Poisonous Eyesores

Once upon a time...  (seemingly in a galaxy far far away)
   ...church steeples, water towers, bell towers, old courthouses, and even large old trees were the central landmarks of small towns. They were beacons that would lead you to Main Street. Towns with good stories, interesting people, and great food with locally grown ingredients.
But now there has been a crushing takeover. Small towns across America are losing their charm and quality. A poisonous leader has put towering signs above cities and crushed their character. The new town beacon reflects a new ideal- cheap convenience at the price of unhealthiness. Some cities have fought back and kept these foreign enemies at a distance, but many towns have fallen hard due to highways and fast food chains ripping the town in half, and drastically increasing their low quality high calorie intake.

Not only has the quality of character been disrupted, but also the quality of health.
Not long ago I was in a small town at an old restaurant (one of the few still remaining in the town). On the wall was a picture of that restaurant from 1939. It showed a full house. Everyone in the picture was healthy and of reasonable weight. I enjoyed the nostalgic view into the past. Then my focus shifted through the photograph to see the present day reflection of people behind me in the restaurant. All I could see was sickness and obesity. The whole restaurant was shockingly fat, whereas in the photo not even one person appeared overweight! I knew something had changed over the past 72 years, and it isn't the human DNA, it is certainly the diet that is often pushed on people.

I had seen this change before in small towns. A few years back I was taking a road trip to the mountains of Virginia. I was dreaming day and night about old school all American cooking that I had experienced in my youth. I knew there was to be fresh apples, smoked meats, and green beans, all made with some magical mysticism that had been passed along through generations of charismatic mountain families. I was certain I would find a perfect hideaway for a perfectly made country meal. However, when I arrived I was greeted by a highway that ran through the town and fast food restaurants off of every exit. Somewhere America had now become Anywhere America. Even a deeper search only found boarded up old family restaurants that couldn't compete with the fast food chains. The only privately owned eateries around were good, but not as good as what the past offered.


I believe towns should respect and reflect their people and their heritage. It is sad to see the golden arches standing high above all else that once had meaning in the American community.


“Is the small town a place, truly, of the world, or is it no more than something out of a boy's dreaming? Out of his love of all things not of death made? All things somewhere beyond the dust, rust, and decay, beyond the top, beyond all sides, beyond bottom: outside, around, over, under, within?”
~William Saroyan

Making Good Use of a Boxing Round Timer

Set the timer to 3 minutes with a 1 minute rest (which will not actually be a rest). You will need a jump rope and determination.

Skip rope for 3 minutes.
When the yellow light rings you will amp up the intensity with high knees on the jump rope (this is for the last 30 seconds of the 3 minutes).
Then, instead of resting during the 1 minute rest period, you will do Hindu Squats. You should be able to hit around 40 Hindu Squats during the minute. That is 1 round completed.
Then immediately repeat for the rounds 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Build up to being able to do 6 rounds of this. It will be 24 minutes of non-stop skipping and squatting.
If you are a real monster you can do Jumping Squats instead of Hindu Squats.

Turmeric

I've been on a turmeric kick lately. It tastes good and has many proven health benefits- anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous, pain relief, antiseptic, anti-bacterial, benefits skin, and has positive effects in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.
HERE is a great link with information about turmeric.

Turmeric is very diverse and it is commonly used in Indian, Persian, Malay, and Thai cuisine. There are many different recipes.Below is a simple recipe that I like. It is quick and easy to make.

Free Range Ground Beef- 1lb
Garlic
Turmeric
Pepper
Cayenne
Cilantro
Quinoa- 1/2 cup cooked
Course Ground Mustard- 2 tbsp

Cook the beef and add the spices, then mix together with quinoa and mustard.
It's ready to eat. If it turns out a little bit dry you can add a small amount of olive oil.

Superathlete: Jack Lalanne

Jack Lalanne has passed away at 96 years of age. The passing of the great old timers gives me great fear in this time of trend-following fitness leaders we live in. The one thing about the old timers is that they were original. They didn't blindly follow the latest cool trends, they explored and put things to the true test.
Jack Lalanne was ahead of his time and ours in fitness and nutrition. He influenced the world of fitness for over 60 years. He didn't merely not die until 96, he LIVED until 96. I will let his athletic feats speak for themselves...

• 1954 (age 40): swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, underwater, with 140 pounds (64 kg; 10 st) of equipment, including two air tanks. A world record.
• 1955 (age 41): swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco while handcuffed. When interviewed afterwards he was quoted as saying that the worst thing about the ordeal was being handcuffed, which reduced his chance to do a Jumping jack significantly.
• 1956 (age 42): set a world record of 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes on You Asked For It, a television program with Art Baker.
• 1957 (age 43): swam the Golden Gate channel while towing a 2,500-pound (1,100 kg; 180 st) cabin cruiser. The swift ocean currents turned this one-mile (1.6 km) swim into a swimming distance of 6.5 miles (10.5 km).
• 1958 (age 44): maneuvered a paddleboard nonstop from Farallon Islands to the San Francisco shore. The 30-mile (48 km) trip took 9.5 hours.
• 1959 (age 45): did 1,000 star jumps and 1,000 chin-ups in 1 hour, 22 minutes and The Jack LaLanne Show went nationwide.
• 1974 (age 60): For the second time, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf. Again, he was handcuffed, but this time he was also shackled and towed a 1,000-pound (450 kg; 71 st) boat.
• 1975 (age 61): Repeating his performance of 21 years earlier, he again swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater and handcuffed, but this time he was shackled and towed a 1,000-pound (450 kg; 71 st) boat.
• 1976 (age 62): To commemorate the "Spirit of '76", United States Bicentennial, he swam one mile (1.6 km) in Long Beach Harbor. He was handcuffed and shackled, and he towed 13 boats (representing the 13 original colonies) containing 76 people.
• 1979 (age 65): towed 65 boats in Lake Ashinoko, near Tokyo, Japan. He was handcuffed and shackled, and the boats were filled with 6,500 pounds (2,900 kg; 460 st) of Louisiana Pacific wood pulp.
• 1980 (age 66): towed 10 boats in North Miami, Florida. The boats carried 77 people, and he towed them for over one mile (1.6 km) in less than one hour.
• 1984 (age 70): Handcuffed, shackled and fighting strong winds and currents, towed 70 rowboats, one with several guests, from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, 1 mile.

For more about Jack see www.jacklalanne.com

"We don't know all the answers. If we knew all the answers we'd be bored, wouldn't we? We keep looking, searching, trying to get more knowledge."
~Jack Lalanne 

Be Formless, Like Water

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."
~Bruce Lee

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A great visual for quitting smoking- a healthy set of lungs next to a smoker's lungs...

It is illogical that our society bans so many small dangers yet allows cigarettes to kill more people than Hitler, Stalin, H1N1, and terrorists combined! In fact cigarettes are the number one lethal substance in our society! Amazingly, people are actually convinced to pay money for illness! At an average $7 per pack and a pack per day a person will spend $2,555 per year, FOR ILLNESS! I can't think of a more irrational act for a person to engage in.

click here>>An overview of the risks of smoking <

If you smoke, quitting should be the primary goal of your life. The key to life is living! It is worth fighting for.

Ladders for Pullups

 

The "ladder" method for pullups is a great way to get some reps done.

You can use various grips or rings. There are a few rep ideas you can try:

1. Beginner- 1, 2, 3,  1, 2,  1 (10 total pullups)

2. Intermediate- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,  1, 2, 3, 4,  1, 2, 3,  1, 2,  1 (35 total pullups)

3. Advanced- 2, 4, 6, 8, 10,  2, 4, 6, 8,  2, 4, 6,  2, 4,  2 (70 total pullups)

For the beginner example, do 1 pullup, rest 30 seconds (or more if necessary), then 2 pullups, rest 30 seconds, 3 pullups, rest, then 1 pullup, rest, then 2 pullups, then 1 pullup. With each cycle you run up the rep ladder. You can increase the difficulty by adding a higher rep in each cycle, or you can regress by scaling it down if necessary. You can also decrease the rest time, or add some weight. You can also repeat the whole cycle. The point is to get many reps without totally cooking yourself. This increase in volume will increase strength and workload capacity. Once your strength is up to par, you can graduate to rope climbing and gymnastic rings, but always work your various pullup methods. Fun stuff, try it out.

Reverse ladders are also fun. Example:

5, 4, 3, 2, 1,  4, 3, 2, 1,  3, 2, 1,  2, 1,  1

Just Bento

Anyone that knows me knows that I love Japanese food, and what sensible being wouldn't? I've taken people to eat Japanese that had never had it and they ALWAYS love it. To say you don't like Japanese food is irrational because there is something for everyone. I like sushi and chanko-nabe, but I love the simplicity of a Bento box. Bento is basically healthy fast food. Here is a link to a great site about Bento...

www.justbento.com

Enjoy!