2 things.

#1
I found this tidbit on Frostillicus's blog:

An article on an interesting concept. I remember my hurdle coach in High School yelling at us to sprint with a "soft face" over and over, really goes to show what kind of effect it can have. Also shows yet again how connected the muscles are to each other, tense facial muscles means tense neck muscles. Tense neck muscles means tense traps, which run down to the middle of the back, etc. Curious to see some further studies done on it, but good food for thought nonetheless. When you read about the increased rotational ability think about it in terms of your backhand huck.

I've always wondered why some exercises make my face twitch. Presses make my upper lip curl, and push-ups make me bite my lower lip. So this article makes so much sense to me! I'll have to practice relaxing my face when I'm running. I often smile ear-to-ear when I'm sprinting down the Frisbee field... do you think that has the same effect as having a relaxed face? It definitely feels good...

#2
I'm getting more and more interested in caloric restriction and intermittent fasting. This post caught my eye:

Recent studies demonstrated that eating fast releasing foods before or during exercise could be counter effective, to say the least. Investigators in the school of sport and exercise science, University of Birmingham, Edgbastion, England found that ingestion of carbs before exercise adversely elevated plasma cortisol levels. Interestingly enough, there was a significant reduction in post exercise cortisol when carbs were not ingested before exercise. Furthermore, there was a faster shift from carb to fat fueling during exercise, when a pre-exercise meal was not applied.
Source

And then I found this article about caloric restriction (via a post on The Great Fitness Experiment). The people described in it sound nutty. (Do they realize how tremendously difficult it is to actually determine the number of calories in any given food? The idea of eating exactly 639 calories for dinner every night is ridiculous.) But I like the idea of a longer, healthier life, and I'd like to lose body fat. I've done two 24-hour fasts in the fast month or two, but I'm not sure if they made any difference. This morning, I didn't eat breakfast until after my weight workout. I feel like I had a good workout, except for some weak bench presses. I'll keep researching...