This is a project that SoG and I worked on this past weekend. I didn’t want to put a pull up bar in my house, since frankly, I’m not ready for it yet.  I’m still a wuss and can’t really do them, so SoG came up with the idea to build this station where I can do some hanging rows to build up my strength to eventually get to where I can do some pull ups.

Normally work out gear is quite expensive, but this was something we were able to do in a short amount of time and very inexpensively. We went down to the Home Depot since I had a gift card with some credit on it and picked up all of our parts there. In the end this only ended up costing about $26 dollars to build. We bought three of the 10′ PVC pipes, 2″ in diameter, the connecting  joints, and a container of PVC Cement.  The smaller PVC may have given a more comfortable grip, but it would not have been sturdy to hold someone up while doing rows, so we went with the bigger 2″ which works fine.

Assembly was easy, we basically just measured the pieces to the dimensions we thought would work best and then cut them with a saw. We cemented the bottom parts and then I took the rest home and finished the assembly and cementing there so it could all fit in my vehicle.

This thing is holding up nicely, is very sturdy, and is overall working out very well! Adding this exercise to my normal workout routine has been brutal, I’ve been doing it for almost a week and am definitely feeling it!

This is proof that you can build some gear pretty inexpensively and get in shape without having to pay a whole lot for equipment, especially if  incorporated mostly with body weight exercises. I’ve been getting in better and better shape and I have not stepped into a gym a single time. 

-Roger De Rok

Ready to Rock... And get in shape

Everyone knows about the Wii with its “Fit”, “Sports” and “Resort” games. Xbox and Playstation are each coming out with their own versions of body mechanics controllers and games as well. Its obvious that this is a definite trend in the video gaming world and it is here to stay.

The question is… “Is there really any validity to exercising with a TV and a video game console or is it all just a joke?”. “Does fitness gaming have any true business claiming itself in the fitness world?”.

My answer may surprise you…

YES

I say “Yes” these games and this movement absolutely have a PLACE in fitness and staying healthy. Anyone that goes out and buys a Wii Fit and expects to instantly lose 200 pounds is an absolute idiot but that does not mean that it is not exercise and that it isn’t good for you at all. I used to scoff at these type of video games and laugh them off as a complete joke. As I am getting older though and care less about my dignity and image I am much more open to trying new things even if they may make me look like an idiot. I have actually tried most of these new body movement and fitness related video games and straight up… they are not only exceptionally fun but you can work up a mean sweat in the process!

I don’t think that a fitness program can or should be based on any of these activities but they make a great supplement to or part of any healthy lifestyle or fitness routine.

One of the most important aspects of these types games is that they are fun. I am a firm believer that getting your exercise through fun activities kicks the crap out of planned, scheduled, repetitive workouts anytime.

I recently picked up a couple of Dance Dance Revolution games and pads for my xbox and am absolutely hooked. I used to make fun of the kids that played DDR but it is SO much fun now that I gave it a fair shot. I play this game until I am pouring sweat, exhausted and about to collapse. My main regret is that I can’t play it more often because it IS truly hard and it IS truly a work out so I actually need recovery time between marathon sessions!

I haven’t stopped working out because I am getting exercise by playing this game but it has offered me unbelievable fitnes related benefits. I can tell you that because of these DDR sessions, my stamina is on a level I have not experienced in an extremely long time.

So my advice is to embrace these new activities and this movement and to enjoy it and reap the benefits and the entertainment. Just don’t expect a miracle as you shouldn’t with anything these days. If you have scoffed these types of activities I challenge you to at least give them a try.. you may find them more challenging, and heck more fun than you ever expected. When you are ready to challenge the SoG in a DDR dance off… you let me know!

- The SoG

Cable television channels have several shows where celebrity hosts travel the globe in an effort to educate the viewers on the culture and lifestyles of people who live in other countries (it’s obvious this is targeted for American viewers).  I think one thing that makes these shows so appealing is the “weird” and “gross out” factor some of the foods of other cultures can have on the average viewer. However, we must think a little more open minded and realize that what may be “bizarre foods” to us, may be part of an ordinary and common menu to another group of people.  Whenever I watch these shows I actually end up having the desire to travel and try new foods that I have never been exposed to.

So why is it that we are so nervous when it comes to trying new things? Most of us have no problem frequently eating conventional meats such as beef, pork, chicken, and fish. Most of us do it without hesitation or thought about what it is and where it came from. So what is the difference between eating the meat from a cow and the meat from a bovine and the meat of an amphibian? Not much. Even when it comes to some of the more common unconventional meats (rabbit, ostrich, bison), I am surprised at how many people have never tried them. I challenge everyone to try something new and let others know what your reaction is to it and encourage them to do the same if your experience was good. 

The picture at the top of this post was taken several months ago from when I tried frog legs for the first time. I simply seasoned them and pan fried them in olive oil and garlic.  They actually sat in my freezer for a couple months before I was brave enough to try them one night, so I’m guilty of the nervousness to try new things as well. My point? I should’ve had nothing to be afraid of, they were delicious! Try something new and be brave about it because you never know, you may discover a new favorite food.

My father recently gave me some escargot that I am eager to try, so that is next on my list. Other animals on my “primal BBQ wish list” are  kangaroo, alligator, rattlesnake, cuy, mealworms and other various insects.

What unconventional meats do you like or dislike? What would you like to try, and what have you tried?

-Roger De Rok

Volcano in the distance

I live on the edge of town in a High Desert Plateau. It is about 6,500 feet above sea level and there is not a tree in sight. It is a barren windy, sandy plain and it is where Roger De Rok and I like to hike, explore and do arroyo sprints. It is pretty brutal… rarely is there a cloud in the sky, as mentioned earlier there are NO trees and literally NO shade. There is typically a stead state wind of 25-30 miles per hour with gusts usually of around 45. Temperatures average anywhere from 90 to 110 and the dryness and the altitude just add to the brutality. I would equate each mile you travel out here to about 3 miles anywhere else as far as how taxing it is on your body.

Anyways, about 6 miles from my house across these high desert plains and mesas are a series of old volcanoes. I have always wanted to go out and climb around on them but just never got around to doing it. For the last year or so Roger and I have talked about bushwhacking out there and we finally decided to do it yesterday. Fortunately the temperature was only about 90 degrees but the sun was unrelenting and the wind was punishing.

I was prepared with my vibrams, light clothing, a light long sleeve shirt (Believe it or not cooler in these conditions), a boony cap and a pack full of water and lunch food:

Me

Roger on the other hand does not own a single piece of clothing that is not black! (even his vibrams are black lol).

Roger De Rok

Ultimately when we got out to the base of the first volcano, we ran into a vicious barbed wire fence that ran as far as the eye can see which is why I say that the government won in the end. Still we had a good adventure, good exercise and we never would have known if we hadn’t done it.

So Close

Along the way we did find this little basalt pit that was pretty neat. Walking on these rocks in vibrams though was killer on the feet!

Basalt Pit

In a world where hardly an inch is left unexplored, most people don’t even think about unleashing their inner explorer. As man, we have this inherent desire to see and conquer new places that is a very basic primal urge. I urge and challenge everyone to get out there and explore something new to you know. It doesn’t matter if you live in the middle of a big city or out in the middle of nowhere. Pick something that you have been wanting to explore for a long time but haven’t done it yet (It could even be a museum). If possible make the journey on foot and get some good exercise along the way!

Do you have place that  you have been wanting to “explore” or an adventure that you have yet to embark on?

-The SoG

Before I begin, I want to give credit to a few other blog posts out there. I had never made this, or anything like it before, but when it came up in a discussion I had with a co-worker, I knew I had to make curry. I asked around online if anyone could point me in the direction of a good Primal recipe for coconut curry and 3 people shared links with me of their own recipies. All 3 of these looked awesome and I used them as a template and took ideas from each one. Here they are:

Girl Gone Primal’s Creamy Coconut Beef Curry

Yummy Gatherer’s Thai Coconut Curry

Annika’s Coconut Curry 

Here is the list of ingredients I used. Of course I encourage you to mix, match, and use your choice of meat and vegetables. As Girl Gone Primal told me, it’s hard to make anything NOT taste good in here.

