Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The legend of Freddy Fender

Over the almost 9-year and illustrious history of Pierini Fitness, its chief executive blogger has devoted a couple middle-aged man reflections to the topic of a haircut.  Today is another one.

You see, this middle-aged man needs a haircut.  Nowadays, he only needs one about four times a year.  His haircut is in past due status.  Critics are sounding off with increasing regularity and they’re not saying nice things.

But he remains steadfast to hold out longer.  How long? Who knows; time will tell.

Even though his hair doesn’t grow on the wild side and thickly like his good olden days, if it’s watered enough, given some sunshine and lots of Father Time, it’ll eventually wildly blossom.

Still, I’ve got a way to go before entering that coveted status of being a mullet man.  I’m not sure that sporting a 2017 mullet, however, is a goal of mine but it’s a pleasant passing thought.

But, it would be nice to let it grow longer and wilder to pay tribute to and honor the legend of Freddy Fender.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Monday, May 29, 2017

Memorial Day 2017

Pierini Fitness remembers every brave man and woman who died serving our great country in military service today, Memorial Day 2017.


Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Friday, May 26, 2017

A nice cold Corona

This middle-aged man is not a big fan, or consumer, of adult alcoholic beverages.  In my younger years that wasn’t my case. 

I sport no impressive wine cellar collection and I wouldn’t win a contest naming popular microbrewery beers.  San Pellegrino acqua minerale continues to be my cold beverage of choice.

But I’d be telling a little white lie if I said I don’t drink at all.  Occasionally, and probably this weekend, I do like a cold one and my current beverage of choice is a nice cold Corona.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Four years ago, today

One thing about being a middle-aged man is the years lived thus far and all the memories those years lived provide, including being a son to my father.

I have so many pleasant memories sitting and talking with my Dad, learning about my family history, and soaking up the sage fatherly wisdom only a father can provide.

Those memories are mine forever and for this, I’m most grateful.

You lived a full and interesting life dear Dad that ended on planet earth on May 24, 2013.

I pray you’re enjoying perpetual rest in Heaven with your Almighty Father and will always remember the last time I saw you, four years ago, today.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Monday, May 22, 2017

Therefore, less intensity

Middle-aged men fitness warriors eventually realize they’re no longer willing to have a pedal-to-the-metal approach with their fitness training.  The beast in them starts to get a little mellower with age and having a “been there and done it” mindset is a contributing factor.

A someone old, but still very relevant, Pierini Fitness blogflection shared a realization that while my Father Nature clock continues to tick tock towards the end of my life, the value of what I do today is best measured by whether I’ll be able to do it for the rest of my life.

Does this mean I should be doing seated exercises at a senior center, or water aerobics, both activities that I may one day be doing as a very-old fitness dude?

Hardly.

So, what’s another way?

What should I be doing to remain fit if it’s something I should be able to do for the rest of my life?

A good clue in embracing a meaningful fitness curriculum for a gracefully-aging middle-aged man is to look back at how we’ve trained when we were younger and fitter and enjoying every minute of it. 

I have a saying that "the program has got to match the personality."  I didn't do yoga as a young person and can't see myself doing it as an older person despite how beneficial it may be for me.

So, modifying exercise as we age may consist of doing that which we enjoy, which may be what we've done in the past, except using lighter loads, shorter duration, fewer sets and reps and, therefore, less intensity.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Friday, May 19, 2017

Run middle-aged man, run!

Earlier this week I shared how I missed running and was considering lacing up my running shoes and adding it back to my fitness training curriculum.  

Was I full of hot air and merely engaging in wishful thinking? Like an out-of-shape middle-aged man who says he wants to get in shape and will start next month, while reaching for another Hostess Twinkie from his vast collection?

Well, sort of in that I said I would do it later rather than right now.  That’s the acid test.  If you say that you really want to do something, are you willing to do it right now?

Well I wasn’t but I did, a day later.

On the way home from work, I stopped at a park that had a good running perimeter with a loop distance of 1.06 mile.  I envisioned that my resurrected running would take the form of a jog, walk, jog cadence.  I didn’t know for sure.  Even though I’m in relatively good cardiovascular conditioning, each fitness activity is unique to itself and acclimation is required after a long layoff from it.

Don’t believe me?  Try doing burpees and learn the hard way.

Much to my pleasant surprise, I completed the about one-mile loop running nonstop in about eleven minutes.  It wasn’t super-easy but it wasn’t unbearably hard.  The kettlebell work I’ve been doing has definite spillover benefit. 

