IET is a tricky thing. It’s harder to commit to it than it is to decide to get it started. I still believe in controlling one’s diet by supervising ‘fridge inventories’. It’s essentially done by abstaining from buying undesirable foods or sharing food with others too openly. Shared fridges are a disaster, speaking from experience, as you are no longer restricted to a narrow range of foods (variety is good on the other hand). I find that avoiding the temptation at the stage of purchase leads to a more balanced diet at the end of the day. This expands beyond the ‘realms’ of the fridge. Also dried and long-enduring foods fit this argument. Even sugary drinks and alcohol.

A random photo taken at the gym which I have gone
to for the past 4.5 years (captured in July 2005)

ODAY at the health club, I finally received some more results from the Mr. Fitness competition. I did very well at the fourth stage (among ten) compared to the other nine contestants. I shoulder-pressed 110 kilograms (1 repetition maximum, on a Scott Machine), giving me 2ⁿ place and leaving me in joint in 1^st overall, on par with another competitor. This weight happens to be precisely 150% of what I was able to benchpress, excluding the weight of the bar.

The sounds of a high-pitch whisper

F you have a minute to spare, have a look at this on-line high-frequency hearing test. I cannot sense 18,000 Hz, but I’m fine at 17,000.

This test reminds me of yet another test, which I took a long time ago: a geekery test.

Update: In a different test, if I set the volume at maximum, I can hear 21 KHz, so I very much doubt the results of my previous test. At moderate volume levels, I can still cope with 19 KHz and maybe even 20 KHz. I am not sure what the baseline is, so I have not calibrated the volume on my headset.

My days of innocence

have never, in my entire life, not even after 10+ years of persistent training, attempted to find out how much weight I can benchpress. I am referring to a proper trial under good conditions and just one repetition, at maximum capacity. Perhaps I feared find this outing because of the possibility of injuries (particularly if the spine is permitted to bend). And yet, the curse has just been lifted, so to speak.

Today at the Health Club we undertook the second stage of the Mr. Fitness contest (I fortunately won the first stage). This time, for a change, the task was to benchpress the most weight just once, on a Scott Machine. Arms had to hover over the chest and the grip could be relatively wide if necessary. The back needed to stay tight on the bench. I started by securing a weight of 150KG (we get 3 attempts/goals in total), plus the bar which weighs about 5 KG. I then attempted 160KG successfully and finally I did 165KG, at which point it became hard. I could probably benchpress more, but I ran out of attempts (the third must be last). I later tried 170KG (175 including the bar, which bent under the heavy load), but I mistakenly allowed my arms go too low (below 90 degrees on the elbow), which botched it. I am still extremely pleased with this achievement.

Picture from the BBC

XCITING news (for me at least) came out yesterday afternoon. I won the rowing competition (first stage among 10) with the time of 10:43.5 for 3000 meters. The second among the 10 contestants was almost 1 minute behind me, which considering my neglected endurance, makes this a high achievement.

Related items on exercise:

• Rowing Ahead
• Decade of Exercise
• Mr. Fitness

A rare and important story such as this cannot and should not be ignored. An intersting scientific discovery has just come to my attention.

It turns out that nature’s own chemicals are more able to fight bacteria than one of man’s most significant developments: the invention of penicillin. And get this: a compound in wallaby milk is said to be 100 time more effective. Will humans start breeding wallabies? Or is the statement made in the article an exaggeration that will sooner or later be balanced?

Scientists have discovered a bacteria-fighting compound 100 times more effective than penicillin – in wallaby milk.

Researchers found the highly-potent compound, tagged AGG01, was active against a wide variety of fungi and bacteria including antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

I am not too happy to have read the following:

Caffeine boosts risk of heart attacks in the genetically susceptible.

People carrying a common variation in a certain gene could be worsening their risk of a heart attack simply by drinking several cups of coffee per day.

Daily count of coffee mugs: 6 so far.

More ‘coffee items’:

• Coffee Leads to Stress
• Mister Coffee
• Coffee Beer
• Concentrated Coffee
• Coffee in a Can