Snowboard Girl, Powered by Bacon

Last week, I had a great four days of snowboarding in Beaver Creek, then one final day of skiing. Much to my delight, the third day offered six inches of glorious powder -- and that much powder transforms snowboarding from "yay fun!" to "OMG OMG OMG THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!"

My snowboarding skills are definitely improving with every day on the slopes. (These were days five through eight on a snowboard.) My turns are much better: I can do pretty flat s-curves down the milder slopes, and I can do turns on steeper slopes now too. I'm able to get off the lifts reliably, thank goodness. I'm only falling on occasion now too.

Interestingly, I'm pretty much ambidextrous on the snowboard. I'm goofy-footed, mostly because the inflamed nerve (morton's neuroma) in the ball of my right foot is happier when strapped in full-time. However, I'm happy to go down the slope with left or right foot forward, and my turns are equally good (or bad) on either side. That flexibility is good: I can face whichever way makes the most sense given the terrain, not based on my own body's preferences.

I snowboarded or skied for four to five hours every day. I was tired by that, but not wildly exhausted. (The only exception was the first day, but that involved waking up early and driving three hours to Beaver Creek, then snowboarding.) Also, I was sore after the first day or two in my quads, but that faded. That tells me that my 20 minute SuperSlow workouts once per week are keeping me in as good shape as CrossFit did.

By the time we went home, the only thing that hurt was the backs of my knees. I couldn't figure out why... until I realized that the problem was likely my construction-style knee pads, because the main strap wrapped around the backs of my knees. I've ordered knew knee pads, so hopefully those will work without causing strain.

Finally, due to my still-super-strict elimination diet, I cooked all of our meals in the kitchen of the condo. We usually had bacon and grapefruit for breakfast. (Hence, the caption on on the picture!) Paul had coffee, and I had my cinnamon hot cocoa. I packed some meat (ham or leftovers), plus sweet potato for lunch. Then we had yummy dinners: slow-cooked pork ribs, roast chicken, pork roast, and so on. That worked really well: I kept strictly to my diet, and I enjoyed what we ate. Also, we probably saved a few hundred dollars, since eating out anywhere neat Beaver Creek is ridiculously expensive.

Overall, I'm really happy that I took up snowboarding this season. I'm enjoying the challenge of learning a new snow sport, particularly that difficult process of forcing myself by sheer will to overcome my fears. (I hope to write more about that later.) Mostly...

YAY FUN!

Read more...

Now This Is Mountain Biking!

Holy feat of balance, Batman! As said on Kottke, "Three guys ride on tiny paths next to steep rock faces and over narrow wooden bridges. I could only manage watching a minute of this...I almost threw up in fear."

Read more...

Learning to Snowboard at the Ripe Old Age of 37

Last Sunday afternoon, Paul and I headed out to Breckenridge for a few days of much-needed vacation. I decided to try to learn to snowboard on this trip. (I'm a pretty good skier, but I've not yet skied this season.) I wanted the challenge of learning a new sport, and snowboarding seemed like a good fit for me. Plus, I suspect that snowboarding might be easier on my increasingly painful Morton's neuroma. (That's an inflamed nerve in the ball of my right foot, acquired by wearing bicycle clip shoes.) So with three full days to play in the snow, I decided to take the plunge into snowboarding!

The first two days were pretty darn miserable. I'm not exaggerating. On the first day, I took a full-day lesson to learn the basics, and that was essential. (We had one instructor, plus an instructor-in-training, for four people. That was awesome.) The class worked on the bunny hill of Peak 9 for most of the day, but our final run was on a green slope. While I improved over the course of the day, I struggled to learn how to shift my weight properly in order to steer. Still, the green run was good... including the bit of real hill toward the bottom.