I was back in the game, running that is.

So, I decided to take in a round two experience this week and that’s what I did yesterday, except this time I went to a different park, one that like the last one has a good perimeter surface for running and with a loop distance of 1.02 miles.

I ran twice around for a total distance of 2.04 miles.  It took me 23 minutes and this surprised me as I thought I ran at a faster pace than my previous run.  But at an 11-minute plus pace, it was slower.  Again, it felt good so now I know there are more runs ahead in my summertime fitness training.

Now, every second or third workout I’m plotting, I’ll tell myself, “run middle-aged man, run!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Always be made in America

A couple years ago, I wanted to buy a t-shirt to wear on the 4th of July that showcased American identity and pride but was also made in America.  Much to my surprise, I found one at Wal Mart and it was affordably-priced.  As a bonus, it was made from cotton, comfortable and cut to fit this middle-aged man made in America.


Wouldn't it be nice if doing this more often - buying something that was made in American and affordably-priced - was the norm rather than the exception?

It isn’t easy to do nowadays, that’s for sure.

But, one thing is for sure; your morning cup of middle-aged man reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging and trying to live a good and honest life will never be outsourced to some foreign country far away from home, and composed using cheap foreign labor in a substandard sweat shop work environment. 

Nor will legal foreign guest workers ever be used to do this work normally done by made in America middle-aged men workers.  

Finally, illegal aliens will never be exploited and used as is shamefully done by many American businesses.

You see, Pierini Fitness middle-aged man reflections will always be made in America.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Monday, May 15, 2017

I miss running

Not sure what inspired me to share today’s reflection. Maybe it’s the nice weather that’ll become increasingly bountiful in the days ahead. 

Perhaps it was someone I saw breezing by as I drove past a neighborhood park. I’m not sure, though, that I can pin it down to any single observation, reflection or thought. 

But it does catapult to the front of my pleasure mental bandwidth so many yesteryear pleasant memories from my middle-aged man fitness past. 

This past doesn’t have to be etched in stone or affixed with superglue to my never-to-be-done-again super list. 

So, maybe this reflection is nothing more than an acknowledgement of the resurrection ball being in my court if I want these pleasant yesteryear memories to, once again, be my today or tomorrow new pleasant experiences. 

Thinking about lacing up my running shoes because I miss running.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Friday, May 12, 2017

The envy of others

Harbor no envy or jealousy, my fellow middle-aged men, when witnessing others going about their lives showcasing real or imaginary happiness and success. Rather, bask in delight from your observations.

Because a middle-aged man who takes such delight witnessing happiness or success in others is blessed with gratitude and likely content with who they are, and what they have regardless of how little or much it may be or how it's measured.

And, this delight will be amazingly obvious to all taking note, including those who may be the envy of others. 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

My middle-aged man riddle

I’m someone who likes to free-spiritly think with no goal in mind other than pure enjoyment.

In my free-spirit thinking journey, I sometimes arrive at the same fork in my mental road where I’m greeted by this unanswerable question:  Why is it that the more I think I know the less I know, and the less I think I know the more I know?

Today, this is my middle-aged man riddle.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Monday, May 8, 2017

Not being middle-aged man enough

A news story last week was about a young college student who recently won the Miss Black pageant at the University of Texas.  Without time to bask in her sunshine or stew in her juices about winning, social media critics quickly started posting how she wasn’t “black enough.”

This young woman is what demographers classify as biracial; using middle-aged man street talk, her father is a “black dude” and her mother is a “white chick”.  Many among these demographic buckets would have harsher descriptions of her parents.  Ever listen to a black dude call another one a “nigga?”

In any event, many of us live and thrive in a world of these classifications as we strive to fit into those more closely aligning with how we see ourselves.  This is normal for the most part and a natural self-discovery we all go through in our search for who we are and who we want to be.

What’s not normal, natural or healthy is when others do it for us.  Like the government, with all its gender and ethnic descriptions they like to tally us into for macro-level information about who is America, and who isn’t.

And the media is also addicted to these classifications; they make great race-bait news stories that draw in readers and viewers to the nonsense they sometimes, others would say all the time, produce.

Like this news story mentioned above.  By covering this episode, they contribute to the great continental divide with certain ethnic, political and socio-economic factions on one side and their opponents on the other side.  It’s all part of a grand master-scheme that’s been around for a long time – conquer and divide, create oppression and the oppressed will be drawn toward your message of fix. 

