Three Strikes: Week 7

What is Three Strikes?

Achievements at the gym from 7^th onwards:

Pulley jab up 1 notch

Pulley cross up 2 notches

This literally is “jabbing” and “crossing”- punching forward with the front and back hand, like a boxer. Only with the pulley machine, you're holding the handle attached to the cable lifting the weights. To do this, turn your back to the mechanisms and take a fighting stance. Extend your arm like you're shadow-boxing, only slower, and you'll pull up the weight. Don't stick out your elbow as you do it, though. You wouldn't in sparring, unless you wanted your opponent to know what you were throwing. Remember to twist at the hips. Kinda like this guy, only not: 

Squats with weights up 1 weight.

Away from the gym, my biggest achievement this week was picking up a beauty in Manchester. Elegant, refined, fascinating and of course looks great... I'm talking about a book, by the way. I found The Godfather Treasures in The Works in Manchester's Arndale Centre.

This hardback cased project contains everything you'd want to know about Francis Ford Coppola's gangster trilogy masterpiece. I'm steadily working through it at the moment, and I'm loving all the trivia. (Did you know Frank Sinatra offered to play Don Corleone, but his offer was politely refused? This was despite the fact Mario Puzo, the author of the book on which the film is adapted, based a character on Sinatra himself- the singer Johnny Fontaine, seen performing at Connie and Carlo's wedding in the opening scene.) Included in the book are pullout reprints of call sheets, pages of the script, original posters and a special brochure from the American Dental Practice on the prosthetic teeth created for Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Fascinating stuff.

Marked down from £30 to £13, this was an offer I couldn't refuse.

Discount bookstore The Works is well worth a browse around. There's a lot of unsellable guff to wade through when you get there, but this book isn't the only treasure to be found. The stock changes regularly and the markdowns are considerable. Check it out.