Monday Bacon: Hangry, Dog Pooping, and PreGame-Eulogy

Posted on March 2, 2015 by tosabarbell

hangry

At some point north of 40, I realized that when my body said it’s time to eat…it was time to eat. I had a window of course, but it’s gotten shorter through the years and hard training doesn’t help. When I’m hungy, I need food. Without it, a slight headache comes on which turns into full on annoying pain and if still not addressed, all out HAnger.

Which is completely understandable when you’re hanging out with a group of folks who train, they understand keeping the beast at bay. But when you’re with family or friends who have talked themselves into a lifestyle where good food isn’t necessary throughout the day, that can present problems. Traveling with non-eaters is nearly impossible. I remember last year when Bigg traveled to Mexico for work and his Rep drove him around for over three hours after landing trying to find his favorite restaurant (no, don’t bring up the fact that if this was the best and favorite restaurant of this local he should have obviously known where it was. I asked that already.) But after a five hour flight and three more hours driving in Mexico, my hubs finally told the guy that he needed food. Now.

Look, if Matt got his stern voice on while telling the story, I can only imagine how that came out in Mexico. I picture something like this…

hangry1

Feed me or die.

True story. Heehee.

This past weekend, we were at a birthday party for ProStrongman Sam McMahon which pretty much meant that at least 85% of that room understood hangry. In fact, one local Strongman’s fiance was on the verge of hangry so we quickly directed her to the meat and cheese platter already set up before the birthday boy got there. Usually, all that’s needed among people who train is a quick, ‘geez, I’m kind of hungry’ that elicits a universal response from those around them of trying to find food before it gets out of hand.

We get it. Hangry is bad. We avoid it by pre-gaming. Matt ate nearly a pound of his burger and rice mix prior to getting ready to go to the party (which had amazing food there waiting for us. Bonus.) If someone around me says they’re hungy, it’s addressed. If I’m out and about for a while, I’ll make sure I have a snack even if it’s just a jar of almonds in the car (not recommended in sub-zero weather if you like your teeth.) When I fly, I take at least two Tuna Lunches with me. If it’s a big flight, four. Plus a protein shaker with a baggie full of back up protein. As god as my witness, I will not HAnger.

True story.

In other news, this guy…

hangry2

Since our Wisconsin Governor seems to be a current front runner for the GOP Presidential Candidate, it’s open season on Scott Walker. I guess people hate him. Like, really really hate him. Now, if one of these people speaking out is a jilted girlfriend from the past, I’ll understand the hate. But hating a politician is weird to me. (No, I don’t hate Obama. But I don’t believe he loves America or Americans and has not been a good President. Hate? No. I don’t know him.)

So much so that when I read the following clip off one non-fan yesterday on the Facebook about a story that was recanted (due to it being a lie but no one wants to hear that) I shook my head. Here’s what she wrote:

I hate him so bad that when I lived down the street from him in Wauwatosa, I’d make sure when I walked my dog that he would poop in Walker’s yard every day. It made me feel better knowing my dog pooped in his yard. I cleaned it up of course because my point was already made by the elimination act. 

What. The. Fuck.

I can’t even wrap my head around that crazy. Sooooooo, you HATE a man you don’t know so you had your dog poop in his yard each day? And that was satisfying to you in some way and then you actually admitted it on the internet? I bet you told your friends too, right? And not one of them said, “you’re a fucking idiot”? You need new friends.

Moving on…

hangry3

As mentioned, we were getting our birthday party celebration on for Sam McMahon on Saturday. It’s kind of rare that Matt and I get together with this group in a non gym setting so I was pretty excited. Sam’s wife, Julie, made sure we had delicious food; great wine and beer, and cupcakes to keep us in line.

At some point, as I was talking to our dear friend and wedding officiant, Swede, I kind of realized that the room was filled with some of the best of the best in our local strength world. Champions, ProStrongman, Pro Bodybuilder, record holders, gym owners who provide the setting to get better each week…and one ProStrongman mom who I absolutely adored. All here to celebrate Sam. It was a great night.