1 Can of Coconut Milk

Curry Paste – I used green

Meat – I used beef stew meat

Vegetables – I used celery, broccoli, green peppers, thai chilies, mushrooms, onions, couple cloves of garlic & fresh basil.

1 lime.

Cauliflower – I used about half a head.

I started by seasoning the beef. I seasoned it with curry powder, cumin, paprika, garlic salt, thyme, sea salt, & pepper. I cut the lime into quarters and squeezed the juice out of one of the pieces on the meat and put it to the side. I chopped up all the vegetables and mixed them together in a bowl and squeezed the juice out of another piece of lime over them. I let everything sit for a while as I put my daughter to bed for the night.

When I came back I opened the can of coconut milk and combined it with a teaspoon of the green curry paste and heated it up in a wok, mixing it together really well. It got a little frothy, then I added the raw, seasoned meat and cooked for a few minutes until the meat started to brown. Then I added all of the raw vegetables and squeezed the rest of the lime juice into everything and left it to simmer for a while, stirring every few minutes. I didn’t keep track of time, but you can keep an eye on it and remove the heat when all of your meat and vegetables are cooked to the way you like them. While cooking, I grated the cauliflower to turn it into “rice.” When the curry was done, I served it on the bed of cauliflower rice.

I was very happy with the way this turned out. It was exactly what I had been craving and it hit the spot. There are a few things I would do differently next time. I could’ve gone a little heavier on the spices, and since I like things very spicy, I could’ve added a couple more Thai chilies than I used. Maybe use a little more of the curry paste too. Of course those are things you’d want to adjust based on your personal preference as well.

Enjoy!

-Roger De Rok

Chard has come up recently among people I follow on Twitter and last week I decided it was time to try it since people seem to like it quite a bit. It was one of those things I’ve always seen in the grocery store but had never actually seen people buy it and had never even heard people talk about eating it until just recently.  Surprisingly,  it’s become one of my favorite vegetables, almost to the point of an addiction.

Right now some of you are reading and thinking “What the heck is chard?” It’s a leafy green that looks like it could be the illegitimate child of kale and celery. I’ve seen it in red, rainbow, and green varieties. My favorite so far has been the green as I’ve tried those three within the last week. It has somewhat of a bitter taste, similar to that of spinach, and what I understand, you can cook it in all the same ways spinach is cooked.

Here’s the way I like to cook it, it’s very simple and takes no time at all. I know most of you paleo and primal people have cooked bacon today, so odds are you’ve got bacon grease still sitting in the pan or maybe stored in the fridge. Bacon makes everything better right? Chop up the chard into smaller chunks. I heat up the bacon grease in a pan, then add the entire bunch of chard with a couple of chopped up cloves of garlic. Only takes maybe 5-10 minutes for it to wilt and fully cook. When it’s done I put it in a bowl and add some butter, sea salt, & pepper.  Easy enough, right?

Do you like chard? How do you like to cook it? What is your favorite kind of chard?

-Roger De Rok

Manit loved the Monks and the Temple

Who is Manit you may ask?

Manit is my brother in law (pictured above). Manit was an amazing person. He at a very young age (about 13) became addicted to crack cocaine and ran away to become a male prostitute. In his adult years, he overcame all this adversity. He managed to kick the drugs and became a contributing member of society. He worked as hard as I have ever seen anyone work. He became a cook and worked tirelessly to feed our soldiers at both the VA and the air force mess hall for years and years. He bought a house and worked hard to pay for it. He was never late on a mortgage and worked hard at loving his family. During his harder years, he had contracted HIV but he did not let this get in his way. He worked hard and had a life, a car, got himself new teeth (He had lost his due to his early crack addiction) and got himself citizenship. Citizenship was something that the rest of the family had but he had to work hard on his own to get. I had a lot of respect for Manit and I loved him dearly. Manit would always call us almost daily just to talk and check in on us and was always the first person to support everyone during family struggles and hard times.

Manit was found yesterday at his house by my father in law. He was sitting on his couch staring at the TV, only Manits soul was no longer with him. For the last 2 weeks, Manit had been experiencing extreme back pain and my mother in law finally convinced him to go to the emergency room were a doctor quickly wrote him a prescription and sent him home with minimal investigation. It was this prescription that Manit overdosed on and left this world before his time.

