I don’t think I can say some of the worst things I’ve been called.
Editing message because I worry it was innapropriate
Just to break away from the thread slightly…
How are you (and all others afflicted by this pandemic) doing in response to covid-19?
@twojarslave @H_factor @pfury @BrickHead @others
I send my wishes out to everyone, their loved ones/friends… Hopefully everyone gets out relatively unscathed.
2 Likes
So far so good buddy. Thanks for asking. Our course is set here in Maine. I don’t blame people for keeping themselves in business however they need to, but I think everyone can agree it is time to limit unnecessary contact. Our governor gave the order to shut down non-essential business today. I’m in an “essential industry” and mostly effective in a work from home mode, so it hasn’t been all that bad for me.
I suppose I’m young enough to want to go bang, but old enough to accept that not banging is probably the right thing to do. If we’re going to settle into this way of life beyond the next week I may be in the unexpected position of seeking a pandemic quarantine companion.
Welcome to adulthood, eh bud? May we live in interesting times!
My 70lb kettlebell was supposed to be delivered today, but there seems to be some kind of delay in the system. I have a lot of issues to unpack with that chunk of iron when it arrives.
Study your Road Warrior, Crocodile Dundee and other important Violent Australians. Be safe and well!
2 Likes
Shared most my thoughts/experiences in the other thread.
Today was fun. I had to travel to Wichita today to emergency remove a kid which is about two hours from here. I’m one of the higher ups in this region and we are limiting the amount of movement anyone does so I volunteered. We have to carry a piece of paper that says something along the lines of the bearer of this letter is involved in a family or child emergency and that is the reason they are traveling.
I’m not aware of anyone being stopped by the cops or being questioned what we are doing, but policy is policy and all that. No shortage of people out and about on the interstate and at gas stations/fast food type areas.
I did feel like Frodo Baggins…I am the letter bearer and this is my burden alone. I will carry this letter deep into the fires of Sedgwick County. Can’t believe I found the kid a spot. Essentially no one is taking foster kids at the moment and we have a kid who is probably going to be essentially living in our office for the short term. And no one is allowed in our office except now we will rotate shifts to be with him. We have couches, pillows, entertainment and all that for the guy but I fucking hate to have a kid in there for as long as he probably will be. If they would let me take him home I would in a heartbeat.
1 Like
Think I mentioned somewhere else to you that I plan to get a bigger one soon. I’m considering doing that 10,000 swings in 10 days challenge that’s on here. I’ve wanted to for a while, but this seems like the perfect time.
1 Like
Exercise for me typically pertains to farm work/manual labour (about four to six hours per day, it’s decent cardio). I have a barbell with 230lbs worth of plates (non Olympic) so super high ROM, 15-20 rep deadlifts on an uneven grass surface is an option, but this seems like a recipie for injury. Also have dumbells (adjustable), gymnastic rings, a dip bar and a pull-up bar.
I do believe social distancing/isolation will go on for some time, thus I’m creating a hobby gym (going to try create an atlas stone), block with a handle that I can lift (probs 100-120kg… When I can lift that like 30 times in a row I’ll be super strong when I get back to gym, with an Olympic bar I’ve gotten 140kg for 12-13 reps… With straps… but awkward objects are generally more difficult to lift.
I am injured however and I do have chronic pain (on TRT, have been for a while)… So I need to be careful, but i’ve found compound exercises with good form/weight training in general helps tremendously. Currently dropped down to 100mg test/wk for a bit, the dose is a bit low for my taste (don’t feel as great as I do on the dose I’m actually prescribed, or a higher dose)…
Do you work with child protective services? You sound like a very kind, compassionate individual on the basis of
This
This is a very depressing introduction into young adulthood haha.
As to violent Australians… Ned Kelly! I’m not particularly worried about violence, I live far out enough that my nearest neighbor would have to run like half a mile + just to get a shot at me.
