Xmas And A New Strength Toy

 I hope you all had a kick ass Xmas and got some cool stuff. My wife and I exchanged gifts beforehand cause she was busting her ass making Eggnog Cheese Cake from scratch which she made a total of three. First one was an experiment that didn't pan and missed a couple ingredients but the next two came out incredible and used those to take to a family get together at a relative's house. 

She got me some house shoes, a graphic novel and a couple Funko Pops of Pro Wrestlers that were really awesome. I got her a book on Photography using Exposure for any Camera that will help her pursue her passion for Photography and got her a Spice Rack since she has been wanting a while to add spices to for extending her cooking skills. Went to a 3 Houses on Xmas day spending the whole day with family. Fun times...Big ass breakfast at one house, spent a couple hours talking and hanging at another and finished up at the last house in the mountains that had an Italian feast of Lasagna, Pasta & Garlic Bread. 

When I was living in California, most of the holidays were spent at my dad's or my aunt's house and we would cram about 30 people into a living room which wasn't the easiest thing to do but we made it work and had fun. Been a few years since I've done that. I love being surrounded by good people and laughing it up or watching a game and chilling out. 

For me, I got a few things for myself with some Xmas money that included some PS5 stuff and a new Strength Toy I've been having my eye on for many years and was always hesitant but made the decision to get it. I ordered the Neck Flex from Mike The Machine Bruce. Wanted to extend my knowledge of neck training beyond the bridges and the Neck Mobility work. They're both excellent for building a strong neck and I've already thickened mine from years of training which at it's peak is around 18 inches or so. The Neck Flex is another tool I wanted to add to the arsenal because I wanted to find out what would make it useful for me. Never wore a neck harness in my life until today. The harness came with a carry on bag, a door anchor to add more exercises and a Resistance Band with Carabiners hooked onto them. 

I gave the Band a shot and once I was able to adjust hooking it up to the D Rings of the harness, I went to work on it. Front, Back, Side To Side & Head Turns. Managed a total of nearly 200 Reps which is more than enough at the moment. Once I get a bit more experience with it, I'll be filming doing demos with it so people can see what I do. If anyone knows the true secrets of Neck Training, it's Mike. Trained by the legendary Bud Jeffries, Mike is a multiple time Shootfighting Champion, a Marine, Judo champ and a world record holder for multiple feats of Neck Strength including having bars bent across his throat and even Horseshoes (no joke). 

I've corresponded with Mike for many years and he was the one who told me about Bud's death the day he died. One of the most emotional days of my life but I have to thank Mike because if he hadn't, I would've only found out either later on or by a day or two. Always got along with him and he has taught me a few things that I still carry to this day. When I told him I got the Neck Flex, he thanked me but also told me I should've contacted him and he would've given me this thing for FREE!!! I told him like I'm telling you guys now that I didn't want to be rude and just expect the guy to hand it over to me without some form of exchange. He did say that to contact him if I needed anything. Very generous guy despite his hardcore attitude. Dude is rough and probably one of the Most No-Bullshit kind of guys I've ever met. If you thought his training was beastly, the way he talks is just as equal if not more so.

Thought I'd share these experiences with you and hope you all had a wonderful holidays and if there are holidays still going on, have fun and enjoy each other. Be amazingly awesome and keep on killing it.  

Happy Vs. Satisfied

 Merry Xmas Eve everyone. I trust you're going to have a fun time today with family/friends or happen to be on your own. Get any training in to build up that appetite for later? Here's some things for today's post....

When it comes to building or maintaining a physique, for some it comes easy and they build muscle easier, for others not so much. It may require more time, a different approach to a regimen and it can be daunting when things don't come our way. Trust me, I've had years of being self conscious with my own body. There are bodybuilders, models and some rugged mother fuckers that would make you give up just by the site of them. Even in my early days of training every day, I knew I was rebuilding and getting in good shape but I kept comparing myself to the other guys, even the old timers that I studied. It took time and by the time I was about between 28 and 30, I made the choice to let go of that bullshit.

It's one thing to admire someone and what they accomplished when it comes to building muscle and having solid conditioning, it's another to compare yourself to someone who's either had more experience than you or in the early stages of their fitness journey. You're never going to see the good in what you have done for yourself when you try to be just as good or better than someone else. It's not going to happen. It's like trying to compare George Hackenschmidt to a Ronnie Coleman. They both are iconic in the world of Muscle and both are strong as shit but their strengths are very different. Hack was also a well conditioned athlete that wrestled, lifted, rode bikes on the hills and had a physique that had no equal in his prime. Ronnie was a cartoonish looking Bodybuilder that was the most massive Mr. Olympia that looked like an enhanced version of John Henry with strength even by today's standards in the world of bodybuilding. 

When I stopped comparing myself, I found a new light in what I was able to accomplish from bodyweight training to hammers, sandbags, bands, Isometrics and even barbells and dumbbells. I felt happier, but I wasn't satisfied. Happy vs. Satisfied are two very different aspects. One is an emotion, the other is leading to an outcome. I wanted to continue to see what I can do and how my body would turn out with the way I did things. Always experimenting but have made mistakes and did what I thought was best to correct them. 

