All Sciency and S**t

It recently came to my attention that some companies will use scientific studies to prove the efficacy of their product or contention and that they were relatively secure in the knowledge that no one would actually read the cited studies. They were right.
I decided to test this by writing an article on why I am the smartest person on the planet and one of the few who possess superpowers. Judiciously choosing keywords that I knew would produce results in Pub Med I was able to fill the references section of the piece with scientific studies that backed my contention. I came very close to publishing this article to see what sort of stir I could scare up, but, integrity got in the way, again, and I stopped myself.
The point is; the next time you see a claim by a supplement company or clothing manufacturer or widget maker that makes claims, backed by science, for the product in question I would suggest that you actually read the cited studies to make sure they refer to what is being sold, or, save your dollars and don't buy the pill that will make you burn fat faster or increase your recovery rate or send massive amounts of protein flooding into your muscles or will make all the rabbits in your yard go away or turn your dog into a water buffalo.
Here is an article that debunks the current bulletproof coffee "science".
Another one.
Here is an article about quacks that use fake science to back  their claims.

Some sites to peruse for better info.
Evidence based Fitness
Alan Aragon
Examine.com
Bret Contreras

There was another article which was the original inspiration for this piece but I can not find it right now and so will post it at a later date.

After an extended absence...

It appears that I have a much easier time bingeing  on Netflix series' than writing on the blog. I shall try to put that to rest.
During the time I was gone many things have happened. I have been spending Sunday mornings working with the amazing Dr. Mark Cheng at kettlebells Los Angeles. It has been an unequaled educational experience. He emphasizes slow controlled movement and mastery something that almost everyone else in my neck of the woods ignores in favor of balls out speed.
Slow and controlled translates into fast and controlled but not the other way around. So I have slowed everything down to practice control and it has reaped huge benefits in my overall movement skills.
I have also begun the process of infiltrating a crossfit gym in the hopes of being able to effect changes from the inside out. This, to date, has only been marginally successful. I do have my own class period, 7 to 8 AM Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
My own workouts currently consist of a combination of Doc Cheng's warm up with some original strength, Dan John patterning moves and Jon Engum Flexible Steel stuff. This is followed by Deadlifts on Monday, Presses on Wednesday and various carries on Friday and after that I will do Kettle bell swings, 10 - 20 on the minute for 10 minutes and then Turkish Get ups for 5 minutes.
...and then Pirate/Ninja skill practice (the subject of a different post)
The world of things to check out has expanded and I recommend that everyone take a look at The Natural Method recently translated from the French by Phillipe Til. Well worth the price of admission.
We'll talk soon.(I promise)

After an Extended Absence...He...Is....Alive!

I can hear the cheers and a rising tide of applause as I step back onto the stage of the blog world.
Re: my last post. The Justa singles program went along fine until the presses started to aggravate my shoulders, so I stopped.
Did some miscellany for a while and then in a fit of anger I dropped all my gym memberships. I have a decent bar, some weights,  kettle bells, a set of rings, some indian clubs, a tire for dragging and some dumb bells. This is more than enough to keep me happy and at home for a good long time. I appear to not like people all that much.
I  made it through 30 days of a 40 day program and then the ADD kicked in and I stopped, a pattern developing?
So today is the first day of something else fun: KB swings + pullups, KB swings + presses, KB swings + goblet squats on M/W/F and just KB swings on T/Th/Sa - and  Turkish Get Ups everyday.
I am signed up for Dean and Tony's big adventure  and if you live in the LA area you should think about going to this or just go to it without thinking. If you do go and you put my name on the pay page (Michael Campi) I get some credit.
These two guys are great and there will be guest fitness celebrities in attendance.
I have also, at long last, signed up for Kelly Starrett's show at Axiom crossfit in January.
Me: I'm back
You all: You don't know how happy that makes us.
Me: Thank you and good day.

A New Day

Here it is. I have got an extended period of uninterrupted months coming up and so I can run a program straight through.
I am going to be doing Steve Justa's singles program. For general development I will add in weighted pull ups on day 1, push up ladders on day 2, carries on day 3 and ab wheel on day four. I am using Tim Anderson's preset and reset as a warm up and cool down and doing 5 minutes of unweighted Turkish get ups in the warm up.
Since there is a rowing competition coming up I am going to row every other day and crawl for 5 minutes on non rowing days.
I'll bet you are thinking, "my god this guy knows how to have fun." and you would be right.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
W/U
preset + TGU x 5 minutes
DL       5 @ 135 w/u
             5 x 1 @ 235
Press    5 @ 45 w/u
             5 x 1 @ 85
Push ups 2 x 2/4/6
Crawl x 5:00  :20 spiderman crawl/:40 baby crawl x 5
I am going to work this up to 5 minutes of spiderman crawl and then start working on backwards crawls.
C/D
reset
and out.

Fun, Fun, Fun.

The Crunch gym I am going to just got a heavy bag today and a trap bar yesterday, although I couldn't find it when I went looking.
I am going to fool around for the next few weeks because I am going out of town in early September and don't want to get involved in anything that I will have to interrupt.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
W/U
500 M row

Row 10 x 100M with 1:00 RI
Lots of rest so I can keep the pace faster than race pace and I did, keeping all but the first 2 intervals below  a 1:45 pace.

KB snatch
3L/3R on 1:00 for 5 minutes

Press 1 x 20 with just the bar working on tension and form.

CD
 250M row

At some point today I will go and do another 5 minute crawl.

More fun stuff.
A new Dan John article
An interesting piece on Self Myofascial release
A good piece on exercising by Melody Schoenfeld

Have fun...Or Else.

What's Outside The Door?

Today was another recess day. I have found the parks to be more conducive to having fun and playing than the gym will ever be. Yesterday I went to a park and set aside 10 minutes to just goof around. I rolled, rocked, nodded, did somersaults, climbed a tree, jumped over a railing, walked on a wall and jumped off a wall and into a roll. Good fun.
Today's Workout
OS preset:
Roll 3 times each way upper and lower
rock x 10
nod x 10
Baby crawl forward, backward, and lateral for 5:00

KB swings:
10 x 10  alternating between 2 sets of two handed swings and 2 sets of single hand swings

Climb a small tree.

Skip out and back about 150 yds. with a downhill and an uphill

preset/reset
March x 20
Rock x 20
Baby crawl x 20
Belly breath x 3:00

5 Minutes of super slo mo indian clubs

The more time I spend outside the less inclined I am to go into a gym. I will, however, keep the membership for this year so I can do some row training for the Beach Sprints in February.

Heeeeres Johnny

A great cheer rose up as the populace realized that, after having gone missing for many months, he (me) had finally returned.
I have been playing around with a lot of stuff lately. I got to spend a quality day at Bodytribe fitness in Sacramento attending a seminar with Chip Conrad. If you get a chance definitely go up there sometime.
November 1st and 2nd, 2014 would be a good time as both Chip and the legendary Dan John will be sharing.
I did a month of Power to the People and then a 10,000 KB swing program based on Dan John's piece in T-Nation and now I am working on a chassis building program based on Pavel's Simple and Sinister and Tim Anderson's Original strength.
It goes like this:
5 rounds of:
10 two hand KB swings
Crawl 20 ft
1 TGU (L)
Crawl backwards 20 ft
10 two hand KB swings
Crawl 20 ft
1 TGU (R)
Crawl 20 ft backwards

Right now I alternate rounds of two hand swings with rounds of one hand swings that looks like this:
Round 1- 10 two hand swings
Round 2 - 10 L/10 R
Round 3 - 10 2 hand swings
Round 4 - 10 L/10 R
Round 5 - 10 2 hand swings

After a couple of weeks of this I will change it and do rounds 1,3,5 as single hand swings and then after a few more weeks I will go to all one hand swings.
I am doing naked TGU's working on the form and will begin to weight them once I have the moves down.

I have also been attending Aboriginal Skills workshops. It involves a trek through the woods to learn about the edibles and practice making fire and rope and camping out for the night if you want.

So...I'm having fun. How about you?