stumptuous.com

From Washingon Post:

As women in the United States and across the industrialized world get fatter, most Japanese women are getting skinnier. Still, many view themselves as overweight. The trend is most pronounced among women in their 20s. A quarter-century ago, they were twice as likely to be thin as overweight; now they are four times more likely to be thin.

Social pressure — women looking critically at other women — is the most important reason female skinniness is ascendant in Japan. “Japanese women are outstandingly tense and critical of each other,” said researcher Hisako Watanabe, who has spent 34 years treating women with eating disorders. “There is a pervasive habit among women to monitor each other with a serious sharp eye to see what kind of slimness they have.”

Public health experts say that younger Japanese women, as a group, have probably become too skinny for their own good. Restricted calorie consumption is slowing down their metabolisms, the average birth weight of their babies is declining, and their risk of death in case of serious illness is rising.

“I would advise these women to eat when they are hungry,” said Satoshi Sasaki, a professor of preventive epidemiology at the University of Tokyo School of Public Health. “They should be satisfied with a normal body.”

From JAMA:

Preliminary data suggest that taking the weight loss drug sibutramine (aka Meridia in the US or Reductil in the UK) may increase a patient’s risk of adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attack and/or stroke, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

After reviewing the study, the FDA asked the manufacturer to add a warning to the label. The manufacturer, Knoll Pharmaceutical Company, has agreed to add the warning.

A kind shout-out from Amanda, who attended our Feb 10 workshop (and rocked the deadlift, may I add). She reviews the workshop here — BONUS! You’ll learn what mawashi geri is!

Author of New Rules of Lifting for Women Cassandra Forsythe is blogging about her pregnancy. Her post on her blog at 30 weeks reports that she’s feeling good and strong! In this post, she explains why training relatively intensely is good for you. If you missed Cassandra’s excellent podcast on training and pregnancy (and other woman-related issues), see here.

A year ago I sat in a room at the Earth Institute at Columbia surrounded by executives from big food companies. One of them, I believe from Unilever, clicked to a slide that read “The solution to global hunger is to turn malnutrition into a market opportunity.” The audience — global development practitioners and academics and other executives — nodded and dutifully wrote it down in their notebooks; I shuddered…

In 2008 more food was grown than ever before in history. In 2008 more people were obese than ever before in history. In 2008 more profit was made by food companies than ever before in history. And in 2008 more people went hungry than ever before in history.

Hunger is not a global production problem. It is a global justice problem.

A thoughtful post from Slow Food USA on the disparity between how much food we can produce and how much food actually gets to people (and how much of the food we produce is actually good, nourishing food).

Stumpamaniacs:

I’ll be in Valencia, CA next week (Jan 25) for Ninja Camp. Anyone interested in a training workshop? If so, leave a comment or email me at mistresskrista [at] stumptuous [dot] com.

I’ll also be in Seattle in late October, so if there’s anyone there who thinks a workshop would be cool, lemme know and we can try to organize something.

If there’s a woman in your life who’s considering weight training (or a man in your life who trains women), The New Rules of Lifting for Women is an excellent introduction to the field of women and weight training.

NROL is written by a kickass trifecta of three major names in the business, including women’s nutrition and fitness expert Cassandra Forsythe. I review her book and chat with her for nearly an hour about women’s strength training, working out while pregnant, the dirty little secret of disordered eating in the fitness biz, and lots of other good stuff.

Good post from Josh Hillis today, about knowing when to quit. He’s more focused on getting women “bikini-ready”, but nevertheless the underlying concept is good — that you should understand:

• what reality looks like — what a fit body truly is
• how a fit body stacks up against the rest of the world (hint: 20% body fat is pretty good!)
• you should celebrate your accomplishments — modest as they may seem to you

As he writes, “Here is the problem: You actually don’t have any idea of what you look like. Sometimes you feel fat and gross, sometimes you feel skinny and hot, and neither is entirely connected to reality.” This is especially true for folks who don’t spend a lot of time in the world of athletic training, because they don’t have the context nor experience to properly evaluate things like “strong” or “fit” or “lean”.

We don’t know what fit women really look like. They sure as heck don’t look like magazine cover models. (And even magazine cover models don’t look like magazine cover models, as the example of Heidi Montag illustrates.)

If you’ve achieved a certain (fairly moderate) set of goals, he writes, you’re already a rockstar and there is nothing left to fix. Keep up the great work! YEAH!

Between 1981 and 2009, fitness levels of Canadian children and youth, as well as those of adults, declined significantly, according to the first findings from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS).

BMI measurements have shown that Canadian adults have become heavier over the past 25 years.

However, the BMI is only one indicator. The CHMS offer a variety of other measures to gain a more complete understanding of fitness levels associated with current and future risk of disease. Survey respondents underwent body composition measurements and participated in fitness tests in mobile examination centres.

Fitness levels of children and youth have declined significantly since 1981, regardless of age or sex. Fitness levels of adults have also declined, particularly among younger adults.

Among youth aged 15 to 19, the percentage whose waist circumference put them at an increased or high risk of health problems more than tripled.

Among young adults aged 20 to 39, the percentage with a waist circumference that placed them at a high risk for health problems more than quadrupled. The proportions went from 5% to 21% among men, and from 6% to 31% among women.

Roughly 3% of the adult population had high blood pressure that was undiagnosed in 2009.

Full story

When looking for evidence-based clinical guidelines and health care information, who do you trust? Peer reviewed research? Well, hopefully. Or maybe not.

From the recent Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA):

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R, Iowa) is asking medical schools about their policies on ghostwriting, specifically, the practice in which faculty agree to be named as authors of articles written primarily by health care companies. [aka Big Pharma or Big Insurance]

In letters sent to 10 prominent universities on November 18, Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, asked questions about their policies for faculty who lend their names as authors of review articles, editorials, and research articles prepared by marketing and/or medical education companies on behalf of drug and device manufacturers.

“When the article is then published, the participation of the ‘ghostwriter’ may not be revealed,” Grassley wrote. “Essentially, the companies are using the reputation of prestigious academic researchers and their institutions to promote the sale of drugs and devices.”

The senator also asked the institutions their policies toward students who commit plagiarism, noting that “some experts refer to ghostwriting as a form of plagiarism, and I understand that institutions view charges of plagiarism quite seriously.”

Mike Mitka, “Ghostwriting Questions.” JAMA. 2010;303(2):125.

People called him the Great Joe Rollino, the Mighty Joe Rollino and even the World’s Strongest Man, and what did it matter if at least one of those people was Mr. Rollino himself.

On Monday morning, Mr. Rollino went for a walk in his Brooklyn neighborhood, a daily routine. It was part of the Great Joe Rollino’s greatest feat, a display of physical dexterity and stamina so subtle that it revealed itself only if you happened to ask him his date of birth: March 19, 1905. He was 104 years old and counting.

A few minutes before 7 a.m., as Mr. Rollino was crossing Bay Ridge Parkway at 13th Avenue, a 1999 Ford Windstar minivan struck him. The police said he suffered fractures to his pelvis, chest, ribs and face, as well as head trauma. Unconscious, he was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, where he later died.

Full story in New York Times

If you are in Toronto and are looking for a good intro to weight training, nutrition, and program design, I’ll be running a 3-hour workshop this Sunday Jan 10. More details are here!

I’d love to see some more little Stumpamaniacs representin’. And you’ll get to meet my dad, who will be busting out the squat reps with his 65-year-old, post-heart-attack bad self.

In the world of slick yet content-free fitness video production these DVDs stand out as a breath of fresh air and the voice of reason, just like Dan himself.

As some of you may know I am a coach with Precision Nutrition’s Lean Eating program. We’re about to kick off another 6-month course, and registration opens today. If you are interested in working with me as part of a group coaching program, I encourage you to sign up, and be quick about it, because the program sells out fast.

The LE program is an excellent program that provides you with a comprehensive base of knowledge and skills in the areas of nutrition and exercise, plus extensive support in the form of other coaching group members, and a coach — me.

If you’ve been frustrated by falling off the wagon in the past, this is an amazing option. It truly is life-changing. People don’t believe that their life will change when they sign up, but it’s true! The person you will be after 6 months of this program is not the person you were when you started. You will have the tools and information to make major improvements in your health, athletic performance, and body composition for the rest of your life.

The best part is that top finalists win big money, and really all you have to do to win it is just work hard. You don’t have to be special or gifted; just do what we tell you. Now that’s a damn good deal, I’d say.

BTW I don’t get a cut of sales or anything. (If only!) I mention this because I think it’s a great, well-thought-out program (if I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t be working with them) and I’d like some of the little Stumpamaniacs to benefit.

Stumplady is putting on her prognosticatin’ pants and giving youse the Predictions for the Decade.

I’ve just finished two calendars, so you can enjoy Stumptuousy goodness year-round! Wow!

Calendar #1: FIGHTING WORDS. Boxing and grappling training shots. Check it out here.

Calendar #2: STRONG. Hangin’ out in the gym and the alleyway. Check it out here.

No airbrushing, no fake tans, no Tammy Faye makeup, no BS. Just me and some of my leetle friends.

Several maladaptive eating behaviors, beyond anorexia, can affect women. Indeed, some 10 to 15 percent of women have maladaptive eating behaviours and attitudes according to a new study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Full story

I’d actually argue that “disordered eating” as a general category affects many more women than this. If we conceptualize DE as a spectrum that includes a variety of behaviours, not just extreme, extended restriction or purging, but also periodic purposeful overeating and/or restriction, food anxieties, avoidance behaviours, a morally-tinged “good and bad foods” mindset, guilt and distress associated with eating, focus on body weight as the primary outcome of eating (and focus on a very thin body weight as ideal), eating when not actually hungry and not stopping when satiety is achieved, etc. then I would argue that 90-95% of North American women fall into this group.

Physical activity is known to reduce depression and fatigue in people struggling with chronic illness. A new study indicates that this effect may stem from an individual’s sense of mastery over — or belief in his or her ability to achieve — certain physical goals.

Says the lead researcher, “The relationship between physical activity and reductions in fatigue in breast-cancer survivors and people with MS can be explained in part by the effect of physical activity on mastery experiences… That sense of accomplishment, or situation-specific self-confidence, serves to reduce depression, which in turn reduces fatigue.”

Full story

The lesson: Pursue skill and productive self-mastery through activity, not an abstract “perfection” or “fixing yourself”.

Lurn at home — E-zy!

FutureMedica has published “25 Free Open Courseware Classes About Sports Medicine”. If you’re a self-schooling go-getter type, check it out and lurn yrself good!

Can home surgery be far behind?
*grabs hacksaw, old rags, bottle of JD, and biting stick*

Interesting study recently from the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. (What? You didn’t see the latest issue on newsstands?! The one with Lindsay Lohan on the cover? Har.)

Anyway, this study in rats suggests that creatine, a supplement commonly used to enhance athletic performance, may have some effects on mood… but only in females…

Check out the infographic here.

Folks, if you can drink your tap water, do so.

I’ve currently got a very stylish system of old glass milk bottles and tall jars for my water drinking habit. Fancy!

Just when you think you’ve heard it all…

Chilean Olympic weightlifter Elizabeth Poblete has given birth to a baby boy during a training session, without having known she was pregnant.

Full story

Well, ladies, now you have something else to worry about besides “getting too big” from weight lifting: surprise birth. This is the best part for me:

The head trainer at the gym, Horacio Reis, said the birth had been “a surprise”. “A week ago I acted as a judge in a competition in Chile and this girl was competing. All went well and she won the competition.”

Wins a weightlifting competition a week before giving birth. Much respect.

“Poignantly contrary to what was expected or implied”? Yeah, I’d say so.

Many eons ago, when old Mistress K was young, there was a magical playground for foulmouthed muscle heads called misc.fitness.weights. In this fantastical land, the iron-lovers with enough technical skill to use this new series of interconnected computers (the “Inter-Net”) could speak to one another, usually in profanities and allusions about various people’s mothers…

Hooray! Stumptuous.com is in Bitch magazine — an awesome interview with me by Yael Grauer. Check it out! It’s not listed in the table of contents, but it IS there. I get to say that women’s magazine workouts are “100% useless bullshit” in print! Suck on that, Conde Nast!

Gentle readers: I am hunkering down to put my crazy culinary ideas to paper. (Or, truthfully, ideas to electrons.)

Tell me: What do you want to see in a Stumptuous cookbook?

Any and all ideas will be entertained. Hit me with the comments or email me directly at mistresskrista [at] stumptuous [dot] com.

I’ll put out a call for recipe testers soon.

We’ve looked at BMI and risk of death/morbidity in heavyweight NFL players; here’s a study released yesterday that examines the same issue in sumo wrestlers.

An interesting piece in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association raises one of the concerns that I’ve long had about artificial sweeteners: that calories alone are not the only problem with sweet tastes.

Hot on the heels of my “bring fitness to the people” ideas comes this brilliant (as usual) essay from the folks at Exuberant Animal…

I’ve been lucky enough to know the incredible people at Toronto Newsgirls. They are a fantastic, brilliant group of folks who are life transformation magicians.

Jacqueline Scott has gone from a life of hard knocks to delivering knockouts in the ring. The 29-year-old single mother, who grew up in foster care, is on her way to becoming a plumber with dreams of competing in the 2012 Olympics. She credits the Shape Your Life boxing program, run out of the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club for giving her the strength to turn her life around.

Full story

Please don’t comment about how boxing is mean and violent. Nothing could be more mean and violent than the shit some of these women have gone through. Hand-holding “let’s rap about our feelings” does not work when you are struggling to get off drugs, kick out your deadbeat abusive boyfriend, and get food on the table in a very tenuous day-to-day existence. You need to find a safer, welcoming space where people let you smash inanimate objects and release your anger in a healthy way.

Well, it seems that the folks who wanted over-fat students to take mandatory exercise have re-thought their strategy…

Even the anticipation of sweets may cause our muscles to start taking up more blood sugar, say researchers reporting in the December issue of Cell Metabolism. That message is delivered via neurons in the brain’s hypothalamus containing the chemical known as orexin and the sympathetic nervous system, the studies in mice and rats suggest.

Press release

A large-scale observational study shows that physical activity improves your chances of staying happy. The more you exercise, the better you feel.

At least 20 min/week of any physical activity (including domestic, walking or sports activities) meant a lower level of psychological distress. Participation in sports helped the most. [clicky to read the full study abstract plus discussion...]

A recent study shows that even fairly moderate regular activity helps maintain a healthy body weight.

Researchers examined the relationship between physical activity (PA) and weight maintenance/weight gain in a large group (46,754) of premenopausal women (aged 25 to 43 years old). Participants signed up for the study in 1989 and checked in again in 1997. 62% of the population gained more than 5% of their baseline weight by 1997.

One important difference between weight gainers and weight maintainers was physical activity. [clicky to read more...]

For the biology nerds in the group, here’s some interesting work on how obesity functions as an inflammatory state. The basic premise, as I’ve indicated in previous posts, is that a “critical mass” (if you will) of adipose tissue produces a particular hormonal environment, because fat tissue is hormonally active. A cellular receptor known as Fas or CD95 is an important player here…

People who run everyday do it to keep their hearts strong, spirits up and waistlines trim, but how many could guess that sweating it out on the treadmill may actually fight aging? Research indicates people who exercise are biologically younger. A new study in the journal Circulation shows that vigorous exercise may be inducing a natural anti-aging effect that goes right down to our DNA.

Full story on ABC News

The Scientist has a fascinating overview of some of the hormonal mechanisms behind appetite and obesity.

“Upon intensifying insulin treatment, most diabetes patients gained weight and many grew frustrated with the unpredictable glucose swings and constant insulin dose adjustments. Likewise, the vast majority of patients in our obesity clinic saw a relentless regain of their body weight. In the clinical setting, it was not uncommon for doctors to advise their patients to try harder and be more disciplined. After all, with adequate willpower and meticulous tracking of blood sugars and ingested calories, there had to be a way to do better. From a scientific perspective, however, it was quite evident that the root of the problem was far more complex.”

I <3 endocrinology, if only because it speaks to the elegant, frustratingly mysterious complexity of nature. The human body is an intriguingly self-regulating set of systems that work in delicate harmonies. Even if you aren’t partial to pharmacological treatments, this is an interesting read for biochem nerds who like to know the major players.

This is an interesting study that follows on the recent discussion of the “40% average body fat” post.
I mentioned heavyweight football players as examples of folks who are very fit, but risk experiencing health difficulties nevertheless. A recent study explores this…

Speaking of 40% body fat, one college is attempting — in probably the most ham-fisted way possible, no pun intended — to address the problem of obesity. Not surprisingly, people aren’t very thrilled about it… [clicky for more]

Brad Pilon’s published some recent data, drawn from a 2009 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, on the average body fat % of the general population.

Now, usually we say “Oh, average for a woman is around 21-25%” or some similar number.

Actually, the US female average is… wait for it…

For those of you living south of 60 degrees latitude (or not in Churchill, Manitoba), polar bears may look cute and friendly, like in the Coke commercials, but they most certainly are not. They are generally grumpy, hungry creatures who think people are basically upright cocktail weenies. If you think bears are cuddly pets, you’re probably the kind of person who would own a face-eating chimp. Why armchair quarterbacks suck, and why difficulty brings growth.

Check out an awesome interview I did with psychotherapist Erin Byron on the psychology of eating. Erin’s spent more than a decade working with clients who have many types of issues. As part of this therapeutic work, she sees clients who either come to her for help with disordered eating or find that their eating is affected by other problems in their lives.

According to Erin, many of us view eating and food as we view other relationships in our life. And whether you’re an elite athlete or a working mom, one important key to healthy eating is figuring out just what kind of relationship you have with your food.

From the lovely and talented Cassandra Forsythe, Wondrous Womanhood.

Stay tuned, by the way, for an interview I did with Cassandra about her book The New Rules of Lifting for Women as well as the new buns she’s got in the oven — at least one of them is a book, not a child!

As an oldest sister myself, I always wanted someone to look up to — someone who’d tell me the real deal about men, women, periods, getting into shape, being my own best friend, and how to dress myself. She’d be compassionate and encouraging, but honest. She wouldn’t let me get away with BS, but she’d always be in my corner. Strength trainer Rachel Cosgrove is that woman to her clients.

Click through to see the video…

I’m often asked about the best footwear for squatting. Many people find that their ankles are too inflexible initially to get proper depth without their heels coming up off the floor. In some cases, a hard-soled shoe with a heel is a good idea. A manufacturer has just brought out a new line of shoes that offers one possibility.

