A Helper of God's Precious Infants

Those who know me in cyberspace and in the real world generally are aware of my profound belief that life begins at conception and ends only when God decides and not anyone else. The misguided might use the term “pro-life radical” to describe people like me.

While pro-lifers are generally identified by their opposition to abortion, their life begins at conception beliefs cover a longer lifespan than just unborn infants. Many pro-lifers, like me, oppose any form of euthanasia or comfort killing, including any health care proposal seeking to deny lifesaving medical care to anyone just because they are elderly and likely soon to die. Many pro-lifers, like me, also oppose capital punishment. These are beliefs that make us the target of mean-spirited gestures and words in debates and other interactions with those who believe differently. I’ve seen more middle-finger variations than you can imagine because of my pro-life beliefs.

Currently, I’m involved in the front-end of the pro-life world by praying, encouraging and offering support to pregnant mothers that they will choose life for their unborn infants rather than abortion. Here are two past Pierini Fitness blogflections where I’ve written about my pro-life activities:

Blessings from the sidewalk

Hermanos y hermanas de la Ciudad de Mexico

Here’s an amateur video I recently produced for use in promoting our local Helpers of God’s Precious Infants' apostolate:



So besides being the self-appointed ambassador of middle-age men around the world and a middle-age man fitness dude, I’m also a Helper of God’s Precious Infants.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

How an old man trains with barbells

My Dad is scheduled to turn 83 years young on August 14th and still spends time in his garage pushing and pulling the iron. He’s an old school guy whose lifting almost exclusively consists of barbell training. As a caregiver for my disabled sister, he applies the strength he maintains from lifting weights to everyday caregiver tasks like getting her in and out of the bathtub or sitting her on the toilet. It’s an acquired skill requiring balance and coordination but strength is also necessary.

As is common among children of aging parents, I often ask my Dad if he has any aches or pains or if he has any health conditions giving him trouble. He generally responds in the negative. One thing I’ve learned in these question and answer sessions is that aging parents, like the rest of us, generally like to give the impression that all is well even if it is not. They always seem to have the right answers to our probing and well-intended questions. They don’t want us to worry about little things like their health and well-being, so having a watchful eye and looking for little clues is a tricky way to get some assuring confirmation that all is reasonably well. My Dad does confess that he has pain on the bottom of his feet and some days this pain is a nuisance and source of discomfort when he walks.

One thing I’ve observed about my Dad is that he moves slowly but he always has been slow in his movement; I think that is how he is wired. I’ve also observed him bend over and squat down to pick something off the floor and bounce back up effortlessly. This has caught my attention and left me impressed more than once, and I regularly compliment him on his up and down agility. He attributes this to his leg strength from regular heavy squat barbell training when he was younger and the legwork he currently does on the hack squat exercise machine in his garage.

Like an old school barbell guy, he trains at least twice a week in his garage, sometimes three times, and performs 2 to 3 sets of between 6 and 12 reps of the bench press, upright row, bent over row, and military press. The weight he uses for these exercises is age-appropriate and safe for someone training alone. He completes a similar number of sets using the hack squat exercise machine and does some weighted neck work using a head harness. He’s never been a big cardio guy but lately he has been spending time walking on the treadmill in his garage.

A topic on my blogflections to write list is one that chronicles an actual training day of my Dad in his garage with some short video footage. It would be great to do that on his 83rd birthday and that will be my goal. If not his birthday due to conflicts with his schedule and mine, then as close to his birthday as possible.

I think it would be a great Pierini Fitness read, a blogflection of how an old man trains with barbells.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Your advice is respectfully sought

In less than one month Pierini Fitness will celebrate its one year anniversary of the day it burst into the blogosphere universe on August 28, 2008, joining thousands and, perhaps, millions of other bloggers around the world who think they have something important to say or are just having fun blogging. How time flies when us bloggers are having fun.

Naturally all kinds of thoughts swarm through my head as I approach this one-year anniversary. Should Pierini Fitness continue or should the chief executive blogger retire and move on to something else more productive? Even if not productive, the average of 15 minutes I spend daily writing my blogflections could be spent taking a quick nap, or spending more quality time with my wife, or performing more random acts of kindness, or getting neglected chores done, blah, blah, blah, the opportunities are infinite.

As shared before, composing these blogflections has been fun and, believe it or not, relaxing because it gives me a time out from the real world in which I live, a siesta to let my mind wander in reflection-land like a child spending a day at Disneyland, like that great daydream we wander into during the middle of the day unbeknownst to us and others around us. Good stuff for sure.

Then there are all the questions that I have if Pierini Fitness continues. Should I continue in my self-appointed role as ambassador of middle-age men around the world, advocating their interests and writing about the way life was, the way life is and the way life should be? Should I expand my horizon beyond middle-age man fitness and health, reflective ramblings and occasional economic and political thoughts?

Does my blog front page need a makeover? Perhaps a new photo, different colors and a new layout?

There’s so much to consider and so little time to think about it.

So maybe you can help. Tell me what you think. The pleasure of your advice is respectfully sought.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Back to the drawing board?

An internet news article that caught my eye is the topic of today’s blogflection - several Democrat and Republican lawmakers acknowledge that President Obama’s ambitious health care reform will not pass without the aid of doubtful Republicans whose members are almost united against the White House plan.

While it may be too early for taxpayers to breathe sighs of relief, this news is nonetheless comforting. How much more effort will be required before us taxpayers attend the funeral of this anti-competitive, anti-consumer misguided proposal?

A July 24, 2009 Fortune Magazine internet article reminds us of the five key freedoms we’d lose if the President’s health care reform became law. You can read the article for the details but here’s are one-liners of what these at freedom risks are:

1) Freedom to choose what’s in your plan

2) Freedom to be rewarded for health living, or pay your real costs

3) Freedom to choose high deductible coverage

4) Freedom to keep your existing plan

5) Freedom to choose your doctors

It’s always been my opinion that the health care reform ideas of unsuccessful Presidential candidate John McCain were better for improving our health care delivery system. They were based on these guiding principles:

1) Give families more control and choice of their health insurance and medical care choices.

2) Make more individuals and families eligible for health insurance tax credits.

3) Improve health care and reduce costs by promoting competition among health care insurers.

While John McCain’s general principles lack the detail of the scary details emerging with President Obama’s health care reform proposals, it’s also clear that these sound principles are not visibly present in the President’s plan. This is scary because the President’s plan lacks free market forces of competition and consumerism needed for real health care reform. Competition and consumerism work great when we shop for a new automobile or buy groceries so why not with health care?

Is it too late to go back to the drawing board?

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Back on the IF saddle

Last week I took a time out from my Monday through Friday intermittent fasting (IF) lifestyle. It’s a week later and my time out is now over.

How did it go? Glad you asked.

Quite well, thank you. While I didn’t keep food journal notes, last week is still fresh in my mind. Interesting is that I probably ate less on Monday and Tuesday than what I normally eat on an IF day, maybe ate a little more on Wednesday and Thursday, and about the same on Friday. It seems that I ate about the same on Saturday and Sunday as the prior week, both days of which are non-IF days.

My bodyweight remained about the same the past two weeks, fluctuating as it normally does. What follows is my daily bodyweight in lbs. Note that the first weight listed was last week during my IF-time out and the next weight was the prior week when I followed my IF-lifestyle.

Monday – 176.5 - 177.5
Tuesday – 176.0 - 176.5
Wednesday – 176.0 - 174.5
Thursday – 176.5 - 176.5
Friday – 177.5 - 177.5
Saturday – 177.5 - 176.0
Sunday - 177.5 - 176.0

Actually, if you do the math, my average daily bodyweight last week during my IF-time out was 0.4 lbs. higher than the previous week.

Last week’s time out was fun and a refreshing change of pace but it’s great to be back on the IF saddle.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Often imitated but never duplicated

How time flies when you are having fun and that is what this chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness has been doing; having fun banging out one clever blogflection after another this past week. There’s only so much clever and creative fuel in my mind tank so a deserving rest is the order of today. It’s Sunday and, like clockwork, Pierini Fitness is closed so the chief executive blogger can rest his body, mind and spirit.

The last couple of months have been relaxing for me at work with a Tuesday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. work schedule. This has given me lots of time to ponder middle-age man life and compose some fun blogflections. People sometimes comment that it must take a lot of time to write my daily blogflections; believe it or not, it doesn’t. What I’ve learned in my blogging journey is that God has blessed me with the an ability to do this kind of writing swiftly once the topic is embedded in my mind. On average, I spend 15 minutes or less composing the daily blogflections you read here at Pierini Fitness. If only I could be so good and so swift in other aspects of my life.

