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Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: 5/2/2011

1.  To start, all I can say is holy to the shit.  I opened up my laptop this morning to see the words Osama Bin Laden is dead splattered all over my Yahoo homepage.  Wow.  I don’t even know what to say now other than thank you to all of the men and women who continue to risk their lives overseas on a daily basis.

Yet, can you even imagine what it’s like to be the Navy Seal who’s bullet killed Bin Laden?  I’m calling Pulitzer, Nobel, Grammy, Emmy, Best Actor, or any other prize you can think of – he wins them all!

And, while I know there are some people out there who are going to be a Debbie Downer about this, and try to remind people that Bin Laden was supported by the US Government back in the 80s and 90s (like some guy I saw do on Facebook this morning) – please, don’t be an a-hole.  Seriously.

To that end, I think this song is fitting given the situation (FYI:  turn your speakers down if you’re at work.)

2.  I’ve been making some cameo appearances in and around the interwebz recently – apparently, some people feel I have important things to say!

First up, we have my first article on LIVEstrong.com – The Best Exercises You’re Not Doing.  As I mentoned a few weeks ago, I’m going to be doing more writing for Livestrong, so this one should be the first of plenty more to come.  Nonetheless, check it out, and be sure to leave a comment if you found it useful!

Secondly, Steve Shaw and the crew over at www.muscleandstrength.com asked if they could re-print some of my old(er) posts from my blog, which I think is cool given that it will expose more people outside of my target audience to my stuff – which is never a bad thing.

While this may be a refresher for some of you reading, for those who haven’t, How Chin-Ups/Pull-Ups Can Help Your Bench Press might be right up your alley.

3.  I saw this last week over at elitefts.com and thought it was one of the more badass videos I have watched in a long time.

Prove the Impossible

I don’t know about you, but watching that fires me up.  I think I’m going to go deadlift a car now.

4.  A few weeks ago, Mike Robertson sent us a copy of his Bulletproof Knees and Back Seminar that he did in Vancouver late last year.  The dvd set has been making its rounds amongst the CP staff, and I was finally able to get my hands on it this past weekend.  While I still have a ways to go in terms of actually finishing it, all I have to say is that Mike has yet again hit another home-run.

I’m always impressed at how awesome Mike is as a public speaker, and how effortlessly he’s able to take complex material and “dumb” it down for the lay population to understand.  And, given that 80% of the population at some point or another will suffer from low back pain (not to mention the knees are right up there, too!), this dvd set would be a welcome addition for any fitness professional – or casual fitness enthusiast for that matter.

Really, though, I don’t have to say much.  Mike’s reputation as a standup guy, and as someone who consistently puts out quality products, speaks for itself.  I’d argue that this one is his best yet!

5.  Speaking of other people I know who are extremely smart:  my good friend, Cassandra Forsythe, recently wrote a fantastic article on the artificial sweetner Stevia.  Given the recent hooplah (and rightfully so) over the efficacy of artificial sweetners, and whether or not the health concerns are warranted (they are), I thought this was a nice piece that helped weed through the science and the fiction.

6.  NERD ALERT:  it was brought to my attention that director Peter Jackson will be updating a video blog as he films parts I and II of The Hobbit, which are slated for 2012 and 2013 releases.  The first installment can be seen here.

You’re welcome.

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Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 4/15/2011

Cool News:  a few weeks ago, I mentioned in passing how I was offered the opportunity to start writing for a fairly popular fitness website that currently has an Alexa ranking of 1,143.  Meaning, it’s the 1,143rd most visited website in the world, and 397th in the U.S (ie, pretty freakin good). So, yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.

I didn’t name any names at the time because nothing was set in stone, and I didn’t want to jinx myself.  Kind of ilike what’s happening right now here in Boston with all of the people who claimed that the Sox were easily going to win the World Series this year.

*inserts foot in mouth*

Well, given that I received my first writing assignment from them yesterday, I think it’s safe to let the cat out of the bag and let people in on the secret.

[Cue drum roll, laser show, and smoke machine]

The site is LIVEstrong.com, and I’m really exicted for the opportunity.  Adam Bornstein, former fitness editor of Men’s Health, has recently taken over and is in charge of upgrading the content on the site.    So, you should see some cool things happening in the near future.

Anyways, moving on to matters at hand, here’s some stuff to keep you occupied for the next hour or so.

Knowledge vs. Experience – Mike Robertson

Mike has writen a lot of great things in the past, but I think this is one of his best.  As a fitness professional myself, and as someone who has worked his way up through the trenches, I couldn’t agree more with what Mike had to say in this post.   To all the upcoming coaches and trainers out there – READ THIS POST!!!!!

Is Sugar Toxic? – Gary Taubes

Here, Gary Taubes, author of the renowned book, Good Calories, Bad Calories (which admittedly, is still sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read) gives his thoughts on Robert Lustig’s notion that sugar is nothing more than a toxin to the body – which namely stems from his lecture, Sugar: The Bitter Truth, which has gained a lot of attention in the past year or so.

It’s a compelling argument for sure.  But sometihng I’m not remotely qualified to throw myself into.  I will say this, though: I learned a new phrase – DIABESITY.  Clever.

And, to close out the week, here’s a video of yet another “fitness professional” (and I use that term VERY loosely here) demonstrating how to use kettlebells. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I don’t know what it is about kettlebells, but it seems there’s an epidemic of videos popping up on Youtube of people just butchering technique.  I saw one the other day that Leigh Peele posted on her Facebook page of a personal trainer from Florida taking his female client through a tutorial on KB swings, and he just got shit on by the RKC and HKC crowd (and rightfully so).  It was that bad.  I think by the end of the day the video was removed from his youtube page.

Anyways, to her credit, the woman above apparently is going to seek professional instruction on how to use (and teach) proper kettlebell technique.  But shouldn’t this have been something she should have done before posting a video on youtube?  And, more importantly, what are the odds that if aliens came down from outer space and kidnapped her, that they’d find a Teddy Bear where her brain should be?

Have a great weekend everyone!