470 posts
Cold exposure is a hot topic again. Like most health topics, a predictable pattern has emerged. Some people experiment with an idea. They experience benefits. They share the benefits. Others join in...
Read more →Tim Ferriss recently had an excellent show related to injuries and recovery. Dr. Keith Baar, UC Davis — Simple Exercises That Can Repair Tendons (Tennis Elbow, etc.), Collagen Fact vs. Fiction,...
Read more →My last fitness results post was from 2022. I didn't do one last year, because I was recovering from my hernia surgery. Here is my 2024 health and fitness update: Diet and Weight Another year has...
Read more →There are numerous posts on this website where I talk about how much I love high-intensity training. In 2011, I posted High Intensity Training - My 6 Month Update, which was a good overview of HIT....
Read more →In my post The Economics of “Messy” Gyms, I discussed how proper gym etiquette seems to have disappeared over time. Now, with fewer young staff members working at gyms, we're seeing the consequences:...
Read more →In prior posts, I've mentioned my gradual increase in body temperature since I began severely restricting seed oils. I was going off memory, but thanks to the blood donation portal, I now have 13...
Read more →Even though the name Glitter Gym no longer makes sense in the modern world, I've decided to keep the name when I add new gym stories. After my smallish gym closed in April, my membership was...
Read more →Back in 2010, I posted The Selfish Case For Donating Blood. It was about how I was inspired to donate blood again to reduce iron levels. Years later, my primary motivation shifted to removing...
Read more →My little independent gym closed two months ago. I had been a gym member for 9 of its 13 years. It wasn't fancy, but it was convenient. I could walk across the street and be there. And it rarely got...
Read more →A topic that I've been fascinated with for more than a decade is the role exercise has on appetite. Going back over a decade, I have several posts on my views of exercising while dieting. The short...
Read more →Just a month ago I dusted off my old Tales From the Glitter Gym series after a 13-year hiatus. I followed it up by explaining the term "Glitter Gym". Then something happened. My mini-gym Fitness 19...
Read more →My previous post was part of the Tales From the Glitter Gym series. That was after a 13-year hiatus. The oldest post I have on the topic was from 2006, however, I recall using the term years before...
Read more →It has been 13 years since I retired my Tales From the Glitter Gym series. I wasn't planning on adding any future editions, but I need to add at least one more. Let's meet The Old Guy. There is this...
Read more →If you go back into the archives (2011-2013), you will see many posts where I attempted to solve my headaches. I tried many experiments to reduce the number and frequency of headaches that had...
Read more →Last year, I discussed how I fixed my dysfunctional relationship with pushups. Now, I want to talk about ab exercises. I have never liked training my abs. Just like with the pushup, my introduction...
Read more →Back in college, I worked as a grocery store cashier, so I could see all the magazines that were in the checkout lane. Each month, they would add a new Cosmopolitan. It didn't take long to see a...
Read more →Last year, Peter Attia was everywhere in the health and longevity space. Between his podcast, his book Outlive, and numerous interviews, I watched his views spread across the health space. In...
Read more →Readers of this site may already know that one can order numerous blood tests without contacting a doctor in the United States. Often at prices that are lower than the discounted prices offered...
Read more →If we dive back into the archives of this site, you will see that I am a long-time skeptic and critic of CrossFit. - Help Me Understand CrossFit - Responding to a CrossFit Enthusiast - CrossFit...
Read more →Long-time readers might recall that the reason this blog ever got interested in fitness and nutrition was because of a nasty cold I got back in 2007. I started reading books on "superfoods" with the...
Read more →I recently read The Book on Heat: The Science of Heat for Weight Loss, Performance and Health by Brad Pilon. It altered a view of mine that I've held for decades related to diet and exercise. My...
Read more →I mentioned in an earlier post that I got a hernia in July. Between that time and my surgery on September 20th, I didn't feel comfortable exercising. Not pain. Just discomfort. Some men are easily...
Read more →I've always disliked pushups. When you are tall and lanky, pushups suck. Although I did some pushups as a kid, my first real introduction to them was in Army basic training from a screaming drill...
Read more →About 3 weeks ago, I felt off, but I didn't know why. I suspected I may have gotten a hernia, but I had no knowledge of the topic, so I did some online research and visual inspection. I decided I...
Read more →I've been following health and fitness news for many years now. One topic that has always puzzled me is the Obesity Paradox. To get us all up to speed, I asked Poe AI to explain the term. > The...
Read more →I found an interesting discussion between Doug McGuff and Drew Baye on YouTube. One of the topics they covered was exercise-induced headaches. This is something I experienced regularly when I did...
Read more →It had been several months since I saw my friend. She looked at me and asked if I got taller. Another friend a few weeks before that commented that my posture looked better. Improving my posture has...
Read more →I recently received a comment on my 2011 post High Satiety Paleo Friendly Foods? from Dawn: > Did you ever break the code on night eating? I also need food before bed and will still sometimes wind up...
Read more →In August 2017, I posted Mostly Weight Stable Regardless of Diet where I did a deep analysis of how much I weighed going back to the start of the century. And I shared a quote from an earlier blog: >...
Read more →In March, I posted My 2022 Fitness Plan. How well did I stick to the plan? Mostly pretty well, but I had an injury that slowed my progress. I did return to the gym and most weeks I went 3 times,...
Read more →About two years ago, I started experiencing numb feet and toes. I noticed it when I first woke up in the morning upon standing. As the day progressed, it became less noticeable. Wearing socks and...
Read more →Twenty years ago, I was living in a gated community near San Diego. One of the homeowners on my block was named Mike. He was about 20 years older than me. One day we were having a brief conversation...
Read more →I have 3 short fitness stories for you today. Army Basic Training (1987) When I got off the bus at Fort Benning, Georgia, after some yelling, the drill sergeants told us that we would all gain...
Read more →I was going through the fitness archives of this blog recently. Over the years, I've posted many varying opinions on what is the best fitness strategy. I started out following the muscle magazines....
Read more →In my previous post, I mentioned with a positive tone that I was able to increase my body temperature from 97.0°F to 98.4°F. This post will explore whether an increased body temperature is...
Read more →I don't discuss politics or the latest outrage on this blog. I figured out many years ago that it was a pointless endeavor that would provide no value. My focus here has primarily been on increasing...
Read more →Long-time readers of this blog might recall how I was an early enthusiast of the quantified self movement. I wanted to believe that I was capable of hacking myself to a better health outcome by...
Read more →Three years ago I posted Millennials Have Killed the Glitter Gym. > People are staring at their phones between exercises. Between sets. Sometimes during the set itself. They are looking at their...
Read more →A thing I hear repeated often on health podcasts is that cold showers don't get easier. That is just not true. Of course, they get easier. The trick to making them easier is to remove the decision....
Read more →Seattle dropped the indoor mask requirements 9 days ago, so after a very long absence, I am back at my Glitter Gym. 🥳 I estimate that I lost 3-5 pounds of muscle during this period and some...
Read more →In December 2020, I posted Muscle Interrupted. > It has been 10 months since I last stepped foot in my gym due to the COVID lockdowns. Although my gym did reopen for a period during the late summer...
Read more →In a show this summer, Joe Rogan mentioned how he tested for high levels of arsenic from consuming lots of sardines. When he removed the sardines, the arsenic levels dropped. This alarmed me because...
Read more →Because I use the 3rd party search tool by Algolia, I get a report on what the readers of this blog are searching for. The top 3 topics consistently have been Pavel Tsatsouline, the Ray Peat Diet,...
Read more →I moved at the end of April and my new place is much warmer and unfortunately for me this month, it does not have air conditioning. Seattle is having a bit of a heatwave right now. !heatwave 🥵 A...
Read more →Back in April, Ben Greenfield did a podcast titled My New #1 Hack For Zapping Inflammation, Increasing Deep Sleep & Recovering Faster—Earthing (The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?). I've always...
Read more →Back in January, I posted some notes from the book Say Goodnight to Insomnia. I initially made progress with those techniques, but have had continued trouble sleeping this year. I'll do well for a...
Read more →The more I used my Oura Ring, the more I liked it. The more I used my Muse 2, the more I disliked it. How about the Apollo Neuro? Three months of daily use and I'm still not sure if I like it or not....
Read more →After two years of having a daily meditation and breathing practice, I decided to buy the Muse 2. The idea of having real-time feedback guiding me deeper appealed to me. That was 3 months ago and the...
Read more →Back in September, I posted my initial thoughts of my Oura Ring. It was mixed and slightly negative. You can see the issues I had with the Oura in that post. I ended it with this statement: > I’m...
Read more →I just read This is Your Body Temperature on Vegetable Oil. It is an interesting article that supports the information I learned from Matt Stone back in 2013 that PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids)...
Read more →Several years ago on this blog, I posted a little bit about cold showers. It was one of many health experiments that caught my attention. My interest was building resiliency, strengthening the immune...
Read more →It has been 10 months since I last stepped foot in my gym due to the COVID lockdowns. Although my gym did reopen for a period during the late summer and early fall, I didn't return. I had concerns...
Read more →I sometimes think the only reason I still post blogs is when there is a topic of interest to me that I suspect a few of my readers know more about the topic than myself and can guide me in the...
Read more →This summer I went looking for my next health challenge. After reading Super Human by Dave Asprey and listening to Peter Attia's Drive podcast, I decided to tackle improving my sleep quality. They...
Read more →Back in March, I shared how my lipid levels improved when I cut out 90% of the meat and dairy in my diet. From Lipid Levels After Going 90% Pesco-Vegan: > ...I cut out 90% of my meat and dairy intake...
Read more →In my last post, The End of Gyms? Part 1, I covered some of the macro challenges gyms are facing in a post-Coronavirus world. I suspect many gyms are going to fail for the reasons cited in that post....
Read more →We are all trying to guess what life will be like when society reopens from the coronavirus lockdowns. One area that I have been thinking about a lot is gyms. Is the Business Model Now Broken? I fear...
Read more →In the post My Coronavirus Plan, I mentioned that I was Vitamin D deficient and that one of the strategies I would focus on as a defense against the Coronavirus would be getting my levels up to...
Read more →I'm putting this post together for myself. It is a collection of ideas that I found to be the most compelling related to the Coronavirus and personal health. It doesn't mean they are right. This post...
Read more →On March 1st, I had my first DEXA scan. It had been years since I had a body fat percent measurement taken. When I was getting my initial muscle gains in my mid-20s, I looked forward to seeing my...
Read more →A month ago, I posted how I changed my diet in the post What I Eat and What I Don’t Eat – 2020 Edition. You can read that post for details, but the short version is I cut out 90% of my meat and dairy...
Read more →I was going to wait until I had completed the full 12-weeks of the Quick and Dead workout, but this can't wait. I see some potential issues with the Q&D and so have a few other commenters. First,...
Read more →Today, I made my 40th whole blood donation for the state of Washington. 40 pints works out to 5 gallons! !5 gallons blood If an average-sized male has 12 pints of blood in their body, that means...
Read more →Greg left an interesting comment on the post Notes on Pavel’s – The Quick and the Dead that I felt deserved its own post. I might need some help from the HIT experts as I have not kept up with the...
Read more →I thought I would do a post on the history of people who have most influenced me on fitness. Dave Scott and Mark Allen In high school, I recall seeing the Ironman on TV. It was the era where Dave...
Read more →On two occasions I have been told: "You look too thin" or "You looked too thin". Once was in 2012 and the other time was early 2018. The first time I heard it, I sort of panicked. Whereas some people...
Read more →Another December, another cold. The genesis of this blog ever discussing health-related topics goes back to June of 2007. I was still in San Diego and I had 2 brutal colds back to back. I wanted to...
Read more →Before I start this post, I will disclose that I am not a vegan, but unlike the low-carb zealots, I think we can learn something from the plant-based crowd. This is why even before the film The Game...
Read more →Almost two months ago, the scale at my gym was gone. It broke and I was informed that they would be ordering a new scale soon. Not a problem. As I have mentioned in previous posts, in addition to...
Read more →Last October, after many years of rejecting cardio, I stated that I would be Starting Over in Cardio. I outlined how I became anti-cardio in the post Understanding my Bias Against Cardio. And I...
Read more →Last month, I posted Millennials Have Killed the Glitter Gym, which describes how this generation with their smartphones has ruined gyms. > People are staring at their phones between exercises....
Read more →About twenty years ago, I coined the term "Glitter Gym" as a broad term to describe the growing big-box bright-light corporate gyms you see everywhere. In my 2006 post Glitter and Rust, I said this:...
Read more →I began urban hiking in 2008. For a brief overview, read the introduction on my Best of Urban Hiking page. The way I urban hike has changed quite a bit since the early days. Because I now have a...
Read more →In January, I mentioned in the post Regular Sauna Use: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly that as much as I loved the sauna it was damaging my skin. > ...people with a history of rosacea are advised not...
Read more →Back in 2012, I posted what would end up being one of the most popular posts on this blog. It was titled I No Longer Give a Squat About The Squat. It has been almost seven years and I still stand by...
Read more →This winter I did an experiment. I started supplementing with ginger root capsules. Every day I would take a 550 mg dose. Sometimes 2 a day. People around me were getting sick, yet I seemed immune....
Read more →Today in the sauna, there was a man that was about to turn 71 chatting with his friend who I would guess was maybe 60 years old. They were both to my left. To my right was a bulky overweight man...
Read more →I've been thinking a lot lately about the stories we tell ourselves to explain our health and fitness status. And how those stories in hindsight can be completely wrong. A classic example for me is...
Read more →I am now about 3 months into my membership at LA Fitness. I joined up so I could start going to the sauna regularly. And I have taken advantage of it. I'm going to the sauna about 5 times a week....
Read more →Back in 2017, I did two blog posts asking if Paleo or standard medical wisdom was correct on sunscreen. - Was Paleo Wrong About Sunscreen Too? - Was Paleo Wrong About Sunscreen Too? Part 2 After...
Read more →I thought I'd do a round-up of the most important fitness and nutrition lessons that I learned in 2018. Fasting Mimicking Diet / Protein Cycling Diet This is the year I started experimenting with the...
Read more →I thought I'd give some updates on my fitness goals and progress. #1 Project Cardio After many years of doing no cardio, I decided to add some to my fitness routine. You can read my reasons in the...
Read more →I wanted to share this tip I developed regarding watching TV at night and falling asleep. Some of us like to watch TV at the end of the day to relax before bed. But what relaxes us can also stimulate...
Read more →I'm currently reading Beyond Training by Ben Greenfield and although I don't think I'm the target audience for the book (endurance athletes) or agree with a lot of what he writes, I did land on a gem...
Read more →Whenever I take on too many fitness goals, I lose focus. It is much easier to direct energy in one direction than several. When my primary goal was losing weight or doing knee rehab, I made progress....
Read more →Earlier this month, I discovered I was likely wrong about cardio and explained how I arrived at that decision in the post Understanding My Bias AGainst Cardio. I was persuaded by the case made by Dr....
Read more →As I explained in the previous post Searching For The Cardio Code, after a very long hiatus, I'm ready to reintroduce cardio training to my fitness plan. Some would argue that my long urban hikes or...
Read more →One of my fitness mentors is Chris Highcock from Conditioning Research and author of Hillfit. He always seems to be a year or two ahead of me when it comes to fitness interests and knowledge. In a...
Read more →One of my favorite podcasts is Masters In Business from Bloomberg by Barry Ritholtz. The show is a collection of interviews with some of the brightest and most successful people in finance. (side...
Read more →In previous posts, I've discussed my version of the Peasant Diet. Check out How I Used the Peasant Diet to Lean Out which was posted a year ago. In that post, I covered how I used a diet of...
Read more →For almost 20 years, I've advised my heavy friends to lift weights instead of doing cardio as they lean out. The logic of my case went something like this: 1. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so...
Read more →This week was an exciting one if you like to watch the drama in the fitness community. On Facebook, there was some heated disagreement on the role volume has on hypertrophy between Lyle McDonald,...
Read more →This is a follow-up to the previous post The Case For High Intensity Training Seems to be Getting Weaker. Heavier Weight or More Volume? Chris shared this article by Lyle McDonald, which was...
Read more →This post is what I hope to be the start of a conversation. I haven't made up my mind on this topic yet. Before I share some things I've learned recently, I'll give a little background on the topic....
Read more →One of the things I did not cover in The State of Blogging in 2018 was Instagram. In the past decade, I've seen each social network jockey for more or less relevance in my life. Right now, Instagram...
Read more →She stopped mid-sentence and said: "You look leaner". She was wrong, but I understood why she commented. I was the same weight I was the last time I saw her. My weight has been in a stable range of...
Read more →I wrote this on March 22, 2002, back when I was a homeowner in Escondido, CA. With some minor edits, here it is: We got a letter from the Home Owner's Association. It seems they don't like something...
Read more →In my previous post, I mentioned the lack of resources for teaching the very basics of HIT and safe lifting to beginners. Most of what is available either assumes too much background knowledge or is...
Read more →Last month, I began training a friend of mine at the gym. She had been away from weightlifting for 12 years and had never been exposed to the high-intensity concepts of slow controlled movements...
Read more →My previous post An Update on My Knee Pain – Plus Tips You Can Use is a background on how I'm approaching my knee issues. The short version is that I am using a combination of exercises to strengthen...
Read more →My last update related to my knee pain was in January. For months, I have had nothing new to share. I was making no progress with physical therapy. Then I found a video that provided a clue, which...
Read more →When it comes to lifting weights, I think everything that needs to be said probably has been. There is nothing new. Everything is a remix or resurrection of ideas someone else put forward years or...
Read more →This is a follow-up to the post Active 10 vs 10,000 Steps a Day. I wanted to see how well the Active 10 app would work. Below are two screenshots. The first is the Active 10 app and the second is the...
Read more →The worst health mistake I've made in my life was that I didn't start lifting weights until I was 24. I should have started at 16.\ Whenever you see an amazing male physique, you almost learn they...
Read more →Chris from Conditioning Research shared this article this morning: Michael Mosley: 'Forget walking 10,000 steps a day' The short summary is that people that aim for walking briskly 3 times a day for...
Read more →In November, I posted on My Bizarre Injury. The short version: - During some light stretching in September, I strained my hamstring. - Then a month or so later, I began feeling knee pain in both...
Read more →Last month, I posted Constrained Total Energy Expenditure and Metabolic Adaptation, which is an overview of the research of Dr. Herman Pontzer. In short, his work makes the case that we adapt...
Read more →I had an idea recently that I think could benefit gyms. What if every gym had townhall style meetings where the staff and interested members could get together for an hour and discuss ways to make...
Read more →The other day, I was thinking about the endless number of fitness articles and conversations that I've been exposed to over the last 20+ years. I believe that they all can fall into just 3...
Read more →I just heard a fascinating podcast interview about energy expenditure. It connects the dots on many things that I have felt, but could not prove. If you have an hour, listen to Sigma Nutrition #208....
Read more →I graduated from college in 1994. Back then attending college was an easy decision. It didn't cost nearly as much as today and it was just before the web took off. Today information is everywhere and...
Read more →Before I start this post, I want to disclose my belief on building strength. The 2013 post On Building Muscle is a good representation. In that post, I summarize a Conditioning Research article. >...
Read more →Early in the morning of September 19th, I was doing some light stretching. For a few months, I had been doing light yoga maybe 3-5 times a week. I would go to YouTube and look for videos related to...
Read more →A few people have asked me to do an updated post on High-Intensity Training. For the most part, I don't have any new insights. I think I've said all I have to say on the topic. In this post, I'm...
Read more →I want to continue the discussion I started in the post Was Paleo Wrong About Sunscreen Too? In that post, I addressed doubts I was having with the two polar extreme opinions on the role of...
Read more →Two weeks later and I'm still 199 and holding. As the temperatures and hours of sunshine have dropped, my appetite has increased. Now I have a new theory that I'll run past my super smart commenters....
