Middle-age man fitness dividend

Tomorrow begins a new month and, for me, the toughest month of the year in my job. Fortunately, it's Sunday and my sacred rest day to rejuvenate my body, mind and spirit. I need to do a good job of that because Monday begins a full-steam pedal to the metal work intensity that challenges every drop of my work ethic and mental discipline.

Last March I worked 273 hours, but never on Sunday, and that is my plan again this year except that my March 2009 to do list currently pencils in at about 294 hours. I expect to come in at 280 hours at best; hoping that work efficiencies will absorb the difference. Needless to say, squeezing in fitness training becomes extremely difficult so I’ll continue to be guided by my “something is better than nothing” mindset that I wrote about here: Something is better than nothing

Middle-age man “toughness” and physical fitness make it possible for me to endure this demanding workload. For lack of a better term, I call it the middle-age man fitness dividend.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Upside down

This week I added another exercise to my early morning, 10-minute time-challenged workouts - a 54 second handstand hold with my feet against the wall for balance. The handstand hold is one of the static isometric postures making up my Plan B workout medley that I wrote about here: I'm doing my Plan B workout

My theme of 54 reps or 54 seconds of whatever I’m doing is a good reminder of my middle-age man chronological age. It makes me wonder what my workouts will be like when I’m 90 years young. The 54 seconds is short of my best effort of 1:59 but long enough to wake up my early morning sleepy muscles.

Static isometric postures make my body feel good and are a great way to start the day. The handstand hold gives me a nice contrast and appreciation of the upside world in which I live. So I’ve made a fitness “business decision” to take a pause for the cause and spend a few early morning moments upside down.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

That I won't do

Yesterday was a busy day with little time to think about today’s blogflection topic. Sure, I could throw something together that would be light on creativity and originality and many would never know.

So today’s blogflection is a 50 word rambling that I have standards and that I won’t do.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

What a busy day!

Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, the primary penitential season in the Catholic Church liturgical year, reflecting the forty days Jesus Christ spent in the desert in fasting and prayer. Lent is a time to prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. As a Catholic, I am expected to fast today and that is what I am doing.

Today also begins the Spring 2009 40 Days for Life, a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil; to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life and, thus, bring an end to abortion in America.

Read more about it here and consider getting involved, as I am, if there is a 40 Days for Life in your community: 40 Days for Life

Finally, today is my 31st wedding anniversary. Join me as I reflect on my sacrament of marriage by viewing some yesteryear images from our Saturday evening wedding ceremony at St. Francis Catholic Church, 3 blocks away from where I currently live:



Happy Anniversary

All I can say is what a busy day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

That darn delete key

All computer users have their own unique stories of lost computer files through their own carelessness or external malicious acts. One of my earliest recollections was umpteen years ago, call it circa 1983. I was preparing a cash flow projection for a client using my first computer, a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 3 and a pre-Excel spreadsheet program called MultiPlan, with my little boy son sitting on my lap. The bright orange computer on/off button got his attention and curiosity so he pressed it; my computer shut down and I lost a couple hours of work because I had not saved the worksheet. I learned a valuable lesson: save and backup as I go and I have generally been doing it ever since.

Notice that I said generally.

Last Sunday evening, I accidentally deleted two recent Pierini Fitness blogflections while trying to organize my archives by subject titles. Both were not saved elsewhere in a backup file and have basically disappeared into a cyberspace cemetery. I’m still trying to find them but I believe they are gone, gone, gone! One of the deleted blogflections was one that I treasured; the one I recently wrote about how my wife spends half her life losing things and the other half trying to find them.

Life will go on for this middle-age man blogger but I am upset at myself and that darn delete key.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Graduation from Burpee Academy

Last week was my final week of a 7 week burpee challenge that I wrote about here: No burpees today no food tomorrow

Here’s a day-by-day account of how I did this week with comparison times from the previous week:

Monday
A single set of 54 reps of the standard burpee completed in 4:49 for a new personal record (PR). This effort was faster than the previous Monday’s time of 5:39 that was done at the end of an Olympic lift training day.

Tuesday
A single set of 54 reps of the standard burpee completed in 6:33. I took it easy, sort of like an active recovery day, because I was planning on going at it hard the next day. This effort was definitely slower than the previous Tuesday’s time of 4:58, my previous PR.

Wednesday
A single set of 54 reps of the standard burpee completed in 4:49, the same time as my effort two days earlier. This time was faster than the previous Wednesday’s time of 5:36.

Thursday
A single set of 54 reps of the standard burpee completed in 4:46 for a new PR on my birthday. This effort was faster than the previous Thursday’s time of 5:01.

Friday
Having met my burpee challenge that began on a Monday 7 weeks ago, I made a business decision to take the day off and rest my tired middle-age man knees. The previous Friday, I completed a single set of 54 reps of the standard burpee at the snail’s pace of 7:08, done at the end of an Olympic lift training day. I had made a note in my training journal before I did that set that a leisure pace was planned and that is how I did them but they were still hard to do.

