Blog Secrets... Plus a Giveaway!

Image: Ace Covers

So as the blog-clock ticks down on our final weeks at Cranky Fitness, I find myself wanting to indulge in a few more "behind the scenes" posts. (Like last week's peek at weird google searches.)

It's just that this silly little blog has been a huge part of my life over the last few years. Yet when you try to talk about blogging to friends who do not read or write blogs themselves? Their eyes glaze over and they get these cute little frozen smiles on their faces and pretty soon they seem to have a sudden need to freshen their drinks or visit the restroom or call their grandmothers.

Since I have no more "real life" friends left to chase away with blogging tales, you lucky patient folks get to read these behind-the-scenes, Top Secret Crabby McSlacker True Blog Confessions! Wait... where are you all going? Well, at least I've got a bit of a bribe today: 5 copies of the new SparkPeople Workout DVD to give away over on the product page. If you've got a U.S. mailing address, be sure to check it out!

So anyway, for those of you who haven't fled yet, let me share a few shocking, lurid blog "secrets."

1. For a shy person, I'm quite the attention-seeking narcissist. Unexpected links, mentions, and page-view spikes get me WAY more psyched than any normal person should be. And I used to joke about being obsessed by my blog statistics? Well... um... it was never a joke. Even now, I still check every day.

2. Some PR folks are professional, friendly, and awesome, but others are total idiots and/or buttheads. And 95% of the pitches we fitness bloggers get on behalf of major corporations are (1) clueless about what we do and (2) offensive in their one-sided approach to working with us. We are supposed be honored and flattered to write about their products and link to their sites! While they promise to do nothing in return but send us more information about their products. Yippee, sign me up!

The reviews and giveaways can be fun (SparkPeople got a thumbs-up for friendly professionalism, which is why we're doing another one). But a few giveaways we've done have been a nightmare because of extreme sponsor idiocy or flakiness.

3. Blogging makes me feel guilty. All The Time. I don't know how some bloggers do it--writing great posts, replying to comments, emailing, tweeting, updating their blogrolls, visiting all the other great blogs out there and leaving comments, finding and linking to other sites. I used to do more of all that stuff. True to form, I'm a slacker--but, alas, not a carefree slacker. It bothers me that I'm not being nearly as supportive to all the great folks who link and visit and comment here as they have been to me.

4. Bloggers get catty behind the scenes. I've made some great online friendships through the blog, and we bloggers trade emails. You'd be surprised at some of the tacky things we say about PR folks, fitness celebrities, and even sometimes other famous bloggers or clueless random googlers who leave ridiculous or offensive comments on our sites.

5. Reading blog comments is way more fun than writing posts. OK, so this isn't exactly a secret, but I have to mention this again. The quality of discussion on this blog, and the warmth an humor of the commentators, has made reading comments the best thing about blogging. Writing posts, on the other hand... Of course I love having finished them, but the writing process is slow and sometimes hard going. You'd think with my sloppy attitude towards research, composition, and proof-reading, that I'd whip these things right out. But I don't. It's gotten harder as I've said most of what I had to say about health and fitness, which is why it's not a bad time to take an extended Crabbatical.

6. I've never been sure how to handle the gay thing. Regular readers have been so mellow and accepting that this has almost been a non-issue. But it's still weird to try to write a post in which, if I were straight, I'd naturally mention my husband. But I don't have a husband, I have a wife, and this could be confusing to some folks. I know that lots of readers are not regulars here but drop in from google. If I just said "wife" they'd assume I was a dude, and then they'd get all confused when I mentioned sports bras or pap smears. But leaving the Lobster out felt all wrong and closety, so I tried not to do that either.

It's funny that I haven't run into more gay or lesbian health/fitness/weight loss bloggers--or maybe I have and just didn't realize it. Anyway, I appreciate that the folks here have never been anything but supportive. You guys rock.

7. Jillian Michaels mentioned Cranky Fitness on her radio show... but I'm pretty sure she never read the blog. I was totally thrilled to hear that she recommended us, until I actually listened to the program. All the quotes came from the article that Women's Health did on us; some assistant probably just passed the info on. Sigh. Despite her sometimes brutal training style, and the ickiness of her hawking weight-loss pills, I still admire her. Would've been cool if she really had discovered the blog and liked it.

8. There was almost a Cranky Fitness book. This was a bit of a heart-breaker: I got contacted by a publishing company about doing a Cranky Fitness book, and at their request, sent them a proposal. It was enthusiastically recommended by a couple of underlings and sent up the chain for further review, but they ultimately decided against it. Dang! But I guess the upside of not having managed to finagle a book deal? I don't have to write a book!

9. I have quite a few names; many of you do too. I am Crabby McSlacker; I am Jamie Graham... and I also have two other names: the full name that appears on my birth certificate and driver's license, and the shortened version that I'm called by most "in real life" folks. (I'm not actually crazy about it, but retraining IRL folks would be a losing battle). The whole alias thing started because when I still had psychotherapy clients, I didn't want them thinking they were models for characters in my fiction. But I liked my pen name better than my real name, and also liked having a whole additional layer of anonymity when doing Webthings in the scary Webworld.

So I thought this multiple-identity thing was all very bizarre of me until I started doing more giveaway contests... then I discovered I am not the only one. I see folks with a cute name they blog under, who also have an easy-to-discover "real" name which appears under their profile, or is associated with their email address. Which then turns out NOT to be the name their postal delivery person will recognize. It was a relief to find out I'm not the only many-named weirdo on the web!

10. I almost blogged about my bowel habits for 10 days. I once got paid to take a "challenge" which involved eating a lot of products containing bran and other fiber additives and reporting on how I "felt." Fortunately, for both myself and for blog readers, the sponsor backed out, but let us bran bloggers keep the money. Later on, I got another even more generous offer to take a laxative for an extended period of time and blog about it. This time, I was not even tempted. Perhaps the "Cranky" in "Cranky Fitness" makes sponsors think I need a laxative? For the record: nope, I get plenty o' fiber from all those fruits, veggies, grains, and other whole foods. I may complain about 'em, but I eat 'em.

Do any other bloggers or blog visitors have silly internet secrets or confessions? Do spill!

Strength Training: Multiple Sets or Just One?

Sometimes I really hate science.

(Photo: Andrew Huff)

At least I hate science when it tells me something I don't want to hear, like: you need to work harder if you want better results.

I vastly prefer those studies that say the opposite. "Drink green tea, you'll burn fat while sitting on your ass!" Or, "take more naps!" Or, "don't forget those rest days if you want to build muscle!"

My Kinda Research.

Years ago, I'd read some study that said: when you are weight lifting, you don't get very much extra benefit from doing 3 sets of an exercise, as opposed to doing just one set. (Assuming you are lifting heavy enough weights).

Upon reading that long-ago study, I shouted "hooray!" and decided that from then on, there would be no more 2nd or 3rd sets for me. (Okay, so that's a lie--in real life, who ever shouts "hooray?") But I did greet the "one set" news with great relief. Because if there's anything more tedious and unpleasant than lifting some stupid heavy ornery weight up and down and up and down until muscle exhaustion finally hits--it's taking a brief rest and then repeating the whole miserable experience two more times.

So I was not pleased when I popped over to Diet Blog this week. There I learned that some smart-assed researcher took a bunch of studies about strength training, threw them all in a big Number Crunching Machine, turned the crank a few times and spat out this conclusion:

You get 46% stronger from weight-lifting if you do two or three sets of each exercise instead of one.

So how well do you know Crabby McSlacker? Time for a quick quiz:


On reading this new information, I decided to:

a. Do two or three sets of each strength training exercise instead of one from now on.

b. Pretend I never read the study and keep doing one set.

c. Question the study, quibble over assumptions, rationalize like crazy, and continue to do just one set, but leave open the possibility that someday, perhaps while high on multiple cups of coffee or fat-burning green tea or several big fat lines of cocaine snorted directly off Jillian Michaels' sculpted abs, I may actually do a second or third set of something.

The answer is of course...

"c."

About the Study:

The study was a meta-analysis of 14 other studies comparing single and multiple strength training sets. I only have an abstract, whereas Mike at Diet Blog actually got the info from the study's author, James Kreiger. Rather than just whine and speculate, I'll steal quote liberally from Mike, because he did a great job putting his post together and he's not too lazy to actually ask questions of scientists, so why not take advantage of that?

Some findings:

1. The 2-3 set groups experienced 46% greater strength gains than the 1 set groups.

2. No further benefits were observed beyond 3 sets (thank God!) though the author noted that there were very few well-controlled studies that looked at 4+ sets.

3. There was no significant effect to "performing a single set of 3 different exercises for the same muscle group." Krieger noted "that if you want to improve a certain lift, you are most likely to improve by performing more sets of that exercise."