Another amazing creation from Team Spezzatino! Way to go guys!

Here’s what’s in Vol 7.

Also check out our redesigned website and blog.

Given our recent discussion of GM food, here’s another spanner in the works: Let’s say we use GM to produce abundant, disease-resistant crops. OK, that sounds like a good start. But where might that GM material go? Healthier spinach? Shiny purple eggplants? Or stuff that we don’t actually need?

Author Margaret Webb explores one of the real reasons for good food shortages: Overproduction of crap.

From ScienceNews:

Junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted to heroin, a new study finds. Pleasure centers in the brains of rats addicted to high-fat, high-calorie diets became less responsive as the binging wore on, making the rats consume more and more food. This may help explain the changes in the brain that lead people to overeat.

“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings,” says study coauthor Paul Johnson of the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla.

Full story

Shall I compare Dan John to a summer’s day?
My love for him is warmer and less full of bugs or the sound of jet-skis.
Shameless, he pukes and waddles, expectorating lung-butter.
Yet more 30-rep squats await with cold iron eagerness.

Check out Chris Shugart’s new interview with Dan on the subject of conditioning.

From reader Jeremy:

My karate dojo, Sun Dragon (www.sundragon.org), is a women-focused non-profit school that does a lot of community self-defense and violence prevention work. Being a non-profit, we live on the wild side of the budget, and we have a yearly fundraiser to make up the gaps and keep pur scholarship fund, well, funded. My fundraising strategy is to blog – it’s what I do best. So I’m writing a hopefully-humorous post a day about martial arts and violence prevention and my life. Even if your readers aren’t in Austin or don’t care to donate, they may enjoy the posts!

Check ‘em out starting here!

From BBC News:

Eating a diet high in processed food increases the risk of depression, research suggests. What is more, people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish actually have a lower risk of depression. Researchers split the participants into two types of diet – those who ate a diet largely based on whole foods, which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish, and those who ate a mainly processed food diet, such as sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high-fat dairy products.

After accounting for factors such as gender, age, education, physical activity, smoking habits and chronic diseases, they found a significant difference in future depression risk with the different diets. Those who ate the most whole foods had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who at the least whole foods. By contrast people with a diet high in processed food had a 58% higher risk of depression than those who ate very few processed foods.

From BBC News:

Shouted at, spat at and even attacked, overweight people are campaigning for laws to protect them. Why is “fattism” seen by many as an acceptable prejudice? Verbal attacks are part of daily life for some of the overweight. From people commenting on the contents of their shopping trolleys to shouting abuse at them in the street. In extreme cases there can even be physical abuse. Why are many folk so intolerant of fat people? Discrimination on other grounds is widely frowned upon, so why is weight different? [Clicky to read more...]

From DrBriffa.com:

When someone takes a medicine, it is generally in the hope that it will do some good. However, whether it does or doesn’t is only half of the story: even the seemingly most innocuous of drugs can have adverse effects on health. In an editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Dr John Ioannidis of University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece, makes the point that adverse effects from drugs are “neglected, restricted, distorted, and silenced”

Cereal manufacturers spend nearly 156 million dollars every year on marketing their cereals to children on television. They also market extensively on the Internet, in stores, through social media and on packaging, said the researchers. Lead investigator Dr Jennifer L Harris, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center, told the press that:

“This research demonstrates just how far cereal companies have gone to target children in almost everything they do.”

The total amount of breakfast cereal marketing to children on television and computer screens, and at their eye-level in stores, combined with the appalling nutrient profile of the cereals most frequently marketed, is staggering,” she added. [Clicky to read more...]

Breakthrough research describes a mechanism that links diet, gut bacteria and the immune system: GPR43, a molecule expressed by immune cells and previously shown to bind short chain fatty acids, functions as an anti-inflammatory receptor.

“The notion that diet might have profound effects on immune responses or inflammatory diseases has never been taken that seriously,” said Professor Mackay, the lead researcher. “We believe that changes in diet, associated with western lifestyles, contribute to the increasing incidences of asthma, Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. Now we have a new molecular mechanism that might explain how diet is affecting our immune systems.”

Seriously guys? It never dawned on you that what you eat might make you sick or better?

Full story in Science Daily — bottom line (ha ha): eat more fibre, fruit and veg, yaddayadda the usual.

Fun photo from reader Lieke in the Netherlands, “Here is my 4-year-old nephew lifting my 26lb kettlebell (12k), while weighing in at about 35lb (16k) himself.” Not a bad coefficient, I’d say. Check it out ladies — if you’re still “toning” with those pink weights, consider that a 4-year-old child is lifting much more than you.

For too long you’ve ignored them, or wished they would drop a weight on their foot. Maybe you turned up your iPod to avoid them. Or perhaps you sneaked off a whey protein fart in their vicinity. Now things are different. The douchebags are mad as hell and they aren’t gonna take it any more, and that includes the jerkoff who does 500 sets of biceps curls in your squat rack!

Hey! Apparently there is this thing called swine flu! And we are all going to die horribly from it! Instead of the Four Horsemen, the apocalypse will be wrought upon us by the Four Pigmen, who will arrive in a burst of porcine glory astride their mighty oinking and snuffling steeds!

From Stephan Kesting’s Grapplearts newsletter (no URL, so I’ve reprinted):

Re: the five most useful weight training exercises to develop a killer kneebar: “It’s no coincidence that the very first of those exercises is the barbell squat. If you can only do one weightlifting exercise then it should probably be the squat – it’s a great exercise for your legs, and the legs are so very important in jiu-jitsu and grappling….” [clicky to read more]

Ever wanted to learn the Olympic lifts? Then come check out the Sunday Nov 1 workshop at Bang Fitness!

Cleans!

Jerks!

Snatches!

Other things that sound dirty but aren’t!

Hosted by the guy who taught me how to hoist the bar when I was but a wee weakling. (I’m still wee but at least I’m less of a weakling.)

For more information and registration go to BangFitness.ca

Continuing my habit of being on the trailing cusp, I’ve finally joined Twitter. Find me at @stumptuous. I am only grateful that I beat my dad to this. (I’ve distracted him temporarily with the challenge of downloading a PDF file.)

As an assistant professor of philosophy at Washington and Lee University and a professional bodybuilder, Melina Bell is used to people judging her body of work—and her body.

Guess which form of scrutiny gives her the sweats.

“When I’m standing up there all tanned and flexed, I am free of anxiety,” she says. “It’s when I’m presenting a paper that I start to feel exposed.”

Yeah, somehow excruciating physical effort STILL sucks less than a university job interview.

Full article, with photos and interviews with heavyweights Anne Bolin, Leslie Heywood, and Jan Todd

Hard to imagine New Yorkers can be shocked by anything, but whatever. A glass of thick, yellow human fat, marbled with blood vessels, is the latest weapon in America’s war on obesity…

Great little “WTF” post by KB queen Pamela McElree. Mandatory flu shot, mandatory sugar menu.

An important piece from Mike Mahler below, about stimulant use.

He confirms my own longstanding concerns about stimulant use in the fitness/nutrition population. (Thus he must be right. Ha ha!) It seems like every “serious” fitness type is jacked up on something, all the time. In the past I’ve used ephedrine and allowed my caffeine intake to drift up to something like 300 mg daily. DO NOT RECOMMEND.

‘Cause here’s the thing about stimulants. They do not “give” you energy. They BORROW energy from the future. Energy doesn’t come from nowhere. (Cf. Laws of Thermodynamics.) (Clicky to read more…)

As usual the New York Times steals my ideas. (Hee!)

This one is particularly interesting for youse guys as site readers because it discusses the role of Vit D in athletic performance.

One of the important things to remember is that athletes typically need more nutrients than the average couch sloth. Thus, an intake that would be entirely adequate to prevent malnutrition in Jane Sixpack (the beer, not the abs) would be INadequate in Jane Sixpack (the abs, not the beer). Indeed, we don’t just want to prevent malnutrition; we want the body running at optimal condition.

So, if you’re active regularly, you may indeed need to supplement your diet even if you are already eating well.

From Slate.com, an interesting read about who benefits from the increase in food allergies over the past few decades. Food allergies of course are very real (I have some mild contact allergies with certain fruits, and shrimp for my sister equals a trip to the hospital), but this article asks some provocative questions about who ultimately cashes in.

According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, which examines how other peoples’ weight and food choices influence how much we eat, we are more likely to eat more in the presence of a thin person who eats a lot.

I’m not really sure how broadly (sorry) applicable these findings are, but they at least add to a growing body (double sorry) of evidence that indicates how our eating behaviours are shaped by social cues.

The press release, as usual, oversimplifies the concepts underlying the research…

According to results released Sept 15 by Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) and the Heart Foundation in their joint second annual Zurich Heart Foundation Heart Health Index:

Australians have a risky, distorted perception of their health status, and are unwittingly putting their heart health at risk… [T]his year even more Australians have been shown to be obese or overweight (54 per cent)… Many Australians are clearly unaware that making lifestyle changes could lower their risk of heart disease…

[Clicky to read more...]

A great blog series by Cassandra Forsythe, one of the authors of The New Rules of Lifting for Women. Cassandra’s in her first trimester, and journaling the ups, downs, and upchucking of pregnancy as an experienced weight trainer and nutritionist. First discovery: The George Costanza nap is a great innovation.

Puzzling as it is for many people unaccustomed to this logic (typically, those people prone to assume that if 1 drink is fun, 20 must be fucking hilarious), biology has a sweet spot for everything. There is a right amount — usually a range — for everything. It may indeed be moderate. It may be large. Or it could be a tiny microgram.

In this case, endurance exercise. How much is too much? There is accumulating evidence that while some is good — say, a nice half-hour’s run outside on a sunny day — running marathons may not be the brightest idea for the average person…

Now that the world is convinced that the swine flu apocalypse is nigh and the season of snottynosed brats at daycare is upon us, I’d like to draw your attention to a very easy, yet important, public health and prevention measure.
Vitamin D.
Recent research, confirmed by the World Health Organization, indicates that an enormous number of [...]

These sites have no fitness content whatsoever. They just made me laugh until my abs went on strike, and I wanted to share.

Pictureisunrelated.com

Roller Coaster Funnies

From a recent study:

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 1 in 4 deaths annually. It has been estimated that one third of all cancer deaths are related to overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, and poor diet. Epidemiological studies have shown that regular physical activity reduces the risk for some types of cancer as well as postdiagnosis mortality.

Let’s break it down…

Thanks to reader April for this one:

A new food-labeling campaign called Smart Choices, backed by most of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, is “designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices.” The green checkmark label that is starting to show up on store shelves will appear on hundreds of packages, including — to the surprise of many nutritionists — sugar-laden cereals like Cocoa Krispies and Froot Loops.

“These are horrible choices,” said Walter C. Willett, chairman of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health…. Dr. Kennedy, who is not paid for her work on the program, defended the products endorsed by the program, including sweet cereals. She said Froot Loops was better than other things parents could choose for their children.

Full story in NYT

Yes, not just “inappropriate” or “unseemly”. Downright horrible. To quote Chief Wiggum, “Nice work, boys.”

And I agree, Froot Loops is better for children than, say, flaming gasoline or a sharp stick in the eye. STOP CRYING OR I’LL GIVE YOU SUMTHIN TO CRY ABOUT!

Yesterday I was in the grocery store. A package caught my eye. I picked it up and examined it. It was baby food. Across the front, in big letters: HEALTHY BLUEBERRY PUREE.

The substance actually resembled Rice Krispies. It wasn’t blue in the least, which indicates a somewhat minor contribution from blueberries. Ingredients? Wheat flour, sugar, rice starch, soy lecithin, sodium, 3 preservatives. Last and surely least, blueberry puree. Yes, blueberry puree probably accounted for about 0.1% of this abomination. Basically, this was baby Froot Loops.

WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLE PURPOSELY FEEDS SUGAR TO BABIES!? And pretends it’s healthy? I hope every food company executive responsible for this gets a horrible genital rash and ingrown eyelashes.

“Fitness is about generating the forces needed to thrive and survive — a fact that doesn’t change as we age. The carnival act/cardio groupies find creative ways to miss that point.”
–Steven Plisk, Excelsior Sports

From CBC.ca:

How much sugar and fat are stuffed into that granola bar you’re slipping into your child’s lunchbox? And how salty are those cheesy snacks that Junior favours at recess? We offer this chart for time-crunched parents looking to compare the sugar, salt and fat content in some popular snack foods.

The chart includes more than 170 foods and can be filtered and sorted according to your specifications.

The practice of ghostwriting, where pharmaceuticals companies convince university professors to put their names on articles written by someone else, was brought further into the light after a Canadian professor admitted she wrote only a portion of a published paper, despite being listed as sole author…

It’s a common truism that runners are all hobbling around with busted pins. Now, we all know That Diehard Runner Person — along the lines of “My foot fell off and was flapping against my shredded shin for 17 miles but I iced it and took 2500 mg of Advil when I got home so I think it’ll be OK.” Also, many folks have tried running and had to quit early because of things like shin pain and kneecap irritation.

As the boomer generation ages, we are treated to more articles about how “fitness nuts” are paying the piper with hip replacements. Many articles in the mainstream media tut-tut over the premise that boomers are not prepared to go quietly into that good night, and are still trying to wakeboard in their silver years…

If we consider food through its entire life cycle, from seed to table to disposal, it becomes clear that we’re living on borrowed time and money. “Penny wise, pound foolish” applies also to what we eat, and it’s increasingly obvious that looking for the lowest prices hasn’t done us any favours…

As promised, Helen Kollias busts it out in this week’s Research Review on PN. Turns out that exercise improves a lot of things — including our metabolic rate when we are restricting calories. Well, I’ll be a monkey’s auntie! Now what the hell am I gonna do with this snuggly blanket thing I bought for watching TeeVee 24-7? Given that apparently August in Toronto involves October, I guess I’ll be keeping warm…

John Berardi’s treatment of the now-infamous Time article on the purported uselessness of exercise can be found here. Contains the phrases “shit-ton” and “eat it”. You can see why we get along so well. JB’s take on it is interesting, because he’s actually done some of the foundational research behind the “exercise ain’t no good nohow” hysteria (as opposed to being some bitter dude who hates his exercise program and possibly, based on his description, his entire physical existence).

And stay tuned — check the PN blog tomorrow because Helen Kollias will be busting out the science that compares caloric restriction without exercise to caloric restriction with exercise. The results may surprise you. Well, probably not YOU as Stumptuous readers. But act surprised when you whip this one out to slap your smug non-exercising colleagues.

BTW confidential to body/exercise-hating dude: If you hate the gym so much, go find something fun, dumbass! This is like complaining because your head is constantly sore when you whack it with a hammer. Are salsa dancing classes, Ultimate Frisbee teams, or rock climbing that hard to come by in your neighbourhood?

From ScienceDaily by way of a couple of helpful Stumptuous readers:

Many active young women use oral contraceptives (OC) yet its effect on their body composition and exercise performance has not been thoroughly studied. A team of researchers has now examined the effects of OC on female muscle mass, and found that oral contraceptive use impairs muscle gains in young women, and is associated with lower hormone levels.

Full story

Now that women’s boxing has been added to the roster for the 2012 Olympics, and now that one of the first sanctioned women’s MMA bouts has occurred, the question of women fighting will move increasingly into the public eye. Researcher David Mayeda has penned an unusually thoughtful and informative treatment of the subject in this article series, which is well worth reading for anyone interested in women’s MMA/fighting as well as women’s participation in male-dominated sports generally. MMA/fighting is a bit unusual in that it has a long-established tradition of things like ring girls and ritualistic displays of machismo, but nevertheless it does reflect familiar challenges.

Despite mounting public health concerns about obesity and persistent social pressures dictating that slim is beautiful, young women in their ’20s consistently exercise less than young men. And young black women showed significant declines in exercise between 1984 and 2006, according to a University of Michigan study to be published in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

The study is one of the first to analyze long-term patterns in weight-related activities, and to assess how these patterns vary by gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The disparities in health behaviors the study reveals are consistent with disparities in the prevalence of obesity, particularly among women, according to Philippa Clarke, lead author of the study and a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

Full story

A beautiful shot of Canadian hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep as she jumps for joy after winning a medal. Looka those powerful legs! Those are squattin’ legs!

As a member of Stump Nation y’all know that weight training cures everything from hangnails to mother issues. New research shows that contrary to previous medical advice, weight training helps breast cancer recovery. Read on, MacDuff…

I’m posting this on behalf of a colleague who is looking for study participants. She’s looking in particular for successful weight losers who’ve lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for >1 year. (Not surprisingly, she’s having a tough time.) Here’s her call for participants — please contact her directly at the info below.

ZOMG! EXERCISE IS A LIEEYEEE!! THOSE MEAN JOCKS MAKE US DO STUFF AND IT DON’T WERK NOHOW!

This wasn’t the headline for Time magazine’s recent piece, but it might as well have been…

Continuing with our DEVICE OF DEATH theme, a Florida doctor is in the doghouse after declaring that donuts will kill you as sure as strychnine. Considering that this doctor served in Iraq, and thus has some comparative concept of things that will kill you, that’s pretty heavy shit. This dude must be serious. In any case, Big Donut got his ass fired.

Oh, how the debate has raged over the years. Single sets to failure? Multiple sets? How many?

Leaving aside the fact that the body is not great at counting, which often invalidates many of the Baroque mathematical elaborations of bodybuilders, and forgetting that we should just lift the damn heavy thing until it isn’t as heavy and then go find a heavier thing, the question of whether single sets of exercises is better than multiple sets is actually kind of a good question for folks seeking optimal efficiency and results from their workouts.

Well, here’s the answer. We think. A meta-analysis concluded that “2 to 3 sets per exercise are associated with 46% greater strength gains than 1 set, in both trained and untrained subjects.”

There you have it. 46% more — that’s nearly half — and that’s good enough for me.