The second day -- my 37th birthday -- was the worst. I still struggled to steer, even just on my heel edge, and often I was sucked into the edges of the run by seemingly insignificant fall lines. Also, I had serious troubles "skating," i.e. moving with one foot detached. That's tricky to learn, and because I switched from regular-footed to goofy-footed after the first day, I had to relearn it. (I'm pretty sure that I could go either way in my stance, but my bad foot is always strapped in with a goofy stance, and that puts far less stress on my neuroma. So goofy I am!) Alas, I had lots of skating to do on this day because I was stupid enough to return to Peak 9, with its long stretch of flat with that strong fall line to the right. (I'd never even notice that skiing!) That was a mistake. However, the absolute worst was the platter-pull lift on the bunny slope: it was not merely ridiculously difficult to skate on a snowboard while being dragged uphill, but also extremely tiring. I was always more winded at the top of the slope than I was at the bottom. After switching to the green run later in the day, I got better at controlling my direction and speed, but I'd not even been able to think about turns yet.

On the third day, I dreaded returning to the slopes. Every muscle in my body ached, and after my first two days, I didn't see much hope for fun. However, I was determined not to permit all of my pain of the first two days go to waste by my giving up, so off to the slopes I went.

Happily, I had a blast! I went to Peak 8, and I stuck with an easy green run and an easy two-person lift. (I could only stay for three hours.) That was perfect. The hill posed enough of a challenge that I never got bored. I worked on my heed-side traversing, then my toe-side traversing, then my j-turns, then c-turns, then s-turns. If I tried to turn on a steeper portion of the hill, I'd crash in a most spectacular way, but I was able to do the turns pretty well on the flatter sections. Control over my speed and direction began to come naturally to me, meaning that I didn't have to think through every body motion. Also, I was able to practice my skating to get on and off the lift. I even managed to skate off the lift perfectly a few times. (Really, that was a feat!) Oh, and it was awesome to have an inch of powder on the slopes that day too!

I'm now eager to return to the slopes to continue learning the basic skills of snowboarding. Obviously, I have much to learn yet, but I think I've gotten over the painfully frustrating portion of the learning curve.

I've never fallen much in skiing, even while learning. I fell over and over again in my three days of snowboarding, often suddenly and hard. However, I didn't suffer any other aches or pains or bruises from that, apart from muscle soreness. (The only exception is a dark circular bruise, two inches wide, on the side of my thigh. I have no idea how I got that!) I stayed out of trouble because I wore a slew of protective equipment, including:

• A helmet. I bonked my head slightly a few times, so I was very glad to have protected my beloved noggin. I plan to wear a helmet whenever I ski or snowboard from here on out.
  
• Wrist guards. They weren't just useful for when I'd catch an edge, but also for helping to prop myself up when attempting to stand up. My instructor cautioned against relying on them for too long: to prevent broken bones, you want to learn to break your forward falls with your shoulder, rather than your arms.
  
• Knee pads. I used some knee pads that we'd bought at Home Depot years ago, strapping them on over my ski pants. They definitely cushioned me on some very hard forward falls. I'll likely wear these heavy-duty knee pads for a few more outings, then look for some snowpants with built-in knee pads.
  
• Butt pad. This was sheer brilliance on my part, even if the ideas were borrowed from others. I secured the perfect pad to my rear by taking an inch-thick "kneeling pad" for gardening, again from Home Depot, and securing it in the proper place with spandex shorts. (It worked best to put it on over my long underwear.) It was sheer brilliance, I tell you! It really worked: despite some bone-jarring falls, my butt was never sore. The set-up did require large ski pants, however.

My only equipment failure was my mittens. My usual skiing mittens, which are lovely and warm, weren't large enough to fit over my wrist guards, and the wrist guards weren't large enough to fit over my mittens. Doh! Since the wrist guards needed a layer of cushion underneath, I decided to wear my warmer-weather gloves. It wasn't too cold for that, but wowee, they got soaked. As a skier, my hands just aren't in the snow. As a snowboarder, my hands were digging into the snow every time I'd fall, sit down to rest, or get up -- meaning about once every three minutes. That meant soaking wet gloves. I was too cheap to buy new gloves in Breckenridge, but I found an excellent pair of large waterproof gloves and a pair of large mittens at Costco in Denver.

Now I just need to buy myself a used snowboard and boots... and get back out on the slopes!

So what are the lessons here for learning a new sport? I'd say (1) don't give up too soon, (2) pad yourself like crazy, and (3) keep working toward the fun!

Read more...

The Ethics Of Giving Up Valuable Sports Memorabilia

As part of Diana's September 11th Rationally Selfish webcast (NoodleCast #96), she covered the following question:

Is it dumb to return a valuable home run baseball to the team? When NY Yankees star Derek Jeter hit a home run for his 3000th hit, the fan in the stands Christian Lopez who caught the ball returned it to the Yankees, even though he was legally entitled to keep it. Some experts estimate it could have been sold on eBay for up to $250,000.

The Yankees did give him some season tickets and team memorabilia but nowhere near as valuable. (In fact, he may have to pay thousands of dollars of taxes for those gifts he received from the Yankees.) Some people praised Mr. Lopez for doing the "right thing." Other said he was foolish for giving up something valuable that could have, say, paid for his kids' college or been used for other important life goals.

Was he moral or immoral for returning the baseball with no expectation of reward?

Here's Diana's discussion:




For the record, Dr. Leonard Peikoff answered a similar question on his own webcast on August 22nd, 2011.

Assuming the perspective of a rational ethical egoist, this is a very interesting question. (For the purpose of this discussion, I'll assume there are no tax implications, just as Diana assumed in her webcast).

First of all, I want to state that I agree with Dr. Peikoff's general principle that not all value is monetary.

Second, I also agree with the general Objectivist ethical principle that one should not sacrifice a higher value for a lower value.

So the question becomes: Did Mr. Lopez sacrifice a higher value for a lower value in giving the baseball back to the New York Yankees?

Another point I'd like to highlight is that on various discussion boards, Lopez was praised for doing the "right thing", but this assessment presumes the conventional altruist code of morality. A typical example is this comment in the New York Times:

Of course he did the "right" thing. He acted selflessly; he didn't do something expecting a quid pro quo. We can all learn and benefit from his example.

According this view, Lopez was moral because his action represented a deliberate sacrifice without benefit to himself.

Of course an ethical egoist would reject this view. But could an ethical egoist have a non-sacrificial reason for giving up the baseball, rather than selling it for $250,000 or keeping it for himself?

I think it's theoretically possible, but I don't know how likely it would be.

For instance, if Derek Jeter had been a long-time personal hero for a baseball fan and if the fan had drawn personal inspiration throughout his life from Jeter's many accomplishments, I can see how a fan might wish to repay Jeter by giving him the gift of that historic baseball. Similarly, someone who was a die-hard Yankees fan might wish to become a permanent part of Yankees history and tradition by returning the baseball. In such cases, I can see how giving the baseball back to the Yankees might be a gain of a higher value for a lower value, rather than a sacrifice of a higher value for a lower value -- if it was the result of a rationally constructed hierarchy of values.

And not knowing much about Mr. Lopez other than what's available in public accounts, I can't know his actual hierarchy of values or to what extent it's based on reason.

However, it can also be entirely rational and moral for someone who had caught the baseball to decide to sell it. He might quite reasonably decide that this $250,000 would allow him to, say, start a new business, buy his beloved parents a new house, or guarantee his kids' college education. I think many American baseball fans would make this choice, and there's nothing wrong with that.

If someone decided that advancing his own life goals (or promoting the well-being of his loved ones) was more important to him than being part of Yankees history, he should feel proud of that decision and not accept it as any form of moral guilt.

I can also see a fan deciding to keep the baseball in his personal collection as a tangible reminder of a great achievement (which he could sell in the future if necessary due to financial hardship).

Now some egoists have defended Lopez's decision on the grounds that returning the ball gave him great personal satisfaction. I think this merely begs the question. Whether his satisfaction was proper depends on whether his hierarchy of values was rational or not (something I do not and can not know). I just want to caution against relying on a subjective sense of "happiness" or "satisfaction" as a necessarily reliable indicator of a decision being morally correct.

Finally, it's also possible for a baseball fan to offer to sell the baseball back to the Yankees at a discount -- less than the full market value in the collectors' market, but more than the value of some season tickets and memorabilia. Again, the proper intermediate amount would depend on the seller's precise hierarchy of values.

For what it's worth, when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were setting home run records in 1998, some of those baseballs also sold for many thousands of dollars in the collectors' markets. I don't recall much condemnation in the popular press of those sellers for cashing in on their good fortune. And I'm glad there wasn't.

