The Referee's Grip

Tennessee Tri State Tourney

I am still here and studying all the time. I am still determined to move up the food chain.

We have just returned from the Tennessee tourney held By Ray Jenkins in Philadelphia Tennessee. This spot was just two exits up from Sweetwater Tennessee on the interstate headed to Knoxville. It was a great time. The weight class was 209+ and I havent had time to lose my winter coat so heavyweights it was. I believe there was 11 guys in the supers and 8 or so in the masters heavyweight. I seriously was just looking at doing the best I could and yes I took it right out there to the best of my abilities. Left it on the table in the end and managed to get out without a loss. My hats off to these guys . They were all ready to do their thing and all of them took something a little different each time added to the way I pull in order to get to the prize. This means there were places in the pull that I was fortunate enough to keep others from reaching to prevent them from using it on me.

It takes alot to set up and go anywhere that is 600 miles away to armwrestle and you cant just do it from week to week but next week is the Battle of the Giants in Albany Georgia which is about a 3 hour drive for us so we will be trying to attend that one. I guess if I pull it will be the 231 class but after that time is too near to the Nationals at Kings Island in Cinncinatti Ohio for us to be playing any surfer music. Just a meer 90 days or less which is 12 weeks to adjust the body and bring up the regular training tempo and reach for the national size cookie. I will be working only for that tourney after the Battle of the Giants. I will be back and make some more entries on progress and such if anyone is interested but I am sitting in a small slump currently on quality of life improvements although I will be past alot of that by june. should be plenty to talk about between now and then. there should be a results up on this past tourney and the battle of the giants afterwards up at

Until next time.

http://www.armsport.com/results.htm

I am back ! A blog for the progress bar of the big picture

Ok so the Palmetto Classic came and went and I am still here as busy as ever. During this time we are well on the road to recovery with the new dog. It is holding at 800 dollars in vet bills and another 100 or so to complete. End result gets you a white american bulldog with a fighting chance on life for about 1000 dollars give or take. We have some reaction to heartworm treatment along the way that resulted in low blood. The answer to this is boiled chicken livers and broth. It has helped tremedously and some extra scripts of predazone and an antibiotic. Jesus I may as well have a kid hehe. We knew this was a possibilty when we got her so all I can say is thank god for american express blue. I will be paying it off for a while but it was handy and no inetrest for 15 months.

Ok I slowed up on the gym visits cause it was probably just as well to take some time off and come back in touch with my fat :) Yes I am a hefty 220 pounds and just now starting to look back to a diet with no brownies or cookies and ice cream in it. I have been studying alot through this time and you cannot study and lift at the same time. I always thought working the study end of the Microsoft Certifications would be a feat but never imagined some of the problems with scaling this mountain other than just the knowledge of the action. Well boys and girls it is really alot deeper than just knowledge. Here is a piece of advice for any of you who brave the mountains they call MCSA and MCSE along with the elective exams etc . This includes moving on to cisco , novell , cytrix > You take your pick. You should warm up to the comprehension level and practice you reading skills before ever getting going. I have comepleted the 70-271 and the 70-272 exams . I scored 933 and a 918 out of 1000. It was 700 minimum passing score but if you want to build a decent transcript and resume you need to keep the scores up. Those two tests were easy compared to the 70-270 which I was rightfully advised to take third. It is called install and management of windows XP or something like that . The title is a misconception. It should be more like installation and management of windows xp networks between 20 and 1000 machines with both windows 2000 and windows 2003 servers running mixed/split subnetting along with communications with other operating systems such as unix. I am doing well with it and halfway through the first week I am seeing a definate score coming in the near future in the 90% range.

I have often wondered how the course exams lined up and recently found out. To gain the MCSA you need the 70-270 70-271 and 70-272 which is the install management and troubleshooting of windows XP systems/applications/networks . Then you need the 70-290 which is management or windows 2003 server and 70-291 which is the infrastructure and support. You may then choose an elective exam to go with those such as 70-299 which is win2k3 security I believe. If I had the windows 2000server I would have taken 292 which is the upgrade exam.

So 70-270, 70-271, 70-272, 70-290, 70-291 and 70-299 elective gets me the MCSA 2003 "Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator"

Oh but not stopping there . That is when I really kick in and I will take on 70-293 and 70-294 along with an elective such as 70-297 and cap my MCSE 2003"Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer"

I listed the planned reality of it below in case anyone is interested . I know this is mostly all armwrestling but I figured people should know that we do carry a decent IQ as wrestlers that is really higher than our age. It is not going to get me the big bucks soley by itself however the past 15 years I have been playing with machines and these pieces of knowledge will help. I have to find a way to fund all of it so this is a good test.

70-270

Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional

70-271

Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System

70-272

Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System

70-290

Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment

70-291

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

70-299 elective

Implementing and Administering Security in a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network

Then on to the MCSE

70-293

Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

70-294

Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure

70-297 elective

Designing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and Network Infrastructure

I figured I better bring some update so this is what I am doing right now and planning on making the Tennessee tourney in Philadelphia Tn . hosted by Ray Jenkins and the Battle of the Giants in Albany Ga. hosted by Todd Coe. One is like March 25 and the other is April 2? or 5th. I will be back in action but also mounting the ITT education to place myself in a better life. If I cant win the lotto then by god I will get there on my own lol. I will post back of my trainings and studyings in the following weeks so that you might have something to read.

