My Date With Charles Staley

Oh, that dreamy Charles Staley. A girl could talk posterior chain activation with him all night.

I’m currently in the middle of a desert, in a city that (from an environmental point of view) probably shouldn’t exist (no, not Vegas, but that’s another good candidate), to train and get my ass beat down by one of the most awesome strength coaches in the US. I am squeeing inside like a crazy fangirl…

Stumptuous Eats book update

So, for those of you who have been wondering Where the hell is that book that Krista said she would write? the answer is I’m working on it. 2011 is full speed ahead on what’s been informally titled Stumptuous Eats. Eventually, I will be moving book-related thoughts and excerpts to a new blog, so stay tuned and know it’s in process!

I’m quite excited about this book — it encapsulates everything I want to communicate to people about what it means to eat well, and several years of insight from coaching hundreds of clients from athletes to “real people”. It also captures everything I’ve felt and experienced through my own food journeys.

Plus there are fart jokes.

Stay tuned, gentle readers.

Why Do You Lift? The Snow Day Edition

I lift to deal with life. I lift to deal with the fact that I have to go out and shovel a big pile of white shit in the cold without my spine going sproing or my arteries going gloop. I lift because I can care for others — my back is powerful enough to clear the snow for myself, and for my two elderly neighbours.

I lift because it reduces my chances of being trapped or falling. I lift because it girds my bones and my mind for battle.

But I don’t lift because of fear, or because the world is a mean place — I lift because of joy and the way it makes my body thrum with an achey aliveness.

And should the heavens see fit to vomit meteorological bullshit all over me, as they are doing today, I can clamp a figurative cigar in my mandible and snort, Is that the best ya got?

The Six BJJ Supplements that Really Work

Stephan Kesting of Grapplearts asked my opinion on what sports supplements are helpful for grapplers. Here’s my response. I also loved his caveats: in large part, supplements will not boost your athletic game. If you want to get better at grappling — or any sport — practice. Nothing replaces hard work and smart training. Yep, it’s a boring reality, but it’s true.

By the way, in case you’re concerned about vitamin D toxicity, in adults, toxicity results from supplementing something like 50,000 IU/day for several months. Possible in theory, but takes effort. 🙂

Also, to get doses of fish oil (not fish LIVER oil) that high, take liquid. No, it doesn’t taste that bad. Stop being a baby! We’ve given that dose to literally thousands of clients at PN, completely safely and with lots of positive effects. Butch up and get out that spoon.

Cassandra Forsythe on exercise and pregnancy

The lovely and talented Cassandra Forsythe has been running a series of articles on fitness during pregnancy. A PhD in Exercise Science and Nutrition who taught boot camps with a belly… now that is advice worth listening to!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Strength training app for testing

Calling all techie (and non-techie) lifters to try out a PL app — StrengthLogs.com. Developed by an acquaintance of mine who’s looking for testers, it’s a web-based application for anyone who strength trains. It allows users to have a way to keep track of the most important aspects of their training, including day-to-day logging of every exercise performed, every meal consumed, and every measurement taken.

Give it a go and see if you can break it! Find the bugs! Enjoy!

BMI in NJEM – orly?

A new metastudy in the NJEM, which pooled data from 19 long-term studies looking at deaths from any cause found that a body mass index (BMI) between 20.0 and 24.9 is associated with the lowest risk of death in healthy non-smoking adults.

Previous studies weren’t able to predict specific health risks from being overweight/obese; this new study provides precise estimates of the increased risk of death among people who are overweight and obese, and exactly how much one’s risk appears to increase depending on BMI.

Currently, two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese. 17 percent of women are severely obese.

Healthy women who had never smoked and who were overweight were 13 percent more likely to die during the study follow-up period than those with a BMI between 22.5 and 24.9. Women categorized as obese or severely obese had a dramatically higher risk of death.

One thing to note here is that one needn’t be skinny/lean/Ms Sixpack-Abs to see improved health.

You can easily and dramatically improve your health outcomes simply by getting BMI in the “normal” or even slightly overweight ballpark as a result of good nutrition and regular activity. If you’re fit and your BMI is in a decent range, you can rest easy. If you’re unfit and that BMI is creeping up… you take your chances.

Why don’t you sit in this nice rocking chair, dear?

Oh, you poor middle-class menopausal thing! How weak and feeble you must be! How weary and arthritic your joints; how delicate your spine; how tremulous your grip. Here, have some gentle aquacise and Tai Chi. Don’t touch those heavy weights. Don’t challenge yourself. You’ll just hurt your spleen.

What exercises are best for menopausal women? The mainstream media weighs in. Bitches, please. My osteoporotic 85-year-old grandmother, whose crumbling spine has shrunk her to a 0.8 KU (Krista Unit; 1 KU = 5 feet), is out there dispensing justice to her garden with extreme prejudice and walking in bear country 90 minutes a day. She laughs at your stupid advice. If she had a squat cage she’d be busting out the buttprints on the floor, too, but she’s too busy smashing bears in the face with a shovel.

Sure, you probably shouldn’t be running marathons if your knees are jello, but c’mon. Oddly enough, this article appeared the day before. Run nun run!