A man can only justify his actions if he regards his demeanor with deductive reasoning. This unfortunately is not you, mainly because you’re a fucking douche bag. The whole world seems to be in the dark as to why rock lifting, my favorite exercise on earth, is a worthwhile usage of my extremely valuable time. While lifting rocks, I’ve had more quizzical stares and confused onlookers than I can count. Honestly I can’t even count that fucking high. I dropped out of grade school to start a lucrative career as a test subject for scientific experiments. What I missed in basic math skills, I more than made up for in increased immunity to flesh eating bacteria.
So you may be asking yourself: What exactly is a Rock? A how do I lift it? A: You’re an idiot. B: Grab it and lift it. Sounds simple? That’s because it is. It’s the simplest thing any human being can do. Australopithecines were lifting rocks 5 million years ago, and they didn’t even know how to wipe their own ass. On some level it’s one of the most basic of all human functions. Running, Jumping, Stabbing Rhinoceroses in the balls with a long spear, and lifting rocks (to throw onto Rhinoceroses balls). You may also be asking yourself: What is the advantage of lifting a rock over, say, lifting pink dumbbells. Good question!
A) It makes you more manly. If you’re a woman, feel free to skip past this one.
B) It gives you awesome scars up and downs your arms and legs.
C) You save money on heavy equipment rentals while landscaping your yard
D) You’ll probably get laid more (unverified)
E) It’s harder
This is the real crux of the argument behind lifting rocks. Iron plates are more dense, shaped uniformly, and easier to attach to a handle. Somehow, someone has managed to make lifting weights, the hardest fucking thing the in universe, EASIER! Lifting weights isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be an awful experience, one that you do as quickly as possible just so that you can go take a shower and wash away the horrible memories. Fuck 90 second rest periods. If you’re lifting rocks, you’re going to go again as soon as possible just so you can scurry home and treat your wounds with hydrogen peroxide.
There are some simple tips to make rock lifting a slightly less miserable experience. The first is get as close to the rock as possible. Unless you’re hoisting fucking pebbles, it will be impossible to deadlift a rock of the proper size. It will either spin out of your hands or your grip will fail entirely. You need to place torso on the rock. That means getting low. Wide stance, open hips, ass back. You will also need to bend your back. Yeah, I know, it sounds awful, but you’re going to need to get your shoulders closer to the ground. If you’ve trained your back to deadlift, you already know how to relax your thoracic spine (upper back) and tense your lumbar spine (lower back). This is really the key, maintaining control over your spine. Bend at the top, keep the bottom tense. If you can’t do this, practice in front of a mirror picking up pink dumbbells first. Your shame will soon force you to adapt, causing you to develop all the spinal tension necessary to become a man (unless you’re a woman, if so, skip forward).
So now that you’re low, you need to grab the sumbitch. Rocks are always odd shaped (unless they aren’t) so your arms need to be perpendicular to the force of gravity. By gripping straight over the top, the rock will somewhat counter-balance it’s self and prevent it from spinning out of your grip. If the rock is shaped more like a rectangle than a circle, you may need to grab it at opposite corners. Corners present your best option for gripping, and going to opposite corners will prevent it from yawing and slipping. Speaking of grip, your hands are only going to do about half of the job. Your forarms, shins, thighs, and stomach will take up the brunt of the labor. This will be evidenced by the myriad wounds previously mentioned all up and down your body after a rock lifting session. You could wear neoprene sleeves and long pants to counter this, but only if you’re still currently breast feeding. Finally once you’ve gripped the rock and lifted it off the ground, you’ll need to reset the rock if you intend on doing anything more with it. The best way to re-grip a rock is simply squatting down and setting it on your lap. From there you can take a new control position, either arms underneath cupping the rock if you intend to carry it, or arms over the top if you intend to lift it high. Either way, make sure to pull the boulder into your body.
Congratulations! You’ve now lifted a rock. At this point you should do something with it. Don’t prove your father right: You’re not a worthless procrastinator, and you WILL do something with that rock (and your life). You could carry it somewhere, possibly for distance. Try walking it to the nearest tree and back. Too easy? Try grabbing a heavier rock. Not enough rocks around? You probably should have gone to a quarry or dry river bed to do this little exercise, huh? Ultimately your rock carrying goal should be to build things that no one else is strong enough to tear down. It’s a good feeling to know that you can build a rock pile in the middle of an elementary school yard that will sit there for the next 50 years. Because we both know those toddlers are too damned lazy to try to move your awesome monument. They’re also too stupid to figure out how it got there. So you’ll kill two birds with one stone. You get to make yourself more manly, and give children nightmares with one killer exericse. Give it a try. Start light, get low, and enjoy the pains of lifting rocks instead of weights.
