Friday Jams: Ballet

Posted on November 21, 2014 by tosabarbell

I’ve heard many times (have said it too) that when watching a well executed lift; or throw; or team play come together that the act is like a Ballet. Huh, it got me thinking, how many of us use Ballet as the measuring stick of athletic beauty? Or maybe it’s just me. But it’s my blog, so today?

Ballet.

 

I have always been in awe of Baryshnikov. When I was young and stupid boys would make fun of a “man in tights jumping around” I would honestly be confused how they did not see the beauty in him.  I’m guessing those stupid boys either turned into stupid men who never competed at anything or actually grew up and found respect for such amazing feats. Dunno. Don’t care. I adore him.

The first time I saw The Four Little Swans performed live, I almost cried. To this day, I am unable to distinguish four separate ballerinas. They move so effortlessly together as one it’s thrilling for me to watch. Hearing the wooden stomps of their toe shoe tips, every move carefully executed from their necks to their finger tips. Amazing.

 

Today is for beauty. And awe. And amazing things we get to enjoy.

Enjoy the weekend.

Wrestling is ballet with violence.

Jesse Ventura

Training Log

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Location, Location, Location (Pt. 2)

Posted on November 19, 2014 by tosabarbell

location

One of the funniest things I hear (often) when giving a quick cue to someone either in the gym or on the field and they execute a lift or throw better, is when a partner or spouse says, “Geez, it’s not like I’VE never told you that before!” Heehee. Usually it’s just a matter of saying it in a way that makes sense; could be a timing thing; could be a girl thing. Dunno. All I know is there are times you are in a certain situation where a cue hits home and your lifts or throws start to take off.

Hungary was one of those times for me. I’ve mentioned it before but being able to train under the watchful eye of World Champion Akos’ Nagy was one of the greatest thrills of my sport days. It occurred to me at some point of the evening that this was one of the first times I’ve ever been encouraged for my Olympic lifts (Tommy Suggs was a huge encouragement to me not only in my lifting, but in all life during very dark days. I will be forever grateful to him.) The trouble was, Tommy was an infrequent visitor and for some reason I guess I was able to hear criticism over encouragement.

But here I am, in Cheeseville and strolling along this thing we call life in a much better situation than I’d been in years. For the most part, I’d been staying away from the Olympic lifts. My left heel is still, well, healing (heehee) from a throwing season of blocks and the added pounding on it was avoided so that walking was more fun than it’s been for a couple of months. Due to stretching from the hot yoga and just time away from the field, it’s been feeling good enough that I thought I’d give the lifts a try.

I warmed up with the power snatch to an easy 45kg and moved on to some power cleans. Things were clipping along nicely so I went to one at 80kg which was actually easier than the 75kg before. Huh. Cool lifts without even training them.

Now, for me, here’s the interesting thing. I never came close to power cleaning 70kg down in Texas. I dunno why. Tired; not great training; constant stress, but really it’s okay for me to admit that it just wasn’t the place for me. There are things I’m very good at in the gym and things I’m not good at and constant failure didn’t suit me well. It carried over to (I’m sure) everything I touched and though I’m thankful for so many relationships that still stand today and for the lessons learned, I’m equally as happy to be right where I am.

I quickly took a look at last years numbers for the Masters Nationals in my class and guess what? Just my Saturday morning training (minus quitting my snatch a bit early) would have placed me very well. Huh. Maybe I wasn’t such a useless Olympic lifter after all? Maybe location + some very appreciated high praise from a Hungarian World Champion at the right time can help me remember the positive words Tommy Suggs would say to me over and over.

Because ya know what? Sometimes I don’t always need to hear what I’m doing right, I just don’t need to hear each day everything I’m doing wrong. OH HEY! Here’s something funny. According to my numbers, the woman who would have beat me at World Championships this past September is from…

Hungary. How’s that for irony.

location1

Akos’, Gamesminion, and Matt at one of the greatest meals of my life.

So I’ll put off the off season 10×10’s for a couple of weeks and hit a meet. My goal will be to get a qualifying total for 2015 big meets and keep a close eye on registrations (Masters Nationals are already full in April.) Bummer. But that’s okay. Getting a spark to lift is fun for me. Keep up with the Games plan, just add some fun in there too with the Olympic lifts.

Game on!

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. 

Zig Ziglar

Training Log

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The Facebook STFU! Gameboard

Posted on November 14, 2014 by tosabarbell

I had meant to make a FB post yesterday morning when I got up with our little girl dog that says something along the lines of, “Gee, I hope I see a FB post with shitty lifts, burpees, or a political fight today.” This sparked a fun conversation on playing some type of FB Bingo game each day. Sooooo, here ya go!

STFU! Game Board (download your own. I struggled even getting this far.)

Scan0004

Here’s how it works, anytime you see or read anything on the board, you get to place your token (use whatever you have for tokens; pennies, tic-tac’s, d-bol capsule) on the board. Once you have a STFU! down, across, or diagonal, you win! Shout that shit out too.

Here’s how I came up with the squares.

S for SHUT.

1. Srsly, just squat. Shut up and squat. Don’t care how, pick a bar placement and do it justice.

2. You live where it snows. It snowed last year, it snowed the year before and it likely snowed at some point each winter before that. SHUT it! It’ll snow again, it’s winter.

3. I dunno, maybe Christmas displays are going out earlier each year. I don’t think they are but really, who cares? Just go get your Jack and Coke and diapers at Target and ignore the Christmas tree’s. Really.

4. Politics. So yawn.

5. Challenges. Gawd. Just declare and STFU. You don’t need someone to challenge you, just do it. And I don’t give a care what “day” it is in the challenge. No one real talks like that, knock it off.

T for THE.

1. Okay look, it’s all cool that your 18+ year old is moving away from home and poor mommy but my gawd! There are parents you probably KNOW who’s kids no longer walk this earth. SHUT UP!

2. Lawd I’m tired of you GF folks. Now, if you truly need GF then go ahead and eat GF shit like pancakes and cookies and bread and pasta and cake. But it’s still shit. Sorry I’m not sorry. Just shut up and eat your cookie. We do.

3. Calling out terrible parents on the FB. Hey ya know what? If you’re a parent there will be some point you’ll fail. We all do. Some more horrifically than others. So what. I was at Target a few weeks ago where some F.C. busybody called the police on another mother. Yes, it happened. I had to leave before getting physical with Ms. busybody with her baby in a 100+ dollar stroller. See, some of us parents struggled at some time and we may have made poor decisions in desperate moments that we just “got” through. Ya know what you could have done instead of call the police you FFC, you could have lent a hand. Since you had two free. Instead you got the police involved in someone else’s life you piece of shit. Anyways.

4. Bathroom selfies. Please. Stop.

5. All of these surveys saying who you would actually be if you were interesting. You’re you. If you don’t like it, get off the computer and make yourself interesting. Cuz you’re stuck with you. Duh.

F for FUCK.

1. Bound to see four by 7am.

2. Bound to see four by 5pm.

3.  Free FU. You’re welcome.

4. Hopefully see at least one where someone tears a tendon or breaks their face on an epic fail during the day.

5. These. Holy shit we’re gullible. You actually click on something that challenges you’re a complete cold hearted ass if you don’t cry. Hey, ya know what makes me cry? When bad things happen to me or someone I love. Sometimes even when good things happen to me or someone I love. Or when I step on a Lego. That hurts really bad. See, I don’t wanna cry every day so I won’t click on some stupid melodramatic video with equally melodramatic music.

UP for what we need more of.

1. Whenever someone takes The Onion seriously and gets on the FB it’s like Christmas. Thank you Moron, you’re a moron.

2. Uhhhhhh, baby panda videos. They’re awesome.

3. Have you seen the pillow fight prank video? This guy walks around with two pillows, throws one at an innocent victim and proceeds to start a pillow fight with the unsuspecting dude or dudette. One of the funniest things I’ve seen on the internet in a long time.

4. Amazing lifts coming out of Kazakhstan. Very cool.

5. Cool food and drinks. Yes please.

! for filler. Heh.

1. Who doesn’t love a good pet picture. Especially if it’s a pet pig.

2. Mark you space if you get a video from Gant, Jim, or Dave cuz it’ll be hilarious.

3. First, mark your space if you’ve seen Kim K’s fat, photo shopped ass and then stop looking at it.

4. You should all have a mint on this space by now.

5. These people freak me out, much like how Clowns freak other people out. I don’t want to see that shit even if it’s at the expense of winning for the day.

And there ya go. Game on folks. If you can tell me how to take a Word Doc and put it into a jpeg so I can just post it pretty, I’ll change it. If not, you’re left to have to click and print. I’m witty and bitchy, not computer brilliant. Deal.

Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75.

Benjamin Franklin

Training Log

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Hawt

Posted on November 13, 2014 by tosabarbell

 

I really heart this commercial. Using the exact tactics that you claim never happens in your fitness center. Hot girls “gymtimidating” homely girl. I really wonder if homely chubs from all across the nation flocked to PF after this ran. I’m sure we’ll see it again sometime in December when people all over the world (errrr, ‘merica) decide that THIS is the year they’re going to lose the weight. Yawn.

Anyways. That’s not what today is about.

