Chris Beardsley's Garage Gym

I’ve really been enjoying farming these links together for you each week and I’ve learned a huge amount about a variety of different types of strength sports and training methods already.  I think I’m going to make it a regular fixture.  What do you think?

• The post of the week this week goes to an article on Dave Draper’s site about self-myofascial release with a tennis ball.  Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard about Anatomy Trains and the trick where you roll the bottom of your foot with the ball and your hamstrings loosen off markedly.  But you won’t have heard these new tips about position point pressing and shearing.  Check it out.  It works.
• A double hit on Star Wars this week.  Firstly, my jaw dropped when I saw this photograph of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia off set.  I thought it was Christmas already!  If you grew up with posters of Return of the Jedi on your bedroom wall, then you need to see this.  And will somebody please tell Tony Gentilcore?  Secondly, these stormtroopers are just comedy genius.  Can we somehow get this guy a book deal?
• Sometimes I wonder whether I should just link all of the posts from the Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban.  They really are that good.  Anyway, this defence of power-building made me think of two things.  Firstly, I thought of that article about the great Bill Kazmaier, where one of his typical routines is outlined and the sheer volume and the (relatively) high reps are surprising (the picture of him is pretty amazing too).  Secondly, I thought of DC training, which sounds remarkably similar in certain respects.  I had not made the connection between DC training and strength gains: I thought of it more as a bodybuilding-specific programme but maybe I need to think harder about this…
• I love this story about Lance Armstrong.  In a perfect world, this story would be told to exercise physiology students in classes around the world on their first day of their first lecture series to explain why it’s not possible to train purely the cardiovascular system and in fact, even the idea of such training is completely meaningless.  All together now, “there is no such thing as cardio”.
• Apparently, Kellogg’s cereals have withdrawn captions claiming that their children’s cereals are healthy on account of added vitamins.  For more about the history of Kellogg’s foods, check out Dan John on the subject.
• Courtesy of Rob Russell at Kettlebell Sport, I now have the pleasure of reading posts from Pat Hodgson at HomemadeGymStuff.  I am intrigued by his homemade equipment for roman chair squats, creating a prisoner-inspired leg workout that only requires a sturdy upright post and some padded rope.  His previous iteration of the roman chair squat device was based on something that looks more like a glute-ham raise and required some welding skill to make.
• If you’ve been keeping up with Superhuman Radio in the last couple of months, then you may well have heard a number of podcasts about statins and how recent research suggests that they don’t really work and may in fact be harmful.  Statins act in order to inhibit cholesterol production, on the assumption that it is cholesterol that causes heart disease (many modern commentators dispute this).  This article by Dr Michael Eades discusses some very recent research, “a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study showing that statins reduce LDL but don’t stop the progression of atherosclerosis.”  In layman’s terms, this means that as best we can tell, reducing cholesterol doesn’t stop you getting plaque build up in your arteries.  So everything they told you about cholesterol in school is wrong.
• And if you’re into the way of the wiry warrior, then these articles about legend Bruce Lee (part one and part two) will keep you entertained.
• Finally, this fun post about the perfect mountain biking companion made me want to go out and buy a dog immediately.  I’m not sure how Jake would take to that, though…

Jake enjoys his uninterupted naps on my bed (and passes his condolences to Rob at Real World Health and Training, who lost Oliver this week).

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