One-hundred-and-thirty-seven-years ago, someone carved a tunnel in the base of a massive sequoia tree in Calaveras County, California. For all the years since then you could walk through it, or just look at it, and think about the impact humans have had on the world's natural resources.
But on Sunday, nature exacted its own retribution, felling the tree in a storm.
According to the Los Angeles Times, visitors used to be able to drive through the tree, though, lately, it's been open only to hikers. The tree was known as the Pioneer Cabin Tree, and was one of several that were carved out in the 1800s to promote tourism.
But according to the National Park Service, carved out trees had their time and place.
"Sequoias which are standing healthy and whole are worth far more," the park service said.
The United States bought 828,000 square miles in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson agreed to the Louisiana Purchase. The U.S. had only sought to buy New Orleans, but was offered a bargain on the whole thing. Still, New Orleans was a very important part of the deal. The mouth of the Mississippi River would become the country's busiest trading port. When Americans started to move into New Orleans, they found the small town to be very foreign. The few thousand French creole residents were very different from the folks back home.
There were two main areas in which the entrenched French creoles made the incoming Americans crazy. The first was infrastructure: when the U.S. bought the Louisiana territory, New Orleans had no paved roads, no street signs, and no colleges. Much of the population was illiterate, and justice was dispensed according to the French legal code: Tregle calls the place “a colonial backwash of French and Spanish imperialism.”
The second was the permissive culture: Sunday in New Orleans means sitting at a café and going out dancing or perhaps to a horse race. In this city, black and white people mingled more freely than elsewhere in America, and even slaves had more leeway to move freely than in other cities.
All this shocked the Protestant, Puritan-minded American settlers, many of whom came from places in the South where the movement of black people was highly restricted and regulated. (Meanwhile, the native creole population was appalled by the crude Americans, who they called Kaintucks and vulgar Yankees.) The Anglo-American settlers tried to change everything from the city’s laws to the looser culture, but even as they gained power of New Orleans’ commercial life, they did not have enough political power to mold the city as they would have liked.
That changed in 1836 when the "Yankees" finally had the political power to persuade the state legislature to split New Orleans into three separate municipalities: one American and two French. Read how that worked at Atlas Obscura.
PARIS (Reuters) - A man clung onto the roof of his father's stolen car and called police on his mobile phone during a 130 km per hour (80 miles per hour) motorway chase before the thief was arrested.
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Video taken by PINAC correspondent Phillip Turner captures Texas cops refusing to hand over a complaint form upon his request after he arrived at the Bee County Sheriff’s Office and explained he wanted to file a complaint against a deputy.
Instead, Liz, a woman working at the front desk , asked Turner to reveal the name of the deputy he intended on complaining about and insisted that in order to file a complaint, he would be required to write his name and contact information on a blank sheet of paper.
Liz became angry after Turner asked her to tone it down a notch after she began yelling through the glass “that is our policy” when Turner attempted to clarify that she needed his name instead of the name of the deputy he wished to complain about.
“Can you tone it down just a little bit?” Turner politely asks. “Because you’re yelling at me, but I’m not yelling at you.”
Liz waves her hand at Turner, walks to her chair and sits down.
“You know what?” Liz asks. “You can speak with one of the deputies now.”
“You’ve really got a nasty attitude,” Turner remarks to Liz as she dumps a soft drink down her throat.
Two deputies who had been sitting in the front office with Liz come out to greet Turner, but they weren’t much help pointing him in the right direction, especially when he informed them he wanted to complain about Liz.
The deputies also stated Turner was required to write his name, phone number and address in order to file a complaint.
“Then it’ll be transferred over to a supervisor,” one deputy explained.
“When was the incident your talking about?” a supervising deputy asks.
“It was not too long ago, like maybe a week,” Turner says. “So you guys don’t have like a form that I can fill out?”
“No,” both deputies shake their heads.
“Can I bring it in in writing, and signed?” Turner asks.
“If that’s what you want.”
“I’m just asking the steps. Like what do I need to do to file an official complaint?”
“Well, generally, a supervisors is going to talk to you. Like me,” says the supervising deputy.
“So, in order to file a complaint, you need my information first?”
“Yeah,” the supervisor snaps.
Eventually, the supervising deputy knocks on the glass, asks Liz for keys and a piece of paper and leads Turner to a nearby meeting room.
“So, what’s going on?”
