One Chapter is Closed

It’s been 17 months since Rocio’s death, and the time since then has basically been a rollercoaster for my family and myself. Finally, on April, 22nd we got a call from the D.A. informing us that the person held responsible for the car accident was about to accept the plea bargain. I will refer to this person by “him” (or “his” when denoting his possessive) since posting his real name would serve no purpose…

http://elnyka.wordpress.com/about/my-sis-rocio-rip/one-chapter-is-closed/

Unwinding

It’s been two weeks since I started taking care of my back… and I’m bored the hell out of my skull. I miss lifting, I miss the jits. Crap.

Anyways, so far the inflammation is getting down, and I finally went out jogging on Saturday night. Mind you, it was a little trotting like an old man, but that was a major improvement. Fortunately I can do push ups and pull ups, abdominal and supermans so that keep me going.

Jumping is out of the question and I have to run carefully, though. My chiro ties me up to this table that he uses to bend me up and down (as in a reverse hyper) while applying pressure to several parts of the spine. It’s not only the lumbar area, but apparently I have a lot of scar tissue on the hip and where the femur connects to it. Also, he gets me to sit on this contraption for about 5 minutes at every session:

It is pretty weird, but it certainly works your core. Not only that, it gets you to flex and extend your hip and regain hip mobility. It’s good (though dorky looking.) This is a cat on that thing, just for the lolz.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWZKjtFUeco

Work is getting busy and I’ll be working the graveyard shift soon, so no jits for me again for a couple of months. The timing of jacking up the back couldn’t have been worse.

I finally got my x-rays on disk. Pretty wicked… and shitty. This is my neck tilted to the right. It is better now, but it is still a lot of work to be done.

Below is my lumbar leaning to the left. I have to make a conscious effort to bring my right shoulder up and extend my right oblique to relieve the pressure. Annoying shit let me tell you.

And the arrows in this one mark the disks that are giving me grief.

Patience, patience. I got to have patience to fix this. It is what it is, and resting is just a part of the game, even when the waiting sucks.

And The Uncoiling Begins

So after the crapcalocaust twisted my back a couple of weeks ago, it’s been a methodical, albeit boring road to recovery.

Well, so far I’ve been limited to stretch my lower back and hamstrings, which releases a lot of pressure, some bodyweight good mornings, and a lot of bicep curls and push ups, a lot. I don’t do anything else for the time being. Pain is almost gone, but there is that weakness that’s felt in the spine between the lumbar and thoraccic areas. Getting up from a chair is not as painful, but moving the neck down sometimes is, and I have to be careful whenever I wake up and get off the bed.

Anyways, when I just get up and stand up natural, from the pelvis up to the base of my skull my back looks like the letter C. It takes some effort to bring my shoulders to the same level (straightening the spine) and more effort to bring my neck up straight. Usually there is no pain when doing this, but it’s a conscious effort. I basically have to imagine a point inside of me, just over the right side of the hip and “lift” it up while extending the oblique.

A couple of things have become apparent:

1. I put all my weight on the left side of my hips,
2. My right oblique is shortened.

So now, whenever I walk or sit I shift my weight to the right leg/glute, hoping that this will eventually lead to a correction. About the oblique, this is getting interesting.

I always thought that I was stretching the obliques, but apparently I was just stretching the tensor fasciae latae. Coupled that with a shortened oblique and a banged up spine, and I’m amazed this shit didn’t hit sooner.

It took a while for me to activate the right oblique and actually stretch it. Before, I would stretch lateraly, but the tensor would just take over. After prodding the muscle, I’m getting it to stretch. And it fucking hurts!!! Right where it meets the hip bone, it fucking hurts!!!

At least I know now a way to deal with it. After my chiro sessions I will check an orthopedist to see what else needs to be done. In the meantime, check these pics I took this morning…

… btw, the brown patch on my lower back is an ice burn (I put ice for way too long), not a crust of dirt!!!

This is what it looks like if I get up and let my body relax. If this were a Yoga pose, it would be called ‘Sideway Bending Chimpanzee’.

