30.03.07
Posted in Crossfit, General at 3:20 pm by Colin McNulty
2 weeks ago I tried out the “Christine” Crossfit workout as part of the Athletic Skills Level 1 (well rounded beginner) and failed to meet the 15 minute target, only managing 19 minutes and 1 second. Christine is this workout:
- 3 rounds of:
- 500m Row
- 12 Dead lifts
- 21 box jumps
Whilst there’s no prescribed weight or height, the Crossfit Manchester instructors set me 60kg dead lifts and 20″ (inch) box jumps. It was disappointing to fail it then, so today I tried again. I’ve been working on my rowing technique to actually row slightly slower in order to stay fresher. Hare and the tortoise and all that. 
Cutting a long story short, I paced myself much better and completed the first round in 4:30, giving me 30 secs lead (5 mins per round to get 3 rounds in the 15 min target). The 2nd round was getting very hard work as I couldn’t afford to take more than a few seconds rest and I was getting very “blowey”, but I got the 2nd round in just under 5 mins, giving me about 40 seconds room.
3rd round was very tough. I’m afraid there was grunting and groaning, especially the row, sweat was dripping off my face, nose, eyelids, the works, and I barely kept the 500m row to under 2:10. 12 dead lifts were done in 3 sets, but took over a minute. I know from the clock I had a little over 2 minutes for 21 box jumps, about 5 seconds each but by now I was ready to sit on my 4ss.
It was the slowest box jumps yet, but I managed it with 22 seconds spare, time: 14:38 ! 
I failed this 2 weeks ago, but Crossfit has a habit of surprising me. 4 minutes 23 seconds faster, a massive 23% improvement! I put this down to 2 things I think, the first was (bizarrely) taking Christine slower. I know it sounds odd, but by not going all guns, and pacing myself, I could keep going with less rests. Crossfit is all about work and effort, the (one of the) mantras is: stronger, fitter, faster. I did the same amount of work, but in less time, so power output was higher, and that will get me fitter in the long run.
The second is possibly the zone diet, I’m not sure I’m bursting with energy, but I certainly feel less tired and since I started the zone diet, my performance has definitely improved, as today can attest to.
15 minutes continuous work and I was wasted, but that’s my penultimate skill in the Athletic Skills Level 1 requirements. I have but to do a 1 mile run in 9 minutes, and I can call myself a “Well Rounded Beginner”, lol. I’m very pleased with my Crossfit performance to be honest. I’ve only really been doing Crossfit for about 2 months properly, and to get all but one of the Athletic requirements for Skills Level 1 in 2 months, has actually surprised me. I had set a goal of achieving this by 1st June 2007, now is just that run, maybe the zone diet will help with that too….
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28.03.07
Posted in Crossfit, General at 9:06 pm by Colin McNulty
In separate news, down at the Crossfit gym today, I got a new personal best in back squats. Well actually, you could argue I got 4 PB’s.
My previous crossfit back squat personal best was 110kg’s. Today I did 7 single reps at these weights:
- 90kg
- 100kg
- 110kg
- 115kg - PB
- 120kg - PB
- 125kg - PB
- 130kg - PB
Very pleased with these back squats. PB’s make you feel alive.
For reference, 130kg is 286lbs, or 20 stone 6. That’s the equivalent of my brother sat on my shoulders, with my daughter on one of his shoulders, and his step daughter on his other !!! Blimey. This after just 2 months of Crossfit, I tell you, it’ll change your life.
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Posted in General, The Zone Diet at 8:49 pm by Colin McNulty
The kid has been asking for mashed potatoes for a while, which are pretty hard to do on the Zone Diet. Well I say hard, the zone carb block system means that boiled potatoes are 3 blocks per cup (250ml) which is not a lot. Anyway, tonights Zone recipe was Lamb Burgers, Mash Potato, Broccoli and Gravy ! Doesn’t sound very zone to me, here’s how I did it, I make 10 block meals (10 zone blocks of protein, 10 blocks of carbs, 10 blocks of fat).
12 oz Lamb Burgers (cooked weight was 10.5oz) = 7 zone blocks of protein - 7P
3 oz Cheddar Cheese = 3P
1 cup boiled potatoes = 3 zone blocks of carbs - 3C
3 3/4 cups of broccoli = 3C
45 grams of Bisto Beef gravy granules = 4C
1 2/3 teaspoon of butter = 5 zone blocks of fat - 5F
1 2/3 teaspoon of mayonnaise = 5F
So that’s my 10 zone blocks of protein, and 10 carbs and 10 fat.
Steam the potatoes and broccoli.
Grill the burgers.
Mash the potatoes when ready adding in the butter, mayo and grated cheese, along with a dollop of whole grain mustard.
Just add water to the gravy, along with some crushed garlic and an oxo cube.
That’s it, a very easy traditional meal on the zone diet.
I served myself half (a 5 block meal, my zone diet plan is 5-5-1-5-1), the wife a 2 block portion (her zone diet plan is 2-2-2-2-2) and the kid got a 3 blocker. All had large portion sizes, thanks to the broccoli.
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27.03.07
Posted in General, Home Business Opportunities at 10:07 am by Colin McNulty
It’s a fact that many individuals are turning their focus to the world wide web to make a living these days. After all, there are a plethora of home business opportunities to check out and earn income from. One of the most popular however is selling stuff on auction websites such as eBay.
If you are only interested in fast riches however, eBay is probably not for you. Despite its opportunities, there are still some downsides to eBay as a home business opportunity. For one, you cannot anticipate immediate returns in your money, because although there is certainly a wide market reach, there are also many sellers. What’s more, there are the power sellers who have achieved their own loyal following. So here are some useful tips that can help you in becoming an effective eBay player as your home business opportunity.
Research best practice. As well as the tips here, see what that experts say. But don’t take their word for it, check out home business opportunity reviews of systems like Oliver Goehlers’ EBay Kommando .
Begin small. When you are an eBay beginner, you will not have much in the way of positive feedback to give potential buyers confidence in your goods, so it could take awhile to find buyers as some will shy away. Search your house for items you need to get rid of, and give a virtual car boot sale. This way, it will not hurt your bank book much at the same time perking up your account with positive feedback on relatively small invaluable items. Your home business begins at home.
Look for things in your community. When you are starting to be recognized in eBay, you can gather items for selling from garage sales within your community. Don’t get rubbish though. What you should do is try to make an good deal by buying quality items at a cheap price that you can sell on, on eBay for a profit. A combination of saleable products with a cheap price will always attract consumers and thus increase your income.
Advertise. When you think you have at least basic knowledge on eBay, then you can begin really promoting your business. A good way to create new business is to put advertisements in your local shops or in local newspapers offering to buy goods. It works this way: individuals give you their goods to sell on eBay for them, and you take a percentage off the price. Be a little careful here, there maybe some local laws in force that control such practices, so you had better check your local government legislature about them. You don’t want your home business opportunity turning into a home business disaster.
Research your options. When it comes to home business opportunities, like in eBay, there are many sources for potential goods to sell. For one, estate attorneys have clients who want to sell their recently deceased relatives belongings. Storage facilities keep goods people don’t have room for and sooner or later they may want to sell, so inquire from your local storage facility if they’d be willing to give out information about your home business to those who ask. The most essential thing is you get yourself identified in eBay to help your home business grow.
Find a suitable wholesaler as partner. Individuals who make lots of money on eBay often take this route at some point. Partnering with a wholesaler is an excellent way to get a profit, because the wholesaler will usually handle storage and even shipping, so all you have to do is point customers their way. This is called Drop Shipping. Start the bidding off with a price somewhere between wholesale and retail, if possible. That way, customers will still see it as a deal and you are very likely to obtain a nice profit margin. Not bad for a home business huh? Sell someone elses stuff, which you don’t even see and take a profit for it!
Despite eBay being one of the effective home business opportunities around, you still have to work hard and apply ample time and effort. Don’t anticipate unlimited riches right away, and be willing to give your home business opportunity time to grow and you will be able to build a booming work from home business that will give you financial security and the freedom to spend more time with family and friends.
eBay is but one of many hundreds if not thousands of home business opportunities. Take a look at at the Business Opportunity Review site for examples of other home business opportunities like the Cash on Demand system by the excellent Andrew Reynolds
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26.03.07
Posted in Crossfit, General, The Zone Diet at 8:49 pm by Colin McNulty
My last post on body fat percentage calculations shows that I calculated a body fat percentage of 27% (down from 29% after 2 months of Crossfit, and 2 weeks of the zone diet). As I weigh 14 stone 10 (206 lbs) that means my actual body fat is:
206 lbs x 27% = 55.62 lbs, which is just about 4 stone exactly. Eeek!
Anyway, this leaves a lean body mass (meaning everything else) of 206 - 56 = 150 lbs, or 10 stone 10 lbs.
Now, on Dr. Barry Sears’ the Zone Diet, this figure can be used to calculate what my protein intake on the zone diet should be, measured in protein blocks of course (a block being 7g of protein). The only issue is picking my level of activity, options are:
- 0.5 = Sedentary
- 0.6 = Light - just walking
- 0.7 = Moderate - 30 mins per day, 3x a week
- 0.8 = Active - 1 hour per day, 5x a week
- 0.9 = Very Active - 2 hours per day, 5x per week
- 1.0 = Heavy Weight Training - or twice a day exercise, 5x a week
Hmm so where does Crossfit fall into this? By definition Crossfit is maximum intensity workouts, and I’m going 4-5 times a week. Each session is an hour, but that’s not continuous (it’d be impossible to do a continuous hour of Crossfit I think!). Let’s go for Active at 0.8 and see how we do.
Now what I’ve not said is what the numbers mean, on the Zone Diet, the numbers are your Protein Requirements, measured as Grams per pound of lean body mass. We already know my lean body mass is 150 lbs, so:
0.8 x 150 = 120 grams of protein a day.
A zone block is 7 grams of protein, so:
120 / 7 = 17 protein blocks per day. Which is strangely fortuitous, as Mark and Karl, the coaches at Crossfit Manchester already prescribed me as a 17 block per day zone diet plan. Or most specifically a 5 - 5 - 1 - 5 - 1 block zone diet plan. Nice to know they know what they are talking about!
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25.03.07
Posted in Crossfit, General, The Zone Diet at 7:46 pm by Colin McNulty
I’m doing 2 things new this year: one is to get fit by exercising the Crossfit way the other (which is actually a result of Crossfit) is to try the Zone Diet Book, by Dr. Barry Sears (UK).
So I figured it would be a good idea to monitor my percentage body fat, here’s how I calculated my body fat percentage based on figures 2 months ago, and figures now (now being after 2 months of Crossfit and 2 weeks of The Zone). I used the method described in the Dr. Barry Sears Enter The Zone (USA) diet book. The method for men is this (women is different, you’ll have to buy the book):
1) Measure the circumference of your waist across your belly button, the tape measure must remain level with the ground.
2) Measure your wrist, where your wrist bends, in the space between your wrist bone and your main hand hand.
3) Subtract the wrist measurement (2) from your waist circumference (1).
4) Weigh yourself.
5) Look up the figures (3) and (4) on the chart in the book, and see what your percentage body fat calculation is.
Two months ago, my body fat calculation went like this:
1) 42.5 inches waist
2) 8 inches wrist
3) 42.5 - 8 = 34.5 inches
4) 14 stone 10 = 206 lbs
5) 29% calculated body fat percentage
Now after 2 months Crossfit, and 2 weeks on the Zone, I’ve lost an inch round my waist but maintained weight (implying I’m putting on muscle), so my body fat calculation goes like this:
1) 41.5 inches waist
2) 8 inches wrist
3) 41.5 - 8 = 33.5 inches
4) 14 stone 10 = 206 lbs
5) 27% calculated body fat percentage
Which I have to say I’m quite pleased about. In fact just this morning I tried on 3 pairs of 36 inch jeans I haven’t worn for over 3 years, and they all fit (I normally wear 38 inch)! My body fat percentage has dropped 2%, my waist is thinner, I’m in jeans I haven’t worn for 3 years. And it’s all down to Crossfit and Dr. Barry Sears’ The Zone Diet Book.
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22.03.07
Posted in General, Search Engine Optimization at 3:07 pm by Colin McNulty
There are many reasons to do Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising through internet search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo, when compared with established advertising systems, but the main one is that almost all established advertising and marketing methods are dumb broadcast methods to consumers who have shown little or no interest in buying your service. I’m thinking of magazine ads, bill board posters, radio ads etc etc. They are all broadcast ads. It is probably fair to say that some are more targeted than others, if you are selling funky car parts, you put adverts in a car modders magazine, but that’s a course technique these days.
