Johnny Cash

Today it’s Red Bull, I left Monster for tomorrow.  Three iced coffees in the morning, a shot of chalk for training, and now I am typing with wings.  Johnny Cash in my ear piece, is it a coincidence that I am dressed in all black?  I put my middle finger to the world, as I march with the Nation of attitude.  I have been driving with no license for 5 years now, no insurance, don’t wear a seatbelt, and don’t tell me what to do government.  If I hit someone I will pay it out of my own pocket, I don’t need you telling me to give my money to a company that will take my money in the first place and spend it on "in case shit happens".  Seat belts.......am I putting any body in harm by not wearing one besides myself?  I feel that’s my choice.  Life is a game, and I play it well.  Attitude Nation is growing by the day, my e mail is about to make my computer explode from people who march with me, who do what they want with training and life, who take life by the horns and slam the bulls head into the dirt.  Make money young soldier, love your mom son, and train ‘til you piss blood.  I peed blood for the first four months of training with Coach Pendlay......boy I hit that bar hard.  My goal is to break it before I retire.  Tyson hips would be an understatement. 

Shanlke thank you for this song.  My wings flap to the beat of Cash walking down the open dirt road.  I admire Cash’s outlook on life, and the way he lived it.  All of the NFL and College football players are training at Cal Strength now.  I looked up at all of them with my finger waving in the air and I said, "Shankle is the captain on this ship of weights, and you better respect him or I will break your knee caps."  Me, well I am just the soldier that does what the Don says.  But right when I exit the door, two people that were waiting outside with their back against the wall immediately link to each side of me like magnets.  The further I walk the more join in to the march.  I don’t walk I March, and I don’t drink coffee, I chug coffee.  No one walks in front or behind, only side to side.  All black clothes, with white hands from the chalk.  Blood drips as we walk, the ground shakes as we stomp, liberals call the cops from the confidence we carry.  "Ok Mr. North would you like to deposite this check or cash it"?  Always cash ma’am, cash is motivation and I need to feel it in my hands throughout the day.  And I love listening to him as I cut off one of those bikers who rides right down the middle of the road.  I’ll run your ass over, move. 

I like to smoke cigarettes with all my medals around my neck with no shirt on.  It’s awesome, comfortable, so I do it.  Usually this only happens when I am between training sessions, and I am on my third iced coffee.  I listen to Norah Jones a lot while I drive to practice in the morning, she has a beautiful voice.  But I must say that my new favorite is Adele.  That girl can sing, and I love her music.  Sometimes I lay in my king size bed and count cash while I drink my grapefruit juice through a straw while the Office is playing.  It’s one of my favorite things to do.  My wife sits next to me with three computers on her lap as she is running jonnorthattitude, putting together more videos, working, working working, all the time.  She is the General of the Attitude Nation, she never stops! Babe put down the computer and lets go hot tub!!!    Johnny Cash 2012

Insanity

The definition of insanity is snatch clean and jerk.  Everyday is dejavu, where hell is like Heaven.  I cried today in training.  The tears started falling down my face, like the sweat from my forehead.  By looking at me you probably couldn't see the difference between the salt and the river of emotion.  I have no idea why I was crying.  The tears came with no warning, no invite, no reason at all.  Maybe because today was one of the hardest training days of my life.  It's been a week straight of maxing out twice a day....with no end in sight.  Maybe my body wanted to shut down and rest.  Maybe the devil in the red dress wanted to trap me in her room.  I pushed through and finished the lashing that coach put on my back.  Not because it sounds motivational, or because I am trying to show people I can, or because it makes me sound bad ass.  I pushed through and finished because I have no other option in life.  I am a one trick pony. I am the old show that keeps playing over and over 'til people get sick of it and leave.  I pushed through because that's just what I do.  Welcome to my roller coaster of insanity.  I live in the never ending story that is filled with hurt shoulders and a future of hip replacements and walkers. ik

You think I am cocky and confident......you have no idea.  I am the exact opposite.  Between reps I sometimes sit and watch the others train, forgeting that I am on the team.  I watch with amazement as monsters lift weight.  I am the biggest Cal strength fan there is.  I clap when the giants who stand 15 feet tall lift weights.  I am like a little kid whose dad brought him to watch his first football game...wow.  But then all the eyes turn to me. The cameras red light blinding me as it rudely waits for what I am going to do next. Who am I?  Let me check......o wow I can snatch 166, I am a national champion.......and good lord I am more crazy than all these guys.  This guy is nuts, and I guess that makes me nuts.  The pressure makes it hard to sleep.  I find myself talking to myself throughout the day to take my mind off the hype, and that damn bar that sits high above me.  How many more minutes do we have in this therapy session?  10, ok perfect.  I sometimes catch myself laughing in training when training gets hard, thinking about a funny movie I saw, what my dog did the other day, the joke my wife made, JON YOUR UP!  Sorry Coach here I go. 

Home sick, that's the feeling I had today.  I felt like I was on a school trip away from home and I miss my mom.  It's like playing video games by yourself late at night, you lose a sense of reality which brings your stomach a creepy pain.  I hug myself and wish I didnt have to lift another weight.  My body and mind don't see eye to eye, as they fight with each other everyday.  If they could just get along, we as a team could lift more weight.  There was a moment where I saw the outside light peeking through the door.  My body said run!  My mind said stay.  When coach is not looking I am running for freedom!  Sorry mind but I am with body on this one!  Green fields and small town America sounds like a different kind of heaven.  I should have been a biker, so I could see the landscape and breath the fresh air.  Weightlifters only see the bench, barbell and weight.  But in reality there is nothing outide the gym.  In the gym is a never ending story of lifting.  I am really just a kid who yells a lot, because that's what a person does when you have a concusion and you have no idea where you are.   Its 3 AM in the morning and I am still up playing this video game. 

Weightlifting is like The Shining.  Snatch Clean and Jerk Snatch Clean and Jerk Snatch Clean and Jerk Snatch Clean and Jerk Snatch Clean and Jerk Snatch Clean and Jerk Snatch Clean and Jerk Snatch Clean and Jerk

Home sick 2012

"Over the Years", A Video From My Wife For My Birthday, Thank You Sweetie, I Love You

Hooters

How many wings from hooters do you think you can eat?  Do you think you can beat Donny Shankle?  If eating is a sport, then I guess Donny is a pro at two things!  When you train hard you need to eat, and eating is what we all did, or some of us tried to do.  We all have never been the same after this battle took place. I still have nightmares of fallen soldiers. I still will not eat around Donny, and not a day goes by where that brown owl doesn't haunt me.

It was a Tuesday afternoon here at California Strength, and all the weightlifting soldiers and coaching captions battled hard all day.  On this heroic day Coach Glenn Pendlay coached well and
hard, Donny Shankle hit big weight, Caleb Ward moved fast, and I yelled out some bad ass phrases before I lifted my bar full of red Kilo plates.

After practice was over, everybody agreed how hungry they were and how we should all go out and eat.  We all had a big meet that we were getting ready for, so eating was very important.  There was silence in the big gym, as we all looked at each other back and forth waiting for someone to speak up about where we should go eat.  Finally, Coach Pendlay made a suggestion, only if we knew how much this suggestion would change our lives for the best, or worse,  I haven’t figured that one out yet.  “Hooters has all you can eat wings today,”  Coach Pendlay said with a little smile on his face, like a kid getting ready to enter a candy shop.  Without any hesitation, we all said “ok” and started off to the land of boobs, wings, and more wings, and even more boobs, but mostly wings!   We all rode in coach Pendlay’s big Texas truck, with the Captain Pendlay driving, the team leader Donny in the front seat and
the two soldiers Caleb and I in the back.  I remember the whole Texas truck ride over like it was yesterday.  It was dead silent as if we were heading into war, and the truck was our tank.  This was not lunch, this was a mission.  Donny and coach Pendlay take their food very seriously, like it’s a job, like it’s a sport, like its game time baby.  I on the other hand, view and approach food with much less intensity, and I eat just because I have to; but these guys are on a whole different level. I tried to spark up a few conversations in the car but was quickly shut down by coach and Donny, “Jon no time for talking, just preparation,” Donny said in his deep southern voice, as if he was saying his most famous
line, “Kids these days”  hahaha  I love it.  I soon came to the realization that this was not just a fun team lunch, instead this was a battle, and I was caught right in the middle!  I found myself scared and nervous like maybe I should have just went and got lunch by myself!  I took a deep breath and thought to myself, “come on Jon, its only hooters”!   And boy was I wrong. 

When we walked into Hooters two very big-boobed girls greeted us at the front door ready to seat us, but Coach Pendlay and Donny pushed them to the side, knocking them both down while keeping their focus completely on the task at hand.  Coach Pendlay started looking around in circles, with his arms out to the side like he was being surrounded by a group of ninjas.  In a panicky manner, Coach finally found the table he was destined to find.  Coach and Donny sat down like knights at the Round Table, while Caleb and I just sat down like normal people wanting to eat lunch. Caleb and I had a great little conversation while Donny and coach stared at each other from across the table.  Their four heads were already sweating, their napkins tucked in their shirt, their hot sauce just inches from their hands as if they were cowboys ready to draw at any moment.  The innocent happy little waitress came skipping over,  as if it was her first day.  Let me skip forward by telling you that after we left the war zone of Hooters, that little innocent happy skipping waitress on her first day, was no longer innocent, happy, or skipping and that first day was probably her last. 

The hot wings started coming out in trays one after another.  Waitresses where running around the restaurant like the building was just hit by those North Korean commies.  Donny and coach never took a breath.  Their hot sauce never left their hands, while each wings soul rode the grooved tracks to their final destination into the abyss.  Both of these crazed men never took there eyes off each other.  Both of these men were in another world, and each of these magnificent creatures refused to be beaten by the other. Wings kept piling up as if they were building a fort of bones to live in.  Kids were crying and women were running for safety as Caleb and I could only sit back and watch this massacre.  Donny was approaching 80 wings when Coach finally had to throw in the towel at a very impressive 87 wings, not because he was full and couldn’t eat anymore, but he was late for a meeting he could not miss.  While coach stood up to leave, Donny’s eyes followed.  There were no words spoken, coach just left.

Donny was at 93 wings, and at this point the whole restaurant was watching in amazement as Donny kept fighting those chickens one after another.  His goal was to eat one hundred, and he could already taste victory. At 96 wings the most amazing thing I have ever seen happened, he stopped eating and spoke. The whole place went quiet and Donny said, “I am full” as he looked over at me like he needed help or even a hug.  He quit at 96 wings, but I refused to see my team mate lose; a soldier was down and I needed to pick him back up, that’s what team mates are for.  So I leaned across the wing grave yard, and
looked at him right in the eyes and said, “don’t you quit on me Donny, don’t you even think about stopping when you are this close, you pick up those last few wings and you eat them with everything you have boy”!!  This California Strength soldier finished those last 4 wings, stood up with pride and we walked out of that restaurant like he owned the place.  That day changed my life, and I will never forget it.  We never did see Coach Pendlay again, some say that after his defeat on that sunny Tuesday afternoon at Hooters, he packed up his stuff, bought a pair of board shorts and joined a Crossfit gym near a retirement community in Miami Beach.    100 wings 2012

The end

Attitude Nation

The glossy fire in my eyes is a reflection of the burning gym that is slowly being put to its knees.  The flames of the fire slowly rise above me, casting a black shadow over an army called the Attitude Nation.  I will burn your gym down and take your athletes with me.  I am not brain washed by the puppet masters of this sport.  I throw up my hands and take on the whole dictatorship that has coaches and athletes caged in there castle.  We are not robots!  The kids will be set free!  Your castle will be burned down. 

People always ask me what my favorite lift is, and my answer is I hate them both.  I should have been a fighter; I should have made a million by now.  Fucken concussions, you are the one who moved my chess piece to check mate.   Either bomb out or go for the PR.  That’s my weightlifting program.  The ups and downs of a weightlifter will get the average Joe Sea sick just by standing next to me.

Back in the gym again today after being sick. Maxed out and missed almost all my lifts, fuck it, I’ll try again at two.  Local meet on Sunday, max out again and cross my fingers.  Nationals a month out, see you all there with a big beard, a chip on my shoulder, a stronger jerk, and some crazy high openers to win my gold again.

 I drive my car like I am skiing, a lift weights like Ali, and I will be the first to tell someone to get out of my gym.  I must be miserable at all times so I can adapt to misery.  Tie me to the post and whip me tell I can’t feel anymore.  Spider Sylvia where you at?  I want to fight you.  20 plus streets fights and still undefeated.  It’s been a while because now I am mature and responsible.  I still have it, I know it.  I have been jumped once, and I deserved it.  Actually that was one of the best things that ever happened to me.  Getting my head kicked around made me grow up. 

Saw one of my teachers the other day who always told me I was a piece of shit, and then I saw him driving a piece of shit.  Sorry buddy but I have no change for you, and yes I dropped out of college.  And yes my account has an extra zero in it than yours.  Sorry councilor, I went my own way.  Stay with me, I know my writing is taking you all over the place..... But let’s keep going.  The song writes the blog, I am just the puppet.  Donny gave me a crazy song that has taken my fingers over like my coffee has to my mind.  Shall we move on?

Interviews are hard for me, because I have nothing to say, there is nothing to talk about.  It’s hard, it’s a bitch, leave me the fuck alone.  Take your sissy training program out of my gym buddy; this is Cal strength, where only the strong survive.  Has my blog offended you?  Good, don’t read it again.  Three fingers means three back to back Pan Ams, two fingers mean two back to back National titles, and one finger means I am the Johnny Cash of weightlifting.  Sorry to the old crows in the sport, I know I am evil and the anti-Christ of weightlifting, but fuck you too.  I will not be scared of the gang that runs this sport.  The behind the certain chatter bugs and brain washers, who pull the strings of the young weightlifters and coaches who are molded into their beliefs and ways.  I am rising up to stop you from the control you have cast over this sport.  I will teach my way, I will lift my way, and I will express my emotions as an athlete any way I please.  I am the robin hood of weightlifting.  I will save the youth from there ball and chains.  I will rip the roof off this sport and give the green vine more room to grow higher.  Climb kids climb!  Let this sport grow!  We are free from the 1920's way of lifting now!  Slam your bar and show the world how you feel! 

JonNorthattitude.com  is going to start sponsoring young athletes.  Soon enough I will grow an army to take back this sport and give it to the people.  Let the weightlifter be a weightlifter, and not a caged puppet that has his hands tied and his mouth sewed shut!  Coaches rebel from the norm, and let you’re coaching beliefs grow into a wave that crashes over the zombies!  Spread the Attitude Nation to become bigger than Crossfit.  Crossfit is now on ESPN!  We as weightlifters must fight to have more freedom in this sport.  Throw your USA weightlifting handbook out, and write your own.  Attitude Nation 2012

South Park and Pizza

I feel good enough to write today.  I woke up this morning to my lab top staring at me like a puppy wanting food.  My left leg was hanging out over the bed, while my body was completely sideways.  The covers and sheets looked as if there was a break dance competition that took place in my bed. I smiled at the thought of someone seeing me like this, but then again, is there any other way to sleep when you are sick? I thought the rule book stated that you can sleep as long as you wanted, any way you wanted.  Playing the sick card allows you to eat pizza while watching South Park in the middle of the day without making you feel like a loser.  I am sicker than sick and I don’t know how or where it came from.  It’s funny how much writing can suck the life right out of you.  All that emotion racing through your body can build up quite the workout.  I’m not saying that’s how a got sick, but then again I’m not saying that’s how I didn’t get sick.  Who knows, maybe it’s been the hard training that Coach Pendlay has been cooking up for me lately.  Or the extremely cold weather outside that makes you feel you are in an alternative rock video as you walk down the side walk.

 It’s weird writing this blog in my bed with no coffee.  I am so use to my green jungle that my chi is all messed up.  Tomorrow I must write again, and try to make sense of my next blog, because this one is all over the place.  Boy, being sick not only shuts the body down, but the mind as well.  Tomorrow everything should be back to normal.

I have been sober now for 3 months, and I love it.  It’s been hard to stop, but I am on the right path.  I have put alcohol back on its sail boat, and pushed him back out to sea. Goodbye alcohol, travel safe and far from me.  When nights get lonely and long I will miss you and remember the fun times we had.  But you have done much more harm to me than good, and for that I must let you go.  Goodbye my old friend, safe sails as you enter back into the foggy waters, looking for another young kid to make friends with.

I could go into the alcohol thing much more, but I don’t want to waste your time while I play my violin.  Everyone has their skeletons, so I will move on from this topic that has hurt many people throughout my life. I do want to say sorry to everyone who I have hurt throughout my days with alcohol.  I will stop at that.  Words through a key board don’t do enough justice. 

The PWA meet in San Fran is this weekend and I am very excited.  Kevin Doherty and Hassle free always puts on great meets at Lincoln High.  Paul Doherty does the same up in Sacramento at Sac High.  Both of these brothers are the weightlifting Godfathers.  We need more of them in this sport and in life in general.  They have been there for me from the very start, so I want to take time out of this blog and say thank you to both of them.

Even though I have been sick for the last three days, I am going to put my head down and lift anyways. I am more excited to see a few of my athletes compete, for a few of them it’s there first time.    Let’s go Tim and Jake!! 

I saw the Machinist last night with Christian bail.  Amazing movie and it reminded me how much I like Bail as an actor.  So much he might even be on my top 10 favorite actors list.  Here it is.  See you guys tomorrow.  

Top ten favorite actors

1.  Leonardo diCaprio

2.  Denzel Washington

3.  Al Pacino

4.  Philip Seymour Hoffman

5   Edward Norton

6   Giovanni Ribisi

7.  James Gandolfini

8.  Christian Bail

9.  Jim Carey

10. Vince Vaughn

I love you Jessica North 2012

Run Danny

Chapter one

BW (Before Weightlifting)

He walked with pep in his step.  He wore his Bright Reebok clothing that made him feel athletic and fit.   His smile was of confidence and joy as he hopped down from his freshly washed truck.   His shoes were tied tight; vitamin water in his right and his salad in his left.  My cold Starbucks chair outside soon became warmer, as his glow of light from across the parking lot lit up the whole city.  The two white doves that flew right by him, gave him a corny chuckle and a” gosh darn those birds” fist pump.  His glowing shaved face got closer to our meeting point. He saw me drinking my coffee right outside the green jungle.  His open hand raised high in the air while his heels lifted off the ground onto his toes like a ballerina. His eyes opened as if lightning struck him from above, and he began to wave at me as if I couldn’t see him.   His walk was long and powerful, that created a gust of wind that hit me from his energy. 

He was so excited to start his first session with me; he was excited to become a weightlifter. What he didn't know was that soon his excitement was facing its last days.   My face was half cover by the shade, with my smile showing in the sun, and my sad frown being hidden in the dark.  He reminded me so much of myself when I first got into this sport.  His innocence and determination gave me a warm feeling that made me feel free again.   His arm stuck straight out like a soldier’s sword running at the enemy.  But this was no attack, just a much anticipated hand shake.   His grip was tight, and his eyes burned right through mine. 

Hopefully he saw the tears running down the left side of my cheek, so he could see what I Have turned into.  Don’t come any closer Danny Lehr, please run away.  He was blind from excitement, only seeing my USA weightlifting shirt, not the blood stains around it.  He saw my happy mask, not my sorrowed beat up face. 

My national gold medal looked intriguing to him, like a new drug you want to try for the first time, or the first time you fall in love on the football bleachers under the stars.  He had no idea what kind of world lived behind the gold medal, and what kind of creatures lurked in the darkness.  His mouth moved a thousand miles an hour, but I couldn’t hear a word he was saying.   It was like I was seeing my mother for the first time.  

I was drawn to his positive presence and enthusiasm.  I wanted to reach out and touch his face.   I am trapped in this dark symphony, screaming at him to save me, but he could only see my smile.   Why can’t he hear me?  Please Danny Lehr save me, and then run far away and never look back.  Every minute you sit with me, you fall further away from reality and deeper into my dark world.  You are not talking to me Danny; you are talking to a weightlifting slave that has trapped me for life.   Can’t you see! Can’t you see the black bird that sits on my shoulder?  Can you see that my coffee is red and not brown?  Your tree is green and blooming, mine is burnt and dark.  How can you not see the handcuffs I wear and the thorn in my heart? 

Please Danny Lehr, run away while you still can. 

Chapter Two

(AW) After Weightlifting

He walked with a limp, dragging his right foot behind him.  His loose gray sweat suit was stained with coffee and ketchup from McDonald's.  His eye lids were heavy, as they drooped down his face like window shades.  His presents was followed by a red sky, and a barbell tied to his ankle.  The black bird was now sitting on his shoulder, while he started mumbling to himself.  The mumbling is the first sign of insanity, and that’s when I knew I had ruined his life.  Danny’s five fingered shoes were now broken sandals that made a sound of a chain rather than a flop.  We made eye contact from a distance, but this time there was no wave of excitement.  Just a sad look, that spoke two words that said “save me”.   This time I was completely in the dark sitting in the chair outside the green jungle, and my half smile was now a sagging smile of hot dripping wax.  

I feel for him, I really do, but there is nothing I can do now, I already tried.  Every PR he gets he slips deeper into hell.  We are now brothers, we are now just alike.  The white dove’s now lay dead on the ground as he walked over them.   This time he had nothing corny to say, just a small ache in his lower back and shaky hands from his coffee withdrawals.  Now we can play together Danny, now we are best friends forever.  I wanted you to run and be free, but now that you are here I am happy.  We can train together and cry together.  We can play tag around the concert hall, while the others sleep.  Don’t worry Danny; I left the green light on in case they need to find us.   You are family now, and I will never let anything happen to you.  We will ride the monsters together and slap hands while the skeletons try to kill us.

See Danny your loneliness becomes your best friend, and your eyes will adjust to the dark over time.  Please trust me. It will make this a lot easier.  Danny stop looking around….there is no way out, now come help me lift this bar.  Danny to answer your question, the white eyes you keep seeing are the blog viewers who check up on us from time to time, don’t be scared, they are friends.  Now go back to your cell for the night Danny Lehr, we have a big day ahead of us.  And Danny………I know you miss your old life, family and wife, but your crying is keeping me up at night, so please keep it down.  Good night brother, and welcome to hell. 


Here Is a video of Danny Lehr in his new world of weightlifting attacking a PR.  

Danny Lehr 2016