Pack on the Sexy: Results

A twig of a human, I decided to beef up quickly, a process known to bodybuilders as “bulking.” I challenged myself to put on 10lbs of muscle in less than three months. I derisively called this challenge “Pack on the Sexy”. Watch the intro video here. These are the results, warts and all.

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Stubbornness and the Art of Beneficial Insistence

Stubbornness is a tricky thing. It can elevate you to greatness or guarantee persistent folly. Nelson Mandela endured nearly three decades in prison stubbornly realizing his dream of ending apartheid, however, Napoleon crippled his army by insisting they march on Moscow. Stubbornness is too often misunderstood and misused. Let’s look at how to use use it to our advantage and not our detriment.

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Becoming Fit and Measuring It

Getting in shape can be a herculean task. Trying to decipher the terminology of fitness is a big part of what makes it so daunting. BMI, BF%, creatine, l-glutamine, l-argine… what do those things even mean? In this article I will tackle the two most often metrics used to gauge fitness: body mass index (BMI), and body fat percentage (BF%). In simple terms, you’ll discover what they mean, and find out why understanding them is so critical to success.

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Noprobo Update Numéro Quatre: Tuning & Challenges

Visitors returning to Noprobo.com will notice a change; I’ve tuned the layout of the site to put further emphasis on content. I’ve also been hard at work on something very exciting…

Challenges! Challenges are ambitious goals I pose to myself. I introduce them with a video, and report the results here on Noprobo. My first two started November 1st: don’t bite my nails for three months, and put on 10 pounds of muscle in the same period. They should make for an interesting quarter-year.

Take a gander!

Getting to Know the Recession Boogieman

I remember from grade 10 business class that recessions happen every seven years or so. Seeing as how I learnt this in such a rudimentary course, I’m always inititally surprised that such a fuss is made when the markets slow down. Did the veteran economic experts and seasoned financial reporters fail grade nine? I have to remind myself that they play an important role in the delicate balance of the economy. They keep the fear of boogieman alive.

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Make Fitness Your Bad Habit

If I’ve learnt one single lesson about fitness it’s that there’s no one single lesson. Getting in shape is about doing a multitude of tiny things that amount to a significant lifestyle change. How many tiny things? Pick a number. I’ll guess 10,000 or so.

Trying to single out the most important of those 10,000 things is a fool’s errand. So I will simply focus on one of my favourites: making fitness addictive. In my experience, doing so has had a significantly positive impact on my exercise routines and made all the other tiny changes a little bit easier.

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When Personal Outsourcing Fails Miserably

Personal outsourcing is amidst a stint as the It-girl of productivity. Everywhere you look people are trumpeting the idea of having someone else do your work, often for pennies on the dollar. What’s not to love? Right?

Well, “you get what you pay for” is an immutable law of the Universe, and with personal outsourcing there’s no exception. Whether you pay in dollars or hours, you pay nevertheless. Thinking I had been enlightened to a loophole in the law, I tried and tried again to make a relationship with an assistant work. This article will outline some of the laughably bad experiences, identify what went wrong, and look at what actually works.

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Myers-Briggs Personality Types: What They Are, Why They Matter

If you’ve had any experience with psychologists, councilors or corporate HR people, you’ve probably had your Myers-Briggs personality type assessed. Some people even know their type like they know their phone number.

But why? What is it? And why does it matter? The Wikipedia entry on the subject is over 6,000 words long, excluding notes and references. This article will attempt to be a little more understandable, and a lot more relatable.

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Why People Don’t Meditate and How to Anyway

I’ve long toyed with the idea of starting a meditation routine. After all, I’m not blind to the serenity on the faces of those who practice regularly. I’ve been to Buddhist teaching sessions, read books on meditation and listened to audiotapes. Yes, I even dug up my old tape deck to do so. I’ve always wanted to get into a steady routine, but never actually did. Was it a lack of time, dedication, or attention? No. It was because meditation, as it exists in the public eye, is whack. Yes, whack. The idea of meditation has mutated far beyond its sensible boundaries. The scientifically-confirmed capabilities of meditation are being obfuscated by cheap products, miracle claims, and cult-like visualizations. No wonder it only has fringe status in western cultures. So what if you want the benefits without the baloney. How do you get meditating without looking like you’ve fallen for a fad?

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Walking and Running vs. Everything Else

I’ve had a lot of luck losing weight with running. Many people have. So when people ask my advice on getting fit, naturally I tell them to run. This isn’t always a perfect suggestion. What is good for me might not be good for someone else. So in this article I will be comparing some of the more popular and effective exercises. While you never need to restrict yourself to one exercise it often makes sense to specialize. Each activity is different with its own pros and cons, so you can decide which one is right for you.

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