Category: Fitness

Fitness Quest: Random Ramblings

davidpwahr

While I’m in a writing mood, here are a few random observations from my recent travels through Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and an unexpected night in North Carolina. In no particular order:

Am I getting shorter or is everyone else getting taller? I keep reading about how Americans are not getting taller but you couldn’t prove it by me. At just under 6 feet tall I used to look down at people but I find myself looking up more and more…

I seem to recall Mississippi being the fattest state in the nation once upon a time – well the folks in Louisiana are certainly giving them a run (or a waddle) for the title!

Okay, in 2009 the fattest states were (1 – 10):
1. Mississippi
2. Alabama
3. West Virginia
4. Tennessee
5. South Carolina
6. Oklahoma
7. Kentucky
8. Louisiana
9. Michigan
10. (Tie) Arkansas and Ohio

In an odd coincidence my travels this past week took me through  9 of the above states (I didn’t go to Oklahoma or West Virginia).

Though the above states are the fattest I noticed in all of the states I went through that it seems most people are either fat or in good shape. There seems to be less of a middle ground or average shape anymore.

Women appeared to me to be getting fatter than men on average. I know this sounds sexist but it’s just an observation. True, I may not notice fat men as much as I do fat women since I’m a “large boned” man myself.

Hotels still have a long way to go when it comes to fitness centers. One treadmill and a couple 5 lb weights does not constitute a “fitness center.” It’s barely constitutes a fitness room or space.

Is it any wonder that people don’t walk anymore? Our business areas are in serious need of sidewalks. If you venture out of your hotel on foot you are almost forced to walk in the road it seems.

I wonder if we as a nation would walk more if we just insisted on sidewalks in our communities?

Oops, more sidewalks would mean higher taxes so that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Are there more sidewalks in Europe, Canada, and Japan? Places that are all much “thinner” than the US.

By the way, it appears that the US is no longer the fattest nation. Mexico is now number 1.

Canada isn’t even on the UN’s top 25 fattest list by the way.

Maybe that’s why they won the Olympic hockey games (too soon?).

Speaking of the Olympics, why is it that whenever I turn on curling I’m always a little disappointed that I don’t see people lifting weights?

I used to be able to curl about 125 pounds. Wonder if I’ll be able to get back to that…

I’ve noticed that some guys, who have muscle to start with, will gain a little fat and actually look more muscular.

I’ve also noticed that some guys must mistake fat for muscle when they buy their shirts. Buying one (two?) sizes smaller only works if you are fairly shredded. Otherwise you just end up emphasizing the wrong bulges.

Same rule for pants by the way guys…sheesh, can jeans get any skinnier?

Women, the “muffin top” is not attractive unless it’s on an actual muffin.

Cornbread in the south always seems to be too dry.

Sweet tea is a treat enjoyed best in small doses.

Gibson’s Donuts in Memphis is a sinful delight – best glazed doughnut I’ve ever had. It’s a good thing that there isn’t one by my home!

Do men with big, high peaked biceps appreciate what they have? Or do they just think the rest of us aren’t working out hard enough.

And be honest guys, if you could grow just one part of your body no actual muscle would make the cut…

We had an interesting ice breaker where the room was split based on preferences (dogs vs. cats, morning vs. evening, etc.). When the question was who would rather be a few inches taller or a few inches shorter only a couple people went to the shorter side. Even the tallest men would rather be taller than shorter.

I’d like to be taller, too. But that boat sailed in my early teens. I was the tallest kid in my class through 6th grade. Then everyone else caught up. This may be why I want to be taller today.

That and the fact that I’m one of the shortest of my cousins on my father’s side of the family (male or female).

I wonder how many people actually read my ramblings? Leave a comment and let me know!

 

Fitness Quest: Checking In

davidpwahr

Ever feel like you should do something but you don’t really have a reason to do it? That’s how I feel about blogging today. It’s been a long while since I’ve had anything to post about and since my last health “scare” turned out to be nothing to really worry about – just annoying as all get out – life has been moving along at a rapid but uninteresting pace for me.

Oh sure, there has been a great trip to Southern California where I got time to attend a conference, visit with friends, see family, and go to the popular tourist spots but that’s been the highlight of the past couple months. Workouts are sporadic (no one’s fault but my own) but my weight is stable at least and my health seems to be generally good (no more spontaneous bleeding from sensitive body parts at least).

So where do I find that extra “spark” or push to move things up a notch in my training these days? I don’t have any ideas right now. It seems that as one gets older he/she doesn’t fall for the old mind tricks anymore. Competing with other guys in the gym isn’t enough motivation, competing with myself is getting old. Anyone else know what I mean? Perhaps it’s just a case of the blues but I don’t think I’m depressed. I do find joy in a lot of my activities.

Eh, now I’m just rambling again. Anyway, if anyone has some motivating ideas I’d love to hear them. I hope all is going well with anyone who happens to read this post.

Onward!

To Stress or Not to Stress…

davidpwahr

Seems lately that I have more stressors (is that a word?) in my life than I need. Family health issues, job worries, etc. but as I often tell myself “who doesn’t these days?”

But oddly enough, even though I have more reason to stress out I find that I don’t get stressed like I used to. I believe this is because of several reasons:

1. Regular exercise – daily workouts allow me to relieve stress through physical work.
2. Understanding what’s important and what’s not.
3. Understanding what I can control and what I cannot.

See, I used to get worked up about things that I just couldn’t control in my life. Once I understood that these are things you can react to but can’t stop my whole outlook improved. Once I understood that the only real important things in life are health and the love and support of good people who surround you then everything else is small potatoes.

I recently came across a quote from Albert Einstein, who it seems may have been a genius at more than just physics, “there are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Each day is truly a gift from God. Approach everything with that in mind and then nothing is too big or to scary to handle.

Onward!

Why We Workout

Why We Workout

davidpwahr

So, today a thought occurred to me (odd, I know):

Men workout abs and shoulders to impress women. Everything else they workout to impress other men.

Now obviously this was written from a “hetero” point of view and a narrow one at that. I could have said something along the lines of “men workout abs and shoulders to attract mates, everything else they workout to intimidate rivals.” but that didn’t have a good ring to it. It’s narrow also because obviously there are women (and men) who are attracted to big biceps and strong thighs, but those attributes tend to be more hidden by clothing for most of us (though the difference between a solid butt and a fat ass is usually pretty self evident even in loose fit jeans and khakis).

But back to the topic, my point is that not all working out is done to attract a sexual partner. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that most of it is not done for this reason. Let’s face it you see people of all sizes and shapes who are married and in love (or lust) even to the point of where you say “what does he/she see in her/him?” The rules of attraction are varied and based on a lot more than looks (though wide shoulders and a narrow waist will call attention to a man from across even a crowded room).

There are lot’s of reasons to workout, of course (health, self-confidence, etc.) and I’m thinking that “curls to impress the girls” might actually be one of the minor reasons.

What do you think?

Onward!

Fitness Quest: Random Update

davidpwahr

Just a quick update. I think that my diet is working better for me this week and I expect to see another decrease in weight when I weigh in this weekend. It’s my busiest week at work so I’ve been putting in some 11-12 hour days. For a person who is used to being relatively sedentary during the day to having to stand, walk, etc. all day – well, I’m glad that I stay active after work the rest of the year! No real aches and pains except for my feet (they get sore). I still have my mysterious shoulder pain (which I don’t think that I’ve complained about here before) but I’m doing pretty good otherwise.

I’m finding myself somewhat envious in these last days of summer of the young men who are running around in their tanks and sleeve less tees. I remember vaguely doing that myself. I’m an oldster now but may by next summer I’ll be able to get my bis and tris popping again like they “almost” used to do (Triceps, I had, biceps, not really…)!

Onward!

When To Show Off and When Not to Show Off

davidpwahr

As a roller coaster enthusiast I often spend my days off riding coasters and this July 4th Holiday was no different. I went with my brother and niece to Cedar Point (a large amusement park in Sandusky, OH. If you haven’t heard of it just watch the Travel Channel during the summer and it will be mentioned sooner or later) to ride their latest entry into the coaster wars, Gatekeeper.

I didn’t expect anything unusual to happen this day – other than a good time on “America’s Roller Coast” – but something happened that got me thinking about when is the right time to show off your hard earned gains in the gym and when is not the right time.

Now guys, let’s face it. There’s no real sense to  having boulder sized shoulders and bulging biceps if you can’t break out the old tank top on a nice summer day occasionally right? Even I have been known to wear a tank top or two back in the day (last week?) with the thought of “yeah, I look good” and there’s nothing wrong with this. So, as one could predict there were plenty of guys in the park in their tight Under Armour shirts and tank tops, clearly letting the guns out for some air yesterday. Hey, if I were still in what I consider “top shape” (which is a relative term for me) I might have done the same. No harm, no foul as they say. I should also mention that there were also a lot of gals doing the same thing, though they weren’t showing off their bis and shoulders but their, umm, pecs shall we say (again, no harm there either).

