Good Friday

Pierini Fitness is closed today in observance of Good Friday.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

My intermittent fasting journey

During my 2009 Lenten Journey that will end this Easter Sunday, I chose intermittent fasting as one of my Lenten sacrifices. Since February 25th on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and also my 31st wedding anniversary, I have been continuously following an intermittent fasting way of eating for 44 consecutive days.

Talking with a good friend of mine who practices intermittent fasting had me curious so I started to read about it, including the Warrior Diet and Fast 5, both intermittent fasting ways of eating. The Fast 5 model prescribes that you eat within a 5 hour window in a 24 hour day and fast the other 19 hours.

What I chose to do was practice my own version that I call 2/24 intermittent fasting. My goal was to only eat within a 2 hour window each day from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Because no middle-age man is an island, I didn't start eating at 7:00 p.m. every day. Some days I started eating as early as 5:00 p.m. One day I didn’t start eating until 9:00 p.m. Overall, my average eating window was about 2 hours with the shortest being 1 hour and the longest about 5 hours.

Right now I will end my 2/24 intermittent fasting this Easter Sunday. It has been a positive experience that I'll have more to share about soon. Therefore, I may continue eating this way, most of the time.

Stay tuned for a future series of blogflections where I’ll share my experiences about my intermittent fasting journey.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

They can't eat you

A quick meeting with a client on Monday afternoon revealed that he periodically reads Pierini Fitness blogflections. We spent some time talking about all the worrying some of my clients are doing that I wrote about here:

Find something else to worry about

While exchanging chuckles about what little good worrying does most of us, something he said struck me as worth repeating. Even in the most difficult situations, with the odds not in our favor, against the most formidable adversaries, one thing to remember is that , unlike those giant and scary monsters in horror movies, they can’t eat you.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Single digit midget

Ask any person who served in the Army, or any other branch of the military, if they remember the day they became a double digit midget and chances are they will, and also share a story or two about that era of their life.

What does it mean to be a double digit midget? It’s soldier jargon to describe someone who has 99 days or less to go until discharge from military service. I remember the day I became a double digit midget. Chances are I went out and celebrated that night but, quite frankly, I can’t recall with absolute certainty thanks to some middle-age man memory blur.

But the ultimate coveted status all soldiers patiently waited for is exactly the status I have right now with a mere 8 days to go before my grueling 2009 tax work season is over - that of being a single digit midget.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Next to nothing - part II

Last Monday I wrote about what little fitness training I did the prior week; so little that it probably didn’t qualify as one of my bona-fide something is better nothing workouts, but rather a next to nothing workout. You can read about it here:

Next to nothing

Last week was more (or maybe the correct word is less) of the same. Here again is what little I did:

Tuesday
In my basement beginning at 5:45 a.m. – a single set of 54 reps of the combo of shoulder dislocates/overhead squats using a light wooden pole – a single set of 54 reps of 4-count cherry pickers – a single set of 12 reps of the standard grip pullup – a single set of 12 reps of bar dips. Cumulative exercise time: about 12 minutes.

Saturday
In my office beginning at 6:54 a.m. – a standard ab plank hold for 3:00 – a handstand hold for 1:25. Cumulative exercise time: rounding up, about 5 minutes.

So that’s a whopping 17 minutes last week, qualifying me for membership in the Couch Potato Club. I did a few isometric contractions a couple days here and there, but nothing significant to add to the week's training minutes.

My training will return to normal shortly but last week’s dismal effort was next to nothing – part II.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Have a great Sunday

If Pierini Fitness had a cyberspace telephone and you called today, this is the recorded voicemail message that you would hear:

“Thank you for calling Pierini Fitness, the home of creative and original blogflections about middle-age man fitness and health, reflective ramblings and occasional economic and political thought. Our business hours are Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and by appointment. Today is Sunday and we are closed.