In sum:

1) Dr. Peikoff is correct that not all values can be reduced to money.

2) For an egoist, returning the baseball could be a sacrifice (in which case it would be wrong), or could be a rational non-sacrifice (in which case it would be proper). I personally think the second possibility is possible, but relatively unlikely for most people. (For what it's worth, Diana and I diverge somewhat on this point -- she regards it is much less likely than I do, closer to "nearly inconceivable".)

3) We should reject the altruist code praising the return of the ball as "the right thing" because it was "selfless".

Read more...

Firefly from the 80's

Priceless! A new introduction for Firefly as a 80's show:



And here, Simon has his own 80's show:



It's all in the music and the graphics!

Oh, and here's an awesome video of Summer Glau training for the fight sequences in Serenty:

Read more...

Crazy Ultra-Endurance Fun, CrossFit Style!

Tammy was excited to discover that a local pack of ultra-endurance runners had set up a 12-hour event where participants try to complete as many laps as possible of a 6-mile trail right here in our foothills (Boise has a fantastic network of running/mountain-biking trails). This format lets ultrarunning crazies at different levels of development all play together: the newer crazies can do just a few laps, while more seasoned crazies can go for substantial distances, all in the same event.

As her "support crew," I was thrilled that this would be happening just a couple of miles from our house (hey, it was a loooong drive to those the two 12-hour trail races in Moab she did, awesome as they were).

And Tammy was thrilled to report that they would have a mountain-biking division. Uh, oh.

But, dear, I'm the crucial support crew for you on your crazy ultra-endurance runs! See, I need to mix your custom goo for you and reload your water and... Well, yes, I suppose you could pre-mix it the night before and manage your own water... But you're forgetting that I've only done maybe two quick rides this season. You know that with no conditioning my rear couldn't handle any kind of time in the saddle, much less 12 freaking hours! Well, yeah, I suppose I could just do a few laps to participate a bit while I cheer you and the other crazies on...

So we took my bike.

6:00am Saturday morning. They all counted down and took off while I was messing with getting my front brakes to work right, and I was able to hit the trail 15 minutes later.

It turned out to be a moderate single-track mountain-bike loop, with about 800 feet of climbing and of course 800 of downhill. Soon I was back at the trailhead to record the lap, then I headed out again going the opposite direction.

My rear wasn't complaining too badly after a few laps, so I thought I'd maybe try to work in a solid six laps over the course of the day. That seemed like a respectable amount of time/distance/elevation for the "support crew" to Represent. Besides, it was kind of fun checking in on all of the runners (especially my runner) with each pass of the course, going back and forth in alternating directions.

Soon I had been adopted as the runners' Token Biker for the day. Many asked how many laps I was going for as I passed, and I would explain that I was just there with Tammy, having a little fun, and that I would stop when she did.

After five or six hours, though, I noticed that I still felt fine -- and I wasn't slowing down at all. So naturally I started flirting with the idea of just going for it and seeing if I could really keep riding like that for the entire 12 hours and complete 12 full laps, whether or not Tammy wanted to keep going! Since I had no ultra-endurance experience or preparation, this unusual effort would also be a great test of the "ready state" that CrossFit is supposed to be giving me.

Well, apparently Tammy knows me too well! She had mixed twice as much goo as she needed the night before, just so I could fuel a very long day right along with her.

In the end, we had a great time with a nice group of folks, and we enjoyed a clean sweep of both the running and the mountain-biking divisions that day. Woo! Team Perkins brings it! :^)

I was able to ride steadily through all 12 hours, from 6:00am to 6:00pm, covering 12 laps. That's about 73 miles, and almost 20,000 vertical feet of elevation change.

More difficult in my opinion was Tammy running all 12 hours, covering 9 laps. That is just shy of 55 miles with almost 15,000 vertical feet of elevation change. On foot!

We were certainly depleted, but not disabled, and we recovered quickly. In fact, I didn't suffer any soreness to speak of, despite becoming a spontaneous ultra-endurance athlete for a day. Heading as usual to the CrossFit gym early Monday morning, we turned in decent performances, smiling through the strain because we knew it was preparing us for the next fun challenge to come our way.

(Thanks to Longrun Picture Company
for photographing everyone that day!)