Here, I have to make the constant and concious effort to lift the hip, and lenghten the oblique to bring the shoulders level (and thus, straighten up the spine somewhat). My neck still points to the right, though.

Here I have to conciously contract the left side of the neck to bring it up. I’m like fucking Quasimodo or something.

BTW, look at those little love handles. Meaty!!! And really, no, it’s not dirt on my back but an ice burn

I’m Twisted… Literally

Ok, I’m screwed… or maybe not. I dunno. I came back from my chiro, and after looking at my x-rays, I have to say my spine looks all f* up. Let’s just say that my spine, starting from the pelvis, is tilted to the left, my right shoulder is over an inch below my left one, and there are herniations in my L1, L2 and L3.

Yay me!! Oh wait… crap!

I started feeling something weird on my lower back, around my L3 on March, 15th while doing squats. I scratched that one out thinking that it was due to regained mobility on my hips. I had re-started BJJ training a week and a half before that, and the training had been stretching my hip flexors like silly putty.

Same pain was experienced on the 22nd, and again I scratched that one out. Then came jits class on Monday night (the 24th.)  During training I got stacked, and for a moment, I felt a slight pull on my sacral region. I, like a tard, scratched that one out again.

Then, the pain manifested itself on Tuesday, the 23rd. The pain was bad enough that I couldn’t train, had a hard time getting out of bed or standing off a chair. Finally, I got a chance to see my chiro last Friday. And here I am, on Monday, wondering what my next move is.

Apparently my back was all banged up for a very long time – I did injure myself many times at work and doing sports for the last 20 years. And working in the IT sector, sitting on my ass all day didn’t help much either. Working out has been an important part of my life, and thanks to it, it has kept my back problems at bay.

But the same forces were the one that were banging the living shit out of my spine, which bring us to where we are today. My right shoulder was always a bit low, but now the deviation is really bad.

Also, there are herniation (Schmorl’s nodes) between my L1, L2 and L3 vertebra. In the X-rays, they look like little gel pads pouring into the vertebrae, causing all kind of pinch nerving shit.

It was just muscle keeping things in place, but it’s now that finally symptoms are beginning to creep in. I’ll have to take it easy for the time being while I see my chiro – I’ll be seeing him for 14 sessions within this month.

I guess it was just a matter of time until the spine would start to bitch and the last couple of weeks with lifting and jits were the proverbial needle that broke the camel’s back. My chiro reassured me that I should be able to continue training, but I have to take it easy.

I was planning to aim for a new deadlift PR (410lbs), no straps, on the 13th. I guess those plans are out. I’m not sure I’ll be able to spar at the BJJ school for at least a month. Plus, my insurance doesn’t cover chiro work, so that’s going to come out of my pocket.  That’s fine with me, but I, like a tard, wasn’t planning for that expense.

People have come out of worse back problems than that,  and I know I can do it. The problem now will be the mental one, the fact that I have to suck it up, be patient, and wait.

Decisions, Decisions, Schmuckcisions

In three weeks, my LA Fitness membership is about to expire. So far I’ve been going there only to squat as I do most of my pressing, dead lifting and other stuff at home. Heck, not that I’m back into jiu jitsu, it is more difficult to make time to drive back and forth from the gym, from any gym.

So here I am, actually my g/f and I, contemplating a life without a squat rack. How crap, reality hits home. We need a squat rack. Trouble is that there is a distinct possibility of moving to another location, most likely to a small apartment. Having a power cage is not an option, not until we finally settle down at a condo or home with a garage or something.

As I’m looking for squat stands (the obvious choice for us), I’m completely dissatisfied by most of the choices available out there. Most of these crappy stands don’t recommend to use beyond 200lbs. What sort of a joke is this???

Anyways, looking on the crossfit forums, I think I’ve found the choice for us. Behold, the C-93132W Squat Rack by New York Barbells, which runs for $149 as of today.

This puppy can take up to 1,000lbs, not that I’m going to squat that. But if I’m going to squat at home, I’d better use something that can take a pounding way above what I will ever be able to use. Another good option is the Vulcan by Iron Mind, but that puppy costs almost $429.00, so no.

