Growing or Dying

Years ago someone told me this simple truth:
Nothing in life is ever stagnant.  Everything is either growing or it is dying.  There is no middle ground.

As long as someone chooses to do nothing beneficial to his health, he will be in a state of gradual dying.  Chances are likely that you know people who have chosen just such a life.  The light of life has left them.  Their fondest desire is to make it to the weekend so they can "rest" - the code word for doing absolutely nothing.  Their most exertive activity is walking to and from the car or fridge.

A person in this state of existence surely is dying.  They are essentially committing protracted suicide.  Their inert bodies cease to function properly.  Body systems begin to weaken.  Muscles atrophy until the very act of standing and walking becomes a labor.  The weakened body becomes susceptible to sickness and disease - type-2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and a host of other maladies - until it just gives up.  Everything stops.

Death.

Contrast all of that dying with the person whose body is constantly in motion (relatively speaking, of course).  The muscles get stronger, the body leaner, and the senses sharper.  This body is growing, changing for the better.  LIVING.

It's all a matter of choice.  Our human condition affords us the uncanny opportunity to choose which path to walk.  We can choose to get up and move or sit down and vegetate.  We choose to live, or we choose to die.

Often a choice is never made; one just engages in death by default because the choice to grow and live was never made.  There is no escaping choice (cue The Matrix Reloaded music).

Sometimes people are fooled into thinking that they no longer have a choice - they're too old or too fat to get moving.  These delusions are the by-product of an earlier forgotten choice (or failure to make a choice) to let death have its way for however long it takes to run its course.

However it works out, the fact remains: people are where they are because they choose to be there.

Occupying the middle ground is impossible, because, well, the middle ground does not exist.  The minute one stops exercising, the minute he stops engaging in regular movement, or the minute he decides to go back to eating junk is the same minute his body begins the regressive path toward death.  There is no "in between" place.  Sure, the body will take time to add the pounds back on, but the dying process truly began with the choice to neglect the body and its needs.

We all face the same choice - growing or dying.  Refusing or failing to choose is the equal to choosing the path toward an early grave.  Choosing to grow through exercise and nutrition is a choice to live.

It doesn't get any clearer than that.

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Sex and the 30- and 40-Something Crowd

My one true fear is losing the ability to be sexually active.  Sex is an important part of my overall well-being, and I'm not shy about it.  Thankfully, my testosterone levels are at their highest and my libido is quite healthy.  Unfortunately that won't always be the case, so I need to take steps to keep my sex drive as healthy as it can be for as long as possible.

According to the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, 67-76% of married men in the 30+ demographic have sex only a few times a month.  20-25% have sex only a few times a year.  These men are about half as sexually active as their late-teen and 20-something counterparts.  Blame falling testosterone levels (among other contributing factors) for reduced sex drive and infrequency of sexual activity.

So, let's talk about increasing your testosterone levels and (hopefully) the frequency of sexual activity.  Now, I'm not here to tell you how to pick up women; you're on your own there.  You might have noticed that I'm a happily married man, so my pick-up skills are marginal at best.  I am, however, going to give you some suggestions that will help you boost your natural testosterone production and hopefully keep you sexually active later in life.

1 - Get Rid of the Beer Belly

Excess body fat reduces natural testosterone production and actually raises estrogen production.  Estrogen is a wonderful hormone if you're a woman or you want to grow moobs (man-boobs).  After all, we ALL know that women are attracted to a nice trio of floppy appendages in the form of moobs and a beer gut.

Or not. :-p

What demographic is more likely to be carrying around a hefty belly and moobs?  You guessed it!  The 30-something crowd and beyond.  Coincidence?  I think not.

2 - Lose Weight Gradually

Cutting calories too sharply triggers a physiological response that stops testosterone production.  After all, what's the need to reproduce during a famine?  Dropping fat at a rate of about 1 to 1.5 pounds per week will prevent the starvation response and keep your testosterone production humming nicely along.  Eating frequently also helps.  A meal consumed every few hours will keep the body in testosterone production mode.

3 - Eat Nuts

Get your mind out of the gutter.  I mean tree nuts and peanuts.  There is research that suggests consumption of monounsaturated fats, which are abundant in such sources as hazelnuts, macadamias, peanuts, pecans, almonds, pistachios and cashews, increases the natural production of testosterone.  Butters and spreads made from those sources (almond butter, peanut butter, etc.) have a similar effect.

I knew there was a reason I like to buy the large bags of peanuts at the state fair.

4 - Exercise.  HARD!

Lift light and your "equipment" will be weak.  If you do 3 sets of 5 reps at 85% of your maximum, you'll trigger natural testosterone production.  The type of exercise you do also makes a difference.  Compound exercises - those that require multiple-joint movements (squats, pullups, bench presses, etc) - do more to increase testosterone production than simple exercises like bicep curls and leg extensions.

5 - Get Some Sleep

There's a reason a lot of healthy young studs wake up with "morning wood".  A good night's sleep increases testosterone production.  If you can use that morning erection for its intended purpose ("Oh, honey!"), you'll do your daily testosterone production a favor.  If you stop waking up with that morning erection, you might want to take some of those other tips to heart.

And Finally...

Don't discount the value of masturbating.  Post-sex testosterone production happens even if that sexual activity happens all by yourself.  Don't be ashamed.  Everyone does it.

Increasing your testosterone levels is the key to a healthy libido.  This is true for both men and women, by the way.  Encouraging your partner to train with you (and eat your nuts [how's that for a double entendre?!]) will benefit BOTH of you in terms of sexual satisfaction.

Have fun!

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It's Not about Losing Weight

Anyone can lose weight.  Anyone.  Here's the secret:

Stop eating.

There.  Problem solved, right?

This website/blog is not about losing weight.  The message I broadcast has little or nothing to do with losing weight, because that "goal" is such a meaningless one.  Besides, who wants to "lose" anything?  Name one thing that you lost that you didn't want to find again.  If you "lose" 50 pounds, how long will it be before you go looking for them again in the bottom of a pint of Ben & Jerry's?

Losing weight is not the message here.

What we promote, and what I hope our readers understand, is that this blog is about fitness.  Fitness is a lifestyle, a state of being, and a message that you send to others.

Fitness as a Lifestyle

One's lifestyle is reflected in his or her actions and decisions.  A fit lifestyle simply means that a majority of the time decisions and actions reflect an attitude of health and wellness.  These decisions can be as small as taking the stairs instead of the elevator and parking further away from the door at the mall.  Do you eat the double quarter pounder with cheese or the grilled chicken salad with low-fat vinaigrette?  Water or soda?

A fitness lifestyle is transparent and recognizable to the casual observer due to the bigger decisions that are made on an ongoing basis.  Daily decisions may not be witnessed by many, but the results of those fitness decisions are obvious.  After all, isn’t it apparent who has adopted a lifestyle of sloth and gluttony?  Big bellies and grease stains on the shirt are dead giveaways.  People who live a fitness lifestyle have similar tell-tale characteristics – their lean muscular physiques, bright eyes, and generally pleasant attitudes give them away.

Our fitness lifestyle is apparent in the types of activities Alice and I enjoy.  We frequently walk in our neighborhood and down by the river.  We take the children to the falls of that river and climb the rocks there.  We attend karate classes multiple times a week, sometimes for 3-4 hours per night.  We go to the beach and swim.  What we do from day to day is a reflection of our fitness lifestyle.

And so should it be for anyone who wants to be fit.

Fitness as a State of Being

Fitness, like any other state of existence, is a moment-by-moment event.  The key with fitness (and with any other attitude) is to not let circumstances dictate that state of being.  In 2009, I broke the second metatarsal on my left foot - cracked the ball of the bone behind the toe.  It hurt to walk or stand.  My doctor told me to take 6 weeks off of any physical activity.

I told him he was nuts.

Fitness is my state of being.  Telling a “fit” person to just sit and do nothing is like telling a flea-infested cur to stop scratching.  It’s not happening.

The day after my orthopedist told me to take time, I was in the gym.  I had to use crutches to get from one place to another, but there was no way in hell I was going to stop training for 6 weeks.  I modified all of my exercises to accommodate the broken bone.  Squats and presses became extension and flexion moves.  Cardio changed from running to cycling.

Fit was a state of being to me.  I couldn’t change who I was just because of my circumstances.  Had I followed doctor’s orders, I might never have restarted my training regimen after the 6 weeks were over.  By the end of 6 weeks of inactivity, I would have adopted a new state of being – that of being an inert injured man.

Changing your state of being is a must in order to become fit.  Simply “losing weight” doesn’t cut it.  If an exercise program or nutrition plan is tossed out the window at the slightest hint of difficulty, then fitness isn’t a state of being, it’s a matter of convenience.  This is a path to failure.

Fitness is a Message

I am a walking talking billboard for Weightingon40.com.  I broadcast a message about this site with every step I take, every bite I eat, and every breath I breathe.  Hopefully, the message is a good one.  Occasionally I will slip and present a bad message, but that’s what makes me human.

Nevertheless, my message to you today is simple: forget about “losing weight.”  It’s not that important.

What IS important is that you find within yourself the strength to become the lean, healthy, fit individual that already exists inside of you.  It’s important that you struggle to free yourself from the bondage of fat and, once it is shed, to stand upon the shell of your former self and declare victory over the most formidable enemy you’ll ever face – complacency.

Honestly, I haven’t dropped that much weight.  Since starting this blog – including 63 days of Insanity and hours in the gym – I’ve only shed about 17 pounds of body weight.  The true victory for me has been overcoming the hollow shell of a man who used to crawl away to his room every day to hide from the world behind the television and internet.  My victory over laziness, anger, fear, and complacency are far more noteworthy than any weight I might have “lost.”

This blog has nothing to do with losing weight.  It has everything to do with helping YOU become the happy, healthy, fit human being you were designed to be.

Be well!



Labels and Self-talk.

What’s your identity?

We assign labels to ourselves all the time – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not so.  We also allow, usually passively, others to assign labels to us.  Some of those labels are constructive.  Too many are destructive.

Think for a moment: how do you describe yourself?  Here are some possible labels that you might have used: “I’m fat.”  “My thighs/butt/hips are big.”  “I’m too tired.”  “I don’t like to exercise.”  “I love food too much.”  “I hate vegetables.”

Statements like those have an impact on how you see yourself and how you behave.

We reinforce beliefs about ourselves by repeating them, either to ourselves or others.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve looked in the mirror or stepped on a scale and reinforced to myself that I’m fat.  I also used to tell people that there were 3 things of mine that you shouldn’t mess with – my family, my money and my food.  Because I reinforced my identity (as a fat glutton), I lived my life accordingly.  I ate poorly, rarely exercised, and my body reflected my behaviors.

Personal labels can also be unspoken.  I’ve seen people wear clothes that tell me they embrace a slothful lifestyle.  A year or so ago I saw an early teenager (13-14ish) wearing a bright yellow shirt that looked like a Lay’s potato chip bag.  It said “Lays-e” No surprise this kid was obviously overweight. 

Do a quick search for “Lazy t-shirts” or “Fat t-shirts” and you’ll see that many people don't mind assigning the ‘lazy’ and ‘fat’ labels to themselves.

You might be saying, “Those shirts are supposed to be funny.”   That may be so, but the fact of the matter is our brains can’t tell the difference between truth and fiction.  Every time our eyes see the message on a self-deprecating shirt, a message is sent to our brains that tells us we’re lazy or fat.  Our subconscious mind files away that assertion and helps us conduct ourselves accordingly.

Looking at this from another angle, we sometimes passively allow others to label us.  I know a mom who used to call her son “little Buddha” due to his abundance of baby fat.  Not surprisingly, the child has been noticeably fat through toddlerhood and into childhood.  Unless the child is de-programmed (by parents or by himself), that label may well follow him into his adult life.  Spouses label each other all the time – often as a term of endearment – but with similar negative overtones.  The labels often become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Any of my readers own a La-Z-Boy recliner?  The chairs are not so named because they encourage 30 minutes of physical activity every day.

