Is the number of new drugs being tested right now by the FDA to treat mental illness.
According to a short mention in the NY Times, this unprecedented number has huge profit potential, with the NIH stating one in 4 American adults suffer a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.
On one hand, new advances in treating mental illness come welcomed and much needed. On the rest of the appendages, however, the record numbers create a slight spine chill.
…just thought you should know.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: MindBody, research and knowledge, Society and Fitness
While browsing local vintage boutique Retro 101, I stumbled upon packaging that would catch anyone’s eye – manly muscles in a contradictory happy, yet formidable pose. Whatever was in the box, it had to be mine. So goes the power of marketing. Mad Men, eat your heart out.
The Whitely Super Jiffy Gym looked promising. Best guess was with the invention of plastics, came the Super Jiffy Gym – a simplified version of the springed “chest pull” popularized by cartoons…you know the one that Tom and Jerry get tangled up in. Or was it Daffy Duck…
Now I too, could create an array of perfect Grecian poses with my new, vintage Jiffy Gym. Were the trunks required too?
But once taken out of the box, I could barely move it. It wasn’t quite the elastic band you might get from the physical therapist. No. The tension was somewhere between a strap to hold elephants at bay and a rock.
Verdict? The Jiffy Gym was a dud. Could use it to hang plants. The packaging was mesmerizing, however and a little research was in order. It appears Whitely Gyms offered a large array of classic home gym equipment throughout the 1960′s and early 70′s, bizarre precursors to more recent fitness props and home gym toys of today.
Turns out, Whitely Gyms of Hackensack, NJ, was owned at one time by AMF Incorporated, now best known for their bowling centers.
AMF Incorporated was founded in 1900 New York, as the American Machine & Foundry Company Inc. The company manufactured automated machines for the tobacco industry.
AMF, Inc. expanded automated machinery into all kinds of areas including, just prior to World War II, the automatic pinspotter. Yes, as in bowling. The war delayed the introduction of the pinspotter until the late 1950′s when it revolutionized tenpin bowling and touched off a boom in the sport. Kingpin was born.
Involvement with bowling led AMF into a broad range of non-automated sporting equipment during the 1960′s and 70′s including; tennis racquets and skis, golf clubs, inflatable balls, scuba gear, yachts and many other recreational products such as snowmobiles, bicycles, children’s toys and even, (during the 1970′s), Harley Davidson motor cycles.
From jump ropes, gym bars, bands, balls and pulley trainers, Whitely offered it all. Many companies continue to rediscover and recreate these same gyms toys. They just purport to be safer….and perhaps greener.
The Whitely line of home gym equipment quietly went away in the 70′s, only to be rediscovered now and again in vintage shops and yard sales by cultural fitness anthropologist such as myself. The Jiffy Gym is a shining reminder of how little has changed in American fitness, not to mention the influential power of good advertising. Afterall, I did buy it.
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: research and knowledge, Society and Fitness, Fun, health fad, trademark, weird fitness, history of fitness, fitness culture
Some people consider eating chicken feet and head cheese a dare, but in the US it’s not so much about oddities as it is about going big. With popular shows like Man vs. Food and the recent onslaught of fast food dares, it becomes obvious the recipe for success comes down to extreme comfort food, extreme Americana, and extreme calories…all in the name of entertainment, of course.
Perfect example: The Double Down
KFC Double Down
KFC’s testoterone alluring monstrosity got the attention they had intended, making headlines all over by taking two pieces of fried chicken and using them to sandwich two slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese, two slices of bacon and a special sauce. An LA times blog says it has 800 calories 46 grams of fat, while the Washington Post says only 540 calories with 32 grams of fat. -90 calories lighter than McDonald’s Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich. It contains 1,380 milligrams of sodium while 1500 a day or less is recommended.
Carl's Jr Footlong Burger
Most recent to the extreme caloric scene is the Carl’s Jr. hamburger footlong. That’s right. 8 patties of meat and probably 1500 calories. Nutritional information is not yet available.
