More P90X Workout Sheets
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog on February 15th, 2010
Get P90X Workout Sheets!
Sorry for the extra click, but there’s a new home for the information I had here on P90X workout sheets, along with the workout plans for P90X Plus, INSANITY, ChaLEAN Extreme, and RevAbs…
How Do You Say Siberian Cat?
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Siberian Cats on February 11th, 2010
Having been a bit of a linguist (I majored in Russian with a minor in French and a tiny bit of German), I was curious to see in how many different languages I could find “Siberian cat.”
I can’t confess to a completely exhaustive search, but here’s what I’ve found so far, plus some great submissions by other folks. Note that some of these are in non-latin alphabets, so your browser migh not recognize them if you don’t happen to have that font set installed.
| Arabic | القط السيبيري |
| Czech | Sibiřská kočka |
| Danish | Sibiriske kat |
| Dutch | Siberische Kat |
| English | Siberian Cat |
| Estonian | Siberi kass |
| Finnish | Siperiankissa |
| French | Chat de Sibérie (“Sibérien”) |
| Gaelic | Cat Sibéireach |
| German | Sibirische Katze |
| Hebrew | חתול סיבירי |
| Hungarian | Szibériai Macska |
| Italian | Gatto Siberiano |
| Japanese | サイベリアン |
| Latvian | Sibīrijas kaķi |
| Lithuanian | Sibiro katinas |
| Norwegian | Sibir Katt |
| Polish | Syberyjski Kot |
| Portugese | Gato siberiano |
| Russian | Сибирская кошка |
| Slovenian | Sibirski mucek |
| Spanish | Gato Siberiano |
| Swedish | Sibirisk Katt |
If you know how to say “Siberian cat” in a language that I don’t have listed, or if I’ve made a mistake in the list above, please send it to me and I’ll include it here!
And a big “Thank you” for:
- Doris for the Danish version
- Fran for the update to the French version
- Dar & Eyal for the Hebrew version
- Daisy for the Arabic version
- Merja for the Swedish version
- Ruta for the Lithuanian version
- Eamon for the Gaelic version
- Merja for the Estonian and Latvian versions
- Eva for fixing the Czech version
- Cristiana for the Portugese and Slovenian versions
- Corina for the Japanese version
- Marijke for correcting the Dutch version
Cover Art for In Her Name: Legend of the Sword
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Book News on February 10th, 2010
With In Her Name: Legend of the Sword nearing completion – I’m hoping to have the Kindle and Mobipocket versions released within the next week, with the print version following not too long after – it was time to finalize the cover art. We had quite a bit of back and forth about it on Kindleboards, but here’s what I finally decided on…
Snowpocalypse 2010: Round 1
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Other Stuff on February 9th, 2010
Okay, I’ve had enough snow already. Really. Snowpocalypse 2010 Round 1 snow storm was enough: we got a full two feet, and maybe a bit more. I know that’s nothing compared to the folks up in the Great White North, but here in Maryland we panic at the sight of the first snowflake (and hey, I’m from Phoenix Arizona, where we only see pictures of snow and panic).
The crowning glory of Round 1 was that we lost power for 32 hours. I bought a diesel backup generator a couple years ago after we lost power for a couple days after a hurricane, and thought, “Hey, we’ve got this in the bag!” Half an hour of cursing and cranking later, the generator sputtered into life, then died after about thirty seconds. Is that typical, or what? Needless to say, as soon as the snow is cleared enough for people to make their way out again, I’m having a local backup power company come and install a natural gas-fed standby generator that takes care of itself and comes on any time the power goes out. I’m not going to mess around with that again!
Fortunately, the stores weren’t too bad last night when we made our resupply run in anticipation of Snowpocalyps 2010 Round 2, which is supposed to dump another ten to twenty inches of chilly white stuff on us. The good news is that work was closed again, but we’re not looking forward to shoveling the driveway out again: the piles of snow we made after Round 1 were as tall as my wife, Jan!
In the meantime, I’ll try to get more revisions done on Legend of the Sword, and get in a P90X Core Synergistics workout to get loosened up for the shovel-fest!
Beachbody’s P90X – A Quick Overview
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in Fitness Blog on February 8th, 2010
I’ve gotten a number of questions lately on Facebook and Twitter about P90X by Beachbody, and thought it would be worth giving you some of my overall impressions of the program (I’ll save more in-depth reviews for later).
The first thing I have to say is that the P90X program really is complete, moreso than any of the other Beachbody programs (in my opinion). What I mean by that is that it’s not just packed with great workouts and a schedule to do them, but it also has an incredibly thorough nutrition guide. And that’s something I want to emphasize right up front: while the eye-catching part is the workouts, your success is going to largely depend on how well (or poorly) you follow the nutrition part of the program. That’s hard for me to emphasize enough: if you don’t change the way you’re eating and follow the guide, you’ll get in better shape and be stronger at the end by following the exercise routine, but you won’t come close to achieving optimal results.
Both the nutrition and the workout guides are packed with good information that’s very well-structured, and there is a LOT of it: take some time to really get acquainted with both manuals before you start.
The DVDs are, not surprisingly, extremely well done, and there are a lot of them: thirteen, to be precise! I’m not going to cover all the workouts here in any detail, but I did want to make a few observations based on our previous experience with Power 90, Power 90 Master Series, and ChaLEAN Extreme.
Being a veteran of the other workout programs, I was not nearly as intimidated by the workout routines as I thought I might be. While they’re definitely extreme and really tough, the programs we’ve already done have provided us with a great foundation. We saw a number of familiar exercises – along with lots of new ones! – and that gave me a greater sense of confidence. Ironically, this was particularly the case with Cardio X: after some of the cardio workouts in ChaLEAN, this one’s not a huge deal.
