Saturday, June 13, 2015

Chronic Disease: Is there a cure?

Diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, arthritis, IBS, cancer... chronic, hereditary, incurable disease...

What if we challenge some of these assumptions:

Heredity

My mom and dad both have Type II diabetes.  My mother had a quadruple bypass in 2013. My paternal grandfather died of a heart attack.  My maternal grandparents both died of cancer.

I'm screwed...

I am beginning to think genetics plays a different role in what I'm being told because if diabetes were hereditary, why didn't my grandparents have it?? Or their parents?  Doesn't it seem strange that diabetes and heart disease is getting worse? If it's being passed down like old family photos, then I should see a pattern that is clearly absent.

Look at this for diabetes:
Rate per 100 of Civilian, Noninstitutionalized Population with Diagnosed Diabetes, by Age, United States, 1980–2011

Heart disease:
The Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic

And here is a general search engine called WONDER from the CDC for causes of death.
CDC WONDER

I would argue that due to genetic origins, your metabolism might be predisposed for certain dietary needs.  If you ignore those needs, then combine that with a sedentary lifestyle, THAT could be root cause. In other words, instead of seeing diabetes as the inevitable result of genetics, perhaps if you just eat the right things and get some exercise, you never have to go down that road.

The above is  NOT a revelation, or it sure shouldn't be.  We know diabetes is a metabolic disease. So is coronary heart disease (CHD). Eat crap. Sit on ass.  Get sick.

Note - metabolic is the part that should be striking.

me·tab·o·lism [məˈtabəˌlizəm] noun
the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.


What do we know?

Fact: You should get most of your calories from healthy whole grains and cereals
Wait - The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization

The net here is - if you look at hunter gatherer populations, they don't have our problems. If you give them McDonald's and Coca Cola, they develop them. Take the crap away again, and they go back to healthy.

Their natural diets are high protein + high fat.

"Forks over Knives" links protein to cancer, but I recently watched a TED talk about angiogenesis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiogenesis) that talks about how the circulatory system can adapt and grow or shrink based on what our bodies need.  i.e. to get more blood to an injury, more vessels can grow to affect that, then trim back when no longer needed. Your body can actually bypass a clogged artery (which doctors call a "natural bypass"). I point that only because the point of the talk was that well-fed cancer flourishes. If you starve it, it stalls or even goes into remission.  What if reducing protein means we starve the cancer? Would that not also imply that we are starving ourselves?? Another argument to that is that "back in the day" your ancestors didn't get 3 squares a day... they ate when there was food, which means they probably had to fast sometimes. Perhaps this allows the body to detox and heal itself vs constantly having to digest the crap we put in our bodies today.  Hmm...

Fact: High cholesterol causes heart disease.
Wait - Most heart attack patients' cholesterol levels did not indicate cardiac risk

"75% of heart attack victims had normal cholesterol"... come again??

If high cholesterol is the reason for heart disease, which is the cause of heart attacks, then something in this article doesn't make sense. If your cholesterol is good, you won't die of a heart attack, right?? WRONG!

How did that make you feel? Are you on a statin?? Did your doctor mention CoQ10?
CoQ10 and Statins: What You Need to Know

I have had 4 separate doctors prescribe a statin, and nobody ever said "Take CoQ10 as well Carric". Supposedly it has been known for like a decade that statins block the a fundamental process that makes cholesterol, but it also the process that produces CoQ10 (and a few other vital hormones). What are we doing??!! The answer: we really have no idea, so we need to stop dicking around with what has evolved as an almost perfect system!!! We are treating symptoms that don't even tie back to any root cause...

Also, as it turns out, we don't even get the story on cholesterol. I'm sure you have been told "Your LDL cholesterol is high, and HDL is low.  Let's get you on [insert harmful poison] as a vital imperative". There are at least two kinds of LDL, one of which is not harmful. I read the Brits recently discovered a third that is "glycated", meaning it's sugary sweet and even  more sitcky. LDL B is the bad stuff.  It's tiny particles that get into your arterial wall, then when they oxidize, your body responds as it would to any foreign body. Inflammatory response.

If heart disease has nothing to do with cholesterol, then what is root cause? My research indicates inflammation, which is actually caused by what we are putting into our bodies. The trick is, if you do research on what you should and should not eat, you will get a million different answers. We keep adjusting the food pyramid for US citizens.  Well, how the hell is that working out for us?? Not that anyone actually follows it, but look at what we DO eat, and you may find a pattern. We vilify fat, but it's almost always mixed with tons of sugar.  Ansel Keys' data was cherry picked (the guy who is responsible for linking fat to heart disease - do the research vs just taking my word) too. So what to do? Well, I know "paleo" is a popular fad, but honestly - what did your ancestors eat?? What did the pioneers eat? They lived hard lives, but they didn't have heart disease and diabetes.

Chronic

Once you have it - you just have to live with it forever. I don't like that idea... So I found this book called "How to Cure Diabetes" by Dr. Sherry Rogers, and it gave me real hope.  Have I cured it? No, but I'm making progress. When I cut out carbs, and eat grass-fed meat, olive oil, avocado, butter from grass fed cows, vegetables (no fruit), my blood sugar slowly works its way down to normal. Now, I will state the caveat that I changed a lot of things at once, which was stupid because it doesn't help me isolate cause and effect, but I was actually struggling until I added "intermittent fasting". Most of us feel HORROR at that word, but I read a book on it:

Cristian Vlad Zot, Richard David Feinman

and while I feel it was slightly "hokey", I think it's good information.  The author is Romanian and clearly didn't ask a native American to edit his content, but I have no issues with that. It just means some of the expressions are a bit odd, and I'm "pretty sure I know what he meant".  The net is: we can go hungry, and it's not the end of the world. Reading about people going 10, 30, 389 days with no food was an eye-opener. I know - it sound crazy, but you should be challenging what you think you know.

A few of the things I'm taking and have read about:

Acetyl L-Carnitine - I have read it can assist with nerve demyelination, and is being used to help treat MS. Why? My goes feel a bit fuzzy a good bit of the time because I ignored my diabetes. I'd like to get things back to normal, thank you very much.

Magnesium - I take some stuff called "Natural Vitality Natural Calm Magnesium Powder" (you can get it on Amazon, where I get all my supps). I mix in a few things for a "detox" drink once or twice a day.

Vitamin C - I buy the powder and mix in my detox drink above.

Vitamin E -pretty fundamental anti-oxidant. The more I read, the more I believe it's a must.

Glutathione - Recommend you just do some of your own research. From what I can gather, it's a major anti-oxidant, and helps your body detox.

COQ10 - essential anti-oxidant. Most concentrated in the heart.

I take some other things, but the above is most of it, and based on my reading has been confirmed as a good part a supplement stack.

Why do I take these?  Well, I mentioned "inflammation" above in relation to cholesterol and heart disease.  I am reading this book right now:

Stephen Sinatra, Jonny Bowden  
These doctors argue that CHD comes from inflammation, which is a natural and healthy process in the body - but not when it is systemic and chronic.
The more I read, the more I'm convinced that it is this chronic inflammation, caused by a MYRIAD of factors, that leads us to all of our modern problems, so you have to try and figure out why so much inflammation to really vet this out, and this is again where things get a bit muddy.

I have read peanuts are inflammatory as well as toxins like plastic (regardless of whether or not it has BPA's), pesticides, steroids, hormones, mold toxins, etc. All of these things provoke an immune system response, which results in inflammation.

A few years back I read about people arguing that we MUST detox. I researched further and found medical doctors debunking this saying "Our bodies are designed to detox. Let it do it's thing, and quit eating weird stuff and shoving things up your bottom".  I put the matter to rest, and decided not to worry about it.

With my current set of issues, more data, and more thought - I would tend to agree that toxicity is part of the problem. We are bombarded by crap constantly from various energy sources (appliances, phones, the sun), the water, the things we eat are brimming with poison.  I would agree that under normal, natural circumstances (i.e. before the industrial age and gross consumption of processed foods) that yes, the body could probably deal with all that, and we would be fine.

I would say it's a different story these days.  You should really do some research on what GMO means, and look at the ingredients on food labels.  There is plenty of stuff online up on youtube, and on Netflix as well as books and Internet resources. Some of it comes across as a bit "kooky conspiracy theory", but I believe there is a thread of truth in it.

Pair the likely "toxic load" we all suffer along with inflammation caused by sugar, stress, nuts, omega-6 fatty acids, oxidation of our body's cells from free radicals, and it starts to feel like perhaps we should be helping our natural systems with less crap, and the things it needs to purge and heal itself. Anti-oxidants pair with free radicals so they aren't destroying your cells, and avoiding some of the toxic stuff in our society has to have a positive net effect.

The real question is: if we provide a more healthy set of circumstances for our bodies to flourish, will they get all the way back to healthy?

Losing the fat is KEY.  I recently ready it's now considered an organ, so if you are above 30% body fat (buy a scale that measures this - even if it's not 100% accurate, it gives you an idea), your systems are utterly out of whack.

We were not designed to carry tons extra fat around beyond a certain point. Some is fine to make it through the times in our species' past when there was no food. You can go for quite some time on JUST water, and while I have not yet tried it, I understand that once you get past the initial withdrawal from carbs and your body switches to burning fat, it's vaguely euphoric (and getting the brain to run on keytones is supposed to yield mental clarity according to the Bulletproof guys).

I want to still believe we aren't being lied to, but I think we are, and the misinformation is so pervasive that even doctors who want to do the right thing are giving bad advice.

I don't want to regurgitate a book's worth of content, and I could go on for a lot longer, but I think this is a good start.  The message is: have hope, and ask questions. There may be a way to get the body back on track so it heals itself, and if you can reshape behavior early (like how you feed your kids), maybe we could turn this thing around.

We are living longer despite the adversity we are creating for ourselves, but I think we could absolutely live a hell of a lot better.  That's what I'm after personally. Look good - feel good - enjoy life.

Stop treating the necessary, self-inflicted diseases (especially with this asinine symptom-centric nonsense approach) and start preventing it.


Why are we sick?

Disclaimer - I am not a doctor, and none of what I share should be taken as medical advice. I am only sharing what I have learned in the hopes that it's another source of info so you will challenge what you think you know. Check what I tell you.  Ask questions. Be open-minded, and don't accept what you think you know to be fact.

In my 30's, I developed this theory that "reality is subject to individual perception". I referred to it as "life's doppler effect", and as you move through life, your perception changes subject to your perspective.  Perspective is shaped by the data you have up to that point, and how you have processed and interpreted it.  It's like wherever you are, and whatever you have learned defines your vantage point. To me, this explained why each of us is thoroughly convicted that WE are right ("I am not an asshole!" "Yes you are.." Who goes to heaven? Catholics? Baptists? Muslims?  We are all pretty sure we have the answers. I think I started thinking more about this after watching Zeitgeist. If you have an open mind, it SHOULD challenge some of the things you think you know. I'm not saying it's factual - I honestly believe this series of movies is pushing a specific agenda - but it DID make me stop and think, so since then I have started challenging some of my core beliefs, and try to take in the data I gather, process it, and continually define my view of the universe.

Actually, if you know a little about physics, this whole story aligns to Einsteins theory of relativity, but in more of a philosophical vs physical sense.

I'll provide a little background on me, so if you see some similarities in your timeline, maybe you can get ahead of your problems sooner, or maybe you will find hope and some info that helps.

I'm fat.

We are our own harshest critic, but I would say I have been fat most of my life to varying degrees, and it was largely a source of shame until it became a "quality of life" issue.

I was quite thin until 9, then got pudgy until I was about 16. I lost a ton of weight doing high school sports (wrestling was what REALLY tore off the tonnage as well as the girl I was dating at the time providing me impetus to eat less - she was incredibly fit, and pointed out that "this gut has to go"), and then just stayed sort of "normal" (220 - 250lb / 100 - 105 kg) through college. BTW, I'm ~6'4" [1m94], and not thinly built...

I graduated from GSU, lived in France for a year, came back to the states, got married, and then BOOM! - I packed on weight like a grizzly preparing for hibernation. 275 .. 300 .. 320 .. By about 30, I had peaked around 375 - 380 [170kg] (most scales don't really go beyond 365, so I'm guessing).

I distinctly remember the sheer (borderline unnatural) pleasure of drinking ice water by the 32 oz (.95 l) and then the desperate and frequent trips to the toilet resulting from my body trying desperately to compensate for my out of control weight.

You guessed it - Type II diabetes. I had dryness under the tongue, had to pee every 20 minutes, and was chronically thirsty. This happens because your body is trying to rinse the sugar out, and I was working against it by pumping down soda and other high carb/high sugar treats, because dammit - they taste good (I have an unhealthy relationship with food and drink that has culminated into some serious problems).