And the result oftentimes is a collective mindset like those cruel social media posters who didn’t have it in themselves to congratulate this young woman as a symbol of America at its finest, a melting pot of so many interesting people under the sun, all one-of-a-kind blessings from an Almighty God.

This will never happen at Pierini Fitness, always a cyberspace sanctuary for all middle-aged men of the world.

You’ll never be described here as not being middle-aged man enough.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Friday, May 5, 2017

By Al Capone

Unsuccessful candidate for President Hillary Clinton emerged this week from her loser cocoon and made several public appearances and speeches that were covered by an eager left-leaning media.  This included a news article published by a leader of fake news, The Huffington Post.

In an article titled “Hillary Clinton Makes The Moral Case For Abortion Rights”, she fails miserably in her moral discourse reeked with twisted logic failing to honor the sanctity of life of infants residing in their mothers’ wombs.

Listening to Hillary Clinton give a lecture on morality is akin to taking a how-to course on how to avoid tax evasion by Al Capone.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Fitness shelf life had not expired

Shelf life refers to the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption or sale.  With foods we eat and vitamins we take, label expiration dates tell us if they’re still good.  We don’t have to do any thinking because someone else has done it for us.

With good storage practices, we can beat the expiration date and get continuing value from a product with a label expiration date that has passed.  I’ve been known to defy such odds and eat something the label tells me is only best if used by [insert your date].

What about our middle-aged man fitness?  What is its shelf life particularly if we’ve fallen off the fitness training wagon for whatever reason?  I’ve uttered more than once one of my many legendary utterances how I’m only as good as my last workout.  In other words, my middle-aged man fitness has a very short shelf life.  It spoils easily from lack of regular training.  Is this true?

It depends on how you measure fitness.  If, for example, I’ve trained hard to run a race and complete the distance in a certain time, performance erosion would take place quickly once I stop training.  In a month or less, I’d have a hard time matching my running performance one month earlier.  My race time may be within striking distance of my earlier peak best but, more likely than not, it would be noticeably slower.  Yet I may still be able to be within striking distance of a fitness level that’s good enough.

Recently, due to a seasonal workload, I once again fell off my fitness training saddle and realized my middle-aged man fitness shelf life was, perhaps, coming to an end.  If it continued, my middle-aged man fitness would soon become “unfit for use, consumption or sale”, meaning that I could no longer go around prancing that I was fit.

This past weekend, however, I was asked to participate in a procession where for a two-hour period, I carried something heavy on my back.  I was a volunteer mule of sorts carrying a large amplifier for use by a speaker.  It was a laborious task requiring endurance, some strength but also balance, patience, coordination and perseverance.  How would I do I pondered after accepting the assignment knowing that I had become idle the past couple months and not fit as I had previously been.

Well, I did fine and never blinked an eye with fatigue.  The assignment didn’t even come close to being a challenge like some of my workouts were prior to my extended, once again, fitness training time-out.  I didn’t buckle or cry for help or relief.

Thus, I learned from this assignment, while pondering how it was time for me to once again, get back to work with my middle-aged man fitness training, that despite an extended training time-out, I was still good-enough in shape and that my middle-aged man fitness shelf life had not expired.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Monday, May 1, 2017

Back like I promised

About a month ago, I made an impromptu announcement that I was taking time off and would be back on May 1st.

Well, here I am, Mr. Pierini Fitness, the self-proclaimed ambassador of all middle-age men of the world.

Time flew fast during my blogging sabbatical.  Work kept me occupied most of the time.  But I found myself getting caught up in a new interest, being a free-lance op-ed contributor for my hometown newspaper.  I now have three articles that have been published and have been given the green light of interest that my fourth one will also be published.  The sky is my limit for my new interest.

Seems like I have a lot to say in the economic and political arena, something I’ve tried to stay clear off in my blogging past.  There are others more passionate about these matters than me but it seems like I’ve discovered there are things I must share on various current issue topics.

And I have.

And I will continue, God willing.

How might this distraction affect the frequency and quality of my middle-aged man reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging and trying my best to live a good and honest life?

Hopefully, it’ll make me better delivering them, but time will tell.

Prior to my time-out, I had a steady streak this year of Monday through Friday delivery of my middle-aged man reflections.  I’m not so sure I can match this performance jumping back on my blogging pony so, for the time being, I’m committing to thrice a week posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  We’ll see how this schedule goes and take it from there.

So, I’ll see you in a couple days this Wednesday, same Bat time and same Bat channel.

I’m back like I promised.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum