Tagged

So I've been tagged again. It's taken me a couple of days to come up with eight random facts about me. So, In no particular order of lack of importance.

• 1. On the day I turned thirty, on a dare, I got my belly button pierced. Some friends and I were out and about imbibing when one of them mentioned that I was to old to do any such foolishness. So I said if they would pay for it I would do it, they did and so did I. When I turned 40 I took it out.
• 2. I have a cat named "Pig". when he was little he looked just like a little piglet, hence the name.
• 3. I make the worlds worst beef stroganoff. I can follow any recipe, and it will still come out wrong. I can cook many other things, just not stroganoff.
• 4. I've been drunk and asked to leave a bar on 6 different continents. "Beer" and "Jack Daniels" are understood world wide. Actually I was only asked to leave 5 times, the sixth one thru me out.
• 5. I have no problem jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, but climbing a ladder scares me.
• 6. Anne Marie Fahey was a friend of mine in college. It still weirds me out, what happened to her.
• 7. I know people who worked in the World Trade center on 9/11, all of them made it out, or were late for work that day.
• 8. On a clear day I can stand on the roof of my house and see 5 rivers, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and the Chesapeake bay.

Does Organic still Matter?

With Big Agri-business now firmly in control of the organic products available in most grocery stores, how much does buying organic really matter? No longer does organic signify small family farms and local, seasonal goods. In the case of dairy if one were to visit a Dean foods, Horizon Dairy operation, it would be indistinguishable from its non-organic line. They are both feed lot operations, and ship products all over North America. Much of the produce that is organic is grown half way around the world, and shipped by airplane. The carbon footprint of this produce is far higher than non-orgainc produce grown anywhere in the United States. Is that what we are really trying to accomplish when we purchase orgainc products?Given the efforts of large agri-business to homogenize our food supply, it has become fairly impossible to eat a healthy diet and eat only locally grown meat and produce. There are still a great number of family farms in small communiteis across these United States, and we are doing ourselves the biggest favor of all when we support our local faremers, even if they are not organic. Farmers markets and roadside stands are a great source of high quality local produce. The money you spend at these places stays in your community, and doens't flow to large corporate interest. Even better, plan now to plant a garden next year. There are few things that will ever taste as good as home grown tomatoes.

Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes

Guy Clark - Refrain from "Homegrown Tomatoes"

Average Guy's Guide #5

So, the time has come, man meets iron. After much consideration, read procrastination, its time to get busy lifting weights. We are going to stop the body weight deep knee bends, but keep the push ups, situps and hammer work, plus add a few other things in. There will be a link provided for each new exercise to exrx.net for a complete description and demo. So here is your next routine

Spilt Squats
Stiff leg Deadlift
Overhead Press
Bent over Row
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Hammer work

There ya go. Do these twice a week, giving yourself at least 2 or three days between workouts. Start conservative with the weights. These are new movements, and it'll take a time or three to get the hang of them. Its far better to do it light and do it right, then go heavy too quickly and get hurt. Getting hurt is not good, in fact part of why we're doing this is to be more injury resistant. Now that we are past the absolute beginner stage the question always comes up as to how many sets to preform. If you travel about the internet you will find various answers to that question. Here is mine, One set works IF you have a qualified coach or partner to spot you, push you, and watch your form. IF you are in this situation, especially if you have access to high quality equipment like Med-x or Hammer, then go for it, one max set is all you need. IF however, you are working out alone in your garage or basement, then two hard sets, is better then trying to do one max set unsupervised. To start the Split squats and deadlifts with, use a weight that you could get 20 reps with but stop at 15. For the press' and row's, use a weight that you could get 15 reps with, but stop at 12. For the pushups and sit ups you should be able to get 2 sets of 20. If on the second set you aren't sure if you can get all the reps, stop on the last rep you know you can get. Just try to do a little better next time. After you are able to get all reps in both sets confidently, add weight, 5 lbs, at the next work out. This routine should last you for about 8 weeks. At the end of 8 weeks, take a week off. It will be time to change things up again.