This was an attraction from the 1860s of a "fat lady" at P.T. Barnum's American Museum. She is 17 and 407 pounds and people used to pay to see her as an anomaly.
These are fairgoer's at a California County Fair.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Yesterday's Anomaly Today's Commonality
This was an attraction from the 1860s of a "fat lady" at P.T. Barnum's American Museum. She is 17 and 407 pounds and people used to pay to see her as an anomaly.
These are fairgoer's at a California County Fair.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Kurtosis and Black Swan Events
Okay I am going to talk out of my head and if any of you are mathematicians you can surely correct me.
I want to talk about kurtosis and Black Swan events. Kurtosis in math is a probability and statistical study in variance. The basic premise is, the higher the kurtosis, more of the variance is the result of infrequent extreme deviations.
So one stock market crash will affect our economy more in the next hundred years than the little things that happen every month. Or in exercise, doing 10 pull ups is more of a work out than jogging 10 minutes. Or you can be a great parent every day with your kid, it's that one day you hit your child that marks them forever. I could probably make the same connection with getting shot, it's never happened to me but I'm certain it happens in a heart beat and it will be the one thing I remember forever and changes me.
Now the observation of this event, seeing it's impact, and the rationalization of it in hindsight is the Black Swan Theory. Black Swan meaning "a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan." So it means you don't see if often but when you do, you remember.
I know there are books out there that talks about constant repetition to get to some overall improvement. This is true, but this is just to keep you in the game and in pace with everyone else who is good. Sometimes those Black Swan events, those "aha!" moments will be a huge contributing factor. Or the practice is to maintain what you learned in the "aha!" moment.
For athletes, that event could be the day they competed in an obstacle course, and they are dead tired at the end and got a great work out. Then they realize wait it wasn't all that running and crawling that killed them, it was that one wall they had to climb in the middle of the course that did them in! Or that one huge hill in the middle of your run, or that heavy weight you did at the end of your work out. All the other stuff did just a little, it was that one intense moment that did it all. 80/20. The thing you did the least did the most.
For my training clients, they get huge gains, and great work outs, 40 minute of the program is just stretching and warming up. Last 5 mins is also stretching. It's that middle 15 minutes where they get all the work in.
Or in a conceptual sense, they didn't gain all that much from me teaching them the clean or snatch or kettlebell swing, it was the day I taught them the concept of periodization that changed how they viewed working out.
So in martial arts the same thing happens. I think it's the reason why some people take 15 years to get a black belt and some take 4 years. It's whether one had that Black Swan or "aha!" moment or not. And if they did, how early on they had it.
This changes the idea of needing years to get good, or all that practice or training every day. It's about efficient, less frequent but more productive training.
For me I got a lot better, by several margins when I realized what the goals of martial arts were. It was like an hour to teach it to me, yet it had more impact on me than thousands of hours of practice. If you can isolate those moments, cultivate it, you will get more with less. Training smarter not harder. There is a saying, it's smart to be tough, but tough to be smart. Really practice just helps me to not forget that moment. But it's never mindless.
Sometimes it's good to watch hours and hours of programming on diet or read book after book. But sometimes, if you are lucky, smart, or just in the right place, you get that one moment where someone says one thing that takes 15 seconds, but it changes everything for you.
If you can cultivate it, culminate it, arrange it, you will be a great student and teacher. Believe me, it can be arranged. Just like a surprise party or a giant prank.
It's not about how much, or how long, its normally about how intense or productive. You can work on an essay or in my case a blog for weeks, but you really get it all done in one day. Kurtosis in action. Forget routine work outs or training at the same time same days same length of time. Make it chaotic, productive, and intense.
Also with food. Don't eat the same thing every day or a lot of bad cheap food. Eat whenever you are hungry, eat a variety, and eat smaller but more nutrient dense portions. As opposed to eating a lot of unproductive foods.
I want to talk about kurtosis and Black Swan events. Kurtosis in math is a probability and statistical study in variance. The basic premise is, the higher the kurtosis, more of the variance is the result of infrequent extreme deviations.
So one stock market crash will affect our economy more in the next hundred years than the little things that happen every month. Or in exercise, doing 10 pull ups is more of a work out than jogging 10 minutes. Or you can be a great parent every day with your kid, it's that one day you hit your child that marks them forever. I could probably make the same connection with getting shot, it's never happened to me but I'm certain it happens in a heart beat and it will be the one thing I remember forever and changes me.
Now the observation of this event, seeing it's impact, and the rationalization of it in hindsight is the Black Swan Theory. Black Swan meaning "a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan." So it means you don't see if often but when you do, you remember.
I know there are books out there that talks about constant repetition to get to some overall improvement. This is true, but this is just to keep you in the game and in pace with everyone else who is good. Sometimes those Black Swan events, those "aha!" moments will be a huge contributing factor. Or the practice is to maintain what you learned in the "aha!" moment.
For athletes, that event could be the day they competed in an obstacle course, and they are dead tired at the end and got a great work out. Then they realize wait it wasn't all that running and crawling that killed them, it was that one wall they had to climb in the middle of the course that did them in! Or that one huge hill in the middle of your run, or that heavy weight you did at the end of your work out. All the other stuff did just a little, it was that one intense moment that did it all. 80/20. The thing you did the least did the most.
For my training clients, they get huge gains, and great work outs, 40 minute of the program is just stretching and warming up. Last 5 mins is also stretching. It's that middle 15 minutes where they get all the work in.
Or in a conceptual sense, they didn't gain all that much from me teaching them the clean or snatch or kettlebell swing, it was the day I taught them the concept of periodization that changed how they viewed working out.
So in martial arts the same thing happens. I think it's the reason why some people take 15 years to get a black belt and some take 4 years. It's whether one had that Black Swan or "aha!" moment or not. And if they did, how early on they had it.
This changes the idea of needing years to get good, or all that practice or training every day. It's about efficient, less frequent but more productive training.
For me I got a lot better, by several margins when I realized what the goals of martial arts were. It was like an hour to teach it to me, yet it had more impact on me than thousands of hours of practice. If you can isolate those moments, cultivate it, you will get more with less. Training smarter not harder. There is a saying, it's smart to be tough, but tough to be smart. Really practice just helps me to not forget that moment. But it's never mindless.
Sometimes it's good to watch hours and hours of programming on diet or read book after book. But sometimes, if you are lucky, smart, or just in the right place, you get that one moment where someone says one thing that takes 15 seconds, but it changes everything for you.
If you can cultivate it, culminate it, arrange it, you will be a great student and teacher. Believe me, it can be arranged. Just like a surprise party or a giant prank.
It's not about how much, or how long, its normally about how intense or productive. You can work on an essay or in my case a blog for weeks, but you really get it all done in one day. Kurtosis in action. Forget routine work outs or training at the same time same days same length of time. Make it chaotic, productive, and intense.
Also with food. Don't eat the same thing every day or a lot of bad cheap food. Eat whenever you are hungry, eat a variety, and eat smaller but more nutrient dense portions. As opposed to eating a lot of unproductive foods.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Just Bored
Sometimes people eat a lot, or eat poorly out of pure boredom. Nothing else to do than to eat ice cream and watch a movie, or eat these snacks and play on the computer, or there's cake in the fridge and I have no plans for tonight so cake will be my date.
I read a startling statistic about how seldom people read books currently. Instead of eating out of boredom, read a book out of boredom. Kill two birds with one stone, educate yourself and at the same time get healthier with your eating habits. Reading isn't the cure, it's just another example of something productive you could be doing besides eating.
I read a startling statistic about how seldom people read books currently. Instead of eating out of boredom, read a book out of boredom. Kill two birds with one stone, educate yourself and at the same time get healthier with your eating habits. Reading isn't the cure, it's just another example of something productive you could be doing besides eating.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Food As Reward
We reward ourselves with food. It was taught to us since birth. We even do it on a diet or while working out. I worked out hard today, so I can eat this. Or I've been so good on my diet, so I will treat myself to this.
Ever since we were young, our parents rewarded us with food. And we connect it like a Pavlovian dog to warm memories. That good feeling. On birthdays we have cake, when we do something good we have ice cream, go to the movies we have pop corn, you get a promotion, you eat steak, etc. Originally it was because we did something good, now we eat it and get that feeling as if we did something good without doing anything. We call it comfort food not because of the taste, but because they know to market those foods as being something that will make you remember an old feeling, or make you feel like you have just been rewarded.
Every event now is marked with food. It's even the only thing we know about other cultures is their food. Not anything about their habits or history.
That is the emotional connection we have with food. We need to liberate ourselves from this. That something refined and man made whether drugs or food makes us feel good or emotionally loved.
Ever since we were young, our parents rewarded us with food. And we connect it like a Pavlovian dog to warm memories. That good feeling. On birthdays we have cake, when we do something good we have ice cream, go to the movies we have pop corn, you get a promotion, you eat steak, etc. Originally it was because we did something good, now we eat it and get that feeling as if we did something good without doing anything. We call it comfort food not because of the taste, but because they know to market those foods as being something that will make you remember an old feeling, or make you feel like you have just been rewarded.
Every event now is marked with food. It's even the only thing we know about other cultures is their food. Not anything about their habits or history.