Krieger, James. “Single Versus Multiple Sets of Resistance Exercise: A Meta-Regression.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

“People don’t die of old age, they die of neglect.” — Jack LaLanne

At 93 this dude still makes us all look like sniveling blobs. We should only age so well…

Data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study suggests that fitness level was a significant predictor of mortality — one follow-up study of 40,842 people suggests that poor fitness level alone was responsible for 16% of all premature deaths in both men and women. The ongoing study began in 1970 and includes more than 80,000 patients. Read more…

Over 22 months, media researchers rated 500 health news reports from major newspapers, the Associated Press wire, and three TV networks according to how well they fulfilled certain quality standards. They concluded that 62 to 77% of stories didn’t adequately address costs, risks, benefits, the quality of the evidence, and other treatment options when covering healthcare products and procedures…

“I was unfit my entire life and avoided the gym for years, convinced that it was going to be just like High School gym. In my late 20s, I went through a rough patch and got seriously depressed. My weight ballooned to the point that when I turned 30 things were at their worst and I weighed 315 lbs. A few years ago I finally decided that I had to stop ‘waiting’, and get to it…”

As some of you know, I do a bit of work with Precision Nutrition, most recently as a Lean Eating Coach. Now they’re hiring. It’s a great company to work for, so if you’re interested, check it out.

If you love exercise, nutrition, and sport, and you’re among the best in your field, there may be an opportunity for you at Precision Nutrition.

Current openings include:

• Web Designer
• Copywriter
• Coach – Lean Eating Program
• Telephone Nutrition Support
• Executive Assistant

Click here to learn more:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/contact#employ

In the Huffington Post, Scarlett Johanssen opens a can of whupass on critics and tabloids who make up BS about celebrities…

Fans of Shaky Man in the Gym: If you’re inspired by Neil’s story, as I was, consider making a donation to the Unity Walk NSW 2009 for Parkinson’s NSW (Neil’s page — with a gym photo!), or a donation to the Parkinson’s foundation of your choice, such as:

• The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
• Parkinson Research Foundation
• Michael Stern Parkinson’s Research Foundation
• National Parkinson Foundation

In general, active mobility (warmup through movement, taking joints through increasingly full range of motion) is best done before workouts, and passive stretching (ie traditional stretch-and-hold type stretches) afterwards.

But how much passive stretching to do? A recent study suggests that a couple of 30-second passive stretches may be sufficient to decrease stiffness…

From the Globe and Mail July 9, 2009:

Truckers have long been perceived as the unhealthiest members of the modern work force: a pill-popping, chain-smoking lot who only unbuckle for a plate of steak and eggs at truck stops.

But a growing number of health nuts have infiltrated the 18-wheeler set. And their bosses – concerned by the added costs and dangers of having unhealthy employees on the road – are encouraging more drivers to follow suit…

From the NYT:

If you’re one of the millions of people who are dieting right this minute, or even thinking about it, here’s some good news: you don’t have to throw a lot of money at the problem to see results. In fact, you may not have to spend much at all.

Full story

No shit?! ‘Cause I thought the point was to EAT LESS. And eating less strikes me as, y’know, cheaper. Only in North America would we assume that eating less — and eating better — means spending more on “special” foods. We’ll happily buy $5 protein bars instead of eating a couple of eggs plus an apple.

My most recent vacation brought this point home very well. I booked a hotel room with a kitchen and made nearly all of my meals. I spent a total of $250 on groceries for a week, which is more than I normally spend but in addition to the regular staples (e.g. meat, fruit, veg) I had to get “kitchen set-up” things like olive oil, a pound of coffee, spices, mustard, balsamic vinegar, etc. Still, not a bad deal if you consider that even a cheap restaurant meal would be $15-20 per person, and very likely the food quality would not be ideal.

More on saving money while eating well

The sports-supplement world has many power brokers… They have risen along with an industry that in three decades has grown from a niche business serving iron-heaving behemoths to a broad-based juggernaut with nearly $20 billion in U.S. sales in 2007, according to the Nutrition Business Journal.

Despite the move into the mainstream the industry remains fertile ground for kitchen chemists with little or no formal education in science or nutrition—and in some notorious cases former steroid users and dealers. They help decide what compounds go into the fat-burners, muscle builders and preworkout drinks consumed annually by an estimated 33.5 million Americans…

From RossTraining.com:

Throughout this blog’s history, I’ve highlighted several inspirational stories. Inspiration has come from different faces and different places. There are those who have overcome adversity, others who defied the odds, and others who have performed at the highest level. We all find inspiration from different sources (and for different reasons). What is inspiring to one may not light the fire for another. I therefore strive for variety within this section.

Today’s story is one that is quite unique. The individual performance of Mark Covert at any given time may not be record setting, but the cumulative total certainly is. Mark Covert has run a mile or more every day for over 40 years. Assuming he continues, he will soon close in on 15,000 consecutive days.

Read more…

Things I learned on my summer vacation: Oxygen is important. Colorado grandmothers make Marines look like crybabies. Also, eyeballs can explode. Cooool.

A recently published study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined Australians’ consumption of “extra” foods, which were defined as “energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods”. (Which is a kind way of saying junk foods or fake foods.) The study also looked at how much of a contribution these foods made to total energy (ie calorie) and nutrient intakes.

From Mother Earth News:

Plant breeders have increased yields in most crops, but this is causing our food’s nutrient content to decline.

• Wheat and barley: protein concentrations declined by 30 to 50 percent between the years 1938 and 1990.
• In 45 corn varieties developed from 1920 to 2001, concentrations of protein, oil and three amino acids have all declined in the newer varieties.
• Six minerals have declined by 22 to 39 percent in 14 widely grown wheat varieties developed over the past 100 years.
• Average calcium content of broccoli was 12.9 milligrams per gram of dry weight in 1950; 4.4 mg/g dry weight in 2003

Why? And what to do? Read more

From Straight to the Bar:

The fitness industry constantly pushes you to work out, with the tacit message that it is free and accessible for you to do so. When anyone challenges this, saying something is too expensive, the end-all salesman comeback is “How can you put a price on your health?” But money is a legitimate issue. I respect people who raise this as a concern, despite how callous to it I was trained to be as a salesman – I mean, personal trainer – by the gyms I worked for. I hate to think that this marketing axiom is driving people away from developing that part of themselves to which they are naturally entitled – and by which, biologically required…

Read more

Trenchant social commentary from The Onion

Diet Book Author Advocates New “No Food Diet”

Taco Bell’s new Green Menu takes no ingredients from nature

New Wearable Feedbags let Americans Eat More, Move Less

From the Washington Post:
Ask Larry Haubner for the secret to living 107 years, and the Fredericksburg man flexes his biceps, flashes a mostly toothless smile and growls. “Nutrition!” he bellows. “Exercise! I think we should all exercise more than we do.”
Haubner, who was born June 14, 1902, is blue-eyed and bald and answers to the [...]

New study out for any of you interested in women and disabilities:

Rolfe, Danielle, et al. “Negotiating Participation: How Women Living With Disabilities Address Barriers to Exercise.” Health Care for Women International 30, no.8 (August 2009): 743 – 766.

Abstract

Exercise participation among women living with disabilities can be limited as a result of pain, decreased muscle strength, and limited mobility. More “disabling” than these symptoms, however, is a lack of accessible exercise facilities in women’s communities. Our study explores how material and social structures and functions existing and operating within women’s communities and at community-based exercise facilities affect their participation. Interviews with 15 women living with disabilities were conducted and qualitatively analyzed. Participants discuss the benefits of their exercise participation, in addition to how they experience and negotiate structural and attitudinal barriers within community-based facilities.

A reader asked this elsewhere on the site and I thought it worth answering here as well, since many of you may be suffering unknowingly. Grain intolerance — or more precisely, an inflammatory response to the proteins in grains, which can touch off a host of autoimmune symptoms — is relatively common. Unfortunately few affected people realize it, because the symptoms aren’t always stomach-based, and/or typically appear hours after consumption. And since most North Americans’ diet is grain-based, people with intolerances find themselves just chronically, generally ill from multiple ongoing exposure.

Here are some typical symptoms…

Strength training commands a certain mix of brutal honesty, humility, and humour. Funny and stupid shit happens in the process of getting strong, and there are certain intractable truths that do not go away for wishing. If strength training had a slightly more foulmouthed and proletariat Mark Twain it would be Mark Rippetoe. Here are a few of his choice insights.

From the No shit — ya think this might be bad? files:

A 23-year-old Auckland mother who lost 45kg in eight months by drinking nothing but energy drink Red Bull says she has ongoing health problems because of the diet.

Brooke Robertson told the Herald on Sunday she shrank from 105kg to 60kg drinking nothing but 10 to 14 cans a day, often accompanying them with nothing more than a handful of dry Honey Puffs.

Full story

She should have kept going and won a Darwin Award for this one.

Yes! FREE! WOW! Now you too can learn all about trans fatty acids! Shazam!

This supplement to the May 2009 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition contains some review articles as well as the World Health Organization’s position statement on TFAs. Worth reading if you’re nutritionally minded. Of note is the WHO’s recommendation, based on new international data:

to significantly reduce or to virtually eliminate industrially produced TFA from the food supply… by the virtual elimination of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in the human food supply, replacing them with healthy cis-unsaturated fatty acids.

This week until Friday the Globe and Mail is running a series on sodium in our diets. The average person needs about 1500 mg daily. Our average intake? More like 3600. Like sugar, this shit is in everything — even Cheerios. Check out the Salt-O-Meter to find out where this crap lurks.

A harsh lesson about processed foods for younger people who are now suffering hypertension, even in their teens.

Saturday the 20th: Hypertension at age 14 (full article and video)
The taste of things to come
Monday 22nd: Hunting for the “salt gene” and ethnic disparities in sodium tolerance

Check it out all week and find out how to say Na+ Na+ Na+ Na+, Na+ Na+ Na+ Na+, hey hey hey, good bye.

Do you want MORE POWER? Do you want to be a TOTAL NINJA? Do you want to run as fast as KENYANS? You’ll be as fast as KENYANS!

It’s like adding chocolate to an electrical storm!

Or, you could just buy Coach Randy Hauer’s e-book More Power. It’s a smart, sensible guide to starting Olympic weightlifting. If you’ve ever entertained thoughts of throwing a bar over your head, get this little gem.

Blood markers observed in obese children — some as young as 7 — indicate their bodies host chronic inflammation, a driver of heart disease, and elevations in chemicals that promote blood clots.

The findings, reported today at the Endocrine Society annual meeting, in Washington, D.C., indicate that school-age plumpness can prove more than a social stigma. It may signal that youngsters are on their way to developing cardiovascular disease — and years earlier than even a generation ago.

Full story

Altered blood sugar metabolism can help predict — and perhaps prevent, or delay — the onset of Type 2 diabetes (aka adult onset diabetes). T2D is an emerging health epidemic with close ties to cardiovascular disease. Approximately 85-95% cases of diabetes are T2D.
From Medpage Today:
Insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function, and blood glucose may provide telltale signs [...]

From BBC News:

Wolfing down meals may be enough to nearly double a person’s risk of being overweight, Japanese research suggests.

Osaka University scientists looked at the eating habits of 3,000 people and reported their findings in the British Medical Journal…

You’ve seen them in the grocery store refrigerated coolers, with fancy names, like Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle, and Rockstar. They’re the so-called “energy drinks” that come loaded with caffeine, sugar, vitamins, minerals, and other ingredients.

But are they really good for you? Johns Hopkins reviews the data.

Despite the well-known benefits of having a lifestyle that includes physical activity, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol use and not smoking, only a small proportion of adults follow this healthy lifestyle pattern, and in fact, the numbers are declining, according to an article published in the June 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

Between 1988 and 2006…

Policies designed to improve the diet quality and health of Americans are likely to have only marginal effects on consumers’ food choices. However, policies targeted directly at consumers such as nutrition information and education programs, along with labeling regulations, can spur the reformulation of products with healthier ingredients by stimulating competition among food manufacturers to offer products that appeal to health-conscious consumers…

Yoga instructor Bette Calman may be 83, but she is still bending over backwards to spread the benefits of the ancient Indian system.

With 40 years of teaching under her belt, the Williamstown wonder is living proof that a lifetime’s dedication to the healthy pursuit can keep you nimble…

Dear readers, I report with breathless excitement that it’s finally happened!! I have finally “gotten too big” from weight training! Yes! It’s true!

As part of my ongoing series of Why Your Excuses are Crap, today we examine the “I’m too tired” excuse. A new study demonstrates that lifting weights gives you energy…

You’ve probably heard people say that some forms of exercise “increase your metabolism”. What this often means is that after you’ve done a certain kind of exercise, your body’s energy expenditure — the amount of energy it’s spending on tasks like recovering from whatever crazy thing you’ve done — is temporarily elevated. We know that some forms of exercise do this more than others. A new study examines this phenomenon in women…

I [heart] Mike Mahler. He’s really good at telling you the stuff you need to hear, but don’t want to. And he does it with tough love. One of the most important lessons I ever learned was that sometimes, you just have to suck it up…

My regular correspondent Neil Sligar, the hardcore badass from Down Under, has sent along some photos. What he’s doing would be ninjariffic for any dude in his mid-60s, but is especially so because Neil was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1998. Check him out bench pressing 100 kg.

As Jorg Blech points out in his book, exercise is good for damn near anything that ails you. The human body evolved to move against resistance — literally and metaphorically. Rest and recovery are important — essential, even. But like anything else, they should be done in moderation. The body thrives on well-managed challenges (with the occasional crazy challenge thrown in there to shake things up). As this video of Hazda Bushmen in Tanzania suggests, our ancestors evolved as active beings. Daily life for early humans meant almost constant movement. Stop moving and you’re lion food.

High fives to Neil!

Howdy folks,

Anyone interested in a Toronto Stumptuous seminar? I’d like to get something going for this summer. Reply in the comments if you’re geographically available and interested, and what you’d like to cover in a workshop.

Via Reuters:

The maker of the widely sold Hydroxycut weight-loss supplements is recalling 14 products after reports of liver damage and one death, U.S. health officials said on Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration urged consumers to immediately stop using the recalled products, which are made by Iovate Health Sciences Inc and marketed for weight loss, boosting energy and other uses.

The agency has received 23 reports of liver problems ranging from jaundice to damage that required a liver transplant, Katz said. One person died…

Move over, skin cream with “lipids”. Shove a cheek, vitamin water. And you too, multigrain Lucky Charms. (OK, you’re still astoundingly idiotic. You can stay.) There’s a new bullshit health superstar in town! Cherry 7-Up with antioxidants! Any resemblance to actual cherries is purely coincidental, of course.

Thanks to Ninja M for the link and MamaPop for alerting us to this staggering display of food industry crap and chutzpah.

From Jonathan Sabar, a thoughtful and refreshing commentary on the distinction between skinny and healthy in women’s fitness, including a very kind shout-out to old Doctor K as well as another great link to a woman busting out 15 reps of bodyweight overhead squats. I think it’s interesting that as a male trainer, he’s been inspired by his daughter. Research suggests that a lot of men end up making very good feminist critiques as a result of raising girls and suddenly having to think about what young women have to go through. High fives Jonathan!

Ah, excuses. The dog ate my homework. The sun was in my eyes. My genes are out to get me. We have a million of ‘em. But what if you just set them aside — briefly — to accomplish something? (Then you can go back to them. Enjoy.) This is the premise behind Gym Junkies’ [...]

As you know (or should, because every detail of my life should be riveting to you), I’m the editor of Spezzatino magazine, which supports the Healthy Food Bank. We’re looking for volunteer writers.

We’re looking for something more unusual than the standard food magazine fare — stuff that’s interesting, innovative, insightful, maybe a little weird and at the very least with a sense of humour. We’re not interested in celebrity chefs or talking about how great Big-Name Restaurant Du Jour is. We’re not Gourmet; we’re aiming more for a Vice kind of flavour (without all the cussing).

We are looking for contributors who are interested in writing about the following general themes…

I competed this weekend at US Grappling’s submission-only tournament, taking a gold medal in my weight division and in the women’s advanced absolute division.
Highlight video:

According to researchers with Kansas State University’s Physical Activity and Public Health Laboratory, active commuting — walking or biking to school or work — can be an easy, effective and efficient way to integrate physical activity into the daily routine.

No shit! That is just crazy! Anyway the interesting findings here, which I’ve been bitching about for years, is that the physical layout of the urban environment contributes to people’s inclination to actively commute. If you have bike lanes, walking paths, safe modes of personal transport, well-arranged services, etc. then people will use them. Hell, I’m almost sorry that Toronto put in bike lanes in some places because there are so many bloody cyclists now, you can get stuck in bike rush hour! It’s also sort of an odd feeling to complain about how there are no bike parking spaces left. But I’d take that any day over the soul-eroding slow death of car commuting.

Full article

I’m often asked, “Krista, how can I make going down stairs more interesting?”* Either I refer them to the Ministry of Silly Walks, episodes of Jackass, or this video.

If you experience knee pain while walking down stairs, try this alternative.

*Not really.

Well, there’s a fair bit of stuff to talk about. First of all, those who delight in physical humour will love this story. During my very first rep of medicine ball smashes for my conditioning circuit last night, I chose my medicine ball poorly and gave myself a fat lip when the ball bounced up [...]

I’ve been working on a few little exercise videos to show some of my more unusual exercises, or the ones I often prescribe to training clients. Over the next few days I’ll be uploading them to the newfangled YouTube machine that the kids are so crazy about these days. So keep an eye out for what’s being added to my page — there are a few new ones there already.

A couple of weekends ago, Mistress Krista and I visited John Berardi and Amanda Graydon at Precision Nutrition HQ. If you get this group of people together, three things are bound to happen:

We will eat.
We will train.
We will talk about eating and training.

I got to work out with my boss and coworkers. How cool is [...]

Regular readers of this site will know I’m not a huge fan of activities that involve public judgement of women wearing bikinis. Nor am I wont to fuss too much about “femininity” as it pertains to weight training. Feminine is as feminine does, and we all do it in whatever way is right for us (or not at all, as the case may be — rock on, butches).

Nevertheless I wanted to share an example of what heavy weight training can do for women who are interested in presenting a more conventional physique…

The man with a permanent case of le mot juste bangs out another memorable thought:

…There are few examples in life that don’t follow the basic rules of the universe, the ones that dictate the behavior of everything.

One of the most basic of those rules is that, with the exception of the occasional lottery winner, you pretty much get out of an effort what you put into it. We’re all quite familiar with this reality, although we are often willing to believe people who tell us otherwise, about exercise and about life.

The sooner everybody—both halves of the population—accepts the fact that effective exercise is more like training for athletics and less like lying around on the floor, more about performance and less about appearance, the sooner it will be understood that women really don’t need their own figure salon.

I competed in the Copa Ontario tournament this past Saturday and took gold. I won my first match by armbar against Lindsay, one of Omar’s blue belts, in 26 seconds, beating my previous “fastest submission” record by 12 seconds:

…and my second match (also by armbar) against my friend Nicole in about 1:50.

I hate competing in [...]

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing brilliant strength coach and cheerfully foulmouthed verbal abuser of fitness industry idiocy Alwyn Cosgrove for many years. He whupped my ass when I was in California and then he bought me breakfast afterwards. (What a gentleman!) What you may not know about the Angry Scotsman is that not only has he produced some devastatingly well-researched critiques of fitness-industrial complex bullshit, as well as some wicked strong athletes, he’s flipped Death the bird too.

Three years ago Cosgrove survived a bout with cancer. Now he’s raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by selling Lift Strong, an 800-page manual compiled by some of the best brains in the biz…

I guess the upside here is that diet pills really do work — because they’re full of crank, happy drugs, and laxatives.
BTW, the FDA in its bureaucratic wisdom usually pulls things after they’ve caused a problem; they don’t generally review things before. ‘Cause that would be, like, socialist.
The FDA has expanded its recall of weight-loss [...]

I can’t decide what is stupiderer and more trite: the recent media frenzy over using Twitter (hot on the heels of “journalism” that uses MySpace pages as “research”, producing articles such as “Teen Killer Wrote ‘lol lol :-D’ On hots3xxxy69’s Page Before Slaying Mother With Brick; Also Thinks Britney ’sux omg lololol’”); or the ink [...]

Previous Hardcore of the Year award in the Under-18 category went to the girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark and then returned to surfing. Now we have a new contender: Russia’s Strongest Girl…

When she saw a knifeman repeatedly stab a man in the face and neck before leaving him for dead in the street, Georgina Harmer was appalled. But without a thought for her own safety, the feisty 50-year-old gave chase and grabbed hold of the thug…

John came into town today to speak at an event, and Geoff met us at Bang Fitness so we could train together. I saw John bust out some pretty impressive lifts, and Geoff spent his time helping another of John’s athletes learn to love his serratus anterior.
That’s Geoff on your left (yes, in a Mario [...]

First, a shout out to some grappling girls I’m very fond of! The Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship was this past weekend in California. My online and real-life friends Jen W, Jen F, Addie, Hillary, Lisa, Rachel and Val competed and tool home medals. I hear the divisions were HUGE this year – blue belt lightweight had [...]

Great news! Volume 4 of my magazine Spezzatino is now available to subscribers! Here’s what’s inside…

Proceeds from subscriptions go to support the Healthy Food Bank.

…and had to give one fitness tip, what would it be?

(Um, other than, I guess, “find water, get shelter, stay alive”… but after that, when you met your essential requirements and started thinking about how you could squat a barbell made out of coconuts…)

I totally figured everyone would have the same one as me, but apparently not. Check it out — 19 folks share their numero uno coconut-barbell-busting idea.

“Consult your doctor” is a common piece of advice given to folks who are considering starting a nutrition and exercise program. Unfortunately, this places upon doctors a responsibility for public education for which they may not be qualified…

Think when you buy organic labels that it means the product is lovingly made by longhair hippie mom and pop in some backyard shed while listening to Phish? Think again. I guess it’s inevitable: eventually we will all be owned by one giant corporation. An elaborate, and mildly disconcerting, map of the world of organic food brands. From now on, the only folks I’ll trust to be truly small scale are the Mennonites and my octogenarian neighbours. *eyeing small religious communes suspiciously for evidence of Procter and Gamble*

I’m wrapping up a “moderate” training and nutrition week with a refeed day (high carb – about 45% of my intake), some sprints and MECCA’s competition class. I feel pretty good about what I’ve accomplished over the last three weeks: Geoff says he’s pleased with my lifts (did I mention I benched 135 for three [...]

I’m 150.6 now.
Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. I have been busy quitting my job and changing my life.

I’ve never figured out why anyone would do the lift this way, but apparently some folks think it’s a good idea to rest a heavily loaded bar on tiny rounded platforms hovering over their heads without at least some minor gesture towards preventing its escape (i.e. their thumbs). Behold, Why You Should Not Use a Thumbless Grip On The Bench Press.

I’d like to begin an occasional series called Why Your Excuses are Crap. This series will interrogate the foundational arguments upon which your ego defenses regarding nutrition and physical activity are predicated, identifying the factual inaccuracies and logical fallacies therein. In other words, why you are often full of shit and extremely inventive when it comes to putting obstacles in your own way.

Today’s instalment of WYEAC concerns holiday eating.

Didja ever wonder “What does Krista do all day?” Well, it’s pretty boring, really. Just like McBain, I sleep on big piles of money surrounded by many beautiful women…

Too lazy to split these little tidbits up into separate posts, so here’s what’s been cluttering up my browser tabs lately.

I spent the afternoon at Body Blitz falling asleep in the body-temperature water and then came home and made sundubu, which my roommate declared to be “really fuckin’ good”. It WAS very tasty….
Weighed in at 151.4. Less than 20 lbs to go.

Hot on the heels of my Pathology on Parade post comes a delightful antidote: Sweating the Soft Stuff, from Rannoch Donnald across the pond…

There are other countries, such as Italy and France, that decide their dinner questions on the basis of such quaint and unscientific criteria as pleasure and tradition, eat all manner of “unhealthy” foods, and, lo and behold, wind up actually healthier and happier in their eating than [North Americans]. We show our surprise at [...]

I survived fasting day #2 with no problems. I was okay during my conditioning circuit, so I decided to stick around for a little light rolling afterwards. I performed fine, but when I got home I had a little blood sugar moment. I even had crazy nightmares that involved plane crashes and confusion. I should [...]

A new essay from Exuberant Animal takes on the “physique-industrial” complex and skewers the bejeezus out of it with savage, toothsome brilliance.

Pursuant to a discussion elsewhere on the site about fitness and fatness, this article provides a useful explanation of the distinction between subcutaneous (ie. under the skin) and visceral (ie. around internal organs) fat. Are you a Tofi?

Fun link from Ninja M, The Belly Project. Documents women’s tummies, most after pregnancies. This one gives me a warm fuzzy. Guess what, your belly is probably pretty normal.

Jennifer Thompson, a 130-lb powerlifter, set a new record with her 286 lb bench press at a recent IPF Titan Bench Bash…

OMGBFFA answers the question, “How the hell do you do this every day?”

In hindsight I feel like I barely worked out at all last week. It was supposed to be a light week for recovery, but the volume was way lower than I am used to. This week, however, is designated as a hard week, with a lot more interval training and conditioning, plus another hour of [...]

A recent column considers the question of early specialization among young athletes. It argues, in part: “The problem isn’t with trying to identify potential blue-chip athletes at an early age. It’s the pressure of one-sport specialization that eliminates too many kids’ multisport experiences and creates false expectations of superstardom in those who do get into the game…

Many active folks have little ouchies from time to time. Rest, ice, and anti-inflammatories is the most commonly prescribed athletic trifecta. But be cautious: NSAID, or non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are not harmless. Indeed, they often come with quite significant side effects, particularly to the gastrointestinal tract. An overview from Johns Hopkins describes some of the problems…

Yesterday was my high-carb refeed day. I feel yucky today.
This is the last day of my “easy” week, which is good because I just don’t feel like I trained very much last week. Next week is marked “hard’ and it involves a lot more conditioning and longer strength sessions, but with the same diet as [...]

A couple of weeks ago I was traveling in California, and got down on the US as the Great Satan O’ Sugar. This past week I was traveling in Canada, so it’s time for equal opportunity finger-pointing…

I got some very exciting news tonight. But I have to wait to share it until it becomes awesomely exciting news.
But on to training. Tonight I rolled with Mark, my instructor. Delightful and humiliating, as always. Apparently there are funny pictures of the event.
Mark also showed me a cool new wrist lock and taught me [...]

Hello lovelies,

As your comment moderatrix I have accumulated a few comments that contravene the vibe I try to promote at Stumptuous. Thus, I’d like to present you with some handy guidelines that will organize the way we do things here.

Geoff and I did explosive training yesterday, plus some EST (energy system training – I’m learning so many new acronyms!) at the end. I also started reading a book that he gave me on functional strength training. Wow, it’s so much more involved than any other kind of training I’ve read about, and I’m getting [...]

37 year old female, 5′ 5″ tall, body weight 154, bodyfat 22.1%.

Geoff has posted a description of his goals for my program in the Bang Fitness blog. Check it oot.
My second strength day is today and my forearms are shot from the grip work on Tuesday. What misery awaits at Bang Fitness? I’ll let you know.
Also, as part of my recovery, I’ve found my new manual [...]

It’s fairly well accepted that regular physical activity appears to lower breast cancer risk. Recent findings suggest that there is also an association between the difficulty of the exercise and the risk…

After having my ass kicked by Geoff last night (his choice implements of destruction were front squats, one-handed barbell rows and some wacked out crunches with my core contracted), I have embarked on my first fast of the cycle. Between 10pm last night and 10pm tonight my entire food for the day consists of 3L [...]