We have been training every monday and I really only have one person that is dedicated to coming. Thanks Carey Nick for being there. I have several that come sometimes but you cannot depend on them all the time. Steve Merritt has been coming more than some of the others but since I asked one who would be dishonest not to come back alot of the guys go to that persons house. No matter to me. I can deal with it no matter what and have been here alot longer. I got the impression that there have been people mislead about Chris Coletti and heard someone say that he was more experienced than an opponent he was wrestling . I know both of them and I just wanted to drop a piece of advice to all of the North East. You really shouldnt believe what people peddle to you cause your opponent from up north has far more time armwrestling on a table than the one that came from Florida. I told you people before but you didnt listen . I wasnt the only one that detected the silence when it was 2 all and that anti climatic ending because of a mouthy guy that spewed crap all over about how good he was. Truth is that was the only edge that won it for him. Remember indignation will be the drive that eventually will spawn a champion . Certainly not parlor tricks and a big mouth spewing trash to cause confusion. until next time.

Palmetto Classic Training Part 6 | Final

Alrighty then . Been there done that but this one is gonna set an example of things and the way they go. I will continue to train and set my sights on another tourney but sad to say no matter how you work and prepare for something there is always a possibilty as in this case that it will all be for nothing accept to continue for the next one. Yes doing the right thing hurts sometimes and I practice what I preach. Early yesterday morning I had to make the decision to abort the plans to attend due to time contraint responsibilties with family "dog" and financial situations both in the positive and the negative. We have recently aquired a white American Bulldog that upon the checkup at the vet is gonna need the heartworm treatment in full. She is young and a very good risk investment wise which didnt matter to me . We took the responsibility knowing that consessions might surface. Heartworm treatments vary in price according to how long you would like the pet to live, I have learned and I dont do things that way. It is either maximum protection or I should have not got involved . Thank god for credit lol. This one will run just under 600 dollars and entales a month of one or the other of us being with the animal all the time to keep her calm. Reason being that when the worms in the heart die you want them to disperse through the lungs one or two at a time and if she was to run and jump around they could all flush and kill her on the spot.Then there is the treatment of the babies in the blood stream "microfylaria" not sure on spelling..They must die as well. This is probably the main reason I chose to bump the tourney but we could have waited another 2 weeks before the treatment. Still the cost has to be absorbed. I have also begun my studys for my Microsoft Certifications and they are not free so I have commited to around 400 dollars for the first two tests involving that and I have the first test on the 2nd of February. This was the second factor to consider due to the fact that the tourney is about 600 miles one way from my house. When I travel this way the only way I can do it is to rent a vehicle and then there is gas and room and entry and food. My wife and I cannot even think about getting through a tournament like this for under car=140 room=120 gas=100+ entry=25x2=50 +food=100 or 150 "TOTAL=500 to 550. It is just the way of things and with the financials like they are and my wife having some possible positive side scheduling dollars at work around the date it was only clear what the decision should be. I was really hyped to go and support my friends in South Carolina "Kevin Hicklin" but I know they will understand my situation completley. It sounds like its gonna be a real great event. If anyone wonders I am still gonna maintain the training in a mirrored fashion on what has been written in the past weeks but I have to devote more time to work and class and the protection of the added family member. I can now go back more on my diet to drop off from 220 which I am very close to and maintain my weight back at a more natural state of 210 . I was pushing the carbs way up to keep the strength as high as possible and it was showing . I believe that this process and now trimming back to my normal weight will promote even more strength when I drop off because that is a natural way of things in healing. I will pick some more topics next week perhaps updates on my testing and certification and plans for the next tourney with a listing of all we have to choose from within short distances but even after the dog has been cured it is a new consideration on boarding while we travel because I wouldnt allow the animal to be watched in any other surrounding that professional. Good Luck to anyone who is going to the Palmetto Classic and if I dont make any further events that far north I will see you all at the National Championships just north of Cincinatti OH. on the second of June at Kings Island >Paramount. rememeber it isnt always easy to do the right thing however it is the only thing to do. take care

Palmetto Classic Training Part 5

Ok here we are Tuesday afternoon and I am here to speak of my weekend and beginning of the week. I attended a seminar for Microsoft late last week for the MCSA/MCSE and got with course directors from the University of North West Florida about my direction of proceeding. I am one of the few with alot of hands on past experience and the advice I was given was to just go ahead and study for the five different courses involving the MCSA at home and clep the tests and move on to the MCSE. I have begun this and even scheduled my first testing date of February 2 . All is well in the knowledge world and I will move to my Saturdays training schedule. I got up and went to the gym earlier than most days. I had alot of trouble in the treadmill due to phone calls etc but managed about 20 minutes uphill. In the gym if you answer your phone its like a sin and they will come and ask you to turn it off so I had to pause and go outside to talk. When I returned in just a few short minutes the machine had reset itself and I was already 20 minutes in so I just did about 8 more minutes and had no way of knowing any stats except for I burned around 400 calories. From there it was the normal 100 crunchs and another 50 behind the head and the obliques 30 each side and then I did a few warm up concentration curls with the 25's sets of 10 and some pullups at the rate of just 5 at a time for two sets. Now down to business. On this day I felt like I really needed to pummel my arms and I dont have a table curl so I do it sitting on a bench with wrist curls first per arm and then half curls with my elbow resting on my hip. I do these with comparativley heavy weight starting with 60 pounds and a set of 10 wrist and 10 curls per arm. Then since I was using even numbers of 10 I go up 10 pounds and do it again. Everyone is different so the number of reps per set will vary with people but I carry the reps of 10 all the way to 100 pounds and then just back off to 3 reps curl and maybe 8 or 10 reps wrist above 100. I felt like there was no reason to tear myself totally limb from limb on this day so I stopped at 120 pounds. On a good day after do this type of curl regularly I have been know to go as far as the 150's but I planned on doing hammer curls on the machine this day so I stopped at 120. Left handed I just stopped at a set of 5 with 90 pounds as its injured and no sense in hurting myself alot worse. My right has always been extraordinarily strong compared to my left though. I stopped at the reverse tricep extension cables on the way just to loosen up a bit before the hammer curls. I guess I have outlined my hammer curl machine info earlier in this group of blogs so I will make it short. start at 45 pounds , do left and right and go up. On this day I stopped at 130 right handed and 110 left handed. It was kind of achy through the sets but felt good once I made a first rep and was in motion. This was a very heavy lift and upon completion of these two excercises to their fullest I had no reason to continue because I had other plans for Saturday. You may have guessed it though I think I talked earlier of my chores. This day it was the Boat. We have a parking lot of gravel etc and you cannot keep a boat in the salt air in florida without cleaning it regularly. here is a link to pictures and it is a 2 to 3 hour job done correctly with a scrub brush and is a part of my training that I use to get my base strength up to par. Pictures found here and the paint job was expensive so it takes alot of care. http://www.battlesbailbonds.com/boat05.html

