Don’t miss these great links!

Another mixed bag of strange and wonderful links for your education and entertainment, this week:

Kicking things off, the Science of Sport has an interesting article about the 27-minute barrier in 10km running. Apparently, only 31 people have broken this barrier and only one of them is not an African. Chris Solinsky, normally a 5km runner, became that first non-African and is the heaviest man (at the massive weight of 73kg) to boot. To put that in perspective, he is 9kg heavier than the next heaviest man on the list. Quite amazing. If you’re at all interested in running, then this is a fascinating article.
Still on the subject of running, this interesting article in the New York Times covers the diet and exercise regime of ultra-marathon runner Scott Jurek. Interestingly, Jurek is a vegan and manages quite easily to eat 5,000 to 8,000 kcals per day to fuel his training.
Geoff Neupert is back feeling on top form after going back to Functional Movement Screening after a brief dalliance with Z-Health. Read about his positive experiences here.
Gym Junkies has posted a list of their favourite songs for working out. Apart from Public Enemy, I don’t have any of them. My CD-changer is stacked with Disturbed, RAGTM, Audioslave, Evanescance and Slayer. Seems like I might need to expand my record collection…
Researchers have found that obesity and diabetes cause falls in testosterone levels. Apparently, the more obese you become, the further your testosterone levels fall. All the more reason to drop the flab, then…
Jason Ferruggia isn’t renowned for being a man of many words but when he does put pen to paper in anger he often produces some moments of pure and unadulterated entertainment. Take this rant about training calves, of all things.
Nick Tumminello has done an explanatory article about the compound rows exercise he introduced to T-Nation readers a little while ago. Tumminello’s compound row looks a lot like Arnold’s seated row in Pumping Iron, where he leans forward and then rows all the way back, changing his torso angle significantly. Tumminello does the exercise standing and introduces hip-drive formally.
I’ve had a couple of people email me about my use of diet soda while I’m dieting. When the text of the email is “diet soda will stop you from losing weight because of [insert strange theory here]” then I tend to ignore it because in my experience I can drink diet soda and still lose 2lbs per week. Othertimes, though, the kind reader advises me that diet sodas are bad for my health. And I tend to agree but since I only drink them for 4-8 weeks a year and then only a glass every other day, I’m fairly happy that my intake is minimalised. However, here is an interesting article about acidity that can be caused by certain foods, including diet sodas, and why this is bad for you. Is it true or is it internet pseudo-science? Only you can decide…
Powerlifting Watch reports that powerlifter Matt Kroczaleski, who holds the all-time multi ply total at 220 with 2,551 pounds, tried his hand at bodybuilding this weekend at the NPC Michigan State Championships. Matt Kroczaleski, fondly known as “Kroc”, ended up winning the men’s open heavyweight division and thus qualifying for nationals. You can follow Kroc’s journey before, during, and after the competition in his training log. You may note that he makes liberal usage of diet sodas and the like…
Functional strength coach extraordinaire, Eric Cressey, has done a post about elbow pain, which includes a detailed analysis of the elbow anatomy. If you suffer from elbow pain, this might be the article need to get on the road to recovery.
As light entertainment, British readers will have heard of the graffiti legend that is Banksy. Banksy is now breaking into the US, as this picture in Boston shows…
More thoughtful entertainment now, as Kottke draws our attention to the late, great Douglas Adams on that most wonderful modern invention, the internet. His parting comments are worth quoting in full: ”one of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no ‘them’ out there. It’s just an awful lot of ‘us’.” Amen to that.