This last finding was particularly annoying, because that's always been my rationale for being a One Set Wonder: I figure if I've got extra energy and motivation, I'd rather do several different exercises that target the same body parts in slightly different ways. It seems less tedious than doing the same thing over and over and over, and it seems like it would be better for general fitness to mix things up. But according to Krieger, I won't get the multiple-set strength benefit that way.

How Can I Argue with 46%?

Hell, I can argue with anything, especially if that "anything" involves more work! Here are some excuses good reasons for deciding I'm mostly gonna stick with one set despite this new information.


1. 46% is not 300%.

If I do three sets of something it takes me three times as long, and I experience three times the unpleasantness, but I get less than half again as strong from it. A lot more pain, a little more gain? That's ugly math.


2. I bet I would not see 46% improvement.

The "46%" seems weirdly specific considering the number of studies pooled; I'm guessing individual variability is huge. There have been times when I've done multiple sets; I did not notice nearly such dramatic improvements.


3. I don't really give a crap if I use 25 lb dumbells or 50 lb dumbells--I just want my arms to look like Michelle Obama's.

I know, I should care more about how strong I am, but really, I just want to stave off osteoporosis, pump up my metabolism, and have the most muscular look I can get with the minimal amount of effort. If I need to move a new dresser up a flight of stairs? I'll pay a delivery dude. Will three sets of the same thing make me look buffed-er, or is it better to do 3 different exercises, or can I get by with just one and look pretty much the same? That's the study I want to read about.


4. Mixing it up seems to me like a better idea from a injury prevention and functional fitness standpoint.

(This is just a rationalization, because I only seem to care about "functional fitness" when it's somehow more fun or convenient than the alternative. But if I did care, I think I'd be better off getting more variety and less repetition than doing the same thing several times in a row).


5. I can just barely make myself do one set of everything; the thought of doing every thing three times makes me want to jump off a very high bridge.

The only physical fitness achievement I truly pride myself on is keeping up with regular cardio and strength training for most of my adult life. If I had to do 3 sets of everything? I'd have quit long ago.

On the other hand, since the study said "two or three sets," I might consider taking an exercise or two that I don't completely hate and see if a second set makes more of a difference than I've been assuming it would.

C'mon, Give it a try, Crabby!

And Speaking of Working Out: Check this out: the folks at Gold's Gym have selected Cranky Fitness as one of their "Approved" sites! They must have read about Jo's kickass workout routine and mistook us for a more serious fitness blog, although you'd think Jo's pirate hat and chimpanzee shuffle would have tipped them off. But apparently, Cranky Fitness "encourages and energizes others to be fit and manage weight healthfully, promotes a lifestyle that’s balanced with healthful nutrition and habitual fitness that promotes quality of life, and promotes the benefits of creating health and not solely the prevention of disease."

And all the whining and cursing? That's just a bonus!



Thank you, Golds!

Do you folks all do regular strength training? Are you a fan of multiple sets or are you a one-set slacker like Crabby?

In Which Crabby Takes Her Readers Advice And Checks Out Jillian Michaels

Regular followers of Cranky Fitness may have noticed that I don't always practice what I preach.

(Which is kind of pathetic, actually, given that what I preach is already so mellow and slacky compared to most serious health and fitness blogs).

What is the Most Important Exercise Principle I think you should all follow that I rarely do myself?

That you should mix up your routine every now and then, and try new things!

Of course I've blogged about my reluctance to do this before, and will probably blog about it again and again unless I manage to get a personality transplant and change my name Perky McSmirky or something.

But I'm constantly reading about some exercise thing that sounds promising on someone else's blog, and I think, oh I should definitely try that! And then some minor obstacle or just plain laziness intervenes and I end up not following through.

On the rare occasions when I do add something new to my repertoire? It really does help with motivation! A brand new thing to totally suck at also means a brand new thing to get slightly better at the next time, which is oddly encouraging.

So anyway, a few weeks ago I was wondering about exercise DVD's as an alternative to the gym and... boy howdy did I get a lot of great reader suggestions! For those who are looking for a "reader's choice" compilation of DVD's, definitely check out the comments to the Exercise DVD post.

Or, if you want to just hang here without going back in time, I'll pass along the short list of Reader Favorites, as well as my find out my Shocking Discovery about Jillian Michael's 30 day shred DVD.

There were lots of cool suggestions, both for exercise DVD's and for other non-gym alternatives. But some names kept coming up over and over!

And The Cranky Fitnesss Readers Choice DVD winners were:

(in no particular order):

P90X;
Jillian's 30 Day Shred;
Zumba DVD's;
Cathe Friedrich;
Biggest Loser DVD's;
Gilad;
Tae-bo; and
Turbo Jam.


So With So Many Promising Suggestions, Did I Run Out and Try A Bunch of Them?

Of course not! I kept meaning to. I've got Netflix, and Comcast, and a library, and I knew at least one or two of these titles was probably available for free... but... the right day never seemed to arrive.

Until finally it did! Sort of. I was gonna go for a run but it was pouring outside. I'd just gone to the gym the day before and done my cardio and all my weights. I really just wanted to do some cardio with a few intervals mixed in, so I thought I'd finally see what Comcast had to offer for free on the In Demand channel.

And they had Day 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 day shred! Which sounded really familiar from the great list you all supplied.

[Note: in a bizarre coincidence, I just discovered that Sagan at Living Healthy in the Real World has a post about the same thing! It may have even been the same day... she was gonna go for a run, got rained out, and ended up doing the 30 Day Shred too! But obviously her post is much more inspirational.]

BTW: Jillian, Love Her or Hate Her?

Now I am one of the few people in the fitness blogging world who doesn't really keep tabs on the whole Biggest Loser thing so I don't know all that much about Jillian Michaels. I have to confess I don't much like the premise of the show (and check out Merry's Biggest Loser post for some actual articulate objections), plus I'm not a big fan of reality TV generally.

And in my brief accidental glimpses of the show? It was scary! I didn't like watching Jillian berating and hounding a bunch of poor sweaty obese people who looked like they were just about to burst into tears, or barf, or die of cardiac arrest right on the set.

And so I thought: why the heck does she have to be so mean? Why make exercise even more painful and miserable than it already is? They're trying, for goodness sake. Is there some sort of nationwide shortage of Slack, preventing you from cutting them any at all? So I thought perhaps I didn't like this Jillian person all that much.

But then I heard her on her radio show once sounding kinda fun and charming and not-mean... and a lot of people whose judgment I trust totally like her. So I was a little confused on the whole Jillian question. (And I'd be curious to hear what you all think). Anyway, about trying her video...

First Rule of DVD Watching: Pick One That Has Some Relation to Your Exercise Goals.

If you want to do Yoga, don't roll out your mat and put on a Kickboxing DVD. Duh.

Likewise, if you want to do intervals with no strength training, it's probably best choose a video that has you doing intervals with no strength training.

But I wanted to check out the 30 Day Shred and I wanted to start at the beginning!

The Second Rule of DVD Watching: You Can Actually Do Whatever the Hell You Want, They Can't See You.

So I'm sure this video is great for its intended purpose, but I had to skip all the strengthening stuff. This is because I've read a million times the rule that you're not supposed to strength train the same muscles two days in a row, and I had just lifted a bunch of big-ass weights the day before at the gym. (Big-ass for me, that is). In my mind, this "no back-to-back strength training" rule is sort of like a biblical injunction. (Maybe not quite in the same league as Thou Shall Not Kill but certainly higher than whatever that graven images one is. I've been known to worship images of Cupcakes so I'm sure I've already blown that one many times over).

Anyway, even though Jillian and her pals were using teeny little weights, I felt completely absolved of any portion of the video that called for strength training. Because it's a Rule, damn it!

So I did my intervals (burpees were my chosen instrument of torture) while the girls were doing their weights, then I sort of followed along for bits and pieces of the regular cardio when I wasn't gasping for breath and wanting to die from the burpees. In other words, I didn't really do Day One of the Thirty Day Shred, I just let it keep me company.

Now Here's The Thing I Found Shocking:

Jillian is really fun to work out to! You don't actually have to do what she's doing, you can just let her chit-chat away and provide inspiration as you do whatever the heck is on your agenda for the day.

It's probably better if you actually follow the program, but Jillian didn't seem to mind that I was doing Burpees--in fact, she seemed to know exactly what I was doing and she even hated the Burpees right along with me! She provided a little bit of tough love every now and then, but it wasn't the Scary Tough Love she does with the Losers, it was more a flirty kind of tough love that was pretty darn motivating.

OK, it is possible I have a slight crush.

And there is also a possibility that I might actually check out the next one, and even try to actually do the thing for real!


This is obviously not an Exercise Video Review

Unless you're allowed to do one without actually doing the exercise video. The moral of the story is something like: Mixing it Up, even in a Half-Assed way, is a Good Thing and can lead to Interesting Discoveries!

So does anyone else struggle to add new forms of exercise to your routine? Any thoughts about Jillian or exercise DVD's?