Browsing Tag

Health

Blog Featured April 24, 2026

Weight is a willpower and math problem

Before I get into this, I want to make one thing clear: this isn’t about moral judgement or assigning blame. It’s about being honest when we define the problem. It’s really hard to solve a problem when you define it poorly, and we’re bad at this one as a society. We preach stupid diets, market miracle exercise machines, and blame the people who fail when these things don’t work for very obvious…

Blog July 26, 2025

Is HRT/TRT Cheating?

As a middle-aged man I see a lot ads and noise around testosterone and hormone replacement therapy. Spent some time digging into the research and other scientific data recently, thought it would be useful to discuss some of the nuance that is often missed.…

Blog April 2, 2025

Zone 2 is magic, not a shortcut

I’ve been planning this post for a long time, then a couple weeks ago the NYT posted this article about how Zone 2 isn’t magic. It was all the push I needed… Because it is kind of right, but also mostly wrong. I think the author doesn’t understand how this works, but it’s possible that they dumbed it down so much that it only appears that way because the article is intended…

Featured Review August 22, 2023

Mark Nolden MD / NorthShore Medical Group : Lumbar Microdiscectomy Hemilaminectomy

I am unfortunate to have had multiple surgeries, both in general and on my back. I am also unfortunate in that both of the recoveries from my lumbar microdiscectomies didn’t quite go to plan. I’m not going to repeat how I got to the place where I needed a second microdiscectomy. Or technically, a revision microdiscectomy and hemilaminectomy. I only say that to provide context; getting old sucks, but the alternative is…

Featured Review May 10, 2023

Kern Singh MD / Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush : Lumbar Microdiscectomy

A few months ago I posted about getting lumbar microdiscectomy to deal with an L5/S1 disc herniation. This is a review of my experience. Unfortunately, it did not go well. To be clear, this is not an indictment of this surgical technique. I know people who have had excellent results with the procedure, and there’s a very good chance that I will be lining up again for a second go, but next…

Blog Featured January 25, 2023

Glad I got the MRI

I’m going to say it started seven or eight years ago, but the more I think about it the more I suspect that the issues with my lower back began quite a bit longer ago than that. But that’s when it hit the place where I couldn’t ignore it anymore, so let’s roll with it. And by “couldn’t ignore” I mean crippling pain. It hurt to walk on uneven surfaces, I couldn’t…

Blog December 16, 2022

Move More? Have A Better COVID-19 Outcome.

If you needed another reason to feel good about all those hours you spend pushing the pedals, pounding the pavement, or even swimming. Let’s bask in the finding in this study, which looked at the relationship between COVID-19 outcomes and levels of physical activity.…

Blog Featured December 1, 2022

Meating in the Middle

A few years ago, my rapidly upward trending cholesterol and high blood pressure scared me into pursuing a Plant Biased (or based, or… something very close to Vegan) diet. Which had an immediate, and positive impact. Can’t say that I was surprised by that, turning off the red meat and cheese tap has a well documented impact on those naughty numbers. When I started it, the intent was to try it for…

News June 2, 2022

Antibiotics May Impact Endurance Athletes

Anecdotally, I have absolutely noticed a decline in motivation and performance after a course of antibiotics. Although, in each of these cases there has also been a reason why I was taking the antibiotics. Usually because I crashed my bike and needed them to prevent or fight off an infection. For that reason, I’ve never really thought about the potential that antibiotics were exacerbating the problem – until last night when I…

Blog August 6, 2021

Another nail in the Keto coffin

I have lots of opinions. Some of them are well-founded, other’s a bit more fluid ;). I do try to keep on top of the important ones, with the idea that as the best available information changes, it might be necessary to change my opinion as well. This is not shaping up to be one of those cases. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t think that Keto is a great diet for…

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