Founded on August 28, 2008, Pierini Fitness is now a 71-year-old man sharing his reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging, and trying my best to live a good and honest life. Prior to turning age 70, my reflections were from a middle-aged man’s perspective. New content will now include occasional financial and political perspectives. Enjoy your visit here and savor his knowledge and wisdom. Tell an older man or woman friend to stop by for a visit. Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.
Today I fondly
remember my dearly departed paternal grandmother who I knew as “Gangee”. She departed planet earth 40 years ago today en
route to her Heavenly Father for eternal rest.
Her special
love for me contributed to the self-esteem I have this day that I first became
aware of one day when looking at myself in a mirror.
Thanks to her, this aging middle-aged man –
on a good day – still sees a 16-year old kid when looking in a mirror.
May
perpetual light shine on her soul and may her soul and the souls of all the
faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace Amen.
I have
very pleasant yesteryear memories of being a young boy and also later as a
teenager visiting my grandmother and spending time with her on a Saturday
evening watching one of her favorite television programs, The Lawrence Welk
Show.
While younger folks may not have a
clue about this classic and very popular weekly television program, most
middle-aged people like me definitely remember it and likely with much fondness.
The Lawrence
Welk Show was an American television musical variety show hosted by none other
than Lawrence Welk. He was a big band
leader who ran a tight ship of delivering wholesome entertainment week after
week that may best be described by those who remember him and his show as “wunnerful, wunnerful!”
America
loved the Lawrence Welk Show as evidenced by it being on television for 31
years – from 1951 to 1971 live and then in first-run syndication for another
dozen years from 1971 to 1982.
The show
always ended during its syndication years with the same closing theme – Adios, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen. I can still see my grandmother
sitting in her rocking chair ever so happy and relaxed while listening to this
closing song with promises by Lawrence Welk that his show would be back next
week.
Here are the lyrics of this song and a video of it being sung
at the end of the show:
Good night, good night until we meet again Adios,
au revoir, auf wiedersehen 'til then And
though it's always sweet sorrow to part You
know you'll always remain in my heart.
Good
night, sleep tight and pleasant dreams to you Here's
a wish and a prayer that every dream comes true And
now 'til we meet again Adios,
au revoir, auf wiedersehen Good
Night!
Good
night, sleep tight and pleasant dreams to you Here's
a wish and a prayer that every dream comes true And
now 'til we meet again Adios,
au revoir, auf wiedersehen Good
Night!
The lyrics of this
song dance in my mind this evening which is my last day of being a quinquagenarian. Tomorrow I’ll officially be a sexagenarian and, quite frankly, I’m looking forward
to it. I hope I make it and promise to
live life to its fullest during this new decade of my life.
But in a moment of middle-aged man reflection, as my
quinquagenarian clock approaches midnight, there’s a certain melancholy
resonating in my emotion about leaving the who I’ve been these past ten years
in my gracefully aging journey.
Yet one of the many things I’ve learned about myself
these past ten years is how I resist change in a big time way but once change
occurs, I’m amazingly resilient and embrace whatever new is now my present.
I hope this will be my experience tomorrow.
Nonetheless, nostalgia strikes me as I compose my
final quinquagenarian reflection, and the lyrics of Adios, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen dance in my mind and heart as I
reminisce.
So as I prepare for bedtime, I’ll privately sing the first
verse lyrics of this song to myself as I fondly remember the past ten years of
my life.
Good night, good night until we meet again Adios,
au revoir, auf wiedersehen 'til then And
though it's always sweet sorrow to part You
know you'll always remain in my heart.
Yes, the past ten years of the life I’ve lived
will always remain in my heart.
Pierini Fitness is blessed to have Mr. Chris
“Isorez” Rezny as today’s guest blogger. He’s a 50-year young middle-aged man cyberspace
friend of the chief executive blogger. Chris resides in the Chicago
area with his wife and two sons and pays the family bills working in corporate
America as a sales manager. To keep his
middle-aged man body fit, Chris exercises using an eclectic approach including
barbell weightlifting, calisthenics, "Isorez” isometrics and yes
middle-aged man walking at a brisk pace.
His
middle-aged man reflection today as a guest blogger shares his thoughts and
feelings last year about this time. Grab
a chair, sit back, relax and enjoy what Chris has to share. Last year about this time, I spent time reflecting that I would
soon enter a new decade of life. Then
one day, I decided to take the rambling thoughts swarming in my mind about
turning age 50 and capture them with written words for my down-the-road archival
benefit.
What follows is what I composed
that day:
It’s
coming . . .
As much
as I have tried to convince myself it’s not true, I will be turning 50 this
year.
So that
means I’m still officially not 50 as I write this out but yes it lurks ominously
around the corner. But since I’m going
to live to be over 100, I guess, I’m not really middle-aged yet? Cool!
Reality
check – yes I’m middle-aged and have probably fit that age bracket for the past
few years. I try to fool myself, like
when I take a survey and check the box for 40-49 for my age and then privately
crack a sly smile while patting myself on my back and thinking “Hot Dog!” at
least I didn’t have to check the 50-59 age selection.
I don’t’
think there’s anything I’ll fear about turning the "BIG 5-0" but it still yanks
on my brain and pulls on my heart. Maybe
I’ll creak more or walk a bit more bent over and memories might fade.
Man, I’ll
officially be old. Me? Nope, this
can’t be!
Right now
I’m struggling with different physical aspects. One of them is that
I have two high school athletes living under my roof that I lovingly refer to
as my sons. They’re both bigger than me!
The
oldest one can put me over his head and bound up and down the stairs with me
over his shoulders. It’s a bit
humiliating . . . but enjoyable all the same.
I’ve
gotten used to being called “mister” and “sir” a long time ago just through
youth coaching of baseball and football. But now it happens in a store!
I’ve been
asked if I need help “loading that” and this ticked me off; I kindly refused
the assistance. Then I remember when I
was that young and probably would’ve asked the same question to an older man
like me.
I do my
best to keep in shape and structure workouts of resistance and cardio benefits
at least four times a week if not more. One
of my favorites is when I focus on a good long walk at a brisk pace.
Six years
ago I would never had thought that walking was a workout and at times my sons
are ruthless in their side glance when I tell them what I did. But the bottom
line is I feel good and I don’t have pain afterwards.
My one
benefit is that I really don’t think I look “almost 50” and maybe I do look
like a 16-year old kid when looking in my bathroom mirror like I know one
person says he does. I have the
benefits of a smoother complexion thanks to my mother.
Hey, I
can pass for 48. But do I look 50? Heck no! Do I turn heads? Nope; I’m just being
honest here.
However,
this year’s "Turkey Bowl" football game with friends, and many more of my sons’
friends and their college age brothers, proved to be another telling point for
me. While I didn’t embarrass myself with four receptions and one touchdown
pass thrown by “moi”, my knee hurt for three weeks afterwards from running and
falling on the frozen ground.
Yes sir –
three weeks! That there folks is called
a “measuring stick”.
I take a
slight bit of pride that the amount of grown-ups dwindled as the game went on. I hung in there with the kids but paid the price because my knee lingered in pain for three weeks afterwards before I could do a workout with lunges. That's enough of a tell-tale sign that my
internal honesty detector has been tripped.
I need to
embrace it, look forward to it and find a high hill from which to shout.
Hey I’m
going to be 50! Alright, did I just say that?
Gee-whiz;
what an embarrassing moment this is for an older guy. Maybe I’ll just
whisper it for now. Better yet, I’ll just keep it to myself for a while longer.
Almost
a year has passed from when I composed the above. I turned age 50 and embraced a new decade of
life. So I guess a postscript to what I
composed a while ago is in order.
I was on a creative roll last month and composed three consecutive
Sundays of cyber-published middle-aged man written reflections here at Pierini Fitness.
Last evening, I sat down with my very best plans to compose another masterpiece
and make in four in a row.
I wasn’t sure what I would create and seldom
do I know when writing a new composition. Thoughts just enter my mind and strings
of words are seamlessly chosen at a lightning-fast pace, thanks to skills
acquired over 40 years ago in a high school typing class.