I lost a little here and there, and was in the 340's for most of my mid 30's (thank you Atkins), and the diabetes symptom's abated somewhat. In fact, until I was about 38, I was passing the blood sugar tests just fine.  Cholesterol and blood sugar were a bit sporadic, but all-in-all pretty healthy.

Fast forward to April 16, 2012.  I had gotten down to about 270 living on pretty good food in the UK, and thought "I must be doing all the right things". I was slowly getting back into the gym after about 4 years of not working out, and it was shoulder/triceps day.  I was finishing some punch downs, and slowly became aware of this unpleasant feeling in my chest.  I had dealt with discomfort plenty in the gym over the years, but this persisted, and got progressively worse. I of course, drove home, took a conference call, grabbed some aspirin, jumped in the shower, laid down... but the discomfort (an incredibly dull but intense general pain in my chest) persisted. I went downstairs and told Michelle that something was wrong, and maybe I should go to the doctor.

It was a minor heart attack on the right side of the heart (the part that fuels blood to your heart and lungs), so they popped in a stent.

When they told me I was having a heart attack, my first reaction was SHAME. I had let my body down for so long, it was now failing me, and I was about to leave my beautiful wife and 3 small children behind to fin for themselves.

How did a guy that could do 80 pushups in a minute for his college ROTC test and had recently lost 40  pounds wind up that healthy? I had been ignoring diabetes. I was diagnosed at about 38, but after taking metformin for a few minutes, I decided to ignore it.  This was also the first time I was put on a statin, which I told the doctor "made my liver hurt".  It felt swollen and sensitive.  He told me the liver has no nerves, and it was in my head [WARNING].

Post myocardial infarction, I was put in a whole array of meds (metformin, ramipril, aspirin, atorvastatin (Lipitor), then they added glimepiride because my blood sugar was SO far out of whack, it now requires a sledge hammer).

Read up on the side effects of these drugs, and you will see why I was both horrified and ashamed that I had allowed things to get this far out of control.

Fast forward again to the real reason I am updating my blog after about 3 years of no activity.

I have been reading a LOT about medicine and chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, arthritis -- cancer. I first read some of the books by Sherry Rogers.  Her books are a bit emotional, and while they cite a lot of respectable references, at times the books have that "fringe / conspiracy theory" feel.  Like maybe she some kind of weird hippie pushing macrobiotics and a staggering array of supplements, BUT first and foremost - her books gave me hope that you could actually reverse things like diabetes and heart disease.

Quick digression: what is heart disease?
My interpreted definition: It's the accumulation of plaque on the arterial wall which affects the body's ability to circulate blood. Heart attacks occur when these plaques rupture and result in a blood clot that hits an arterial occlusion.
Why do I have it? Well, doctors would have me believe it's because of high cholesterol, which is a result of some poor lifestyle choices. I agree and disagree...

I would like to share what I have learned (and continue to learn) in the hopes that it has some positive impact. I have lost loved ones to diabetes and cancer, and I think we are largely misinformed.  It's clear to me that when it comes to health and medicine, the facts seem to be far and few between, and there are VISCERAL debates on some pretty basic subjects.

 So, I'm going to create some posts around a few basic categories for discussion.

More and more, when I do research, I'm seeking root cause and systemic fix. Just like what I see in information security, we are treating symptoms, and often not asking the right questions.

I HATE when I click on a link that sounds like a promising new answer, and it's one of those dumbass story board animations where you never get the punchline unless you send some guy "$299 in 3 easy installments..." We have a right to know and be informed.  This information is free, and I would love to have more data to confirm or refute what I'm learning.

I know there are sites out there with a hell of a lot more expertise and knowledge than I'll ever absorb, but I haven't found them all yet.  I will share what I have found, and hopefully we can figure out a few things.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Upgrade to ICS on your Hipstreet Vektor



    Get ICS and Google Play on your HipStreet Vektor (or Nova 2, or LY-F1 - whatever you want to call it)

    We saw a Groupon for an Android tablet, and pounced as it was only £100 (about $159).  I waited with baited breath (some might say halitosis) for 5 weeks until it FINALLY got here!! - then disappointment.  The screen was … OK, performance was acceptable, but I found, much to my chagrin, that it was running Gingerbread with NO upgrade path from the vendor (support told me I could upgrade it, but that would "void the warranty" - I told t hem I'd rather have a fully functional device than a warranty, but now I believed it was at least possible).  Added bonus: this particular device ISN'T COMPATIBLE WITH GOOGLE PLAY, a double whammy which kind of pissed me off…

