After last week’s fat-loss fest, here is a varied set of links for you to enjoy…
- First of all, it’s Rob Russell again at the top of the tree with this tale of how a legitimate phone book is torn. How is a phone book torn legitimately? Go and find out…
- RossTraining has some great ideas for homemade gym kit and these softball pull up grip tools are well worth looking into. Simply put, you drill eyelets into your softballs and hang carabiners off them. You then use the carabiners to hook the softballs over a squat rack and do pull ups holding the softballs. Kind of like towel grip pull ups, really.
- Nephropal has drawn our attention to a recent study done on coffee consumption. Trouble is, I’m not sure whether it means drinking coffee is now considered better or worse than before… If someone knows, can they enlighten me?
- Paul’s health blog draws our attention to the sugar content of everyday foods (and there are some big surprises in there!). The conclusion is that Starbucks is why we are fat, apparently. I guess Paul can’t have ever seen deep-fried Mars bars, then…
- Elliot Hulse (or John Barban, I’m confused. Are they the same person?) has an interesting article refuting the idea of fat set points and suggesting that set points only relate to lean mass. The logic is that there is no upper limit to fat mass but there is a lower limit to lean mass. I think I need to see a follow-up article to explain that one a bit more.
- John Izzo has done a great little interview with Mike Boyle (who was taking a short break from upsetting the NSCA), talking about some key points in relation to personal training and personal trainers.
- Strong and Fit propose that there are two different ways to lose fat: (1) to keep diet relatively normal and to increase cardio to increase energy consumption (like G-Flux); or (2) to use a protein-sparing fast approach where diet is really low-calorie and cardio is minimal. As they say, both are hard work.
- For those of you who don’t read Brian St Pierre’s blog, Brian has just announced that he is leaving Cressey Performance at the end of May. “BSP”, as he has become affectionately know in our household, is a great source of nutrition information and tips so we hope he continues the blog in his new job in Maine.
- For something completely unrelated but very geeky, check out these 10 things that you probably didn’t know about J R R Tolkein, the author of Lord of the Rings.
- Strongerman has an interesting theory about chest-expanders and how they came to be a test of strength. I won’t spoil it for you but if you like your history it’ll make you smile.
- Apparently, according to scientists who study these things, Usain Bolt appears to be operating at a level approximately 30 years beyond that of the expected capabilities of modern man. Apparently, according to these scientists, Bolt belonged not in the 2008 Olympics but the 2040 Olympics! Michael Johnson, the hero of the 1996 Olympics, has made the point in a different way. ”A runner capable of beating Bolt”, he says, “hasn’t been born yet.”
There’s been a dearth of Darth Vader related and Star Wars related material recently and I was thinking of quietly giving up on the weekly Star Wars links but thenI came across these two amazing posts:
- Here is a round-up of some of the best of Stormtroopers 365, a daily photo sequence which finished recently.
- And here is a video of what Darth Vader actually sounded like before James Earl Jones dubbed him.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSm9DDxQv8E
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