Speaking of safety, I will need a pair of safety/catch/spotter bars for squatting. Iron Mind sells a set called ‘Pillars of Power’ that can take about half a ton, but, again, they are freaking expensive. Thank the Gods of the interweebz that people have rolled their sleeves and have come up with solutions.

Behold, the Pillars of Poverty!!

The picture above is the older design. For an updated design you can visit the original page where I’m stealing this idea from (www.geocities.com/fighttraining).

Next thing I will need (and which I need to get ASAP) is an Airdyne. I need this for my tabatas as I’m tired of burpees and bw mountain climbers.

These puppies are over $500 brand new, but I’ve seen them for as low as a hundred bucks in ebay and craigslist. I hope I can find one in good shape for that price.

The funny thing about this is that a lot of people have been a bit skeptical about the idea of squat stands. With a pair of solid safety bars and a squat stand that can take a thousand pounds (when I don’t think I’ll ever squat 400lbs), I don’t see why it’s a problem. Heck, I think it’s a good idea. The crossfit people are using them ad nauseam – I think they are onto something, something really good.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjuULPqI-WY

I hope I can have the gear in place soon so that I can write a review… assuming I don’t get crushed to death

Suckage of Cosmic Proportions

In the name of ${DEITY:=Salma Hayek}, training sucks more than a vacuum cleaner.

I’ve been training jits for two weeks already at a local SBGi gym (finally after almost a year-long hiatus). The staph crap is completely gone, and my neck is good to go. Been squatting and deadlifting heavy shit and doing my due diligence in the metabolic pathway department, crossfit’ting my way to increase my internal gas tank.

But no matter how hard you go by yourself, it is never the same when you are being pushed. This is specially true when doing combat conditioning in a group directed by a guy who can run loops around you with ease.

Crap, each class is one hour long (which by itself includes about 15 minutes of sparring). And it is followed by 30 minutes of open mat. All that is fine and dandy, except that the class is preceded by a 30-minute long class called ‘Combat Conditioning’.

By the balls of Odin, holy crap on a plate, this sucks balls. It drains you dry. Burpees, more burpees, side runs, squats, lunges, jumping squats, more burpees, each exercise done with 10-second active recovery followed by going balls out for 20-30 seconds. And each exercise is done back to back without break for 9 minutes with 1-minute break. Three of those to make 30 minutes.

You see God as you try not to puke. By the end of the 2nd round, I’m having a hard time hanging up with the rest of the class. And by the 3rd, my effort is in not stop moving even though I can’t perform the reps as fast as I can (which is the main idea). The only thing that gets me going is that I know I will eventually adapt, physically, to these imposed demands, and that this is a fundamental part of the freaking game.

You really need to want this shit badly to keep going. That very same thought keeps popping on my mind whenever the inevitable thought comes as I’m holding my gag reflexes – “Oh God, this sucks, I don’t need this shit”. Either that thought or if you stop, you are a pussy. Whichever works at the heat of the moment, I’ll take it.

The 2nd hardest part of all is scheduling recovery time. You know you need the rest, you know your CNS and your gas tank need the rest, and that the free time can be used for stretching, active recovery, going over your class notes. And still, it feels like wasted time.

A retarded mental dichotomy this is – training vs recovery. It is a falsehood, a fallacy, one which I must keep in mind at all times if I’m not to burn out again.

Tomorrow I’m seeing my chiro, for the first time in almost two months. And Saturday will be my next grappling and conditioning class. Until then, get some active rest, do additional strength training, go over your notes and sleep cuz Saturday is going to suck.

And as much as it sucks, it makes me happy. Finally, after so many setbacks, I feel I’m finally back on track in my life. I’ve said the same statement several times in the last year. So long as Murphy doesn’t decide to fuck things up, that’s how it will be. As much as this training sucks the living life out of me, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

More DIY – On Slam Balls and Tabata Sets

Before I discuss what a slam ball is, we need to explain the context in which such a training tool is used. And the context is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and specifically, Tabata intervals.

What is a tabata interval? It is a High Intensity Interval Training protocol originally devised by Dr. Izumi Tabata to increase anaerobic capacity (in particular the glycolytic and phosphagen metabolic pathways). In a tabata interval, an exercise is executed as fast and with as many repetetions as possible for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is repeated again and again, usually in rounds of 2, 3, 5 or 10-minute rounds.

This is done as a means of implementing anaerobic metabolic conditioning and, ideally, as part of a plan for achieving and maintaining acceptable levels of general physical preparedness (GPP). And an increase in GPP allows one to train harder, with more volume and increase intensity. Moreover, it allows one to recover faster.

There are different exercises that can be used in these 20-10 second intervals. And, as wacky as it may seem to you, taking a hard object and throwing it to the ground is one.

This is where a slam ball comes into place. I recently built a 17-pound, non-rebounding ball that can be thrown multiple times without risking bursting it or the floor. This is me slamming the living crap out of it in three tabata intervals (a 1.5-minute round.)

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t1FlMUS32A

How To Build One

To build one, I followed online instructions found at the CrossFit and Ross Enamait’s websites. I believe I’m contributing an improvement onto those instructions by introducing more efficient funnels for pouring sand into the balls.

First, I started using an empty bottle of saline solution. It worked well as first, but I got impatient. As I tried to increase the size of the hole using a hand file, I tore it bigger than planned. That pretty much screwed it for a slam ball. Eventually I filled it up to make it a 25-lbs medicine ball, so it wasn’t that much of a loss.

Notice the obligatory beer bottle:

So, I took another basketball, and I was careful in punching a hole in it. For a funnel, I decided to insert a baby drop dispenser. It is important to keep the needle in the ball to allow air to come out as you pour sand:

Then I put an empty bottle of saline solution I was using first (with its end cut off) inside the drop dispenser, and voila, I got a nice, efficient funnel. It took about 10 minutes to fill it up with sand.

You can see the sand quickly going inside the ball. It was kinda cool.

Later you use a tire patch kit to patch the whole, you let the thing dry, put another patch, and begin to tape the crap out of it with duct tape.

Does it work well?

I think so. I’ve been slamming the living crap out of it, and so far, it hasn’t busted open. The trick is not to completely fill the ball. A basketball may take about 17lbs, maybe 18lbs, but that’s it. You need to leave room to be filled up with air.

This is not a bouncing slam ball. If you slam it on concrete it will barely bounce. This is good since it avoids having that thing accidentally bouncing on your face and it forces you to pick it up off the ground.

I do most of my slamming indoors, and I’m a bit worried about the floor. So I slam it on a rubber mat under a piece of plywood. I’ve also tried two and three rubber mats. Three is great as you get it to bounce (just be careful as the bouncing is erratic and can bounce with force right into your face.)

I find this to be much better than sledge hammer workout. Or I should say that I like it better. I don’t have to worry about switching sides, it works my forearms more and the downward pulling/throwing action in the trajectory it takes (right on front and above you) does an even work on your lats. Take a wide stance and contract the glutes as in a squat when doing this.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals can cut down their training time by 60% using tabata sets (or other similar HIIT protocols) and achieve superior anaerobic conditioning that other, more “aerobic” activities such as jogging or using a stationary bike. This is another incentive why I (or anyone else) should pursue this type of training.

I’d strongly suggest you use a rubber mat or a 2×2x1/4 plywood when slamming the ball. This will allow the ball to last longer as opposed to being slammed against the concrete. Furthermore, if you are doing this indoors, you want to protect your floor from the pounding.

And it goes without saying not to try this if you live in an apartment building

Moar DIY – On Sandbag Training

One of the most most priced posessions I have is a sandbag I build following Ross Enamait’s sandbag construction kit. As it is my nature to deviate from instructions and basically wing it, I added a few twists in its construction which allowed me to use to use less plastic bags. Ross suggests to use two husky bags, one filled with sand, and another one around it. I followed a different approach, which is the following:First, you put enough sand in a husky bag to get a given weight (I used 15lbs), make a tight bundle, which you secure at one end with duct tape.

Next, you take that bundle and flip it inside the bag

Once you flip it, make sure you pull the ends of the bag until the initial bundle is tightly inside the bag. Next, you begin to wrap that bundle onto itself. Make sure that each fold is tightly packed.

Once done, fold the sides tightly and secure the resulting bundle with duct tape. You can see in the scale that it’s about 15lbs.

Then add more duct tape accross the bundles. Use your judgment in how much you want to use (for me, more==better)

Then, I put the bundles in sea bags I bought in amazon for $15. Using two bags makes it a bitch to grip. So use one or two depending on what you want to train.

And that’s the bag on the right size (next to some other crap I made) and three 15-pounder bundles in front of it. So far I can load that sandbag up to 150lbs at 15lbs increments. I want to make two 10-lbs bundles and more 15lbs ones to get up to 200lbs.

Moar DIY Stuff – On Ham Raises

As I continue my trajectory accross the realms of Do-It-Yourself training equipment, I keep finding more and more ways to exploit the home-made crap I already have. Case in point, glute-ham raises.

This is a brutal, yet effective exercise for developing knee flexion strenght. Nothing hits the hamstrings during knee flexion as this one. Furthermore, it trains the hamstrings to generate force from a stretched position. A person who can complete a full rep is one almost impervious to a hamstring injury.

This blog post may not be much useful to anyone beyond presenting this exercise. However, if you have had enough time to build a lifting platform as the one I built (and are retarded enough to actually go through the enterprise of doing so), then a glute-ham raise platform is within your grasp.

All you need to do is set up a loaded barbell to keep the platforms firmly in place, and hold a wooden dowel with clams as in the picture below:

And voila, that’s your glute-ham raise platform. You can use a rubber mat or towel to protect your knees while keeping your heels (just above the achiles’ tendons) on the dowel.

And no, I’m not going to put a picture of me doing glute-ham raises because I suck at them.

Home Rings No Workie (The Way I Wanted Them To Work)

OK, some things didn’ t work as planned. One of these were the rings I made (previously discussed here.). Despite the fact these were filled with chains, they bent and lost their shape while doing dips. A partial solution was to fill them up with sand (while sealing the ends with a glue gun.)

But even then, this was not still enough for the tubes to retain their shape, so my cheap-ass solution is to put a piece of pool noodle on each when I do dips on them. This is not necessary for pull/chin ups, though.

I would not call this a failed experiment since I can still use this contraption for dips, pull/chin ups and other exercises. It is, perhaps, the easiest way to make a pair of rings.

However, I do not believe I will build one like this again. The effort is not that much, but the amount of tools you need is a bit too much. You need a glue gun to begin with, and I believe the best material for filling them would be concrete rather than just sand.

I will keep using them since they serve their purpose. In the meantime, however, I’m actually working on an improved version using metal pipes, plumbing elbows and a 3/4 natural-fiber rope with a 600-lbs load capacity.

Parte Tres: Do-It-Yourself Stuff with PVC, Chains and this Time, Lumber… and Crap

Alright meat-heads.

Following my last post on the subject, this is the third installment of this crap I’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks. The fact of the matter is that my g/f and I have already signed and mailed our cancellation forms to LA Fitness. Screw them. The only thing we’ll miss from it is the squat stations. And since that’s something I’m not comfortable with, we may end up buying one of these puppies from the New York Barbell Company:

New York Barbell Sumo Rack C92565W

In the meantime, my hammer keeps landing and the drills keep drilling. I haven’t built a WhiteShark Push-Up yet, and I don’t think I will for the time being. Too busy. However, I have a particular update from the original creator of this contraption. He found a very effective way to increase the grip workout in this thing… by using pool noodles.

Be advised that this is a beast completely different from the commercial “Perfect Push Up” – you must work your grip with this beast. If you have girly hands, don’t. Work on your wrist strength first, and then plow ahead with this thing.

So… where was I? Oh yes.

Home Made Rings.

I finally got the time to install the rings I made (previously discussed here).

Holy crap. I don’t know what the fuck is in the wood beam (adamantium maybe), but it took forever to screw those things – killer shoulder workout. And this was after drilling a 9/36″ hole for the screws to go in.

Anyway, this contraption seems rock solid. The rings are about waist level. A tad low, but that’s good for my g/f to do assisted pull ups. Doing dips in these things is hard. Last time I did weighted dips on a station, I did like 10 reps with 95lbs on a dip belt. With these rings, it’s a challenge to get 10 reps body weight.

This requires a lot of stabilization, meaning, it == teh cool.

I did several tests last night and this thing is rock solid. I’m happy with it.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpzFmOTtnic

The Lifting Platform

And while I was working on the rings and other stuff, I was trying to build a lifting platform for quite sometime. The hardest part was to get someone to cut the bloody lumber in Home Depot. If I had a truck, I would have hauled the stuff home and cut it myself. Oh well.

Anyways, I don’t recall exactly where I got the idea for this at this time. If I remember later, I will come back here and give the due credit.

It is not one platform, but pair of stackable lifting platforms made out of a 2″x12″x8′ and a 2″x4″x8′. Each piece is basically a 2-foot long piece of wood, 12″ width with one 1-ft long 2″x4″ at each end. There are four of those.

You can stack them all four and make a deep thing for step ups. It’s not good for jumping but that’s ok. The top 2 have 1×1 pieces on their ends to stop the barbell from rolling.

I wasn’t designing them that way, but they ended up being perfect for me for floor push ups and rack pulls 2/3 up of my shins. Taylor made by accident. I drop stuff on them and so far seem capable of taking a beating.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLlwMLBymaM

I’m going to build four more and figure out how to slide a “core”, a pipe or something through them to stabilize them further. You can put them in, take them out, and stack them in a small corner without taking a lot of space.

The only caveat for anyone who wants to build them. Make sure you use a drill bit thick enough to go through them and use a clamp to inmobilize the thing. I couldn’t find my clamp, so I used my feet to hold them. Lo and behold, I moved a bit thus breaking one of my bits (crap!)

One more note. 2×12’s are usually curved through their lenght, just a bit, but never perfectly flat. Use that to your advantage by placing the concave facing up. This acts as a cup to hold the blates IN the platform.

The only question I still have about this thing is whether to use an additional rubber mat under them to protect the floor during deadlifts.

Whenever You Feel Like Complaining

There are times all of us complain and whine about how difficult things are. Life is hard, we are slaves to the grind and such. And if we are not placing our asses on the couch singing our lamentations while munching the last bucket of  Häagen-Dazs, we get bogged down by others who do.

It is at times like those when we forget that no matter how shitty we feel, there are others who are in worse situations. Moreover, it is at times like those when we feel compelled to blame our failures to the inextricable bad karma that keeps shitting on our necks.

It is a time like this when we have to see individuals like Amanda Victoria who not only survived non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but have the fortitude to get in the best shape possible after such ordeal.

http://forums.musculardevelopment.com/showthread.php?p=457295

    

  

  

It’s ok to whine, to complain and cry. Just never forget that there is always someone in a worse situation than yours, and that there are people who come back strong from situations worse than yours.

Suffering is part of being human, but no human ever has monopoly over it.

A moment of Self-Contemplating Amusement

… or boredom. Whichever it is, I think it momentarily sparkled my artistic creativity…

 …. weeeeeee, I’m a fucking kite, man!!!!

Kosher Munching

One of my favorite places to eat out (read pig out) is Wolfie Cohen’s Rascal House on 17900 Collins Ave (Miami Beach). Awesome little corner of a place with my favorite meal being egg benedicts, potato pancakes and kosher dill pickles, and the coffee, oh the coffee.

If you are visiting South Florida, go there.

If you live in South Florida, but have never gone there, please your palate and go.

Meh, perhaps if you are on a strict diet you may have some reservations, but even then, the menu selection is varied enough to include low-fat, low-sodium meals with egg whites, smoked salmon and stuff.

And speaking of low-fat, low-sodium, what better than a humble dill pickle?!?!? I never really liked sauerkraut, and for some moronically retarded reason, I associated it with other forms of pickle vegetables. I lost my interest in pickled products for years. What a retarded notion.