On a Saturday this is alot to do but I didnt stop there after finishing I went home and studied and cleaned part of the house which continued into suday and involved using a wire brush to to prepare a dog crate for painting and then the usual stuff we all do in laundry , dishes , vacuuming and studying to be a Microsoft Certifed Systems Administrator to compliment me and my Bail Bonding Agency.

In comes Monday and a busy day it was with many phone calls and business and appointments with attorneys blah blah blah. If I had not been doing what I did to prepare for the incoming week I would not be productive at all so once again stressing on hold down the whole fort in preperation through all this for I day off and a 600 mile drive to armwrestle. Armwrestling Practice came and went on Monday night and revalations and reality set in with my changed diet plans to meet at 220 pounds instead of 209 which is my norm. It was much more difficult to get in the monkey bar training. again whatever you feel you need and can make be it Monkey bars/beam - rope - tree climbin - rock climbing and or even bowling for light weights hehe. Bowling can help but wont be the complete package but to each his/her own. I stepped up my beam training by increasing the time I remained on it to double trips. I was devastated with my extra weight and the added distance but managed. Then we armwrestled but on this night it was more about just stretching and pulling pretty hard but not to pin. Everyone was sore and we just pulled hard and let it go at that. I know I am ahead of the game and next week will be the last hard pull leaving me one week and my grand finale' on how to not self destruct before getting to the tournament provided I can afford to even go once we make it that far. Too many youngsters put together a fine training method and then get close to a tourney and total trash their chances by letting the testosterone run wild with their emotions. It aint over until its over and doing foolish things after all the hard work that will only ruin your chances for success is the number one reason so many fail to reach the goal. I.E. dont be stupid and try a finger lacing contest with someone and weaken your hand going into a competition and I will cover some of the many other mistakes people make by not knowing how to train the hand and working the grippers too much before they get there.

Until the end of the week this is all the advice I can give along with telling everyone that will listen to just calm down when you get a week out from a competition . That doesnt mean go stagnant but does mean you will most likley not get any stronger than you are at that point. The trick is to be as strong as you can be to see a good day for you armwrestling on the day of the competition. We will deal with that coming up. Stay Tuned, James

Palmetto Classic Training Part 4

Ok its thursday at lunch and I am gonna try and sneak this one in. The schedules dont always cooperate with this kind of thing but I am doing my best . As I said before these are things that work for me now. This is going to be different in some way with most because you have to take into account my lifting history and what I did all those years to get here and what I am doing now. I have weighed as much as 239 before and even did bench press back in the day . I guess my solid rep count lift was 315 for a set of 10 and my low rep was 450 for a set of 2. I do these no more as they really only impress the chicks on the beach . Ok starting from Monday and practice. I only had two show for practice on Monday but that is really all that is needed. You just do with what you have and work it out. I have some that come and then have to deal with their own demons through the week and need more time. The 3rd guy showed but he was still trying to recover from the prvious week and we all work. His second night after the last practice had him looking to vicodin for relief but he still showed and did some because he knows he has to work through it. I will admit the entry to my world can be painful at first. We did the pre wrestling work on the beam and pulled once again . I would have them alternate out on me until I felt like they had torn me down enough and the stronger of the two we had a few extra pulls in a hook to really get to the bottom of it. Yes it was kind of an off practice because this is a transition stage and people can only handle so much with their own schedules. Practice went well and then on Tuesday everyone can try and just get through the day.

