Unapologetic

A gladiator speaks for the coliseum.

All cruelty springs from weakness.

— Seneca

Reflecting

I wasn’t that comfortable with the spectacle of the Mike Tyson fight.  In your prime (which is young for everyone but younger for professional athletes): save money, be frugal, invest, and use your youth and energy to grind.  Save up enough so that by the time you’re 58 years old, you take a job only because you want to.  Have an army of sons and grandsons to do the fighting.  But if you need to limp around on bad knees in a ring for money, you’ve miscalculated. 

It was a far better week for mixed martial arts.  Congratulations to Bo Nickal on your win!  I’ve gotten the chance to learn some wrestling from Bo – a great grappler, teacher, and man.  I’ve never gotten to meet Jon Jones but hope to sometime soon.  After he crushed his opponent, his words reflected our moment in history.  He decided that he’s not ready to stop fighting.  Then he professed his faith and his patriotism in words that sounded deep, sincere, and strong.  Unapologetic.  Something is changing. 

Training

8 Rounds not for time:

• 3 box squats as heavy as possible

• 6 double kettlebell deadlifts as heavy as possible (watch those toes)

• 30 seconds GHD hold

A good workout but we only have pairs of kbs up to 150 lbs. so I topped out at those.

And just completed this run:

Fueling

In this week’s Whole Foods cart, I have a bison ribeye and blueberry juice.  I drink much more water than juice, but this is delicious, has no added sugar, a single ingredient, and comes in glass so I’m game. 

Supplementing

I try to dial way back on sugar and carbs… except for trail running snacks.  For that, I carry small packets and have one every 5-10 miles.  This new packet form Pungao is clean – just salt, honey, Ceylon cinnamon, and caffeine from guarana.   

Measuring

This is my personal record steel bend (legs within 2” for certification).

First wrench bend attempt (not official as this is only about ½ bent):

I’ve been asked if I can tear a phone book in two but have not tried yet since I can’t find phone books anymore!  If you’re local and have one, please donate it to the cause.

Recovering

As it starts to get cold, this shake makes a great hot chocolate.  3 minutes in the microwave for 42 grams of protein after a trail run when I get chilly. 

Closing

There is no “need” to own a sword, but splitting wood was a marginally plausible enough use case for me to need a Viking sword wood splitter.  It works pretty well.  You stand much closer to it than I expected, using the weight of the blade past the wood to split it.