JFK had a Dr.Feelgood. What about You?

JFK had an awful back condition that would have been enough to keep anyone down, including himself. But he wanted to be exceptional, so he enlisted the help of an MD to make him sufficiently mobile to do the great job that he did. Presumably there no adverse effects from this extreme supplementation because he had a pro to watch over him

The intent here is to use an extreme example of what people do to  enhance their performance. Of course, we all of how athletes use steroids in spite of them being illegal and dangerous. Consequently, there is an initial aversion to anything even remotely similar.

The question is are all of them as bad as steroids? It is reasonable to assume that if you are reading  these articles you are in fact intelligently looking for ways to maximize your healthiness. That’s why this post in here. Its to encourage you to take a risk on something as innocuous as green tea capsules if you have been reluctant to do so in the past.

There are other enhancers as well. They are of the over the counter variety. Any health food store on the internet can give you a list.  You don’t need an MDs prescription to use them. You simply buy them, read the directions and go from there. Generally this means doubling the recommended dose as the manufacturers are all concerned over negative reactions, but it some cases that’s not true. You have to determine what is right for you. And, that may take a bit of experimenting.

Asking your MD if this is an acceptable pursuit is probably not going to be helpful. MDs are all mostly against anything except  what is considered to be OK by the majority which pass them on the street. The question is what’s that. Does this mean three square meals with possibly a cupor two of coffee or no coffee at all or what? Surely the use of vitamins ought to be included, but it never is.

For all practical purposes, if you have a JFK mentality, you will want a Dr Feelgood to help you push beyond your limitations. We all know that we are using a small fraction of what we have inside. What we all need is something to push us a little beyond without hurting us in the process.  It would be wonderful if more MDs would acknowledge this and be more supportive things other than the now acceptable one, maybe two cup of java. There really are some less expensive substances that do a better job, without the side effects. Being “on them”, as its said will help you stay on course with your daily workouts.

A Doctor will get and keep you OK

An MD’s job is to get you OK. That’s an easy way to put it and most folks think they know what this means. But do they? What is OK your standards? Is it the same as your next door neighbor’s?

Today’s point is not to explore the standards of healthiness. That can be done by anyone with or without professional guidance. Rather, it seems more pressing to ask whether OK is good enough for you?

Any baby boomer who cares about looking like Stallone in his 60’s or Jane Fonda in her 70’s wants more from their health care people than just OK. To be certain they don’t want a below the surface condition  or any of the standard problems associated with middle age — the ones that there seem to be an endless number of new drugs to cure. All one has to do is to stay awake for the TV commercials with the urinary remedies, the impotency cures or the blood  thinners to know what is meant. Just do as your told on the TV and ask your doctor if any of these are right for you. They most likely will be.

Today’s baby boomer wants more than just being kept OK via the taking of these drugs. Granted, its wonderful that they are around in case you have a problem caused by twenty years of neglect, generally referred to as natural aging. But it is not the same as being problem free. And it is radically different than being superlatively healthy.

Stallone and Jane Fonda are referred to here because they have kept at their routines and lifestyles for decades. Too, they are over the hill, if “the hill” is supposedly fifty (or is it forty?) If it’s still forty then Olympic Gold Medalist Dara Torres at 42 can be included.

For the Stallone’s and Fonda’s, OK has never been good enough. They have wanted more and have never stopped reaching for what they desire. It may be that their physicians have been a little avant garde, but it is not likely . MDs believe in R&R along with “no bad habits” believing that’s all you need to allow the body to do its best. These people could never have been be satisfied by that! The question then is what about you?

Do you think you know more than the doctors?

Knowing more than the doctors is not considered to be a healthy attitude. You are supposed to think that you know less and therefore that you should automatically do whatever yours tells you to do. This extends to thinking the way they do and feeling as they think you ought to feel.

Perhaps this is wisest if it is clear from their tests that you have a rare disorder or disease, that is in fact right there beneath the surface, detectable only by way of cat scan or ultra-sound. Then you really may have something wrong with you that should get corrected right now and you really should say that they know more than you do..

