It is Friday, and in my efforts to make the end of this week a bit lighter for you all, I'm simply going to share a few notes floating around my brain at the moment. 1. Happy Birthday Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Well, technically their birthday was yesterday, on September 22nd, but, alas, it was Chris's day to post so I wasn't able to give them a proper shout-out on time. Many of you may have missed this important and monumental day; shame on you if you did. Kelsey and I did not. (A side note: I knew I wanted to marry her as soon as she told me, on our second date, that she'd read the Lord of the Rings series three times).
I will most assuredly - and shamelessly - be attending opening night of The Hobbit (releasing December of 2012), especially given that Peter Jackson is directing it. For other Middle Earth fans that may be out there, you can keep up with some video blogs of the filming HERE.
Kelsey and I also had the pleasure of seeing The Return of the King with a LIVE symphony, thank you very much. Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds.
2. A Tale of Two Kingdoms. Martin Rooney recently wrote a fantastic blog post discussing the two "kingdoms" currently at war in society. It's short and simple, yet thought-provoking. I love most of Martin's writings and instructional videos as he's extremely talented, funny, and also possesses infectious energy as he talks about strength training. Do yourself a favor and read it here:
A Tale of Two Kingdoms - Martin Rooney
If you're looking for a preview, watch the video below (not only is it hilarious but also passes along a pretty deep and important message):
3. Warrior. Was amazing. I'm honestly not a huge fan of most fighting movies (I often find them awfully-predictable), but I felt Gavin O'Connor did a great job directing this one, and Tom Hardy REALLY hit a home run with his acting. The ending was a liiitttllee iffy, but all in all an awesome film filled with SWEET fight scenes while at the same time being emotionally engaging.
Okay. Let me get to the real reason I liked this film (Spoiler: shameless man-crush announcement). Tom Hardy's traps were the most awesome things I've ever seen. I mean, given his body weight and frame, they were quite impressive. I can say with full confidence that Chuck Norris would turn tail and run just from the sight of them:
Beast. I mean, let's be real here. I think every male on the planet, upon seeing this movie, ran to the nearest gym to load it up on some farmers walks and direct trap work. Heck, I know for me personally, on Monday the first thing I did during my training session was shrug deadlift.
Trap-specialization phase for October anyone? Alright, I'm kidding (but not really).
4. Movement Quality. The older I get, and the longer I spend working at a computer, the more I realize just how important it really is to maintain and/or restore lost ROM at our joints. This could be an entire article or blog post in and of itself, but I'm convinced that even taking ten minutes a day to invest in our joint mobility and soft tissue restrictions will go a longer way than many of us even realize.
After all, it really doesn't take that long to run through a quick series of spiderman variations, a yoga plex or two, warrior lunges, walking knee hugs and cradle walks, BO t-spine rotations, forearm wallslides, and quadruped extension-rotations, to name a few. Or, even just throwing in a few static and contract+relax drills while at a coffee shop.
That's it for today. Hope everyone has a great weekend!