It’s really easy to pick on bike riders, and so I don’t mind admitting that I’ve been successfully trolled by two of my closest friends. Ben Cohen, who also happens to be my boss here, wrote an item the other day titled, Reasons Why Cyclists Suck in which he detailed a series of generalized gripes with cyclists, more or less grouping all of us into one category: self-righteous, entitled road hogs who seek to deliberately make Ben late for work. Later on, Chez Pazienza, my friend, podcast partner and fellow Banter contributor, jumped into the mix in the comments and essentially endorsed Ben’s assessment.

So, true to my nature as a brawler, I have no choice but to respond.

I really try not to take criticisms of cycling personally. After all, it’s just a sport that I happen to enjoy, and I don’t expect anyone else to experience the same fulfillment as I do, nor do I attempt to force cycling on others like some kind of jagoff velo-evangelist. However, I routinely will rush to the defense of cyclists when challenged, or when I feel like critics are being overly nearsighted.

I hasten to note, too, that I also speak as someone who drives a car. In fact, I feel like this gives most cyclists an insight which many drivers/critics lack: most cyclists are also drivers, but most drivers aren’t cyclists.

Along those lines, I’d like to clear up some misconceptions.

1. Cyclists are evidently the only menaces on the road. I love Ben and Chez like brothers, but to single out bike riders as the only entitled traffic-law-violators on the road is just stupid. Yes, bike riders sometimes cruise through stop signs and the occasional red light. But drivers never, ever, ever roll through stop signs or run red lights or speed or swerve or cut people off or change lanes without signalling or smash into bike riders they claimed not to see, do they? When Ben, Chez and some of the accusatory commenters show me their clean traffic records, I’ll concede their points about law-breaking bike riders. Now, why do some riders coast through stop signs? While, yes, some bike riders are in a hurry just like drivers, it’s often because it takes significant physical effort to accelerate back up to cruising speed. Stopping causes the heart-rate to slow and the muscles to cool off just enough that it breaks our physical rhythm and flummoxes our momentum. That’s no excuse, but that’s sometimes a consideration when approaching an intersection. For the record, I always stop at red lights.

2. All cyclists are the same: assholes. There are a wide variety of cyclists. I’m a road cyclist — the Lance Armstrong Tour de France genre of riding that involves garishly-colored Lycra and sleek aluminum or carbon-fiber bicycles designed for speed. There are also mountain bikers, BMX bikers, commuter cyclists, hipster bike messengers and random guys on bikes who don’t fall into any category. Generally, the most hated bike riders are the hipster bike messengers who zig-zag through urban traffic — sometimes on sidewalks, which is wrong — their bikes are stripped down, they often don’t have breaks or gears (called “fixed-gear” or “fixie” bikes), and these bikes are often ironically accessorized, just like their owners. My hunch is that many of the bike riders who are most often cited in articles like the one Ben wrote are bike messengers. But griping about this ubiquitous urban feature is like griping about cab drivers and skyscrapers. If you chose to move to a big city, suck it up and deal with big city things.

3. Cyclists are the only people who flaunt and fetishize their sport/vehicle. Ben wrote, “Like vegans, cyclists want everyone to know that they’re cyclists. They wear cycling t-shirts, post pictures of themselves cycling on Facebook, visit cycling websites, and even start their own annoying blogs about cycling and how great it is.” Good point. I never see people posting photos of their cars on Facebook or reading about cars on websites. Seriously, what? The car culture is arguably as American as hot dogs and beer-farts. It’s inescapable. In a broader sense, with the rise of social media and the internet, everyone wants everyone else to know who and what they are, down to the most trivial and, more often than not, repulsive detail. Singling out bike riders, or vegans for that matter, is completely unfair since I can cite entire online/offline subcultures of car enthusiasts or truck enthusiasts or train enthusiasts or Harley-Davidson enthusiasts or Vespa scooter enthusiasts. Hell, there’s an entire subculture of people who dress up in animal mascot costumes and have wild sex orgies — and there are t-shirts available for it. So why are cycling enthusiasts suddenly not allowed to participate in the exaltation of their culture with the same enthusiasm as, say, the weirdo Harley people? (Kidding… maybe.)

4. Why do cyclists ride in the street? Ben makes the case that bike riders should stay off roads that aren’t designed for bike riding. I’m not sure how this is even possible. Am I supposed to ride half-a-mile on a street within a token bike lane until it ends, then pick up my bike and walk it three miles until I reach another street with another bike lane? Of course not. Roads are shared thoroughfares. And, yes, sometimes cyclists ride in the street rather than on the shoulder. Why? Not because we’re out to piss you off, but because most shoulders suck. They’re cracked, loaded with gravel or they simply don’t exist. The other ever-present issue is glass and debris that’s jettisoned from, yes, cars. Thanks, drivers! This rubbish can result in flat tires or, worse, crashes. So, speaking for myself, whenever I encounter these issues and when I can maintain a speed reasonably close to any nearby cars, I signal then merge into the road. As soon as a passable shoulder appears, I merge back. If you can’t wait five seconds to go around me or for me to merge back onto the shoulder, then I don’t know what to tell you. I hope you’re more patient with pedestrians in crosswalks — making you late for your important whatever. By the way, if you’re late, I trust you don’t exceed the speed limit. Because drivers are saints who obey all traffic laws.

5. The Lycra is so weird! Bike riders are weird! One of the commenters, Kavalier05, under Ben’s post mentioned something about “the silly Lycra” so I thought I’d take a second to explain. The silly Lycra is just like silly boxing gloves, silly baseball hats or the silly Lycra pantaloons worn by manly football players. It’s equipment designed to help cyclists, you know, cycle. The fabric wicks moisture away from the body unlike a cotton t-shirt that rapidly transforms into a soggy, floppy sponge when it gets wet. The tight aerodynamics of the Lycra makes riding easier, unlike street clothes which act like parachutes especially in a head-wind. The Lycra is also brightly colored as a safety measure — it’s hard to miss, even in peripheral vision. And the crotch-padding, known as a chamois, protects the groin and other goodies from chafing and injury. Kavalier05 proudly remarks that her husband doesn’t wear the “silly Lycra.” Hmm. Okay. If he rides regularly and for distances longer than five miles, and if he wears jogging shorts or, worse, denim, his taint probably looks like hamburger due to the seams, and likely smells, well, like a crotch that looks like hamburger. Good luck with that. At least he doesn’t look “silly.”

6. Cyclists are asking for it. Also in the comments, Chez trolled, “I can’t abide rude-as-hell cyclists who travel in packs, taking up the entire fucking road because they believe that somehow by sheer volume they equal an actual vehicle. No. You don’t. Now, again, get the fuck out of my way.” The answer to this one is simple. At no time ever in the history of the sport has a group of riders cycled in a pack because they think they’re as big as a car. I have no idea where Chez got this idea. If cyclists are in a pack, it’s because it’s a group ride or a race. Also, you need to get the fuck out of my way. Why? Because you can kill me. Not the other way around. So back off my ass and wait for a chance to carefully go around me. Bikes are a feature of the road, just like other cars, slow drivers, stop signs, pedestrians, crosswalks and speed bumps. If you live in an area with bike riders, plan your commute accordingly. And if you’re late, tough shit. You should’ve planned ahead. It’s not my fault, and certainly not an excuse to get all aggressive with a guy on a bike. Oh, and one thing about this remark: “It would be wise not to piss me off lest you feel like being on the losing end of a video that gets 5,000,000 views on YouTube.” Yeah, my wife was just asking for a beating.

7. Deference where deference is due. I was riding through a small town in Pennsylvania, and as I approached an intersection (I had a green light, by the way) a group of kids in a hatchback passed me then suddenly turned right, blocking my path. I smashed into the side of the car and the impact cracked my T10 vertebrae. When you’re sprawled across the pavement bleeding, wearing shredded Lycra with a broken back and a doofus kid who just hit you with his car hovering over you saying, “Dude! I didn’t even see you!” in spite of the fact that you’re a 6’4″ man on a bike wearing garishly-colored regalia in broad daylight, the whole conflict becomes crystal clear. Drivers can kill/injure bike riders, but bike riders can’t kill/injure drivers, so who should receive the majority deference on the road? There are assholes and dickheads riding bikes, and there are assholes and dickheads behind the wheels of cars. I’m not a threat to an asshole driver but he’s damn well a threat to me. Just because there are assholes and dickheads on bikes doesn’t mean they have it coming, nor does it mean they ought to get the fuck out of your way.

But even if I hadn’t been hit, I was honestly dismayed by how casually various commenters — on a mostly liberal site no less — were tossing around what I hope weren’t serious lines like “it’s a wonder more of them aren’t run over on purpose” and “if he were one of those self righteous pricks, I would be forced to run him over” and “it would be wise not to piss me off.” Really? Are you really this militant in your hatred of cyclists? I really hope we’re never on the road at the same, regardless of whether I’m on two wheels or four. Sheesh.

Ending on a positive note, perhaps it’s a good idea to explain why I ride and, therefore, why a lot of other people do, too. First, I can eat anything. Huge perk. Secondly, in a physical sense, cycling both saved my life while, like the contradictory nature of any human endeavor, occasionally jeopardizes it. As with life, the difficulty of a seemingly insurmountable climb eventually gives way to a rewarding and exhilarating descent, making the tortuous struggle of the ascent worth the glorious high-speed payoff. There’s an adrenaline rush about traveling far away from home under my own power and at “human speed” — stripping me out of my comfy chair, exposing my heretofore sheltered body to the heat, noise, distance and exertion of the road. Each time I ride, I find myself alternatively pained and euphoric — exposed to danger, testing my will and trusting my body’s ability to endure long enough to get me home. I don’t recall where I read this before, but I often repeat to myself: “When I’m riding I feel lucky to be alive, and when I stop riding I feel lucky to be alive.” I’ve tried a lot of sports in my life and came to cycling late — maybe too late to pursue it competitively, but it doesn’t matter to me. It’s my sport. I feel like my body, as well as my brain, was designed to be good at it. And I’m a better man in so many ways for pursuing it.

I hope in some way this provided a little perspective for those of you who believe that all cyclists are out to screw you personally. We’re not. Likewise, not all of us believe that drivers are out to screw us personally. But we’re all occupiers of the road, so the sooner we make room and share, the sooner the mutual animosity — and the injuries — will dissipate.

And I still don’t own a cycling t-shirt.

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Guerrero (right) is the underdog, but should not be counted out.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are probably aware that the highest paid athlete on the planet, Floyd Mayweather, will be defending his 147lb title against little known Mexican American boxer Robert Guerrero this weekend. Casual observers of the sport are  mostly writing it off as a mismatch – Mayweather is the best, and anyone not named Manny Pacquiao doesn’t have much of a chance to dethrone the pound for pound king.

But those casual observers probably haven’t looked to closely at Guerrero, and if they do, they might just think again.

Guerrero, a product of a third generation working class Mexican family from California is about as tough as they come. He is no Mayweather when it comes to finesse, but the 29 year old is an excellent boxer who has won six world titles in four different weight classes. One of the most fearsome competitors in the sport today, Guerrero is not coming for a paycheck this Saturday, and genuinely believes he can take it to the 36 year old champion, who now fights an average of once a year.

“My belief is that I’m going to go in there and beat him down on May 4th,” said Guerrero at a recent press conference. “He should just worry about getting ready for the rematch at this point. Be ready to be shocked.”

Fighting words from a man who genuinely does know how to fight.

Guerrero has remained largely under the radar given his humble personality, but he has stormed through the weight divisions with chilling relentlessness. He jumped two weight divisions from 135lbs to 147lbs in 2012 to face off against Selcuk Aydin, one of the hardest punchers in the division, giving the Turkish fighter a sound boxing lesson. Four months later, he gave the much larger and lightning quick power puncher Andre Berto the beating of a lifetime that removed any doubt as to his efficacy at welterweight.

Guerrero is a southpaw, who is at heart a classic boxer. He has a fast, accurate jab and a thudding left that has real knockout power when timed right, particularly when using it as an uppercut. Guerrero likes to box from the outside and get into rhythm, but he also has no problem brawling on the inside to change the dynamic of a fight. Guerrero and his father (also his trainer) devised a game plan to fight Berto on the inside, neutralizing his opponent’s hand speed and forcing him to fight on the back foot. It was a messy, brutal fight, but Guerrero pulled out the victory, dropping Berto twice and leaving him looking like he had been run over by a car.  And while Guerrero was pretty banged up, he was never in any serious trouble. “He didn’t hurt me at all,” said Guerrero after the fight. “Strong guy, punched hard, so I was able to take the shots.” After that, every welterweight in the division took note.

Guerrero isn’t blessed with the same athleticism as Mayweather, but he is a highly intelligent operator who can make adjustments throughout a fight and neutralize an opponent’s strengths extremely effectively.

But let’s not forget that Floyd Mayweather is regarded as the best fighter in boxing today for good reason. The Grand Rapids native is a once in a generation superstar with phenomenal speed, athletic attributes and one of the highest boxing IQs in the history of the sport. Mayweather’s defensive skills and ability to decipher styles within minutes has resulted in one sided mismatches against other world champions. Many barely land a punch over the course of the fight, let alone win a meaningful number of rounds. His destruction of fighters like Diego Corrales, Arturo Gatti and Victor Ortiz have also shown a brutal side to his game, making him a literal Rubik’s cube in the ring.

“Like I always say for every fight, everybody had a game plan,” said Mayweather at a media workout in Vegas.  ”All 43 of my opponents had a game plan and all 43 opponents came up short.  So, I could care less what my opponent has to say.  There isn’t a blueprint on how to beat me.  No one has found a way to break the Mayweather code.”

Mayweather is a strong favorite going into the fight because it is widely perceived that his skill level is simply to high for Guerrero.

So is it possible Guerrero can pull off the upset? Yes, and here’s why.

Firstly, Mayweather is on the wrong side of 30. Having boxed since he could walk, Mayweather has had many years of wear and tear on his body. In a fighter, this nearly always shows up in your legs and your ability to move around the ring. While Mayweather still has astonishing hand speed, his legs have noticeably slowed down. This means he stays in front of opponents longer and relies on upper body movement to avoid punches. It’s a riskier style for Mayweather because he has to be more aggressive to keep opponents off him, and that plays right into Guerrero’s hands.

Secondly, Guerrero is a southpaw. Left handers have historically troubled Mayweather. He was hurt by Zab Judah and Demarcus Corley, and avoided Manny Pacquiao like the plague when the Filipino southpaw was in his prime. Guerrero isn’t quite as fast as the fighters mentioned, but he is fast enough and he has a much better chin. That means Guerrero has a very good chance of landing his shots given he doesn’t mind taking one to give one.

Thirdly, Guerrero knows how to make adjustments during a fight, and will be able to make Floyd fight in places where he’s not necessarily comfortable.  ”You’ve got to be ready to do everything,” said Guerrero about fighting Mayweather.  ”People say you need to have an A, B and C game plan, but with Floyd, you need an A to Z game plan.  You’ve got to be ready for whatever because Floyd is the type of guy that makes adjustments here and there and he makes it tough for fighters to get in there with him.  You’ve got to be ready to make those adjustments; we’ve been practicing a lot of stuff.  Our game plan is to go out there and be 100 percent ready and be able to make those adjustments.”

Finally, Guerrero’s immense mental strength could also be a defining factor that allows him to push through when the going gets tough. Guerrero, whose wife was diagnosed with leukemia some years ago, believes that fighting in a ring isn’t particularly difficult when compared to what his family has been through.

“My wife’s battle with cancer really made me grow as a man,” said Guerrero. “It makes you mentally strong.  She is fighting for her life.  Being a caretaker makes you a mentally strong person.  That is why I laugh when you say this is just a fight compared to that because it is.  It’s just a fight.  That is one of the things that I learned from her whole fight with cancer.  Being mentally strong, being able to hold it together and pushing through is what counts.”

On Saturday, Guerrero will be fighting one of the best boxers in the history of the sport. He is not expected to win, but that’s exactly the way he likes it.

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Mega internet company Yahoo is going through big changes (again). The failing google competitor has amped up operations to stay relevant, doing crafty things like changing the newsfeed on its home page, shelling out unseemly fortunes to app designing teenagers, and betting the house on content like this:

Yahoo has partnered with Business 2 Community, a content site that aims to create “An independent online community focused on sharing the latest news surrounding Social Media, Marketing, Branding, Public Relations & much more”. Articles like the one above feature heavily on the site, and Yahoo is pumping them out on their front page.

I took a look at what author John Gibb had to say about the parallels between elite professional basketball and hawking weight loss products online. It was enlightening to say the least. Writes Gibb:

Affiliate Marketing and Kobe Bryant: More parallels than you might think. (Featureflash / Shutterstock.com)

Kobe once said:

“I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.”

This teaches us the importance of creating your own name in the industry. Do you feel like branding is for big companies with large advertising budgets only? Think Coca-Cola and you’ll understand why most people associate branding with big companies only. However, the little guy like you and me instead has a little door called “authority presence”, to get their name out there and build a loyal following.

You want everybody in the industry, including super affiliates, web site visitors and customers, to know you’re the real deal.

I’ve actually drawn similar conclusions in my own profession – you must heed the words of the greats and make comparisons with your own life. For example, Mahatma Gandhi once said:

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.

In 2012, I changed the design of The Daily Banter to a much cleaner look with lots of whitespace. I figured if I want to help make the world a cleaner place, changing my site was the very least I could do.

Gibb also wrote:

Should you ever give up?

“I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.”
– Kobe Bryant.

What does it take to win the affiliate game?

First of all, it requires you enter the field and play until the very last second. This means you don’t give up and quit, like most affiliates.

I have friends who started affiliate marketing back in the days when I dabbled with it myself. They’re still newbie’s, and have no mailing list or sizable income. Some are not in the game anymore. That’s sad…

Some may think Gibb’s claim to greatness is unwarranted, but puts the doubts to rest after quoting his mentor and ’legendary Super Affiliate’ Allan Gardyne as saying: “John is the hardest working affiliate I know – he deserves his success”.

If you are still scratching your head, don’t worry. As Albert Einstein once said:

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

To all the negative commenters at The Daily Banter, that one’s for you…

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Washington Wizards center Jason Collins has become the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport.  In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated magazine, Collins wrote:

I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.

I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, “I’m different.” If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.

I don’t know too much about basketball culture, but I’m assuming this is a pretty big deal. The impact this will have on young people struggling with their sexuality will be immense, and Collins truly is a hero. At some point, major athletes coming out as gay won’t be a big deal. But for now it is, and Collins has pushed the gay rights movement another significant step forward.

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Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

I’ve received quite a few emails in regards to the article I wrote about Tracy Anderson and her questionable claims about exercise and nutrition. My basic argument was that Anderson’s method is no better (or worse) than any other form of exercise, and her dietary advice is extremely dubious given it strips out many essential nutrients the body needs to regulate itself (particularly when doing grueling workouts).

Many of the emails and comments were from people in the fitness industry who wrote to thank me for speaking out about celebrity gurus and the nonsense they promote. But this email from Emily Gallant stood out:

The irony of having a Man review Tracy Anderson

Doesn’t my subject title say it all? If you aren’t certain about something, or haven’t actually tried it out for a period of time, you shouldn’t spend time bullshiting about it, especially not on a website, no matter how self-important that makes you feel. You shouldn’t accept writing assignments that you have to be blasphemous in order to complete. Tracy Anderson is the future in which fitness for women is moving. She may not be for everyone but her system truly works. No longer are male fitness regimes being inaccurately prescribed for women. Instead we finally have a form of exercise that makes women look how they want to look. As someone immersed in various kinds of extreme exercise and tried every form of it you can imagine, I can attest that the Tracy Anderson method does work to lean women out in a way that is normally Impossible. I always cringe when I find blogs like this because it is clearly for entertainment, not to continue in the formation of a supportive community in support of an improved world. You can do better.

I’m not going to respond to Emily’s orders that I stop ‘accepting writing assignments’ because she doesn’t like what I’m saying. But I will respond to her charge that because I’m a man, I can’t comment on fitness methods for women.

I worked in the fitness industry and have several professional qualifications. I’ve been taught by women, and have taught women (in fact, one of the people in the business I respect the most is a woman named Maura Barclay - one of the most knowledgable and brilliant yoga/martial arts instructors around – and if you are in the Seattle area, go and train with her).

I’m genuinely not sure what being a man has to do with anything here. There is sound exercise and nutrition advice, and bad exercise and nutrition advice. Tracy Anderson has pretty good workout advice and pretty bad nutrition advice – and that’s me being charitable. Her series of exercises are good for a certain type of fitness (aerobic fitness and muscle tone) but not so much for others (you won’t develop much strength for example). I went over her nutritional advice in my article, but to recap, it’s dangerously low in essential fats, minerals and calories in general. This is particularly bad for women, who need to maintain a significantly higher percentage of body fat than men to regulate their hormones (especially if they want to have children).

While Emily says that my piece ‘is clearly for entertainment’, I’d argue the exact opposite. I don’t usually write about fitness and nutrition, but felt the need to point out some facts after reading Anderson’s claim that “you need to stop every other kind of exercise and only do my workout.” Sure, I haven’t done the Tracy Anderson Method, so I’m not speaking from experience, but I’ve been around the industry for long enough to know that it is complete and utter nonsense.

And I think Emily could do a lot better.

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Gwyneth Paltrow and Tracy Anderson lev radin / Shutterstock.com

I’ll preface this piece with some personal history: I’m a certified Exercise Therapist, a qualified Krav Maga instructor, and long time boxing and kick boxing instructor. I worked as a personal trainer to the rich and famous in Los Angeles for several years, taught classes in exclusive gyms, and have worked as a boxing consultant in the video game industry. I have fairly in depth knowledge of the fitness industry and the training and dieting itself, so my opinions do actually count for something. So when I say that the concept of a ‘celebrity trainer’ and the diets they promote are mostly bullshit, I’m saying it with some authority.

I wouldn’t usually spend time writing about this kind of stuff given I no longer work in the industry, but the business has a cultural impact that can be extremely damaging, particularly to those who don’t understand the basics behind diet and exercise.

Which brings me to Tracy Anderson – trainer to stars like Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna and pretty much the epitome of the ‘celebrity trainer’. I respect the fact that Anderson is passionate about bringing fitness to the masses and encourages people to look after themselves (all good things), but that’s about where it ends.

Anderson made a name for herself by claiming she could help clients defy their genetics and ‘re-engineer’ their muscle structure with her unique exercises. On her website, she states that “The overall mission of Tracy’s method is to strengthen the smaller muscle groups so that these muscles can pull in the larger muscles – which results in a lean figure that is not bulky.” Anderson advocates women never lift more than 3lbs in weight for fears of adding too much muscle, and regularly slams exercises like running and biking for developing ‘man like’ butts. In her book, Anderson states that “If you want to look tight and toned, you need to stop every other kind of exercise and only do my workout.” Anderson also offers eating plans with her fitness regimes that drastically reduce calorie intake (sometimes to 1000cal a day) to induce rapid weight loss.

Discarding Anderson’s well reported egotistical behavior, lack of qualifications, and ludicrous gym fees (over $900/month to join her gym in New York), the claims she makes about fitness and what she can do are completely fictitious and should be publicly debunked.

Firstly, it is impossible to ‘re-engineer’ your muscle structure. You can build, strengthen and develop muscle through resistance training and correct nutrition, but the structure itself is genetic. The notion that smaller muscle groups ‘pull in’ larger muscles is also complete nonsense. These smaller groups are often called ‘stabilizer’ muscles that as the American Council on Exercise states, “Act to support the trunk, limit movement in a joint, or control balance.” Muscles don’t ‘pull in’ other muscles – they sometimes assist them with particular movements, or perform functions themselves.

