December 23, 2020 workout

Recent holiday workout in da books. Blasted some chest and arms. Even though I am enjoying the Holiday Food, I am still trying to stay in the game with the workouts. Stay committed, stay driven my friends.

STL Ribs on the Weber Kettle December 2020

Set And Forget Ribs

Made some STL Ribs on da Weber Kettle yesterday. What do you think based on that picture? These specific ribs were a "set and forget" situation. I used the charcoal snake method on my Weber Kettle grill. It does allow you to be able to walk away because it allows the charcoal to burn in a very consistent way. If you set your air vents correctly on your Weber lid and on your vents at the bottom of your kettle, you can also make sure that the temperature stays around 220 farenheit for the entire cook. 

I also like to use this Weber vertical rib rack. It allows you to hold three racks of ribs in the Weber kettle. This is the only way I like to do it on the Weber kettle these days. The only thing I do is rotate the ribs within the rack, and I also move the rack to the opposite end from where the charcoal snake is burning.

Some of My Thoughts

Being from the Midwest, it's a right of passage to be able to make good ribs! If you've talked to somebody that makes good ribs, it's because they have made ribs over and over again. It's just like everything in life, you have to keep perfecting over and over again to get it the way that you really want it. The ribs I've done didn't always come out so tender and juicy. And hell, I'm not saying I make them perfect every time today! LoL! I am constantly learning new ways and new techniques on the grill and the smoker. It's amazing how forgiving some smoking or grilling sessions can be, but equally amazing how non-forgiving your sessions can be! One little thing you do wrong and there goes the neighborhood. But, when you make them right then you are hooked! So if you are just starting out all I can tell you is stay committed and stay driven! Your ribs will turn out the way you want them, and you might just create a new tradition!

Whatever's in the fridge and cabinet

The other thing that happens when you make ribs over and over again... Not every session is about very specific barbecue sauces or barbecue spices for the rub. This rib smoking session, we just went into the cupboard and into the fridge and pulled out whatever we had left. We mixed up a couple of barbecue sauces and we mixed up a couple of barbecue seasonings for the dry rub. These ribs were really good and of course we had some left for tonight. Cheers to all of you and I wish you luck in your rib smoking sessions. Stay committed stay driven. --ShakaOG

The Family Steak Dinner 12.19.20

What's up Ohana? Well, the family is in full Holiday Spirit today. Here is an obligatory steak pic from tonight's family dinner. 

Ribeye Steaks

I grilled these on the Weber gas grill with some Montreal Steak seasoning by McCormick.  This is our all-time favorite seasoning for steaks. These beautiful steaks picked by wifey Shaka were beautiful with tons of marbling. The steaks turned out juicy and tender. They came out "medium" which is how we like our steaks. How do you like your steaks prepared?

Baked Potatoes

We made some Yukon Golds. Again wifey Shaka is always on potato duty and she always turns out potatoes that are perfect. I ate my potatoes with sour cream and some cracked pepper.

Vegetables

Roasted asparagus, portabella mushrooms, and squash.

Closed down family night with the movie Elf. I hope all of you are in the Holiday Spirit!

Workout 12-14-2020

Yesterday's workout started off with the traditional HIIT rounds on the treadmill.  I did 15 rounds of the sprint/rest intervals. Then I moved right into some Tricep and Leg work.  Yes I know it might be unconventional, but that is the beauty of having a home gym, you can do whatever the hell you want! LoL.

Big focus on the Leg Curls and Leg Extensions for me is to keep the weight light on the machine, and focus on contracting the muscle.  I get into bad habits at times and let my knees do the work, which puts strain on them.  When I focus on the contraction of the muscle, the knee is taking out of the exercise.

Also did some front or goblet squats with a dumbbell.  Right now, I can tell my back is weak because my form is a bit compromised when squatting.  This will be something I need to focus on throughout the winter.  You need to have a strong back in this exercise in order to keep the back straight while being able to stay planted flat on your feet, preferrably more towards your heals.  You don't want to be on your toes, as this will put strain on the knees.

I have not done these single dumbbell raises in some time.  Sometimes you just follow your normal routine and forget the exercises that are available to you.  This weight is light for me, so I kept it high rep 10-12 and did 6-7 sets.

I did a couple more tricep exercises, the above picture is one of those exercises that is always in my workouts.  I do a couple variations of tricep pushdowns.  I used the straight bar with a little wider grip, and then moved to the V-attachment which allows your hands to be closer together.  I am a big believer in working muscle groups from different angles ofcourse.

More to come as I hit the winter workouts into 2021!  Cheers to the grind and hope all of you are staying committed and driven.

A Thanksgiving Gift Nov 28th, 2020

A picture is worth a thousand words! Lil' Shaka and I were not even planning to hit this pond up.  This secret honey hole that we won't reveal gave us the best experience of the year.  On a whim I decided to stop the truck and give it a shot.  I said, "Well, what do we have to lose.  We have a little time, let's try it out."  This was the weekend after Thanksgiving 2020.

When we showed up, I tried a couple things like a shaky head finesse worm.  I got a little discouraged as I was pulling up a ton of moss and grass from the pond bottom.  I decided to give the double willow leaf spinnerbait a try and BANG!  For whatever reason these monsters were hungry for the spinnerbaits.

This pic above is the spinnerbait we were using.  It was the H20 Xpress Double Willow Leaf  Spinnerbait that did the trick.  I picked up a few of these at the local Academy Sports which is a quick "go to" for son and I.  Well, it is probably also a fun "hangout" for us too!

There was something about this lure on that day because I couldn't miss with it.  Lil' Shaka caught his personal best 3.5 pounder also with a spinnerbait.  Although, he was not using a double willow leaf and instead was using a white colorado spinnerbait.

We were catching absolute donkeys!  It will be tough to match the experience of bringing in one after another of this size.  We caught at least 5 of these giants in less than one hour.

This is definitely a day I will never forget.  And, I am documenting the experience right here in my post so I never forget the joy we had.  This is what fishing is all about.  For every time you get skunked out there folks, I encourage you to think about those days you absolutely kill it out there on the water!  Have a great day, stay committed, stay driven.

Midday Workout 12.01.2020

Today I worked out in the ShakaOG gym during lunch time. It was a quick workout mainly focused on a quick HIIT run cycle on the treadmill. I did 10 rounds of 30 second running and 12 second resting. Then I just went into shoulder work.

I tweaked my right shoulder I'd say at least a month ago. It is still barking at me a little bit. But I'm able to do military press with dumbbells, and I am able to do dumbbell flies as long as I'm strict and lighter weight.

All I did was sets of 10 to 12 on military press  with dumbbells. I did about 8 sets and just gradually went up from 20s to 45s. For dumbbell flies I stayed light and just focused on doing good reps. I did about 5-6 sets. I never went above 35lbs.

So I was able to get a decent pump and now I'm back to work! Cheers to the grind, I hope all of you are getting yours in today too!