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Hey, NF Community! Just wondering if there are any other iNaturalist addicts and/or other assorted nature nerds (hikers, photographers, explorers, citizen scientists, professional scientists) who would like to share here! "Nature stalking," as I like to call it, has really helped me connect with my surroundings, get outside more, log more hikes, explore new places, and learn so much about the creatures we share the environment with! If anyone is interested, jump on in! If you have questions about getting more outdoorsy, please feel free to shout those out, too! To kick this off, I wanted to share a few of my iNat pics (I'm personally very fond of bees!) and a few resources. iNaturalist - upload observations of living creatures to help with data collection and analysis, and use an amazing AI system to identify your photograph! (available on desktop, iPhone, and Android) * More info in my conversation with @InnerFire, below. QuestaGame - individuals and teams photograph and identify living organisms for points (similar to iNaturalist, but made into a game) SciStarter - Citizen Scientist project center Geocaching - outdoor treasure hunting (yes, really!) World Wildlife Fund Panda Ambassadors - WWF volunteering What else should I add to this list?? - Odynne (TIPSYwithWATER) BEE SPECIES PICTURED: Perplexing Bumble Bee, Common Eastern Bumble Bee, Eastern Honey Bee, Eastern Carpenter Bee, Western Honey Bee

No one is obligated or expected to actually read all of this lol. Just wanted to log everything for my daily workouts and basic plans. It changes often, so I'll be updating and revising here and there. The more I do a routine, the more I find gaps, or things I need to adjust and will do so as they come. Also, any outdoor activities or swimming, or other adventures that happen away from home gym I will share in thread to keep track of my activities with pics 💖 'MOON'DAY - ELEMENT OF WATER 5:00 AM - Wake 5:10 AM - Monday's Meditations: Moon energy, healing, self love, focus on feminine energy, and water energy. Accompanied by: Moonstone, rose quartz, snow quartz, clear quartz, selenite 6:30 AM - Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes or 5 Miles +2 for additional minutes or miles 7:00 AM - Strength Training - Light Full Body Workout 7:30 AM - Core, obliques workout (Coincides with Monday - Moonday, Goddess energy) 8:00 AM - Shower, then quick breakfast. EGGS. ALL THE EGGS. 8:45 AM - Leave for work 9:00 AM - Arrive at work 12:00 PM - Lunch followed by 10 minutes of meditation. 12:30 PM - Back to work 3:00 PM - 5 minutes of jumping jacks and stretching in back office to perk up and get blood flowing again. 5:00 PM - Released from the land of the dead - I mean work. (It's a cemetery. Literally the land of the dead so it's actually legit af.) 5:15 PM - Home. 6:00 PM - Head to the home dojo. Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes with 3lb weights, 5lbs, and 10lb kettlebell. Strength training with kettlebell and body weight exercises for 15 minutes. Core focused exercises for 15 minutes. 6:30 PM - Cook dinner/Eat 7:30 PM - MCT Protein Blast with Collagen >Insert mundane $#!% here< 8:30 PM - Recumbent Bike for 20 to 30 minutes with highest resistance for the day. Yoga/Tai Chi/ Qi Gong/ Meditation Accompanied by: Moonstone, rose quartz, snow quartz, clear quartz, selenite 9:30 PM - Read for 20 minutes, something inspiring and uplifting, comforting, and familiar. 10:00 PM - Set intentions for Tuesday manifestations, review planetary orbits, visualize my day, write keywords for how I would like to "feel", and how I can do something with that day to improve that. Journal for 10 minutes. 10:30 PM - Bedtime 🌊Bonus points today for taking a swim indoors or outdoors or just spending time with or by a natural body of water. +8 👽✨Bonus points for taking telescope out and spending quality time with La Luna +5 WARRIOR TUESDAY - ELEMENT OF FIRE 5:00 AM - Wake 5:10 AM - Tuesday's Meditations: Warrior energy, Mars, Masculine energy. Focus on strength, courage, empowerment, honor, loyalty, protection. Accompanied by: Smoky quartz, black tourmaline, obsidian, carnelian, pyrite 6:30 AM - Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes or 5 Miles +2 for additional minutes or miles 7:00 AM - Strength Training - Light Full Body Workout 7:30 AM - Shoulders, Back, Arms (Coincides with Tuesday - Mars Day - Warrior Energy!!! YEA!!!) 8:00 AM - Shower, then quick breakfast. EGGS. ALL THE EGGS. 8:45 AM - Leave for work 9:00 AM - Arrive at work 12:00 PM - Lunch followed by 10 minutes of meditation. 12:30 PM - Back to work 3:00 PM - 5 minutes of jumping jacks and stretching in back office to perk up and get blood flowing again. 5:00 PM - Off work. 5:15 PM - Home. 6:00 PM - Head to the home dojo. Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes with 3lb weights, 5lbs, and 10lb kettlebell. Strength training with kettlebell and body weight exercises for 15 minutes. Arms, shoulders, back focused exercises for 15 minutes. 6:30 PM - Cook dinner/Eat 7:30 PM - MCT Protein Blast with Collagen >Insert mundane $#!% here< 8:30 PM - Recumbent Bike for 20 to 30 minutes with highest resistance for the day. Yoga/Tai Chi/ Qi Gong/ Meditation Accompanied by: Smoky quartz, black tourmaline, obsidian, carnelian 9:30 PM - Read for 20 minutes, something empowering, heroic, courageous 10:00 PM - Set intentions for Wednesday manifestations, review planetary orbits, visualize my day, write keywords for how I would like to "feel", and how I can do something with that day to improve that. Journal for 10 minutes. 10:30 PM - Bedtime 🔥Bonus points today for having a sacred fire and/or fire scrying, incense making, smoke scrying +5 👽✨Bonus points for taking telescope out and spending quality time with corresponding planet +5 MERCURIAN WEDNESDAY (Weigh-In Wednesday) ELEMENT OF AIR 5:00 AM - Wake 5:10 AM - Wednesday's Meditations: Messenger, Intellectual energy, Mercury, Masculine and Feminine energy. Focus on outward energy. Promoting positive thought patterns, banishing negative thought patterns, contemplate how I use words with myself and others and if I do that in the healthiest most positive way and how I can improve that today. Accompanied by: Ametrine, obsidian, pink botswana agate, lepidolite, clear quartz 6:00 AM - Weigh-In 6:05 AM - Log weight, set new goals, make any necessary changes to nutrition and fitness plan, make grocery list and write out meal plan. (Wednesday's Mercurian Energy is great for all the intellectual, mathy, tedious stuff. Here's to Gemini's and Virgos!) 6:30 AM - Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes or 5 Miles +2 for additional minutes or miles 7:00 AM - Strength Training - Light Full Body Workout 7:30 AM - All limbs lifting and resisting today, and breathing exercises. (Coincides with Wednesday- Mercury Day - lungs, hands, arms, legs, feet) 8:00 AM - Shower, then quick breakfast. EGGS. ALL THE EGGS. 8:45 AM - Leave for work 9:00 AM - Arrive at work 12:00 PM - Lunch followed by 10 minutes of meditation. 12:30 PM - Back to work 3:00 PM - 5 minutes of jumping jacks and stretching in back office to perk up and get blood flowing again. 5:00 PM - Off work. 5:15 PM - Home. 6:00 PM - Head to the home dojo. Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes with 3lb weights, 5lbs, and 10lb kettlebell. Strength training with kettlebell and body weight exercises for 15 minutes. Arms, shoulders, back focused exercises for 15 minutes. 6:30 PM - Cook dinner/Eat 7:30 PM - MCT Protein Blast with Collagen >Insert mundane $#!% here< 8:30 PM - Recumbent Bike for 20 to 30 minutes with highest resistance for the day. Yoga/Tai Chi/ Qi Gong/ Meditation Accompanied by: Ametrine, obsidian, pink botswana agate, lepidolite, clear quartz 9:30 PM - Read for 20 minutes, something witty, clever, intellectual, thought provoking, science related topics such as theoretical physics, astronomy, etc. 10:00 PM - Set intentions for Thursday manifestations, review planetary orbits, visualize my day, write keywords for how I would like to "feel", and how I can do something with that day to improve that. Journal for 10 minutes. 