Posts Tagged ‘Amazon’

Book Review: The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield

Posted: August 7, 2016 in Announcements, Product Reviews
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The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield

(Directly from Amazon)

WARS CHANGE, WARRIORS DON’T

We are all warriors. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence on the planet and to understand, if only within our own hearts, who we are and what we believe in. Do we fight by a code? If so, what is it? What is the Warrior Ethos? Where did it come from? What form does it take today? How do we (and how can we) use it and be true to it in our internal and external lives?

The Warrior Ethos is intended not only for men and women in uniform, but artists, entrepreneurs and other warriors in other walks of life. The book examines the evolution of the warrior code of honor and “mental toughness.” It goes back to the ancient Spartans and Athenians, to Caesar’s Romans, Alexander’s Macedonians and the Persians of Cyrus the Great (not excluding the Garden of Eden and the primitive hunting band). Sources include Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, Xenophon, Vegetius, Arrian and Curtius–and on down to Gen. George Patton, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan.

Features at a Glance:

Pros:

  • Short Read
  • Full Of Popular Anecdotes

Cons:

  • Too many anecdotes.  Hardly any original content.  It is just full of stories and points from movies, myths, and other books.
  • Feels like a poorly researched high school term paper
  • A pamphlet of what seems to just be titles of chapters.
  • Very overpriced for the content that was included.

Where to buy:

I got mine as a birthday present.  I did have it on my Amazon wishlist because I thought it looked interesting.  Had I wanted to read a bunch of stories of ancient warriors, I would have just looked them up online.

 

 

DIY – Supplements

Posted: June 25, 2016 in Announcements, Meal Plan, Product Reviews
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I decided that I was spending WAY too much money on supplements.  Because supplements are supposed to be SUPPLEMENTAL to what I am already consuming I thought it was a waste of money to pay for the Big Name Brands with their fancy Proprietary Blends and what not.  I decided to try to create my own personal Pre and Post workout supplements.  I buy ingredients in bulk.  My last bill was around $140.00.  This included ingredients for both the pre and post workout stuff.  The amount of ingredients that I bought should supply enough material for around 3 months of training (1-2 times a day, 5-6t times a week).  The equates to around $1.50 a day or $45 a month.  I was spending $100-150 a month on the Big Name Brands. I tried to keep it simple and easy.  I researched what a lot of the Big Name Brands used for ingredients in their supplements and tried to replicate it as closely as I could. What I found was that most pre and post workout supplements contained roughly the same ingredients as other pre and post workout supplements.  Here are the main ingredients:

Pre-Workout

  1. Caffeine
  2. BCAAs
  3. Beta Alanine
  4. Creatine
  5. Flavoring

Post-Workout

  1. Whey Protein
  2. BCAAs
  3. Creatine
  4. Flavoring

These along with a few other ingredients (glutamine, vitamin c, etc) make up the bulk of most pre and post workout supplements.  I decided to go to BulkSupplements.Com to see how cheap (but good) of ingredients I could get.  After I placed my order (I actually ordered through Amazon so I could get 2 day free shipping so I could get it faster) I figured out how much of each ingredient to use to get me to the average amount that most other supplements used.  Here is what I came up with:

Pre-Workout

  1. Green Coffee Bean – 1/8 tsp = ~212mg of Caffeine
  2. BCAAs (2:1:1) – 3 tsp = ~5.3g
  3. Beta Alanine – 1/2 tsp = ~2.3g
  4. Creatine Monohydrate (Micronized) – 1 tsp = ~5g
  5. Great Value (Wal-mart brand) Sugar free-Low calorie Pink Lemonade Drink Mix – 1/2 packet = 1/2 tsp = 5 cal, o carbs 15mg Potassium, and flavoring to cover up the other stuff.

Post-Workout

  1. Whey Protein Isolate – 2 Tbsp = ~30g
  2. BCAAs (2:1:1) – 3 tsp = ~5.3g (yes, I know I probably didn’t need to double up on the BCAAs)
  3. Creatine Monohydrate (Micronized) – 1/2 tsp = ~2.5g (yes, I know I probably don’t need much more than 5g of Creatine a day)
  4. Gatorade Powder – 1 scoop/12 oz = 80 cal, 21g carbs, and is good flavoring.

I poured the powders into (better)sealable containers and labeled them.  I measure them out each time.

If any of my readers have other ideas or a better way/cheaper way, etc. let me know.  I am open to trying anything.  I have been using my DIY supplements for a few weeks and I think they do help with my pre-workout energy and post-workout muscle soreness.

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Christmas Break

Posted: December 29, 2015 in Announcements
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Over the past few days I took an impromptu deload week.  My family traveled to spend Christmas with my wife’s parents.  I did not get any workouts in (unless you count running around in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Siege for Xbox One).  I figured in this post I would talk about the awesome training related gifts I got for Christmas. (These are a mix of gifts from my side of the family and my wife’s side as well)

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Pictured above:

Pudzianowski Poland T-shirt – This is a t-shirt from one of my favorite strongmen Mariusz Pudzianowski from Poland (where my mother’s side of the family came from.)

Home Depot Gift Card – This gift card is going to be used to do the DIY project: DIY – Home Made Deadlift Blocks – YouTube (will probably mix together a couple different sources)

The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen Sandow: Victorian Strongman by David Waller – This book is about one of the first great strongmen/bodybuilders ever.  When I am finished reading it I will post a book review on the blog.

Iron Nation: Passion for Hard Training by Bob Whelan and Drew Israel – This book is full of interviews with greats in the lifting world.  It was written to”chronicle the most significant developments in the filed of strength training…”

Beast T-shirt – This t-shirt was made specifically for me.  On the back it says Heavy Hammer Gym.  I will probably wear it in one of my Daily “Selfie” pics soon.

CAP Loadable Dumbbell – This DB will come in handy.  I have a set of DBs, but they only go up to 50 lbs.  I have surpassed that weight.  I had another loadable DB that I used to train 1-arm DB press for Strongman.  With both of them I can now do my normal DB routines and be able to go up in weight.  (Today I did 62 lbs each DB. Yes I know that is a random number, but that is what they figured out to weigh.)

Not Pictured – another t-shirt that I will post in my next Daily “Selfie”.

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Pictured Above:

2 framed photos: Top – Jón Páll Sigmarsson – another one of my favorite strongmen.  This is a picture of when he competed in a bodybuilding show. Bottom – Mariusz Pudzianowski – a picture of the man that goes along with the shirt from before.

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Pictured Above:

Stamina Air-Resistance Bike – This exercise bike will help with my cardio and general health.  Heavy Hammer Gym has been missing a cardio/conditioning section.  I now have three pieces of indoor cardio equipment – a InMotion Compact Elliptical (also Stamina brand), this stationary bike, and a jump rope.  This goes along with my outdoor cardio equipment – a pair of farmers walk handles, a couple semi-tires, and one small(ish) tractor tire. My brother-in-law gave me the handy-dandy seat cover and it has already being used.

Not Pictured: some other random stuff like beef jerky, turkey jerky, deer jerky, bacon jerky, Gatorade, and Gatorade powder. Also got some Amazon gift cards.  I used them today to purchase a few more training related items.  As soon as they come in I will post pics of them too.