Filled with lots of laughter and good stories. Many stories about Sam which is fun. But with every story, there was a common theme. That he is an amazing strength athlete and highly respected in our little world and loved very much by his peers. I think that’s pretty cool. I think it’s even cooler that it was upstairs of their favorite pub and not at a funeral home. Cuz that’s usually when we eulogize people, when they’re not even here to hear it. That’s kind of bullshit. Let’s keep in the habit of telling amazing people we think they’re amazing while they’re still standing, eh?

And if you have wine and cupcakes…even better.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.

Groucho Marx 

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Debate Team

Posted on February 24, 2015 by tosabarbell

debate

You may have noticed that the tosabarbell posts have been few and far between lately. Maybe you didn’t notice, that’s okay too. But for those who have and wondered aboot it, here’s why….I’m sick of the internet. Tired. Sick. Fed up with. Done. Well, not done, but nearly done.

The amount of bickering and arguing and finger pointing is at an all time high and I’m just bored with it all. Who knows, this post may be boring. Here, let me make it interesting…

post

Gregor Edmunds is always a good palette cleanser.

That’s better.

Anyways.

It is barely in me these days to find meaning on the screen. There is so much absolute shite out there that I become more and more attached to my Candy Crush and less likely to look at anything else except panda video’s.

Conversations quickly turn into debates which quickly deteriorate into calling each other names and then taking to the internet even further to get people on your side. And I guess that’s the crux of my frustration. Why do you need people on your side? Keeping conversations going that should have stopped 50 posts ago so that your point of view can be solidified among your peers.

High School. And in case I haven’t said it before, I hated High School. Sharing our view on a matter that is important to us should drive debate, not initiate a fight. Here’s my view, what’s yours? Well, I disagree. Does it matter? Probably not. If it does and we would be better off in the long run to find a solution, let’s find a solution. In private, on the phone or in person if possible. Me and you. Not all of our friends plus our FB friends who we don’t even really know. You and me…solving the world’s problems. But probably not, just solving our own. Mutually respecting each other’s right to say what is in our hearts and minds and going from there. Avoiding the “your’re just a hater” rhetoric that instantly (in my mind) classifies you as an 8th grader who never learned how to disagree. No one asking for back-up; it’s a debate after all, not a fucking 9-1-1 call.

Anytime a person or group is pitted against each other, I become wary of both sides, no matter who I agree with. I don’t want anything to do with it. I’ll state my view if I feel led to do so and move on. If my view is seen as ignorant and called out as such, I’ll listen. I may agree or disagree with the feedback but I will give it some thought even if I don’t reply. Because we used to be a society that actually did care about what our peers thought of us. That’s okay. It means we acknowledge that there are other people in the world  and in order for us to work or coexist productively, we need to find common ground . Weird, eh?

But that’s not popular. And I’ve aboot had it. So in order to bring fun back to the interwebz, here’s my own “Debate threads” drinking game. Find your favorite Rye (or Bourbon if you’re out of Rye but why in the hell are you out of Rye?) and drink when…

1) The word “hater” is used

2) The phrase “you started this when you…” is used

3) Someone types “Lol” (also Lulz, Lolz, or Oh Ha Ha.)

4) Someone slams another from over 10 posts above (this gets harder as the game goes on)

And lastly, one of my favorite hated sayings,

5. Well we’ll just agree to disagree. (No dick, you just disagreed. STFU.)

And if this doesn’t work to make the webz more fun, there’s this…

…not surprisingly, this cracks me the fuck up.

Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I’m being repressed!

Monty Python

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Special Snowflake’s

Posted on February 5, 2015 by tosabarbell

snowflake

Or…it doesn’t matter if you are a special snowflake if there are a hundred tons of other special snowflakes around you.

It seems there is no end in sight for folks posting their training video’s and as I’ve always said, ‘you post it,  you own it.’ Now, training video’s can be very cool. Most of us have already seen Hafthor’s historic log walk from last weekend’s World Strongest Viking, Strongman Champion League’s season kick-off. But in the event that you live under a rock, here ya go…

…pretty cool, eh? Also cool is how Hafthor gives honor to the former record holder, and how cold Marcel looks. Heh.

That, my friends, is a special snowflake.

Us? Meh, not so much. But our PR’s are ours to own and if they make us happy, then by all means post it. The lift may be ugly, it’s a PR after all. We may get excited enough to be a douche to our bar after but hopefully we grow out of that silliness. But PR’s are worth celebrating if you’ve been working hard for it (no, a 30# PR for someone training for a few weeks or even a couple months is not a PR. It’s progress. JHMFC, how is that not recognized by your coach?)

Anyways.

If your PR is a 100kg power clean and it makes you happy, then by all means post it. If your PR is 130kg clean and jerk, by all means, celebrate. But what gets lost in the “the world is all about me and look how strong I am” youtube’s, is that actually…your PR isn’t really all that strong. I get it, it’s STRONGEST for you. But when you start looking around the rest of the strength world, especially competition numbers, you get a little splash of reality right in the face.

Oh well. Such is life. This week I hit a PR strict (I say strict because people don’t understand the term “press.” Many believe that a knee bounce is not a push press if it’s just a slight dip. If you do, you’re wrong) press of 60kg. This has been a goal for a year and a half. Why so long? Well, because the training window is short. To press big, you need to press and there is only a 6-8 week training period I have in a year to hit that. Once I get out of volume training, I’m off to throwing drills and practice and no longer have the time to work on a heavy press without under recovering. But I need to be far enough out of my volume training to have recovered from it, it’s tricky for this ‘ol gal. In fact the last time I tried it, it was almost a year ago from the day.

But this time I got it and got it well. A minor sticking point when I started up and the rest was ‘no worries.’ It was a good PR for me (no, I didn’t get video.) It was probably one of the most satisfying PR’s for me in my training life. Why? Because I love the press. It’s rarely done anymore. Oh sure, the push press’ are all over the place. There’s the Strongman press which is almost like a standing bench press and those numbers are fun too. But they don’t lock out and I tell ya what, that last inch and a half of lockout could be all the difference between success and failure. (I get it, putting 300# or more overhead without a push off the floor is a feat of strength. I agree. Now lock it out. I’m just sayin’.)

Anyways, I love the press. It’s hard. It’s rarely done anymore. It is a feat of strength, especially for women.  I think I’ve seen Kristin Rhodes post some amazing press video’s but, ya know, she’s World’s Strongest Woman. Sooooo…

For some reason, a throwing friend took the time to throw a little shade on my PR and hint around that a 135# press would look cooler than a 60kg press. Whatever. People need to nitpik I guess. But when you no longer see me posting on my log, you can figure out why. Fuck it. This is exactly why I’ve never kept an on-line training log in the first place which I explained when I started it. 40kg plus a 45# bar comes out to roughly 133 pounds (for those who train in pounds.) I guess my two pound less than 135# lift wasn’t as cool looking because it didn’t have an iron plate on each side?? I’ve also seen this person nitpik his wife into tears at Games so I shouldn’t be surprised. Whatev.

But even with that, I’m not a special snowflake. Nor do I need to be. Look, lift. Just train and lift. PR’s will come and please celebrate them. But know this, there are very few special snowflakes in the world and you’re probably not one of them. Be okay with that. If you have some natural talent and your DNA allows you to build more strength than the next guy, then find a good coach and exploit that shit. Because you may actually become a special snowflake.

Cool, eh?

If your ego starts out, “I am big. I am special” you’re in for some disappointments when you look around at what we’ve discovered about the universe. No, you’re not big. No, you’re not. You’re small in time and space. And you have this frail vessel called the human body that’s limited on Earth.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

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Monday Bacon: Cleaning Up

Posted on February 2, 2015 by tosabarbell

bacon

As much as I’m not one to set New Year’s resolutions, I guess I have one. I don’t know how it happened, I have just noticed a trend these past few weeks and I’m going with it. And that is to clean up my computer time (no, this has nothing to do with porn, is nothing sacred?)

No crappy lifting videos. None. You want to post one? Fine. Don’t care. But don’t tag me in it to watch. Especially if I’ve coached you in the past and you decide to forego that and start lifting shitty and then later complain that your lifts aren’t going anywhere or that you’re injured. I don’t want anyone to know that I ever had anything to do with you. Just, no. Post a crappy lifting video and we’re no longer FB friends. In real life? Sure. Then we can talk about interesting things and but not about how your training has taken a Godzilla sized dump and you can’t figure it out. No.

