9/12 - pullups/pushups, neutral grip pullups/pushups, chins/military pushups, db drag curls, conc curls, farmer's walk
Don’t Be At The Mercy of Motivation | ZuzkaLight.com: "We think that we must always be motivated to endure our workouts... This is simply not the case. The key is to understand that we shouldn’t be constantly hunting for motivation nor do we necessarily need to have it all of the time.
Struggling with motivation should not be at the focus of our fitness routines. Discipline and forming habits should be. These form the foundation of wellbeing with regards to fitness. Consistency, even when the very last thing we want to do is blast through another set of burpees or squats, is what allows us to reach higher goals and achieve greater results. In fact, as one of my articles pointed out, recent studies indicate that the more we consistently exercise the more we strengthen a positive neurological response in our brains when it comes to working out. Don’t spend your day or morning worrying about how you’re going to get through your workout. Try to tune out any kind of negative emotional response and treat it like you would a job or a chore. We often go to work and run errands with hardly any enthusiasm and motivation and yet we still do these things, partly out of responsibility, but also because we know that they are necessary. Diet and exercise are no different. We are responsible for our wellbeing. It’s understandable to seek out some degree of motivation – be it fitting into an old pair of jeans or finding just the right song for your workout – but don’t let it dictate whether or not you workout today, tomorrow or next week. Form a routine and stick to it as best as you can. After enough time spent being consistent, you will find that healthier choices become second nature."
Aging is a choice.
Timeline Photos - Amy Updike IFBB Pro: "I have a lot of really positive feelings and memories from my first 11 months of training and then competing. It was probably one of the most exciting times of my life. I had made HUGE changes to my diet, consistently eating 6-7 times a day, eating only good stuff with a weekly cheat meal, drinking tons of water, and began for the first time in my life exercising 4-6 days a week (lifting weights and a little cardio). I was astounded at how quickly my body changed. The left pic was about 2-3 weeks into my new diet and exercise plan. I was already starting to feel different although I didn't look much different yet. The right was at my 2nd National Bikini comp. All I see when I see the pic on the right is #delts.... When I will be at the Olympia expo in Vegas next weekend, I will having a little celebration inside to remember that day, 2 years ago, when I consciously chose to forever change my life. The day I contacted a trainer and decided to be fully dedicated the the plan he wrote for me. Not half in, half out. ALL the way in. "
Religion, making everything worse since always. Video - Ebola Epidemic Tests Faith of Liberian Church - Wsj.com: "The Ebola epidemic has sparked a crisis of faith for one Liberian church that has lost several prominent members after practicing hands-on healing."
Sleepwalking Toward Armageddon : Sam Harris: "President Obama delivered the following rebuke (using an alternate name for ISIS): ISIL speaks for no religion… and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day.
...As an atheist, I cannot help wondering when this scrim of pretense and delusion will be finally burned away—either by the clear light of reason or by a surfeit of horror meted out to innocents by the parties of God. Which will come first, flying cars and vacations to Mars, or a simple acknowledgment that beliefs guide behavior and that certain religious ideas—jihad, martyrdom, blasphemy, apostasy—reliably lead to oppression and murder? It may be true that no faith teaches people to massacre innocents exactly—but innocence, as the President surely knows, is in the eye of the beholder. Are apostates “innocent”? Blasphemers? Polytheists? Islam has the answer, and the answer is “no.”
...No doubt many enlightened concerns will come flooding into the reader’s mind at this point. I would not want to create the impression that most Muslims support ISIS, nor would I want to give any shelter or inspiration to the hatred of Muslims as people. In drawing a connection between the doctrine of Islam and jihadist violence, I am talking about ideas and their consequences, not about 1.5 billion nominal Muslims, many of whom do not take their religion very seriously...
