Hog Tied: Fitness, Illusions, Ownership, and Brief Thoughts On Baseball

No doubt, the CDC has some statistic that says that the odds of me being attacked and molested by a gang mutant jackals, dressed in Kevlar pajama pants, with whiskey on their breath is 90% greater than the odds of me dying from the H1N1 virus. This may be true. I will continue however, to view the events of the past week and a half as a near-death experience. I have a statistic for the CDC; last Wednesday evening, 100% of me was knocking 99% at death’s door.

If that seems like an exaggeration, it’s really not. In my life, I have been lightening struck, rattlesnake bit, survived a parachute malfunction that cost me a couple of years of my life, and been a life-long a Red Sox fan, so I feel adequately qualified to use the term near-death, and determine the context.

I have just done battle with an invisible swine. Not much of a battle really, the virus found me running on little sleep, scurrying within a maze of planes, trains, rain-blown Chicago sidewalks, hotel rooms, and it proceeded to raise me up and body-slam me right back into my own bed – end of battle.

I have been as humbled by the wit and severity of this virus, as I have been humbled by my own lack of fight against it. I got caught where I always get caught; hiding behind my own complacency – born from thinking that I am invincible due to my rigorous fitness regimen.

Somewhere between the delirium of Wednesday night’s cold-sweats, and Thursday morning’s burning-chills, I recall asking Patti to drive me to the funeral home “now” so we might save money on the delivery expense later – surely I was going to die. And there were still the Yankees to deal with.

I had originally intended to weave together a tapestry of metaphor and circumstance, that I might translate and share something profound or insightful about my experience with the H1N1 virus. I wanted to include the usual humor, fitness perspective, and religious body shots, but there is really nothing to share. No lessons learned, no personal experience which might translate well, that others might benefit.

This flu just sucks. H1N1 is the worst flu I have ever experienced. Aches. Heat. Cold. Weak. Dying. Bleak. These are the only words I can think of to describe those long hours in bed praying to be taken back. There was one moment in particular when I believed I was about to pass. I felt weak – could not reach to the table beside me to retrieve a glass of water. Barely breathing shallow breaths. Lights grew bright, but images around me more blurry. Transcendental. I felt I was just about to take my last breath, when Philadelphia pitcher Cliff Lee turned and back-handed a ball hit straight to the mound, as he continued to make the Yankees look like children. No, this would not be my time to die. I must live, that I might see the Yankees die again. Red Sox fan.

Oh, and there’s this: I eat better than most. I exercise more than most. I contemplate the function, and the possibilities of the fit human body more than anyone I have ever met. I bathe ten times per day in the concept of fitness, and pray to the altar of whole foods 6 times per day – always facing Boulder, CO. For all of fitness’ virtue, and all I do to promote my so-called fitness lifestyle, being in-shape did nothing to stave off H1N1, nor make it easier to live with – nothing!

Three weeks ago I had joked to a client;

“Swine flu won’t catch me, swine flu ain’t fast enough.” (Franklin Ajaye paraphrased)

Now I could argue that had I not been well conditioned physically, this virus might truly have killed me. Or, that I recovered more quickly due to the physical condition of my body. Maybe, but I don’t see it that way – not this time. All of last week, I was Yankee hitting, and H1N1 was Cliff Lee pitching.

As I contemplate life and death on this day of increasing wellness, and from surviving several near death experiences, I have learned one thing above all others; to truly live each day as though it were my last. Now that’s been said for millennium, and there is a certain banality about that statement in this era. Living each day though, as though it might be my last, might be the only thing I have ever succeeded in – it’s the ultimate Roy thing.

Wednesday night last week when I thought I was dying, I was grateful for every single day of my life – even the ones that sucked. I was grateful, even parked at death’s door, for every smile, every tear, every ounce of pain or torment I have ever felt, as well as for each moment of joy – and that I might see the Yankees lose just once more.

I am alive today and I am so damned glad because I may truly be dead tonight. Laugh with exuberance, cry with intensity, move with purpose, and enjoy every sandwich. rc

Suspended in an un-fit hell…

Scarce is the day in which I don’t stop three or four times, and consider that the moment I exist in, at the point when I stop, might never end – and this might be my eternal hell.  In this context, I regularly fear that hell might be the capture, protraction, and subsequent exaggeration or intensification of any moment that I’m not particularly enjoying.

Example:

As I write this, it’s 4:45 a.m.  I’m sitting in the San Diego airport among dozens of middle class zombies, babbling incessantly and emotionless into their cell phones, while juggling crying babies, briefcases, Starbucks cup lids, scones, personal electronic devices, and bad dispositions.  The number of whom, and intensity of, increases.

God forbid something might happen to time at this moment, that I become eternally stranded here in a never ending continuation of right now – suspended at the will of a force I would be unaware of, with no possibility of an exit.  

I suggest many people feel this way with their bodies; suspended in a hellfull moment, feeling as though they have no control of their situation but to exist within it.  Be it excess weight, a lack of flexibility or strength, or a lacking aesthetic, they feel suspended in their body-now, beyond their control.