Wednesday was hectic and I crammed the schedule because I have a bulldog we just bought that cannot be left alone too long as she will get lonley and look for something to chew on and I dont have the Crate completed that I am de rusting and re painting for her to stay in during these times when one of us cannot be there. Dogs are used to being crated for short periods of time and it keeps them from eating pillows etc. I rushed the gym but it is dedication that got me there so anything I succeeded in was a plus. Same general idea with Cardio but on this night all the people that party all weekend and drink and make lots of money were their doing their little classes or occupying literally every apperatus in the gym because they think that partying and drinking and burning the candle at both ends can be alleviated by their one little trip to the gym a week. I say more power to them but they are not what I consider to be remotley in the ball park of dedicated. Anyway you have these girls who half of them are so skinny they could run or walk on a treadmill for days and never break a sweat or even turn their little clock up enough to fart decently. Truth is they dont understand that you have to eat real food and then run it off and most of them think a white russian is a dairy product. Anyway the younger ones on this night had finally walked and ran the treadmills down where two of the machines just up and died and you cant even get a decent audio with the headphones because they yank and crank the plugins until they ruin them. Yes and this is at a golds gym with expensive equipment. Anyway I managed to get an end machine and once there it is no problem cause I am there for 25 minutes minimum. I dont have a feather frame where I can just float through a mile and never break a sweat nor burn any calories. Most are really no problem because their idea of cardio is a 5 minute walk and then a kind of fake damping of pretend sweat from somewhere on their bodies lol. I went right at 500 calories 10 to 15% incline 20-something minutes 1191 feet alltitude. Then I did manage my 100 crunches machine style and then another 30 hands behind the head and my 30 each side obliques. After that I had to get back and get my wife off to work so I did some of the reverse tricep extensions palm up and a quick set of 20 concentration curls with the 25s and then to the pullup bar for a stretch and a few very slow pullups to really get the idea to my body that it was going to have to adjust. I have made up my mind to just stay at 215 because I am much stronger at 205 + than at 198 and they are offering the class 220 instead of 209 at this tourney. No diet needed and in fact I literally can eat anything and as much as I please and that includes ice cream or whatever. I will report back again in the regular interval and havent decided on maybe working in a lift tonight or resting and aiming to the weekend. Today is only the 19th so this means I still have 3 weeks and 2 really to push the heat up. The next two weeks given the oppurtunity I will increase my intervals of self infliction before using the last week to cure it and be ready.

This is all very sound advice but I cannot say that it will work on everyone because not everyone has been where I have been over the past 25 years lifting wise . This means it isnt going to just win you a slot if you havent built what I have built over a 25 year period however it will help you to see how to isolate the things you need to eventually win. If you have never stepped into a big competition and felt what you are up against then not meaning to insult anyone but you are in for a surprise. These people who have been eating away at the competative side have more techniques they can draw on than you would imagine and if they dont get you one way they will move to another inflight so quickly that it will just finding you standing there wondering how that happened. This is how you learn and believe it or not something you will see in the way of a mistake you made , you will do it over and over again until indignation will drive you to be ready the next time. I have on many many many "pretty much all" occasions showed up at a tourney and had people approach me and tell me they never have been beaten and no one they had seen presently at the tourney stood a chance against their superior strength/wittyness/ego etc etc etc. On these occasions I have never and dont get frustrated when I tell you this never seen any of them get closer than say 4th place in professional class and in most cases the individuals were 2 up and 2 down with people that in the end did not get closer than 5th. These people that beat them would not say anything but by their claiming the prize before the tourney it just kind of internally enraged the people that had been trying for some time and only commanded a quite smart spanking by them when met across the table. I will say in almost all the cases the spankees went on to follow the same path the others were following and took it to where they wanted to. Not all of them wanted to do more than just respectable and then they pursued other things. Some of them loved the sport as I do and are still around deciding whether they are gonna listen to what is being freely given in advice and deciding whether they can physically meet the challenge by doing what they have to and know they have to in order to be the man. It makes it a very good character builder for people and they learn alot of direction and compassion from dealing with it and the respect is always given. These are the people of the future and very much a kind of no *** group who are not afraid of a challenge or failure. The only thing that scares any of them or bothers them is that win lose or draw they might not leave it all or really have what it takes to leave it all on the table. This is really what we all strive to do. Answer : find what it takes to leave it all on the table. Winning is great but what I just decribed is the first step and essential to the winning consistently. You gain that and you dont have to be superstitious about people getting in your head or anything like that. some people try and use that type of approach and it is very rewarding when you see them hype at an experienced armwrestler. You can all rest assured that most all experienced armwrestler have seen hype that would make Mohammed Ali's lines look mundane and while they might have fallen a little in the past they usually have enough experience and background Character to not buy into it resulting in a pretty nasty ass whipping. In the case of the younger wrestlers it is also accompanied by a post verbal reprisal that usually doesnt really last that long. So if you get you feelings hurt a little just go back over and apoligize because the experienced wrestlers are very forgiving as long as the correct path is found and recognized. This is a sport and we all strive to keep it that way and not turn it into some kind of side show. It carries plenty value to spectators and wrestlers alike to attract a crowd on its own.

Ok enough with the intro rant I just thought people might benefit from reading this part and it would help them in joining the group. Thanks and I hope this has been informative.

P.S. A very old Armwrestler once said that the name Armwrestling wasnt really the full analogy of the sport. He said it would have been better if it had been called Handwrestling but didnt quite cover the whole spectrum. Nevertheless your hand is part of your arm.

I believe his name was Al Turner. regard, James

Palmetto Classic Training Part 3

First let me just say it isnt easy doing all this and the updates but we will get through it. It is Sunday evening and my last entry was Tuesday January 10th. Today is the 15th but Tuesday was actually 12:04 am so it was only technically Tuesday. This one will come in two parts. A training session on Thursday and one today sunday plus a little about the in between.

On Thursday I got into the gym around 7pm and did somewhere around 1.66 miles in 26? minutes around a 15degree incline and 3.7+ mph for an altitude of 1232 feet. After comes the same 100 crunches conventional followed by 30 behind the head crunches and obliques 30 reps each side. On this night I mixed it up looking for things I had not done so first while I thought about it and the flat benches were all taken , I went to the pullup bar just for a set of 5 and a set of 10 . Then the bench opened and I wanted just a little curl warmup so I did seated concentration curls for a set of 30 with the 25's. After this it was reverse cable tricep extensions. I use that crossover cable machine to accomplish this isolating my elbow facing sideways with my palm up using 40 pounds. I do these on either side of the machine both arms for sets of ten until I get a good burn going. Then its on to the pullover machine. Back in the day some people called a quarterback machine because it helped with thier throwing distances. I simply put a couple 45's on this and do sets of 10 and 15 according to how I feel and on this night I did 2 sets of 15 and 2 sets of 10 since I needed to move on. Next I went for the seated row machine and started with sets of 10 at a weight of 75 and went up 10 pounds and around 105 I started decreasing by one rep until I got to 255 and one rep. Then it was lat raises and light weight on this night starting at 65 and sets of 10 ending at 65 and sets. Alright some people might think this was a good workout and some might think not but it was somewhere over two hours and no lollygagging and other than a parting set of pullups before heading home that was it for Thursday.

On Friday I was a little sore but took on the business day and made it through the evening just doing house stuff and I have by no means been really dieting however the weight is beginning to come off. I will tell that at the end so as to not get it out of context. Saturday other than hanging around the house and heading out to do some chores I didnt do much of anything other then maybe some light hammer pronation and supination movements. I am actually going to do my full sets of them and the grippers tonight after this posting facing practice tomorrow regular schedule.

Alrighty then on with today Sunday. I entered the gym just before 3 pm and did the cardio 10 to 15 degrees 27 minutes 3.7 to 4.3 miles per hour with a weight setting of 215 pounds for an altitude of 1205 feet. This type of cardio brings in just over a 500 calorie burn but I wear a hooded sweatshirt for it to make sure it is all that. Afterwards 100 crunches + another 50 with hands behind the head instead of on the crunch machine railing. 30 obliques each side followed by seated concentration curls starting at 25 and then 30 and then 35 for sets of 10. I was pretty rushed today and needed to get my butt in gear due to errands I needed to do. I was being lazy but when you get older sometimes it is hard to get it in gear. This is the reason I used this day to grab up the weight belt with the chain attached and just some light weight like 3 - 25's and a 10 and the seat row cable handle. This thing you can drape over the pullup bar and turn sideways and do pullups. I use the weight belt to add to the shock and start with 10 pounds and go up . 10 , 25 , 35, 50 , 60 , 75 , 85 then 75 , 60 , 50 , 35 , 25 and finally 10. Each number represents a set and today running out of time I was unorthodoxed and super setted them. I was out of breath from start to finish giving only 30 to 60 seconds rest while changing weight. I did conquer it though and with only 2 minutes left before the gym closed I took all the weigtht off and did just a few wide grip facing strict pullups while out of breath. Then I went to do some chores. In my case it was to the yacht club to run the boat for an hour. That is something that requires climbing in and out of a bilge and up and down a ladder. I was gonna wash it today but ran out of light. When I do that it takes me between 2 and 3 hours at best with a scrub brush and a 5 gallon bucket of soapy water. I will probably do that one on Tuesday.

Tonight I weigh 97 kg and I have been doing no dieting . I think I will just see where my weight goes but 220 sounds like a good weight and maybe I can eat more and build a little before Rock Hill . I always want to do well but there are more important things in life like friends and that is at the top of the list in this case. I am old friends with the people of Rock Hill and mostly look forward to seeing them all. In life everyone whould remember always be true to yourself and others. I have nothing to hide but what I do might not be the best for anyone who reads this and there is another factor involved. That would be the dedication factor. I look forward to people seeing gains from incorperating what I have written but you have to remember I been lifting dedicatedly since I was 26 and I am now 48. I would have been much better a long time ago if I had not ran into the strengths of the pullers in the 80's and broken bones in my elbow but hey better a late comeback than never to reach a goal. Take your time because you have alot of it as long as you dont take a cheap way out with drugs. The use of the drugs will shorten your time on the table to just a few years whereas if you keep training you might not beat all the short timers you come into contact with but you will be around alot longer and later on in the hunt in defiance of your age. Good Luck and god bless you cause if you hold to your dedication you will realize your dreams eventually. I will report back maybe Tuesday or wedensday. I expect to push much harder this week so we will see . night night, IRN

Supplimental

Ok the dishes are done. We had a pork chop and vegetable medley "string bean , carrot , onion" and some pasta with cheese sauce.

Afterwards I did the hammer wrist hammer and supponation / pronation and the hand grippers Captains of Crunch. Walked the dog and now I am off to the scene in Mirc to mess around and chat for a while pending my passing out cause tomorrow is MONDAY lol. Night,

Palmetto Classic training part 2

Alright it is late Monday night but I am here for a short recap since Friday. I am starting to get back on the track. Saturday after all responsibilties were completed I made it to the gym and completed around a mile and a half + uphill 15 degree incline at around 3.7 miles an hour. Total uphill altitude 1198 feet 24 minutes?. Then 100 crunches and 30 obliques each side. This was a pretty good re-entry after being off for four weeks. I went back to the old standby before leaving and did pullups followed by hammer curls on the machine. That actually made me feel better as well working from sets of 10 declining in numbers as I added weight starting with 45 pounds and ending up with the setting at 130 and two reps in the end right handed and 100 with the left two reps. Sunday was kind of a nightmare because the shock on the back and arms was noted but I still made use of the day and even worked a little hammer pronation and suponation late that night. Monday we did the armwrestling practice which was cool but I had a few of the guys that were too sore from last monday however another one showed that wasnt present last week and we dealt it out . We made this practice more about training than pulling but we did pull until people were running for the napersenes. This is because we did the monkey bar type work hand walking . It was pretty severe since it is 14 feet long and down and back is one trip. You add armwrestling after that and people get what they came for. I think alot of people use different things like pin boards and ropes etc. I am not really dieting heavy yet but it was salad for dinner tonight and shrimp cocktail. I am still around 216-217 but plenty of time once the metabolic slingshot goes into effect as long as I am not loading carbs with bread or rice or potatoes etc. that my body can convert. You know what they say > release the grease. Once that starts it will be 2 pounds a day because I intend to still eat otherwise I would drop faster and you dont want to lose muscle so you have to eat. It is all about what you eat though. Still out on the jury about 198 or 220. I will either be like 205 in the 220s or I will just barely come under the wire at 198. It is no matter because both classes will have plenty of targets and they will all be worthy. Time for sleep now and I will report back thursday or Friday of what I was able to accomplish in the week. I never know because my schedule varies. It is the dedication that gets us through and not the schedule normality. As nike says just do it. Night

4 weeks until the Palmetto Classic part 1

Ok its late but I am making a decision to attempt to make the Palmetto Classic in 4 weeks in Rock Hill South Carolina. I have just begun to get back in form so let's see if I can do it in 4 weeks and what it comes down to. I am a fatboy currently from all the time off and this past week I ballooned to like 219 pounds. There are two choices of weight. In this tournament they have a 198 or 220. Over the next week I will start my cardio and change my diet and report back how my changes come about. Since last night I dropped 2 pounds to about 217 but I have yet to get to my stripped low base weight and actually start to burn off the fat my layoff has aquired. It is now time to cut out any consumption of diet cokes and limit my intake of anything besides water to maybe 20 ounces of splenda layden hawaiian punch per day which I will cut out as well in about a week. As far as food I will be lowering my intake of breads and anything with carbs to near nothing in this week as well and bringing the cardio to cause the change. I figure I will see if I go to my normal trim weight of 205 pretty fast and if it just doesnt happen due to time constraints I will simply increase my diet of good intake and push the lean muscle back up as high as I can before the torunament. I will report back in about three days with the changes so that the readers can follow how it is done without losing the strength in your arms. In a last note let me say that I do cardio without running but simply walking uphill at a fast pace of 3.5 to 4.0 miles an hour at a 10 to 15 degree incline. If you wear a sweatshirt this is the better low impact way to succeed without shedding muscle. I will post again within the next 3 days. Maybe monday night.

getting back on track

yesterday was practice and I am sure as myself most of the guys at practice are a train wreck today. Alot of pulling done after watching some bowl games. Auburn looked like they been laying off too much at least to me. I been refinishing a set of chester drawers so using my hands enough but latley alot of arthritis pain although I noted other than being muscle sore the practice seems to have lessened the arthritis pain.

I dont know if any of you have ever heard of round robin or king of the hill at practice but if you havent this is how it goes. There are several variations of the rules but its basically single match line winner holds the table . You can make a rule that if you hold the table through a full round of pullers that you step down to the one who came closest to beating you or you can even make it if you go two rounds. We just go until someone gets beat down enough to drop a match. It just happened to be at the end of the second rotation so it didnt really matter. This is a good way to really get your pull on and study over and over the contrast of your pullers and what their attributes are . It shows clearly what they need to work on and in fact you can orchestrate it easier to get someone that you have that always pulls a hook to maybe use their toproll or visa versa. We only had 6 people at practice which is an ok number and we pulled on each other relentlessly even using the straps. Once again the one thing it cleared up about what my teammates needed to learn was that in a tourney the hook only guy will rarely come out the victor in the end. The big example is you get a guy that can hammer curl say close to 200 pounds over and over again and he likes the toproll. Ok you have another fella that if he can turn into a tricep press he can push about the same strength in a driving pin. Question: How strong is the tricep guys hand and wrist? Answer: Not nearly strong enough. The backpressure guy just keeps popping the outside move but the good thing is that it builds both skills putting these guys together and in a practice environment where you dont have the rulers out seeing whos is longer , it helps because you can get the guy with the big hook to try some toprolling and actually see just what he is capable of and what he/she "excuse me" needs to work on. Consequently you can get that big toproller to work his/her hook as well. It just makes for an all round improvment of skills. Everyone else in the pecking order will also get more out of the session that they needed. Besides myself I have one heavy guy that is a mean toproll and needs hook time. He weighs about 300. I also have a guy that as Neil Pickup puts it is the wizards *** in the shoulder roll . He is weighing about 215. I had another weighing in around 200 that just needs to get back on track and one that weighs about 180 and one in around 130 pounds. My wife pulls too so she gets plenty on the table. I guess what I am telling you guys is it isnt just a pull session. You have to look at everyone and work them in the areas that they need it. Ok here is where I brag a little. My heavy guy is Carey Nick and he has this ongoing rival with Chuck Westberry from Jacksonville. Before we went to Florida state I put Carey in the Straps and just held a defensive position on him and made him stay in the straps for about 5 pulls maybe a few more. I wouldnt take them off even though they kept getting tighter. I would just make him work and work at different angles to give him ideas about what to do if he was in tournament with someone and needed to drag out something to get by with. In that tournament he wound up in that scenario and even though he drove into a shoulder roll for the win in the straps , Chuck was totally suprised and Carey had the gas to peddle through it from our encounters. This is an great example of how you become better. The lifting and cardio is all great and you need it but you must get all aspects of that table and practice . It is very important you do it all. I hope this rant has been helpful. Until next week

I generally have 8 or more at practice but one just had a baby boy >congrats Kelly Wintz and the other I expect we will see next week. There is never any telling . I have had as many as 15 or so show up for a practice but it takes them time away sometimes to decide what they are really going to put into it and what they expect out of it. It is something that the individual has to decide but as I always say. It is indignation that will drive them there. I will come up with some more things we do maybe after next week. Remember this though > You only get out of it what you put into it. defining that item is not that hard to see however it is alot harder to do.

Back from Christmas Vacation

We returned from Ohio and visiting the family and friends on the 27th. I have just now gotten close to getting things back to normal. I will post some new topics of possible interest in the near future but just dropped in to recap the visit. Yes we saw some snow flurries and about 6 inches of snow on the ground that melted the first few days were were there. I went Ice fishing and got one bite but the ice was melting so we didnt stay out there long. I trained on Christmas Even with a group around Dayton at Eric Baldino's Gymnasium. It was a pretty successful practice and we met 6 new up and coming wrestlers and traded ideas on technique and training. I think it was pretty informative and they all seemed to soak it up like a sponge. I dont think anyone walked out of there with anything much left in the arms. I recommend Avis rental car for anyone who is planning a semi long trip and air fare is too steep. 250 bucks for a pontiac vibe for a week. We put right at 2000 miles on it 740 each way and traveling around town. 30 mpg isnt bad on the gas and made the trip in 10.5 hours with two stops on the way.

I have a unique situation because my whole family armwrestles. My father in law is one of the Mcsherry Brothers from up in Ohio so no matter if I am here in Florida or in Ohio I can pretty much armwrestle which is fortunate. Ok once I get a brain storm on furtherment of the Blog in the way of Armwrestling I will be posting further. I do have more material that might spark thoughts but this is just a vacation recap and Wishing everyone Happy New Year!

A typical week in preperations. I think lol maybe more maybe less

Mondays 6pm Armwrestling practice

we do this in many different capacities. Strength training first with the team using whatever method you have be it a rope or a beam or wall pegs etc.

Then to the table and the warmup and pulling . Usually a few matches with selective wrestlers and if slips occur then the straps. These matches are not neccessarily to a pin but more for who gains control of the match. There are many different things you can do in the way of pulling but they are only things that arise if needed.

This portion is followed by round robin matches which is like king of the hill. We go around the room and see who can hold the table longer. Usually at this point everyone starts to feel the burn so we back off and talk about positioning and grip etc,. Usually on a night right before a tourney there is also some practice involving those items with starts / hits.

In the end everyone calls it a night and heads for the tylenol or dinner etc.

Tuesdays.. This is a good day to just simply survive the day and deal with work and getting home and relaxing.wednesday

Wednesday I use the evening hours for the gym usually between 530pm and 630pm I get to the gym and slug down about 8 ounces of water and get on the treadmill walking uphill for anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the urgency and need.

Cardio followed by Crunches on a crunch machine and then by a set or sets of oblique exercises . an oblique machine is a thing that allows you to lay out at an angle sideways and do like a side to side motion that will burn off your love handles and side abdominals.

Once completed this far I have to make a choice for the lifts. It goes similar to bicep / tricep or back / shoulders but I have several different approaches to these muscle groups that are slightly different.

One night I will do seated concentration curls and seated half curls along with reverse cable tricep extensions. On this same night I have been know to use a pullover machine to work on my shoulders dexterity and ability to complete this lift in a series of sets. If these lifts are all I do this night then I will do a 2 set of 25 at 10 reps and then a set with the same weight at 30 reps. Then I will go up to the weight of 30 40 and 50 for sets of 10.

The reverse tricep extensions I do with two 30 or 40- pounds sets of 10 or 20 reps for 4 sets each arm. It is important to remember on any given night I may do more of any lift I choose to increase my chances of success.

On another night I will do Pullups with weight attached to my body on a belt two different types of pullups. I use one of those seated row or pull down handle things for the cables and stratle it over the pullup bar. I start with 10 pounds on the belt and then I pull it off and add a 25. Then I add the 10 again and then I pull it and add a 25. Each time Is a set and the reps range from 8 to 10 going up declining as I increase to as much as 100 or 110 or more in weight. I just see how many reps I can do with the high weight. It is usually 2 to 4 reps with the 100 or more in weight and anywhere as high as 5 reps up to 100. When i get it loaded with the max weight I am using I start back down with the weight removing and adding until I get back to 10 pounds. I do a different pullup on the way down though. I do a widegrip facing pullup on the way down with the weight. After this I go to the seated row machine and start with 75 to 90 pounds and sets of 10 and go up 10 pounds and decrease in the reps until I reach a point that I feel the burn. This could be as high as in the low 200s. After that I am on to the lat raise machine where I start with about 65 and reps of 10 and go up to around 100 or more and reps of say 5 to 10 depending on how I feel.

Ok now there is an alternate night that I will slip into a week where I do curls but with a double armcurl machine that has a handle like a bicycle. I start by doing double arm curls reps of 10 with a starting weight of 50 pounds and I increase by 10 pounds and go up to about 180 or 200 and just a rep of 2 or 3. Then at the same machine I start over holding in the middle and doing hammer curls pretty much the same way as the double arm curls but only up to 150 or so on a good night right handed and 110 left handed.

There is also an alternate night once a week where if I dont get the half curls with heavy weight and the wrist curls that I will fit in somehow unless I am experiencing alot of pain. I start with like 75 or 80 pounds doing as many as reps of 10 through 100 or 110 pounds and then 120 or higher being just a couple or three reps. I have done as many as 5 reps when I was younger with 150 but it twists my back and I dont work that lift as hard as I used to.

In essence I fit all these lifts into my week along with holding together my life and on saturdays or sundays I through in a 4 pound sledge with suponation /pronation and hammer wrist curls plus the good old captains of crunch grippers. This is just a kind of outline of my preperations to bring an A game to any tournament I enter. I could tell people all day what did to get there but it makes no difference because many will try and do it but not many will either do it to its full extent or they will simply think they can take short cuts . This will be the difference in their successes or not. I do it to a heavier degree at times and a little less according to just how much pain my body will handle.

On top of all this there is more dealing with proper diet and nutrition. I use no water pills or any quick fix ideas in pill form. Remember Salad is good. Bread Rice and high carb foods store and can be bad because your body will run of them and leave the fat behind. Good Luck

end/rant

It isnt all just Armwrestling & Incorperation defined

You can live eat and sleep armwrestling in an obsessive fashion but the world goes on and everyone should remember they are alive and should grab at all they can in life. It gets easier in time but I will begin by explaining I do have a full plate so to speak. I have many things I do resulting from my interests in life. I have been in the net since about 1993 when I added to my list of obsessions this box I communicate through. Yes the Computer. I built my nephew one last night while I was doing many things. It is hard to imagine where it has gone this technology and that bare bones needs for a 10 year old would extend to a pentium 4 3ghz processor with a 2mb L2 cache and hyperthreading technology > 1gb ddr 400 sdram and a 250 gb sata harddrive for storage under an scsi dual drive system to carry windows XP pro. Yes if you build it they will come.

I have webpages all over the net and even at 48 I hang out in the scene in IRC just for kicks besides monitoring now 4 messageboards including this one . I am a bail agent by trade which occupies my days in a way that makes me feel like a psychiatrist for the most part helping people make decisions that should be so simple based on their propensity to do what is right . In a short description though while it is a mainstream concept alot of people make bad decsions based on no previous inclination to do what is right but rather stupid things based on shallow learning from watching people on TV like Bill Clinton for instance lying and getting away with it. Here me now all you people out there . If you dont base all your decsions on this concept of doing what is right then you will never reach the pinnacle of fullfillment you seek. Simply put whether you stand to gain for a decsion you make in life or not if you do what is right because it is right then you cannot go wrong.

I am starting back towards my diet today only being about 3 pounds off weight. Do it now and dont get so far from home base or you will surely pay the price to make it . At my age I have found something that is pretty much like the miracle suppliment for joint pain too. I tested this latley by stopping my intake of this wonder suppliment and tonight I started back. I feel better already. Glucoamine with Chondoitin and not just any because of the bodies inabilty to process gel or hard tabs I only buy the capsules at walgreens lol. 500 + 400 mg dosage and 3 a day.

I have done many things so far in my life. I have been in the general contracting business encompassing anything from hauling blocks to pouring concrete and drying in and trimming out custom homes all the way up to stucco working a high rise. I fished for a living both commerically and for the rich tourists that come to florida. I have even ran private yachts for the rich and worked the billfish tournament circuits. All of these things were just stepping stones to the real prize though. Being a success and owning a home and being stable in life is the big prize. It might not sound so appealing to many but nevertheless it is the shiznit! Make no mistake of that. I have traveled all over the world and I love that as well but home base will always be first in the priority department. Ok this was a rant but heck I can write whatever I want in here and if anyone is paying close attention they will get little peices of advice that will guide them hopefully to happieness by the decisions they make as a result of reading the rant.

I have so much to keep me busy it is really quite insane. I even have a case of books here on loan from a friend that has everthing MCSE in it at least up until a few months back. I must consume this knowledge as well but alot of it is recap because I have successfully ran several networking labs using windows 2000 server and 2003 server in almost every facet of the system besides doing similar non profit work answering questions during the beta cycle of windows xp in the newsgroups. Bottom line is what oppurtunities can you youngsters make for yourselves out there to motivate . If you live by this type of enthusiasms you will certainly succeed at armwrestling. Do however much you can concieve that it might take to be successful and then double your efforts,. You might just make it! end/rant~

Enter My First Blog!

My Plan 12-14-2005 2317 hours and I have just discovered the link that led me here to my Blog. This as I understand it will be basically a diary of my movements in the Armwrestling world. Mondays are Practice . When I have a tourney coming on wednesdays and fridays and Saturdays or Sundays become the lift/cardio days in preperations. This week is a little different because we just returned from Florida States where I was fortunate to ax 2nd place in the 209 right handed division at the Mudville grille on Beach drive in Jacksonville Florida. Nice turnout with 174 entries. This next monday the 19th of December will be the Last Practice until after Christmas. Yes apparently unless things change we will have practice on the 26th. I will be adding entries of interest as we go but this is a good start for now.

Several possible tournaments on the horizon in the southeast to consider. Get A Grip albemarle NC, the Palmetto Classic Rock Hill SC, Battle of the Giants Albany Ga, another one possible still under construction in Ga. around that time and then of course the National Championships just north of Cincinatti Ohio at the Paramount Kings Island Amusement park on June 2nd 2006. These are things on my mind currently if I have the funds and time to attend. The Nationals is a must do though. Everyone who reads this remember you cannot climb a mountain unless you go and try . Also everyone should know that as of last year they added novice classes to this Nationals to help bring in the beginners. Almost midnight and I am gonna go relax but I will be back to smear more of my thoughts around tomorrow. rant/out