Friendly's Grilled Cheese Burger Melt
Stephen Colbert recently touted the news of Friendly’s new grilled cheese burger melt. At 1500 calories (seems to be the standard) and 2090mg of sodium, I think no one can express their excitement over this sandwich like Colbert can. I urge you to check out his food thoughts on the grilled cheese burger melt here.
When did this madness begin?
In recent memory, the team making calories work for them in the biggest way was the Gateway Grizzlies, a minor league baseball team in Southern Illinois, just outside of St. Louis, MO. The Grizzlies, known more for their death-defying ballpark food than their hitting, touched off the craze in 2006 by adding a $4.50 donut burger to the concession lineup. Going the extra mile, the Grizzlies deep-fried their glazed donut before slapping it on the bacon cheeseburger. Attendance soared.
But wait! It’s just keeps getting better! Moving the trend ever forward, the marketing gurus for the Grizzlies now sell a new gutbuster made of 1.6 pounds of meat topped with salsa, sour cream, chili and Fritos. Cost: $20 and 4,889 calories.
I’m gonna stick with chicken feet. A 60 calorie dare that’s still hard to swallow…mainly you just chew.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: burgers, fast food, health food, Society and Fitness, Weight and Diet
(Watch out phone viewers…quite a few videos below)
Yeah that’s right. Meditation is being claimed by the resistance movement. Quiet strength and mind body centering is attacking the establishment…silently.
As the benefits of meditation become more widely known, its new age stigma is being shed for a reputation of focus, skill and all around quiet bad ass…ness.
Breathe deep, growl low.
Take the Dharma Punx movement.
Noah Levine, a former druggie and multiple-time convict, learned how to meditate in jail and carried it out to the disenchanted masses. Levine’s meditation movement is gaining momentum among the disillusioned seeking something more from life than drugs, sex, MSNBC, and garage bands.
Although the Dharma Punx are bringing Buddhist philosophy to the streets, it must be mentioned here: The Wu Tang Clan was first.
While Wu Tang’s philosophical references began with martial arts films, their inspiration validly comes from yet another, older, bad ass group – the Shaolin Monks. There is nothing wimpy about this club. Meditation is their way of life, creating focus, discipline and a centeredness from which they move. I can safely say a 60 year old man able to meditate while balancing one finger…is hardcore.
While meditating on your head might not be in the cards, there is still much to learn from their way of life. For example, here in this video are the simplest elements needed to meditate.
Russell Simmons
Of course, meditation has its celebrity fans. Tiger, Russell Simmons, Sting. Hands down, my personal favorite is David Lynch. Here is a guy who goes fishing into the human psyche, catching all the dichotomies (good and evil, black and white, etc) and exploring them in wild nonlinear, multidimensional ways. Doing things like this:
…while meditating twice a day for the past 35 years. Lynch is one of the most prolific artists out there today. Disturbing, beautiful and compelling. Taking concepts and running with them in various directions. Lynch is a badazzzz.
In the end I defer to The Man, Clint Eastwood. Yup, Mr. Eastwood has been practicing meditation everyday since the 1970′s.
So I gotta ask, Do you feel lucky Punk? Well do ya?
If not, perhaps a little mediation would help….
(I know. Oh so cheesy cheese, but hard to resist.)
Here are a few links for more information:
→ 4 CommentsCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Balance, Breathing, david lynch, deep thoughts, dharma punx, Health, meditation, Society and Fitness, stress relief
Torn ACLs and knee injuries are surprisingly common, and a prime example of how muscular imbalances create wear on the joints. Proper awareness, balance, and strength training are key to preventing and rehabbing any and all injuries… knees included.
For a knee injury, it is important to build the entire leg: maintain quad strength, build stronger hamstrings, and focus on balanced strength in the hips. Pay attention to proper traction and alignment of the ankle, knee and hip as you exercise – in other words, make sure everything is lining up. You can easily do a movement, but without proper alignment of the joints, muscular imbalances can be created, resulting in continued strain. The best way to build overall strength and better alignment is to incorporate some form of balance into your exercises. Balancing coerces lesser developed muscles to engage, as well as to kick in a little core support.
