Being a Groomsman

Last Saturday, I stood alongside my cousin, Julian, at his wedding as one of his groomsmen. Now, aside from the wedding being a fantastic day, the part of the wedding I really enjoyed was being in the inner-circle; the group of people who don't just attend the ceremony and eat and dance at the reception, but spend an extended amount of bonding time together in support of the bride and groom and their families.

I feel like the best part of being a groomsman, apart from being by the groom's side during the ceremony and the reception, is about creating memories. Things like spending a few hours on the Friday afternoon at a barber getting beard trims and cut-throat shaves while enjoying complimentary beers. Or eating pizza at a bay-side restaurant while shootin' the breeze.

Or drinking coffee after coffee and chowing down on awesome food that Julian's mum, Norma, provided early on the morning of the wedding, including the best quiche I've ever eaten. Or, when getting into our suits in front of the photographers, having to re-tie our ties multiple times because only Adam and Julian knew how to actually tie a tie properly and were then forced to teach the rest of us. Or receiving another present from Julian; super-hero cufflinks for our French cuffed shirts with Dan as Superman, Adam as Spiderman, Dillon as Iron Man, myself as the Hulk and Julian, of course, as Batman, his childhood favorite superhero.

Maybe the beautiful view of Melbourne on that sunny Saturday morning while getting photos taken on the rooftop of the apartment complex before heading to the church.

Or head-bopping along like an idiot to every song on the radio while the limo drove us to the church. Or constantly asking Dan if he still had the rings in his pocket; a question we'd continue to bombard him with even long after the ceremony was over.

Or sitting in Fitzroy Gardens eating ham and cheese sandwiches that Leah, the bride, had prepared for all of us while we eyed off another wedding party whose bridesmaids also had purple dresses and were thus, our enemies. Or standing outside the reception with our bridesmaids, ready to walk the room to the bridal table, across the dance floor to the left of the wedding cake, only to realise that none of us knew what direction the dancefloor was in, or where the cake had been placed, let alone where the bridal table was.

I could go on and on (and I feel like I have), but it's the small things that made the day that much more memorable and I am grateful that I was asked to be apart of it.

More "Go To" Workouts

A while ago I posted about some of my "go to" workouts; what I do in the gym when I have no plan or limited time in the gym for some reason. Here are a few new ones.

Axle Clean+Jerk and Farmer's Walks

I like this combo on an events training day when I'm on my own, and the thing I like most about it is that it's easy to setup; the axle is just another bar to use on a platform, and farmer's bars are easier to carry than the monstrosity of a yoke we have at my gym. Both of these are common events in amateur competition around here too, so it's no waste of time. Of course, it's easy to replace the axle with the log or monster DB, but I find the axle keeps me feeling fast/explosive due to it being easier to get a good jerk in, compared to the log.

Each rep on the axle is cleaned, as my continental clean is a bit less than what I can get over my head. Doubles and triples are the name of the game here.

Farmer's walks are a great finisher. Moving events are one of my bigger weaknesses, so whether I decide to go heavy and hard, or scale back the weight and go for speed or volume, these are never the wrong answer. When my grip is fried and I struggle to hold onto the implements for the set distance, I'll whack on my straps and keep going; this is the mental-strength builder. Because the straps will continue to hold onto the handles long after my grip is done, I'll only finish/fail when my traps, upper-back and abs are screaming in agony.

The hard part is bringing all the weights back inside after I'm done ;)

Atlas Stones and Beltless Front Squats

Nothing much to say here. Stones are done heavy and hard over a low bar, or lighter and explosive over a high bar. The beltless front squats are a nice compliment to the stones, or any other event where the weight is out in front of me, more so if I pause for a couple of seconds in the hole. Sets of 2-4 reps seem to work best for me.

Main Lift and Complexes

Back in January, my gym had reduced hours for a few weeks, and it worked out that I was only gonna have about an hour at absolute max to train, depending on what time I got home from work, so what followed 20-30 minutes of work with the main lift (which was either squats or push presses) was 20-30 minutes of complexes. The complex I was using at the time was: row, RDL, front squat, strict press, back squat, behind-the-beck push press, but any complex will work. I would end up doing 3-4 sets of 5 with around 60kg, and the last set of complexes usually ended with me laying on the platform for a further 10 minutes before carrying myself to the car.

Complexes are a painful experience, but there's no denying their effectiveness when short of time.

Squats and Sled/Prowler

An easy go to for me. Squats are awesome because they're squats, a heavy prowler is great unilateral strength work and a lighter prowler is awesome conditioning. The bang-for-buck ratio is huge here. The quad-death from backwards sled drags is nuts.

Done. Hopefully I can post more of these later in the year.