But is this really where you are at right now not having a diagnosis like this and  wanting to take off those awful looking 20-40 pounds, to say nothing of REALLY wanting to look like someone that might be a prime candidate for Hollywood or your local tryouts for Baywatch? That IS where you’re at, isn’t it? C’mon, be honest. Most of us baby boomers are that way, you know.

If you are having trouble admitting that that sums you up, it may be that you are suffering from Normalitis. This is a way of being that is just like your next door neighbors, who presumably are about the same age. Normality (not like where you’re at) is what you should be interested in because they think you should be interested in it just the same as does your doctor. Do YOU think you should be? Does the you within you think so–that’s the one which secretly feels a certain way, wants a certain thing, aspires….yes, ASPIRES…..to be a particular way in spite of what others think he should be interested in.

Some may have difficulty relating to these words. But, you wouldn’t be reading on unless you had at least a partial affinity to them. The question is what’s so bad about wanting to look like Sly Stallone now in his 60s if you happen to be in your 60s or Jane Fonda if you are a woman in your 70s. What is so bad about this really?

Your MD is unlikely to be sympathetic with these aspirations and will caution you against overdoing it, should you express an interest in pressing forward.. Same goes for your neighbors as you already knew. The question is will you listen to their depressing counsel of any of them?

A Few MDs are Club Members

Some of my best friends are MDS and a few even workout. Personally, I think they all should. But they have objections to doing so just like the rest of the Normal Majority (such as most  of my neighbors right here in the town house complex, whom I can see right out of my window.

The MDs who do workout have the same reasons for doing so as the non-MD Health Nuts (of which you may well be part). One often wonders if the greater part of the MD population feels the same to their seemingly trippy colleagues.

Why does the MD who shows up every morning, parking his Lexus in back of the club, do it? I asked him once and got an “I try to practice what I preach answer. I almost fell over. This means that he actually tells his patients to work out. This is incredible.

MDs, one would think, would all be all about healthy living. I and maybe even you would think that this would include a daily workout (along with low fat low carb eating and probably some really strong multi-vitamins.) Shouldn’t that be what they all should think we all ought to be doing?

Most do not unless they are just out of grad school, possibly. The older more established class of professionals really believe that rest and relaxation, R&R, is the safest way for most to make to retirement in one piece. On the other hand, the younger ones know that this is probably the best way to get yourself on expensive medications and into complicated surgical procedures down the road.

Diabetes, heart trouble, stroke are all part and parcel of being overweight. To say that over weight causes them is probably asking for a host of objections, but its generally true that they all are associated with those pesky extra pounds which fall into the obesity category as soon as they exceed 40 pounds over what has been pretty much the standard weight (normal) for the last 50 years.

Regular workouts keep you fit, which first of all means at a normal weight. They do this, PERIOD. And they cause other good things as well. These include escalated circulation, oxygenation of the tissues (including the brain, thereby minimizing the potential of Alzheimer’s) etc. Anyway, a few MDs believe this as well. I just wish all of them did, don’t you?

Does your MD have a pot?

MDs are supposed to be healthy, right? Perhaps they always are. After all, you probably have never had an operation postponed because yours was sick. Same goes for your office appointments.

But what about his or even her physical condition? Is it better than yours? It should be, wouldn’t you think? There really shouldn’t be any excess poundage hanging over their belts.

Granted, the women MDs are generally more trim than their male counterparts. At least that’s how it is in my part of the country. But do they work out? Do they supplement? Do they eat low fat low carb diets? Or do they just not have time for lunch and breakfast?

Possibly yours is committed to healthy life style, but chance are he or she isn’t. That’s why telling them that you are going  on a healthy regimen may raise an eyebrow. “Should be taking it easier at your age, dontcha think” is what you are probably going to hear.

What does this say, really? That the way we all are living is as OK as it gets? Or does it say that MDs are just so busy being healers that they don’t have tome to take care of themselves? After all, they are generally loaded with appointments and operation commitments, so maybe that’s it more than anything.

If you are starting off on a health conscious lifestyle, you need all of the support that you can get. That means being around people who supplement wisely, eat intelligently and do their daily workout routines. You need that kind of support. We all do. We just are not all very good at being pioneers.

Yet, Jack Lalanne 80 years ago had no one on his side really. He had to be a pioneer and he did just that. Today he is peerless.We can all be the same, but it will be easier if we consult with people like him instead of the MDs, who think that R&R is the only safe way to get us all into the nursing home in one piece, as they say.

Peers are Problematic

The title of this post should have been Peers CAN BE Problematic. That’s what most rational people would say, leaving room for the supposed vast number of us who have wonderfully supportive friends. That may be true. But when it comes to working out, eating right and supplementing, I strongly disagree. There are few of us who have a supportive peer group.

If we did have these types of people on our side, it would be much easier to make it to the club every day, stay on a low fat low carb diet, and keep on a powerful set of supplements. The truth is that we do not. We are continually getting harassed by those closest to us over all of the time that we waste at the club, all of the goodies we refuse to eat on holidays, all of the money on pills we pee away anyway. That’s what the bulk of the population believes. And you are nuts for thinking otherwise (for being a Health Nut as they say).

In my book “Think and Grow Fit” I have put these peer type people in the same category as your family and next door neighbors. That’s because they all think alike and feel as if their feet are on solid ground for doing so. I have therefore called them the Normal Majority and I have identified them as one of the primary causes for the nation looking as unfit as it does.

They have this clout about them, which comes from years of living presumably. it is a common sense which they dare to call wisdom, as they expect you to fall in line. Not doing so gets you treated badly, snubbed sometimes, always laughed at if you dare to live like a champion. This they feel is something you should have outgrown in high school.

Bucking the system, their system, causes trouble. In its own way that is the same as disturbing the peace. When you do, they will tell you to act your age or in some extreme cases they will suggest that you see a therapist. The justification is that you are presumably going through your second childhood and this, of course will cause trouble for you. None of them can say exactly what kind of trouble, however.

If you have friends like this, as I’m sure you do, you need some different ones, and you need them now. You need ones who want to stay “FitForever” just like you. You need to do everything that you can to keep things right with these new folks. When you do, you simply won’t have time for your old (and dumpy) critics.

I’d rather have lunch than see you break the state bench press record

A few days ago I posted my fathers commentary on hard workout to his son, namely me. It seems only right to do the same relative to my mother. Perhaps you too have something similar from your past? If so you can profitably relate to this otherwise introspective rambling.

I asked my mom if she would prefer having lunch to sitting over at the gym while I broke the state bench press record. As you can imagine, she said let’s go for lunch.

I have told this story to numerous people and never really have felt depressed while doing so. That makes me grateful, because I could really wonder about myself and her if it were any different. Parents are supposed to encourage their kids and be proud of them, right? If they aren’t it must say something about the kids, mustn’t it? Or does it say something more about the parents?

I don’t know and thankfully I don’t care. I’ve been at fitness for far too long to have anything like that bother me. In other words it wouldn’t keep me from breaking the bench press record again or the squat record, for that matter. Yet I know there are those who would be devastated–so much so that they might never again make it to the club even just for cycling.

Parents like mine, otherwise great they were, stay in your head and influence your actions. Either of them can raise the why bother question when it comes to working out at all.. Lots of folks experience this and thus they don’t go to the club when they should. That says nothing of putting out that extra 10% to break a record.

If you come from a family like mine, rather unexciting and bread and butter in temperament, you have got some negative programming that is going to hold you back. If you want to stay with a fitness routine as you must to benefit you have got to get some way around their discouraging power. That can be through arguing with them in private, or keeping inspiring posters in every significant room of your house. An understanding spouse can also do the trick.

Just do what you must. You will never make it past March (when the New Year’s resolution people bomb out) if you don’t.

Synopsis of my Book and a little about Me

ntro
“Think and Grow Fit:|” (a reasonable person’s guide to getting fit and staying that way forever) argues that you really only need two things if you want to stay fit forever. First is some good friends and a spouse, who want the same as you, and therefore don’t call you Health Nut for doing so. Second is a fitness lifestyle that is as regular as the daily brushing of your teeth. That may not sound like much, but in today’s culture, the world of the Normal Majority, it is HUGE. This book is about using your head to get on the right track and then stay there along side of like-minded people. The whole idea is that once you start you will stay at it, just like you have always done with your toothbrush. Your friends and your own body will thank you for that.

Autobiography
I’m all about fitness for all of us, largely because our country is experiencing astronomical health care costs which can be traced back to so many folks just being in bad shape. Yet, I am no saint. I myself was obese 45 years ago and took 15 years to win a state power lifting trophy 30 years ago. The good news is that I kept at it and as a result that I am doing more athletically today than I ever did when on the swim team in high school. Like my idol, the far superior 95 year old Jack Lalanne, I am living proof that you only get only better with time. That may sound like the popular adage of fine wine getting better with age, but when it comes to athletic living, it’s an assertion that the Normal Majority thinks could only come from the mouth of a Health Nut.

I’d Never Work that Hard for Anyone

“I wouldn’t work that hard for anyone” is something my father said after pacing me for 100 laps in the pool. That was about 43 years ago.

In his mind he may have been admiring my effort, but the effect on me was something other. Really he was expressing his own feelings of futility over hard work and preparing me for inevitable failure. This comment was followed a week later by the “higher you go, the greater the competition.”

I don’t know if he had any alternatives to this gloomy advice. unless they were to “be a good guy and make a living”. If so that probably meant “go through the motions of a job and do something responsible with your pay check. That’s what he was all about, as a good husband and dad, so perhaps that’s makes sense.

Getting back to the poolside comments, these affected me for about a week. It was harder for quite some time to get back to the pool for another workout. So much for the power of words from those we look up to. (I call these folks the Normal Majority in my book.)

Fortunately, I kept at it in spite of his defeatist attitude.Surely I felt like a Health Nut for keeping up my training, meager as it was back then. That is lucky. So many in similar circumstances, throw in the towel immediately. (Maybe that’s their way of saying that they wouldn’t work for anyone like that!?)

Who do we listen to when we do the opposite of what we should?The people in our heads, like our parents from long ago? Our friends who are counting on us to give up the Health Nut routine and act our age? Our spouses who may be uptight by the possibility that we just might start showing some transformational gains while they’re doing nothing?

People have natural aspirations–ones just like mine that have stayed active for 45 years. They have the power to prevail even over the supposed “heavy trips” of childhood or even spousal influence. The real question is what are YOU doing to fan your own flames that are similar to mine? (Keeping those red hot is the only way keep in on track, surely you would agree.)

A Replacement for Back-Breaking Hard Work

The phrase “back-breaking hard work” is part of our American consciousness. It assumes that hard work will get you in the end, later, if not sooner.

The problem is that it’s opposite, ease, is supposedly good for you. This is the way to avoid breaking your back, presumably.

We talk like this. When pretty much anything is difficult we refer it as being “back breaking”. That’s a condition which will permanently disable you, even kill you. Consequently, we avoid it at all costs.

Clearly, if you shovel coal for a living, you will probably get a back injury eventually. If you shovel snow for bad winter, interspersing that with getting the car out of snowbanks, you may find yourself at a chiropractor.. If you were a slave in ancient Egypt (building pyramids)you would probably have gotten a back problem very early on.

But, how many of us are in these circumstances today? Aren’t most of us sitting in front of a computer or talking on the phone at a desk? These are sedentary activities, which are still referred to as back-braking work. That’s when we over do it, becoming victims of stress.

So much for the realities of work and back difficulties. What I am concerned with is the effect of this type of thinking on our perceptions of the common workout. This is generally seen as too much for anyone if you’re beyond high school age.

Friends, there is a widespread fear of hard workouts (which I have referred to elsewhere as workout o phobia. That’s why so many don’t do them. Some MDs are even wary of them when they know that regular and sustained physical exertion can ward off most of the maladies that plague our society (eg diabetes, stroke, heart disease, obesity). That’s enough to make me think that the phrase “back breaking hard work” should be replaced by “great feeling consistent motion”. Maybe if that were heard more often, there would be more people keeping their club memberships beyond the 90 day fall off point.