Thursday, December 10, 2009

This nothing stuff I had been doing

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

Yesterday I made it to my gym after work in the mid-afternoon. It was another easy workout as I continue to be limited with what I can do due to a reinjured right shoulder muscle.

Studying my training journal before beginning my workout – something I normally do – revealed the following entries for the past seven days:

Thursday – December 3rd – Nothing – sore.

Friday – December 4th – Rest – hamstrings very sore – shoulder hurts.

Saturday – December 5th – Nothing.

Sunday – December 6th – Nothing.

Monday – December 7th – Finally! A “something is better than nothing” workout. I attended a group Pilates class with my wife and, afterwards, made a short stop at the weight room and quickly did the following: a warm-up of back squats with 45lbs. x 10 reps - back squats with 135lbs. x 10 reps followed by standard grip pull-ups x 10 reps – a short rest - front squats with 135lbs. x10 reps followed by standard grip chin-ups x 10 reps. All squats were full-range with a rock bottom depth and a controlled pause at the bottom before returning to the start position. That was it!

Tuesday - December 8th – Nothing.

Yesterday’s workout consisted of more pull-ups and chin-ups in combination with barbell back squats and front squats. I concluded it with some kettlebell swings. All loads chosen and reps completed were sub-maximal effort. Call it a maintenance workout at best.

But it did feel good knowing that I put an end to this nothing stuff I had been doing.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Spiritual exercise

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

One week from today, my wife and I will travel to Phoenix, Arizona to attend a 4-day Catholic Ignatian method marriage retreat at the Society of St. Pius X Our Lady of Sorrows Retreat Center.

An Ignatian retreat consists of a series of spiritual conferences, structured meditations and an opportunity to make a general confession. Silence is kept throughout the retreat, although retreat participants have the opportunity to speak with a priest for spiritual advice. In the true spirit of silence, spouses sleep in separate rooms.

A visit to the Society of St. Pius X’s website had this explanation of the history of the Ignatian Retreat:

The word "retreat" in its etymological meaning signifies a withdrawal. In Catholic parlance then, a retreat means a withdrawal from secular things in order to go to the supernatural, to leave the temporal in order to find the eternal, to sacrifice the human in order to obtain the divine. The whole of human history testifies to the fact that whenever God wished to make use of a man as a chosen instrument, that man had to "retreat" from the world and from his former mode of life, find God and become docile to his inspirations through this withdrawal and the inevitable asceticism or spiritual exercise this inevitably entailed. Such was the case of Abraham, who had to leave the "house of his father and his kindred." Such was true too of Moses, who was tempered by God in forty years of shepherding in the desert. It was true of the Apostles, who withdrew to the upper room for 8 days under the direction of the Holy Spirit. This too was true of the Desert Fathers, the men who taught in word and example the essentials of Catholic spirituality. It was true of St. Benedict, St. Anthony of Padua and all others. A spiritual retreat of one kind or another always preceded the manifestations of grace in the servants of God.

The Retreat in the more formal sense of a place whither Christians hasten in order to spend a certain number of days in silence and spiritual exercises according to a set plan began with the monastic life. Men desirous to follow Christ by practicing the evangelical counsels left the world to enter monasteries where they labored in spiritual exercises. When monasteries were established and dotted the countryside of Europe, the Catholic laity would visit them for a brief period to consult with a holy monk, to follow prayers, meditations and holy reading.

Next week I think I’m going to be challenged with 4 days of spiritual exercise.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

You may be tired of oatmeal but I'm not

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

A character named IronMan, a cyberspace fitness brother from a different mother at a fitness forum website where we both formerly served as administrators, wrote a short article almost two years ago about one of his favorite breakfast meals – oatmeal.

I haven’t eaten a lot of oatmeal this year but have resurrected it for breakfast a couple times in the past month with more scheduled servings right around the corner.

Therefore, I’ve decided to copy and paste an excerpt of his oatmeal article, including his oatmeal recipe. Here it is so please enjoy!

IronMan’s Oatmeal Recipe

"The title says it all. I’ve been eating oatmeal everyday for the past 4 years and I’m getting tired of its taste and texture.

Fortunately I’ve stumbled upon a fairly simple solution to my problem. It is a breakfast that is full of oatmeal’s goodness as well as being packed with protein and even some Omega 3’s if I so choose. Best of all the texture is great and this new way of processing oatmeal means I can prepare it a week in advance, pop it into the microwave for 30 seconds, and breakfast is ready to eat. Yum-Oh! (Sorry Rachel Ray, your words are contagious!)

The basic recipe is as follows:

One and one half cup of oatmeal

One and one half cup of egg substitute

1. Combine both in a blender and blend until thoroughly mixed.

2. Preheat a small non-stick pan that has a spritz of Pam.

3. Pour a little more than ½ cup of mixture into hot pan. This size will give a pancake that is easy to flip and should yield 4 pancakes.

4. When the edges start to firm up and take shape it is time to flip the pancake. If there is no added fat or sugar in the mixture then the pancakes will not brown easily. I usually go by feel to tell if they are done. When the center loses its “springiness” the pancakes is ready to be pulled from the heat and placed on a wire rack to cool.

5. To save for breakfast at a later date, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge. When ready to eat, place on a plate, nuke for 30 seconds, and enjoy!

There you have a basic recipe that will yield a pancake that has approximately 160 calories with 13 grams of protein, 22 grams of carbs, and less than 3 grams of fat. But, the best part is the ingredients you can add while cooking!

Need a bit more fat? Add a couple of whole eggs (which are very good for you, especially the Omega 3 eggs) and reduce the egg substitute mixture by the same amount. This not only adds some necessary fats but does make the pancakes brown a bit easier. Walnuts, almonds, pecans are great chopped and placed in the pan first. The nuts add a great flavor and crunch while boosting nutrition. You can even add some flax seeds for the same type of nutritive boost.

Prefer some sweetness? This recipe is so neutral in flavor that you can spread a scant teaspoon of your favorite jam or jelly on top and the sweet, fruity goodness of the spread is just waiting for your taste buds! This also works well with peanut butter – or my favorite – Nutella. Using such small servings help keep the calorie count low while getting the most out of your chosen flavors.

You can even add a tablespoon or two of syrup to the mixture before cooking. It will permeate through the pancake and add more depth to it. Again, adding sugar will help with browning too. Any flavor will work - real maple syrup, blueberry, boysenberry, strawberry, and whatever flavor you can find in the store.

Can you add fresh fruit while cooking just like you could with a regular pancake? Absolutely. The only thing I’ve found is I prefer to eat them fresh. I’ve kept them in the fridge for three days with fruit added and did not notice any degradation of flavors or textures, but I just think this style of cooking lends itself to freshness. But is no reason not to top them with fresh fruit!

Well, there you have it. A new, quick and easy, make ahead breakfast anyone can enjoy. Loaded with nature’s perfect protein (the egg) and her powerhouse carbohydrate – oatmeal!"

IronMan, thank you so much for this recipe. I hope all is well with you and your family. You may be tired of oatmeal but I’m not.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Monday, December 7, 2009

Like December 7th

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

While most people of this generation will always remember the horrific events of September 11, 2001, my generation will always remember the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. For my parent’s generation, most people still vividly remember the attack on Pearl Harbor 68 years ago to this day on December 7, 1941.




Some dates are forever etched in memory stone like December 7th.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Sunday, December 6, 2009

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

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

Until then, enjoy this yesteryear Christmas song that your parents or grandparents probably listened to a long time ago.




It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Diet and fitness affirmations from A to Z

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

With a new year around the corner, many middle-age men and women will make New Year resolutions to get eat healthier, get fitter and lose unwanted bodyweight. It happens at the start of every new year as evidenced by crowded gyms bulging at the seams with new members who join, begin an honest effort to exercise and eat healthy, only to lose their enthusiasm a couple weeks later or a month at most.

To guide these poor souls, the chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness has come up with this alphabet-based compendium of diet and fitness training affirmations. If you'd like a PDF version of this, send me an e-mail request at pierinifitness@yahoo.com. Enjoy!

A – Always train a little on scheduled fitness training days. Don’t let your efforts be sabotaged by an “all or nothing” mentality because something is better than nothing.

B – Be on guard for family and friends who do not share your diet and fitness zeal as their misguided charitable offers laden with possibly envy can sabotage your efforts.

C – Chance is not how diet and fitness improvements are made so make sure you have a written plan to guide your daily efforts.

D – Don’t eat unless you are hungry. Break old habits of eating because the clock says it is a certain time or food is offered to you when you aren’t hungry. Don’t be afraid to say “no thank you”.

E – Eat your food slowly and make sure you “milkshakefy” it. What’s that mean? Read The Pierini DIET, an easy-read PDF book I’ve written.

F – Fuel your body with real food that will support the demands of your fitness training and aid in post-training recovery.

G – Go for a brisk walk as an alternative to watching television or spending time on the computer. You can always do that after you’ve taken that brisk walk.

H – Have fun chasing your diet and fitness goals and you’ll increase the likelihood of success.

I – Intensity is your time-efficient friend so make sure that your cardio sessions are short and intense rather than long, slow and steady. You should be breathless at the end of your cardio training.

J – Jump if you can now and then in your training. It’s a great way to make sure your cardio sessions are short and intense.

K – Kill all negative thoughts that periodically enter your mind that you can’t achieve your diet and fitness goals. Find something else to be a failure about.

L – Lift heavy weights at least once, and preferably, twice a week following a progressive resistance training program. Use good form and seek out instruction to make sure you perform the lifts correctly.

M – Monitor your bodyweight, diet and fitness training efforts by maintaining a journal. Weigh yourself daily and record details of your workout in your journal. Depending on your dietary discipline, consider using a daily food journal to help create awareness of what you are eating and to foster rigorous honesty.

N – Never tell yourself that you can’t do it because you can – if you want it bad enough.

O – Opportunities to eat healthy and exercise are always present, even when you are away on a business trip or vacation. Be creative and so something. Don’t worry about people looking at you – let them.

P – Pushups, pullups and other bodyweight-only exercises should be part of your fitness training program because fitness training variety is the results-producing spice of life.

Q – Question all that you read and are told about diet and fitness from the “experts". Follow the money and make sure that their advice passes the “smell test”.

R – Rest and recovery are your friends after a hard fitness training session. Train hard and then make sure that you have a quality rest and recovery program on non-training days.

S – Sitting is something you do when eating, visiting with friends and working if you “sit for a living”. Insofar as your fitness training goes, don’t lay when you can sit but don’t sit when you can stand when exercising.

T – Timed workouts are great particularly during short and intense cardio sessions. Use a stop watch occasionally and time your efforts to measure your fitness improvement.

U – Umbrellas can be used to take a brisk walk on a rainy day that you might talk yourself out of doing because it’s raining. Make sure you have one in you fitness training tool box.

V – Victims of crimes sometimes put themselves in harm’s way. Don’t be a victim of diet and fitness failure crime by putting yourself in harm’s way with environments and people that are not safe for you.

W – Warm-up your body with flexibility drills and gradually elevate your heart rate before beginning the tough part of your fitness training.

X – X-treme and unrealistic diet and fitness goals should not be what you are chasing. Reasonably demanding and achievable goals will serve you better.

Y – Yearn for the day when you are one day closer to achieving your diet and fitness goals for that is today.

Z – Zeal will serve you well in your lifelong diet and fitness journey. Make sure you are always carrying some with you.

There you have it folks – your diet and fitness affirmations from A to Z

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Friday, December 4, 2009

Variety is the spice of life

Introducing the Pierini DIET here

Earlier this year while my wife and I attended a pro-life contemplative retreat in Mexico City, Pierini Fitness was graced with the cyberspace presence of 5 guest middle-age man bloggers who delivered substitute creative and original blogflections during the last week of April. It was fun to recruit them and publish their blogflections. Each one was a great read with fresh perspectives from a different point of view.

Lately, I’ve been thinking that it’s a good idea to have some guest bloggers contribute again so this is a first call invitation to all middle-age men and women from around the world to consider serving as a guest blogger for a day at Pierini Fitness.

Who is a middle-age man? Well it depends on who you ask. At Pierini Fitness, a middle-age man is someone age 45 years to 69 years.

Are middle-age women eligible to contribute? You betcha! Thus far, Pierini Fitness has not been successful in recruiting a guest middle-age woman blogger but maybe this time will be different.

Flaunt your wisdom and share your reflections about the way life was, the way life is and the way life should be from a middle-age person perspective. Send me an e-mail at pierinifitness@yahoo.com if you are interested.

It would be great to have at least 5 guest bloggers this month because variety is the spice of life.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum