Fickle Fitness Findings (alliterative titles NEVER get old)

On August 23, 2011 by Juliet

In recent news, a series of awesome events have occurred in the last two weeks or so.  Almost all of them related to my passion for fitness/bodybuilding, none of which I can discuss here, yet.  Trust me, though, it is worth the wait.  (For me at least.)

Here’s some random crap to keep your mind busy while I go eat/breath/live very cool things:

Eggs

I only buy organic, cage free, grass fed chicken eggs.  It’s like $3.50 a dozen but it takes me forever to use them all, so the expense is negligible.  That being said, I learned today that “cage free” or “free range” doesn’t necessarily mean anything.  In most cases, it means the chickens are held in a large, enclosed area with a small door giving them the “option” of leaving, though 99% of those chickens will still never see daylight.

I’m hoping that because I pay the little bit extra for organic & grass fed, it means they really are happy go-lucky chickens in a big pasture.  But who knows?  In an effort to be less of a moron, I am going to buy my eggs from the farmer’s market from now on.  At least that way I am supporting my local economy.

PS. I learned all this from a friend who owns chickens.  She gave me half a dozen eggs yesterday because she’s wonderful.  The reason I posted a picture of Oprah is because one of her hens is named Oprah. I am hoping I get to consume one of Oprah’s eggs.

Farmers Walks

That's actually me guys, don't be fooled.

My grip sucks.  My pullup sets always get cut short because I can’t hold on any longer.  I can’t get out a full set of deadlifts above 135ish without straps.  It.is.sad.

In an effort to take down the Gods of poor grip, I am ending all of my upper body days with farmers walks.  Last week I tried it with towels strung through plates like this

but the towels I used weren’t quite the right size.  This week I did it with 45 lb dbells.  I should have gone heavier. I also might try to do my last set of deadlifts every week w/o straps.  I did today.  It hurt. A lot.

Earth Quakes

Did any of my east coast readers feel the quake today? I DID!!! It was my first earth quake experience and it was SO cool.  (But only because it was completely undestructive in my area)  I looked up from my lab bench at work and saw all my buffers shaking like Jurassic Park.

Show Me Your Guns

Christina posted the.best.post.ever. yesterday.

Please, any and all fitness professionals, non professionals, whoever… go see this.  Anyone who wants to push the strong, feminine thing especially.  I am not even going to tell you what it is because I want you to be curious enough to click that link.

Seriously. Stop reading my blog now and go to hers.

Category :
Good Reads, Motivation, Training
  • http://sweatlikeapig.wordpress.com Tara

    Suspense much?! So when are you going to reveal your news??

    I hate to admit it, but I’m a bad, bad person and buy cage eggs. We go through six dozen a week (yes, I know!) and we just can’t afford to buy free range etc. Especially because here they are $5-8 a dozen.

    My grip also sucks…. I especially struggle with hanging leg raises and could not even attempt deadlifts without straps. Today I was doing bicep curls and my fingers reached failure before my biceps. WTF.

    • http://heyjoob.wordpress.com Juliet

      hahah it isn’t one particular bit of news, really, it’s just an accumulation of exciting things that have been going on

      Truthfully, re. eggs, I feel the same way I do with all other foods: do the best you can with what you have. 6 doz a week at $5-8 each is VERY expensive. Though, one thing I caution about w/ conventionally raised chicken eggs is that they’re *significantly* lower in omega-3′s (I believe – could be wrong), and a higher in omega-6′s.

      Do farmer’s walks!

      • http://www.followingfit.com Kristen

        You’re right about the O-3s v O-6s…. cage-free that have been grass-fed are better nutritionally (same for beef, no?).

        • http://heyjoob.wordpress.com Juliet

          YUP! Same goes for beef

  • http://www.truth2beingfit.com Jody – Fit at 53

    I sent off a pic of my guns but I LOVED that post. Thx for sharing! Earthquakes are more common here in CA so it was interesting to watch the news today although they say it feels much different back east for the same size earthquake.

    Looking forward to your news…

    • http://heyjoob.wordpress.com Juliet

      Like I said to Tara, it isn’t really ‘news’ per se. Just fun things that have been happening!

  • http://ilovefetacheese.wordpress.com ilovefetacheese

    i buy the same find of eggs as you – I was traumatized by Food inc. I want the chickens to see light at least. Not to mention some of the all time best eggs I’ve ever had are from the farmers market and they haven’t been washed. The farmer told me if she doesn’t wash the egg shells, they have a natural preservative that keeps them fresh for up to 3 MONTHS! WHOA. I do buy the carton egg whites though…I wish I could find an organic source for this.

    I want to try those farmer walks! I would need to figure out how to grip them too…

    Did not feel the earthquake here but I sorta wish I did because I’m curious lol!

    Thanks for the shout out, I’m so glad you like it. I’m happy you participated with your awesome pics!

    • http://heyjoob.wordpress.com Juliet

      Yup!! Fresh eggs can stay good for a LONG time! My coworker also told me the same thing. Did you know that eggs can sit outside upwards of two weeks w/o being collected and still be good? It’s only once they’ve been refrigerated that they need to stay cold.

      • http://ilovefetacheese.wordpress.com ilovefetacheese

        wtf why did i write “find” instead of “kind” lol. I didn’t know they can sit outside!! That’s awesome. I love nature :)

  • http://athleticali.wordpress.com athleticali

    Everyone else in my flat buys battery-farmed eggs for financial reasons, but I cannot bring myself to do it, so I buy the posh, grass-fed organic free range barn eggs. Having seen a few short clips of what happens in places that ‘farm’ eggs, I want to remove myself as far as possible from that process.

    I hope everything’s okay with the Earthquakes! I know you’re relatively far from the epi-centre, but it still must have been weird to feel the ground suddenly start shaking.

    • http://heyjoob.wordpress.com Juliet

      HAH well, it didn’t feel like I imagined it would. My lab bench chair just wobbled a little and I thought I was going insane.

  • http://www.followingfit.com Kristen

    1. I heart my cage-free organic eggs. I love how bright yellow their yolks are! We only buy cage-free organic whole eggs. HOWEVER, like Christina, I buy my liquid egg whites non-organically :( Organic egg whites are $5-6 a carton here for a mere 16 oz, and when you go through 4-5 cartons at 32oz, well, that’s getting too expensive. Same for my cottage cheese; I can’t afford to buy organic for the quantity I am using.

    2. My grip needs work too. I can’t go much over 135 for stuff without straps either — in fact, on Sunday, I forgot my straps, my gym didn’t have any (grrr), and I had to top my RDLs out at 135 because of it.

    3. I never feel the earthquakes. Supposedly people here felt that yesterday. I think my cats felt it though. They were all up playing at a weird time in the afternoon.

    • http://heyjoob.wordpress.com Juliet

      I missed that in her comment about egg whites… I buy those conventionally as well. For the same reasons… Like I said to tara: do the best you can with what you’ve got is my policy. You can’t really ask much more than that.

      Do farmer’s walks!!!!!!!!

  • http://teabagginit.wordpress.com teabagginit

    her post was awesome! it totally made me crank out another set today!