But a belief in martyrdom, a hatred of infidels, and a commitment to violent jihad are not fringe phenomena in the Muslim world. These preoccupations are supported by the Koran and numerous hadith. That is why the popular Saudi cleric Mohammad Al-Areefi sounds like the ISIS army chaplain. The man has 9.5 million followers on Twitter (twice as many as Pope Francis has). If you can find an important distinction between the faith he preaches and that which motivates the savagery of ISIS, you should probably consult a neurologist...
The reality of martyrdom and the sanctity of armed jihad are about as controversial under Islam as the resurrection of Jesus is under Christianity.
...experts claim that one can’t take Islamists and jihadists at their word: Their incessant declarations about God, paradise, martyrdom, and the evils of apostasy are nothing more than a mask concealing their real motivations. What are their real motivations? Insert here the most abject hopes and projections of secular liberalism: How would you feel if Western imperialists and their mapmakers had divided your lands, stolen your oil, and humiliated your proud culture? Devout Muslims merely want what everyone wants—political and economic security, a piece of land to call home, good schools for their children, a little leisure to enjoy the company of friends. Unfortunately, most of my fellow liberals appear to believe this.
In fact, to not accept this obscurantism as a deep insight into human nature and immediately avert one’s eyes from the teachings of Islam is considered a form of bigotry. In any conversation on this topic, one must continually deploy a firewall of caveats and concessions to irrelevancy: Of course, U.S. foreign policy has problems. Yes, we really must get off oil. No, I did not support the war in Iraq. Sure, I’ve read Chomsky. No doubt, the Bible contains equally terrible passages. Yes, I heard about that abortion clinic bombing in 1984. No, I’m sorry to say that Hitler and Stalin were not motivated by atheism. The Tamil Tigers? Of course, I’ve heard of them. Now can we honestly talk about the link between belief and behavior?
...Yes, many Muslims happily ignore the apostasy and blasphemy of their neighbors, view women as the moral equals of men, and consider anti-Semitism contemptible. But there are also Muslims who drink alcohol and eat bacon. All of these persuasions run counter to the explicit teachings of Islam to one or another degree. And just like moderates in every other religion, most moderate Muslims become obscurantists when defending their faith from criticism. They rely on modern, secular values—for instance, tolerance of diversity and respect for human rights—as a basis for reinterpreting and ignoring the most despicable parts of their holy books. But they nevertheless demand that we respect the idea of revelation, and this leaves us perpetually vulnerable to more literal readings of scripture...
The idea that any book was inspired by the creator of the universe is poison—intellectually, ethically, and politically...
Among all the harms caused by religion at this point in history, this is perhaps the most subtle: Even when it appears beneficial—inspiring people to gather in beautiful buildings to contemplate the mystery existence and their ethical commitments to one another—religion conveys the message that there is no intellectually defensible and nonsectarian way to do this. But there is. We can build strong communities and enjoy deeply moral and spiritual lives, without believing any divisive nonsense about the divine origin of specific books."
Oh, Feynman. Richard Feynman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, he gives advice on the best way to pick up a girl in a hostess bar. At Caltech, he used a nude or topless bar as an office away from his usual office, making sketches or writing physics equations on paper placemats. When the county officials tried to close the place, all visitors except Feynman refused to testify in favor of the bar, fearing that their families or patrons would learn about their visits. Only Feynman accepted, and in court, he affirmed that the bar was a public need, stating that craftsmen, technicians, engineers, common workers, "and a physics professor" frequented the establishment. While the bar lost the court case, it was allowed to remain open as a similar case was pending appeal."
This is excellent. Joe Rogan Experience #469 - Dr. Carl Hart - YouTube: "Carl Hart is an associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Columbia University. He is known for his research in drug abuse and drug addiction. Hart was the first tenured African American professor of sciences at Columbia University."
Ending Evil vs. Defending the Country - Reason.com: "President Obama concedes that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Syria (ISIS) does not pose a direct threat to our country but argues that one day it might. That is the core of the case for the new war in the Middle East that Obama announced this week, although it's easy to forget amid all the other rationales.
Most of those rationales have little or nothing to do with U.S. national security, and some are breathtakingly broad. In a recent London Times essay, Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron declare that "we will not waver in our determination to confront ISIL" (a.k.a. ISIS) because "we have a real stake in making sure that [our children and grandchildren] grow up in a world where schoolgirls are not kidnapped, women are not raped in conflict and families aren't slaughtered because of their faith or political beliefs." Those are all terrible things, but the U.S. government has neither the mandate nor the ability to prevent them, as Obama himself occasionally acknowledges. "Not every regional terrorist organization is automatically a threat to us that would call for a major offensive," he told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday. "Our goal should not be to think that we can occupy every country where there's a terrorist organization." So ISIS is "a threat to us"? Not quite. "We have not seen any immediate intelligence about threats to the homeland from ISIL," Obama emphasized. "That's not what this is about. What it's about is an organization that, if allowed to control significant amounts of territory, to amass more resources, more arms, to attract more foreign fighters…can be a serious threat to the homeland."
You may or may not find this preventive/pre-emptive argument for war persuasive. It seems to me that ISIS is, first and foremost, a problem for its various regional adversaries, including Iran, the Persian Gulf states, rival rebel groups and the Assad regime in Syria, and the Kurds, Shiites, and moderate Sunnis of Iraq.
...the world is full of evil, and no country, not even the United States, can hope to eradicate it. Trying to do so is dangerous because of the potential for unintended consequences. Consider Iraq and Libya, where chaos prevails not just despite but because of U.S. meddling. Given these and many other examples of foreign adventures gone awry, it is quixotic to believe that the U.S. can intervene in Syria's civil war in just the right way, attacking ISIS without shoring up the brutal Assad government or magnifying the terrorist threat to our country. "
Inside The Next Chapter Of "Veronica Mars": "Play It Again, Dick — a Hollywood-skewering webseries that doubles as the latest extension of Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars franchise. Revolving around Hansen’s attempt to capitalize on the cast’s resurgence in popularity following the 2014 feature film, the series, running on The CW’s online content portal CW Seed, once again reunites the cast, this time under very different circumstances. Embracing an absurdly comedic tone, Play It Again, Dick — which chronicles the misguided production of an even more misguided show-within-a-show centering on self-professed playboy Dick Casablancas (Hansen), now a private investigator for hire — calls for each of the actors to play a slightly skewed version of themselves, as well as reprise their beloved Veronica Mars character. “It’s like fan porn,” Hansen told BuzzFeed News with a laugh. “It’s a fun way to see everybody be goofy, but still have the characters together.”"
Well, that's disconcerting. Majority of Chinese Expect War With Japan by 2020, Poll Finds | TIME: "53 percent of Chinese respondents expect war to break out between the two countries before the end of the decade, a new survey found More than half of China’s citizens expect their country to be at war with Japan in as little as six years, according to a new public opinion poll that finds a widening sense of mistrust and hostility between the two countries."
Survey finds pessimism in ties with Japan[1]|chinadaily.com.cn: "In China, the survey included 1,539 Chinese residents in the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang and Xi'an, 201 international relations scholars from around the country and 813 university students and faculty members at five top Beijing universities. In Japan, respondents included 1,000 members of the public and 628 intellectuals, mostly with experience of China."
Barry Eisler - One of the most common (and depressing) false...: "One of the most common (and depressing) false binaries I've seen regarding reluctance to launch another war in the middle east is "What are we supposed to do, offer them tea/say pretty please/make friends?"
I sometimes get a similar reaction in response to my protests against torturing terror suspects: "What are we supposed to do, give them a nice massage?"
A person who can't think of another way to deal with our adversaries other than torture and war has been virtually lobotomized by government propaganda. Of course, forcing people's mind into the box of "It's either war or the Black Flag of Isis flying over the White House!" and "It's either torture of a mushroom cloud over Los Angeles!" (the clear, scary imagery is always important) is precisely the purpose of that propaganda. What amazes me is how well it continues to work. I don't know what to make of that, other than that propaganda isn't very hard, or that people are awfully easy. Or both."
