Pottsgrove Wrestling Tournaments - 2011-2012

We had a looooooong weekend of wrestling starting on Friday with the annual Pottsgrove Takedown tournament followed by the Holiday Tournament on Saturday. The takedown tourn is pretty unique and there aren't too many of them around. It gives the kids a little taste of wrestling and goes very quickly. Michael did pretty well at the TD tourn. He lost his first match to a really good kid. His second he dominated his opponent. In the third match he got the first takedown, gave up the second, and then ended up losing because he grabbed the kids headgear. He took 3rd place - Not bad.

The Pottsgrove holiday tourn had an unbelievable turnout - 400 kids, and they turned away at least 150 others. The place was packed and so was Michael's bracket with 13 kids. He won his first two matches with pins in the first period. His third match he won 8-6 and it was pretty tight - that put him in the finals for first or second. He ended up getting caught really quickly and got pinned in his final match. He wasn't too upset which was a good thing, but it was disappointing because I think it would have been a good match. All in all a good weekend of wrestling. Videos below:

Hunter Mountain Snowboarding - GoPro

This is a little video I put together that I shot using my GoPro Hero. We tried a bunch of different mounts - head, board, pole, and I think the coolest is the pole mount. This was shot at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills of New York the day after Christmas 2011. I edited it using Cyberlink Powerdirector 9. Enjoy!

Michael Caught Dancing

This is pretty funny - Michael has been listening to his iPod touch with headphones and dancing in his room. We caught him - very funny

Ultimate Cable Crossover Exercise

During my 30lb weight loss over the past 2 years (206lbs to approx 176lbs) I've gotten a lot of questions about my workout routines and eating habits so I decided to post a bit about part of my routine. My schedule is 5 days weights, 1 day running then repeat. Occasionally there is a complete rest day when life intervenes, but everyone needs a day off here and there to rest. The breakdown is as follows:


Day 1 - Chest/tri's/stretching/abs
Day 2 - Back/bi's/stretching/abs
Day 3 - Legs/stretching/abs
Day 4 - Shoulders/stretching/abs
Day 5 - Arms (bi's & tri's) /stretching/abs
Day 6 - Cardio


This is a portion of my chest/tri's day. This is my "ultimate cable crossover" routine. The reason it differs from normal cable crossovers is because I begin with the rungs at the very top of the cable crossovers (#17). After each set of crossovers I immediately do a set of push ups using the "perfect pushups." For each set of crossovers I lower the rungs 2 notches - start at #17 then go to #15 all the way down to #1. This means I am working every angle of my chest by starting at the top and finishing at the bottom. I do 9 sets of crossovers with approx 8-10 reps per set and additionally do 9 sets of push ups with 8-10 per set. 

I do this exercise after flat bench and after incline dumbbell press. This is a real killer and will totally rip up your chest. The flat bench and dumbbell press put on the mass while this exercise combined with push ups shreds. After this I do 3 sets of the pec-dec machine to finish off chest. Here is a video from the middle of the routine - and yes, I am getting a bit thin on top - I didn't realize how much until watching this video - I am 38 years old :)

First Tournament of the Season

Well, it's the beginning of the season - learning time. We've been back at wrestling practice for a few weeks now and Michael has been doing pretty well. We entered the Quakertown Wrestlinng Tournament  this past Sunday to get back on the mat officially. This is his first time wrestling at the "Bantam" level. He weighed in at 50lb's on the dot.

Michael wrestled two matches  His first he came out on fire and totally dominated his opponent. Unfortunately he made some mistakes and allowed the kid to tie him forcing them into overtime. He got taken down in overtime and that was that. His second match he also did ok in, but he lost 9-2. He was pretty disappointed, but I told him that this is really the best way to learn. It's a long season....

Leftover Turkey - Buffalo Salad

I made this BIG salad for lunch using some leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. It was super easy and delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2-1 cup diced Turkey (I prefer dark meat)

2 TBS hot sauce

baby spinach

romaine lettuce

tomatoes

sliced carrots

purple cabbage

celery

radishes

sunflower seeds

dried cranberries

sprinkle of salad seasoning

bacon bits

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Dice the turkey and put into microwave safe bowl - set aside. Combine all cold ingredients together - add salad seasoning and toss. Microwave diced turkey for one minute then toss with hot sauce. Add to salad and enjoy!