I will also suggest that in a majority of such cases, the suspension in the moment might be lifted, and that an exit is plausible, even likely with proper planning and execution.

Escape Plan

Escape from non- fitness hell is an endeavor. In any endeavor there must first be the thought of conclusion. If there is no thought of what outcome lie, then the term endeavor will turn the word drift. Drifting is probably not the best course or method for exiting hell.

Pick a goal; plan an exit strategy from non-fitness hell, but be realistic. If your objective is to be a size smaller than your teenage daughter, or is to be built like the tight end you admire on Sunday afternoons, then your goal is likely beyond you.

If however, your goals are to earn your way to a better place; to harden up your muscular frame a bit, to drop some body fat over a period of time, to become more flexible, stronger, or to slow the clock of aging down a bit, in time, you might just earn your way out your current suspension in non-fitness.

1) Set realistic boundaries

Before you can set your fitness goals, understand that you must first establish the boundaries of your lifestyle; family, job, church activities, etc.

How many days per week are your truly willing to commit to a fitness program. Over committing often leads to frustration and failure. Better to start with one days per week, and prove to yourself, during a month’s time, that you can exercise once per week. Then, after a month, add one more workout per week if it seems reasonable. If you start by working out six days per week and realize you can’t keep that pace, statistics show that you will likely get disillusioned and give up. 

2) Establish realistic goals within a sensible time frame

Once your boundaries are established, then conceive your goals, based on the limits of your boundaries. Take regular inventory of your goals; remember them, write them down, recite them as you drive to work, or as you shower.

Don’t expect change overnight. Accept from the beginning that you are probably months, if not years away from fully realizing your goals. However, with your workouts eating in proper check, you should see and feel some changes in your body within weeks.

3) Balance your workout

Assemble a comprehensive plan including a variety of fitness values. Include:

1. Balance work
2. Stretching and flexibility work
3. Strength training
4. Cardiovascular/cardio respiratory activities such as: treadmill, StepMill, stair-stepper, elliptical trainer, or stationary bicycle.

4) Don’t pamper yourself

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the road from hell must be paved with effort.  Exercise, to be successful, should be rigorous if not intense. There is a direct relationship between intensity and success in any endeavor. Fitness; the changing your body’s capacity and aesthetic look is no different.

5) Make sound eating choices

Don’t attempt to change your eating all at once.  Gradually take control of your dietary boundaries by incorporating inclusions and exclusions into your lifestyle.

Inclusion Example: An inclusion is to add 1 item into your diet at a given time each day for three weeks. Oatmeal, for example, each morning at breakfast. After three (successful) weeks, and exclusion would then be incorporated.

Exclusion Example:  An exclusion is to remove one (existing) item from your diet each day for three weeks. That second glass of wine in the evening, for example, or the candy bar at lunch. Exclude that item each day for three weeks. Then, add in another inclusion, such as having 1/2 a protein bar in the mid afternoon instead of the candy bar.

Over a period of weeks and months, you can gradually change your eating structure without crashing head first into a fad diet, or starvation therapy.

Inclusions and exclusions, approached sensibly, are your best option for successful, long-term dietary changes.

There you have it, the basic framework to release your from your fitness hell.  In my professional life in fitness, I have seen many people try many methods to facilitate their escape from non-fitness hell. Some have succeeded, most I have known though have failed.

Those who have succeeded seem to have had two things going for them; a realistic goal, and a healthy respect for the word commitment, in pursuit of that goal. No fitness trainer, no fad diet, no device or apparatus sold at 3:00am on cable TV will help you change your body without a reasonable goal, and the decision to fulfill that goal.  If you are one who lives in a non-fitness hell, this might be a hgood exit strategy for you.  This airport scene?  I’m not so sure.  It could be a long eternity for me.  Be well.  rc

Attacment is as attachment does…

Common religious scriptures teach us that attachments are not necessary to live a fulfilling life. That the seeking of, and dependence on life’s attachments can inhibit our spiritual growth and divert us from fulfilling our most critical human potential.  Through studying the text of any faith, we learn that true fulfillment is the sum product of one’s beliefs, merged with one’s actions in observing those beliefs, and fellowship sought and nurtured from those beliefs and actions.

As we live our lives though, in the swift and confluent currents of modernity and reality, it seems our desire for, and dependence on attachments such as cars, entertainment, homes, and relationships, actually increases from year to year – as does the strength and the force of those currents.

By the time many are laid to rest, they are likely to be found laying at the end of a long trail of broken promises, bad choices, misguided intentions, unfulfilled potential, and surrounded by all the attachments that lead them down this trail to begin with. Guilty, I might be.

As Americans, I believe our single biggest attachment, is the unnecessary concept of progress in all of these areas; more, bigger, faster, fancier, and so-on.  That in all we build, buy, view, and in so many of the ways we  act, we always seek to have more, and often end up with much more than we need. 

Exercise As A Necessity; Progress In Exercise As An Attachment

Will progress in a fitness agenda end in two years or two months?  That answer is relative to the goal, and to the level of effort applied.  When progress will end, perhaps can best be answered only after one defines what fitness is, and what their fitness objective(s) might be.  Click here to learn more.