For the most part, the written reflections I compose are
quickly done. I’ve written, edited and posted some of my
best stuff in 15 minutes or less.
But last evening that wasn’t the case. I started with one composition and put a good
10 to 15 minutes into it before deciding that it was a bunch of nonsense; so I
abandoned that effort and sat in mental silence about the nothing I had to show
for my efforts.
After a few minutes, another idea came into my head so
I went to work with what I thought would be a clever and great middle-aged man written
reflection. About five minutes later, I
found myself feeling the same as I did earlier; not satisfied with what I was
creating, considering it more garbage and then making another “business
decision” to throw it overboard. There I
was again with nothing to show for my efforts.
That’s the way it is for those who are creative or
strive to be. We all get our turn visiting
the dark side of creative dryness. What
I’ve learned when it’s my turn to experience it – after going through a pout
session and maybe some despair – is how stars shine the brightest in the
darkness of the night.
Yup, I realized that again last night when looking at
my computer monitor and staring at a blank sheet of paper.
I’ve been accused of being too wordy in my written compositions, such as letters and e-mail correspondence, and I'll accept this as valid
criticism.
It must stem from my desire
to be complete and not misunderstood which would be an occupational hazard in
my profession.
If my wordiness has its origin in the work I do, it’s because I use written
communication to advocate a client’s point of view. Sometimes it may be a controversy or dispute
so I must make sure the message I communicate on their behalf is loaded
with convincing lines of reasoning and fully supported by authority and
evidence. It sometimes takes lots of
words to do this successfully.
In any event, you can call me “Mr. Wordy” knowing you’re not the first
to do so and you won’t hurt my feelings.
And I suppose the same could be true with my spoken words but that
depends on what the conversation is and to whom I’m discussing something
with. While I take pride in being a good
listener, it’s only natural that I’d like my turn of “having the mic” in an
extended and healthy conversation.
Sometimes getting an equal share of talking time is no problem like
when the person I’m talking to and I both yield to each other at natural breaking
points so that our conversation sounds like a symphony performing a classical
music masterpiece. Other times, however,
with a different person, our conversation music isn’t so smooth particularly
when one of us “hogs the mic” in what ends up being a one-sided conversation.
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?” I may ask myself when
getting the short end of equal time in a one-sided conversation being dominated
by the other person and not me.
These long-winded and oftentimes full-of-hot-air “mic hogs” know who
they are and you can usually spot them from a distance. They are also of the same stock of those who
are “selfie-prone” with their smartphone cameras and take great delight in
uploading another selfie of themselves on Facebook to display right next to the
hundreds of other selfies previously uploaded for their Facebook friends.
These folks speak their own language called “Me, me, and me!”
Another characteristic of these people is a common preface they
frequently utter after blowing their hot air for what seems like eternity. They typically do this when realizing what they’ve
done and wanting to save face with their exhausted listener.
And what is their prefatory statement?
Those who say “To make a long story short . . .” are some of the most
long-winded people I’ve ever met.
Several
years ago I had a conversation with the CEO of an association representing
the food processing industry and the subject of waste came up. He shared how despite our best efforts to use
all of some food products, some gets unused and thrown away. He gave an example of a bottle of ketchup to
make his point.
I could
relate to what he was sharing and actually agreed with him while recalling many
instances in my ketchup-using past where the bottle was almost empty but not
quite. There was still some ketchup
lining the bottom and sides of the bottle and despite my best efforts to get
that last drop of ketchup – turning the bottle upside down, squeezing it for
dear life, pounding it on the kitchen table and so forth – I eventually
abandoned my efforts in frustration, considered the bottle empty and then
tossed it in the kitchen trash container.
I made a “business
decision” that I had used enough and for all practical purposes the bottle was
empty and I had used it all to the very last drop. But in reality, there was more ketchup in the
bottle and by tossing the bottle in the trash container; I lost my opportunity
to “use it all”.
In a
middle-aged man reflective moment, I started to think about that bottle of
ketchup in relation to my daily efforts to be the best I can to all those who
are part of my life – my family, friends and clients.