    So - the adventure began.  After spending some time digging around Google and the XDA Developer website, and trying to figure out just EXACTLY what the hell this thing is, I discovered two useful bits of information:
    1. The Hipstreet Vektor appears to be identical to their Nova 2 that they sold in Canada (which is a clear "name FAIL" for Spanish-speaking countries, hence I suspect the need for a name change for Europe).
    2. It is just an OEM re-brand of the LY-F1 Chinese Tablet from PandaWill (http://www.pandawill.com/lyf1-lite-tablet-pc-7-inch-android-23-new-12ghz-cpu-4gb-2160p-hdmi-black-p54046.html )

    The process:
    **Standard disclaimer - I have no relationship to/with HipStreet, and I am not offering official support.  You do this at your own risk, so don't whine to me if it doesn’t work, or you brick your tablet.  I merely wanted to share a process that worked for me, and made my crappy tired tablet of disappointment [apparently] fully useable.**

    Warning: most of the places you go to get the software for this process seem a little shady (download mirrors, pop-ups, etc.).  I would recommend using a throw-away Windows machine (or your buddy's computer) for this process versus using your primary workstation if you can.

    1. Get "LiveSuit"
      • This wasn't too hard to find, and there are a lot of links out there. 1.09 was current when I was working on this.
      • Not an intuitive application, and most of the English is a little awkward - It didn’t have a "setup.exe", so I clicked on "LiveSuit.exe", and got an error about drivers not installing/installed; when I launched "LiveSuitPack_version_1.09_20111101.exe", it installed them, then the LiveSuit executable worked fine.  Who knows how pwned I am now… 

    1. Get a ROM Image. I used the June 26 release at this URL (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1572425 )
      • I went to the mirrorcreator link, and then tried different mirror links until I finally found a site that allowed me to just download the file instead of installing some BS downloader - (FileFlyer - was at the bottom of the page, and eventually just gave me a link to a 7z file which worked perfectly)
      • Expect tons of popups; if you can do this in a disposable VM, you are probably better off…
    1. Backup any data you might want to keep
    2. *Make sure LiveSuit is running*
    3. Shut down the tablet
    1. Hold down the volume rocker button on the "-" side (left side if holding the tablet)
    1. Connect the USB cable
    2. Tap the power button
      • I read "10 or 15 times", but I'm not sure what the magic number is; you will hear Windows recognize your device with a "bah-dink?"
      • And then LiveSuit will pop up a dialogue box (video example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2QAyVX1CQw )
    1. Select "Yes" twice
    2. Double fist pump - enjoy a fully functional tablet running ICS 4.0.3

    About 5 minutes later, LiveSuit said "successful upgrade", and the table rebooted.  It sat for a LONG time at this screen with a shimmering android robot, and I worried that it had failed, but eventually, it came up all the way, and so far - everything is working perfectly (including Google Play - YAY! We win!!).

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Testosterone

Food and Testosterone

To boost your testosterone levels, your first step is to consume an adequate number of calories. Following a low-calorie diet can result in less GnRH being released from the brain, as well as decreased activity of testosterone-catalyzing enzymes in the testes, and the consequence of both incidents is decreased testosterone production. The catch is that you also don't want to overeat and gain bodyfat, which contains more of the enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogens. The Testosterone Diet gives you enough calories to support muscle growth and testosterone levels without adding bodyfat. Our sample diet uses a 180-pound bodybuilder; to figure out your own calorie needs, multiply your bodyweight by 18-20 calories. For example, a 180-pounder will need to ingest about 3,250-3,600 calories per day. For the 200-pounder, it jumps up to 3,600-4,000 calories.

 
 

The next step is to consume adequate carbohydrates. Shoot for at least 2 grams per pound of bodyweight per day, keeping your carbs-to-protein ratio at 2:1--research shows that this is ideal for elevating T levels. And although we'd rarely tell you to choose more refined carbs (except around workout time), we suggest you do so here because higher-fiber diets tend to lower testosterone. Don't gorge on Twinkies, of course, but you can choose white rice over brown and cream of wheat over oatmeal, because the former have lower fiber content. Of course, you still need some fiber for health reasons, so we've included whole-wheat bread, fruits and vegetables in the nutrition plan.

