Here is an interesting article on a new treatment for high blood pressure. It has been known for a while that the sympathetic nervous system can be a contributor to high blood pressure. The new treatment targets and destroys/inhibits nerves in the renal artery.

Article

I have contacted the local government organisation in charge of parks in my area, I was a little concerned as this is some where I often go Saturday mornings with the kids. I am glad that it got me instead. As it is a high traffic area they are going to investigate and maybe 'Treat the nest'

I hope that is code for fire bomb the little f@&kers.

This is the guy that bit me on the weekend. Myrmecia pilosula, aka 'Jack Jumping Ant', 'A-hole that bit me'

Mine was closer to 2cm, but there was not much left when I was finished with him.

If you want to find out more here is his wiki page. A-Hole

Why could I have not been bitten by this guy, at least he has a cool name and paint job


Rhytidoponera Metallica


Last night because my leg is out of action i just did bench. My sets were

5x105
5x110

Due to my irregular strength training and my current break I am thinking of resetting my workset weights.

My first session back next Wednesday will be

Squat: 120kg
Press: 60kg
DLift: 115kg

I will then start again increasing each seasion. 5kg for both squats and dead lifts and 2.5kg for the press.

Here are some photos for those interested.



This is Day 2. I started to get a little worried. I drew the lines to see if the infection was getting larger. The two circles are for the primary weeping area, the second is the spear of the infection.



Day 3. Starting to dry up. I bathed it in salt to help clean and dry out the wound



Day 4. This is how the Doc got to see it. Scabed up nice but you can still see the size of the infection



Day 5. After starting antibiotics and taking the Doc advice to stay off my feet as much as possible. Apparently walking will help spread the infection.



Day 6. Really starting to heel. unfortunilty the photos dont really show how red or raised the wound was.

To follow up on my post 'Your as good as your workout partner' about Nick and his scientific way of looking at things. He has has researched and written a fine article on how muscles react to strength training. As molly would say 'Do your self a favour and check it out'

'Your so Vain' on http://brownandload.blogspot.com

On the weekend while training in the park i was bitten by an ant, it hurt but hey I am tuff. By Sunday afternoon an infection had really set in. After visiting my Doctor this morning I have been instructed to avoid even walking when possible. Apparently I have cellulitis which is described by wikipedia.com as "a diffuse infection of connective tissue with severe inflammation of dermal and subcutaneous layers of the skin."

I have been put on a coarse of antibiotics and told to be dormant as possible at least a week.

I will post some images later for those interested.

I will not be working out but will be in the Gym as normal for the other crossfitters.

This morning we did Josh, good work out. Sub in Jumping chins and only did the bar for the OHS. Need to work on that. try some reps with 40kg and the decent was ok but had trouble balancing the bar on the way up.

Last night I was full of beans and really looking forward to the work out. The session had been brought forward an hour due to other commitments. I think this helped with my state of mine for two reasons, 1) i went straight to the shed from work. Not giving me time to sit down and relax. 2) the sun was still up when we started working out.

Squats: On my workout sets I was really trying to work on arse to calf type depth. This went well until doing a warm up set with 120kg. I was down to long working on position and breathed out, got a slight twinge in my mid back. Nothing to serious. I did another set at 120kg and then gave my back a rest.

DeadLift: just a quick set at 115kg working in with the rest of the group.

To help fit everything into the restricted time frame the guys did a quick rotation of 3x5 50kg Press, 90kg Deadlifts and chins. Anything with deadlifts gets my heart beating. it was a good little set and much better than not working out due to time restraints.

One thing I like about working out with Nick is his need to know why. Nick is a scientist by trade and when he is not globe trotting measuring platetonic movement, he is at home looking for other things to measure an analys. He must of driven his mother mad as a teenager, locking him self away in his room measuring things when he could be out playing.

Nicks latest project is looking at the coloration between muscle growth and weight lifted. I look forward to watching his progress and analysis.

His work can be found here brownandloud.blogspot.com

This morning we did Jackie, it was a good work out. Man was it cold in the shed.

There is great video in the current Crossfit journal on Dave Tate. Reading his articles have always inspired my to work harder on my strength training. If you do not subscribe to the CF journal there is a a preview on crossfit.com

You can also find some great free articles on his website elitefts.com

Sunday

Squat 140
Press 80
P.Clean 80

Last night hit the gym for some 3x5.

Squat: Man this was hard, the bar just felt really heavy and i did my work set at 140kg. I should not get that up set due to my lack of progress here, 140kg is that bad as a safe weight. I have not done serious squatting for two weeks and as Nick put it, I was doing a bit of an Elvis, ie, legs shaking.

Bench: Took it quite easy here as well and settled on 90kg. this was way to light and for my last set i punched out 105kg. That is the heaviest 1x5 bench press that i have done for a while. I am going to concentrate on my bench I would like to get my single up to 140kg. I gonna set 105kg as my new 3x5 weight.

Still feeling a little flat. I believe that the early nights have something to do with it. Can only get better.

This morning we did Helen. I did a 500m row instead of the run to take some pressure off my knees. I cant say that I pushed it that hard.

We put a gate out the back so people can now run straight into the reserve instead of out onto the road.

I really need to do some more kettlebell work. I found the 24kg bell quite hard.

...Starts with a single step. And a whole lot of motivation that I still cant find.

Still feeling a little flat. I got up this morning but didn't work out, I think that i might be fighting off the flu. Sharon 'the machine' also didn't feel like working out this morning which is a very rare thing. i thought I would look at what i have accomplished so far this year to help cheer me up.

-1:32 off my grace time.
+10kg to my Press
+20kg to my 3x5 Squat
+20kg to my 1x5 Deadlift
90kg Clean
Able to Bench two Plates again.
-16.4 sec 2000m Row
-6 sec 500m Row
-2kg off Body Weight
-2cm stomach and +1 Chest

thats not bad for a start. I guess on this journey to be a thiner man its better if I dont stop believing

This morning i am a bit flat. Needed a laugh and this was right on the mark

Last night the only item to report was a new 2000m row time. I just going to have to put this week down as a rest week.

2000m Row 7:45.6 PB

Can any one tell me were my motivation has gone?

Just had an email from some one reading my blog. They brought to my attention a typing error in the article "Know your enemy." It read "I have never been a fan of rat reduced foods"

For the record I am a big fan of rat reduced foods.

There are a couple of blogs I look at daily. Some are of people that I identify with, some I just interested in watching their progress. Others because i am interested in the point of view.

One of the best blogs is from Crossfit Balboa. Almost daily there is an interesting article. I recommend to everyone to check it out.

Is fat our enemy?

Im a big fan of RATM and I am a big fan off fat. Unfortunately being a fan of fat has not been that good to me in the past as i don't discriminate what fats I eat. I was just reading about benefits and side effects of low fat food, and all is not good. The argument put forward by the author was the effect of fat reduced food like certain yogurts on the market. These products are still high in sugar and apparently due to the lack of fat the sugar is absorbed much faster creating a larger insulin spike. I will look into this more as i am very interested in how insulin levels effect our over all health.

I have never been a fan of fat reduced foods, they seem to be in the same league as decaffeinated coffee. What can I say, I am just not kind of guy that can order a skinny latte.

Yesterdays session turned into more of a free for all. Sharon P. Pressed her own body weight. Nick did his first CFT with the score of 330. What amazing progress he is making.

After having my previous 500m smashed by Michael i posted the new Gym Record of 1:31.5 just shy of my targeted 1:30. Might have another go this week so i can check it off my list