Please stand back; I am about to dispense AWESOME

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas?! Eff that! It’s time to hand out ridiculous amounts of money to our Lean Eating winners for the Jan 2012 cohort.

I’m particularly stoked about this one because the female winner was 56-year old Laurie — a woman with apparently everything against her: age, thyroid, a family tragedy, injuries, and life in general. And yet she persevered. This is truly what Lean Eating is all about: finding and nurturing the strength inside ourselves so that we can change. Bravo to all!

Should women fast?

When fitness-minded people, especially women, start doing anything, it’s not long before our minds wander into I wonder if this’ll help me lose fat? Not-eating suddenly seemed like the perfect way to cut weight for grappling. It seemed pretty darn easy! Just not-eat periodically, and you’ll be riptshizzled! I started off strong and felt pretty good. My body had other plans. And so did many other women’s bodies. Which brings me to this article.

Rant 65 October 2012: Pray for Mojo

The late 30s and 40s are a time of great power for women. Declining hormones tear veils away from our eyes. It is the beginning of when we learn to get over the crap we’ve been spoon-fed, to feel some rumbling righteous anger, and start loving ourselves.

STRONG! An interview with weightlifter Cheryl Haworth

Cheryl Haworth is a legend in women’s Olympic weightlifting. A new documentary — appropriately called Strong! — profiles her career. Here, Cheryl sits down and raps with Stumptuous about her experiences.

Paying it Forward

A wonderful post by a Lean Eating finisher who explains his journey, his experiences, and how it changed his life. Now, he wants to do the same for others. Read more >>

You can see why this is such an incredible community to be part of. When people ask me what I do, I say “I change lives”. It sounds pretentious but it’s the real deal.

Just wait, there is more good stuff coming… we are announcing our finalists from the July 2011 cohort soon. When you see their stories, you will totally plotz.

Keep Your Head In the Game: Dealing With the Mind-fuck of Injury & Illness

Unless it’s a truly horrific, traumatizing event (for instance, being run over by a steam roller driven by all those girls that made fun of you in high school), the worst part of an injury/illness isn’t the physical pain. Sure, physical pain can be epic. It can nag and nag and nag. You can get to a point where you’d truly consider eating a rat poison smoothie if you thought it’d bring pain relief. But usually, once you get past the immediate event and the first few days of acute pain, the worst part of any injury/illness is psychological.

You look ridiculous and everyone’s staring at you: Cheap tricks for crip fitness

One of the best ways to shake self-consciousness is to confront it head-on by doing something that looks bizarre and letting the normals stare. Here are a few of my favorite ridiculous exercises for crips, gimps, and other weirdos.