Follow The Fitness Train on Twitter!

We tweet the best and newest workouts and exercises on The Fitness Train! And we ALWAYS #followback !!




All workouts and exercises are from www.thefitnesstrain.com

Abs Workout With Photos on thefitnesstrain.com

Jason and I completed a big photo-shoot this week for www.thefitnesstrain.com.

There are now lots of pics and helpful instructions for the abs workouts!

Check these out:

Seated Knee Raises (abs)

Hip Raises (abs)

Bent-Leg Hip Raises (abs)

Bicycles (abs)

Modified Side Jackknives (abs)

Crossovers (abs)

Toe Touches (abs)

Crunches: Bent Knee (abs)

Crunches: Frog Legs (abs)

:)

Happy workouts! Enjoy!

Web Projects, Collaboration, thefitnesstrain.com

So I'm going to blog a little about my professional projects. I'll bet there are a lot of people out there who are working in a somewhat analogous situation.

After leaving my last job programming PHP, mySql, javascript, and Smarty/HTML at a medium-sized web firm, I decided to work on my own projects rather than finding a new company. I can't do everything myself, so I would have to use a little savings to pay for some people's contract work, and also start earning revenue to be able to pay teammates.

Conceived a year-and-a-half ago, www.thefitnesstrain.com is my first endeavor.

A fitness site matches well with my lifestyle and goals. My father had a Masters degree in Physical Education and coached me in running and weight lifting for many years. I'm still an athlete, and I ran a 5K race last month and plan more races this summer. I've also been working on a long-term abs program by Kurt Brungardt. I am not a personal trainer, so we'll eventually need some of those around to get enough professional content on the site.

My goal is to create a website that will be useful for both athletes and personal trainers to work together, share workouts, and get connected with other people for motivation and information.

I haven't focused all of my working time on developing the website, and haven't had any other programmers around, so it's still very basic and has some bugs. But, the code that is written is clean, easily expanded, and the foundations to add more features and improve appearance and ease-of-use are in place, and those improvements will happen quickly. The pieces are in place; watch me put the puzzle together.

You might hear my confidence about being able to advance projects. I think one of the biggest resources I'm missing is working with other people. Feedback and group brainstorming are also critical in the early stages of a project, so I will have to make an effort to find those opportunities. I'll carve some time out this week to research professional networking groups and also think about how I can use online resources to find other people to work with.

I'll definitely update this blog on my progress before the end of summer.

How are your projects going?

Bradley Manning Is a Hero

Alternet reports:

U.S. Military Charges WikiLeaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning with 'Aiding the Enemy'

The military announced on Wednesday almost two dozen charges against Manning, who has been held in torture-like solitary confinement conditions for months.

Private First Class Bradley Manning is a true American hero because his alleged whistle-blowing activities have hugely helped shine a bright light on the corrupt, un-democratic forces that have held this country hostage since shortly after President Dwight Eisenhower warned about the imminent threat of the military-industrial complex. Brave and principled Americans like PFC Manning and exceptional journalistic organizations like WikiLeaks are among the very few obstacles preventing our democracy from sliding into overt fascism. I'm sure that may sound like an overstatement to some, but consider that the vast majority of the media voices in this country are supporting the idea that Barack Obama is a "liberal" when in fact his policies are to the right of Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, possibly closer to ultra-right-wing Calvin Coolidge. Consider that this President refuses to raise any taxes when taxation stands at record lows, and deficits are at record highs, and this man brags that he has slashed domestic spending to woefully inadequate levels not seen since Eisenhower. Americans are horrifically uninformed about this and also about underhanded deals abroad with dictators and states hostile to freedom to perpetuate this anti-democratic oligarchy.

We desperately need more real openness and truth about our government and its activities foreign and domestic.

David House says:

"Through WikiLeaks we have been given direct evidence that the White House openly lies to congress and the American people in order to achieve political ends. Richard Nixon, in an attempt to stifle government transparency, once called Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America” and accused him of “providing aid and comfort to the enemy.” Today we see the Obama administration continuing the legacy Nixon started by declaring whistleblowers as enemies of the state. It is a sad and dangerous day for transparency advocates everywhere."

House recommends we can take action to stand for truth and transparency:

Your support and the support of Americans from all walks has given Bradley hope in the midst of his perpetual solitary confinement. You can support Bradley by donating to his defense fund & advocacy campaign, and by signing this petition to reduce his charges and demand that the US government not pursue execution of alleged whistleblowers.

To paraphrase the Good Book: We shall know the Truth, and it will set us Free.

This Is What Peak Oil Looks Like

As oil production and exports are disrupted in Libya, the media often suggests Saudi Arabia will increase exports to compensate for the oil lost to the world market. Looking at the actual export figures from Saudi Arabia since 2002 make this look extremely unlikely; far more likely, we are about to see record oil prices, which will once again crash the economy similarly to the 2008 crash, and real shortages of oil and refined products like gasoline.

U.S. crude oil for May delivery is currently selling for $101.29 a barrel. While this price is already high enough to crash the economy, it is dirt cheap when you consider the likelihood of severe shortages in the near future.

Take a look at the recent historical export figures from Saudi Arabia, noting how much they exported at what oil price. In 2005 they exported the most oil ever at 9.1 million barrels per day (mbpd) when oil was selling for $57 per barrel. As prices rose, they exported less each year than in 2005. If they could produce more, why wouldn't they when prices are so high? Much more likely, they are in depletion and decline:

Saudi Net Oil Exports Versus Annual US Oil Prices
2002-2010 (EIA, Total Liquids)

Rising Net Oil Exports (relative to 2002) In Response to Rising Oil Prices:

2002: 7.1 mbpd & $26
2003: 8.3 mbpd & $31
2004: 8.6 mbpd & $42
2005: 9.1 mbpd & $57

Declining Net Oil Exports (relative to 2005) In Response to Rising Oil Prices:

2006: 8.4 mbpd & $66
2007: 8.0 mbpd & $72
2008: 8.4 mbpd & $100
2009: 7.3 mbpd & $62
2010: 7.4 mbpd & $79 (estimated)

Bloomberg reports:

Saudi Arabia’s exports fell to 6.05 million barrels a day in December from 6.36 million in November even as Saudi production rose to a two-year high of 8.37 million barrels a day, JODI said.

Note the difference between recent production (8.37 mbpd) and exports (6.05 mbpd). The difference is mostly consumption by Saudi citizens. They probably cannot increase production, and any attempt to reduce consumption by their citizens would likely stir unrest:

According to Yahoo:

Activists have set up Facebook pages calling for protests on March 11 and 20, with more than 17,000 supporters combined, but police managed to stifle two attempts to hold protests in the Red Sea city of Jeddah last month, highlighting the difficulties of such mobilization in the conservative kingdom.

Barefoot Running

My training has been going well for a half-marathon I'm planning to run on Long Island on May 1.

I'm going to start experimenting with some barefoot running on the treadmill.


































Links for More About Barefoot Running:

http://www.barefoottyler.com/

... currently collecting links; I will add more soon!

Gaddafi Should Resign Now ; Also: Oil Futures Skyrocket

Oil Futures ++ :

http://finance.yahoo.com/futures?t=energy

NYMEX-Crude up $1/bbl futures heading fast to $100 / bbl.

London Brent-April: $1/BBL AT $103.59 .

I understand Libya's oil exports may mostly go to Europe, but fungibility would make it seem like world oil markets are likely to exhibit huge strain immediately if Gaddafi can't find some meds that make him less violent. Many, many reports that hundreds of peaceful citizens are dying at the hands of their government in Libya. From the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/world/africa/21libya.html?hp

Over the last three days his security forces have killed at least 173 people, according to a running tally by the independent group Human Rights Watch. Several people in Benghazi hospitals, reached by telephone, said they believed that as many as 200 had been killed and more than 800 wounded there on Saturday alone, with many of the deaths from machine gun fire. And after protesters marched in a funeral procession on Sunday morning, the security forces opened fire again, killing at least 50 more, Human Rights Watch said.

And top tribal leaders in the oil producing areas are credibly threatening to stop exports. If you like driving around a lot, cheaply, this will be inconvenient for you. But I appreciate the tribal leaders standing up for the safety of the people:

Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/20/libya-protests-threat-idUSLDE71J0P320110220

The head of the Al-Zuwayya tribe in eastern Libya has threatened to cut off oil exports unless authorities stop what he called the "oppression of protesters", Al Jazeera quoted him as saying on Sunday.

Gaddafi resign. It is outrageous to open fire with machine guns on your peaceful protesting citizens.

Central Bank of Egypt website DOWN

In possible retaliation to the Mubarak government's shutdown of citizen access to both internet and text messaging (SMS), hacktivists have disabled the website of the Central Bank of Egypt:

http://www.cbe.org.eg/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=egyptian+central+bank

@soundmigration (http://twitter.com/#!/soundmigration) describes it as "central bank taken off line."

Is your money supporting tyrants?