Read more...

Horses: Show Jumping

I've posted amazing dressage videos before, but I don't think I've ever posted any videos of the jaw-drawing performances seen in show jumping. However, since I'm just about to buy some jumps, I thought now would be an excellent time!

Here's two videos from a "puissance" competition, which is an high-jumping elimination competition. The record is for seven feet ten inches. That's just mind-boggling, because neither horse nor rider can see over that solid wall.

Personally, the tallest that I've ever jumped is four-foot fences, back when I was a teenager riding my fabulous horse "Paint." It was fun!! In jumping the more ordinary height of three feet, the horse has leveled out by the time that his hind legs leave the ground. In jumping four-foot fences, the horse is still headed upwards as he leaves the ground. That's a pretty awesome feeling, and I can only imagine what six or seven feet would be like!

First, here's a video of many puissance jumps, including some minor and major failures:



Second, here's a video with the progression of a puissance competition. I've seen one of these in person, and the videos just don't do the excitement of it justice.



As for me, Lila has done a little bit of jumping, but I imagine that I'll be training her basically from scratch, as I've done with her dressage work and cross-country trail riding. I love to jump, so I'm really looking forward to it!

Read more...

Parkour Academy

Here's an awesome video of an amazing stream of parkour at the newly-opened Tempest Academy in Los Angeles:



On the one hand, I've love to be able to do that. On the other hand, I know that if I tried, I'd fall on my head, repeatedly.

Read more...

Amazing Football Throws

This 3rd-string quarterback from UConn can really throw the football. Holy crap:



(Via HotAir.)

Read more...

The Cautionary Tale of Todd Marinovich

As a followup to Diana's recent post on parenting styles ("Compare and Contrast"), some readers may recall the sad story of Todd Marinovich.

Todd Marinovich was groomed (and pushed) from birth by his father Marvin to be an NFL quarterback. And he ended up crashing and burning in the national spotlight. Two interesting stories about Marinovich illustrate the consequences of the senior Marinovich's nightmare parenting style.

The first story ("Bred To Be A Superstar") was written in 1988, when Marinovich was a high school football superstar trying to decide with big name college to attend. At that time, his future was seemingly bright with limitless possibilities.

Note the recurrent theme of how much the father was sacrificing for his son's future success, and how little say the son had in his life decisions:

Though Marv owns an athletic research center -- a sort of high-tech gym -- his true occupation has been the development of his son, an enterprise that has yet to produce a monetary dividend. And the Marinovich marriage ended last year after 24 years. "All Marv has done," says a friend, "is give up his entire life for Todd."

This is sadly reminiscent of the character of Peter Keating from The Fountainhead, whose mother "sacrificed" to push Peter into the field of architecture (and away from his natural love of painting) -- with tragic results that unfold during the novel.

The second story was written in 2009, looking back on the younger Marinovich's tragically wasted life. I thought the title ("Todd Marinovich: The Man Who Never Was") was especially apropos. The teaser paragraph summarizes the main theme, but the whole article is worth reading:

Twenty years ago, he was guaranteed to be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game of football. Engineered to be. He was drafted ahead of Brett Favre. Today he's a recovering junkie. Scenes from the chaotic life of a boy never designed to be a man in the 2010 National Magazine Award winner for profile writing.

No child can become a full human being when his parents fail to teach him how to practice rational, independent decision-making, and instead attempt to impose their own "central purpose" on him.

The Marinovich saga of flame-out, drug addiction, and jail are unsurprising consequences when a parent fails to help teach a child how to live a first-handed life.

Read more...

Clever Football Play

Sometimes brains beats muscle in surprising ways:

Read more...

The John Galt League

A message from Kevin McAllister:

The John Galt League is a fantasy football league for Objectivists managed by Kevin McAllister. The league was restarted last year and won by Paul Hsieh's GeekPress Generals who have returned to defend their championship. Along with Paul, five other owners have agreed to return and play this year.

That means there are currently 4 open slots in the league giving an opportunity to manage a team and display your objective superiority in all things NFL. To join apply to the mailing list. Once we have commitment from enough owners a live online draft will be scheduled where we will select our teams, probably in the first 2 weeks of September.

If you have any questions, please contact Kevin McAllister at kevin@mcallister.ws.

Space is very limited, so sign up now if you want to join.

I will be playing too. I hope to see Paul despondent every week due to the humiliating defeat of his GeekPress Generals. Go Sedalia Sea Monkeys!

Read more...

Joe Sixpack Versus Joe NFL

Regular guy versus NFL players in a forty-yard dash. It's damn funny.

Read more...

The Remarkable Accuracy of Drew Brees

I'm totally flabbergasted:



That kind of consistent accuracy is unimaginable to me. But that's why he's so good!

Regarding the playoffs, I'm remarkably pleased by the teams still in the running this year. I'd be pretty darn happy if any of the following teams won the Superbowl:

• Indianapolis Colts (My favorite team, of course, largely thanks to Peyton. They never do well in the playoffs with rest, so I worry that they'll suffer an ignominious defeat at the hands of Baltimore.)
  
  
• New Orleans Saints (I've been a Drew Breese fan since he competed with Doug Flutie for the starting job in San Diego. He's made such a difference for the Saints, and I love to see that kind of turn-around.)
  
  
• Arizona Cardinals (Kurt Warner might be an annoying Christian, but I love his up-from-nowhere story in St. Louis and then his back-from-decline story in Arizona. And wow, he played an amazing game on Sunday with more touchdowns than incomplete passes! A Superbowl win would cement his legacy as a great quarterback.)
  
  
• Minnesota Vikings (Brett Favre, still so awesome and still loving the game. I'm fond of grizzled old quarterbacks, and he's the most grizzled of them all! A Superbowl win would also make fabulous story.)
  
  
• San Diego Chargers (I became a San Diego fan after we moved to Colorado, when Doug Flutie played for them. They've been good -- but under the radar -- for too many years.)

That's five of the eight teams currently in the playoffs, so I'm pretty likely to be pleased on February 7th. So basically, I'm just hoping that my parents (Baltimore fans), my aunt (a Jets fan), and Santiago (a Cowboys fan) are all very despondent on Superbowl Sunday.

Read more...

NFL Playoff Challenge

Despite a mediocre regular-season record, Paul won the Superbowl of the John Galt League! Go Mr. Woo! (My own winning percentage this season was between that of the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills. Eli Manning was not a good choice for quarterback, to say the least.)

Paul and I are not done yet though, as we've decided to play the NFL Playoff Challenge. It's a simple variant of fantasy football just for the playoffs. If you want more fantasy football -- or if you'd like to get a taste for what fantasy football is like, sign up! It's free, and if you drop me an e-mail, I'll send you an invitation to join this new "John Galt League."

Just do so quickly, as time is a-tickin'... tic-tic ... tic-tic ... tic-tic ...

Read more...

NFL in the RedZone

I've become a major fan of the NFL's new "RedZone" channel this season. The basic idea of the channel is that it switches between the most exciting portions of all the games playing on Sunday mornings and afternoons, without any commercials. So unless I want to watch a full game -- which I'll do for Indy and other notable games -- I'll just watch the best of all the games via the RedZone channel.

A recent Sports Illustrated column sang the praises of the channel. It even reported on the best description I've seen yet: "as if God was holding the remote control." That seems apt to me, as I often say that I worship at the Church of the NFL on Sundays! That NFL God is Scott Hanson. Here's a bit on him from the article:

"You get a bucketful of 100-percent concentrated football awesomeness," says Scott Hanson, the studio host who deftly sets the scene each time RedZone switches games. Hanson's enthusiasm seems boundless, even though inmates at Leavenworth have a cushier setup: During his seven hours on the air he gets only a two-minute bathroom break and, if he's lucky, a bite or two of a sandwich.

I like Hanson's style as a host. He's very smooth, easily able to handle the swapping between games. Plus, he's relentlessly focused on the football. I've heard him cut away from a game just after a touchdown, where the camera was focused on the scoring player's end zone dance, saying something like "Okay, enough of that" with just the perfect touch of exasperation.

Oh, and need I mention that I was not happy with Jim Caldwell's controversial decision to rest starters in the Jets game on Sunday? Probably not: it goes without saying. Granted, I was disappointed, but wowee, Peyton looked downright irate. He kept his helmet on while pacing the sidelines for quite some time. Normally, he's on the bench reviewing plays with a baseball cap on. (Yes, I'm totally appalled that I'm such a football fanatic that I know that.) Of course, Peyton was gracious in the post-game press conference.

Of course, any and all disappointment will be forgotten if the Colts win the Superbowl!

Read more...

Matthew Stafford: Guts & Glory

If you're an NFL fan, you've probably seen some footage of the dramatic end to last week's Browns-Lions game. I'd definitely recommend watching the whole thing -- with mic'ed up Lions quarterback Matt Stafford. It's phenomenal.

Such moments are what I most relish about NFL football. This footage doesn't merely document a gripping end to a game. Heck, the game wasn't terribly meaningful, given that both teams were 1-8. The footage records the unfolding of real-life moral drama: Matt Stafford was so determined to achieve his goal, so committed to winning, that he was willing to endure lay-down-and-cry-worthy pain. I love to see that kind of resolve in action, and I'm fascinated by the response of other team members to such actions.

I hope, notwithstanding the loss of the Lions to the Packers on Thanksgiving Day, that this moment signals a turn-around for a team that has been abysmal for far too many years.

Read more...

CrossFit: Three.. Two.. One.. GO!

I started looking into CrossFit after seeing it mentioned by various health/fitness guys I've learned a lot from -- like Richard Nickoley, Mark Sisson, and Art De Vany, who talk about the value of mixing things up, using high intensity, intervals, resistance training and such. I liked what I was finding in the methodology and was intrigued at its potential, so I was eager for an opportunity to try CrossFit in a way that includes the coaching I knew I would need to not hurt my middle-aged self. (Sure, it's free if you do it at home, but who goes out on their own and just starts doing Olympic-style lifts? Not me!) Happily, a couple of months ago Tammy and I noticed that a CrossFit gym was about to open near our house. We checked it out and took the plunge! So far, it's been very cool.

Before giving reports from the front and breaking out the obligatory pictures of progress, let's start with a little about what CrossFit is. The headquarters site says

CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

And in a CrossFit Foundations article, creator Greg Glassman writes, "CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program. We have designed our program to elicit as broad an adaptational response as possible. CrossFit is not a specialized fitness program but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of ten recognized fitness domains. They are Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy."

Of course, I'm not a Navy SEAL, a stick-fighting champion, or a fireman -- but developing serious competence in all of these domains, and therefore a powerful "ready state," would be awfully useful for the sorts of play I like to engage in: mountain biking, summit-scrambling, snowboarding, maybe a spontaneous half-marathon hill run or whatever else Tammy or my friends might want to draw me into. And it would come in handy for those (hopefully vanishingly) rare times when Stuff Happens -- plus as I age, maintaining as much physical capacity as possible would be invaluable for health and autonomy.

There's a lot of empirical observation and some pretty good epistemology behind various aspects that I can go into later, but today I'll just share the central CrossFit prescription for efficiently achieving that broad, general, and inclusive fitness: constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity. Every element of that is essential. Glassman breaks it down in a brief article on Understanding CrossFit:

Functional movements are universal motor recruitment patterns; they are performed in a wave of contraction from core to extremity; and they are compound movements -- i.e., they are multi-joint. They are natural, effective, and efficient locomotors of body and external objects. [Author's note: Examples include squats, pullups, situps, jumping, running, throwing, lifts like deadlift and clean & jerk and overhead press. They are elemental movements, used in lots of activities.] But no aspect of functional movements is more important than their capacity to move large loads over long distances, and to do so quickly. Collectively, these three attributes (load, distance, and speed) uniquely qualify functional movements for the production of high power. Intensity is defined exactly as power, and intensity is the independent variable most commonly associated with maximizing favorable adaptation to exercise.

Recognizing that the breadth and depth of a program’s stimulus will determine the breadth and depth of the adaptation it elicits, our prescription of functionality and intensity is constantly varied. We believe that preparation for random physical challenges -- i.e., unknown and unknowable events -- is at odds with fixed, predictable, and routine regimens. [emphasis and paragraph break mine]

Plateauing is not easy when the adaptational response never has a fixed target -- plus, the novelty of not knowing what will be coming next keeps us from getting bored. As sick as it might sound, it actually becomes a fun adventure to show up at the gym not knowing what challenge we'll be hit with! One day it's a 5k run or row for time; another day it's finding the maximum weights you can deadlift, press, and back-squat; on another it is a butt-kicking, lung-searing sequence of a dozen varied exercises done for time (here's one we were given a week or two ago, as demonstrated by a bunch of uber-fit trainers at a certification: [wmv][mov]).

CrossFit turns fitness itself into a sport by making general fitness quantifiable, setting standards, and measuring performance in a very visible way. So people get to see their own development, have fun competing with themselves and their buddies in some sense, get encouragement in a group setting, and so on. This all goes toward motivation and intensity (making it fun to show up, and keeping you engaged in the work when it's soooo hard).

Turning fitness into a sport also makes the CrossFit Games possible. The Games are a proving ground for demonstrating general fitness, and a way to draw attention to those who might have a more effective training method. Elite athletes train all year and show up to compete -- but what's special about this competition is that they have to train while not knowing exactly what the events will be. They only know they will be tested in some way that is broad and brutal enough to differentiate the fittest person. So the athletes have to focus on developing that well-rounded, inclusive fitness to win. The rest of us get to marvel, and learn.

Then we throw ourselves into tomorrow's unknown workout. Three.. Two.. One.. GO!

Some links:

• "What is CrossFit" is a one-page promotional summary from an affiliate gym's website.
  
• The Okinawa Speech is a video of a great talk by CrossFit's founder, Coach Greg Glassman. He presents the the origins of the CrossFit definition of fitness, the development of the training methodology, addresses safety, efficacy and efficiency, and a lot more. Worth the time.
  
• "God's Workout" in NY Times Magazine made me laugh (and of course I have seen no dangerous, macho behavior, nor any cultlike attitude -- in fact, I've only seen the opposite on both counts).
  
• "The Truth About Crossfit" is a pretty good perspective piece by a fitness writer, fun to read, from a big bodybuilding site/magazine (though it has some goofiness, like defending another of their writers who apparently had some sort of tussle with CrossFit's founder, Glassman).
  
• Eight quick perspectives/reviews by people.
  
• World HQ for CrossFit itself is a free website with a huge amount of information.

[image from games.crossfit.com]

Read more...

The John Galt League Draft

The John Galt League just completed its draft a few minutes ago. It went very smoothly. (Thank you, Kevin!) I relied heavily on ESPN's rankings in my selections, as I've paid almost no attention to football so far this year.

I plan to be extra-committed to football when the regular season begins later this week. Sundays will be for football and chores -- and nothing else. I've even downloaded the whole NFL calendar into iCal so that I don't miss anything! Woo Hoo!

Hopefully, my fantasy team will do well. Here they are, the noble and courageous players of the Sedalia Sea Monkeys, in draft order:

1. Michael Turner, Atl RB
   
2. Randy Moss, NE WR
   
3. Brian Westbrook, Phi RB P
   
4. Wes Welker, NE WR P
   
5. Joseph Addai, Ind RB
   
6. Dallas Clark, Ind TE
   
7. Eli Manning, NYG QB
   
8. Antonio Bryant, TB WR P
   
9. Darren Sproles, SD RB
   
10. Donald Driver, GB WR
    
11. Vikings D/ST, Min D/ST
    
12. Kerry Collins, Ten QB P
    
13. Rob Bironas, Ten K
    
14. Dustin Keller, NYJ TE
    
15. Justin Gage, Ten WR
    
16. Cowboys D/ST, Dal D/ST

Go Sea Monkeys!

Read more...

John Galt League: One Slot Left

The John Galt League -- the fantasy NFL league for Objectivists and other fans of NoodleFood -- has one open slot. We want it filled!

We're holding the draft this Monday at 3pm ET. (If you want to play but you can't do that time, I think you can do set the computer to select your highest picks.)

If you want to sign up, you can do so via this link. It's first come, first serve. So hurry!

If you have any questions or problems, please contact league commissioner Kevin McAllister at kevin@mcallister.ws.

Read more...