A time came where I bit off more than I can chew and had to refocus on rebuilding myself. Limited the amount of training I was doing and used one or two methods to self rehab again. I came back with a vengeance and gears shifted to being leaner, focus on things that matter more than just being physical with my workouts. My physique is far better now than it was a couple years ago and my intentions to work on controlling my movements more than ever was a choice I'm glad I made. I'm happy with what I've done but I'm not satisfied with it. I have talked about me never going to a level of muscle even remotely close to someone like a Sandow or even Bill Pearl, I don't have aspirations to be a model or go after some title in a physique contest. I will never be the strongest, the fastest or the biggest because quite frankly, no matter what I do, there will be someone better than me. What I can choose to do however, is be in better condition than I was yesterday, get leaner but rugged like an old school Full Back and be able to keep up with folks younger than me as best as possible with lesser risks of getting injured. That's more important to me than trying to kill myself or wear myself out to the point I'm no good to anybody. 

I will never be satisfied, my journey is continuous and will always find things to do to better myself. I have succeeded in a lot of ways but I've also failed too and need to take those failures and create something better from them. It's not going to be easy but it is very much going to be interesting. If you're satisfied, you don't have anything left, use that fire in your own journey and find ways to be better little by little each day. Keep killing it and be amazingly awesome. 

A Reflection On The Year

Coming up just under 10 days left of the year. Time to finish strong and on high note if possible. Been a hell of a ride, moved into a new apartment back in February, learned a few things, trained my ass off at the parks near by, visited my older brother back in May in Oregon, a few ups and downs but hey, you learn and do what you feel is right.

Left Twitter because of just bullshit that kept going on and just over run with political and religious stuff, fitness groups that didn't really care much about health, more about followers and showing off. Wanted to promote more of what I love but it wasn't going anywhere. Dealt with a few numbnuts along the way on there too, one in particular who got banned several times (good).

With the internet, you just deal with dumb maroons who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag and think they're god's (or the universe's) gift to the fitness industry when in reality it's charlatans that hold a grudge like their life depended on it while being also being a deadbeat dad and have an obsession by making his blog almost exclusively about how much he can't stand me. Creepy as fuck but hey, that's what happens sometimes. After all that crap, that dude is dead to me, doesn't deserve credit for anything worthy. Shit, he's not even worthy of Thor's Hammer for that matter, just a rotten human being.

New beginnings are happening, finding ways to train better for the long haul and doing what's possible to help others. Sure I love promoting stuff but I want to be helpful and inspiring to someone too, that's my true passion next to training. I rarely ever ask for help this year and I've had to ask a time or two over certain things. For those who had my back, I thank you all. I want to thank all you readers as well, you keep inspiring me to keep at it and write/post what I love to do. 

Got to see an Eagle just yards away on my birthday, learned and mastered new ways to work the Dopa Band, did more pull-ups this year than in a long time and I'm proud of that. Made Isometrics a staple in my arsenal and more when it came to training. Learned some new things to cook that are great, built muscle, lost fat and stayed out of gaining back to being my heaviest. Being 228-235 now feels awesome, lighter on my feet, paying attention to how I move and feeling healthier than ever. 2024 was about staying out of pain after nearly 3 months of that crazy sciatica issue, 2025 was about maintaining and building new levels of strength and conditioning. I know I talk about training a lot which isn't a bad thing since that's the premise of this blog right? It's also talking about some of the life experiences, the little things many take for granted and being to understand things. One of the best things this year is having a strong bond with my wife and going through the great times and the challenging times together and being a dynamic duo. 

I wasn't always in the best state of mind this year, I needed advise on things and had my own issues to deal with outside of the net. Lot of meditating and figuring out how to deal with certain people or should I say a greedy low life obsessed knucklehead that doesn't know the meaning of being a decent human being but sure as hell knows how to be an EVIL and Idiotic one. It was hard dealing with him but as I pointed out, he's DEAD to me and I needed to remind myself of that. I'm positive I'll get some comment or email or he'll write some lame ass post that lasts longer than Wolverine's Lifespan calling me every name in the book and making up stuff that Sherlock Holmes wouldn't find believable. Guys like that, they're just crazier than a shithouse rat. Anyway, fuck that noise.

This coming year will have brighter days, maybe form new friendships, build new bonds, break PR's and maybe hit something big with a promotion or two. 2026 is going to be interesting and there will be curveballs thrown around and I may strike out on a few things but hey, the best homerun hitters were always the ones that struck out the most. Go in with an attitude that you got this and wherever the road may take you, know that there is something out there that is just exciting to happen in your life.

You never know what will happen, things will happen out of nowhere but you do what you can and keep evolving as a person. Some are just too far gone but there are people out there who could use a friend, someone to help out in need, maybe buy the person's lunch in front of you at a sandwich shop just to make their day a little brighter, we all could use some steps to be there for one another because there's too many things in this world that want to run you into the ground and it's not right to just stay down. Can't take the hits alone. Here's to 2026 and keep being amazingly awesome. Shoot me a comment or send me an email using the Contact Form and be sure to subscribe so you can get future posts sent to your email. Looking forward to hearing from you.