Bootcamp at Bang Fitness
My boy Geoff Girvitz of Bang Fitness is running a fall bootcamp for any of you maggots who can’t wait to drop and give ’em 50.
But don’t worry… it ain’t your momma’s bootcamp. (Although it can be, if she wants to join you.) So what’s the deal?
Ancestral Health Symposium roundup
I had the privilege of attending the Ancestral Health Symposium, held in early August, at UCLA. Here’s my rundown.
Did you go to AHS11? What did you think?
Are you a primal health nut or simply ancestral-curious? Tell me your thoughts.
Hit “Reply” and share!
Speaking of endurance activities…
…and the inspiration they provide, here’s a fun story sent to me by Shaky Man:
Climbers with MS and Parkinson’s Conquer Kilimanjaro
A team of climbers with MS and Parkinson’s disease set out to climb Kilimanjaro to prove that a diagnosis with a neurodegenerative disease doesn’t have to mean the end of your active life or your dreams.
As participant Lori Schneider says:
“When I was first diagnosed with MS I ran away from my life in fear. I left a 22 year marriage, a 20 year teaching career, sold my house, left my community, and tried to run from my MS diagnosis. That changed when I reached the top of the world, becoming the first person with MS to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The idea behind the Kilimanjaro Leap of Faith Adventure was for me to share the lessons I have learned about believing in yourself and following your dreams. I think it’s worked!”
Fancy a little hill climb? Here’s where you can get involved.
Nearly done new FREE! e-book
In a little while, I’ll be releasing a free (as in beer) e-book!
The title: Fuck Calories.
Oh yeah. That’s right. That just got said.
Stay tuned.
61-year-old swimmer (almost) swims to Florida
She didn’t make it, but damn it was a great attempt! 61-year-old swimmer Diana Nyad (an apropos last name) ended her marathon swim 29 hours into her trip from Cuba to Florida.
She had originally planned to swim the 166 km in about 60 hours. Either way, that’s badass — she also opted to swim without a shark cage. Had the latest attempt been successful, Ms. Nyad would have broken her own 1979 record of 165 kilometres for a cageless, open-sea swim from the Bahamas to Florida.
Go old broads!!
Video | Full story | Photos
In other swim news, though, a 40-year old woman died during a triathlon in NYC.
This bears repeating: prolonged endurance exercise will NOT make you healthier. It’s about pushing the limits of human capacity… which (while cool) is NOT the same thing.
If you get off on extreme athletic performance, great. Swim to Florida or Antarctica, or run the Sahara, and I will high-five you all the way.
However, if you are triathloning or running or cycling or death-march-spinning or otherwise beating yourself into the ground because you think it’ll make you leaner and healthier, you’re swimming up the wrong tree.
The Compost Pile: Notes from my farmer
I get my meat from a small organic family farm. Every year I buy a meat “share”, and then get a monthly delivery, along with 4 dozen pastured (ponded?) duck and chicken eggs.
Not only is it delicious, I also develop a relationship with my farmers. I follow their adventures, what the kids are up to, etc. I know where my meat and eggs come from, and whose hands harvested them (or which teenager chased the wayward calves back into pasture this week). Plus, I know that my money goes directly back to them. Everyone wins. (And their roasts… oy. Transcendent.)
From time to time, Mr. Farmer sends round a newsletter (“The Compost Pile”) with some tidbits and insider knowledge. It’s often provocative and shocking in the sense that he pulls the curtain back from the nefarious goings-on within industrial agriculture.
Here’s a recent newsletter — tell me this doesn’t make you want to start raising your own goats.
Tweeting from AHS
Peeps: I’m at the Ancestral Health Symposium! Follow the factoids and experience on Twitter — @stumptuous.
Ladies Who Lift
A beginner’s weight training course in the UK, taught by women, for women aims to change stereotypes around weight training. In order to get started and build confidence, an all-female environment is an excellent solution for many women. Here, creator Sally Moss of Gubernatrix describes the project.
Spezzatino Vol 14: Citrus now available!
Just in time for summer’s hot, hazy days — how to set up your own lemonade stand, power a clock, and bleach your hair! It’s all here. All in one volume. From Spezzatino: The food magazine that really does feed people.
Contributions from some Stumpamaniacs! As always, if you love writing about and/or making pictures of food, please contact me and see how you can volunteer.
Feminist Figure Girl
Ahhh I love when feminists fuck around with expectations.
43-year old University of Alberta art history professor Lianne McTavish, who was once a self-described “dowdy ass-kicking feminist,” has devoted her research and activism to reproductive rights and teaching students about body image in the Renaissance period. Oh yeah, and competing in a figure competition — just because it was there.
Check out her well-written and engaging blog here. It’s full of great lines, such as her contemplation of her future physique career: “Would I become a figure addict, repeatedly drawn to the allure of sparkly tits, slippery muscles, and a purse full of cold, cooked egg whites?”
Naturally, I’m sure that many mainstream media morons and clueless academics alike have already started cackling about how she’s selling out. And hell, maybe she’s selling out like a Wal-Mart whorehouse (sorry, discount store sex worker place of employment). But she’s messing with your head as she does it, isn’t she? Aren’t you already asking yourself some tough questions, like What is a feminist doing in a bikini? and Could her references to Louis XIV possibly be more apropos and droll?
Ha ha! Now you are hooked!