While talking about Woopra in the previous post, I referred you to One Man’s Blog. There is some interesting stuff over there and when you consider his tagline, “specialization is for insects” you expect there will be variety. (Some Crossfitters also use that tagline to define the highly variable style of fitness training they do).
If you like a good brawl, and really, who doesn’t? What is considered by many to be the “best” (or worst, depending on perspective) hockey brawl in the history of the sport occurred in 1987 between the Junior National teams of Canada and the USSR on Czech ice. It looked like it would go nuclear. When the goalies throw down, it is ON! Take a look.
By the way, there are 2 Stanley Cup playoff games today.
If you have an active blog or a web site, chances are you may be a “stat geek”, checking whose been visiting your site and when and then once they are there, what posts they are reading.
There are quite a few analytic plug-ins that could give you all the possible data you may find helpful, especially if you have something to sell, (merchandise and ideas). For me, it is a fun way to keep score. If I had 500 “hits’ today, then I want 550 tomorrow. You get my drift.
I am playing around with a very cool new analytic app called Woopra. Not only does it chart stats, all kinds of stats, but it does it in real time. It will show people coming and going as it happens and you can even initiate a chat with them. It has maps and is highly customizable. Pure eye candy for an interface.
Woopra is is in beta but it so far blows the doors off anything I have used to date.
I found out about Woopra from One Man’s Blog. Take a look!
You may have seen a hot new three-wheeled motorcycle cruising down a street near you. My brother was many who waited many months for the BRP Can-Am Spyder Roadster and finally got his at the end of last year.
The Spyder is a pretty remarkable motorcycle in that it combines the best features of a motorcycle and a sports car. This bike causes more than just a few double takes. My brother, Greg, pictured above on his 106 horsepower Spyder in Oakland Raider silver and black loves his bike and rides it often (and probably faster than he should).
Jay Leno, also one of the “early adopters” has this to say about his Spyder:
My Thursday lifting buddy and I practice the snatch and even have gotten coaching by a high school kid who does it far better than we do. But why? In part, it is because we think it would be “cool” to snatch a “wheel”, that is, a 45 lb plate on each side of the bar for a 135 lb lift. For me, another reason is that for a lift that takes less than a second to complete, it takes a few years to learn correctly. It’s a challenge. Because the lift is so “technique-centric”, it is an impressive lift going up.
Here’s what it looks like when two Olympians set world records with the lift. (Did the first lifter yell out Fred Flintstone’s signature “yabba dabba doo”?)
Charles Staley has a very enthusiastic treatise on the snatch that is great reading if you are doing or thinking about learning the snatch. I like that he mentions it is a fun lift, and I agree. He also caters to mine and my buddy’s interest in the “coolness factor”.
“ The snatch will completely freak out everyone at your local health club, and I KNOW this is an attractive idea for most of you.”
The barbell snatch is an elegant, fast and explosive lift and there is an excellent chance there is a high school athlete doing it better than you or I ever will, but, that won’t spoil my fun and don’t let it spoil yours. You can still look cool in the gym!
Went from the humidity of Houston to the 90+ degrees here in Costa Mesa. For that reason and just being tired from the last few days, I really didn’t want to train, but train I did. Kettlebell swings with the 20 kg.
I started with a first set of 60 then did 10 x 1 minute sets for 341, for a total of 401.
The newest addition to my kettlebell collection is this 32 kilo bell. You may have seen the 24 kilo bell I painted recently and I thought I would like to painted this one candy apple red and this is how it turned out. I was concerned that the handle might be too slick but actually it was just right, with or without chalk.
The ingredients were 1 coat of gray automotive primer, 3 coats of red lacquer spray paint and 2 clear coats for added shine and protection. All paints were Rust Oleum. This came after stripping off the original coating, rinsing with fast-drying solvent and sanding down with carbide grit abrasive strips.
It swung well on it’s maiden voyage, going for 100 reps.
Cellphones. They are everywhere and everybody seems obsessed with them. I remember walking through Irvine Spectrum on a Saturday night and the place was loaded with kids and most seemed to be staring hypnotically at their cell phone screens. Another sign of the times, I suppose, but at least they were quiet.
Of course, the most annoying people with cell phones are the ones who think they are the only people in the room and theirs is the most important conversation taking place at the moment. Isn’t it true they are almost always loud talkers?
In this video, from Kim Komando’s site, watch while the performing musicians get even with one of the rude-boys.
One of the great things about kettlebells is you can squeeze a workout in just about anywhere, but probably not in a phone booth. (Are there any more of those these days?)
Late Sunday afternoon, I went to the local car wash and when I went to get some stuff from the floor of the back seat, there was my 24 kg kettlebell. I hadn’t gotten a workout in yet so why not? I decided from the time they started vacuuming the Jeep until the time when the illegal, er, undocumented, um, immigrant workers finished wiping down the last drop of rinse water, I would swing and snatch the kettlebell.
Good thing it wasn’t very busy, but during my time there, I got in 200 one-handed swings, starting with sets of 30 and eventually down to sets of 10.
After the truck was finished, I added in 100 snatches for good measure.
I then scratched off two things from the To Do list.
