Saturday, March 26, 2011

Crotch Squats

I've been loosely following Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program since November and have gotten some decent results on it. Between November 1 and January 10, I gained 24 pounds and brought my squat up from 170lb for 3 sets of 5 to 250lb for 3 sets of 5. But when the weight started to get heavy, a number of old nagging injuries, combined with inconsistent recovery forced me to deload and re-evaluate my squat form.

And today after two months of experimentation, I finally figured out what the Starting Strength book describes, but never explicitly states as the key to good squat form.

You squat with your crotch.

You squat with your crotch because the squat is a hip movement, not a leg movement, and if you're going to drop your pelvis below your knees without giving yourself tendonitis in every joint below your shoulders, you need to squat with your crotch.

To get a feeling of what the key muscle involved is, do a classic adducator stretch before you start.

The muscles stretched are the ones you want to load on the way down in the squat. Rippetoe can tell you how to start the squat here. But the key cue for me is not to shove my fucking knees out, which is Rippetoe's constant refrain, but to make sure the adducator muscles take the load on the descent and initiate the bounce out of the bottom.

When the adducators take the stretch, it is impossible for your knees to slide forward or in, and it is likewise impossible for your lower back to round at the bottom. It's an odd feeling to load a muscle so rarely used by an office worker, but doing so allows for a surprisingly heavy weight to be moved with no form degradation. And moving weight with good form means the only thing to worry about on recovery days is sleeping and eating, rather than stretching or icing tender spots.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Battlesongs of Hope World Almanac Part 2: The Ancients

When humans first settled into cities, they did so alongside or at the behest of creatures known as Ancients. Unlike Dragons, which were part of the world itself, or Wizards, which were born naturally from humans in a magical world, Ancients instead evolved out of the energy of Humanity as a whole. The Delphi Archives note that there is some debate whether the Ancients shaped humanity as an amalgamation of themselves, or whether humanity unwittingly created the Ancients to embody aspects of human psyche. Whatever their origin, the Ancients were long the driving force of Humanity's history.

They were powerful creatures, taking the names given to them by humans but never changing their forms, which were as varied as their personalities. No single description could possibly fit all Ancients. Save perhaps for these: the Ancients did not age. Nor were they immortal, as the Two Houses displayed. They could exert great influence upon the world and its inhabitants, although the form by which this took varied widely. Some were exceptionally physically powerful, others raised armies of their progeny, others could conjure magical devices, and still others could transform life into their own image.

The Ancients spawned many of the magical creatures in the world. Shadow men, vampires, orcs, gremlins, fairies, nymphs, and a dozen other species were either created to serve the Ancients, or as a result of their influence. These societies were as varied and as lively as their human counterparts, and lived alongside Humanity for thousands of years. They feuded with humans and each other, had kings and presidents and merchants and parents, and found their way in the world just as humans did.

Few of these societies and even fewer of their founding Ancients survive today. There used to be an Ancient of alchemy and plants, one who was very tied to the earth, but they killed her. There used to be a great inventor Ancient, who created machines for every use and user, but they killed him. There used to be one who was like the sun, a bringer of light, but they killed her too. Michael the storyteller survived, as stories often do. There is still an orc lord living in the mountains, a lord of war, who fought and lost against the Wizards before the Two Houses arose, and his being driven to the mountains at the top of the world saved him from the Two Houses.

Some wonder if the Ancients could return, now that The Anarchist Murmur has come and gone.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Becoming a more sophisticated drunk

I'm an unapologetic beer snob. I drink beer like most people drink pop because I lost my sweet tooth years ago. And while I have my favorite beer (Goose Island Honker's Ale) and my favorite type of beer (American Pale Ale), I'm quite partial to most styles of beer given certain circumstances. Wheat beers are better in summer, and stouts are exclusively for snowy days, for example.

Yet for the longest time, when I felt like drinking liquor I drank whiskey. Scotch at first, until someone turned me on to bourbon so I could branch out. Two ice cubes and a splash of water, pour whiskey on top, stir. Whiskey. Man's drink.

But now that I'm living with a lady, I've been informed that there are OTHER types of spirits. And despite what I learned in college, you can make a mixed drink that doesn't involve pop or kool-aid.

So I've been experimenting, starting with, what else, whiskey. Had to make a stop at the bottom shelf of the liquor store for some Seagram's 7, because mixing $40 Woodford Reserve made me a little ill. I decided I like the idea of an Old Fashioned better than I like the actual drink, and the Manhatten I made tasted like syrup, so it was time to try Science.

After a number of experiments I came up with something I call a Brambly Forest. It's named for its taste; try it and see:

2oz mixing whiskey.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
1 pinch dried mint leaves or 4 fresh mint leaves.
A dash of bitters.
A splash of water to taste.
Muddle the mint in the vanilla and water. Add two ice cubes, and top with whiskey and bitters. Stir.

Some more experimenting lead to what I'm told is a modified Whiskey Sour, but in REAL life is called a Puckered Canadian:

2oz mixing whiskey.
5 drops lemon juice.
Just enough real maple syrup to thinly coat the bottom of the glass.
A splash of water to taste.
Mix the lemon, syrup, and water until the syrup is dissolved, and then top with whiskey and ice. Stir.