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Why the skinny struggle is real
(Updated January 2018) Being skinny can be rough. We grow up around people who gain weight by accident, and then when we turn to the fitness industry, we find ourselves slotted into a footnote: "Oh yeah, and if you're naturally skinny, you've got a fast metabolism and whatnot so, you know, just eat more."
I know that advice would work fine for most guys, but the fact that we aren't most guys is precisely why we're being given that advice in the first place, and also why that advice fails. Hard. For most guys, eating lots of food and gaining weight is second nature. If you tell the average guy to "just eat more," he'd be able to. No problem. Hell, he'd probably even like it (until he got fat).
What they don't realize is that telling us to eat more is as useless as us telling them, "Just eat less—duh." That's not going to solve any problems. In fact, if you go around telling people that, you're probably going to get in a fight. (And if you're going to go around getting in fights, it might help to build some muscle first. Luckily, that's what this article is about.)
It's no surprise that during our first weight gain attempts, most of us lose weight. That clues us into the fact that we're different, and we assume that we're doomed to be skinny forever.
But that doesn't make sense either. The best athletes, the most famous sex icons—most are ectomorphs. I mean, look at Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Cristiano Ronaldo, Connor McGregor and Michael Jordan. These guys are hardly suffering for being ectomorphs. They've found a way to get around their skinny genetics and live the biggest lives ever.
So what's going on here? Why is it so damn difficult for us to gain weight? What's going on with our small stomachs, meagre appetites, raging metabolisms, long limbs and stubborn muscles? Is building muscle even possible? And if so, how?
Well, for the skinny guys who are still worried that gaining weight is impossible for them, this one's for you.
Men aren't supposed to gain weight easily
Up until recently, being overweight was actually pretty rare. To quote the researcher Alan Aragon, "The human body wasn't designed to overeat. Just a quick glance at the consequences of long-term overeating can tell us that the body doesn't cope with it too well. That's probably why there are several mechanisms in place to signal hunger and satiety so that energy balance can be met most of the time."
Said more normally: if you're a healthy person, your body will make it very hard for you to overeat.
Huh? Has this researcher never stepped outside of his research lab? Most people are overweight. Obviously that's false… right?
It seems false now, but for most of human history, obesity wasn't really a thing. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in 1960, only 13% of Americans over the age of twenty were obese. Then foods started becoming cheaper, higher in calories, and tastier.
So people started eating more. The modern man started eating 400 more calories than his father did (study). That's enough of a calorie surplus to gain almost a pound each week. By 2008, 34% of Americans were obese.
How do we know for sure that this is because junk food is messing with appetite regulation? We can't say for sure, but there's a lot of supporting evidence for it, making it the leading hypothesis. For example, there's a 1992 study where people were given an unlimited amount of vending machine foods to eat. The study participants accidentally gained a couple pounds in a single week.
So it's not that people are eating too many carbs (as researchers like Gary Taubes thought), or that they're eating too much fat (as Dean Ornish thought), but because of the delicious combination of processed carbs and fats found in junk food. These foods are low protein, low fibre, high carb, high fat, salty and sweet. A perfect storm for accidental weight gain.
Overeating is hard, but junk food makes it far easier. So much easier that a third of people are obese, almost everyone else is overweight, and only 3% of people are trying to gain weight. 3%. That's an unbelievable minority. Such a tiny group of people that the fitness and health industries will often just ignore us entirely, focusing on the far bigger issue of far bigger people.
This is where a lot of us make a huge mistake. I made it myself. We read mainstream fitness information as if we're the target audience. We forget that it's almost always weight loss information. Even if it's "muscle-building" information, it's usually written for guys who are naturally beefy—guys who are trying to chisel out their muscles from under their fat, not trying to build new muscle mass.
And this is also where a mystery starts to develop.
Why are we so totally immune to the so-called obesity epidemic?
Why it's so difficult for ectomorphs to gain weight
So, first of all, a person who is naturally skinny is called an "ectomorph." It's an old term with a strange history, invented by the psychologist William Sheldon in the 1940's. As a psychologist, he was wrong about almost everything. It's hard to find a psychologist more discredited than Sheldon. But he did discover that some guys are naturally skinny, and he finally gave us a name. He also called us fidgety and fragile, which I'm not too keen on—and he's clearly never seen Fight Club—but, well, at least we have a name now.
And that name has stuck! 70 years later, and it's still the best way to describe our body type.
An ectomorph is a person with some combination of:
- A modest appetite
- A small stomach
- A fast metabolism
- Long, lanky limbs
- Thin bones
- Narrow shoulders
Most of us will have a couple of those traits, some of us will have all of those traits.
Why are some of us shaped this way? Well, according to the Smithsonian, it was an evolutionary adaptation to help us survive running around in hotter climates. They believe that it's no coincidence that Inuit people tend to be short, stocky endomorphs who retain body heat extremely efficiently, whereas Ethiopians tend to be built like marathon runners, finding it very difficult to gain weight. Now, the difference between people tends to be bigger than the difference between peoples, so you get people with ectomorph genetics sprinkled into every population on earth.
Whether or not that hypothesis is correct, the basis for their hypothesis is rooted in indisputable science: having longer, thinner bodies gives us greater surface area relative to our volume, which means that we're very good at radiating our heat outwards.
As a naturally skinny guy living up in Canada, this blew my mind. I'm living in a cold climate with a body type designed to radiate heat outwards, not keep it in. It's no wonder that I burn through so many calories.
But there's more to it than that. Having longer limbs means it takes more energy to move, and having a narrower torso means that there's less room for our stomach, and having thinner bones means that we naturally support less muscle mass, and having narrower shoulders makes it way harder to activate certain muscles when lifting (such as our chests).
All of these issues compound, and can make it seem like it's almost impossible to gain weight.
So being shaped like an ectomorph makes it far harder to gain weight, but if we find a way to eat enough calories, we'll gain weight then, right?
The hardgainer dilemma
This is where things get pretty strange. Experts used to argue that, yes, ectomorphs will gain weight just like everyone else so long as we get into a calorie surplus. Research started coming out showing that we're just really bad at estimating how many calories we're eating. We think we're eating a lot, but because of our naturally smaller stomachs, smaller appetites, and higher calorie needs, it just isn't enough calories (study, study, study). This is what you'll hear a lot of the "just eat more" people saying.
… But even when we do succeed at eating enough, we still resist weight gain. Our body has another layer of obesity resistance. On top of everything else, when we get into a calorie surplus, we start burning calories through subconscious activity—radiating more body heat, fidgeting, and standing with less efficient posture (study).
This is called non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). It basically means that our bodies would rather burn off energy as heat or movement than store it as body fat. A study looking into metabolisms found that most people burned 3% more calories sitting in a chair than they did lying motionless on their backs. Add in some fidgeting, though, and they burned 54% more calories. When standing, the average person burns 13% more calories than when lying on their backs, but the hardgainers burned 94% more calories (study).
While just casually standing next to a friend, you can have almost double his metabolism just because you're standing like a hardgainer.
Now, some of our heightened metabolism is just wasted energy. For example, accidentally sitting and standing with poor posture not only reduces our athleticism and attractiveness, but also makes it harder to stay focused while working and harder to stay comfortable while standing. As naturally skinny guys, our favourite stance is usually this one:
If we strengthen the postural muscles that hold us in a more neutral position, we can sit, stand and move around much more easily—and look better while doing it. With proper posture, our head can rest comfortably on our spine, which has cushioning between each joint, instead of being held out in front of us, tiring out our necks and upper backs. Improving our posture can also improve our spinal health, reduce back pain, and prevent injury.
However, in most other ways, our naturally adaptive "hardgainer" metabolism is amazing. It's a natural defence mechanism against obesity, not against muscle mass. While it can seem like burning all these extra calories is a disadvantage, this is actually one of our best genetic advantages.
If we force our body to prioritize muscle growth through exercise, extra calories will first be invested into muscle mass. Then, once our rate of muscle growth is capped, we'll start burning off the extra calories through heat and movement, keeping us from storing those extra calories as fat.
Let me give you an example.
Let's say an endomorph follows a good muscle-building program and eats a 1,000-calorie surplus every day. That's enough to gain about 2 pounds in a week. So he'll gain, say, a pound of muscle and a pound of fat.
Now let's say an ectomorph follows a good muscle-building program eats a 1,000-calorie surplus every day. That's still enough for him to theoretically gain 2 pounds, but what's more likely to happen is that he'll gain a pound of muscle, and then the extra pound will be burned off. He builds just as much muscle, but he avoids the fat gain.
This allows ectomorphs—especially naturally lean "hardgainer" ectomorphs—to bulk far more aggressively. This is a great genetic advantage.
The problem is that most of us ectomorphs don't exercise in a way that causes our body to prioritize muscle growth. This causes most of our surplus calories to simply be burned off. And what isn't burned off will often just be stored as fat. This can be incredibly frustrating, but all that's happening is that we're staying the same instead of getting fat. It's not preventing us from building muscle.
So let's move on to exercise.
Exercising to Build Muscle
There are a lot of different ways to exercise, and it can be hard to figure out what they're all for. Is swimming a good way to build a fit physique? Will martial arts make us ripped? Are bodyweight exercises good for building functional muscle? What about CrossFit?
There's also bodybuilding, which is designed specifically to stimulate muscle growth… but what if we aren't even trying to look like bodybuilders? What if we're trying to build an athletic physique? Can't we do athletic things instead?
That's what I thought. I wasn't trying to become a bodybuilder. I just didn't want to be so skinny anymore. I would have loved to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, for example. So I thought that I could use other types of exercise to build the physique I wanted.
That set me up for years of frustration.
I did everything I could to build muscle while avoiding lifting weights at all costs. After all, many of my friends had great physiques just from being generally athletic people. Some of them weren't even athletic, and didn't seem to do anything—they just seemed naturally strong. So first I tried swimming, then I tried bodyweight exercises, then I tried martial arts… and only then did I realize, okay, obviously this stuff isn't working. What's working for other people isn't working for me, so it must be my genetics.
Looking back, that was foolish of me. The people I knew didn't need to lift weights because they already had enough muscle. It's not that they were building all that much muscle from bodyweight exercises, it's just that they were losing some fat and gaining better muscle definition.
I wasn't failing at building muscle because I had poor muscle-building genetics, I was failing at building muscle because I had been avoiding the type of exercise designed to build muscle. When I first started following a good muscle-building program (including learning how to eat enough) and gained 10 pounds of muscle in my first month, I felt pretty foolish. But then after a few years of running Bony to Beastly, I learned that so many ectomorphs shy away from lifting weights. This is a mistake that most of us make.
Frankly, it's understandable. Going into any new social setting is intimidating, but going into a gym can be an especially intimidating place for a natural skinny guy, or a guy who can't lift a lot, or a guy who isn't familiar with the basic lifts. We are often all three of these things.
Unless you've got truly incredible self confidence, going to the gym can be a true test of your character.
For someone who just wants to build muscle, not test their self-esteem, that sucks.
But if we spend our time jogging around trying to get fitter, we're running with our strengths (pun intended) instead of strengthening our weaknesses (is that a pun?). If we want to become strong, athletic, attractive guys, we need to strengthen our weaknesses.
Trying to build a muscular physique with other types of exercise is like using a unicycle to do your grocery shopping instead of a car. It's possible yes, and if you go on YouTube, I'm sure you'll see some people doing it, but it's needlessly difficult. And if it's already harder for our body type to build muscle, we don't need those extra layers of difficulty.
We're the type of people who can get fit and lean even while being careless, not the type of people who can build muscle while being careless. We can build muscle incredibly well, but only if we do it properly.
We're already good at avoiding obesity and improving our cardiovascular health. That's half the battle won. But we don't have dense bones, or strong muscles, and we aren't shaped by a powerful V-tapered physique.
So just like a naturally strongish chubby guy will probably suck at cardio and feel embarrassed on a treadmill but need to do it anyway to improve his cardiovascular health, us skinny guys need to lift weights in order to make the most of ourselves.
Even that can be confusing, though. The fitness industry makes it seem so, so convoluted. As if there's all this conflicting information. And until we have a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of muscle growth, it's really difficult to understand what's going on. Who's telling the truth? What does the science actually say? And does the scientific research even agree with itself?
What type of lifting is best for building muscle?
So let's say you've gotten to the point where you realize that you need to lift weights in order to build muscle. That narrows things down, but there are still a lot of mysteries ahead of you. There's strength training, bodybuilding, split routines, full body routines, this theory, that theory. What's the best for building muscle?
Let's break it down.
There used to be two main types of weightlifting: strength training and bodybuilding.
Powerlifters and Olympic lifters would do strength training. It's hard on your joints, and it prioritizes lower body growth, but it's an amazing way for guys to build strong bodies and compete with one another.
Bodybuilders, fitness models, actors, and everyone else who was mainly interested in looking better gravitated towards bodybuilding instead. It's a fairly safe way of lifting, and it's actually pretty good for your health, but it started getting a stigma for being the vainer way to lift weights.
Recently a third type of lifting has sprung up. Some people call it high intensity power training (HIPT), others call it high intensity functional training (HIFT). Most people just call it CrossFit. It's great for improving general fitness, but it's designed primarily for competition and community, not building muscle. Like using a unicycle to do your grocery shopping, CrossFit adds a level of complexity that can make things more interesting for people who are looking for a challenge. But if you want to build muscle quickly or efficiently, skip it.
Unfortunately, CrossFit is just one example. The same is true for a lot of sporty fitness things: martial arts, callisthenics, p90x, Insanity, etc. They help us burn calories (not a good thing for us) and they help us develop better coordination, fitness and stabilizer muscles, but they're ineffective ways to gain weight and build muscle. They're so ineffective for building muscle that we might soon start thinking that our genetics suck.
This is another example of mainstream fitness stuff misleading us because we're not the majority. As we start researching how to build muscle, we tend to find types of lifting designed for improving fitness (CrossFit, Insanity, P90X, etc) or improving powerlifting strength (Starting Strength, Stronglifts, etc). The fitness stuff won't help us build muscle, and the strength stuff will have us learning complicated movements that direct most of our muscle growth towards our lower bodies, which doesn't give us great results in the mirror, and leaves us feeling discouraged.
Some guys get lucky, and they start down the bodybuilding road, but that road is fraught with peril as well. So many of the popular bodybuilding routines trickle down from famous professional bodybuilders who have been lifting weights for decades (often on steroids) and have totally different needs from a guy who hasn't already gained 50 pounds of muscle. Even after gaining 55 pounds of muscle, those routines are still the wrong approach for me.
Moreover, most bodybuilders have no trouble eating enough to gain weight. They love bulking diets. So most of their diet routines are full of fat loss information. (Some of them aren't. It really depends. But that's what can make it so confusing.)
The good news is that there's actually quite of lot of research being conducted into muscle growth these days. Muscle is so important for athletes, and it's so important for our general health, that the science is becoming very thorough. That wasn't the case in the 80's, when bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger were having to figure stuff out through trial and error.
This means that we can take the most effective parts of each style of training and ditch the stuff that's been proven ineffective or irrelevant for our goals.
Dr. Brad Schoenfeld's research has proven that full-body routines stimulate more muscle growth than split routines, so that's a good place to start. Muscles grow best when stimulated 2–3 times per week, so we can schedule 2–3 full-body workouts per week.
His research has also proven that strength training is great for stimulating muscle growth via mechanical tension, so we can start our full-body routine with a little strength training. We can prioritize the biggest compound lifts that will stimulate the most muscles at once, such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, chin-up, row and overhead press.
That same research also shows that bodybuilding is superior for stimulating muscle growth via metabolic stress, so we can add that in too. Also, Dr. James Krieger's meta-analyses have shown that muscle grows more quickly with more volume (more sets/reps). Other research shows that bodybuilding is the most ideal for boosting volume because it stimulates a maximal amount of muscle growth with a minimal amount of time, energy and overall stress on your body.
And we know that some muscles are more attractive than others (full article here), so we can prioritize shoulder, chest and arm growth while just making sure that our legs are strong and functional. This gets most of our growth happening in the places with the most visual impact, but we still build powerful, athletic, and healthy bodies.
But this brings us to another problem…
Going to the gym can be rough for us skinny guys
Ectomorphs are built incredibly well for many sports. We have light bodies and long legs, making us great at running (see every marathon runner ever). We have long arms and aerodynamic torsos, making us great at swimming (see Michael Phelps). We have a light body weight and a long reach, making us great at fighting (see Connor McGregor) and basketball (see Lebron James). We excel at sports where being proportionally long and light are an asset, not a disadvantage.
Unfortunately, weightlifting is not one of those sports. Well, except for the deadlift, which is arguably the most badass of all lifts. The deadlift favours our long reach and light bodyweight, and a routine designed for ectomorphs will capitalize on that.
But aside from the deadlift, weightlifting is a sport that stubby people excel at. Their shorter limbs mean that they have proportionally larger muscles, shorter lever lengths, and shorter ranges of motion. This means that a little muscle will go a long way, both in terms of lifting performance and how big their muscles look.
Moreover, since our spines are long, thin and not held in place by thick strong musculature yet, even the deadlift can be difficult to learn. Even though we don't excel at it right away, though, this makes the deadlift an extremely important lift for us. It builds up the musculature surrounding our spine that will fix and strengthen our posture.
This doesn't mean that we can't build muscle by lifting weights, or even that we can't become amazing weightlifters, but it does mean that we can't just jump into a strength training routine and expect to excel at it. We need to be more methodological about this. We need to take into account that our body type isn't the average body type, and that we have different weaknesses and advantages.
We talk about some solutions for these weightlifting issues in our article, Why Ectomorphs Need to Lift a Little Differently.
So the skinny struggle is real. What should we do?
We've got a lot of obstacles in our way. Not because our body type is bad, but because it's rare. We have just as many natural advantages as disadvantages, it's just that following mainstream fitness advice is like shooting yourself in the stomach. It can often make it harder to gain weight because there are all these fat loss tricks buried into the advice.
"Eat clean." Uhhh, you mean reduce our calorie intake by removing the highest calorie foods from our diets? Well, that's a bad idea.
"Try intermittent fasting." Huh, and skip breakfast, meaning we need to eat an even bigger lunch and dinner? No thanks.
This is why the skinny struggle is real.
This is why most of us will go through a period of assuming being an ectomorph sucks. We might wish we had a different body type. We forget that our body type is probably the best one of all. Most of the sex icons in Hollywood are ectomorphs, and most of the athletes who are famous for having badass bodies are ectomorphs too (Cristiano Ronaldo and Connor McGregor, to name two of them).
We just need to learn how to combine a good ectomorph diet with a good ectomorph lifting program. Once we can do that, we can build muscle. And not in a slow and patient way either. We're far enough away from our genetic muscular potential that we can usually build muscle more quickly than the other body types.
Here's my progress over the course of a couple years:
You can do the same. In fact, you can do better. I made a lot of mistakes, and it took me a long time to figure out how to do this properly. I waisted 5 years trying and failing, doing everything I could to gain weight by not gaining a single pound. In fact, I lost 5 pounds.
We want to save you from that fate. So here's an article we wrote about how to eat more as an ectomorph. Here's an article about how to lift as an ectomorph. I think those articles are a good place to start if you're interested in learning a little more about this stuff.
If you're sick and tired of being skinny and you want to start building muscle now, today, that's what the Bony to Beastly Program is for. We cover all the fundamentals of nutrition and appetite manipulation, and we have Gain-Easy recipe book full of delicious, cheap and convenient bulking meals. On the lifting side, we have a fully optimized bulking program designed with pure muscle growth in mind, and we have a video course that will teach you all of the lifts in the program, starting with simpler variations and bringing you to an advanced level of the course of a few months. We'll also coach you through the whole program in the Beastly community, making sure that you overcome any obstacle you run into. And we guarantee your results with a full refund policy. 20 pounds in 3 months or every penny back.
So the skinny struggle is real, but you can do this. And when you finally start succeeding, I think you'll realize how much of a blessing being an ectomorph can be 🙂
76 Comments
I totally get the name you use for the website, but I wish it were different. At 51, I'd guess I'm a bit older than most of your readers, and though age, a bit of insight and marriage to a beautiful woman have somewhat alleviated the insecurities of youth, I still have lingering frustrations about my natural body type, and am frankly embarrassed at the thought that someone might look over my shoulder and see the large B2B headline on my phone as I'm reading an article. I don't follow the B2B Facebook page or articles on Facebook because I'd be embarrassed to have my FB friends see it appear on my newsfeed. As you can tell from this post, I don't even like writing our the actual B2B name! Anyway, thanks for the articles — after decades of hearing nonsense like "just eat more!" and "I wish I had *your* problem" (yeah, right…) — even from doctors — it's good to read something from people that 'get it' and can help me address our specific issues. And if you'd ever consider changing your site name (maybe B2B with a subtitle in much smaller, discreet font?), I'd love it. And you'd probably get a ton more FB followers…. 🙂
I dunno, I honestly think that owning the journey of weight gain starts with admitting that you don't like the way you look/feel and want to change it. As guys I know we are not supposed to admit we have these self conscious thoughts about our bodies but we sure as hell do.
I think it stems from being called scrawny or bony all the time that tends to give an aversion to the name, but honestly, if you own that stigma as opposed to being embarrassed by it, it will make you feel 100% more confident.
Now where is my T-Shirt? 😛
Thanks for your responses. 🙂
Very interesting article. I've been doing somewhat of a high-calorie "clean-bulk". In other words I have been eating alot of everything, with the majority of my calories coming for protein and carbs and reaching around 4500 calories and lifting days. However, I've noticed a decent layer of fat that has developed over my abdominal region and also just a bit around my "love-handle" zone. I eat almost no junk food whats so ever, HOWEVER, in order to get that many calories I eat alot of nuts, seeds and cheeses and add alot of whole milk to my weight gaining shakes. Could this be a reason for the layer of fat ?
How might a pre-diabetic ectomorph be able to build the muscle mass that could increase his insulin sensitivity?
Shane, love every single post u make! I am a skinny guy but working pretty well on that. i won 16 pounds from april to now (159 pounds).
I would love for you to post something about what you eat before and after working out.
Pd: after workout i take 5g creatine
Thanks for the post bro!
Great article as usual! I have to say I guess I have become a gym rat 😀 I told my girl exactly "Just lift heavy and eat more …" but saved that confused look on her face "… but I will train with you and guide you." And she put on some weight real soon 🙂
I like this part:
"Genetics may load the gun, but lifestyle decisions pull the trigger."
Hi Shane, great article, as usual, and yes, the struggle is still real.
One of the things that i still have doubts about is the frequency of training. I know that you guys deffend the 3 days a week aproach, avoiding cardio, but i've recently read Joe Manganiello's book, who also struggled with weight gain for years, and he not only deffends a 6 day high intensity workout but also recommend some cardio. And he's not the only one.
Yes, we ectomorphs burn more calories, so it seems logical to go for a 3 day routine, but i've tried some 3 day routine for a long time, and based on my experience i think it only works for a while, mostly for begginers. At some point you'll get stuck and have to evolve to a 4, 5, and/or 6 day routine to improve your phisique. What's your opinion about it?
I really appreciate the article. I am 39, and after trying to gain muscle weight for seven months, I have gained no appreciable muscle mass but have gained 10 pounds of belly fat. I think I am truly a hardgainer and am considering quitting. I am 6'1″ and started lifting at about 157. I am now 168. I have followed the advice of your articles. I eat about 3000 calories on nonworkout days and 3300 on workout days, with nothing but healthy, high protein and low fat foods.
I know your advice may be to purchase your program, but I am just not sure it would do anything that I havent already tried. I have read most of your articles but I dont recall any of them talking about trying to gain muscle with the affects of low testosterone, which I believe I may have (havent actually been tested). Do you have any advice for guys who are not only skinny, but low in the T department?
Also, I have been reading the book "Scrawny to Brawny" by Michael Mejia. Do you have any opinion on this book?
Great article as always Shane. The struggle is real for me (still). I signed up to the program last summer I think (really lean black dude), I gained 8-10lbs. Then I injured my lower back and I couldn't lift anything at all for months. Yoga and extensive stretching everyday has really helped me. My main problem is consistency! It's frustrating, I've lost my appetite recently too because of stresses of life. but I just have to get up and go again, whilst I'm stressed people have it a lot worse than me. Also your point bout being intimidated in the gym is true, I used to feel like that, but then I look around and see all the different shapes and sizes trying to make a difference to themselves. It always helps if you flash a smile to someone you see on a regular basis too 🙂
Hi Shane!
Do you have any advice on how to strengthen my forearms for deadlifts? I could and i can lift more than what my forearms are capable of, i load the bar and start to pull, but my weak forearms cant hold the bar and it starts to slip… i cant finish phase 1 because my deadlifts suffer because of this. I want to continue phase 1 doing the workouts while also strengthening and growing my forearms bigger. I'm a little experienced lifter, my only problem is my weak forearms. I hold the bar with my fingers after the 3rd set of deadlifts and the next day my fingers hurt because of it.. What can i do to them?
Thanks for the answer.
If you're having trouble with maintaining your grip, you should get some straps and that will help you out a lot. Maybe even get some chalk or a good pay of gloves too. As an exercise, deadlifts will strengthen your forearms without question, there are other exercises like farmer carries, push ups and goblet squats in Phase 1 that help with your forearm strength. It's frustrating (I've had the same problem too) but you just have to keep calm and allow your strength to build up over time.
Thanks! And what if i am happy with the size of my legs but unhappy with the size of my chest and shoulders? Is it okay to change a squat exercise on the second or third day to a push exercise to inprove my chest and shoulders or would it be too much work for them?
Is there any way to gain weight without using weights? I have a dislocated collarbone which won't be treated for another half a year so I can't pick up weighs but I really need to do something about my skinny legs and thighs first which look like sticks and I'm tired of people starring at me because of that! ughh! I'm 19 years old, 6″0 and weight 55KG. Please help.
Your website is so helpful, much better than anything else I've found, so thank you already for that! Just wanted to ask for what would be a good workout plan with Dumbbells at home, like how often/what exercises/how long/many reps etc. Thank you!
I've noticed that after doing a workout, the part of my body that I work out (arms/chest for example) become filled/swollen [in a good way]. I take the proper post workout shake (protein/carbs/creatine). I was just wondering what this is and how I can keep that size on a more permanent level? I notice it goes away roughly within an hour or two.
Thanks for this article (and the whole website too)!
It's so great to finally have this feeling of a connection. To know that some people went through almost the same thing as I. Thanks especially for the paragraphs on Crossfit. I liked doing it, but it was also very discouraging, and now I realize that most of the guys and girls there were either chubby or came from a weight-lifting background or both.
Though it wasn't a waste of time entirely. Now my personal trainer compliments me for being able to squat very well. And I gained a kind of mental endurance and determination that helps in the gym too, I got used to exerting myself. It's a nice change though that when I feel like dying my couch tells me to stop for a while insted of "do it, 10 more!" 🙂
On that same note, at least in my experience, it is a HUGE advantage if you can find a gym buddy and/or a professional trainer/coach (preferably both). Obviously you guys here aim to cover the trainer part. Anyway, it was also kind of nice that my gym buddy and friend was bulky and pretty strong. Though he was a lot better at lifting, I was better at cardio and agility, so at least I didn't need to feel like a total loser.
Hello. I'm considering buying your program. Let me ask you, in your program there is a 20 week work out routine, right?
After that what happens? I just keep working out with the last phase for ever, or what?
I just wanted to say that everything you've said has resonated with me so much. Especially everything about talking to people that have gained muscle about my problems with gaining muscle. I've been struggling for the past 5 years to put on muscle. I've done hours upon hours of research and I've tried so many different training programs from Rippetoes "Starting Strength" to CrossFit and from trying to eat over 5000 calories a day, taking bulking shakes. I have had some hard fought and brutal success but far less than anyone else who has put as much effort as I have. Yet when I've gone to forums, posting my nutrition and training programs looking for help, the best I've been offered is "eat more…". I plan on joining the community to take from the expertise you have all gained as well as to maybe help where I can. The only real success I've ever had in putting on muscle was a 2 month journey through boot camp where calisthenics was the only training I got. Eating 3 meals a day I gained 15 pounds of muscle in 2 months so I know it's possible, though I've never been able to replicate that despite all my efforts. I look forward to joining the community! Keep up the good work.
Hi again!