Now it’s time to show how happy you are reading a Victory Belt book.
So, if you have one of our books, why not have a shot while you are holding that?
The photo does not require any theme. Only that, your photo should include any of the books published by Victory belt.
Come on SUBMIT YOUR PHOTOS!!!
You don’t need to “LIKE” anything…
Just simply submit your photos and the FIRST 3 INDIVIDUALS TO SUBMIT will be receiving 3 books each (your own choice). And the next people to submit will be included in a raffle draw and will have a chance to win a book package from Victory Belt.
How’s that???
Isn’t it EASY TO HAVE FREE BOOKS?
JOIN NOW!!!
Just as easy as 123!
CONTEST WILL END AT MIDNIGHT OF APRIL 30, 2012
CONTEST IS OPEN TO ALL U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
As co-owner of four CrossFit affiliate gyms, Allison Wenglin Belger juggles management of the family business, her work as a licensed psychologist and fitness coach, and her role as mom to two young daughters. She knows first-hand the importance of community—of having a network of mutual support and human connection in the midst of our hectic, technology-driven lives. A former division-one collegiate soccer player and five-time marathoner, she has also been part of the wilderness adventure community and has trained for various elite athletic events, competing both individually and as part of a team.
Belger takes the reader on a journey from her childhood in suburban New York as she follows her passion for fitness and sport, with pleasures and pitfalls along the way, finding a new dimension in the CrossFit culture and its emphasis on camaraderie and community. She explains the transformative aspects of CrossFit’s physically and mentally demanding workouts as performed with others. Drawing on her psychology doctoral research, Belger describes the emotional and physical benefits of participation in an affinity group. She shares the stories of military wounded warriors and everyday heroes who have faced life-threatening illness—all with the help of their community affiliation. She relates inspiring examples of individuals who have created communities and support networks for populations in need, including underprivileged youth and cancer patients.
With her unique perspective as psychologist and athlete, the author explores the mind-body connection and how it can relate to all of us. Through her compelling narratives, each of which intersects with the CrossFit experience, Belger encourages us to examine our own lives and relationships so that we may find motivation and meaning in a world of stress and challenge—if we are open to the power of community.
The Healthy Gluten Free Life is a cookbook written by. It contains more than 200 recipes that are not only gluten free, but they are also soy free, and egg free, which makes them an excellent option for people who are following a restricted diet for allergy purposes. If you are looking for recipes to work into your diet, read this book review to see what to expect from this book before you buy it.
Warning, this is NOT ANOTHER GLUTEN FREE BAKING BOOK! It’s a unique, gluten-free cookbook with everyday recipes that mix simple, home-style cooking with great taste and real, whole food ingredients. Every recipe is not only gluten-free, but also egg free, dairy free, soy free, white rice flour free, and bean flour free. Feel free to cheer!
In The Healthy Gluten Free Life, Tammy Credicott shows you just how easy and budget-friendly living a healthy, gluten-free life can be. By giving detailed instructions and a host of tips on everything from choosing quality ingredients to techniques on make-ahead meals to save you time down the road, Tammy will inspire you to step back into the kitchen and enjoy cooking again.
TAMMY CREDICOTT is a part-time blogger, full time entrepreneur, the wife of a Celiac (affectionately called The Maniac), and mom to two girls with gluten, dairy, and egg intolerances.
And while some of her favorite things include summer vacation, months ending in ‘ber’, and photography, she finds her passion and enthusiasm for life in her kitchen with her family.
Tammy lives in Bend, Oregon, where she created the successful gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free wholesale bakery, The Celiac Maniac. A self-taught home cook extraordinaire and Food Network junkie, she has transformed her family’s health with the creation of simple, healthy allergy friendly recipes that fit their busy lifestyle. And in her spare time, Tammy likes to help her husband, The Maniac, with recipes and photography for his newly published Paleo Magazine, a publication dedicated to a naturally gluten-free lifestyle based on ancestral health science.
“This guy’s words are MAGIC.”
-Doug Jeffrey, editor of Ultimate MMA Magazine
When Marshal D. Carper broke up with his girlfriend of four years, his true love pulled him through: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He packed his white belt and moved from rural Pennsylvania to Hilo, Hawaii to train at the BJ Penn MMA Academy, home of UFC Welterweight Champion and Lightweight Champion BJ Penn.
The Cauliflower Chronicles follows Carper’s adventures and misadventures, both on the mat and around the island. He quickly learns that Hawaii is not the carefree paradise advertised in brochures and finds himself feeling like a foreigner in his own country. On the mat, he experiences Hawaiian fight culture from the inside, goes head to head with BJ Penn, and struggles to overcome injuries. Off the mat, he explores the Hawaiian Independence movement and the effects of colonization, battles with giant cockroaches and centipedes, meets a myriad of colorful locals, and travels the island in the bed of the Red Baron, a rusted 1986 Mazda pick-up.
At times sad, shocking, and laugh out-loud funny, The Cauliflower Chronicles is a must-read for both sports fans and travel buffs, showing a side of mixed martial arts and of Hawaii not available anywhere else.
Marshal D. Carper grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania running from bullies and playing video games. Now, much to the surprise of his family, his former bullies, and himself, he trains Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Pedro Sauer black belt Sonny Achille and writes about fighting. In addition to being the Editor-in-Chief of Lockflow.com, Marshal has been published in Ultimate MMA Magazine, Fight! Magazine, and the Escapist.
Anyone who can take books like Rework (about streamlining success and increasing productivity for entrepreneurs and small businesses), Good to Great (about how companies achieve enduring greatness), and Against All Odds (the autobiography of James Dyson, the inventor of the Dyson vacuum) and apply them to fat loss and personal transformation is my kind of guy.
We all know the story. Pilgrims come to America. Indians teach them to plant corn inside of dead fish, stuff grows, everyone wins. Unfortunately it’s a lie. When the pilgrims came to America, they were faced with years of abysmal harvests, rampant theft, and a general malaise among the people. They had nothing to give thanks for, as nothing was being produced in Plymouth.
The reason, despite your political, religious, or philosophical beliefs, was that no one was working hard. Because of the structure of society, no one was incentivized to go out and work hard. Those who could do difficult manual labor refused to do so, because of their perceived lack of reward. All property was placed into a communal pool. It was everyone’s job to put into this pool as much as they could, and take out only what they needed to survive. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to visualize people saying “fuck this” and taking whatever they wanted without replacing anything back into the pot. This is not an antiquated concept. Communist USSR and Cuba are extreme examples of failed societies that removed the rewards for hard workers. Everyone gets paid the same, so no one goes above and beyond the call of duty in hopes of a raise. Of course there was also rampant corruption inside of these systems, but the system was flawed intrinsically. In modern day Ethiopia citizens aren’t allowed to own land. Despite extremely fertile farm land, people refuse to bust their ass taking care of something they have no ownership over. They do just enough to scrape by, and consequently, Ethiopia continues to be the butt of international jokes about the desperation of poverty. In Samoa 90% of every penny earned or crop grown goes to the tribal leaders, who take their generous cut and then distribute the meager remainder to the rest of the tribe. Now about 60% of Samoa’s economy is based on family remittances from children moving abroad, and foreign aid. These are just a few examples around the world of people who, for whatever reason, have decided that it’s better to work JUST hard enough to get by rather than bust their ass and achieve something great.
This isn’t a foreign problem though. Despite the American ethos of hard work and dedication, we’ve become a generation who wouldn’t know the meaning of those words if it bit us in the ass. Because of the successes of previous generations, my generation (young punks) is now just coasting through life on their parents credit and the successes of business men from yesteryear. Work is now a chore; something to be avoided. I’ve seen people work exceedingly hard to avoid hard work. As contradictory as it sounds, the immediate pay-off of avoiding work has somehow taken on a greater status symbol than hard-work in hopes of future gain. This is an unfortunate system of the rigidity of our economic system, and the inability of people to move up and down inside of the system. If you’re born rich, you stay rich. Paris Hilton makes millions of dollars a year despite having no discernible job skills what so ever. If you’re boon poor, you stay poor. Young, talented, hard working kids born into poverty are spoon fed equal portion of welfare and pity until any drive they may have possessed is wiped out by middle school.
Life has become too easy. No one starves to death. No one gets put out into the cold. Because of our prosperity, the worst possible scenario in a recession is sacrificing Chipotle once a week. We’re in a bad place right. We’ve (notice I say we, not you, because I’m included in this too) lost much of our incentive to try to achieve greater things, simply because things are so good right now.
Not to despair. The pilgrims got out of trouble. They went from a purely consumption based system, into a system of hard work with commensurate rewards. In 1623 Governor William Bradford changed the means of production, from communal lands and communal foods, to private land plots for each family. Because they now had ownership in their land and a direct path to increased rewards, everyone wanted to work harder to make a better life for themselves. This desire to seek rewards incentivized people to work harder, creating plenty of food for everyone around. They gave Thanks, and now we have a national holiday. Happy ending. But it’s not 1623, and not everyone is working hard. We (me too) have forgotten the lessons of the pilgrims of our great nation. In our country we’re producing less, saving less, investing less, spending more, and wasting more. Maybe we’re less incentivized to work hard, but maybe we’re getting soft.
In America we’ve forgotten what it’s like to fail. It seems that someone is always ready to bail you out of whatever trouble you fall into. You go to jail, bail bonds to the rescue. Your bank fails, congress will give you a few billion. You fall into a well, the towns people will dig you out and put it on the news. That’s why I propose the following. Rather than simply giving Thanks for another year of mediocre effort and mediocre rewards, let’s earn it next year. November 2011, I’m spending the entire month in the desert, foraging for my Thanksgiving meal. Bugs, lizards, maybe even the occasional rabbit. I doubt I’ll run across any Turkey’s, but I’m trying to start a new tradition here. I’m going to stay in the desert until I’ve either found enough food to be thankful for, or I die of hypothermia. Most likely I’ll die a miserable death, but at least I’ll learn a valuable lesson. Anything in life worth having is going to be hard.
Our bodies were designed for a different world when gorging on sugars, salt, and fat was an advantageous survival strategy. While our world has changed into one of food abundance, our operating system has not because it takes us tens of thousands of years to evolve and adapt to our surroundings.
Sweet Potato Power, set to release on April 7th, is an exploration into the sciences of nutrition and optimizing personal health using the sweet potato as a protagonist.
“The sweet potato is an underestimated vegetable that been the foundation of health from the ancient Inca’s to saving populations from China to Africa,” Tudor says. “While today we don’t face starvation from lack of food, we face starvation of health. This humble root can once again save the day with its super star spot on the table.“ The beneficial health effects of the sweet potato provide a metaphor and backdrop for Tudor’s thesis.
“Optimizing health and managing weight is about more than just calories in/calories out,” Tudor says. “Sweet Potato Power explores the role of food, inflammation, and hormones, such as insulin and cortisol. It dives into the world of our bodies so you understand these different pillars of health and it uncovers why sweet potatoes are a super power food. Sweet Potato Power teaches readers how to adjust their body to shed pounds, move past plateaus, increase athletic performance, and to feel great.”
Sweet Potato Power also offers forty-five sweet potato recipes with a Paleolithic twist. The Paleolithic lifestyle, made famous by bestselling authors Dr. Loren Cordain and Robb Wolf, is a wildly popular method of eating the same foods our ancestors did to combat weight gain and a variety of diseases.
With the book’s self-tracking and self-experimentation resources, readers can use Sweet Potato Power develop their own diet rules, shed unwanted pounds, reverse disease, and discover insights about their own bodies. With new tools and how-to guides, readers can navigate their way to better health.
Ashley Tudor has a diverse background in health and fitness innovation. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies to tackle tough health-related issues such as creating dieting programs, designing strategies to help food companies fight obesity, conceiving new medical devices for primary care physicians and developing online tools to help people use food as medicine. In recognition of her work, Mayor Gavin Newsom named Ashley one of San Francisco’s Top Innovators in Health in 2010.
Tudor is also an avid self-experimenter and early adopter of quantified self-tools and methodologies. Her experimenting, tracking and body hacking helps her attain peak mental and athletic performance. A fitness devotee and outdoor enthusiast, she enjoys CrossFit, rock climbing, mountaineering, ultra-marathons and hunting. Combining her passion for cooking and nutrition, Ashley loves experimenting with food and making recipes nutritionally delicious. She has been recognized nationally for healthy, nutritious recipe development. She studied political economy and sociology at Dartmouth College and Oxford University. She lives in San Francisco, California.
Learn more at www.sweetpotatopower.com
Follow Ashley on twitter @ashleytudor
On facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Seet-Potato-Power
Our bodies were designed for a different world when gorging on sugars, salt, and fat was an advantageous survival strategy. While our world has changed into one of food abundance, our operating system has not because it takes us tens of thousands of years to evolve and adapt to our surroundings.
Sweet Potato Power, set to release on April 7th, is an exploration into the sciences of nutrition and optimizing personal health using the sweet potato as a protagonist.
The SDSU Center for the Study of Children’s Literature doesn’t often review cookbooks, but when I saw the pre-release notice of this one, I simply couldn’t wait to review it. “Paleo” (ironically) is a fairly new movement, and while there are excellent primer-like books for adults such as Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint, Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution, and Loren Cordain’s The Paleo Diet, and excellent adult cookbooks such as Melissa Joulwan’s Well Fed, Haley Mason & Bill Staley’s Make It Paleo, and Julie & Charles Mayfield’s Paleo Comfort Foods, nothing yet written speaks to the specific needs of children. Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleoaddresses the challenges of raising a Paleo family, but in a literary manner aimed exclusively at adults.
Finally, the need is met; Paleo kids have a book written with them in mind!
