Reading, Apr '15.

Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher, Book 11) by Lee Child
Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, Book 12) Lee Child
Rough and Tumble - The History Of American Submission Wrestling by Erik Paulson, Matt Granahan,  & JD Dwyer
Slave Safari (The Destroyer Book 12) by Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir
Beyond 5/3/1: Simple Training for Extraordinary Results by Jim Wendler
Adventures of Amelia Bedelia (I Can Read Book) by Peggy Parish and Fritz Siebel

Lazarus Volume 3: Conclave by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark
Atomic Robo Volume 9: The Knights of the Golden Circle Paperback by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener
Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios and Dexter Soy

Beyond 5/3/1: Simple Training for Extraordinary Results
There is a downside: You will not set PR’s every time. Understand that PR’s aren’t given to you; they are earned through work, struggle and sacrifice. Often, those who become depressed and discouraged after a bad workout are beginners and young lifters who don’t yet realize that greatness doesn’t always show up. There will be bad days – really bad days. But that’s what makes the PR’s so special. So the next time you have a bad workout, embrace it, remember it and do whatever you have to do to make your next workout better than the last one. Let me give you a tip – moping around like a sad puppy dog isn’t going to help you. Change your attitude. Attitude is the one thing you have total control over and the minute you let doubt, depression or martyrdom creep in, you set yourself up for a long life of mediocrity.

...the factors that no one even considers are Will and Desire. These two things can force a square peg to fit into a round hole. The world is filled with millions of examples of people doing extraordinary things with Will and Desire. Why not you?

If you want something to happen, have the Will and Desire to do the necessary work and the attitude to go along with it. Excuses are nothing more than you showing the world you have given up. You get what you expect and you get what you deserve. Embrace that in your life and watch what happens.

People often try to fool themselves and use “overtraining” and the hilarious “CNS burnout” as excuses not to train hard. Don’t be that guy. Be Dan Gable not Adrenal Fatiguenstein.

One of the easiest ways to spot a novice lifter, in both training and attitude, is their complete breakdown after a bad workout or a bad month, or even a bad couple of months. The experienced lifter knows that the clouds will break and he keeps pushing.

It is not for the trend hoppers, curl-mongers or diet-obsessed eunuchs that plague the lifting world. This is not for people who are scared of squatting or pulling. This is not for the Butt Wink Police or Cardio Queens. If you are scared of pushing big weights, having a bad workout, having a bad month or measure your self-worth by your Facebook pictures/posts or responses, this is not for you. If you want to be strong without excuses, this is for you.

The Power Clean is an awesome exercise. Unfortunately, the Internet Form Squad think it vital that you only do these after spending $1000 at a seminar hosted by your “Local Box Jumpers”. Furthermore, apparently the Power Clean, the Snatch and anything you do that a hook grip COULD be used on requires the same skill as walking a tight rope across the Grand Canyon. One mistake means death. Yep, nothing is more difficult or insane than walking up to a barbell, picking it up and placing it on your shoulders.

The amount of weight you lift over several years, your consistency, your ability to remain on a program with solid principles, your heart/determination, and your willingness to do what others are unwilling to do (also known as Kaiser Soze Syndrome) are what will make you strong and unbeatable.

Like many of you, I did my research and every week a new expert pops up saying things such as: Stretching will kill you and give you dick cancer. Stretching is best thing ever. Don’t do hip circles. Do hip circles. In the end, I trusted myself and just did a lot of little stuff several times a day. Read that last part again. I had to swallow a lot of pride and suffer the humiliation of Going Full Mobility 3-4 times a day to get my body back on track. Like strength training, there are no magic programs or exercises just strong principles. And remember your mobility program doesn’t have to be perfect, just consistent.

...you are in the weight room to get stronger not to become a Kipping Nancy.

“Diets” have replaced common sense. I will not discuss diet when everyone knows a T-Bone and a glass of milk (look at the big picture!) are more conducive to lifting big weights than tuna stuffed in a low-carb pita. If you do not know how to eat a steak, then this workout is not for you.

I realized that it’s my own goddamn fault that I failed. Because I was the only one to blame for my failure, I then realized that I am also responsible for my success. I control my success. When you accept personal responsibility for everything in your life, and I mean everything from appearance, finances, relationships, employment, you become a better person. No more self-pity or martyrdom. You will now have the power to change who you are and what you accomplish because you will always get what you deserve.

Now I realize that doing it “for your children” is bullshit. I thought that I had to lose weight to be healthy “for my kids.” I thought I had to strive to work hard for my kids, so they could have a great life. But now I realize that these pursuits need to be completely selfish desires. If they see how badly I want something, and how hard I am willing to work to get it, I’ve not only reached my goal, I’ve also set an example for my kids. I have had several friends go through Alcoholics Anonymous and addicts always fail when they get sober for anyone else but themselves. When the addict commits to getting sober for himself, the chance for recovery improves greatly. I’m not telling you to ignore your family or your job. Far from that. When you commit to a goal, do it for yourself. Whether it is a lifting goal, a goal of writing a book or painting a self-portrait, do it because the fire inside you MUST be quenched. The desire to succeed cannot be for any other reason but an all out selfish pursuit of insanity.

