Mind into Matter

As many of you may know, should you still actually read this, I test what I do, regarding movements.  As I explained before over here, you can set some nice PRs every day with this protocol.  Based off something another movement member by the name of Darryl and I spoke of, I decided to run an experiment for two weeks.

The idea, as I interpreted it, amounted to the testing of our thoughts.  So, for instance, I would go to the gym, and think about the movements I wanted to do.  I would test the idea.  Then I would test the weights, by merely thinking of them.  I expect to lose half of my readership after this post, but the results from this experiment at this point are pretty swell.

I initially toyed with this, and then second guessed myself by actually testing the weights and loads to use properly.  Shortly over two weeks ago, I abandoned all second guessing and did what ever tested well by way of thinking. 

Of late, I have been squatting, and box squatting and doing good mornings on a regular basis, and the PRs since testing in this manner, have been better than they were before, though it does seem that box squatting is helping my regular squat, along with the good mornings.  Observe:

Here is a graph.  Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.  Back on 29 July, my best Box Squat was four sets of two with 225, fast forward to 21 September, and I have doubled the reps with 225 and still did it in under eight minutes.  My 1RM was 275, last time I checked, and when I started this, 225 seemed heavy.  Sometimes, however box squats do not test as well as regular squats.

23 July, I managed four singles with 245 in five minutes, roughly.  19 September, I hit 2 triples, and 3 doubles in under eight minutes with the same weight.  The proud moment was yesterday, when I hit two sets of five and a bunch of sets of four with 225 (bar kept slipping as I got sweatier, otherwise I would have had all sets of five).

Part of the magic must be due to the good morning.  I have not really ever done them, but they keep getting easier every time I do them.  I now do them regularly, and lately the squats, box squats and good mornings are all synergistically climbing. 

When I first stepped under the 245, I was goddamn terrified, but the second time it was pretty easy.  Compared to when I did 135 back in August, it is all way easier.  25 August, the day after my first good morning session, my abs were on fire.  Now, they don't get sore.

Around the week of 7-12 September, I started testing merely the thought of the movements, and I believe this process saves me a shit ton of energy--as I do all the movements with the best thought tested weight right off the bat, sans a proper warm up.  I also believe the PRs are greater, and more prevalent in all movements.  Whereas, before I wouldn't PR in everything, I am now PRing in every single movement in a training session.  I think this might well be one path to the realization between the mind and body's interconnection.

More on this process to come, and how you can implement it to testing other non movement types of things, like food, people and toothpastes and deodorant.

How I Unfucked Myself: Guest Post from Dan Comp

What's up, ladies? My name is Dan and I am a close friend of young Peter Baker. You know, the kind  where you have both seen each other naked on more than one occasion and outside of the gym showers. Anyways, I was asked to share my story about a little medical condition I suffered from which kept me out of the gym for 9 months. I think it would be best to start from the begining of my gym endevours.

In late 09' I deceded to no longer be a pussy and join the rest of the men in the gym. I had little to no knowledge of proper techniques so I asked Mr. Baker to train me. (and for a nominal fee, he agreed). We started off with the basics, you know, bench press, curls (for the girls), barbell rows, weighted dips, and pullups. All was going swimingly at first, I was gaining serious strength and mass in a faily short amount of time. Unfortunately, 6 months into my new routine I started having issues with my stomach. I found it very difficult to keep food down. At first, I figured this was attributed to a high level of stress so instead of going to a certified Medical Practitioner, I thought it was best to wait it out. Have better decisions been made? Probably. About a month into it, I started to see specialists. Unfortunately, they had no answers either. By month three, I had lost all hope. I lost all the weight I had put on, and all the strength I had gained. This continued for 6 more months when I finally found a Dr. (one where their office  was not located in the back of a station wagon) who diagnosed me with "gastroparesis". What this is, is an inability to properly digest food.

Long story short, I am on an asshole load of medication but back in the gym. I just hit my one year mark in the gym and had some massive improvements in both size and strength. I currently go to the gym 6 times a week becasue I am no pussy. I go, and I lift heavy fucking weight which was entirely against the Dr's recommendations. Why? Because I don't care. I felt 100 times worse not in the gym, than I did throwing up. I think that getting into a balls out workout routine actually has helped. It reminds me everyday that I am in control of what effects me and what does not. Somedays I still wake up and feel just balls terrible, but I fucking suck it up and go anyways.
Life is too short to be a bitch. 


Editor's Note:  Dan provided me with some of the most enjoyable times I had at our former place of employment, and we were constantly getting reprimanded due to saying offensive things.  At one point, a coworker quit because of our ribald humor.  I call it a win.  Dan is currently finishing up his criminology degree at the University of South Florida, and intends to be a US Marshal.

How to get Staqt on a Budget

Hello, friends and detractors.  It's been a long time since I have posted anything.  The way I see it, is that I haven't had any inspiration since my last post in May, and would rather post something worth a fuck, than waste your time and my time.  I have left the music store full time, and moved on to another job that I don't like as much, but will allow me to have a steady income that will allow me to eat a decent amount of food and do some responsible things.

That said, for the first time in a long time I am a member of a gym that isn't a part of my university.  Prior to this past Friday, and since I graduated last August I had to be extremely charming, deceitful and deft to gain access to gyms continually for free.  Sometimes it was a royal pain in the ass, but I managed to do it because I like to lift so much.  Having access to a shitload of kettlebells also makes life a lot easier as well. 

My new home. They don't give a shit that I have chalk, and the clientele range from normal people to competitive Bodybuilders and powerlifters, and even some roid users.  

That is my new home.  In addition to them not giving a shit about chalk, they also have a monolift, a veritable cornucopia of bands and chains, and a platform for deadlifting, and a box that will allow me to box squat slightly below parallel.   All in all, I am glad to be at a gym and not looking for free passes all the time and not eating much food.  For those of you in a bind financially, I will tell you how to cheat the system both diet wise, and Iron wise. 

In order to get the most out of your lifting, you have a few different options.  Option one would be to go to college, spend thousands, and use their gym for free and maybe learn some cool shit in the mean time.  For those who can't, you have other options.  Get good at handstand pushups, and save up for kettlebells, for starters. 

To get your barbell and dumbbell lifting on, the first step would be to find all the gyms in your area and make a comprehensive list of them.  Second, scour the internet for coupons to these gyms.  Most of the chain gyms, like Lifestyles, Anytime fitness, et. al. have week long trial memberships.  Usually, they will have what you need to get your essential lifts in, but they will just be lame enough to shoot down a pushy salesman with a barrage of reasons why you shouldn't join the gym. 

Some of the bigger cities will have the same gym within minutes of either side of where you might live, making it twice as easy to lift for a period of a few weeks, for free. 

Some places will have you enter an email address, and if you can get a few email addresses to your name, then you can get day passes that way.  If you are in the Brandon, or Plant City area, I know you can get away with this for at least five day passes at Fitness for $10.

Another option would be to get some friends.  Once you attain friends, make sure at least one of them has a membership to UFit.  Most of their plans allow for a free guest.  Which is good for you, provided you and your friend can be reliable on meeting times. 

Another trick that worked for me, more often than not, was to keep my student ID.  It wouldn't scan, but the staff at USF often it attributed it to their machines fucking up.  I was also able to get in free with friends, by virtue of being an instructor at USF kettlebell.  I might still go back occasionally, because their plates were very good for curling. 

Now, onto diet tips for when you have only enough money to go to a job that pays you just enough to get there and back.  The key thing is to not buy bullshit.  As much as I love Poptarts, you will be better off buying a dozen eggs, in lieu of the pastries. 


Speaking of eggs, I normally don't promote a lot of vegetarian things, but opting toward a lacto-ovo style of eating is definitely cost effective.  You can even buy good quality eggs for under three bucks a dozen at Publix, and still manage to eat enough to get your protein requirements. 




Other good sources of protein, and something I've grown quite fond of include Chobani Greek Yogurt.  Don't be a pussy, eat it by the quart.  One quart of plain Chobani Greek yogurt yields 92 grams of protein and is under three bucks for the quart.  If you want to get real clever, make your own yogurt and save more money.  I have not done it yet, but I plan on it soon. 

Other fat and protein sources I enjoy are Planters unsalted mixed nuts.  One can yields about a thousand calories, and if my memory serves me correctly, 72 grams of protein.  

And, if you are not a vegetarian, opt for meat with the bone still in it.  It's cheaper, and adds more flavor.  My favorites include lamb, and chicken thighs. Both are cheap as fuck, and taste great and have great fat to protein ratios. 

I realize that the better part of this post comes across as me being an asshole.  And not only does it come across that way, but it would be a true statement.   I, however, do not give a fuck and don't feel too bad about using an offered free membership to a gym that will wind up fucking over some consumer later on in life, or using facilities that took a shitload of my money in the past.  If you have a high moral standard, get really good at bodyweight exercises or stay sedentary. 

Sometimes I think about what would happen if she and I got together with a quart of Chobani yogurt, red wine, and about ten hours to kill.

Gym and Life PRs

So, this set I got four of these pull ups on.  For the first time.  Monumental PR


It was fairly easy.

I also PRed here via a certain rhythmic spot, and playing this piece with less tension (at the time) than previous.  Now, tension is less.




Enjoy, champs.

A Deadlifting Chronicle

I deadlift a lot.  Some of the best moments of training lately have been occurring with this particular.  I have pulled 12 times since 11 April.  Starting from 5 April, here is my progress:

5 April 315 for 8 sets, totally 14 reps  in 06:55
12 April 295 8, 16, 07:35
14 April 365 5, 5, 04:17
19 April 315 8, 20, 12:55
20 April 275 5, 25, 09:13
21 April 225 4, 25, 05:47
26 April 385 4, 4, 08:35
28 April 405 5, 5, 09:30
02 May 225 5, 38, 08:15
03 May 225 6, 43, 11:45
05 May 405 2, 3, 02:15
10 May 225 7, 47, 11:25
11 May 315 4, 20, 10:00

No reason for this to be here.

I am pretty proud of the fact that I can hit a double with 95% of my 1RM, now.  In a short amount of time.  Also note that I went from doing doubles with 315, to now doing sets of 5.

Observe how I do this with no fuss:



This is the third set of 4.  The last set stopped testing well, so I cut it.  Same goes for all the others.  I don't intend to fully max out any time soon, but at any rate the lift feels and performs better almost every time I test it. 

The ultimate (mis)conception

Ultimate Warrior

I talk about Gym Movement a lot.  Why? Because to, unlike the jury for the OJ case, evidence and proof beyond a reasonable doubt matters to me.  It apparently does not matter to many modern day physical culture practitioners,* many of whom blindly go about spending hours in the gym, doing the same cycle of things over and over. 

Too often in life, we don't get to do what's actually good for us at that point in time, though a lot of the time the external forces have the best intentions.  Standardized tests, parents telling you what to do in college, TPS report deadlines.  You name it.

For me, the greatest thing Gym Movement has to offer is the ability to do what I want, freely and know it's gonna be purely beneficial for me.  Like a child playing, as it were.  With movement testing, I can expand my limits to accomplish way more than I have ever done, I don't make excuses for not training because with the ability to do so much compared to before, and I can genuinely enjoy myself.  I can go to the gym, test my movements, do them whenever it goddamn suits me, and know that they will be the best thing I can I can do for myself at that time of training.

I daresay it is so powerful, that it becomes a sort of transcendental meditation, wherein I can forget about external forces (other than the weight) and concentrate on my own (and most important) internal force.   I can PR everyday, and be in a completely thoughtless and zen like state while doing so.  Speaking of PRs, I have now hit 95% of my 1RM for a double.  Based on my training, next week it should be a triple.  You owe it to yourself to be enlightened.   The ultimate misconception is as follows:  the movements you do to make you better in any facet should not be drudgery, they should be physically and mentally liberating since they should be completely based off what is best for you at a point in time.  



*I use that term loosely.

More ways to maximize your effectiveness as an instructor

Peter Berger: Sociologist who extrapolated the secularization thesis--in short, the idea that societies move away from religion through modernization and with influence from reason. 

In Part 1, I did not cover the following issue.  It deserved its own post.  But first, a prelude.

The guy in the picture, Peter Berger, wrote The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion in 1967.  He outlined a popular belief in something.  For him, this belief was what sociologists of religion call the "secularization thesis."

In 1999 the same man compiled a collection of essays in The Desecularization of the World and essentially changed his mind regarding the secularization thesis.

Does this make Berger a bad person?

One of the most important things a person can do as a teacher of any kind is to not be so held down by your beliefs that you stagnate and prevent intellectual, physical, or general personal growth.  One common counter argument is that since you now have a different viewpoint, at some point you must have been full of shit.

Full of shit is a relative term.  For example, Berger's Canopy I mentioned is old and not with his current belief system.  But it has many other concepts and theoretical components that we can draw from (and that we use constantly in the field of religious studies) that it will most likely outlast the more recent work.  Nonetheless, he changed his mind and at a given point of time, was using what he had to its utmost potential and working within his limits.  But he was open.

Now, to a personal example.  A friend of mine was once an atheist.  He converted to Messianic Judaism (Judaism that believes Jesus to be Messiah).  He was talking to his spiritual advisers and they told him to read the Torah in context.  Upon taking it contextually, he dropped the belief that Jesus was messiah and is now following what many of you know as traditional Judaism.  Had he not been willing to change, he would most likely be in a state of spiritual despair because his beliefs--hard and fast--would not be reconciling with his new found knowledge.

Being flexible with your belief systems can typically make you a happy person.  Training patterns, stock markets, weather, learning curves, Hollywood movies, and what have you are all cyclical, with no linear progression of always getting better.  When those things we can control get rigid--learning curves, training patterns--we plateau and decline.  Beliefs are the same way.  There are a variety of ways this happens in religion that I will not get into publicly, but suffice it to say, it is happening all the goddamn time.

To the left, is Malcolm X.  Many of you probably do not know much if anything about this guy.  Most I encounter had no idea he was a religious person, much less a Muslim.  Most I encounter assume he was a violent guy and the absolute antithesis to Martin Luther King Jr.  The picture to my left was taken at a point in his life where his house had been firebombed and was receiving death threats all the time. 

Briefly, Malcolm X started out as a thug, became a minister in the Nation of Islam (for the love of god, don't gloss over the links I post, or you will miss valuable meaning), and then went on to become a Sunni Muslim after he made his Hajj.  As early as 1958, Malcolm X started speaking toward the path he would follow (many will disagree with this, but if you read the speeches, it is evident) and his belief system was growing.  He was not wholly the "black militant separatist demagogue" he was painted to be.  The symbolic act of Hajj along with a letter to his wife culminated in his change in belief, wherein he was going to make it a point to work with other civil rights leaders, and not against them.  His change led him to his unfortunate death in 1965.  Had he stagnated--and his biographies show this--he would have probably went crazy, for boxing himself into beliefs he wasn't willing to change.

I use these stories as an (hopefully) effective way to illustrate the value of flexibility in your belief system.  After all, hopefully you exercise flexibility in other areas of your life to where you aren't so dogmatic that you are fucking yourself right to the ground.

As an instructor, if you are flexible with your beliefs, your students will question you, and you should encourage that. When you get questioned, you will find yourself exploring new pathways, you might even learn from them--I learn new things from my more prodigious students all of the time, most of which I would not have known of or bothered to find out about had it not been for them.   I, for one, do not agree with everything I have once posted on this very blog you read.  I also do agree with older stuff, but for different reasons now.  Don't be afraid to change your mind, and all facets of you will grow.

Did you really think I would leave you hanging?