Second day was a little harder but still easy to complete. Probably did not help that I did a chest workout this morning.
The goal for Week 1 Day 2 is 12/12/10/10/at least 10
I did 12/12/10/10/14.
Week 1 Day 3 will be on Sat.
The Great Vegan Honey Debate – Is Honey the Dairy of the insect World? (Slate.com)
From the article:
The hard-liners argue that beekeeping, like dairy farming, is cruel and exploitative.
Honey is probably the world’s most perfect food. Did you know that honey never ever spoils. EVER!!!
So in tribute to all you non-honey eaters, I am going out to eat a nice juicy raw steak.
Pretty good workout. I like bicep workouts since I can abuse/torture them and they never give me problems afterwards. Anybody try spider curls? Man, talk about a muscle killer. Mental note to self: Do these at the end from now on.
Doing Hundred Pushup and abs later today.
Squats!!! I hate them and I love them. Trying to slowly get back up to 5×5.
Also 60 minutes on the elliptical with an average HR of 134-136bpm.
This videotaped lecture could very well be the best 45 minute investment you will ever make.
Prof. James Duane of the Regent University School of Law and Officer George Bruch of the Virginia Beach Police Department tell you why you should never, ever, ever talk to the police. It doesn’t matter if you are innocent or not.
I will go one step further… if you are ever questioned by the police for any reason whatsoever, the first eight (8) words out of your mouth better be “I will not answer any of your questions” quickly followed by the next seven (7) words “I want to talk to my lawyer”.
From BoingBoing.net: “Law prof and cop agree: never ever ever ever ever ever ever talk to the cops about a crime, even if you’re innocent“
First day was a piece of cake.
The goal for Week 1 Day 1 is 10/10/8/6/at least 7
I did 10/10/8/6/14.
Week 1 Day 2 will be on Thurs.
This seems like it could a very fun challenge since the last rep really tells you where you stand. 14 down, 86 to go.
No wrist pain and no cardio work. Will do my first Hundred Pushup workout day later this afternoon.
How many consecutive can you do without stopping? 20, 30, 50, 75? How about 100? I have decided to take the 100 pushup challenge by doing the HundredPushups.com six-week training program.
Why 100 pushups? Why not (my favorite answer). One hundred seems like a real nice round number and to just say that I was able to do 100 consecutive pushups sounds like fun.
The program is really simple. You take the initial test to see how many push ups you can do so you can see your fitness level. After that it’s a 3-day/week program for a total of six-weeks. Each week you start of with a determined number of push ups, depending on your initial test, and you do 5 sets. The first two sets are usually the same number of reps then you drop 1 or 2 for the next two sets while the last set is a “as many as you can do” set.
This is not so much a bodybuilding program or endurance training but more of a personal goal type of thing. Pushups are a great exercise and it should be fun to see if I can do 100 consecutive reps by the end of the six weeks.
I will log my progress.
Ever since I got the iPhone I knew that I would have to get some sort of diet and fitness tracking software. I have been using VidaOne’s MyPersonalDiet (MPD) for Windows Mobile PocketPC for more than two years. It is a great piece of software and it does pretty much everything I could ever want and then some (lots more). MPD is currently at version 3.2.0 so the folks at VidaOne have been working on this app for quite some time and they update it every 3-6 months.
When I got the iPhone and the App store opened I waited for the Diet & Fitness apps to begin showing up. Several showed up but since the App store does not allow demo versions I could not decide which app to get. I began to wait for the reviews to show up so I could use them to weed out the features that I needed… custom food entry is the #1 feature that the app has to have. Most of my diet consists of items that would not be on any diet database that any app has or could even think of having.
As the reviews of the several apps began to show up I found that Aqua Eagle’s Absolute Fitness was going to be the app I was going to get. There was a custom food entry feature and from several of the reviews, the built-in food database was very good.
At $15 ($14.99 to exact) Absolute Fitness is $10 less than MPD so I was a little reluctant to pony up the funds for a version 1.0 application. So as the saying goes, I took one for the team and bought the application with the sole intention of reviewing and hoping that it would be able to do most of the things that I have to have in MPD.
So, what is it exactly that I need from this app? Like I said, custom food entry. Check. The ability to keep track of my protein/fat/carb ratios. The Absolute Fitness screen shots seem show this. Check. And most important, the ability to keep track of all my daily totals and be able to chart my progress. Once again, the screen shots seem to show this. Check, check.
After I bought and installed Absolute Fitness I launched it and after entering my stats (gender, weight, goals and nutritional goals) I was given the option to watch the video tutorial. Good thing I did. It explained a few things that I would have never figured out if I had not watched it. Nothing major but since the GUI implementation is different from Windows Mobile to the iPhone it sure helped out.
I also read the user’s guide that is also included in the “More” tab and there is also a few tidbits that will help you navigate the app with ease.
So let’s get to it. How does this version 1.0 application stand up to MPD that is on version 3+ and has been around for several years? Pretty well I have to admit. For the features that Absolute Fitness has, it holds up its own weight.
The “Add Food” menu (below) looks better than any other app I have seen. The nutritional facts label gives it a real nice touch.
The food/exercise categories and selection menu (below) is very thorough and although I could not search for every single imaginable thing, some of my favorites were included by brands or restaurant. There were a few I didn’t find but those are hard to find in the first place so custom food entry will help with those.
I do wish there was a way to enter weight training by set/reps/weight but 99% of apps don’t have that either so I was not disappointed not to see it.
There are a lot of features that are missing in comparison to MPD but it would be totally unfair to do a head-to-head shoot-out.
So instead I will address some of Absolute Fitness’ shortcomings and hopefully give the developers a heads up on what few features, if added, would make this application absolutely “kick-ass” in the early stages.
The number one thing I noticed was the fact that the daily diary (below) is divided into three sections (Morning, Afternoon, Evening). This would be fine by itself if you could further group meals into smaller sub-sections. Anyone who is trying to lose or gain weight, or is seriously interested in fitness knows is that you have to eat 5-6 times a day. Having the day divided into only three (3) sections is very counter productive. The application does allow you to enter the time of each meal but it is not use in any way other than to place them in the described sections. There is no way to group each meal by their time.
Instead of grouping the diary into Morning, Afternoon, and Evening, change the grouping to the time of the meal was eaten. MPD does this very well (below) and it should not be too difficult to implement in Absolute Fitness.
Another thing that I noticed is that there is no way to do macro ratios for each individual meal. Most people on a strict nutritional plan will tell you that they live and die by their macros. They need to know the exact percentages for each meal. Some people follow a strict 40/40/20 macro (40% carbs/proteins and 20% fats). Others that follow a low carb diet also need to know the exact ratios of each meal so they can keep their system in ketosis.
Here is a simple example (above) of how MPD keeps track of each meal’s ratio (macros) at the top of the grouping window (look at the top right corner showing 5% carbs, 44% protein, and 50% fats). Once again, people live and die by those numbers with each and every meal.
I then noticed that the “Stats” menu (above) shows you a percentage of your daily totals and not your overall totals. This means that if you set a goal of 139G of fat for the day and you have consumed 45grams it gives you the 32% of that total goal. There should be an additional stats window that gives you the overall percentage of your macros.
In other words, not only do you need to keep a per meal macro indicator but you also need a daily macro scale to make sure you are keeping within your plans specific goals. Here is how MPD handles daily and weekly macros (below).
Another thing I noticed right away is the weight graph goes from 0-200lbs on every single time-scale option. This is fine when you are looking at 3-month, 6-month, or even 1-year graphs but when you are looking at the 7-day (1-week) graph (below) it is pretty much flat unless you have a huge weight change (which most people would not have in a healthy nutritional plan). Having the chart change from a 200lb range in the greater time span (3-months or greater), the 1-week and 1 month graphs should be change to only show a 10-20lbs range at the most.
Once again, here is an example of a 7-day range graph on MPD.
I could be picky and ask for a specific date range be added to the graph function but that is not really needed at this early stage.
Other than these few items that could easily be added in coming versions, Absolute Fitness is a great version 1.0 application that holds a lot of promise if Aqua Eagle continues to improve it. Is it worth the $15 I paid for it? Right now, for me, it’s not quite ready for everyday use in a strict nutritional regime.
I am not sure if VidaOne will develop (or port) an application similar to MPD for the iPhone but if they did it will be due to their extensive experience in the Windows Mobile version. So Aqua Eagle is in a good position to take the crown away from VidaOne by adding extensive features to Absolute Fitness and by the time VidaOne does develop MPD for the iPhone no one will care.
Pretty good workout except I tweaked my wrist on the first set of ez curls. It was hard trying to finish after that.
Also did 60 minutes on the elliptical with an average heart rate of 135bpm (75% max).
According to Slashfilm, Cloverfield 2 Will Not Be a “Literal Sequel”. What the heck does that mean?
J.J. Abrams gets my vote for weirdest director.
Did you see Cloverfield? I’m sorry.
It was by far the silliest, most pointless monster movie I have seen in many years…and I love monster movies.
S Peter Davis has a total rundown of the movie in a very non-spoiler kinda of way. Trust me, other than some cool CGI, this description pretty much sums it up.
Why is it that I love uboxing videos so much? They are by far the silliest things that the internets has ever come up. You sit there and watch someone take a product out of the box and show it to you. I think it has something to do with the whole Xmas morning, opening your presents, and taking it out of the box nostalgia.
Regardless, Jon Reed over at NikonD700 has an uboxing video of the new Nikon D700 (makes sense considering their web site name.) I am this close to dumping Canon and going with Nikon. First the D3 came out and now the D700. Both cameras are almost flawless.
Supposedly, this was shown at Comic Con 08 according to TheHDRoom and the YouTube video description.
The teaser is, like other Pixar teasers, simple and brilliant. The personality of the main character is quickly shown in the single word he says.
From the video description:
“From the Academy Award-nominated team of director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) and co-director Bob Peterson comes Up, a comedic adventure taking off (and lifting spirits) in summer 2009. Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life. “Up” takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures. When seeking adventure next summer — look “Up.”
Do you think Steve Jobs walked in to the MobileMe office and said “You got a minute?”
Fortune’s (CNN/Money.com) Philip Elmer-DeWitt asks:
Some highlights:
Steve Jobs is not a manager who suffers fools, gladly or otherwise. In the early days of Apple, he was famous for categorizing employees by their “bozo bit,” set at either 0 or 1, and for flipping his assessment from one to the other in the space of an elevator ride.
and
Apple (AAPL) has not said which of its managers was in charge of the development of MobileMe, who chose that unfortunate name, or who decided to launch it at the same time the rest of the company was busy trying to get iPhone 2.0, the App Store, and the iPhone 3G out the door.