I have a fairly extensive background (like six or seven years) within martial arts training/boxing from when I was quite a bit younger. Quite rusty now (and haven’t been in a fight for quite a few years as I believe fighting is juvenile, physical violence should be a last resort… Still have a heavy bag I’ll occasionally practice on) If I can walk away, that’s what I’ll do. A bruise to my ego/losing my phone/some of my belongings is less dangerous than potentially getting shot/stabbed.
There is no way to know whether said opponent is armed or what they are capable of (just how unhinged are they? If they’re starting random fights they probably aren’t the most stable/morally sound…) Prior fighting experience?
I do believe (I may be wrong however) that if cornered I can hit hard enough to potentially stun my opponent and run away.
I do a few things. I still do some assistance to schools on redesign things and working with impoverished families. My masters is in administration. I was a principal and then moved to a higher role for 5 years working statewide.
Last year I took a full time position as a regional permanency director for an agency. We don’t remove kids from homes due to safety (in Kansas that’s called DCF Department of Children and Families. What we do is find kids who come into care through the state permanent homes. So we get kids adopted, get them reintegrated with their bio parents who had them removed, or find relative or friend placement. It might be apparent from my posts that I have a lot of empathy for people who were dealt some pretty crappy cards. Some people weren’t dealt that crappy of cards they just weren’t taught how to play. And some people have hands that make it almost impossible to win without a lot of help.
I can get annoying in some of these political debates which is weird in the sense that I never discuss any of these issues really in real life. I have an awful habit of not being able to stop responding if someone says something that I find insane on here. By far a bigger me problem than anything else. Most of my life professionally has been very guarded in what I say due to my positions so I think this sometimes feels like a bit of an outlet for me in that sense. Honestly if it wasn’t for discussions on this site I would have way less political information. I often look things up to see merely based off these conversations and I rarely do that in real life with this.
When I was in college I stayed way more up to date as I had a lot of free time. Now I pretty much watch sports, lift, hang with friends and family, and play some video games. Politics doesn’t interest me nearly as much as it used to.
And at least in America can be quite boring when you realize how similar most of the thinking is of our people in the highest offices. I realized that when Obama continued many of the things Dems said they were against that Bush did. Even now I would care far less because I think Trump has done some good things. Especially in the area of foreign policy at least from a military perspective. I just think it’s vital to the future of the country that his type of behavior does not become the model for our politics. Consistent lies even when shown the truth, virtually no empathy, and pure disdain for anyone who doesn’t think like him I view as serious issues. I know not everyone feels that way. I just feel as if every good parent in America tries to keep their kid from acting that way and I would hate for people to get used to or want that type of behavior for our highest office.
The 70 came today from Rogue. It is my Goldilocks kettlebell weight, which for me means heavy enough to challenge in swings, light enough to do overhead reps with.
Smoked myself in 20 min with swings and clean+press. I’m in a way better mood too. I’ve been a little agitated lately if you couldn’t tell.
As lovely as the finish from Rogue is, I may turn it into Wilson if this shit keeps up.
How do you do it? I mix it up a lot but always open to suggestions. You’re bad ass compared to me I think I could swing “easily” but clean and press at that weight I probably couldn’t last long.
Fuck we all are. I don’t know how anyone can’t be.
Neighbors are used to me doing wheelbarrow carries and all that shit but backyard is my new home gym. They will probably call the cops thinking I’m some type of deranged lunatic now.
Ever considered/done anything like either of these. I know some on the forum have. I’m considering starting one soon.
Start by not being in the best shape I suppose, but KBs scale up really well from there. It’s been years since I’ve tossed heavy kettlebells around, so anything will smoke me right now. My summary of “one kettlebell” philosophy is light enough to handle, heavy enough to challenge.
For me the swing is the core kettlebell movement. It is what I get the most out of with the implement, and the nature of kettlebell swings changed dramatically for me once I went heavy. I started with a 50, which was just too light for anything but overhead pressing. I did swings, but the movement doesn’t become conditioning for me until you get a little heavier. I always found it to be one of the best ways to get my heart pounding and my lungs sucking gas. Easy on the joints too.
My 88 is what I swung when I was at my strongest and I feel like I’m getting roughly the same effect from the 70 right now, being a bit removed from that peak of strength and overall less-conditioned. That last part can remedy easily, and my 88 is parked a few miles away at the powerlifting gym if I ever need to move back up to it.
The 70 is a heavy overhead press for me right now too, but I did 2 sets of 5 clean+press on each arm today. Just getting used to the mechanics of it again, but it’s a workout. Tons of room to progress on reps alone. That’s what I like about a Goldilocks kettlebell. You can do so much with an indestructible chunk of iron that takes up almost no space. Great for lifting outdoors, too!
Swings, squats, and clean+press is a pretty complete workout, and you can even work progression schemes in easily. I’ve still got my 50lb adjustables, bands and adjustable bench downstairs too. I’ll just warm up in the basement to get the shoulders good, then empty out the tank with a 70lb fixed weight in the sunshine. I haven’t done a lot of snatches, but that’s another interesting movement I think I can handle with a 70. The list is long, it’s a great piece to have at home.
I won’t break any barbell PR’s, but you can still have long term progression with work capacity, rep records, etc. An appropriately-weighted kettlebell is definitely among the most space and time-efficient ways to put in some quality work. It has to be heavy enough so you can suck gas on swings though.
Get one, start a log!
Oh yeah I may not have been clear I already use a KB frequently but good stuff. I plan to get a heavier one soon as my heaviest now challenges me, but getting to the point where that isn’t until high rep ranges.
I have a decent amount of at home stuff variety of DB’s, KB’s and other assorted toys. It was beautiful here today so I’ll be lifting in the backyard for the foreseeable future. I actually think my gym is still open until tomorrow but I stopped going there a while back until this shit is gone.
Probably going to do a variety of higher rep challenging things. I could stand to lose a little weight right now anyways. But when your longest walk is from the kitchen to the living room I don’t imagine I’m burning much from non exercise stuff.
I am careful in traveling to work. I look both ways when crossing the bathroom opening to the man cave where my work desk is.
That’s where I was with the 50. I could do single-hand swings all day with it. Too light.
Moving up to the 88 changed it dramatically. I’ll probably need to go fetch the 88 at some point but the 70 feels nice and heavy for swings for me right now. Sucking gas by 20 reps, got in about 35 on my longest set. The 70 has tons of overhead progression for me, and the 88 is, well, an 88 lb chuck of iron with a nice handle on it.
Centripetal acceleration factors in here as well. Swinging that weight with gusto and a bit of explosiveness means that heavy gets really heavy really fast as you move up in weight. Another progression point I’ve always liked about KB’s.
I’m feeling well-equipped with a 70 and an 88 down the road if I need it!
1 Like
Ditto, but this typically refers to when people are discussing habits, not political ideology. Empirically stating “this isn’t harmful” like the guy in the Pharma thread now stating how DNP isn’t that dangerous, how it should protect him against covid-19 (well the cocktail of pharmaceuticals in his system should according to his opinion)… DNP decreases WBC’s, sometimes to the point of inducing near fatal agranulocytosis. 2-4 Dinitrophenol is generally incredibly dangerous to take. That or base judgement without reasoning (homophobia irritates me, as does racism, sexism etc).
On the TRT forum a couple months back I was slightly ganged up on by numerous men pertaining to the issue “should women be stigmatised for having quite a bit of casual sex when men aren’t”… The response that irritated me the most was “just look at the anatomy of a woman… they were practically built to be fucked”.
It’s statements like this that can’t be backed by science, are generally ignorant/generalisations that bother me. I can respect disliking homosexuality on the basis of religion… I might think it’s insane/ignorant, but I can understand why someone would harbour such an opinion thus I will leave it alone if someone tells me “but the bible says X”. If you state you “just don’t like it” and that making sodomy legal is hurting the populace, I will get pissed off… or if you make highly ignorant analogies. Brickhead said such an analogy (regarding consent) was defunct but I disagree. You can’t compare homosexuality to sadistic/antisocial sexual acts (sex with children, animals, rape) etc… there is no comparison.
In terms of THIS entire debate, the reason I’ve argued so much with Brickhead is on the sole basis that this thread was built for people to talk about the war on drugs, hence why the argument kept going, otherwise either Brickhead or I would’ve dropped the debate a while ago. It’s interesting to talk about, interesting to hear what other people have to say etc.
As much as I hate the man, I’m inclined to agree he has done some good things. Whether his intention regarding said applications of certain policies was to benefit the American populace or to benefit himself in some way is another question entirely. As a generalisation, I find Trump to be morally abhorrent, a huge piece of shit/stain on this earth. There are few people alive today who I bear such a high level of disdain towards, King Jong Un, Rodrigo Duterte etc all come to mind.
Shifting money from childrens cancer charities to his business, operating a fraudulent university, 46 allegations of sexual misconduct (I thought it was 23, but apparently it’s 46), making thousands of false/misleading statements per month on live television… these are generally inexcusable… Regardless of what certain policies are passed under presidency, I believe the president of the United States should generally abide by values/ethics represented by the average American citizen, I don’t believe trump is representative of this at all.
I furthermore dislike the argument of “oh, but X candidate was just as bad when he passed Y policy”. Just because one person is a piece of shit doesn’t mean it’s okay for this other person to be a giant piece of shit. Generalised opinions of America (from talking to people here, in Europe, South Africa, the United Kingdon #brexit) appear to have seriously deteriorated over the past four years, with the current president taking the brunt of criticism.
There have been many presidents who weren’t great, but to my knowledge I don’t think a president has been in power with a traceable, massive track record of vile, morally morally detestable behaviour prior to getting elected. I despise Bill Clinton too btw… The blowjob thing didn’t matter to me in the slightest. The numerous allegations of rape. He was supposedly on numerous flights with Jeffrey Epstein (the “Lolita express”), the evidence seems to be damning rather than coincidental. Until I’m proven wrong I have no reason to believe he isn’t guilty of legitimate sexual assault. I generally find rape inexcusable unless you’re forced to do so (gun to head etc)
As a generalisation I feel as if the world would generally be a far more accepting/kind place if we somehow had the ability to put ourselves in the shoes of others afflicted with various ailments/conditions (be socioeconomic status, drug addiction, differing sexual orientation etc). Literally, if we could just see how they perceive the world… live a week as them
You’re doing one armed swings with 88?
Not for years. My 88 has been parked a my old powerlifting gym down the road for some time now. Even at my strongest two arm swings were my bread and butter with the 88. As it stands right now a 53 could kick my ass, but I’m glad I went with the 70 for lockdown.
It’s just such a great way to put in a ton of work really quickly. I’m also bullish on them for deadlift strength. I was doing tons of swings with the 88 as I was marching from 565 to 600+.
Would you say kettlebell swings aid with DL strength? I’ve never tried swings before.
Granted I never got into the 500lb range of deadlifting (got to 405 for a few reps at 155lbs, now around 160)
For me the best recipie to rapidly increase DL strength was high rep deadlifts. Started with 100kgx3x10, within 2 months I was at 140kgx10-12. 1rm increased dramatically… Also ended up injured…
Absolutely. Heavy is the key.
For me the heavy swing was primarily a conditioning movement. If you aren’t sucking gas by rep 20 or so then you’re bell is too light or you aren’t swinging it hard enough.
The basic advantage I found is that I recovered really well from swings and would usually fit a few all out sets in each week. This was on top of a fairly cookie cutter 5/3/1 triumvirate lifting plan.
From a strength point of view a swing is basically high rep explosive hip hinges. Hard to imagine they didn’t help drive my deadlift up.
Interesting… Wonder if I can do these with dumbells, otherwise I can create a block of concrete, attach a handle to it or something.