Shift Happens

Dantonio on The Game

Video find courtesy of KBob.

Home Improvements

Just wanted to take a second and show everyone what I've added to my house. This is the spare bedroom. I have the same in my room as well.

Higher Education?

If you have 4 minutes to spare, check out this video:



Thanks for the clip, TJ.

Spotter Please!!

Stretching is an important element to proper fitness training. Here's one great reason why.

Thanks for the video TJ.

Age or Generation?

I've been training at a new gym for almost a month now. The facility is only a couple miles from work which is a 20 minute drive from home. We workout in the morning before work, needless to say I'm forced to use the showers at the gym. All of the showers are private so it's not really that bad...EXCEPT...

In college the faculty would use the same locker room as the students in the REC. My fraternity had a chapter/faculty adviser that swam religiously so it was common to run into him at the REC. That's fine, Doc Reynolds is a great guy and everyone enjoyed listening to his stories and taking the wisdom he was willing to give...EXCEPT...

The problem in both of these scenarios is all the old naked dudes strolling around the locker room with their towel tossed over their shoulder. No lie, I've actually seen multiple nekkid men in a circle talking and stretching. WTF, who does that? When is this behavior acceptable?

In college I thought it must be an age thing. You know, when I get older I'll care less about flashing my junk or something like that. But now that I'm nearly 30 (I know 30 is not old but it's getting old) I don't have any less reservations about keeping my privates private. I started wondering if this actually has more to do with generation than age. I believe I'm on to something here. What are your thoughts? More importantly, does this happen in the ladies locker room and please tell me it's reversed...young ladies in their 20s like to prance around in what God gave them. Then as father time and mother nature do their thing to the elder ladies they start to bundle up.

Last semester!!

Yeah it’s been a while since my last post…so what!

My last semester in grad school is in full swing now and so far it’s been one of the most un-enjoyable semesters I’ve experienced since I’ve been in the program. My dissatisfaction has nothing to do with the content. I have classes in negotiation and the Capstone course every MBA must take before graduation, which I am very interested in both. The third class is a directed study to investigate market feasibility of patents owned by Delphi. I was selected along with two other colleagues to pilot this class. Needless to say it’s an honor to be selected and exciting to be involved with real-life products that a bankrupt company may use to assist in their resurgence, if that’s possible.

The problem with this semester is with two of my profs. Typically, I’m not the type of student to unnecessarily blame teachers for my experience, BUT I can’t help it in this case. Both profs have made the same major mistake in lecture. The lecture simply covers the material that was assigned to read. In most classes I’ve taken in grad school the lecture is supplemental to the reading. It does not (and should not) simply review the assigned reading. That was acceptable in high school, I guess. It’s absolutely not acceptable in an MBA program. The other problem one of the profs has is that he’s entirely unorganized and has not properly explained his expectations. For example he requires us to submit a “thought paper” and a Journal entry every other week. He has yet to explain the difference between these papers. OH and he requires us to write a paper reflecting our thoughts and feelings regarding the exercises we do in class. Now what the hell is the difference between my “thought paper” and my thoughts about the exercises? Last night we spent about 20 minutes trying to understand what he wanted in these assignments. The entire class is still confused. We just got frustrated and told him to get back to us when he could give an acceptable description of the assignments.

I’ll just write something up then negotiate a better grade. After all it is a negotiation class.

Val-Du II

Still not sure if this is a campground or a parking lot for Gravedigger & Bigfoot.

Val-Du

Redneck Heaven

NASCAR fans unite to hit the dunes.

Val-Du Lakes

I'm all set for my last summer trip for 2007. I'm headed to Val-Du Lakes in Mears, MI. We should be rolling in late tonight and returning sometime Sunday. I have never been to Val-Du and have no idea what to expect, but I have heard amazing stories from past years about the fun-times at Silver Lake, Lake Michigan and the Dunes in the area. Check back throughout the weekend for picture updates. It should be interesting. Hopefully I'll return with some good stories to share.

Have a fantastic Labor Day weekend!

3-Days To Fight Cancer

A very good friend of mine, Gretchen Chapin, has taken on a new challenge. She along with 2 other incredible women have volunteered to walk 60 miles over the course of 3 days to help raise money and awareness for breast cancer.

Of course the primary objective is to raise money. If you'd be interested in supporting please see the link below:

http://www.the3day.org/michigan07/gretchenchapin

Given the current economic climate it may not be possible to give money but remember that donating your contacts by posting a bulletin, blog or email may prove to be more beneficial than any gift of money. I appreciate you taking the time to consider supporting this cause as I'm sure Gretchen and her team are as well.

The Gameday Pro

After a few months of ironing out our process, developing pricing and getting the website to function we’re finally ready to begin taking orders. By now you’re probably wondering wtf I’m talking about. Easiest way to understand is to just visit the site here TheGamedayPro.

The Gameday Pro creates custom sports memorabilia. We’ll take any digital graphic and transfer it to a football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, hockey puck, softball and/or Christmas ornament.

We’re targeting HS Booster clubs and any other organization interested in easy fundraising without any upfront expense. We’ve also recently been approached by a couple companies interested in our products for marketing purposes as well as fantasy sports leagues for trophies and other gifts. We’re currently investigating the possibility of creating custom mini-helmets to go along with the other merchandise. If you know of anyone who may be interested in something like this please direct them to the site.

People of Monroe have been working all night to clean the city.

Storm damage in Monroe

Mobile Blogging Update

So it didn't go so well tonight. The Hens did win but the mobile posts did not go through. I learned my lesson though.

The problem is that Verizon send messages from two sources depending on if it's a text message or picture message. I originally claimed my text service but not the pix service. If I would have sent a basic text to my blog it would have gone through just fine. Since I sent a picture first...not to mention a bad one...it sent me a basic claim message so I stopped sending the pictures.

