groove

Finally (nearly) over the last bout of cold-type fun and back in the groove for the gym. Great workout this morning that will probably make walking difficult come later today and tomorrow morning. It felt good to have over 300lbs on the squat rack. I’ve been working without a real program for the past few months and need to focus on getting my goals set and progress monitored. It’s looking like a variation of the Cressy program I did last summer with modifications for heavier weights and more powerlifting. My knees felt pretty trashed by all of the lunge work, so I’ll be replacing the lunge work with squat and deadlift variations.

I need to keep up with some mobility work, but I think I’ll be focusing the first part of the year on strength growth. After the three months of this program I’ll start adding more cardio and mobility work. I feel like I lost a lot of ground after being sick twice in the last two months.

In other news, here’s the front of the fantastic shirt that Jen bought me for my b-day.

balloons

balloons

January 30, 2009 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Start of the year – back in the gym

Low-impact workout this morning, 30 min of bike and some upper-back work. Feeling 100% health wise but still weak from the 10 days off. Tomorrow will be squat day, good time to test how the strength is coming along. Missed my goal for the year by about 10 lbs on deadlift but I hit everything else across the board.

Trying to focus on thinning out a bit for the start of the year, I bulked up a lot over the last couple of months. Oddly enough, all of the compound lifts actually build up the abs, I now have the hint of some abdominal work without a single crunch. Deadlifts and squatting solve all problems.

January 6, 2009 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

New Years Homemade Pizza

Did the homemade pizza thing for New Years. I followed the recipe found in this forum.

Gino’s East Pizza Crust Recipe
1 cup of warm water w/touch of sugar
1 package yeast
1T cornmeal (I know it’s not really in there)
1 teaspoon salt
1T corn oil
1T olive oil
2 ½ to 3 cups bread flour
¼ tsp yellow food coloring

Take the water and put it in your mixer. add yeast and a touch of sugar. Let the yeast foam up to be sure that it is active. Then add the rest of the ingredients including 2 1/2 cups flour. Knead the dough until it is well combined. If the dough is sticky add a little more flour. The dough should be moist but not sticky. Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Put it in the oven to rise.

Here’s the crust after kneading.

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Here’s the crust after rising for two hours.

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Here’s the crust in the spring-form pan. The pan needs to be well greased and I tend to use some bread crumbs in the bottom.

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Cheese on the bottom (Chicago style).

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Pre-browned sausage. Reduces the amount of grease in the final product.

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Pepperoni on half.

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Sauce on top (Chicago style).

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45 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees.

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Spring-form pan makes for easy removal.

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January 2, 2009 | Filed Under personal | Comments Off 

MMJ – Chicago Theatre 12/28/08

Finally caught My Morning Jacket live. Great performance and fantastic set.

mmj_122808

At Dawn
It Beats
Evil Urges
I’m Amazed
Gideon
Wonderful Man
Golden
I Will Sing
Lowdown
Sooner   <- really nice live
Thank You Too
Anytime
Remnants
Lay Low
Highly Suspicious
Off the Record
Hell
Smokin From Shootin
Touch Me Pt 2
Run Thru

Encore:
Look at You (Acoustic)
Nashville to Kentucky
Steam Engine
Cobra
One Big Holiday

January 2, 2009 | Filed Under music, personal | Comments Off