Ok, so I've been on and around your fantastic website for 5 weeks or so, trying my best to follow your great advises. But my means where I am right now are limited. Food-wise, I have creatine but no protein supplement, I eat home made food, and after about 3 weeks "cutting" and loosing about 1kg (I was a tad skinny-fat) I am now eating as much as I can, with a focus on carbs and protein. Lifting-wise, I've also been following your recommendations from the posts, but I rarely can access a gym and I dont have ajustable dumbells at home. So I make do with my 2 heavy weights and a banister (to simulate rows!), following a good routine alternating core, chest, arms and back exercises every second day…
As a result? Well, I guess I might be on sloooowly re-gaining my kilo , hopefully in muscular mass. I feel stronger and I think I did take on some good volume… but more like in the beginning. Now since 3 weeks I really feel like I'm stuck. I compare pictures and I dont see any difference. Any possible advice??
So, I am seriously considering purchasing this program, but I'm always nervous that programs such as this will never actually make a difference for me.
This community looks encouraging and supportive, I am impressed that you take the time to reply so personally to comments, and this may be the first program that I have ever seen that was created by skinny people who actually have experienced the struggle of being a naturally skinny person.
Nonetheless, at this point in my life, I feel like it is impossible for me to gain muscle mass. I am very athletic. I am 6ft 2in, and I weigh in at an exasperating 115lbs. I am a competitive gymnast and a performing ballet dancer. I run marathons and Spartan races. I am particularly strong for my size and I do weight training regularly; currently I bench press 270lbs. I am always actively training to gain weight. (my current diet includes 1 gallon of milk, 1 dozen eggs, and 8 cups of rice per day + various fruits, vegetables, and meats)
At this point I am frustrated that I work so hard, that I am literally stronger and a more competent athlete than most of the burly muscle-bound men that I train with, and I still look like a prisoner of war. My friends are always like, "It's cool that you are so skinny and so strong, you should just accept yourself the way you are." But I'm not trying to turn myself into a totally different person. I just don't want to look like the walking dead. My goal weight is 145lbs, which I don't think should be so impossible. I know that I could be overtraining, and I realize that my athletic lifestyle includes a lot of cardio, but I don't want to give up dance and running when they are things that I excel at and enjoy. I just don't know what to do, and I'm worried that this program will just tell me to do a bunch of things that I am already doing.
(and I apologize for the long, rambling, frustrated post…)
Hey Shane,
Kudos for your soooo awesome site!I mean it's the next best thing since the creation of sushi.Your tips are soooo helpful.I have been an ecto all my life. Been going to the gym for years and i was mostly following the already-brawny-guys-routines which led me to desperation most of the time coz i wouldn't gain one pound of muscle instead i was shedding the few small ones that i had.I was desperate to the point that i would get wasted on cheap beer before going to the gym so i would feel stronger to hit the iron and a bit more self confident.Trust me fella,alcohol on an empty stomach and exercise worst combo ever .Then one day i just quit going to the gym.Became a hater, u know calling the brawny guys 'douche' and 'sack of meat'.Then i had to admit to myself that it was just self-hate(coz i couldn't achieve what those guys were achieving)and jealousy talking( coz it takes a lot of discipline and dedication to become a sack of meat and i didn't have it).Bodybuilding ain't for the squeamish!I somehow always knew that u don't get nothing out of hating on others but i still did it coz some friends were doing it too and sometimes it got the conversation flowing(misery loves company, they say!).Truth is i'm not a hater, never been so i took all that negative energy that i was wasting on hating on the beefy and i invested it in getting beefy.I'm from Canada(Montreal) and canadians are known to be always 'sorry'and for a while i was always sorry when i started my transformation.I was sorry for eating good food, sorry for training at the gym, sorry for getting brawny.I always felt that i had to apologize to friends who were passing easy judgement(u wanna join doucheville).But you know what?No more.Back in highschool,i was the skinny black kid who was always picked on because he was so scrawny and one time my gym teacher (who always made me play in the girls team)even told me that if i kept on doing his gym classes i would disappear since he felt that i was tooo skinny to be even seen).All my adulthood i could still dress with clothes from the kids department and i was obsessed with my two skinny arms dangling next to my body like a dazy teenager and in the summer time i always felt like hiding away. Now that i was trying to build the body of my dream and was gonna let other people's judgement get in my way ?No way José, i said to myself!I don't give a rat's ass about what others think.At the end of the day, it's myself that i have to face and live with and no matter what i do people will always have an opinion and i can't control that.I quit drinking a year ago and started going back to the gym since february.I go 4 times a week(even in our 7 months icing cold winter with snow,hail,ice and whatnot) while still doing my circus routines and my yoga.I have also been working as a life model for some painters and sculptors which gave me a boost of self-confidence.I feel stronger than ever.I now see my body as a cathedral.It's holy and i have to watch what i put in it. I fuel it with food that heps it thrive.I am 165 pounds now(started from 145 three months ago)and i love the way i look so far even if i still am 15 pounds short from my dream body(i should be there before this summer).I don't hate on skinny or fatty or brawny coz i have felt the sharp blade of easy judgement and i know too damn well that it doesn't feel good!Some would say that it's a constitutional right to hate on others.I agree but i have decided not to exercise that right.Leave it for others.
Shane, stumbling upon your site recently was like an awakening after years of sleep and man was I was overjoyed.Suddenly the world seemed brighter.Scrawny guys from all walks of life testitfying about their life experience.I think i must have read everything cover to cover.Big up to you Shane!
And to y'all ectos out there who are skeptical about what Shane is telling you, too bad!You do not have to follow everything the man says coz he's not posing himself as a guru.He's just trying to help and you are entitled to take his advice or not and it's not a miracle recipe for it can work for some and not for others but at least the recipe is out there.
One more thing to my ecto fellowship out there:Get off your scrawny bum and try something.Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will and if u don't settle for failure, you won't fail.It might take some time but each day and each workout will bring you closer to the body that u wanna walk in.U CAN DO IT!And don't forget to surround yourself with positivity.Negativity gets you nowhere but in a self-destructive path!So if your mama is negative,drop the mama until you have built up enough confidence to be around her then her nenergy(negative energy) won't shake you!One love!
Jeremie A.
Brilliant article, thanks! I'm 16 and about 125-130 lbs myself. I'd say I'm skinny but toned (mostly down to sports), however I have never been able to really gain weight, nor have I had the stomach to greatly increase my calorie intake, which is what I have been suggested by pretty much everyone.
I have a few questions:
1) Will endurance sports I do (like swimming and athletics) hinder my ability to gain weight/gain muscle mass?
2) What are the best exercises I can do at home without access to weights?
3) I've been doing regular sets of press ups and sit ups every two days to try to tone my abs and arms, is this pointless?
Great article! I pretty much made the same dietary mistakes you did, but I'm glad I can fix them now, as a 15 year old.
I have a question though: I play very competitive soccer, and I was wondering – Will it hinder muscle growth since it is more of a cardio vascular exercise?
[…] 3. Leg lifts burn the most calories. Just kidding. I mean, this is true, but I'm just kidding about this being a benefit for us. #ectomorphstruggles […]
[…] We know what it's like to be a skinny guy, and how hard it is gain weight. The skinny struggle is real. […]
I have a rather curious problem, I have been weightlifting for the last 6 months and in the process have also gained about 8 kgs of muscle. I notice a definite increase in my strength in the gym, but strangely I see no visual difference at all. I look the same now as I did before I gained 8 kgs. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Any inputs will be greatly appreciated.
test reply
Ok. Commenting did not work yesterday so I'll try again. So I have a really bad lower back problem since 2003, lifted too much and then I couldn't get out of bed for 3 days. Since then if I stand or walk for more than 30 minutes I get this awful pain like a pinched nerve between the vertebrae. Never went to the doctor with this but I think it is quite obvious that it's a problem I won't get rid of anytime soon. So the issue is that I've been avoiding deadlifts and such exercises that put pressure on that area as a precaution because I don't want to end up crippling myself. Do you have any suggestions on how to approach deadlifts without making my problem worse? I'm 6.2 height, 140 pounds. Thanks a lot. Cheers to all.
Hey Man,
Great articles. I really am thankful for being able to find your blog. Gave me a lot of motivation to get going.
I've been at the 3 times a week gym and have followed the advice you have laid out. Proud to say I have gained 2.7lbs and am seeing increase definition and strength. I just wanted to clarify: are the best workouts for gaining muscle 3x10s? I have been experimenting with 5x5s, 10x5s, 3x8s etc to see what works.
Also I've stepped up my nutrition and now am eating alot more protein – sardine omelettes after workouts and peanuts for snacks.
I've also been thinking of stepping it up to 4 times a week.
Is there any advice you think I need? I'm 20, 6'4, and currently 155.9lbs.
I was wondering if 16 was an age that's okay to start this program at. I am decently athletic and have a skinny kid six pack but I want to get bigger. I just wanna know if you think it's alright for me to use this and if it would work for me. Thank you.
Really like your website and all of the information that you generously provide for free. I'm considering signing up for the program for the community support as I continue my journey toward another 20-30 lbs. Four protein shakes a day for two months has helped me gain my first 10 lbs. … which is a start!
The blog post by Dr. B on testosterone was very helpful. I'm wondering if you could share your opinion on creatine and/or on Kaatsu training?
Holy crap! I know this is a site aimed at guys, but i'm an ectomorph female trying to gain muscle mass through weightlifting. I thought the whole hard gainer thing was just me so its amazing to find this site. Now i don't feel alone, i have brothers!ll
I'm actually a short guy mesomorph at 5'7″ (so kinda opposite), but I'm just starting to build my upper body. I frequent this site, despite not being an ectomorph, cause honestly Shane, your content is so damn interesting and informative and this kind of excellence is rare in the fitness world of gymbros and trendy nutritionists. I can't get enough.
What I've been looking for, though, is how to grow my shoulders. Specifically, I wondered how much wider it is possible to get. At 7 months into training, I have 44 inch shoulders (which I thought were thin compared to my very endomorphic brother). Seeing your transformation is a bit inspiring, and it lets me know that I can eventually make it past 50. If I get there, with my 29 inch waist, I'll be very happy.


