So I was watching the today show the other day - or was it yesterday? Anyhoo, one of the topics of the day was about kids getting high off prescription drugs. These kids would get the prescription drugs from their parents or from the Internet (which is pretty easy to use, I guess). What shocked me the most is that the stats on how many of us Americans are on prescription drugs when the majority of ailments could be corrected with daily exercise and better eating.
Guys, come on here! Are you kidding me? I mean, are you kidding me?!?! Why would we pay through the nose for prescription pain meds and other prescriptions here and there when we can just exercise and get rid of the root of the problem. When we fix the core problem, we don't need medications for the symptoms anymore. As it turns out, we are not only hurting ourselves, but we're hurting our kids too!
These kids go into the parents' medicine cabinet and steal their pain pills or other prescription meds with the sole objective of getting high. They feel the need to be high just to cope with the stress of whatever they're going through and the easiest way to do that is to grab some prescription meds from the 'rents. The shocking part here is they know what to grab and what not to grab. Some of the meds were of no value to the kids because it could not get them high.
If these kids couldn't get what they wanted out of their parents' medicine chest, they went to the Internet. According to the teenagers interviewed, it is pretty easy to get meds over the Internet. Who knows where they come from. The kids don't care! The point is they were able to get them with their parents' credit card. We're not even going to talk about the invitation to credit card theft and identity theft! That, by itself, is an all too common problem.
We have a bunch of things wrong with this whole situation.
One: By becoming lazy and using prescription meds we are missing out on the health benefits of having a healthy body and a healthy mind.
Two: We are demonstrating the wrong lifestyle to our kid.
Three: Our kids now feel compelled to be on prescription drugs so they can “cope" with their problems and get by from day to day.
Four: Our kids are learning from us adults that exercising and proper eating just isn't that important because we can just get some pills for that.
So what do we learn from all this? (Besides making me hungry!) Llet's try to increase our daily exercise in our lives so we can become better people and set a better example for our kids. Its one thing to choose to screw up our lives, but let's not screw up our kids lives also. (I mean anymore than by just parenting them -- but that's a whole other issue there).
So how do we get more exercise in our lives? Wake up three minutes earlier in the morning and do it three minutes of cardio in the morning. Yes, just three minutes! What kind of cardio, you ask? Who cares. Just do something! It could consist of put on a pair shorts and walking down the stairs then back up the flight of stairs – Done. For some of you, that was your morning cardio. Depending on where you are physical fitness is, you might have to do less than that, or maybe more than that; but the important thing is just to do something, they key word here is, something.
It won't be long before you can start building on that! So this is how that works:
This week: walk up and down the stairs in the morning. Done.
Next week: walk up another set of stairs twice, and then consider yourself done.
Week #3: walk up and down the stairs 3 to 4 times for that week, then consider yourself done.
Can you see where I'm going with this? The main thing here is to build on our successes. Notice I didn't say get up in the morning jog 5 miles or else you can count it as cardio. I also did not say that if you don't do 20 minutes in the morning it doesn't come as cardio. I also did not say that your heart rate must be above a certain beat to come as cardio. The point here is to do something and then build upon that.
Well that was pretty easy! What's next? I think maybe next we should tackle the whole world peace or global warming issue myself!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
My Fitness Assessment
People are always asking me what I do on my fitness assessments. Or they want to know how well I do on them. Well, here are the results from my last fitness assessment on December 1st...
Now before I get into the results, let me tell you this. My weight fluctuates 15 to 20 pounds between the summer and winter months - as does my strength. In the wintertime I can build up my muscle and put on some weight by lifting heavy. In the summer months, though, I lose most of that because I do a lot of cardio - mostly riding my bike around. And my Tuesday night rides really burn a LOT of calories… I know, I know. None of you feel sorry for me. I get it!
But I get frustrated about my lack of progress just like you do -- though I choose my body's change. That means that I come to a fork in the road every spring and winter. Do I continue lifting heavy and try to gain more size in the springtime? Or do I just say, "Well that was fun but let's do more biking." knowing that I'll lose all the weight I gained before spring and my size and strength will all decrease. I'm okay with losing my strength and size each summer because I enjoy my bike rides and hanging out with a group of guys. So even though it's fun to be big and strong, it's also fun to bike fast. Enough babbling, let's get to it!
Keep in mind when you read this that this is very personal to me. The only person I'm trying to impress is myself. My only competition is with my old self. I get joy out of trying to beat my old records...
Okay enough stalling,
1. Body fat - comes in high at 13%. That is high for me. Normally in the summertime I am 9 to 10% -- once again I'm only in competition with me.
2. Blood pressure: 105/74. Again, a little high. Normally it's 105/60.
3. Resting heart rate: 56.
4. Treadmill speed was 4 miles an hour with a heart rate of 118. That wasn't good enough so I raised it to 4 1/2 mph and got a heart rate of 144 (that's a better test).
5. Curl ups for one minute: 95. (I think Shelley beat me with 100 something.)
6. Push-ups: 101 (No, Bob, I wasn't able do 100 straight. I had to take a break around 70.)
7. Leg press: 720 for six reps. (I got beat by a girl, namely Heidi who got over 900 before; so either one up her and get 1050-but that was last year-hey come on, I couldn't get beat by a girl in strength.)
8. Bench press: 205 for five (last year it was 235 for five)
9. Last but not least was my impressive sit and reach at 16.25. (Last time it was 21, but now that I'm a desk jockey most of the time, my flexibility is going downhill fast -- I'll tell you what, sitting behind a desk does your body no good -- that dumb, but in our world today it a necessity unfortunately.) I don't think if I stretch and stretch and stretch, I could push the bar all the way to the end of the box like Shannon did and it still complained that the thing doesn't go far enough. I'll shut up!
The only impressive body circumference measurement is my 11 1/2 inch pipes! Did you get your tickets to the gun show? My guess is the steroids I've been taken for the last five years haven't been working too well. :-( Or, as Michael would say, 'they're not working, you better get a refund.' LOL
So there you have it, my last fitness assessment done couple weeks ago. So what's next? Try to get stronger for no reason, (well other than the fact is just fun to be strong and challenge your old self) duh! That and put on some size so my wife will stop calling me skinny (I know, I know, you don't care or feel sorry for me -- but you asked!)
Now let's get out there and make ourselves feel even better than we did yesterday!
Now before I get into the results, let me tell you this. My weight fluctuates 15 to 20 pounds between the summer and winter months - as does my strength. In the wintertime I can build up my muscle and put on some weight by lifting heavy. In the summer months, though, I lose most of that because I do a lot of cardio - mostly riding my bike around. And my Tuesday night rides really burn a LOT of calories… I know, I know. None of you feel sorry for me. I get it!
But I get frustrated about my lack of progress just like you do -- though I choose my body's change. That means that I come to a fork in the road every spring and winter. Do I continue lifting heavy and try to gain more size in the springtime? Or do I just say, "Well that was fun but let's do more biking." knowing that I'll lose all the weight I gained before spring and my size and strength will all decrease. I'm okay with losing my strength and size each summer because I enjoy my bike rides and hanging out with a group of guys. So even though it's fun to be big and strong, it's also fun to bike fast. Enough babbling, let's get to it!
Keep in mind when you read this that this is very personal to me. The only person I'm trying to impress is myself. My only competition is with my old self. I get joy out of trying to beat my old records...
Okay enough stalling,
1. Body fat - comes in high at 13%. That is high for me. Normally in the summertime I am 9 to 10% -- once again I'm only in competition with me.
2. Blood pressure: 105/74. Again, a little high. Normally it's 105/60.
3. Resting heart rate: 56.
4. Treadmill speed was 4 miles an hour with a heart rate of 118. That wasn't good enough so I raised it to 4 1/2 mph and got a heart rate of 144 (that's a better test).
5. Curl ups for one minute: 95. (I think Shelley beat me with 100 something.)
6. Push-ups: 101 (No, Bob, I wasn't able do 100 straight. I had to take a break around 70.)
7. Leg press: 720 for six reps. (I got beat by a girl, namely Heidi who got over 900 before; so either one up her and get 1050-but that was last year-hey come on, I couldn't get beat by a girl in strength.)
8. Bench press: 205 for five (last year it was 235 for five)
9. Last but not least was my impressive sit and reach at 16.25. (Last time it was 21, but now that I'm a desk jockey most of the time, my flexibility is going downhill fast -- I'll tell you what, sitting behind a desk does your body no good -- that dumb, but in our world today it a necessity unfortunately.) I don't think if I stretch and stretch and stretch, I could push the bar all the way to the end of the box like Shannon did and it still complained that the thing doesn't go far enough. I'll shut up!
The only impressive body circumference measurement is my 11 1/2 inch pipes! Did you get your tickets to the gun show? My guess is the steroids I've been taken for the last five years haven't been working too well. :-( Or, as Michael would say, 'they're not working, you better get a refund.' LOL
So there you have it, my last fitness assessment done couple weeks ago. So what's next? Try to get stronger for no reason, (well other than the fact is just fun to be strong and challenge your old self) duh! That and put on some size so my wife will stop calling me skinny (I know, I know, you don't care or feel sorry for me -- but you asked!)
Now let's get out there and make ourselves feel even better than we did yesterday!
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