THIS IS SPARTA

When Gretchen won the Spartan Race back in September, and came home with a real looking Spartan sword, I immediately decided I HAD to be a 300 Spartan for Halloween. I've been working out pretty intensely for the past 2 years and I feel like I've gotten into pretty much the best shape of my life. So I started growing my "King Leonidas" beard, I researched 300 Spartan costumes and found the good ones to be ridiculously expensive. So instead, I figured - I have the sword and if I could get a decent cape and helmet, I could make the rest of the costume myself. I bought the cape, Spartan skirt (I did not want to wear the codpiece :) ) and helmet from a Halloween store pretty cheap and then found some great online resources for making your own Spartan shield. This website also had a great way to make your own 300 Spartan Vambraces (armguards) out of cardboard and paper mache. The shield and arm-guards together took me about 2 weeks to make, but I was really taking my time and not rushing it. I think they turned out pretty dam good. The shield was made from cardboard, a disc sled, paper mache, and bronze paint. The armguards were made from cereal boxes, paper mache, wire, and bronze paint. I bought 3 leather belts from the dollar store for the "cape straps" and a belt to hold my sword up. I have leather sandals that I was going to wear, but the freak October snowstorm put an end to that, so I went with boots instead. We had plans to attend a great Halloween party, but the snowstorm also put an end to that with downed trees across the road we were driving on. So instead, we went to the Brickhouse in Pottstown as they were having a Halloween party get together there as well. Gretchen went as my Spartan Queen and we all had a good time. Some photos below of our costumes and the gear I used. Enjoy!

Nicole, Andy, and Chommy went with us. Nicole was Amy Winehouse, Andy was "Willard," and Chommy threw his costume together in 2 minutes of Halloween store shopping and went as "backwards guy" with the V for Vendetta mask - LOL. Fun...

Rock Solid Mud Run

Since Gretchen and I had so much fun at the Spartan Race last month, we decided to do another mud run - The Rock Solid Mud Run in Englishtown, NJ. This one was not as intense as the Spartan, but it was definitely a fun 5 mile course with 30+ military grade obstacles. I found the running on the course to be easier than the Spartan since this was flat and the Spartan was up a mountain, but some of the obstacles were pretty tough. Starting out you had to swim/wade through a lake three times after jumping off of a 20' platform or sliding down a steep slide (which Gretchen chose). We recorded the run with my GoPro Hero video camera and took turns wearing it. It was definitely a good time and I'd do it again. Here a fun video I put together using music that Gretchen insisted on :) Enjoy and please comment!

Western Lehigh Soccer Tournament Champions

Well, the girls Lightning U10 travel soccer team from Pottsgrove did it again with another 1st place win at the Western Lehigh Soccer Tournament over the weekend of October 8-9, 2011. They had two games on Saturday and two on Sunday and they dominated them all. Great job girls!

Here are the photos from the games:

PA Spartan Sprint - 1st Place

Well, we did it - and Gretchen took an AMAZING 1st place! I am seriously so proud of her. Gretchen is the runner of the family - I am not. When we decided to do "The Spartan," she said she would stay with me throughout the race. Yeah, that went out the window about 15 minutes in when one of the workers told her she was the 2nd place woman at that time. She took off - I don't blame her at all and I didn't want to hold her back. We were both very impressed with the course. I was pretty nervous since they upped the distance from 3 miles to 4.8 miles, but we both did well. Gretchen finished in 1 hour and 17 minutes and I finished in 1 hour and 33 minutes. Not too bad...Gretchen came home with a bad ass gladiator sword as the first place trophy and she may get to compete in another Spartan race in Texas for a $10k prize. It was a very good day. Here is the video of Gretchen getting her "trophy."


***UPDATE***
This is the actual video of the Spartan Race in PA posted yesterday on Spartan.tv:
Pa Spartan Sprint