If you leave a message, we will return your call; or visit Pierini Fitness tomorrow to read our daily blogflection about a topic yet to be determined but guaranteed to be creative and original. Thank you for calling Pierini Fitness and have a great Sunday”.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Saturday will be mine to finally enjoy

The third Saturday of Spring 2009 finds me once again in my office working a long day while looking outside my office window at the pleasant springtime scenery with flowers in bloom and green grass so vividly green. I can hear the birds chirping in a melodic symphony that sounds so pleasant to my ears, a nice contrast from the never ending computer keyboard chatter that has been my daytime “music” for what seems like forever.

The toughest month is behind me and I fared pretty well clocking 285 hours of work, the most I’ve ever done for a March month. I’ll continue this blistering pace for 12 more days and will probably clock about 180 hours through April 15th. Then a spring 2009 Saturday will be mine to finally enjoy.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Busy about nothing

Something I've noticed this year when meeting with clients is that everyone is busy, as in busier than normal and I’m no exception. What’s this all about? In a series of e-mails back and forth with a client, I stated that I don’t believe this 24/7 busy stuff is healthy. 

There’s got to be underlying forces in our minds and souls that are fueling it that I want to discover and share with the world. We all need a “Eureka moment” to discover what this never-ending busy stuff is all about so we can give it a kick in the behind and watch the quality of our lives improve.

One client shared how she wondered if she was addicted to her busy stuff. She also shared that she’s battled one type of health challenge after another for the past 2 months. Perhaps, she pondered, these health challenges were strong messages from a higher power insisting that she slow down, by giving her a kick in her behind and off her feet since the was unwilling to make that conscious choice on her own. In her own words, “God chose to help me along by visiting various aches, pains and viruses upon my body”. 

Little did she know the captivity I had in listening to her message while wondering if she was me talking to myself.

But this busy stuff is all for the chase of great accomplishments such as for the good of the family, financial security, prestige and all that other intangible good stuff that has been programmed into our complex reward systems. Work hard today so that tomorrow we won’t have to work hard and will be able to sit in our kingdoms enjoying the fruits of our labor. 

The problem with this stinking thinking is that the relaxing and tranquil tomorrow that we worked so hard for yesterday is our today that we are working so hard for a relaxing and tranquil tomorrow. We’re all like cats and dogs chasing our tails in a vicious circle that doesn’t end.

So we keep at it like the blind leading the blind, believing that we are doing the right thing so long as we are moving forward. That’s all fine and dandy until we hit a wall and crash, realizing that, in our chase to accumulate the finer things of life, what we may actually be doing is being busy about nothing.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

One day it will be our turn

Another frequent topic of discussion during client meetings this year is the challenges clients are facing being responsive to the needs of their aging parents. 

People are living longer than a generation ago and that include the mothers and fathers of middle-age men and women of my generation. Yesterday, for example, I met with a client who was leaving today for a distant trip to tend to the needs of elderly and needy parents.

The challenges are formidable because elderly and needy parents are oftentimes not revealing of their needs so as to not burden their children, or be in denial that they are reaching a point in their elder lives where help is needed. It’s a tough situation emotionally for adult children of elderly and needy parents, particularly when the parents live far away in another city or state.

The best I can do when having these discussions with clients is to listen attentively and with empathy, and praise them for doing the right thing as demanding as it may be. There comes a time when taking care of Mom and Dad takes precedence over the fun things we’d rather be doing with what little spare time we have. 

There’s nothing more honorable than rising to the occasion and being a good son or daughter to our elderly parents in need, fully aware that, like Mom and Dad, one day it will be our turn.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Middle-age man ramblings about eating

The chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness is having a difficult time this week producing the creative and guaranteed original blogflections that he prides himself on delivering each cyberspace morning come rain or shine. Today is no different, so the best he could do was to share with you a collection of 10 prior Pierini Fitness blogflections, all middle-age man ramblings about eating.

I like fat

A hamburger for breakfast

Eat your age not your appetite

Abs are made in the kitchen

My 7 forbidden C foods

Holiday gluttony

Not so fast

Like a chipmunk harvesting chestnuts

My midde-age man truth

Hitting a rock bottom

That's the best he can do today - his personal collection of 10 blogflections of Pierini Fitness middle-age man ramblings about eating.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum