Saints Alive!

I know that a lot of my readers are mutual friends of Lou Schuler, so I wanted to announce Lou's latest book, which is a slight deviation from his normal (fitness) books.

Saints Alive - Lou Schuler

Saints Alive is Lou's first published fiction book, and having it read it already, I highly recommend it. The book really touched me, in ways I didn't expect, and it's spurred on my own writing in new ways.

Here's what I wrote on Amazon.com

Good, evil, soccer, coming of age, and immortality! 

Sebastian is a young man, going on immortal, when he's thrust into something much bigger than all of us; is it spy vs spy, good vs evil, or Good vs Evil? Suddenly, he's being asked to step into the role of a hero, and he's not quite ready for that. He's bad at sports, especially soccer ...all he's good at is math! Not exactly a super power. 

I found a lot to like about Sebastian, and 'enjoyed' feeling a lot of MY old feelings again; I guess Sebastian and I shared a lot back when I was that age, and I get the feeling that we were not the only ones. We felt excluded, even if we weren't avoided or shunned, we were passionate about things we weren't great at, we felt disconnected from family, even though we loved them. We wanted something bigger, but didn't know what. We wanted a fresh start, even though we never dreamed what it might be or entail.

This is a great young adult story about a young boy who's trying to find himself and fit in, all while avoiding the bullies around him. Something a lot of us can identify with that. 

I actually know Lou Schuler, and he's [kinda] funny, but this book literally (like literally literally) made me laugh out loud several times. The dialog is seamless, and once you're into this book, you're lost in the story. 

Lou has written many, many non-fiction books and articles, so we have no doubts that he can write, but this book shows that the man can really, really write.

I hope you'll buy Lou's book. I know you'll enjoy it. 

...then, please give it a review on Amazon. Reviews help readers find great books, and every author needs help in that department.

Roland

The Hobbit: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

I must say that I really enjoyed The Hobbit. I saw it in a swank new theater with fancy recliners, waiters, and great coffee. It was in 3D and 'high frame rate,' for what that's worth. This was the first 3D movie that didn't seem artificially 3D (no stupid things floating out at you, etc.). Yay!

First, off, kudos to Peter Lucas for taking the more serious and dark tones of Episodes IV-VI and brightening them up for little kids!

It will be far easier to market the little toys for this one, since these orcs are funny and goofy, and not scary man eating flesh eaters of the earlier trilogy. Evil is evil, but if you can't laugh at it, what have you got? No merchandising!

George Spielberg really took his 'lessons learned' from his previous works on dramatic action serials, such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and put them into practice, here! Action, action, action and more action! I was pleased to see The Temple of Doom's crazy tunnel/mine car scene redone, this time using orc tunnels and wooden bridges instead of the more limiting tracks and wheels that Indy had to ride. This time, he got to use modern CGI and 3D effects and hurray. for. that! I'm sure Spielberg couldn't wait for a chance to rehash that type of action!

Gandalf, Lady Galadriel, and Short Round narrowly escape the orcs!

Having gotten the adults hooked on the concept, via Lord of the Rings, it was time to rope in the kidlets; enter the fun and laughter of belching and other bodily functions, the charming slapstick that can only be found with tubby dwarves and collapsing furniture, and the goofball antics of the trolls, trolls, trolls!

Steven Jackson knows his casting, so it was good to see that he didn't replace actors just to replace actors. In fact, he pulled from the greats of his other movies to wonderful effect! It was especially nice to see Boss Nass of Star Wars Gungan fame working again...

...although I feel that the actor is being somewhat typecast as the leader of a race of underground humanoids living in a secret underground city! But, hey, I have never acted, so who am I to judge the decision to take or reject a role offered by such a legendary movie maker?

Overall, the movie has so many great elements to talk about, from the backstory of The Lord of The Ring's Anakin Baggins (aka THE Hobbit) to the sly hints of the evil that lurks within Darth Sauroman! ...but who will be the other Sith? As we know "always two there are." And who is the necromancer? Is that a hint of Emperor Sauron stretching his non-corporeal legs, or just an early manifestation of some other evil force, lying in wait for a lowly hobbit to wander by? We will have to wait for Episode II, now won't we? The Hobbit: Attack of the Clones, can't come quickly enough!

Review of The New Rules of Lifting for Life

Lou and Alwyn have done it again, with yet another great book that goes beyond a simple lifting program! The ultimate fitness duo's followup to The New Rules of Lifting for Abs is more than just another volume in a series; The New Rules of Lifting for Life ditches the concept of a "generic training program" and puts the actual exercise selection into the hands of the reader! And, they do it in a way that's clear, easy to follow, fun, and downright satisfying.

I will confess that I got the book ahead of time, as my wife wrote the recipes, so we got the book a couple of weeks ago. :) Still, I love the book enough to give it as a gift, and have already purchased two more to give to two friends who can really use Life.

By the way, here's my Amazon review of The New Rules of Lifting for Life:

One of the best parts of this book is that you get to pick your own exercises. No, you don't have to be your own trainer, but you get to participate in your own program design. Other programs might tell you to do an exercise that you just can't do because of an injury or lack of equipment OR because it's simply too hard or too easy. Not a problem with NROL4L because there are a ton of alternate exercise from which to choose.

Also, because it's a template, you don't have to stop after you're done with the program; simply choose new, different, or tougher exercises and get back at it! The book delivers more exercises than any previous volume of NROL, and in a way that makes it easy to follow and learn.

New Rules of Lifting for Life is one of those books that every fitness enthusiast needs to read. The advice is golden, straight shooting, and as funny as Lou Schuler can be. The book has sound advice for all of us, man or woman, including how to get lean, get strong, get or stay healthy, and look good. I don't know about you, but I want to look good for years to come. ;)

Alwyn's programs are deceptively challenging, and as I found out during my workout just last night, I guess I really needed to step things up.

The New Rules of Lifting for Life is my new go to recommendation! ...at least until my own book is ready to go!

Review: the fitbit

I've been using my fitbit for over a year now, and I think it's a tremendous little tool.

so that's what that pocket is for...

Pros

It's got a lot of pros, since it's $99 or less, convenient, etc. 

• small
• inexpensive for what it does
• girly colors (pink and this girly blue), which is great for girls
• wireless sync to base unit
• the best diet and food logging interface on the web!
• great battery life
• uses an accelerometer vs that little ball that rolls back and forth inside most pedometers, so it's more accurate
• via the web site, allows you to challenge your friends via the "Leader Board"
• can ride in your pocket, invisibly
• the soft and comfortable armband lets you track sleep time and quality
• clips securely on fabric, like socks, pant legs, etc. I found that when clipped to my pant leg or sock, it registers movement for Kettlebell Sport movements better.
• lets you "bookmark" activities from your fitbit, then tell it what you did (a run, hike, housecleaning), later. It's fun to see how much these things burn when you assign it a specific activity.
• reminds you to move
• great customer service (mine broke after longtime use, and they still replaced it)
• a pedometer on steroids

Cons

Most of the cons are merely because of the small size, so it's hard to say I'd want more features if it made the fitbit bigger or bulkier.

• easy to lose or wash in the laundry
• colors are girly, so it's a good thing it can ride in a pocket
• holster doesn't inspire confidence (feels like it could fall out)
• no hole for a keyring, chain, or lanyard
• could use a smaller base for laptop use
• if you're too smooth and awesome at Kettlebell Sport, it barely registers your snatch movement. Nothing's perfect!

I can dream, can't I?

I wish fitbit.com could somehow track your activity, and when it finds you ass-sitting for too long, send you a text message or email to get you off your butt. It would need to sync via a phone app and bluetooth instead of the base unit, but wouldn't that be a great future feature?




So...

The biggest thing for me, is the realization of just how little I move each day. The fitbit encourages me to get up off my butt, and since it's small and unobtrusive, and has so many great features, it's hard to not recommend it! The Fitbit is under $99 and available at Amazon with free Super Saver shipping.

Recommended!

Review of Dan John's FREE Coyote Point KB Club PDF

Not just free, but super-free! 

What's the difference between free and super-free? Super free is actually free. 

It's sad that we have elaborate on the word "free," but these days, "free" comes with hair. Free with purchase isn't really free, and it's certainly not super-free. Super-free is not one of the many bonuses (or is it boni?) you get with your $79 fat loss program purchase to bring the perceived value to over $1012. Free gift... redundant. A gift is free or it's not a gift. 

This is a super-free gift, or a super-gift even. This is super-free because it's just there for the taking. Dan [virtually] says "here," take it. So take it. Free of charge. Super free and no charge!

Review of Dan John's Coyote Point KB Club super-free pdf

I love Dan John. I'll let you decide which kind of love, but you should love him, too. When I started to write this review, I originally wrote "when I first met Dan John," but it turns out that I've only met Dan once. It seems like more. I feel like it must have been more. Weird.

Dan's a great and knowledgeable guy, and has taught me a ton in just that one meeting, plus his articles, books, and videos, and finally via some very generous-with-his-time phone conversations. Thanks, Dan!

Coyote Point KB Club is more than just a book or article, it's a club. Up in the Bay Area, there's a park, apparently, called Coyote Point. The story is in the book, but the gist is it's a weekly gathering of like minded people, getting together to train.

From the introduction...

The coyote Point Kettlebell Club represents the finest mix of humanity ever gathered! Or, perhaps, it represents a great group of people who get together once a week to work out, train and enjoy delicious food together. It is a community of people that have bonded by shared interests, ideally the perfection of the human physique, but, more likely, the excellent sandwiches.

In a similar vein, my friends Chris, Aya, Scott, Shabnam, Pete, Tony, Galya, and I regularly took up space at Santa Monica's Yahoo! Park every Tuesday night at 8pm. Often joined by guests, passersby, and friends flying in on short business trips, we religiously played around at this little park each week. We dragged our kettlebells, battling ropes, sandbells, rings, dogs, a powerwheel, and a trx from many, many miles just to train as a group for an hour or two each week.

It was awesome, and we all got closer, learned a lot, and got in better shape.

Santa Monica's Yahoo! Park

Last year, my good friend Chris Bathke picked up and left for Portland, OR. His good reason was to start up the most awesome and beautiful gym you can imagine at Elemental Fitness Lab, but still, he left... At about the same time, I moved from Torrance to Rancho Santa Margarita, and the result was more gym time and no more group training.

The Coyote Point KB Club is a good, if painful, reminder of many things:

• Training outdoors is more valuable than it could possible look on paper
• Training with a group is more valuable than it could possible sound
• Unless you're training for something very specific, your training doesn't have to be so rigid that you can't get out there and have fun
• It's time to get another group together

What I liked

• super-free
• thought starter
• smart programming
• it balances mobility, stretching, strength, power, and the kind of endurance that I like (e.g., not running)
• it's specific enough to follow and get in some great training
• it's vague enough to allow you do whatever you need to do, instead
• a great learning tool
• it encourages you to find, join, or even make your own club

What I don't like

• The word "kettlebell" or "kb" in the title could make a non-comprehender think you need kettlebells to get out there and train, but you can use anything; dumbbells, sandbags, rocks, logs, kettlebells, trx, rings, trees, chinup bars, monkey bars, hills, etc.
• every week that I don't do something to start my own group is another week that I feel like I missed out, which I did

On Dan John's web site, danjohn.net, Dan's got a ton of free stuff, including the PDF I'm writing about today: Coyote Point KB Club.  After you're impressed with this thing, go check out the other freebies in the right column, not to mention the articles. Finally, go buy Dan's books, like Never Let Go, and products. It's all good stuff, as you'll see by all the great reviews over at JPFitness.


This review is OVER, but check this out when you have some time. 



In this Fitcast video, Kevin captured Dan John at the LA Strength and Nutrition Seminar a few years back. You can see me learning to "squat," plus Chris Bathke from Elemental Fitness Lab, and John Berardi of Precision Nutrition. Fun stuff from the past!

Eco-Friendly Disposable Palm Leaf Plates

My friend Justin at Marx Foods recently sent me some really cool plates.  Thanks, Justin!

I'm not one to get too excited about "green" or "eco friendly," because usually that means ugly or lame. If it's not ugly or lame, I'm in.  With these palm leaf plates, I was very pleasantly surprised.  They are neither ugly or lame, in fact, quite the opposite.

Here's a salad in the plates, so you see them in action!

Here we go...

Eco-Friendly Disposable Palm Leaf Plates

What they say...

Our Palm Leaf Plates are great for entertaining. These elegant and durable disposable party plates are an eco-friendly alternative to conventional disposable plates. These biodegradable plates are a natural and renewable resource. Naturally discarded sheaths of the leaves of the Adaka palm tree are collected from the forest floor. No trees are cut down. The plates and the disposable cutlery are even compostable!

Here's more on the hows of the palm plates. How Palm Leaf Plates are Made

That's what they say.  Here's what I say...

Pros: 

These plates are really good looking, and each plate is different.  The pictures on the Marx Foods site don't do them justice, as each one is lighter or darker, with darker "veins" of color running through.

Sturdy. They hold a lot of food without collapsing.

Eco friendly. Green.  They come from something that would be wasted, and then they can be composted afterward.  In Southern California, where we are overdrawn on water, it's a good thing to not wash a dish, as long as it can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. 

For those of you (and it's sometimes those of "us") who don't eat grains, rice, bread, or all those delicious foods that soak up juices, these plates are awesome.  I'll call them paleo or primal friendly, since they are sturdy and have a nice lip around them to hold in the liquids.  I haven't tried soup, but sauces are just fine.  The lip is deeper than those plastic plates from the grocery store, so don't buy those anymore.

Lots of shapes and sizes, and there are utensils that I've only seen in pictures (and I don't know their story, either), but look pretty sweet.

When I say they are good looking, I'm not talking "cool china pattern" good looking, but if you're a hippie, want to be a hippie, wear no shoes as often as not, live "primally,"don't wear deodorant, or live amongst women who seldom shave the pits, these plates are right up your alley!

Cons:

Expensive.  Sorta.

You'll feel bad tossing them, so you'll try to wash them.  You might get away with a quick rinse, but anything hot or wet, for any length of time, and you've used the plate up.  It's a one time use, things like sandwiches excepted.

Again, if you missed the link to Marx Foods, above, here it is again - Eco-Friendly Disposable Palm Leaf Plates

More Coffee Tastes

I'm still addicted, in a good way.  Always on the lookout for something new and good.  A while back, I wrote about my like for coffees at both ends of the gourmand spectrum -- high end & diner coffees.  Not much has changed.  I've settled into the drip method at home, and find that Ruby's Diner has good coffee and good mugs, while Mimi's Cafe coffee is about the worst around.  I don't get it.

I've got a few insignificant things to say now.  In the grand scheme of things, what is coffee?  But, here goes...





Starbucks Via Instant Coffee

If you like or dislike Starbucks medium brewed coffee, you will feel the same about this stuff.  It's just as good.  I was surprised.

I would buy it to take camping, for an office stash, or to a relative's place when I know they have crappy coffee.


Trader Joe's Joe

I buy most of my beans from Trader Joe's.  TJ's continues to add new coffees and take away ones that are less popular.  Their latest, called simply "Joe" is decent.

I love the can.  I love that it's just "Joe."  It's diner worthy.  It's remarkably inexpensive, too.  $3.49 for 14oz.  The Two Buck Chuck of coffee beans.  I like it better than the $7.99 Sulawatsis that I bought last time, so there's that.

I still haven't make the road trip for that coffee and diner trip I want to take.  Someday...