Search Google for “beds” and on the right hand side, you’ll see links by websites who are paying Google to have their advert and site shown on the first page of results for people who are searching for beds. This is PPC Advertising and this is why Google now leads the search engines with a multi $Billion turnover.
What about someone searching Yahoo for “What’s the best marketing company in Manchester?” That’s a user that right at that moment in time is interested in learning a very specific thing. If you sell marketing services in Manchester, and expect to offer a service that can help that potential client, you’d better hope that you’re on the first page of Yahoo or which ever Search Engine you prefer. How much is it worth to you to have that user visit your website within three seconds of typing that into the search engine?
You might search engine optimise your website to make sure you have first page rankings for your search term, but it takes time usually measured in months and a reasonable investment in cash (whether that’s to pay someone who knows what they are talking about, or to learn how to do it yourself). This is where paid internet marketing really is most effective, and is not used enough as far as I’m concerned. Your site could be on the first page of Google, MSN and Yahoo the same day for your search term, and all for a relatively low budget. In a week (maybe less) you’d have some idea of the quantity of consumers that are definately searching for that term, browsing your website, and purchasing your product or service. This is real time research into your specific market for a very small budget that it is simply not possible to get any other way.
Lets say that the campaign costs you 20p (or 40 cents if you prefer dollars) per click, and 500 people click your ad making a total spend of £100 ($200). And say your conversion rate is a reasonable one percent, so you’ve got 5 new sales and more importantly 5 new customers that you can now up sell to. All this for £100 spent ($200) or just £20 ($40 each)! How much is your average consumer worth in total? What’s a new customer worth to your business? Isn’t this worth it?
A fundamental thing to comprehend is how the Search Engine ranks the sponsored PPC marketing ads. In essence it’s a real time auction. The highest bidder wins. If you bid 20p and someone else bids 25p, they will rank higher than yours. It is in fact definitely more involved than that: if you have a better quality PPC ads, it’s likely for you to rank higher than the 25p advert because the search engine will give boosts to better performing PPC ads. The point is that if your Pay Per Click expert knows what (s)he’s doing with PPC bid management, it’s probably you will achieve higher rankings (read more traffic) for less money. So your limited online website promotion budget is stretched and you save budget. Conversely, if your AdWords ad campaign is administered by someone who has no idea their job, it will cost you real money.
Some of the tasks an expert Google Advertising Professional should be doing whilst administering your account, and if yours isn’t, we strongly advise you get a review of your online Pay Per Click Advertising campaign today:
Be in it to Win It - The whole point of PPC bid campaigns is to get on the very first page of your Yahoo, search engine, MSN etc fast. However, where there is in excess of eight (typically) even PPC ads can drop off the 1st page. Where there is competition like this, there is absolutely no point doing a PPC marketing campaign if you’re not on the first page, so either boost your Cost Per Click (CPC) settings, or forget it.
Landing Page Optimisation - A common issue is not matching the webpage that people land on when they click your advert, to the words found in your advert; which definitely should be targeted at what the consumer searched for. This just means that when the consumer clicks your Advert, they get to see what they want to. Did you know that internet users are lazy? Would you believe that did you know that half of all internet browsers leave a website in under eight seconds because they don’t find what they expected!
Broad / Phrase / Exact Matching - Google PPC Advertising allow 3 alternative ways to match search terms to your keywords, but many online marketers just go for the default matching option. You could double your traffic from intelligent use of the other options which many careless Google Advertising Professionals do not even bother with.
Split Testing your Ads - This is good PPC technique and simply means having more than one advert and testing which works the best. Here is one example, we had 2 adverts which were the same in every way except the start of the title. One started “Learn to Prevent…” and the other started with “Stop…”. Split testing determined that 5 percent of the people who saw the “Learn to Prevent….” clicked it. BUT 8 percent of the people who saw the “Stop…” advert clicked that one. It will not surprise you to learn that, we dropped the first advert and got a better quality advert which ultimately Google promoted to the top ad position on the page, for the same CPC!
Have Many Ad Groups - The elementary amateur mistake is to group all your keywords together to supply a single advert. This is usually bad. Keywords should be divided into separate groups with advert text that accurately show the keywords searched for.
Tracking for Better Website ROI - This is modern marketing, this is not traditional marketing, so use that to your advantage. The technology exists to monitor every sale and where it comes from. You will learn definitely which advert converts to sales and which do not. Remember, it’s one thing to get significant traffic, it’s another to have lots of sales. What would you prefer to have for PPC internet advertising: an advert that generates one thousand clicks and one percent sales, or one that generates 100 leads and ten% sales? For both you gain the same sales, but the 1st costs you ten times as much in PPC advertising budget.
If you would like to talk to a Google AdWords Qualified Individual about a Pay Per Click review or if you’re interested in outsourcing the whole setup and running of your PPC campaign to a Pay Per Click Management Company, or if you just want to find out how you can get Better Website Return on Investment (ROI), then visit www.Intrinsic-Marketing.co.uk a Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization Firm.
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21.03.07
Posted in Crossfit, General at 5:13 pm by Colin McNulty
Today was a nice heavy Crossfit exercise day: 7 rounds of 3 reps each of front squats, working up to max. My 3 rep blocks:
50kg - 60kg - 65kg - 70kg (PB) - 75kg (PB) - 80kg (PB) - 70kg
I was pleased to bump up my Personal Best (PB) at front squats from 65kg to 80kg. The limiter really is the flexibility of my wrists and fingers, they hurt like hell after a few reps trying to bend to keep the bar on my shoulders. Here is a (poor quality) video, note the bendy wrists, that’s what hurts.
I’ve actually been stretching my wrists and fingers whilst stuck in traffic, as I think the weight isn’t the problem. When I’m lifting, it’s my fingers and wrist that hurt which makes me stop. Once I get more flexibility, I’ll hopefully be able to lift more.
Rowing Tabata
As it was a heavy day, there was energy to spare so I did a Rowing Tabata with one of the other guys: Paul, who is a superb rower. If you don’t know, a Tabata (of any exercise) is this: 8 rounds of - 20 secs work, 10 secs rest, and you “score” it by counting the worst round you did.
So a rowing Tabata is 20 secs of rowing and the machine measures the distance in metres. Rest for 10 secs, then repeat… for 8 rounds total. My results in metres: 103 - 103 - 105 - 101 - 99 - 97 - 96 - 97. It sounds easy, but I can tell you it’s incredibly hard work and we were both sweating, puffing, panting and groaning at the end of just 4 minutes work!
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Posted in Crossfit, General at 5:08 pm by Colin McNulty
Yesterday was the Crossfit routine known as Kelly down at the Manchester / Stockport Crossfit gym:5 rounds for time of:
- 400m run (430m for us round the Mill)
- 30 box jumps (20″ for me)
- 30 wall balls (16 lb ball for me)
Running is my nemesis, so this was always going to be a sucky routine. It was never going to be about time for me, just to see if I could finish. Which I did in 43:57 which for Crossfit is a very long exercise routine!
I was very close to not finishing this. Crossfit, when it comes in forms of an exercise routine like Kelly, is extremely challenging and pushes you (well me anyway) far beyond what I normally think I’m capable of. This actually exposes one of the key benefits of going to a proper Crossfit gym rather than working from a Garage gym - the encouragement of your peers, and the butt kicking of the trainers to push you to your limits. Most people will quite reasonably stop exercising way before that point!
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20.03.07
Posted in General, Search Engine Optimization at 10:05 am by Colin McNulty
In a current murder trial, circumstantial evidence is being heaped up against Melanie McGuire by computer forensic specialists who have trawled computers she’s used to determine that she searched Google and MSN for details of how to kill some one. Specifically she researched gun law and drugs and poisons.
McGuire allegedly murdered her husband with a gun and then dismembered his body, placing parts of his body in 3 suitcases found in the Chesapeake Bay back in 2004. Evidence from the computers has revealed that they were used to search for:
- “How To Commit Murder.”
- “instant poisons“
- “undetectable poisons“
- “fatal digoxin doses“
- gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
So, when you’re planning to murder your spouse, be careful what you search for!
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