Category Archives: fun

Lifting recap

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This is the video that I screen-grabbed earlier. You can hear the magnet brake locking in between reps.

455 reverse-band squats. It’s the most I’ve had on my back in a long while. It felt okay, too. Walkout looked good and the depth, on the second rep anyway, looked really good. I still need to keep working on my right hip so I can get low enough. It sure looks like there is plenty of power there. I’m not sure where the workouts go from here, but I am feeling more confident that I can get the 1000-pound meet total I am shooting for.

SaMcast Episode 150

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We just keep making them. I really like hanging out with Adam and using bad words to talk about things we like.

Here's a lookback at our fave picks from 2020. Happy New Year!

###Drinks!

###Followup and Footnotes

Still Lifting

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This was the last day of the 5RM cycle. By the book, this was 94% (about 315 lbs.) of my 5RM but it moved way easier than it should have. I’m finally starting to get some strength back after taking the pandemic off from the gym. I’m finding some of the old grooves, too, so the movements are getting more efficient.

These are the squats where I’m setting my 2-3RM for the next few weeks of training. I’ve been battling some hip tightness so I’m super-slow going down and I’m not getting very deep. There’s plenty of strength coming up, though, so I’m not worried. I’m happy with the weight for now (365 lbs.) but I need to stretch and stretch and stretch.

This felt a lot heavier than it looks. I’m happy again with the weight (235 lbs.) and it should be a challenging 2-3RM base for the next couple of training weeks. Maddie is obviously a dancing machine.

I’m shooting for a 1000 lb. total at the meet in late February. It is a conservative goal and I think I can get there if I stick to the training.

SaMcast 149: Adam could use some French lessons (not like you think).

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Music and books and games, oh boy! Happy Holidays!

###Drinks!

###Followup and Footnotes

Quarterly Pencil Box Time!

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Bittersweet feelings with this last of the pencil-focused CW Pencil Enterprise quarterly boxes. I’m sad that this is this fun NYC shop can’t keep going as a specialty pencil store, but I’m glad that they will be able to stay open as a more broadly-focused office supply store.

I haven’t been a long-time subscriber but they seem like real solid folks.

Man, I do like pencils.

Finished Breath of the Wild

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I *never* get to the credits of video games. Ever. I am very comfortable letting them go if I get to a spot that’s just too hard, but when this one made my head hurt I just looked up the answer and kept moving forward. I loved it.

Three years I let this thing just sit, unplayed. Three years! I’m glad I picked it up again.

Cardio clinic finale and a lesson

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Last night was the cardio clinic finale. The coach ran us more than any other class this summer or fall. Laps, suicides, het touches during drills, all of it. It was cold out and it was brutal.

The lesson afterward was limited to some ground strokes and a ton of serves. It’s really starting to come together. I do like a lesson.

We got to talking, in the lesson, about the things we’re working on and what I’m working toward. The gist was that I’m “learning tennis” not just getting better at how I do it.

This is exactly what I wanted from these lessons. I come with some built-in limitations (old, fat, slow) but I compound those when I’m not serving or hitting the ball the right way. Now, by learning proper technique, I should only be limited by the built-in stuff. If i can keep it going through the winter I should be set up well when play starts in the Spring.