Squats Cure Cancer (The Saga of big val)

[big valsalva]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

It's crazy how fast the body can de-adapt in only a week. I guess that's one of the reasons dual factor training keeps you moving on de-load weeks.

Hope to see you over 200 on squats soon Val.

You and yours do anything special for the New Year?

THanks, BTB. No doubt I can't let the conditioning go for any longer than I just did. That's going to be a staple of my training this dispensation. Although after the 5K in March, I may cut back a bit.

I'm a few weeks out from 200, but I'm going to tease myself with a 225 attempt one of these days. I've tried it a couple of times and gotten it, but it wasn't very strong. Persistance will be the key.

No plans for NYE as of yet. The band doesn't like to play, and there's really nowhere in town to play. So that means we'd have to travel, and driving on NYE isn't my cup of grog. So it looks like family game night. I usually prepare a big dinner on Friday nights anyway, so there'll be dessert and other treats involved. I'm thinking of baking some Guiness bread to go with the turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes...

You have any plans?

[big valsalva]

Originally Posted by big_swede

Woha great smashing val, havent checked your login a while - progress! Happy new year brother!

Thank you very much, big_swede. I hope to have numbers worthy of our ancestors soon. But I figure alot of people my age would have given up on life after what I've been through, so the fact that I'm returning to the iron at all should be considered a victory.

Thank you for checking my log, and a happy and prosperous New Year to you, my Viking friend.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by big valsalva

You have any plans?

No. Nothing special here. Maybe some beef on the grill. That's about as wild as I get.

I thought maybe your band was playing an all-nighter somewhere.

[big valsalva]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I thought maybe your band was playing an all-nighter somewhere.

We did once, about four years ago. We played in the Twin Cities. It was a nightmare. We got about 10" of snow on Dec. 31 and had to drive a couple of hours to get to the gig. Fortunately, the entertainment center we played at has a hotel right next to it. We secured 10 rooms and spent the night. Unfortunately, there was an incident at the hotel involving our guitar player and a fire extinguisher. We haven't played there since.

[big valsalva]

Tuesday, 12/28/10

Squat
45x5
95x5
110x5
125x5x2

OHP
20x5
40x5
55x5x5 - 5x5 on the max weight is starting to get tiring. I think I'll continue as is for now, but when I can no longer get five sets across, I'll shift to five ramped sets ala madcow.

Deadlift
135x5
160x5
190x5
215x5
245x5 - I may have to go to a mixed grip soon on my max set

I almost bagged the cardio for today. It was past 9:00 p.m., and I just wanted to get home. I resisted the urge though.

Treadmill: 25:00/2.1 miles - I actually jogged for half the time split up over two segments. Over the next couple of weeks I want to ramp my running time up to 15 minutes, then extend my total time to 30 minutes. By the end of January, I'd like to do a "dry run" on the 5K, just to see where I stand. I'm only a mile off on the distance, and I can run that in under 10 minutes. I think I'm looking pretty good.

[strkout35]

Awesome workout Val, deadlifts are looking great. And hmmmmm guitar player and fire extinguisher...I'd sure like to hear that story!

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by big valsalva

245x5 - I may have to go to a mixed grip soon on my max set

You have a stronger grip than I do. 315 is about my max for a single with DOH.

Keep charging hard!

[big valsalva]

Originally Posted by strkout35

Awesome workout Val, deadlifts are looking great. And hmmmmm guitar player and fire extinguisher...I'd sure like to hear that story!

I'd relate it, but I was blissfully unaware of the whole story. I was sleeping like a good boy. Suffice to say that there was some "ignorant juice" involved. I know the hotel owner wasn't too happy with the band. The hotel owner was the same person who managed the adjacent entertainment center where we played. It probably helps explain why we were never invited back.

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

You have a stronger grip than I do. 315 is about my max for a single with DOH.

Keep charging hard!

I'll keep charging, BTB. This is just starting to be fun. My physique is bouncing back solidly too. I weighd in at 215 the other day, and I ain't as pudgy as I used to be last summer when I was about the same weight. I started experimenting with a mixed grip just shortly before my cancer diagnosis. I was able to pull 275 or so DOH. I'd kind of like to reserve the mixed grip for my max efforts, but come to think of it, there are no "style points" in the realm of competitive deadlifting. If I need to mix grip, I guess I will.

[big valsalva]

That's all I can stands. I can't stands it no more!


A rant

I lifted tonight. Its meaningless. I'll post up my lift tomorrow...maybe. My head ain't here right now. I'm thinking about other things. I almost didn't lift because I wasn't able to focus, but I pulled it together long enough to smash what was necessary.

People are people. In the eyes of The Creator, we're all created equal. One person starts out no different than the other. Everyone's lot in life is exactly the same:

You are born.
You live.
You die.

The middle item is the only variable. How long we live. How productive we are. How we shape the world around us.

The first and last items are constant. One day we are all born. Another day we all will die. How we spend the variable, which is our life, makes no difference. The rightous and the wicked both meet the same end.

The Minnesota Twins Baseball Club released a statment today announcing that one of the greatest home run hitters of all time, Harmon Killebrew, has esophageal cancer. Harmon Killebrew, "The Killer," played with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise from 1954 to 1974, and one season in 1975 with the Kansas City Royals. During that time he hit 573 home runs. Dead ball. No steroids. No off-season training regimine. Just a big bull standing at the plate with a very big bat.

Why do I go on about this? Harmon was my childhood hero.

Folks, I'm mad as hell. Not because a baseball icon has cancer. Not because I had cancer. Its not about me, or Harmon Killebrew, or Michael Douglas, or BBG's uncle. I'm mad that the disease is an issue at all. I'm mad at the devil. I'm mad that people's lives are being lost or upset (this is where we can start to re-insert BBG's family, my family, Harmon Killebrew's family, Michael Douglas's family, etc.). I'm upset at the disease on a human level.

My wife broke the news about Harmon Killebrew to me this morning. She pulled me aside, away from the kids, and told me. Then she asked, "Can I cry about your cancer?" I realized that in the past almost six months, I had never seen her cry. So I let her. I hugged her...for a really long time.

What makes this more infuriating for me is I had just started to feel human again. In the past week I have become less self conscious about my neck scar and my speech. I can look people in the face when I talk to them. I can let them look me in the face when they talk to me. I'm playing trumpet probably better than ever before. I'm lifting weights again, and my numbers, though pitiful by most standards, are starting to be meaningful to me. I can see 1RM attempts in the near future. A resumption of some wall shaking, down right frightful, noisy training is not that far off. My life was just starting to get back to 100% normal. I was ready to turn the page on a new chapter in my life...

Then it bit me in the ass again.

The dragon I slayed in July, 2010 bit me again. This time it bit me not in my flesh, but in my mind. It did so by biting some of the most pleasant memories of my childhood. It attacked an icon. A legend bigger in these parts than Paul Bunyan.

I cry now myself. Really. I just started. For the first time in six months I'm crying about this.

When I was a kid, Harmon Killebrew was larger than life. Indestructable. Invincible. If I had nothing else in life, I had memories of listening to the radio, or watching on TV, or even once I got to see a home run in person. If I had nothingelse in life, I had the lasting image of the indestructable, invincible hero wearing a number 3 on his back and blasting out tape measure shots.

My hero, it seems, is frail like me.

Harmon is being treated by the Mayo Clinic. Me too. And I imagine that if little ol' me was treated by the best surgeon on the staff, then probably someone important like him is being treated by the same surgeon. He's optimistic. He's counting on a full recovery. I am too. For both of us.

I'm wrapping up the rant now.

Over in the "Epic of Gilgamesh," my dear friend, Tony, said that he was dedicating his 500 pound squat to Smashing Cancer. I know that squats don't really cure cancer, and I know that people (celebrity types mostly) have the best intentions, but "awareness" is only "awareness." We can squat all we want in the name of cancer, but to what avail? There is a war going on, that's why. It is not warfare in the flesh, but I believe it is in the spiritual realm. Man was not designed to be sick with disease, but rather sickness, and disease, and death came upon this race by way of The Enemy. So that's why I say that if Tony can dedicate a single attempt to Smashing Cancer, then I, as a survivor, can dedicate EACH AND EVERY SQUAT REP FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE as a prayerful sacrifice of praise to The Almighty.

I'm armed. I'm ready. I'm going to kick some dragon tail, and take no prisoners.

"To Hell with you, Cancer! That's where you came from. That's where you belong!"

[Carl1174]

Love the name of the log buddy.... subbed for sure.

Well done on all your achievements and those numbers in your sig are fantastic. Good job

Carl.