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South Korean plastic surgery has become a way of life over there. Double eyelid surgery, jaw surgery and complete facial transformations are actually very socially acceptable in Korea. In fact, it's very common for girls (and guys) to ask their parents for plastic surgery as a graduation present. Over 20% of woman age 20 - 49 have admitted to getting cosmetic surgery. While most people only have minor procedures, there are those who take it to the absolute extreme. These 23 photos show how men and woman alike have completely change their appearance.
It's popular to get a large and/or round jaw shaved down to look smaller more petite. A small pointed chin is seen as being very attractive in South Korea. Also, it's common to get the eyes widened. These two procedures combined are enough to totally change anyones face.
This girl's face looks much more more petite now. Her jawline is much smaller and her eyes look a lot bigger. It's hard to believe this is even the same girl!

subset: commoncrawl


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Bangle History and Information
1. In the start bangles were simple and plain, as they became more fashionable impressed designs and gemstones were added to the metal.
2. Some cultures in Asia use bangle rings to represent marital status. Some Women use bangles in any functions like engagement, marriage or any parties.
Bangles or Chudi are traditional stuff worn by South Asian women, especially Muslims and Hindus. They are worn after marriage to be a sign of matrimony. When you think to wear eastern jewelry, the first thing that comes to mind is bangles.
Bangle is the icon of femininity and delicacy. In Pakistan & India, bangles with elegant designs are worn on all special events and occasion. Bangles make the wrists of women come into view charming and give an extra beauty element to their overall look. Noise of bangles makes the hearts of men swing with love.
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Empathy is oxygen for the soul. So if you are feeling short of breath due to life stresses, perhaps one needs expanded empathy. Get some here. This is what you need to know to register. Further details on the course content… Read More ›
Mental illness
Psychiatry and Horror – in the Movies!
In addition to mastering the unknown through its depiction, the "pay off" is to confront images of the fragmentation of the self, annihilation of the self, and loss of control of the self's boundaries. That is perhaps why audiences are strangely attracted to horror films. They give a specific form to our most primitive fears, binding these deep fears to a specific something that can be objectified and can be overcome by the cinematic equivalent of the "cavalry to the rescue" or even by counter magic. It should be noted that people run from the theatre if they believe their lives are really in danger; but the views stay in their seats, having actually paid money to be frightened vicariously by the experience of watching a horror film.
12 Top Radio Shows on Empathy
Here are twelve (12) top radio shows on empathy. Lou Agosta interviews thought leaders in the community about work they are doing that expands empathy. Note: interviews are edited to delete the commercials. Biographical information about the speaker and interviewer… Read More ›
Emerging Adulthood and Empathy
Originally posted on Empathy Lessons:
Join Lou Agosta and his special guests Drs. Jesse Viner and Dale Monroe-Cook for an engaging conversation about the emotional, psychological, and human challenges of emerging adulthood. Drs. Viner and Monroe-Cook address these issues with their…
Wittgenstein, Schreber, the Schizophrenic Mind, and the Paradoxes of Delusion, reviewed
Sass provides a compelling account of how philosophical solipsism, idealism, and phenomenalism (not phenomenology!) gives us access to the experiences of schizophrenic individuals and provide the disorder with its characteristic aspects.
Soul Machine: John Locke, Inventor of CBT [Cognitive Behavioral Therapy]?
By the end of George Makari's engaging – indeed monumental – Soul Machine: The Invention of the Modern Mind (W.W. Norton 2016: 652 pp.) one comes to understand that the modern mind is more ancient than most people believe and the… Read More ›
A Rumor of Empathy in the History of Psychiatry: A Review
Shorter narrates from the point of view of the practicing psychiatrist. The thesis is that psychiatry has struggled to differentiate itself from neurology (and brain science), psychoanalysis (and psychotherapy), finally securing for itself the secure path of a respectable scientific enterprise in the second psychopharmacological revolution, featuring Prozac (floxatine) along with a willingness to make use of some version of "the rapport," talking with patients as human beings with complex lives and emotions.


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Women's 'Go Team Half-zip
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Use "CHICAGO" for local pickup
Please note: Please pay for shipping if you can't make pickup tonight (12/15) or arrange for pickup with a friend.
Local Pickup: Thursday (12/15) after our group at Dunlays on the Square in Logan Square from 8:45-9:15pm.
Alternatively, you can opt to pay for shipping. We ship USPS priority, stateside and first class, international. We'll ship your order on 12/19. Sorry, tracking is not available for international orders.
Please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com with any questions.


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You could reinvent the wheel. Build our modern world. Work everything out for yourself. Speak various languages. Keep every ball in the air. And join us after your studies.
You have completed your technical or business studies – and are now looking to start your career directly? As a graduate or young talent with initial professional experience, we give you this opportunity. Or you can choose a technical or commercial trainee program (18-24 months). In either case, you will be on hand when curiosity is transformed into innovative products. And experience comes with time.
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High school football: 4A all-state teams
Tbirds4lyfe South Jordan, UtahAug. 5, 2012 9:23 a.m.
Ofahengaue was the Region MVP and All-State first team and yet was the 3rd best DL on the Westlake team! Their DTʻs were unreal. #50 was our coaches priority in making sure he was blocked first and with double teams as much as possible. Dupaix (Skyline) and Whitehead (Olympus) would tell you the same.
eagle Provo, UTDec. 6, 2011 3:41 p.m.
Hicken is a stud and clutch and I think he has the second most point afters in STATE HISTORY. He doesn't get to kick a lot of FG's because his team scores touchdowns. I also don't have any problem with him on the all-state team because he is also a great DB and WR and all-around good player where Baird is only a kicker, though good.
I also think Kyle Larsen of Provo is a beast. He ran for over 200 yards on four different occasions and had 125 or so against a tough Highland team. He also was among Utah Valley leaders in tackles. Like the Murray player noted above, he played on a subpar team which may have hurt him for first, or at least, second team consideration. But you ask a lot of coaches and players in Utah Valley and they would all concur, this kid could bring it.
B-Ball Fan Bountiful, UtahDec. 3, 2011 1:39 p.m.
Congrats to all the Bountiful Brave All State selections!
UC Baller Salt Lake City, UTDec. 3, 2011 10:40 a.m.
Hey FiefuSam.
After reading your post, I agree with you. Digging deeper, how is your QB not First Team??? Explain that one to me.
The Timpview QB was better than both the First Team players stat wise.
Player A First Team- 2432 yards, 22 TDs. 12-2 Team Record
Player B First Team- 2572 yards, 25 TDs. 9-2 Team record
Timpview Quarterback- 2876 yards, 32 TDs. 10-3 Team Record.
The Second Team players had half the stats of your TV QB and were both beat in head to head competition. Very good players, but both were on losing programs.
As a fellow Region 8 fan, I think all those years of Timpview beating people may have caught up to you. Unfortunately, its at the cost of your players. The voting system shouldnt penalize a kid thats deserving IMO. They should make a mistake right.
FaifeauSam Lehi, UTDec. 2, 2011 10:49 p.m.
Where and when do the all-region teams come out? Is that the fault of the coaches or the local newspapers in Provo, Logan, Tooele or Salt Lake?
FaifeauSam Lehi, UTDec. 2, 2011 6:34 p.m.
There are obvious errors in the selection of All-State players. For example, look at the kickers (which most people don't think are very important, but who are important by the coaches' estimation).
Yes, Jake Thompson from Logan is the best kicker in the state and has 74 PATs and 10 Field Goals, but second to him, statistically, is Tyler Solorzano, a junior/DB, from Timpview with 10 FG and 47 PATs for a total of 77 points plus 57 tackles and 3 interceptions. Third is James Baird of Maple Mountain with 8 FG, 33 PAT and 57 points. Fourth (but selected second-team all-state) is Hayes Hicken of Highland with only 5 FG and 41 PATs for 56 points. Where is the rational in this selection?
Are all the positions this flawed? If were going to have All-State selections, lets make them mean something. This can help determine or jeopardize a student-athletes resume when it comes to college recruitment.
Desperado14 Provo, UTDec. 2, 2011 5:56 p.m.
In my opinion.......it is more of a popularity contest. I know of a kid who made first team all-region, had better stats, but because his team had an average season he was passed by for all-state. He made all-state honorable mention and had better stats than the person who made 2nd team all-state. I feel all this happened because the 2nd teamer belonged to a more popular team. Oh well, who said life was fair anyway.
Big Hapa Kaysville, UTDec. 2, 2011 1:12 p.m.
Hello people it is stats, you either have them or you do not. Now with that said, can there be bias absolutely and perhaps some of that bias opinion has sunk in with a few of these selections but by and large the stats usually prevail.
Good job boy's and lest et ready for another awesome 4A season in 2012 !
Swishfrom3 Salt Lake City, UTDec. 2, 2011 12:23 p.m.
wow. congrats to these kids. But the system is seriously flawed.
re UTNFL BALLER and hsftball#1fan
heres your answer....
As stated before...start at the Region level. Have the best kids selected there as Region Coaches know who to prepare for and who is the best in thier Region. Then combine them to have the best players and decide.
Letting a Coach not nominate a kid (only Seniors or only Offense kids for example) is wrong. Making it a popularity contest is horrible. The SLC Coaches cant know how good a lineman is from Pine View...etc But his Region teams do.
How does Springville know how good a Box Elder RB is? Coaches are engrossed in who they play the next week.
Some of these picks are mysitical. Losing teams, way lower stats, etc.
So UTNFL your answer is your player either was left off the list from your coach or he lost the popularity contest from Coaches outside the Region that never watched him.
Skylinefan12 SALT LAKE CITY, UTDec. 1, 2011 11:57 p.m.
Congratulations to ALL the young men who spend their summers practicing the sport they love so much. What would we all do without "The Boys of Fall". A special congratulations to all those who have received these individual honors because they above all realize that football is a team sport and without the support of their teammates they could not achieve these honors.
hsfbfan#1 MIDVALE, UTDec. 1, 2011 9:13 p.m.
Cmon now, Herriman finishes 8-4 and gets 1 total guy on the three teams. Woods Cross finished 4-6 and gets 4. Springville goes 3-8 and loses to Herriman by 22, and gets 5. Northridge in 5A has the same record and gets 7. Something is very wrong there Deseret News...Herriman was much more than a 1 man team.
8-4 with one player...better make Wilson coach of the decade if that is the case.
UTNFLBaller ALTAMONT, UTDec. 1, 2011 8:06 p.m.
Seriously?? Who is selecting these?? What about Derick Sanders, LB/FB from Murray. It shows in stats the kid had 12.5 tackles/game, 3 sacks, 3 int and as I remember watching the only Murray game on tv this year #35, Sanders was the only kid on the field that played defense/offense/special teams. This kid is a leader!! I see him going to a Stanford/Cal/Oregon/Boise type guy. Smart football player!! I was impressed and have played at the most competitive level of football. I don't see how a kid like this was not in the top 12 LB in the state. As a reader of the Deseret News I request this to be reconsidered!!


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Cam Key Degree / Width Calculator
Wallace Racing BACK to Calculators
I'd like to thank Jim Hand for the basics of this calculator!
A quick method of determining the offset amount of a cam key is to physically measure it.
(the small key used in the cam keyway to align the timing gear)
With the measured width you can determine what the degree of the offset key is or should be.
If you don't know what degree your offset key is, measure the width of it, then use the top calculator to see what the degree offset is for that width.
With the bottom calculator, you can see what the width of your degree key should be.
I.E. If you think you have a 2ş key, input "2" in the calculator and it will give you the width.
The key width should measure that number.
If not use that measurment in the top calculator to see what the degree offset is.
An FYI:
Most of the advance keys are marked as being for the crank.
(like for Mopar)
These will actually be double the marked degrees when used in the cam keyway!
Measure width between the red lines
These calcs are in camshaft degrees
These calcs are in camshaft degrees
These calcs are in crankshaft degrees
These calcs are in crankshaft degrees


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Curative Properties of Herbal Tea
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Many herbs used in herb teas, called tisanes, have medical and healing properties. This class explores the many attributes of easy to grow herbs that can come from drinking them as tea. Registration is required; register online or by phone.


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Home Designer Landscape and Deck 10.4
With Home Designer Landscape & Deck by Chief Architect Software you can plan and design your perfect outdoor living space! Landscape & Deck makes it easy to quickly design the virtual look and feel of your backyard, deck, patio, pool or other outdoor project. Just point-and-click to add pre-arranged landscaping beds and any of over 4,000 Library items and over 3,600 realistic plants to your design.
Create beautiful landscapes, terrain features, gardens and decks for your perfect outdoor living spaces!
Info updated on:


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Even though vegetation may be sparse in a desert, it is not without flowers and their colorful blossoms. Here are a few examples. I am still learning the names of most. So most photos will be unnamed but I hope to change that as my knowlege increases. But a rose is still a rose by any other name or with no name and just as beautiful.
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broad daylight is Tricia Malley and Ross Gillespie. Our striking images have adorned book jackets, prospectuses, magazines and gallery walls. We are best known for our award winning portrait photography some of which is held in the permanent collections of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh and the National Portrait Gallery, London and for the atmospheric images of Edinburgh used on the book jackets of the crime writer Ian Rankin. Since setting up in 2002 we have undertaken a wide range of photography across many sectors including corporate, educational, annual reports, life style, book jackets, advertising and web site work as well as several major projects and private commissions. We bring creativity, innovation and a breadth of experience to all projects we work on ensuring that they are completed successfully on budget and on time.
Take a look - give us a call or drop us a line!
'....broad daylight simply understands that a picture can tell more than a thousand words'


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The police report over last month's drunken brawl at a birthday party has cast new light over the events which have overshadowed the Palin family. The narrative which comes out, once organized, presents the Palin's not as righteous defenders, nor as ignorant brawlers, but instead as a case of intoxicated judgement leading to bad decisions on all sides.
The police report details two very different incidents, one involving Bristol and Willow Palin, and the other involving Track Palin with a group of other men. It appears that on Todd Palin's birthday, they decided on crashing another birthday party at the home of Chris Olds.
This began a chain of events.
The incident with Track Palin appears to have happened as the Palin family decided on leaving, finding out that they were unwelcome at the birthday party. While leaving, a friend of Track's, listed in the report as Stephen, was sucker punched by someone from the party. Track moved to defend, which resulted in several people knocking both Stephen and Track down, and beating on them.
Once the assault on Track was finished, Willow Palin told Bristol Palin of the attack, and laid the blame on someone within the house. The result was a very intoxicated Bristol going into the house to defend her sister's honor. Once inside, Bristol punched the home's owner, Korey Klingenmeyer, in the face six times before she was restrained. Various reports of language, including some very misogynistic language thrown at Bristol, were detailed.
Mr. Klingenmeyer denied Track's claim that he was involved in the fight with Track, and that he had ordered anyone who wished to fight out of his house shortly before Bristol stormed in. Steve Leiba, the man who Track claimed was sucker punched, refused to be interviewed by the police, but was reported by the officers on-scene as "bleeding from his eye and nose."
The report lays out a rather simple scenario, one of alcohol fueled violence and impaired judgement on all parties. If it were not for the name attached to the brawl being Palin, nobody would even raise an eyebrow. But instead, this is a former Vice-Presidential candidate turned reality tv starlet, someone attempting to stretch her 15 minutes of fame as far as possible. Now that the witness reports have been released, will there be more retaliation against those who told the truth against the Palin family? Only time will tell.
Here is the police report in its entirety:


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WITH all the myths, misperceptions and hype surrounding green automobiles, even the Web is filled with potholes of inaccuracy. These 10 sites will help fill your knowledge tank:
Treehugger is the green blog that contends it is the "largest pure environmental site on the Web." The car section provides a sampling of the width and breadth of the green automotive landscape. It is great for quick sound bites to use at dinner parties, but not necessarily for people looking to take the deep dive into the intricacies of, say, the debate on urea-infused diesel fuel.
It would not be a green list without a site focused on the car that put hybrids on the map, the Prius. And like all fan forum sites, PriusChat provides an outlet for owners to gush their love for the little Toyota, as well as trade tips and share news on modifications, new models and mileage claims.
Plug In America is the resource for the Electric Auto Association, a coalition of Toyota RAV4 EV drivers and former lessees of Honda EV+, GM EV1 and Ford Th!nk City electric cars. The site is not just about news on plug-in cars, but it also helps as an organizing site for this advocacy group marching for more electric cars. It is for you if you are the type keen on going to Washington and chanting for plug-in power for the people.
Part online community, part blog and part hybrid-market research organization, this independent site is the place to go to quickly access hybrid information regardless of brand or manufacturer.
Although you will probably need to be a mix of book jockey and gearhead to be enthralled by topics like "TiSi2 Semiconductors" and "Direct Hydrazine Fuel Cells," this is the top resource for any in-depth discussion on the minutiae of environmentally efficient automotive technologies. If your desire is to wow mechanical engineers with your understanding of green autos, this site is a must.Continue reading the main story
The Chevrolet Volt, a planned mass-production plug-in hybrid, has developed an online-cult following despite being at least two and a half years from hitting Chevy's showroom floor. The Volt has spawned blogs, forums and news sites, while GM-Volt has been the top aggregation point for news and rumors.
You may own one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market without knowing it. The easiest way to find out is to visit this site, run by the Environmental Protection Agency. With a tool allowing you to find out how many miles per gallon you are getting, you can then compare that with the numbers on every other car sold in the United States.
This site features international news on sustainable transportation. If you subscribe, you get access to the largest database of news articles, information on upcoming industry conferences and expos on green driving on the Internet. The site also has downloadable puzzles you can put together on your home computer.
You're not truly driving efficiently until you're a "hypermiler." That is the term used by the electronic denizens of CleanMPG to describe drivers striving to exceed their vehicles' E.P.A. fuel-economy rating. These hypermilers use techniques like reducing quick acceleration, driving slowly on highways and removing cargo and luggage racks on car roofs to decrease wind resistance. At CleanMPG, hypermilers share tips and tricks on how to maximize fuel efficiency no matter what technology is under the hood.
As the name implies, this site, owned by AOL, is a blog about the greening of autos. Unlike other sites that focus on articles relating to such cars, AutoblogGreen zeros in on general automotive articles with a green tint and breaking news about green automotive technology. It is a great site for auto enthusiasts who have a more casual bent toward environmentally efficient vehicles rather than an obsession about them.Continue reading the main story


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Helping Veterans and their Families Recover at Home
Chuck Howe - Angel Fire, NM
Post-traumatic stress disorder can make transitioning back to civilian life a difficult process for veterans returning home from service, and for their loved ones. Chuck Howe—a veteran, himself—provides a healing environment for couples at the National Veterans Wellness & Healing Center in Angel Fire, where they can open up about their anxieties and begin to recover.
After a Lifetime of Service, Giving Back at Home and Abroad
Edgar DeLong - Virginia Beach, VA
Edgar DeLong has been going full speed since age 15, when he lied about his age to enlist in the Navy. So when he retired after 26 years of service, he dove head-first into volunteering to keep himself busy. Now, people across the United States—and even overseas—are benefiting from his work.
Sending "Hugs" to Troops
Karen Stark - Edmond, OK
For troops serving overseas in dangerously hot climates, a cooling tie around their neck can be a lifesaver. The ties—or "hugs"— help them avoid heat stroke as they battle extreme heat in heavy uniforms and gear.
Sending Books to Troops Through Operation Paperback
Kerry Robertson - Seacoast, NH
We loved the idea that we could send books to troops deployed overseas through the non-profit 'Operation Paperback.' In the last year, Webster at Rye has shipped more than 400 books through the project.
Give Back to those who serve
In ways big and small, you can help those in the military and their families.


text: Vote yes on A, No on K! Those ads, billboards and crazy propositions are back. Some want to help the poor, some want to help the rich. Others represent political infighting and really don't want to help anyone. Despite some improvements this year (many have summaries now), the ballot measures … [Read more...]


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You may have noticed that there is another video for Lost Cause (called version 2). It is quite unremarkable, and not really worth watching, except to note that 'they' have edited out the word 'guns'….
In a land where everyone's allowed to have a gun, and most do, it's considered unsafe to mention a gun in a song….


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For some time now, I've felt the 10-question driver license test and the vision test really weren't the right focus. I think the Secretary of State (or DMV) should have a mandatory intelligence test. It sure seems to me we have way too many stupid people on the roads today.
I happened across a blog at work one day that summarized my key pet peeves. Unfortunately, I can't find it now, so you'll just have to put up my rant instead of having the privilege of someone else's words.
There are all kinds of "top tens" and "top nines" out there (who came up with top nine?) in the blogosphere. While there are certainly uniform "crimes," those that fit in the top ten kind of vary with our particular preferences and even by region.
Several posts I've read, which I agree with, blame at least part of the problem on bad highway design. Amen! In my daily commute, I pass through 3 interchanges that were not designed for the capacities of traffic they're expected to handle. Hello, MDOT, this is not complicated! Fricking tax-dollar-wasting "variable message signs" with dumb messages on them will not solve the issue. How about re-engineering the interchanges? Why do we spend millions—or even billions—of tax dollars to rebuild stretches of road to the same exact standard rather than expected future traffic loads? M-14 in Michigan is a classic example. The highway was completely reconstructed in 2006-07 exactly the same as it was with zero consideration for increased traffic loads, future densities, or at least expanding the third lane to the end of the construction zone. Pathetic.
But, I'm not sure even the best highway engineering can save us from the stupid people. First on my list are what I call the left-lane hogs. I used to consider Floridians the leaders here, but the problem has become rather universal. It comes up in most blogs on driving. Just see how often it's mentioned in the Edmunds blog on regional differences. Michigan even recently posted "Pass Left, Keep Right|It's the Law" signs, which have made absolutely no difference in driving habits.
A corallary to the left lane hogs is what I call the Lemming Syndrome. This is where cars just follow the one in front of them, regardless of what is going on around them. The Lemming Syndrome is what permits Bill Beaty's solution to the wave syndrome to work. From my perspective, however, the lemmings are usually following a left lane hog. This backs up traffic in the left lane. But, how many times have you noticed a lemming behind you that speeds up when you change lanes? Don't these retards realize there are other lines available?
Several of my other stupid people fit within World of Complaint'sstupid drivers and The Reasoner's annoying drivers. Chief among these are the guys (a generic term including both males and females) who take the whole ramp to get up to a whopping 60 mph or so (if that) before merging into 70 mph traffic.
These folks usually don't realize they are on an Interstate highway until about a mile or so down the road. Then they amazingly speed up to 75 or 80. Hello, why not use the acceleration lane to get to your traveling speed? That's what it's for! The reverse corollary of this are those that start slowing down a mile or so before their exit. Excuse me, but that's what the deceleration lane is for; don't hold up traffic on the freeway because you're not sure you can slow down enough to exit. And don't hit your brakes until you're in that exit lane!
Cruise control has been around for at least 30 years now, and I'm amazed at how many people don't seem to know about this feature. What appears to be a common underpinning of our traffic problems is a lack of social connection and decency in the confines of our vehicles. This is nowhere more evident than in the drivers who need to be first, no matter the impact of their selfishness. Once they've passed, at best their speed is inconsistent, but at worst, they're actually driving slower than you were going. If you can afford a 21st century car—or even one more expensive than mine—you should be smart enough to know how to use the cruise control! So, if you want to go faster than me, fine. But don't pass and then slow down in front of me.
The next big issue are those that wait to the last possible moment to move from the left lane to the exit lane. Are they just assholes? Did they not know where they were going? Or were they on their damn cell phones! While the latter ls likely, I tend to think they just don't care about the rest of us. Social research seems to support this conclusion. The corrolary to this is the last-minute mergers when lanes end or are closed for construction. Instead of just merging, this selfish behavior penalizes us all with long back-ups. Even light traffic can turn into excessive delays under these circumstances.
So, research seems to say people hide behind their vehicles to express their inner evil, in a majority of cases. They become highly competitive, despite their actual personalities. The "me first" phenominon takes priority on the roads. This competitiveness, it seems, is counter productive. Imagine if we all just stopped competing and worked to end traffic jams.


text: We are pleased to offer our guests to visit the best places of the city! The people's canteen "Fed up" always pleases our guests affordable prices and a wide range of delicious dishes and drinks. For the most demanding customers we suggest a visit to the brewery "S. V. D." and the restaurant "Taverna Captain flint", enjoy freshly brewed beer and delicious Chinese and European cuisine.


text: The historic Lancashire sea resort town of Blackpool is a popular spot for vacationers from all over the UK. Situated on the Irish sea, Blackpool experienced a boom in tourism during the mid-1700s, when taking spa vacations and relaxing by the sea became a popular pastime. The boom became even bigger a century later, when railways were built connecting the cities of Northern England to each other. With the addition of a large promenade where visitors could partake in seaside attractions ranging from donkey rides to magic shows, the town began its upward trajectory towards its status as a vacationer's paradise. Nowadays, Blackpool is still a popular spot to visit among travellers looking to slow down and relax. The restaurants in Blackpool appeal to tourists and locals alike, with healthy options for folks on a wellness kick and classic English grub for those looking for food made the old-fashioned way.


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Friends of ours: Nicholas Calabrese, Frank Calabrese Sr., Michael "Bones" Albergo, Frank "Gumba" Saladino, Tony Accardo
Friends of mine: Ronnie "Menz" Jarrett
Nicholas Calabrese paused a moment in the silent courtroom, his voice dropping off as he spoke Tuesday of the first time he took part in a murder for the Chicago Outfit.
"We gotta put somebody in a hole," Calabrese said his brother, Frank Sr., told him without elaboration in the summer of 1970. At first, Calabrese said, he thought it was a test of his courage. The brothers then proceeded to dig the hole at a construction site near old Comiskey Park. But the real test came days later, Calabrese said, when he helped hold down a man's arms while his brother strangled him with a rope -- and then slit his throat just to make sure he was dead. Nicholas Calabrese, then in his late 20s, didn't even know the victim's name, he testified.
"He was put in the hole, and we started shoveling the dirt in," said Calabrese, again pausing to keep his composure. "During this time I wet my pants I was so scared."
His brother didn't catch on, Nicholas Calabrese said, because "I had a lot of dust and dirt on my pants so you couldn't really tell."
Sitting nearby on Calabrese's first full day on the witness stand in the landmark Family Secrets trial in the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse was Frank Calabrese Sr., one of five defendants, who was resting his chin in his hand and smirking.
Nicholas Calabrese's testimony Tuesday was a flurry of mob imagery -- multiple murders, bombings, scraps of paper with scribbled notes about "street taxes," a 300-pound enforcer nicknamed "Gumba" and buried Outfit cash. He spoke of sending warnings with dead chickens and puppy heads, and mice strung up with "little nooses" and left on a windshield.
And he used nickname after nickname. There was "Mugsy," "young Mugsy," Johnny "Bananas" and Johnny "Apes," not to be confused with Angelo "the Monkey."
And there was Michael "Bones" Albergo, a collector of high-interest "juice" loans. Nicholas Calabrese said Albergo had once warned that if he was going to jail, he wasn't going alone. Calabrese said he only learned it was "Bones" in the hole near the White Sox ballpark years later when he saw Albergo's photo in a pamphlet put out by the watchdog Chicago Crime Commission.
Nicholas Calabrese, the government's star witness, is expected to blame his brother, a reputed leader of the mob's 26th Street crew, for more than a dozen Outfit killings in the 1970s and '80s. He began with the slaying of Albergo, whose remains authorities searched for unsuccessfully after Calabrese began cooperating in 2002.
While testifying in sometimes lurid details about the gangland slayings, Calabrese kept his composure, occasionally gesturing with his hands to make a point. He traded in the sweatsuit he wore on Monday for a palecollared shirt, worn untucked, and blue pants.
He sometimes leaned toward a computer screen on the witness stand to look at a betting slip or identify a photograph, a reflection of the image visible in his eyeglasses.
After describing Albergo's death, Calabrese recounted four more murders in which he said he took part. The next was the 1976 homicide of 27-year-old Paul Haggerty, a convict who was living in a halfway house and whom Outfit bosses wanted to question about his dealings with a suburban jewelry store.
Calabrese said he had arrived at his brother's Elmwood Park home and gotten another cryptic greeting. "He said, 'Don't make any plans, we're gonna be busy,'" Nicholas Calabrese said, continuing to refuse to look in his brother's direction after quickly identifying him in court earlier Tuesday.
For weeks, Calabrese said, he had followed Haggerty with a team that included hit man Frank "Gumba" Saladino and mob associate Ronnie Jarrett, nicknamed "Menz," the Italian word for half, because he was half Irish and half Italian.
The men watched Haggerty's movements for patterns, Calabrese said, following him to the bus and work. Eventually, they snatched him and drove him to Jarrett's mother-in-law's garage, he said.
After Haggerty was questioned, Calabrese said, he was left alone with him for a time, his hands cuffed and his eyes and mouth taped. He said he gave Haggerty some water and helped him use the bathroom, but the rest of the men soon returned with a stolen car to finish the job.
"I held him and Ronnie held him and my brother strangled him with a rope," he said.
Calabrese also testified about the murder of burglar John Mendell, who was killed in 1978 as an example for burglarizing mob boss Tony Accardo's home. Mendell was lured to the same garage where Haggerty was killed and then he was jumped, Nicholas Calabrese said. His brother strangled Mendell with a rope, but this time there was a twist, he said.
"My brother handed me the knife, and he said 'You do it,'" Calabrese said.
Asked by a prosecutor whether he did as instructed, Calabrese answered, "Yeah, yes I did." Next, Calabrese testified about the murders of thief Vincent Moretti, who was also killed in the wake of the Accardo burglary, and Donald Renno, who made the mistake of being with Moretti at the time.
Calabrese said he helped his brother kill Moretti at a Cicero restaurant using a rope, pulling one end as he braced a a foot against the victim's head. He said the brothers referred to the slayings in code as "Strangers in the Night," the song that was playing on the restaurant's jukebox as the slaying took place.
Though he wasn't an eyewitness, Nicholas Calabrese said, his brother told him of how in 1980 he drove a car that blocked one driven by federal informant William Dauber and his wife, Charlotte, enabling mobsters to fatally shoot the couple from a passing van in Will County.
Earlier Tuesday, Calabrese told jurors about a variety of work he carried out for his brother beginning in 1970, collecting "street taxes" and juice loans and running gambling operations. He also dutifully followed directions when it came to extorting businessmen, he said, using dead animals as threats until he had to scare one into paying by blowing out the back window of his car with a shotgun.
Calabrese said his brother had hundreds of thousands of dollars to lend on the street, a claim that caused Frank Sr. to rock back in his chair and chuckle with his hand in front of his mouth. Once, Nicholas Calabrese said, his brother misplaced more than $400,000 by losing track of a safety-deposit box. Another time, he said, the brothers buried $250,000 in cash in a steel box in Wisconsin. But on digging it up later, the money was wet, mildewed and smelly. "We tried to use cologne," Calabrese testified. "It made the smell worse."
Calabrese said cash collections had to be split, with half going to their boss, Angelo LaPietra. Calabrese said he sometimes drove the payment to LaPietra's Bridgeport garage, stuffing the envelope into a barbecue mitt that was hanging from a nail. He flipped the mitt over and pointed its thumb in the opposite direction to alert LaPietra to the hidden cash, he said.
Calabrese said that in the 1980s he and his brother bombed several businesses, including the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace; Marina Cartage, which is owned by Michael Tadin, a friend of Mayor Richard Daley; and Tom's Steakhouse in Melrose Park.
Calabrese said he never learned the motives for the bombings, but prosecutors have said that the Outfit sometimes resorted to violence to extort street taxes from even legitimate businesses.
An explosive was set off against the wall of the Oakbrook Terrace theater during off-hours. "We talked about how loud it was," Calabrese said.
Calabrese said he also threw a dynamite-packed device onto the roof of the steakhouse. It landed near an air-conditioning unit and exploded, he said. "I lit the fuse in the bag," he said. "I got out of the car and jumped up on a Dumpster."
Calabrese said he sometimes brought along "Gumba" Saladino, who was 6 feet tall and weighed 300 pounds, to collect late payments on juice loans.
"I told him, 'You stand behind me and don't say nothing, just look at the guy,'" Calabrese testified. "'Give him one of those looks.'"
Calabrese said he warned the debtors that the 5-percent-a-week loans weren't going away and that "next time, I'm not gonna come -- he's gonna come." He said he then would point toward the imposing Saladino.
Thanks to Jeff Coen
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World Cup viewing parties announced
July 10th, 2014
Now that the 2014 World Cup final is set, it's time to make plans to watch Germany face off against Argentina on Sunday.
With the time difference from Brazil, soccer fans in Hawaii have had to get up relatively early to enjoy the matches on television. Sunday will be no different, with play set to begin around 9 a.m. here.
Looking to get out of the house and watch the big game? Here are a few viewing parties that have already been announced.
Know of other viewing parties? Leave a comment below with the details!
Tropics Tap House
The Puck's Alley sports bar has attracted pretty big crowds throughout this year's World Cup, and Sunday should be no different. Be sure to arrive close to the bar's 8 a.m. opening to secure the best seats.
Along with the action on TV, Tropics will be going full bore in the kitchen with a variety of breakfast specials. You'll also be able to order a Bloody Mary at the bar along with the dozens of craft beers normally served here.
1019 University Ave. Call (808) 955-5088.
Bar 35
Parking is free in Chinatown on Sundays, which makes Bar 35 a good option for beer fans who don't want to head towards UH-Manoa. Happy hour will be in effect from 9 a.m. to noon, with a special breakfast buffet option available for $10.
35 N Hotel St. Call (808) 537-3535.
Fresh Cafe Downtown
Join Paradise Soccer Club and the Major Island Soccer Organization for a viewing party at Chinatown's newest addition, Fresh Cafe. The former Indigo location will offer plenty of seating to go with food and drink specials from 8 a.m. to noon.
1111 Nuuanu Ave. Call (808) 953-7374.
The Fix
Looking to go big? Head to The Fix and watch the World Cup final match on a 40-foot screen. Doors open at 9 a.m. Sunday, with breakfast specials to go with $3 Pabst Blue Ribbon and $5 Patron tequila. Halftime prize giveaways are also planned.
80 S. Pauahi St. Call (808) 728-4416.
Jason Genegabus is Entertainment Editor/Online at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and has covered the local nightlife, music, bar and entertainment scenes since 2001. Contact him via email at firstname.lastname@example.com and follow him on Twitter and Google+.


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My husband and I have never really made a very big deal of Valentine's Day. Mainly because we both feel that love isn't about a single day when you take time out to say 'I love you'. It's about making that effort every day. And on a very personal level, Valentine's Day took on a whole new significance 11 years ago, because it was the day I went into labour with our son. So it kind of stopped being just about romantic love, and started being about family. So it's not that we don't recognise it at all, but we certainly don't make a song and dance of it.
However, I'm really aware of how Valentine's Day can leave a lot of people with really mixed (or even unpleasant) feelings. If you're not in a relationship, it maybe doesn't feel great to have romantic relationships shoved down your throat by all the commercialism surrounding the day. If you've ever tried to book a hotel or a restaurant on Valentine's Day (let's say because you want to take your son to do something nice for his birthday….) then you can guarantee that you'll either find no availability, or you'll pay a huge premium for the privilege!
So I want to take a whole new look at Valentine's Day.
How often do you really take time to show yourself how much you love you? In fact, is it something you ever give any thought to?
Whether you are in a relationship or not, whether you'd like to be in one or not, loving yourself is immensely important. Now let's be clear, I'm not talking about being selfish or vain here. Loving yourself isn't about always prioritizing yourself over everyone else. It's not about treating yourself to something at the expense of others. It's not about looking at your needs and no one else's. But it is about appreciating yourself, recognizing the good that you do, and ultimately making the decision to like yourself. It's about seeing yourself the way you see the people you love, being able to look at yourself objectively and favourably.
It's not always easy to do, of course. When you have conditioned yourself to think negatively about yourself, it's really hard to learn to think more positively.
The first step, though, can simply be to understand this:
- Loving yourself is important. If you don't, then you won't understand why other people love you. You might even push them away. You will undermine your own self esteem and confidence. Loving and accepting yourself will mean you put yourself in a position to have healthy relationships with others, romantic or otherwise.
- Loving yourself is something you can learn to do. It is possible. Some people work it out on their own, others need a little help. But no matter where you are right now, believe that it is possible.
So today, be your own Valentine. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't also be someone else's, of course, but if you've ever felt lacking in love for yourself, try this:
Get a sheet of paper, and write yourself a Valentine's message, as if you were writing it for someone else. Write down all the things you can think of, no matter how small you think they might be, that you like and appreciate about yourself. They might be achievements, or aspects of your personality, or things you are proud of. Aim for 10 things. You can draw, make a collage, write a poem, a story, whatever you like. Make it yours, make it all about you.
And if you find it hard, that's ok. Remember this is a tiny step in the right direction of loving yourself – just notice what feels difficult, and don't judge yourself for it. ❤
I'm really interested to hear your own experiences with learning to love yourself, or struggling with it. I'd hopefully be using it to inform a new coaching program, and if you are happy to get in touch right now, I'll be giving you (with no obligation) a special offer to use against the program.
So complete this form now and tell us your experiences!
©Liz Wootton, 2014. All Rights Reserved.


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My big plan for our hallway involves refinishing the stair treads a darker color, so stripping and sanding the existing finish off was in order. Refinishing a wood floor isn't something I've ever done before, but I was fearless. As you can see from the before photo, we really didn't have much to lose.
We applied it to the stair treads, banister, and newel posts, then called it a day to let the stripper work its magic overnight.
Looking good, right?
Now, don't think that I just sat back and took all the photos while Chris did all the hard work.
I spent hours stripping the banister and the newel posts. The newel posts were especially difficult because of all the little grooves.
Someone should make a candle and call it "Lumber Yard". I'd buy it.
Of course, we still need to apply stain and polyurethane, but we're going to hang the molding and paint the walls first. Lots more to come!


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A Handyman Helping Hand
Posted By: Don In Response To: Fireplace Hearth Stain (Micki)
Monday, 2 November 1998, at 10:46 a.m.
In Response To: Fireplace Hearth Stain (Micki)
Darn husbands!:-) Depending on the type of stone that is involved it is pretty likely that you will be able to get the stain out if you wish. You might consider leaving the stain as a conversation piece!
I can't think of any type of stone that you couldn't use any normal household cleaner, or possibly hair shampoo (good at grease removal) that would harm the stone. BUT!!, any time you are trying to clean anything.. it is best to try an out of the way place first to make sure you don't get undesireable results. I would try the hair shampoo on a damp sponge myself....
Beyond that you get into using acids that will for sure take the stain out.. but may very well etch the stone in such a manner that the cure is worse than the original problem! If mild household cleaners don't do the trick.. spend some time calling local stone masons and ask specific questions about the type of stone involved and what type of acid in what concentration would be best suited for the job...
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