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“Your greatest enemy is self-doubt. Remember the Armstrong motto: Invicteus Maneo—”I remain unvanquished.” Only you can determine your success or failure.”–Lessons for Liam

I wrote the above for my son while he was still in the womb.  I continue to try and stress this lesson to him.  It is interesting to watch him evolve and progress in school and sports.  He seems to prefer the sports that involve the greater self-determination—lacrosse (goalie) and wrestling.  He is learning to execute failure in practice to learn and be better for the game or match.  He is learning to take risks—to extend his personal capacity.  This has much to do with his coaching, but there is also an element of maturation.  It is exciting to watch.

Confidence is really just the absence of self-doubt.  It is built by failure, not success.  Repeated success, whether by raw talent or luck, sets one up for a fall.  It leads to cockiness, which I consider false confidence.  Confidence instills fear in one’s opposition.  Cockiness is motivation to the opposition.  One who is confident knows his or her strengths and weaknesses and how to use them.  One who is confident knows how and when to take risks—they have very little self-doubt.  One who is cocky has zero self-doubt, but knows only his or her strengths.  One who is cocky has no experience with failure.  When they fall, and they ultimately do, the fall is hard.

I had a conversation with a colleague recently about “grit”—defined as (“perseverance and passion for long-term goals”—Angela Duckworth).  We discussed how we are failing to develop grit in our children and the repercussions this has for our society.  It is important that we not only allow our children to fail, but encourage them to do so (when, of course, it is appropriate.)  Sports and academics are a great avenue for the development of confidence through failure, but we must allow failure as parents as well.

I stress: be your best today; be better tomorrow.  Today’s best is not perfection.  Today’s best identifies the weaknesses that will make us better tomorrow—if we learn from them.

I learned a very important lesson in graduate school.  I minored in Anatomy and studied under Dr. Dennis Morse at the (then) Medical College of Ohio.  My small group of peers would progress, self-paced, through our dissections of human cadavers.  Once a week, Dr. Morse would come in and grill us on the region we were studying.  Invariably, he would ask us questions we did not know.  Rarely did I ever answer a question correctly (though, more often than not, I knew the answers to my colleagues’ questions—and the same was true for my colleagues).  I could never understand how I was managing to get A’s in the courses.  I didn’t understand until my oral comprehensive exam—the exam that all PhDs must endure to complete the degree.  Dr. Morse started with questions that I expected and for which I was well-prepared.  He, then, progressed to increasingly challenging questions for which I had not specifically studied.  His final question was: “If you were to make an incision in the abdominal wall, what would you encounter from superficial to deep.”  I am sure my first thought was “Oh, sh**.”  After a deep breath, I walked through what I learned (not studied).  His response to my answer was: “Wow!  I didn’t expect you to get all that.  I am done.”  I literally aced my Anatomy comprehensive exam.  I share this here (and I often share this story with my students) not to show how smart I am—I am really not that smart—but to make that point of how it is failure, not success, that causes us to learn and to grow.

I believe we make a huge mistake in education by defining success as scores on standardized exams.  As well, we function under the falsehood that self-esteem is something to be protected rather than something to be developed or, dare I say, earned.  As teachers, we write tests expecting our students to score better than 90% (an A).  Students, likewise, expect the same.  Unfortunately, this does little more than identify what the student already knows.  Dr. Morse seemed to already know what I knew.  He was more interested in revealing what I did not know so that I would learn these things.  It worked.

Dr. Morse’s approach gave me confidence in what I know and the ability to use this knowledge to process and formulate answers to the questions in life for which the answer was never provided.  I rarely doubt the answers I give to my students.

In sports and life, failure teaches us to overcome self-doubt and not be afraid to challenge ourselves.  Failure also helps us overcome the fear of rejection or the sense that rejection is a bad thing.

I often apply the “overload principle” to more than exercise science.  The overload principle states that in order for a body system to adapt, it must be stressed to a level greater than that to which it is accustomed.  In life, this means pushing beyond our comfort-zone, extending beyond the familiar—risking failure.  It is the only way to overcome self-doubt.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

Below is a link to a Forbes article on the “5 Characteristics of Grit” that is worth the read.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/margaretperlis/2013/10/29/5-characteristics-of-grit-what-it-is-why-you-need-it-and-do-you-have-it/#63d1dcf54f7b

It is transition time in my household.  Middle school wrestling has ended, so the focus has shifted to lacrosse.  My son has played goalie, and, though he is getting more comfortable shooting and wants to play the field more, he will likely take to the cage again this season.  I enjoy watching him play goalie.  He is fearless.  I think it comes from wrestling.  Last year, a coach reminded him that he can stop the ball with his stick.  He has no problem stopping the ball with his body.

I was looking at some lacrosse quotes and one of the Kevin Bacon lines from Animal House—“Thank you, sir.  May I have another.”—came up in reference to goalies.  Movie references and sports always seem to cause me pause to think about the application to life.  (“Life is like a box of chocolates”—Forrest Gump.)  One’s life is very much like the life of the lacrosse goalie.  Things are going to be thrown at us hard and fast—while wearing minimal protection—and we just have to take ‘em on.  There is no dodging the ball in lacrosse.  The goalie just steps into it and uses his/her body and stick to try and stop it.  More often than not the goalie will fail.  (I was told by one of my son’s coaches that for a good collegiate goalie better than 50% is good.)  On top of our “failings” we are going to take on a lot of bruising.  If we are lucky, we will occasionally make that really sweet stop that looks impressive to the spectators.

In life, as in the life of the lacrosse goalie, we just have to step into the cage and do our best.  We take our hits and failings and trust in our defense for help.  In the end, we expect to be the goalie with the best average.  That is lacrosse.  That is life.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

I don’t know where some of the terminology in fitness comes from, but, sometimes, it really gets under my skin.  The writer of “Ecclesiastes” had it correct when he wrote that there is nothing new under the sun.  The fitness industry is increasingly driven by marketing.  Some of it is okay, if it gets people in the gym and working out.  Most of it is harmless semantics, albeit deceptive.  What bothers me is that words are often used to sell snake oil—promises that somehow the fitness professional has some magic formula for success.  The reality is that fitness is actually guided by a relatively small number of principles.

I study and teach exercise physiology.  If I have learned anything in my years as an exercise physiologist (20 years as a PhD; 32 years with a Master’s degree), it is that fitness is far simpler than we want it to be.  Do the (specific) work, and you will get the (specific) results.  If you have fitness goals, choose your parents wisely and put in the work (and recovery).

Giving science-sounding names to fitness activities does not make them any more effective.  I mentioned “metcon”, yesterday.  In class, I showed my students a video that discussed the physiological adaptations to chronic endurance exercise.  The instructor discussed an increase in mitochondrial number at no point did he mention mitochondrial hypertrophy—because the mitochondria don’t get bigger like skeletal muscle!  Still, I guess, “mitochondrial hypertrophy” sounds hipper?

Essentially, there are three types of cardiorespiratory exercise: 1) long-slow distance, 2) interval training, and tempo (AKA, Fartlek) training.  Call it what you will—“metcon”, “mitochondrial hypertrophy”, “HIIT”, “Tabata”, etc.—it has to stimulate one’s ability to deliver oxygen to the muscle and/or one’s ability to uptake oxygen by the muscle to improve cardiorespiratory performance.

To improve muscle function, intensity, repetitions, sets, volume, recovery, and nutrition, all need to be applied according to the overload and specificity principles to produce the intended response.  There are no secret exercises or training methods.  The principles are the same for everyone.  The responses are individualized—so there is no one-size-fits-all approach—so one need only find what works for him or her.

Diet is simple: match calorie intake with the goals and plan the optimal macro balance for one’s training needs.  This will fight the bulk of the war on fat.

So, don’t be lured by the siren sound of fancy terminology.  Fitness takes (specific) effort.  It takes time (don’t buy into the promise of rapid results).  Do the work and be patient.  It isn’t complicated.  It just takes doing what has to be done.  (Like anything else in life.)

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

AMRAP stands for “as many reps as possible.”  It is a common term in CrossFit-style workouts.  It is also associated with the term “metcon” or “metabolic conditioning”.  Metcon is often used for high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts.  I don’t much like the term “metcon”.  For one thing, all conditioning is metabolic conditioning.  After all, any exercise will in some way affect one or more of the metabolic pathways, depending on the specificity of the activity.  So, I avoid the term, all together.

The application of AMRAP is less clear-cut.  There is nothing wrong with the phrase.  It simply indicates to do as many repetitions as possible (usually in a prescribed time limit).  There are, however, somethings to consider when performing AMRAP.

Goals.  When applied to HIIT—perhaps, the better label might be HIIRT (high-intensity interval resistance training), AMRAP in a limited period of time can be appropriate.  This is intended to maximize intensity, though does not necessarily mean the exerciser will be exercising to the desired intensity (i.e., there is room to be “dogging it”).  If the goal is improved cardiorespiratory fitness, such circuit-style (HIIRT) exercise is limited.  Likewise, these workouts are not specific to muscle hypertrophy or building strength.  They are, however, quite suitable for burning calories for fat loss.

When AMRAP is applied to weightlifting (e.g., the bench press), it is essentially the same lifting to momentary muscular failure (the type of training popularized by Art Jones and Nautilus in the 1970s).  As such, there is usually some desired repetition range—e.g., 8-12 repetitions.  The higher the number of repetitions performed the less intense the exercise (relative to the 1-RM).  Very high-repetitions is specific to muscle endurance—not hypertrophy and strength.  To be specific to cardiorespiratory endurance the duration of the HIIRT should be at least 20 minutes.  (I have discussed the parameters of the IE1 “Tabata” protocol on several occasions.  To be effective at improving oxygen consumption, the short 20-s bursts associated with “Tabata” (8 repeats of 20-s high intensity + 10-s rests; 4-minutes total exercise) must exceed 170% of VO₂max—which approaches impossible for the average exerciser.

Safety.  As one approaches his/her maximal repetitions, technique tends to break down and thus increases the risk of injury.  Any workout requiring AMRAP should emphasize “with proper technique”.  Otherwise, injury is somewhat inevitable.  This is especially a concern when weights are involved.  I am particularly concerned with workouts that ask the exerciser to do AMRAP of Olympic-style exercises, e.g., cleans.  Such exercises were never intended to be performed for much more than 3-5 reps (and not without resetting between reps).

There is nothing inherently wrong with doing AMRAP in a workout.  It is just necessary to define the parameters and match these to the intended goals.  It is essential that the exerciser: 1) always maintain proper form, 2) put the appropriate time limits on the sets (specific to the intended energy system—e.g. 15 s for ATP-PC, 30 s for glycolytic, etc.), 3) remember recovery and 4) consider these workouts for burning fat and lift weights and do cardio-specific exercise for strength/hypertrophy and cardiorespiratory endurance, respectively.

Carpe momento!

Growth takes time.  I was chatting this Sunday with one of my son’s wrestling coach, and I appreciated hearing his projections of where he will be with the sport by high school.  Too often with young athletes (and kids, in general), we want to see immediate success.  We forget that there is much growth and failure that needs to happen before lasting success occurs.  My son is still a boy, though he is fast catching up to me in height.  The real physical changes have yet to develop.  Moreover, there is much growth that needs to happen emotionally.  As a parent, I am learning to be patient.

As adults, we tend to forget that our own growth takes time.  Until we are in the grave, there is room for growth Spiritually, Intellectually, and, yes, Emotionally and Socially.  Even Physically, there is opportunity to progress.

Physically, unless we are already maintaining a high level of fitness, there is room to progress.  True the gains may be much smaller and slower than they might have come in our 20s, but they can come.  It is never too late to start.  We just can’t expect overnight results—no matter what the fitness trainers promise.

We can add strength and, subsequently, muscle, if we train accordingly.  It isn’t easy and the progress is very slow, but it can be done—even into our 50s and beyond.  Diet and recovery are important, but the training stimulus must be specific to the desired results.

We can achieve a (healthy) lean physique, if so desired.  We just can’t eat like a teenager in puberty and must make healthy food choices.

There is no reason why one has to age according to societal expectations.  Age is not a disability.  Disease and decline are not absolutes.

At any point in life, we can make the decision to be your best today and be better tomorrow.  “Better” is a process.  It requires patience.

Carpe momento!

The importance of teaching is often underestimated—even by teachers.  Teaching is common in my family.  I have two aunts and a cousin who are retired teachers, sisters and a cousin who currently teach, and I am a university professor.  We know what it is like to see small paychecks and be frustrated with a system that is increasingly failing our kids.  As a teacher, though, I don’t let teachers off the hook so easily.  We chose a profession that is never going to make us rich.  We have to accept this.  We have to find our reward in the intangible.

I have heard many teachers complain about their jobs.  In some cases, the complaints are warranted.  Nonetheless, the role of the teacher is to elevate society.  Sadly, the role is perceived by many—some teachers, but mostly parents, students, and politicians—to produce graduates.  Teachers are evaluated based upon test scores and graduation rates rather than the quality of the citizens they produce.  As a result, standards get lowered and teachers lose the opportunity to shape society.  There are teachers who are content with this.  Many more are not.  Sadly, it is the best teachers who are penalized in such a system.

Teachers should be paid more.  There is no doubt about this.  But, there needs to be strings attached.  As a society, we should want the best teachers teaching our children.  Unfortunately, the best teachers are often given the most difficult circumstances and rewarded the same as poorer teachers.  Tenure is almost guaranteed for teachers.  The most caring teachers put in the longest hours—preparing course material, grading student work, meeting with parents and students, etc.—with no added reward other than a “thank you” (if they are lucky).

I am often the most critical of teachers because I am one.  I see the progressive slipping of preparedness in my college students.  I see the expectation to just be passed along and to be given what is needed to pass the test.  Sometimes the really great teachers are lost in the shadows of a system that fails our youth.

A good education isn’t determined by the dollars spent, but the continued erosion of funding by politicians does our students and teachers no service.  Politicians need to fund schools and communities need to demand results.  Provide salaries that will draw the best teachers, but only keep and promote those who get the job done.

When test scores are the standard for success, the result will be higher test scores and an uneducated population.  Frankly, teaching to the test is easy.  Expanding the minds and opportunities for young people is what educators do.  Politicians and many parents seem clueless to this.

Teachers shape society.  As parents and taxpayers, we are trusting in the system to produce productive citizens.  I know most teachers try.  Unfortunately, many allow for the erosion of discipline and the evolution of entitlement.  Many believe that self-esteem is something to be protected rather than something that is to be forged.  Many believe that failure is somehow demeaning to a child.  The system is creating an environment that shields children from conflict thus prohibiting the development of very necessary social skills.

The purpose of education is not to provide a document of completion.  Rather it is to provide an open door.  It is to reveal to the student a universe of opportunity.

Equality in education is a falsehood.  Equity should be the goal of education.  In other words, each child is to be afforded the best opportunity to fulfill his or her purpose.

As a society, we can begin with greater gratitude for those who teach.  With gratefulness, we must demand the most of our teachers—and reward those who make our communities stronger with more than a “thank you”.  We must emphasize education, not as a right or privilege, but as an opportunity.

We must expect more of our students.  Our teachers deserve our support, and our students must understand that it is their responsibility to perform.  A degree should not be a participation trophy.  A parents our tax and tuition dollars do not buy a degree—they buy an education and a path to opportunity.

Educators will never be paid enough.  When we understand the value of teachers, we will always get more than we pay for.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

Photo source: dirtt.net

I admit that I struggle to maintain a positive attitude some (many) days.  I start off with every intention of having a positive day, then something happens—usually it is merging into traffic.  If I am lucky, I can make it well into the day before my attitude goes on life support.

Our attitude is a matter of choice.  Unfortunately, it is not simply a daily choice.  Some days, it is a frequent choice.  It is not only a matter of how we start the day, but also a matter of how we persist through the day.

A positive attitude follows principles similar to Newton’s laws of motion: inertia and reactive forces.  We must start the day with a grateful attitude (grattitude), but we must also resist the forces that might knock us off course.

I start my day with journaling—focusing on well-centered goals and rehearsing my mission and values.  In addition, I spend time considering the “opportunities” (I prefer “opportunities” to “challenges”) that confront me.  I emphasize “from have to get”—per Andy Lausier.  This daily routine helps overcome the inertia and sets me off on a positive path.  I am, however, challenged to maintain this path.

Once I let negativity in, it is destructive to my grattitude.  The daily challenge is to not allow negativity to get a footing.  This is a choice.  If I choose to allow even the slightest negativity, the result is solely my responsibility.  Sadly, there are times when I open the gate to negativity and don’t really care.  I hate those times.  I hate it because it takes greater effort to overcome the negativity and start fresh the next day.  I more I let my grattitude slip, the more challenging it is to get back to positive.

The life of grattitude may be long or short.  The choice is ours.

Carpe momento!

Certainly, the most important aspect of diet is how much you eat (relative to your activity level).  A NY Times reporter recently reported on a research paper, titled “Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association with Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion” (JAMA, 018;319(7):667-679. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.0245).  The reporter suggested that the researchers concluded that diet quality rather than quantity mattered most in weight loss.  The study examined diets of high-quality carbs v. high-quality fats.  Whatever the diet, the researchers reported a 500-kcal reduction and overall weight loss in both groups.  There was quite a range between weight loss and weight gain in both groups, and, bottom line, the researchers didn’t test for quality v. quantity.

We’d like to think that we can eat all that we want and lose weight, but this is simply not true.  The take home from the actual study (not the Times article) is that one should eat foods that are the most filling and nutrient dense.  When one eats a diet of quality carbs (i.e., high fiber) or quality fat one is more likely to limit calories without counting.  Still, calories do matter.

I always preferred Covert Bailey’s (Fit or Fat) target approach.  Basically, choose carbs that are highest in fiber and meats and dairy that are lowest in fat.  When fats are eaten, they should be of the healthy variety—olive oil, coconut oil, grain-fed butter, fish oils, and nuts.  Limit sugars and refined carbs.  The greater sense of fullness will prevent over-eating.  Whether you prefer a high-fat/low-carb approach or a low-fat/high-carb approach, it doesn’t matter—as long as one is in caloric balance.

Carbs are essential for anyone who is involved with intensive exercise.  The less active person might benefit from higher fat and lower carb.  Key is to figure out what works for you.  Either way, calories do count.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

They were calling for snow Tuesday.  In Portland, Oregon, that means worry about school delays and early closings.  It means I get e-mails from college students asking if they will be able to make up the exam, if they can’t make it to class.  Mind you, not a flake of snow has even begun to fall.

I know I am a bit insensitive.  I grew up in Pittsburgh and spent most of my life in Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.  I consider driving in the snow a normal part of life.  I grew up with school delays happening only when there were several inches on the ground.  I know I should be more understanding.

What gets to me most is the panic that ensues when snow is predicted.  The idea of snow sends everyone fishtailing.

We are no different in life.  We fear the unknown.  We worry about what might happen tomorrow.  Oh, the energy that is wasted.

I have a weather app on my phone.  I rarely use it.  If I do, it is to confirm whether I should carry my rain jacket to work.  (In Oregon, if it is a non-workday or after work, there is no question whether I am wearing shorts.  I am.)  Otherwise, if I want to know the weather, I look outside.

Predictions about the weather are rarely accurate.  Predictions about what might happen to us tomorrow (or even later today) are even less faithful.  “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34, NIV).

Take life a moment at a time—carpe momento.  There is nothing we can do about the future other be our best today.  Tomorrow will be what it will be.  It may snow.  It, more than likely, probably won’t.  What good does it do to panic and cancel what good might come?  Prepare, but don’t worry.  Don’t put your life on hold because of what might happen.  Live!  And, if it snows, don’t be afraid to drive in it.