12 Signs You Need to Eat More Protein | Mark's Daily Apple: "For years, the elderly have been told not to expect anything from their bodies but decay and decrepitude. They can lift weights if they want, but they’re not going to get very strong and if anything they’ll just improve “tone” and “balance.” Well, that’s nonsense. The elderly absolutely can get stronger and even build muscle and improve their bone mineral density by lifting heavy things. Maybe not as easily as a 22 year old. Maybe not as much as when they were younger. But they can do it. There’s just one caveat: they need more protein than their younger counterparts. The elderly aren’t as efficient at processing protein. To maintain nitrogen balance or tip the scales toward lean mass accrual, an older person is going to need more protein than a younger person – all else being equal. That goes for resistance training oldsters, puttering around the garden oldsters, and taking an hour to walk around the block oldsters. More protein is better than less...
Traditional calorie-restricted dieting certainly can help you lose body weight, but it also causes the loss of lean muscle mass. That explains why so many people who simply reduce calories to lose weight end up skinny-fat. Luckily, increasing the amount of protein you eat can offset some of the muscle loss caused by calorie restriction: In weightlifters, a low-carb hypocaloric diet with 2x the RDA for protein resulted in greater nitrogen balance than a high-carb hypocaloric diet with RDA protein. In women, a low-calorie, high-protein diet was better than a conventional high-carb, low-fat diet at promoting lean mass retention, even in the absence of exercise. If you’re reducing calorie intake, you’d better increase the absolute amount of protein you’re eating. As an added bonus, the satiety from increasing protein will make the cutting of calories – an infamously onerous task – much easier..
For the most part, plant proteins are less efficient than animal proteins. They’re often missing essential amino acids. And in the case of something like soy protein, it’s just not as effective as an animal protein like whey: Following resistance training, soy protein blunts testosterone production in men. In both the young and the elderly, whey promotes greater muscle protein synthesis than soy protein. Compared to milk, soy protein results in less hypertrophy following resistance training. Women who consume animal protein have greater muscle mass than female vegetarians. The easiest thing would be to add a whey protein supplement or start eating pastured eggs..."
Timeline Photos - Amy Updike IFBB Pro: "I have a lot of really positive feelings and memories from my first 11 months of training and then competing. It was probably one of the most exciting times of my life. I had made HUGE changes to my diet, consistently eating 6-7 times a day, eating only good stuff with a weekly cheat meal, drinking tons of water, and began for the first time in my life exercising 4-6 days a week (lifting weights and a little cardio). I was astounded at how quickly my body changed. The left pic was about 2-3 weeks into my new diet and exercise plan. I was already starting to feel different although I didn't look much different yet. The right was at my 2nd National Bikini comp. All I see when I see the pic on the right is #delts.... When I will be at the Olympia expo in Vegas next weekend, I will having a little celebration inside to remember that day, 2 years ago, when I consciously chose to forever change my life. The day I contacted a trainer and decided to be fully dedicated the the plan he wrote for me. Not half in, half out. ALL the way in. "
Inside The Next Chapter Of "Veronica Mars": "Play It Again, Dick — a Hollywood-skewering webseries that doubles as the latest extension of Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars franchise. Revolving around Hansen’s attempt to capitalize on the cast’s resurgence in popularity following the 2014 feature film, the series, running on The CW’s online content portal CW Seed, once again reunites the cast, this time under very different circumstances. Embracing an absurdly comedic tone, Play It Again, Dick — which chronicles the misguided production of an even more misguided show-within-a-show centering on self-professed playboy Dick Casablancas (Hansen), now a private investigator for hire — calls for each of the actors to play a slightly skewed version of themselves, as well as reprise their beloved Veronica Mars character. “It’s like fan porn,” Hansen told BuzzFeed News with a laugh. “It’s a fun way to see everybody be goofy, but still have the characters together.”"