Then there’s the idea that lifting more than 3lbs of weight will add bulk to a woman’s frame. This is again utter garbage. A general rule of thumb (and physiology) is that if you can lift the weight more than 12 times, it won’t really add size to the muscle (and most women can lift a lot more than 3lbs 12 times).  Also, the ability to add muscle largely comes down to your levels of testosterone, and given women generally have very low levels of it, it is extremely hard for them to bulk up.

Finally, her diet prescription is also extremely dangerous. Rebecca Wilcox at The Daily Mail followed the Tracy Anderson “Metamorphosis: A Complete Body Transforming System” exercise regime along with the diet that included no bread, potatoes, pasta or rice, no fats, no dairy, no salt, and no red meat.
After dropping 14lb in 30 days, Wilcox looked great but stated that she felt ‘woozy’, couldn’t concentrate, had bad skin and nails, and was always foul tempered. Startled by the results, she took her plan to get analyzed by the principal dietician at St George’s Hospital, in London. Here’s what they found:

She told me I had existed on less than 700 calories a day for the past two months  -  no wonder I felt terrible. Catherine was extremely concerned.

‘I see patients suffering with anorexia nervosa and now I’m reading their diet in pamphlet form,’ she says. ‘It’s immunosuppressant due to its lack of calcium, iron, carbohydrates, proteins and salt.

‘If you followed the regimen you would risk developing hyponatremia (low sodium levels in the blood). The diet is also very low in iron, which could lead to anaemia and problems with balance, muscle strength and exhaustion.

‘The lack of absorbable calcium (less than 300mg  -  the body needs 800mg a day) means you risk earlyonset osteoporosis and osteopenia too  -  something that Gwyneth has been diagnosed with.

What’s more, the protein levels are low  -  less than 1.7oz per day, which can be dangerous if prolonged.

‘Even the vitamins that are available cannot be absorbed since there is no fat present in the diet to act as an absorption vehicle, so they will just be excreted from the body.’

In short, Wilcox had put herself in serious danger by following the grueling exercise regime and ridiculous diet that stripped her body of essential nutrients. After speaking to Dr Susan Jebb, head of Nutrition and Health Research at the Medical Research Council, Wilcox was told she should have been consuming around 2400 calories per day to maintain a healthy weight.

Gwyneth Paltrow, the most ardent follower of the Tracy Anderson method was recently diagnosed with shockingly low vitamin D levels, and osteopenia, a precursor to the bone thinning osteoporosis. Not exactly a shining endorsement of the Anderson method.

I’m singling out Anderson here because she is a very prominent example of the myths pumped out by the fitness industry that prey on people’s insecurities and lack of knowledge. But the truth is, Anderson is just a symptom of it, and not the cause. Anyone promoting a new method of fitness and revolutionary diet is by definition bullshitting you. As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. Tracy Anderson is glorified aerobics instructors teaching a mixture of pilates movements and dance moves. It’s probably pretty fun and a great workout, but it doesn’t ‘re-engineer’ muscle structure or ‘pull in’ big muscles. Her claim that to look good, “you need to stop every other kind of exercise and only do my workout,” is simply laughable  - she’s not doing anything revolutionary at all, and you could get exactly the same benefits from taking classes at the $50/month local YMCA. All the crazes on the market – Zumba, Thaibo, Bikram Yoga etc etc are just derivatives of other workouts that do the same thing – get you moving and losing weight.

I was always asked whether I had any secret workout or diet tips when I worked as a trainer. I didn’t. My advice for people looking for a great workout was as follows: Do an activity that gets your heart rate up and has you using as many muscles as possible. Avoid saturated fats, don’t eat too much white bread/rice, have lots of fruit and vegetables and stay away from ingredients you can’t pronounce. Or put more simply, run, do push ups and eat apples.

Sure there are advanced training techniques and specialized diets that really do work, but those are for full time athletes and rich celebrities who need to look good for their jobs.

Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to take your money.

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As they say, age is only a number. Check out these two old boys giving it their all in what is actually a pretty exciting race:

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As some readers know, I was a boxing journalist for quite a long time, and remain a huge fan of the sport. It’s a sport with a vast history that provides an endless source of banter. I’ve spent hours arguing about who the greatest fighter was of all time, the fastest, the best defensive, and the biggest hitter –  and the conclusions are never definitive (other than who the greatest was – Sugar Ray Robinson without a shadow of a doubt).

Anyhow, the most fun topic, and certainly the most YouTube-able revolves around who the biggest punchers were in the sport. I wrote an article for TrueSlant.com (now a part of Forbes.com) on the top ten hardest hitters of all time that sparked off quite a lot of debate.

I’ve repurposed and updated the piece below with some new videos and quotes, so check it out and weigh in with your thoughts!

1. Julian Jackson

Jackson’s power at 154-160lbs was absolutely freakish. Despite lacking elite boxing skill, the Virgin Island Middleweight tore his way through 55 opponents, knocking out 49 of them and winning several world titles on the way. His one punch knockout of Herol Graham was one of the best in boxing history, especially as Jackson was badly losing in their title bout in 1990. The almighty right hand that knocked Graham out before he hit the canvass has been replayed in every knockout compilation worth watching. Graham lay unconscious for 5 minutes after being caught, and was never really the same afterwards. Jackson’s ability to literally touch an opponent and hurt them meant he was always dangerous making every fight he was in a must watch event.

2. Earnie Shavers

Earnie Shavers was without a doubt the hardest punching heavyweight of all time. The American born bruiser wasn’t exactly the most refined of fighters, but his power was so extreme he could turn a fight around with one punch. For the most part, Shavers Most weighed under 210lbs suggesting the Liverpudlian based American could have fought at the modern day cruiserweight limit. He destroyed Ken Norton in one round, dropped Larry Holmes, and landed one of the hardest punches ever seen against Ron Lyle. Shavers right hand was the sort of punch the caused audiences to turn away when it landed. Both Holmes and Ali stated that Shavers hit them harder then anyone else, and given their combined resume, (Foreman, Tyson, Frazier, Liston), it would be hard to disagree.

3. Prince Naseem Hamed

After Hamed destroyed tough South African Vuyani Bungu in March of 2000, referee Joe Cortez stated that the Prince was the hardest punching featherweight he had ever seen. Weighing a mere 126lbs in his prime, Hamed’s power was nothing short of incredible. Not only did he have knock out power in both fists, the young Prince could generate fight-ending force from a bewildering array of angles. After clinically knocking out Augie Sanchez with some hammering blows in 2001, many ringsides could not believe that the diminutive Hamed did not have something in his gloves. His power was so amazing that his sparring partners regularly reported it being equal to that of a middleweight or above. Stories of bashing up heavyweights in his gym spread like wildfire, and coupled with some of the most awesome knockouts the featherweight division has ever seen, it would be fair to place Hamed’s power alongside the very best. The highlights below are worth watching in full:

4. Tommy Hearns

Tommy Hearns was one of those rare fighters who managed to carry their power up through different weight categories. From 147 to 190lbs, Hearns possessed crunching power that could KO a fighter with one punch. Perhaps the most frightening display of his power came when he fought Roberto Duran at 154lbs. It was one of the most one-sided beatings ever seen between two great fighters, with Duran tasting the canvass three times. The final knockout came while Duran was pinned against the ropes where Hearns landed a right hand that would have felled most heavyweights. Duran was out before he hit the canvass, and the fight was promptly stopped. Hearns gangly 6ft1 frame was enormous, and the kinetic power he could generate was genuinely scary. As he filled out in weight, Hearns had no problem turning the extra pounds into extra force, retaining devastating power up to the cruiserweight division.

5. Sugar Ray Robinson

Not only was Ray Robinson one of the most skilled boxer of all time, he was one the best punchers as well. Lithe and slender, Robinson generated his power from his perfect technique. He pivoted on his feet, torqued his hips and maintained perfect posture while delivering pinpoint accurate punches. Robinson scored one-punch knockouts all the way from lightweight up to middleweight, proving that power was not just a product of muscle size. His most famous knockout came over the teak tough Gene Fullmer at middleweight. After losing a decision to Fullmer a few months earlier, Robinson landed the most perfect left hook ever landed in the 5th round of the rematch.

“I still don’t know anything about the punch,” Fullmer said years after the bout, “except I watched it on movies a number of times. The first thing I knew, I was standing up. I asked my manager, ‘What happened?’ and he said, ‘They counted ten.’ Up to then, I probably got to thinking I couldn’t be knocked out. And all at once, I realized that anybody can. It’s just got to be in the right place at the right time and you’re gone.”

6. Bob Foster

Foster was a monster puncher at Light heavyweight, and one of the division’s best champions. Foster was a tall and rangy fighter with superb technique and incredible knockout power. Foster was not successful in his attempts to fight heavyweights, but his achievements at Light heavyweight were nothing short of phenomenal. His one punch knockout of Dick Tiger and Mike Quarry will go down as two of the best in history.

7. Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao has been a knock out artist in 8 weight categories ranging from 110lbs to 154lbs, an astounding feat given most fighters inability carry their punch up with them. Pacquiao’s deadly combination of speed, balance and explosive muscle fiber has felled the majority of his opponents, and he is one of he most feared punchers in the sport. His left hand is perhaps the most feared weapon in boxing today, and his right has been so well developed by his trainer Freddie Roach that it too ranks up there with the best. Never was Pacquiao’s power more evident than when he challenged Ricky Hatton for the Ring 140lb belt, knocking the Brit down twice in the first round, then once and for all in the 2nd with an over hand left that rendered Hatton unconscious before he hit the floor. It was one of the most devastating knockouts in history, and it put Hatton out of action for almost three years. Shane Mosley reported that Pacquiao hit him so hard in the 3rd round of their fight that he blanked out for the next 3 rounds. “He has some different hitting power,” said Mosley to Ben Thompson of FightHype. “I don’t know how he throws his punches, but he does something where when he lands, it has a different impact. I mean, I get hit by, even now, I get hit by bigger guys all the time and there’s no dazing, I don’t wobble, I don’t do any of that stuff. I don’t feel like I’m getting ready to wobble or anything. With Pacquiao, he just touches you and you’re already wobbling.”

8. Roberto Duran

‘Hands of Stone’ had just that, hands of stone. Duran was an absolute beast at Lightweight with one of the best body assaults in history. Although his punch did not go up with him when he moved up in weight, the Panamanian tough man managed to compete with the very best all the way up to middleweight, a testament to how physically strong he was. The savage beating he gave Davey Moore was one of the worst in history, the punishing body shots physically lifting Moore off of the canvas from the force.

9. Rocky Marciano

It is important to remember that Marciano was not a heavyweight by today’s standard, so his stature as a puncher rises given his weight. Marciano was no more than 189lbs at the height of his professional career, but wielded one of the hardest punches the heavyweight division has ever seen. And for that reason, he deserves to go down as one of the best punchers pound for pound ever. Marciano bludgeoned his way through his opponents with a fierce determination and toughness rivalled by none. His power came from his tree trunk legs, thick torso and superb leverage. Joe Louis said of Marciano: “It hurt to bump into him….He hits harder than Max Schmeling…this kid is tough enough to beat anyone.”

10. Joe Louis

Again. Louis would have probably been a cruiserweight by today’s standards so it is only fair that he ranks above some of the biggest Heavyweight punchers in terms of power pound for pound. Louis had an amazing ability to knock people out from close range. Louis could torque his body like no one else, putting his entire body weight behind his punches. Louis’s left hook was bone shattering, and his right would simply put people to sleep. The punches that knocked out Max Schmeling in 1938 were some of the hardest seen in a heavyweight ring, with Louis hitting the German with a series of right hands that would have felled an ox. One of Joe Louis spar mates, Seal Harris said : “As he comes toward you, he seems to get smaller the closer he comes and then, he explodes at you. When he hits you, you think you been shot, and if he hits you right, you think you are dead.”

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At 48, Bernard Hopkins (right) is still on top of his game

Thanks to the ridiculous amount of corruption in the world boxing, few people outside of the hardcore fans knew or cared about a monumental occurrence in the sport over the weekend. At the extraordinary age of 48, Philadelphia’s Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins beat 31 year old IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud to become the oldest world champion in the sport’s history. Hopkins set the original record at 46, defeating Jean Pascal in Canada two years ago, then lost his belt to Chad Dawson 11 months ago via decision. Hopkin’s ascension back to the top of the division is nothing short of remarkable.

To understand the significance of Hopkin’s performance, some context is needed.

With modern training techniques and sparser fighting schedules, most fighter today continue careers up until their mid 30′s, but are generally considered past their prime by the age of 33 or 34. Famed trainer Freddie Roach, former trainer of Hopkins and once a professional fighter himself, was considered finished at 27 years old.

I spoke with Roach once while training at his gym in Hollywood, California and he told me that he was called ‘Old Man Roach’ by the press when going in to his last fight against David Rivello in 1986. Roach had fought professionally for 8 years. Bernard Hopkins has not only competed professionally for almost 25 years, he has been at world championship level for at least 20 of them, a feat only rivaled by the great Archie Moore over half a century ago. You would be hard pushed to find any other athlete in any other sport with that type of longevity, particularly at the elite level.

For any fan of the sweet science, watching a Hopkins fight is akin to witnessing a great sculptor at work. The old man has not only kept himself in incredible physical condition through a spartan lifestyle, but added more depth to his game as his athleticism has declined. Hopkins moves with no wasted motion, utilizing absolutely perfect posture and positioning at all times. His feet are always in the right place, his chin tucked deftly behind his shoulder, and his hands never out of defensive position. Hopkins glides around the ring with supreme coordination, and fires punches only when he knows he can land. The blows themselves are text book perfect and are always delivered with minimal muscle tension and perfect structural alignment.  Hopkins threads 175lbs of weight through the space of a quarter (his 2nd and 3rd knuckles) with no wind up or explosion, just seamless hip rotation and fluid body mechanics. Hopkins moves so well that he effectively makes fighters walk on to his punches without exerting much effort at all.

But it is Hopkins’s brain that sets him apart from other fighters. He is a cold and calculating chess player in the ring, dissecting opponents as a surgeon would his patient. Hopkins displays no emotion in the ring, taking advantage whenever opportunities present themselves. Hopkins has lost twice recent years, but only to fighters so young or athletically gifted that they could make up for technical deficiencies. Anyone with out supernatural physical gifts tend to fall apart when confronted with Hopkins mastery of the game.

Tavoris Cloud, a dangerous fighter with knockout power in both hands proved to be no different, despite being 17 years younger and still in his physical prime. Hopkins took the center of the ring from the opening bell in their fight in Brooklyn, New York, and never let Cloud get set.

Every time Hopkins moved, his balance was so good that he could deliver a punch from any angle, making him a danger at all times. Cloud, on the other hand, had to have his feet planted before he punching, rendering him useless as he picked up his feet to follow Hopkins around the ring.

And that really was the tale of the fight. Hopkins lulled the younger man into fighting at a slow pace while he pivoted around the ring and hit Cloud as he clumsily tried to find the right leverage to deliver his shots. Cloud had some luck early on in fight as Hopkins worked to find his distance, landing a couple of hard lefts in round two and making Hopkins hide behind his defensive shell. But by the end of the 3rd round, Hopkins had deciphered Cloud’s movements and began to execute his game plan. He fought in calculated spurts, feinting Cloud out of position and countering beautifully with combinations. Hopkins timing was so good that he began to land lead right hands as the rounds wore on, befuddling Cloud who swung wildly and missed far more than he landed. The younger man did have his moments, landing a few hard shots in exchanges against the ropes in the 5th and in the 8th, but Hopkins’s reflexes seemed to be completely intact and he slipped and slid his way out of any real danger.

“I stuck to the game plan,” said Hopkins after the fight. “I have been working on my speed and my reflexes, and at the age of 48, I wanted to display them. We were working on combination punches. I tried to throw multiple punches. In my other fights, I would only throw one shot….We knew that if we continued to throw combination punches that he couldn’t adjust to that.

“Because I was working on my combination punches, it took me a while to find my rhythm. But in around the fourth and fifth round, I found that rhythm.”

The scores reflected Hopkins’s assessment of the fight with two judge’s scoring the bout were 116-112 and the other 117-111 all in favor of the Philadelphian. It can be argued that Cloud’s style played perfectly in Hopkins’s hands, but given Hopkins is close to 50, the feat is truly an extraordinary one.

An alumni of the Pennsylvanian penitentiary system after committing armed robbery as a teenager, Hopkins not only developed an iron clad determination to make something of his life, he spent seven years navigating the worst predators in the country. He learned to read people well because his life depended on it, and used those skills to take apart men who specialized in professional fighting. His longevity is not just genetic, it is a product of his forged mentality.

I have met Hopkins on a number of occasions when working as a boxing reporter several years back, and always felt like I was being sized up myself. When Hopkins speaks to you, he asks questions. He wants to know who you write for and where you come from. Unlike the majority of boxers who generally offer canned responses to the media, Hopkins listens to your questions and answers with extraordinary insight. Hopkins engages with everyone he meets, because he wants to know more, a technique he translates into preparing for fights, Hopkins buys tapes of his opponents from their amateur days – back when they were teenagers. In the biggest fight of his career against Oscar DeLaHoya, Hopkins watched tapes of the Golden Boy as a 16 year old so he could understand his mentality better. The then 39 year old Hopkins knocked DeLaHoya out with a brutal body shot in 9 rounds.

While casual sports fans may not know too much about Hopkins, now would be a good time to pay attention to him given he probably won’t be around for too much longer. But then again, that’s what everyone said 12 years ago when at 36, no one gave him much of a chance against knockout artist Felix Trinidad. Instead of playing to script, Hopkins delivered perhaps the best example of a boxing lesson ever witnessed in the square ring, taking every round and knocking out the Puerto Rican super star much to everyone’s amazement.

While Hopkins was not as dominant against Cloud over a decade later, the achievement at his advanced age makes it all the more amazing.

“This means more to everyone else because I’m not going anywhere,” said Hopkins of his victory over Cloud. “I stop when I want to stop, and I think that after tonight, I don’t think people want me to stop either.”

