Month: January 2020

We will frequently hear politicians discuss the merits of universal health care. Politics aside, I take a position that universal health care is by no means the same as universal health. The former suggests the government (i.e., taxpayer) will pay for any and all medical treatment should one become ill. The latter is a consequence of better life choices.

In my humble opinion, a potential consequence of universal health care is the certain dependence upon it. (This is not to say that we should not have an available safety net for when the unexpected occurs.) It is a concern that we might lose sight of preventative health care. I believe we must all take personal responsibility for our personal health. We can do this by:

Stop (not) smoking. I was struck, teaching pathophysiology, by the impact not smoking can have on nearly all disease. If we are to have universal health care, we have to make it as difficult as possible to prevent people from starting to smoke and as easy as possible to stop. If one is going to make the choice to smoke (continue to smoke), then there needs to be a personal cost attached. My current state (Oregon) recently voted to raise the smoking age to 21. Personally, I have no confidence that it will have any meaningful impact. First, the 18-year-old age limit didn’t work. It didn’t work because there was no enforcement. I know of no minor-in-possession citation that was ever written (in any state) for under-age smoking. If it were enforced (like alcohol), there might be a chance of preventing kids from starting. Unfortunately, police have bigger issue with which to contend. Nevertheless, if parents are required to write a check when Jr. gets caught smoking…. And, parents, really? You can’t tell that your kid is smoking? Hug them once in a while!

Maintain a healthy body weight. Obesity is a major problem across the ages. We should not be judgmental, of course, but we should do all we can to discourage obesity and encourage a healthy body weight (i.e., fat percentage). By the way, this is not to encourage six-pack abs or any body dysmorphia. It simply means rewarding healthy body composition—and putting a price tag on unhealthy body fat.

Make exercise a public concern. We need communities that provide easy access to physical activity and exercise. We need parks and community biking/hiking trails. We need sidewalks and bike paths. We need community pools and exercise centers. Moreover, we need to stop cutting physical education!! We all so need to return youth sports to the community. The growth of club/select sports are robbing less athletic kids of an opportunity to be physically active. Club sports are limiting opportunity to the most affluent and skilled youth. It also limits community involvement and participation. I have great memories of local football and baseball, where neighborhood kids played each other and neighbors showed up for games. Youth sports were competitive, but it was all about having fun and being active (though we never talked about a need for kids to be more active in the ‘60s and ‘70s).

Change nutritional habits. This can begin with the schools. There is no reason not to have healthy options in the school cafeteria. It behooves us to make healthy school lunches universally acceptable. This, I propose, is a wise use of taxpayer dollars. Instead of worrying about who can pay or not pay for school lunches, just make sure that every kid is fed and receiving at least one nutritious meal (and this is not necessarily a socioeconomic issue—there are children of affluent parents who receive less than adequate nutrition, too).

Healthy foods need to be accessible, through co-ops, local markets, and neighborhood groceries. Organizations that provide food to the economically disadvantaged need to be cognizant of the quality of foods they are providing. Our governments, as well, can be doing better to make sure that our most needy are receiving better than just a handout to be spent where there are few healthy options. I would much prefer to see a supply of healthy foods—i.e., quality grains, meat, vegetables (lots of vegetables!!), fruit, etc.—be delivered directly. Perhaps, food of poor quality is better than no food, but, when, as a nation, we throw away an obscene quantity of food on a daily basis, we can do better to make sure everyone has access to nutritious food.

We, individually, have to make the best choices we can to be healthy. Where people have less opportunity to choose well for themselves, we have to help them to have the best possible options from which to choose—and the best information to make those decisions.

In the end, we are a nation of personal freedom. This does not mean, however, that others should have to pay for the consequences of our decisions. I do believe we should provide affordable care when necessary, but I would encourage one another to not burden our neighbors unnecessarily.

Good health is a choice (or series of choices)—except when it’s not. Let’s take responsibility for our personal health. Let’s support the science to cure and, moreover, prevent disease. Let’s create and support an environment and communities that are supportive of healthy living.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

“Good players have goals, great players have a strong reason why they want to achieve them.”—Wrestling Mindset

About this time in the year, New Year’s Resolutions are toppling like dominoes. Why? Because we lack the resolve and we lack the purpose. For goals to be meaningful we need our “why”. We need to have goals that are consistent with our Purpose. (I capitalize “Purpose” when I link it to the Spiritual dimension—our connectedness to that which is greater than self.)

