Donald Duck

     My role model has left me for a few months, I guess this bird needs to step outside the nest and try things out on my own.  hmmm, lets see, this is my gym now............, I might just sit here and figure out how I ended up here, hmmm maybe I will lift some weights on my own, Donny is now gone, now I can take normal people jumps, now I can listen to my music without the Shankle giving me that look  like I didn't eat all my vegetables.  Now I can make my own rules, shit...now I am Donny Shankle.  My music, my jumps, my time, my gym, my turn to lift, my intensity, my time to tell people to stop talking, my turn to be king.  I like this, no one  in the gym yet, just me poking around my new nest, a nest of two years, but now it looks so different.  My nest, not yours.
     Good bye Donny....hello Jon North, wow this thrown feels comfy, so this is what it feels like.  wow this crown is heavy, how did he wear this everyday for so long?  This long red robe drags me down when I walk, I see, that's how he got so strong.  I am a little bird that is trying to walk with really big cloths on, this will  take a while.  Just stepped on some chalk, let me shake off my feet.  Damn this Robe is getting dirty, I wonder what kind of soap he used.  My four arms now have duck gladiators with swords and shields on them.  My pants are higher than usual, and my voice just became much quakier. What is happening to me?  These other ducks seem to be a little nervous around me, and I really just want to talk and play.  I just looked back and realized how far away I am from my nest, I am deep into Cal Strength now, very deep, there is no turning back now, I must keep going on.  Donny did it, I can.  I have big webbed feet to fill, I have to keep walking to try to fill em.  
     I hop onto a big platform and start lifting, wow, I feel extra strong right now....even my jerk looks good, huh.....I didn't no I was a hip cleaner....?  Once a baby duck, now a Donny duck, now I am the king of this familiar world, this crown is fitting better and better everyday.  The big Gold thrown will be waiting for you Donny, but while you are gone, I will go ahead and keep it warm for you.   King Duck 2012

6 for 6

They say first pull second pull, I say superman pull.  They say pull up, I say push back.  They say extend, I say Tyson hips.  They say brush the bar, I say hit the bar. They say move your feet, I say Ali feet.  You say 6 for 6, I say you went too light.  People say "Clark"  I say it's going heavy everyday.  It's not bombing out, it's being a weightlifter.  Its not over training, It's called being a pussy.  It's not called percentages, It's called comfort zones.  They are not called straps, they are called we train more often than you do.  You pull, we snatch.  You drop snatch, we drop under the snatch.  You stretch, I drink coffee.  protein, you mean more coffee.  They call it a national tittle, I call it more money.  fast means Caleb Ward, coach means Pendlay, hard core is not cross fit, it's Donny Shankle.  Screw three whites, I just want two.  Don't just make it, smoke it, easy is cheesecake.  Don't miss in it front, walk it out.  They have Masters Degrees, I have a USA Degree.  Light day...WHATS A LIGHT DAY!  Train through meet....I call it Pr total.  They say make lifts, I say win.  Champ 2012   

The Donny and Jon Mess Around

This blog is going to suck, because this blog has writers block, and this blog has nothing interesting to say.  No motivation, nothing funny, nothing about weightlifting, nothing sad and deep, just....well.....this. (Jon)

I think you are on to something. My mind is all over the place. I mean at one moment I am thinking of the cartoon Pinky and the Brain, while the next moment I am trying to figure out the actual price of tea in China. I mean what the hell is going on here.(Donny)

We have been sitting in this room trying to find the right music to inspire an inspiring post, but after about twenty songs from different movies that Donny told me to listen to, the screen remands still white with no writing.  I am about two monsters down, and Donny is slamming his red bull, I only think he is drinking red bull to rebel from what I drink...asshole.  I find what Donny said at the top fucken hilarious, what the hell is he talking about!  I don't know why I just wrote that question,  because I can just look over at him right now and ask him...hold on.... he told me "what do you want me to say".  (Jon)

I mean did you just see that cat. I swear I saw a cat. I watched this movie Event Horizon last night and I didn't know what the hell was going. This shit was like a combination between Star Wars and Nightmare On Elm Street. (Donny)

On my third monster and I have no idea what to write about, all I know is I have been in this gym all day and I need a shower very badly.  These energy drinks can make you feel very good, but also give you a bad headache.  I saw the movie soul surfer the other night, great movie, great for the family, and I cant believe that is a true story.  Michael Savage had a great show yesterday like always. I listened to an hour of it in the carls junior parking lot while eating my double bacon western cheese burger with fries, a sprite and one dollar beef taco. (Jon)

I wonder if you stand on your head and eat pop-sickles to fast will you get the cold feeling on your ass. Maybe not but maybe so (Donny)

I have nothing to say (Jon)

lol...Dammit how come my guidance counselor never told me I could make money having sex with porn stars..Somebody find me a great white shark to punch in the face (Donny)

Good point Donny.....you are a genius.  Why do older people on college campuses always have rolly back packs and not normal bags that go around your shoulders?  Burger King is the worst fast food restaurant.  I wonder who would win in a fight, chuck Norris or Glenn Pendlay?  This is the worst blog I have ever wrote....but could be the best at the same time. (Jon)


Jon keeps asking me what to say and I have no idea. I am just letting shit float up and puttin them out there. I want you all to know there is no reefer going around this table. I get drug tested a hell of a lot.  (Donny)

I am not in the mood. I want to wright something funny so people will laugh and I am a part of the fun. (Jon)

Step back paddly wack put me in the zone. YA baby that shit floated (Donny)

One sec (Jon)

lol...You notice how these phrases keep getting shorter. About as short as Obama's term in office. (Donny)

Hounddogs, boondocks, and flapjacks. Sorry Jon I just had to throw that in there. OK GO! (Donny)

Give me the key board Donny I have something to say..........never mind here is Donny again. (Jon)

We need to zero in on something here. You know what I hate SILK. You know that milk made from soy. That ain't milk and it aint no milk byproduct or nuttin of the sort. All milk comes from tits... Them damn hellions...somebody pass a pickle (Donny)

This will never be posted(Jon)

A Symphony Of Steel

     Crack, crisp, chug......one down, two more to go.   bang bang, now I have three green monsters in me, and now I have been bitten by the green vampire.  I left my car running in the parking lot as I walk into the middle of the street, right left right left, eyes don't blink, I don't care, big smile on my face, if a baby would see me, they would probably ask there mom what I was.  Sometimes I just feel like jumping, and  hoping, it's the blood in me that pumps to hard.  The green blood that makes my heart hurt from so much energy, drive, anger,  and fucking frustration.  The only thing I regret as I walk out to the middle of the road is how I should have downed more monsters, how I am so close from losing my mind, and how I actually want to.  It's my goal. I want to see how it feels.  Energy takes over and I feel like breaking your window to your Prius and ripping you out of it.  I feel like sitting in the space ship all day with Donny, and playing a symphony.  A symphony in space , a symphony of steel, a symphony made beholden to the power of MAN!
     I will sin in the streets and cry out for more, as cars will go around me, I will not go around them.  Hold the wheel Donny I need to go pee, watch out for the stars Donny they will burn us alive, watch out for those big rocks Donny, please don't just go through them, you are strong... but not that strong.  My pee is green and Donny didn't listen, I guess He is stronger than I thought.  I guess this fucker is the black sheep and I am still in the white, I guess I need to earn my color and become captain of this ship.  I slam 20 monsters only to realize how good I feel, my head moves back and forth like a kid steeling candy from a candy shop. Maybe I will sneak away and hide from everyone. I just found Donny, damn he beat me to it.  Donny and I have been in this hide away all morning, the hide out is filling up fast with monsters. 
     I am in space with a basketball star, an animal I love, and my best friend coffee, monster is just the drug.  Black on black space ship that seems to always be running into rocks because Donny does what he wants, and doesn't listen!
     I like the sound of the Piano, and the sound of the Violin.  My space ship is filled with monsters, green like money and green like go.  My Blog loses hits the longer I go.  My mind is lost, my thoughts are on meth, my posts get stranger because I start to get more comfortable.  As Donny once said......"lets train".    

Donny Shankle reads my "The Old Show" on his Blog, his voice of an Angel!

www.donnyshankle.blogspot.com

"The old show "

     I need a coffee like I need to win the Olympics.  I need a coffee like I need to break the American records. I need a coffee like I need coach to call in sick one day so I can finally rest.  Damn I need a coffee.  Training has been hell, shit....training is always hell.  I remember in College there would be days that I would just lay around all day and play video games...heaven.   Now its barbell in front of my face, barbell in my hands, barbell on my back and even in my head.  This fucken barbell follows me around everywhere, now that I found my bar I am almost wishing it would float away from me again.  Maybe I shouldn't have wrote the "red Balloon". 
     Train train, that's all I know these days.  It's almost like I have forgotten who I am.  I sometimes sit in the gym watching other people come and go thinking I am missing out on life.   Am I?   Then I am woken up from  coach telling me to lift the barbell, that fucken barbell.  I don't know if that barbell is my friend or my enemy, Sometimes I don't want to lift, sometimes I want to go play outside.  I slammed the bar down at nationals winning me the national tittle, and making the Pan Am games all in one lift, but for some reason I didn't feel the same joy and accomplishment that I did last year at the Arnold.  If you youtube my name you will find me winning the 2010 Arnold and putting me on the USA team for the Pan Am Championships.  That moment was the best moment in my whole career, possibly life.  But why not this year, you would think that this years nationals would have brought me much more happiness.  I kept looking for the rush of joy, I thought it would come any minute.  It never did.  Maybe my first coach Jackie Mah was right, she always said that "its the climb up that will be your best moments in this sport, the top will never feel the same."  I now understand what she means. 
     I have a long ways to go in this journey, but the higher I climb the more dark it gets, the less excitement I have, the less I yell, slam bars and call weightlifters names out before lifting.  Maybe I have let people's negative comments get to me without me even knowing.  Maybe The bar is just set higher, or maybe reality has kicked in, that I could make an Olympic team.  Its weird how you want something so bad, and you fight for it  for so long, but once it is in reach you hesitate to grab it.  I am like an act that is getting old.  The show is dying and the people are leaving.  You are once a breath of fresh air, you are the crowd favorite, you are the talk of the group.  Intel  time goes by and you succeed, the hype goes way down, the bets start to turn else where and you are just another top weightlifter sat next to by the other top weightlifters.  Now I am categorized, jumping Jonathan North is dead, UN original, just another.  Maybe this is why I was not more excited lately.  I will watch others laugh and fool around in the gym all day, while I am leashed to the platform.  I am fine with that, they can do what they want.  I have coach to talk to and my team mates who seem to come and go over the years.  I will still be here, training away, in my corner.  If you want to find the old race horse, the old act, the old show,  I will be in the back of the gym with coach Pendlay.    see you there someday.   Champ 2012

Nation of go getters

     Its time to train mother fuckers.  O yes, yes I am at the green jungle gulping down my life drink, my motivation potion, my dark big coffee that looks so damn sexy.  I am going to finish this one and then buy another, I will probably have three before practice tonight.  Practice starts at 4, and I will be ready.  I am ready to take on the whole fucken world, lets go, game time.  Everyday I wake up with a mission to win, win in weightlifting and in life.  I view life as a game, and I am playing to win.  I am a gladiator of life.  I am a hard working republican that has created something from nothing, the only help I ask is from this coffee that keeps looking at me, i swear this coffee is alive.
      I hate sleep, I just want to keep going.  I want my website to grow bigger and bigger, I want to make the Olympic team, I want to help Cal Strength take over the world, I want to be the best fucken Husband in the world, I want my mom to be happy, I want my sister to love life and be treated well, I want to keep winning, I want to give back to Donny what he has done for me, I want to make my boss and coach proud,  I want to keep pissing people off,  I want the Jon north nation to grow into an army and change this sport into something more than it is now, I want to coach everyone my way, the Superman pull way, the hit the bar with your hips way, the stop talking about hamstring way, the train heavy every day way, and the what is a light day way.  
      Do you feel the same way I do?  Do you wake up everyday and feel like attacking the world?  I bet you do if you follow this blog.  The people who read this blog are people who put things on the line, fear the comfort zones, risk, take, live life to the fullest, are happy, who try hard in everything they do, these are the people of the north nation, you are the people who will change the world and this sport.  Don't read this blog if you are not on board, get the fuck out, we are to busy winning, winning in all different aspects of life. 
    We are people who will cut you in line if you are taking to long, we have things to do so move.  I don't have time to drive in the slow lane, move.  I don't have time to complain all day so leave.  I don't play my Violin, we play our marching drums, you look at the clock and wait for the day to be over, we don't know what time is because its all one big race, fuck a clock.  You Chat we train, you think we do, you stop training we keep going, we love you hate, we attack you surrender.
      Yes yes yes!  YES THIS IS A GOOD FUCKEN BLOG!  haha I am now ready to train, Lets go, lets train!  train train train train train train, and train some more.  I will clark a thousand bars but always come back for more.  I will bomb out many more times but I will see that weight again.  Coach Pendlay is my leader so I know I will win the war even with many battles lost.  Donny Shankle motivation, Donny Shankle keeps going, and I will go with him.    Jon North Nation 2012