BEYOND STRONG

Happy New Year

With the New Year about to begin here in the UK and already started around the world, I wanted to leave you with a brilliant and motivating quote from 'Mr. Deadlift', Rick Walker. If you read Rick's blog you'll have read this already but it was too good to not show case more.

Have a great New Year.

Nick

Life ain't about the car you drive, it ain't about your job or your house or how many times you were in Aspen.  It is about the people you surround yourself with, the people who encourage you to GO, no matter what.  It is about living on your own terms, doing the things that define you and the things you love, no matter what the cost, no matter what "might" happen.  Surviving ain't living!  So in 2008 my friends and BEYOND STRONG readers, GO GET IT!!

Last workout of 2007 and a great day with great friends

Back to the basement of pain.  My home away from home.  Today, after being away from this for nearly 5 weeks, I realized that I am most at home under a heavy bar.  I am at peace, the world stands still, and for that couple of seconds, nothing else matters but the cold steel, the plates banging together, and the words of your training partners in your ear.  It is perhaps the greatest moment in time, and as I get older I have come to enjoy it more and more and wait patiently all week long to get back under the bar.

-Cambered Bar box squats: worked up to 585 x1.  Missed it the first attempt.  Form was off a bit and I had trouble staying tight on the box and driving up.  I got focused, took in a huge breath of air, and smoked it on my second attempt.  Everything felt right.  Lance is a fucking machine, he did an was 715 x1.  Big numbers are coming for Lance and I can't wait to watch him give 1000 a ride drug free! 

-Sumo deads: work set 425 x5 no belt.  Nice and easy.  Next week conventional pulls.

-Rack pulls from below knee caps: 2 quadrupled mini bands on each side of the bar, plus 225 bar weight.  3 sets of doubles.  Nice and easy and fast. 

-Reverse Hypers: 200 x20, x20, x20.

-Standing abs: 100 x15, x10, x10.  My abs are weak again...not for long though!

-Glute-hams: bodyweight x8, x8.

Good workout and a great dive back into the swing of things.  17 weeks to the Iron Horse!!  I would like to come in at 220 and hit 800-425-750.  Possible?  Don't know yet but those are my goals.  I do know this, I am going to enjoy the ride with some great friends and some heavy fucking iron!

Here's to 07'!  Overall, not a bad year.  I competed twice and hit meet prs both times.  I went to the beach for a week for the first time since 1995.  My wife had surgery and I had surgery.  Yet, the song remains the same and I wouldn't change it for the world.  We have our ups and our downs, but I keep pushing forward, keep chugging along.  I know the fire in my belly is raging hot right now and I have some lofty goals for myself as we roll into 08'.  The best part about it is I will get to spend time with my good friends, and that is what this sport is all about.  None of this would be possible without them!

So, as we reach out for 2008 I leave you with this:  Life ain't about the car you drive, it ain't about your job or your house or how many times you were in Aspen.  It is about the people you surround yourself with, the people who encourage you to GO, no matter what.  It is about living on your own terms, doing the things that define you and the things you love, no matter what the cost, no matter what "might" happen.  Surviving ain't living!  So in 2008 my friends and BEYOND STRONG readers, GO GET IT!!

-Rick 

ESPN pays some tribute to the life of Jesse Marunde

Not a huge ESPN fan, but let's face it, they do cover sports well (as well as scandals :( )

At any rate, I found this article and thought the BEYOND STRONG readers might like it: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=obits/marunde/071227

Outstanding, and you can't help but be choked up at the end.  I think Jesse Marunde is someone who achieved immortality, something we all hope for.  When we are long gone, the stories of Jesse will carry on through the ages, passed on through videos, pictures, and stories from the strongest men in the world. 

Squats and deadlifts tomorrow, back to the basement o' pain and 17 weeks to the IPA Iron Horse.  I have some lofty goals, but I am taking it one day at a time.

-Rick

World's Strongest Man 2007- the lows

If you stayed up and watched it last night, chances are you were as disappointed as I was.  First off, the American's did not fair so well.  Phister looked off and did not seem hyped or ready to go like last year.  Nee tore up his qualifier, but then seemed to fade into the background during the finals, possibly due to injury, and Pope dropped out of the final event due to injury.  Bad year for the US.

Second, Marius once again DOMINATED the field and won by over 12 points, making it uninteresting to watch, IMO.  I like to watch close battles and this just wasn't one, no one was even close to Marius.  He completely dominated the field and did it with ease, hardly breaking a sweat.

Third, and perhaps the biggest disappointment was there was NO mention of the passing of Jesse Marunde.  Jesse did so much for this sport, you would have think they could have at least mentioned it???  I think that was a huge slap in the face of Jesse's family and friends to act as if nothing happened.  Terrible and low class, IMO.  They did a nice video up to him and posted it here: http://www.theworldsstrongestman.com/wsm/video/index.html.  How hard would it have been to play that on TV last night?  It was what, 2 minutes long?

Please, for the sake of the sport and the memory of Jesse, and for the sake of his family, email ESPN here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?page=contact/espntv and let them know what they did was in bad taste.  Be nice, but let them know how you, as a fan, and maybe even a friend of Jesse, felt when he was not honored as a fallen warrior.  Maybe if enough of us do this, they will realize the error of their ways and fix their mistake.

Thanks for reading-

-Rick

12/26/07- everyday is a new day

Everyday is a new day
I’m thankful for every breath I take
I won’t take it for granted (I won't take it for granted)
So I learn from my mistakes
It’s beyond my control, sometimes it’s best to let go
Whatever happens in this lifetime
So I trust in love (So I trust in love)
You have given me peace of mind

First day back to the gym.  Not bad, but not great.  It is to be expected, I have been out 4 weeks and I feel week and I am out of breath easy.  One of the biggest reasons I am out of breath is my pacer settings.  They always do this crap to me every damn time, so I should be used to it, but it never fails.  What happens is there is a switch that tells the pacer to half my heart rate once it hits 140 or so.  They jack my upper rates to 180, but they forget to override this switch, so once I hit 140, I am suddenly taken back to 70.  It happened in the gym, then again on the treadclimber.  It is annoying and makes me feel kinda crappy, so I will have to make the trip back to Pittsburgh again and get it straightened out.  Last time I delt with it for 3 years before they fixed it, so hopefully they get it right this time around.

-Close stance squats: 315 x5, x5, x5

-Pull-throughs: 200 x10, x10, x10

-Supermans: 25 x8, x8, x8

-Lying straight legged abs with cable: 20 x10, x10, x10

Done.  Felt worn out fast, so I will need to get this pacer thing fixed asap.  Came home and did 15 minutes on the treadclimber and watched my heart rate monitor jump from 140 to 70 and my legs felt like I was walking in cement.  Ah, the fun shit I deal with!

-Rick 

Merry Christmas BEYOND STRONG readers, and WSM tv schedule!

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and remembers why we celebrate!  Don't forget our troops over in the sand right now as well!  They need our support!

I had a very good weekend at my parent's house up north.  Indulged in some Labatt's from the tap, a little pool playing, and some much needed R&R.  Always a good time.

I did some searching on my pops tv this morning and discovered that the 2007 World's Strongest Man will air on ESPN2 from 6 pm till midnight.  Don't miss it!  I am sure they will have a wonderful tribute to the late Jesse Marunde as well, so be sure to tune in and support our fellow strength athletes.

I will be back to the gym officially tomorrow.  Back on the clean eating, training, and cardio sessions in preperation for the 08' powerlifting season.  Oh, that's right, we don't have a season... ;)  Very excited to get back into the gym and back to the business I love.

Hope everyone got what they wished for!

-Rick

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads Beyond Strong!!!

It's been a great first year for us (still only about 7 months we've been LIVE!)...I want to thank Rick 'Mr. Deadlift' Walker, Steve 'Shafman' Shafley and Theo for their contributions and continued support.

We may be intermittent but what we have to say is REAL and from the HEART. There may be nothing new but there's plenty you haven't seen or heard.

May you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday and a successful New Year.

Best wishes,

Nick McKinless

Power Challenge

Yesterdays Power Challenge saw some awesome lifting from everyone. Here are the results...

Overhead
Kye (17) - 85kg log
Richard (19) - 140kg Log

Squat
Harry (18) - 230kg
Alan (older!!) - 230kg
Loz - 317.5kg

Pinch
Harry - 97.2kh
Loz - 97.9kg
Steve - 101.9kg (plus a 4th @ 103.1kg)
Nick - 102.6kg
David - 107.5kg

Bench
Ant - 85kg
Kye - 105kg
Sam - 110kg
Harry - 142.5kg
David - 145kg
Richard - 160kg
Loz - 160kg
Nick - 160kg
Alan - 175kg
Steve - 177.5kg
Sean - 182.kg

Deadlift
Ant - 190kg
Kye - 200kg
Harry - 260kg
Sean - 260kg (Axle)
Alan - 280kg
Loz - 350kg

I hadn't planned to do anything except the pinch but like about 6 others decided to try the bench on the day. It's hard not to lift when everyone's having so much fun!

There were too many good lifts to choose just one but Loz's 700lb Squat and 770 deadlift, Richard's 310lb Log, David's near miss at a World Record in the pinch and Steve's grinding 390lbs Bench were some of the highlights.

At the meal afterwards we had a wonderful time and David proved what a great arm wrestler he was by taking on everyone one after another. Only Jim came away with a win over David but most lasted less than 1 second!

Congratulations to everyone!!!

Nick

Laurence in the hole with 700lbs (Photo courtesy of Steve Gardener)


Sean about to last 1 second with David's truck of a left arm

The Christmas Party!

770lbs with a belt (photo courtesy of Steve Gardener)

Nick McKinless your email is full, and my early Christmas present

Hey Nick, I have been trying to email you bro, your email box is full!  I have the form suggestions for you, so let me know when you have some space and I will send them again.

Now for my Christmas present!  My wife is just about the coolest, and when I got home from work last night she told me to pick out what piece of gear I need the most, and get it.

Ahhhhh....gear.

So I took a little surf on over to www.irongladiators.com squat king Brent Mikesell's webpage, and started looking.  I need a new bench shirt because my Metal Viking is 2 sizes to big, and I as I get stronger and my pec and shoulder get better, I need a tighter shirt.  I was kicking around poly or denim.  Denim is so cool and it really pisses the anti-gear dudes off, but I don't think I am ready for denim yet, so I looked through the Inzer poly shirts, and after some thought and deliberation, I decided on the double ply Rage X, open back with velcro, and grid stitching.  Hee Hee!  I am like a kid in a candy store and now I wait patiently for that little black thing of beauty to show up on my doorstep.

Sunday morning I head north to my mom and dads for Christmas.  I bought my pops a handcrafted hand saw from England.  I think he is going to really dig it!

Till next time, Merry Christmas and be safe-

-Rick

Big Inch for sale....sorry sold!

This has now sold!!!

If you're in the market for a very unusual piece of gym equipment then this might be of interest to you. Since we have the original Millennium Dumbbell at the gym weighing in at 103kg I have decided to sell my 97kg Inch style Dumbbell. Here's the link to the sale...

97kg Inch

There's a few other items for sale too including a very rare hand dynamometer. I am selling these and other items as they have mainly been sitting in boxes waiting to be displayed or used more often. As that doesn't look like changing I figured they were better of going to good homes!

Nick

97kg Inch Dumbbell from Heavy Grip Tools

Antique Leur Hand Dynamometer