Priority No. 3 is protein. Surprised it's not No. 1? While we constantly preach the importance of eating protein--and make no mistake, it's vital in The Testosterone Diet--what's even more crucial is getting just enough of it and not too much. That's because research shows that consuming more protein than carbs may lower testosterone levels. So you'll want to get in your bodybuilding standard of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day--no more, no less. Also, make sure most of your protein comes from animal sources; vegetarian diets are associated with lower testosterone levels in males.

 
 

The last, but certainly not the least, macronutrient to be concerned about is fat. You'll want to get about 30% of your total calories from fat, but don't overload on polyunsaturated fats like those found in salmon, other fatty fish and vegetable oils. Instead, concentrate on choosing monounsaturated fats found in nuts, olives, olive oil and avocados, and saturated fats from red meat and egg yolks. Unorthodox as this advice may be, research suggests that polyunsaturated fats lower testosterone levels, while monounsaturated and even saturated fats raise T levels.

 
 

Pasted from <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0801/is_7_67/ai_n16598134/>

 
 

Training Tips


Bodyweight assistance work
This is another thing I've done quite a bit of. I always start my workouts with a big exercise (squat, clean, deadlift, press, bench) and very often follow it up with simple bodyweight exercises such as dips, chins/pull-ups, pushups, glute-ham raises, back raises, various ab exercises, and one leg squatting.

This allows me to get some extra work in but not load my spine or my body too much. So if you're feeling excessively sore or your joints are hurting, this might be a good option.

Pasted from <http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article_issue/issue_633#blood-chalk-vol-6>

I have no problem with someone saying that they only want to get bigger. That's fine. The mistake is doing what competitive bodybuilders do before a show to get bigger, rather than what these guys did for years and years to get to the size that they are. Big movements, big weights, low reps.

Pasted from <http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article_issue/issue_626#sucker-punch-dan-john>

The How To 
The problem with the lat pull-down is that you have to concentrate very hard to get the lat to work from the start.To do it, set up on the lat pull-down with a third of the weight you normally use. (If you're a 170-pound puller, you should start with roughly 60 pounds.) Grab the bar and let yourself dead hang while seated. Focus on squeezing your upper lat (it's in the armpit when your arms are overhead) before you do anything else.

Once you've squeezed the upper lat, pull your shoulders all the way down (without bending your elbow) and begin to pull the bar down using your lats. Go slow and do it smoothly. Make sure your forearm angle stays in line with the cable as the bar passes your chin, and pull the bar down to your collarbone.
The first few sets will be the worst, but by the fifth or sixth set you should really start to feel yourself pulling through the lat. I like doing eight reps since it's enough to get several cracks at the motion, but not so much that you're fatigued before you get to the next set.

A Few Specific Tips
• Be sure to use a weight light enough that your lat can work, but heavy enough that you feelit working. If you use a weight that's too light, your body will have a very hard time recruiting more muscle mass than it needs. If you go too heavy, you'll just engage all the wrong muscles.
• Remember that when your arms are overhead the upper lat will be in your armpit. (The lat basically wraps around to the front side of the body.) You want to focus on pulling from your armpit at the beginning of the movement to activate the upper lats.

Pasted from <http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article_issue/issue_626#pull-up-strength


Strength Training
More and more it's becoming clear that strength training is good for a lot of things: bone density, practical application, insulin sensitivity, ego. It's also apparent that you don't have to do 37 different exercises per body part. Most of the available info stresses intensity, form, and simplicity usually with rep ranges in the 3 - 5 range (for basic strength).  Many argue you can get stronger doing sets of 20 as well, but you have to factor in experience, tolerance, age, nutrition, etc. to define an effective program (one size does not fit all).  

If basic  lifts like squat and deadlift are not a fundamental part of your workout program where you want to build size and strength, you have lost the plot.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Should I Buy Multiple XBox 360's?

I am too busy (pronounced "lazy") to blog very often, but I think my latest electronics adventure warrants a few comments that might benefit someone else.

I had been considering purchasing another XBox360 so the kids could play games upstairs when Michelle and I might like to watch something on the TV. So, I found a great deal on an XBox360 Elite at Costco in Reading (£159) and grabbed it. There was mention of Sky integration on the box (the biggest UK satellite service provider), and I thought to myself "Self, this is AWESOME!! When I get tired of iCarley and Drake and Josh ("Drank" and Josh as my son calls them), I can send the kids upstairs to watch their kruff elsewhere!! So, things I learned:

First, I already owned a US XBox360 with which I had been using my US XBox Live! account (which resulted in a rather frustrating level of restriction to content - you pretty much can't access any music videos, movies, tv shows, etc. from the UK. You can see previews with the Zune stuff, but when you try to purchase any of that sort of content, you get the digital face-palm : DISAPPOINTING).