To be perfectly honest, that’s probably the one major downside to P90X for me: a lot of the exercises in the cardio routines were a bit too familiar. This wouldn’t be an issue for anyone jumping right into P90X, but if you’ve done the other Power 90 series workouts, it’s something to keep in mind. The good news is that it’s easy to substitute for cardio with workouts from other programs (particularly ChaLEAN Extreme and INSANITY, if you’re in good enough condition), or any other cardio activity like running, biking, etc.
The main concern I have with the weight training workouts are simply that, in addition to being extremely intense, they’re long (a full hour, including warmup and cool down, plus Ab Ripper X), so muscular endurance is an issue. And that brings us right back around to the nutrition portion of the program: it’s very clear (over and above the admonitions in the P90X documentation) that you’ve GOT to ensure that you’re eating properly to give yourself enough fuel to do the workouts, and enough protein to repair and build muscle.
Actually, the toughest workout for me is Yoga X. If you think yoga is for sissies, you’ll change your tune after you do this workout the first time. I’m not a yoga buff, but I can’t argue with the benefits of concentration, flexibility, and control that it gives you. The big downside with this particular workout, though, is how long it is: 90 minutes. That’s really hard for me to do during the week, so when I don’t have enough time I substitute the Dynamic Flow Yoga workout from ChaLEAN Extreme, which is 40 minutes long (I really like that workout, especially the guided meditation part Chalene Johnson does at the end).
Finally, if you’ve seen the P90X infomercial and are thinking about buying it, consider this: if you’re in good shape and you exercise fairly regularly, go for it! But if you’ve been sedentary or only work out every once in a while, please consider what you’re getting into. It’s called an “extreme” fitness program for a reason! If you’re not already in good shape, you really should think about starting with Power 90, Power 90 Master Series, or ChaLEAN Extreme to build up a good foundation before you tackle P90X. You want it to be a challenge, but not so much that you get discouraged and drop the program.
And remember: as with all Beachbody programs, there is an absolutely awesome support community with on-line forums and independent coaches like my wife, Jan. Joining Team Beachbody is absolutely free, and is one of the best things you can do to help ensure your success!
Amazon vs. Macmillan: Clash of the Titans
Posted by: Michael R. Hicks in About Publishing, Book News on February 1st, 2010
If you’ve been scoping out books at Amazon over the last couple of days, you may have noticed that a lot of books have suddenly had their “buy now” buttons disappear. That’s because there’s a big fight going on between Amazon and the publishing house of Macmillan, both giants in their respective fields of retail and publishing.
The cause of the tiff? Macmillan wants Amazon to set higher prices – $12.99 to $14.99 – for ebooks versions of bestsellers and hardcover releases in the Amazon Kindle store. Amazon, to their credit, said not only no, but hell no, and pulled the “buy now” buttons for all of its Macmillan titles in protest. That’s got to be putting a huge squeeze on Macmillan and, unfortunately, its authors.
Amazon noted that, unfortunately, in the end they’ll have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms (which, as of today, they have), because they want to continue to offer their titles, and it will be up to consumers to decide if they want to pay these higher prices (from the Amazon Kindle Team announcement). But I still have to hand it to them for at least popping Macmillan in the nose.
There’s a lot that’s going on behind the scenes on this, and the best summary of the shenanigans – and a lot of other great insights for both readers and authors – I’ve seen thus far is on author J.A. Konrath’s blog. But to me this is really the first clear and unequivocal signal that the times, they are a-changing, even if the big publishers like Macmillan want to remain rooted in the past. Why? Because the changes on the horizon, which I think are inevitable in this age of technology, threaten to completely destroy the business model that’s been sustaining them for – literally – centuries.
As a friend of mine once told me, “In dysfunction, there is opportunity,” and the exposure of the dysfunctional business models of traditional publishers offer some great potential opportunities for readers and authors alike, especially when readers are confronted with higher prices and authors with cuts in their royalties.
For readers, you’re going to see a lot more in the way of choices of what to read. The publishing houses are already starting to lose their power to dictate what is published, which in turn dictates what you have available to read. There’s a growing number of independent and small press publishers out there with great stories to tell, and the vast majority of them offer their work at “value” prices. Why? Because the price doesn’t have to support the huge infrastructure of a major publishing house that specializes in printing and distributing paper. On top of that, even when selling at a much lower price, many of these authors make more on each book sold than they would on sales of books through a publisher. Cheap eBooks can be good for both the reader and the author.
For authors, technology like Amazon’s Digital Text Platform and Smashwords allow you to get your work out to the world for free. You’re still responsible for making sure it’s professional grade (proofing, editing, cover art, etc.), but the profit margins are better and you’re in control. Amazon’s royalties are currently 35% of the price you set (although they can set whatever retail price they want), and at Smashwords it’s a whopping 85%, although that venue isn’t nearly as popular (yet). And Amazon is also introducing in June a 70% royalty for authors whose books meet certain criteria, namely prices in the $2.99 to $9.99 range. To me, the jury’s still out on other distribution channels like the Nook by Barnes & Noble and the recently introduced Apple iPad (and Apple is peripherally involved in the brouhaha between Amazon and Macmillan, as Steve Jobs is apparently content with letting the publishers dictate the prices for iBooks), but they’re still part of the wave of technology that is looming on the horizon.
So, keep an eye on the prices in the eBook stores and exercise your power as a consumer: if something costs more than you think it should, don’t buy it. There are lots of other alternatives waiting for you out there.
