Category Archives: Uhm?
Jillian Michaels – I don’t want you representing women’s fitness
Jillian Michaels trying crossfit (Sorry I for some reason couldn’t get the video to embed!)
I was very disappointed with Jillian Michaels after watching this video. She honestly looks AWFUL performing every one of these exercises. Shouldn’t a famous trainer make sure she looks good doing exercises before she tries them on TV?
Also, I was disappointed to find out that Jillian really can’t even do more than one unassisted pull up. WHAT!?!
I find it kind of sad that Jillian, who doesn’t seem that strong and looked pathetic performing those exercises on TV, represents female fitness in mainstream media.
Sorry Jillian, but I think you sold out and now are a disappointment to the world of women’s fitness. Did you ever really have a passion for fitness? If so…where did it go because I don’t see it.
What do you think about this video? Does it upset you to find out that she really doesn’t look athletic when exercising?
Can we please elect someone like Annie Thorsdottir or Lindsey Smith the female fitness rep. for mainstream media?
Weekly Ramblings and wonderful links
Haha I guess "balanced" isn't the right word for the 80/20 rule...
- Did you know that stressed is desserts spelled backwards? I just saw this the other day and I LOVE THIS FACT!
- Here is a great article about the8 People Who Will Ruin Your Attempt to Lose Weight. Do you know any people like this? I definitely know people like this..they both sabotage your diet and their own!
- Also, I’ve been looking at some article about fitness trends for 2012…I was glad to see strength training on there! But sad to see that “training for obese youth” was also a trend. This needs to change! We need a Man Bicep class for kids (which will include lots of dodgeball and climbing in trees!). 🙂
- What truly is “functional fitness?” I see a lot of different workouts being called “functional” and some of them don’t seem like they are training your body to handle real-life situations AT ALL…
- I think this may be why our youth is fat. Pizza is NOT a vegetable!
- I’m definitely guilty of trying to convince people that my diet is the best BUT I try to do it by questioning them on why they do theirs not by raving about mine (unless they ask for details of course…or I’m posting to Man Bicep!).
- I am AWESOME! 🙂 I found this link on Fit and Feminist the other day (She beat me to posting the pizza is a vegetable link too!) 🙂 and I think it makes a great point. A lot of us don’t praise ourselves enough. SO start today by saying, “I’m AWESOME!
Weight lifting gloves? REALLY!?!
The new (unnecessary) gym fashion accessory.
Why do I see so many women (and men for that matter) wearing weight lifting gloves around the gym?
Was there some news article recently that said they are the new hottest gym fashion accessory?
I just don’t get it.
I’ve never seen a point to lifting gloves and I have no intention of ever getting them. Are people really that afraid of getting blisters and calluses?
I mean most of the women I see wearing them are lifting the barbie weights anyway, which are already covered in plastic and won’t give you blisters and calluses.
For two, part of the “gnarly-ness” of lifting a ton of weight is getting calluses and blisters!!! They are sort of like battle scars…just like the bruises on your shins that you can get from deadlifting!
I mean why are people wasting money on lifting gloves? Someone please explain why I wouldn’t just want to be super awesome and gnarly and lift without gloves? 😉
Also, can someone please explain to me why I see a ton of men walking around with lifting belts on? For one, they should strengthen their cores so they don’t need them. For two, most of them aren’t lifting enough weight to need them. And three, most of them should work on their form before putting on a belt or adding another plate!
Ok…please just stop with all the ridiculous accessories people!!!
Vanishing of the Bees
Ok so sometimes I’m really glad that Ryan picks out the TV shows and movies that we watch because I would never have watched this documentary on my own (of course this also has a downside…sometimes I’m forced to watch movies like Step Brothers BLEH).
Anyway, yesterday we watched Vanishing of the Bees. The documentary talks about the fact that honeybees have been literally disappearing from their hives…just sort of dying off.
Which may leave you thinking…who cares all they are used for is honey…BUT THAT IS FALSE!
Honeybees are the reason that we have most of our vegetable and fruit crops.
Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.
So without the honeybees, we would be EXTREMELY dependent on foreign crops.
So of course…scientists began trying to figure out ways to SOLVE the problem…let’s be clear here…not ways to PREVENT the problem…but ways to SOLVE the problem.
They tried dividing up the hives to repopulate the abandoned ones. They tried antibiotics. But nothing was really solving the issue of the disappearance of the bees (or as they call it Colony Collapse Disorder). Hives were still being abandoned and droves of honeybees were still dying off.
The farmers then find out from their European colleagues that the disappearance of their honeybees may have something to do with the pesticides being used on some of the crops that the honeybees are pollinating.
The pesticides may be killing off the bees! But does the government respond by pulling the product off the market? NOPE!
Why? Because we would rather solve a problem with a new product rather than prevent it by not using an old one.
We would rather create drugs for ailments and disease than prevent them by educating people on healthy eating.
We have the attitude of we can SOLVE any problem so we don’t need to worry about PREVENTION.
BUT PREVENTION IS KEY!!!
Prevention will help us keep this planet healthy. Prevention will help you keep yourself healthy!!!
It’s like I tell my clients, you invest in your health now (prevention) so you don’t have to spend more money later dealing with all the medical bills (trying to solve the problems).
The same applies to almost every aspect of our lives, including the fact that it is worth spending more money on grass-fed beef and organic vegetables to save our environment and our health.
I mean…think about it…if pesticides are killing the bees…they’ve got to have some effect on us. Not to mention if the bees die off so do most of our fruits and vegetables!!
So stop believing there will be a solution to any problem and start trying to PREVENT the problems!!! Start eating well and buying organic and taking care of yourself!!!
PREVENTION may be the BEST SOLUTION to any problem!
(DISCLAIMER: I’m really not a hippie…not that there is anything wrong with being one).
A look inside the randomness of my brain…
So this week’s random thoughts and facts…
- Thank you Francine for this article about a Paleo restaurant in Europe!! So awesome! I want one here! (Not to mention I love the fact that the US New’s Diet Rankings is torn apart at the end!) Do you think a Paleo restaurant will be successful?
- Did you know there is such a thing as caffeine loaded beef jerky? There is even a brand called Perky Jerky. Maybe you don’t need 80-100 cups of coffee to kill yourself with caffeine….maybe you just need 60 cups and some Perky Jerky!
- Apparently, you can make cheat meals healthy…HA! How to turn 10 fat-happy foods and drinks into fat burners
- AND I just found out that wearing nude high heels can actually make you look slimmer! OMG! This is really what is making headlines?!?! I don’t think it is the high heels that made her look slimmer…I think it is her posture…but that’s just me…
- Why when you type into Google’s “news” search can you find a ton of recent articles about dieting but not a ton about fitness or health (unless it is about a fitness center closing or a health tax)? Oh wait it’s because the dieting industry is like a bazillion dollar industry that consistently tries to convince us that there is some SECRET formula to weight loss!
- Why does it seem like pull ups never get easier no matter how much you do them? Even when you can do 10 in a row, one still feels near impossible…Anyone else agree?
- Did you know that a lot of “knee pain” is caused by tightness of another muscle around the knee such as the IT band or even the quad? I know most people jump right to something being wrong with the knee instead of considering the fact that there may be other issues in their kinetic chain! Remember the parts of your body work together…an ankle injury could lead to problems with your knee even!
- I love chocolate…so I looked up whether or not chocolate addiction exists…it doesn’t seem like it does…but if it did…I’m a recovering chocolate addict.
- Can someone please help me finance a study about hibernation in humans? I’m super convinced it exists! 😉
Coffee – Good or Bad for You?
Who the heck knows!?! I feel like you hear people both touting the great benefits of coffee or saying that too much will kill you.
So I decided to try to settle the debate, which ended up being an epic failure.
I found this the other day on Leangains Facebook page. This article tells you that more than 1 cup of coffee per day has great health benefits for you. This article definitely made me think that coffee is good for you.
So I had to go in search of articles that didn’t agree. I honestly struggled to find anything recent that stated the negative effects of coffee (so maybe the debate is over?)
I did find that all of the common negative effects of coffee were linked to caffeine, such as the fact that the caffeine in coffee can cause lower bone mineral density.
Also, there is lots of debate as to whether or not coffee is good or bad for your cardiovascular health.
Caffeine blocking adenosine constricts the brain’s blood vessels. The heart beats rate increases, muscles tighten, the blood pressure booms, blood vessels near the surface constrict and more blood flows to the muscles.
I then found this…which made me kind of laugh:
Coffee can kill you! Just as any other drug, in small amounts, caffeine (and coffee) is a stimulant. But the coffee plant synthesizes the alkaloid with the purpose of killing its natural consumers. The grazer eating too much coffee will die. We, too, may be killed. The uncontrolled heart beats are the prelude of a heart attack.
Over 400 mg of caffeine (found in 4-5 cups of brewed coffee) can cause caffeine intoxication. Some even snort caffeine powder, which results in a more rapid and intense reaction. The symptoms are just like those induced by any other drug: restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, face flushing, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability, irregular heart beat, and psychomotor agitation.
So, you have to drink 80 to 100 cups of coffee very quickly to die… This also varies with the coffee variety, and cup size, as this determines how much caffeine enters your body. Actually, cases of death caused by coffee drinking have not been reported yet (at least from rapid drinking; the chronic effects are another story) but caffeine pills (just 2 g) are much more effective and have been proven lethal.
So coffee can either kill you or prevent a lot of bad diseases. Which is it? Anyone know?
My thoughts – Everything in moderation! If you don’t drink 80 cups of coffee a day (or NEED it to function) you are probably going to be fine!
Is Hibernation Mode Real?
Why do I want to turn into a couch potato and stuff my face each and ever year when the cold weather hits?
I mean this week, I haven’t been able to control myself – pizza, burritos, Chinese food…pints of ice cream!!! Even Candy and Ryan are having trouble with self-control (and trust me…both of them are WAY better at it than me!).
I’ve joked around in past years that weeks like this are just my body telling me it is time to go into hibernation. I mean each and every year toward the end of the fall (when it first gets cold), I eat… A LOT! AND this year, I’ve decided humans must have something in them that tells them that they want to hibernate (this week I haven’t been able to control myself even though I’ve told myself numerous times I wouldn’t go on another fall eating binge!).
So here is what I’ve found out about hibernation mode…
Hibernation is a:
State of greatly slowed metabolism and low body temperature in winter in certain animals. True hibernators include many cold-blooded animals and a few mammals (e.g., bats, hedgehogs) that go into a near-dead state with a near-freezing body temperature and very slow breathing and heart rate. Most hibernators build up a reserve of body fat or store food ahead of time.
See! I definitely have some of the “symptoms” of hibernation. I go into a near-dead state (aka being a couch potato) and I build up reserves of body fat (aka eating lots of chinese food and ice cream).
So since I have the “symptoms” of hibernation, I decided to do more research.
I googled “lists of animals that hibernate.” Badgers, bats, raccoons and chipmunks were on the list…but no humans and no Coris.
BUT that didn’t convince me that humans don’t in fact have some inclination to want to hibernate. So I googled “do humans have an inclination to hibernate.”
AND I FOUND THIS ARTICLE/POST THING!!!
No, humans cannot hibernate. Hibernation is a complex process involving profound changes in an animal’s physiology, hormonal regulation and metabolism. We humans have lost the ability to perform the entire intricate process of going into, maintaining, and coming out of hibernation. It is interesting to note, though, that some“modules” of the hibernation regulatory chain are still in place in humans.
SEE!! My wanting to sit on the couch and binge eat may have something to do with wanting to hibernate! haha
Absolute Randomness
So today all I can think about is the random discussions and facts that I’ve had this week. So I’ve decided to include them all here. I apologize that you must see this glimpse into what goes on in my brain on a regular basis.
Yesterday I was very amused by Candy and my shoes. So much so that I actually took pictures. Candy was wearing her new school Vibrams and I was repping the old school Converse.
New School
VS.
Old School
Ever since Ryan bought his first pair of Vibrams over a year ago, I’ve told him I would NEVER think of getting a pair…I must admit defeat in this battle though…I really want a pair like Candy’s!
BUT Converses are still the bombdiggity!
On to more randomness…
Some random topics I’ve thought about this week:
- Is being obsessed with eating healthily a disorder? According to Steve Bratman it is! He called this healthy eating obsession “Orthorexia.” He defined it as “an obsession with healthy or righteous eating.” He says it refers to people who “create severely limited diets in the name of healthy eating.” For more information on Orthorexia, click here. What do you think? Is orthorexia real?
- Do people really believe they are being healthier when they eat candy with less fat in it?
Maybe I should have gotten twizzlers...they have no fat...
- Uhm…what…the…heck…Edible Spray?
- Recently I’ve had numerous discussions about the safety of Crossfit and even extreme heavy lifting. One of the articles I was sent had to do with rhabdomyolysis. I personally don’t think this is a reason to not do Crossfit or any other intense workout program (I’ve known people who’ve gotten this from P90x). It is something to be aware of though. Anytime you go from doing nothing to working out intense 5-7 days a week, you have to understand the risks and potential consequences. I mean…there are risks to starting any intense workout routine and you should be aware of them. What do you think?
- Why are people so unwilling to question what their doctors tell them?
- Why do like 90% of the men you see in the gym not perform a full range of motion when they lift? My only guess is that they so concerned with the amount of weight they can lift that they don’t care if their lift is actually good.
- Will P90x2 be as good as P90x or is BeachBody just trying to sell more products?
AND the last piece of randomness I would like to include is the Burpee workout Candy and I did the other day. It is 210 burpees in 20 minutes. If for any reason you don’t hit the specified number of burpees in the minute, you must finish the remaining burpees in the next minute, but you can’t move on to the next set of burpees once you’ve finished the specified amount. You must wait until the next minute.
We wrote it down because we didn't think we could memorize it.
“All Natural” – HA!
Honestly, what does “all natural” mean?
When it’s on a food label, it means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
I found this “all natural” product the other day on a fitness blog (which will remain nameless because they should be ashamed of themselves for recommending this product!).
Vanilla frosting flavor...definitely sounds all natural to me
This is what the blog said, “A single-serving bag of these popped potato and multigrain crisps (similar to Popchips) have about 110 to 120 calories of crunchy munching in them. Not to mention that they’re all natural, with no cholesterol, no trans fat, no saturated fat, no preservatives, no MSG, no high fructose corn syrup, and are gluten-free and Kosher certified.”
These chips that they claim are “all natural” have tons of all natural ingredients in them like “vegetable oil, gum arabic, natural flavor, disodium phosphate, and vanilla frosting seasoning (which contained the gum arabic).”
Yea…sounds REAL natural to me.
The blog article also states, “While they don’t have a ton of nutritional value, they certainly don’t have a bunch of bad stuff in them and are a huge improvement over your usual full-fat chip.”
A huge improvement? Not bad? No nutritional value?
They sound just as bad to me! I mean they are freaking chips with no nutritional value!!
If they lack any nutritional benefit, why eat them?
If they are empty calories, you probably shouldn’t eat them unless you are cheating. I mean most of us aren’t active enough during the day to use those empty calories.
PLEASE DON’T LISTEN TO ARTICLES LIKE THIS!! If you have to make an excuse as to why a food is “ok” to eat, you probably shouldn’t be eating it!!!
AND don’t be fooled by food labels that say the product is “all natural.” If they have to tell you the product is “all natural,” it probably isn’t.
Shake Weight, Free Flexor and Tug Toner? HAHA
Have you ever seen the Shake Weight commercials and thought (while laughing), “That it is just so ridiculous and looks so sexual”?
I hope your answer is yes, but if you haven’t…at least half of the world has. South Park even has a whole episode about how sexual the Shake Weight is.
BUT despite the fact that the Shake Weight is SO FREAKING RIDICULOUS, it has actually done very well. The Shake Weight made $40 million in revenue by August 2010.
It has done so well in fact that someone else has decided to make a new piece of sexual workout equipment…
The Free Flexor.
I’m speechless…who the heck actually buys these things? I would say that people are only buying them as gag gifts for friends, but $40 million in sales states otherwise.
At least some people see the humor in these products. I love this bit by Jimmy Kimmel.
Man Bicep 