I purchased a UK XBox360 Elite

So, I fire up the new UK XBox, and go to login to my XBox Live! account. "Your profile is activated on another XBox. Would you like to recover your gamer tag?". SWEET! So I just recover my tag and off I GO!! I recovered the tag, and low and behold - it was the EXACT SAME OPTIONS AS I HAD ON MY US XBOX. =/ Hmmm....

I went to the Sky site, and there were banners for "SKY ON YOUR XBOX360!" all over... I wondered if I needed to download something... No. Why was everything on my brand new XBox exactly the same?? I decided to try and create a UK XBox Live! profile. Guess what... once I logged in, it needed to update itself, and after a reboot, I had the Sky player, and the UK options!!

Lesson 1: The XBox360 itself appears to be identical regardless of where you buy it. The content and options are tied to both your Live ID, and your location (in terms of what you can access). Also, I connected my US power supply to my UK XBox360, and my UK Power to my US XBox360 (after checking the input/output on the bricks) - identical output. This was to reduce the amount of crap I needed to plug in upstairs.

Lesson 2: When I went back upstairs to login to my US XBox, guess what: had to recover my profile. =( You can only have your profile on ONE XBox at a time unless you use the little memory packs that you can plug into the controllers. DISAPPOINTING!! With 3 kids, I'm supposed to keep up with where the little memory thing is at any given moment?? Not likely...

My proposal to the XBox360 guys:
Tie the XBoxes to an ID. So, I go to the XBox site, and register the XBox to my ID (or via the XBox itself: "Did you just buy this XBox?") instead of the other way around like it is now. This still allows for people to take their profile on a memory stick, and there could be a "guest or owner option" for recovering the gamer tag on another XBox ("Do you own this XBox, or are you a guest?").

This would allow someone with 2+ XBoxes to just login to any of them, and get all their stuff! The current model is annoying.

I guess that means I wouldn't need to create additional XBox Live Gold accounts (REQUIRED TO ACCESS THE SKY PLAYER - I was SOOO not happy when I found this out - DISAPPOINTING!!), so MS would be "cheated" out of that revenue, but I would be FAR LESS pissed off if it just worked like a rational human being might expect (i.e. transparent access regardless of which XBox I'm on - it's ON the Internet - why the hell can't I just download it anywhere??) My gamer tag is associated with credentials already, but for more security: XBox Live RSA token like WoW??. Caveat: One more thing to lose...

This way, I could even go into work, and put my profile on the rec room XBox360, and take my achievements and profile with me!! And remotely pull my profile off a guest XBox if I want through the XBox Live website.

=======================================
XBoxes Associated with this ID:
Owner:
Dooley Home XBox360 [remove]
Dooley Kids XBox360 [remove]

Guest:
Work Rec Room XBox360 [remove]
...
========================================

Now, my stuff is accessible, and I can play either in the living room, OR upstairs without having to recover my damned profile!! (Does that make sense to anyone??).

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Redmond and Reading

Redmond Trade Center
<== Redmond Town Center

So, I said I would be going to Redmond, and it was great! It was about 62° F all week, and only rained a little. The people I met were very friendly, and I had a good time. Everyone made me feel very welcome.
New Friends

New Friends ==>

I made several new friends while I was there (some of the pictures didn't turn out so well - I am still learning how to use this new camera). I look forward to working with them!

After a week there, I was then scheduled to go to Microsoft UK for my orientation (or NEO as its called internally). This was very informative, and I have to say, Microsoft has the most amazingly comprehensive orientation and career planning systems I have ever seen (or even heard of).

TVP
<== Thames Valley Park

I am actually still in Reading right now, and it's delightful. I am very much looking forward to my move, which I think we are planning for July now. It's funny; I was running around with my hosting manager on Monday, and in the hall, lo and behold, who do I see? A GOON!! He graciously invited me to his pad where I enjoyed dinner with YET another Goon and his family! They were incredibly gracious, and I appreciated the hospitality.
Everywhere Goons!

Goons are everywhere ==>

Soon I'll be heading back to the states for the final push to move the fam to Reading. I am more pumped than ever!!