Seriously, guys, stupid gimmicks are not the trick to good looks, athleticism, or what-have-you. Shoes are pretty important in the grand scheme of things. If you wear crappy shoes, it will be unpleasant to walk around and impossible to run, and people need to walk around and run sometimes. You should probably have specific shoes for running (whether or not they should be traditional "running shoes" is, perhaps, up for debate), but all of your shoes should let you walk comfortably or you are being foolish. Kids, there are no shortcuts. If you want to look athletic, you need to train like an athlete. Or at least move around a little bit. Stupid shoes won't help. Here's a tip: calves don't respond to anything, glutes and hamstrings respond to heavy deadlifts and squats.

In other news, there are some bloody strong people at my gym. This one guy just barely missed a 705# deadlift in a competition. Intense. He hit the high 600s successfully and should have 700 by the end of the year. That qualifies as legitimate. Other guys in the upper 600s. I'll be in the 500s soon. 600 is probably outside of my potential, or at least my potential given how much I can dedicate to this. 600, to my mind, is like the marker between the men and the boys.

Which sort of makes this claim by Crossfit ludicrous:

We can take you from a 200 pound max deadlift to a 500-750 pound max deadlift in two years while only pulling max singles four or five times a year.

Followed by this clarification later:

It was a hypothesis stated as fact with zero intent to mislead. I still like the number and if I had to pick the upper range today for two years of CF, 750 would be the number.

500 is conceivable as a low end. In two years, a healthy athletic male should be over 405 and 500 is reasonable. 600 would also be a reasonable upper bound to claim. At that point, there could be reasonable debate over whether people typically hit the 500-600 range. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. 750 is ludicrous to include in the range except as deceptive marketing copy.

Crap, why am I going into this? I was talking about shoes and my goals.

Other things that suck: Rosetta Stone. I feel sorry for anybody who purchases that crappy software for "learning" languages. Do not buy. As useful as a chocolate teapot. You might learn some vocabulary. Which is helpful. But light years away from what you actually need to learn the language. Anyway, strong gzt recommendation: do not ever spend money on Rosetta Stone. It does not and cannot work.

I have an appointment with my advisor. I should roll. Well, I have lunch, then that. He has a new office every time I see him.