Machine All The Things

Working on some little k***s. Not too bad for a mill eh.

Just a few shiny bits

A year ago I started on a serious journey to improve my health. Over the last year i've logged 229.5 hours of strength training over 153 sessions. Not including warmup sets, I've cumulatively lifted 1,438,516.5 lbs, averaging 9,402 lbs per session. I've progressed from 135 to 430 lb Squat, 65 to 215 lb Overhead Press, 155 to 300 lb Bench Press, and 185 to 505 lb Deadlift.

Looking back on where I started out on this journey and where I'm currently at, there are a whole bunch of details in between here and there that I'm leaving out, but I can confidently say that dedicating myself to a hard practice, and holding myself accountable to it and others has been the single largest force multiplier of my work life, and frankly all aspects of my life. I feel better than I have in many years, physically, mentally, spiritually. And I know I'm only experiencing the tip of the iceberg so far.

Working with competent coaches that assist me in engineering my strength outcomes and stand with me "at the gemba", who see what I see and also see what I cannot, and help me in my quest of personal "continuous improvement" has been life changing. I'm witnessing firsthand my body's ability to keep showing up to do hard things, to hurt and strain and of course fail over and over again, but then recover and adapt and to do it all over again and again and again. That in turn is informing my mind and my spirit how to approach difficult things.

Everything is figure-outable if you just keep showing up. Behind every success is a mountain of work and effort, blood, sweat and tears. Trophies and recognition are nice, but they're simply pitstops along the way to pause and reflect and enjoy the view for a moment and celebrate the effort thus far. But the path continues and more adventure, discovery and growth awaits.

A little more tinkering on this little 1000 lb club plate. Not bad, pretty friggin rad actually. I think it’s starting to come together nicely!

When hobbies collide. Not much to look at yet, but still fun to tinker.

Ran a few more of these over the weekend.

A few more of these stems for a friend of mine.

Just a quick hole punch tool prototype. Gotta go see if it’ll work now.

Weekend project! Really impressed with these tanks from no more crud in the fuel system! Running smooth!

Just need a little space every now and a again.

Been piecing away at some prototypes for a friend the last few months. Been a enjoyable project to tinker with on the weekends.