Don’t miss these great links!

Once again, I have a range of varied links for your delectation and amusement. Some are fitness related – there are a few bits about powerlifting and strongman in there – and others are not. If you find one interesting link here that you might otherwise not have done then I’m happy. I hope you enjoy them.

And another thing, The Garage Gym Online is 50 posts old today! Rather than bake a cake to celebrate, I made this photograph out of gym equipment instead. Here’s to the next 50 posts!

50 posts old

Anyway, back to the links already!

The post of the week goes to a blog I only recently came across and am still struggling to understand. I am not sure what to make of this remarkable assertion that muscle mass gained can be quantified by the work done. It is either an extremely intricate and clever spoof, utter genius or complete insanity. Will somebody who knows please enlighten me?
Following hot on the heels of my article about climbers on strength training, comes Jerry Moffatt’s success at the Banff Mountain Film Festival for his new book Revelations.
Similarly, a great article at Squat RX has a slowed down video of Tiger Woods displaying perfect hip drive during a swing. A good complement to my article the other day introducing hip mobility and lumbar stability and why they are important for lifting weights.
I love this photo of the lone wolf howling for his pack after feeding on elk in Yellowstone. Sorry, but I do.
Dave MacLeod trains on his overhanging climbing wall in his house. I love home-made gyms. I don’t care whether they’re traditional squat rack-based lifting garages, machine-filled living rooms or loft-covered climbing walls. I’m always excited when I see what other people have done in their houses and garages to advance their fitness goals and Dave is clearly very single-minded. Inspiring stuff.
As soon as I start increasing the calories, I always come across an article telling me not to bulk. I didn’t expect it to come from Frank Zane, though. This article took me a bit by surprise…
I keep a weather eye out for any and all strongman articles, and this one from Gym Junkies doesn’t entirely disappoint. The idea of using a sandbag for loading onto a high platform is a good one that I might try. But the picture of the guy lifting the atlas stone right next to the caption that says that equipment can be had free or at minimal cost made me chuckle. The only atlas stones I’ve ever seen cost as much as my car…
A recent post on NephroPal suggests that more than 4 cups of coffee per day is not beneficial for the health. As you can imagine, that didn’t put a smile on my face…
I’ve already linked to this article by Mike Westerdal about whether you have to be fat to be strong but I thought it’s worth mentioning it again. It will be interesting to see whether this leaner model represents a genuine change in the way that powerlifting and strongman will go in the future or whether the recent victory by Zydrunas over Pudzianowski will herald a return to the rounder giants.
Eric Moss explains why he doesn’t do kipping pull ups. I agree with a lot of what he says here. I would sum it up by saying that kipping pull ups were probably devised so that people who previously couldn’t do pull ups could now do them. A bit like press ups off your knees, really. A great idea for beginners but let’s leave it there.
Apparently, washing your face in cold water helps you recover faster. The technical description is that cold water face immersion appears to be a simple and efficient means of immediately accelerating post-exercise parasympathetic reactivation. I suspect that this has something to do with the mammalian diving reflex but I need to think it through properly. It might just be the appearance of recovery, as a result of the heart rate slowing down (bradycardia).
I like to think I’ve taken a few nice photos of mountains on my travels but I’ve never seen anything like this photo taken by Cameron McNeish in Nepal. Getting a cloud inversion, and the moon, and a sunset and a well-placed friend to pose properly all in one go is just taking the mickey.
Finally, a great post in praise of hard work and consistency comes from Bob Whelan.

And with that, I’ll wrap up this week’s links.

The Garage Gym Online