In an atempt to make my blog better I’m looking to hear from you the reader.  I want to know what you would like to see more of on this little blog of mine.

I am making it my goal to create a website full of quality content which will help to educate and entertain people of like interests.

Please email your questions and suggestions to thebuffgeek@gmail.com

Some suggestions

geek fitness

posture

pain relief through exercise

fat loss

exercise descriptions

warming up

gaming

animals

exercise science

chemistry

biomechanics

comics

movies

workout programs

fitness news

fitness tech

body weight training

Again please email any suggestions to thebuffgeek@gmail.com

It looks like Nintendo and Marriott are currently testing out a potential partnership.

As a test Nintendo will be outfitting several Marriots with units of the Wii specifically made just for them.

There will be a variety of different games offered, one of which is Wii Fit.  I’ve spoken to many a geeks who have trouble fitting in their workout routines just because of travel.  Now I know working out on the Wii Fit doesn’t seem to offer the same benefits as hitting the hotel gym but at least it’s something.  And if you’re familiar with my content you’d know I prefer doing a good bodyweight routine in my hotel room as opposed to using some crappy and potentially dangerous machine found down in one of those factory style gyms.

I think this partnership is a great idea and it only seems natural.  Where other gaming units have failed in the past I think the Wii is actually a really good fit.

Let’s hope this works out for the sake of Nintendo, Marriot and the few who would benefit from a little extra activity when on the road.

I’m interested.  What are some of the things you have tried when trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle when traveling?

You’re Kidding Me Right?!


You can’t get much more insulting to the intelligence of American people then to assume that they are incapable of doing one simple search on google for the dangers and complications associated with consuming HFCS.

Seriously, who are these commercials aimed at?

And does anyone else find it ironic that they mention sugar is safe as long as it is in moderation?  Pretty funny coming from a product called “high” fructose corn syrup.

Do a google search and see what happens.  Combine High Fructose Corn Syrup with any of these words and report back to me on what you get.

Diabetes
High Cholesterol
Obesity
Crohn’s
Colitis
IBS
Inflammation

Here’s something I’m really excited about.  Not so much this initial product.  But I think it says something about the future of fitness.  If the FitBit is successful I can only imagine what will come in the near future.

Allow me to geek out a little …

I know it could be a far off dream but how cool would it be to look down at your iphone to simply check things like blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat, blood sugar, heart rate and other measurements that to this day you need a specialist or technician to tell you.

Here is the official press release.

Fitbit Inc. Launches at TechCrunch50 Providing Preview of Health and Wellness Device and Website

Ultra-Compact, Stylish Fitbit Tracker and Website Offer Effortless Way to Manage and Maintain Healthier Lifestyle

SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 9, 2008 – Today, Fitbit Inc., a new company devoted to making America healthier, introduced the Fitbit Tracker and Website at the TechCrunch50 conference. Fitbit inspires people to exercise more, eat better and live a healthier lifestyle. The company’s newly introduced health and wellness monitoring tools make it easy for anyone to achieve a healthier lifestyle by automatically collecting data about a person’s daily activities and by presenting this data in a motivating and entertaining way.

The Fitbit Tracker is an ultra-compact wireless wearable device that automatically tracks and wirelessly uploads data about a person’s activities, such as exercise intensity levels, calories burned, sleep quality, steps and distance. It is as small as a pack of matches and clips securely onto any article of clothing or slips easily into a pocket. The Tracker uses motion sensing technology to precisely capture all moment-to-moment physical activity throughout the day and night. It also measures sleep quality to provide a holistic view of a 24-hour period. At the click of a button, calories, steps and distance are illuminated and displayed on the Tracker. In addition to these numerical measurements, the Tracker also displays a user’s progress toward their goals in the form of an avatar that changes as a user advances toward or falls behind their goals.

Data collected by the Fitbit Tracker is wirelessly uploaded to a Website where the wearer can see their information and track their progress toward personal goals. The Website’s motivational interface encourages users to share progress and lets people create groups made up of friends, family or co-workers to jointly work towards a common goal. On the Website, users can also log nutrition, weight and other health information in order to gain a complete picture of their health.

“We are excited to launch our company at TechCrunch50. Our goal is to make people aware of their overall fitness and well-being - and to use technology to accomplish this in a motivating and entertaining way that appeals to people beyond just hard-core athletes,” said James Park, CEO of Fitbit Inc. “At a time when studies show more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight, the Fitbit Tracker and Fitbit community Website are designed to break down barriers to physical fitness by offering a new and easy way to stay aware and motivated about your daily physical activity level and eating habits.”

The Fitbit Tracker and the Fitbit Website will be available by early 2009. The Fitbit Tracker will retail for less than $100; signing up on the Fitbit Website is free. Pre-order information is available today on www.fitbit.com.

Fitbit was selected as one of 50 up-and-coming companies to present at the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco out of more than 1,000 applications.

About Fitbit Inc.

Fitbit is devoted to helping people achieve everyday health and wellness. Fitbit provides a complete wellness solution focused on behavior change via awareness and motivation. For more information and to pre-order the Fitbit Tracker, please visit www.fitbit.com.

About TechCrunch50

Founded in 2007 by leading technology blog TechCrunch and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, the TechCrunch50 conference provides a platform for early-stage, and frequently unfunded, companies to launch for the first time to the technology industry’s most influential venture capitalists, corporations, angel investors, fellow entrepreneurs and the international media.  Companies are selected to participate exclusively on merit.  TechCrunch50 is supported by corporate sponsors Google, Microsoft, MySpace, Salesforce, MSN Money, Symantec, Thomson Reuters and Yahoo!, as well as venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Mayfield Fund, Clearstone Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, Founders Fund, Perkins Coie and Fenwick & West.

One of my most favorite events in the Olympic games has to be Gymnastics.  Probably because it is a perfect example of mastering the human body and what it can do.

When it comes to Men’s Rings Yibing Chen and Wei Yang are the two best in the world right now.

If you watched the Rings finals you may have noticed that every single competetor was, for lack of a better adjective, “jacked”.

How do they get these completely developed physiques?

They don’t do biceps curls or triceps push downs.

They do not have a “shoulders” day.

In fact, when it comes to their training, the asthetics of their physique is the last thing they are concerned with.  They train completely to be the best at what they do.  When you train to be the best at something you can not afford to waste time.  You can not afford to waste energy.  Everything useless gets tossed and only the truly important and effective techniques are used.

It’s something to think about next time you take to the gym.  Could you be doing something more effective with your time and energy.

Anyway, if you’re interested in doing some bad ass ring training go here.

BBC news revealed a shocking discovery earlier this week.  A group of crazy "scientists" have now discovered that exercise may in fact be good for the elderly.

Running can slow down aging

 "The work tracked 500 runners for more than 20 years, comparing them to similar groups of non-runners.  All were in their 50s at the start of the study.  Nineteen years into the study, 34% of the non-runners had died compared to only 15% of the runners".

Truly amazing.  Next thing you know they’ll be trying to tell us that exercise can improve sports ability or lower your cholesterol.

In one of his most recent blog posts uber geek Kevin Rose highlighted Olympic athlete Darra Torres and her secret weapon; Resistance Stretching.

I admit, I haven’t done much reading into Resistance Stretching but it looks to be based on some sound principals of human movement and physiology.

I’ll keep my eye open for any continuing research on the subject.  Until then Im happy with the results I get from a combination of SMR, Dynamic Flexibility, and Static Stretching.

The Blog of Kevin Rose

I recommend watching the accompanying video as well. 

Recently Sue Stanley-Green, a professor in athletic training  has stated …

“We are looking to incorporate Wii Fit into the athletic training room as far as rehabilitation, for example, on post-operative knees and ankles”.

Thats a cool athletic trainer.

In all seriousness.  I have worked with a lot of post-rehab clients in the past and getting them to do any type of balance related movements is like pulling teeth.

I’m sure a lot of stuffy old school athletic trainers will scoff at this type of method claiming that rehab needs to follow specific guidelines in order to remain effective.  But in the end, you can have the most effective rehab program in existence but it wont do jack if people aren’t doing the work because they are bored out of their minds.

I’m curious as to what other people think.

Here is a look at the new Google Health. It looks pretty crazy.

Recently in an online forum a couple of parents have been making a huge stink about the Wii Fit labeling a young relative of theirs as being “overweight”.

Their claim is that the young girl is healthy, athletic, and into sports and that this type of label can reinforce negative body image.

My take? I think that before people band together to crucify Nintendo we should all take a look at what kind of scale they are using to determine their body composition profiles.

After a little research I found that the Wii Fit uses the universal BMI scale. A scale not known for its accuracy when determining the body composition of athletic individuals. Heck my BMI is 27 which is overweight and “prone for health risks”.

So take a moment before you go blaming video games for childhood body image problems and do a little research. This scale has been used for over 100 years and yes it is outdated but when it comes to determining the body composition of mass amounts of people it actually still works pretty well.