New meaning to “joint mobility”: Yoga in prison
Prisoners are famed for their low-tech and bodyweight-style workouts. Now, it seems, a yoga program is also showing benefits.
“Yoga helped me to be more present in the moment and observe what came up. The insights that this gave me helped me to move on from that paralyzing state of guilt. It helped me to understand myself better. Before, I had not really dealt with the anger inside of me and had no tools to handle my emotions. I don’t mean in any way to diminish accountability for what I’ve done: I’m the one who made all the decisions in my life – including stabbing an innocent man – I don’t use any of the understanding I’ve gained to deflect responsibility for what I’ve done.”
Check out the full article – great photos.
Tofu makes you dumn?
I am often asked why I do not recommend soy protein for vegetarians. The aggregate data suggest that whatever benefit soy may offer is vastly outweighed by its many liabilities — especially when it is processed. (Really guys — did you honestly think that Tofurkey was healthy?) One key problem with soy appears to be its effects on brain health with aging.
Review: Everyday Paleo
A mother of three children ranging from 3 to 15, Fragoso created EverydayPaleo.com as a way to keep herself accountable, to try out new recipes, and to build a community of Paleo-style eaters trying to figure out how to implement this way of eating into their (imperfect) daily routines.
Skinny fat: Not just Hollywood’s problem
An interesting breakdown of the famed “skinny fat” phenomenon, particularly as it pertains to self-starved celebrities.
The concept of SF, of course, is that one is thin but has poor body composition — what’s there is bone, gristle, and fat. In clothes, great. But according to the calipers and metabolism, not so much.
Now, I realize that the Gwyneth-Tracy story is kind of a car crash that we’re all craning our necks to see, but still… the extreme example offers us a cautionary tale on the subject of feminine musclephobic orthorexia and its consequences.
Trainer Graeme Thomas runs a nutritional analysis on Gwyneth’s diet
It breaks my heart to see the abuse of such a noble vegetable as kale.
Fat + sugar = metabolic derangement
A recent study of interest in the International Journal of Obesity explores whether problems with glucose metabolism (aka metabolic syndrome) are related to obesity (and hence the chemical properties of adipose [fat] tissue) and/or the diet itself.
The effects of the diet may be related to the digestion of the food (i.e. the pancreas having to deal with the sugar load, etc.), but interestingly, they can also be related to the way the brain and appetite hormones process the food. So basically we’re asking: How does a poor diet screw us up?
Get some ass
Having grown up in the 70s (BTW guys, there’s no apostrophe), the concept of “70s Big” always cracks me up. For those of you born after Magnum PI, you have to understand that the 70s was a very earthy, hairy, body-positive kind of time where the human physique was frequently revealed in all its resplendently awkward glory…
Boxing their own worst enemy
A lovely photo essay about boxers in Brazil captures the cognitive-affective game of training and boxing — that training for fitness and sport is really training mental and emotional strength to overcome oneself — or live to one’s fullest potential.
Beautiful photography brilliantly captures the fact that you can get a kickass workout without going to a fancy gym.
Quote o’ the day
From an article on why women need to weight train — heavy:
“Another reason women need to lift weights is to maintain bone density. Any women reading this who are over 40 years old have probably been emphatically prescribed copious amounts of calcium by their doctor. What the doc neglected to consider is the lack of stimulus necessary for your body to use valuable energy to build more bone. Maybe you should drop off a bunch of lumber in your doctor’s yard without mentioning why, and then get mad at him when he doesn’t use it to build a deck. He’s playing the same game with your body. Why would your body assume that you need more bone density if you never bear loads that would necessitate a stronger frame?”
“I am a 91 year old bodybuilder”
I have two favourite parts of this article:
1. He started at 85.
2. He took up judo to learn how to fall properly.
Weight training for roller derby
Years ago, I sat in academic job interviews, and hiring committees made pinchy faces about my publications. Oh sure, I had three books and a crapton of journal articles, but it wasn’t in Such-And-Such Journal or published by So-And-So Publisher.
Too bad that during those interviews, I didn’t have the publication awesomeness that I have now in my hot little hands: An interview in Five On Five magazine — The Official Magazine of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association! Yesssss my life could not get more rockin’!!!
Thanks to Maura Buse from the Boston Derby Dames for a great piece, in which I get to say “crap” about ten times.