WonderMonkey

Speaking of squat technique, when I started to do Crossfit a number of years ago, I stepped into a box (gym) that was very strict on technique. Back then Crossfit experienced many injuries due to crappy form but luckily this box wasn't like that. Crossfit, since its inception, has grown up and evolved, and except for terrible coaches, focuses on strict form. Anyway, a good Crossfit movement is based on Oly (Olympic) movements. As they were re-teaching me how to squat, it really made sense. And not just squat with weight on your back, to just squat down, be it sitting on a chair or picking up a stump or whatever. Even now when I put my kayak overhead to load it on my Jeep I use a good clean and press technique. It makes people laugh in how different it appears, but I like protecting my back, etc. So back to the box. When I first started there they ran me (and all new people) through an evaluation and started to fix form. In time I was allowed to do things under load (weight) but even then if my form got wonky they would take the weight and give me a pvc pipe to use until my form improved. I liked that as it stressed how important form was. When you change your form, either you immediately drop in the weight you can handle or you suddenly increase in the weight you can handle. Which way you go depends on what part of your form is terrible and needs improvement. When our dads and coaches would yell "Lift with your legs!" they meant to not lift with crappy form and screw up your back. If our dads could have been taken aside and taught even better form, that generation of people could have been spared some of the back issues they got from having to work do ! hard with physical labor.

Heavy ball, med ball, etc. In the CrossFit environment, which popularized the movement, they use a med ball, which is short for medicine ball. Why do they call it a medicine ball? See this link if you want to know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_ball Wallballs are a tremendous exercise that encompasses many things, but a very important key is your form. Can't use old-school squat technique, as that puts tremendous pressure on the knee joints. Instead, use what evolved from the powerlifting squat which spreads the stress out and is more biomechanically correct. Again, thank Crossfit for pushing that into the general population. As for the knee wraps, I put those on during the drive to the gym and keep them on until I get home. They do provide a bit of stability but moreso I'm looking for them to keep the knees very warm, which keeps them lubricated. I know right away if I have not done enough to get them warmed up. If I feel pain I stop and warmup more and tell myself what an idiot I am. I warm up the lower body with a series of various lunges (using good form), leg swings (front/back, side/side with the toe forward), etc. Not only are my knees getting warmed up, my ankles, calves, hams/quads, hips and lower back are all involved. Between warmup sets I'll go over to our bar rig and do mobility on my shoulders, which gets my lats ready to go. I consider the 100 wallballs part of my warmup. When I get done with everything in this paragraph I'm ready for anything lower body related, to include my boxing workouts. When I first started to do wallballs as part of my warmup, it took away some energy from what came next. However, I felt they were so necessary to get my body fully ready to go that I just kept at them. First I did 10 sets of 10, which extended my warmup period beyond 30 minutes. I'm now up to 4 sets of 25 using a 9 lb ball. I'll stay at 4x25. A 9 lb ball isn't that heavy but warming up is my purpose. It takes a full 20-30 minutes to get really warmed up, depending on who I stop to talk to while I'm doing it. While I'm warming up I mentally prepare myself for what I'm getting ready to do.

I get LE rounds (and prices) so I've been able to keep a certain amount of stock. The LE rounds haven't been AS jacked up as the rest, which is nice.

It's been a long time since I've had Iron City. My dad used to get a case of it here and there.

Today I started full-on fight camp prep. It turns out the first actual Friday Night Fight camp, where everybody (that can be) is there, is this next Friday. I've been ramping my efforts up and today did a full individual workout. Typically if I'm doing a boxing workout on my own I'll fully warmup then do 100 wall-balls, if you know what those are. Those are to really make sure my body is warmed up and the knees are as greased as possible. After that I'll do my shadowboxing routine, which is always evolving. Next I'll do technical work on a heavybag. I'll end with 9 rounds of fight-mode using a certain intensity. I'll explain this below. To make sure I'm in shape for a fight, in addition to any sparring I fight the heavybags. We have several hanging and I'll assign something to each of them. When the bell rings (I use an app on my phone bluetoothed to some earphones) I go to the first bag and work my way in, feinting and feeling out the jab. The second bag I'll setup then do a 3-4 punch combo then get out. I'll do that a few times. The third bag I'll make sure I win the round by being active and making sure the judges see that I'm in charge. Ding, round is over. I'll repeat that 9 times. I do the above for 1 minute rounds to start, with medium intensity. As the weeks go on, I'll increase the time, and increase the intensity. My goal is to go full-out for 9 rounds of three minutes four weeks before the fight. If I can't do that, I've mis-timed my efforts and probably messed up my recovery (from workouts) efforts. If I CAN do that, I'm on track and go even harder. After my 9 rounds, I do just a bit of jump rope. I have to be careful with that because of my knees. I have to have enough energy to focus and land with great form on the mats, so I won't be too harsh on the old-man joints.

Yes I still get whacked on the head with regularity. My last regular fight will be this November. I may still do a yearly one after that, but on the normal (pre-Covid) "every three months" pace I won't do anymore.

I like a Budweiser here and there. Bush has a lack of ..... anything ..... but I'd drink it if someone handed me a cold one.

So you did! I'm old and forgetful. Carry on.

I don't know you aside from our interaction here on this forum, but it wasn't any mystery on why you have taken her in and are posting your frustrating situation here. I didn't think twice about it as it was crystal clear. I encourage you to keep posting here, but maybe in a thread you start yourself. If someone doesn't want to read about it, then they have the option to stay out of that thread.

Just wait until you hear about my my surgeries, and then the recovery of them, later this year. THAT will be a loud example of looking for sympathy.

I think it's more that it's a release of frustration in an environment that has people Wilson trusts and cares for. If you have nowhere else to talk about it and get it out, a forum of people you "know" is a "good-enough" place. That's the way I see it.

That's exactly why I updated the thread, good call! Last night I jacked it up and shook the wheel and such. Solid. I took the wheel off and visually inspected things. I did get rid of some mud but nothing major. I had just gotten back from vacation so I put the wheel back on and was done. I have not gone forward with any other suggestions you gave. I may need to be moving (like you suggested) so I'll get to that when I get unpacked and such.

I did look at all the things mentioned (within my budget) in this thread, and even a few things that were mentioned on youtube. The thing that is most clunky about the floor jack is that you have to get an expensive one to lift it very high. Of course that can be gotten around by a simple 4x4 or even an attachment like Fish mentioned. After two uses of it, I'm happy with the purchase. Just yesterday after coming back from vacation I jacked it up to investigate a squeak from my rear wheel and it was simple. Prior to getting the jack I'd lift the rear end by myself and kick a metal milk crate under the rear end. That's a pain to do and it's inviting injury.

A floor jack and some stands. I would get more all around use out of a floor jack, I think. I use a piece of 4x4 to get it a bit higher when needed.

I just wanted to mention that I appreciate all the input on this.

Drinking to excess, I would imagine. That's generally the answer to most of my issues.

I don't have a personal repeater. I just connected to one of the repeaters using EchoLink, and internet based rig. And correct, MEARS is only activated as needed.

I think I'll just use an internet based setup like Echolink. If any of the repeaters are hooked into it then tx/rx can be done that way. I'm going to play with it and see.

@_Wilson_™ speaking of MTEARS, do you know of any site that points out how to get to the MTEARS repeaters from another part of the US? I don't have a powerful enough home rig to get there but I COULD access a local repeater that is daisy-chained. Very little chance that one around me is connected to MTEARS through some path, but I'm just curious if you know a site that has all that laid out? I'm looking for it on the internet.

"shaft"

No doubt a never-ending battle, as you have shown in this thread. All very interesting, keep sharing!

ES shifting issues? What? That is a HOT TOPIC and is perpetuated by the media!

As some of you know, my fight was cancelled. The entire event was. At that time, people were able to travel more and not enough in-house people would commit to a fight. We always have other gyms involved but we want enough from our place to participate. My next fight is November 20th. I took advantage of the fight being cancelled to nurse a few nagging injuries back to health. I still have my knee issues, but those won't ever heal. At best I'll do another round of clean-outs to extend the date where I'll need to have one or both replaced. I could do it NOW (or after the fight), but I don't feel it's necessary just yet. I have regular chats with my ortho so when I next go back in we will have our normal discussions about things. I'm almost two weeks away from the official 10-week fight camp. A few days ago I did my last "heavy day" (for me) lifting and will move towards more conditioning and increased skill work.

Why would you have oil in your eyes?

I received a waiver on another photo, then snuck that one in when they weren't looking.