thedarren

About nine years ago, my mom thoughtfully bought me a pair of black workout gloves, for lifting weights. Those gloves have literally been all around the world with me - they're always in my backpack, just in case there happen to be heavy metal objects to lift at the hotel I'm staying in. A week or two ago, I moved the gloves from my backpack to my workout bag (clever, I know), worked out, went home, etc. The next day, as I'm pulling into my favorite parking spot at work, I spot a black workout glove on the ground. Same brand as mine, just sitting there. At the time, it somehow made logical sense to me that the glove was someone else's, and the best thing I could do is leave it right there for them. Later that day, glove is still there. I worked out, but it was a running day or something. Next day, I think that glove was still lying there. The following day, it was gone. Time to lift weights, check the backpack, only one glove. FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. And the worst thing is, I...

So I finally got over to a nice rubberized track today to do some sprints with my new stopwatch. It was a sad, sad state of affairs. My legs felt tired and "mushy" before I even started, but I figured (or hoped) that it would go away once I warmed up. No such luck. I suppose running MWF this week really did me in. It was so bad that I almost tripped three times in the middle of my 100m time trial, and the time was embarrassing enough that middle school girls would probably beat me. I think the tripping may have been caused by my shoes, though. I switched back to my running shoes for the sprints, and it's the first time I've worn them running in about 6 weeks. Usually I wear thin-soled Adidas shoes that are most certainly not meant for running, with the hope that the thin heel will help promote mid-foot striking rather than heel-striking. But when I go back to my running shoes now, it feels like I'm wearing huge pillows on my feet. Short aside: I had to give up on...

The more I work out, the more energy I seem to have on a day-to-day basis, and I find myself jumping, running, and doing pseudo-parkour movements at random times. This usually elicits a "What is Darren smoking?" look from my coworkers or friends, but I enjoy it anyway. It got me thinking - how would someone need to train to be a real-life action hero? That is, what would be the best training regimen to attempt to mimic the stunts that movie action heroes pull off with startling regularity? Having just watched the amazing initial chase scene from "Casino Royale" again, this may be biased towards becoming a bad-ass Daniel Craig James Bond, but here goes anyway: 1) Massive grip strength. All action heroes sooner or later find themselves hanging precariously from a ledge, cliff, window pane, crane, etc. Time to get cranking on those finger tip pullups! Throw in some dead lifts without the whole "lift" thing, too (i.e., load up an Olympic barbell at mid-thigh w...