The burpee challenge was tough but I hung in there and didn’t miss a day, although I certainly thought about skipping often as I drove home from work knowing that my daily challenge was waiting for me. I’m feeling pretty good right now about my discipline and perseverance, and my graduation from Burpee Academy.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Finally Sunday

The past week was tough because I worked hard at my job, slept fewer hours at night and, by the end of the week, had a big sleep deficit. The sleep deficit became very apparent as I crawled out of bed in slow motion Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m. to get an early start at my office for a 6th day of work.

So it’s comforting in knowing that today is Sunday and, as usual, Pierini Fitness is closed so the chief executive blogger can have his well-deserved day of rest to refresh is body, mind and spirit. Visit Pierini Fitness tomorrow for another creative and original blogflection about a topic yet to be determined but guaranteed to be original. Until then, I’m grateful because it's finally Sunday.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Until death do us part

Last Thursday evening, before the barbeque ribs, steak, salad and dessert during a small family gathering for my birthday, I went to a funeral rosary for a man our family knew about 50 years ago. His family and our family were neighbors and friends until we lost contact with them when we moved to a different city in 1960.

Eduardo “Lalo” Aguirre was called home to God last Saturday at the age of 92 years. I learned of his passing during my morning internet read of the obituaries, one of my middle-age man daily rituals that I wrote about here: Reading the obits

Upon reading of his passing, I had a strong feeling that I needed to attend the rosary. My Mom accompanied me. Mr. Aguirre had two sons that I remember, one of whom was a neighborhood play friend. As is often the case when attending funerals, I did so out of respect but also to satisfy my own curiosity. Would I recognize Mr. Aguirre as he rest in peace in his open casket, or his wife and two sons? Would they recognize my Mom and me and have the memories of my family that we had of them?

As we prayed the Holy Rosary, I learned that Mr. Aguirre was a man who believed in God and his Catholic faith as the rosary is definitely a Catholic form of prayer. Afterwards, various acquaintances and family members gave brief accounts of their memory of Mr. Aguirre, followed by a short video presentation of photos of him at various stages of his long life. There were many clues of what he valued the most: his faith, his family and his moustache. Other than the old black and white photos of him as a young boy, every other photo showed a proud family man with an ever-present and groomed moustache. At the end of the service, I approached his open casket to pay my final respects and noticed his groomed white moustache as he lay ever so peaceful in eternal rest.

Another reason I like to attend funerals is the stark reminders they give that life is precious and our time on earth is limited. Our earthly presence is at the pleasure of God and despite all that we do for our fitness and health, we’ll all get our turn to depart just like Mr. Aguirre. Funerals give me an opportunity to be reminded of those things that really matter the most; it’s not the money we make, the economic wealth we amass, the big shots we know or the places we’ve traveled. It’s much simpler than that as I was reminded by Mr. Aguirre, discovering what both he did and I do value the most - our faith, our family and our moustache – until death do us part.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Cowboy Eddie

The first book I owned was given to me by my parents when I was about 5 years old. It was a children’s book published by Rand McNally Elf Books titled “Cowboy Eddie”, a story about five year old Eddie’s first day on the Lazy E Ranch that Eddie’s Daddy, or Big Ed had recently bought. Eddie was the happiest boy in the world because he could now learn to be a cowboy.

I’ve managed to hold on to this book over the years but in my neglect and failure to realize the treasures of yesteryear, the book became quite weathered and in very poor condition. A recent conversation with an old book antique dealer motivated me to search for this book on the internet. Low and behold, I found it on e-bay and went a step further and recently purchased it – not just one copy but two!

I discovered that the book I owned was originally published in 1958 and sold for the whopping price of 25 cents. I also learned that an older book with the same title was published in 1950 and sold for the same price. Believing that they were two different stories, I made a business decision to purchase both books. I paid $20.00 for the 1950 book and $9.95 for the 1958 book. I’m still waiting to receive the 1958 book. Yesterday I received the 1950 book and discovered that the story is the same as the 1950 book with the only difference being the book cover. The 1950 book is in excellent condition and I know the 1958 book will be in much better condition that the one I currently own.

Knowing that there’s analysis to be done in every financial transaction, I calculated the rate of return of both books to evaluate their potential future value. Using the original purchase price and how much I paid for each book, the 1950 book increased in value by 7.5 percent per year and the 1958 book increased in value by 7.7 percent per year, both decent rates of return. Assuming that both books continue to increase in value at a similar rate, I asked myself how much they would be worth when I’m 90 years old sitting in a rocking chair watching time go by. The 1950 book will be worth $289.90 and the 1958 book will be worth $134.04. These were good investments and perhaps I should try to buy more.

Until then, every now and then when I want to spend time reflecting on my yesteryear, I’ll go to my personal library and read about Cowboy Eddie.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

My first rerun

A rerun is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast or, in the cyberspace world, a rerun of a blog post. I attended a continuing education seminar yesterday and didn’t have time to write my daily blogflection so here’s one of my favorites – a blast from the past: Every man who looks in the mirror sees a 16 year old kid

By the way, I just looked in the mirror and still see a 16 year old kid!

Visit Pierini Fitness tomorrow for another creative and original blogflection about a topic yet to be determined but guaranteed to be original. Until then, know that it had to come sooner or later – my first rerun.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum