Run to Win

Chris D. over at Strength News has just received his Captains of Crush Trainer Gripper by IronMind Enterprises and seems well pleased with them. They are basically the same as grippers you would buy at a sporting goods store, except that they require a lot more effort to close. IronMind has them available in 60 lb up to 485 lb strength (apparently, only 5 people have been able to close the 485 lb grippers under certified conditions). The basic ones are 100 lbs.

Pop over to Strength News if you have any advice on how he should work them into his workout routines. I have normal ones that I just use as a stress relief or to occupy my hands while watching the babble box.

Lamon Brewster defeated Luan Krasniqi to retain his heavyweight belt. It was a fair on even match through 8 rounds, when Brewster floored Krasniqi. Brewster is now 33-2. (Brewster’s home page)

Alex Bogomolov Jr has recently been suspended for taking illegal drugs by the ITF. The drug that he took, Salbutamol, is allowed with a therapeutic use exemption, but Bogomolov did not have one. He has only been suspended for a month and a half, however, since he was taking it to treat asthma rather than as a performance enhancer.

The Health and Fitness Blog has a great animated gif of a core fitness routine using a swiss ball. I have worked this into my workout regimens at times and it is a nice break from just doing situps and crunches.
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If there was a DNA test that determined what kind of sports you could excel at, would you take it? The Australian Institute of Sport has developed a few and is testing whether or not they can be used to help train their athletes.
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Sore muscles plague everybody at some point in their lives; athletes just tend to control when it happens a little easier. Two days ago, I hiked up Mount Washington and then back down. Yesterday morning I was a bit sore, but I felt fine on my four mile jig jog (I would have gone further, but having not gotten home ’til 12:30, I only had a half hour until the football games started). I was not very sore at all last night when I went to bed. Not so this morning; my left cheek and the side of my leg were particularly sore.

Most of a day later, I can still tell that it is sore, but not so much that I am going to do anything special. I took today off, and will run again tomorrow morning. When my muscles are particularly bad I will sometimes ice them, and if it past soreness and into pain I might consider taking some ibuprofen. Usually, though, I just drink a lot of juice and stretch out at any conceivable time. A short jig jog is usually in order to help loosen up.

How do you usually deal with sore muscles?

Mount Washington stands almost 2 kilometers above sea level and is the tallest mountain in the north eastern US. Yesterday, I hiked up and down Mount Washington.
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The Minnesota Vikings are going to build themselves a new stadium. This was announced right around the same time that ownership was going on about how safe their head coach’s job is, right now. My guess is: Out with the old, in with the new!
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