Hopefully this will work better for me in the future. Thanks for suffering through my learning process.

Omar Infante found in Toledo.

Mobile Blogging with Verizon

I'm sure it has been obvious to most of you that I'm new to blogging/writing, but now I'm going to attempt to expand the blogging experience to my mobile device. No more excuses for not updating the blog with a picture at least.

I'll be at a Toledo Mud Hens game tonight and hopefully I'll be able to snap some decent pictures to send to my blog. If this doesn't turn out well I won't know until I get home so please forgive any errors I may create trying this.

Be Inspired Again

As mentioned earlier I am a proud subscriber to to Entrepreneur Magazine. One of the main reasons I enjoy it is because of the inspirational articles and quotes I pick up from others who have been exactly where I am right now or where I hope to be in the near future. It's easy to get bogged down with the ideas that fail to translate into anything substantial or to start listening to the many many people who are there to laugh and put plans down. Entrepreneur mag can help muscle through these low times.

My last post, of course, was titled "Be Inspired" mainly because I was looking for inspiration my self. Little did I know Entrepreneur's Editorial Director Rieva Lesonsky would title her editor's note the exact same thing. (No I had not seen that magazine before my post). Rieva's inspiration came in the form of quotes collected by magazine readers. Below are a few that I found interesting:

"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't." - A student in an entrepreneurship class

"I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed. And the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep trying!" -Tom Hopkins

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." - Henry Ford

"A leader must accomplish the difficult task of getting those on the team to believe that 'we' supersedes 'me.'" - John Wooden

"Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them." - Constance Newman

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a know and hang on." - Ben Franklin

"Illegitimis non carborundum. That's Latin for: Don't let the bastards grind you down."


I am always in search of great quotes. If you have any, please share them.

Be Inspired

What a Philanthropist

Anyone else see a problem with this?

I pay. You pay. We ALL pay. Good or Bad?

I've commented before on the intellectual horse power of you, my faithful readers. Now I'd like to challenge your opinions in an attempt to 1)Learn something myself from you and 2) open constructive dialog on an important topic that I feel we as 20 and 30 somethings really need to understand.

The question is simple. Is single-payer healthcare good for our great country or not? (check the poll to the right)

I haven't seen the movie Sicko yet, but I will just to understand what Michael Moore is spinning on the subject. Please understand that it's also our obligation to understand the opposing argument then make our decision based on those opinions, facts and personal beliefs.

Here's a link to an article in the Toledo City Paper, a free publication we get down here in T-Town similar to Real Detroit and MetroTimes.

I am anxious to read your thoughts.

Buick wins

Buick has started the slow process of turning perception back toward what is and most likely always has been real. That reality, I believe, is that US-made cars are not truly that different in regard to dependability and quality than foreign made rigs. The problem is that owners of foreign cars have, for years, yelled louder about the quality of their Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Perhaps, they've been making excuses or defending their automobile selection.

Doesn't really matter.

Point is, more people yell about the superior quality of foreign made cars. People listen and then. . .don't get me started again about how stupid the American public can be. Sheeple just start following along without a clue. Next thing you know Detroit's industry is non-existent. OK, I know the fall of the auto industry in this country is more complicated than that but perception is a huge factor in our buying patterns. No?

So, in case you've been under a rock today or you just don't care that much about the auto industry I'll fill you in. J.D. Power has released their rankings for all types of car related categories and Buick has tied Lexus(Toyota) in the Dependability Study. Keep in mind Lexus has owned this honor alone for the past 11 years.

Nice job Buick!! U.S.A. OK!

[read story from Autoblog here]

Attention Entrepreneurs

The freep is reporting that there is a cocaine shortage in The D. The market should be right for making money. The shortage is driving up prices and perhaps competition is lower as well. Any entrepreneur's dream market, Cha-Ching! Now all I need to do is lose my ethics, morals and find a sense of adventure (to jail or hell).

Although there was no way to strictly quantify the reports of the cocaine shortage, Walters' office said the average price of a kilogram of cocaine in Detroit was between $18,500 and $24,000 in the last three months of 2006 and has continued to rise substantially since then, by as much as 70%...

70%!!! A business with that type of growth may get you hired as the next Cerberus owned Corp's CEO.

Asked about the effect on crime a shortage and rising prices can have, [director of National Drug Control Policy for the Bush administration, John P.] Walters said that generally there is less violence when the drug market contracts and that if people can’t get cocaine, they are more likely to seek help for their addiction. The vast majority of drug-related violence, he said, is traced to people under the influence – and a shortage can mean fewer people using the drug.

Well good, as long as Bush's administration says it. Must be true.

Don't laugh. This could happen to you...

Enjoy. I'm biting another very entertaining video posted by Alwyn Cosgrove, but I knew TJ would enjoy this video too much to not post it.

Detroit - Best Sports City, 2007

It's about time we're recognized for what we really are, a fantastic sports city. Sporting News has released it's Mighty 99 and The D tops the list for 2007.

The ranking is based on regular-season won-lost records (from the most recently completed season); playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids; championships; applicable power ratings; quality of competition; overall fan fervor as measured in part by attendance as percentage of venue capacity; abundance of quality teams; stadium and arena quality; ticket availability and prices; franchise ownership; and marquee appeal of athletes.

Hip-Hop Mayor is quoted in response to the SN honor, but we all know he'd rather be giving chest-bumps and ass-slaps to Bron Bron in Cleveland. That's right I'm still upset by the way Detroit's mayor fell over himself to get next to King James during the playoffs.

DETROIT IS THE GREATEST SPORTS CITY! Just ask us.

Platte River Adventure

First of all, I have to thank Dr. Squirrel for organizing this trip. I’m looking forward to it for years to come. We were originally planning to float the Betsie River but due to canoe livery issues we had to switch to the Platte River at the last minute. Personally, I find it difficult to believe we’d have had a better time than we did. The weather was incredible all weekend for floating and camping. Everyone in the group seemed to have a great time except for a small complication involving a generator at about 8am, but believe me the coffee was worth it.

Another interesting twist to the float involved a bunch of children, secret service, DNR and other state law enforcement agents. Evidently, the National Governors Association’s annual meeting was hosted by our Governor Jen-Jen in Traverse City. One of the activities scheduled for all the governors’ children was to float the river and we just happened to float with them their entire trip. At first we were a little concerned because we may or may not have been bending the alcohol per vessel limits. Needless to say they didn’t care about us as long as we stayed away from the kids.

Here are some of the pictures I took on the river:

Dr. & Mrs. Squirrel - Starting our trip.

The water is incredibly clear compared to the Au Sable.

The whole group almost to Loon Lake.

The group. Loon Lake sand bar. Some crazy naked guy in a kayak.

I believe this is a fish weir. I'm open to other suggestions if I'm wrong. This is also where the governors' kids jumped in the river.

Ride is almost over now.

That's Lake Michigan you're looking at. Absolutely amazing river to float.

Thanks to the group for waiting for me to finish looking at the lake and taking these last couple pictures. I strongly encourage everyone to check out the Platte River as well as the rest of this part of the great state of Michigan.

For my next summer adventures I'll be returning to Mio to mountain bike some of the incredible trails in the area (Hanson Hills - Grayling). Then over to the west side for a Labor Day Lake party on Silver Lake in Mears, MI. I hope to get better pictures for all of you to enjoy.

Get out there and enjoy the summer while it lasts!

Vacation again!

I'll be away from my computer for a few days as I travel to Houghton Lake. Then I'll be heading back to Mio again. When I return I'll have updates and pictures from the Platte River canoe trip and hopefully some pics from Houghton Lake.

Have a great weekend!

Michael Vick. Really!?

Thought I'd start the week off with one more shot at Vick.

Vick's future with Nike

More loss for Vick. It's still not enough. CNN Money reported that Nike will suspend the release of Michael Vick's shoe this summer. All video promotions previously found on Nike's website have also been pulled. His 4 other shoes and 3 shirts currently in stores will remain. Nike spokesman would not comment on Vick's future with the company.

[source: Nike suspends release of Vick line]

Michael Vick + Dog Fighting = Indicted

Atlanta Falcon quarter-back Michael Vick, also known as “Ookie”, allegedly used a Virginia property he purchased for $34K as the main staging area and dog training facility for his dog fighting venture, Bad Newz Kennels.

Here is a highlight of what you will find if read on. According to the indictment Vick and his boys executed a losing dog by wetting it down with water and electrocuting the animal. The indictment also claims “Vick executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in “testing” sessions…”, “…by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog’s body to the ground”.

The indictment is enough to make anyone sick without additional commentary. Even if I wanted to add more, at this point I can't properly articulate my feelings of disgust in this blog. Check out the actual 18 page indictment here at The Smoking Gun.

I’ve included a couple of the pages below:

Really?

What were they thinking back then?


First viewed in Alwyn Cosgrove's blog

Memo to parents with overweight kids:

Your children are fat because you made them that way.

Lil Jimmy or Lil Susie watch you shovel that crap you call food into your pie-hole while you’ve firmly planted yourself in front of the TV and then, and then get this . . . they mimic what YOU do. Can you understand that? YOU, parents, are role-models. Act like it! Start with your diet; it’s killing your children, seriously. No more blaming “society” for the poor physical and emotional shape your kids are in. Take a step back and look at yourself, if you can see around your own fat ass, and try to understand how your poor habits are potentially abusive to your children. Nice job stacking the cards against your own offspring.

The positive flip: You can fix it if you want to. Will watching Idol really matter tomorrow? Go out and throw a ball or take a walk with your child. That will matter for years to you and them.

Signed,

AC

Reason for the rant:

A few weeks ago I wrote about how children were being praised and expecting thanks without actually earning it. (Failure Free Society) My point was that parents need to be responsible for educating, disciplining and praising their children when appropriate with the end goal of raising a productive member of society. In my opinion, and I may be way off base here, setting an example through your actions should be an understood yet unstated component in all of that.

In an Associated Press article, “Overweight kids face widespread stigma”, I’ve found more evidence to support the fact that I may not be completely ignorant in regard to developing people. The article starts out with a lot of good information based on 40 years of research:

“Overweight children are stigmatized by their peers as early as age 3 and even face bias from their parents and teachers, giving them a quality of life comparable to people with cancer, a new analysis concludes.

Youngsters who report teasing, rejection, bullying and other types of abuse because of their weight are two to three times more likely to report suicidal thoughts as well as to suffer from other health issues such as high blood pressure and eating disorders, researchers said.”

Continues…

Lynn McAfee, 58, of Stowe, Pa., said that as an overweight child she faced troubles on all fronts.

Her mother, who also was overweight, offered to buy her a mink coat when she was 8 to try to get her to lose weight even though her family was poor.

Her mother could have saved years of emotional abuse to Lynn had she simply set a better example rather than try to bribe her. The last line brings up another interesting question. Was her mother overweight because she was poor or was she overweight because she may have been less educated which resulted in her being poor? Might I also suggest that similar questions surround the demographics of smokers? Chicken or Egg scenario, I guess.

I’ll leave you with this: Just take responsibility for your lot in life. If you don’t like something about yourself only you can change it. Very few, about 1%, have actual medical reasons for being overweight (ie hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome and depression). The rest just need to break some difficult habits learned at a very young age. Good luck to anyone on that road; my best wishes are with you.

Lost in YouTube

I’ll admit I feel like I’m a little late to the party. Before I continue I feel I must warn you of the power YouTube can have on unsuspecting viewers. I was sucked in for a good…many hours. I kinda lost track of time. Just be careful. OK! Now that that’s out of the way I can get to the point.

We’ll start with a more common “youtuber”. Lonelygirl15 has a lot of subscribers to her YouTube account. I’ve never heard of her until I saw LisaNova do a parody of lonelygirl15. LisaNova is another one…HOLD ON! Maybe I should start from the beginning; entrance to the rabbit hole, if you will.

See, what had happened was I’m trying to learn Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritville” on my guitar and found that youtubers will teach strum patterns which makes learning new songs much easier. Anyway, I’m searching for the song and find this goofy dude playing margaritville. I’m what you might call “easily entertained” so I continued to watch. I find out that Dan Rohde (aka Rohde51) has a collection of random videos he has created and has collected a couple subscribers (88), which I’ve learned is the goal of YouTubers. I see Rohde has a couple videos dedicated to some LisaNova chick. In my twisted mind I’m thinking this guy made a video about some girl he knows that dumped him or something miserably entertaining like that. So I watch a couple of his LisaNova videos and realize I was way wrong.

I hit the search engine. “LisaNova”. There she was. This is when my trip down the rabbit hole takes a nasty turn. Up to this point I was looking at the clock and thinking I needed to get something done, but when I started watching LisaNova’s “sketchies” as they’re called, I lost all comprehension of time and frankly I didn’t really care. LisaNova is the director but it appears she has help creating, writing, acting in, filming and editing her videos. I’m not a movie critic or anything, I just like what I like and that’s good enough for me, but I thought her sketchies were very good. I’d encourage any of you to check out some of the work LisaNova has on her YouTube profile. Oh and evidently a lot of other people like her work considering she has over 47,000 subscribers.

Being a fan of “smack”, “talking trash” and other competitive banter I found it very amusing that YouTubers make parodies of each other as well. In my opinion, one of LisaNova’s more entertaining videos is a parody of lonelygirl15. Of course I had no idea who lonelygirl15 was. Yeah, I’ve been living under a rock. I get it. But, it didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on with these YouTube geniuses. Lonelygirl15 “Bree” is actually an actress by the name of Jessica Rose but started her profile as if she was simply doing a vlog as a 16yr old girl. Lonelygirl15 and her creators have nearly 96,000 subscribers and almost 140 videos. She’s been on Leno and I’m sure other shows that I don’t watch.

Lonelygirl15 is currently the #2 most subscribed to profile. LisaNova is currently #11 all-time, but I think she’ll soon be sitting on top, that is if she can catch smosh who is the clubhouse leader with a mere 132K subscribers.

I know you’re going to go check all this out, but please tie on a life line or set an alarm or something.

Summer & Blogging

I'm finally back to a computer with a little time to put some thoughts on the web log.

July is one of my favorite months of the year for a couple reasons. 1) Summer is my favorite season. You’ll probably never hear me complain about it being too hot. I’d rather it be hot than cold. 2) I spend most of the weekends in July “up north”. This term “up north” is relative, I know. My first year in college I had a roommate who went “up north” to a town about 25 miles SOUTH of where I grew up. Specifically, my “up north” is Mio, MI where my family has had a cabin long before I was born, located about 1.5 miles off the Au Sable River. I’ve been going up there since I was born and will probably continue to do so until I die. My dad and I have both spent our summers there and I imagine my kids will as well.

This year is a little different though. I’ll also be visiting Houghton Lake and a little town I don’t know the name of near Traverse City. Those vacation destinations mixed into 4 weekends in Mio make for a full and enjoyable summer. I guess what I’m really getting at is don’t expect a regularly updated blog around the weekends for about a month.

Mio, MI. See it way up there? Click the image then.

OTHER INTERESTING NEWS:

Along with going to school, working, Tigers' games and vacationing; TJ and I are working on something that should end up being pretty cool. (At least we think so). BUT that's all you get for a teaser at this point. Stay tuned for more in the next couple weeks.

Spring Project: Conclusion

I haven't been actively updating this blog with the results from the summer project mainly because I keep the details on AC Fit Log but I thought I'd comment on the project and what's happening next.

Today we finished the Spring Project. If you're looking for a great program to cut fat then this is the one to try. I have to warn you it's fairly intense and a lot of the exercises are on the advanced side. Either train with someone familiar with the exercises or study them and take the time to learn the movements with very light weight before you get into the program.

The last week was, in my opinion, very difficult. It's been a long time since I've seriously felt like puking. This morning I was dangerously close...so close I had to lean out of the car at a red light. False alarm though.

So, now we're on to the next program. I've designed this program with the help of a premier strength/fitness instructor, Alwyn Cosgrove. I've combined his complexes and prescribed undulating periodization rep/set parameters to a set of exercises I've compiled for a 4 day split.

The details are already up at AC Fit Log. Check it out and as always feel free to follow my progress through out the program, offer words of encouragement, ask questions. . .or anything else you want to add.

Gorgeous and Philanthropic

Some don't like to read long posts so here's a clip of my new girlfriend......er...uh...never mind. Just watch the video.

T-Nation Truths

As many of you know I've been a long-time reader of T-nation.com (Testosterone Nation). If you're interested in being fit (even mildly), you enjoy well written, informative, entertaining and funny material give it a read. A lot of it is directed toward more advanced training/fitness methods and science but a lot is also just interesting to read.

The following is a copy/paste from TC Luoma of T-Nation. This is the T-Nation list of truths. You can read the article in its entirety here.

1. It's not necessary to train 2 hours a day, 7 days a week to build a superlative physique.

2. How long you rest should be inversely related to the intensity of your last set.

3. You should use more free weights and compound (multi-joint) exercises than machine-based and isolation exercises. Free weights build more muscle, burn more calories, and allow more carryover into real world activities. That way, you'll be able to lift bags of fertilizer, open peanut butter jars, and hoist naked women over your shoulder.

4. Don't take your multivitamin/mineral capsule with your morning oatmeal.
[AC's note: Some of the minerals in your multi-vitamin bind with the fiber in oatmeal and essentially pass right through your system.]

5. If hypertrophy is your goal, eliminating the stretch-shortening cycle will do more to recruit additional muscle fibers than almost anything else you can do.

6. It's impossible for two straight men to look each other in the eyes while whistling the theme song to The Andy Griffith Show.

7. Before doing a set for biceps, triceps, chest, or back, stretch the antagonist muscle beforehand. It'll increase your performance on that next set.

8. Olympic lifts will, if added to a bodybuilder's routine, ultimately build muscle by recruiting high-threshold muscle fibers.

9. Paris Hilton has a boney ass, and I wouldn't have sex with her using your dick, let alone mine.

10. As your training age increases, you can get away with fewer reps per set.

11. Chin-ups and pull-ups on a fixed overhead bar are far superior to pulldowns or reps done on an assisted pull-up machine.

12. It's counterintuitive, but you don't need to do as many reps and sets while using steroids.

13. Sadly, the IPEX bra by Victoria's Secret, touted as the most advanced bra ever developed, "two years in the making," makes chicks look as flat as Leonardo DiCaprio. All men of conviction should stand up against this evil invention.

14. "Spinning" eats away muscle. Besides, they have this new thing where you can actually take the bike outside and ride it around in the fresh air and look at things other than the sweaty butt crack of the loser in front of you.

15. Don't neglect training major muscle groups like back and hamstrings or you'll experience muscle imbalances, a lopsided physique, injury, and weakness. And then we will point and laugh.

16. Your meals should consist of protein and carbs or protein and fat.

17. If you want to put on size, can the cardio, Cookie.

18. If you do most of your training on a balance board, a Swiss Ball, or a Bosu ball, you'll have a tremendous core and a small, weak body that we'll all laugh at.

19. Kettlebells are not the answer to every physique problem ever confronted by man. They are not the cornerstone of a religion or philosophy. They're simply a semi-useful tool, that's all.

20. Squats, overhead squats, and front squats work the core better than any exercises done on an unstable surface.

21. There's no one perfect training system or strength training philosophy. Everything works...for a while.

22. Do your heavy weight, low-rep, multi-joint movements first in your workout.

23. If you've only got a few minutes to train, try the Tabata Method.

24. Ben Wallace of the Chicago Bulls has lovely hair.

25. When doing subsequent sets and experiencing fatigue, it's better to reduce the weight and keep the rep range the same, rather than doing fewer reps per set.

26. If you've got a choice of doing a movement sitting or standing, choose standing every time. This doesn't necessarily apply to sex, though.

27. Most advanced lifters adapt to a routine after 6 times.

28. Juggle rep ranges, from 1-3 reps to 4-6 reps to 8-10 reps to 12-15 reps. Doing 8 sets of 3 has just as much merit as doing 3 sets of 8.

29. There is absolutely no proof that the human body can only absorb 30 grams of protein in one meal.

30. The real T-man does not put up with intolerance or sexism, especially from pansies and fat broads.

31. Steroids, used properly, can improve health and increase life span.

32. It's not something you can get most strength coaches to admit, but for tall lifters, the leg press can often lead to more hypertrophy than the squat.

33. Work your weak body part first before working any other body parts.

34. Creatine is a good supplement, but stop talking about it. It's like, yesteryear.

35. Generally speaking, the ideal time under tension for hypertrophy is 30 to 70 seconds.

36. When doing cable curls with the left arm, keep the right foot slightly in front of the left foot, and vice versa for the right arm. (It'll increase strength.)

37. When working abs, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

38. Men look ridiculous in Hawaiian shirts and short pants. Don't wear them.

39. Testosterone is the ultimate recreational drug (the man pictured above has none, however).

40. Ephedrine is dead, but more efficient compounds have replaced it. For increased metabolism, look to HOT-ROX Extreme. For increased energy and mental acuity, look to Spike.

41. Dead lifts are a far better barometer of total body strength than squats or bench press. Too bad only about two guys in the whole world — both named Ivan — do them.

42. You'll achieve better recuperation between sets if you bounce back and forth between antagonistic exercises.

43. Weight training won't make women "too big." It'll make them tight and hard, and our girlfriends.

44. Wave loading is a hugely effective method of increasing strength and muscle size.

45. You should avoid soy protein, especially if you're a male who wants to gain muscle and avoid lactating.

46. Your color of underwear should reflect your mood. I find that "Misty Morning Blue", "Autumnal Slumber Brown", and "Savage Temptress Red" do the job nicely.


47. Whey is great, but overrated and over-hyped as being the protein end-all and be-all by some supplement companies.

48. However, whey-protein hydrolysate is the best protein to consume right after strength training.

49. Don't use the power rack to do curls...unless you're using at least 135 pounds to do said curls. To do otherwise tells the world that you're nothing but a neophyte loser with poopie-stained shorts.

50. The most anabolic form of protein is micellar casein, mainly because of its ability to amplify nitrogen retention, the condition essential for muscle growth. In case you don't know what I'm getting at, drink Low-Carb Metabolic Drive with micellar casein.

51. The perfect protein shake or MRP contains a blend of proteins (whey, casein, milk protein isolates), not just whey. In case you don't know what I'm getting at, drink Metabolic Drive Complete!

52. The Smith machine pretty much stinks. Don't use it for squatting or benching or anything other than drying out your wet, mildewy shorts.

53. Include a back-off week in your training every 12 weeks or so. That pretty much means stay away from the gym.

54. Shana Hiatt has left the Travel Channel's World Poker Tour. All living things shall weep forevermore.

Shana Hiatt

55. Don't take magnesium and calcium together.

56. Have some micellar casein at bedtime.

57. Carbohydrates are the trickiest of all the macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat). Carbs aren't evil; they just need to be timed properly and consumed wisely. In other words, eat protein and carbs together before midday, and protein and functional fats after midday.

58. Take it from me, there's nothing more ornery than a dwarf girlfriend hopped up on meth who caught you giving a bath to her best friend, Squeaky.

59. Inflammation lies at the root of many human ailments. To control this red demon, suck down large amounts of EPA and DHA.

60. Improving post-workout nutrition is probably the easiest and most efficient way to grow muscle.

61. Competitive bodybuilding is hokey. We want to — for lack of a better term — power build, i.e. build esthetically pleasing, yet powerfully functional bodies.

62. Glucosamine, while good for the joints, could negatively affect insulin sensitivity.

63. The most exciting sexual position is "The Rodeo." Enter your partner from behind, place one arm firmly around her waist, and then whisper, "You've got the fattest ass I've ever seen" into her ear.

64. I feel perfectly at ease standing around totally naked except for white gym socks, but if I'm standing around naked wearing black socks, I feel silly, almost conspicuous.

65. Avoid environmental or dietary estrogens to avoid developing prostate cancer and growing porky-man breasts.

66. It's easy to maximize Testosterone levels through the use of the herbs Tribulus Terrestris and Eurycoma longifolia and Vitex agnus castus.

67. Don't train really hard and neglect nutrition. That's dumb. As they say, you can't build a house without bricks. You also should throw in some wallpaper and drapes, too, just to make it, you know, homey.

68. Increasing the conversion of T4 to T3 is the secret of high metabolism.

69. Control insulin and you control the physique enhancement world.

70. Performance and productive longevity are great reasons to lift weights. But we do it mainly to look good naked.

71. Don't hit on hard-training women in the gym. That's our job.

The list could well be much, much, longer, but if even one "truth" saves you from wasting any time, we'll sleep easier, secure in the knowledge that the number of people who want to stick an ax in our chest has shrunk by at least a few.

Blog Dump

I'm back! Finals are over. I've started another class. Only 3 more to go!

I need to get a few things out there (out here) before they become insignificant or I just forget about them.

Stories that sell...really?

We love our NFL horror stories and high profile players in trouble, but won't good stories about these athletes sell as well? Perhaps, I've just not paid close enough attention. BUT, I didn't need to pay much attention at all to hear about Adam "Pacman" Jones with strippers or Michael Vick with dogs. I had to look to the back page of SI to find an incredible story about Jason Simmons and Ahman Green,both of the Houston Texans. See, Ahman was recently acquired by the Texans and Simmons owned Green's lucky jersey number 30. Typically, a player will come in and offer money or presents to get the number. In this case, Simmons named a different sort of price. Ahman is to make a down payment on a house for a disadvantaged single parent. My opinion, AWESOME! To make the story even better, Green offered to pay the mortgage for the 1st year.

Why can't we hear about these stories more often? Oh, and if you try to search for the story you won't see ESPN or any of the other major sports outlets come up. Nope. You get the info from Deadspin.com. At least someone on the web is representing the up lifting stories. I did finally find the story at ESPN though. I just don't know why it didn't make as much noise as the $81,000 that showered the performing artists in Vegas.


Is an MBA really worth it?

Just a question I often ask myself in the middle of each semester. I know it won't pay off directly at work in terms of a paycheck, but I guess the point of continued education is to get more out of it than external rewards. What do you think?




Is Amy Winehouse HOT or NOT?


Thanks to a true friend, I've ended the poll and no longer look like an idiot. RESULTS are final. NOT HOT and definitely British!

Commercial Classic

Final exam is tonight so tomorrow I should have a real post to entertain. Until then enjoy a compilation of a classic commercial.

Christmas in June

WARNING: Don't play this too loud at work.

While I'm traveling to Lincoln Alabama and returning to The D today enjoy this Christmas tune by Dan Finnerty and The Dan Band.

Amusing Commercial

Expect a few posts like this for the next week or so as I finish up with finals, final projects and work.

Thoughts of Retirement at 29

By now we’re all well aware that Generation Y and younger will most likely not see much if any of their social security contribution and pension plans are a thing of the past. So, you better be thinking about those golden retirement years ASAP unless you plan to work your entire life. Hopefully, I’m preaching to the choir here but I’ve spoken to way too many people who haven’t started taking advantage of their employers 401(k) or other investment opportunities to not mention it. Compounding interest, company match and tax-cuts are wonderful things and even more so if you start early.

401(k) programs are virtually impossible to mess up, but there are a few mistakes people tend to make. In his article Avoid These Four 401(k) Mistakes at Yahoo! Finance, Christopher Davis points out the following commonly made mistakes with 401(k)s. Below are his points with my commentary.

#1 – Not Investing at All: Probably no reason to beat this dead horse. If your company doesn’t have a retirement plan then I urge you to check out Roth IRAs.

#2 – Investing Without a Plan: Understand how long you have to invest and adjust your risk accordingly. At 29, a relatively young age, I can afford to be a bit more risky with fund allocations. As I near retirement age I should become more conservative with where I squirrel away my precious investment. Basically, the older I get the less time I’ll have to earn back any possible losses.

The program I’m currently in gives me the option to participate in a fund that automatically adjusts over time or I can pick and choose where to invest. A lot of companies offer this convenience; check it out with your HR manager. Keep an eye on your investment in terms of your long-term plan. Not monitoring your money leads us to mistake #3.

#3 – Letting Your 401(k) Run on Autopilot: This not to suggest a weekly or even monthly balance check-up is required, although I tend to error in this direction at times. What you should be doing is checking your balance and allocations at least once a year. Revisit your long-term plan and adjust accordingly if need be. Make sure your funds are performing well and check to see if you could or should invest in other, better performing funds.

#4 – Borrowing from Your 401(k): This is allowed but should be avoided at all cost. Any money borrowed will be missing out on that compounding interest I mentioned earlier. By borrowing from your 401(k) you may be setting yourself up for possible penalties, taxes and other fees.

I’m often amazed by how many of my friends are not taking advantage of their company’s 401(k) programs. Please. Just do it. Blindly trust me on this one and you can buy me lunch in 30+ years, as a thank you, with a very tiny amount of the hundreds of thousands of dollars (possibly millions if you start right now) you’re sure earn.

NO-NO. Oh YES!

I can't allow this special event in Detroit sports history to go by without a comment. By now, unless you live under a rock (far far from The D), you've heard about Justin Verlander's no-hitter against the Brewers Tuesday night. Personally, I missed all but the 8th and 9th innings but that was all I needed. The electricity and excitement of Comerica seemed to travel the air-waves and directly into me as I drove home from class. It was a special night for Justin, the Tigers organization and the fans.

I doubt I can put into words just how important/special this no-hitter is. Experience, for yourself, the last 3 outs again or for the first time (notice the fans' excitement and support):


While we're on the subject of The Tigers. Has anyone noticed Magglio Ordonez? Evidently, the all-star voters haven't. Mags could end up being this year's American League MVP and he's not even in the top 3 vote getters for the outfield as of the writing of this post. I'm begging you, my 5 loyal readers, to use your max votes to give Magglio his due respect. VOTE HERE!

As of the writing of this post, Pudge is starting at catcher, Polly is the starting 2-bagger, Carlos Guillen is 2nd to Derek Jeter at short stop and Brandon Inge is 3rd in voting at the corner with Casey 4th at the other corner. See...your votes do count. Now get voting so we can see a starting Tiger line-up in the all-star game.
[voting source: CBS Sportsline]

More blessed than you realize

Here are a few things to put life back into perspective when life seems to bog us down.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you are allowed to attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who won’t survive the week.

If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare, especially in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read anything at all.

Philosophy of Liberty

Finally! Common sense from a candidate we can get behind. We are living in a time when politics has the American population doubting the competency of any politician. In my case that 's not just federal but also includes state and city officials. Dubya, Jen Jen and The Hip-hop Mayor have all been disappointing to say the least. I’m waiting for Ashton to jump out of a van and tell us we’ve all been punk’d, but I digress.

The candidate I’m encouraging all of you patriotic Americans to learn about is republican Congressman Dr. Ron Paul of Texas. I’ve just started reading all I can on the man and so far so GREAT. Dr. Paul is a staunch supporter of limited constitutional government, low taxes and free markets. He also talks about things like a “non-intervention foreign affairs policy” and securing America and its borders rather than funding and fighting a no-win battle against terrorism.

In regard to debt and taxes I’m not sure an all out cutting of our taxes is the answer but I certainly believe our government is entirely too wasteful with its resources. Dr. Paul agrees with me and suggests we refer to the constitution for prioritizing spending. Imagine that...referring to The Constitution.

Bottom-line: Ron Paul simply makes sense. I’ve heard some of the most respected and intelligent people of my social network make similar comments regarding foreign policy, border security, debt and taxes, and personal liberty. But don't take my word for it. A couple popular liberal hosts in entertainment absolutely love this man. I do know that real news should not come from Comedy Central and/or HBO.

Honestly, I don't care who you vote for, but I do care that you actually vote and have a damn good reason for doing so even if I or anyone else disagrees with you.

I encourage any and all comments in support of and more importantly AGAINST my position. Looking at you Hollywood and Psquared.
References:
Ron Paul 2008
Us Representative Ron Paul

AC Fit Log

Last night I created a blog specifically for logging my workouts. I probably won't make too many comments on that blog. I'll reserve my inner thoughts and feelings for this blog, but feel free to check out and comment on my progress at AC Fit Log.

New Bike

After visiting a few bike shops, riding a couple bikes and talking to many people I've decided on a new bike. Well it's new to me.

I bought a '05 Specialized FSR XC. I'll just say I got a really good deal on it. I was debating between that and a Gary Fisher Hi-Fi. Cost was the deciding factor. Components are similar, but I'll spare you all the technical details.

Now I'll just have to wait for it to stop raining. Hopefully tomorrow!

Spring Project: Update 2

Requests have been pouring in for an update to the 8 week spring program Kbob and I have been working through, so here it is. Readers get what readers want.

Last week was the end of the 2nd phase to the program designed by Chad Waterbury. If you haven’t taken time to follow the link, no problem I’ll briefly outline what we’ve done for the last 2 weeks. The concept is to do 3 full-body training sessions along with 3 sessions of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Each day we increase or alter the work load with what is known as an undulating progression.

Training set/reps look like this:
Day 1 - 6 sets of 4 reps. Rest 60s
Day 3 – 3 sets of 15 reps. Rest 70s
Day 5 - 1 set 100 reps. Rest 120s (This is not a typo. We had to do 100 reps on Friday.)

HIIT progressed similarly.
Day 2 – 16 minutes (75s walk/45s sprint)
Day 4 – 18 minutes (75s walk/45s sprint)
Day 6 – 20 minutes (75s walk/45s sprint)

I found the program phase to be very demanding, so demanding in fact I didn’t do the HIIT for a few days. (Note: Kbob did most if not all of the HIIT and training for this phase and it seemed to pay off.)

If you’re interested in the specific exercises follow the link to the program and check it out there. I am considering adding a page dedicated to logging specific training work and nutrition on a daily basis. If you’re interested in seeing that done your support or could help inspire it or I may just forget about it at this point.

Anyway, that was last week…now on to a new phase!

Phase III

Training set/reps look like this:
Day 1 - 10 sets of 3 reps. Rest 45s
Day 3 – 4 circuits of 10 reps. Rest 10s with in circuit/90s between 3 separate circuits.
Day 5 - 1 set 15 reps. Rest 120s

HIIT progressed similarly.
Day 2 – 16 minutes stationary bike (90s moderate/30s sprint)
Day 4 – 17.5 minutes stationary bike (90s moderate/30s sprint)
Day 6 – 19 minutes stationary bike (90s moderate/30s sprint)


The Exercises
Day 1:
A) Deadlift
B) Decline Barbell Bench Press
C) Chin-ups (body weight)
D) Jumping Jack/Rope Jumping for 10 minutes straight

Day 3:
A1) Good Mornings
A2) DB Romanian Deadlifts
A3) Reverse Lunges

B1) Incline Barbell Bench Press
B2) Standing Military Press
B3) DB Side Raise

C1) Chin-ups or Pull-downs
C2) Bent over Barbell rows
C3) DB Barbell rows.

D) Jumping Jack/Rope Jumping for 11 minutes straight

Day 5:
A) Front Squats
B) Bent over Rows
C) Step-Ups
D) Dips
E) Hack Squat
F) Reverse Crunches

G1) 1-Arm DB Snatch
G2) Clap Push-Ups
G3) Forward Lunges

H) Jumping Jack/Rope Jumping for 12 minutes straight

As you can probably imagine the fifth day usually hurts! The following week we will either add reps or lower rest intervals.

Wish us luck!

CRASH. MTB season OPEN.

As many of you know I am a big fan of mountain biking. Last night was the first ride of the season. I mean to say it was the first 1/2 ride of the season. Munson trail is not the most technical and doesn't have any climbs, but what it does have is MUD and lots of it. If you've ever ridden with me or heard stories then you already know about my riding record. I don't consider myself a bad rider at all...I just seem to crash at least once every time I ride. I swear it was the mud and my xtreme riding style that made me crash last night.

Last night's crash finally broke the Mongoose I've been riding since about 2003. I guess that's pretty good considering the amount of abuse it's taken the last few summers. Now I have to decide between Gary Fisher and Specialized. I've been eying these bikes for a couple years now and still have no idea which to go with. I guess I'll just have to ride and then decide.

Oh...someone tried to imitate my ride from last night.



I'm open to any mtb suggestions & arguments for either bike brand or any others.

Detroit Mayor a Lebron Lover

Just when I thought “The Hip-Hop Mayor” Kwame couldn’t be any more disappointing to me than he already is, and believe me, he’s about as disappointing as it gets even for a politician. I’ll spare you the list of reasons to dislike Kwame as Detroit’s mayor. Today I have a completely new reason to abhor him. Kilpatrick was in Cleveland NOT as a Piston fan, but backing the Cavs. As reported by The freep:

Judging from the smile and congratulatory hug Kilpatrick gave Cleveland forward LeBron James after Game 4, you might think he’s backing the enemy.

Of course the mayor’s spin-doctors are spinning a tale of Kwame’s friendship with James. Honestly, I don’t care if they’re twin brothers. This is not a time to party with the opposing team in their city. He should also understand that these games have been painful to watch and this is salt in the wounds of defeat. He was an athlete and should know better…

I hope the voters of Detroit remember this on election-day.

Memorial Day

Please excuse the lack of posts in the past few days. I've been enjoying the weekend by studying for a mid-term exam scheduled for this evening, painting, visiting my boy G.Strang (now living in Colorado Springs) and working on the business.

I hope everyone had a terrific holiday weekend and took the time to reflect on the purpose of it all.

The government is watching through Myspace

You may have heard in the news recently that Myspace has agreed to share information about convicted sex offenders registered on their network. [Related article]

If any of you are sex offenders. . .Be aware. . .I'll turn your ass in too if you post on my blog.

Innovation and the Entrepreneur

Starting a business, any business, can be an intimidating undertaking. Entrepreneur magazine is a great source for information regarding starting, sustaining and inspiring small businesses and entrepreneurs. This month’s issue was no exception.

In his Wise Guy column, Guy Kawasaki wrote “innovation is an art: It’s more magic and luck than procedure.” He gave a list entrepreneurs should take to heart. Below you’ll find the list along with some explanation and my comments.

1. Jump to the next curve. There’s no point fighting for marginal market-share when you could spend time moving your ideas past the current market barriers. For an extreme illustration, you could make a more fuel efficient automobile by designing better tires or work on ways to invent a new source of power altogether.

2. Don’t worry, be crappy. You can’t wait for a perfect product before you act. If that were the case you’d never introduce your product.

3. Churn, baby, churn. Shipping crappy products is ok, but staying crappy is not. Microsoft’s Vista has gone through many revisions since it was released and will go through many more throughout its life.

4. Don’t be afraid to polarize people. Trying to make everyone happy leads to mediocre products. Focus, with passion, on making a specific segment excited even if another demographic is unhappy with your product.

5. Break down barriers. Innovation defies the status quo which is not always very easy or pleasant. Market acceptance may come slowly. Muscle through and ignore the non-constructive negative feedback.

6. Think digital. Act analog. Use all technological tools available without losing sight of the fact that the purpose of innovation is not cool products but happy customers and employees.

7. Never ask people to do what you wouldn’t do. I don’t think any additional information is needed for this one.

8. Don’t let the bozos grind you down. This is one of my favorites. As Kawasaki explains. Some of the bozos are clearly losers and are easy to ignore. The most harmful bozos are rich, famous and powerful. People who may have been successful in the last technological cycle. Their past success does not make them the foremost authority on your innovative ideas. Another type of bozo to look out for is family and friends who may laugh at you when you need or think you need their support the most.

- Kawasaki, Guy.(2007). Never been done. Entrepreneur, May 2007, pg. 32.