Ben’s Shoe Review 2K13.
April 22, 2013
If you can’t lift in the Adidas (yes, I’m talking about the expensive ones), then you can’t participate in the sport of Olympic weightlifting. Get the Nikes if you think they look cooler. I have both. Buy a cheaper shoe if you don’t want to spend the money. If you have an odd shaped foot, then talk to your friends who have odd shaped feet and see what they buy.
Tis Da Season.
November 28, 2012
My team got me this.
Boom.
An early Christmas present for ‘Ol Coach Ben. Just in time for the AO too. If you’re interested in watching the livestream, I’ll post a link. I lift on Friday. CC lifts on Sunday.
Brixton Beanies.
October 30, 2012
Brixton beanies. The official beanie of alongthelinesof.com.
Winter 2010.
I generally don’t like to wear hats. But I DO wear beanies in the wintertime. I’m particularly fond of this brand due to the high quality of their products (although I’m pretty sure that there’s nothing else made by this brand that would fit me.) These beanies retain their shape after repeated use and washings and securely fit to your dome; snug enough to wear while snatching. I don’t know about you, but Sacramento can get pretty damn cold during the winter months. Grabbing ahold of the cold steel every morning after a long night of training the night before is not something that I personally look forward to. Beanie on. Thermal on. And I’m set, bro.
Slangin’ Singlets.
October 3, 2012
Check it out, homie. Just in case you were too lazy to look it up on Google, here’s where you can buy the new Adidas weightlifting suits that you saw at the Olympics.
SWEET WEIGHTLIFTING SINGLETS WIT DA POWER WEBZ, BRO.
By my estimation, if you weren’t snatching 200kg before you put this suit on, you will most likely snatch 2 hundo afterwards. Because they look THAT cool. Dibs on the navy blue.
Trap Cut Friday.
September 30, 2012
A quick anecdote for you.
A few years ago, Jon North and I were pumping iron at a local 24 hour fitness. Yes, this included doing curls in the squat rack. During our 4th set of preacher curls, he gave me some advice; and for some reason, it’s stuck with me to this day. He told me:
“If you look big, you feel big. And if you feel big, you lift big.”
Friday night was our second “themed” workout for our heavy day. Trap Cut Friday. Yes, as head coach, I required every member underneath my influence to wear a trap cut shirt to the workout. And if they didn’t already have one, I showed them how to make one. Life skills.
Team building at it’s finest. The one kid with sleeves still intact is my brother.
John Tai was the first person to ask me how to properly trap cut a shirt (that day. It happens more often than you think). Naturally, I decided to film the process.
Here is the finished product.
John lifted with a little extra pepper on this night. It can only be attributed to the newly exposed traps.
At the end of the video, I briefly explained that cutting out the neck hole from the shirt is also beneficial. I guarantee you, the comfort experienced by this extra effort takes your trap cut to a different level. It also adds to the aesthetic appeal of your yoke.
instagramed=instayoked.
But enough fashion. The energy in the gym that night was electric. This led to a few PR’s. Here is one.
My Apology to Boardshorts.
May 17, 2012
Let me preface this post with a big, fat “this post is not about Crossfit.” First of all, anybody who knows me also knows that I could care less about how other people workout who are not a) myself or b) my athletes. Crossfit has been nothing but a boon to the Olympic weightlifting scene in America and many of my friends compete in Crossfit/own a Crossfit gym/both. Secondly, bro’s were working out in boardshorts way before Crossfit gained such popularity. So I have been hatin’ on people working out in boardshorts way before it became popular to hate on people working out in boardshorts.
Honestly, I wouldn’t even classify it as me hatin’ so much as me simply stating facts.
FACT: I rip boardshorts like it’s the thing to do.
FACT: I have big legs.
IF A+B=C then you can assume that if you are able to work out in boardshorts (without them ripping) than you probably have underdeveloped legs.
Do you think Chigishev wastes his time ripping boardshorts? No. He reps the classic half pulled up singlet and Ironmind headband like a straight gangster.
And don’t even give me that, “oh it’s because you like to wear skinny jeans” bullshit. They don’t make skinny boardshorts! And if they did, I wouldn’t buy them because the material is the flimsiest, most constricting material ever developed by man. I used to buy boardshorts based on whatever is appropriate for my waist (36 and proud). Each time they ripped. And I was wearing them where boardshorts are meant to be worn . . . THE BEACH. I couldn’t imagine even trying to do any squats or lifting in them. Eventually I just gave up. If ever there was an occasion that required me to get in the water, I would wear compression shorts or standard PE grade workout shorts. And whenever one of my lifting buddies would come into the gym wearing boardshorts (he was a 77kg. by the way) I would mercilessly berate him to let him know that I didn’t approve. Was it out of jealousy or resentment? I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist. All I know is that boardshorts are not meant to be worked out in and I would tell that to anybody even if it was with my dying breath. At this point, it looks like I’ll be assassinated by Billabong or Hurley.
Anyways, I bought a pair of STRETCHY BOARDSHORTS from Jaco the other day. And you know what? They’re a pleasure to be in. But more than that, I squatted a few sets of 5 with 180 the other day no problem. Are they going to replace a singlet or COMPRESSION SHORTS? No way. I rep the singlet for life. I’m just saying I’d like to make an amendment to my boardshorts rule.
Boardshorts: still not OK.
Stretchy boardshorts: OK.
I’m glad we talked about this. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my traps.
-Ben
Professional Work Attire.
April 9, 2012
Just when you thought it was over.
LET ME WORK!
Introducing the new line of professional work attire. ”LET ME WORK,” an ode to getting totally jacked beyond reason. Here’s to finishing up your set no matter what. Reckless? Yes. Yoked? Yes. Sleeves? No. (I’m assuming that you rip the sleeves off of any shirt that you buy for me. Perhaps a trap cut?) I saved you the extra 5 minutes to tear off the sleeves by releasing a tank top version as well. Ladies, stay tuned for some different shirt options.
Check out my store HERE. Buy a shirt so I can buy groceries this month.
Big thanks to my homie, Brian for the shirt design.
NO COMFORT ZONES.
March 22, 2012
A quick plug for everyone’s favorite favorite 105kg. champion, Donny:
Shankle.
This man is trying to make it to the God damn Olympics. Lets help get him there. Featuring artwork from yours truly, Brown Thunder.
You can also donate to his Paypal account HERE.
It’s Cold in Midtown.
November 28, 2011
I don’t know what it’s like in your neighborhood, but it’s damn cold in Sacramento. Luckily, I just got one of these.
Brown Thunder in his murdered out ATLO hoodie.
I ordered one for myself with the script on the sleeve instead of the back. Then I decided that I didn’t like it. So I moved it back to the lats for you guys. I mean, what if you wanted to cut off your sleeves?
Ladies. Want the hoodie option as well?
Nice Shirt, Bro.
November 3, 2011
This is Cam. He likes to party.
Cam just set a PR . . . in being good looking.
Seriously, thank you everyone for all the support.
If you bought a shirt, post a video or pic of you doing something awesome in it in the comments section (things like PRing in Clean and jerk, drinking milk/beer, getting a sick pump off of some bicep curls, etc). I will pick one, draw it and post it.