 The human body will only get so strong, be able to run so fast, and can only get so lean.  Your arms and legs will only be able to carry, lift, or push so much weight.  Your resting heart-rate will only get so low, and your flexibility will only provide for you so much range of motion – even if you exercise daily. 

 If you are measuring progress exclusively by how much weight you lift, how fast you walk or run, how low your blood pressure is, your cholesterol, etc., and you are the average 2-3 day per week fitness enthusiast, tangible progress will likely stop in a relatively short order.

 Loss of body-fat is a little different.  In the case of body-fat, you can keep losing slowly and steadily, so long as you exercise and eat consistent with that goal, right up until the body-fat is minimal, or gone. Then, and only then will progress stop – and so might your heart.  Being that lean should be no one’s goal.  Not being obese, and being healthy, should be every one’s goal – please seek to understand the difference.  Staying healthy is why it is important to continue exercising, even once visible progress is gone.

 With regard to physical strength, and the improved aesthetic caused by adding or shaping muscle mass:  Once progress stops, the changes in one’s musculature that have taken place can only be reinforced and maintained, by continuing to exercise with consistency — though there is little need at this point to continue trying to increase poundages lifted.  Still, people attempt to lift more and more weight in the gym — unnecessarily.

Curve Ball

In a much different sense than the responses above, progress never really does end, so long as you always continue exercising.

Consider this; each day you become a little older.  

Now, consider that days add up to weeks, and weeks to years, and so-on.  Even if one peaks-out or levels off at a given weight in lifting, or at given pace on the walk or the run, the true progress is that each time you do it, even if one is just maintaining an existing weight, or an existing pace, one is performing that act one day older, one week older, one year older, and so-on.

To me, that continued maintenance, as longevity protracts, is the ultimate progress in pursuing one’s fitness ambitions.  Summing longevity with continued ability should be on everyone’s fitness agenda – again, my belief. 

Health

I am at 47, as flexible as I was at 32.  At 47 years of age, I have a similar stroke volume, as balanced LDL & HDL, and the same blood pressure, and resting heart-rate as I did at 35 years of age.  So long as I continue with regular exercise, it is unlikely that these numbers will regress much, though age will cause them to regress some.

 Abilities

My bench press last week was 185 lbs. for 8 repetitions – exactly what it was nine years ago. I see that as progress.   My 5k time is consistently 24 minutes – exactly what is was four years ago.  Again, progress.  That’s what this is all about for me; a routine and observant ritual to help maintain my health as well as my abilities. The weight may be the same, but relative to the age, that’s the real progress, and I seek no more than that. 

Whether it’s you or me, it is likely that if we establish and observe our current exercise boundaries, and commit to sound eating choices, we will be in as good of shape 2 or 12 years from now, and that’s progress.

 Perhaps the best way to define progress with regard to fitness, is by simply measuring how much distance we place between our very first workout and our very last. Now that’s a concept we can all be attached to.  Be well.  rc

“Are we thin yet…?”

There has been no parent yet, driving their captive children the length of any open road, who’s ears have not been accosted by the question,

 ”Are we there yet?”

 Usually asked in this relentless and rhythmic manner,

 ”Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet………” and so-on.

 At such times, we parents commit to one of two paths; we either attempt to match wits with our headstrong toddlers and scream,

 ”Shut the hell up” as our fathers did with us.

 Or, common sense kicks in and we remind the angels in the back seat to,

 “Have patience” as our mothers did with our siblings.

 In effort to diffuse our children’s chagrin, we often present them with stimulating options such as license plate bingo, and the slug-bug game. With minds otherwise occupied, we preach that both time, and the journey will pass more quickly.

 I considered this scenario this morning as I observed a portly man in the gym stepping on the scale, anxious about any pounds lost. I have seen him step on the scale at the same time every week for several months now. He stands determined and prepares for his single step. He centers himself on the calibrated pedestal. He adjusts the scale appropriately, and then sighs of a mild disappointment as he steps off and away in abhor.

 From the scale he turns to the mirror and glances at his silhouette to study it inconspicuously — if his robust frame might have narrowed despite what the scale says.  He sighs again, and leaves the room with small uninspired steps, and eyes locked on the floor.

 These actions, I believe, are this man’s way of asking his fitness parents, Momma Scale and Papa Mirror,

 ”Are we thin yet? Are we thin yet? Are we thin yet……?”

 ”No” say the scale and the mirror, “you are not thin yet.”

 And like the child in the back of the car, disappointment set in as this sweaty figure sauntered away from the scale and back into the main gym for even more cardio.

 The parent behind the wheel knows the moment they turn the ignition key at the journey’s inception, approximately when they will arrive at their destination. All that can be done will be to drive the vehicle, and to follow the chosen course. The parent behind the wheel also recognizes that to reach their destination in a timely fashion, they must stay on the best roads, and not deviate from the most efficient course because to do so will mean arriving late.

 Like the parent behind the wheel, the fitness traveler is driving a vehicle of sorts, and should strive to proceed directly to his goals.  So long as one does not deviate from the best roads, and the most direct path, he is all but assured to arrive in as timely a fashion as possible — no sooner though, relative to the length of the journey.

 Here are some tips to help pass the time — some fitness driven slug-bug games if you will, that might help you stay off the scale:

 Keep covered – loosely: Once your fitness goal is established, try to wear lose fitting clothing as often as possible. Wearing garments which are too tight may be a constant reminder that you are not to your destination yet.

 Stay off the scale: The scale is truly the Are We There Yet of the fitness journey. As previously mentioned, if you know what your goal is and where you are starting from, then common sense should tell you when you will arrive. If you are on a trip from New York to Miami, it would not be advantageous to your traveling psyche to glance at your odometer as you cross the New Jersey line. Put a fair bit of distance between you and your first check of the scale. Every three weeks or less, allowing progress to occur before you attempt to measure it.

 Approach each workout and each meal as the two most direct roads to your destination: Keep the journey stimulating by enjoying your workouts and savoring your healthy meals. Don’t leave these roads, learn to enjoy them.

 Make each workout and each meal achievable:  Each workout and each meal  should have built into them, enough enjoyment to ensure you want to eat that meal or do that workout again.

 Workout and eat with a partner: Traveling alone is rarely fun. Most travel experts suggest we travel in pairs. Traveling the path to improved health and a better body is no different. Take a friend on your fitness journey. Time will pass more quickly in the gym if you have a workout partner with common goals.

 Eating with a partner of similar goals will help you make better ordering choices in restaurants, and keep you in check when the desert menu is offered.

 Keep your mind busy: Keep a list of to-do’s with you at all times, relating both your work and to your home-life. When hunger pangs strike, immediately break out your to-do list and begin in anything on the list. Speed of implementation is everything here, so I suggest at the first sign of hunger, engage in anything that will take your mind off of your stomach.

 Become an exercise hobbyist: Take a more active interest in all the reasons why you are making the choice to eat better and exercise more consistently.  Read books, study, attend clinics and seminars. Learn both exercise and nutritional functions of the human body. Understanding the reasons why, may make the destination a more desirable place to stay once you arrive.

 It is no easy task, changing the human body. Nor is it a timely endeavor. The less you think about time, relative to your destination, the more likely that destination will be to rise from the horizon and spring upon you like Ayers Rock, welcoming you to a beautiful and life-long conclusion; a better you. Now that’s a road worth traveling.  Be well.  rc

The Altar Of Right Foods…

Daily Exercise is something I have been practicing since I was 12 years old – I don’t know otherwise. In that sense, the ritual practice of strenuous movement has become a primary religion to me – literally. I have often been ashamed to share that for fear of offending those of more ornate and historic faiths; that my greatest faith lies in the belief of, and the ritual practice of playing games with gravity. But that is my reality.

In the most wonderful sense though, it is the having of exercise in my life which brings me closest to any possibility of a god, a reverent life in my community, or on my planet. I have only recently come to realize and embrace this concept; that the having of this something is paramount in my ability to appreciate anything, and to give back in any way.  Outwardly, my workout time seems self-serving.  Inwardly, didactic in ways which reach far beyond this self.

With daily exercise as a spiritual service for me, right eating choices throughout the day are my primary form of prayer. Just as prayer better connects a person to a faith, the more I reach out to my daily practice of exercise through good eating choices, the better connected the inner me and the outer me become.  Food praying poises me that I am better able to take on and serve the world, and the people in it.

As in contemplative prayer, there is something cleansing about the observance of right eating.  Not just eating the healthy meal, but actually taking time to consider it as I prepare it.  Thought, combined with the tactile observance of cutting the vegetables, steaming the brown rice, assembling crisp salads, and biting in to the fresh apple are a literal prayer and sacrament – I give and I get, simultaneously.   My body and my spirit liven up expressly when preparing, and when partaking in more natural foods. I feel fortified, and better able to participate in the great dance.

Conversely, when I withdraw from taking care of me with food prayer, it isn’t long before I become less connected to life and to people – less willing and less able to contribute.  On the heels of poor eating I often experience feelings of lethargy, inability to accomplish, and even shame and guilt – just as there can be guilt in not praying, or praying for a lesser purpose – to outrun an earned circumstance.   

I liken eating poorly, despite that one may regularly exercise, to going to church each week for the message, but driving away after the sermon only to hit the trail of sin again.  Or, to not give any further consideration to faith again until the following Sunday.  As soon as some leave the church, it’s right back to taking more than they give. This kind of hit and run faith is too common, though as modern Americans we do hit and run living pretty well.

Whether your connection to exercise is one of reverence, out of obligation, or out of medical necessity…  be you an athlete, fitness enthusiast, surfer, runner, dancer, or weekend warrior of any variety, I suspect you will better connect with, and benefit more from your ritual movement, by better connecting in-between movements with good food – thought and prepared for good reason, as a form of right obedience. 

It is long forgotten that the purpose of eating is to survive the day as best we can; to better prepare the body to serve the next day – and to serve the world.  Contemplating and eating more of that which comes directly from the Earth brings me closer to, and better prepares me to serve he who (might have) created it.  Be well.  rc

SCAPs, effeciency, and a very “garage” video….

Efficiency in exercise; I think about it from time to time.  Efficiency can be a midwife to the birth of a successful outcome in fitness.  A lack of efficiency can be the executioner of one.  Time and energy used unnecessarily, are both wasted.  Time and energy well managed, and used for the benefit of the body, are components efficiency – and success.  That said, I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite exercises, born of efficiency; The Step, Curl, and Press, or SCAPs as I call them.

The SCAP is among the most efficient of exercises because it contains these key elements of fitness:

• Strength
• Balance
• Flexibility
• And done in the right protocol, can have an enhanced cardiovascular/cardiorespiratory affect.

The Tools:

• You will need a small step or block, large enough to stand on and support your bodyweight.  The block or step can range if height from just a few inches off the ground for the novice, to 6” or more for the more advanced athlete.
• Two dumbbells; of a weight which can be raised overhead in good form for 10-12 repetitions.  As always, I suggest weights that will be heavy enough to be challenging, light enough to be achievable, and that proper exercise be maintained throughout.

 The Process:

• Stand just a few inches away from the block, with dumbbells held at your sides, at arm’s length.
• Slowly, place one foot on the block, seeking to find sure footing.
• Slowly, raise the dumbbells from your sides up to shoulder-level, while simultaneously raising the back leg (the one not on the step), seeking to raise the knee as high as possible.  At this point you should be balanced on one foot, with one knee high in the air, and 2 dumbbells held at shoulder level. Hold this posture for a complete stop.
• Balanced on one foot, one knee still held high, slowly extend the dumbbells overhead and hold them at a complete stop.
• Still balanced on one foot with one knee high, lower the dumbbells back to shoulder level and hold at a complete stop.
• Lower the raised knee back to the floor, behind the step, while simultaneously lowering the weights back to your sides.
• Step off the step, pause for a couple of breaths, and repeat the process with the opposing foot on the step next.
• Take caution to move slowly and stop for a 2-count at each phase of the exercise.

 

The Protocol:

Sets, and repetition schemes are relative to one’s goals.  I usually suggest 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions each.  This will be plenty to reinforce balance, promote strength and flexibility, and will get your heart and lungs going for a few minutes. 

 The Benefits:

As mentioned, there are elements of strength, balance, flexibility, and core strength provided by SCAPs.  At some point in the course of the exercise, every muscle in your body will fire to some degree. 

• Your abdominal muscles, your lower back, and your calf muscles are relied on heavily that you maintain balance. 
• The small, dynamic muscles of the upper body are used to raised and lower the weights.
• The large profile muscle of the legs are relied on to step on and off the step.
• SCAPs are very portable and do not even require a gym.  With a minimum of equipment, they can be done at home, in the office, or in a dorm room.  

The AMAZING Video:

The Summary:

As a vehicle for function fitness, aesthetic fitness, and efficiency, there’s just not much better than SCAPs.  I usually include them in my workouts 2-3 times per month. 

 On occasion, I will set aside 20-30 minutes and use SCAPS as a cardio activity.  My protocol is to perform one set of 20 repetitions, rest 1 minute, and another 20, and so-on.  After 20-30 minutes of these done in this fashion, I’m covered with sweat, and invigorated beyond belief – despite that my arms and legs are more noodley than a warm box of beef chow mien. 

SCAP on dudes!  Be well.  rc

Go-No Go Decision

This is the first guest post I have posted on this site.  Written by Dr. J. (sort of his real name) of www.calorielab.com. 

Dr. J. writes a health/fitness column each week that I always look forward to reading.  In fact, it’s the only one I read regularly — the ONLY one.  When you consider the scope of the internet, and if you know my appreciation for common sense as a lifestyle, that’s really saying something.  Please take time read the post below, and take time regularly to check out www.calorielab.com.  Be well.  rc

The Go-No Go Decision

Pilots often say, Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground. Being the lead line in an FAA accident report is not an enticing option.

Before making a Go-No Go decision, the wise pilot obtains and evaluates available information on the weather, the plane and themselves. Armed with this data, the decision whether to fly or not is made.

 

I went on a flight this week where, as you will see in the video, there was a delay before beginning the adventure. Waiting for improving weather, in this case, led to a safe conclusion of the flight.

For the individual considering starting off on a health and fitness program, there are some similarities to the Go-No Go decision making for the pilot which will help in assuring a satisfactory result for their upcoming voyage.

Getting ready to start your health and fitness program

Just as a pilot must evaluate himself for flight, you must evaluate your readiness to begin a health and fitness program.

Are you prepared to adopt a new healthier lifestyle? Do you really want to be healthy and fit or is it just a wish? It will take willpower to be successful and it will not be easy. However, willpower and motivation can be built. Sometimes waiting is not the best option. As you make headway in your fitness program, you will gain confidence, and that will help you with continued progress.

Most people want to spend too much time in this preparation and evaluation part. I’m going to suggest that it may really be the least important area. I feel that the more practical, concrete preparations you do, the greater will be your chances of success. Actions can lead to further action!

