Adam Wik's Blog, page 13

Welcome Lift Big Eat Big Readers!

This is a bit of an impromptu update, but we’ve recently been shown some love on the Lift Big Eat Big Facebook page and wanted to say welcome!

Here are a handful of our more popular posts that you may be interested in:

The Pros and Cons of CrossFit
5 Reasons to Practice Parkour
Meditation 101
Caffeine as a Performance Enahncer
6 Reasons We Don’t Own a TV

If you like what you find here you can like us on Facebook or sign up for e-mail updates on the right side.

Thanks again to Lift Big Eat Big for sha...

How to Build Batman-Like Discipline and Willpower

Donning a costume and yelling may also increase your willpower.

Batman’s life sucks.

It does. He has nearly unlimited wealth and freedom as Bruce Wayne and he can never enjoy it. It’s nearly impossible for him to form meaningful relationships without the fear or pain of having that person murdered as a result of their involvement with him. His days are filled with rigorous training and his nights with battles that often come very close to being fatal. He’s eternally haunted by the memory of his...

Don’t Bench Press ’til You French Press – A Guide to Caffeine for Performance Enhancement

The drug of choice for millions can give you better workouts.

Caffeine is the number one most consumed drug in the world. It’s in soda, chocolate, coffee, tea, energy drinks and even a lot of herbal supplements. Most people are extremely familiar with – if not dependent on – the energy boost it provides. I know I tend to be somewhat less than peppy if I miss my morning coffee. What most people don’t know is that caffeine is an extremely effective performance enhancer for training.

If you know h...

The One Reason Every Traditional Language Class Fails

This is really not the best place to be learning a second language.

If you’ve gone through the school system or have attended a university in the U.S., chances are you’ve spent some time in a foreign language class. What’s more, unless you majored in that specific language, you probably don’t speak it all that well for having spent so much time in class. In fact most people, when asked, could barely function in the language they studied.

I was no different. At UC I took almost four years of Jap...

How to Get Fat

If you aspire to look like this, read on.

When it comes to health related things here we tend to focus on the best ways to get leaner, faster, stronger and more fit. What if you want the opposite though? What if instead of being strong and healthy you want to be massive and riddled with health problems?

If you’re the kind of person who dreams of one day having to buy two tickets every time you fly on an airplane, than you’re in luck – I’ve put together a basic guide on how to get fat.

1. Stop Mo...

An Admission of Failure: My Annual Review and 100th Post

This is late in coming, but it occurred to me recently that we had missed our annual review this year. It turned out to be somewhat fortuitous though - this came out to be our official 100th post since starting Road to Epic. It seemed fitting then to have my annual review now and see where I've succeeded, where I've failed and what things I need to change for my next year on Earth.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say 'annual review', you can find last year's annual review he...

How We Define Fluency

Everyone talks about fluency. They say this method is guaranteed to make you fluent. This course will make you fluent. This computer program is the key to fluency. Become fluent in 10 easy steps. Or maybe they're one of the people who claim only children can reach 'true' fluency in a language. The thing is, no one actually takes the time to explain what fluency means!

Why is that a problem? It's a problem because in my experience 'fluency' is one of those words where if you ask three people o...

I’m Fine, Thanks – A Short but Meaningful Look at Complacency

It’s taken me a while to write this review. Even though I first saw it when it was just released to donors, the message and meaning of the documentary have been floating around in my mind for the past two weeks and it’s been a bit of a challenge for me to sort out my resulting thoughts.

The premise of the documentary is that there is this ‘life script’ in which we’re told by society that we have to go to college and get a degree, get a secure job, get married to the best looking person we can...

Weaving Zen: A Life Lesson Learned from Knitting

Have you ever been so frustrated, so infuriated, by a task that seems to be absolutely impossible that you want to hurl something heavy through the nearest window and put your fist through the wall?

That was me the first time I tried knitting.

Defining Minimalism

When I mention to people that we're minimalists the responses tend to fall into one of two categories. The first category involves people giving me looks like I just told them I habitually stomp on kittens and wondering aloud how can I live without item X, usually television.

The second group involves haughty scoffing and being told that we'll never be True Minimalists ™ until we can fit all our worldly possessions into a single carry-on bag.

Both of these groups suffer from the same problem....