“Well, first thing’s first, I’m going to go ahead and complain about that lady with that attitude. That was very uncalled for. That was very unprofessional.”
“Buddy, that’s her job,” the supervising deputy replies.
Turner said he entered the sheriff’s office to inquire about the complaint process after one of the viewers of his YouTube channel, The Battousai, said he entered to file a complaint against a deputy, only for a group of deputies to intimidate him from filing the complaint.
This is how he explained it in a Facebook message:
I get tips from subscribers who have problems making complaints against certain government agencies. After I receive word, I make a trip there and document my experience asking about the complaint process and how to file one.
But in most cases, they make the process difficult and intimidating. Some agencies don’t follow the Texas Government Code and I expose that.
We had a simple incident at Windcrest, TX and they didn’t have complaint forms and wanted you to talk about it instead of writing it down. After two videos, many phone calls, and a visit with the city mayor and attorney, the complaint forms are now in the front lobby available for pick up with the correct Texas Government Code which is 614.022. The only requirements are it has to be in writing and signed for it to be accepted.
Since posting the video Saturday, his viewers have been leaving comments on the department’s Facebook page, but they have been getting deleted as Turner explains in the second video below, which is a violation of public records law.
"A subject requiring a life-time to master, obviously cannot be demonstrated in a few minutes. This is therefore an attempt to explain only some of its more popular ideas."
As ubiquitous as it is, GitHub is a little baffling for beginners because it’s not evident at the start how it actually works. So, GitHub made a video to help make sense of it all.
The first American to summit Mt. Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, was Jim Whittaker, but it was in 1963, 10 years after Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered the peak.Back then, climbing wasn’t as popular in the U.S. as it was in Europe and Asia, so American funding was [...]
A guy and his camera-wielding girlfriend were driving around Raleigh, North Carolina, yesterday after the storm left a layer of ice and snow. They saw a guy skiing behind a car! Of course, they had to follow. After all, he's liable to crash spectacularly and wouldn't that make a great viral video? Contains NSFW language.
But the skier did not oblige by crashing. In fact, he's pretty good at it. The comment thread at reddit explained that skiing in North Carolina makes you an expert at handling not just a snow surface, but ice, mud and rock, too. Then we heard from the guy who was skiing. Michael Stewart was equipped with a camera, too. He's a good skier, but he held the camera vertically and the music is NSFW.
You might have read some frightening articles about the impact sitting all day has on your body. Headlines seemed to be screaming things like ‘sitting all day is as bad for your health can be as bad as smoking’. It can be frightening to think about, but many of these scary articles do have a point: being active is incredibly important for your long-term health!
Leading a lifestyle with minimal exercise has been linked to so many health problems and, unfortunately, these problems can apply to people who spend a large portion of their day sitting.
Don’t panic though! Today I’m going to help you understand why sitting can be a big problem for your health and suggest ways you can overcome these issues!
So What’s The Damage?
Want to know something scary? It’s been reported that people who sit all day may be twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those who spend most of their day standing. Add to that reports of increased rates of blood pressure, high cholesterol and unhealthy blood-sugar levels.
Another problem that sitting all day creates has to do with our posture. Most people slouch, or lean forward, putting their body at an awkward angle. All of this can put strain on your neck and lower back, leaving you with sore shoulders or headaches. Continuously sitting for long periods can also put extra stress on your spine.
Some of the other health issues linked to sitting all day include weakened muscles, reduced range of motion in the hips and decreased calorie burning. For us girls, another big concern is losing bone mass, which has been shown to be a potential long-term concern with sitting for many hours.
Something important that I want to point out is these health problems don’t just apply to people sitting all day at work. These problems also affect people who regularly spend several hours in front of the TV, a lot of time in the car or in front of the computer at home as well.
How You Can Reduce These Negative Impacts
You’ll be happy to know I’m not going to insist you move to standing desks or quit your office job. I will tell you how important an active lifestyle is if you sit all day and how small changes can make a big difference.
Try to get in the habit of regularly standing for a few minutes or going for a walk away from your desk. There are simple ways to get you used to the habit of taking more breaks: set a reminder to go off on the hour, or take a quick stroll whenever you have to use the bathroom. Even standing up for a stretch will help get blood flowing, as well as making your leg muscles work to support you, which is important.
Yoga can be a fantastic way to improve the mobility of your spine, which can become quite compacted after a whole day of sitting. Cat and cow pose are awesome for stretching the muscles and lengthening out your spine. Pigeon pose is also really good for opening the hips, which can be tight after a whole day of sitting.
Why Regular Exercise Is Even More Important If You Sit All Day
Spending time stretching or getting some form of physical activity is really important for everyone. A number of studies have suggested that moving regularly throughout the day is the best way to reduce the health issues that have been associated with long periods of sitting.
Basically, the more you move, the better! Also try to think about that it’s not just the hours during work that you might be sitting. Those couple of hours you spend sitting each night also add up. For some people, that equates to 12 hours of sitting per day! Try to take a break from sitting every hour or so and have a brisk walk or stand up and stretch.
In addition to being good for your back and general health, regular breaks from your desk are good for stress relief. Even if you get plenty of exercise throughout the week, be mindful of taking regular breaks from your chair. Whether you stand for short periods, go for a walk or do a quick set of stretches, your body will thank you in the long term!
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Matthew Villegas took his GoPro camera and a selfie stick with him as he free dives in Morrison Quarry in Quebec. That water's gotta be cold. How cold is it? It's covered with ice -and he has to go up and get a breath of air!
We can assume that he found a place in the ice to get some air, since he came home with this lovely footage. This video is being used to publicize the GoPro awards, which is looking for nominations. -via Viral Viral Videos
When I was reading about the East Lake neighborhood for a story last week, I read an article about a convenience store that made a really good burger. I picked up some lunch and took it to eat at my desk.
It’s tough work, as the cliche goes, but someone has to do it. Part of my job—one of the best parts—is keeping tabs on the best new barbecue and grill restaurants. 2016 has been a banner year for live-fire cooking. The Grillworks wood burner has become the new stove in restaurants from New York to California. Elsewhere, chefs have taken a giant step backwards, installing wood-burning hearths that would have been at home in colonial kitchens. Here are a dozen of my favorite new restaurants for 2016.
Boston/Cambridge: The Smoke Shop
It’s about time. Boston chef Andy Husbands has had a lifelong obsession with barbecue, and after numerous barbecue contest wins (including the Jack Daniel’s for his brisket) and several excellent cookbooks (his Wicked Good Barbecue is a must read), he finally decided to open a barbecue restaurant. Look for pull-apart-tender baby backs, textbook pulled pork and monster beef plate ribs at this Cambridge smoke emporium, and don’t miss the crispy grits fries and hot links with homemade pimiento cheese.
Chicago: Leña Brava
No one on the planet knows more about Mexican cuisine than Chicago chef Rick Bayless, and his latest restaurant (the name literally means “Angry Fire”) specializes in modern Baja-inspired wood fire cooking. From the wood-burning oven come black cod al pastor and chicken a la leña, while the wood-fired grill turns out smoky octopus carnitas and a monster 32-ounce tomahawk steak. Smoky mezcal-based cocktails (try the Last Piña) and jewel-box-like ceviches round out a menu equally remarkable for its breadth and bold flavors.
Chicago: Roister
“The restaurant is the kitchen. The kitchen is the restaurant.” With this motto, Chicago über chef Grant Achatz opened this equally über hip restaurant in Chicago’s Meatpacking District, with a wood-burning hearth as its focal point. The menu is eclectic enough to include smoked oysters, hearth-baked lasagna, pork butt with a dark and stormy glaze, and grade A-5 Japanese Wagyu beef with sea urchin. If this sounds too avant garde, there’s always a wood-grilled, 30-day aged beef porterhouse. The noise level rivals that of an F-16 engine at takeoff. By the way, if you haven’t seen it already, watch Grant Achatz’s amazing life story on Netflix, Chef’s Table.
Los Angeles: Charcoal
When Michelin-starred fine dining chef Josiah Citrin (owner of Mélisse in Santa Monica) decided to open his second restaurant, he built the concept around charcoal. It fires a pair of Big Green Eggs, a Spanish Josper oven, and an open grill where virtually all the cooking at Charcoal is done. Sure, you could order the 35-day aged Sonoma lamb shoulder with coriander and honey or the 21-day aged Liberty duck (you should), but the dish that most stands out is lowly cabbage—the whole head roasted caveman-style in the embers and served with sumac-scented yogurt.
Miami: Kyu
This lively restaurant in Miami’s Wynwood Art District is my favorite eating place in Miami. Chef Michael Lewis deftly combines Asian flavors with American smoke and fire, seasoning his smoked Wagyu brisket with sashimi pepper and serving it Vietnamese style, with lettuce leaves for wrapping, Asian barbecue sauces for dipping, and—a first for this writer—chopsticks to eat it. The Asian barbecue theme continues with grilled asparagus with miso and bacon and whole maitake mushrooms grilled with ginger and soy. The dining room is industrial modern; the duck burnt ends are out of this world.
Miami: Quinto la Huella
There are many places to sit at this sleek new South American chophouse (run by the owners of the famous La Huella in José Ignacio, Uruguay) at the equally slick new East Hotel in Brickell Village—at sprawling communal tables inside or on the airy spacious terrace. But you’ll find me at the U-shaped asado bar in front of the massive parrilla, oak-burning open grill. The grass-fed picanha and other steaks are imported from Uruguay; the grilled fresh local snapper comes with salsa criolla (South American creole sauce), and the crusty mollejas (grilled sweetbreads) are out of this world. Wash them down with one of South America’s best-kept wine secrets: a Tannat from Uruguay.
Montreal: Foxy
Olive & Gourmando is one of my favorite breakfast/lunch spots in Montreal, so when the owners opened their new wood grill restaurant, Foxy, in the trendy Griffintown neighborhood, I leapt on my Bixi (municipal bike) to try it. Smoked crème fraiche sauces the charcoal-grilled trout; a tomato and burnt onion salad counterpoints the Mt. Laurier hanger steak; and the feta cheese on the wood-oven-baked flatbread with nectarines is marinated right in house. Clever cocktails; big flavored food from a Grillworks wood-burning grill; and in the summertime, sidewalk seating. What more could you ask for?
New Orleans: Primitivo
Historically, New Orleans cuisine has been more about simmering and sautéing than grilling, but chefs Adolfo Garcia, Jared Ralls, and Ronald Copeland have made a massive wood-burning grill, oven, and smoker the focal point of their Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard restaurant in emerging Central City. Yes, you can order excellent coal-grilled prime rib and smoked spareribs, but what interests me is Primitivo’s use of alternative live-fire cooking methods, like the ember-roasted shrimp (cooked caveman style on the coals) and string-roasted duck breast.
New York: Le Coq Rico
OK, I know, this is not, strictly speaking, a grill restaurant, but the house specialty—spit-roasted chicken—comes off an iconic French live-fire rotisserie. This isn’t just any rotisserie chicken. Former Michelin 3-star chef Antoine Westermann has gone to extraordinary lengths to source Brune Landaise birds raised by Mennonite farmers for a full 110 days (most chickens are processed at 40 to 60 days), producing such rich soulful flavors, you’ll feel like you’re eating chicken for the first time. Go with lots of people so you can try the Rohan Farm duck and Catskill guinea fowl, too. The macaroni au gratin sets a new standard for mac and cheese; the thick-cut frites rank among the best in Manhattan. Enjoy them in a chic feather-decorated bistro dining room, and don’t forget to book your table several weeks ahead of time.
Tulsa: Burn Co. Barbeque
From the moment chefs Adam Myers and Robby Corcoran opened their roadhouse-barbecue joint, Burn Co. Barbeque has played to standing-room-only crowds. It’s easy to understand why: homemade smoked sausages, smoked bologna and baby backs, and of course, the dish that made them famous: the fatty (think three kinds of sausage and cheese wrapped and smoke-roasted in bacon—you’ll find the recipe in Project Smoke.) Their new location more than doubled the seating and size of the kitchen, adding room for a butcher shop, but messieurs Myers and Corcoran still do all their cooking on what may be America’s most singular grill/smoker: the Hasty-Bake, made right here in Oklahoma.
Washington, D.C.: The Dabney
When chef Jeremiah Langhorne opened this cozy tavern in Blagden Alley in the heart of the nation’s capital, he designed his kitchen around a piece of cooking equipment that would have been at home in Colonial Williamsburg: a huge raised wood-burning hearth. The cooking may be primal—wood fire grilling, roasting, and yes, charring vegetables in grill baskets directly on the embers. But the Mid-Atlantic-inspired menu is thoroughly modern, with the likes of whole grilled black bass, BBQ Beaver Creek quail, and winter squash cooked in the fire.
And finally, Brooklyn, New York: Jake’s Handcrafted
OK, it’s not new, but the one-of-a-kind sausages sure are. Recent creations? A “Chinese takeout” sausage (char siu pork and fried rice). Cubano (a sausage made with cumin-scented pernil, pickles, and cheese). Tokyo chicken sausage and sate lamb sausage slathered with peanut sauce. Welcome to Jake’s Handcrafted in Brooklyn, where chef Jake Klein uses the sausage casing to channel the world’s great cuisines. Nepotism alert: Jake is my stepson, and you’ll see a family resemblance in his double smoked brisket sausage (studded with chunks of 18-hour smoked brisket.)
Did YOU have a favorite new smoke and fire restaurant this year? Please share it with us on the Barbecue Board, or my Facebook page.
TSY friendly, Ian Beaudoux, was recently part of a great short film as Cinematographer that stars Gary Oldman, THE CARNIVAL OF DREAMS ~ Check it out! The friendship and passion for collodion photography shared by Ian Ruhter and Gary Oldman is deep and beautiful. The process is reflected in the inhabitants of Slab City, where those […]
It’s not every day that you hear about a classic film line being brought back from the dead, but that’s what’s being announced today. Kodak Ektachrome film is coming back for film photographers.
The announcement was made today at CES in Las Vegas by Kodak Alaris, the separate company owned by the Kodak Pension Plan in the UK that runs Kodak’s old Personalized Imaging division.
The original Kodak Professional Ektachrome color reversal film line was killed off by Kodak back in 2012 after years of sales declines and a drop in usage by photographers. It seems that trend has reversed.
“The reintroduction of one of the most iconic films is supported by the growing popularity of analog photography and a resurgence in shooting film,” Kodak Alaris says. “Resurgence in the popularity of analog photography has created demand for new and old film products alike.”
“Sales of professional photographic films have been steadily rising over the last few years, with professionals and enthusiasts rediscovering the artistic control offered by manual processes and the creative satisfaction of a physical end product.”
Kodak Alaris says that its decision to bring back Ektachrome was the result of listening to photographers demands over the past several years. They were hearing cries for color reversal film to make a comeback, and the company decided that Ektachrome, which uses the E6 development process, was the way to go.
“The film, known for its extremely fine grain, clean colors, great tones and contrasts, became iconic in no small part due the extensive use of slide film by National Geographic Magazine over several decades,” Kodak Alaris says.
Here are a few photos captured on Kodak Ektachrome film:
It’s a new year, which means many of you are probably setting new fitness goals.
For a lot of guys, their goal is pretty vague — “get in shape” or “start running” or “get stronger” — and they’re not entirely sure how they’re going to get there beyond joining a gym.
This is a mistake.
Without a concrete plan, you just end up in the gym randomly stopping at machines to do a few reps before heading to the sauna.
Any exercise is better than no exercise, but it’s even better to work out in a way that gives you real results. When you observe that you’re getting bigger/faster/stronger, it feels dang good and serves as prime motivation to keep at it.
Deciding on which fitness program to follow comes with its own issues though. There are a lot of options out there, and they seem to increase at an exponential rate. Choosing one can be a confusing and overwhelming endeavor.
To help you decide on a plan to follow this year, below you’ll find descriptions of ten different programs I recommend. I’ve personally tried all but two of them, and I highlight the pros and cons of each to help you make a better decision.
The plan you ultimately choose will have to do with what your fitness goals are and what kind of exercise you enjoy the most. If you like to run, do a program that involves lots of running. If you like to lift weights, do a program that puts an emphasis on barbell training. If you like variety, do a program that regularly mixes it up. If you’re not yet entirely sure what forms of exercise you like best, I suggest experimenting with different programs (giving each at least three months) until you discover where your interests lie. That’s what I did in trying out all these different programs, until I finally found the fitness discipline that I truly love (Starting Strength-style barbell training). One thing that I’ve learned over the years is that when it comes to exercise, finding something that you actually enjoy doing goes a long way in ensuring that you’ll stick with a program.
And no matter which path you take, understand results only come with consistency. Show up to the gym each day and do the work. Regardless of whether or not you’re “in the mood.”
If your goal is to get stronger in 2017, you can’t go wrong with Starting Strength. It’s a barbell-based strength program for novice lifters created by the incomparable Mark Rippetoe.
You do five barbell lifts: squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench press, and power clean. With all the lifts (except for deadlift and power clean) you’ll be doing three sets of five. Each workout, you’ll be adding five or ten pounds to the barbell. You’ll work out three times a week.
Don’t let the word “novice” lead you to think that Starting Strength isn’t for you because you’ve been lifting for years. “Novice” refers to how long it takes for you to fully recover and adapt from workout to workout. A novice lifter is a lifter who can fully recover and adapt from a workout within 24-72 hours. What does it mean to fully recover and adapt? It means you can add more weight to your next workout without missing the number of prescribed reps. Basically, every workout is a PR day if you’re a novice lifter.
It takes about six to nine months of consistent training following Starting Strength before a novice lifter stops seeing gains at each workout. Once you’ve plateaued following Starting Strength’s novice, linear progression program, you’ll need to move to an intermediate program.
I started Starting Strength at the end of 2014 after doing weightlifting workouts as part of many of the other programs listed here, but being unhappy with the lack of strength progression I’d made with them. After starting SS, my gains have grown at a steady clip. I’ve since moved on from the novice programming, but I continue to work with Starting Strength Coach Matt Reynolds (check out my podcast with Matt) doing the same basic SS barbell lifts, just on an intermediate program.
Thanks to Starting Strength, I’m now squatting 420 pounds, shoulder pressing 200 pounds, and deadlifting 500 pounds. I should be hitting a new bench press PR of 300 pounds in the next two weeks (bench has always been my weakest lift). I’ve also discovered a passion for barbell training thanks to Starting Strength and I have plans to enter my first powerlifting competition this year.
However, I highly recommend signing up for Starting Strength Online Coaching. Your online coach will keep you accountable to following the program and critique your form on your lifts from every workout with a video you submit to them online. This form critique is key. If you’re not doing the lifts correctly, you’re more likely to injure yourself and your progress will stall. What’s more, they’ll be able to adjust your programming as you advance from a novice lifter to intermediate, and intermediate to advanced. I’ve been doing Starting Strength Online Coaching for over a year now and have been pleased as punch with the results. The service is top notch.
The downside of Starting Strength is that my aerobic conditioning has suffered. While you can incorporate things like prowler work and tire flips, aerobic conditioning isn’t a priority with the program. Starting Strength’s argument is that people should focus on getting strong first before focusing on aerobic conditioning, because aerobic conditioning is much easier to gain than strength. I’ll admit that I’ve skimped on the conditioning this past year and have suffered for it. When I participated in the Conquer the Gauntlet obstacle course race this past summer, I had to do a lot of walking because I was so gassed. This year, however, I’ll be working with Matt to add more aerobic conditioning into my programming. Goal is to run an OCR without stopping for a breath like I had to last year.
I did StrongLifts 5×5 way back in 2008 when I was looking to get back into barbell training after taking a hiatus after my high school football days. StrongLifts is similar to Starting Strength in that you do basic barbell lifts like the squat, shoulder press, bench press, and deadlift. Instead of the power clean, StrongLifts uses the barbell row as the fifth lift.
Like Starting Strength, StrongLifts is a linear progression program for novices in which you add a bit of weight (5 to 10 pounds) to each exercise every workout.
The barbell lifts are awesome, the program is simple and straightforward, and Mehdi at StrongLifts has a tremendous amount of free and useful content available on his site. The main issue I had with StrongLifts 5×5, however, was how much volume the workouts required. Instead of doing three sets of five (as SS recommends), StrongLifts has you doing five sets of five on all the lifts (except for deadlift, which is 1×5). I was completely worn out after a training session and recovery took a long time. I think the amount of volume required had something to do with how quickly I plateaued on the program. After a few months of following it, I stopped making progress, and I never got past 100 pounds on the press or over 300 on the squat. I’d do the requisite de-loading that the program prescribed to try to break through the plateaus, but still couldn’t. I ended up stopping out of frustration.
StrongLifts 5×5 has worked for other people, it just didn’t work for me after a certain point. I found Starting Strength’s 3×5 rep scheme to be just the right amount of volume to induce adaptation for strength gains without totally wiping me out.
Critical Bench is a 10-week program geared towards increasing your bench press PR. I was following this program over three years ago. Workouts are divided into 5-day splits where each day focuses on a different body part. Mondays are your bench days and you’ll be incorporating negatives and lower/upper half reps to help increase the amount you can bench. The workouts on other days follow your typical bodybuilder, hypertrophy template (high volume, lower weight).
If you’re looking to increase your bench press, the program works. My 1 rep max went from 235 to 285 while following the program. The hypertrophy workouts combined with a low-carb diet definitely got me lean and jacked. I’ve probably looked my best in terms of aesthetics while following Critical Bench.
The downside is that while your bench press will definitely go up, you won’t see much in strength gains in other lifts like your squat, press, or deadlift.
If you don’t want to join a gym or buy fitness equipment for your home, then consider Anthony Arvanitakis’ (check out my podcast with Anthony) bodyweight strength program Homemade Muscle. Unlike a lot of bodyweight routines that just have you doing higher and higher reps, Anthony programs similarly to what you might see in a barbell training program. He’ll have you modify the exercises to add intensity (the same thing as adding weight to a barbell), so that you can actually get stronger instead of merely increasing muscle endurance.
It’s a program that requires no equipment, no gym membership, and can be done anytime and anywhere. Can’t beat that!
While I haven’t followed Homemade Muscle for a long period of time, I use the program when I’m on vacation and away from barbells.
The downside of it and any other bodyweight-only program is that there’s a limit to the intensity you can add to the exercises. If you really want to up the intensity and get stronger, you’ll eventually need to add external weight.
If you’re looking to achieve all-around fitness this year, you can’t go wrong with Atomic Athlete. Founded by Jake Saenz and Tod Moore (check out my podcast with them), Atomic Athlete’s goal is to make people who are “harder to kill.” Atomic’s main offering is their Hybrid Programming. It combines strength and aerobic conditioning in intense, hour-long workouts that you do five times a week. You’ll be doing squats, shoulder presses, bench presses, and various Olympic lifts along with bodyweight exercises like push-ups and pull-ups. For the conditioning portion, you’ll be doing a lot of sprints, sandbag work, kettlebells, and sled pushes.
While the Hybrid program looks a lot like CrossFit, it’s a lot less random and more programmed. The workouts are designed weeks in advance and structured into periodic cycles with specific goals in mind — there’s a real method to their madness. I followed the Atomic Athlete Hybrid program back in 2014 and saw excellent results with it. My conditioning was at its peak when I was following it, and I turned in my best performance at Conquer the Gauntlet.
Another benefit of the Atomic Athlete Hybrid program is the variety they build into it. It was always fun to see what we’d be working on with each new cycle. You definitely won’t get bored with it.
Besides the Hybrid program, Atomic Athlete also offers programs geared towards strength, endurance, and getting ready for military service.
The downside is that the workouts do require a bit of speciality equipment like sandbags, sleds, and kettlebells. Most gyms have them these days, but if yours doesn’t you’ll need to adjust the workouts (Atomic offers alternatives if you’re missing a piece of equipment). The workouts also absolutely smoke you, which is a pro or con depending on your taste, and tolerance for feeling beat during the day.
Garage Gym Athlete is similar to Atomic Athlete in that the programming combines barbell strength training with aerobic conditioning. The difference is that Garage Gym Athlete, as the name implies, focuses on folks who are working out at home and might not have a lot of equipment.
The programming is top notch and easy to follow. At the end of each cycle, you’ll take benchmark tests to see how you’ve improved in various metrics.
I like how Jerred has focused on folks who are likely working out at home and by themselves (like I do). He provides plenty of content on how to acquire gym equipment on the cheap and even how to make it yourself, as well as how to stay motivated when you’re working out alone.
The downside with Garage Gym Athlete (and any program that’s trying to build both strength and conditioning at the same time, like Atomic Athlete) is that your strength gains will come more slowly compared to if you were just doing a straight strength training program (like Starting Strength). My personal recommendation if you’re just starting out would be to follow a strict strength training program for the first six months of the year and really go after those strength gains, and then move on to something like Garage Gym Athlete or Atomic Athlete.
Besides Garage Gym Athlete, Jerred also has a program called One Man One Barbell that provides an all-around strength and conditioning workout using just a barbell.
The Mountain Tactical Institute offers general, all-around fitness plans, but their main focus is on providing specialized programming that’s aimed at mountain and tactical athletes and designed around enhancing mission performance. MTI is heavy into mining the best research in order to offer periodized, carefully programmed plans not only for skiers, climbers, mountain guides, and alpinists of all kinds, but also to law enforcements officers, fire/rescue professionals, and those aiming to join the military and get selected for special forces.
I haven’t tried any of MTI’s programs, but am impressed with what they’re doing and think it’s worth checking out if you’ve got a job/mission in which you want to stay safe and perform at your peak.
Just like the name says, this program is simple and sinister. Developed by Pavel Tsatsouline, the Simple and Sinister program will help get you get strong and aerobically conditioned all with just a single kettlebell. You train every day with two exercises, doing 5×10 one-arm swings per arm and 5×1 Turkish get-ups per arm with a 32kg kettlebell. Eventually, you’ll work your way up to 10×10 one-arm swings and 10×1 Turkish get-ups.
I did Simple and Sinister during a short period between Atomic Athlete and Starting Strength back in 2014. Really enjoyed this program because it was so easy to follow and it was satisfyingly hard. If you’re new to exercise and looking to get going with something that’s simple, straightforward, and requires minimal equipment and time, this program is for you.
Downside is that I did get bored with Simple and Sinister. But I’m not sure it’s really designed to be your sole workout program for life. More like an effective gateway drug to other things.
MovNat (Natural Movement) aims to help people reach their physical potential and make them functionally fit and proficient at performing the basic movements the human body was designed to do: walking, running, crawling, hanging, throwing, swimming, jumping, balancing, and so on. Once you learn the basics of different movements, you can start progressing into using those movements in more advanced ways — combining them together and trying them in different and more challenging environments — so that MovNat rightly considers itself “the martial arts of movement.” Sure, you can do a pull-up on the bar at the gym, but can you do one on a tree branch? You can lift a uniformly-shaped barbell, but could you hoist an oddly-shaped log? You can run a mile, but could you run barefoot over rocks?
MovNat isn’t really a fitness program to be followed on its own (though you could), but rather a form of training that can complement every other program out there. Kate and I worked with Aaron Baulch, a MovNat certified coach here in Tulsa, last year and attended a MovNat seminar in April. The training really added a lot to our main respective fitness disciplines; while it hasn’t replaced my barbell lifting, it has become a nice supplement to it. I now incorporate crawling and different ground movement sequences on my rest days. I found that they’ve really helped loosen up my body and increased my awareness of how it moves. I can now get up off the ground without using my hands which is something I couldn’t do a year ago. Feels good.
If you train with barbells and want to lift more efficiently and with fewer injuries, then check out Kabuki Movement Systems. It was created by world-record powerlifter Chris Duffin (check out my podcast with Chris) and is designed to help lifters become much more durable. Chris provides in-depth video breakdowns of the mechanics of each of the main barbell lifts, along with easy-to-follow cues to help you perform the lift more efficiently.
Moreover, you’ll find mobility routines that are designed to help you perform each lift better.
I’ve implemented many of the KMS lifting cues and mobility workouts into my own training and have seen immediate results from them.
If you’ve got a goal to run in a 5K, an obstacle course race, or even a marathon, then you’ll want to check out Strength Running. USA Track & Field certified coach Jason Fitzgerald (check out my podcast with Jason) offers personalized plans to help you reach new PRs no matter the distance you aim to race. His programming includes not just running, but strength-building barbell and bodyweight exercises, as well as mobility work that will help you reach your goals faster with far fewer injuries. Check out his PR Race Plan as well as his Team Strength Running for more details.
I haven’t personally followed Strength Running programming, as long-distance running just isn’t a fitness goal of mine. But I like Jason’s approach to the sport in that it’s programmed similar to barbell training (mixing volume and intensity), and that he puts an emphasis on strength training to help improve performance and reduce injuries.
Sears said today it has agreed to sell its iconic, 89-year-old Craftsman brand of tools to Stanley Black & Decker.
The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer announced it will offload Craftsman for $525 million in cash at closing, plus and additional $250 million payment at the end of Year 3 and variable payments for up to 15 years.
Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) says the net present value of the closing payment plus annual payments is approximately $900 million.
The deal gives Connecticut-based Stanley Black…
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Sears said today it has agreed to sell its iconic, 89-year-old Craftsman brand of tools to Stanley Black & Decker.
The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer announced it will offload Craftsman for $525 million in cash at closing, plus and additional $250 million payment at the end of Year 3 and variable payments for up to 15 years.
Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) says the net present value of the closing payment plus annual payments is approximately $900 million.
The deal gives Connecticut-based Stanley Black…
