Category: Music

I hear a Train

I love Johnny Cash. One of my favorite movies is “Walk the Line”. My son and I use to watch it a lot. I still watch it again from time to time. Johnny Cash has a great story. He had many obstacles to overcome and got some help along the way.

This morning I was listening to a remade version of the song “Folsom Prison Blues” by Cody Parks and the Dirty South. I really like the work of Cody and his team. What he does is mix metal, rock, and country and it turns out great. The name if the song by Cody is “Thunder Cash 69” and it mixes some Rob Zombie in there. It’s worth a listen.

Today is Tuesday and I am going to recap both Monday and Tuesday. I didn’t get a chance to write a post yesterday (translation – I forgot). The workout yesterday started with a 500M row to warm-up and did some chest stretches with bands. Next I did bench press pyramid style. I worked up from 135 pounds to 255 pounds and back down.

Next I did shoulder press with dumbbells working up from 25 each to 40 each. This was a 12-10-8-6-24 routine. I then used the same pattern for skull crushers working from 55 pounds to 85 pounds on the straight bar. I then did 4 sets of DB fly from the ground with 35 pound dumbbells. Next I did dumbbell kickbacks starting at 25 working to 40 pounds in a 12-10-8-6-24 routine.

I then did three rounds of 200M row followed by 20 push ups, 10 dips, and 50 cable crunch. Overall very good workout with 107 intensity minutes.

Today I did a run/walk workout for about 45 minutes followed by leg stretching, 2 rounds of 100 DB triceps press and 60 DB hammer curls. I finished with 2 minutes of sit ups and I was able to complete 70. Today was 100 intensity minutes so I am at 207 intensity minutes for the week by Tuesday morning which is great. Remember that Garmin sets my weekly goal to 150 by default but I modified it and now my weekly goal is 300 intensity minutes.

Short post today but will be adding more this week. Have a great day everyone!

Overcome

There is a song by Creed released in 2009 as part of the Full Circle album named “Overcome”. Some of the lyrics go like this:

I’m entitled to overcome
Completely stunned and numb
Knock me down, throw me to the floor
There’s no pain; I can’t feel no more
I’m entitled to overcome
Overcome

If you follow the band Creed or know of their story you understand that they have have had to overcome a lot of adversity over their career. We all face adversity and must find a way to overcome. This morning, I faced some serious adversity.

I did not sleep well. I woke up several times in the night. I am not sure why I was so restless. I have anxiety and I am a worrier so perhaps I was worrying about things subconsciously and it kept me awake. Unfortunately this happens quite a bit to me. At any rate, when 4:30 am came around I had a difficult time getting out of bed. I finally managed to do it, got dressed, fed the dogs and let them out. I then took my preworkout.

I was groggy, tired, and struggling. My self talk was very bad this morning trying to talk me out of exercise. My body is sore from the leg workout yesterday, I am tired, and negative self talk was really pushing. I know that if I can just get started I would be okay. So I got out to the gym and started walking around outside to get the blood flowing. I did that for 10 – 15 minutes.

Once I hit the road I was starting to overcome. Today I ran for one minute and walked at a fast pace for one minute. I did this for a little over 45 minutes. There were times during my workout that was better than others but I was able to overcome and get it done. I then did a series of leg stretches followed by 2 sets of 100 triceps press and 60 hammer curls with 15 pound dumbbells. I then did max situps in two minutes which was 67 today, slightly less than my previous few sessions of 70+ but I got it done. I am so glad I did because my mindset is much better now. I accomplished something very hard and instead of being in a bad mood because of lack of sleep I am now ready to conquer the day and kick butt.

It takes a lot of mental fortitude but I have learned that I can take charge of my mind and accomplish things. I am really believing that what I put into the universe is what I will accomplish. Well, now I will get on to the day. Have a great one everyone!

Blessed – Leg Day

There is a song I heard today named Blessed by Fearless Motivation. It starts off this way

It doesn’t matter where you are in life
If you don’t feel blessed you won’t be blessed
You’ve got to know your worth, before you can be worth anything

The song has a great overall message. I like listening to uplifting music in the morning and YouTube music built a very nice playlist based on this song.

Let’s talk about leg day. Previously you’ve seen that my leg days start out with all of these hip exercises with bands. I wanted to explain how that came to be. About 3 – 4 years ago my lower back was constantly hurting and didn’t seem to get better. I went to the doctor and they referred me to physical therapy.

In physical therapy they had me doing all of these hip exercises with bands. I asked the physical therapist “why am I working on my hips when back hurts?”. She explained that my back is just a symptom of a bigger problem. My hips were weak. Because my hips were weak I overcompensated by using my lower back in awkward ways. She was right. Over time as I strengthened my hips my lower back pain went away. Since I finished physical therapy I continue to do a series of hip exercises I learned at physical therapy during my leg workouts prior to lifting heavy.

Once I completed the hip and band exercises, I moved on to squats. Today I did 10 reps at 135 pounds, 6 reps at 185 pounds, 4 reps at 225 pounds, and 2 reps at 275 pounds. I actually did 2 sets of 2 reps at 275 pounds. I am still unhappy with how deep I am going but I try my best to get as deep as I can. I will keep doing this weight until I can get all of the way down. Once I completed the 2 sets at 275, I reduced back to 225 pounds and completed 4 reps. Then 185 pounds for 6 reps and finally 10 reps at 135 pounds. I use a weight belt once I hit 185 pounds and up to limit stress on my lower back.

After this I performed a 20 minute AMRAP of 400M run, 10 Romanian deadlifts at 135 pounds, 24 walking lunges, and 45 calf raises with 100 pounds. I was able to complete 3 rounds. Next I put on a 20 pounds weight vest and walked at a fast pace for a little over a mile.

Overall it was a good workout. I was pretty winded during the AMRAP and it was pretty humid outside. I had to keep pushing through. I will leave you with another part of the song blessed:

When failure tried to take my mind
I wouldn’t let failure take my life
I am not blessed because it all went right
I’ll never give up
I’m blessed because I’ve got fight

Stay positive, stay active, keep fighting, and always do your best. Have a blessed day!

Outlaw Shit!

There is a song I heard yesterday and like a lot. It’s by Bryan Martin and it’s called “Everyone’s An Outlaw”. It is a very good song and the main theme is a saying I have heard before “Everyone’s an outlaw, until it’s time to do outlaw shit!”.

This is something that resonates with me heavily. I have a coached football for many years and also been around coaches, they all talk about the process. Everyone is trying to win a championship but you really have to embrace and trust the process to have a chance. The process is messy, it’s ugly., it sucks. But it’s necessary. Not just necessary but essential to perform the process at a high level. There are sayings like how you work in the dark will show up greatly in the light. Doing the things that suck matter the most.

I listen to David Goggins a lot. If you do not know David Goggins I encourage you to look him up as he has a tremendous story. He said something one day. People ask him all of the time how to do what he does. Everyone sees him accomplish the things he accomplishes and they want that. He tells them that even if I told you what I do, you won’t do it because it sucks. He describes the worst pain you can imagine and pushing past it with everything he has. He said most people will quit long before that. They are not willing to sacrifice and do what it takes.

I was watching a TikTok video the other day and there was a young person saying something about how people have steered him wrong. He described that he bought a house based on what people recommended. He said it sucks. He didn’t realize all of the work it takes to keep it up and he hates it. He said he was selling it as soon as possible and going back to a condo and pay someone else to take care of it. You see, a lot of people want the glory of owning a home but is not willing to do what it takes to maintain it. There are a lot of benefits and reward to owning a home. In fact, most of the wealth in this country was accumulated through real estate. Yes, it takes work, it must be maintained, and yes you are responsible, but it is worth it.

I have a pool now for the first time. I hear people talk about how having a pool sucks. It takes so much work and expense to just have it available a few months of the year. They are correct. It takes a lot of consistent work and effort. I have had to learn a lot and am getting better at it. It does really suck at times. But when all of my family, friends and others come here to get together in the summer such as 4th of July, it is so worth it.

Kids watch sports and see the championship and see the people celebrating, having parades, smoking cigars, hugging each other. the media is all over it. It’s celebrated heavily. They want that and a dream is born. Nobody bothers to tell them that the championship game is three hours, the parade is a couple of hours, media covers us for a couple of 30 minutes segments but to get all of that it took hard work, dedication, and consistent effort at a high level every single day for a very long time. It takes a lot to build your skill well enough to be able to play at the level. There is a lot more suck than good feelings. You must be willing to do the outlaw shit to be an outlaw. You must do championship level practice by yourself to be able to win a championship.

Read the lessons from Kobi Bryant, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Lebron James, and others who are the best to ever do it. They will tell you what it takes. If it was easy everyone would do it. Let’s not have the attitude that we don’t want to put in the work because it is not worth it. To have anything in life with a high reward you should understand to get there it sucks. The higher the reward the more the process sucks.

You want the benefits of home ownership including the wealth that comes with it, do the work required. You want the championships, practice like a champion every day by yourself, have discipline. You want to host family gatherings and enjoy the fun a pool brings, do the work. To be anything of significance, it takes a process that often sucks. It’s hard. But I believe that all of that suck is worth it. Let’s go after it and change our mindset!

Music – First Blog Post

This is my first blog post regarding music. Just a little background. I have always loved music. Primarily heavy metal. Every since I was young. I grew up with Metallica, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Van Halen, Motley Crue, etc.

I also like Country music. When I was younger I really liked Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Jr., and many other country artists. There have been times in my like when I leaned more toward country than metal.

I do like many of today’s artists. I seek out and find metal artists, many from other countries around the world and I will talk about them and what they mean to me and metal in general. I also like a lot of the newer country. Especially the cross over stuff. Many of them are mixing metal and country and really like that. I will talk about some of those as well.

For my workouts, I listed to primarily heavy music. It gets me fired up and going. I do the same when I run. It is hard to explain what music does to me when I am working out or running. There have been songs that came on during a run, for example, that literally gave me chills. Something about getting into another state of mind fully immersed in the music while getting after it.

Heavy music while exercising helps me get aggression out. I, like many others, have demons. Mistakes I’ve made, regrets, and also daily struggles today that I need to work through. When I couple music with exercise, it helps me fight off those demons. It keeps me grounded in the work of the day. The daily grind. All of this sets me up for a great day.

I will write more and more about my music, the feelings I get, the various artists and what I hear in their music. I can hear and feel many of their own demons and aggressions in the music. I can only imagine what many of them have been through and are going through. We all have our own ways of dealing with pain, anger, frustration. I am writing about the ways in which I conquer the world every day. More to come. Until next time, keep working and fighting.