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Strength in Interesting Places

Work suddenly sorted itself out, so I am leaving Chiang Mai tomorrow. Two nights in Dubai (while collecting an Afghanistan visa) then I arrive in Kabul on Sunday afternoon.

Checked out the hotel they booked me in Dubai. Looks like they just have some cardio, a multi-gym and some very light crappy dumbells. Think the only decent exercise possible is dips.

So probably no Friday workout for me.
 
Thanks for the topic for the week


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JauntyAngle said:
I would like to hereby announce that I am a genius

This is so important that it is getting its own post, and not being mixed in with the main log entry.

I've been looking for something to micro-load the bar with for a while. I really need micro-loading for my pressing, and also it will be needed for Madcow/Bill Starr as it gives precise loadings for all the sets.

Been to a few builders' merchants to try to find 0.5kg washers, and checking all the sports stores for micro-plates. This being Chiang Mai, I had not yet been successful.

While getting changed today, I had an idea: adjustable ankle/wrist weights. So I went to the sports store next door and there they were- ankle/wrist weights of 0.5kg, 1kg, 2kg and 4kg a piece, with straps and velcro so that you can get them on nice and tight. Quite similar to these:

pair-of-wrist-or-ankle-weights-0.5kg-1.jpg


I bought 2 pairs of 0.5kg, and 1 pair of 1kg. As I have 2.5kg plates here, in Afghanistan and even in Sudan, that means that I can now add exactly 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5kg to the bar. The total was 700B (about $23, or 15 British pounds). Obviously much more expensive than washers or indeed regular plates. But still a small price to pay to be able to load properly in increments of 1kg.

Really looking forward to using these.
Click to expand...

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somthing something....bloodbath.....something something... have a nice trip

Bloody-Bath.jpg
 
A mixed day. Very mixed.

Waking up at 5.30am to catch the plane is never fun. But it was okay once I was on the plane.

Then, got to Bangkok, checked in for my flight to Dubai and found out I had been upgraded to first class. Oh yeah, baby. Never flown first before, it was very nice. Extra big seat that goes completely flat, huge dining table/tray thing, lots of nice little extras (even compared to business class). Ate quite a bit and drank lots of nice wine. I was flying Emirates, too, which is a particularly good airline. Just a shame I wasn't in the new Airbus 380, as you get your own little room on a 380 if you go first.

6.5 hrs later, got to Dubai, and for some reason by queue at immigration took 45 minutes, even though there were only 10 people in it and I was in the 'fast track'.

Set off for the hotel... it took 30 minutes on an open, really fast road. It was crappy, and not really close to anything. So after a bit of uhm-ing and ah-ing, I got in a taxi and headed to a better hotel that I know. But as my company already paid for the shitty one, I'll probably be paying for this myself, and will be down $300. But at least it's nice.

Just checked the gym, they have a few dumbells, some non-Oly bars with virtually no weight, and a stupid multi-gym. Although it looks a lot better than the gym at the other place, it's probably less use, because the other place had bars you could do dips from. This doesn't really have anything useful for strength purposes. I might go and do some light dumbell presses and squats anyway, just so that it's not 5 days since my last workout when Monday rolls around.
 
Sounds hectic man!

You'll likely feel better for getting in the gym and just doing something anyway!

Look at some challenging body weight stuff like hand stand pushups or do some pistols with the heavier dumbells :)
 
10thpjj said:
Sounds hectic man!

You'll likely feel better for getting in the gym and just doing something anyway!

Look at some challenging body weight stuff like hand stand pushups or do some pistols with the heavier dumbells :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was thinking about handstand pushups. Doing a bunch of dips every day helped my benching, so I was thinking about doing the same with handstand pushups in the hope that it would help my press.

I hadn't considered pistols- will give them a go.
 
Random Hotel Workout

The hotel had a set of dumbells going up in increments, upto 50lbs a piece. Also one of those stupid 1" bars and about 60-70kg of plates for it. Good range of cardio equipment thought-C2 rower, treadmills, stairmaster, eliptical- all with their own TVs plugged into the hotel's cable package.

So this is what I did

DB Bench Press- 50lb dumbells: x10, x10x10
Front squat- 50kg: x10, x10, x10
BB row- 50kg: x10, x10, x10
Plank- 1 minute
Treadmill- 20 minutes, very slow

I think when you do 10 rep/hypertrophy-range stuff, you're supposed to do a bunch more exercises, but this was okay. I haven't done DB pressing for years, and it was quite hard to stabilize the weights even though actually pressing them was easy. Likewise, I don't usually front squat, do doing 10 reps, even at 50kg, was reasonably tough. These let me work on my strength and endurance at the bottom of the squat, anyway, which is what I need.

This will keep me going until Monday when the proper programme resumes.
 
Just went shopping in Dubai, to see if I could get anything useful for liftin'. Saw some proper liftin' belts, but they were all XL. Annoying. No chalk. But I did find several supplement places, and one of them had a proper food-based multivitamin (something I've never seen in Thailand). I might go to a bigger mall tomorrow.
 
It must be so cool to see all theese interesting places! Then again, it must be frustrating not having a "go-to" gym ? Pix of dubai welcomed :)
 
dinpappa said:
It must be so cool to see all theese interesting places! Then again, it must be frustrating not having a "go-to" gym ? Pix of dubai welcomed :)
Click to expand...

Well, my gym in Chiang Mai really isn't bad at all. And I have 13 months of work now in Kabul, where my guesthouse has a tolerable gym. So I am good until April 2012!

I'll take some pictures of Dubai if I can. But I never go to the fun parts (clubs, beach, out in the desert). So it's just going to be some pictures of skyscrapers.
 
SlaveToTheDark said:
i'd rather travel around than be super strong :D

(well, it would be even better to travel around coz i'm super strong - like pro strongmen do :D)
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QFT!

you could be Cro Squat! or Cro Press? Like Cro Cop? Or what do you do for a living? So you can have Cro "occupation"
 
SlaveToTheDark said:
i'd rather travel around than be super strong :D

(well, it would be even better to travel around coz i'm super strong - like pro strongmen do :D)
Click to expand...

Yes, travelling is great. Although these days I don't get to travel to the best places (Afghanistan, Southern Sudan). When I worked in Thailand, most of my travel was in Latin America and SE Asia- two of the best regions in the world, if not the best.

Clearly, you should become a pro strongman. I will be pulling for you big time when you compete on the World's Strongest Man (which I have watched almost every year since about 1976 or 1977). They have that in some good locations.
 
JauntyAngle said:
Yes, travelling is great. Although these days I don't get to travel to the best places (Afghanistan, Southern Sudan). When I worked in Thailand, most of my travel was in Latin America and SE Asia- two of the best regions in the world, if not the best.

Clearly, you should become a pro strongman. I will be pulling for you big time when you compete on the World's Strongest Man (which I have watched almost every year since about 1976 or 1977). They have that in some good locations.
Click to expand...

i heard nothing but good things about Thailand from my cousin who went there
the only problem would be getting there (it's a bit expensive for me right now), but he told me that everything is really cheap
he told me such good stories about that place and i can't wait to go there :D

yeah, pro strongman is my dream job right now
in a few years when i'm strong enough, i'll start entering amateur comps and hope for the best :D
 
SlaveToTheDark said:
i heard nothing but good things about Thailand from my cousin who went there
the only problem would be getting there (it's a bit expensive for me right now), but he told me that everything is really cheap
he told me such good stories about that place and i can't wait to go there :D
Click to expand...

Yes, Thailand is an amazing place. It has almost everything- huge city with everything happening in it, smaller interesting cities, huge amounts of beach & great islands, diving and snorkelling, amazing rock climbing, hills, jungle, amazing food, nice, friendly and fun-loving people, hot women who like foreigners, reasonably modern facilities (good hospitals, modern shops, etc), Muay Thai, very low cost of living... the trick is to come here for a reasonably long time, to spread the cost of the air fare out. In Chiang Mai you can rent a very small studio flat for $50 per month, and you can eat off the street for 20B (60-70 US cents) a plate. So if you don't want to spend much money, you don't have to. Although don't get me wrong- you can also spend a lot of money as well.

I've lived there since 2003, in Chiang Mai (in the north). I am not sure I could ever live anywhere else.
 
oh man, that sounds amazing
yeah, i figured that i would stay there at least 3-4 weeks...

the one of the biggest problems for me right now is that i don't have free time, other than summer holidays and my cousin told me that i shouldn't go in spring and summer coz it's hot as hell even during winter times :D
 
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