No weightlifting or, god forbid, Press videos with thrown bars from overhead. Boom, you are e-dead to me. It makes me angry, like, over the top angry to see some douchey lifter PR an overhead lift and take more dedication and thought to slam the bar down ‘Outlaw’ style. If you don’t want to respect your lifting equipment, fine. But I’m not going to watch it. The energy that you’ve just put into the bar is that you don’t give a shit about it and I don’t want any part of it. It’s probably pretty kooky, I’ll blame it on the Hawaiian in me. Objects contain energy, energy that we put into it and that we hope to receive from it. A PR is to be celebrated. Happy dance; fist pump; drop on your knees and hulk tear your shirt off (make sure to have a sport’s bra on underneath please ladies if you’re in public), or PR hugs. PR hugs are my favorite. But to slam a bar down, even if it’s yours, makes me not like you. Probably not in real life either. To take joy in slamming a barbell down on the floor (yes, I’ve seen people do this in a press too. I wanted to smash their face into the wall. Ragemuch?) means that there is a fundamental difference in how we go through life. I’m not saying my way is right, god no. But I’m saying I don’t want anything to do with a person who does that. Byebye (stewardess style.)

Calling names. This is one of the biggest grievances I have with the internet. When in the world did it make it okay as an adult to call another adult a name? When? For those that know us, we have had problems with our neighbors since the 2nd day they moved in a year and a half ago. When one issue is seemingly resolved (or the police have told them they can’t complain about it anymore because they’re lying) they move on to another issue. It is my opinion that there will always be something because that’s the type of people they seem to be. Fine. Whatev dude. The recent issue is that they have requested, through a note they taped on their window facing our house, that we not snow blow onto their brick or windows (including their basement windows.) Well, the Snow Gods were good to us this weekend and gave us about a foot or more of snow. Thank you Snow Gods. While Matt and I were taking a shoveling/snow blowing coffee break yesterday morning outside (it was really quite beautiful out) the neighbor stopped and started yelling at us. I just yelled back (we were in the back of our driveway) to have a good walk; be safe; watch out for cars that I’d already noticed were blowing through the stop sign. See, this was my time. My coffee-peaceful-yeah it finally snowed, time. So I’ll drown out your crazy but only with good thoughts. Have a nice walk.

He called me a bitch (or a prick but that seems really weird for a man to call a woman a prick.)

Now, it is beyond me as to what kind of human being you are to call a grown woman a bitch as a grown man. Right in front of her husband. Who does that? I honestly cannot wrap my head around it. It’s just not done. That’s not who we are. That’s just not how we walk through life. It’s weird. It’s hostile. And it’s not okay. It’s just not okay. There is some gene of civility and honor missing from your DNA. (This guy is an elementary school teacher too. Goody.)

Same goes for the internet. There have been people I honestly like it real life who have chosen to go after others on the Facebook and call them names. I dunno, maybe it was uncomfortably lulz in the past? But not now. Now it’s sad. It’s sad that this is the pathetic society we’ve become. That we call someone we don’t know a ‘cunt’ because they disagree with a stand we’ve taken. God. What has happened to us? There is no amount of good, or funny, or sarcastic (which everyone knows I LOVE) that can make up for calling another human being a name. I can’t excuse it. I don’t want any part of it or your energy. Because no matter what else is there that is good, I’ll always know that you will resort to 9 year old playground bullying tactics and I don’t trust you. It honestly makes me sad. The only thing I can do is “unfriend” someone so that the energy doesn’t enter my feed anymore but I guess that’ll have to be enough.

At the rate I’m going, I’ll have about 40 friends on the Facebook and only follow five of them cuz they post funny puppy and panda videos..and Strongman Champions League. That’s it.

Look, I don’t need sunshine and walks on the beach all day every day. Real life happens and that nice thing about the Facebook is that we can connect with those we otherwise wouldn’t and send them some energy that contains healing, or fun, or congratulations, or just silly. We’ll celebrate with you when you kick butt at a Strongman contest and win the whole dang thing (TEBOW!!!) or send e-hugs when your dog is sick and celebrate when he’s back home safe and sound. Stuff like that. There is a lot of good to the whole internet thing. But this ugly that is there too, I don’t want any part of it.

Nope.

Leave bullying to bulls. Be human.

Training Log

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