Certainly I
begin each day with the best of intentions to pour my heart, mind and soul into
everything I do. Freshly awakened after
a good night’s sleep, I’m like a newly-opened bottle of ketchup; my efforts to
do well and be good flow so easily. But
as the day goes on, like that almost-empty bottle of ketchup, my reservoir of
abilities, energy and good intentions start to empty and it takes a little more
squeezing, pounding and shaking to get another drop of good out of me.
And just like
that almost-empty bottle of ketchup, at some point, even though I have more
left, I make a “business decision” that enough is enough and that I’ve given
all that I can for the day. At that
moment, I’m like both the person trying to get the last drop of ketchup out of an
almost-empty bottle and the almost-empty ketchup bottle – frustrated and
depleted.
At the end
of a challenging day when I finally get an opportunity to call it quits until
tomorrow, and lay my head on the comfortable pillow in my bed, ready for hours
of restful sleep and rejuvenation, I hope my final thought before checking out
when Mr. Sandman arrives, is that I used all my God-given talents this day with no
wasted effort just like a really empty bottle of ketchup.
So here I am this
early Sunday morning looking out my family room window seeing dense winter fog
and a sky above so gloomy and gray. I remind
myself how I’m within striking distance of a new decade of life.
Those who know me
know of my analytical and number-calculating mindset so to honor my legend I do
some quick math and discover this Sunday morning I’m 59 years and 89 cents. This realization of being on the older side
of middle-aged manhood makes me ponder about the life I’ve lived thus far and more
specifically the current decade of my life that will soon be ending.
I think about my
faith, the sacraments I’ve received and the prayers I’ve prayed for the special
intentions of so many family, friends and clients.
I think about
family, friends and clients who have departed me from planet earth and how
blessed I was to have them part of my life.
I’m grateful for those who are still here and contribute to my sense of
who I am and who I want to be.
I think about the
fitness I’ve gained and lost in my see-saw training journey; the weights
lifted, miles run, kettlebell repetitions completed, and burpees done to exhaustion.
I think about the
money I’ve made, spent, donated and invested wondering about how healthy is my
relationship with the financial resources with which I’ve been blessed.
And finally, I
think about the good health I’ve been blessed with thus far knowing that it could
be taken away from me in a moment with no advance notice.
Coming out of a reflective
gaze to my present whereabouts, I stare at my computer and read an internet
news article about a recent research study finding that people having an
optimistic approach in all walks of life are likely to have more healthy
hearts. This article notes that optimism doesn’t just lead to
a better outlook on life, but possibly an improved one as well since this study
reveals it can lead to a healthier heart.
Well a healthier
heart is just one of many variables that will contribute to how much time I
have remaining on planet earth.
I’m optimistic
about the rest of my life and a new decade of it that hopefully I’ll
experience. There will be challenges
along the way but I believe the blessings of good faith, family, fitness,
fortune and health will far outweigh these challenges. If I’m willing to do the hard work and I pray
that I will and not be lethargic in my pursuits.
Going back into
my reflective inner-self, I recall something I wrote late last year when in a
doodling reflective mode about the rest of my life. It reads as
follows:
"Follow your passions, surrender your fears,
rid your angers and be not afraid to shed tears. Learn to have compassion
because it never goes out of fashion. Live a long life and know, one day
you and I will both go."
Pierini Fitness is blessed to have Mr. Jim Fritzsche as today’s guest middle-aged man blogger. Jim is a 58-year young middle-aged man friend of the chief executive blogger. He's a self-employed CPA in the real world who keeps fit in the gym 2-3 times per week lifting weights along with outdoors cycling on his road bike for 40 plus miles per week (weather permitting). He served as guest blogger here at Pierini Fitness five years ago today and was recently invited back to give another of his middle-aged man home run perspectives. Enjoy today's read.
I have two young friends, ages 27 and 20, who live in my
neighborhood and are die-hard San Francisco Giants baseball fans. Back in early July of this year both were
very demonstrably “giving up” on the Giants baseball season. They said (more or less), “The Giants
stink!! They’re not going anywhere!” All
while throwing their hands up in the air in frustration and hanging their
heads.
I calmly tried to get them to remember that the Giants were
only a handful of games out of first place. That the team had many fine
players, a great manager and was staying reasonably healthy. These arguments did not persuade them. They even refused to watch any more Giants
games on television – it was simply too painful.
So what happened? On
the last day of the season the Giants snuck into the playoffs as a wild card
team, and then promptly ran the table and were crowned world champions in late
October. Who would have thunk it?!
One of the great benefits of being a middle-aged dude is
that my capacity to enjoy some patience has increased over the years. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a daily
battle. And I still have my moments of
annoyance, irritation and touchiness.
But . . . I’m a whole lot more patient than when I was the age of my young
friends.
And isn’t that a blessing?!
A year ago in December 2013 I had the good fortune to go on
retreat at a local retreat center. We were meditating on the season of Advent –
the few weeks that precede Christmas.
The presenter was telling us how Advent is a time of preparation, of
patience, of waiting for the goodness of Christ to come into the world.
And then he said - that patiently waiting for good things to
happen is a great way to go through life.
That sounded right to me, so I made it a point to try and live that way
the next twelve months. And what
happened? It’s all good! My life has grown and blossomed in so many ways
this year: I have enjoyed a marked increase in my business; my personal life is
rebounding after a major family challenge; I'm composing more and better piano pieces than
ever before….and the Giants won the World Series.
I have enjoyed all of this and more, just by exercising a
little patience.
Now again it is the season of Advent, and I have been on
retreat, and am renewing my commitment to live the next year patiently waiting
for good things to happen. And they are
happening. And, I pray, will continue to
happen.
Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum If you enjoyed Jim's guest middle-aged man blogflection today, click this link to read one Jim wrote five years ago today. We will all do it together Merry Christmas 2014 from Pierini Fitness in the language of my ancestors.
So now I'm within three months of age 60 and a new decade in my life - if I make it! Wise enough, though, to know that I can be here today and gone tomorrow.
But as of right now, the plan is to be here today and tomorrow so I'm training with that in mind.
Sitting for a living and glued to my computer keyboard while working, aging and other forces known and unknown to me, within my control for the most part, make me on some days wake up feeling like an old rodeo cowboy who has been thrown from a bucking bronco one time too many.
In other words, middle-aged man stiffness is now a force to be reckoned with by me on some days - not all but some.
So I have two choices: I can sit back and let it happen; looking like a vulture sitting high on a power line hunched forward looking for road kill below, or I can do something about it. I've chosen the latter over the former.
There are several things I do to keep my body feeling supple and one I'm sharing with you today. It's a spinal alignment and shoulder flexibility drill I discovered made my spine and shoulders feel good one day when I felt like that old rodeo cowboy mentioned above. It felt so good after doing it that I decided to make a short video demonstrating it.
Here it is:
Take it for a test drive and if you like it, I suggest a regular dose of it Monday through Friday before your gym workouts and when taking a break at the office if you're one of those poor souls like me who sits for a living.
It'll keep us standing tall and upright and keep our shoulders and entire posterior chain feeling great.
It'll keep us - for the remainder of our middle-aged man journey of life - marching forward while standing tall.
Here are a couple short videos of some recent workouts.
This one is an early morning "short on time workout" consisting only of a single set of pullups and bar dips and then a tough cardio closer of Tabata burpees:
The next one is me doing a "beat the clock" kettlebell workout. The complex is called the Power 5 single kettlebell complex and I learned of it on YouTube channel of Rdella Training where there's lots of good stuff to view and learn from.
I'm relatively new to kettlebell training and have much work to do improving my form. I'm using a 20 kg Ader kettlebell that I recently purchased.
I'm training for age 60 with less than 4 months to go! Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum
I’m a 70-year-old man fitness guy. As founder and chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness, I share my opinions and wisdom about the way life was, the way life is, and the way life should be.
While most of my content since 2008 has focused on reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging and trying to live a good and honest life, I now occasionally share my financial and political thoughts.
I will personally and timely reply to all your comments and questions.