Today John informed me that, due to my high volume of training in this program, it will be critical for me to focus on my rest and recovery. He prescribed a nightly care and feeding of the parasympathetic nervous system using techniques like a long, hot bath with candles and music.
Best. Training program. Ever.

New findings suggest that fatigue may be as much about the brain as about the body.

Unhappy with slow results? OMGBFFA suggests using SCIENCE! Let’s see how her team of hot expert nerdyboys applies it to her training and body composition goals.

Great interview with powerlifter Robyn Blankenship here, plus some great shots and videos of stuff like a 275 lb bench press and 440 lb squat. All done “raw”, i.e. no assistive gear such as a bench shirt. You go girl!

In my previous post I considered some of the extrinsic, i.e. outside, factors that contributed to (or hindered) long term weight maintenance. A recent systematic review examines the intrinsic, i.e. internal, factors, that help people lose weight and keep it off. It confirms the findings of a 2005 review. Are you ready for the big secret?

Trying to lose weight and keep it off, and stay in shape in an obesegenic environment requires a massive act of will and motivation. It can be done, of course — and many of y’all are a testament to that. But it’s really fucking hard. Why don’t we start trying to make it easier on ourselves?! [...]

Hello possums, it’s lovely to get all your friend requests on Facebook. Thanks for being so keen! Just to ensure that my FB doesn’t get cumbersome or weird, and to ensure that I’m still able to post drunken semi-naked photos with impunity, I’m going to restrict my personal friends list to people I’ve actually met in person. However, don’t get down — you can still get your Stumptuous fix in two ways…

Alright you greedy little monkeys, you’ve been beating down the virtual door for Part 2 of Geoff Girvitz’s article — so here ya go! Strength Without Size 2: The Thickening.

From Men’s Health: “Need more motivation to get in shape this year? These hilarious ad campaigns might help.”

A new study finds that — amazingly — exercising makes you feel better and improves your quality of life (QOL). The study found that this relationship was dose dependent: In other words, the more you exercise, the better you feel…

A new study examines the how a Paleo-style diet might help improve health markers of average sedentary people. Note the conclusion, which I have also bolded in the abstract below: Even short term consumption of a Paleo diet improves pretty much every major blood marker of general health…

From the Globe and Mail:
Worries that Canadians might be inadvertently ingesting too much cancer-causing acrylamide from French fries, potato chips and other processed foods has prompted Health Canada to recommend adding the chemical to the country’s toxic substances list.
Acrylamide is an industrial chemical that isn’t naturally found in foods, but is produced accidentally when sugars [...]

Last night I gave a talk to the Ninja Camp ladies about the basics of sports nutrition. Afterwards, a woman came up to me and asked about her eating habits. So I asked her two questions…

From Statistics Canada, 2 news items about obesity on the job and participation in active leisure.

As Mistress Krista has mentioned, we are in California this week at Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy for the first ever Women’s Grappling Camp.
Congratulations to my friends Leah, Christine and Doris, who received their blue belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Felicia yesterday. The promotions were well deserved and a long time coming.
I would also [...]

Pursuant to my earlier post about the problems of food in the US, I came across this horrific little gem. The best thing about it was that it was advertised on the package (in two places on a small label) as a “healthy snack” with “wholesome ingredients”…

The largest study ever of multivitamin use in older women found the pills did nothing to prevent common cancers or heart disease. The eight-year study in 161,808 postmenopausal women echoes recent disappointing vitamin studies in men…

I’m training out at a women’s grappling camp in California this week, so the Stumpblog is comin’ atcha from Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy.

Boy is it hard to eat well when traveling in the US. It’s very possible, but it definitely takes a lot of forethought, commitment and preparation…

From Discovery Health, the National Body Challenge 2009. A full-feature support community that includes recipes, expert advice, daily challenges and a progress tracker. Weight loss is part of it, but the overall message is about making healthier changes.

A recent study in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health has found that Splenda, a commonly used artificial sweetener, had numerous adverse effects when given to rats, including (1) reduction in beneficial fecal microflora, (2) increased fecal pH, and (3) enhanced expression levels of P-gp, CYP3A4, and CYP2D1, which are known to limit the bioavailability of orally administered drugs.

Click post title to read more…

From Robb Wolf at Crossfit Norcal, a tribute to Charles Darwin, and Darwin’s influence on his own way of thinking about nutrition.

I’d like to take a moment and shout out to the original Chuck D in three other ways…

Howdy folks! It’s Feb 11 and I’ve FINALLY got the new site up! Yes, it took ages. I tried two other content management systems before settling into Wordpress. And boy was there a lot of junk to clean up. Crummy HTML, articles I’d forgotten about, links that had expired… sheesh.

Click post title to read more…

According to Madonna’s trainer Tracy Anderson, a woman should never lift more than three-pound weights. “Most gym programs overwork major muscle groups,” she said. “Repetition builds and bulks muscles.”

In order to prevent all of you lovelies from this horrible fate I have compiled the following list of Things You Should Not Lift if You Want To Look Like Madonna…

The American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine have released new exercise guidelines that include recommendations for higher-intensity exercise for all age groups as well as a mix of strength and aerobic training. Click post title to read more…

Jennifer Figge’s résumé is an unconventional read peppered with eyebrow-raising lines such as these: Ran across South America, Chile & Argentina, 576 miles, 21 days (1993); Ran across Mexico, 180 miles (last 60 miles in cast on left leg), 8 days (1995); Swam Aruba to Venezuela, Incomplete (currents, jellyfish sting/swollen eye), 18 miles (1996).

When the 56-year-old logs her latest accomplishment, achieved last week, it will read something like this: Swam in cage from Africa to Trinidad, 2,100 miles, or this: Became first woman to swim across Atlantic Ocean (2009).

Click to read more…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expanding its nationwide alert to consumers about tainted weight loss pills that contain undeclared, active pharmaceutical ingredients. On December 22, 2008, FDA warned consumers not to purchase or consume 28 different products marketed for weight loss. Since that time, FDA analysis has identified 41 more tainted weight loss [...]

Training for the army? Need to win a bar bet? Here’s your method!
More…

More…

HFCS, a common sweetener used in a zillion and one processed food products, has come under fire for its deleterious effects on body chemistry. Now a new study finds one more reason HFCS sucks: mercury.
After one set of scientists found mercury — yes, everyone’s favorite brain-impairing element — in almost half of commercial HFCS, another [...]

Gad DAMN. This woman is stunning and amazing. Started exercising at age 56. Wow.

More…

I’m Internet-famous! Check out my athlete’s profile on Precision Nutrition’s site.

Working out by candlelight during a 24-hour blackout in Toronto Jan 16. Furnace out? Try some cleans to warm up! Test your proprioception by working out in the dark!

Via Yahoo News: The Coca-Cola Company is being sued for making “deceptive and unsubstantiated claims” about its VitaminWater line of beverages, which it touts as healthy alternatives to sodas, lawyers for the plaintiff said on Thursday.
Coca-Cola is misleading consumers by using words such as “energy” and “endurance” on VitaminWater bottles and claiming that the drinks [...]

Gym Junkies asked a few of us what our favourite exercises are. Turns out I’m not the only squat nut! As the Kids in the Hall used to say, “Thirty Helens agree.”

Top Bloggers & Strength Coaches spill their 3 favorite exercises

One of the busiest men in the world has time for fitness. So do you.

Being elected president forces a man to take inventory of his life, so Barack Obama has trimmed his schedule to the bare essentials. He’s not in the White House yet, but gone are the hours he once spent reading novels, watching television and obsessing over the daily transactions of Chicago’s sports teams. He eats out only once every few weeks. He visits friends rarely, if at all.

But one habit endures: Obama has gone to the gym, for about 90 minutes a day, for at least 48 days in a row… The more Obama’s life intensifies, friends said, the more he relies on the gym — which is why he might be taking office in the best shape of his life. The gym is where he releases stress, maintains a routine and thinks without interruption. He sometimes wears headphones and barricades the outside world.

“He does it every day like clockwork,” said Marty Nesbitt, one of Obama’s closest friends from Chicago. “He doesn’t think of it as something he has to do — it’s his time for himself, a chance for him to reflect. It’s his break. He feels better and more revved up after he gets in his workout.”

Also note this part, in bold:

“That’s one of the first things you learn working for him: You better make sure he gets his workout,” said Jim Cauley, who managed Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate campaign. “If there isn’t any time, he’s not going to feel his best that day. If he only gets 30 or 40 minutes, he’s still not really happy.

“You have to make time for him to exercise, at least an hour or so. You block it out and put it on the schedule, because that’s what makes him happy.”

Watch and learn, folks!

More…

Last weekend I was given the opportunity to compete as part of a four-woman pro bracket. There were three purple belts (Hillary Williams, Shavonne Guthrie, Jennie Radovsky) and me. I did okay, I suppose: I lost my first match on an advantage to Hillary, and I lost the third-place match 3-0 against Shavonne. I was supposed to be in California this weekend at the world championships, but I decided not to go. I’m not feeling good about my jiu-jitsu.

I thought I would start this blog on Krista’s site so I can share what it is like to be an athlete, and specifically an athlete who is training at Kamp Krusty. (Get it? Krista? Krusty? Kamp? Simpsons reference? Ha ha! Man, you guys are the worst audience ever.)

I plan to blog occasionally about my training and competition journey. I was preparing to write my first entry, but it occurred to me that I should tell you a bit about who I am.