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Bryant Brannon: Ruthlessly knocked out by Roy Jones Jr in 1996

(UPDATE: I’ve been emailing back and forth with Ron and he sent me a video showing the slow motion ending of the fight from several different angles. I’ve replaced the original video with the one Ron sent me. Upon viewing this, my personal opinion is that Lipton did not step in too late to stop the fight. You can clearly see Jones missing a lot of his punches when asking Lipton to step in)

A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece for TrueSlant.com (now a part of Forbes.com) regarding the ‘killer instinct’ in boxing. The point of the article was to explore the violent nature of the sport that requires fighters to switch off any concern they may have for the health of their opponents. I’ve always found boxing to be a fascinating sport, particularly when you learn about some of the characters involved in it and their psychological complexity.

For a bit of background on the topic and why I spend years covering the sport, I’ve trained in Martial Arts and boxing for many years myself and fought in tournaments when I was younger, and although it was nowhere near professional level, I felt my experiences in the gym and in the ring gave me useful insight when reporting on the sport. In many ways, covering boxing helped me to understand some of the contradictions and complexities of my own psychology. While I loved the competitive aspect of combat, I have always had a hard time reconciling hurting people with who I am outside of boxing and Martial Arts. I’m by no means an aggressive person – quite the opposite in fact, and it takes an awful lot to get me angry. I wince when I see other people getting hurt, and have no desire to do anyone any harm. Talking to other fighters who were amongst the kindest, friendliest people I’d ever met made me feel a bit more normal when it came to my own love for fighting. Most fighters have no interest in hurting their opponents, but will do in order to win. To them, it is the job of the referee to stop the fight, and they are not responsible for anything that happens to their opponent. They keep fighting until someone pulls them off.

I’ve always been bothered by arm chair fans or people affiliated with the sport who have never experienced fighting themselves, and show little to no compassion for fighters who literally put their lives on the line to make a living. In the piece I wrote for TrueSlant, I singled out a referee, Ron Lipton who officiated a fight between the legendary Roy Jones Jr and a fairly limited challenger Byrant Brannon who really had no business being in the same ring as Jones. Brannon was given a serious beating and badly knocked out by Jones, who in the moments leading up to the stoppage had implored Lipton to step in and end the fight. Lipton let the action continue despite Jone’s pleas, and Brannon ended up face down on the canvass unconscious. I had always been disgusted by Lipton’s actions as I believe he could have prevented Brannon from being hurt, and put it down to a serious lack of empathy on his part. Scenes like that always made me question my love for the sport, both from a spectator and practitioners point of view. Watching people getting their heads punched in forces you to confront the brutality of the sport, and confront elements of your own personality that could be capable of doing the same thing.

I’ve not thought about the episode for a good while until I received an email a couple of weeks ago through The Daily Banter’s facebook page from Ron Lipton himself, who had read the article and wanted to give his side of the story. It’s fascinating to hear Lipton’s defense given how close he was to the action, and having listened to his side of the story, I feel I may have been too quick to judge. Lipton was a boxer himself (something I didn’t know), and he clearly has a great deal of empathy for fighters.

Here’s a link to the original piece ‘The Killer Instinct in Boxing” I wrote if anyone is interested, and below is the video of the knockout (skip to the last 2 minutes to see the ending in slow motion) and Lipton’s letter to me:

Letter from Ron Lipton

Ben,

I recently read your piece in The Final Bell, “Killer Instinct.” If I may respectfully correct a great misconception about the Jones V Brannon fight. After we viewed the tapes of the bout the following was clearly revealed and I have the DVD slow motion version of what precipitated the KO. Before I relate that to you, prior to the bout at the rules meeting, the Brannon corner demanded that no premature stoppage be allowed in a repeat of the Roy Jones Jr v Merqui Sosa fight in which referee Ken Zimmer stopped the bout too early and a small riot ensued with Sosa being fully able to continue. I told them that the premature stoppage in that bout would not impact on my judgment and this bout had to be judged on what was happening. That was understood by all, yet it was made clear that if Brannon was in any trouble he wanted to be given every chance to continue as it was a title bout. NOW, although knocked down and wobbled, many boxers come back like Corrales v Castillo, however, I watched him closely and here is the most important thing which was proven to be correct.

AT THE EXACT MOMENTS PRIOR TO JONES ASKING ME TO STEP IN, the films clearly show the punches thrown by Jones were MISSING BRANNON by inches on the ropes, not even grazing his chin, Jones stepped back at that exact juncture and asked me to stop it, if I had done so at that moment, it would have been Sosa V Jones all over again. I told him to finish up and he did. I immediately stopped the bout. The angle of the film I have shows clearly in slow motion that every shot thrown missed Brannon, as the referee I saw that while others at ringside did not.

Later Roy told me I did the right thing when he saw the films from a different angle rather than in the heat of battle. I have never done one title fight, prelim, main event where a boxer was severely injured.

I had over 145 fights in the ring, see my website www.ronliptononline.com, and the The Ring Magazine article,
http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/175505-are-punchers- born-or-made I have the most in the ring boxing experience of any active referee as does Randy Neuman, as former fighters. I was with Ali, Rubin Carter, Dick Tiger, Carlos Ortiz and Emile Griffith as a paid sparring partner and I love all the boxers like my sons.

Films do not lie, no one was “Disgusted” I gave Brannon a chance as promised but Jones was missing shots at the exact moment he asked me to stop it. Brannon, his corner and all the boxers at ringside who saw it close up said I did the right thing. Commentators sometimes miss everything. My Email is RLipt8@aol.com.

This was not a George Jones V BeathaevenScotland scenario, nor a Cotto v Yuri Foreman situation where Foreman was allowed to fight with a  crippled knee or a  Lebedev V Roy Jones Jr fight in Russia where Roy was allowed to be hit while totally helpless, nor a  Cooney V Norton,  RayMercer V Morrison, or a Tua V Ruiz where the boxers were taking shots while unconscious before intervention.  With Brannon the punches just preceding Jones asking me to step in were missing clearly.  If I stepped in then it would have been Jones V Sosa all over again.

respectfully,

Ron Lipton

Retired Police Officer
Pro Boxing Referee
Marist College Boxing Instructor
www.ronliptononline.com

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