WELL SAID.

My stepdad told me at least once a month at the dinner table when I was growing up that, "I had to eat a peck of dirt before I died". That idiom has stuck in my craw like a chicken bone long since his passing and I wonder if he was making an allusion to a paleo lifestyle before it became de rigueur. Peter's pickle peck is about 1/4 bushel which weighs about 10-14 lbs. If that is all he picked, he probably gets paid in Euro's and is unionized in Italy because that is not much to pick. Eating that amount of dirt however does seem a trifle unapetizing and I am more inclined to eat a peck of agave or Dreyer's before I die. I wonder what idioms will fester amongst my own children as I ladle out the wisdom of my Southern years. 'That dawg jus won't hunt!' Is frequently and firmly provided to my boys when asking if they might tarry past 12 at some social gathering where lady friends are present. 'I'd jump on that like a duck ona Junebug' might be muttered under my breath when Halle Berry is reading a book during her Swordfish days(why she didn't win an academy award for that Merryl Streepian artistic effort , I can't imagine) or when the Raiderettes show their unbridled enthusiam for that most rare of events-an endzone line crossing with the ball still in their posession. Chris Mobely and I went to high school together waaaaay back when and I'm fixin to give him my vote by proxy. Thanks for the research my man! Augie

Off topic, but I wanted to share a great article, originally in Scientific American, linked here in salon.com, regarding what a "paleo" diet really might have been, and how our digestive systems may have evolved further with the advent of agriculture, dairy farming, etc.: http://www.salon.com/2012/08/27/was_ancient_man_a_vegetarian/ I get several take-aways from the article. 1. Our guts provide clear evidence that we are omnivores. 2. Meat has typically been a relatively small portion of our ancestors' diets, but as omnivores with an omnivore's gut we are highly adaptable to a wide spectrum of diets, ranging from Eskimos eating blubber as a staple to veganism. 3. There is likely some individual variability regarding our ability to digest/tolerate certain foods, both as a result of our variable genetics as well as the variable genetics of our gut flora and fauna. 4. A true "paleo" diet would likely involve eating a lot of insects and a lot of half-rotten fruit, nuts, and leaves, much of it contaminated with feces and mold. Yuck. 5. Many hominids starved to death in the good old paleo days. What's worse-- dying of too much (bad) food, or dying of too little food at all? I vote for a diet somewhere between these two extremes.

correction: 95# went over my head (45# bar + 2x(25# plates) = 95)

I just wanted to take a minute to thank Fielding. I HATE Overhead squats with a severe passion. So much that I've never bothered to write down how much weight I've done because it's never been impressive. I think I got 65 lbs one day and was proud of myself, but anything past a bar was considered a success. During class yesterday, Fielding looked at us and said, "I know you can do more weight than this (we started with the bar), stop telling yourself you can't." Sure enough, after a few pointers and a few attempts, 90 lbs went over my head, down into a squat, and back up. So as much as I find sport in counterbalancing your use of black markers with PINK markers on the board, and as much as I pick on you for thinking the 2.5lb weights shouldn't be in the gym, yesterday was a really big day for me, and it probably wouldn't have happened unless you became that blunt outside voice telling me I can. Thanks again, Fielding.

I'm new to this and to the workout routines. Question: If I finish those 50 clean and jerks in less than 2 minutes am I excused from the lateral burpees ? (Yes, for anyone who is wondering, I AM kidding.)