Starting next week and for the next couple of weeks, I have a client assignment that will require me to work as most people do, Monday through Friday for at least a standard 40-hour work week. I’m trembling at that thought but am sure that all will be fine, although Monday might be a little bumpy. How this will impact my ability to cyber-deliver my daily blogflections at Pierini Fitness remains to be seen so stay tuned to find out.

Check back tomorrow for another blogflection about a topic yet to be determined but guaranteed to be creative and original. My Pierini Fitness blogflections are often imitated but never duplicated.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Will work for food

An internet news headline that caught my attention – “Eating Habits in the Obese May Echo Drug Addicts’ Patterns” - was reported Wednesday in an article by HealthDay News.

The article reported that when researchers gave similarly "sinful" snacks to obese and non-obese women, the healthy-weight women wanted less of the treat over time, but obese women wanted more. An article on this research study appears in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

All participants in the research study were asked to "work" for their food by performing tasks for which points were earned toward eating. Researchers discovered that non-obese women who snacked on 300-calorie portions exhibited no increase in motivation to eat, but motivation did increase in obese women who consumed the larger portion.

"They actually worked harder for the food," said Jennifer Temple, lead author of the research study. In some cases, women still wanted the food even though they didn't like it, a behavior similar to that seen in drug addicts. Ms. Temple stopped short of calling overeating an addiction but commented that she thinks it has all the same properties.

So the next time you have some chores requiring a reliable helping hand, don’t strike out by asking your “Slim Jim” friend. Instead, go buy some sinful snacks and ask your fatso food addict friend who, more than likely, will work for food.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

PR or try again?

At the end of my hit and miss Wednesday afternoon workout, I got the bright idea to test myself with weighted standard grip pullups to see if I might pull off a new personal record (PR). My current PR is 82.5 lbs. of added weight set over 2 years ago at a bodyweight about 5 lbs. higher than my current weight.

My performance standards are that a weighted pullup does not have to begin from a dead hang (ouch on my elbows as the weight gets heavy) but there must not be any jumping momentum as I begin my upward pull (standard #1). Additionally, my chin must clear the bar (standard #2). Other people may have their own standards but these are mine.

So after a warmup consisting of 2 sets of 3 reps with just my bodyweight, I began a short singles progression that consisted of 45 lbs., 70 lbs. and finally a PR attempt of 85 lbs. Here's the video of my 85 lb. PR attempt:

Afterwards, I performed a set of of bodyweight pullups for 15 reps and failed on the 16th rep.

For the 85 lb. PR attempt, I'm satisfied that there was no jumping momentum as I began my upward pull (standard #1) but not totally convinced that my chin cleared the bar (standard #2).

Please tell me what you see, PR or try again?

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Sleeping on the couch

The honeymoon is over and the American public is starting to feel uneasy with President Obama’s economic leadership according a new USA Today/Gallup Poll released this week. Apparently, we have become more pessimistic about the American economy and when the current recession will end.

According to this poll, at six months in office, President Obama’s 55% approval rating puts him 10th among 12th post-World War presidents at this point in their tenures.

Here’s a synopsis from the USA Today website:

Percentage of Americans who approve of the way President Obama is handling:

Iraq - 57%

Afghanistan - 56%

Economy - 47%

Health care policy - 44%

Federal budget deficit - 41%

Source: USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,006 adults July 17-19; margin of error: +/- 4 percentage points.

We all knew the honeymoon would end sooner or later but this is definitely very soon. Just like the first spat that married newlyweds eventually face, it looks like the American public bride is telling the Presidential groom that he is going to be spending some nights sleeping on the couch.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Rest and recovery

Today I’m going to eat throughout the day as I did yesterday and the day before. What! That’s not intermittent fasting (IF), a lifestyle that I follow Monday through Friday and really enjoy so what’s up? Nothing special but I made a “business decision” that I was going to take this week off from IF’ing it, just like we all periodically do with our fitness training and take a week off.

I’m still committed to a Monday through Friday IF evening food delivery schedule to meet my daily nutrition requirements and continue to enjoy the IF lifestyle and its convenience and simplicity. It will be interesting to see how my body responds to this time out and how much more or less I’ll eat this week.

Rest assured my IF brothers and sisters, there’s no reason to panic because I am not abandoning you. I’m merely taking a one week IF time out for some rest and recovery.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum