The Road, The Radio, And The Arm Bend

(Article and picture below)

 A song that I have been listening to throughout my cross country adventure, a song that explains what I have been doing for the last 5 days.

Just settled into a little ma and pa lodge in the sticks of Arkansas.  I write to you tonight deep into the hills of no where.  I can't tell you how much coffee I have consumed throughout this journey.  Let's just say enough to kill a full grown bull.  Beautiful landscapes, eye opening country sides, and breath taking sunrises followed by heart sunsets.  My wife and I have been driving for five days now, and we have enjoyed every minute of the adventure in our move across the country to South Carolina.  But I must say the drive is a physical and mental workout, almost as hard as weightlifting..... well let's not go that far. I can barely keep my eyes open as I type to you.  The Dark Orchestra is extra dark tonight, not the dark from the hell of training dark, but the dark like it's time to lay this heavy head down and sleep dark.  That's why I reposted one of my favorite blogs yesterday called "Rest".  I tried to write something new, but after a 10 hour drive I coudn't even lift my hand to direct these black keys to dance and write something beautiful and real.  I never want to half ass this blog.  I want every post to have meaning and true emotion.  Passion, motivation, and most importantly, realism.  Nothing fake.  My experiences in life and weightlifting, nothing more, nothing less. 

Once I arrive and get settled into my new home, I am going to train and write, train and write, and write and train.  I will drink coffee everyday and hang with you in the Dark Orchestra, but for now I must sleep.  I wasn't even going to write anything tonight, I was just going to post another one of my favorite blogs, and a song I love, almost as much as my talk radio.  A song that has helped me get through the desert road that seems at times to never end.  I have been listening to the song throughout this whole trip, I feel it wraps up my journey perfectly.  But I guess these fingers had something to say.  I guess Miss Brown Eyes is still with me from today's love affair.  Good night.

Here is an older blog that I wrote.  It's one of my favorite technique blogs.  Something that seems to go untalked about, unseen, and unappreciated.  Salute. 

Row Your Boat:

I am a big believer in the arm bend. I call it “rowing the boat". Here are a few reasons why bending your arms will help you lift big weights: First of all, rowing the bar into your hips creates much more force and explosion at the finish of the pull. Secondly it tightens up that superman pull, allowing you to stay in better positions. It also allows you to stay over the bar much longer. If your hips hurt from striking the bar low on your hip, then the arm bend will help you clear the “ouch bone”! If you need more bar speed in your lifts, then please go to the store and buy some arm bend, because it will put the bar in 6th gear!

As the bar gets closer to the hips, the bend in your arms should slightly increase. Once the superman pull is over and he has stopped fighting crime, it’s time to row your boat to the finish line! How hard you row the bar into your hips determines how much hang-time the bar will have in order for you to get under and win the Olympics!

Every athlete will be different. Some will do better with straighter arms, and some will do better with more arm bend like myself. I hope this helps some people, I know this has helped many of my athletes, including myself. Do what works for you.

Attitude Nation Salute! Arm Bend 2012