Can The Gym Be Your Church For Physical Well-being?

If the Church is the place for your spiritual well-being, then the gym can be your place for physical well-being.

In the gym, the sweat from your efforts are the cleansing waters of a baptism. The grunts and groans of effort are the hallelujahs of rejoicement.  And the clanging and banging of iron weights are the rhythmic chants of uplifting hymns.

There are those who claim you should not sweat, that sounds of effort should never escape your mouth and weights that are so heavy to elicit noise should not be hefted.

If you read my book, you will learn what I say to those who espouse moderation, it is my same answer to those who decry genuine effort. Instead of claiming the strain of others are a distraction;  feed off of their energy and strengthen your resolve from their struggle. You would also be surprised to discover, that those who put out hardcore effort, are often the first to help those who truly want to learn and improve themselves.

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I have been lifting weights on and off since I twelve. I will never forget the day my Mom and Dad purchased my first weightlifting set from Sears. I hurriedly opened the box.  The contents were 110 pounds of plastic covered cement and a short iron barbell with the plastic sleeves. I was in heaven, it was that day I began pumping plastic. A few years later, I graduated to a commercial gym, and it was there that I discovered the meaning of the phrase, pumping iron!

To me, there is nothing quite as exhilarating as the smell, noise and energy of a true weightlifting gym. I am brought to life by the clanging and banging of the iron, the grunts and groans that pass the lips of men and women as they try to blast out those last few muscle-building reps. It is cathartic, motivating and uplifting all at the same time.

I’m not sure if it is just me, but their seems to be an effort afoot to stop hard training, to cap enthusiasm and stifle the travails it takes to get real results. About a year ago, I was finishing up what was, to that point, a great workout. I was working two large opposing muscle groups; chest and back.  I was on my last of 36 sets, super-setting decline flyes with dead-lifts. I only had about 225 on the bar, but as we all know, the dead-lift is a brutal exercise, more so when done last and even more so when done as part of a superset. Well, I was brining the iron  down to the floor with some good old fashion banging. The sound of the weights against the rubber mat ramped my adrenaline causing a release of energy to explode me upright.  At the top position, my dead stop caused the weights to shake and there was the clanging.  Like a piston of a high revving engine,  I was rapidly moving up and down. Upon completion of the last set I re-racked the weight. I was soaked in sweat and my grip was almost completely shot; the bar slipped and the weights came crashing down onto the rack.

Gasping for breath I stood up tall, full of self-pride. I just completed three  more reps than I did last workout. Then it happened — the person next to me muttered under their breath, “Jesus Christ.”

I paused, unable to believe what I just heard. I thought to myself;  you have to be kidding. I wanted to shout “THIS IS A GYM!” Of course, my parents raised me with manners, so I walked over and apologized. This person did not even acknowledge my apology. So, I edged a little closer and said it a bit louder. Finally, the person reluctantly accepted.

I was so ticked off that to burn off the excess energy, I did six more sets, three more supersets of machine benches and bent over rows. I noticed the mutterer was talking to someone else and when I was done with my sixth set, the person finally went and did another set. I wanted to yell again, “MAYBE IF YOU WOULD ACTUALLY PUT SOME ACTUAL EFFORT INTO YOUR  WORK OUT YOU MIGHT LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN YOU DID A YEAR AGO!” But damn my parents raising me to be polite. I just stripped the bar, something this person did NOT do, looked over and said, “good-bye.”

Honestly, is it just me?

When I go to workout I am there to WORKout.

I don’t sit around for 10 minutes between sets, I move from exercise to exercise only pausing long enough to change the weight. I try to be considerate:  I place a towel down on the benches,  I allow people to work in, I always lift under control, I rarely drop a weight, I respect the equipment, I strip every bar and every machine, I replace the weights back to the stacks, I put the dumbells back in their appropriate place on the rack and, I even put them in order if someone else didn’t.

So, am I out of line to workout so hard that iron weights ring aloud?

Am I incorrect to push a set to failure that on occasion the weight slips?

Is pushing one self passé?

Is brutal, barbaric,muscle bombing defunct?

Is old school clanging and banging dead?

Please, say it ain’t so!

Never stop sweating!

Never stop grunting!

Never, ever stop clanging and banging!

https://www.createspace.com/3903024

http://www.obesityundone.com/

Physical Culturist and Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is the author of the life changing book, “Obesity Undone” and a contributor to NaturallySavvy.com and CarbSmart.com. He is available to appear on any talk radio, internet podcast or television outlet.

He has appeared on 94.3FM’s The David Maderia Show, What’s Weighing You Down, w/Dr. Marilyn Gansel on FTNS radio, Nurture and Nutrition on Blog Talk Radio, Low Carb Conversations with Jimmy Moore and Friends, BlogTalk Radio’s Toni Harris Speaks, Internet Radio: Cathie’s Talking, TV -35′s Storm Politics with Tiffany Cloud, WILK’s The Sue Henry Show, Magic 93′s Frankie In The Morning, WBRE’s PA Live, SSPTV’s News 13, Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Entercom’s Outlook on Northeast PA with Shadoe Steele, Citadel Broadcasting’s Sunday Magazine with Brian Hughes, Lisa Davis’ Your Health Radio; Hank Garner’s Podcast, Dr. Robert Su’s Carbohydrates Can Kill Podcast; and the one and only Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast.
Dr. Joe Leonardi also will come and speak to your group; to learn more about his motivational speaking fees and availability contact him atdocjoeleonardi@betterlifeseminars.com and check out his websitehttp://www.ObesityUndone.com.
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************The information contained herein is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting and videos do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions No guarantees are made or to be implied.************

Schools Are Failing Our Children In The Battle With Obesity

“If you want to cultivate the mind of your pupil, you have first to cultivate the strength of his/her body, that is the one which must support his/her mind; make the pupil strong and healthy to make him wise and intelligent.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

From carbohydrate loaded school meals to soda machines to cutting recess to reducing, if not eliminating all together, physical education classes — our schools are failing our children’s health and wellness.  What are we going to do?

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The First Lady, Michelle Obama, has started to increase awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic and she has taken some proactive steps.  Her Let’s Move initiative is a step in the right direction.  Her food recommendations for the school menus needs work, but that is for another posting.

An ABC news  report stated that are nearly three hundred and fifty million people world-wide with type II diabetes. In the same report it was stated that 35 to 40% of new cases are happening in younger and younger people.  Some who are only in only the fifth grade. That means children as young as ten years old are being diagnosed with what was commonly referred to as ADULT onset diabetes.

So what was an answer?  Well, the barbaric, bariatric butchers are starting to cut into these children.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.

Gastric by-pass surgery on children! Really?  A reduced stomach capacity in a child! Really? Potential malabsorption issues for the rest of one’s life, which hopefully could be decades!  Really?

Gastric by-pass surgery is rarely, if ever, genuinely necessary in adults and it sure as hell is NOT warranted in children.  I have to wonder what is the logic of people when the answer is so simple.  Obesity is not a complex issue and the solutions are not complex either.  The only difficulty is that we have to practice self-discipline.  We have to learn to say no to ourselves and to our children when it comes to unhealthy food choices.

We also need to start getting on our school boards and administrators.  They need to step up and take responsibility for their actions and decisions.  Physical education needs to be implemented five days a week.  Food options need to stop including starches, refined sugars and nutrient deficient foods.  Soda machines need to be banned from the school property.

Administrators need to start educating our educators.  I recently gave a presentation to area teachers titled: The Role of Educators in Student Fitness, Wellness and Nutrition. It was well received and those in attendance were hungry for the information.  Teachers are willing to learn and they are more than willing to help — they just need the tools to get the job done.

Perhaps most importantly, we as a society need to stop looking for the answers to our weakness at the bottom of a pill bottle or the end of a surgeon’s scalpel. The solution is no more difficult than desire, determination and discipline.  All of us need to do our part to beat back the scourge that may shorten our children’s life span and most definitely destroy their quality of life.

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Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is the owner of the Leonardi Chiropractic and Wellness Institute and the author of the life changing book; Fat Then Fit Now;  A life beyond wight loss.

He is available to speak  to any school, association or group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; 94.3 FM’s Tough Talk With Joe Peters; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast among many personal speaking engagements.

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Related articles

• It Is Time To Win The Battle Over Obesity! (fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com)
• Childhood Obesity and Bullying on Blog Talk Radio (fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com)
• Enough Excuses (fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com)
• Childhood Obesity Goes Beyond Food And Exercise (npr.org)

Don’t Make Resolutions; Set Goals

{What I am about to write does not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions.}

The old year is over.   The year-end retrospectives are still all over the place. From blogs, to radio, to newspapers, to newscasts all are talking about the year that was.

Don’t look back:

2010 is gone!

Was it a bad year?

Was it a good year?

WHO CARES — IT’S OVER!

When it comes to your health and fitness, look only ahead.  Come up with a plan, set your sights on a new you and then go about making it happen.

Arm yourself with the most up-to-date information. I suggest the following blogs:

Livin La Vida Low Carb

My Low Carb Journey

Carbohydrates Can Kill

The following books:

Cover via Amazon

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health

Fat Then Fit Now; A life beyond weight loss

Going Against the Grain: How Reducing and Avoiding Grains Can Revitalize Your Health

And the following organizations:

The Metabolism Society

The Weston A. Price Foundation

Take charge; no more excuses, no more blaming others and no more living an unhealthy lifestyle.  Take control of the only person you actually have any control over, the person that stares back at you in the mirror.

You can control what you eat!

You can control your level of fitness!

You can control how much you exercise!

You will make the 2011 version of you healthier.

I am not one for New Year’s resolutions. The old expression; resolutions are made to be broken usually rings true.  So, instead of mindless and pointless resolutions, I set goals.  One year is a manageable span of time and I set goals for the year and intervals throughout.  I write them down and as I accomplish each I mark it off my list.

Is your goal to get fit?

Is your goal to lose weight?

Is your goal to be a physically better you?

If the above are some of your goals, then, set your mind to positive, properly fuel your body, exercise to remodel you physique and have a Happy, Healthy New Year.

Yours in good health and fitness,

Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi

Author:  Fat Then Fit Now; A life beyond weight loss.

Rush “Lazy” Limbaugh

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{What I am about to write does not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions.}

Once again, the formerly fat radio windbag Rush Limbaugh, I’m going to assume he has kept off the weight he lost last year.  I haven’t seen any pictures since his wedding photos were release and old Rushbo looked kind of chunky then. Either way, one thing that hasn’t changed, fat still remains lodged in his brain, at least when it comes to genuine health and fitness information.

Limbaugh started his show today discussing some nutrition professor from the midwest who went on a snack food diet. To summarize, this academic, decided to test a hypothesis that it doesn’t matter what you eat, it is just about total calories and caloric deficit.

I don’t think anyone in health care, or those like myself who promote weight loss and fitness, would argue that a caloric deficit will cause weight loss. It does. However, why the hell would anyone want to get by on a meager 1800 calories a day? And honestly, why would anyone want to eat chemically enhanced sugary stuff all day?

Furthermore, Rush claimed the guy did not exercise much. Well looking at the class room lecturer’s  picture, that is kind of obvious.

So,  once again, Rush Limbaugh, radio talk-jock extraordinaire, is attempting to branch out from being a radio entertainer and  trying to discuss a topic beyond his intellect.

The referenced academic has demonstrated some short-term results and benefits over something like two months.  I discuss my improvements in blood work and vital signs over an eighteen month period, not a month or two. Also, I conquered genuine obesity. I started off weighing in at over 340 pounds. Dropping a few pounds, on a short time calorie restricted diet, really isn’t much to crow about.

Anyone with any intellectual honesty is not going to promote a snack food diet as a healthy way of life. Shoveling junk into one’s gullet is not going to provide for a fit and healthy body.

Common sense and true fathers of fitness are prime examples. Bernarr McFadden lived into his 80′s without ever seeing a doctor. Jack LaLanne is still out promoting fitness in his 90′s. Those who have dedicated themselves to a life of health and fitness may live longer, but what is more important is that they live better.

Yes you can lose weight without exercise. Yes you can lose weight via limiting caloric intake. However, will you be healthier? Will you be more fit?

Do I really need to answer? Okay, I will. NO!

Think of the pure junk you are introducing into your body every time you ingest a snack food. Read the label. Try reading it out loud and see if you can pronounce the garbage with which you are polluting yourself.

The lazy among us desperately try to take exercise out of the equation. They suggest that simply losing weight is enough. Dropping poundage is a start, but if you want to genuinely improve your health, it is not the sole portion of the equation. Exercise,  both progressive resistance and endurance, must be part of your daily life.

What concerns me most about Limbaugh, is that his misinformation will be spread to many who take what this radio hosts says as gospel. We are desperately trying to reach obese adults and children and trying to save their lives. To give them an improved quality of life. Yet, with Limbaugh’s reach more can be harmed in one segment of his show via his misinformation.

Rush Limbaugh, bloviating buffoon that he is,  claims he likes to stir the conventional wisdom pot and then claim to be right. Well the fact is that he is wrong. Rush claims weight loss is influenced only by what you eat and exercise is irrelevant. Again, you can just lose weight, but you will not reach optimal health and wellness.  You will not make long term changes to your weight.  You won’t achieve a fit human form.

Rush claims that us on the low carb diets eat less because we lose our appetite. I’ve got news for big Rush. I don’t eat any less than I did when I started my journey. I eat five to six times a day and not what one would consider smaller portions. It is the physiologic effect that allowed me to lose wieght and it is the physiologic effect that allows me to remain fit. My appetite is not suppressed in the least.

Rush’s up and down battle with obesity is a clear demonstration of what happens when you omit the exercise portion of the equation.

So, will just cutting calories cause weight loss? Yep, you will drop weight and if you started off obese as Rush or myself, then you will look like a thinner unfit Rush Limbaugh — If I were gonna look like the thinner Rush Limbaugh, I would rather stay fat!

Weight loss drugs? Weight loss surgery? WHY???

Joe Leonardi

{To be clear what I am about to write does not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have an underlying medical condition.}

So you have decided that you no longer fancy being fat. You have been checked out and besides those extra pounds, you are relatively healthy and you don’t have any obesity causing condition. The time is now, you are going to cut up your charge card for the big and tall shop and you have canceled your plus sized catalogs. Now, the question is; “How do I go about getting rid of this excess weight?”

You think of the medical procedures that are out there. You could take prescription drugs or opt to have surgery, after all they all promise to be the cure.

Hmmm? Let’s think about it.

How many drugs have come on the market promising to be the panacea for the obesity epidemic? I’m not sure, but I do know there have been quite a few.

How many drugs have exited the market because of adverse side effects? I’m not sure of that either, but I do know there have been quite a few.

Why do you think that is? Because, we are looking for the quick fix and there are those in the pharmaceutical world looking to profit from our fatness. They spend millions on research because they know they will make billions “medicating” a condition that more than likely requires no such treatment. Yet, countless people will gladly dole out cash, write a check or go into debt for the medicinal miracle.

Eventually, when we discover that the drugs don’t work or worse they get pulled from the market because it is later revealed they cause more harm than good, modern medicine offers another hope —- surgery. Today, many hospitals now have a weight loss surgical department and for, in some cases,  up to $25,000 you can have your stomach stapled, banded or sewn down to accept only tiny portions.

And of course for those that take the short cuts and don’t rely on a fitness regiment, more profits are to be had by slicing excess skin and vacuuming out the extra fat that was not depleted via proper diet and exercise.

I am honestly baffled at the risks folks will take for the short cut to weight loss.

Every medication has a side effect associated with it, some minor, some so severe that the FDA mandates removal from drugstore shelves.

Every surgery, even the most minor, has potential risks — from anesthesia complications, to post-op infections to dying on the table. That’s right DEATH. Honestly, is it worth it?

Is it really worth those risks, when losing weight and getting fit, in the absence of underlying medical conditions, is merely a matter of desire, determination and discipline? Have we, as a society, become so dependent on others that we no longer wish to take the appropriate actions ourselves?

The answer to our obesity epidemic is not going to be found at the bottom of a pill bottle, nor at the end of a scalpel. The resolution must come from within.

Losing weight and getting fit are easy to do. Trust me, I was there. I tipped the scale at 340 ponderous, pachydermian pounds. I didn’t medicate myself to lose weight and after complications from a supposed routine tonsillectomy; you better believe that it is going to have to be a life saving surgery before I let someone cut me open again.

So I ask again. Why side-effect laden drugs? Why risky surgery? Why not rely on yourself?

You CAN do it!

You WILL do it!

In the process, instead of simply losing weight, you will gain health!

Related Articles

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Podcast #4 All calories are NOT created equal

In this edition of Fat Then Fit Now; A Life Beyond Weight Loss, Chiropractor, Doc Joe Leonardi takes on the misconception that a calorie is a calorie.

Be sure to click the below link to listen.

Podcast #4 All Calories Are NOT Created Equal

Podcast #3 Childhood Obesity

In this podcast Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi discusses childhood obesity. His anger at what is going on becomes apparent.

Be sure to click the below link to listen.

Podcast #3 Childhood Obesity

Health pro shares weight loss success tips in new e-book

I penned the below guest posting, please visit

Hartke Is Online:

Fat Then Fit Now; A Life Beyond Weight Loss

by Dr. Joe Leonardi, D.C.

After dropping well over one hundred pounds, redesigning my physique and recapturing my health, many people said I should write a book. I pondered the idea and when I decided to finally draft a manuscript, just as many people said, “Another diet book?”

In life we face many decisions, some difficult, other not all that difficult. When I opted to pen a book, I didn’t want to write just another diet or fitness book. I wanted to come up with something completely different.  I have been told by those that have read it that it isn’t really a diet or exercise book. It is a lifestyle book.

I started by skipping all of the long-winded, scientific gobbledygook that fills the pages of so many other books. Read More »

Post Vacation

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven’t posted lately I have been away, I took a much needed vacation to the Florida Keys. If you have never gone I highly recommend the trip and most definitely fly into either Fort Lauderdale or Miami and rent a car and drive all the way to Key West. The Overseas Highway should be on a list of must sees and must experience.

It is amazing the effect of the sun and the ocean on one’s psyche. I am re-energized and re-invigorated. I will be posting tomorrow and then at least twice per week.

As many of you have read in an email or on facebook I received the Certificate of Registration from the Copyright Office for my soon to be published book, “Life Beyond Weight Loss.”

I will have more information on that in the next two weeks.

My new web site should be up on line within the next 6 – 8 weeks. So, in addition to blogposting, I have  podcasts and webinars available.

Summer is heating up and I thrive in temperatures over 80 degrees —   I expect to get a lot done.

Don’t Quit On Being Fit

 

Lately, life has been throwing me some heavy-duty, rib-breaking body blows. Compared to many I am blessed, but sometimes I don’t feel that way. The reality of owning a business in these current economic times can impact us all. I feel much like I did a few years ago. Similar situations caused apathy, which in turn, led to laziness. The result was my weight ballooned to a ponderous, pachydermian three hundred and forty pounds.

 

This morning when the alarm clock sounded, for the first time in a long time, I had the desire to shut the buzzer off and roll back over. Awakened by my current mood, my inner demons reared their ugly heads.

 

Thoughts of pancakes, home fries, doughnuts and waffles for breakfast started bubbling to the forefront of my brain. Later, I could go for a pizza and a nice pot of pasta. Then in the evening maybe a pie and a pint or two of ice cream. The comfort foods would work their soothing magic.

 

The demons screamed into my skull:

Why exercise?
Why eat right?
What is the point?
Think of how nice it would be to sleep, on a full belly, an extra three hours each morning.

 

I knew that the combination of sloth and gluttony would once again isolate me from the outside world. The calming influences of empty calorie, carbohydrate loaded foods would help me sleep. The lack of exercise would convert the excess consumption into a protective layer of fat, thereby insulating me from the rest of the human race.

 

I looked up and studied the proverbial rope that is keeping me from plunging into Hell’s fires. The repair jobs from the previous occasions life almost took me down were once again frayed. The results of gremlins hacking away revealed they were now more than half way through.

 

Would the rope give all together? Would my life and future plummet into a great abyss? It may very well. When it desires, life can be a cold bastard. The big question is:

 

Will I embrace my inner demons thus hastening my demise?

 

I stayed in bed and wondered what it would be like to have had a charmed life. How different would it have been if my father hadn’t been forced on to disability by a life altering injury? How would it have been if my parents could have afforded to send me straight to college out of high school? Was my judgment to enter the Navy and alleviate the burden of at least one child to care for the correct decision?

 

Yes, the self-doubt and self-pity of despair were being cheered on by the demons. Much like talk radio hosts, my inner mischievous sprites were the harbingers of doom — joyfully fanning my flames of despair, discontent, doubt and disillusionment.

 

How easy would it be to embrace their self-destructive message!
How simple would it be to return back to my former indolence!
How effortless would it be to add a hefty burden to the rope!

As these thoughts ran through my head, a truck driver outside my window slammed on the brakes. As the tractor-trailer came to a very loud halt, its cargo violently shifted and I was jarred by a thunderous clang. My still sleeping brain interpreted the clamor into the clang of iron plates being dropped onto the gym floor.

 

Thoughts about clanging and banging iron sent a familiar shiver through my body. I jumped from my bed and the demons hid in terror. I would not give into their cursed cheering.

 

There is no time for self-pity.
There is no time for self-sorrow.
There is not time for self-destruction.

The rope is starting to show threads.
I am not sure how long it will hold out.
I will not increase its burden by adding weight to my frame.

 

As much as we tend to think otherwise, there is very little in our lives over which we have control.

 

Well run businesses fail everyday.
Bad, at times awful, things happen to good people.
Politicians pass laws regardless of the actual outcomes.
Hard working, loyal employees often find themselves without a job.

 

The one thing we can control is ourselves.

We can control our mental attitude.
We can control our fitness level.
We can control what we eat.

 

By being physically fit and strong, if that rope does give out, I will be powerful enough to reach up, grab the secure end and support myself.

 

Don’t quit on being fit!