On Tuesday, I maxed out on the bench press at 175 pounds, which is 5 pounds more than my high school maximum.
Category: Health (Page 6 of 8)
CNBC: Nestle launches Vital Pursuit
People take these to work, and eat with their friends. “Healthy Choice” and “Lean Cuisine” invite criticism if you courteously accept a cupcake that someone brought in for Dessert Thursday. “Hungry Man” announces that even you don’t believe you are big-boned. “Marie Callender’s” declares that you really are better than them.
More food brands should be named like a military operation.
Taco Bell could move into frozen meals under the “Rolling Thunder” or “Urgent Fury” brand
Have a “Vital Pursuit” for lunch with a couple of Red Bulls, and you are Tommy Lee Jones, going after The Fugitive. Your afternoon plan may be to teach Algebra 1 to a bunch of mopes who sniffed out all the dry erase markers, but you’re ready for that too.
Those old movies, with a manly star like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant, made an impression on me. The tough guy could be stranded on an island, living on the prairie or on the African Queen, and they always manage to shave. Invariable, if the fella isn’t shaving, it’s because he is drunk all the time.
In The African Queen, Humphrey Bogart explains it. “A man alone, he gets to living like a hog.” Inevitably, a woman throws all the booze away and civilizes him.
Politico: Far Right wants more babies.
Real Clear Politics: Have more babies.
Based on recent articles, we are supposed to worry about not having enough babies and people who worry about not having enough babies.
Back in the 1980’s, before we were afraid all the time, I supported several environmental groups. Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund and a few others. Never Greenpeace, they were already crazy. World population was an issue of interest, so I supported a group called Negative Population Growth.
They were completely reasonable, but in retrospect, I can see how they could go off-the-rails in a catastrophic way.
Maybe it’s Obama’s fault or capitalism or something, but my retiree health care is garbage. I don’t know, maybe it’s fine, but being a public school teacher, I never had to pay for much. Paying the first $8000 doesn’t sound like good coverage.
This is the only photo that is related to this gruesome tale that you’d want to see.
Planet Fitness doesn’t judge perverts.
Working out with my brother has been going well. We have worked out three times per week for over six months. We’ve only missed three or four days in that entire time. I’m working out with 150 lbs on the bench press. That’s 30 lbs more than I did in high school. I am up at least a couple of plates on every station. It’ a shame that has to end. We have to resign from Planet Fitness and find somewhere else.
The guy in the photo was shaving in the women’s locker room at Planet Fitness. The woman who took the photo was in the women’s locker room along with other women and a 12 year old girl.
It’s clear that this man does not sincerely believe that he is a woman. He looks to be in his 40’s, so isn’t some mixed up kid. He is sporting a man’s haircut. Shaving in the Planet Fitness locker room emphasizes that he is a man, and is an attempt to mock the women who are present.
The man is a degenerate who finds it gratifying to make women feel powerless and humiliated. If he wanted to be sensitive to their reasonable concerns, he could have changed in a stall or before he came to the gym. Alternatively, he should have made every effort to appear to be a woman.
The woman who took the photo, because she wanted photographic proof, had her membership cancelled by Planet Fitness.
Boycotting Bud Light was easy because it sucks. There is a Planet Fitness gym near my house, my brother’s house and almost anywhere I’m likely to go. For $30 per month, it’s a great value. Finding a suitable alternative won’t be easy.
We will have to ask about the transgender locker room policy at any gym we consider.
Since Davy and I started working out, I wanted to encourage symmetry. Some machines allow for a different weight for each arm. It made sense to start with the highest weight that either arm could handle. I don’t want to develop a lobster claw, where one arm is much stronger than the other. That might be a fiddler crab I’m thinking of.
Working in muscle pairs seemed like a good idea. The row goes with the bench press and the pull-down with military press.
One idea was to workout with the same weight on all stations. It’s a dumb idea. Starting out, my shoulders were weak, bench was reasonable and pulling was strong. Also, with machines, you really don’t know what actual resistance force is required. Nobody is calibrating those things.
My strength workout is six stations. That doesn’t sound challenging, but after a half-hour of cardio, that is all the juice I’ve got.
Here’s what it looked like when we started:
- Military press: 20 lbs per arm
- Row: 100 lbs
- Twist: 100 lbs
- Leg Press: Who knows? It depends on the machine.
- Bench: 110 lbs
- Pull-down: 100 lbs
After six months,
- Military press: 80 lbs per arm
- Row: 140 lbs
- Twist: 140 lbs
- Leg Press: 430 lbs
- Bench press: 145 lbs
- Pull-down: 140 lbs
With the improvement in the military press, I’m tempted to workout with 140 lbs across the board.
Some of the improvement is due to using a different station with a more comfortable motion. For the bench, we are using the Smith machine, so that is a real number. The leg press is all over the map because some machines move body weight along with supplemental weights and all are on an incline. The 430 lbs is with actual weights, but is on an incline. The twist machine is doable with almost any amount of weight, so that’s kind of phony.
We do a solid half-hour on cardio. I use the bike, and average about 130 bpm. I go harder or easier as the workout progresses. I’m all sweaty at the end, so that seems good.
WSJ: New Approach to Back Pain
WSJ: New Approach to Back Pain
It seems like everyone I know has suffered from a bout of lower back pain. What we used to call Lumbago, and is now, often called Sciatica.
Symptoms may range from a twinge when remaining in a particular position too long up to being unable to move without excruciating pain. Every doctor had the patient go through the same process.
WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep
WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep
Everyone knows that getting eight hours of sleep is the key to health and happiness.
Everyone should know to doubt anything that everyone knows. The knowledge that “everyone knows” is built from half-assed news reports, advertising and unverified assertions made often enough.