Switching Workouts

12 03 2012

I am switching my workouts from Stronglifts 5×5 to Madcow, check out my google doc to follow along.

Stronglifts 5×5 is a beginner program in which you add weight every time you go to the gym.  As you can imagine, this eventually becomes too much and your body can’t keep up.  I’m just about at this point.  From here you go to an intermediate program which you add weight every week instead of every workout.  I am going to be doing Madcow, an intermediate program recommended by Stronglifts.

I did Madcow last year starting on April 18th, 2011 and, as you can see below, my current weight/strength is at about the same level.  I also did GOMAD back then, so basically I’m just re-doing the same thing I did a year ago.  I could probably squeeze out a few more workouts of linear gains, but mentally it’s really hard, so I’m switching to Madcow now.

Madcow Spreadsheet 2011

If my weight follows the same growth pattern as it did last year, I will reach 180 pounds in a mere 5 weeks.  Depending on if I get a job or not, I may push my weight higher or stop there.  After reaching my goal weight, I want to experiment with other workouts.





If you’re on a diet, don’t watch the food network

11 03 2012

Both of my parents are on (stupid) diets, and in the past 24 hours I have seen them both watching the food channel.  Tip of the day: don’t stress your own willpower.

You can't have this

 





Things they ought to teach in school

10 03 2012

I think school up through highschool is 90% useless.  In Kindergarden the actual things learned in school are 100% useless, and every year you get a little more useful knowledge until only 90% is useless senior year of high school.  I probably remember 1% of what I learned all from K through 12, not including very basic things like how to read and what a shape is, in which I would say it’s in the 2 to 25 percent range.

Schools seem to focus a large amount of time on stuff that doesn’t matter, especially with the advent of wikipedia, calculators, etc.  I originally thought this might not make an interesting topic, but reading Seth Godin’s recent manifesto on education showed me that it concerns others as well.

As a point of interest, let’s look at some of the subjects I took in high school, noting that I had an over 4.0 GPA cumulative.

  • History: Don’t remember anything.  Maybe a few odd facts here and there, but I’ve learned much more watching Band of Brothers.
  • English: Some unpolished skills in writing, read a few books that I don’t remember, maybe 2 or 3 that I do remember.  All the reading I actually care about was performed outside of class.  There was 1 book I found interesting in HS, and that was The Beach.  Recently I reread “To Kill A Mockingbird” and it had new depth, and in undergrad I reread “Things Fall Apart” and enjoyed it much more.  I don’t know any terms such as “subjunctive” or “preposition”.
  • Spanish: Don’t remember anything except, donde esta el baño?
  • Chemistry:  Took 2 years of chem and TA’ed for my favorite teacher, I remember maybe 20%, because  I was just good at it and it just made sense.  The most useful thing I learned in chemistry was dealing with units, which was a lifesaver in undergrad getting my ME degree.
  • Physics: Don’t remember anything.  What little I did learn was taught at a higher level in undergrad.
  • Biology: Don’t remember anything.  Well, I remember putting a white rose in colored water can change its color and that once I pulled the chair out from behind a girl.
  • Math: I subconsciously a lot of math that I learned in HS, but it would be hard for me to pull it out.  If you give me a problem from HS I can probably solve it, but going mostly on instinct, I don’t actually “remember” most of what I learned.  However, it was useful in undergrad when it was still relatively fresh.
  • Economics: I took this class non AP because I didn’t want to wake up for zero period.  The only thing I remember learning is what an opportunity cost is.  Something that should be taught much earlier IMO.
Note: this is a little exaggerated, if hard pressed I could probably remember a bit of the things I learned in these classes.

In other words, four years of my life studying hard to get into a good college and I didn’t learn jack diddly in the long run.  I wish I had learned much much more, and am saddened to think that for the majority of the population that’s all the education they’re giong to get.  Why not teach something useful?  Here are some of the things I think they ought teach.  Things everybody (or near enough) should know:

  • Personal finance (thanks to my friends for reminding me to put this here).  If you want to learn a bit, here’s my most recommended book: I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi.
  • Why you shouldn’t dig yourself into a pile of debt.
  • How to do your taxes, how to use tax breaks, why a flat tax is not “simpler” than a graduated tax.
  • How to not be a dick (picture).  I could use this class, and I know that most Americans could also (no offense).
  • Drivers Education.
  • How to deal with your problems.  Emotional, dealing with other people, how to use google to answer questions, etc.
  • How to deal with other people.
  • Natural networking.
  • How to find a job.
  • The differecnce between how poor people and rich people look at money.
  • How to cook.
  • Different exercises used by different sports for different reasons.
  • How to ask doctors questions.
  • How to not be embarrassed.
  • How to raise kids that aren’t dillweeds, sissies, and/or screaming little monsters.
  • etc.

What’s the point of being able to name all the Presidents of the US of A in order if you can’t cook yourself a meal?  What’s the point of knowing the quadratic equation if you can’t balance a checkbook?  What’s the point of knowing the themes and symbolism in “Romeo & Juliet” if you can’t deal with your emotional problems?





A Thank You To Our Veterans

6 03 2012

I recently rewatched the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, watched the related video “We Stand Alone Together” and read “Beyond Band of Brothers” by Major Dick Winters.  The whole time all I could think was how grateful I am.  These sources offer some insight into what the military man goes through to protect the freedom and lifestyle enjoyed in this country.  It’s one thing to be told that these men fight and die for us, but to see it so vividly portrayed and told from the first person has a much deeper impact.

The story of Bastogne was particularly eye opening.   I cannot imagine being surrounded by an enemy adamant on killing me, freezing in a foxhole with inadequate food, clothing, and ammunition, and watching my friends get killed or maimed by a constant barrage of artillery fire.  For two weeks.

I just wanted to write this post to say, thank you.





Extra Password Security Tip, plus some extras

6 03 2012

Forgot to include this rule in my recent post on passwords:

DON’T USE REAL ANSWERS TO SECURITY QUESTIONS

I came up with this rule after watching a Psych episode in which a couple went to speed dating events to steal people’s identities.  They used the speed dates as covers to ask questions like:

Where were you born?  Where did you go to elementary school?  What was your mother’s maiden name?

Do these sound familiar?  They should, because you usually have to answer them when creating an account online.  The answers are easy to find out, especially with the advent of Facebook, Google+, personal blogs, etc.  To defend yourself simply answer security questions with fake answers.  It’s helpful to save these answers in your password program, but picking easy to remember answers is good too.

A couple of examples:

Who is your favorite teacher? – answer with your least favorite teacher.  or perhaps a teacher’s name from a TV show.  or something you associate with your favorite teacher.

What color was your first car? – moonglowmetallicgrey, dirtbrown

Some extra safety tips

Tossing these in because I randomly remembered them and felt they’re worth sharing.

  • I don’t use my real birthday on the web because it is necessary for most forms of identity theft.  Unfortunately Facebook thinks I’m a 60 year old single man and constantly advertises mature dating sites to me.
  • An extremely paranoid thing I do is scratch off the CVV2 code off the back of my credit/debit cards and memorize them.  This means if someone steals my CCs they won’t be able to order anything on most websites.  Or the guy working the counter can’t glance at my card and memorize them.