That is the emotional connection we have with food. We need to liberate ourselves from this. That something refined and man made whether drugs or food makes us feel good or emotionally loved.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Is It Sugar?
A good test is, if you can make alcohol out of it. There's grain alcohol, alcohol made of fruits, potato, rice, corn, sugar cane, molasses, wheat, rye, etc.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Ketchup Is Good For Me?
Dr. Oz said in a previous show that ketchup was good for you and your heart... Okay that's assuming ketchup is just some tomato sauce but it's not. It's ketchup which has a lot of salt, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup. None of which are good for your heart.
He just gave the people what they wanted, a magic bullet. Bam! Eat more ketchup. But there are no magic bullets in health.
He just gave the people what they wanted, a magic bullet. Bam! Eat more ketchup. But there are no magic bullets in health.
Monday, June 20, 2011
The Composition Of A Meal
The composition of your meals will determine the composition of your body. Your muscle to fat ratio. You can eat less and still have a body that is over-fat (as opposed to overweight). I don't like the term "overweight" because someone who is skinny fat is not overweight but someone who is large with very little fat and nearly all muscle is "overweight."
Saturday, June 18, 2011
A Typical Buffet Conversation
"If I eat too slow my food will settle and I'll be too full and I won't be able to eat enough..."
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Life Expectancy
My whole website is about the dichotomy of the US. How we are the fattest country yet we have the greatest athletes. Well now a new release in the life expectancy rankings in the world, the US which is the richest (up for debate with China now) and most advanced with the greatest medical facilities and the most food, is #37 in the world!
So not only are we being outpaced by other first world countries, but also by some third world countries. US women rank even worse than men in comparison to women of the world as far as life expectancy. (Adult males eat 187 more calories per day and adult females eat 335 more calories per day than they did 20 years ago. I wonder if this has anything to do with female life expectancy.) What a wake up call.
So not only are we being outpaced by other first world countries, but also by some third world countries. US women rank even worse than men in comparison to women of the world as far as life expectancy. (Adult males eat 187 more calories per day and adult females eat 335 more calories per day than they did 20 years ago. I wonder if this has anything to do with female life expectancy.) What a wake up call.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Find A Good Balance
If you make your diet changes too easy and your work outs easy as well it won't create enough momentum to sustain. When a diet is too hard to follow and your work outs and your work out schedule too hard to maintain, it will not be sustainable. You need to find a right balance of difficulty and training volume along with a sustainable diet change for it to work for the rest of your life.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Cravings
Let's be really honest with ourselves with cravings. People say they can't give up this food or that or eat in some certain way because they crave food. How often do we really crave anything? Most of the time people don't even know what they want to eat because they lack any cravings. You go out to eat with someone and what do they always say? "I don't know what I want."
It means they don't want anything in particular. They could really eat anything. If you are truly honest with yourself about when you really crave something, I would be surprised if it was even once a week, or even once a month. But most likely not daily. People want something just because its available, its there, they see someone else eating it, they've see commercials, or they are just affected by marketing. Like in the checkout stand and they see all these sugary snacks.
If you really crave something, by all means eat it. But just make sure it really is a craving, not you just being hungry and seeing cake in your refrigerator.
It means they don't want anything in particular. They could really eat anything. If you are truly honest with yourself about when you really crave something, I would be surprised if it was even once a week, or even once a month. But most likely not daily. People want something just because its available, its there, they see someone else eating it, they've see commercials, or they are just affected by marketing. Like in the checkout stand and they see all these sugary snacks.
If you really crave something, by all means eat it. But just make sure it really is a craving, not you just being hungry and seeing cake in your refrigerator.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Overweight Homeless Epidemic?
No one has discussed this. What about the spread of obesity...in our homeless community? Actually the homeless problem and lack of food is a serious matter and I am not trying to make light of it, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There are many obese homeless people, at least in Los Angeles. I'm certain it's not from overeating, there are overweight homeless people who are dying of starvation. It's just the stuff they do eat isn't even real food most of the time, its stuff with no nutrition. It's stuff that makes you gain weight but doesn't help you survive, where you can even be obese and die of starvation of malnutrition. Get fat but still starve your body? What are we doing to ourselves? Sometimes people will offer me junk food and I will say no. When they ask why, I don't even tell them its because its junk food, I just tell them that stuff is worthless. Actually its worse than worthless, because if it was worthless it just wouldn't do anything to your body, good or bad. A lot of stuff we eat today does do our body harm.
Because we are so used to a high blood sugar, our body doesn't even know how to survive anymore, the way it was originally designed. To live off the fat storage like every other animal. Instead we live off of sugars and carbs. Its why a heavy person can show signs of starvation when there is still all this fat for its body to live off of. It's like having a body that no longer knows how to process water, so you are surrounded by water yet you die of thirst.
We need to retrain our bodies to live off of fat, to burn fat for energy. Like we used to do as babies.
Because we are so used to a high blood sugar, our body doesn't even know how to survive anymore, the way it was originally designed. To live off the fat storage like every other animal. Instead we live off of sugars and carbs. Its why a heavy person can show signs of starvation when there is still all this fat for its body to live off of. It's like having a body that no longer knows how to process water, so you are surrounded by water yet you die of thirst.
We need to retrain our bodies to live off of fat, to burn fat for energy. Like we used to do as babies.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Best Results
Sometimes you get better results from under training than over training. Due to the fact that when you over train your body is always too diminished to show results, and often times you are sick or injured.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Energy In Energy Out Model
It doesn't work. The idea of counting calories eaten and burned doesn't work. The assumption is, I can eat as many calories of french fries or soda as I want as long as I burn it off. Then I will stay lean and healthy. This just isn't true. People actually have said to me, I work out a lot so I can eat as much as I want...
The assumption then is that all calories are the same. It's all equal. So if I put in 13 gallons of premium, I will get the same performance or same condition car as putting in 13 gallons of really cheap regular. Calorie is a unit of energy or more precisely a unit of heat. I can light a piece of wood on fire. I can also light a piece of rubber on fire that is the same unit measurement as the wood. They do not both produce the same type of flame, quality of fire, will not last for the same amount of time, but also both are producing energy but one is producing a much more unhealthy type of byproduct than the other unit of energy.
If it is an exact science and mathematical, why do so many people fail at this when they take such accurate measurements of whats being put in their body and what's being burned? How come sometimes they even put on weight? They say oh it's because of stress. Oh so this will only work if we have no stress hormones? Then why doesn't this work for low stress people? Why are there people who barely eat twice a day who still gain weight? Or why do some people eat all day and not put on anything? Why are they defying this science? And if stress hormones affect weight so much, shouldn't we be doing things that affect our hormones more? Like work out in a way that causes a hormonal response? I mean stress and even thyroid affects weight. Steroids affect weight and that's not based on any calories but on hormones. So shouldn't we be trying to work out really hard and sporadically to affect our hormones more and not worry about the calorie burn?
Also if I somehow burn everything I eat, and I eat crap all day, but I'm lean, does that mean I am healthy? Can I be lean and be diabetic? Get cancer, acne, digestive diseases, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, etc? Maybe they won't suffer from obesity but they can still suffer from other ailments. There are even athletes who ate whatever they wanted because they worked out so much and later developed diabetes, or just got plain obese.
You heard it a million times, and it's the same for eating and exercise. It's quality not quantity. Have a really good work out, not a lot of easy ones. Eat quality foods, not too much or too little of bad foods.
The assumption then is that all calories are the same. It's all equal. So if I put in 13 gallons of premium, I will get the same performance or same condition car as putting in 13 gallons of really cheap regular. Calorie is a unit of energy or more precisely a unit of heat. I can light a piece of wood on fire. I can also light a piece of rubber on fire that is the same unit measurement as the wood. They do not both produce the same type of flame, quality of fire, will not last for the same amount of time, but also both are producing energy but one is producing a much more unhealthy type of byproduct than the other unit of energy.
If it is an exact science and mathematical, why do so many people fail at this when they take such accurate measurements of whats being put in their body and what's being burned? How come sometimes they even put on weight? They say oh it's because of stress. Oh so this will only work if we have no stress hormones? Then why doesn't this work for low stress people? Why are there people who barely eat twice a day who still gain weight? Or why do some people eat all day and not put on anything? Why are they defying this science? And if stress hormones affect weight so much, shouldn't we be doing things that affect our hormones more? Like work out in a way that causes a hormonal response? I mean stress and even thyroid affects weight. Steroids affect weight and that's not based on any calories but on hormones. So shouldn't we be trying to work out really hard and sporadically to affect our hormones more and not worry about the calorie burn?
Also if I somehow burn everything I eat, and I eat crap all day, but I'm lean, does that mean I am healthy? Can I be lean and be diabetic? Get cancer, acne, digestive diseases, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, etc? Maybe they won't suffer from obesity but they can still suffer from other ailments. There are even athletes who ate whatever they wanted because they worked out so much and later developed diabetes, or just got plain obese.
You heard it a million times, and it's the same for eating and exercise. It's quality not quantity. Have a really good work out, not a lot of easy ones. Eat quality foods, not too much or too little of bad foods.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Run All Day Run All Night
I know plenty of people who can run all day or hike all day but can't catch a ball or aim or have any sense of coordination.What kind of athlete can run all day but can't hit a ball?
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