My aunt is on the verge of departing this earth. I don't write this for any reason, but she is a great woman. She was one of the people who helped to raise me and supplant some life lessons I will never forget. My Aunt and Uncle are old tough people. When I got the voicemail from my mom, I heard the tears in her voice as she spoke. She is a weeping cry factory which I love her for. She passed this weepy cry factory gene on to me. I cry continuously at ridiculous things. So, you guessed it I was crying as I listened to the message. I called her immediately see what was going on. She told me that Ann had been put in hospice and my Uncle John says it is not good. He also said that she wanted no visitors what so ever.
My Aunt has battled Cancer multiple times. She has had 77 radiations and 14 plus chemotherapy sessions. Her first rounds with radiation were the old school just ‘burn the cancer out of you’, kind of treatments. Essentially if you didn’t cover up what you did not want radiated then it got burned as well. Just barbaric. My treatments were pin point accuracy in comparison. Mine were terrible but hers were many times harder and she was much older when she got them. She endured another round and the cancer subsided. Recently it came back.
We (the wife and I) called to talk with her and got Uncle John on the phone first. He has selective hearing and after a minute of me saying “hello” asks," Who is this?" I yelled, "It's Marc!!!". I think after that maybe he was doing a joke on me which he always does because I am that gullible. I asked how Aunt Ann was and he repeated that it was not good. I thought she would be at a hospice but nope, not her, she is at home.
He says let me get her. Well Okay. She gets on the phone and we are expecting a weak voice imagining the worst since we have been told that she does not have long to live. Surprisingly, she sounds like herself. Feisty and strong for a 5-foot-tall little old lady.
My Aunt Ann has always had a way of marshaling all her strength when she needed to, making it seem like nothing was wrong at all. When started talking to her she explained that she wants NO visitors. She is going to be cremated and there will be no funeral services at all. Well me and Sue were ready to get on a plane and be there tomorrow but ‘HELL NO YOU AIN’T’ was what she said to that suggestion.
She has always been stubborn and once her mind is made up there is no changing it. She went on to explain that she wants everyone to remember her the way she was however you remembered her best. She told us of a memory of her mother walking up a hill and how she looked and happy she was. That was how she wanted to remember her Mother, and that is how she wants us to remember her. Well we can get behind that and plus we have no choice. At least we understand why.
She has always had strong convictions and would rather you remember the best and be happy.
Ann and John are honest hard-working people. They only got it if they earned it. She worked in factory the majority of her life, but she also lived and took chances in life. She raised and sold many varieties of birds. She had a pet store for a long time. She planted beautiful gardens. She had peacocks, turkey pets, animals of all sorts.
She wasn't afraid to try anything and gave it a shot. She worked hard all the time to be successful for herself and what she wanted to do. They always planted crops and raised their own livestock. When I was a very young boy, I watched her and my Mother gut chickens and prepare them all the while laughing and cutting up. I stared at them with a little bit of sickness as she asked me if I wanted to help. At the time, it was ‘NO’ but reflecting back on all the things I have done including human dissection I know where I got my iron stomach from.
She would roll up her sleeves no matter how bad the job and whether she wanted to or not. She just did it.
As a young boy, she would tell us that if we peaked at presents, she got us at Christmas we would not get them. One year, while they were working second shift (they always worked second shift), some boxed up presents arrived on the stoop. My brother and I could not resist so we peeked, and in the box were the remote-controlled cars we always wanted. We waited till Christmas in pure joy for these toys, but Christmas came and went, and we got no remote-controlled cars. In pure dismay we asked about them and she said you peaked at them and I warned you this would happen. I think we cried a lot. But we never got them. Years later they were still in her closet.
My Aunt Ann is a woman of conviction who has never wavered in her choices. She has always stood her ground. In High School, I needed gas and beer money. She allowed me to clean her house including about 50 bird cages a week. She had strict rules. You did it on the day you agreed on and you did everything on her list. If you missed something, she would not pay me the following week. She did not allow me to half ass the job. If it looked like it needed to be done, you better do the job all the way. Do a good job and go beyond what is expected is what she taught me.