Self-centered goals are always less fulfilling than goals that are centered on others. After all, with whom do we have to share the fruits of our efforts when it is all about self? Who do we have to encourage us and keep us accountable? Moreover, who do we inspire when we are in it for our self?

Our strongest motivation to succeed comes from without. If your goals are floundering, pause and consider your “why”. Moreover, consider your motivation with a greater sense of grattitude and Purpose. Never think that you have to do something. Remember that you get to do it—and that you are doing it for others.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

Since I have been teaching classes on the Fundamentals of Strength Training and Conditioning and Advanced Programming for Sport and Fitness, I have been reading as much of the popular press articles on lifting, as well as current scientific literature on the subject. Personally, I prefer select online sources that or founded on good science. The science, alone, often falls short for many reasons—primarily in that they are not “real world”. Nevertheless, it can all be quite overwhelming. Practitioners promote concepts like “time under tension”, “100 total reps”, and various volume (sets x repetition x frequency) schemes. For those of us former/nonathletes and average lifters, we just want an effective program with as little time demands as possible.

I have adopted the concepts of “landmark volumes” from Drs. Mike Israetel and James Hoffmann (How Much Should I Train). Simply, these are: Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV), Minimum Effective Volume (MEV), Maintenance Volume (MV), and Maximum Adaptive Volume (MAV). The authors define these as follows:

Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV): The highest volume of training an athlete can do in a particular situation and still recover.

Minimum Effective Volume (MEV): The lowest volume of training an athlete can do in a particular situation and still measurably improve.

Maximum Adaptive Volume (MAV): The amount of training that, in any one unit of time, yields the greatest adaptive response.

Maintenance Volume (MV): The lowest volume of training an athlete can do in a particular situation and still retain his/her abilities.

Ideally, one is spending most of his/her training in the “golden zone” between the MEV and the MRV. Proper planning then maximizes the MAV. Finding that MAV (i.e., a well-structured program the optimally manipulates the MEV and MRV) is what most of us find challenging. It is also what is at the heart of much of the confusion. After all, any effective program can get us there. Which program suits us is most dependent upon our goals and individual differences. Hence, one trains quite differently for physique than for strength (though each can benefit the other).

Two concepts seem to be emerging that provide a good starting point. One is the increasing tendency to label “five” as the most optimal number of repetitions (arguably, of course). This number is a good balance between training for strength (usually £5 reps) and hypertrophy (often 8-12 reps). This has made various applications of the 5×5 scheme popular. The second is the concept of total reps—usually 100. This is more of a hypertrophy concept borne of the German Volume Training method (10×10). In general, this is applied as a sort of MRV—I would say, MRV starting point. One can adapt this number based upon their recoverability (adding or removing volume, i.e., sets) and time constraints. This may be applied to training a body part one day a week or more. It can be applied to total body routines or split routines. It can be applied, as well, to any repetition scheme (though higher intensities will generally require less volume). Simply put, apply it as it works for you.

Beginning with a simple “basic five” program (squat, deadlift, bench, row, and overhead press), one might train each lift twice a week for 50 repetitions (2x5x5—remember these will be working sets). From here, exercise variations can be added to up the volume, or the frequency can be increased. Which approach(es) is(are) applied will depend on the goals and the constraints on time. One may also look at varying the volume by changing the repetition scheme (e.g., increasing to 10 repetitions for greater hypertrophy—2x5x10 = 100).

Don’t overcomplicate your strength/hypertrophy training. Find a simple plan that works for you and build on it.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” (Psalm 23:5-6, NIV)

Going to church weekly continues to challenge my Christianity. Not because the leadership is delivering sermons that “disturb the comfortable”. They aren’t. Truthfully, I am not certain to what extent they are giving comfort to the disturbed. Increasingly, it is a subtle emotional boost, at best.

In the verses referenced above, we are told that God prepares a table for us—a feast in some translations. Sadly, the point is often (in my humble opinion) lost in churches, today. It often leads to a “prosperity gospel”—to the notion that God provides for our personal salvation. I believe he does this, but I believe we neglect to carry this on to the reality that “God is love”—more specifically, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (I John 4:8, NIV).

