Archive April 2011

This cross country epic I have been on for a few months is taking its toll. I think there are lessons to be learned from my adventures. First, it’s all about people. The late great Jack Schraeder, who made me a writer and I think I was his last pupil, used to tell me “Dan, people like to read about people.” It’s true for traveling, too.

With Pavel and the gang in Virginia Beach, I can barely remember the fact that we went nearly 24/7, but I can remember the steaks and the laughs. (And the chess games). At Steve and Jason’s place, it was a family reunion with Ben and Katherine and Lonnie Wade. I know I worked about 16 plus hours in two days, but the memories are golden.

Here in Hawaii, I did a smart thing. On my first day here, Tiffini asked me “well, what are you going to do?” Well, I wanted to snorkel and I picked up a brochure, and mad e a good decision. On the phone was Makani Christensen, a Naval Academy grad, former Marine and all around great guy. His company is Keawe Adventures and, because of his experience, I saw two sharks, a sea turtle and a billion tropical fish. I also enjoyed some coconut milk and real Hawaiian food and hospitality. I can’t recommend him enough. He taught Tiff to snorkel, something a husband is not allowed to do by law.

So, the next day, I find myself going to the lifting home, the local YMCA, of my hero, Tommy Kono, with Chris Falkner. Chris saw that I was going to Hawaii on Facebook and took the step and invited me to train. I think I helped him and Anthony with the O lifts, but I really enjoyed getting my Bench Press, Front Squat and Pull Up workout, so Buddy Walker, my personal trainer, won’t have to smote me when I return. Chris took me to a local place and I ate Moco Loco and I will let you know when I am hungry again.

Second, it’s about packing. Yes, I said packing. I went on a 16 day extended trip with one bag. If I have my Mac, my phone and my Kindle, I have most bases covered. I usually travel with just flip flops, but I found these light water shoes that can hold my hand washable undies. No socks, of course, they eat space. I always take black polo shirts and matching khaki pants. I “wear” the same thing every day. Everybody has laundry machines and I can work while the machines do their work. I cut my supplements to simply ZMA, Fish Oil and Alpha Male on the road, but I also toss in some packs of Laree’s Joint Connection stuff, too. I toss in my food journal and a pen and it works as my business planner and business card and memory jotter, too. Keep the carry on as small as you can and be merciless about “NOT” bringing stuff. I bring a baggies of floss sticks and toothpaste and a toothbrush and some underarm stuff and that’s it. Hotel shampoos are better than what I usually use.

I can train anywhere with anything, so I don’t worry about any “stuff” to bring. Snorkeling with Makani is a work out, too, and I count that. Of course, so is walking up to three or four hours a day!

My trips are usually “off the beaten path” even at tourist spots. It’s not me, it’s the people I meet.

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Bart and Buddy and Insights

I met with Bart this morning for coffee. He’s a fine guy from SoCal (don’t hold that against him) and we talked about lifting and things and the discussion soon moved to kids. Later, my trainer, Buddy, and I had basically the same conversation. How do you balance life, lifting and kids?

Well, Tiff and I “cheated.” We sent our girls to Catholic schools, so we let the school dictate clothes and lots of other things. The other thing we did “right” was our menu and chores list. This is basically what we ate for dinner for about a decade:

Monday:
Steak, Salad

Tuesday
Viking Enchiladas (see “From Dad to Grad” for the recipe)

Wednesday
Chili or Jumbalaya (easy recipe)

Thursday
Breakfast for Dinner

Friday
This night “depended” on what was going on. It could simply be burgers, too, grilled on the old George Foreman.

Saturday
Grandma’s for Taco Night

Sunday
Costco Special

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Clayton HKC

I love the HKC cert. Every time, it gets bigger and better. In addition to the manual, I answer these and a lot more (including patterning and grinds):
Packing the Shoulders:
Summary
By considering both how/where the lat is connected to the arm and how it operates on the shoulder joint has helped me understand why “firing the lats” supports excellent form in the swing, as doing so:
• holds the arm into the shoulder joint socket (packs it in) and thus protects the shoulder during the momentum up of the swing
• acts to brake the upper motion of the swing for optimal moment of the down stroke
• supports that big in front of the body DOWN pull on the arms during that hip hinge down stroke of the swing

Planks ( Get Up Planks, Hip High Planks, PuPP)
Swings (Doubles, Bulgarian Goat Belly Swings, HATs, Spike Swings)
Goblet Squats (Curls, Heartbeats, Hip Flexor Stretch)

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Road Warrior

The upside of my career choice is that I get a chance to train. The downside is that my training can be up to twelve hours a day, in all kinds of weather and all over the place. I’m at the end of a ten day road trip and the combo of flights, hotels and long days starts taking its toll.

I only travel with one bag. So, when I get ready to go, I pull out a bunch of baggies and put my nightly supplements in them. One for each night. I reuse the baggies over and over again. In them, I put ZMA, Z-12, Fish Oil, Gary’s Supplements (ALCAR and ALA), and anything else I am trying. I stick a stack of Laree’s joint medicine packs in the side carries, too. This does several things: one, I just swallow a pack of pills every night and, more important, as the stack goes down, I am closer to going home.

It helps to bring a baggie of orange flavored sugar free metamucil, too…I’m just saying. The Kindle is the best friend of the literate traveler and it keeps the size of everything else down, too. I also toss in a bag of floss sticks as they are more important than you think…if you don’t have one!

And, everything I just said applies to home, too.

More later!

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