MSI Press Blog

  a precerpt (excerpt prior to publication) from Grandma's Ninja Training Diary : Ninja Training and the Truth About Low-Carb Diets Once I started serious ninja training, diet became important, and the first thing I learned is that not all low-carb diets are alike. Cutting carbs is easy in theory—just avoid bread, rice, and sugar, right? But when your body is being pushed to its limits in training, the details of your nutrition matter more than ever. At first, I made the rookie mistake of assuming all low-carb plans were interchangeable. I experimented with keto, where fats dominate the plate, only to find my energy levels crashing during high-intensity workouts. I tried paleo, focusing on whole foods but still struggled to balance endurance and strength. It turned out that different low-carb approaches serve different goals—and not all of them align with the demands of serious physical training. The Problem with Blanket "Low-Carb" Labels The phrase "low-carb diet...

  Still in progress, but definitely in the line-up of future publications is Grandma's Ninja Training Diary -- the story and insights of a septaguanarian undertaking training in hopes of submitting an application tape to the ninja games (did not happen because of covid shutdowns and an interesting body discovery -- have to wait for the book to find that out). What was learned in the process, especially about the aging body and fitness, was pretty immense and will be shared in this "diary" in a unique way (experience of "Grandma" and discussion by her trainer, Brittany Renz, author of Girl, You Got This! ) intended to help those who are already in retirement keep fit.  So, aging muscles? Yep! Here are some articles that can shed some light on how they differ from the muscles of young'uns: 50-year-old muscles just can’t grow big like they used to – the biology of how muscles change with age  This is one of the best exercises you can do for your health if you’r...

  Ninja work requires strength, especially upper body strength. That is obvious to any who watch Ninja Warrior games, and I concentrated on upper body strength at every session with my trainer. But there is something else. When I began my ninja training, my bone tests showed mild osteoporosis, not atypical for my age. After a couple of years of strength training as part of my "ninja training, my bone density tested normal. The strength training added to the density of my leg and upper body bones. Walking took care of the spine. I used to think that walking was boring, and that walking was simple. You just put one step in front of the other over and over again, and soon you are striding along, losing weight and gaining health. Then, I learned about High-Intensity Interval Training , varying speed over time. My cup of tea. I could mis things up on an outdoor walk and distract myself from boredom by playing with the controls on the treadmill at the gym: fast, slow, almost-running, st...

(graphic by Casey Johnson, She's a Beast) I love the output of "She's a Beast" website and newsletters. Perhaps the best to date is a recent discussion of how to build a home gym. Everything they say about how to build a gym in " How to Set Up a Home Tinygym ," I have found to be right on. I realized early on when I was doing my ninja training that got derailed by covid shutdowns and family tragedy (and discovered reality) that I would need an at-home gym for a number of reasons: No gym was close by so going in several times a day was out of the question, but at home any time I go past the pull up bar, I can make some pullup attempts. When I am listening to the evening news I can grab some weights and work out while watching. On days when I had full work requirements that would not let me off for any amount of time, I had the gym at home where I could work out. (Disclosure: Much of my work is at-home, so I have an advantage there.) When the gym closed for co...

Just wanted to share two important pieces of information: (1) My trainer wrote a book about training while pregnant. (2) I changed my diary from ninja warrior to ninja training -- you have to be in training before you can be a warrior! For posts about my trainers's book, click HERE .