Prescriptions, particularly pain killers are up tremendously over the past 20 years. Home deaths related to prescription drugs are up around 3,000% since 1983. “Medicine” by definition is supposed to help people and so not enough people stop to look at it and deem weather they really need it and that includes doctors. I am not going to sit here and say that no medicine helps anyone and that no medicine has ever helped anyone but we live in a pill culture. We have the Pharmaceutical drug lobby and we have doctors getting kickback from prescribing certain drugs. We live in a culture giving Lipitor to 16 year old for crying out loud.

The mixed medicine message even applies to over the counter drugs. Several months ago I was stricken with a nasty nasty cold. I actually needed medicine but in order to get the medicine, I had to take it with corn syrup. Medicine is flavored to make it easier to take down. Good luck finding over the counter medicine with without corn syrup or flavoring in it these days. In the 40′s and 50′s medicine was viewed as gross and you would only take it if you really needed it but nowadays the stuff actually tastes good! What kind of message is that sending to our kids.

I would go on but I don’t think I can right now and hopefully you get my message. Medicine is a double edged sword. It can harm as easily as it helps and this sword needs to be responsibly wielded by people, parent and doctors everywhere. Think of doctors and drug makers as knights in the fight against disease and ailment. These knights need to fight with honor that can be too easily corrupted.

Manit, you loved everyone and we loved you back. This love will live on in our hearts.

Manit will be cremated and placed with the Monks and the temple that he loved so dearly. He loved Madonna and I ask that if you hear a Madonna song you dedicate it in Manit’s memory. Manit, you were like a little prayer…
You must be my Lucky Star
‘Cause you shine on me wherever you are
I just think of you and I start to glow

Hey everyone, this is Roger De Rok and this is my first post here at Son Of Grok. I want to start by saying thank you to SoG for inviting me to contribute to his website. I hope everyone finds my posts as interesting and entertaining as the classic SoG content. Here we go!

When I was young and still living at home, my father took me on several hunting trips every year. I always looked forward to these outings since it meant getting away from home, spending some time outdoors, camping, and in some cases I got to miss school. My dad’s brother also came with us most of the time, so it was a family event where we got to do some bonding. My dad and my uncle grew up hunting together since they were small children living in rural Northern New Mexico. Being exposed to this at a young age meant that I learned to shoot guns at an early age and took Hunter Safety courses so I was able to begin hunting with my own licenses at a very young age. We hunted just about everything you can get a license for in NM (and sometimes Colorado) and always had tons of wild game meat in our freezers and I’ve always loved eating it. During my high school years I became more interested in music, started my first bands, and my interest in hunting went away. When I moved to Albuquerque in 1999, hunting was something I never really thought about doing anymore.

Fast forward to present day. In late 2008 I went Primal and began focusing not only on what I eat, but also where it comes from. My thoughts about hunting started to return. There are many advantages to it. You get all natural, organic meat. This means that aside from the animal itself being healthier than your conventional grocery store meat, you yourself also get the health benefits from eating this meat. The second being that if you’re hunting large game, you get large amounts of meat at a fairly inexpensive price if you’re willing to put some time and work into it. You also get a break from your daily life routine, get to spend some time in the quiet outdoors, and get some exercise at the same time. From a personal perspective, you’re also eating a happier animal. I feel it’s much more respectful to animals as a meat eater to kill it yourself than to eat animals raised specifically for food in a CAFO. This animal got to live an animal’s life in the wild, did some breeding, and didn’t live some miserable life in a pen stacked upon other animals. Plus, you get to use as much of the animal as you want with little going to waste. I decided that I need to get back into hunting ASAP, especially since my father is now in his mid-seventies and I need to spend as much time with him as I can and also give him the opportunity to pass down his knowledge and skill in this area so I can continue to do this on my own for several years to come.

My father had double knee replacement surgery, then surgery on one hand for carpal tunnel and a pinched nerve, then had an accident and broke his other hand, so 2009 was basically a bust as far as hunting goes. We decided that spring turkey in 2010 was where we were going to get started again. I was excited about this because turkey hunts, along with antelope hunts, were when I had the most fun when I was a kid. It also had been about 15 years since I last killed a wild turkey. Another big bonus is that the 2nd turkey tag was free this year, so we could bag as many as 4 between the 2 of us.

