Thoughts

The proceeding is just a handful of thoughts I have had in the last week.

First, I am in for sure. My retest was a success (14 pullups, 87 crunches, and a 21:00 run = 239). What a relief.

Now I am t-minus 10 days from being in Quantico, VA. Without a computer, without a TV, without technology. In 10 days I will be an analog human in a digital world. This is one of the biggest perks of joining. I will learn how to live without all of this.

I am not saying that I will live without a computer for the rest of my life. In fact, the second I can plug back in to a computer/the internet I will. Without a doubt. To live without technology completely would put me so far behind in this world and my soon-to-be job. I would say to a degree I am dependent on the internet and my computer. I could get rid of it for good but that means I would lose contact with so many friends, all of my music, and I would miss out on some very important issues in the world that new shoes don't cover. In those areas I am dependent on my computer. But it is so easy to become 100% completely dependent on technology.

Recently I just finished reading The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline. Pavel is a world renowned fitness instructor who specializes in kettlebell training. This book, however, is solely devoted to two body weight exercise, the one-legged squat and the one-armed pushup. Neither of which I am very successful at. This book also explains an ideal Pavel calls 'Greasing the Groove'. The basis of this idea is to perform a minimal amount of reps, at a near maximum effort, multiple times a day.

Minimal amount of reps = no more than 5, leaving you feeling like you could do more

Maximum effort = as close to your max weight as possible

I have taken on this idea when training pull-ups. I started with a goal of doing 100 pull-ups a day, 5 pull-ups at a time. Roughly every 45 minutes I would go to the garage and rep out a set. What really makes this work is you use absolutely perfect technique and total body tension. After a week of this I was able to push out 14 pull-ups still feeling like I could have racked up a couple more. I am excited to fully test in 10 days.

And to close this entry, I want to make a suggestion. I suggest that everyone go read Fast Food Nation. I finished this up recently and it gives a gritty insight to the fastfood business as far as the slaughterhouse side of things go. Truly a must read.