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Showing posts from January, 2014

Koji Uehara - World Series champion

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Okay, this is very late, but I thought I'd do a write up anyway. Besides, it's snowing here on the east coast and work has been canceled due to the storm so I'm stuck indoors (I've discovered there's a LOT of shit on daytime TV, apart from the news, so I'm better off doing something constructive). Anyway, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series but what caught my eye was the great sports photos of relief pitcher Koji Uehara. Upon clinching the championship, Keiji was front and center---an Asian male the focal point of the championship photos. Interestingly enough, the Boston Red Sox also have Japanese relief pitcher Junichi Tazawa in the bull pen as well. But Uehara has an interesting backstory. Koji Uehara was the American League Championship series MVP, pitching well enough in relief in the 9th inning for scoreleess inning, striking out two Detroit Tigers batters, giving up only an infield single. However, at the start of the 2013 season, Uehara wa

Shadow Warrior Out of the Shadows

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So Shadow Warrior Gene Yu has come out of the shadows and is now a celeb in Taiwan.  His book "Yellow Green Beret" was translated into Chinese. This guy's a true Alpha Asian. Gene served as a U.S. Army Special Forces officer. He served in 4 combat tours in Iraq and the Philippines, working extensively throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East in special ops missions. He received several medals for his accomplishments, including 2 Bronze Stars. Yellow Green Beret documents his experiences, all the way from his time at Westpoint in 1997 to the Iraq War in 2009.  It's a compilation of 23 episodes from his military life, some of them quite humorous, some of them profound life lessons. All of the stories provide the reader with an inside look at Army Special Forces Operations and the intense training that's involved.  You learn a lot about the war in Iraq, hazing at Westpoint, sniper school and scenario based training And yet, this guy doesn't take hims

Building Muscle on Just Calisthenics

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Q:  I'll follow the body weight and dumbbell exercises you recommended but drop the use of kettlebells.  Will these be enough? And do they follow the correct sequence? 1. Dips (progress to weighted dips) 2. Pull-ups 3. Push-ups (progress to One-hand push ups) 4. Leg raises (progress to Pike) 5. One-legged squats (progress to weighted one-legged squats) 6. Lateral push away with dumbbells 7. Lean away laterals with dumbbells I plan to do this workout thrice a week.  How many sets and reps per exercise do you recommend? Kind regards, E. Ong My Answer:  Yep those exercises should be enough.  As far as sequencing, you should sequence them according to difficulty.  So exercises where you perform a low number of reps (due to their difficulty) should be done at the beginning of the workout.  Easier exercises where you can perform a high number of reps  (like push-ups and lateral raises) should be done at the end of the workout. Since most of these are body weight ex