Bullet Points and a Brew 1/9/17

Back at it! I’m back in Chattanooga, and ready to get back into my normal routine of things. It was a great vacation, and I got to sample even more of the amazing climbing surfacing on Maui, but now its time to get back to work.

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I just finished my first training session. It was a good one, full of heavy lifting, some kettlebell snatches, and some loaded carries. I’ve got a fingerboard in the mail, and I’m psyched about its portability. I’ve got a bunch of ideas in my head on how to utilize it, and can’t wait to try it out. Let’s get into the bullet points.

The Bullet Points

I posted an article last friday detailing some tweaks I’m making to the yearly scope of my own training. I’m a big proponent of the view that if my viewpoints don’t change over time, I’m not doing a very good job to educate myself and get a little better every day.

Climbharder, Reddit’s climbing training related subreddit recently had an “Ask Me Anything” conversation with climbing coach Will Anglin out of Colorado. It’s a cool format, since any user can post a question. Check it out and read through it. There’s a lot of good information in there.

“Little and Often Over the Long Haul”

That quote sums it up. No technical training information in this one, but a great glimpse at the mindset required to sustain training for a lifetime. Not a year, not two years, but the philosophy necessary to continue getting a little better throughout your lifetime. I don’t know about you, but I want to keep a physical lifestyle until I’m dead. I don’t feel like being broken in my later years.

We all know stress is bad. Actually, it isn’t. David Dellanave gives us a more subtle overview of how stress relates to us and our training. I thought it was more nuanced than alot of the standard (yet still mostly accurate) analogies of stress I usually see. It was an interesting article to me, so I thought I’d share it.

The Brew

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City of the Dead, Modern Times Beer

A cool aspect about taking a vacation is the access I have to a different distribution for craft beer. Modern Times is a brewery out of California and they have a very interesting take on barrel aging. This beer wasn’t aged in any barrels, but the coffee they brewed the beer with was. I’ve never had a barrel aged coffee bean before, so I was curious as to how it would end up in the glass.It pours black with light tan head that fades to thin bubbles and a ring around the glass. Aromas of coffee and some roasted malts waft up when the glass is filled. The taste is full of sweet, chocolaty flavors and strong coffee with some faint vanilla and bourbon. It’s a really nice take on barrel aging something. It’d be interesting to see this approach taken with an Imperial stout, as the coffee did dominate the flavor of this export stout variation. However, it’s unique, without losing the characteristics of a barrel aged beer. Worth seeking out.


What’s Happening

Nutrition, Performance, and Strength Coaching

It’s the new year, and a lot of people are building out their strategy for training in 2017. I can help. If you’re interested in nutrition coaching, strength training, Functional Movement Screen consulting, performance training, or some combination of these programs, you can find more information here.

Mailing List

I’m playing around with a newsletter. It will contain article alerts, special content promotions, and offers exclusive to subscribers. You can sign up here if you’d like. It’s completely free.

I’m teaching two kettlebell classes at Scenic City Strength and Fitness.

An entry-level class that emphasizes the foundations of safe and effective kettlebell training is held Tuesdays at 6 pm. It’s only 10 bucks and spots will be limited to ensure a great experience. If you are in the Chattanooga area and have always been curious about trying out kettlebells, it’ll be tough to find a better opportunity.

I also teach a class for folks who are more familiar with kettlebells on Thursdays. We will dive into some more advanced kettlebell movements and concepts, and push the intensity up a bit more than Tuesday.

You can check out the calendar and register online for any of these classes here. Each class is 10$. Hurry, because the spots fill up fast.