The offset to all of this destructive input is to identify ourselves with uplifting descriptors.  “I eat healthy foods and live a happy and active life.”  “I eat exactly what my body needs every day.  Nothing more.”  Think healthy thoughts, say healthy words, and your brain will help you behave accordingly. 

Make your thoughts and words action oriented rather than person oriented.  Saying, “I’m a good person for choosing water over soda,” actually sets us up for future self-recrimination later on (e.g. does drinking soda make me a “bad” person?).  This goes for talking to others as well.  Saying “good job” beats “good girl” every time.

Don’t let negative labels sabotage your progress.  Over the next few days, try paying particular attention to what you say and think about yourself.  Notice whether your self-dialogue is uplifting or desctructive.  If you find yourself being "mean" to yourself more often than you are being "nice," it's time for some re-programming.

A good remedy for destructive self-talk is to write down the negative labels you assign to yourself and thoughtfully consider alternatives that put your situation in a positive light.  For example, instead of “I’m fat,” you can say, “My body is in a state of constant improvement.  My actions are in line with that process.”

Give it a go, and see how your body (and mind) reacts.

Be well!

Formula for Health

Achieving optimal health is a matter of a pretty simple formula:

Consistency + Exercise + Nutrition + Recovery = Results

Truth is relative, and this formula is not immune to the perceptions and opinions of others, but for the most part, we can boil success in our health down to those 4 ingredients.

Our marketplace constantly bombards us with ways to “succeed” in opposition to the formula.  Gimmicky diets (NutriSystem, Adkins, and Weight Watchers for example) leave out the exercise component by focusing entirely on the nutrition aspect.  On the other hand, magic pills (Solo Slim and Alli for example) downplay the role of proper nutrition. 

All “diet” programs can deliver results, but the quality of those results is what interests me the most.  NutriSystem, Adkins, and Solo Slim will help you drop pounds, but the end result is an undernourished body, not a healthy one.  Since my primary aim with this website is to help people develop healthy, vibrant, and active lives, I’ll stick to talking about getting meaningful and enduring results.

Consistency + Exercise + Nutrition + Recovery = Results

What is consistency if not the practice of doing something frequently enough that it becomes habit or second nature.  You must perform all other parts of the formula (Exercise, Nutrition, and Recovery) on a regular and recurring basis.  In my opinion, that means for 6 days a week your diet is clean, your exercise routine set, and your schedule arranged to include 7-9 hours of sleep. 

Consistency becomes easier when there is a specific plan in place.  Enter the adage, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”  Exercising 3 days a week and eating the occasional healthy meal won’t yield the best results because there’s too much “off” time between healthy behaviors.  Health isn’t a matter of hitting the mark occasionally.  Consistency with frequency is key.

Your plan is better when it’s written down and visible.  The very act of writing it down makes the plan more concrete – more real – in our minds.  The end result of a written plan is a higher likelihood of following through with the plan.

My plan for consistency is pretty simple: eat a decent breakfast, have a snack at 10:15, eat lunch at 12:00 or so, have another snack around 3:00, exercise at 4:30, have a post workout recovery shake, eat dinner at 6:30, and eat again at about 9:00.  I might miss one of those meals along the way depending on how work goes, but I generally eat 5-6 times a day without fail.  The workout is scheduled for the same time every day except Saturday, when we work out before noon.  Sunday is our day off.  No workouts and some “cheating” on our diet.

While I would like to say that I’ve got this whole thing worked out myself, I would be lying if I did.  While I can easily maintain my training schedule and eating routine, I still tend to shortcut myself in the sleep department.  I tend to lean closer to the 7-hour side of sleep rather than the 8-9 hour side.  I usually head to bed between 11:30 and 12:00 while getting up at 6:50-7:00.  That’s my night-owl aspect coming into play.

Consistency + Exercise + Nutrition + Recovery = Results

There’s a lot that can be said about exercise (and I’ve said a lot of it here), but I’ll condense it for simplicity.  Exercise must be a physically demanding activity that has the effect of burning calories.  That’s not to say that exercise can’t be fun – playing tennis, walking 18 holes of golf, surfing, and chasing the kids around the yard are all great forms of exercise.  I’m merely stating that exercise must push your body beyond the limits it usually experiences on a day-to-day basis.

Whatever activity you choose should involve at least 30 minutes of physical exertion.  Please note the last word in that sentence – exertion.  Walking around the parking lot at work for 30 minutes during lunch is better than sitting on your butt for the same amount of time, but don’t expect to burn loads of calories doing it.  Walking briskly while keeping your core tight and vigorously moving your arms in concert with your feet for 30 minutes will tax more of the body and burn more calories.  You don’t have to gasp and sweat bullets, but pushing beyond just “walking” should be the norm.

Suffice it to say that if your heart isn’t pumping a bit harder and your breathing isn’t noticeably faster during your “exercise,” chances are you’re shortcutting your efforts.  Dropping fat will take much longer if it ever occurs at all.

Consistency + Exercise + Nutrition + Recovery = Results

It is indeed true that you are what you eat.  If you eat a bunch of junk day after day, your body will reflect that fact by packing on a lot of extra junk in the form fat.   While it’s not absolutely mandatory that every meal you eat from now until your dying day is perfectly clean, the majority of your foods should be of the healthier variety – fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and unprocessed carbohydrates. 

Alice and I have a lot of variety in our diet that keeps eating well from being completely hum-drum.  Our meats usually include turkey breast, chicken breast, venison, fresh fish, shrimp, and lean beef cuts.  On occasion, we might come across bison or emu in the grocery store.  Those are pretty nice if you can get them.  Our unprocessed carbs are fairly standard for us (though not necessarily for everyone) – couscous, quinoa, whole grain rice, corn, potatoes, oatmeal, and cream of wheat.  Fruits count as carbs, and we include them in smoothies and protein shakes in addition to eating them straight out of the package.

If you’re one of those that eats on the run, meal replacement powders and bars are a fair substitute for solid foods (but only occasionally).  If you must stop at the local fast food joint, choose fresh options like the salads (with light dressing) or un-fried (grilled, baked, etc) options.  A great place to stop for a quick bite is Subway.  I personally prefer the turkey breast and ham with Dijon mustard and a bunch of fresh veggies stacked on it.  I choose the wheat bread over the white options and avoid bologna, cheese, and heavy sauces that can pack calories onto a sandwich in a hurry.

Eating well doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does require a little forethought.  If you’re not thinking about the needs of your body as far as fuel is concerned, then you should question your commitment to your health.

Consistency + Exercise + Nutrition + Recovery = Results

You can’t continue to work a body without resting it.  Recovery includes eating the kinds of foods that will help your body recover from working out, getting adequate rest, and giving your body at least one day off per week with limited physical exertion.

7-9 hours of sleep are recommended for optimal attention and brain function.  While it is certainly possible to sleep less and still enjoy success in your exercise and nutrition programs, the majority of information out there still points to the average 8-hour night for overall health.

The recovery day helps prevent burnout.  If you knew that you had to work out and eat clean every day for the next 40 years, chances are you’d never start a healthy regimen.  Around our house, we take Sundays off.  We relax our diet and don’t engage in any strenuous workouts.  We might go for a walk if the weather is nice, but we’re not scheduling a 45 minute butt-kicking with Insanity for that day.  It’s my favorite day to just sit around, watch some TV, and relax.  While I’m doing that, my body is busily repairing all the damage I’ve done over the week with 6 intense daily workouts and 6-8 hours of karate.

Sundays are also the days that we’re most likely to order a pizza or get some fried chicken for dinner.  With a little latitude in our diet on Sundays, we’re less likely to feel deprived of some of our favorite eats.  As a matter of fact, I’m looking forward to my Klondike bar, which is sitting in the freezer as I write this.

In Summary

Better health isn’t a mystery; it’s a simple matter of following a basic formula.  Leaving out any of the individual components will result in a substandard product – much in the same way leaving eggs out of a recipe will result in a substandard cake.  Adding anything else to the formula just unnecessarily complicates it. 

Consistently exercising properly, eating well, and allowing your body to recover will eventually yield the desired results – a healthier and happier you!

Be well!