Running a red light fine a good deal

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee will vote next Tuesday on a 10-year $829 billion legislative proposal that would expand health insurance coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans.

Regardless of what side of the debate you are on regarding national healthcare reform, the truth on either side is that the final proposed legislation will cost American taxpayers about $1 trillion and vastly expand the role of government in our health care decisions while limiting choices.

Case in point regarding choice is that beginning in 2013, Americans would be required to get health insurance, through an employer or a government program or by buying it themselves. Wealthy people, for example, would not be able to assume the risk and self-insure. Neither would anybody else. Failure to obey this requirement would result in penalties of up to $750 per family.

Images are dancing through my head of a young father coming home in early December and breaking bad news to his young children that they will not be getting any Christmas presents from Santa Claus this year because he was fined $750 by the federal health insurance police for not having the correct type of health insurance.

On the brighter side, this proposed $750 fine will make the running a red light fine a good deal.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

In the darkness of the night

About one year ago I wrote that in my fitness journey I tried isometric exercise training and found it to be challenging and effective, but didn’t stick with it because that training method didn’t match my personality. You can read my thoughts here: That's the isometric truth.

On Wednesday evening after a long day that included an up-and-back day trip to the San Francisco area, I managed to squeeze in a very quick workout at my gym. My shoulders were not cooperating and the time available to train was short so I came home less than fitness training satisfied. Not that it filled my training void, later that evening I spent about 2 minutes doing some isometric contractions. Here’s a very short video of me doing an isometric contraction in the shadow after my post-workout shower but before an evening snack:

My fitness training preference is movement-based, forward and backwards, up and down, and side to side. Isometric training, therefore, does not match my personality, but every now and then they are fun to do as a fitness nightcap in the darkness of the night.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A plate of Spam and a bowl of Ramen

The Center for Science in the Public Interest recently conducted a study of dangerous foods. Scientist for this nutrition advocacy group rated foods by the number of illness outbreaks associated with them since 1990 and compiled a list by risk.

Topping its list were these 10 riskiest foods, listed in descending order, were:

Leafy greens including lettuce and spinach

Eggs

Tuna

Oysters

Potatoes

Cheese

Ice Cream

Tomatoes

Sprouts

Berries

You can read more about it here: Leafy Greens, Eggs & Tuna Top List of Riskiest FDA-Regulated Foods

In a sigh of relief, young people gourmet cooks found comfort when reading this list that their favorite foods were absent. They’re busy now preparing a dinner favorite of a plate of Spam with a bowl of Ramen.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Because I got caught

There’s always plenty of news to be had on the internet that, besides filling our insatiable thirst for gossip, provides opportunities to learn and reflect about the joys and perils of life; and to be reminded that we are all sinners.

Sinners - the forgotten S-word that you seldom read about in the secular world in which we live!

The latest case in point is the recent bust of late-night talk show host David Letterman’s infidelities with female employees of his show. Now he has the difficult task of making amends with those in his life whom he has hurt including his wife, child, other family members, show staff and fans to name a few. Let’s not forget his soul and his God, or higher power, on this list.

Whether you believe in God or sin doesn’t matter in this case because most standards that the non-believer live by clearly recognizes the wrongness of Mr. Letterman’s acts. He’s made a public apology and that’s a start but there’s much more he needs to do. To keep him in our prayers and thoughts, rather than use his plight as comic fodder, is an opportunity for each of us to test our character, compassion and values.

In difficult situations when I’ve hurt someone, I’ve learned to ask for their forgiveness rather than to say I’m sorry. To say I’m sorry is all about me and doesn’t empower the person whom I’ve hurt. To ask for their forgiveness is more empowering to them, and their active forgiving me, in response to my request, is true healing in the making.

The contrition lesson to learn about saying that I’m sorry is to examine if I am truly sorry because what I did was wrong, or whether I ‘m sorry because I got caught.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Taking off my shirt at the beach

Lately I’ve been busy with my middle-age man fitness ministry spreading the good word to all willing to listen. Currently, there are two men I’m encouraging and mentoring in their fitness resurrection journeys.

My advice is simple in the nutrition department for those wanting to lose weight. “Buy some duct tape” – as in eat less food - is my standard advice. With the holiday season approaching and all the festivities centered on food and drink, this nutrition tip will do wonders to keep in check middle-age men bellies with the propensity to expand on short notice.

My advice is also simple in the exercise department. Find a training program that matches your personality and remember that something is better than nothing. Favor intensity instead of duration particularly if time to exercise is a scare daily resource. I call this the It model – the upper case I stands for INTENSITY while the lowercase t stands for short duration (time) workouts. There’s no need to pitter-patter around in the gym for hours when 10 to 15 minutes of intense exercise can get the job done.

Sunday evening at dinner, I talked to another middle-age man fitness warrior who has triathlete fever and has embarked upon a training program for upcoming triathlon competitions. We discussed how, at this age in our lives, it doesn’t take much to be at the upper percentile of fitness compared to our peers. We discussed my middle-age man fitness benchmarks that I should be able to run up a flight of stair without being winded at the top and be able to bend over and reach down to tie my shoestrings without throwing out my back or ripping the seat of my pants.

There’s one more fitness measure that this middle-age man should be able to do, and that is to have sufficient muscle tone and the absence of a big belly to not be embarrassed when taking off my shirt at the beach.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Eating a piece of humble pie

A bothersome right anterior deltoid muscle has put limits on the Olympic lift workouts I’ve been able to do the past couple of months. Slowly but surely it’s healing but not at the pace I’d like, evidence that my deltoid, like the rest of me, is bona-fide middle age.

Interesting is that I’m able to perform behind-the-neck pull-ups and behind-the-neck push presses and split jerks with no discomfort but traditional split jerks are a no-no. Squat snatches with lighter weights are fine too but I wouldn’t want to load the bar heavy and try for a personal record.

Once a week I use the squat snatch to “see where I’m at” with my anterior deltoid muscle recovery and last Friday my test consisted of these sets of squat snatches (loads in lbs.): 65x3 – 65x3 – 88x3 – 88x3 – 115x1 – 115x1 – 115x1. All of these sets felt good and I had this strong desire to load the bar heavier for a further test but my little guardian angel told me to quit while I was ahead to be safe rather than sorry. I listened.

These loads are a far cry from what I was doing last October 2008 when I set personal records of 155 lbs. on October 10, 2008 and 160 lbs. on October 31, 2008. How things can change in a year’s time.

I really enjoy the Olympic lifts so I’ll continue doing them. Setting a personal record and successfully lifting a heavy weight is like eating a piece of ego cake. The loads I’m currently moving, in sharp contrast, is like eating a piece of humble pie.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

On this first Sunday of October

Today's blogflection is as predictable as every other Sunday, consisting of a standard blurb that Pierini Fitness is closed so the chief executive blogger can rest his body, mind and spirit along with an invitation to return on Monday to read a creative and original blogflection about a topic yet to be determined.

So once again Pierini Fitness is closed on this first Sunday of October.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A great example of how to work your age

My blogflection on Wednesday shared a recent workout of mine that consisted of flexibility and warm-up, strength and cardio closer components and completing repetitions of each exercise equal to my age. The exercises I chose took into account my current fitness level and would not be appropriate for someone needing to get, or back, into shape.

A cyberspace fitness brother from a different mother named Joel posted a comment about my work your age workout that he has made a similar recommendation many times to those needing to get, or back, into shape. Joel’s workout suggestion is that every day you do:

Your age in push-ups

Your age in sit-ups/crunches

Your age in minutes walking/running (or double your age in squats)

Joel instructs people to break up the above workout into sets as necessary. So, for example, an out-of-shape 40-year old incapable of performing a single set of 40 pushups could get the reps in my performing 40 sets of 1 pushup, 20 sets of 2 pushups, 10 sets of 4 pushups, etc., etc. It's basic, but effective.

Thank you, Joel, for sharing your fitness coaching wisdom with a great example of how to work your age.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Clubbell 54

In the old days, my buddies and I would spend our weekends going to the clubs as in night clubs but as I recently wrote six days ago, I'm out of the loop and don't do clubs anymore. Actually, that may not be exactly true as twice in the last two weeks I've been hitting the "clubs" again.

At Bodytribe Fitness, the gym where I train, they have lots of fitness tools in their tool box that I've never used before but now am giving them a try. Tools like kettlebells and clubbells for example that I've been experimenting with as cardio closers.

Here's a simple clubbell cardio closer from Tuesday afternoon this week. I'm keeping my moves simple as my right shoulder still heals so no Ninja chops and other fancy moves that will put my shoulder recovery at risk.

So maybe I don't do clubs anymore as in night clubs, but don't be surprised if you hear me saying that I'm going to Clubbell 54.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A sit-up-less ab workout

After an extended hiatus, two weeks ago I resurrected the ab plank hold into my weekly training mix and plan on doing it at least once a week until further notice. I’ve written favorably about this static isometric posture gem exercise, going so far as to say if there was only one ab/core exercise I could do for the rest of my life that this would be it.

Certainly there are many ways to make this exercise more difficult, but I prefer the standard garden variety type where I balance on both of my forearms like the above photo. My personal best hold time in this position is 5:01.

Tuesday was the second time in the past two weeks that I did an ab plank which I held for 3:30. The prior Tuesday was my first time and I held it for 3:00. It will take a little dedicated effort to get close to my 5:01 personal best. Time will tell if I get there or lose interest and move on to something else.

Gone are the days of performing mindless high-volume reps of crunches and sit-ups. I’ve got better things to do with my scarce training time so Tuesday as well as future workouts will be a sit-up-less ab workout.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum