The MagicJack

I just hooked this little guy up instead of using the "traditional" phone company.

It's pretty simple, just plug your phone into it, plug it into a USB port on your computer and follow the directions. In about ten minutes you're up and running. If you go on a trip, take it with you. It works with faxes, too.

The MagicJack

Back on the grid.

So our first cross country move is in the books.

What an endeavor! And, what a change.

It took three trips, two with trucks and car carriers. The last one my truck pulling a small 5x8 trailer.

I got down here last Thursday, it took me and Riley 17 hours to make the drive. With Riley I had to stop more often than I would have if I were driving alone.

The following week was just unpacking and find a place for everything.

When you move from a house with a basement to a home without one you have to get real creative with where you put things.

We're managing.

We finally have a high speed internet connection up and running so we should be able to get back to posting.

At this point the house is coming together, but there is still a lot to do.

We have the "gym" set up in the garage, which is a change. That's where the training will take place no matter what the weather. So far it's been a good change, it feels good to sweat. But, we'll have had to make some adjustments to what we would normally be doing.

Snatches get tough in the humidity. We have changed to jerks and long cycle and more swings than usual. At Doug's direction I will be changing to LCCJ once a week once it starts to get real humid, and also snatches once a week maybe lowering to the shoulder to save the hands.

Next week I should be meeting with an attorney to file the Articles of Organization for our LLC. I'd do it myself, but since I'm new here and and not familiar with TX business law...yet...I'll a pro to do it for me.

We will be doing business under a new name here, so there will be some changes on our old sites. Some pages will disappear, some will refer to a sister company/site, others will transform into more info based pages and product reviews.

The new sites will be "blog" based, similar to Hyperfitusa.com, Doug Chapman's facility in MI, or Mike Stehle's Newjerseycrossfit.com.

There is a park right down the street, actually in our development, next to two schools, that if permitted we will explore the possibility of setting up a boot camp to generate some income and then start looking for a space to lease.

So, lots of work to do, living 1/3 the income...this could get interesting.

Maybe I'll start another blog about the start up and (re)building multiple streams of income from scratch.

Stay tuned.

Todays training session was pretty decent:

I did a "skill based warm up"

pull ups BW+16kg 4, 3, 3
bent press 1r/l, 1r/l x 2, 1r/l x3
pistol w/ 24kg 1r/l, 1r/l, 1r/l

Jerks w/ 2 16kg @ 6 RPM 17, 15, 18
Jerks w/ 2 16kg(fast) 24

OALCCJ w/ 24kg 10 minutes, changing hands every minute.

All-and-all not bad. I seem to be having a hard time resting in the rack, something has changed and I have to figure out what.=, because it's starting to bug me.

I'll be getting 2 24kg Competition bells on Tuesday, it'll be a good test to see if what I learned at Doug's has stuck, the heavier bells my just fix my rack too. The heavier bells should force my elbows to my hips.

The OALCCJs were tough but do-able. I just didn't feel like swings today so I thought this would be a good alternative.

6 Min. LCCJ

6 minutes completed w/ 2 16kg bells, in about 90 degree weather.

Heavier bells should be coming soon, this should help me push my numbers higher. One thing I realized is snatching is going to be limited to skill priactice only. With the high humidity, even with lots of chalk and extra attention to proper technique, the handle will still pull.

Built a pull up bar i'll get some pics up soon.

We still don't have internet service, so I'm limited to when we make the drive to Plano to my mother-in-laws house to make short choppy blog posts. Hopefully this week we'll get hooked up and back on track.

later
BJ

Almost There!

Whew!

It's a been a hectic couple of weeks, but we are almost there!

For the most part, we are all moved in...but not even close to unpacked.

Kori has started work at the hospital, today actually. I'm still up in WI, but getting ready to make th final drive with the dog and what little we have left up here.

Training has been here and there, between moving, graduations and whatever other loose ends I have to tie up.

I did, however, have a great session with Doug Sides last week. I made the drive to Rockford, IL and man was it worth it. He tweaked a few things with my technique, and before I knew it I set a PR, jerking 2 32kg bells for 6 reps. I was really suprised how easy they went up. So, I am going rethink what I'd like to accomplish by the end of the year. Doug seemed to have more confidence in my abilities than I did, and really showed my I should probably using heaier bells for most of my training...which I will do now.

Once we get a high speed connection set I'll share a story (funny now, but not when it was happening).

Until then.

Bang for your buck

I haven't had a lot of time in the past week to train.

The move is coming so fast and is the priority right now.

So when I do get some free time, it's Long Cycle Clean & Jerks.

Is this the perfect movement?

Could be, if your pressed for time.

Friday and today I simply set my timer for 20 minutes and, while focusing on technique first and foremost, I would bang out between 5-10 reps. I made sure to "rest" in the rack at 3-5 seconds to get used to being there.

I am having a much easier time finding my hip due to more hip flexor flexibility, and really just forcing myself into the correct position.

Friday session got a little rocky. I was getting more concerned with doing more reps rather than doing the reps right. My breathing was all out of whack, actually I had only a vague idea of what the proper breathing pattern was for this movement.

Luckily, I met Doug Sides last weekend at the RKC.

Doug is a certified AKC Coach form Rockford, IL. I shot him and e-mail, and I got a very complete, detailed explanation of what to do.

Today I did what Doug said, and it was unbelievable how much easier the bells went up.

I only did sets of 5 because I wanted them to be as near to perfect as I am able to them.

So, if you read this, Thanks Doug.

What did you do this weekend?

While you were sitting on your ass, bitching about the bad weather here in the Midwest, a group of about 60 individuals made the leap from ordinary to extraordinary.

My "new" friend Doug Chapman, also assisting this weekend, was nice enough to capture it so you can see what you could have done.

BTW, Doug is a stand up guy and runs an awesome facility in Ann Arbor, MI. Check it out.

And....if you get past the screening process, He may let you join.

No promises though.

Great traininng this weekend

This past weekend I had three good sessions.

Lots Jerks, Snatches and I played with some One Arm Long cycles, all felt great and all felt grooved.

The jerks surprised me.

What hit me as odd was when I did the Jerks combined with pacing, it cut my reps in half. I was lucky to get 13-14 reps with 2 16kgs kettlebells.

But, when I just decided to see how reps I could bang out and good clip.

I got 25 pretty easily.

I seems, for me at least, the rack position (you know where you are supposed to rest) is more work than actually performing the jerks.

So some more "work" will have to be done to learning to "rest".

Snatches felt good, I have been doing less and less snatching and more jerks lately since it seems to be the lift that I lack skill at.

I have also started using my weightlifting shoes for these training sessions. After the initial "getting used to them again" period I really like the solid support. I also figured out the sound I need to hear, from the heels hitting ground, if it's going to be a good rep. Kind like that nice "tink" sound when a golfer hits a good drive...you hear the and you know it's a good hit.

More Jerks tonight, although I need to taper a little for my Snatch test on Thursday.