Hey, I’ve been on a thanksgiving break. I know the posts have slowed but I am back. I have finals next week so I am going to be very busy, but I will be making a couple posts each day. Thanks for sticking around.
Filed under: Politics, Ridic | Tags: gop, Politics, republican, sarah palin, television
Even though the election has been over for nearly three weeks, ads are still running in support of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Supported for by the “Our Country Deserves Better” Political Action Campaign, the ads thanks Sarah Palin for her effort in the recent campaign.
Is it just me, everyone who’s anyone already forgotten about the beauty queen? I’m not saying I can read the minds of John McCain and his campaign advisors, but to me she was a completely transparent decision. Not to garner Hillary supporters, I mean really, do you think people that supported Hillary Clinton to do so just because she was a female? I hope not, and if anyone had that reasoning, well they shouldn’t be voting anyway. No, they picked Sarah Palin because she was an attractive accoutrement to McCain. She wasn’t at such an accelerated age. She had the accent from Fargo down pat. She was simply a marketing tool, much like Fox News uses when they hire these women to read the news:
Anyway, here is one of the ads, if anyone is interested.
Filed under: Fitness, Weightlifting | Tags: 5x5, bodybuilding, Fitness, muscle, rep scheme, Weightlifting
One of the biggest problems for beginning weight lifters is that One of the most popular programs that has hit the net recently is the 5×5 set/rep scheme. It is a simple program for both beginners and advanced weightlifters that allows a quick growth in strength without having to spend a 2 hours in the gym every day.
As with any rep scheme, your body will eventually adapt, sometimes in as little as 2 weeks. As a result, I usually use 5×5 rep schemes for 3 to 4 weeks then move onto a program with more reps to keep the muscles guessing. Another important issue to remember about 5×5 rep schemes is that when you are working out smaller muscles, particularly the biceps, heavy weights put a large strain on ancillary stabilizer muscles, like the forearms in this case, and the tendons as well. For this reason, if you feel any unusual pain, it is best to stop the excercise immediately. If the pain continues, see a fitness professional. I am not one 
.
5×5 schemes when performed for a couple weeks then switched with more typical schemes like 4 sets of 8 to 10 are very good for quickly improving strength, though slow twitch muscle fibers are not recruited as much.
Here is an example of a Chest/Bicep Day Using a 5×5 scheme (Remember to use a weight you can finish each rep with good form, with the last rep being nearly impossible to finish, but not so much that it hurts):
Chest:
Bench Press: 5 sets of 5 reps
Incline Bench: 4 sets of 5 reps
Decline Bench: 4 sets of 5 reps
Biceps:
Alternating Biceps Curl: 5 sets of 5 reps
EZ Bar Preacher Curl: 4 sets of 5 reps
One-Arm Cable Curl: 4 sets of 5 reps
Enjoy, and get stronger.
Filed under: Fitness, Nutrition | Tags: bananas, Fitness, health, Nutrition, potassium
Yeah, eat it.
Potassium is a crucial nutrient for any athelete. It is crucial in maintaining fluid balance in the cells and aids in muscle contraction and strength. Anyone with a potassium deficiency will notice a loss in strength, nausea, and irregular digestive activity. Those looking to build muscle should make sure to get an ample amount of potassium in their diet.
Potassium can be obtained quite easily from a number of natural food sources. Try bananas, potatoes, oranges, tomatoes, and broccoli. Diets high in calcium have been proven to reduce high blood pressure levels and help maintain integrity of crucial organs, including the heart. Individuals with high blood pressure can use powdered potassium chloride as a substitute for salt.
Oftentimes when bodybuilders are cutting for a show they cut out many of the high sugar fruits and vegetables, many of which are important source of potassium, leading to massive drops in strength during hypocaloric states.
According to the FDA, the average American receives only half of the 4000mg recommended daily intake of potassium, though health issues only occur under severe levels of deficiency.
Filed under: Fitness, Nutrition, Weightlifting | Tags: bodybuilding, eggs, Fitness, milk, muscle, power, protein, Weightlifting
Just like differences exist between saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and monounsaturated fats, different kinds of protein exist.
I’m not talking about the 22 amino acids, though understanding how they interact in the body is important. Rather, I am talking about digestion rates. Casein and whey are the two types of protein from dairy products and, since most fitness enthusiasts drink copius amounts of milk or protein shakes, we’ll cover these types first.
Whey protein is the most commonly consumed protein by athletes and bodybuilders. It is very fast metabolizing, only staying in the system for about 2 hours. For this reason it is best to consume right after you work out with some carbs.
Casien is another type of dairy protein. It is quite good for a fat burning cycle to consume instead of carbs. It has a strong thermogenoc effect and stays on the system for up to 6 hours. It will keep you full and is good to take after working out or right before you go to bed to ensure satisfactory muscle reconstruction.
Egg isolate is another valuable type of protein. It is the protein found in egg whites. Unlike other types of protein it has a 100% absorption rate. It lasts up to four hours in the body, making it ideal for breakfast consumption. By the time you hit your next meal, your body will be ready to use more protein.
Beef, chicken, and fish also have slightly different protein composition. Fish is the most easily absorbed, with chicken next, then steak.
In the words of Bill Pearl, probably the greatest vegetarian bodybuilder of all time, “Red meat is definitely not the secret to building muscle”. Keep your red meat intake low but the others high in order to avoid the ridiculous amounts of cholestrol and numerous bad effects.
Beginners should get 1.5g per pound of body weight each day. Advanced lifters may need up to 2g per pound to rebuild tissue.
Happy lifting.