These practical and concrete behaviors can be more easily applied in the next two evaluation areas, your fitness environment and your fitness tools.

Preparing the fitness environment

Just as the pilot must be prepared for the environment of the sky that he must navigate through, you must be prepared for the fitness environment that you must navigate.

Although it might be nice if it was all blue skies and light winds, this will not be the case. You will be facing tempting situations where it will be easy to crash your fitness program.

You may have control over your home environment, but at work, at parties, in meetings and while traveling you will have to pay much more attention. The best way to deal with all this is to have a plan before you have to face the inclement weather. Perhaps you can plan on what you will eat at these situations, and if it is not provided for you, provide it for yourself. Rehearse what you will say to another who may not be, shall we say, your wing person on this flight.

Take the time you need for exercise. This is your health and fitness, and you must put this first. I assure you, others will understand if you are firm but kind in your approach..

Preparing your fitness tools

Just as the pilot must be sure of the flightworthiness of the airplane, you must prepare the practical tools that will carry you on your voyage.

The more practical, concrete behaviors that you have, the greater your chances of success.

Decide what dietary plan fits your nature, time and tastes. You will probably have to learn new eating habits, but there are several dietary systems that will all work if you apply them. Numerous studies have been done on healthy ways to eat, and all of them work. The differences in how successful each of them are, are very minor. The determining factor is always whether or not you stick with the system.

 If you can, choose a diet that has the potential to become a lifestyle for you with only minimal adjustments. Make your own healthy meals at home, and get yourself a lunchbox with your favorite design to take your homemade meals to work if that would be helpful. Going out to lunch is a diet killer for many people, so be prepared. Have healthy snacks in the house, in sight if that is helpful. Put unhealthy foods out the door, or if they must be in the house, keep them out of sight.

 Make your home a safe place. Try not have the foods in the house that will tempt you to fail. Do have the foods in your home that will help you succeed in changing your lifestyle for the better. Have the exercise equipment or tools such as DVDs or other workout motivators ready and available for your use. Planning ahead is everything. Schedule the time you need to be successful, and you will be.

Even with the best of planning, there may be some rough spots that will challenge you, especially in the beginning of a newly begun health and fitness program. Having trust in your formulated plan, and staying on course with only minor deviations as you move towards your goals will usually work out for the best. As your voyage gradually becomes more solid, your confidence will grow stronger.

So, are you ready to launch into your health and fitness flight? Is it time to go, or do you need to do more preparation and evaluation before beginning?

Looks like the weather is severe clear to me. No time like the present. Fly safe!

Contemplating Fitness…. And Americanness.

Our American lives, as important as we make them out to be, are pretty meaningless the way we tend to live them.  All too Americanly, we seek to view, we seek to hear, we seek to touch, taste, and buy all that catches our senses.  Then, we seek to display all that we have accomplished on behalf of our sought senses.  We perceive mostly, that we should be well perceived, and we spend much of our time pursuing the best possible perception we can gain from our would-be perceivers.

A large part of how we wish to be perceived, is based on the aesthetic we wish to convey.  We quaff our hair in unnatural ways with unnatural chemicals, so it can look… natural.  We apply manufactured scent to ourselves, as to suggest our own hard-earned smell is not worthy of others.  We like to arrive in style – in the car that best suits our personality.  We clothe ourselves with style, if not with taste, by wearing what we hope makes us appear smaller, and we seek to live in homes which are much larger than they really need to be.  We don’t just love to be seen, we love to be seen well – Americanly well.

On the body front there’s one problem; despite all we do to be well perceived, we are always going to be seen in our own body – there’s just no getting around it.  No matter how we adorn it, prep it, clothe it, cover it up, the true condition of the physical self is most always visible, and is likely to be identified by the perceiver for its truest state, and that is likely to be a perception well retained by the perceiver.

Now I spend a good deal of time contemplating where and whether fitness should (or should not) fit in to the American lifestyle.  Countless moments spent arguing with myself as to whether exercise and sound eating are truly important in the scope of a life, or do these matter just within the scope of an American life.  The only clear answer born of this debate, is that I have classified fitness into two distinct categories; functional fitness and aesthetic fitness. Click here to read more. Most of what goes down in gyms across America relates almost exclusively to aesthetic fitness – which is meaningless. 

Now there’s no judgment here – certainly not from me.  I am very Americanly when it comes to exercising to maintain a certain look.  My vanity is the size of 10 Grinches plus 2, and growing still.  I work hard in the gym as well as the kitchen, to look my best to my perceivers, and I’m proud that I’m ahead of the game for pushing 50.  But I don’t exercise exclusively to look good. I have a great respect that the path of looking good can be paved with the bricks of functional fitness.  I have no illusions or expectations that at 70, I will look like I’m 23.  We are designed to get old and decrepit and I embrace that.

I prioritize those exercises which serve functional fitness, and I never put my aesthetic fitness ambitions ahead of my functional fitness ambitions – they coexist. Most of what gets done on behalf of my aesthetic gets done at the dinner table anyway. I understand that exercising for functional fitness can translate well into achieving aesthetic fitness; toning, shaping, and clarifying muscular detail, so long as there is good nutritional support and consistency in the process. 

 Looking good is an age-old addiction and not exclusively American. However, as we seem to do so often in so many ways, Americans have much more ambition in looking good than those of other countries.  I am careful to reflect that, in the end, we will not likely be judged by the shape of our abs or the size of our pants.  Stephen Hawking, Mother Theresa, Max Born, Anwar Sadat, Jesus Christ, Mohamed, Moses, and countless other great contributors to humanity have given little thought to how they appeared to their perceivers, and they were certainly not gym rats – nor were they Americans.  Did I say Moses?  Scratch that one.  Be well.  rc

That’s entertainment… and possibly a reason to exercise!

If you don’t understand and accept the values and benefits of daily exercise by now, I want you to wear a John Hagee mask so I know who you are when we meet on the street.   Functional fitness training, strength training, cardiovascular training, core training, bla bla bla-diddy-bla bla bla. Whatever – I’m over all that.

 

People watching – now there’s a value added benefit to exercise that most trainers, physiologists, and wellness specialists don’t delve too deeply into. Being a people watcher in the gym can enhance your exercise experience, be educational, and entertain you – simultaneously. In that sense, people watching can be cause for you to leave your home or office at the end of the day, and get that much needed exercise.

 

Though I own a well equipped fitness studio at my home, it comes with an inherent problem – it’s at my house, where I live and where I work all day long. Despite my passion for daily exercise, nothing is less appealing after a long day than sticking around the place where I have been for the past 24 hours living and working.  Strange as it sounds, and despite proximity to my own good equipment, at the end of the day I often head off to a gym – away from my gym.

 

I’m fortunate  because in all the world there is not a better people watching gym than the 24 Hour Fitness in Oceanside, California. The city of Oceanside itself is a loosely stirred cocktail of such human ingredients as aggressive Marines, wanna be porn stars, die-hard fitness enthusiasts, meth junkies, surfers, working class men and women, a high population of pacific islanders, and very few people who fall outside of these categories. The gym where I workout is but a magnifying glass on that amalgamation of humanity.

 

Most days I meet my workout partner, Marshall, for a good measure of high-intensity cardio, and a dash of strength and core training. Marshall and I prefer doing cardio on the StepMill, a device that enables one to walk constantly up the down escalator. For many reasons, I believe the StepMill is the most superior piece of cardio equipment in the gym. It also provides the best vantage point for Marshall and I to participate in the observation of human behavior, because these machines tower above the others. Let the people watching begin.

 

There at our feet they intermingle; all the people who make this gym so compelling. I have no doubt that the inside of an atom is less chaotic.  There are hard working Marines with unyielding energy and little body-fat who never stop moving, never stop sweating, and never stop competing with one-another — Ooorah! Watching the Marines can be as educational as it can be entertaining. They often bring to the table exercises and workout schemes that are new to me, or, at least ones I have not visited myself for some time. Our Marines get it done in the field so well because they get it done on their bodies first. True.

 

Not far away, a handful of acne covered high school football players with puffy arms, loud voices, and very little endurance fill in some gaps near the free weight side of the gym. They can sure move a bit of weight up and down, but usually not in good form, and most often in need a lot of rest in-between. Despite their school jock status, these kings of the 11^th grade are not well-conditioned athletes (yet), and not a good example of what exercise is all about. There is little to learn from watching these man-boys except what not to do in the gym, so take good notes.

 

Mix in a few 300 pound Samoans who never quit smiling, could bench press my car, and like to read the newspaper to each other and converse loudly in the 10 minutes gaps between their sets. Not the pinnacle of fitness either, but they are good natured and exclusively responsible for the sense of humor and laughter in this gym that seems to be appreciated by most. In that sense, they are the Wal-Mart greeters of the free weight room and serve to make it less intimidating to newcomers.

 

In close proximity to the Samoans, there are several separate groups of fully tattooed ex-convicts with shaved heads, in baggy shorts and wife beater shirts. They may be back on the “inside” next month, so they tend to try and lift heavier and more often than they should when they are on the “outside”. California prisons have abandoned weight room facilities so they are making meat while the sun shines. Again, not a lot of learning to be done here except what not to do in the gym – as well as how not to dress. There can be as much learned by observing other people exercising poorly, as there can be gained by watching a true athlete. By watching intently, you just know when something isn’t correct.

 

In the cardio theater there is row after row of peroxide blondes and blonde teeny-boppers. Some look to be pole dancers while others just aspire to look like pole dancers. Most with tattoos along their lower backs, sprayed on tans as they go through the motions, their killer pony tails swing from side to side on the elliptical machines – all the while their faces stare blankly at Wolf Blitzer on the TV before them as they ponder in their simple minds what “nuclear proliferation” might mean. Perhaps that’s a country near “Iraq and such”. Though they often possess thin bodies, this is more likely the result of youth and dubious eating habits, than efforts in the gym. Just going through the motions of exercise might make one feel better, but in this day and age, save the gas money. Not much to be learned from this group.

 

There are also a few square-jawed collegiate athletes who call this gym home in Summer, both male and female. These are the least compelling and the least entertaining persons in the room, but an astute observer can improve their exercise technique and increase their repertoire of exercises by keeping their eyes fixed to these folks. Like the Marines, collegiate athletes often employ new schemes, better techniques, patterns, and in a more proper application than other gym members. These are often the product of modern strength and conditioning principles brought along to the gym directly from coaches and trainers at their respective universities. The lesson they teach best: intensity and focus. Mimic, but let common sense be your guide.

 

Some aspiring young fitness trainers working with everyday people seeking improvement are also in the mix. Fitness trainers, myself included, can be placed into two groups: those who choose this as a career and approach their craft as such, and those who think it would be great to hang out in a gym all day not have a real job. The latter outnumber the former by  thousands to one, and in the gym in Oceanside, it is no different. How ironic it is that one can learn much about how not to exercise by watching a novice trainer teach someone how to exercise. I cringe when watching this process on occasion.

 

This is all compelling from my stair-stepping vantage point, somewhat educating, a bit motivating, and always entertaining. These people, with whom I never interact, are my very reason to go to the gym. They motivate me and they entertain me – simultaneously. They often affirm for me how not to exercise just as much as they confirm and legitimize my own insight and experience. They remind me of all the reasons why we should exercise, and all the more, why we should do it properly and within reasonable bounds.

 

This isn’t just my gym, this is your gym too. The names and shapes may be different at your club, but the actions and common threads will likely be there. My moral in all of this? Observe others and learn – but use common sense as your tablet, and keen application as your pen. As much as you learn, be sure to learn-not in equal portion. Apply your notes with diligence and with self respect. Observing others lends a hidden value to my gym experience and just might do the same for you. Mostly it amuses me, and after a hard day’s work, I’m good with that. Be well.

Mental as anything…

 I’m going totally mental. My mind has become too quick to absorb the flow of character flaws which pours from hominid to hominid, along with their sweat and breath, in the course of their exercise. From within the these human forms, my gym air fills with emotional exhaust fumes. The release of those personalities is toxic in large doses.

 The forces of good and the powers of evil are reflected to us from the eyes, the words, and the breath of those in our proximity.  I exist all day in a bingo hopper of gods and demons; the gym of letting go.   Problem is, I can’t always tell which eyes are throwing off evil, and who’s words cast off the good. That in itself may be my problem; my expectation that a person be exclusively good or evil, and that no intermingling of those predisposition’s is possible.  I should know better…

 This consumes me. As I move about my gym floor, I continually hear bits and pieces of varying personalities and a variety of thoughts – all day long. From this bantering and release of inner turmoil, I am often able to weave together consistencies among the thoughts of others in my mind, along with the behaviors and the tendencies which accompany them. The tapestry I see from that assemblage displays a strange singular image in my head; God-like creatures, dancing to the music of the devil.

 ”Are people”, I ask myself, “in the gym for the purpose of good, or for reasons lesser reasons?”

 For as much as I identify and rationalize the value of the gym as a place of mental release, physical change, self-medication, and self-improvement, I accept that it is also a gathering place for hearts astray, for escaping problems, and for a forced socialization.

 It may be another gross over simplification in my mind, but it’s as though there are two mind-sets in the gym; those running toward something, such as improved health or an augmented aesthetic form.  Or, those running away from something else – work, family, problems, etc.  There is seemingly much more talk in my gym of these days of running away; adultery, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use, and disrespect for others, as there is of getting lean, getting strong, and beating diabetes or cancer. My sanctuary is boiling over.

 If these words hit your eyes with an obvious negative connotation, here’s an exercise which may explain why:

 Put a glass of dirty water beside a glass of clear water. From the glass of dirty water, take but a single spoonful and stir it in to the clear water. In an instant, you now have two glasses of dirty water.

 Starting over again, stir in from the clear water, a spoonful into the glass of dirty water. The dirty water remains dirty – the clear water has not changed anything.

 My point in this exercise? That in a room with several people, some with good and others with not-so-good intentions, it seems to me that not-so-good is winning – so far as the gym goes. But that’s only the surface, and just a casual observation. The truth is always somewhere in between, right?

 I guess this is why I like to workout in an armored trance, existing fluidly within the slight pinch of my headphones. I am one who is running toward something and I can’t wait to get there. Actually, I’m running away too – from myself.  My workouts are where I leave my problems behind, but I do so with my flesh, not my mouth.  Like I said, the truth is always somewhere in between, right?

 I understand that the actions, conversations, and behaviors I bath in each day at my gym are not limited to gym life. That people are good and evil in and out of the gym. And more importantly, that most of us are predisposed to both good and evil wherever we go. That the command and release of our positive and negative behaviors is an ongoing series of choices, sometimes battles in life. I also understand that for the gym masses, each person is probably both running toward something, and away from something else.

 It’s interesting though, what a wide, broad, and clear view of the human experience my gym window provides for me each day. How lucky I am, to have a window seat on the ark of human behavior, as I watch the arch of human behavior.  Be well.  rc