I took some time off of work so we can hunt the first 3 days of the season. We went to Northern NM to areas near El Rito and Tres Piedras, but we didn’t see anything. No turkey, no tracks, no scat…nothing. I’d go as far as to say the first 2 days were a disaster. Northern NM got hit pretty hard with snow this year, and the winter lasted pretty late in the year. The first day we high centered my dad’s truck in a snowdrift in the mountains near El Rito and ended up being stuck there about 5-6 hours and had to dig ourselves out of the snow. Luckily some locals were up there and had some long shovels in their truck and made short work of us getting out after we’d been stuck for several hours. The second day, we got stuck in mud for another hour or so near Tres Piedras, then as we were driving through a small town later that day, my dad hit one of those concrete construction barriers with his tire which blew it out and I had to change it. There goes another hour. Third day there was no major disaster, however we didn’t see any signs of turkey and were completely discouraged.

After the first few days were a bust, we found a couple more days in my schedule where we could make time to go hunt again before the season. Two weeks later my dad decided to take us up near Guadalupita, NM (most people have never heard of it, it’s near Mora, NM) where he grew up. A lot of the land belongs to relatives of ours and the area we went to belongs to my dad’s cousin and we have permission to be up there. These are the same mountains that my Grandfather herded sheep alone for several weeks at a time at the age of 6. My father grew up hunting in this area and knows it like the back of his hand. My father even became a bit emotional at one point when he saw an Aspen tree where my brother carved his and my dad’s name in that was dated 1984. This was special because my brother passed away in 1988 when I was 7. We saw lots of game that day. Elk, deer, bear, and finally in the late afternoon we saw some turkeys and bagged this guy:

We drove up one of the roads (which are extremely rough, by the way) and came across a meadow where this Tom was hanging out with 2 or 3 hens. They saw the truck and immediately ran off. I got out of the truck and tried to follow them, but knew they were gone. My dad parked further down the road and began using his turkey call and this guy gobbled back and would not stop. I was farther up the hill from my dad and started calling too and his gobbling got louder and louder. I figured I’d sit there and call, while my dad called from down below, and maybe if we were lucky and he kept coming toward the call we’d see who he got to first. Within about 5 minutes there he was in front of me, answering every time I called and coming closer. I waited until he was about 15 or 20 yards away and shot him. He was about 25 pounds, about a 6 inch beard. We finally had some success after a bad start to the season. It was exciting for both of us, even my dad who didn’t even kill it. I was glad it happened there, where my dad had so many good memories of his childhood and other hunting trips.

We cleaned the bird that night and a few days later I took it to Son Of Grok’s house for “Thanksgiving In May” and enjoyed it with SoG and Mrs. Sog. My dad and I went back up there about 10 days later to try to get our other 3 but had no luck. We saw lots of turkeys, but they were pretty spooked and weren’t answering calls (the Toms we saw already had several hens with them so they must’ve not been looking to add numbers to their harems?). We just couldn’t get any decent shots in. We also blew another tire on a sharp rock (again, rough roads) and had to change it up there near the end of the day. My father ended up buying 3 new tires this turkey season and we only got 1/4 of our bag limit. Not completely successful, but at least it was an adventure and we had lots of fun. I’m looking forward to the remaining seasons this year. Fall Turkey, Bear, and Grouse. Next year I’ll be ready to apply for most of the big game hunts before the deadlines (which I slacked on this year).

Please share your thoughts, stories, comments, and opinions on hunting!

Seems like I say that a lot. The computer has been fixed for quite some time but I have been working like a madman and neglecting the site (yes again). It is almost time for renewal on my domain and it isn’t free which means I am considering killing the site but I have not yet made up my mind on that one.

Anyways… several people have expressed interest in Roger De Rok (my highschool friend that followed my example and went from 320#s down to 180#s by being primal for just a year) starting his own blog. I figured… why not get the best of both worlds and just make him a writer on sonofgrok.com

This way you will get more frequent updates and I also wont feel so pressured to get content on here and also do guilty for not doing it!

Welcome Roger. We are eager for your first post and your primal experience!

Until then though, the site will probably go neglected… again.