Your doctor or PT will probably gave you some similar movements, like squats, leg presses, and lunges, but my recommendation would be to try to incorporate an element of balance with each:
Wall Squats with a balance ball behind the back – Angle out the legs and work your way to bringing them under your hips. Pay attention that the knee lines up with the center of your foot. Don’t let the knees extend into flexion past the toes, or a 90 degree angle. Hold the squat for 30 seconds.
Single leg wall squats – This is a challenge. Be careful with these.
Standing on one foot Hip hikes – Using a yoga block, encourage balance work on the standing leg. allow the opposing leg to tap the floor and lift up. Works the hips and standing leg stability.
Balance on one foot – Balance on an upside down bosu ball, foam roller, or a wobble board at the gym
Practice balance on this for 30 seconds to 2 minutes at a time.
Lunges with bosu ball – You can flip the bosu either way. Arm movements are optional. Here’s an alternative with the Bosu Ball flipped.
Swimming over balance ball – Lying over the ball. Core is centered. Opposing hand and leg lift, other two remain in contact with the floor. Hold for 5-10 seconds each. Keep both arm and leg completely straight, hold and balance. Switch.
Hamstring curl, pelvic lift series on balance ball or bosu ball – Lying on the floor. Soles of the feet flat on the ball (don’t hang in just heels), curl hips up towards the ceiling and roll back down through the spine. Keep ball stable. Can do with legs together (harder) or shoulder width apart. Curl up and down 10 – 20 times.
1. Next progression: you can keep hips elevated and carefully push the ball out and in. Don’t move hips as you move legs. Be careful with this one.
2. Next progression: you can do single leg pelvis lifts, with opposing leg stretched upward towards the ceiling – again, be careful with this one.
Leg presses on the gym equip. Don’t just power through. Keep body aligned and lengthen spine and low back away from the leg movement.
Foam Roller IT band massage If you have a foam roller at the gym, you might want to roll out the outside of the leg. Actually, investing in a roller for home is a wise purchase. There are a multitude of uses and benefits. Rolling out the IT band can be painful, depending on how tense is. The roller helps release hip and leg tension, while reducing strain on the knee.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Exercises, Try This, Physics Lessons, Sports, Balance, Exercise, knees, acl tear, surgery
Just like with saving money, or cutting calories, the little things count. I believe people receive more benefits doing small things for themselves throughout the day than dedicating an hour to the treadmill. Little breaks and movements create appreciation and respect for our bodies, helping both the body and the mind. I encourage you to find your own creative ways to keep things moving. Here are a few simple starters.
Idea #1.
Walk when you can. Park far away from the entrance and enjoy a mini-leisurely walk to the store. As a gift, give yourself an extra 5 minutes of walking time to get where you are going. Just a few extra steps and deep breaths calm the mind in a surprising way.
Idea #2.
Stairs. It’s the big “no-duh”. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Draw your body weight up through the middle of the body, lifting weight away from your knees as you go up and down. Be aware of taking even breaths.
Ideas #3.
Jump or bounce around. Like Muhammad-Ali getting pumped up for the fight. Get up from your desk and just jump up and down a bit. Shake out your hands and stretch your neck. Get the blood flowing and move the computer and work stress out of you body. 30 seconds to a minute is all it takes.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Balance, Exercise at Your Desk, Exercises, MindBody, Society and Fitness, Try This
Thanks to Michael Capozzola for creating and Ben Maher for passing it on. Bay Area keeping it real…funny.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Fun
Tagged: Fun, pilates
Nobody enjoys working overtime, and here is the new best excuse not to: Working overtime linked to higher risk of heart disease.
The European Heart Journal studied 6000 British civil servants and followed them for 11 years. They found that working an extra 3-4 hours a day is associated with increased coronary heart disease. The researchers controlled and adjusted for lifestyle, cardiac risk factors and other factors that would skew the results and still found that people who worked 3-4 extra hours a day had a 60% increase in risk for heart disease.
These results were for both women and men (ages 39-61). Other risk factors like smoking, elevated lipids, diabetes made no difference in the results.
(Found at http://everythinghealth.net/, posted by Dr. Toni Brayer)
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Heart disease, heart journal, Life, overtime, research and knowledge, Society and Fitness, stress, work
This is Buddy Lee, Crazy pants owner and founder of the Jump Rope institute
Guess House of Pain had it right. (That’s right. I went there.)
Jump up and down for 20 minutes in the morning and you are set for the day. It can: up your metabolism, get your heart pumping, your lungs in shape, your brain working better, and it doesn’t take hours.
According to research The Jump Rope Institute a minimum of five minutes a day can improve physical fitness and when you build to ten minutes of nonstop jumping at 120 RPMs it can provide the same benefits as the following:
Pretty impressive huh?
According to various sources, jumping rope is pretty darn safe, if not extremely challenging. (After trying to jump for 2 minutes straight I began to wonder how kids can do this for hours) It’s less impact on the knees than running…since both knees can land at the same time. You can also control the amount of impact by jumping low, lifting with the core, and staying forward on the balls of the feet.
But what if jumping rope is simply not an option for you? No way. No how.
It’s true. There is no perfect exercise for everyone. Jump rope prep exercises can get your body moving and accustomed to the bouncing movement. Put on your favorite music and try bouncing on a mini trampoline (a rebounder) or even bouncing around and playing with your balance on a large stability ball.
Maybe not like this...
And definitely not like this...
While these options are not nearly as intense they are still great cardio options that can be fun, and really that is what is most important.
This is more like it. He's "king of the world"...
→ 1 CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: cardio, Exercise, fast and easy, Fitness, Fun, jump rope, Play, Try This
This is what I’m talking about.
We sit all day. In the car, at work and home, and for hours at the airport and then onto the plane. We take the brunt of demands, sitting down. We get agitated, crabby and stressed, but do we really do anything about it? Take some action? No.
I, for one, am not going to take this siting down anymore, and I ‘m starting at the airport.
And why not? More and more people exercise at the airport. While you might be the lone spectacle at first, others will soon get brave and follow suit. A call to action takes time. It’s kind of amazing long we ignore the instinct to move around and stretch.
Here is a New York Times article from this week about exercise at the airport and suggestions for seated stretches.
Below are my recommendations when you are hanging around the airport lounge:
1. Modified Arching
This is the antithesis of sitting all day and is very important for spine flexibility.
Lying on your belly. YES. In the airport. Arms are out to the sides and bend your elbows. Palms are flat and all 5 fingers are touch floor. Press Up. Sense the force of the push traveling up your arms, into your back and down your spine. Continue to push your arms down and out into the floor and raise your head and chest off the floor. Keep the back of your neck long. Let your chest feel broad, your neck free, and your spine feel long. The shoulder blades should be drawn together behind you. The arms stay straight. Hold and take deep breaths. If you feel pain in your back, walk your hands out in front of you further, or prop your belly with your jacket. If you feel pain in gluts or legs. Stop.
2. Cat and Cow
On all fours (hands and knees), draw your nose towards the knees, round the spine and drawing the belly in. Next, extend your neck and tailbone up towards the sky, allowing the spine to sink towards the ground. Take deep breaths and move back and forth through these two positions, rounding and arching the back.
3. Roll Downs against the Wall
These feel great and provide a much needed spine stretch. Keep your tailbone fixed to the wall and follow the pictures and images below:
Don’t be shy. It’s for your own mind and body. Join in the movement revolution and I’ll see you at the airport. We can exchange knowing glances as we lay on the airport floor…
→ 1 CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: airport, back pain, core, Exercise, Exercises, Health, MindBody, sitting, Society and Fitness, Try This
