Category Archives: Uncategorized

Static strength is what you use to hold an object in place. Mid-line stability is an expression of static strength whereby you exert your core to hold your spinal column in a neutral position. In CrossFit we refer to mid-line stability as “The Position” and we work on it all the time because it is [...]

In 280BC King Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated a vastly superior Roman army at Asculum – but his army suffered enormous casualties. Afterwards he declared,  ”If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.” Today the term “Pyrrhic victory” is used ruefully to describe a victory with devastating cost to the [...]

The other day I was grossing myself out by leafing through an anatomy textbook when suddenly I had a weird moment of curiosity. Usually these moments pass without incident, but this time, alas, my mind kept working away at the following problem… For the most part our bodies are made up of class 3 levers.  Class 3 levers [...]

If you have a job, you know how to do this: Monday through Friday your alarm clock starts blaring and you wake up in a state of panic. Then you fumble your way into the shower, gulp down a scalding mug of coffee and climb into your car to joust on the freeway in near [...]

Your Central Nervous System (CNS) is how your brain tells  motor neurons and fibers to fire at a certain rate and intensity. Your CNS ensures proper muscle coordination. If your CNS is fried, you won’t be able to move well and your risk of injury goes through the roof. If your “workout” consists of cruising [...]

Denial: WTF? Bread is bad for me? But it’s whole wheat! Anger: Yeah I’m crabby! I need my sugar fix and I threw away all my brownie bites yesterday! Did the garbage truck already come? Bargaining: Check it out! I made pancakes out of almond flour! I just ate twelve of them! Depression: Without beer [...]

If you’ve ever been on a treadmill at the local globo gym you recognize this picture. Basically the idea is that if you exercise at around 70% of maximal heart rate for prolonged periods your body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat. Because the “fat-burning-zone” is low-intensity, you can maintain this pace for [...]

I was fat for 37 years and the thing I remember most about those times is how little the subject of my fatness came up. What I really needed was for someone to look me in the eye and say, “Hey dummy! Belly fat kills. You have a lot to live for, so put that [...]

Here’s a funny (and true) story.   A building supervisor was receiving numerous complaints about a slow elevator in his building so he called in a team of engineers. The engineers scratched their heads for a while trying to figure out a way to cheaply improve the elevator’s performance.  Finally, they came up with an [...]

While I was packing boxes for a recent move I ran across an old copy of Thorstein Veblen’s, “The Theory of the Leisure Class”.  While idly thumbing through it I ran across this passage in which Veblen talks about the ideal of feminine beauty. “The ideal requires delicate and diminutive hands and feet and a [...]