This past August I was tired and sore, all the time. I wasn’t moving as well as I was earlier in the season. Games pictures of a bloated Jules made me sad. I didn’t work hard for an entire year to feel like this. Now, of course, some of that is to be expected. But not like this. (Quite frankly, I have no idea how people accept feeling like shit on a daily basis. Yeah, yea, ya, ‘they don’t know better’ and all that but I think deep down most do. They know it, just don’t know how to change it.) Anyways.

After Scotland, I decided that when this season was over, I’m going to take some “be good to the body” time in the only way I know how. Doing something hard. Heh. Enter hot yoga.

The first time I went to hot yoga was years ago with my cousin Denise in Woodinville, WA. This is her thing. She’s tiny and bendy and she agreed to train with barbells in the morning with me so I felt I should agree to do her thing in the evening. I remember hating it, but then loving it. I loved the release of tensions and the stretching. But it was so gawdawful hot. We went once more in that visit and I was parked right under one of the heat vents. Memo to me: don’t do that. The instructor let me move.

I did a class once in Minneapolis and, yup, it was just as horrible as I remembered. But I love the feeling afterwards. Moving a little better, getting a good sweat on, being able to turn my head. The little things in life. I remember that’s a good thing. So when I knew I needed to lose some fat and move better, hot yoga was the only option for me.

And it’s working. I’m three weeks into classes, three times a week (I went one Sunday morning post drinking Saturday night, it destroyed me for the entire day. Not again.) The Monday class is the normal 90 minutes but the Wednesday and Friday classes are only 60 minutes (they call it express.) I’ll say this, the 90 minute class seems to take about 2 1/2 hours whereas the 60 minute class seems to take about a half hour. 90 minutes is brutal. I’m good to go on the standing poses but I skip the one above. I don’t put my back into flexion. Nope, not gonna happen. I did it a few times when I was so proud that I could pick up my foot but afterwards my back was sore and that’s the opposite effect I want out of this. So I stand and just kick my leg out. At least I know I can do it if I had to (why in the world would I ever have to?)

The other poses get tricky for me. I’m careful not to bring on a spinal erector seize so when we’re on our bellies I don’t extend too far. My right knee still has some fluid in it from all of those times I forgot to turn my foot on the throws but even just sitting on my knees now briefly is an accomplishment. I’ll take it. By this time, also, it’s bloody hot. Our studio keeps the room at about 105 but it was hot enough yesterday that even the instructor started fanning the door to bring in some cool air. I checked the temp setting before I left the room and it was at 109. Now, assuming this is “wall temp” and the air is a bit cooler I feel safe in assuming it was probably around 107 in there and yes, those additional two degrees make a helleva difference. People were dropping like flies. The girl next to me didn’t have water (bring frozen water by the way, it heats up fast) and I was very concerned for her. If it’s going to be that hot in there I’ll need to start bringing two waters. OH! When I was in Texas throwing, my second place prize was a little insulated single water (or beer:) bottle, soft sided thermos thingy. It’s perfect for hot yoga, THANK YOU TCAA!!

I am moving better. I am feeling better and yes, I’m finally (with the help of dialing in food) losing some bloat and fat. Yeah hot yoga.  I have one more full week of 3x per week and then off season starts where I’ll cut it down to those two express classes each week. My long term goal is to keep up one express session during next year’s season as long as I can and if it gets to be too much, I’ll check in every couple of weeks. Feeling better and moving better is worth it.

A fellow thrower asked on my training log about it the other day and whether or not it was helpful. Well,ya. But if all you want to do is get some good stretching in, honestly, I’d just recommend yoga. Same benefits, less sweat. For me, I had to make a commitment to myself to do these four weeks and believe me, as controlled as I am in following through on this stuff, bad Juli is already trying to talk good Juli out of next Monday’s long session. We’ll see who wins. Maybe if good Juli promises bad Juli some wine or something after she hydrates?? Hmmmmmm…

Overall it’s been a great experience and I’m happy I’m doing it. It’s funny, especially with the above commercial. There is a very specific female body type that is attracted to hot yoga and believe me, mine ain’t it. Long, lean muscles? (Bwahahhahahhaaaaaa!!!!) Very thin (sometimes skinny), lack of muscles (they get in the way of some of those poses, believe me), and judging by their skin color lack of meat seems to be the norm. I’m the chubby homely chick in this room and I’ll own it. Loss of some bodyfat? Yup! Loss of muscle mass, ummmmmm,nope Kthxbye.

So chances are I’ll always be the big girl in the room. That’s okay, I’ll also be the one who smiles when the instructor says that “grip strength” needs to be improved to hold on to sweaty limbs. Umm, my grip is fine thx, just sweaty and “grip strength” isn’t really a thing in hot yoga. But I’ll play along, this is your sandbox. A hot one, but yours.

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.

Thomas Jefferson

Training Log

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