Two Olympic Stories: You Might Learn Something

I was going to have a post to discuss the 41 year old Olympian Dara Torres, but Keith Scott did an excellent job, which makes my life easier. 41 years old and still competing is inspiring to say the least.


And as for the french swim team. Either put up or shut up. I guess humility was never their thing with quotes like "we're going to the Americans." Don't talk smack, especially if you can't deliver.

The Fitcast Celebrates 100 Episodes

Just a heads up that my friend Kevin Larrabee over at the Fitcast posted a special edition to celebrate its 100th episode. The guests were Nutrition wiz Dr. John Berardi and Tom Venuto. You can check it out here.

The FitFlop by Victoria's Secret

Is this for real? Apparently so, finally introduced into the U.S. market is the Victoria's Secret Fitflop. Now I think I've seen it all. This is really brilliant marketing at its finest.

The Fitflop by Victoria's Secret

My friend Jessica said it best when she looked at these. "Some fat@&$ is gonna buy that and walk themselves to McDonalds and wonder why they are still fat." Glad to see someone has some sense of reality.



For a meager $60 this wonderful piece of marketing nonsense can be yours! My comments are in red. Check out the text:

Get a workout while you walk. A workout while you walk? I hardly think walking is considered a workout, maybe a calorie burning activity, but not a workout. If it is a workout for you then hopefully it's just a starting point. Engineered to engage muscles, lessen joint impact and absorb shock, Doesn't any kind of footwear accomplish this? FitFlops burn calories and tone legs with every step. Again these are affects from walking, why do I need this? From running errands to working around your house, it's finally easier to stay in shape and multitask your fitness with a sexy, sporty look. Imported leather. Imported leather will for sure burn extra calories, domestic leather just doesn't cut it.

• Strengthens and tones muscles in your feet, legs, buttocks, stomach and back
• Absorbs shock on your feet, knees and back
• Tones and trims your thighs, calves and glutes
• Recreates the gait of barefoot walking with a built-in micro-wobbleboard workout-enhancing effect See below for my thoughts on this.
• Improves balance and posture

My favorite part has to be the "built-in micro-wobbleboard workout-enhancing effect." Try saying that 10 times fast. The problem with this built in balance enhancer is that in healthy individuals balance training is not only unnecessary but can actually hinder your progress. In the latest research Eric Cressey and crew showed that unstable surface training "using inflatable rubber discs attenuates performance improvements in healthy, trained athletes." To bring this post to a close I leave you with Tony Gentilcore and his thoughts on balance training via a fitness ball:





I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks Tony!

Do you fear Carbs?

Carbs. Ever since Atkin's busted onto the scene the low fat craze subsided and people began fearing carbohydrates. Much like the low fat craze highly processed foods took on a new look carrying less carbs. Things like low carb pasta, and bread emerged and people quickly jumped on board because anyone who has been on a low carb diet knows that it works. Heck I even managed to lose over 30lbs going low carb and for a while I was convinced to fear the carb. Unfortunately when you add exercise to the equation not having carbohydrates makes things a bit more difficult. Low carb made me eat healthier and shy away from a lot of terrible foods, and that is what made me lose the weight.

Well again people took things a bit too far, myself included. Cutting out vegetables and fruit while eating extremely fatty cuts of calorie dense meat and processed cheeses isn't going to make someone the poster boy of health. With carbohydrates if your timing is good then you simply have nothing to worry about. Keep carbs lower throughout the day while having some following intense exercise and you should be fine(I've already told you that you should be exercising right?). Those that tolerate carbohydrates better than others can get away with having some at breakfast too.

As an example take a look at livin la vida low carb blog. Granted using low carb strategies this guy was able to shed 180lbs which is awesome, but recently has gained 30lbs back while following a low carb plan. If you take a look at his recent diet postings it's easy to see where he has gone wrong, but he is eating low carb, so he should be losing weight, right? Having .5 servings of vegetables (check July 27th) isn't really the best long term health advice. Sorry folks the carbs in broccoli aren't going to make you fat. It just isn't going to happen. I'm glad he's decided to ditch the crappy processed low carb junk. I'm sure that will help out a bit, but again he still hasn't squashed his limiting factor.

So in short, eat your veggies like your momma told ya, and stop fearing every single carbohydrate. All carbs were not created equal and stop with this a calorie is a calorie nonsense. Limiting sugars and most processed pre-packaged foods by focusing on whole foods and lean protein sources and you'll be well on your way to a healthy lifestyle a slimmer waistline and long term results.