People struggle to come with ideas on how to eat healthy and lean, on how to intrude healthy snacks and stuff. One quick way is with dill pickles. And no, they are not heavy on sodium. Don’t even go there; do your research. They may be prepared in brine, but the brine allows for acidification and anaerobic fermentation (think yogurt). The brining process does not load them with sodium.

Rant asides, dill pickles are an excellent way to introduce a healthy snack to your daily diet. Two pickles can make a crunchy, refreshing snack to keep your stomach busy between meals. A pickle and a can of tuna can make a perfect meal for the end of the day.

A dill pickle may not have much in terms of calories, carbs, protein, but neither does broccolis. And yet, broccoli is a perfect way to make a snack or a low-carb, low-fat component of a meal. It’s all about what you eat throughout the day and from one day to another. And at $2-3 a jar, they are one of the many sensible, healthy and affordable ways to supplement a healthy diet.

Munch one, munch it like a cow, and be happy.

Parte Dos : Do-It-Yourself Stuff with PVC, Chains, Tires, Belts, Ropes, Bands and Crap

Following the trail of thought started here, we explore how to turn a lowly, humble and disposed tire into a fine piece of physical training equipment. I shit you not, it is possible… and no, I’m not running a spell-checker on this thing!!!

The Humble Tire

Originally I though I needed a piece of lumber with a bar inside the tire to turn it into a loadable sled. I was wrong. You don’t need a piece of wood or a platform to put load on it. Just put the dumbbells and crap inside the tire and voila!

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Having said that, one would have to use small dumbbells or plates, but that’s ok. I have almost 200lbs in dumbbells, small plates, chains and crap I can throw inside the tire. Another nice thing about the tire is that I can use it to carry stuff. To keep the tire from throwing dirt on my car or inside the house, I just throw a canvas on it (he, tire wearing a burka).

I don’t have a harness (yet), so I used my old belt instead to strap the PVC/chains rings I previously constructed (which are secured in the tire with another chain which itself weights about 13lbs).

I have to say it was fun doing a lot of shit with this contraption – presses, flies, pull-through, etc. Time went quickly, and in about an hour I was drained. I over-trained a bit however, and the right back of my lower back is bitching a little bit. I don’t get that (usually) from squatting. No biggie, but it’s something to consider. This thing wears you down before you realize it.

So there, you can make your own sled with a tire and some chains. You can drag it, push it with your hands, with your legs, run with it tied to your waist, whatever, and this is the promotional video:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYz6ToIbDuo

The only caveat is that it’s easy to over-train your lower back with it. I did this last Thursday, and my back wasn’t fully recovered yet on Sunday (thus messing up with my squat/dead-lift day.) Oh well, live and learn.

Moderation is the key to anything, including working out with a tire and stuff.

The WhiteShark Push Up

Moving to a different home-made contraption is what I call the WhiteShark Push Up. I call it so since the dude who originally came with the idea is a Shidokan/MT fighter that goes by the handle of “WhiteShark” on bullshido.net.

Anyways, here is what he has to say (I think it’s a pretty good idea, and I can’t wait to build me one):

I’ve got a good one! Here are some pushup handles I made. I was inspired by the perfect pushup on TV but I wanted more stabilizer recruitment. These pivot and the handles spin and the whole thing can turn like the perfect pushup. If you make them be EXTREMELY careful on hard surfaces. I am doing it on carpet because it provides some friction. I can only do it on my knees on hardwood.

EDIT: I guess I should explain how these are made.
2 x 6″ PVC Pipe endcaps
1 x 8′ 1″ pvc tubing
2 x 8″ lag bolt 5/8″ diamater
2 x 5/8″ wingnuts
1 roll friction tape

Drill holes for the lag nuts in the side of the PVC endcaps. I put mine right in the middle of the side because I originally planned on putting one hole above and one hole below for different lever points. Cut the PVC tubing to a little more than 6″ wrap it to the desired thickness with tape. If you can’t figure out the assembly kill yourself.

I think this a pretty good alternative, perhaps even a better one, than the “perfect push up”. We are considering building a new version of it with thicker handles in the near future (in addition to a home-made harness that, if I calculate correctly, can handle over 1,000lbs of resistance.)

I hope I don’t kill myself in the process.