Archives for general (page 4)

Your vitamins not keeping the colds at bay? You might want to try pills intended for elephants. Hair not shiny enough after your shower? Camel shampoo is probably the answer. Don’t worry, the stuff intended for humans is obviously not potent enough for you. When I first heard that horse liniments, usually of the warming variety applied pre-workout, are a mainstay at Westside Barbell, I shrugged it off as yet another practice reserved for those willing to excel at all cost, as another example of the steroid mentality. Yet, now I have a huge bottle of the Tallipoika (Stable boy) brand extra strong cold Superliniment intended to be “carefully rubbed on the tendons and joints of the horse after exertion”.

It all began when I found a thread over at Westsidebar discussing this very topic. The general party line was that normal cold liniments do not penetrate much deeper than the skin, but opinions diverged on whether the equestrian variety went much deeper to be effective. Apparently, some physical therapists recommend horse liniments precisely for this reasons, while others feel only ice delivers. Sanna also recalled that she had heard about the use of horse liniments during her massage therapy studies. Comparing the horse liniment with Ice Power and Cool Power (both common cold liniments sold here in Finland), it would appear that the active ingredients in cold liniments are some form of alcohol (isopropanol, ethanol or denatured alcohol), menthol, and possibly camphor (the horse liniment) or eucalyptus oil (Ice Power). The rest are standard cosmetic ingredients that gives the liniment its ice blue color or gel-like consistency. The horse liniment is much more runny than Ice Power, probably because it is easier to smear quickly over a large horse that way, and lacks glycerin or its equivalents.

Let me put it this way: the ingredient list (isopropanol, menthol, camphor, thickening agent and food colors) of the horse liniment I bought reveals no super potent ingredient not found in the standard cold liniments sold in pharmacies and sports departments, unless that would be camphor… If the horse liniment is more effective it is because it has higher concentrations of active ingredients than the human intended brands. The major reason, besides the possibility that it is indeed a tad more potent, to mess around with horse liniments would appear to be price. I paid 9 euros for a liter of horse liniment from the equestrian section of a local supermarket whereas the liter price of Ice Power is 50 euros if bought in the biggest container. Think about that for a second. Thomas Deebel pretty much summed it up when he was asked why EliteFTS only sell veterinary liniments:

The vet products are actually cheaper for you to purchase. The liniments I have to sell in my office are actually about the same, but cost 4X as much money.

There you have it. Sorry for dissolving the mystique surrounding the powerlifter as a mighty horse.

A raw bench press of 180 kg/398 lbs and a near miss at the same weight in the back jerk. If it weren’t for the gymnastics (try the push up to dip combination on for size…), incredible depth jumping, weird specialty exercises and a lot of javelins flowing all over the place, you’d think that would be the work of a decently strong powerlifter. Think again. Thorkildsen is one of the top names in javelin with a personal best of 90.13m and a gold metal from the Olympic Games in Athens 2004. His blog is well worth a read for anyone who is interested in seeing how a top athlete works the weights for sport specificity (the bounce on the bench reminds me of the clip I once linked to, since gone, where shotputter Manuel Martinez bounced 300 kg/663 lbs off pads on his chest). I actually find myself quite interested in the javelin stuff too, perhaps it’s because I’ve entertained thoughts of picking up shotputting for fun to accompany the powerlifting stuff for some time now.

Unlike the Powerlifting Relative Strength Calculator, the Siff’s Bodymass Adjustment Formula operates on any combination of squat, bench, deadlift and total results. As usual, this one can also rank up to thirty lifters at a go. If anyone needs more, it can easily be arranged.

Feedback welcome.

It took a few nights of work, but it is time to proudly unveil the Powerlifting Relative Strength Calculator and hope that no major bugs are lurking in the shadows. Here’s where you, dear reader, come in… test it and let me know if it is squirming. In a nutshell, this calculator computes relative strength by all common formulas (Wilks, Reshel, Glossbrenner, NASA, Siff and Schwartz/Malone) for one or more lifters. If this is unfamiliar territory for you, the calculator also comes with a fairly thorough introduction.

The reverse hyper loading pin showing off some astonishing wear, incidentally of the same width as a 20 kg/44 lbs plate… the dent is most pronounced at the top, with very little on the underside. Pretty much the same thing that happens to joints subjected to years of mechanical stress under maximal loads. This is where you, like me, hope I’m at least half kidding.

Subject: Question about the original Buffalo Bar
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:59:53 +0000

Hi,

I just purchased a used Buffalo Bar. As a proud owner with an interest in
lifting trivia, I would like to briefly inquire about the history of the
bar. I found a forum post on the internet where it was stated that the
specs used to be 1 1/8″ diameter and 86″ length as opposed to the
current 1-3/8″ diameter and 92″ length. Is this true, and if so,
when did you start to manufacture it with the larger specs? I would also
be interested in when the first bar hit the shelves.

Sincerely,
-Kristoffer Lindqvist, Helsinki, Finland

Dear Kristoffer,

Congratulations on your new (to you!) Buffalo Bar.

IronMind began selling cambered squat bars in 1990, after they had
been ignored for decades, and although it’s more history than trivia,
we did this as they are tied to the training program featured in the
book SUPER SQUATS. We had two models then, and the predecessor to
our current model, in fact, was 1-1/8″ in diameter. I do not have
the product introduction dates at my finger tips, but that bar moved
first to 1-1/4″ in diameter, before settling in at its current
diameter of 1-3/8″.

I hope this information helps you and that you enjoy your Buffalo Bar
for many years of productive training.

Best wishes,

Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D.
President
IronMind Enterprises, Inc.

A BIG thanks to Randall J. Strossen for his generous answer to a question that many lesser companies would regard as a waste of their time and for giving me the permission to cite the correspondence on this blog. The links that appear in the posts have been added to point the reader to the relevant information.

We added a new weapon to our arsenal at the gym. [..] The 92.5″ Buffalo Bar with its magnificent curve boldly rests on the angled uprights of our Excalibur power rack. What a truly handsome piece of steel it is; super-long with it’s super-thick deeply knurled bar, smoothly rotating Olympic sleeves and cool silver-steel finish. We don’t use this ultimate squat bar for training purposes, as it is far too beautiful for clanging around, dropping and racking. We, girls and guys, take turns standing next to the thing like it was a frontiersman’s musket or a gladiator’s lance, vain warriors posed for a point n’shoot photograph.
Dave Draper: Buffalo Stampede.

Tongue in cheek aside, I followed in the footsteps of the Blonde Bomber and arranged to purchase my very own Buffalo Bar for Toffe’s. It all started when I got the latest issue of MILO and read Dr. Ken’s ravings about how this legendary bar is “made for one thing and one thing only and that’s the squat”. As it happened, some time later I browsed in at Voimaharjoittelu.net to look at their used equipment sections. The first thing I saw was a Buffalo Bar for 195 euros. For a second, I was torn between the Buffalo Bar and the Texas Powerbar (”the best all-purpose bar on the market“), but with Leistner’s words, a vision of my squat numbers continuing their climb and a 50% discount on my mind (the retail price is 395 euros), I went for the Buffalo. I contacted Sakke, the owner of the shop, and inquired about the condition of the bar. Turned out he had two (Europeans, one more is up for the grabs!), both in good condition. One had been in use at a public gym, the other one is from a private gym. He also readily agreed to hold the shipping until late April when dad will be at our summer cottage to pick it up. Saves me from slugging it all the way from Helsinki. Good service!

I will definitively need to replace the generic bar at Toffe’s with a proper bar at some point, but for now I am happy to have a legendary squat bar in my forest. Unlike what the thick layer of ice still covering the sea here in southern Finland suggests, the outdoor training session is just around the corner. Can’t wait.

I’ve been involved in a Tibetan digital library project for some time now in the capacity as the sysadmin responsible for the actual technical implementation. After more months of work than I care to recall, we are finally nearing a public release. Eager to get it done, both the guys in China and I have been working frantically on it for the last ten days or so. The good news is that we have made good progress, the bad news is that it was a decisive turn in the wrong direction for my back.

Monday last week, I worked non-stop from 9pm to 6.30am in front of the computer. With my brain deeply occupied with Perl code, I royally forgot to decompress every now and then. Minutes later, I was dashing hard to catch the customary bus. I made it, but at the expense of my lower back. First came the pain, two days later the lateral hip shift. I took muscle relaxants and pain killers left over from the previous pain saga, but still had trouble getting out of the bed in the morning. Decided to forget training until it had cleared. In the end, it cleared up faster than I had dared to imagine. It remains to be seen if I have managed to get past it at record speed or not as I break out the Sting Ray this weekend.