Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Yay! I just want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and I hope you have a great holiday. Spend lots of time with the family, eat lots of food and be happy. And if you eat too much food, like most of us do every year, put aside some time to do a few workouts. I plan on doing a heavy workout tomorrow morning as a preemptive strike 😀
Every weekend I publish a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week. These are my favorites.
Ten Great Books to Expand Your Horizons
If Martin Berkhan has reading suggestions, you can bet they’re worth checking out. I just got a Kindle for Christmas and I can’t wait to read these books on these on it.
Smash Your Bench PR by the End of the Year
I caught this one a little late, so you probably won’t smash your PR before the end of the year, but you can start this now and do it shortly after the new year!
Basically, if you don’t have a healthy and highly nutritious diet, taking a vitamin wouldn’t be a bad idea. I’ve never noticed a benefit from taking vitamins, but I take them to prevent any sorts of deficiencies I might have.
The Best Damn Bench Press Article Period
If you’ve got some spare time and you want to learn just about everything there is to know about the bench press, this article has you covered.
Caffeine study shows sport performance increase
Caffeine and carbs are a good mix for endurance, performance and skills. I’m not sure I’ve ever consumed a caffeine/carbohydrate drink before. I wonder what the options are.
StrongLifts 5×5 Workout Tracker for iPod/iPhone
You’ve probably heard me mention it before, but I’m currently doing the Stronglifts 5×5 program and I’m seeing huge success. I’ve never come close to the amount of weight I’m lifting today. Apple just approved the app yesterday so go download it for free!
Update: Men’s Health Stopped Writing New Cover Lines Years Ago
Wow, isn’t this terrible? That means that most of the stuff you see on the cover of this magazine isn’t even in the issue. I wonder how many other magazines do this.
It’s not the article that’s interesting here, but check out the comments. What an interesting conversation! Some people say Braggs Liquid Aminos is a healthy alternative to regular soy sauce and others say it’ll kill you, lol. I just bought some and personally, I’m not afraid to use it.
I’m not well-educated on foam rolling, so this video was very helpful. He shows quite a few different ways to use a roller. It seems like it would feel pretty good.
Let’s Go Eat! – Michael Collins at City O’ City in Denver, CO
City O’ City is an awesome restaurant in downtown Denver. We eat there all the time. The seitan buffalo wings are awesome and I haven’t tried one dessert that wasn’t super-delicious. Check out their sister restaurant, Watercourse, too.
How to Put on a Bench Shirt (video)
Jeez, it takes a lot of work to put on a bench shirt. This is probably only useful for competitive lifters, but I thought it was still pretty interesting. I wonder if it’s possible to put on a bench shirt by yourself? Probably not.
Remove Excess Fat from Soups and Casseroles with an Ice Cube
This is a really cool trick. I wonder how much fat and calories can realistically be removed using this method. I can’t wait to try it and see what it looks like.
Ben Green Podcast: Eating for a Long Workout
I’ve read quite a few articles from Ben Green in the past, all of them very good, but I’ve never listened to one of his podcasts. After checking this one out, I’m definitely gonna start catching them from now on. There was so much information in here and not just about eating for a long workout, as the title suggests. He covered so much stuff. Damn! 😀
23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?
This is a fantastic video explaining the benefits of walking and how walking regularly can dramatically increase your mortality rate. The presentation is amazing and will keep you entertained the entire time.
A bottom-up squat is a squat starting from the bottom position of the exercise. I actually did these involuntarily at my old gym because their power rack didn’t have j-hooks to hold the weight at shoulder level. Perhaps I should do them on purpose now.
Low Back Stretches for Snow Shovelers
This one couldn’t have come at a better time. I just shoveled more than a foot of snow from my sidewalk and driveway yesterday and boy, was my back hurting.
Tacos With Mushrooms and Chipotle Ranchera Salsa
Mmmm, these look tasty. I’m not sure about the cabbage, but I’m willing to give these tacos a try. Looks really easy to make too.
Starting Strength Routine Generator Spreadsheet
If you want to build strength and you need a place to start, download this spreadsheet. It’s got the big lifts you should be doing. If you enter your starting weight in the fields, it’ll automatically update the routine to the amount of weight you should be lifting for each set.