Excellent post my Mark Sisson on anti-aging drugs. The specific bit I liked:

While I support antioxidant therapy, I'm also in disagreement about the article's assertion - and the common belief - that diseases such as diabetes and cancer are due to aging and not simple lifestyle factors. These aren't diseases of aging, they're diseases of bullsh*t. We have this deeply ingrained belief, it seems, that aging inherently comes with disease and we're all just, well, screwed. Watch drug commercials and it would seem that once we hit 55, all that's left to do is retire, bicker about leftovers with the old ball and chain, and apparently settle in for a few decades of drugs, walkers, pee bags and pain prescriptions. But aging doesn't have to mean - and shouldn't mean - wrinkles, broken hips, weakness, and disease. Far from it. There's no reason you can't be as lean, strong, and energetic at 50, 60, 70, and even 80 as you were at 25. The key is not a drug, but a healthy, preventive lifestyle.

Make sure you click through on his link. I want to age that well. Just gotta get off the crack sugar.

UPDATE: Very related, see this post by Art De Vany, Proof of Concept.

Holy cow, finger handstand video. Hurts just watching. More at kottke.org.

Let me get the reflection out of the way. Four years ago after letting my game languish and decay, I decided I was going to get it back. My goal each season was to play better than the year before. I did that three years in a row, but this year broke the streak. Ah well, it makes it that much easier to meet my goal next year.

Anyway, it was a weird year for a lot of reasons, but the only one relevant to this weblog is that I didn't really adjust my training to more difficult time constraints and stresses as well as I could have. Started the season injured, and never really made up the ground physically or, more importantly, psychologically.

So, after some noodling around, I do believe I have the next couple months of my off-season mapped out (PDF) (update: see below for revised version). Sorry if the notation is kinda terse, it started out as a cheatsheet for myself, but then as I realized I was going to post it I tried to flesh it out while still keeping it to a single page. Feel free to post questions.

A few ideas/influences I kept in mind when designing this:

• All workouts should be doable in 30 minutes or less.
• Thought I'd try the "3 days on, 1 day off" cycle favored by Crossfit.
• This Waterbury article for strength.
• Lots of Ross Enamait influence.
• More and better leg work, deducing much from the Kelly Baggett articles here. In particular, this one.

I did the "Deck #6" workout yesterday morning as a bit of prepaid gluttony penance, and it was great. I mean, I sucked at it, leaving cards in the hole after I hit the 30 minute wall, but still, I'm going to like this plan. I think I'll run through it twice and then change it up a bit.

UPDATE: After a pass through, I've tweaked the program a bit with some of my own ideas and some of Noel's. See below for his great comments. Noel, I wanted to change the exercise order to line up more with your suggestions, but found I ended up ordering largely due to time efficiency (mini-circuits timed largely based on whether you're working both sides simultaneously or not for a given exercise). Anyway, here's version 1.2 in PDF and Word formats (the latter for those who want to do their own tweaking).

I have once again fallen behind. Here's what I've been meaning to post:

• Dick Hartzell Jump Stretch bands tutorials. Great stuff, knew there was a DVD, had no idea these were online.
• Also, good article on bands.
• Great jump rope routine. « via RT forums »
• Mark's Daily Apple: Simple, But Not Easy.
• The Science of Sport: Muscle Cramps Part I. Very interesting, I'll definitely be back for the rest of the series. « via SttB »
• These Crossfit WOD posts have links to Rob Miller's muscle-up tutorial videos: part 1, part 2, and part 3. Very helpful. I'd like to acquire the muscle-up and the pistol this winter.

I've endorsed Ross Enamait's books many times on this weblog. Top-notch material, so of course I'm very excited his first DVD (with booklet) is now out: Full Throttle Conditioning. The training videos he has posted online are always impressive, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he's done here. I'm ordering mine today.

I've said it before, I'll say it again... It doesn't matter if you care about video games, you still need to catch Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's game reviews. I can't possibly do them justice. They're videos, but more like PowerPoint presentations. I could easily picture him (if I knew what he looked like) doing one of these live with PowerPoint playing on an LCD projector. His commentary is fast, non-stop, and hysterical. The guy could call an auction, do stand-up, or both. His latest two are great, Medal of Honor Airborne and Zelda Phantom Hourglass. You'll want to watch them all.

Two from YouTube:

• I know nothing about gymnastics aside from what I've seen on TV during various Olympicses, but even to my untrained eye it's obvious that this guy is a total pommel horse stud « via CF ».
• Nice cheap version of an expensive (for what it is) piece of equipment: Homemade Tornado Ball.

Mmmm.. donuts:

In the experiment, 43 rats were placed in cages with two levers, one of which delivered an intravenous dose of cocaine and the other a sip of highly sweetened water. At the end of the 15-day trial, 40 of the rats consistently chose saccharin instead of cocaine.

Sure, it's rats. Hard to know how much this correlates with human experience. But for me at least (and I know I'm not unique) sugar is a powerful addiction. I haven't had any first-hand experience with other addictions, but I know I've been unable (so far) to kick this one. I've gone for stretches, but never more than a few weeks, and usually never more than a couple days. Binges are rare, but also happen. I'm very well-informed as to how harmful it is, and yet I rationalize, cave, etc. It's an addiction, just like any other. Alcohol, tobacco, sugar, coke, what have you. They all hook you hard, they're all bad for you, and, insidiously, they all (generally) kill you very, very slowly, so you can build a (shortened) lifetime out of saying "just this once...", "I've been good", "I'm depressed", "it's not that bad", etc.

I've been wondering this for awhile: why do the websites of so many eBook and DVD programs look so similar? Most...

• ... are really LONG pages, with lots of scrolling to reach the bottom.
• ... are one centered column, with wide margins.
• ... use the Arial font, with big headers.
• ... highlight key phrases in yellow.
• ... are signed by the program's creator, often including a scan of his signature.
• ... are peppered with testimonials.

Here are the examples:

• Complete Speed Training, Latif Thomas and Patrick Beith
• Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, Tom Venuto
• The Vertical Jump Development Bible, Kelly Baggett
• Muscle Gaining Secrets, Jason Ferruggia
• Precision Nutrition, John M. Berardi
• Ultimate Insider Speed Training Secrets, Tim Kauppinen
• Matt Furey

It's odd. I wonder if they all use the same storefront software, and whatever templates it provides, or if they all read the same book on selling stuff on the Internet. Or perhaps they read the very interesting article, The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites. Not that all these sites are ugly, but all have at least one or two elements that fly in the face of traditional web design, and a few have a bunch.

I'm not making any value judgments about the programs themselves, as I haven't bought any of them, but I will say I've heard great things about several of them. I've read several articles online by Thomas, Beith, and Baggett, and they all make good sense based on what I know (Google those guys - good stuff). Venuto is well-respected, Berardi is revered (I've heard nothing but great things about his program), and I really enjoy Ferruggia's weblog. I have no point, I'm just curious how they all came to use the same marketing style.

P.S. I don't know anything about Kauppinen. I've read and enjoyed a few articles by Furey, but his product list and prices give me significant pause.

Just clearing a bit of a link backlog:

• Ross Enamait on genetics VS hard work.
• Michael Pollan op-ed: Weed It and Reap.
• Art De Vany: impressive results from a 54-year-old convert.
• The Performance Menu has a bunch of articles online. Check the month links down the left sidebar.

Wow, good day on the weblogs for great training ideas on the rings:

• Ringtraining.com: The Ice Cream Maker.
• Straight to the Bar: Scott Sonnon's Lawnmower Extension.
• Ice Chamber: Foot-Ring Push-up.

P.S. I'll try to post something about Nationals soon. Tourneys give me "hangovers" (not the alcohol kind) where I can't really focus or get motivated, and it's worse for Nationals. And I'm swamped at work. But hey, while we have this quiet moment, maybe this'll be my Nationals post...

Best fields I've ever played on, all the games matter and are hard fought (which is what makes the tourney so special, IMO), and incidentally they get great food vendors, particularly the étouffée and the crepes (mmmm... Nutella and banana filling...).

We underperformed, going 3-4 on the weekend and losing the 9-10 game to Boneyard. Gotta give those guys their due, they took it to us, and their D was both the cleanest AND the most intense we saw all tourney. Losing sucks, but getting beat by clean, hard-nosed D is a pleasure compared with losing to a team whose D is supplemented by grabbing, hacking, the ol' stop-the-continuation-throw bump/tackle, etc. Anyway, nice game, Boneyard!

Interesting situation on Friday, playing our last two pool play games. We were tied with Miami and played them in what we assumed would be the game to advance to quarters, as they had perennial contender Old and In the Way in their final game. Tough game, but we pulled it out. Surprisingly though, Miami rolled Old, and we lost to Big Sky. Can't blame Old for conserving for quarters, and our fate was in our own hands, so no complaints, but it stung nonetheless.

Personally, I had pretty good tourney. Thursday was great. Handful of blocks, no errors. Friday was marred by a couple drops behind the disc in our loss to Big Sky. Saturday was somewhere between the two.

By the way, I was THRILLED to see a few of my old Salt teammates take home the title with DoG! Loved watching that game. Not as much as I would have loved playing in it, but still great vicarious Ultimate, and I couldn't be happier for those guys. If you're reading, congrats DoG!

Update: Speaking of DoG, Jim Parinella's writeup is a fun read, and covers their pool in much more depth than I covered ours.

(The extent of my pool play coverage being an oblique reference to how chippy some of our games were. I should add that while those games were no fun to play, I don't think it made the difference in any outcomes, and it takes two to tango.)

Like seven pages into a deadlift thread, this guy Dr. Boots loses his mind and doubts Ross Enamait (trainer whose books I have praised many times on this site) can perform some physical task. In this case the task is a 400 lb. deadlift, and he says he'd pay $100 for video proof. Ross responds, "you just lost $100." It's fun reading the thread from that point, but if you want to cut to the chase, here's the proof and then some. Incidentally, Ross declines the money after pulling it off ("You can keep your money however. I don't want it. Donate it to charity or buy some equipment for a gym that could use it.").