“The one common experience of all humanity is the challenge of problems.”
2 miles from my house to the gym offers a perfect opportunity for a short fixie huck/warm-up prior to throwing around a little iron. An odd combination, I know. I was asked recently if I was the only fixie enthusiast/Paleo-proponent/physical culturalist that I know of. Well, I don’t know about that, but it sure does feel at times as though I were deposited here from an alien ship.
…let’s just say I’m a member of a very, very small subset 🙂
Today’s Workout –
My focus is still primarilly on unilateral, lower-body work, and today’s MetCon session did not deviate from that theme. The reps in each exercise are still fairly low, with the emphasis being placed on the explosiveness of every rep of each exercise vs attempting to reach some predetermined rep number. I moved smartly between exercises, but I did not allow much, if any, degradation in my form. Here’s how it shaped-up:
Post warm-up “bridge”: whip snatch to OHS, 3 sets of 5 at 95 lbs
The day’s combo:
whip snatch x 5
single-leg clean* x 1 (left)
high box step-ups (front squat bar position) x 5 (left)
single-leg clean* x 1 (right)
high box step-ups (front squat bar position) x 5 (right)
muscle-up + L-dip combo (1 mu + 2 L-dips = 1 rep) x 3
rear foot elevated “elastic verts” x 6 each leg
~ all weighted exercises @ 135 lbs. 4 total rounds ~
The single-leg clean is simply, and in the end, a regular power clean — however, the pull phase is done with a single-leg emphasis; the catch is a normal, i.e., bilateral, catch. I do allow a “balance touch” with the off leg when needed (i.e., as fatigue set in). From the catch, I moved directly into the step-ups. The box height here is just below knee level. Notice that today’s step-ups were done with a front squat bar position; this translates to a bit more of a quad-dominant movement vs the normal back squat bar position.
Moving on to nimrods in the news…
The following quote is all you really need to see of this recent NYTimes article on obesity to realize we’re dealing, once more, with a blindered, simpleton take on diet.
“…The answer lies in biology. A person’s weight remains stable as long as the number of calories consumed doesn’t exceed the amount of calories the body spends, both on exercise and to maintain basic body functions. As the balance between calories going in and calories going out changes, we gain or lose weight.”
Ugh! To be fair, the author did interview a couple of dietary “bright stars” — and then conveniently dumbed-down their message. How is it that the sane voices in pieces such as this become so marginalized? I suppose it boils down to sound-bite journalism, and the general public’s reluctance to spend the time required to delve further into subjects that may lay outside their fields of specialization; a destructive, symbiotic relationship, of sorts.
I believe it was Dr. Richard Feinman (he of the Metabolism Society) who so eloquently equated the “calorie-in/calorie-out” theory of weight managaement to (and I’ll use my own wording here):
“…considering the affect of gravity upon an object, absent of friction.”
A nice corollary, I think. Real people and real metabolisms must operate in the real world. No consideration of how a type of calorie affects metabolic response is as ludicrous as the aforementioned consideration of gravity absent friction. A nice thought experiment, maybe; any real-world application, though, is not to be found.
And then there was this, uh…free-verse, anti-paleo ramble? Not sure what Ms. King’s “Problem with Paleo” is, exactly — maybe she thinks animals are shouldering the load and/or bearing the brunt of abuse so as to satisfy the faddish whims of hipster caveman wannabes? I dunno. My thought is, fine, be a detractor — I rather enjoy having my convictions rattled — but please come to the fray with a grounded, plausible argument for Chrissakes. Sheesh…
I refuse to end on a negative, though, and here to save me from that is a fabulous and recent TED talk given by chef Jamie Oliver. I’m quite sure everyone with a diet/physical culture bent has seen this by now, but I wanted to “store” it on TTP because I believe in Jamie’s message — and in his dire warning. Please show this to someone in your life who may not be as diet-centric as you — and for God’s sake, if you have kids, please, PLEASE pay attention. This really is a matter of life and death.
In health,
Keith
Theory to Practice 