Read more →I've been actively following the direction of the disagreements Paleo has with the standard mainstream advice for almost a decade now. Sometimes the Paleo position moves closer to the mainstream and...
Read more →I have a question for my readers that I can't answer. As many of you know, I have several articles on the topic of cold exposure. This is something I began experimenting with almost a decade ago. I...
Read more →Earlier this year, I read the book The Power of When after hearing the author on a podcast interview. !Power of When The Power of When: Discover Your Chronotype--and the Best Time to Eat Lunch, Ask...
Read more →You have probably heard the phrase "10,000 steps a day" numerous times. How important is it to consistently hit 10,000 steps on a daily basis? I wanted to find out, so I really tore through the data...
Read more →From time to time I will get emails asking me about my current thoughts related to fitness. Nothing has really changed, but I have developed a framework for how I think about fitness. To me there are...
Read more →After the post Is There a Metabolic Unicorn? I decided to revisit the topic of metabolism again as if I knew nothing. I'm also doing this at the same time that I'm reviewing some of my older posts...
Read more →On my list of topics to revisit, I included a left knee update. This story took a lot longer than I expected. I think it is boring, but maybe someone can learn something from my experience. Here...
Read more →In December 2015, I was interviewed by a Seattle newspaper about my Urban Hiking adventures, which I document on my Urban Hiking page. The story was published in February 2016. It was an OK story,...
Read more →It has been a while since I thought about my 23andMe account. Back in April 2013, I shared my 23andMe health results and did a post on my ancestry. Yesterday I was tipped off to the post These 5...
Read more →Today I learned a wonderful word. From 10 Spanish Words That Have No English Translation: > 7. Friolento/Friolero > > Someone who is very sensitive to cold. > > Él es muy friolento y siempre pide...
Read more →I am a big fan of High-Intensity Training. Nothing is changing here, but in the last year I have lost some conditioning and it is probably my fault. Before I say where things went wrong, let me go...
Read more →For a few years we've been hit over the head with health stories that equate sitting as being as unhealthy as smoking. And I've been a disbelieving skeptic. My thinking was that efficient exercise...
Read more →I recently saw a thread on a Paleo forum that was discussing my 2012 post Why Ice Cream is Better Than Protein Powder. I won't link to it, because the parent site uses pop-up newsletter forms on...
Read more →When the new Glitter Gym opened up I walked through the floor of equipment passing judgment. Good, bad, awful, and so on. I was doing some recon on what I would use to build workouts. One piece of...
Read more →A little over two years ago I became interested in metabolism. In the post Diet Recovery 2 and the “Turn Up the Heat” Experiment I explained my thinking at the time. Back then I was not a believer...
Read more →I'm sure I'm not the first to have this thought. I have no doubt many others have looked around a gym and noticed that almost everyone models their workouts as if they were machines designed to do as...
Read more →I've grown tired of posting about fitness. What started as an exciting journey of exploration and sharing has become one battle after another. The debates never end. The name calling. My guru is...
Read more →In my last post, Why Isn’t High-Intensity Training More Popular? I covered a few reasons why HIT (not HIIT) doesn't seem to be gaining in popularity. When I put the post together I was viewing HIT...
Read more →I am an enthusiastic supporter of High-Intensity Training (HIT). I've written many posts on the topic, but the one I haven't written is why it isn't more popular. I believe that good ideas spread and...
Read more →Normally I don't read T-Nation, but an article being shared on Twitter caught my eye. I knew it was going to be lacking, but I had to look. The article is titled 6 Reasons Why You're Always Hurt...
Read more →I have been thinking about the different types of health and fitness role models. These are the people who we look to for education and inspiration when we decide to improve our health. Before I...
Read more →I spent last week fixing years worth of grammar errors on this site. Over 300 posts were updated. While fixing the posts I was reacquanted with many of my old n=1 experiments. A lot of what I read...
Read more →I just returned from a two-week visit to Seattle, where I met up with Nikki Naab-Levy of Indigo Kinetics and Healthy Photographers. I've known Nikki since 2008. In addition to Pilates and massage,...
Read more →A year ago I posted How I Regained the Weight I Lost. There I speculated on what was my ideal weight. > If I were to ask my body what it believes my ideal weight is, I’d get different answers. My...
Read more →One of the wonderful things about having a blog that goes back years is you can revisit older posts and see not only what you were up to but how you interpreted those events. With more time and...
Read more →The flu hit me hard about a day after my Feeling Destructive post. My guess is the poor mood I exhibited in that post was probably because I was already coming down with something, but didn't realize...
Read more →I didn't want to title this blog "My Last Fitness Post", but it could end up being my last post about getting stronger. It has been a long journey, but I've found the answer. Maybe not for you, but...
Read more →Another story about how cool temperatures can help adults regain brown adipose tissue for metabolic advantage was published in July, but I just saw it this morning. From Let’s Cool It in the Bedroom:...
Read more →I am so sick of the logic used in articles written by "strength" coaches to dismiss High Intensity Training. The articles all go something like this: 1. Using higher volume and lower intensity...
Read more →Probably the thing that annoys me most when I read health information is how articles fail to define their audience. What is good for some must be good for all. The classic example is coffee. Yes my...
Read more →For the past six years, I have been fascinated by cold temperature exposure. When I left the perfect temperatures of San Diego in 2007 for Seattle, I became uncomfortable at temperatures as high as...
Read more →This past February I set the stage for a 20 pound fat loss goal. When I set the goal, several people told me that was too much weight for me to lose. My primary motivation for dropping 20 pounds was...
Read more →This post isn't for my regular readers. It is for those that leave hostile comments challenging my views on fitness. Instead of repeating myself over and over in the comments, I've created this...
Read more →I recently was invited to do a High Intensity Training workout at DeSisto Strength Training in San Francisco. It has been over 3 years now since I had those two HIT workouts from legendary trainer...
Read more →I was recently asked about what tips I had for better sleep. Instead of responding directly to the email, I thought it might make for a good post where others could read and comment. Most of the...
Read more →I got a really interesting comment yesterday on my 2011 post A High Intensity Approach to Cold Weather Training. From Rick D: > My first exposure to thermogenics was from a french physician who wrote...
Read more →Most of the 10,000 comments this blog has received since December 2005 are respectable and informative. This post is about one comment that was neither. Comments like this represent less than 1% of...
Read more →Regular readers of this site know that I am a proponent of High-Intensity Training (HIT) and that the bodyweight approach I discuss the most is the Hillfit program. As great as that routine is there...
Read more →I've seen a few proponents of CrossFit try and claim because of the randomness of the daily workouts (WOD) that they are following the principles of Antifragile. For those unaware Antifragile is a...
Read more →One of the things I most dislike about the health and fitness blogosphere is that certain people with some level of popularity can dismiss honest criticisms from less popular bloggers or commenters...
Read more →It isn't very often that a true insight into our own health hits, but I believe I had one a few weeks ago. Longtime readers of this blog know that I tackled and overcame my back pain issues years...
Read more →This is a follow up to the post I’m Done Talking About High-Intensity Training. But before I start I want to be clear that post was about conversations outside this blog. Not this blog. I will...
Read more →Last night I made a decision that I would never talk about High Intensity Training unless someone solicits my opinion on the topic. I'll still blog about it here, but I'm done discussing it in...
Read more →Two days ago I posted Just Count Protein For Fat Loss, which theorizes that the minimum effort one needs to do to lose weight is increase protein. Get the grams you need and that should reduce...
Read more →I've been thinking a lot about low effort sustainable dieting and I've come up with an idea that I was certain someone else had figured out before, but I haven't seen it articulated anywhere. That...
Read more →I haven't posted about my 20 pound fat loss bet in a while. The reason is after losing 10 pounds, I stalled and then starting gaining again. This post will explain what went wrong. #1 Coffee...
Read more →After being an early enthusiast of Quantified Self, I now consider myself to be a critic. My last post on the topic was Some Quantified Self Honesty. That was two months ago. In that post and the...
Read more →I received an email with three fitness questions. Instead of responding privately, I decided to answer them in a blog post. I will need help with the third question. The email came from someone...
Read more →I've never been a fan of Assisted Pull Up Machines. From my 2012 post How I Improved My Chin-Ups: > When you get under one of these machines, if you start with a decent pull, the lifter slides upward...
Read more →Last year I unsuccessfully tested Tim Ferriss's idea of consuming 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. Instead of curbing my hunger, it increased it. Here is what I posted on Ending...
Read more →In the comments of the post Muscular Potential and Reality, Skyler Tanner mentioned that the Casey Butt book had a second formula for calculating the muscular potential for ectomorphs and hard...
Read more →Today in the gym I watched a lady doing "squats". I use quotes because her form was atrocious. It wasn't really a squat, but more like a good morning where the knees give out at the last minute. Her...
Read more →Stephan over at Biohacks.net put together the Maximum Lean Body Mass Calculator (no longer online). The formula used to make the calculation includes wrist and ankle size, which is a wise thing as...
Read more →I am so sick of what has become of the modern gym. Flat screen TVs everywhere and not just in front of the treadmills, but everywhere, including the free weight room. The TVs show sports news,...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #11 Weigh-In: \-1. Total Loss: \-9. These posts are getting boring. This will be the last regularly scheduled...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #10 Weigh-In: +2. Total Loss: \-8. Not a good week. A step backwards. A few things went wrong. 1. My average...
Read more →Most of what you read from the Quantified Self movement is celebratory nonsense. Without repeating my opinion and how I arrived at it, I'll direct you to these posts: - What Weight Lifting Should...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #9 Weigh-In: \-2. Total Loss: \-10. This was a good week. My plan last week was to journal the number of hours in...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #8 Weigh-In: \-1. Total Loss: \-8. 8 weeks, 8 pounds. Grinding away. My knee rehab had a setback this week....
Read more →I've always had trouble napping. I could be dead tired and in need of a nap, but I'll close my eyes and nothing will happen. Sometimes my mind will race. Sometimes it won't. I would say the odds of...
Read more →An interesting thing happened last week after my post Quantified Self and False Pattern Recognition. In that post, I mentioned the benefit I have received from ending the daily tracking. > I don’t...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #7 Weigh-In: \-1. Total Loss: \-7. Last week was the one week where I gained a pound. I was concerned that I might...
Read more →I was watching Episode 3 of the new Cosmos show when Neil deGrasse Tyson said something that reminded me an awful lot of the Quantified Self movement.: > The human talent for pattern recognition is a...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #6 Weigh-In: +1. Total Loss: \-6. The bad new is this was the first week where I gained weight. The good news is I...
Read more →The gym I go to has a lot of older adults because they participate in the SilverSneakers program. The program connects those over 65 years old to a gym and it works with their health insurance. It is...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #5 Weigh-In: \-2. Total Loss: -7. After I posted the ant-Quantified Self post, I decided I didn't want to continue...
Read more →Anyone who has read this site knows I am not a fan of CrossFit. I believe it is the wrong approach to fitness for a number of reasons, but my root reason is the high injury rate. When you combine...
Read more →My opinion of Quantified Self has gone from being an enthusiastic supporter to one of extreme skepticism. There is a lure to the narrative that if we collect enough data about ourselves we can be...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #4 Weigh-in: \-1. Total loss: \-5. Slow and steady appears to be how my body wants to drop the weight. The good...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #3 Weigh-in: \-1. Total loss: \-4. This was an odd week. One of my competitors left a big bag of sliced salami in...
Read more →I just finished reading Solving the Paleo Equation by Matt Stone and Garrett Smith. With a minor exception, I really liked the book. The audience is not necessarily just those stuck on a Paleo diet,...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #2 Weigh-in: Unchanged. I weighed myself a few times this week and was down, then up, but I ended the week even....
Read more →Last December I reframed my headache question. After almost 3 years of trying to prevent headaches, I decided instead to look into how to eliminate the headache once it arrived. The full list of...
Read more →For a background to this post see How I Plan to Lose 20 Pounds and Win the Bet. Week #1 Weigh-in: Down 3 pounds. From 216 to 213. I suppose this is a common weight loss in the first week. It is...
Read more →For those that don't know the background story read How I Regained the Weight I Lost, The Fat Loss Bet and The Fat Loss Side Bet. In this post, I am going to outline my plan for losing 20 pounds and...
Read more →There seems to be some disagreement on if the terms of the Fat Loss Bet are motivating enough to me to either win or sabotage myself. So I contacted the woman that came up with the bet idea in the...
Read more →In my last post How I Regained the Weight I Lost, I mentioned the bet. > Yesterday I entered a bet with three others. We are all going to lose 20 pounds. If I lose, I will be required to go 1 week...
Read more →For almost a decade I was weight stable at 210 pounds. My height is 6 feet 2.5 inches (189 cm). Not overweight, but not lean. Like other ectomorphs, I've always valued muscle over leanness. When I...
Read more →Head on over to Getting Stronger and read What cold showers and exercise have in common. This post covers the what we know so far about cold exposure and how it could help us lean out. In addition to...
Read more →My first exposure to the idea of Intermittent Fasting came from the original Paleo essay written by Art De Vany. I read it in December 2007 and as 2008 progressed, I started tinkering with short...
Read more →Recently I gathered a new insight into the success of my workouts that is related to body language. Body language is a topic that has been an interest of mine for the past few years. In 2008, I...
Read more →This will be a quick post on the status of my latest experiments. I've been sick since Saturday and haven't felt like posting. Sleep There are two current experiments related to sleep. The first I...
Read more →I'm ready to provide a status update on the "Turn Up the Heat" experiment I started last year. The goal was to see if I could increase my body temperature using some of the ideas found in Matt...
Read more →Often when I'm reading a book I'll think "I should be taking notes", but then I don't and keep reading. When the book is over, a few core ideas with stick with me. And some get forgotten. There was a...
Read more →It has only been one month since I stopped going to the gym, but I signed back up today. In the post Stepping Away From the Glitter...Again! I ranted about how hot my glitter gym was and how I...
Read more →I hesitate to post this, but I need to hear from others. As some of you know I sometimes experience night headaches that wake me up in the early hours of the morning. When I stopped quantified self,...
Read more →One of the false criticisms of High Intensity Training is that the top bodybuilders in the world don't use HIT, so therefore it is less effective than traditional bodybuilding methods. This is false...
Read more →Time to head over to Conditioning Research to read Hypertrophy training - What does the evidence say? Chris provides an overview of what the scientific evidence says is required to gain muscle. It...
Read more →Some of you know that I spent 2.5 years quantifying data to eliminate my late night headaches that wake me up. In the end, I was unsuccessful on finding a single cause, although I learned caffeine...
Read more →Although I actually started lifting weights on a regular basis after I moved to Florida in June 1994, I do recall going to the old Ohio State student weight room a few times during winter break of...
Read more →In October I got to meet Stephan Raczak of Biohacks.net when he visited me in Seattle. During our visit he interviewed me, so I thought it might be interesting to interview him. I read very few sites...
Read more →For over a decade, I've had a weird relationship with yoga. I always suspected it had value, but I never made it a priority. It was something I'd get around to doing later. In the meantime, I'd focus...
Read more →Based on all the reviews and comments I've seen on the web, I think I might be the only person who didn't love the book Becoming a Supple Leopard. This post will be a brief review covering the three...
Read more →Yesterday I gave my Glitter Gym notice I was leaving. For those new to the site, I use the term "Glitter Gym" to refer to the modern gym which is full of cardio equipment, mirrors and often loud...
Read more →On September 1st, I quit my Hunting Headaches quest. After 2.5 years of tracking, I’m now 2 months free of the daily quantifiable self habit. Did taking my eyes off the data make things worse? Nope....
Read more →My left knee hasn't been 100% since spring. I don't know what happened to make it sore, but it has been bumming me out for months now. It gets better and then it gets worse. Just when I think it is...
Read more →Back in April, I shared my genetic test results from 23andMe. That post focused on the health side of the test. At that time, I didn't really pay much attention to the ancestry side of the...
Read more →I got an email from Don with a question that ties into my ice cream post on the topic of post workout fasting. > I am wondering what you think of the "no fructose (or any carbs, really) for about 4...
Read more →I recently got a comment that got me thinking again about Phil Campbell's Sprint 8 protocol. For those unaware, here is a Sprint 8 summary from the article Sprint 8 Workout from Ready, Set, GO!...
Read more →So many fitness bloggers and professionals fail to understand survivorship bias. They model their advice around what they see working best for a handful of outliers with little regard for safety,...
Read more →On March 24, 2011, I began tracking my headaches in a project I called Hunting Headaches. For over two years, I've started every morning by dropping numbers into a spreadsheet. Headache intensity,...
Read more →It has been a year since I posted Is High-Intensity Training Best for Ectomorphs? Time for a follow-up. In the past year, I have scaled down my intensity. As I mentioned in a recent post, the...
Read more →Anyone that has read this blog in the past few years knows that I am a fan of HIT (High Intensity Training). Machine-based workouts performed very slowly without locking out at the top or pausing at...
Read more →Back in April, I received an excellent recommendation from Tezza in the comments. > You might want to try some exercises by a guy named Eric Goodman (Foundation Training). They seem to be more...
Read more →One of the purposes of this blog is to throw ideas against the wall and see if they stick. Sometimes I'll openly ask for feedback and sometimes one of you will leave a comment that changes my...
Read more →Last month I got into a debate on the SaveYourself.ca Facebook page about the article that declared that running was good for you. I put my thoughts into the post Sorry, but Science Has NOT Proven...
Read more →In early 2011, I became a convert to High Intensity Training. Unlike traditional strength-building protocols, HIT focuses on using slow controlled movements, less volume, and higher intensity. Safety...
Read more →Last Friday I did an hour in an isolation tank at Float Seattle. I heard Joe Rogan raving how powerful the experience of being in a sensory deprived chamber, so when I learned there was a place just...
Read more →A month ago I posted June 2013 Experiments. Using a few strategies my plan was to reduce headache frequency/intensity and lose 5-7 pounds. Well I succeeded on the first goal and failed on the second...
Read more →It has now been just over five years since I began exploring cold temperature exposure. When I first started doing this, I didn't use the term thermogenesis. My goal was not to lose fat, but to widen...
Read more →I haven't logged into my 23andMe account for a month or so now, but I did this morning and I found they added something cool. The new feature is a report called Key Health Recommendations. Unlike...
Read more →Anyone that has read this site in the past few years knows that when it comes to exercise I seek out movements that are kind to the joints and respect how the muscles move. My general position is...
Read more →Several running apologists have linked to the long-winded Guest Post: Sorry, but Science Says Running is Good for You, Not Bad. With their science hats on, they dug through all the studies and...
Read more →Last year I bought a pair of minimal shoes that I loved immediately. The brand was Onitsuka Tiger. Super thin sole. The sole was actually too thin to do my uphill sprints with, but that didn't...
Read more →While I was in Ohio, I received a negative comment on my article I No Longer Give a Squat About The Squat from Jim Price. You can read the full comment here, but below is the meat of his thoughts. >...
Read more →Recently, I was having a chat with a friend when I mentioned with pride how I never break a sweat exercising. I do no cardio and only lift weights. Between exercises, if I start to get hot, I will...
Read more →Gather around my fellow ectomorphs. I have something to say about weight training. My belief is that our goals got mixed up when we started following the bad advice of genetically gifted mesomorphic...
Read more →A tough part of a health journey is figuring out what really works and what just appears to work. An example would be when I lost 20 pounds after adopting a Paleo diet. To this day, I don't know if...
Read more →A few weeks ago I received my genetic test results from 23andMe. After deliberating on if it was a good thing to know, I decided to get the $100 test. What made me get the test was when I imagined...
Read more →The weather in Seattle suddenly got really nice. This means I stepped out of hibernation and did some urban hiking. When it comes to hiking in Seattle, I take a unique approach. While everyone else...
Read more →Actually, this is the 1 month and 1-week update to my "Turn Up the Heat" experiment, where I am using ideas from the Diet Recovery 2 book as an attempt to increase my body temperature. I outlined the...
Read more →Seems I'm in a bad place where my current health goals are conflicting with each other. 1. Reduce headaches 2. Reduce neck and shoulder pain 3. Lose 10 pounds 4. Bring sugar cravings down to...
Read more →Sometimes I cringe a little when I go back and read some of my earlier posts on nutrition. Not always, but sometimes I am tempted to remove a sentence or add an update. But with almost 2,000 posts on...
Read more →I thought I would post a quick fitness update. I may have stumbled upon the secret sauce for ectomorphs trying to gain muscle. Well at least for me. Last August, I posted Is High-Intensity Training...
Read more →Slowly I could feel myself waking up. Yet another headache. And just like every other morning when a headache wakes me, I peek at my watch. I hope it reads 6 something. 5 something at the worst. This...
Read more →Two years ago I began tracking headache data. Fresh off of other health victories such as getting lean, curing my rosacea and ending back pain, I was confident that with enough data...
Read more →Well, the past month hasn't been good. The tightness in my neck and shoulders is worse than a month ago when I outlined my plan in the post Overview of the Ideas to Fix My Neck and Shoulders. A quick...
Read more →Readers of this site already know that I dislike the bench press. After benching for 16 years, I gave it up for machines done either very slowly or with static holds. I outlined my case against the...
Read more →I'm sorry this post has taken so long. When I asked for ideas to Help me Fix My Neck and Shoulders, I got way more feedback than I ever expected. To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement....
Read more →In the post Genetic Knowledge Dilemma, I mentioned that I was concerned about what I would learn from a genetic test. Briefly, my logic was that I already was following a healthy lifestyle and that...
Read more →I just recently received a comment alerting me that the genetic test done by 23andMe is now being sold for just $99. When the price was higher and collected fewer data points, it was easy to decide...
Read more →Last year my interest in nutrition led me to look into the ideas of Dr. Ray Peat. I outlined what I learned in the post The Peat-atarian Diet For Those Of Us With Average IQs. There is a lot I like...
Read more →Almost three years ago in the post The Minimal Effort Approach, I outlined what I felt was different about my approach to fitness and nutrition. > Minimal Effort means discovering what is the least...
Read more →Let me start by saying that I loved the new book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, however, there was one point I believe Taleb fell for the survivorship bias he warned us about in Fooled By Randomness....
Read more →When I first started lifting weights in 1994, I read the muscle magazines which endlessly repeated the golden rule of bodybuilding, which was to do 3 sets of 8-12 reps with a wide variety of...
Read more →This is an important post. It is about how our response to stress learned in childhood can result in chronic disease. We've all heard how stress can kill you, but until I was exposed to the work of...
Read more →Most of the health posts on this site are me sharing what I've learned. For this post, I am openly asking for your help. For several years, I have had tight neck and shoulder muscles. Although I...
Read more →Last night I received word from Bill DeSimone of Congruent Exercise that my fitness mentor Greg Anderson died over the weekend. Greg Anderson ran Seattle's Ideal Exercise and has been active in the...
Read more →It has been a while since I did a post on Back Pain. Honestly, I thought I said everything I needed to say on the topic. For those new to the site, let me quickly recap my background with back pain....
Read more →I ended my no caffeine experiment yesterday exactly 21 days after it began. Around Noon I had a single cup of green tea. And then around 4 PM, I had about 1/3 cup more tea. The good news is I beat my...
Read more →I haven't posted about my night headaches since May. There are many posts about headaches on this site. When I started the project in March 2011, I was confident that I could figure it out quickly....
Read more →Since going caffeine-free just over a week ago, I have noticed an odd side effect: I'm super hungry. Even though I eat right before I go to bed\\, I get massively hungry in the middle of the night. I...
Read more →The month is almost half over, so I thought I'd provide a quick update on My Caffeine Detox Plan. My last coffee was on September 30th. Then for a week, I continued to drink some tea. On Sunday,...
Read more →Last week I posted Caffeinated Delusions, which outlined my addiction to caffeine and my desire to overcome that addiction. It also covered how my prior detox attempts were flawed or too short. Well...
Read more →A few friends of mine have discounted my optimism that in the future we will all have gadgets that monitor our health numbers in real time. From the post The Healthy Optimist: > Today we can work...
Read more →Back in April, I put out the post Standing Desk - Ghetto Edition. That post was about figuring out ways of reducing my right shoulder pain. My solution of stacking my computer and monitor on boxes...
Read more →Probably my favorite exercise is the chin-up. When I first started lifting, I couldn't do a single one. In recent years, I've done 20 on two separate occasions. These days, I rarely try to max...
Read more →Several people have sent me a link to the study that just came out that showed that less exercise resulted in greater fat loss. From Study Suggests Less Is More for Exercise and Weight Loss: > If...
Read more →I've read several claims that people tend to lose strength after they start a High Intensity Training program. I started HIT in December 2010. Have I lost strength? I guess it depends on how you...
Read more →In the post Why I Don’t Measure My Workouts, I explained why I no longer keep data for my workouts. Just because I have my reasons for not tracking workouts, that isn't a blanket recommendation for...
Read more →Since December 2010, I have been a huge fan of High-Intensity Training. I'm in the best shape of my life and unlike my free weight days, I never get injured anymore. In other words, everything is...
Read more →One of the core principles of high-intensity training and many other fitness programs is to record your workouts. I remember reading years ago that strength coach Charles Poliquin wants to see at...
Read more →Three months ago I put out my 5 part series on exercise and fat loss. If you don't wish to read it, my belief is that exercise is vastly over rated when it comes to long term fat loss. What looks...
Read more →In the post Psychology of Back Pain, I touched on the work of Dr. Sarno that connects stress to back pain. If you haven't read that post, go do so now. A primary strategy for addressing back pain is...
Read more →Last week the book Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain had me rethink the root cause of my headaches. It made a strong case that the roots of my headache were...
Read more →I've done the Max Pyramid leg press many times, but never with a static weight. The traditional way it is done is by increasing the weight (pyramid up) and then decreasing the weight (pyramid down)....
Read more →I just finished reading a book that provides a new framework for understanding my headaches. Since March 2011 I have been diligently trying to track down the cause of my late night headaches. I've...
Read more →My previous post I No Longer Give a Squat About the Squat, I outlined why I no longer perform the barbell back squat. This post will list the exercises I've used to replace weight lifting's most...
Read more →Last year I said my goodbyes to the classic weight lifting exercise the bench press in the post My Bench Press Sucks and I Don’t Care. In that post, I listed 5 reasons why I no longer do the bench...
Read more →At the start of this year, I stopped doing daily cold temperature exposure, which is something I have been practicing since 2008. No more cold showers and I could even be spotted walking around...
Read more →Back in February I started a test I called Chlorination Elimination Experimentation. I wanted to see if using a shower filter that removed chlorine could positively impact my skin. I was a bit...
Read more →I haven't been motivated by the recent health scare stories that equate sitting at a desk as a health risk equal to smoking. I've worked in offices. I know the variations in people. I'm a wiggly...
Read more →How is that for odd timing? A day after I completed my 5 part series on the role of exercise and fat loss, a widely reported study on the same topic surfaces. The short summary is that not everyone...
Read more →This is the 5th and final part of my series of posts on the role of exercise and fat loss. For the most part, I strongly believe that you lean out in the kitchen and not the gym. I think the role of...
Read more →In my last post Fat Loss and the Case For Less Exercise, I explained how I've designed my exercise plan to be as minimal as possible to maximize my chances at fat loss without increasing my appetite...
Read more →This is the third part of my series about exercise and fat loss. Part one was the post Walking Didn't Lean Me Out, where I showed how all my fat loss was a result of diet and how exercise played no...
Read more →In the previous post Walking Didn't Lean Me Out, I explained how my getting lean was a result of diet alone and that exercise played no role in my losing 20 pounds of fat. The fat loss came from a...
Read more →One of the things I hear often is that I am lean because I frequently go for walks and a few of those walks tend to be long. When I try and correct the misinformation by stating I leaned out strictly...
Read more →Today I was finishing up my hill sprints when I noticed a man standing on the other side of the street watching me. He was smoking a cigarette. I chatted with him for a minute or so about sprinting...
Read more →Yesterday was the first day that could be described as a perfect spring day for Seattle. Because of the cold temperatures and rain, it had been over a week since my last Outdoor HIT Workout. Instead...
Read more →Exactly 5 years ago I posted my thoughts on Fitness Role Models. My understanding of fitness has changed a lot since then. In that post, I listed a few guidelines to pick a realistic fitness role...
Read more →A month ago I reviewed the body weight exercise book You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren. Now for the most part, I liked the book. By avoiding the most dangerous exercises, you could design an...
Read more →I got a healthy dose of criticism on Facebook for the experiment I outlined in the post My Chamomile Tea and Sleep Quality Experiment. To bring everyone up to speed, I design tests and collect data...
Read more →One of the most often things repeated about Chamomile Tea is that it improves sleep quality. For many people, this means being able to fall asleep faster. I wanted to test this assumption. For my...
Read more →One of the jobs I had in college was loading trucks for UPS. It was the most exhausting job I've ever had. It made Army Basic Training seem like working at a library. One night I came home so worn...
Read more →It is time for a status report on my Hunting Headaches project. For the new readers, almost a year ago I started a quantified self project to track down the cause of my late night headaches. Many...
Read more →Last week I ended my topical coconut oil experiment and started a new skin experiment. A month ago I was poking around the Underground Wellness site when I found a post about shower filters. My first...
Read more →When I returned from my trip to Ohio in December parts of my face were dry, slightly red, and starting to flake. Damn you veggie oils and gluten! I had read about how some people use coconut oil to...
Read more →You absolutely do not need a gym to gain strength. This book is full of exercise ideas that only require your own body weight. !You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises You Are Your...
