Gratuitous Common Sense

In 2006, we bought our first house. And we were just fortunate enough to be in a position to afford building a house. I even had a page set up on my site so our families could follow the build progress.

I remember going into the process, I had a lot of questions. Mostly about our ability to afford it and make sure everything came out the way we wanted. I think we came out alright, and we learned a few things along the way.

Below is a list that includes those things, as well as some additional tips for building a house that might be useful to others in a similar situation.

A buyer’s agent is not always necessary, if you have a good builder. But even if they aren’t necessary, they are still helpful.

Guttering all the way around the house is a must, and well worth the investment.

Don’t have the build schedule end in a hot month, because that’s when they do the landscaping and the plants will suffer. This was a combination of a west-facing garden and hot, humid climate.

Make sure the landscapers “roll the sod” after they lay it down, otherwise you will have grooves in your lawn.

If possible, make sure the driveway slopes down toward the street, otherwise water will pool next to your foundation.

Electricians have no idea what the carpenters are doing, and they never learn. Without fail, there are always light switch boxes placed too close to the door frame to allow for molding.

If you like to work in the garage, make it bigger. I don’t care what size it is to start with, make it bigger.

Be picky. A house is probably the single most expensive purchase you will ever make. You are paying for the right to be annoyingly anal retentive about the product you are going to get.

No matter what the Window Blinds/Shades salesperson says, you don’t need blinds on every single window. Some will be fine without them, or with your own window coverings.

For appliances, and other big purchases, shop in the scratch & dent and closeout area. Plenty of good stuff there.

I think this will be a running list that I will continually update from time to time, as I think of new things to add. Not all of these things are mistakes that I made. Some of them are mistakes that might have been made by the builder had I not pointed them out ahead of time. But hopefully all of them will serve as helpful tips for building a house.

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Building muscle for women has gotten the stigma that it’s only for women who want to bulk up and get big muscles.

This is the content of a post I wrote a while back in response to an inquiry from several females on fitness issues. The subject matter is meant to explain how muscle works and its role in burning body fat, and it is helpful and informative for both sexes…

One of the most common reasons that women shy away from lifting weights, especially heavy lifting, is that they think they will end up looking too masculine. This misconception is generated from numerous sources, including years of misinformation from so-called experts.

For so long, when it comes to building muscle for women, trainers and experts have been telling women to concentrate on a high volume of reps with low weight. The idea is that this will create a cardiovascular effect that gets your heart rate pumping without putting too much stress on your muscles, essentially using weights to do cardio. The thought is that this helps avoid building the muscle mass that women and their trainers tend to fear.

But because of the differences in testosterone, metabolism, and body composition, it is simply not effective to shy away from building muscle, especially when we’re talking about how to burn body fat.

Men have anywhere from 10 to 15 times as much testosterone as women, and it still takes a very focused effort for men to put on muscle mass. So bulky muscles are very difficult to achieve for women, and pretty much impossible if you’re not focused on that specific goal.

Other Concerns
When it comes to building muscle for women, I know that some have experienced an effect from lifting weights that feels like you’re getting bigger without getting the definition or “toned” look that you’re going for.

This is a common trap that comes from low intensity weight training. And it eventually scares some away from weight training altogether. We don’t want that, so let’s talk about what is happening and how to avoid it.

Myofibrillar and Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy simply means to increase in size, usually referring to an organ or skeletal tissue, like muscle. And the increase in size is due to an increase in the size of the cells, as opposed to an increase in size through cell division.

For hypertrophy to occur in the muscle for women, the muscle must be directly stimulated. And it matters how that muscle gets stimulated, because it will make the difference between sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar hypertrophy.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy occurs when the sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell increases rather than the contractile protein. Myofibrillar Hypertrophy occurs when there is an increase in myofibrils, which are fibers that increase the contractile strength of the muscle.
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