10:30 PM - Bedtime 🌌Bonus points today for writing a short story or poem. +6 👽✨Bonus points for taking telescope out and spending quality time with corresponding planet +5 JOVIAN THURSDAY - ELEMENT OF AIR/FIRE 5:00 AM - Wake 5:10 AM - Thursday's Meditations: The day of the "Luck Planet" Jupiter. Philosopher energy. Divine wisdom. Abundance. Wealth. Luck. Accompanied by: Amethyst, smoky quartz, clear quartz, Preseli bluestone, carnelian, obsidian 6:30 AM - Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes or 5 Miles +2 for additional minutes or miles 7:00 AM - Strength Training - Light Full Body Workout 7:30 AM - Hams and Butt day (Coincides with Jupiter- Jovian Thursday - Thighs and butt. I have to admit that the biggest planet getting butt day is hilariously ironic) 8:00 AM - Shower, then quick breakfast. EGGS. ALL THE EGGS. 8:45 AM - Leave for work 9:00 AM - Arrive at work 12:00 PM - Lunch followed by 10 minutes of meditation. 12:30 PM - Back to work 3:00 PM - 5 minutes of jumping jacks and stretching in back office to perk up and get blood flowing again. 5:00 PM - Off work. 5:15 PM - Home. 6:00 PM - Head to the home dojo. Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes with 3lb weights, 5lbs, and 10lb kettlebell. Strength training with kettlebell and body weight exercises for 15 minutes. Hamstrings and butt focused exercises for 15 minutes. 6:30 PM - Cook dinner/Eat 7:30 PM - MCT Protein Blast with Collagen >Insert mundane $#!% here< 8:30 PM - Recumbent Bike for 20 to 30 minutes with highest resistance for the day. Yoga/Tai Chi/ Qi Gong/ Meditation Accompanied by: Amethyst, smoky quartz, clear quartz, Preseli bluestone, carnelian, obsidian 9:30 PM - Read for 20 minutes, something philosophical, financial and budget planning, entrepreneurial 10:00 PM - Set intentions for Friday manifestations, review planetary orbits, visualize my day, write keywords for how I would like to "feel", and how I can do something with that day to improve that. Journal for 10 minutes. 10:30 PM - Bedtime ⚡Bonus points today for participating in any kind of arts for 1 hour. +6 👽✨Bonus points for taking telescope out and spending quality time with corresponding planet +5 VENUSIAN FRIDAY - ELEMENT OF WATER/EARTH 5:00 AM - Wake 5:10 AM - Friday's Meditations: The day of love. Love, compassion, self love, marriage, friendship, mother energy, healing from water energy, stability and growth from Earth energy. Accompanied by: Amazonite, rose quartz, clear quartz, snowflake obsidian 6:30 AM - Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes or 5 Miles +2 for additional minutes or miles 7:00 AM - Strength Training - Light Full Body Workout 7:30 AM - Chest, abs, leg day (Coincides with Venus- Venusian Friday - Chest, breasts, do I even need to add womb here lol, legs) 8:00 AM - Shower, then quick breakfast. EGGS. ALL THE EGGS. 8:45 AM - Leave for work 9:00 AM - Arrive at work 12:00 PM - Lunch followed by 10 minutes of meditation. 12:30 PM - Back to work 3:00 PM - 5 minutes of jumping jacks and stretching in back office to perk up and get blood flowing again. 5:00 PM - Off work. 5:15 PM - Home. 6:00 PM - Head to the home dojo. Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes with 3lb weights, 5lbs, and 10lb kettlebell. Strength training with kettlebell and body weight exercises for 15 minutes. Chest, abs, legs focused exercises for 15 minutes. 6:30 PM - Cook dinner/Eat 7:30 PM - MCT Protein Blast with Collagen >Insert mundane $#!% here< 8:30 PM - Recumbent Bike for 20 to 30 minutes with highest resistance for the day. Yoga/Tai Chi/ Qi Gong/ Meditation Accompanied by: Amazonite, rose quartz, clear quartz, snowflake obsidian 9:30 PM - Read for 20 minutes, something romantic, or about friendship, companionship, motherhood (even though I'm not a mom, I can't resist a Gilmore Girls - esque tale. I do happen to still be a daughter ) 10:00 PM - Set intentions for Saturday manifestations, review planetary orbits, visualize my day, write keywords for how I would like to "feel", and how I can do something with that day to improve that. Journal for 10 minutes. 10:30 PM - Bedtime ♥️Bonus points today for taking a bubble bath with essential oils, candles, flowers, music. Treat yourself. +6 👽✨Bonus points for taking telescope out and spending quality time with corresponding planet +5 SATURNIAN SATURDAY - ELEMENT OF EARTH 5:00 AM - Wake 5:10 AM - Saturday's Meditations: Father Saturn, Capricornian energy, the teacher Accompanied by: Amethyst, citrine, or ametrine, smoky quartz, rainbow obsidian, black tourmaline 6:30 AM - Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes or 5 Miles +2 for additional minutes or miles 7:00 AM - Strength Training - Light Full Body Workout 7:30 AM - Focus on mobility and joint health today as well as breathing exercises (Coincides with Saturn- Saturnian Saturday- joint health, flexibility, breathability) 8:00 AM - Shower 9:00 AM - Breakfast - Chia bowl with berries, a mini-chaffle size of palm(an egg waffle) with tomatoes, peppers, onions. 1:00 PM - Lunch followed by 10 minutes of meditation. 6:00 PM - Head to the home dojo. Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes with 3lb weights, 5lbs, and 10lb kettlebell. Strength training with kettlebell and body weight exercises for 15 minutes. Flexibility and low impact focused exercises for 15 minutes. 6:30 PM - Cook dinner/Eat 7:30 PM - MCT Protein Blast with Collagen >Insert mundane $#!% here< 8:30 PM - Recumbent Bike for 20 to 30 minutes with highest resistance for the day. Yoga/Tai Chi/ Qi Gong/ Meditation Accompanied by: Amethyst, citrine, or ametrine, smoky quartz, rainbow obsidian, black tourmaline 9:30 PM - Read for 20 minutes, something insightful, educational, motivational, self improvement, even home improvement! (Do some Dad things. Done.) 10:00 PM - Set intentions for Sunday manifestations, review planetary orbits, visualize my day, write keywords for how I would like to "feel", and how I can do something with that day to improve that. Journal for 10 minutes. 10:30 PM - Bedtime ☮️Bonus points today for learning a new trade, or for researching *opposing* political views. +8 👽✨Bonus points for taking telescope out and spending quality time with corresponding planet +5 SOL SUNDAY - ELEMENT OF FIRE 5:00 AM - Wake 5:10 AM - Sunday's Meditations: God, Sol, Sun, Divine Masculine energy, Leo energy, Fire, self love, ego Accompanied by: Citrine, smoky quartz, clear quartz, pyrite, shungite, lemon quartz, carnelian 6:30 AM - Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes or 5 Miles +2 for additional minutes or miles 7:00 AM - Strength Training - 10,000HP Full Body Workout!!! GO HARD BISH. YOU A STAR. Literally, be a star. It is "Sun" day after all ) 7:30 AM - Focus on total body, calisthenics, then follow up with something light and calming such as stretching, slow flow yoga, Qi Gong (Coincides with Sol- Sunday- perfomance, endurance, stamina, and cool down, plus a bit of "ego check" ) Fuel the fire, then cool the fire. 8:00 AM - Shower 9:00 AM - BIG BREAKFAST TODAY YES. 10:00 AM - Go say hello to the sun. Take in that glorious fk'er. Get outside and get some D. Vitamin D. 1:00 PM - Lunch followed by 10 minutes of meditation. 6:00 PM - Head to the home dojo. Recumbent Bike for 20 minutes with 3lb weights, 5lbs, and 10lb kettlebell. Strength training with kettlebell and body weight exercises for 15 minutes. Flexibility and low impact focused exercises for 15 minutes. 6:30 PM - Cook dinner/Eat 7:30 PM - MCT Protein Blast with Collagen >Insert mundane $#!% here< 8:30 PM - Recumbent Bike for 20 to 30 minutes with highest resistance for the day. Yoga/Tai Chi/ Qi Gong/ Meditation Accompanied by: Amethyst, citrine, or ametrine, smoky quartz, rainbow obsidian, black tourmaline 9:30 PM - Read for 20 minutes, something insightful, educational, motivational, self improvement, even home improvement! (Do some Dad things. Done.) 10:00 PM - Set intentions for Monday manifestations, review planetary orbits, visualize my day, write keywords for how I would like to "feel", and how I can do something with that day to improve that. Journal for 10 minutes. 10:30 PM - Bedtime 🌄Bonus points today for going on a hike, going fishing, bird watching, boating +10 If it's raining and you still do it, +3 more cuz you rock and stuff. 👽✨Bonus points for taking telescope out and spending quality time with corresponding planet +5

Thanks mostly to this forum I discovered the Wim Hof Method just over a year ago and ended up trying out the breathing technique at an (unrelated) event. Essentially, in this technique you hyperventilate then hold your breath for ages, and somehow this confers some vague health benefits on you. It was pretty cool to be able to hold my breath for more than 2 minutes, but as I was reading about some of the health claims, some stuff just didn't make sense. Even Wim Hof's explanations had some huge errors, which was confusing... Anyway, I like Science So I set out to determine what actually happens in the body while you perform the breathing exercise (which DOES work) and finally this month I have a full coherent explanation! So if you're interested: Biology of the Wim Hof Method Breathing If you haven't already heard of it, I do recommend trying it - many people (including me and others on this forum) have seen noticeable improvements to their fitness and stress levels since starting this Out of interest, who here is currently practising Wim Hof's breathing technique?

I'm a little surprised I haven't seen a thread dedicated to the eclipse on here, although I've seen it mentioned in other threads. Being in St. Louis, we're in the path of totality. I wish I were at home because I live south in Arnold, where it's an even better view. My company is throwing a party and giving out glasses to people. My wife's going out with her high school kids to watch it, my oldest is watching with a school event, and the youngest will watch on TV with his grandmas. We've been talking it up and feeding into the enthusiasm for the kids. If they're going to be interested in science, they have to see how excited we are as adults, right? They can get a lot of mileage out of their excitement this young. My first solar eclipse was (of course) only a partial viewed through a shoe box, but it cemented my mild obsession with astronomy. My oldest already wants to be an astronaut, and I want to encourage my kids at this age to explore and develop new passions. Is anyone else psyched for it? Do you have any special plans?

I don't know how serious folks here are about meditation and mysticism, but here is a paper attached to this post that I wrote for a philosophy class and it is most likely going to be the theme of my eventual doctoral dissertation. I got an A+ on it. Mysticism Without God? Do you need a belief in a god or gods to explain mystical experiences? It is my intention to show traditional Western mysticism with its "god-centered" three ways of purgation, illumination and union, from a strongly-rational and materialist point of view, in order to argue that it is materialistic psychological processes and not a gods grace that initiates and determines the process of mysticism. It is my argument that supernatural forces do not cause the mystical experiences of advanced meditators and that they have their source in neuroscience, or perhaps in some advanced, but not yet discovered cosmological physics. 3 Ways Final Paper (Edited).pdf

Seeing that many rebels struggle with motivation, I want to offer what psychological studies found out about motivation and behavior modification. I hope you'll find the information useful. The Two Paths of Motivation When rebels start out to change their life, motivation to actually start and keep on it, can be difficult to maintain. Most of us have fallen back on their goals and routines more than one time and you often hear rebels asking others to motivate them. Struggling with just not having the motivation to work towards one's goals is common. If you are low on motivation, there are two paths you can take: Raising your extrinsic motivation or working on your intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic Motivation You act out of extrinsic motivation when you follow your goals in order to attain a desired outcome. Extrinsic Motivation relies on how attractive the outcome is that you aim to achieve with your actions. This means that your motivation depends on external things. Let's see two examples on how extrinsic motivation works: One rebel wants to work out and lose weight to look good on her wedding day (Congratulations!). If our rebel is very much in love with her partner, looking good for the partner can be a strong motivator. Imagining praise and compliments on her wedding day may serve her as a motivator to go to the gym to get there. Her motivation is driven by external outcomes (praise from the partner, positive feedback from the partner and family, looking good). From what we know, our rebel will likely struggle with motivation on the way. Why? Qualities of extrinsic rewards 1. Immediacy: If there is a long delay between extrinsic reward (e.g. looking good) and the action needed to get there (going to the gym), the motivation will not be very high. Rewards that are immediate are more motivating. It's like killing monsters in an RPG: You get the experience immediately after the kill, not half a year later (Imagine what a bummer that would be!) It's also why the first level-ups of most RPGS/MMORPGS happen very quickly. Immediate rewards motivate us more than rewards with a long delay. 2. Consistency of rewards: If our rebel gets rewarded every time she does an action, she will do that action more often. One example: Every time our rebel goes to the gym, she takes a cool shower which is just the best for her a hard workout. Everytime our rebel goes to the gym, her partner also gives her this really awesome backrub! Ending a day with a backrub is awesome for her and a consistent reward gives consistent motivation. The flip side: when consistent rewards fall away at some point, motivation takes a hard strike. E.g. her partner is gone on a businesstrip for a week and can't give her a backrub. Our rebel will lose much of the extrinsic motivation to work out in this week. If rewards are intermittent, motivation will not suffer that much when the reward drops away - Intermittent rewards aren't as motivating though so it's a trade-off. 3. Reward-size/Reward-strength: If our rebel doesn't really give that much on what her family thinks of her, compliments from her family will not have a huge impact on her motivation. Extrinsic motivation is higher when the reward is high. If looking good on your wedding day means the world to you, then looking good is likely a strong reward. Many rebels do this one right actually. They think big and Steven also encourages people to draw on their imagination and on role models to think big. You work out in order to become like Jason Bourne, an indestructible agent that can take on any challenge in the world! How awesome would that be? Big outcomes, big goals are better motivators than aiming low. It's not motivating to train with the aim to "keep a minimum level of activity". In his book, However, please be smart about choosing valuable rewards for yourself. If you reward a week of going to the gym with the _BEST_ tasting food you know and choose Ben & Jerry's Chubby hubby Ice cream, you may go to the gym because hey, ice cream! However, your reward also also works against your long-term goals like looking good. Align your extrinsic rewards with your goals so that they don't work against you. 4. Reward-satiation: If you reward yourself extrinsically, the same reward will change in value over time. You get fed up with receiving the same reward over and over. If our rebel rewards going to the gym with eating her favourite tomato-cucumber salad afterwards, it won't take long until that salad comes pouring out of her ears because she's fed up with it. If she gets a backrub from her partner everytime after workout, she will get used to the backrubs and they won't feel so special anymore. Reward-satiation is a real problem. Being more flexible with the way you reward yourself when you feel reward-satiation is very helpful to keep a high level of motivation. Our Rebel One Steven has given another good example of extrinsic motivation in action in his book: (p.128) Steven motivates himself to write articles extrinsically: He writes to avoid two very negative outcomes: Losing hard-earned money and supporting something he despises. Extrinsic rewards can be effective in getting the work done. However - In Steven's case, he may lose motivation when the external motivator changes. For example, Steven could get so rich that $500 starts to feel small and expendable. Loosing that money would then not feel so harsh. Steven will also lose his motivation if his attitude towards the Westboro Baptist Church changes (e.g. because Steven reads news about the church supporting local soup kitchens with donations. Steven would then probably feel less bad if they get his money.) Steven choose an extrinsic motivation strategy that works for him because it checks all the qualities for extrinsic rewards. 1. Immediacy: The moment Steven finishes an article, he can immediately experience the satisfaction of keeping the money and not supporting the WBC. Immediate reward! 2. Consistency of reward: Steven experiences this satisfaction for every article he finishes before the deadline. High Consistency! 3. Reward-size/Reward-strength: Not supporting the WBChurch and not loosing his hard-earned money to them is important to him. High reward strength! 4. Reward-satiation: The reward continues to be important and satisfying to him. Even after the 10th or 50th article, Steven is glad that he is not giving money to the WBC. No Reward-satiation! Rebels can motivate themselves using extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards can help to even perform tasks you find rather tedious, boring or tiresome if the rewards are working for you. To increase your extrinsic motivation, make sure that rewards are... 1. immediate 2. occuring consistently 3. strong and that you are 4. not satiated of getting the reward again. I hope this provided you with some insight into how motivation works and what you can do to increase your motivation. Part II (covering intrinsic motivation) will come up soon. So how about you? Do you struggle with motivation? How do you motivate yourself? What works and what doesn't work for you?

Hey guys I've been doing some research on physiological predictors of crossfit success. I've reviewed a couple studies and they had some very interesting conclusions. I've been doing crossfit for about 8 years and coaching for 2 and I would have bet money anaerobic endurance would be king but it definitely wasn't. Check the article out and let me know what you think. http://They're not what you think. http://www.tierthreetactical.com/physiological-factors-affecting-crossfit/

Level one challenge: Diet: Eat a vegetable with one meal everyday. Two coffees per day and lots more water. Fitness: Walk every day (5 minutes) - this could even be in the form of standing up at your desk and walking around the office. Level Up Your Life: #100happydays Take a picture of one thing that makes me happy everyday.

Our Stone Age predecessors ground up oats, and may have used them to make oatmeal or even a basic flour, according to new findings from a research team led by Professor Marta Mariotti Lippi at the University of Florence in Italy. The actual study abstract at PNAS: Multistep food plant processing at Grotta Paglicci (Southern Italy) around 32,600 cal B.P.

HELLO FRIENDS After months of feeling like a binbag of old mashed potato perpetually falling down a grimy up-escalator in a dimly lit subway station, I am BACK and FANTASTIC and so very ready to completely obliterate the next six weeks. GOAL ONE: SWIM - Three hour-long swims a week - As many laps full-speed as possible with good form - Record that junk. - Bonus: go swim in the sea so that snorkelling gear I bought can be tested out GOAL TWO: CREATE FRUIT SNOW LIKE SOME SORT OF TROPICAL ICE GOD - Prepare lots of delicious, delicious kiwi, pineapple, mango, blah blah blah - Freeze it in convenient bags - Every day, put some in the juicer and watch as the magical blades of death turn it into fruit snow - Eat the fruit snow - Do not put rum in the fruit snow unless it's a Friday night. GOAL THREE: 1500KCAL A DAY - YOU HAVE DONE THIS MANY TIMES BEFORE - SHUT UP - DO IT - NO MORE - NO LESS - NOT RUM - NO GUESSING - WRITE IT DOWN - WEIGH IT UP - STOP WHINING - AAAAAA GOAL FOUR: STOP TALKING ABOUT GOING OUT TO DO MARINE SCIENCE, GET OFF YOUR BACKSIDE, AND GO DO SOME MARINE SCIENCE - WHAT TIME IS IT - I'M STILL AT WORK - NOT RIGHT NOW - BUT LATER - Go to the sea, conduct a basic benthic quadrat survey by taking photos along a line transect, and calculate the diversity of the visible organisms along that transect. - I don't care if the data can't be used for anything - I don't care if I can't actually identify the organisms perfectly - The point is, it is really irritating listening to myself banging on and on about all the things I want to do, and then watching myself sitting down and knitting in front of the telly, watching Blue Planet and dreaming. Dreaming is for when you are asleep. Go DO SOMETHING. AAAAAA. Points Available: 1: +2 STA, +1 STR 2: +4 CON 3: +4 CON 4: +2 WIS, +2 CHA Smart goals? - Uncomplicated - Quantifiable - Achievable - nothing I haven't already shown I can do before. Just got to avoid getting lazy. Further motivation: - Mama wants a drysuit - Mama is too fat for a 5ft 3 drysuit - Mama is too short for a fits-round-my-fat-bits drysuit - Mama is not willing to pay for a custom drysuit - Mama also wants a reasonably priced 7mm wetsuit. Monitoring: - I found my gold star stickers - Nothing beats a big paper chart with gold star stickers. THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN.

I've been in the Adventurers for coming up to 10 six-week challenges now, and I'm struggling with getting some coherence between each new challenge and the last. So, I'm going to use this battle log to record working towards my main goal, and I'll use six-week challenges to focus on diet, and to work on new ways to boost my progress towards that overarching goal. Behold! A wall of text! My main goal is to become a competent field ecologist: able to get to a site in the middle of nowhere, conduct a thorough and robust survey, and analyse the data gathered accurately. It's the former that's toughest for me.. I covered the latter two fairly well during my undergrad, but I graduated nearly three years ago now and I need some revision. I can break down my goal into five main targets: 1) Be able to climb a Munro (any Scottish mountain over 3,000ft) 2) Be able to hike 20km (just over 12 miles) in a day, with one to two hours of break during the course of it 3) Learn to SCUBA dive (This is a tentative one, as it depends on being able to afford lessons and equipment, but my main interests involve marine and freshwater habitats.) 4) Learn to drive (also money-dependent, since I know nobody with a car who will give me free lessons and £20 an hour is way out of my budget) 5) Revise/relearn the skills needed to plan, conduct, and analyse various field surveys. Planned Progressions: 1) - Start with my nearest big hilly thing: Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. I've never managed to climb it. Once a week, I'm going to walk as far as I can up it, note my position, and come back down again. One day, I'll have reached the top. - Then, once that stops being challenging, I find a slightly bigger hill and repeat the process. - Continue in this manner until I bag my first Munro, which will probably be Ben Lawers or Beinn Dearg in Perthshire. - Then I bag another. And another. - And become one of those people who gotta catch 'em all, and then wave my arms triumphantly on the top of Ben Nevis in my NF t-shirt. 2) - Start with getting into the routine of walking home from work (3 km) once a week. - Increase gradually to five times a week - Then start walking both ways, increasing up to ten walks every week. Maintain this from then on. - If the Arthur's seat attempt in any given week does not involve much distance, I can walk a lap or two of the whole park. - As well as the weekly Arthur's seat attempt, I'm going to be doing conservation volunteering as many weekends as possible. This will involve varying amounts of walking and manual labour. 3 and 4) - Swim once a week. More if I can find the time. Work on front crawl and interval training. - Put money towards lessons and equipment into savings. Won't be for a while since I have overdraft to pay off, and will probably have to involve finding a better-paid job. - Take lessons at an affordable rate. Study theory while taking lessons. - Take and pass theory and practical tests. - Purchase and use equipment, with priority being a dry suit so I can do wild swimming. Once qualified, my Mum is happy for me to use her car when I'm home for the holidays. 5) - Revise organism ID, a statistical analysis technique, and a field sampling technique every week, with practise in the field where possible. (There'll be a list; I'll make it when I get my hands on my old uni papers.) Possible Directions for Six-Week Challenges: - Diet goals aimed at increasing my performance and reducing the amount of me I have to drag about up hills. - Specific exercises targeting weaknesses - my back isn't the best and bothers me when swimming sometimes, for example. - Self- care, particularly around improving sleep and reducing stress - Life-goals such as better budgeting, applying for better-paid jobs. Now, to go home and work out a schedule for doing all that as well as my current six week challenge! (There's a lot of overlap, it'll be fine.)

I've never been a big water drinker. On the pee chart, I tend to fall between "dark yellow" and "honey." Gross. Anyway, I read the NF article on hydration and, like some other commenters, was disappointed to see a lack of weight loss research and the effects of increased water intake, since the old "drinking water makes you lose weight magically" rumor has been floating around even when I was in high school. Googling it for myself, I found this interesting NIH study that suggests not only does drinking water before meals lead to faster satiation and therefore reduced caloric intake during the meal (which one would logically assume, and which Steve does mention in the article) - weight loss is promoted by the digestion (thermogenesis) of the cool, calorie-free life-sustainer. The women in the study weren't actively dieting/exercising differently, yet lost an average of 3 lbs. (1.5 kg) over the 8 week study. The science seems solid, yet I'm skeptical because it sounds like another magic bullet that was flying around for a while in the 2000s - the "negative calorie foods." The idea behind this was that some low calorie, high fiber foods (like celery, cucumbers, and most low-carb vegetables/fruits) require more calories to digest than they actually contain. Taking this premise to its logical conclusion: the more of these foods you eat, the more calories you'll burn...digesting food! Sounds awesome! And fake as hell; the premise of a net caloric loss is false. Of course, even if the 'water effect' wasn't supported by some studies, and even though the 'negative calorie' food effect definitely isn't true...drinking 6 glasses daily (what NIH study chicks had) and as many fruits & non-starchy veggies as you want is still good advice, so it's not as if the pseudoscientist-charlatan who came up with the negative calorie gimmick has any blood on their hands, right? Let me know if you find anything with a large sample size - 50 isn't terrible, but it's not great. The general summary seems to indicate that the effect exists, but is negligible compared to the simple "fill-up" effect. So what do you healthy, sexy people think about water's effect on your personal fat loss? How much do you drink per day?

