Meal Prep

All set up for success tomorrow.  Watching the Super Bowl now.  A little surprised that Peyton is off to a decent start. 

Got my chicken prepped for tomorrow, school work done, really killing things right now. 

I know tomorrow is going to be tough, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.  Time to build some discipline.

Bleed

I may have written about this before, but I feel the need to do it again.  The best writing advice I've ever read was from James Altucher.  He says to bleed when you write.  Not literally, you'll make a big mess, but figuratively.

I've seen this play out over and over in big posts, Facebook posts, and books.  The ones that get the most attention and reach the most people are the ones that really connect emotionally with people.  The author really makes themselves vulnerable and opens up. People want to connect with that and relate in some way.

No one will ever really identify with the logic of the words that you put on the page.  They identify with the struggle and the emotions of what you write.  If logic always won out, everyone would have lots of money from making smart financial decisions and the world's population would be much smaller.

I will be doing my best here to bleed in as many ways as possible.  That's scary because it opens me up to criticism and I'm sure I could lose some friends and family.  When I really think about it though, when I think about my values, I don't care.  I'm not necessarily writing for anyone but myself.  It's nice to connect, but being honest serves as a great filter for removing the people that aren't really meant to be there in the first place.  You don't like it, there's the door.  I have a mission in this life and you don't have to be a part of it, that's cool.  Go find yours.

Music, Friends, and Life

January 26, 2016

I went to the Ryan Bingham concert at First Ave in Minneapolis tonight.  It's going to be a night that I will remember the rest of my life.  One of those moments where everything in life just comes together.  A moment that no one can really understand unless they were there, yet they understand completely because they've had the exact same types of moments in their life.

I was with three friends.  One an acquaintance that I like, but haven't really been through anything with.  Another a friend of nearly ten years that I see every couple of months, but when we hang out it feels like we've been friends forever.  The third friend is a friend that I had a falling out with, but this was the first time we had reconnected in nearly two years.  

We were friends through a project that was life defining and it was based around the music of Ryan Bingham and many other artists that we had a great connection with, so it was kind of interesting that the same thing brought us together again a second time.

We are starting to work on another project again and I'm not certain where it's going to go.  Maybe it won't get any further than jamming in my basement or his garage.  In a way, it doesn't really matter where it goes, it only matters that we're traveling somewhere and living life.  That's the whole goal isn't it?  To actually live life?  

I was reminded of a quote the other day that most people die at 25, but aren't buried until 75.  I feel like I live a life more full than most, but that still hits me every time I read it.  I have a great fear of not living life to the fullest and I would rather fail at everything while trying than live a safe life on my couch.  

I have come to understand that there are people with the polar opposite point of view as well.  I used to think they were cowards, but I now realize that's just them and their journey.  They are as happy on their path as I am on mine. I used to force people to travel my path, but that just leads to frustration for everyone.  I won't do that any longer.

What I'm here to say is that if you like to travel this same path that I'm on, reach out and make contact.  None of us need to travel our path alone, there's much more strength, power, and fun in numbers.  Here's to the good life.

The Tests of Life

February 5, 2016

No bullshit coming from me this time.  I've been out of the lifting game since I completed my powerlifting meet in October of 2012 where I pulled 500, squatted 455, and benched 315.  I worked my ass off to get there and then lost motivation.  I also find my love for playing music in April of 2013 and it equaled game over for lifting since then.

Yes, I had a few spurts of getting back into it, but nothing stuck.  It just wasn't there inside of me.  When you don't have your life together outside of the weight room it's hard to have it together inside.  At least it is for me.

The last 16 months have been the hardest time of my life.  I won't go into detail, but the events that took place forced me to sit back and really look at who I was.  To look at who the people around me were.  I didn't really like what I saw.

This forced me to tear down everything about my life and rebuild it from the bottom.  It's a never ending process, but I got rid of a lot of the fluff and things that didn't matter.  In my daily activities, in my mind, and in my life in general.  If it didn't add value it was out.

Not everything happened immediately and I'm still working on a lot of it.  That's OK, it's a process.  You don't climb a mountain by going from the base to the peak in one motion.  You climb slowly.  You get to a new level and chill for a little bit while you get acclimated to the new elevation.  You have to be confident that the ground is firm, regain your energy and then make another move.

Life is the same way.  Every new level brings out people trying to pull you back.  Every new level also brings out the doubt in those around you.  They don't believe that you've actually improved.  They will test the hell out of you to see if it's real.

That's a good thing.  It forces you to prove to yourself as well.  Every test you pass will give you confidence.  Every test gets easier as you go.  When you get to a big test all of those skills you learned along the way have prepared you to pass it.

I received my six week plan from Paul Carter today.  I've come to a level on the mountain of my life where I can't really get any further in the condition I'm in.  I'm not terrible by any means, but I'm slowly falling into the average category.  Fuck average.

The tests I've passed and the skills I've learned have prepared me for this phase. It's going to be tough, but that's what makes it fun.

This weekend I will be prepping and grocery shopping to get off to a great start. I will post a little about that process over the weekend.

The Squat Rack of LIfe

Many of you may not know what the title of this blog means.  Squatting in the curl rack is a reversal of term curling in the squat rack.  If you're into working out and lifting weights in the gym, you will know that curling in the squat rack is a way to show that you are either selfish or do not know what you are doing.  A squat rack is piece of equipment that allows you to squat and it's really the only place that it can be done.  Curling is an exercise that can be done anywhere in the gym and you don't need a squat rack at all.  So if you're curling in the squat rack you are using a piece of equipment that you don't need to be using while people that need it have to stand around and wait.

The name of this blog, Squatting In the Curl Rack, is meant to be funny because I like to actually squat in the squat rack, but I call it the curl rack because it seems that's what most people use it as.  Anyways, I was thinking about it a little more today and it can be used as a metaphor for many different things in life.  It seems that I haven't actually been squatting in the curl rack because I haven't been taking care of business and doing things the right way all the time.  You could say that I've been curling in the squat rack of life.

Life can definitely feel like a squat rack sometimes while the weight just keeps getting added to the bar.  You've got no choice but to sit down in that hole and stand back up.  However, we do all have a choice as to how much weight gets put on the bar.  If we do things right and take care of business, there's not going to be as much weight on there.  Sure, some asshole in a spaghetti strap tank top with oiled up skin can walk by and throw some extra weight on once in a while, but if you've been doing things right, you can handle that extra weight.  You're prepared.

This morning during a break at work I was reading Facebook and saw a post by a Facebook friend of mine named Adam T Glass.  You may not know Adam, but he is a badass.  He was in the military for many years and saw some messed up shit.  He has been a world class strongman and now is mastering body weight exercises.  My description is selling him short so go check him out on Facebook if you're intrigued.

Anyways, I saw his post that he had online coaching positions available.  I don't have the money to do something like that right now, but I figured I should send him an email anyways.  You never know what can happen, and like he said, sending the email is the first and hardest step.  He replied back pretty quickly and said he had a proposition for me.  Long story short, we worked out a bartering arrangement that is mutually beneficial and I will be working with him to get healthier and in kickass shape.

I'm in decent shape, better than most my age.  I'm stronger than most also, but there are many strong guys that die of heart attacks.  I don't have great family history and my blood pressure is slightly high. I have many reasons to get back in shape and get to work.  I'm ready and now is the time.

So here I am, getting ready to start this process and get cracking.  I'm excited and nervous.  I've failed many times in the past and let many people down.  Part of squatting instead of curling in the squat rack of life is taking care of business and getting things done whether we want to or not.  It's time to start squatting again.

What Are We Doing?

I'm writing this blog as much for myself as I am for other people.  Today is my last day at my job.  Sales have not been as good as we had hoped and it doesn't make business sense to keep doing what we are doing.  

I'm not worried about things financially, they will take care of themselves and I have plenty of options for earning money.  I am at a point where I can give up on dreams and choose a life of mundane comfort working a job to get by or I can aim big again and keep going after big things.  Anyone that knows me will know that I'm not one to do something boring so you probably already know the answer.

These are the questions that I've been asking myself.  What would you do if you could do anything you wanted?  If everything was possible and you didn't put self imposed limits on yourself or what you think you could achieve?

Would you travel the world?  Would you write music?  Would you become an actor?  Would you help people live a healthier life?  The possibilities are truly endless.  

Contrast that with what most people are doing at this point in their life.....  Working a job they don't like to go to.  Eating unhealthy food which makes them overweight and unable to do the things they would like to do or feel the way they would like to feel. They're probably stressed about money.  They're probably stressed about your relationships or your marriage.

"You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way." - Johnny Cash

Sure, I could just go out and get a boring job and live the average life like everyone else, but I would rather go down in flames trying to be above average than give up and be average.

There are different groups of people around the world that aren't just laying down and accepting that life has to suck or that life has to be unfulfilling. Take a risk and get outside of your comfort zone.  There are many ways a person can do that, but what's important is that you find a way to do it.

This is the only life that we are 100% certain that we get to live, don't spend it living someone else's version of life.

This is a video of the tweets from a young woman named Amanda that found out she had 3 months to live.  She was going to die from brain cancer.  You'll see her tweets go from worrying about mundane and boring things to the reality of knowing her life is almost over.  Wow.

The video is unlisted, but here is the link....   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aaYXu_qzg0

I Feel Like Crap

I just got back from lunch and it was another terrible lunch.  I feel like shit and I know I need to do something about it.

Three years ago at this time I was on the way to being in the best shape of my life.  I was dieting for my first bodybuilding competition, I was eating right, doing my cardio, and feeling great.  In March of 2011, I backed out of the competition and decided I was going to try to seriously add some muscle for the first time in my life.  I even remember the day, it was March 17th.  I weighed 205 pounds and was about 12-13% bodyfat.

I'm ashamed to even put the number out there, but right now I'm about 24-26% bodyfat and 252 pounds.  I don't like terribly out of shape with clothes on because I do have more muscle than the average guy.  Three years ago, according to the body fat calculations, I had 26.65 lb of fat and 178.35 lbs of lean mass.  Right now I have 63 lbs of fat and 189 lbs of lean mass.  So you can see that I did gain some muscle doing my powerlifting and eating more, but I also gained way too much fat.

I got lazy and fell into the trap of thinking that I just wanted to gain weight and most would be muscle.  I have had a few starts and stops over the past three years where I tried to drop some fat, but they didn't last long.  I would rationalize my bad food choices and think that my workouts would take care of the extra food, but we all know that it's very hard to out train a poor diet.

A couple weeks ago, I decided that it's time to give this a shot again.  Summer is coming up and I want to look good, I plan on doing some physical activities such as a long canoe trip, hiking, volleyball, etc. and I want to be in good shape for them.

To give myself a kickstart, I am giving the 24 Day Challenge a chance and I'm hoping it will kick start my fat loss and get me on the right track.  It will also get me past my bad food cravings, reprogram my taste buds, and give me the momentum that I need to continue my fat loss up until I reach my goal.  I don't have a number on the scale goal because that doesn't matter.  My goal is to get in the best shape of my life, which would mean being able to see my abs and do any physical activity that I am interested in at any time.

If you are in the same boat as me and want to join in on this, I would love to have some friends and family jump on board and do this challenge with me.  I know many people have the same thoughts and feelings about their weight as I do right now, but they don't know what to do to make a change and have given up.  Don't give up on yourself, give this a shot and we'll do it together.   I hope to hear from some of you!