But here’s the interesting thing that happened. It turns out that there where a lot of scattered showers yesterday one of which happened while we were in line for Gatekeeper. Now as every dedicated coaster enthusiast knows you don’t let a little rain force you out of line. In fact, we knew that there was a strong possibility of rain and had come prepared (I was in a Nike “dry fit” shirt and sandals so that I would dry out quickly for example). So we’re in line and the sprinkle becomes a regular down pour. That’s when I hear my niece say “oh it’s raining and Mr. Six Pack has to take his shirt off.” From several rows away she had spotted a guy, who to be fair was in exceptional shape, and his friends who had decided to take their shirts off because of the rain. Now it was still raining so this wasn’t done to wring their shirts out or even to use the shirt to cover the heads of their girlfriends (especially since these guys seemed to be without dates at the moment at least). Nope, I think my niece was right, they just looked for an opportunity to show off their abs. “Oh well,” I thought, “if I was in that good of shape I might do the same thing I guess.” The line kept moving as people ahead of us got out of it to seek shelter and the rain continued. I then hear the comments of a couple young women ahead of me in line as they had notice “Mr. Six Pack” and I was a little surprised. Instead of hearing “wow, look at the build on that guy” I heard “Abercrombie model.” I followed their line of sight and sure enough, they were looking at Mr. Six Pack and his buddies. By the way, he was probably a little big for an Abercrombie model but not a competitive bodybuilder. I’d say fitness model size and shape for what it’s worth.

Now by this time Mr. Six Pack had reached a point in the queue where he could be seen by just about everyone in line (it’s hard to describe it was a corner near an open section). He’s there for a moment when one of his friends nudges him and says something to him and he looks around and I presume he notices that he is essentially visible to everyone. How does he react? Does he go back to his conversation? Put his shirt on (since the rain is letting up)? Or just ignore that he is so visible? Nope, none of the above. He smiles and strikes a bodybuilding pose (I should know the name of the pose but it escapes me at the moment but you’ve seen it a thousand times a single bicep flex with the alternate arm pointed to the heavens. Arnold was the master of it).

Now the women in line ahead of me have a different comment “yeah, he looks good but he also looks like a tool.” So where a moment or two ago they were enjoying his impromptu show (taking the shirt off) with one pose he lost their interest. Now he was several rows away, you couldn’t hear anything he was saying, he didn’t stand on a railing and force anyone to look at him, but by posing it was clear that he knew how he looked and didn’t mind that everyone was noticing him. This turned him from a “model” to a “tool.”

What’s the lesson to take away from here? Well, I think it’s simple. It’s okay to look good, and it’s okay to occasionally let others know you look good as long as you don’t let others know that you know you look good, too. There’s a fine line it seems between “nice” and “yuck.”

Let me know what you think.

Oh, by the way, I kept my shirt on the whole day – much to the delight of everyone else in the park I’m sure!

Stupid Weight Lifting Tricks…

davidpwahr

Okay, I probably shouldn’t even admit this one – but I tried something I hadn’t done in a long time but I’m curious if anyone else has done some odd or downright stupid things in the pursuit of muscle… So, today I had a long drive to drop off something to someone on the other side of the state – we met halfway, but it still meant a little over three hours on the road. Since I would be in car with essentially nothing to do but drive on the expressway and listen to the radio I took along a 15 lb dumbell and performed curls (one arm at a time) while driving to see how many reps I could get in! I learned this trick from my training partner who was once in retail and spent a lot of time on the road. He developed some extreme bicep peaks during this period of time (I know much is genetic) as well as muscle stamina so I’ve occasionally done this on long trips. Of course, I don’t recommend doing this as driving is an inherently dangerous activity and requires concentration. But, on those long stretches with light traffice (I never do this in the city and/or heavy traffice, construction zones, while merging, etc) I figure it’s probably a safer activity than talking on the cell phone and much of the other crazy things you see drivers doing these days. So, on reflection I promise not to do this anymore (unless I’m the passenger) but does anyone else have any odd/weird things they’ve tried in the pursuit of muscle? It might be entertaining to share stories!

Crohn’s Attack

davidpwahr

I had a flare up of my Crohn’s that’s lasted a couple days now and I’m not able to do much but sit and moan. Okay, maybe a little more (I still seem able to type after all).

Though I am clearly a person who’s Crohn’s is well under control – very few people with this condition are actually overweight – it still flares up from time to time. For those that don’t know, Crohn’s is a digestive disorder and similar to arthritis in many ways. Basically, the soft tissue of the digestive track can become inflammed at anytime without ryhme or reason and literally shut the intestines down so that no food can pass through. The swelling is painful, to say the least, and it’s no picnic when things open back up either. I won’t go into the details here…but you can imagine what might happen.

Anyway, there’s no cure (yet) and it’s controlled usually with sulfa drugs, prednisone (I may not have spelled that correctly), and in extreme cases surgery to remove the damaged section of intestine. Though surgery isn’t done as often anymore since they’ve found that it can flare up again in other areas.

I’m doing better today than yesterday and with proper rest and a couple more pills I hope to be back in action tomorrow.

Take care everyone.