Hi everyone! I'm not quite at the point yet where I could claim any major victory in my body recomposition and fitness projects, but that'll come. Buuuutttt... I HAVE TO share this with everyone I know (and everyone I don't). I'm currently doing my computer science degree. Maths is involved. This is the third time I've been to university, and the first time I've been for the right reasons, and it'll be the first time I graduate. To put this in context, when I went to university the first time round, I picked a MSci in Physics & Mathematical Finance at age 16 because I wanted to escape the village I lived in ASAP, and that degree was the hardest looking one, which meant I could prove something to everyone who thought I wasn't worth ****. Got glandular fever on my second day after leaving home, wrestled with the course for 3 years, and ended up having to leave. I was scraping 10% in exams and getting by on cramming for resits to get the bare minimum and by the time 3 years of this was up I really believed I wasn't ever going to be worth anything, I wasn't as smart as I thought, and I was destined for a life of unwanted minimum wage jobs. Via some kind of magical warp device I ended up chilling out in a bar job 10 years later, had fallen in love with gaming, and decided maybe a little programming course might be a nice idea. I quietly started up a CS degree at the Open University, so I could take my time and add extra modules if I felt like it later, or just walk away with a one semester course if I wanted to. I've been studying now for just over a year, start my software development courses in September, and have just got to grips with the first year maths that made me feel like such a failure the first time I tried it. I was wrong! I CAN do it! I just got my first ever university result that made me cry with happiness. I REALLY AM SPECTACULARLY BADASS AT THE MATHS. Here, I have to tell everyone! Scores out of 100! The most recent one was the hardest paper of the year I'd always wanted to do something absolutely fascinating with my life, and I'm seriously considering changing to CS with applied maths. It would only take me 3 months longer. I'm going to hit up my tutor for a chat ASAP. I got this result 2 days ago and I'm still excited about it, so naturally, it was time for me to make my first post in the woot room! I hope I can come back and update this thread in 3 months to say I got a distinction, because that's the result I'm headed for. I need 85%. To maths: Gotta go, I have a robotics assessment to hand in on Wednesday!

It's now been a year since I became properly active on NF. In that year, I've learnt a lot, built more confidence, and met some very excellent people. My first proper challenge was to get into a particular pair of jeans that stopped fitting over the previous Christmas period. I still can't get into them, and this makes me grumpy. It's now challenge... 8... for me, and I've said it before, but this time I want to make a concerted effort towards weight loss. Main Goal: Work at losing weight. No set amount of weight to lose, no set rate, but work hard, sensibly, and steadily, and be sure that what you have done is the best you can do. (Current weight: 105.5kg) Goal 1: Stick to the following weekly meal plan; with healthy snacks (nuts, fruit, veg) to make calorie total up to 1500kcal/day. (Menu is mostly based on recipes I like, that are easy to prepare, and have plenty of protein. I tried it out this past week, and it's gone well if you don't count the slip up that was New Year's and the day-long hangover that followed it. And the fact that it went well and I'm on holiday bodes for a successful set-up, since when I'm on holiday diet plans are rarely followed.) Edited to add: Thinking about calories and my activity levels, I want to add an extra 200kcal onto days when I'm lifting. - Monday: Innocent strawberry and banana smoothie and soy protein powder; Light mozzarella and tomato salad; Peri peri quorn chicken and rice (914kcal)- Tuesday: Innocent mango and passion fruit smoothie and soy protein powder; Leek and potato soup; Balsamic quorn pork with peppers and root vegetable mash (757kcal)- Wednesday: Overnight oats with strawberries; Quorn chicken and quinoa; Teros' sloppy joes and half - courgette spaghetti (910kcal)- Thursday: Avocado - baked omelette; sweet chilli quorn steak with edamame beans; Mushroom, pretend bacon and cream cheese pasta (860kcal)- Friday: Innocent strawberry raspberry and blackberry smoothie and soy protein powder; sweetcorn and chipotle soup; Sausage and pasta stew (1112kcal)- Saturday: Overnight oats with cocoa and raspberries; butternut squash and tarragon soup; sweet and sour pretend chicken and jasmine rice (1053kcal)- Sunday: Scrambled eggs and leftovers; curried carrot soup; barbecue quorn and root vegetable mash. (Depends on leftovers; aiming for around 1000kcal)(CON +3, STA+2) Goal 2: Drink at least two pints (1 litre) of water a day.- In addition, try to restrict what you drink to water and tea only. (CON+2) Goal 3: Starting Strength, three times a week.- Monitor progression but don't stress about the progression; as long as I'm doing the best I can do each session, that's enough progression, whatever that may be. (STR +3) Life Goal: Convert craft cupboard to home laboratory.Crafting is fun, but there may come a time when I can't do fieldwork any more. It's time to put the yarn away and save the blanket-knitting for then. - Week 1: Finish the craft project that's taking up space in cupboard. It's a snake figurehead for a longship; needs sanding and painting. - Week 2: Vacuum pack or give away enough crafting materials to provide shelf and table space for equipment and experiments.- Week 3: Research - What, specifically, do I want to study, and what do I need in order to do that? (I'm thinking marine plankton at the moment; might extend to marine invertebrates in general but I only have a tiny amount of space, which would suit plankton far better.)- Week 4: I have to visit parents that week since they have to decant all their things into storage so the council can replace their roof. Dad promised me he'd show me how to use his microscopes, microtome, etc. Retrieve lab equipment, particularly slides, a dissecting microscope, and that plankton net if he hasn't turned it into part of a bloody telescope mount like he has with every other piece of unsuspecting metal in that house. - Week 5: Start doing some science!(WIS +5) So happy the forums are up; last challenge was such a non-starter and I've been itching to begin this one. Considering starting an accountabilibuddies group for people who have set weight loss as their main goal, mostly because I want a boot up the arse every now and again and sometimes the best way to get that is to boot other people up the arse, thereby forcing yourself to work hard or look like a big hypocrite. Hmm. Here's to Year Two and more success with weight loss!

I guess this is partly a IIFYM kind of question. I've been scared of carbs for about 5 years now. As a 21 year old girl, I may have done a bit of metabolic and hormonal damage which I'm not sure if it stems from VLC. Id like to hear other people's thoughts on this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2546975/One-twin-gave-sugar-gave-fat-Their-experiment-change-YOUR-life.html Not the obvious 'fat plus sugar is what's fattening' but more about the effects on energy and brain function. Has anyone switched from low to high carb and experienced better/a return of mental capacity? Ive been low carbing for so long that I can't recall my baseline functionality previous to my diet change.

I was here briefly in May of 2014. Did well with primal diet and exercise routine for three weeks. Then the super depression hit. Sitting on the floor of the kitchen, rocking, unable to feel or think. Kept going for another week, went into huge rage issues. I've got two kids, one with autism and a toddler. I have to be functional, so back on the carbs and my mood improved totally. I vowed that once I weaned my daughter, I would be back on antidepressants and start again. But it's more that that. I did a ton of research, and became convinced that my gut flora were partially responsible for my crippling depressive reaction. Basically, they sapped all my seratonin in their death throws. I have two different mild autoimmune conditions, diabetes, and I'm the heaviest I've ever been at 285 lbs. my eosinophil counts are through the roof and my allergies make my incredibly dizzy sometimes. I have chronic low vitamin D, low magnesium and low iron. my microbiome is at war with the rest of me. So months of research. Finally daughter was ready to wean in late December. Within a week I was at the doctor refining my diabetes medications, and the psychiatrist for Welbutrin to deal with depression and sugar addiction. I've read the microbiome diet, and tons of research by gastrointestinal and microbiology researchers. I've got a gameplan. It's been 21 days so far of elimination diet similar to paleo. Lots of supplements which I will cover in another post. Probiotics, prebiotics, and things to report my gut lining. So far my insulin has been cut in half. My blood sugar in the morning is a beautiful 82 down from 145. My psoriasis has completely healed for the first time in years. And no sugar cravings and no depression so far. Next task, back to an exercise routine and pray my energy levels get better.

The plans have been made, my holdall packed and my summer travels begun! The aim of the game is to see everyone I need to see and be everywhere I need to be before my studies restart in October. I'm starting in the UK to visit friends and family, then to Spain to see my boyfriend and finally to Germany for an international conference type thingy (Indeed, I believe that it is the technical term). And so, this challenge is going mobile! 1. Keeping fit Possible challenge reward: +4 STA & +4 STR My trainers are packed and I plan to make time for runs or bodyweight workouts three times a week. I will also hopefully have some opportunities to go orienteering and climbing as well. 2. Learn German Possible challenge reward: +3 CHA I'm going to Germany for a month in September, and I would love to understand the language. The plan is to use Duolingo, to learn from my tiny reference book, to know the top 100 most used words and top 20 most used verbs in basic past, present and future tense. 3. Science a little bit here and there Possible challenge reward: +3 WIS I would like to research and write up little pieces on biological and medical subjects just for myself, perhaps get a blog going to keep track of them. I have got a little too focussed recently, and I would like to broaden my general bio knowledge. Ideally, I would review diseases, therapies, anatomy, physiology or anything I take an interest in. Suggestions are welcome! This challenge is more systems-orientated than goal-orientated, so I'll assess it based on a google spreadsheet. See you on your threads soon guys!

I feel like I’ve forgotten what it is I’m supposed to be doing. I need to revisit the basics, make them habits again, develop a solid foundation again. To do this, I shall spend this challenge with my favorite clones. First up, shut my mouth. I spend way too much time talking about what I need to do/should do/could do/what I know works. Instead, I’m going to shut up and just DO IT Fitness Quest: CrossFit CrossFit at least 2x a week Grading 11 - 12 CrossFits = A 9 - 10 CrossFits = B 7 - 8 CrossFits = C < 6 CrossFits = F +2 STR +2 STA +2 CON +2 STA Fitness Side Quest: Run Not for points, just for fun. Once in a while I have to get my run on at work to get somewhere in a hurry. I think to myself, "this isn't so bad. I actually kind of like this. I should do this more often." So, I think I will try to do this if I can find time. No C25K or anything, but a leisurely walk/run kind of thing whenever I can. Food Quest Continue with the primal. Moving up to 2 indulgence meals a week instead of 80/20 Food Side Quest Not for points. I just need to pay attention to my sugar intake. I let this get away from me when my dad died, and it got completely out of control. I’ve began getting it under control, I just need to stay on it. By staying on it I mean try eating fruit or sweet potatoes when craving something sweet. Sweet potato = paleo candy Enough with the Science Monkeys Daily: Scoop (cat and dog) poop daily Clean up dishes in sink Pick up after myself Grading will be based on average per week of how much I get done. +2 WIS +1 CON Life Quest: Dollars I did really well with this last challenge and am getting caught up. However, there are so. many. concerts coming to town, plus the fact that we’re passing on DragonCon this year and IT’S KILLING ME!!! I know it’s for the best, and if we suck it up now, we can do all the things next year, but I just want to whine and throw a fit right now. Plan for dollars is the same as last time with the added bullet of practice some acceptance, dammit. Don’t spend money on crap I (we) don’t need​ Track ALL money out (make sure I’m (we’re) not 5 dollaring myself (ourselves) anywhere) Don’t steal from Peter to pay Paul Practice some acceptance. You’re being a big girl. Live with it. Grading will be subjective based on how well I do or don't do. Grading +2 WIS Side Life Quest: Be on time I tend run a few minutes late because I’m goofing off (usually). Luckily, I have a boss that doesn’t really care, but I do. I would really like to get better at this. No points for this, just something I’d like to work on. And Finally... I didn't check in very much last challenge. I didn't update my thread and I didn't drop by to see my buds very often. I would really like to improve on this. After all, we’re so much stronger together. That’s kind of the whole point of the NF community, right? Sometimes I just don’t feel very social. I’m not sure what to do about that other than to at least like a post just to say “hey, I’m here and still rooting for you!†when I don’t actually feel like saying it. Stats: TBD I've got to get off of here before day shift gets here (tee hee), but I'll be back to edit and add later.

Joining the scouts is weird for me. Based on body type, scout is probably the least appropriate class for me, being all massive and bulky and all. I've been a ranger thus far; I like working out in general and doing a variety of things, and I've been primarily focused on weight loss. I don't exactly like running, but I'm basing this challenge (and probably next) around running. I'm going to be doing the Warrior Dash in June, and if that goes well I'm interested in doing more of the obstacle course races. And running is an inherent part of those, so I need to build that skill. I'll be following Couch to 5K for now. I'm really not too concerned about the difficulty of that—I used it last year to do a pure running 5K. To up the hardness a bit, I'm going to be incorporating hills, since the Warrior Dash course is supposed to be moderately hilly. (Well, I'm going to be incorporating hill, since I'm in Chicago and there's really only one hill in the vicinity. But I'll be climbing it several times a run.) The tumult and turmoil comes into play with some life changes. For one thing, I'm going to be moving when my lease is up at the end of July, and there's a good chance that I'll be moving to a new city. (I work from home, so I can go anywhere.) I've been looking for a new job, and planning to move to where that job is, but for at least a little while at least, I'm abandoning that hunt. (It's been more than 3 years, and the process has gotten to me--my last interview led to about a 2-week breakdown as I reminisced about all of the ways that interviewers have jerked me around in the past, while utterly failing to predict the way that this interviewer would jerk me around.) To replace the job hunt, I've got a couple of major projects in the hopper. First is finishing off a draft of a book that I've been working on. I'm at about 45K words, and want to get it to about 60K to call it a completed draft. (After that, there's plenty of work to do, what with organizing and getting the tone right and all, but that's for later.) The second is less well defined. Basically, the jobs I've been looking for have been ones that would hopefully lead to something with a strong science communication component. I'm looking to explore doing something on my own. For this challenge, I'd be looking to define exactly what that might be--what form it might take, its extent, whether it's a profit-seeking enterprise or something else, and so on. Specific goals are yet to be defined.

I can't believe the awesome announcement from Monday! Evidence of inflation in the early universe, basically cinching the Bing Bang Theory! It's fracking amazing! I'm not a physicist, but I Can't help but be awed by the discoveries that are being made. Now, I know what your saying...replication! Yes, yes I'll wait to replication of the experiment before accepting the results, but I'm way to excited to keep this quiet in general! Here's a write-up that's good for a layman (like myself) http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2014/mar/17/bicep2-finds-first-direct-evidence-of-cosmic-inflation

Assessment Notes Prior to Experimentation: This is not the first trial. Previous trials have been begun in the past and yet they were not run to completion. Previous assessment notes reveal multiple explanations for the abortion of these previous trials however, protocol dictates that until at least one trial has been run to completion, all new trials must begin at the beginning and be placed within the level 1 logging database. Problem being tested: What is an Assassin? How does an Assassin move? What is the physics trajectory composition and force direction lineup for the common Assassin technique known commonly as a "Muscle-Up". Goal as defined by the title "Main Quest": To become comfortable in the ways of the Assassin My data assessment reveals that this experiment must be separated into three separate procedures that all must be run concurrently with regards to their individual timings. Procedure 1: Lose 15 Pounds Data shows that the subject's current weight is too gravitation prone and would hinder the delicate moves of an Assassin and so to achieve optimal bodily efficiency, the experimenter will reduce the subject's gravitation pull on the Earth by recording it's weight everyday in order to keep this goal potently fresh in mind. The experimenter will also limit the subjects liquid intake to water only with intake of more complex solutions to only once a week. Procedure 2: Run 3 nights a week History database has a record of a phrase that says: "You can't outrun your fork." While the advice and knowledge this pertains to has been noticed and applied, it has come to the attention of the experimenter that the subject can't outrun anything. While, it is known that Assassins do not necessarily specialize in the endurance or speed areas, that they do need to have a little bit of both. As such, the subject will be required to go running 3 nights every week with a mile distance minimum. The experimenter hopes that this will increase both the subject's endurance and speed so that it may be able to outrun something. Anything. Procedure 3: Do strength training 3 times a week Analysis of the Muscle-Up structure as well as the structure of other common Assassin techniques show that they require sufficient strength in upper-body, lower-body, and core areas. It has come to the attention of the experimenter that such strength is lacking in various of the subject's areas. As such, the experimenter has prescribed 3 days a week for the subject to do some strength training. Should the subject's schedule be intolerant of the lab's fitness center, Body weight Exercises are recommended. Additional Work: While this experiment is important and will bring about very useful results, the experimenter recognizes that the experiment should not hinder the subject's studies and so the subject will be prescribed one hour of reading a day as a non-fitness focused calculation to be sure that the mental awareness of the subject stays up to par as it's physical awareness grows. This concludes the first log of this experiment. All criticisms, critiques, intellectual debates, compliments, or other remarks are to be placed in orderly format below, Thank you for your time, The Social Alchemist.

...Science? Hey all, I just finished reading "The Protein Book" by Lyle McD. Great read! But in the latter part he mentions that strength athletes who waint to gain weight should generally avoid steady state cardio. And I recall from his website (www.bodyrecomposition.com) the same advice, but for HIIT. Now I wonder why is that? Is it always true? Obviously, both activities burn calories. Additionally, at least steady- state also utilizes BCAAs. But that shouldn't be a real problem considering that you can just increase daily caloric intake and consume an extra amount of BCAAs (e.g.through a whey shake) before training. Next, cardio also increases Protein synthesis albeit the outcome is different tissue (mitochondria vs hard muscle). But again, more calories and Proteins will take care of that. And additional protein stores in the body (very energy efficient ones even) can't be a bad thing, right? All right, maybe the additional exercise does hamper recovery and hence impairs the actual weight training? Ensuring adequate carbohydrate intakes during and after exercise should take care of that issue for the most part. I don't know about muscle tissue damage and as to how much impact it has on actual performance. Iirc it is even a potential stimuli for muscle growth. I don't know of any other issues that could influence recovery (or lack thereof) either. But consider that many athletes manage a high workload and frequency shouldn't be the issue here at all. Remember I'm talking about one hour (if at all) of endurance based training once a day, couple times a week. Am I just oblivious to something here ? Any explanation is welcome, the more sciency the better! (On a side note, does anyone know what impacts hiit training has on the body? In terms of what's going on inside of my body afterwards. Also complexes and field games.) P.S. Did I place this Thread right?

I didn't see this posted anywhere else on NF and I'm not sure how well known these are, but... I friggin love them, they're pretty nerdy, and a new one just came out the other day. Enjoy! (I don't know how to embed video, but the new one is called "MONSTERS OF THE COSMOS".)

Study: take a bunch of powerlifters, prod, poke and measure them, make a model and see how it predicts. There are some take-away conclusions at the end. http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2013/09/04/muscle-mass-powerlifting/ TL;DR: Yes, muscle mass is a good predictor of powerlifting performance. Surprise nugget: Subscapularis mass predicts performance best in all three lifts. Get a big, thick back.

This is a great article that describes what happens in the brain during meditation. I highly recommend it. http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/news/how-does-meditation-actually-work