Month: November 2019

“It is no longer about being correct. It is about being connected. Being in right relationship is much, much better than just trying to be ‘right.’”—Richard Rohr

As the song goes: I am “losing my religion”. The phase is actually a Southern phase for “losing one’s temper”, but, in a literal sense, I feel it also means I am turning my back to a religion that seems more and more to promote “personal” rather than universal salvation. In other words, religion is increasingly less of a factor in my Spiritual growth.

We live in a time of unparalleled division and self-centeredness. Even those who would call themselves “activists” are speaking for their own self-interests. Diversity is divisive rather than unifying. Religion is increasingly “us v. them” rather than just us. It is about “me” rather than “God”—a God that is in everything and for everyone.

Yes, I am losing my religion, and I think that is a good thing. As I am losing my religion, I am losing myself. I am instead seeking to become increasing unified with all of Creation. I am learning to own the suffering of others. (I am a work in progress, so be patient.)

I have had conversations in the past with people about “suffering to enter the Kingdom (of God)”. I contended (and still contend) that I have not suffered in my lifetime. Indeed, I have experienced pain and loss, but not the kind of suffering I see others experience. What I have learned, though, is that we suffer together (along with God)—we must come to understand that when one suffers we all suffer. Herein is where we lose our religion and  experience God at a truly Spiritual level.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

Be grateful and worry less about calories. Today is about grattitude. Eat a little too much today because you can. Share today with those who can’t.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

The promises are all the same: one month to exercise results like never before. I’ve tried a lot of programs over the last 40-plus years. Obviously, I must be doing something wrong? Or….

The reality is that the promise of any program having extraordinary results is a lie. Yes, it may have worked (if indeed he or she actually does the program) for the genetically gifted fitness professional who is able to optimize nutrition and recovery (and perhaps take a plethora of supplements and performance enhancers). Most of us, however, have not chosen our parents as wisely.

The reality is that physiology has a major role in our response to the exercise stimulus. “Twenty-eight days”? Well, that is too short of a time period to see any notable results. One may lose about eight pounds of muscle and gain a couple of pounds of muscle (that is, if the diet and genetics are there to support the training). More often than not, gains in muscle mass will come with some increase in fat, rather than a significant loss of fat, simply because gaining mass requires a hypercaloric diet.

The program that is promoted (and fitness magazines seem to have a new one every issue) are typically sound. The problem is that few have the muscle physiology to see the same gains. There is a reason why the professional bodybuilder is used to promote the article and not you or me. He or she is professional bodybuilder because he or she responds well to training—and has the time to train and recover well. They are successful because they have extraordinary percentages of fast-twitch muscle fibers, greater numbers of muscle cells, nuclei-dense fibers that respond to the training stimulus, lower levels of myostatin, etc. In short, they chose their parents wisely. Those of us with more slow-twitch fibers and, essentially, the opposite muscle physiology are going to respond differently to the same training. Some simply don’t respond to weight training.

So, for those of us who are “non-responders” or “low responders”, does that mean we shouldn’t bother with lifting weights? Absolutely, not! It just means we need to settle in to a program we like and not just from program to program hoping for a miracle. Just lift!! Keep it simple and basic. Lift heavy, but don’t go to the mirror every morning hoping to see someone different. You’ll gain strength. You’ll see positive changes (albeit small changes). You will reap benefits. It is worth the effort. Small gains are still gains. Considering that the alternative is losing that which you don’t have over your remaining years, small gains (and even maintenance) is worthwhile.

Enjoy the gains—however big or small!

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

Finally, there is a diet pill that actually works! Its ingredients are: training hard, eating right, and sleeping well¹. It is, of course, a very hard pill to swallow for most people.

You want a fast-track to fitness? Well, here it is—the ultimate “hack”. Do the work, do it right. Fuel the body. Recover. Repeat.

There is no substitute. The results are guaranteed.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

¹Thank you, Renaissance Periodization, for the inspiration.

I have heard the phase “functional training” too much. I know, many will disagree with me. I am okay with that. It is after all, just a pair of words. There are countless phrases that are used unnecessarily. So, why should I care? I care because it causes confusion, and, frankly, shortchanges the exerciser. It distracts from a focus on proper goals and effectiveness.

The phrase “functional training” implies that all other training is “nonfunctional training”. Since any exercise can benefit performance, it is more a matter of functional v. dysfunctional (that which leads to injury). The most important concern regarding training is that it appropriately matches the goals of the exerciser. Functional training (if we call it that) includes the health-related components of physical fitness (cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle endurance, muscle strength, flexibility, and body composition) and neuromotor skill-related components of physical fitness (speed, power, agility, balance, coordination, and reaction time). It may or may not involve stability balls and/or body weight exercises. It may or may not involve machines or free weights. Exercises may or may not resemble real-life movements. The “basic 5” (i.e., squat, deadlift, bench, row, and overhead press) are, indeed, functional in their many variations. So, the reality is that there is effective training and ineffective training. There is not much gray in between.

Know your goals and how to achieve them. That is functional exercise.

“You can’t definitively label an exercise or a workout functional or non-functional—there’s only appropriate or inappropriate for a person given their particular goals and limitations. Choosing exercises, rep schemes, and workout programs that match your goals and tracking performance indicators to help you reach them doesn’t sound like a functional approach, a non-functional approach, or anything in between: It just sounds like smart training.”—Andrew Heffernan¹

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

¹ https://www.muscleandfitness.com/flexonline/news/whats-difference-between-functional-training-and-bodybuilding?fbclid=IwAR1EngThhQFAxc2eD0IRPlx2zas7j6gMkhqB1XwOoZWv136nFPy7dChhn9E

“When I’m ready to stop I start wondering what the Russians are doing, and then I keep going,”—Dan Gable

The above quote is from when Dan Gable was training for the ’72 Olympics. He well-known for his insatiable training. He still trains with gusto.

Of course, few people need to train 40+ hours a week. Gable was an Olympic athlete, after all. Training to win the gold medal was his occupation in 1972. We can, however, train ourselves (Spiritually, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Socially, as well as Physically) with the same gusto—the same drive to succeed. Moreover, we can put the same effort into our work—our occupation.

What if we made our lives a bit more competitive? Not for the purposes of suppressing another’s success, but rather to drive our own success (and the success of others). What is wrong with wanting to be the “best” as long as it is not at the expense of others? We don’t have to be Olympic gold medalists. We just have to be (extra)ordinary where we are.

The bible teaches: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10, NIV). There is no distinction between training for the Olympics or improving your personal fitness. There is no distinction between boss and worker. “Whatever your hand finds to do.” Live like Gable.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

I have tried countless different lifting programs—exercises and volume/set configurations, and I still have rather skinny legs. The fact is: I will always have long, slender legs. I likely also have a much higher percentage of slow-twitch (ST) muscle fibers in my legs. (These don’t hypertrophy to the extent fast-twitch (FT) fibers do.) I suppose you can say I “didn’t pick my parents well” (in this area). I have accepted this.

I read the fitness articles—which all end up saying about the same, just packaged differently. I rarely learn anything new at this point. Essentially, they all say to squat and deadlift at some frequency and volume. The individual reality is that 1) there are responders and nonresponders to exercise, and 2) there are numerous factors that affect one’s work capacity and recoverability. So, the bottom line is: Are you getting stronger with the program you are doing? Tweak the program here and there and see what happens, but don’t mess too much with what is working. If you can tolerate some more work and recover (and adapt) for subsequent workouts do more (e.g., weights, sets, repetitions = volume). Lift with greater frequency, if that works well for you. (Those of us with more ST fibers may lift less but we recover faster.) Higher frequency is a great way to add (weekly) volume and maximize gains. The underlying concept is: “maximum adaptive volume”—i.e., the amount of training that, in any one unit of time, yields the greatest adaptive response¹. For some of us, that adaptive response may not be as visible as it is for the next person. So what? There are other benefits to exercise—particularly lifting heavy weights. (Remember, “heavy” is a relative term.)

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

¹Mike Israetel and James Hoffmann, How Much Should I Train?

Is there a difference anymore between tolerance and intolerance? There doesn’t seem to be. We no longer seem to “agree to disagree”.

My son’s high school recently had a walk-out over chicken sandwiches. It seems the administration allowed it to be one-sided. Frankly, I am not surprised, but I am disappointed. I am proud that my son is shaping his own opinions. I think that he—or anyone with the same or opposing views—should have the opportunity to be heard. I believe our public education system, above all, should be a place that fosters independent thinking and respectful discourse.

I often think we only give lip service to the concept of diversity—at least in my environment, which is education (where the discussions should be had). Like church, I believe school should “make the uncomfortable comfortable and the comfortable uncomfortable”. Education should challenge our knowledge, understanding, values, and beliefs. It should make us uncomfortable in some areas—especially those areas in which we are most comfortable.

We educators, too, should be challenged on a daily basis. We should allow students to challenge the status quo—albeit by providing an evidence-based argument.

Teach young people that it is okay to disagree. Disagreement, however, should be debated and discussed rather than shouted from two sides of a protest line. (It certainly should not be one-sided!)

This generation is, perhaps, the most tolerant in US history. I question sometimes, though, if it is only because they fear speaking their intolerance.

I welcome challenges from my students. They should know though that I don’t want to just hear their opinions. They have to base their belief on sound physiology (I teach exercise physiology, after all). They also have to be respectful of others. They don’t have to agree, but I expect discussion and informed questioning to be respectful. I expect nothing less in my children’s (and your children’s) education.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

Today marks the 1,095^th consecutive day I have shared a post on this blog. It all started with a casual challenge from my friend, Andy Lausier, who suggested that I post something everyday until the end of wrestling season. That challenge led to a personal challenge to go a full year, then to the end of the year, and then to two years. Extending the run to three years, I think became more of a compulsion than a challenge. The central theme of “Carpe Momento” is what I call “well-centered fitness”—i.e., continual, balanced growth, Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Socially—but a theme of grattitude (an attitude of gratitude) has also emerged. I have written not as an expert, but as a flawed human struggling to better himself. I have written primarily to myself.

It is appropriate that I conclude this run (if it, indeed, concludes), today, on the topic of gratitude. It was gratitude that led to the challenge.

Andy was, at the time, head wrestling coach at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. To raise money for his team, he cycled nearly 1100 miles in seven days to St. Louis, Missouri (the site of the 2017 NCAA Championships). From this journey, he shares his transformation from “have” to “get”—what has evolved into The Grateful Athlete (https://www.thegratefulathlete.com/). I believe Andy’s inspiration carried me three years out of gratitude and a want of gratitude.

I struggle with my grattitude on a daily basis. I love/hate my job. I love/hate living in Oregon. I mostly hate my commute. I have struggled at times to see the Purpose for me and my family moving from Michigan to Oregon eleven years ago. But in this process, I have had frequent encounters with what I perceive to be God and the Universal Christ. I am learning to allow space for the soul (the souls of others, as well as my own) to speak. I am learning to always look forward and into the space between myself and others (and the Universe).

I have struggled with my religion, but I have grown tremendously in my faith. I guess I have grown Spiritually.

I write frequently about exercise. I am, after all, an exercise physiologist. I am an academic, but, moreover, I am a perpetual student. I am often my own study subject. I can’t each what I have not experienced or practiced. In three years, I have experienced much improvement Physically.

Writing with such high frequency has forced me to grow Intellectually. I have often called on friends for topic ideas. There requests frequently stretched and expanded my knowledge.

My greatest struggle is always in the Emotional dimension. As I result, “grattitude” has been a frequent subject. I have sought the grateful energy of others to fuel my own growth in these areas. I am increasingly grateful for the friends I have made and maintained through the decades of my life. Many of these friends are people I have never met face-to-face. Rather they are friends to whom I have been introduced by other friends via social media. There is something Spiritual in this—as I can’t help by conclude that our lives are connected in ways that defy comprehension but demand gratitude. I have learned to shift my mindset from “have” to “get”. I have adopted an attitude of hevel (that everything is meaningless, a mist, a breath). I still have a ways to go, but I guess I have grown Emotionally, too.

Gratitude cannot exist without the Social dimension. I am not much of a people person. Some know this. Most, perhaps, do not. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the people in my life. Believe it or not, I am grateful (or I am at least learning to be grateful) for the people who are the greatest annoyances in my life. It is easy to be grateful for those who clearly benefit us. It is more challenging to receive others with gratitude. It is the challenging people in our day who present the greatest opportunity for growth and grace. These are the people who reveal my own disconnection with the Universe and who bring me back to my Spiritual well-centeredness—to what one might call “love”. So, I guess I have grown Socially.

I honestly don’t know if I can stop writing. (In fact, I am certain that I won’t.) I will need to keep reminding myself to “be your best today; be better tomorrow”. Setting today as a termination day (for this self-imposed challenge of continuing to post daily) is necessary for me to free myself and to allow my own soul space to speak.

I am truly blessed. I am learning to see that blessing even though the most troubling of circumstances. It is through the revelation of my weakness, after all, that I am most driven to change.

Thank you to all who have been with me on this three-year journey. I may or may not see you here tomorrow, but I will, hopefully, see you back here again (on a little less frequent basis).

Be your best today; be better tomorrow. As always….

Carpe momento!

(Today’s title is a shout-out to my dad and an article he published in a business magazine years ago.)

It seems like every day I am seeing articles in popular fitness magazines (shared on social media, because I generally don’t seek out the articles) on the “Best” this or that for one body part or another. If exercisers changed their exercise program every time a new workout or exercise was suggested, they would probably have to up their training frequency just to keep up. The reality is that most of the articles keep repackaging the same information (good or bad) is ever so subtle different ways. It can be confusing, though.

The key to success at the gym is consistency. I personally think the whole notion of “muscle confusion” is nonsense. Yes, one should periodize their program—i.e., annualize the training plan to work through a progression of goals and specific training to optimize long-term goals and performance (e.g., include hypertrophy, strength, and power phases)—and not simply do the same weights, sets, and repetitions day after day, week after week, and month after month (for some of you: year after year). It increasingly less convinced that the exercise really need to change all that significantly.

When I read the fitness articles, I increasingly see a common thread of exercises. These are what I refer to as the “basic 5”—the squat, deadlift, bench press, barbell row, and overhead press. Want “functional strength”? I would call these movements “functional”.  There are, of course variations of these exercise (e.g., front squat, goblet squat, Bulgarian split squat, lunge, etc.), but these all tend to be mere tweaks to an effective exercise. Master these and focus on technique and progressive overload, and you will get stronger, increase muscle mass, and likely lose fat, as well. Varying the volumes of these basic exercises (i.e., the structure of the intensity or weight, repetitions, and sets) and movement tempos (e.g., performing pause squats or eccentric overloads) forms the basis for periodization and the level of variety to the stimulus that will affect growth and improved performance.

Most of us are not bodybuilders and don’t need a long list of isolation exercises to grow our weak areas. Powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters grow and can have impressive physiques (not to mention greater muscle strength) performing relatively few movements. Those of us looking for general fitness (and a majority of athletes, as well) can be well-served by keeping it simple and just focusing on getting stronger at the basic lifts. The key after all, is to overload the muscle. Contracting a muscle fiber under load stimulates growth. It matters rather little what exercise is being performed. The fiber shortens the same either way. It is the speed of contraction, the time under tension, and the load (i.e., intensity) under which the muscle is stressed that affect the type of adaptation. Varying the exercise (movement) does, indeed, affect the neuromotor aspects of performance—e.g., rate coding, motor unit recruitment, muscle inhibition, coordination, balance, etc.—but these are a small part of strength and can be affected in other ways. These are what make “muscle confusion” appear to be beneficial. This excessive variety of exercises keeps us in the novel phase of exercise and it only seems like we are working harder. Sometimes, working harder is just working harder—progressively doing more work.

If lifting weights is intimidating, then remove the intimidation factor. Keep it simple. Do few exercises well and do them effectively. If what you are doing is working, don’t think you are doing something wrong because some “fitness expert” posts an article about their program. It shouldn’t be complicated.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!