John's Favorite Things!

[John Stone]

My grill is the from the Weber Genesis Series. I've had my grill for almost two years now, and despite VERY heavy use, it has never let me down.

The build quality is magnificent. Also, initial assembly is very fast and easy, and requires no tools.

The main grilling area is huge (611 square inches) and it has a total of 36,000 BTU-per-hour. There is
also a 12,000 BTU side burner.

The main cooking area is divided into three individually controllable sections, so if you want part of the grill at a lower temperature it's no problem. The "flavorizer bars" do a great job of preventing flare-ups.

There is an electronic crossover ignition, so you never need matches to fire the grill up--just press a button and you are grilling! The Genesis is so reliable and easy to use that I cook with it far more than I do with my indoor oven.

The grill heats up quickly, and can easily reach temperatures of over 700 degrees (F), which is very important for getting that perfect restaurant-style crust on your steaks.

There is a built-in temperature gauge on the front of the attractive and durable stainless steel housing. The grill also has a very large storage area with doors, and a handy side rack which holds up to four grilling tools. There are two handy flip-up work shelves that quickly lock into place when you need them, and can be tucked away when you don't.

The grill is backed by a limited lifetime warranty, but you'll probably never need it.

It's not an inexpensive grill, but it's one that will last forever and the quality puts every other grill I've owned to shame. Highly recommended!

[John Stone]

This morning I'm going to add the new body fat caliper I've been using for the past few weeks.

The caliper is the FatTrack PRO Digital Body Fat Management System with FREE Composition Tracker Body Fat Tracking Software.

It's a good caliper, and it has a lot of useful features such as the ability to set up to 50 user profiles, built-in 3-site and 7-site formulas (Jackson/Pollock) and a digital display. Another cool feature is that you can also retake a single measurement without starting over if you goof up. The caliper can be run in manual mode so you can perform 9-point tests (formulas for 9-site and other tests are included with the documentation, but you'll need to compute those manually). I've found the built-in 7-point test produces the same end result as the 9-point test.

Like any skinfold caliper, practice is required to get accurate and consistent results. The 3-point test can be done without assistance, but the 7-point test requires a second person for the tricep and subscapula locations.

My only complaint is that the user interface is a little clunky and not as an intuitive as I'd like it to be. Once the profiles are set up, this is not really an issue.

The caliper comes with a pretty nice carrying case and detailed instructions.

[John Stone]

I forgot to mention in yesterday's update that I performed my first real cardio workout on my new recumbent bike (Schwinn, model 231) this past Tuesday afternoon. It was a 14-minute HIIT cardio session. I did 45 seconds intervals: 45 seconds at level 6 going at a moderate pace, followed by 45 seconds going "all out" on level 10 (there are 16 levels of resistance).

I read the instructions, and it's possible to create up to two custom workouts (in addition to the 10 pre-programmed workouts). The way it works is you select custom program "01" or "02", then input how long you want the workout to last, set the initial resistance level and you're off. While you perform your cardio, you'll need to change the resistance level manually to let the computer know your desired intervals. After that first session the computer is supposed to automatically save the intervals you used into the custom program you selected. I think did something wrong, because it doesn't seem to remember the intervals I used. I'm going to perform some quick tests today and figure it out once and for all, then I'll program a couple of good HIIT workouts.
The bike is awesome, I'm really happy with it. The only time it makes any noise is when the resistance level is changed, and the movement of the pedals is very smooth. The seat is ultra-comfortable and fully adjustable, including the height of the seat back. The heart rate monitor is actually very accurate, which surprised me (I checked it against my Polar HR monitor). The only caveat is that have to keep both hands on the lower grips the entire time. If you take your hands off the sensors to grab your water bottle or something, it loses track pretty quickly. I'll continue to use my Polar, but it's nice to know that the built-in HR monitor is there as a backup.

Speaking of water bottles, the water bottle holder is placed under the seat and is very easy to reach while riding. It holds a 700ml water bottle perfectly.

Assembly was a breeze, and took about 1.5 hours. The assembly instructions were very clear and extremely well done. I also like that the instruction manual talks about the importance of diet and strength training. While most visitors to this site already know that, most people don't.

Build quality seems excellent. I expect this bike is going to last a very long time. I've destroyed plenty of cardio equipment over the past 4.5 years, and there is a noticeable difference in quality with this bike as compared to the other stuff I've purchased.

At just over $500.00, I think the Schwinn 231 strikes an excellent balance between price and performance, and has earned a spot in my Favorite Things thread.

Here's the bike fully assembled in my home gym:

[John Stone]

I got my new Blendtec Total Blender a few days ago, and it was worth every last penny.




The first thing I made in the blender was my 4th meal: 75g of Nitrean, 1/2 cup raw oats, 16 ounces of water and lots of ice. I threw all the stuff in the blender, put the lid on and hit the "Smoothie" button. The blender automatically speeds up and slows down to make sure everything is mixed, and then stops when it's done. The blender only ran for about 15 seconds, and I thought "There's no way all that ice is crushed!" There was not a single ice chip left, and the mixture was perfectly smooth and consistent. My old blender took forever to crush ice, and even then there were always a few large chunks of ice.

Just for fun, I put a bunch of ice in the blender and hit the "crush ice" button. It didn't just crush the ice, it literally turned it into powdered snow. I'm serious, I made a snowball out of it. You can make snowcones with this machine. Check out this video:



How about turning granulated sugar into powdered sugar?



During my workouts I sip on 4 scoops of lemon Xtend in water. Wednesday I put all that in the blender along with a bunch of ice and made an awesome lemon slushy. It was great!

The blender also comes with a very nice 246-page recipe book. The book is full color, has lots of pictures and is printed on glossy pages. It's packed with all kinds of recipes, from drinks to bread (you can make dough with this blender). There are quite a few healthy recipes, too.

Here are a couple more videos:







For more information and lots of fun and interesting "Will it blend?" videos, check out the Will It Blend? website.

[John Stone]

I love the Cateye CC-MC100W Micro Wireless 10-Function Bicycle Computer. If you do any biking at all, it's well worth the ~40 bones.

I need to comment on the installation of the bike computer. The Amazon reviews on the actual product are almost unanimously excellent, but some people really railed on the installation instructions, complaining that they were all but impossible to follow. In fact, some of the installation instruction comments were so negative that I almost didn't order this model. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. I don't know if the people complaining just didn't take a few minutes to study the installation/part diagrams or what, but that's all it took to make everything very clear. I had the unit installed and working perfectly in less than 15 minutes. The installation was actually very easy, and required no tools. Could the instructions use some improvement? Absolutely. Are they difficult to follow? Not if you're willing to invest a couple minutes making sure you understand everything before you start.

Anyway, the computer can be mounted on the stem or the handlebars (I choose the stem-mounted option), and the remote wireless sensor is installed on the fork. The setup of the computer is very easy: you simply enter your choice of MPH or KPH, the current time and your bike's wheel diameter in mm.

Here's a picture of the stem-mounted Cateye CC-MC100W Micro Wireless 10-Function Bicycle Computer after my first ride:



Here's the wireless sensor mounted on the fork. You can also see the small silver magnet (which is what the sensor reads) clamped to one of the spokes.



Complete list of functions and features: Current speed, maximum speed, trip distance 1 & 2, average speed 1 & 2, elapsed time 1 & 2, clock, wireless, backlight, menu screen, pace arrow, convertible speed unit, manual odometer set, dual tire sizes, sleep mode, stem or handlebar mount, auto or manual start/stop, universal bracket/sensor mounts, auto power saving.

While I can't attest to the longevity of this product, I can tell you that so far I'm totally happy with my purchase. Highly recommended!