Read more →Yesterday I posted a review of the documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster as a setup to discuss my own thoughts on steroids. Although my thoughts on nutrition and fitness have changed dramatically over...
Read more →If you have an interest in fitness, then I highly recommend watching Bigger, Stronger, Faster. I rarely watch the same film more than once. I've seen this one three times already. It is a keeper....
Read more →In the post Health Goals - Late 2011 Edition, under #3 Dialing in an Optimal Coffee Level, I asked this question: > Do I have some form of adrenal fatigue? It is easy to understand why I might...
Read more →In the post Help Me Understand CrossFit, I got a great comment from Jay about competitive CrossFit athletes. > Speaking to the point that several of you have made regarding CrossFit's level of...
Read more →I've only been doing High Intensity Training for a little more than a year now, so I am far from an authority on the topic. Before I became a believer in the effectiveness of HIT, I really didn't pay...
Read more →There was a time when I really loved running. Well, I loved it during those rare times when my body wasn't in pain, which was not as often as I would have liked. By the middle of 1995, I gave up...
Read more →I just got back from a very cold day at my gym. My gym is a neighborhood playground where I do a workout that I describe in the post Escaping the Glitter: Taking High Intensity Training Outdoors. It...
Read more →Yesterday I went for a 20 mile urban hike through Seattle. The city was covered with snow and the winds got pretty intense at a few points. But I made it and I still had enough energy to spend an...
Read more →For the past few years I have been reading the fitness blog Conditioning Research by Chris Highcock. Although I would be hard pressed to name a favorite nutrition blog, I can easily say Conditioning...
Read more →One of the fitness trends of the past few years has been the Boot Camp model. A personal trainer shows up at a park with several clients and engages in a military-style exercise routine for 30-60...
Read more →Last March I decided to finally figure out the cause of my late night sinus headaches. I started a headache journal, ran numerous tests and tried several supplements. Nine months later and I still...
Read more →I thought I would post a 2 month progress report on my outdoor High Intensity Training program. I outlined my playground workout in the post Escaping the Glitter: Taking High Intensity Training...
Read more →I always get my deepest and longest sleep in the month of December. Something about the long nights and colder weather really puts me into a hibernation mode. This week I've had three nights where my...
Read more →This will be a quick post describing what happened after I ended the Tales From the Glitter Gym series in January after getting linked from Metafilter and receiving a huge amount of negative...
Read more →This was originally written in 2004. It has been moved to this site for archival purposes. If you are easily offended, please read the disclaimer first. I'm still working out at a glitter gym thanks...
Read more →In the summer of 2010, I received 2 kettlebells from Power Systems in exchange for a review. This article has been moved here for archival purposes. I've always wanted to train with a kettlebell. The...
Read more →I want to thank Jason for recommending this book in the comments on my Health Goals Late 2011 Edition post. I listed my #5 goal as Improve Posture and Alignment, but I had a concern. > I haven't been...
Read more →In this post, I will review a book I bought almost 8 years ago. At the time I thought this book was excellent. Not anymore. !naked-warrior The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline is a book that...
Read more →My membership to the Northgate 24-Hour Fitness has ended. During my 2 year relationship with them, they upgraded their facility from a small gym (Express) to a monstrosity (Super Sport). The fair...
Read more →I'm going to share my dark embarrassing secret. My bench press sucks! Since I started lifting weights in 1994, there have only been three periods where I could bench more than my weight. And then I...
Read more →In May I was certain that I got injured during a High Intensity Workout, but it turned out to be nothing. However, there is no mistake that I messed up my back yesterday. When I get back pain, I now...
Read more →I'm long overdue when it comes to setting new health goals. My last list was made 2.5 years ago. Before I list my new goals, let me share my current health state. I am lean, my skin is clear and I...
Read more →I was just thinking today at the gym on how I no longer worry about catching some germ during my workouts. For a few years it was a concern of mine. From the post My 10 Gym Tips For 2010: > 2. Don't...
Read more →I was preparing to put together a new list of health goals when I realized that I never did a follow up post to Health Goals - Last Year and Today from April 2009. Shame on me. Anyway, here were the...
Read more →A week ago someone who I really respect convinced me to try acupuncture as a strategy to address my headaches. Until that conversation, I didn't have a high opinion of acupuncture. Back in my Florida...
Read more →In the post Hunting Headaches Take 3, I wrote this: > I know we live in a fear mongering climate, but I do not consider my headaches to be an emergency situation. I've had them for many years and all...
Read more →Recently someone told me my approach to nutrition and fitness was too extreme and not practical. I suppose if you took everything that I do together and ranked them equally it could look...
Read more →There are some contradictory opinions on whether cold temperature exposure leads to fat loss or fat gain. Before I share my thoughts, I want to say that regardless of fat loss, I find cold weather...
Read more →Due to my headache struggles this summer, the intensity of my workouts hasn't been as high as I'd liked. However, this morning I felt great. The gym wasn't crowded or too warm and an idea for a...
Read more →In 2008 I did something that completely changed my outlook on personal health. I embraced the idea that the way to resolve disagreements on what is best for optimal health could be addressed with...
Read more →My dietary tweaking over the past three years has led me to discover what many others in the elite fitness community have already discovered. That is the superiority of a cyclical approach to fitness...
Read more →In the post Hunting Headaches, I shared my headache journal and my inability so far to solve my headache problem or even isolate what type of headaches I'm getting. In the comments, I got a lot of...
Read more →In the past three years, I've solved a lot of health riddles. I've gotten leaner, cured my rosacea, discovered the root causes of my back pain and I almost never get colds anymore. However, one huge...
Read more →I wasn't ready to post about this, but I've been getting questions about what seems to be a conflicting opinion regarding my fitness protocol. On one hand, I think Tabatas and sprints are great. Yet...
Read more →In the post Training to Failure or Training to Quit, I discussed the disagreement about training to failure that exists between my fitness mentors. Pavel and Arthur De Vany believe you shouldn't...
Read more →Today was a beautiful day in Seattle. It was mostly sunny in the upper 60s with no noticeable wind. In other words, it was a perfect day. Yet I looked around and I saw people wearing sweaters and...
Read more →When it comes to coffee, my favorite drink for years has been espresso. No milk, no sugar. To me and others, espresso represents coffee at its ultimate potential. When I'm hosting an event for the...
Read more →Last week Fred Fornicola from Premiere Personal Fitness sent me a copy of his e-book Strength and Fitness For a Lifetime - How We Train to review. Strength and Fitness For a Lifetime is a collection...
Read more →It has been a while since I last posted on Cold Weather Training. For those new to the site, I began experimenting with cold temperature exposure back in 2008 as way to "toughen up" after living in...
Read more →In the post High Intensity Training My 6 Month Update, I confessed that I no longer collect data from my workouts. > I violated a core HIT rule. I didn't record any workout. ...My training philosophy...
Read more →Today I strained my back attempting a Max Contraction exercise in the gym. It was just last week that I read and reviewed the High Intensity weight training protocol of Max Contraction Training. Even...
Read more →I just finished reading John Little's 2004 follow up book to Static Contraction Training. !Max Contraction Training : The Scientifically Proven Program for Building Muscle Mass in Minimum Time Max...
Read more →It was last December when I started up a super slow HIT program. For those unfamiliar with High Intensity Training (HIT), it differs from traditional weight lifting in the following ways: - 1 set...
Read more →My interest in High-Intensity Training continues. !The New High Intensity Training: The Best Muscle-Building System You've Never Tried The New High-Intensity Training: The Best Muscle-Building System...
Read more →A new season means a new installment for my seasonal approach series to nutrition and fitness. Last year I was inspired to see what would happen if I altered my diet and activity based off the...
Read more →Now that spring has arrived, I want to go back and review the goals outlined in my post Winter Strategies for Nutrition and Fitness. My general thesis is that winter has the potential to be the best...
Read more →There is a split in opinion with my fitness mentors on training to failure. Training to failure means that you completely exhaust your muscles to the point you can not do another repetition. I'm...
Read more →It was almost 10 years ago that a book arrived in the mail that would change my life. !Power to the People! : Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American Power to the People! : Russian...
Read more →Am I the only paleo blogger that isn't embracing the extreme "functional" workout program known as CrossFit? I've read articles from their journals, watched videos, and talked to members. To me,...
Read more →A few months ago I started doing a High-Intensity weight lifting protocol. Slow movement, machine-based, and one-set to failure. I'm guessing it will be another month or two before I know if it is...
Read more →John Little is one of my favorite writers in the fitness field. He co-wrote the definitive fitness book Body by Science. Recently, I listen to an outstanding interview with him on High Intensity...
Read more →After posting The Myth of Cardiovascular Training, I received an email invitation from Greg Anderson to come to visit his North Seattle gym. Ideal Exercise is not a glitter gym (bright lights,...
Read more →In the posts How I Figured Out the Cause of My Back Pain and Back Pain and Learned Helplessness, I briefly mentioned the psychological aspect to back pain. I want to elaborate on this topic because...
Read more →Finally finished reading it. !The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and...
Read more →In a previous post, I stated there were only two reasons people perform steady-state aerobic exercise. > 1. Endurance training. > 2. Fat loss. Sport-specific endurance training makes sense. For fat...
Read more →Although I plan to do a full review once I've finished reading the 4-Hour Body, I have to stop and comment on the chapter From Geek to Freak. In this chapter author Tim Ferriss gained 34 pounds of...
Read more →I don't think I was clear enough in the post How I Figured Out the Cause of My Back Pain. If you haven't read it, go do so now. The point I want to stress is you need to take charge of your own back...
Read more →Back in April 2009, I listed my #1 health goal as ending back pain. I had just gone through another episode of back pain and I was determined to figure out what was the cause. This is post is not...
Read more →At the start of autumn, I posted Fall Strategies For Nutrition and Fitness, where I outlined my seasonal approach to a low-carb/paleo diet. > The premise is that our bodies have growth and repair...
Read more →Well fall is almost over, so I thought I provide an update on my Fall Strategies For Nutrition and Fitness post. This was the post that outlined how I would tweak my food and exercise under my...
Read more →Earlier this year I decided to abandon my normal weight lifting protocol and try slow motion weight lifting. Body By Science is a stellar book and it made an excellent case for slow motion weight...
Read more →Let me tell you about my new favorite exercise. It is called the Goblet Squat and I think you are going to like this one. Grab a dumbbell, kettlebell or even a gallon jug of water. Hold it up to your...
Read more →In the post Leanness Defined, I went over the 4 Levels of Leanness defined by Christian Thibaudeau and Chris Shugart. I also added a level. They are: - Level 0 - You are mostly lean, but your abs...
Read more →I'm the rare individual who believes the obesity rates in America are overstated. We aren't as fat and unhealthy as the government numbers suggest. They are using the BMI, which in my opinion is a...
Read more →I heard some good things about this book, so I decided to check it out. !8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, and Foot (Remember...
Read more →My nutritional mentors all have variations on what they believe is the optimal diet. This leads to endless debates among people smarter than me. I have no desire to jump into those nutritional...
Read more →When we talk about fitness and nutrition, we label activities and food as differing degrees of healthy and unhealthy. It doesn't explain everything though. I have seen people who eat poorly or do...
Read more →This is a double book review. Actually, I listened to the audiobook format for both of these books. After reading The Selfish Gene, I was interested in reading something more recent on genetics. The...
Read more →A new study out of the University of Haifa shows the negative health effects from night time exposure to artificial light. From Light at Night and Cancer: > The researchers hypothesis was that LAN...
Read more →I just finished reading the book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. He articulated brilliantly what I have been suspecting. The Internet, in addition to being a...
Read more →I have said repeatedly that most of the people lifting weights in the gym use too many reps and not enough weight. What is the perfect number of repetitions? Before I give you my answer, let us...
Read more →Last week I went back and read How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! for a second time. I gave a positive review to Paul Chek's book back in October 2008. I rarely read the same book twice, but I got an...
Read more →I have made no secret that I am against low-intensity weight training and steady state aerobics. There are numerous reasons, but in this post I want to focus on a new one. That is the concept of...
Read more →The book Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival has already had an impact on me. The book helped me understand the connection between light and hormones. Artificial lighting has lengthened the day and...
Read more →I recently listened to a podcast where the guest talked about the medical benefits one gets from donating blood. Men can get iron heavy blood, which is an oxidative stress. By donating blood on a...
Read more →How can you tell without any prior knowledge which members of the gym are good or poor role models? Look for the successful survivors. Success is someone who is both lean and muscular (drug-free)....
Read more →Probably the most memorable episode of the original Star Trek was The Trouble With Tribbles. This is the one where the crew starts adopting furry little creatures called Tribbles for pets. They are...
Read more →Over the past 15 years I've been known to say something like this: > Weight training is like a 401k. You don't see the results right away, but over time they add up. Cardio is like a weekly paycheck....
Read more →Last week I did an Urban Hike between the 520 and 99. Today I went a little further.  --- Comments Ed June 2 at 2010 at 4:37 AM Looks like a fairly long hike. Were...
Read more →In December 2008, I did a post titled No Jacket Required. It detailed my experiment with cold weather exposure. At the end of that winter I shared my results in the post Still No Jacket Required....
Read more → Yesterday I ordered my 2nd Captain of Crush Hand Gripper. Years ago I bought the #1, which requires 140 pounds of pressure to close. It took me a long time before I was...
Read more →Last month I shared my current diet program in the post What I Eat and What I Don't Eat - March 2010 Edition. Now it is time to discuss the exercise part of the equation. Note that I don't consider...
Read more →Outside the gym, I like 99% of the people I meet. Inside the gym that number is not as high. There is something about a gym that brings out the most inconsiderate and annoying behavior in people....
Read more →There are numerous blogs that discuss nutrition and fitness. Many of which fall into the same camp as me, which is a lower carbohydrate mostly paleo approach. If I had to name one thing that was...
Read more →How should guys measure their fat loss progress? There are several methods. Each has its problems, but I think one is a clear winner. Before I proceed, let me state that the overall goal is to lose...
Read more →In January, I read two books that advocated using a super slow movement while weight training. One of the books was awful, and one was outstanding. I ended my review of the second book with this...
Read more →While at my Glitter Gym, the gym paused the soccer mom workout music for an important announcement. It was a professionally made audio clip encouraging members to sign up for some nonsensical aerobic...
Read more →This is an outstanding book that challenged many of my beliefs about weight training. !Body by Science Body by Science by Doug McGuff and John Little makes a damn good case for super slow weight...
Read more →Three fitness authors that I respect are supporters of slow weightlifting. I personally have yet to be convinced, but I wanted to challenge my beliefs. This book failed to do so. !The Slow Burn...
Read more →It just pains me to see well intentioned people enter the gym just after the New Year and make the same mistakes year after year. Some last a month or two. Most will fail and sadly, most will blame...
Read more →Earlier this week, I was having a discussion on nutrition with some friends. I disclosed my latest experiment, which is still too early to blog about at this time. The response I got was, "how lean...
Read more →I'm going to take a break from my normal exposure of Glitter Gym stupidity and instead devote this issue to three people I saw today at the gym that I respect. The Butch Bad Ass There was a woman...
Read more →Today T-Whatever released a new article titled How Tall Guys Get Jacked by Jimmy Smith. The article is full of tips to help us ectomorphs lift more weight in the gym. Some of the better tips include:...
Read more →There have been several posts where I rail against high-repetition weight training, especially for women. When I tell people who are fearful of bulking up that they should lift heavier weights for...
Read more →This past summer T-Nation (oops, now it is T Muscle) made some radical claims about creating the most amazing muscle-building strategy ever. They called it "I, Bodybuilder". When I saw it, I just...
Read more →Last winter I did a cold weather exposure project that I named No Jacket Required. It involved going without a coat the vast majority of the winter. From the post Still No Jacket Required: > Other...
Read more →I don't think I mentioned it yet, but I've started another 2 week free trial pass to a Ballard gym. I've been there twice and I already have two Tales From the Glitter Gym stories in the queue. Those...
Read more →A month ago, I discovered that despite thinking that I had forever conquered the common cold that I was mortal. My 18+ month streak without getting sick may have been the longest I've ever...
Read more →Today I wrapped up a two-week free trial gym membership in a downtown Seattle gym. This gym has some great equipment, but I've never seen a place that does a worse job racking the weights. Weights...
Read more →Of all the gym exercises, the bench press is the one that has been the most challenging. Tall ectomorphs have long arms and small wrists. Getting under a decent amount of weight and pushing it...
Read more →At the end of August, I let my Glitter Gym membership expire. They didn't have any fall specials, so I decided to play Rambo in the park instead. I posted about my new gym in the Coffee Hero post...
Read more →Just when I thought I was invincible, I got my first cold in 18+ months. To say I am stunned would be an understatement. I've been getting plenty of sleep and eating a wide variety of healthy food....
Read more →I set some new personal records today at the gym. My bodyweight (BW) today is 189. - Weighted Dip = 3 x BW+70 , 1 x BW + 80 - Weighted Pull-Ups = 3 x BW + 60, 2 x BW + 70 I use the 3 rep number...
Read more →For the past month, I haven't done a single weighted dip or pull-up. Instead, I've been focusing on volume. I've lowered the weight and greatly increased the number of sets. The reps ALWAYS stay in...
Read more →It has been a while since I've done a long urban hike. There is a good reason. I am learning how to walk again. In April, The New York Magazine published a long, but great article by Adam Sternbergh...
Read more →About 10 years ago, I came up with a phrase to best describe the choice ectomorphs must make when pursing their fitness goals. Before diving into the topic, review the image below to show the...
Read more →In the post Health Goals Last Year and Today, which I wrote back in April, I listed End Back Pain as my number one priority. I believe I've made some progress and there will certainly be future posts...
Read more →My return to the Glitter Gym has already yielded a new tale. This happened last week. In the free weight room there are two flat bench press stations. Usually I stick to the incline benches, but that...
Read more →Last night I watched the documentary Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America's Greatest Threat. Although I will give this film a slight thumbs-up, it has problems. Killer at Large tries to tackle...
Read more →Back in October, I shared my 8 Tips For Avoiding Sickness. Then in January, I narrowed it down to what I felt were the three most important in the post Fighting Sickness Ninja Style. After years of...
Read more →A month ago I decided I would not renew my membership and stop lifting weights. From the rather cryptic post Glitter Interrupted: > The things I need to do to improve my fitness level dont require a...
Read more →I now weigh 197 pounds. This means my BMI (Body Mass Index) is now 24.9. For the first time in over a decade, I am no longer Overweight. BMI Formula for Adults: > BMI = ( Weight in Pounds / ( Height...
Read more →I have three points from previous posts on cardio that I wish to clarify. In the post Health Goals - Last Year and Today, I state that I got leaner despite doing no cardio. > I did not spent a single...
Read more →My Glitter Gym membership expires today. I have decided to not renew at this time. The things I need to do to improve my fitness level don't require a gym. In fact, getting away from the heavy...
Read more →In earlier posts, I covered how cold weather exposure may trigger a fat loss response by activating brown adipose tissue (BAT). It may also lead to muscle gains. There isn't much information on this,...
Read more →In early 2008, I had 5 health goals. 1. Stop Getting Sick from Colds - Every year I was spending more and more days sick. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. 2. End Back Pain - Do...
Read more →Yesterday the media discovered brown fat. How much of a role cold weather exposure plays in fat loss is still unknown, but there is one thing I'm confident about. This story will disappear and you...
Read more →I want to thank Mike D and The TailGunner for sending me links to the recent brown fat stories. Looks like my cold weather exposure project, which I called No Jacket Required, has some medical merit....
Read more →I wasn't even holding any weight when I felt the spasm today. Despite a week of back pain, I slammed some espresso and went to the gym this morning. My old nemesis - the back spasm - grabbed me hard....