Make a pact to have no excuses. You miss a day? Suck it up and train two days in a row. You are sore? Get in line. No sleep? Try going through Hell Week as a Navy SEAL. Can’t eat? Force yourself. I’m sick of the laundry lists of “can’t” in the questions that I get. It’s like I’m a full-time therapist for the weak and pathetic.

I am 100% convinced that some people are just more competitive than others. Some are born more pitbull than poodle. But even the poodles and lap dogs can be groomed to fight. If you find yourself in the poodle category, I also believe that you can train yourself to be a harder individual. Tougher to kill. Tougher to beat. And this training, these challenges, should carry over to other things in your life. You won’t be a doormat anymore. Women won’t walk all over you and your boss won’t take you as a chump.

Remember that there is a huge difference between training and working out. Workout is “for the day.” These are the people that go into the gym, do a few of these, a few of those and measure their fitness and “progress” by how tired they are. Yes, they may remember their best bench press or the fastest mile time but they don’t train specifically to be better; only to be tired. Somehow this makes sense to them.

It’s just how training works; you pick one goal and with a single-minded focus, attack it. You don’t try to “lose weight and get stronger but still be able to run a marathon while becoming an amateur strongman and train for the police academy.” That’s a sure sign of a Fitness Hipster. Go be average on your own time, Fitness Hipster. We are training, not fitnessing.

Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, Book 12)
...clichés were clichés only because they were so often true.

Years later during advanced army training that lesson had been reinforced. At the grand strategic level it even had a title: Overwhelming Force. At the individual level in sweaty gyms the thugs doing the training had pointed out that gentlemen who behaved decently weren’t around to train anyone. They were already dead. Therefore: Hit early, hit hard. Overwhelming force. Hit early, hit hard. Reacher called it: Get your retaliation in first.

Thurman said, “You should think about getting your life in order, you know, before it’s too late. Something might happen. The Book of Revelation says, the time is at hand.” “As it has every day since it was written, nearly two thousand years ago. Why would it be true now, when it wasn’t before?”

Reacher didn’t like crowds. He enjoyed solitude and was a mild agoraphobic, which didn’t mean he was afraid of wide-open spaces. That was a common misconception. He liked wide-open spaces. Instead he was mildly unsettled by the agora, which was an ancient Greek word for a crowded public marketplace. Random crowds were bad enough. He had seen footage of stampedes and stadium disasters. Organized crowds were worse. He had seen footage of riots and revolutions. A crowd two hundred strong was the largest animal on the face of the earth. The heaviest, the hardest to control, the hardest to stop. The hardest to kill. Big targets, but after-action reports always showed that crowds took much less than one casualty per round fired. Crowds had nine lives.

...he had seen what angry crowds could do. He had seen the herd instinct at work, the anonymity, the removal of inhibition, the implied permissions of collective action. He had seen that an angry crowd was the most dangerous animal on the face of the earth.

“Why are the hospitals so bad?” “Because deep down to the army a wounded soldier that can’t fight anymore is garbage. So we depend on civilians, and civilians don’t care either.”

“He’s religious. He’s accustomed to believing things that comfort him.”

Thurman said, “God wants me to complete my task.” “What, he told you that in the last two minutes?” “I think you’re an atheist.” “We’re all atheists. You don’t believe in Zeus or Thor or Neptune or Augustus Caesar or Mars or Venus or Sun Ra. You reject a thousand gods. Why should it bother you if someone else rejects a thousand and one?”

“I went where they told me. I followed orders. I did everything they asked, and I watched ten thousand guys do the same. And we were happy to, deep down. I mean, we bitched and pissed and moaned, like soldiers always do. But we bought the deal. Because duty is a transaction, Vaughan. It’s a two-way street. We owe them, they owe us. And what they owe us is a solemn promise to risk our lives and limbs if and only if there’s a damn good reason. Most of the time they’re wrong anyway, but we like to feel some kind of good faith somewhere. At least a little bit. And that’s all gone now. Now it’s all about political vanity and electioneering. That’s all. And guys know that. You can try, but you can’t bullshit a soldier. They blew it, not us. They pulled out the big card at the bottom of the house and the whole thing fell down. And guys like Anderson and Rogers are over there watching their friends getting killed and maimed and they’re thinking, Why? Why should we do this shit?”

“People don’t want to hear that their loved ones died for no good reason.” “I know. But that doesn’t change the truth.” “I hate you.” “No, you don’t,” Reacher said. “You hate the politicians, and the commanders, and the voters, and the Pentagon.”