Filed under: Fitness, Weightlifting | Tags: bodybuilding, Fitness, power, squat, weighlifting
The squat may just be the most neglected excercise in the gym. We have all seen it. The go to the gym and people are poised over the weight rack, curling 30 pound dumbbells furiously, hoping their arms will look like Arnold’s overnight. The sad thing is, these guys completely neglect their leg development. Why is leg development important you ask? It helps you walk I say. Your knee health is one of the first things to go as you get into later age, and muscular strength follows it quickly. By maintaining both the power and endurance of your legs, i.e. doing lifting and cardiovascular activity where you actually move your bodyweight, not just running on a treadmill, you can maintain the integrity of your leg strength and thus, your ability to walk, jump, run from the neighborhood mugger, etc.
A further benefit of doing leg excercises in conjunction with a solid upperbody routine is that working out any muscle fibers, as long as you keep the total time of your anaerobic workout below an hour, increases your body’s testerone production for up to 48 hours afterwards. Testerone is a crucial component of the muscle building formula. The amount of testosterone produced increases in relation to the amount of muscle fibers stimulated, which is where we arrive at the squat.
The squat stimulates more muscle fibers than any other weightlifting excercise, even the deadlift. You can throw away your torso raises, your leg curls, and your crunches if you dedicate yourself to the squat. It hits much of the back complex, especially the lower back, practically all of the legs, and the abdominals as well. I have a couple hints for making sure you are squatting correctly and for improving your lifts.
1. Try it first without the weight Thats right, just use the bar your first time around. Part of weightlifting is building muscle memory, just like playing an instrument. The more exact your perform your movements, keeping each rep and range of motion the same, the better your mind will remember the task and the better you will be able to perform it the next time.
2. Watch Your Range of Motion Don’t go to far down, but make sure you go far down enough. I recommend going down far enough to put your thighs parallel to the floor. Some studies have shown that going below this level, especially for taller excercisers, will comprise the integrity of their knees in the long run. We are trying to keep these healthy, so its worth being aware of. Not going down far enough will only fail to activate enough muscle fibers to make the lift worthwhile. If you have been squatting improperly for a long time, trying to change your form will be like starting over because you only have strength in such a limited range of the motion.
3. Make Your Block Making a block is the most important part of the squat. It helps prevent injury, as the squat can be one of the most dangerous excercises if you perform it incorrectly. To make a block, first hold the bar on your traps with your arms behind you holding the bar slightly more than shoulder width apart. Next, put your feet at the same spacing. Next, stick out your butt and curve your lower back in while keeping the upper back straight. Tense your abs, pushing your stomach slightly if neccesary. Keeping your back straight while keeping your lower back curved in is the most important part of the block. If this was not enough to tell you how to do a proper block, do more research. Here is a good article.
4. Alternate Your Rep Scheme Keeping the excercise fresh for the body is one of the most important parts of a successful lifting program. It is more effective to alternate your rep schemes than to change excercises. Some bodybuilders have gotten great quads from doing up to 50 reps of squats in a set! Though I do not suggest you need to be so masochistic, changing up your reps frequently will work different groups of muscle fibers. I suggest starting out with a low rep scheme, maybe 6 to 8 reps for 5 sets. Do the squat two or three times a week for two weeks. Next, do the same number of sets, but move to 10 to 12 reps for two weeks. For the final two weeks, try 12 to 15 reps. Simply restart this scheme and you will be well on your way to strength and endurance. This is a highly oversimplified periodization scheme. Once you get more advanced in the squat, feel free to look into more advanced routines.
One of the routines I have heard great things about is the Smolov Squat Routine.
Got some awesome news. I just found out Caparison guitars now have a official dealer in the US! Check out www.guitarasylum.com
If you haven’t heard of Caparison, Chris Amott of Arch Enemy, Matias ia Eklundh, and the guitarists for the Dillinger Escape Plan endorse them. Check out the site.
Filed under: Economics, Environmental | Tags: electric car, huffington post, neil young
I had no idea but apparently Neil Young is a blogger for the Huffington Post, one of the better online news websites with an independent perspective. He wrote quite a good article on the electric car. Here it is.
Filed under: Fitness | Tags: emon hassan, new york, photography, umbrellas
I found this guy quite randomly. His work is rather quirky yet it speaks to me. Here’s a link to one of my favorite sets of his. Be sure to check him out.
Filed under: Politics, Ridic | Tags: birth certificate, mccain, obama, Politics
Unsurprisingly, Barack Obama’s birth certificate is still being slandered. Anyone listening to CNN the night of Barack Obama’s acception speech on Nov. 4 might have remembered a woman calling in afterwards to say that President-Elect Obama still had not produced a valid birth certificate and that he was not in fact an American citizen. She said she had called the FBI earlier in the day and they were going to investigate the matter for her.
My good friend and countryman Oscar Wilde once said, “I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability”. This quote describes this woman beautifully. I could not be more happy if they took uneducated, partisan pundits like Glenn Beck off of the air. Appealing to the lowest common denominator will boost profits in the short run, yes, but will ultimately make stupidity far too popular. More popular than it has already become. What happened to the valuation of intelligence in the governance of country and mind?
The slander that is shoveled upon each political party ranges from the inane to the ridiculous, yet somehow we take it as part of the game and move on. What then are we to do when the next level is reached, when we have become so acclimated to the defamation and falsehoods of today that we can no longer realize them? They will have become a foundation of crushed bone upon which the new idiocy flourishes, furthering our ignorance of and complacence with the way our world is run.
I wanted to post two websites I found with interesting accusations of Obama’s birth certificate being falsified.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/obama-birth.html
http://lamecherry.blogspot.com/2008/08/proof-barack-obama-birth-certificate-is.html