Read more →To "go MacGyver" in the gym is to seek out new and novel methods of exercising using equipment that was designed for some other use. It can be funny, dangerous, ineffective, or brilliant. In the post...
Read more →It appears that winter is over, so I'm ready to file my report on project No Jacket Required. To bring the new readers up to speed, this past winter I tested aggressive cold weather exposure on...
Read more →I meant to tell this tale a few weeks ago. Forgive the delay. What I witnessed at the Glitter Gym that day almost defies reality. Let me introduce you to a new character, who I will refer to as The...
Read more →Over the past month I've noticed my Glitter Gym has become less crowded. Each week I see less and less people. There are less members around in the mornings, late afternoons and even the weekend....
Read more →Recently someone mentioned in passing that I was anti-personal trainer. Not true. Even though bad personal trainers provide plenty of material for Tales From the Glitter Gym, not all personal...
Read more →This week the great TC from T-Nation takes you through his Glitter Gym in San Diego. He doesn't name the gym, but I believe it is in La Jolla. If you can get past the blinding gold text on black...
Read more →Last November I started my quest To Be Decent. The Quest is based off the article Are You Strong? by Tim Henriques. Using the metrics of the article, I nailed 7/12 Decent and 1/12 Good. When you...
Read more →Back in April 2007, I reported how I injured my back doing a dead lift. It was and still is (by far) the worst pain I've ever experienced. There hasn't been a single gym visit since that I haven't...
Read more →Earlier this week I got some good natured ribbing from friends about the fact that I'm testing non-mainstream fitness and nutritional ideas on myself. I've become a one man experiment in my quest to...
Read more →If you like this post, be sure to check out How Tim Ferriss REALLY Gained 34 pounds of Muscle in 28 Days. I was reading this morning how actor Mickey Rourke made massive muscular gains by training...
Read more →Just when I think these personal trainers couldn't train their clients in a more stupid manner, Hank Hill rises to the challenge and sets the new bar for stupidity. For those just tuning in, I named...
Read more →I arrived at my Glitter Gym a little before 8 AM this morning. It was quiet. There was a lady reading a magazine on a stair-stepper. In the pin weight machine area there was some old-timer blasting...
Read more →One of the writers over on T-Nation wrote a book recently on a weight training subtopic that I was interested in learning more about. !Maximum Strength: Get Your Strongest Body in 16 Weeks with the...
Read more →Last April in the post Shivering My Way to Leanness, I discussed how I was inspired by evolutionary fitness guru Arthur De Vany to try cold weather exposure. In a nutshell, throughout thousands of...
Read more →I was at dinner with some friends recently when one of the girls told me about a scientific fitness program. The girl was young, healthy and appeared quite fit. I also know from her very unique...
Read more →Today my glitter gym became just a little more glitter. We have three racks of dumbbells. Rack #1 is a fine pairing of weights from 5 to 50 pounds. Rack #2 is a massive collection of weights between...
Read more →Most of the personal trainers in my glitter gym are just awful. Having been in my gym now for six months, I can say that I see almost no improvement in most of the clients they train. There is one...
Read more →Today I nailed my first GOOD score on my Quest To Be Decent. As Ronnie Coleman would say - YEAH BUDDY! 1. Pull-Ups - The 3rd time is a charm. My first GOOD score ever is on the pull-up. At the start...
Read more →No milestones today. I thought for sure I was going to nail Good status on the pull-ups. Nope. 1. Pull-Ups - I needed 20 to move from Decent to Good. I got 17, which is a new personal record, but...
Read more →As predicted in Part 2, I nailed the Dips. I focused on three exercises today. 1. Dips - Have I mentioned how much I loathe high repetition training? But I really want to be Decent, so I needed to...
Read more →I keep stumbling on the name Paul Chek when reading fitness articles, so I decided to read his book. !How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! by Paul Chek was very nicely...
Read more →In the post The Easiest Fitness Debate I've Ever Won, I slammed cardio without really explaining why. Before I go into it, let us define the word cardio. Even though pretty much all exercise has...
Read more →I can't believe I forgot to post this story. This summer I was discussing fitness with a pal of mine. My pal is in his mid-20s and a fellow ectomorph. Some of my ideas are not widely accepted in the...
Read more →2014 Update. This post made me cringe a little because my opinions have changed, so I made a few updates. Not complete, but better. This post is for the ladies. On many occasions, I've ranted...
Read more →For the past 4 months, I've been flying blind without a body fat test. Up until May I had a scale which told me my weight and a rough estimate of body fat percentage. The scale was not real accurate,...
Read more →Long arms and small wrists make pull-ups a challenge, which is exactly why I do them. After years of not progressing past the 5x5 body weight pull-ups, I decided to grab a belt to see what I was...
Read more →For years I have dealt with all the stupidity at the Glitter Gym. I go to the gym, see something stupid, bottle my rage, have a good workout, and then come home to write a new edition of the Tales...
Read more →In a few previous posts, I casually threw out the term stick boy. Without thinking, I assumed everyone would understand that phrase. Although I would love to take credit for the term, I first heard...
Read more →In the post I Don't Like the Nightlife, I confessed that I probably have the type of insomnia called early-morning awakening. > There is also a type of insomnia called early-morning awakening. It...
Read more →The one thing I am most kidded about is my early bedtime. I have the sleep habits of a middle-schooler. On a typical night, I'll go to bed between 10 PM and 10:30 PM. Then I rise between 5:00 AM and...
Read more →During the planning stages of my 2003 visit to the Grand Canyon, I learned that one could rent and ride a donkey down the Grand Canyon. The only catch is you couldn't weight more than 200 pounds. I...
Read more →This post is a follow-up to Tales From the Glitter Gym - The Pickup. In the last edition, I listed the three classes of guys who attempt to pick up women at the gym. I also explained how I've never...
Read more →When I was a kid one of the sports I participated in was basketball. It suited me a lot better than soccer or baseball. Although I was never a great player it was a lot of fun. Once I got to college...
Read more →For a good background on this post read Tales From the Glitter Gym - Early Influences. Any reader of the Tales From the Glitter Gym series will know that I have my fair share of gym pet peeves. Let...
Read more →New readers are encouraged to read Glitter and Rust before proceeding. In order to understand my perspective on gyms I need to go back in time and explain my influences. I started free weight...
Read more →Usually when I see stupid things at the gym, I keep it to myself and then come home and post my observations here on MAS o Menos. Today I couldn't stay silent. Even though it was only my 2nd day at...
Read more →It's been six months since I stepped foot into a Glitter Gym. Today I started at my new gym, which isn't pure Glitter, but it certainly isn't a Rust Gym. It's an odd hybrid, which I'll call an...
Read more →About five years ago I read an interesting book on what was basically a modern caveman diet. When I finished I came to the conclusion the diet was way too difficult to follow in the modern world....
Read more →Went to the gym this morning at 7:45 AM in my tank top and shorts. It was a bit brisk, but not cold. At least that is what I thought. When I got home I checked the weather and it read 41 degrees (5...
Read more →Way back on October 15th, 2003, I created a mix of the best Marilyn Manson songs to lift weights to. > It's a 64 minute screaming adrenaline rush guaranteed to increase your workout intensity. I've...
Read more →Even though I no longer workout at a Glitter Gym, sometimes elements of glitter rear their head. On a recent trip to the gym I was doing sit-ups when I overheard an older couple arguing. The woman...
Read more →A few days ago I was researching some fitness topics when I found the Grecian Ideal Body Measurement Calculator. This tool generates ideal body measurements if the ideal body is the one used in...
Read more →Back in 2002, I assembled all the photos and stats from my running days. During my first year of college (1988) I had knee surgery to correct a condition known as Osgood-Schlatter's Disease. I was...
Read more →Back in 1989 and 1992, I got a taste of what it was like to compete in an endurance event. I ran two marathons, both under four hours. After reading Dean Karnazes book, my accomplishments seem as...
Read more →My prison sentence with the Glitter Gym has finally ended. The last month was unbearable. Expect to see a final Tales From the Glitter Gym installment soon. Yesterday I found a Rust gym. I didn't...
Read more →A little over a month ago I decided to leave the glitter gym and work out from home. On paper it seemed like a brilliant idea. My weights are in my office. I work from home. Why I could knock out...
Read more →I never thought that I would have enough stories to complete a new edition of Tales From the Glitter Gym just two days after my last post. Then again, I wasn't expecting to walk into the locker room....
Read more →It's been a while since I last did an installment of Tales From the Glitter Gym. For background on what a Glitter Gym is read Glitter and Rust. After just 3 visits to the 24 Hour Fitness in Bellevue,...
Read more →According to the article Are You Strong? Find out right now with these strength standards! by Tim Henriques, a decent bench press for a male is 225 or 1.25 times body weight. My average weight is 210...
Read more →I'm slowly recovering from my accident from yesterday. Last night the pain became unbearable and I couldn't get back to bed, so I slept the remainder of the night in my Lazy-Boy recliner. Shortly...
Read more →I completely threw out my back today after doing a warm-up set of dead-lifts at the gym. After 3 hours and 3 Vicodin, I still can't move. This is the worst pain I've ever experienced. No more morning...
Read more →Once you've decided to start exercising and clean up your diet, may I suggest the next step should be to find a fitness role model? If you could design your body, what would it look like? This...
Read more →Today I went Bodyboarding for the first time. Not nearly as exhausting as surfing, but also not as rewarding. A few surfers thought I was insane for not wearing a wetsuit. Being from Ohio makes my...
Read more →Disaster. And yesterday went so well. The hard part about surfing isn't standing up and finding balance. The hard part is picking the wave, timing it, and having your board at the right angle. When I...
Read more →Today I took my 2 hour surfing lesson at the Eli Howard Surf School. It went much better than my snowboarding experience. I rode several waves to shore on the long foam surfboard provided by the...
Read more →There are two types of gyms. Glitter gyms and Rust gyms. A majority of men and almost all women are only familiar with Glitter gyms. Glitter gyms are workout facilities with bright lights, mirrors,...
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