self-confidence or belief that I’m a normal person. I still want to talk to people. I still have bright eyes and hope for the future. I still think waking up the next day isn’t a fucking burden. So the 19 year old me says, this chick’s kinda cute, I’ll say hi to her. So I’m on this fucking treadmill, set at some shitty 7:00 pace, and I turn to this chick to say hi, and I almost immediately mis-step, stumble, and am jerked off the treadmill. The girl is completely unphased by this, quite honestly she couldn’t have given less of a fuck, just starts her run. My friends aren’t concerned for my well-being and laugh and don’t stop to ask if I’m ok.

Honestly? It’s fine. I’m past that now. That’s why I’m sitting here telling you about it.

Broseph writes:

You’re Korean, bro.
Get on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vengeance_Trilogy

I didn’t realize they were part of a trio. I’ve seen Old Boy and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance but not Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. I liked Old Boy a lot. Sympathy For Lady Vengeance was intriguing but I wouldn’t be as willing to watch it again as much as I would Old Boy. Old Boy had a lot more tragedy in it. It made me ask more questions. Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, while interesting, was not as intense or compelling.

Cmoney writes:

No, see. Here’s the thing. If I went over some paleo-donk’s house who, by some miracle, didn’t talk about how paleo he/she is, then I would probably enjoy a nice meal of pork and salad or some shit. I wouldn’t even notice. I wouldn’t walk away from the evening thinking “my what a fine lifestyle she leads.”
If they came over my house and there was some rice involved, they would probably be all like “eww yeah I can’t eat that.” That’s not a lifestyle. That’s being a jerk.

I don’t know what you want anymore. Are we gonna hug at the Arnold or what? Make sure you are wearing a sleeveless shirt.

Tiny writes:

Mr. Kim,
Thanks for your insight.
If said program was similar to this-
Monday-Squat, Press, DeadLift
Tuesday- Snatch, CJ
Thursday-Snatch, CJ
Friday- Squat, Bench, Pull ups
Sat- Snatch, CJ
What would you recommend rep ranges be?
Thanks for helping me reach my tights, strong goals for the 2012 fiscal year.

I like sets of 5 or 3s and the occasional double or single for squatting, pressing, deadlifts, I haven’t done more than singles in the oly lifts for prob a year though I’m not opposed to doing doubles or triples. If you are progressing by +5lbs each workout on the slow lifts I’d stick with something basic like 3×5, otherwise I’d do a Texas Method type thing where one day is volume and the other is working up to a 5rm or 3rm or a few doubles or something.

Hey man, you’re a great guy, gonna do great. I believe in you. Don’t forget to mob.

Leave a comment ?

33 Comments.

  1. I think you should have said please respond when you were on the ground after falling off the treadmill. It might have got her to realize what a gentle soul you have.

  2. “A long, agonizing series of failures and awkward moments hasn’t completely destroyed my self-confidence or belief that I’m a normal person”

    Brent,

    I feel that I am working towards this but am not quite there yet. Any tips for getting to that next level?
    Thoughts on having a weekly Mope-bility Q&A to mirror compliment the mainsite?

  3. I think this blog has opened up your past failures. Let you relive them. Stoke the fire. Thus creating a desire to train harder resulting in numerious PR’s. Thoughts? KStarr MOB from yesterday is legit.

  4. Product suggestion: orange lacrosse balls that read “I want you to feel good, baby”. Mob your way to the bank with those fuckers.

  5. Brent – if you could be any animal what would it be and why?

    Also when is your next meet that you’re lifting and what our your goals.

  6. This is a TRUE Story.

    So basically I dropped out of my first stint at college in 2007 to help take care of my mom/Ifuckinghatedthatcollege. So anyway like the week before I drop out, Jess (my now wife) contacted me because she moved back to SC from NC and we went to HS together and she was friends with my HS girlfriend (who turned out to be a lesbian) so I invite her down to my college and we hang out for a day with my friends. Well I drop and me and jess start seeing each other more often. Well then my best friend’s 21st birthday is going down and he wants to get “yucky” as you would put it. Well jess and I show up and I am by definition a social drinker and this was a very social get together. So I basically start the night by finishing off a handle of some cheap vodka he had stashed away (like 3 or 4 shots maybe?) and thats before ANYONE started drinking. Well blah blah fast forward I start to LOSE MY MIND I AM MEGA PLASTERED. And I am not the sleepy drunk or the crying drunk, I am the WHATTHEFUCKISWRONGWHYISHESOHYPER drunk. Well i am raging around causing havoc. Well apparently I PULL JESS’S PANTS DOWN EVEN THOUGH WE HAD ONLY BEEN DATING FOR 2 WEEKS. In front of everyone. Then I tell everyone I am going to marry her like a crazy drunk man. THEN. As everyone is leaving / passing out. I WHIP MY DICK OUT AND WRAP MY BELT AROUND MY LITTLE WHITEMAN DICK IN FRONT OF JESS AND EVERYBODY. So I wake up the next day promptly at 6 am and felt refreshed and confused. Because I did all that blakced out pretty much. So my obese / gay friend robert is asleep on the floor next to me and my pants are undone… so i clean my self up and find jess. And she is PISSED. So we drove together so I had to DRIVE her back to Florence which is like an hour away. And apologized the whole time. But the TL:DR of this story is I ended up marrying the girl I whipped my 3 inches of fury out on and WRAPPED MY BELT AROUND IT. So good things can happen out of weird situations.

    GRIPPING NOVELA COMPATRATIOT

    • Actual tl;dr : cool story bro

      :}

    • Omg, that’s so weird Stroup because I dropped out of my first stint at college in 2007 to help take care of my mom/Ifuckinghatedthatcollege. So anyway like the week before I drop out, Jess (my now wife) contacted me because she moved back to SC from NC and we went to HS together and she was friends with my HS girlfriend (who turned out to be a lesbian) so I invite her down to my college and we hang out for a day with my friends. Well I drop and me and jess start seeing each other more often. Well then my best friend’s 21st birthday is going down and he wants to get “yucky” as you would put it. Well jess and I show up and I am by definition a social drinker and this was a very social get together. So I basically start the night by finishing off a handle of some cheap vodka he had stashed away (like 3 or 4 shots maybe?) and thats before ANYONE started drinking. Well blah blah fast forward I start to LOSE MY MIND I AM MEGA PLASTERED. And I am not the sleepy drunk or the crying drunk, I am the WHATTHEFUCKISWRONGWHYISHESOHYPER drunk. Well i am raging around causing havoc. Well apparently I PULL JESS’S PANTS DOWN EVEN THOUGH WE HAD ONLY BEEN DATING FOR 2 WEEKS. In front of everyone. Then I tell everyone I am going to marry her like a crazy drunk man. THEN. As everyone is leaving / passing out. I WHIP MY DICK OUT AND WRAP MY BELT AROUND MY LITTLE WHITEMAN DICK IN FRONT OF JESS AND EVERYBODY. So I wake up the next day promptly at 6 am and felt refreshed and confused. Because I did all that blakced out pretty much. So my obese / gay friend robert is asleep on the floor next to me and my pants are undone… so i clean my self up and find jess. And she is PISSED. So we drove together so I had to DRIVE her back to Florence which is like an hour away. And apologized the whole time. But the TL:DR of this story is I ended up marrying the girl I whipped my 3 inches of fury out on and WRAPPED MY BELT AROUND IT. So good things can happen out of weird situations.

  7. Love the barefoot running story. Excellent.

    Is Stroup’s story copy pasta or what? I laughed real hard.

  8. The log says Shrug Thug on the 70’s Big website, but the guy who writes it weighs 156lbs and never does shrugs. I feel so used and upset.

  9. I’m glad I didn’t click that link before I benched today.

    I don’t know. I considered asking for a spot today. But you’re born alone and you die alone, you know?

  10. I just benched 265 for a paused double. Couldn’t make it a triple. I weigh like 60 lbs more than you. How do I stop being such a dickless mormon at benching? Wait, why am I even asking you this?

  11. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is less stylized and more hopeless. It has Park’s (the director) usual stylistic flairs and off-beat story/characters, but they’re merely flukes against the forlorn landscape.
    In Oldboy and Lady Vengeance you want the protagonists to win; in Mr. Vengeance everything sucks for the “hero” and you’re just wondering how this shit could get worse for him.
    Really great movie if you’re into nihilistic cinema.

  12. Brent,

    We need many more videos of you doing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrIHI2yvwr0&feature=related

  13. Brent,

    I max out everyday. Thought you might like to know that.
    It’s really a great day in Newport Beach today, lots of chicks out in bikinis, people drinking having a good time in the sun, 77°; how’s Texas?

  14. howdo you feel about this fobby kant?

    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=141799351

    will you relive this at the arnold?

    …please respond.

  15. Thanks Mr. Kim, I am a big fan of your workings. Keep on getting pumped. I’ll see you around the interwebz. Take care now, bye bye.

  16. so i was doing my weighted pull ups at the UNT gym tonight and i was working in with a pretty nice guy. well, we got talking and he told me i need to get some gloves to protect my hands. it all happened so quickly that i wasn’t able to conceal my gut reaction. i don’t know exactly what the face looked like that i gave him or how harsh the shoulder shrug looked or what exact interpretation he took out of my “well, ummmm…”

    …but after that he didn’t really talk to me anymore.

    i’m guessing the way he felt was similar to something that you avoid when you decide not to bother trying to approach girls in the first place. i mean, he tried…and it didn’t go so well. so i guess now i can see why someone would hesitate and/or back out altogether. he must have been miserable in that moment.

    • Oh, girl. Confession time: I’ve said some pretty bitchy things to dudes who have made similar “suggestions”. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether they’re just being douchey or they’re trying to flirt.

      Becky: I think it’s safe to say that you crushed this man. I mean: he was working in with a lady doing WEIGHTED PULL-UPS. But he told you to get gloves! GLOVES! What are we supposed to DO in situations like these?

  17. Hi Brent,

    If Justin isn’t available for a programming consultation, is there someone else you could please recommend (maybe somebody from the Pendlay forums)? I’m primarily interested in improving my snatch and clean and jerk.

    Thank you

Leave a Comment


NOTE - You can use these HTML tags and attributes:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>