My Mother and Father weren't always there. They were either working to put food on the table or my Dad was away in the service. When they weren't there, my Aunt was there to make sure the right thing was done and to take care of us. These are just of few of the things I remember. She wasn't big on the emotions and I am not sure I ever saw her cry. Maybe a little red eye but gone in a flash. She never let on how bad it was and it always said:" I am fine."
As she held her ground on the phone I said, " I love you Ann." I made sure I said it loud and clear as the raw emotion was building in my voice. She always had a way of downplaying those things, but I got it in as I was not sure if I would ever get to hear her voice again. After hanging up, the tears flooded down my face. She never approved of that, but she also let me be myself.
2/4
Activations with the boomstick and tim tam
Bench with softees 3x8 ,3x5, 3x3
Sand dune kneeling shrug/rows with 88lbx8x3
Couple other variations on two sand dunes stacked. One
Stepper 20 mins
2/3
Stepmill 20 mins
2/2
Activations with tim tam and boomstick
Reverse hypers 5x12
Banded deadlifts with light band315x3x8
We are working a Dr Squat Back Strap he used to make. It will be a commemorative edition we will release very soon. Anyhow, did some on the pit shark this time with GMs and half squats. Completely wrecked my back , hams and glutes.
2/1
Activations with Tim Tam
Bandbell bench 5x10, 2x8
Assisted pullups 10x10
Suspension strap pushups with static pauses at end
1/31
3 laps sled. Bit grueling today. It was a bit chilly but still felt off but complete it is
1/30
1 hour stepmill. Didn't mean for this to happen but was listening to a book. Have to do legs later or tomm
1/29
Stepmill 20 mins
1/28
Activations with the tim tam and boomstick
Machine pulldowns 15x10 reps
Hammer rows 3x50
Pec dec 15x 10- 8 reps
Strive incline 5x10
3 laps upper body sled with focus on static holds mostly
1/27
3 extended laps regular drag
1/26
20 mins stepper
Activations with the tim tam
Reverse hypers 5x10 pre, 2x20 post
Deadlift. Spent the last two weeks doing reverse bands reducing bands from strong/average to strong where you get all the weight back right below the knees. This week was straight. Did use the squat buddy. Went back and forth between sumo and conventional. Pulls felt pretty good and the sumo was not biting anywhere in the adductor area. Just worked up to 455x3 with alot of repeating each weight both conventional and sumo.
We got a Hatfield strap from Murph to replicate and put out. We both demo-ed them with RDL and I did a zercher squat sets with it . Did not go above 225 and there was no need to. Smoked some parts that have not been smoked in some time. We asked for permission to name it after Fred and Gloria approved so once we get it finalized, it will be available and named after the great Dr Squat.
1/25
Activations with tim tam and boomstick
Bench 6x6,3x3, 3x1 singles. Happy with the singles today.
Dips 6x10
Rear delts with band 4x20 arm
Tricep pushdowns 200 reps straight
Kettlebell rows worked up to 108sx10x3 sets
1/23
Stepmill 25 minutes
1/22
20 mins stepper
1/21
Activations with Tim Tam
25 mins stepmill
600 single arm rows
500 bar presses
150 neutral grip pushups
1/20
2 laps sled drag
1/19
Activations with tim tam
Stepmill pretraining 30 mins
Reverse hypers 4x12
Reverse band deadlifts hook grip worked up to 455x3x4 mixed sumo and conventional.
Static band leg extensions 4 sets
GHR 4x15
1/18
Activations with BT gut tempering
Floor press out of deadlift platform rack. Still a floor press in the end but it was fun trying to figure out how to set it up and not smash my face. 3x10, 4x8
Assisted dips with bow tie. Done this one a couple times so added 5 reps a set with 15 seconds rest per set. A good bit more taxing then the 10x10 with 10 secs rest per set from the previous couple times. 15repsx10 sets. 50 more reps with only 50 seconds added to the time.
Tried a bowtie on backwards to add some resistance on the pulldowns. Forced a harder pull and a more continuous pull(no letting off the gas. 5x10
Super swell pump.
1/17
Stepmill 30 mins.