8-12 Tomatoes (best tasting if you take the time to grow your own)
3 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped yellow onion
2 cups chopped green onion
2 cups chopped mushroom (your choice)
1 chopped green bell pepper
2 cups chopped celery
1 handful diced parsley
1 handful diced cilantro
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
1 chopped head of cabbage
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
6 cloves chopped garlic
3 bay leaf
Louisiana hot sauce to your taste (optional)
1 cup rice
There are no rules here. You can add whatever vegetables you like. This was how my mother got her boys to eat their vegetables and stay strong. I try to keep a tomato garden because store bought tomato’s are awful. Plowing dirt and pulling weeds is great exercise in return.
In a large pot add water until roughly three quarters of the way full. Add all of your ingredients and bring to a boil. Once boiling starts bring heat down to medium low and let cook for 5 hours covered, stirring every hour. Add your rice when you have about an hour and a half left. When done cooking let sit for 30 minutes and serve with buttered bread.
Jon North describes his recent push onto the National Stage in less than one year training with the elite team at California Strength under Glenn Pendlay and David Spitz
There are three areas to be discussed in response to that question. Considering there is much speculation behind the importance of the warm-up, I will elaborate on the third area which I find to be the most important. The following list is taken from the national academy of sport’s medicine.
1.There is an increase in the heart and respiratory rate.
Increases the cardio-respiratory system’s capacity to perform work.
Increases blood flow to active muscle tissue.
Increases the oxygen intake capacity.
2.There is an increase in tissue temperature.
Increases the rate of muscular contraction.
Increases the efficiency of opposing muscle contraction and relaxation.
Increases metabolic rate.
Increases the soft tissue extensibility.
3. Increases psychological readiness.
Are general or specific warm-ups for the body even necessary?
No, all demands placed on the body are secondary only to that same demand placed on the mind. Unless trauma has been placed on an area of the body in which case a certain amount of massage, myo-fascial release and medicine’s may be necessary to perform, an athlete (in this case a weightlifter) can place his body under immediate stress without a general or specific warm-up. Both general and specific warm-ups are unnecessary to training and only deter from your ability to perform better.
How does a weightlifter prepare for increased demand?
Aside from being physically ready (which takes years of training) your mind not your brain must have an underlying motivation to help you achieve your goals fearlessly. You cannot expect to move above present accomplishments without first at-least commanding yourself to achieve more. In weightlifting this means simply putting more weight on the bar and trying many times to be successful with it. If your after increasing the performance in your training you must first learn to viciously move out of comfort zones. This process can be painful or slow at times but embrace these challenges and you will become stronger.
How is the brain different from the mind?
The brain is solely a reaction organ. All action required of the brain is spontaneous and quick when trained to do so. Move your finger from a hot stove or get down when you here gunfire. These actions come without thought and the same approach can be applied to training. Thinking allows hesitation and when you hesitate you become unsure of yourself and your ability. The thought process belongs to the mind. Establishing value and following your conviction undeterred are solely elements of the mind which require preconceived rational thought.
Every animal has a brain and that animal responds to their environment re-actively. If its hungry it hunts and kills or begs to be fed. If its being hunted it runs from danger or stands its ground. Man however although an animal has the ability to use his mind and this elevates him above all life. The convictions and values you establish before your training will determine success on the platform or failure. If you do not succumb to doubt but hold to what is needed to achieve mastery in your discipline while at the same time train your brain to only react to the stress upon it, this is good.
If warming up is unnecessary to achieve maximum performance then how does a weightlifter achieve maximal weights in a short amount of time?
In order to accomplish this requiresa mastery of your discipline. Until the body has been prepared through countless hours of repetition and the brain begins to behave solely by reacting and not thinking, then the mind of the weightlifter will never begin to develop the essential quality to reaching mastery. And what is that you say? Being without fear of course!
Through consistent disciplined training you not only began to see what your body is truly capable of but also how your mind conceives its immediate challenges. Only by abandoning fear can a weightlifter achieve maximal performance beyond what is thought to be possible. When he or she does this they elusively move into the exceptional.
How do I focus on increasing my adrenaline to perform when I need it?
This is difficult to do in training but is most always felt in competition. The body will adapt to the demands placed on it over time. Only by increasing those demands consciously will you increase your numbers (increasing numbers when it matters is all that matters.) The same process can be applied to the adrenaline producing gland in your brain. Thinking deters your improvement. Do not think for a moment that it would be better to save this burst of adrenaline in your training for a later training date. No, instead relinquish its powers all the time and instead learn how to replenish its value quickly. The more you focus on using your adrenaline daily then the larger this gland will become. Eventually this should be accomplished without thought. The weightlifter will perform consistently at higher intensities if this process is done constantly. In response to this process your performance will increase.
Explain why there is no better motivation than self-preservation, and why this extreme cannot be applied to training?
Because weightlifting will not at the end of the day kill you. Here is an analogy and how it can roughly translate to any thoughts of warming up. If your hiking in the woods and happen to come across a bear who has it in mind to have you for breakfast, your not going to tell that bear hold on while I stretch my hamstrings and do a couple hip swivels and jumping jacks. Your more than likely (unless your a coward) going to do an about face and run faster than you have ever ran before in order to hike another day, or just punch him in the face. After you make it to safety sure your going to be sore the next day but the idea is to continue placing that stress upon you. Maybe next time go on safari and piss off a herd of hippo’s.
This idea can be applied to warming up. You do not need to spend time preparing to lift, only lift. If you want to call starting with the bar warming up then call it whatever you want. I call it beginning your training.
In theory with this being said you should be able to roll right out of bed and lift maximum weights. Yes, you can if if you place your mind in the most extreme situation you can conceive and then react to the impetus in front of you.
Sorry about the delay, my computer has been messed up and the internet has not been connecting very well.
Bre Bassler, Sara C, Robin F, Ashley P, and Brianna B have all lifted since my last post.
Bre and Sara didn’t have their best days, but Sara did post a 3kg PR in the Snatch and Bre is coming off a very serious injury so it was great to see her look so strong on the platform.
Robin and Ashley didn’t lift to their expectations either, but it should be noted that even though Ashley went 2 for 6 she mad a lot of improvement from what she did to qualify for this event.
Brianna Barnett looked great! I was very impressed with how unaffected she was out there. She won the B session, which is impressive for such a young girl to come out and beat the other girls like she did.
I have been taking lots of videos, they will be posted when I get home!
Today Mack Brunson lifted. He went 2 for 6 in his first international competition. I will be posting video when I get back to the states, because the internet here is in and out all the time. He snatched 95 on his 2nd attempt and clean and jerked 125 on his 1st attempt.
Some of us trained today, I did not. I am not as conditioned as everyone else since I have just been coming back, so I needed a day off from lifting.
Chioma A. arrived today and her bags were lost, she had to wear my clothes… hopefully she won’t have to wear my clothes for too much longer because I only brought enough change of clothes for this trip for me haha.
The weather was so much better today towards the end of the day.. It rained and thundered and lightening. And being in California and from Texas, I miss my thunder and lightening.. So I slept with my window wide open and enjoyed the noise, wind and light show.
Well it’s the morning of the 3rd day, but I’m recapping day 2
Yesterday we trained in the morning, everyone did very well. So far everyone looks really confident and ready to compete. I did some quick work to get some lifts in. I did 2 snatches at 120 and 1 snatch at 130, and both were pretty sharp. I did a 160 Clean and Jerk and I worked power cleans up to 140 and then at 160 I did a squat clean to avoid any pain in my back.
Afterward we came home and ate lunch a prepared for the opening ceremonies. I carried the flag for the USA Team.. I got pictures but I have not uploaded them as of yet. The opening ceremonies were really cool, they had a few speeches by the mayor of Sofia, the Bulgarian Weightlifting President and the IWF president, and then a neat cultural dance/skit afterward.
Some stayed to watch the 48′s lift after, but most came home in search of FOOD. We went to a nearby mall and got some American cuisine, and ate a lot of fruit. This trip to the mall was probably the funniest experience of the trip so far because Brianna Barnett fell up the escalator, yet still was able to keep her smoothie in hand the whole time she fell with only minor spill (she was OK, too!).
I’m having a hard time at nights not falling asleep before 8PM and waking up at 5 AM. This wouldn’t be a problem for most of the lifters, as they are all in morning sessions, but since I am in the A session, I will be lifting in the evening and I need to be able to stay up later. Any advice?
Mack Brunson will be our first lifter, I will get video and post a report on the next recap!
Today, the main things that happened were that we trained and the start list was released.
Everyone looked great in training, I myself feel very strong coming back from injury. I hit 2 easy singles at 140 in the snatch, and struggled a little with a 180 clean (caught it off balance), but did my best jerk of the day with that weight, so I feel confident.
The start list was release, Everyone from the USA will be competing in the ‘B’ sessions, except for Chioma A. and myself. So, if there are any live results and you are interested in staying updated, that’s where you can look for the USA lifters.
We finally all got our air conditioners to “work.” And by work, I mean that they blow air at 1/2 mph, and that’s at full speed. We’re all use to it now.
Some lifters ventured out for a McDonalds last night at a near by mall, but I (oddly) and eating and somewhat enjoying the food they are providing for us. It’s not my favorite, but it’s chicken, beef and pork and it is all certainly edible. Breakfast is the hardest, because I hate eggs and the only other source of protein they have had was some sort of hot dog. Good thing I brought protein bars.
I’ll try to get some pictures from the opening ceremonies today to post for everyone to see, but don’t hold me to it! The internet hardly works here, so I don’t want to make any promises.
In a large pot on medium heat add your roux mix and stir in yellow onion. Let cook 5 minutes then add your garlic powder, bell pepper, green onion, crushed red pepper (rub the pepper in your hands to release the heat and flavor) and celery. Stir and let cook 3-5 minutes then add your water, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and kitchen bouquet. Add sausage and chicken. Cut your chicken breasts and wings in halves and separate the legs from thighs (discard backbone). Add salt and bay leaf and let cook covered for about 1 hour on a medium low heat remembering to stir often. Last add your okra and continue to cook covered on a low heat for about another hour. As soon as the chicken is falling easily off the bone its done cooking. Remove any bones you see and take out the bay leaves. Store in refrigerator over night and reheat and serve with rice spooned on top the next day. Serves about 8 people or 4 weightlifters if your lucky.
The sergeant called to his marines who scampered about to get into formation for an ammo inspection check. About an hour ago there was a miss fire which released a three round discharge somewhere off into the distance of the Kuwaiti desert not too far from a highway. As I was standing in formation I couldn’t help but laugh inside. I knew the rounds hadn’t hit anyone or anything but the dirt because my buddy Blake told me he saw the impact point. No, I was laughing because the machine gun which discharged was right above me when I heard it go off. I abruptly got inside the make shift plywood guard shack thinking it would provide me cover. The only problem was the guard shack hadn’t been reinforced with any sandbags yet. I would have received about as much cover as an umbrella in a category 5 hurricane.
As I was checking to make sure I still had both ears and no holes in the noggin sergeant came through under gunny’s orders and made sure all rifles were on safety and to relay the importance again of weapon’s inspection during change over. When one shift of marines comes off watch and another goes on the oncoming squad does a weapons check. One of the machine guns being cleared had a belt fed round in the chamber and well the rest is history. Almost my history.
Blake was a good friend of mine who like myself was also from Louisiana. He was brilliant at knowing his job, had one hell of a right hook, a sarcastic sense of humor and used the word “rugged” when describing almost anything that was well, rugged. Both of us were MUX radio men which means we graduated a little ahead of our class giving us the chance to work with the big microwave radios instead of the smaller carry on your back vhf kind. We were detached with a force protection unit as camp commando was going up in preparation for the other marines on their way. I was the corporal in charge and part of my duty was to assign post detail for all the marines on our watch. I usually always assigned myself to the front gate/guard shack with Blake. I figured it was the shittiest, if not the most dangerous, detail because of all the traffic coming in and out the front gate. Big trucks carrying mostly concrete scud bunkers made from some where else had to be stopped and searched for bombs. Any one of them could have hit the gas and ran our asses over sending that fortified kitty box from here to kingdom come. That never happened though. The most we came across were a couple of mouse traps hidden down in door jams or a suspicious new driver. I figured that was the spot you would get to see the most action and I didn’t trust anyone else to have my back as as I did Blake. For as great a marine I thought he was for some reason the staff and officers always thought he was up to no good.
That night after the accidental discharge Gunny was seen walking over to the guard shack. Gunnery sergeant had a swagger to him not unlike a lion in the African long grass. Rarely did you see him approaching and I’m sure he was watching your every move even when you may have thought you were safely out of sight. I had a good idea about what he was going to say and who it was going to be said too the moment I saw his dusty boots, broad shoulders, and tilted cover walking in our direction.
“Hey, hey whats going on here devil dogs!”
“Good Evening Gunny.” (both Blake and I said)
“We are going to need some sand bags filled for that guard shack.”
“How many do you want us to fill Gunny about 50?” responded Blake.
“No let’s make it about 250.”
We didn’t say anything out loud but I did hear Blake say under his breath, “God Damn!”
As Gunny walked away both Blake and I laughed. Two hundred and fifty sandbags between two marines in full gear to be filled is a bitch especially at night. You sling your rifle over your shoulder and get to it but the damn thing has a habit of always swinging back and the front sight tip hits you square in the back of the neck. Taking a knee I held the sandbags open with elbow up to wrist on one hand as the other pulled the bag apart for a space. Blake took his e-tool which is just a short fold-able shovel (short for entrenching tool) and started filling them. About every fifteen minutes or so we would switch off. Better it was at night I thought because the days can be hotter than fried catfish straight from the deep fryer. I don’t remember how many we got filled but we did get half the guard shack finished in rows of three surrounding each side. My arms and back ached at first but eventually you just got used to it. Especially since tomorrow would just bring the same thing.
“That wasn’t that bad was it Blake.”
“Your crazy Shankle that was awful.”
“Wasn’t planning on getting a work out today.”
“Neither was I , I just wanted to shoot some terrorists. That was rugged man.”
*
Strength training can take many forms but they all end in serving the same purpose, getting stronger. Along the way your health improves as you lose weight and your conditioning gets better too as the instructor pushes you to a heavy sweat. Nothing like those blistering days out in the desert but just enough to feel like you’ve done something you’ll feel tomorrow in the back of the arms and butt. Sandbags offer a cheap means to get in shape with a group of people all looking for the same goals you are. There are a variety of exercises you can do all of which I picked up on overseas. Its functional strength training in the simplest terms meaning you do a series of exercises in the range of motion your body was intended to move, instead of isolating muscle groups which you hardly ever do out in the real world. Sandbags can be filled to a weight of your choosing and unless you’re using body-bags instead of sandbags the weight will roughly go to no more than about 40lbs or so. That’s more than enough weight to get a good resistance workout with. The program is not so rigidly structured that you can’t make some changes. If you know some other exercises please feel free to share them with me. A couple of the ones I like are listed below.
Sandbag Clean & Press
Sandbag shoulder squat on each shoulder
Sandbag high pull and heave
Sandbag Row
Sandbag duck walks and lunges
Sandbag twists
Sandbag get-ups
Each of these exercises can be done in succession or one at a time and if you can complete three rounds in under a half an hour you are certainly not sand bagging (slang term used to define laziness.) Roughly for the clean and press you would do ten reps. Five squats on each shoulder , five high pulls then pulls to the shoulder , ten rows, a twenty meter duck walk wrapped up with some easy standing twists for the abs and then everyone’s favorite the get-ups. Get-ups are just holding the sandbag as you lay down and then you guessed it get back up. You would do these for ten then move on up from there to exhaustion. Everything from the shoulders , legs, back, arms and abs all get exercised at once making you stronger , more flexible and get in overall better shape. The whole point in this is just to show you can get an effective workout using the simplest of ideas and its with an idea that great things can happen if your determined enough to follow through and make it happen.
*
We kicked off our boots to let our feet get some air. It was that time of the day where I guess all the drivers were off eating their lunch. I looked down at my feet and within seconds a swarm of flies had covered the cracks between my toes like mardi gras beads around a topless girls neck on bourbon street. Our guard shack had been completed by now and up at the front gate we got our own scud bunker which was also sandbagged in. We took one of the sleeping cots from the billeting tent to use as a seat. Careful not to sit on that thing too long especially at night in fear of falling asleep. Blake’s toes also had flies all over them but we didn’t seem to care. We both seemed to get amusement out of the silliest of things.
“Shankle look at those guys just going nuts over that stink.”
“Ya , I think you have more on your feet than I do on mine.”
“Ha, it kinda tickles. Makes me think of that girl back in San Diego…I ever tell you about her.”
“No you didn’t but get up there’s a truck coming.”
As we got up and put our boots back on we took the safety’s off our rifles and made our way out in the open. Whenever a truck approached you always had your weapon at the ready in preparation for who knows what. The heat that day was pushing 115 degrees easily. The sweat pouring into my eyes combined with the glare from the windshield of the truck made it impossible to see the driver clearly. Both of us waved him too a halt and signaled him to climb out from the cab. The drivers were mostly from the surrounding countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt etc. because the Kuwaitis didn’t have to work. I looked at his identification which I had seen a hundred other times, asked him to face the other way and patted him down as Blake checked the truck.
“He’s good. All clear Shank.”
Blake walked up to the front gate to open it as I stood by the truck to walk it in. Another bad choice of mine since the sand kicked up from the truck and the exhaust you breathe in make one hell of an uncomfortable feeling in the back of your throat. I think we both had an analogy for it, “like smoking ass rolled in sand paper.” Both of us sat back down, put the safety’s back on, removed our boots, and waited patiently for the shift change over. After about another 40 or so trucks and stories about what we would do upon our return home I got up to stretch my legs and walking over to a couple of sandbags stacked up for our defense. Grabbing one I picked it up to my chest and did some military presses followed by some french presses. I remember the sand pouring out all over my head because one of the corners was torn.
“That kinda winded me , B.”
“Cause we don’t do anything but sit on our asses all day waving these trucks in.”
“Ya.”
I looked out over the horizon. Nowhere else on the earth does the sun set quite as beautifully as in the desert. I’ve never been much of an art man but recently I went to an art museum and the artist Monet stood out to me for all the bright colors he used in his works. The desert sky lights up in the most mystical and serene contrast of colors I have ever seen. It was like a piercing arrow strung by the ancient Pharaoh’s which divided earth from the heavens as a wash of celestial vibrancy is left in your memory.
“Look at that B.”
“That’s cool man.”
“Let’s have a platoon PT (physical training) session in the morning.”
“Alright… whatever. You know the marines might not like you for it.”
“Maybe.”
I did a couple more repetitions with the sandbag, one that didn’t leak this time. The blood started to flow again. Won’t take long I told myself before I think of crazier things to lift out here in this desolate, barren wasteland. It took me a lot less time than I had anticipated before I was lifting sandbags regularly and finding other odds and ends to keep me in shape.
*
I’ve noticed on more than one occasion that when people go to a gym almost always there left standing there at first twiddling there thumbs not knowing what exactly too do. It doesn’t matter if that gym is filled with platforms and barbells or if its one of those gyms bursting at the seems with fancy machines lined with mirrors all around the walls. Seemingly, the same reaction occurs as that person tries to make a go for it not knowing what they are doing and eventually they end up in a squat rack doing curls. Or wasting their time in some machine that may get you a few feral glances from auspicious eyes but isn’t doing anything to help you with getting stronger or losing weight.
Your going to be told countless ways on how to devise a strength training program that best suits your lifestyle. Everyone is different you see and what worked for Joe may not work so well for Susie. To keep it simple for that person who first walks into a gym lets go over real quick on how your body works in case you didn’t know already. There’s three main motions going on here:
Pulling with the arms and back
Pushing with the arms and shoulders
Squatting with the legs and body
Knowing these three simple ways your body works should be a start for anyone on how to devise there own strength/weight loss program. So the next time your in a gym with a weight room and you feel left out just think to yourself , “I should do some type of squat , pull and press,” the rest is just fill in the blanks.
This should take you roughly 20 minutes and that’s a good start for a beginner. As you progressively become more advanced prolonging your training is just a matter of doing the exercises your already doing longer or getting slick and adding a few more different variations to what your already doing. If there is ever any doubt about how much weight you should use just start slow and continue to add 5 lbs until you can’t add 5 lbs anymore. Sandbags are a great tool at first because they teach you to get creative and the weights are fixed as things you probably lift already, like a 5 lb bag of potatoes , a 20lb bag of bird seed or a 40lb bag of dog food.
Strength training is also a great way for people looking to get in shape but who aren’t very motivated by running. Whether your lifting barbells , sandbags or cinder blocks your heart rate will increase with continued repetitions. This can be a fun alternative to,”just put one more foot in front the other.” Strength training is easy if you just break it down in its simplest terms and try to not get intimidated by all those torture device machines set-up for who knows what. An effective way of strengthening your muscles and conditioning your body is easier than you may think. So the next time your in a gym just think to yourself,”how do I move already.” Don’t be afraid of what other people think about you because in all honesty most of them have no idea what there doing themselves. And above all keep going back, because its consistency not novelty which produces results.
*
“You ready Gutierrez.”
“Aye Corporal Shankle”
“You ready Sergeant”
“Let’s do this already”
“Hold on!”
I slid the gearshift into neutral and placed my hand on the parking brake. As I pulled back my face waxed pale and my chest tightened. The ridge line we were on was at least 3000 feet up or so , I’m not quite sure as I’ve never been great at math. I had done a trial run before with my foot on the break and all seemed fine. Slowly the Humvee began its decent and quickly picked up speed. I could hear Gutierrez scream with excitement as he stood there in the gun turret. Sergeant had the look in his eyes that maybe this was not such a good idea. As we barreled down the mountainside I began to feel the Humvee shaking and see the sand kicking up all around us. Midway through our decent there was a precipice that jutted farther out from the mountainside which if we didn’t slow down for would have launched us out like Thanksgivings day deep fried turkey left in the deep fryer to long. I tried pushing down on the breaks but it was too late. Now I can’t recall exactly how long we were flying through the air and all I heard was a bass chorus go out from me and the two other marines with me. Briefly so much flashed in front of me. Like, if we came through how much trouble I was going to be in after this but mainly how much this was going to hurt when we landed. If I had to guess I would say after a good 3-5 seconds of flight from a vehicle that ain’t intended to drive much less fly we hit the ground with a mighty thump. Our heads crashed hard on the roof top , good thing we were wearing our Kevlar helmets. Poor Gutierrez at the gun mount almost got launched out of there , to this day I’m amazed that boy’s feet stayed planted. Instantly I pulled hard on the steering wheel which turned us into a halt.
“HOORA!”
I shouted while at the same time laughing hysterically.
“Everybody OK?”
I looked over to my right and all I could see was Sergeant laughing with me. Gutierrez’s feet stayed planted alright and after he dropped back into the cab his ass stayed planted also. We all survived it turned out after all. I opened the door and got out , dropped my flak jacket and took off my helmet getting ready to see what I thought was going to be a camouflaged pretzel. To my surprise all I had broke was the driver’s side headlight. No problem there as a buddy of mine in the motor pool owed me a favor. Sergeant and Gutierrez got out to check the damage with me.
“How bout that Sergeant, our only casualty was a busted out headlight.”
“That was insane Shank , what the hell is wrong with you. What’s wrong with me for that matter going along for the ride.”
“Ya’ but what a helluva ride.”
“I thought I we was going to die corporal.” Gutierrez said
“No way man we got bigger fish to fry out here, it ain’t our time just yet. Well Maybe for me its not , I’m not to sure about you.”
Gutierrez started laughing at that remark and I laughed with him to let him know I was being facetious.
“Let’s get back to the tent, I need to lie down.” Sergeant said
“ I second that.”
The force protection tent was surrounded by a bunch of heavy sandstones I had collected outside the gates of camp. Stupid thing to go out that far looking for rocks now that I think back, for that place was told to us was crawling with mines. There were also some oxygen tanks I had picked up taller than me which I tied ropes to for handles. I also made me a poor man’s grill out of broken bricks and a retired Humvee radiator screen. Every now and then we were let out as groups to go over to Camp Doha and collect goodies. Mostly it was just smokes and mag’s with half naked women in them but sometimes I would buy some meat and split it up with the marines. You could be sure if the sky at night had fiery embers floating through the air it was coming from the force protection tent. Turns out all my stones, oxygen tanks and sandbags caught the eye of the camp commanding officer. He asked Gunnery Sergeant why the marines were being hazed.
“Sir all that stuff belongs to corporal Shankle, he likes to pick those things up on his own free time.”
“Tell that marine to get his PT(physical training) in the camp gym just like everyone else. Picking up all those heavy rocks can be dangerous.”
“Aye Sir.”
Now the camp gym was nice and all for BOWFLEX had donated some machines for us. But even today I can’t get myself into one of those contraptions. Just doesn’t seem natural to me and I always think one of those flexible arms is going to break and come back across my face or the back of my head. Instead I moved all my big stones and other things outside of camp on over to a nice little spot I had found just for me. I left the sandbags where they were and when I was done with them I just stacked them back up against the tent for cover from fire. Whenever I wanted to get some PT on my own I would go out there and take off my shirt in the desert sun and start pressing , squatting , and pulling. The main exercise was just picking it up from the ground , rolling it up your chest and pressing that big 230 lb. stone overhead. Its the same exercise I use in Sandbag training only this time the weights much lighter and there’s no fear of getting sunburned.
The day had been long and night was fast approaching. You’d be amazed how cold it can get in the Arabian desert at night. I finished my watch and started to make my way back to my tent. When I got in I found B asleep with his legs hanging over the side of his top bunk. I pushed them in and covered him up. Sitting down I unlaced my boots and stacked them upside down to keep the scorpions from getting in them during the night. I lied back on my rack in complete exhaustion looking up at the mattress above me where I had tucked some pictures of who’s now my ex-wife and then closed my eyes for sleep.
“Happy Birthday Donny.” (I told myself)
The tent flap was open just enough to let in a cool breeze. All the lights had been shut off and it was completely dark. With one final yawn I was finally asleep not knowing what awaited me for tomorrow. Turns out tomorrow brought a lot more than I or anyone else had hoped for, but patiently knew was coming.
*
For a video of me doing some sandbag training go to the link below.
