Keeping your mouth shut

Visit internet fitness and health forums or read a fitness magazine and sooner or later you’ll stumble across the topic of eating healthy snacks. Chances are that people interested in this topic are overweight and trying to lose weight.

I'm not trying to lose weight so this topic doesn't interest me; nor do those that advocate eating five or six smaller meals a day to lose weight. I agree that frequent eating is effective for someone trying to gain weight but beg to differ that it’s the best prescription for someone trying to lose weight.

Based on my personal experience with intermittent fasting or intermittent feeding – call it whatever you want or IF for short – losing those last 5 to 10 lbs. of bodyweight is no different than losing the first 5 to 10 lbs; you do it by just eating LESS! Snacking, in my opinion, makes in harder at the end of the day to eat less.

For anyone trying to lose weight, my advice is to eat less and skip those snacks. How do you do it? By keeping your mouth shut.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Excessive government spending

An Associated Press news article on Tuesday reported that as part of the federal government economic stimulus package, Congress set aside a down payment of $1.1 billion for research to discover the best medical treatments for a list of top 100 questions that doctors need answered. Despite all their schooling and continuing education, apparently our medical doctors have to guess at which treatment or test is best for a certain patient. Now our federal government is going to solve that problem for us patients and taxpayers.

Of the top 100 priorities identified in a blueprint report by the Institute of Medicine, one that caught my eye was the question of which of the myriad of treatments - from anti-inflammatory medicines to exercises - are best for lower back pain. How much is that specific research project going to cost us taxpayers?

Get this – the report didn’t put a price tag on the proposed studies but did indicate that the $1.1 billion will only cover a fraction of the projects; nor is it clear how quickly the answers will arrive.

It’s fair to say that not a dime of this $1.1 billion will improve immediate access to health care for Americans so the Pierini Fitness question of the day is what do you call this ambitious plan?

How about another example of excessive government spending.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Training for life

During a Tuesday evening walk with my wife around the one-mile perimeter of a park, I observed several people out for their evening jogging and running workouts. Watching them in action brought back pleasant memories of my yesteryear running days. Recently I made a "business decision" to retire from running.

One “older woman” out for her evening run caught my attention. She was wearing the kind of t-shirt they give to people who participate in fun runs; you know the 5k and 10k type. She wasn’t running at an impressive pace by any stretch of the imagination, but there was something about the way she was running that made me think she might be training for an upcoming fun run.

She was running in one direction and my wife and I were walking in the other direction so we were destined to cross paths at some point during our evening forward-motion movement activities.

At the moment we crossed paths, made eye contact and exchanged smiles, I asked her if she was training for something. I liked her answer. She told me she was training for life.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Rope fever

After a hard workout Monday afternoon that included front squats, squat snatches and weighted pullups, I wrapped up the day with a single attempt of a 12 foot hands-only rope climb.

After studying the video of my previous rope a dope session last Friday, I learned a couple things. First, it's important to keep my body as close to the rope as possible when climbing and this is tougher when trying to climb in an L-sit position. Second, my hamstrings are not as flexible as they need to be to maintain good form in the L-sit position. I'll work on both of these in future training sessions. Right now I have rope fever so I'll be doing more rope work at the end of my workouts.

Here's my Monday single attempt:

I'll post more rope climbing attempts in the future because right now I have rope fever.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Just the way you are

What is a healthy body image? Do you think you have one or might you have a body image disorder? These are tough questions that require rigorous honesty to get truthful answers buried deep in our middle-age man minds closely guarded by a fortress of denial. Well, maybe not for all of us but many for sure.

It’s easy to blame the media, perhaps, for this body image disorder but that doesn’t address the underlying reasons that may have their origin in something more significant than the television programs we watch or the advertisements we read on the internet or in magazines and newspapers.

In one of my earliest and favorite Pierini Fitness blogflections, I wrote that every man who looks in the mirror sees a 16 year old. If I took myself seriously, this would definitely be a king size example of body image disorder. If you missed this classic Pierini Fitness blogflection, you can read it here:

Every man who looks in the mirror sees a 16 year old kid

What about something a little more real and serious?

One of my cyberspace fitness brothers from a different mother recently acknowledged on a fitness forum that he may have a body image disorder. He’s a fit and strong person with a physique that reflects the training dues he has paid. He is at the tail end of young manhood, a couple of years from entering the great period of middle-age manhood. In an exchange of e-mail chat, he shared the following with me:

"I have unhealthy image of my body. I am constantly evaluating and JUDGING how I look or worry how I will be perceived by others. In fact, when I look in the mirror I still see a 16 year old skinny kid who desperately is trying to get bigger. That's the inner child in me screaming for acceptance and positive feedback; something obviously I really didn't get growing up and now it has surfaced in my body image. In my desperate attempts to gain weight, I remember downing gallons of whole milk and Matt's chocolate chip cookies daily. The tighter my shirts or jeans felt the better I felt about myself. The power of feeling "big" gave a gigantic surge of self-confidence and increased my self-esteem.

If someone said, "Mark, are you losing weight?” it would send me into an eating binge so I could hear, "Mark, you look bigger". I dreaded being sick because that meant I couldn't eat and thus would lose weight. I still dread being sick to this day for the same reason. The gallons of milk and boxes of cookies eventually gave me lactose intolerance and a 38 inch waistline. But, I didn't care because I was big. I was powerful. I didn't feel like a child anymore. I was, and still am somewhat, a grown man living in a child's view of the world.

As a child we are constantly seeking positive feedback and approval from the adults around us. Some of us carry this natural attitude into our adult life. We are always thinking about how others view us or whether we are liked. How does this relate to body image? If our inner child is not healed, it will cry for attention and demand approval. It lives in a world of self-centerism. It’s all about me. How am I looking? Do you envy the way I look? Why aren't you complimenting me on my physique? Somehow I have to heal my inner child of the lack of acceptance and approval I didn't receive which has now surfaced in how I view my body and my unhealthy, obsession with feeling "like a grown-up". I constantly remind my inner child that he's ok. He's safe and protected and to let myself drop my child-like view of the world in general.

The process is slow but It’s improving. Certain thoughts are fading away. My inner child has been trying to protect me for a long time. It’s done a very good job. It, like the rest of us, wants to be accepted and loved. If you change your thoughts, you change your perception of reality."

To my cyberspace fitness brother from a different mother, thank you so much for sharing your deep feelings and thoughts. Find comfort in knowing that when you look in the mirror and ask yourself “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” that God’s answer is He loves you just the way you are.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Rope a dope

Last Friday and the end of my workout I had another date with the 12 foot rope at Bodytribe Fitness, the gym where I train. My workout was late in the afternoon and the rope climbing came at about hour 23 of an intermittent fasting (IF) day. I was weak and it showed.

Here's a video executive briefing exclusive for Pierini Fitness viewers:



I'll try again soon on a better day. Stayed tuned for the next rope a dope.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Turn on the swamp cooler

Today is Sunday and once again Pierini Fitness is closed so the chief executive blogger can rest his body, mind and spirit. Please do the same and visit tomorrow for another blogflection about a topic yet to be determined but guaranteed to be original.

Today it is supposed to be 107F degrees in my part of the world. I'm going to do my best to beat the heat today. I'll stay indoors, think snow, and turn on the swamp cooler.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum