Results matching “Bird”

From the New York Times - a very interesting article on Myelin, talent and technique. Plenty of food for thought.

Tom Furman points to some great videos demonstrating the Piper System. Great stuff; make sure you also check out A Pointed Truth (the Piper System blog).

When I'm buying a new book or CD I generally begin by looking at a few reviews on Amazon. However, with training gear it's a little more difficult. If you're considering purchasing a new item for your martial arts training, Martial Arts Product Reviews is a great place to start.

Tracy Reifkind demonstrates a great kettlebell exercise - the Waiter's Walk (performed here in conjunction with a bit of kettlebell snatching) [streaming, 3.7mb .flv download]. Not bad at all.

Good health seems to go hand-in-hand with fitness, and I regularly find myself reading various medical news sources. A few of the ones I've come across this morning :

• Watchdog blasts 'X-treme Eating'
  Chain restaurants in the United States are promoting dangerous "X-treme Eating", a US watchdog has said.
• Vitamins 'could shorten lifespan'
  Taking certain vitamin supplements may adversely affect people's lifespan, researchers have suggested.
• First Clues Into The Genetic Source Of Natural Electrical Signals Governing Regeneration Of Nerve And Muscle
  Scientists at Forsyth may have moved one step closer to regenerating human spinal cord tissue by artificially inducing a frog tadpole to re-grow its tail at a stage in its development when it is normally impossible.
• How The Spinal Cord Controls The Speed Of Movement
  Using a state-of-the-art technique to map neurons in the spinal cord of a larval zebrafish, Cornell University scientists have found a surprising pattern of activity that regulates the speed of the fish's movement.
• Sweat May Pass On Hepatitis B In Contact Sports
  Sweat may be another way to pass on hepatitis B infection during contact sports, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Planche push-ups - very impressive [streaming, 1mb .flv download].

As you can see from the photo, it finally stopped raining here long enough to begin painting the kettlebell (still a fair bit of work to do before it's ready for the contest). Also this week :

I seem to be inadvertently preparing for a Tactical Strength Challenge, with the deadlift, kettlebell work and chin-ups comprising the bulk of my training at the moment. Plus a good bit of grip work.

The deadlifting sessions are still done largely according to feel (although a couple of ideas suggested recently by John may form the basis of a more structured routine). Rack pulls of various heights, different grip widths (all of them done double overhand), plenty of chalk and a healthy dose of obnoxious music. Beautiful.

The chin-ups followed Week A of the new routine, which focuses on the two-handed stuff. The only minor change may be the lat work - at least the bent rows performed between sets - which may end up forming a separate accessory period. All the chin-ups, followed by all of the lat exercises.

As for the kettlebell, well it's out of commission for a couple of days (until the painting is complete). Looks like it's back to the dumbbells for a bit.

Yesterday I finally had time to head over to a nearby hardware store, which still ranks highly on my list of cool places to just wander around. This time, however, I headed straight for the fasteners section : specifically nails.
I'm currently re-reading the Diesel Crew's Bending eBook (review), which discusses in great detail the many fun things to do with nails, bolts and other metal objects and the equipment and techniques necessary in order to do them. However, as I quickly discovered, the nails sold here these days are denoted solely by their metric measurements. The days of dual notation and handy conversion charts have gone. For anyone who finds themselves in a similar position, here are a couple of charts which should prove indispensable.

Nail shank gauges (diametres) Gauge sizes Decimal inches Decimal Millimeters 18 .049 1.24 16 .065 1.65 15 .072 1.83 14 .083 2.10 13 .095 2.41 12 .109 2.76 11 .120 3.04 10 .134 3.40 9 .148 3.76 8 .165 4.19 7 .175 4.44 6 .203 5.15 4 .238 6.04

Nail Lengths

Nail Penny sizes	In fractions of inches	In millimetres
2d	1	25.4
3d	1 ¼	31.8
4d	1 ½	38.1
5d	1 ¾	44.5
6d	2	50.8
7d	2 ¼	57.2
8d	2 3/8 or 2 ½	60.3 or 63.5
9d	2 ¾	69.9
10d	3	76.2
12d	3 ¼	82.5
16d	3 ½	88.9
20d	4	101.6
30d	4 ½	114.3
40d	5	127.0
60d	6	152.4
70d	7	177.8
80d	8	203.2
90d	9	228.6
100d	10	254.0

Yesterday I finally had time to head over to a nearby hardware store, which still ranks highly on my list of cool places to just wander around. This time, however, I headed straight for the fasteners section : specifically nails.

I'm currently re-reading the Diesel Crew's Bending eBook (review), which discusses in great detail the many fun things to do with nails, bolts and other metal objects and the equipment and techniques necessary in order to do them. However, as I quickly discovered, the nails sold here these days are denoted solely by their metric measurements. The days of dual notation and handy conversion charts have gone.

For anyone who finds themselves in a similar position, here are a couple of charts which should prove indispensable.

Nail shank gauges (diametres) Gauge sizes Decimal inches Decimal Millimeters 18 .049 1.24 16 .065 1.65 15 .072 1.83 14 .083 2.10 13 .095 2.41 12 .109 2.76 11 .120 3.04 10 .134 3.40 9 .148 3.76 8 .165 4.19 7 .175 4.44 6 .203 5.15 4 .238 6.04

Nail Lengths

Nail Penny sizes	In fractions of inches	In millimetres
2d	1	25.4
3d	1 ¼	31.8
4d	1 ½	38.1
5d	1 ¾	44.5
6d	2	50.8
7d	2 ¼	57.2
8d	2 3/8 or 2 ½	60.3 or 63.5
9d	2 ¾	69.9
10d	3	76.2
12d	3 ¼	82.5
16d	3 ½	88.9
20d	4	101.6
30d	4 ½	114.3
40d	5	127.0
60d	6	152.4
70d	7	177.8
80d	8	203.2
90d	9	228.6
100d	10	254.0

This is very much a 'take a break and read this' article. As Martin Rooney points out :

I realized that even though I’ve trained consistently for over two thirds of my life, I’m not as big as Arnold Schwarzeneggar [sic].

Alhough I've not been lifting weights for anything approaching 20 years (in fact, it's only 3), the logic resonates well. Time to redefine a few goals, I suspect. Or at least the routines used to reach them.