Niall's Weblog

One of my weaknesses in CrossFit has been in the strength department. Of course, the only way to improve is to practice. I’m pretty happy now with the basic Power lifts – having gone from a beginner’s deadlift of about 140lbs in December 2008 to lifting 370lbs (at 165lbs body weight) in June 2009! With [...]

I’ve always been under the impression that there was an important distinction between the “natural flavours” and “artificial flavours” listed on food ingredients. After having read this food science article (adapted from Fast Food Nation) Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good, I realise the difference is essentially meaningless: Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain [...]

I saw a lot of this lift at the CrossFit NorCal Qualifier over the weekend. One of the workouts was: For time: Row 500m 30 Burpees 10 Shoulder-to-Overhead (Men: 165#, Women: 95#) It’s up to you to decide on the technique to employ for the shoulder-to-overhead movement (shoulder press, push press, push jerk, etc.). Efficient [...]

Although I enjoyed both the taste and ritual aspect of coffee, around six weeks ago I decided I was too dependent and that it was having a negative effect on me. Specifically, I felt like it was sapping my energy and leaving me with a kind of brain fog around mid afternoon that nothing could [...]

Through CrossFit, I’ve recently heard about the benefits of training with gymnastics rings. Today my rings, which I purchased from RingTraining.com (affiliate link) for a pretty reasonable price, arrived – and I’ve been using them a bit. To get an idea of the kind of strength training you can do with rings, check out this [...]