Attention Scale Addicts, part 2

Latest blog post from Jason Seib of Primitive Stimulus!

Brace yourself. I’m coming at you with all guns blazing on this one and you aren’t going to believe what you’re about to see. First things first, if you haven’t read my diatribe condemning your bathroom scale, please begin there.

Alright, now that you are caught up, let’s revisit Deb from my last post. Deb has been kind enough to let me exploit her for your education on these here interwebs and I am very grateful. Showing the world where she started isn’t easy, but she is a kind person who wants to help you and she has accomplished some remarkable things in her health and fitness.

So here is Deb at the beginning of a contest we held at my gym in January of last year.

Here she is at a size zero with her nutrition dialed. For the full effect of this picture, place your thumb on your screen directly over the ugly guy on the right.

Heavy Lifting, No Rest, Candy: the Bulgarian Method

By HANNAH KARP

Danville, Calif.

Ivan Abadjiev knows a thing or two about heavy lifting.

U.S. weightlifters haven't won an Olympic gold medal for 40 years. Now they're hoping the Bulgarians can bring them success. Ivan Abadjiev, who lead their national team to multiple championships, is bring his "Bulgarian Method' to a new academy in Danville, Calif.

Bulgaria's most renowned weightlifting coach led his tiny country to a stunning Olympic victory over the Soviet Union in 1972. By the 1980s his country's strongmen completely dominated world competitions, hoisting more than three times their body weight—a feat that has rarely been matched. He's produced champions in Turkey and Qatar—and he even turned around his country's junior national badminton team.

Now, at age 79, the soft-spoken, silver-haired legend who speaks little English is taking on his most difficult challenge to date: Convincing American athletes they can do better. If only, that is, they would only adopt "the Bulgarian method."

Under the Bulgarian method, which Mr. Abadjiev invented, there is no danger of overtraining. The body, if pushed gradually and consistently, will adapt to any level of stress. Practice should ideally consume nearly half of one's waking hours and, most important, there are no days off. The theory is that injury and fatigue are less likely while adrenaline is coursing through the body, stimulating protein synthesis. Junk food is fair game.

Perkins The Human Machine (HUNGRY BEAST)

WOD's week of 7/25

WOD #1
Warm up
Run 400m
Pull ups
L-hang on bar
Push up complex
Superman
Lateral lunges
KBS


Skill 
Pike to invert on rings


Partner WOD
AMRAP 20 minutes
Pike to invert  3 each
KB toss 10 throws

Film features five athletes in tough CrossFit program

Film features five athletes in tough CrossFit program
BY MICHAEL D. REID, TIMES COLONIST JUNE 9, 2011

If you thought running a marathon or doing your first Ironman was the ultimate fitness achievement, think again.

It's akin to taking a stroll from the couch to the fridge for a midnight snack compared to meeting the CrossFit challenge.

An intense strength and conditioning system employed by police academies, military units, martial artists and professional athletes, CrossFit is the ultimate fitness challenge, one you can learn all about in the documentary Every Second Counts.

An inside look at the worldwide CrossFit culture and community, Every Second Counts follows five athletes as they compete in what has been described as the world's most comprehensive test of physical fitness.

From addressing the needs of housewives and the elderly to elite Olympic athletes and terrorist trackers, the CrossFit program is the ultimate endurance test, and the film reveals what it takes to meet the extreme challenges it requires.

The load and intensity of the open-source program are scaled for the individual user, say its practitioners. Intense weightlifting, pull-ups, sprinting, shoveling dirt and short, high-intensity cardiovascular workouts are typical elements.

Presented by Vancouver-based film and CrossFit enthusiast Josh Kalef, Every Second Counts will be screened June 15 at 8 p.m. at Cinecenta.

Tickets are $10 at the door, and regular Cinecenta prices, passes and tickets aren't valid at this event.

mreid@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

15 Food Companies That Serve You 'Wood'

Miriam Reimer

03/02/11 - 04:58 PM EST

( Wood pulp, or cellulose, in processed food report updated with the addition of Pepsi, Kellogg and Weight Watchers International.) 

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Are you getting what you pay for on your plate?

The recent class-action lawsuit brought against Taco Bell raised questions about the quality of food many Americans eat each day.

Chief among those concerns is the use of cellulose (read: wood pulp), an extender whose use in a roster of food products, from crackers and ice creams to puddings and baked goods, is now being exposed. What you're actually paying for -- and consuming -- may be surprising.

Cellulose is virgin wood pulp that has been processed and manufactured to different lengths for functionality, though use of it and its variant forms (cellulose gum, powdered cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, etc.) is deemed safe for human consumption, according to the FDA, which regulates most food industry products. The government agency sets no limit on the amount of cellulose that can be used in food products meant for human consumption. The USDA, which regulates meats, has set a limit of 3.5% on the use of cellulose, since fiber in meat products cannot be recognized nutritionally.

"As commodity prices continue to rally and the cost of imported materials impacts earnings, we expect to see increasing use of surrogate products within food items. Cellulose is certainly in higher demand and we expect this to continue," Michael A. Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors, told TheStreet.

>> 10 Food Stocks Hit by Commodity Inflation

Running on toes in Ecuador

Overhead Stability in the Snatch

Overhead Stability in the SnatchGreg Everett June 17 2011 When an athlete has difficulty supporting the bar overhead in the snatch, it's natural to immediately assume there is insufficient strength and to address the problem with strength work. While this may often be the problem, or at least one part of it, there are other elements to consider that may be preventing the athlete from properly using what may be adequate strength. In some cases, these problems can be corrected very quickly and save everyone a lot of headaches. When it comes to supporting weight overhead, proper structure is the most important element. Strength is required to reinforce that structure, but we're not relying on muscular strength directly. The ability to lockout the elbows in the snatch or jerk is extremely important, and this can be easily demonstrated. Press a weight overhead and stop just short of elbow lock; when you begin to fail, lock the elbows completely and you'll find you can suddenly continue holding the weight. This is why individuals without the ability to completely lock the elbows are at a huge disadvantage in the sport, although there have been world records set by lifters with very poor elbow extension.

CrossFit - "Our Sport"

Alternating foot pulls / Forward Lunge