I prefer to move from a me-centered faith (a faith that dwells on “personal salvation”, “personal blessing”, and “personal relationship”—a transactional faith) to a more other-centered faith (a faith that is relational—a faith that is transformational). The feast that is prepared for us, after all, is not a gluttonous all-you-can eat buffet. Rather, it is a shared celebration—shared even with one’s enemies (imagine that). We are taught (or should be taught) to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44, NIV). We see rather little of this in our “Christian” society. I say this as a personal condemnation.

I need little help focusing on my relationship with Jesus. I do, however, need regular reminding of my relationship with the Universal Christ—that there is something greater than self. I need to be reminded to be ­other-centered.

When my son was an infant, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Alistair Begg’s Parkside Church outside of Cleveland, Ohio. (We learned later that it happened to be the church my cousin attended.) It was a stark contrast to the church we were attending in Michigan, at the time, where I would often have to ask “Excuse me” repeatedly for people to allow a path for me to carry my son to the restroom for changing. At Parkside, we were immediately impressed by the congregation’s awareness of others. They seemed to have a sense of people around them. Without having to ask, people moved out of the way (sometimes, seemingly, without looking), and we were often asked if we could be helped. It was (sadly) amazing. It was what we should expect of those of us who would believe that we are called by God.

Faith is calling me to something bigger than religion. I often resist the calling, but I want to be other-centered. I want to be relational—to be the “hands and feet of God”—and be focused on the festival rather than the feast (food).

If we focus on receiving God’s blessing, we are sure to be disappointed. If, instead, we focus on being God’s blessing, God will not disappoint.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

I like to encourage exercisers of all ages to deadlift—and lift heavy. The challenge with deadlifting heavy quickly becomes one’s ability to hold on to the bars. Even with decent grip strength, the bar will begin to slip. Straps should not be used by beginners—barring any anatomical issue. (The grip will never strengthen.) An alternative for many lifters is the alternate grip—one hand is pronated (overhand grip) and the other is supinated (underhand grip). This limits bar slippage, as one hand prevents the bar from spinning in one direction, while the other prevents spinning in the opposite direction. The problem with the alternate grip is that it affects the shoulder positioning causing the bar (i.e., the body) to rotate toward the supinated hand. The result can be muscle imbalances in the hips and back that can lead to injury.

I have long favored the alternate grip and just tried to focus on bar/body control. Recently, though, I have begun to work on developing my hook grip—the grip used by Olympic weightlifters.

The hook grip involved holding a barbell by gripping the thumb between the barbell and the first and second fingers rather than wrapping the thumb beside the first finger. This grip prevents the bar from spinning out of the grip of the thumb in one direction and out of the fingers in the other direction. As such the fingers pull the thumb around the bar, and the thumb provides a better grip for the fingers.

The difficulty with the hook grip is that it hurts at first. It takes some time to get used to the grip and to feel comfortable. The thumb doesn’t like getting squeezed.

If new to the hook grip, practice it on your warmup sets. Over time, us it on progressively heavier sets until you are you using it for all heavy pulls (e.g., deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, shrugs, etc.). Embrace having a new callous on your thumb and enjoy the added weight you will be pulling.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

I immensely proud of my sixth-grade daughter. Aila deserves a participation trophy. Not the kind of participation trophy that is given out to every kid on the soccer team just for showing up. Personally, I am not a fan of these. I am taking about a trophy for participating in life.

Parenting is hard. We bring to parenting generation biases and beliefs. We worry for the influences in our child’s life. Rather frequently, though, we are awakened to the fact that the experiences and relationships our child is making are shaping who they are becoming for a greater Purpose.

Monday, she called me from school to tell me that, if she didn’t take the bus home, she was staying after school for something (it wasn’t clear over my car’s lousy hands-free system) and would need a ride. It was no problem for me, because I would be at the middle school anyhow for wrestling practice.

After school, she was excited to tell me about the club and why she was there. She stayed for the Gay-Straight Alliance. She has several friends and teachers in the LBGTQ+ community, and she wanted to support them. She shared several of their stories—rather sad stories. She also shared how grateful she is to know that she has loving and supportive parent who would love her no matter what. It touched me. Admittedly (shamefully), I harbored some concern over the influence these relationships might be having, but the reality is that they have not been in any way negative. Instead, they have revealed and cultivated my daughter’s compassion and empathy for others. They have afforded her the opportunity to participate in life at a most deeply Spiritual level. She deserves a participation trophy!

I list as my personal values: faith, family, friends, growth, health, and impacting others. I am teaching myself to the practice of allowing space for the soul to speak. In sharing my values with my children and allowing space for our souls to speak, it appears that we are sharing a path toward a better way—a better life.

I need not worry or fear for my children. I protect them when necessary. I guide them where I can. Above all, I trust that they will find Purpose and meaning in life through the experiences and relationships they are making.

Perhaps, we should give participation trophies.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

I have to thank Heath Eslinger for the inspiration*. He applies the Pareto Principle to youth sports. This got me thinking about the principle of “opportunity costs” and exercise (or any dimension of growth). We have plenty of excuses not to do the things we need to do, but have no problem wasting our time on the unnecessary. I believe we need to start applying Pareto’s 80-20 rule across our lives.

Many of us find the time to exercise, but we get caught up in the fitness marketing and end up spending too much time doing things that bring us no closer to our goals. We spend too much time foam rolling or stretching and not enough time lifting heavy. We do hours of “cardio” that barely breaks a sweat and spend our workouts doing “functional training” (i.e., exercises that are best prescribed in physical therapy or prehabilitation and don’t begin to stimulate appreciable muscle hypertrophy). These are accessory exercises at best. While they may have some benefit in preparing one for the training stimulus (e.g., in the warm-up), they are of minimal benefit in stimulating a muscle growth.

Many also spend a significant amount of exercise time doing those exercises which have a certain “cool factor”—you know, the stuff you post on Instagram. Again, these may have a purpose, but often they have no correspondence to one’s actual fitness goals.

With limited exercise opportunity. Choose wisely. Apply the 80-20 rule. Spend 80% of your workout doing productive exercise that is goal-specific. This still leaves 20% for your social media. Keep to the basics (e.g., lift the ‘basic 5’—squat, deadlift, bench, row, and overhead press). Do prehabilitation where it is most necessary. Do exercises that are functionally-specific—i.e., exercises that have a degree of transferability to your sport and/or lifestyle. Scrutinize your exercise activities and cut the bull**** that does little to achieve your goals.

If you are spending 80% of your exercise sessions on “abs” and doing body-weight squats on a BOSU ball, you might have your priorities skewed. If, after you have ripped out 5 working sets of 5 moderately heavy squats and singles for the deadlift, you want to do a couple sets of crunches or arm curls (i.e., “curls for the girls”), by all means do so, but do the productive work first.

If you are exercising without specific quantifiable goals, you are probably—sad to say—wasting your time (to some degree). If you have specific goals, but you are exercising for general fitness, you are probably not making significant improvements in your personal physical fitness. Results take effort, and effort comes at a cost. How do you want to spend this opportunity??

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN4EpkIpVso&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR14_3dFXDZu_7YDs3TKqG7iutgPIuoVrKNv-HB3fFOKjwH1oTKL81Okbws

I just watched a video on Tough Mudder UK’s Facebook. It was of four men scaling a wall that I am guessing was about 18-20 feet high. Alone, it would be seemingly impossible. As a team of four, it was seemingly improbable. Nevertheless, all four men made it to the top. First, three of the men formed a pyramid to allow the fourth to climb their backs. At the top the first man straddles the wall, hanging his right leg and arm for the second man, standing on the shoulders of the others, to grab onto his leg and be pulled by his arm to the top. What followed was simply amazing and skillful. The third man was raised to the shoulders of the fourth to grab the feet of one hanging by his arms to reach the feet of the other hanging from his waist. The one, then, pulled himself to the top, turned, and reached for the third to pull him up. The fourth climber reached the top by jumping to grab the feet of one hanging by his hands (supported by another), climbing to the feet of the second who was hanging by his arms. The first then pulled up to where he was hanging by his arms for the four to climb to the reach of the third, who pulled him to the top. It was impressive. It was also a lesson in teamwork. There is not much we can’t accomplish when we use our heads and work together.

Growth and “self”-improvement are not accomplished in solitude. We must work together—often sacrificing for the sake of others. Most importantly, the one who reaches the top first has the responsibility to turn and to use his (or her) success to the benefit of others.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

The holidays are over. Winter Break has ended, and I am back to work. I am not smiling in the pictures below, but I am happy with the results of my efforts to cut fat over the time from Thanksgiving to the start of my Winter term. I reached my goal of losing 10 pounds using the RP Diet app. I had hoped to hit 210 lb (a number I have not seen in many decades). I made it to just over 213 lbs, though. The progress track below shows it was a bit up and down, which I wholly expected. (Weight loss is never linear, and the fluctuations reflect a fluctuation in water weight more so than body composition.)

Friday was my testing day. The scale reflects a loss, but how much was fat and how did my lean (muscle) tissue change? I trained throughout the break—with hypertrophy goals in mind—and I followed the RP Diet app as closely as possible. Eating schedules were sometimes off. I did not abstain from alcohol (though still fewer than 12 units per week), and I enjoyed holiday meals and some off-diet snaking. I rarely felt deprived. I made controlled choices.

Even before confirming my results in the Bod Pod®, I knew they would be favorable. My abs were starting to emerge, and I was surprised one squat workout when my lifting belt quite easily slipped into the next hole. (I believe that is two notches down over the process of cutting this fat.) So, here are the results (compared to 12/6/2019 body composition)….

Body weight: 213.46 lb (219.65 lb; -6.19 lb)

% Body Fat: 12.4% (14.5%)

Lean Mass: 187.04 lb (187.78 lb)

Fat Mass: 26.42 lb (31.87 lb; -5.45 lb)

I did this, not to sport a six-pack (keeping them will be much too much work and sacrifice), but to show that the holidays don’t have to mean excessive weight gain. I also did it to show that we can make improvement with minimal effort—even in our 50s. I am learning better nutritional control. Moreover, I am getting more out of my workouts. Progress!

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

I exercise at least ten times a week. Why? I am not an athlete or a bodybuilder. So, why do I exercise so much?

First, I don’t exercise that much. Many (2-5) of these sessions are a 20- to 30-minute “cardio” sessions. The rest are weights (4-6 times a week, depending on program) and HIIRT sessions that rarely last more than 45 minutes. I don’t have the time for longer sessions, and more frequent sessions better serve my long-term goals (specificity).

Second, I have general goals but want more than general results. I want to add muscle and strength. I want to be leaner. I want to be heart-healthy. I want to be “fit”, but more than just “fit”. I also want to prove to my students that I know a little bit more than just what the textbook teaches. (I challenge the textbook from time to time.) If you want more than just general results, it takes more than just general efforts.

I am doing what I do for myself (and my family). I don’t have aspirations of becoming a competitive weightlifter, powerlifter, bodybuilder, or physique athlete. I don’t play a sport anymore (though do want to take up a sport again after I out-age the competition). So, I don’t lift like a competitive weightlifter, powerlifter, bodybuilder, or physique athlete, per se. I do the basic lifts (squat, deadlift, bench, row, and overhead press), but I keep it simple. I train mostly in the 5-rep range for 3-5 sets and do rather little accessory work. I use my HIIRT sessions for more “sculpting” (i.e., fat burning and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy). I am content with the results.

One thing to know about athletes is that they train for more than their health. In fact, athletes will more often sacrifice some level of “health” for performance. The beat the heck out of their bodies. (That’s why I hope I can become an “elite athlete” in my 80s.) Athletes spend hours a day in the gym and in practice. Those athletic and bodybuilder physiques take a tremendous amount of effort and nutritional/recovery support. They also chose their parents wisely. Don’t think for a moment that the most of us can train and look the same. We can, however, be a better version of ourselves with modest and effective effort.

Train smart. Train consistently. Fuel the body with good nutritional practices. Get plenty of rest. Over time, you will see improvement. Keep in mind the principles of specificity and progressive overload. Keep it simple. Cut the nonsense—not the corners. Do the work you have to do to get the results you want. If you are not an athlete or a bodybuilder, you don’t have to train like one. Your training can, however, probably be more effective.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!