A fifteen years ago this week, film was revolutionized. Pulp Fiction graced the Silver Screen with its snappy banter and wicked humor, forever changing the way people saw the world. Although this may seem melodramatic, I was one of those people that the film affected so greatly. No longer was a movie simply entertainment; it was an experience.

Although I was only 17 at the time, the brilliance before me sparked my love of film, and in doing so, unveiled an entirely new perspective. Sure it didn't start off as anything other than a great movie, but what was different about this was that I found myself reflecting on it the next day. And the day after, and so on. Nothing had affected me like this before, and although it took me a while to realize it, I was viewing the world through a slightly different lens.

Here are a few standouts:

-Although this film had incredible performance after incredible performance, to this day I feel like Eric Stoltz stole the show with his faux empathy, and ultimately humorous ineptitude. "No, you don't gotta f*cking stab her three times!"

-The Jimmy Situation, from tampon towel to post-hose towel off, is still my favorite. "This is some f*cked up, repugnant sh*it!"

-Harvey Keitel was the most badass, as Mr. White became Mr. Cool (complete with NSX!).

-"Aw man, I shot Marvin in the face." is the best reaction to any catastrophic accident in the history of the world.

-Marsellus inadvertently shooting the woman in the leg still makes me laugh, no matter how inappropriate it may be.

-At the time of my initial viewing I had no idea what "818" meant, but now it makes me smirk every time I give someone my phone number.

I gotta get outta here... I could do this all day.

As 1AM approached I thought to myself: "here I am, training in the middle of the Weider HQ museum. How cool is this?"

Biceps in front of Arnold, Yates (my original hero), and a giant gold Sandow, then tri's near Franco and Haney. The sense of history just permeates every corner, and at least for me, there's still that feeling of child-like awe.

It really is a spectacular environment in which to train, as long as 2 conditions are met:

1)    You're not a moron

2)    You do it late enough such that the office is empty (good luck with that)

Granted, the latter condition can't ever be met in full because our Chief, Chris Lockwood, rarely sleeps or leaves the building (that night he departed somewhere between 4 and 5 AM). But far from any hindrance, he helped me set up some shots and figure out the lighting situation. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure he digs it too.

Until next time,

Raise The Barr!

The night I arrived in Las Vegas, I was assaulted by a drunken Irishman.

Granted, he claimed to be showing me how poor my shoulder flexibility was, and I'm not actually certain about his inebriation, but I like to think that only the latter could precede his diagnosis.

Fortunately, it was all smooth sailing from there on.

In fact, the rest of my follow up to the NSCA National Conference will be presented largely in video format. I have 65 vids, including interviews with researchers, coaches, vendors, and several product demo's that you'll want to check out. Everyone at the conference was eager to help, including all of the NSCA reps, which only served to reinforce what a strong community we have here.

This is just the beginning. Big things are coming.

Until next time,

Raise The Barr!

I was watching McErlane clean 315 the other day, and as with all situations in which the practitioner is truly adept, he made it look effortless. The illusion of ease got me thinking about what it would take to do the same myself. It was pretty simple (on paper):

1)    I'd have to fully rehab my partially torn ACL, because my quads don't like to contract around it (subsequent video analysis showed that my hang cleans look more like Romanian deadlifts)

2)    I'd really have to get my front squat technique/strength down -something I've traditionally had difficulty with.

Before I progressed any further with this daunting list, I began to wonder about the need for perfect Olympic lifting form. While I'm usually the first person to jump in and claim that of any lifts we have, those of the Oly-ilk are the most technically difficult, and as such, require the greatest level of technical proficiency.

But that's for the actual Olympic sport. What about the reason for which 99% of people actually do these lifts; power development.

It would seem to me that maximal power comes from the first two pulls (at most), and has little to do with the following catch or front squat. People spend years developing technique for the latter, but to what end? Certainly convention plays a role, but physiologically speaking, why so much focus on the lift after the first two pulls? Shouldn't high pulls be sufficient? This would yield all of the benefits without the temporal investment of full clean form.

NOTE: Myotest-based power data could help to answer this question.

Until next time,

Raise The Barr!

Can one raise the bar too high?

In terms of outside expectations, the answer is invariably YES.

Take film for example; after I saw Watchmen, I was screwed. Cerebral action, the likes of which I hadn't seen since The Matrix (which is a decade old? I don't believe it!), was only going to fuel the craving for more of the same. Fortunately, the wait was short lived, given the Temporal Mechanics in the new Star Trek I was a happy boy. But what now? How long will I have to wait before once again finding such a harmonious blend?

Granted I'll be transiently sated by comedies like The Hangover, but even in this genre I'm met with the same bar raising phenomenon -and after watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall 10-or-so times in the past month (it's on cable), I'm in dire need of respite.

[Great, now I have that "Infant Sorrow" song stuck in my head.]

From this, when it comes to outside expectations, I think we can take the Jackie Chan saying to heart: "Expect the worst and hope for the best."

Well-said Mr. Chan. Well-said indeed.

But for yourself, as always,

Raise The Barr!