CrossFit day 4 recap

Day 4 of CrossFit I got paired up with two of the women in my class Monday, everyone else was in groups of 4. We are done with power cleans and doing our burpees... the 2 girls did all the burpees except the last five... lungs still on fire from my 25 power cleans to the point of being in considerable physical pain my chest (I had pneumonia a handful of times as a kid) and about a dozen people (inducing 2 coaches) are standing around cheering me on to do the last 5 lousy burpess... which involved me falling to 2 knees and staying there for several seconds before falling face first into the AstroTurf for another 3-10 seconds with my face buried in it before pushing myself up for a few seconds, back to the knees for a few seconds, into a crouch for a few seconds, wobbly stand up, shuffle to the bar and jump over it to wobbly stand for another 30-40 seconds before repeating haha. I was thinking... why don't you all suck an egg (I was thinking far more profane things) and die. If it wasn't for the community I wouldn't have done a single damn one heh.

I then just sat there for about 15 minutes, half my class sticking around to see if I'd live... hell one of the girls even comes over with her water bottle and offers it to me "nah I'm fine, just trying to get breath back" although it probably sounded more like "nah hahahaha bre hahaha goo hehhhh ehhhhh ehhhh hehhh", the coaches kept popping back into the room and checking on me. Finally I stand up and shuffle to the door and you see relief on half the class as the expressions on their faces resemble "good, he's not gonna die we can leave" and sit in my car for another 15 minutes just enjoying the beauty of a comfy seat, 2 more classmates just sit there in their car making sure I'm going to be ok, one of the coaches pops out a few times and tries to check on me without being obvious and finally I'm like 'Shazbot, I better go so they can get on with stuff' heh.

I love those folks at CrossFit317, the members and the staff!

Strength sport training and Insomnia (modulating cortisol)

On my 4th day of CrossFit I learned two things... I CAN continue, although slow, when my lungs are burning hotter than thermite AND CrossFit is prone to giving me insomnia (I suspect the cortisol) as I was exhausted and couldn't fall asleep last night, finally managing only a few hours of poor sleep. So that being said, being a bio-hacker and all, pulling out my two favorite cortisol modulating tools... Inositol and Phosphatidylserine.

Now, I've seen a lot of people recommend ZMA or just magnesium (which might help some) but I suspect the real issue here is cortisol. I've used both Inositol and PS in the past very effectively for dealing with excess cortisol that was causing insomnia and am sure I'll have great results here too, I prefer Doctor's Best Best Phosphatidyl Serine 100, 120-Count and Jarrow Formulas Inositol Powder, 227g or (if you want capsules/pills) Jarrow Formulas Inositol, 750 mg, 100 Vegetarian capsules.

Inositol has been used in multiple studies in help treating PTSD at several grams a day, personally I can attest to it's functionality here. After my hypokalemic event I was experiencing PTSD rather bad, 3-5g of inositol a day for a couple of months helped tremendously as I'd start to panic if I got relaxed or just randomly while sitting which would spike cortisol, the elevated cortisol would then make me more prone to getting antsy/panicking so it was a nasty feedback loop. I found some PTSD studies and accounts of combat veterans using as much as 15g of inositol a day with great success so gave it a try. Worked great!

PS has been shown in multiple studies (as well as ancedotal reports by many many athletes) to lower cortisol levels as well. 3-5g of inositol a day and 300mg of PS and I completely defeated the PTSD in 2-ish months and then as long as I didn't start thinking about the event while laying in bed I had zero issues going forward and have not had anything remotely resembling an episode in at least a year and a half!

This wouldn't just be limited to insomnia caused by CrossFit but any training, let's face it... a lot of us can't train in the morning and find ourselves training after work, I no longer CrossFit but I do Olympic lift at a CrossFit affiliate and on particularly demanding days (like doing a widow maker set) I'll find myself taking some inositol and PS first thing when I get home and then again just before bed so I'm not in bed awake for hours and hours before I fall asleep. Both were also invaluable when dealing with my PTSD from the hypokalemic episode. 

If you find you are training hard and having trouble sleeping, or training hard and have your kcals dialed in and are operating at a deficit but having trouble losing weight I'd definitely tinker with cortisol modulation. Your mileage may vary but it's something I'd definitely try for a month or two and see if it helps you too! 

Update: July 18th, 2019

I’ve found as I moved to Powerlifting and Strongman that when I need to turn to something to help me with exercise induced insomnia that the cortisol modulation of phosphatidylserine seems to be the most beneficial, 100-200mg post workout on days with very heavy volume (especially if I do conditioning after) followed 2-3 hours later (30-60 minutes before bed) of my nightly 100% RDA of magnesium as magnesium citrate as well as 1mg of melatonin and I have no issue whatsoever getting to sleep and it is quality sleep.

Since I initially wrote this post there has been a lot more written about phosphatidylserine and cortisol specifically in regards to athletic/exercise induced stress. The phosphatidylserine cortisol beneficial connection is documented with both studies and anecdotal evidence of athletes much higher caliber than I.

A word of warning, start slowly with magnesium citrate as it can cause loose stool and even unpredictable diarrhea in some if you aren’t accustomed to it, I can take several times the daily RDA in a go and be fine but your mileage may vary.

CrossFit, my observations after 1-week.

I started CrossFit last week at CrossFit 317. After the initial week I have a few observations.

I like it. I like it a lot as I just can't work out alone and my training partner moved to California a long time ago. With CrossFit I have a group of people cheering me on, pushing me to not give up (but not do more than I can truly handle). Just being around other people doing the same workout gets me pushing myself on my own, then when I start to lag and give up they start encouraging me on and I push on and do a lot more than I thought I could.

I hate AstroTurf. I hate it I hate it I hate it. Haha, during the first 2 weeks we are in the back room to learn proper movements and what not before actually starting out in the main area of the box. The floor is covered with AstroTurf in the back room. Burpees on AstroTurf is worse than a fish swimming up your urethra and deploying barbs to live, not that I've experienced the latter but I'm sure it's a fair comparison...

I actually look forward to going. All weekend I've been thinking "man I can't wait for class Monday after work!", while I’m hands down the worst person in the class (and certainly in the box, even some silver-haired people putting me to shame) I look forward to going, I want to be there, I want to be challenged. I hate being last, hell I hate being anything but the best. Sure, I'm around 300lbs and I can only do a fraction of what even the other people in my class can do but I'll get there, I'll pass some of them soon once my lungs and heart can adapt and keep up with the new workload. I'll get faster, better stronger, by God gentleman I will be rebuilt to be the $150 a month man!

Started Crossfit this week

I started Crossfit this past Monday and go back tonight. I'm going to Crossfit 317 and I like it. M/W/Th this week and M/W/F next week are part of the 'kick-off' class to make sure you have proper form and to familiarize you with some of the Crossfit lingo and what not. For a bio-hacker like me who is quite familiar with various methods of training I mostly zone out when the instructor is talking and so far I've had great form (was even told I'm very flexible because I can actually do a full squat heh, thats because I work on one of my computers frequently on the ground and spend a lot of time in a squat haha), aside from zoning out during the talking bits it does make me feel secure knowing they are paying close attention to form and correcting bad form.

Aside from being sore as hell just from air squats, situps and push-ups I rather enjoy it and think it's something I'll be sticking with long-term (as long as finances allow anyway, at $150 a month it's a wee bit pricey).

*sigh*

In orbit the sun hits things with around 1300 watts of energy per square meter, why can't I invent a very cheap 99% efficient PV panel, or even a 30-50% efficient one (25% is about the most efficient commercially available ones on the market). I could deploy a huge series of arrays in say a similar orbit as the moon and microwave it it between relays to get it closer to earth then have some geostationary microwave stations to beam back down to earth. *sigh* then I could raise the funds 500bn to 1 trillion I need to build my 'solar laser' to start mining asteroids so I can pour tons of resources into developing good AI, human mind copying tech and an SI at which point I can buy the minds of the most brilliant people on the planet and build several SI's with them and use the SI's to quickly catapult humans to a Type I civilization on the Kardashev scale and within 100 years have us developing Type II technologies and deploying them to get us to Type II status! Oh, and I bet the SI's would figure out FTL travel pretty fast. *sigh*

Zeus, The world's first ALL-in-One 3D Printer

I just ordered a Zeus, The world's first ALL-in-One 3D Printer for proffesional use, printer from http://www.zeus.aiorobotics.com for my company Genco Research LLC. I'm really looking forward to it shipping this summer. I can't wait to start offering replication of stuff for people be it parts for something, creating a plastic copy of a trinket or family heirloom or even just generating 3D models of objects for people to tinker with in 3D editing software.

If you've bought a Zeus, or plan to, comment on this post - find me via any of my social media links to the right - or use the contact box on the right hand side of the page. I'd love to start a community of owners so that when they ship this summer we can all band together and figure out how to get the most out of our printers!

I've started a facebook community as well at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZeusPrinterClub/ , it's an un-official group that does NOT have the blessing of AIO Robotics. The group is NOT run by AIO Robotics but by me. I have nothing to do with the company and they are NOT responsible for anything posted to the group unless they join it themselves. I, or the group, do not speak for AIO Robotics.

Electric Humans, EMI, SLIders

May 11th's coast to coast, electric humans... (first hour) http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2014/05/11

William Beaty was the guest, his site is at http://amasci.com/

So when I drive by street lamps they frequently turn off, kill battery powered watches, cause frequent static shocks to people I touch... turns out I'm not alone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_light_interference_phenomenon

My reports are false, self-noticed, a former co-worker would usually be behind me on the way to work and would see the lights going out as I came close and would comment on it. Funny thing is, when lights go out near me I usually touch the center of my forehead and say 'you honor me'. Interesting.

I don't have issues working on/with computers (I've been an electronics hobbyist since I was about 5) or using smartphones etc.

I do have issues with ATM's, self-checkout registers, self-service ticket purchasing kiosks, faucet sensors, the motion sensors at work that unlock the doors when exiting, incandescent and CFL lightbulbs in close proximity to me for extend periods have far shorter lifespans (weeks not months), etc.

I regularly shock myself getting in vehicles, I regularly shock people when I go to shake their hand or come in close contact, I had a pinbal machine in highschool I could generate painful large blue sparks between me and the metal on the front of the machine but my friends could not reproduce the same effect, I usually generate sparks in mechanical switches...

One incident that really sticks out in my mind was about 9 years ago, I'd come home from work feeling asolutely awful. I got in bed around 7am and started watching Murphy Brown on a tube television that was only a year or so old. I'm running a fever drifting in and out and dream that a bright white light flooded my room initiating ont he wall the tv was on, I wake up and have a drink of water and start watching tv again, before I've been a wake a full minute the tube in my tv decompresses (classic crack sound with the hiss of the vacuum filling) and a bright white flash goes across the screen.

Sev Zero on the Amazon Fire TV

So as you know I bought the Amazon Fire TV when it first came out (had it day of launch), but this past Sunday I finally bought the Amazon Fire Game Controller and played the game that comes free with it Sev Zero, mind you the newest console I've used is the Wii, before that the most recent being the Gamecube... it's pretty fun, I wish the Amazon Fire TV controller was a little longer as my pinkies hang off completely and my ring fingers a bit, but I've large hands. Wasted 3 hours of my life on that damn Sev Zero game, tower based defense game where you teleport around mopping up what aliens get by as a 3rd person shooter. Fun stuff! Need to throw the controller away though as I see this as a gateway game that might swiftly lead to a modern console.

I'll probably pick up Sev Zero: Air Support in a week or two and check it out too.

My Amazon Fire TV Review

This is my review of the Amazon Fire TV

Wow, I love this thing. Having used a few generations of Roku, 2 Apple TV's and other solutions... I was always left wanting. When I'd first heard rumors of Amazon doing a set top box I got excited, when I saw it was available for sale it took me all of 3 seconds to go "yup I'm going to order and pay for local delivery"

Pros:
1080p
Optical Audio
Voice search (which works better than Siri on my iPhone) instead of a painful searching with the remote
Allows for gaming (I most likely won't use but still neat)
4x the RAM of competitors
Faster processor

Major Cons:
I wish the remote would have a lion battery, if using voice search often I can see it draining AAA's fast.

Minor Cons:
No HDMI cable, I don't get why manufacturers want us to buy them seperate, slap one in the box and markup the price the cost of the cable.

While I've only played with it for an hour or so, my first impressions are it's well worth the price. It's snappy, I actually have a reliable way to watch prime videos on my television now (which means I'll actually watch them, I've watched 1 episode of Red Dwarf on my kindle fire and an episode or two of stuff on my iPhone... in 3 years of being a prime member). As far as looks, I love that it's black (all of my home theater stuff is) and the finish is nice (doesn't reflect the LED from my tv's name badge or the power LED on my subwoofer).

And the thing I'm most happy about, I can now be a cord cutter! Some of my shows I watch I can get over the hair with an HD antenna, the rest are all available either for purchase or for Amazon Instant Prime streaming!