• John Berardi posted a comprehensive, balanced piece on soy at his forums.
• Coach Sommer describes a brutal abdominal exercise, "The Crank".
• I'm getting started with barbell training, so bought a copy of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. Looks fantastic. And I just learned you can ask questions of the man himself at the Mark Rippetoe Q&A Strength Mill Forum. I would definitely read the book, the stickies, and take advantage of the search feature before posting (here's why).

• YouTube: excellent rings and pistols work.
• Straight to the Bar embeds a great air flair video.
• Crossfit Oakland really loves coconut oil (I have not checked the research behind those claims).
• Mark Sisson weighs in on soy.

• Compared with a bunch of carrots, a package of Twinkies, to take one iconic processed foodlike substance as an example, is a highly complicated, high-tech piece of manufacture, involving no fewer than 39 ingredients, many themselves elaborately manufactured, as well as the packaging and a hefty marketing budget. So how can the supermarket possibly sell a pair of these synthetic cream-filled pseudocakes for less than a bunch of roots? Michael Pollan delves into the answer and implications (sorry, this one's a couple weeks old).
• I'm a computer guy, and let's face it, most of us spend too much time at our desks. Hence, this T-Nation article: (De)-Constructing Computer Guy.
• Dusty Rhodes linked to this Mark Sisson piece, Is There Any Safe Meat?, and that started me exploring Mark's site. Lots of interesting stuff on there. For example, I had previously posted some soy links, so was interested to read Sisson's take: 10 Things to Know about Tofu. I also really appreciated this nugget from his recent wine & chocolate post: Like chocolate and coffee, wine is one of those "marginally nutritious" issues that is endlessly debatable and ultimately not a huge factor in health, in the sense that there is probably some benefit to be gained from reasonable consumption thanks to the antioxidants, but don't expect any miracles. It's important to put these sensational stories in perspective...

Generally I find exercise research fairly straightforward, and nutrition research a quagmire. My recent readings on soy are no exception. First, I read this T-Nation article, The Soy Conspiracy, which certainly sounds damning. It's an interview with Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story. But then Syd Baumel's critique of the book gave me pause. Especially since he's not one-sided, as evidenced by his piece, Should We be Scared of Soy?. I don't eat too much of it anyway, so you're on your own deciding this one. :-)