When Did Avoiding Strenuous Work Become Admirable?

Image via Wikipedia

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Yesterday I was taking care of my girlfriend’s yard when the above quote came to mind.  I use a manual, human powered push mower and non-mechanical hedge clippers.  I edge the lawn using hand held clippers.  I worked for three hours in beautiful sunshine with the only scent in the air being that of  fresh cut grass. There were no emissions, nor noise  of  motors or engines to spoil the idyllic day.

A neighbor happened by and asked me about my non-mechanically aided endeavorer. I stated it was not only enjoyable, but there was something very fulfilling to accomplish a task utilizing nothing but the strength of my body.  The person said, “But sometimes it is just better for work to be easier.”   I disagreed, however, I seem to be in the minority.

In today’s society we seem to have slipped into a false truth — that if it is easier, it is better. We have remote controls for everything; the television, garage door, fans and even air conditioners all have little devices so we no longer must heft ourselves out of our comfy seats and move. Hell, if you count the clapper, we don’t even have to get off of our rear-ends to operate a light switch.

Go out in public and you will find doors that open automatically, two-story shopping malls with escalators, you need but a wave of the hand to start water flowing from a sink or dispense a paper towel. We don’t even have to flush the toilet.

In society today it seems that we are always looking for the path of least resistance. The path that takes the least amount of work is the path most chosen. Even in the gym, where people are working out to get more fit, one can observe the same pattern. If say a person wants to use 50 pound dumbells for an exercise, but the weight is not there, many will go down to the 45′s instead of up to the 55′s.

Why not, while using proper form and safety precautions, test one’s self and go up in weight a bit?

Why not make it harder?

We are bombarded by marketing ploys that are supposed to make being healthy easy. Products will help us lose weight without any effort, they even market exercise machines that will magically produce results with less effort.  Isn’t the point of exercise to promote effort?

We have moved away from the “Strenuous Life” President Theodore Roosevelt so extolled.

Our schools continue to cut out recess and shortened gym classes, yet President Roosevelt used his belief in the strenuous life to overcome childhood ailments. He strongly believed in the adage that a fit mind requires a fit body to house it. He exercised, engaged in sport, he even skinny dipped in the Potomac River during the winter. While I would never consider swimming in the Susquehanna River as it runs along the Pittston to Wilkes-Barre corridor in anything less than a bio-hazard suit, I admire Teddy’s attitude and drive when it came to pursuing the strenuous life.

Our current President took more than a year to fill positions on The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. So, while the First Lady was admirably campaigns to increase awareness of childhood obesity, the President of the United States delayed action on the council that was founded to encourage American children to be healthy and active.  Am I missing something?

In his 1899 address before the Hamilton Club, in of all places Chicago, Teddy Roosevelt asked the question, “Who among you would teach your boys that ease is to be the first consideration in their eyes—to be the ultimate goal after which they strive?

It seems that by today’s standard, the answer would be yes. Thanks to the conveniences of modern society life is easier.  However, considering the soaring obesity rates, both adult and childhood, are the results of ease worth the price?

So I ask the question  — Are we teaching our boys and girls to strive for ease? If we are — How much damage are we doing?

———————————————————————————————–

Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is 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.

—————————————————————————————————

Related articles

• Excellence or Mediocrity? The Choice Is Yours! (fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com)
• Another debt to TR (tigerhawk.blogspot.com)

Strive For Excellence or Moderation? The Choice Is Yours!

I heard that word again.

You know, that one word answer to the obesity epidemic.

It is the word that is offered as the simplistic solution to all our woes.

It is the word that the lazy jog on out to justify their lackadaisical, exercise efforts.

It is the word that those who consume junk food use as an excuse to feed their hunger.

It is the one word that makes the hairs on my neck stand straight up.

It is the one word that causes every muscle in my body to reflexively tense until they cramp.

What is the word?

Moderation!

The proponents of moderation tell us; to lose weight, all we need do is eat in moderation.

Radio personality and self-proclaimed America’s Doctor, media medic Dr. Dean Edell will tell you to eat whatever you like, just do so in moderation.

The gurus of pseudo-fitness decree that to shape up your body all you must do is exercise moderately.

Image via Wikipedia

Even tough talking, bombastic radio hostMichael Savage, a man for whom political moderation is a travesty, demonstrates what a wuss he is when it comes to serious exercise when he states that you should only exercise enough to get your muscles warm. Yo, Dr. Michael Alan Weiner, stop being such weenie; moderation produces moderate results.

If you suffer from obesity — did eating moderately cause you to become overweight?

If you are a physical wreck —  did you reach that state because you were only moderately slothful?

If you only want to kind-of, sort-of lose weight, I highly suggest moderation.

If you only kind-of, sort-of desire to improve your fitness level, then by all means, only exercise moderately.

If the object of education is to barely understand what you are studying, please, only review the material every now and then.

If the goal of your life is to only achieve limited, average, mediocre success, then don’t work too hard and that is exactly what you will achieve.

Simply stated, if your goal is excellence, you won’t get there via half-hearted, half-way, moderate attempts.

If you want to reshape your body and retake control of your very being, you must be willing to dedicate yourself to that effort.

You must not only have the desire to lose weight, you must not only have the determination get in shape, you must also have the discipline to accomplish your goals.

You must be aware of everything that you eat every day. You must do some form of exercise each day of the week. You must make a new you a priority in your life.

If you are unwilling to work hard, you will not reach your goals. If you are not going to invest time to exercise, the results won’t be those you desire.

I’m not saying to push yourself to the extreme limits elite athletes push themselves, but you must push yourself within your own limits. You must make the maximum effort you are capable of making to achieve the results you desire.

Of course, get a thorough physical examination. Be as sure as possible that you will not suffer deleterious effects from exercise or a new diet. When you are sure your current physical state can handle it, go out and begin to reshape and remodel your body.

Take it slow at first.

Gradually, build up your strength and endurance.

However, as you progress and your fitness level improves, slowly but surely push yourself a little further.

As you continue to improve, as the excess body fat falls from your body, as you need to purchase new clothing, as you begin to enjoy a more active, fulfilling life you will no longer accept mediocrity.

Moderation? I don’t think so. I will take excellence any day!

———————————————————————————————–

Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is 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.

—————————————————————————————————

Related articles

• Enough Excuses (fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com)
• Getting Older Does NOT Equal Getting Fatter (fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com)
• When Discussing Childhood Obesity; Discuss Health, NOT Appearance (fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com)

Podcast #6 Weapons to Win the War on Obesity

In this podcast Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi discusses Weapons to Win the War on Obesity. Be sure to click the link below, Podcast #6,  to listen. Thank you.

Podcast #6 Weapons to Win the War on Obesity

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

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!

 

A Setback or A Greater Challenge

On January 8th I wrote a post entitled Let the Fun Begin. It was my first week into high intensity training. I was moving heavier weights and increasing both my run distance and speed. I was a man on a mission. How was I to know that one short week later my training would get a little off track. In the preceding  posts, A Minor Setback — Not a Roadblock and Three Weeks from the Day, I chronicled what I was looking at as a setback in my training.

This morning something happened to change that way of thinking.

I was in the gym talking with a friend of mine. I had previously told him about my recent procedure and expressed how I was grateful nothing was wrong with my heart. He asked me how getting back into the grove was going and if I was still taking it easy. I told him good, but I conveyed to him that with the half-marathon a mere twelve weeks away and the strongman only three weeks later, I was feeling a bit unsettled about how I had lost over a month of training.

That is when I got the look.

There is one thing about weightlifting and weightlifters, when you complain, and I was, as much as I hate to admit it, complaining, to another lifter words never need be spoken. Weight training is unto itself about one thing; overcoming the pull of gravity on cold, unyielding iron. It is, every single workout, a challenge.

It is a challenge to embrace.

It is a challenge to welcome.

It is a challenge to overcome.

So when my old friend gave me that look, I realized I was complaining and simultaneously we uttered, “It is just a greater challenge!”

I didn’t have to do battle with cancer. I didn’t have to deal with a traumatic accident. I didn’t have anything really bad happen to me. I had a surgical procedure to check out my heart and it showed all was good. I am blessed.

So what? I lost a few weeks training.

So what? I lost some strength.

So what? I got a little soft.

I am healthy. I am still relatively fit. I now have a greater challenge.

Life is fun.

Life is not fair.

Life is a challenge.

Bring it on!

Keep training and remember: being fit isn’t simply about living longer, it is about living better!

Three Weeks from the Day

Today is Friday February 5th 2010.

Today is three weeks from the day that I had last gone for a run.

Today is three weeks from the day that I had last been in the gym.

Today is three weeks from the day I received the call from my cardiologist that there was an abnormal finding on my stress test and we would need to do a more invasive test.

Yesterday, I was given the okay from my doctor to go back to the gym. I was to go easy for the first two weeks, but I have healed up from my procedure and there were no restrictions, just words of caution — take it easy.

The alarm was set for six a.m., but I was awake by five; my heart was pounding, it was beating with excitement — today was the day I was going to workout.

I entered the gym doors, gym bag  tight in hand. I swiped my card, greeted the woman working the desk and headed to my locker.

I put my gear away, went up stairs to the cardio area and hopped up on the treadmill, in my head I heard the words, take it easy. I did, an easy 1/2 mile run. I was barely breathing heavy and I wasn’t even sweating, but I took it easy.

I went down to the weight area. I made a bee line to the shoulder press machine. I loaded it up, one 45 pound plate on each side, three weeks ago there were two +25, but I was to take it easy. The weights rose up and down with little effort, I did my supersets and fought the urge to add more weight.

I moved from exercise to exercise, resisting the desire to increase the poundage. I barely worked up a sweat, but I took it easy.

It was three weeks ago today I was last in the gym.

It was three weeks ago today I last felt cold, unrelenting iron in my hands.

It was three weeks ago today — I wasn’t sure if I would ever be back.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, I will no longer be taking it easy.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, I will no longer fight the urge to add more weight.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, I will be running further and harder.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, at the end of my workout  my clothes will be soaked in sweat.

Today is three weeks from the day that my life changed.

Today is three weeks for the day I promised to help others avoid the pitfalls of obesity.

Today is three weeks from the day that I knew my life’s work was to spread the word of fitness.

Today is the day I start that work.

A Minor Setback — Not a Roadblock!

“I was asked recently that if now that I lost the weight, I thought I was going to live longer. For a moment I pondered the question then answered, I honestly don’t know, however I do know one thing, I am living better.”

The above paragraph was how I ended a column in the August 30, 2009 edition of the Dispatch. Those same words were quoted back to me when I appeared on WVIA’s “Call the Doctor” on January 12, 2010.

Three days later I was slapped in the face with the realization of those thoughts.

During a scheduled follow up with my cardiologist all appeared well. Good EKG, blood pressure, heart sounds and pulse rate. The doctor told me he would see me in a year. I advised my cardiologist of my plans to compete in the Leigh Valley Half Marathon in April, The Boyertown YMCA Strongman contest in May and the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon in the summer. I asked if it would be reasonable, considering my previous morbid obesity, to have a stress test. He agreed, so we set up an appointment for January. The stress test went fine. Compared to my previous test in March of 2008 I was on the treadmill nearly four times longer to get my heart rate up, I didn’t have any chest pains, my blood pressure didn’t rise to above the normal range, recovered quickly and the EKG looked good throughout. I finished up and was told I would receive a call in a day or two. I left the doctor’s office and went for a run. The next two mornings I arose at my usual time, ran 2 miles hit the weights and then ran another mile — I was full into training for my upcoming events, increasing my run distance and I hadn’t lifted such heavy weights since I was in my twenties. I went through my workouts at a fast pace, barely resting between each heavy set and finished up with sweat drenched workout attire. I arrived at my office on Friday morning in great spirits. Linda, my office manger, commented on my good mood. I told her the extra bulk I mistakenly and needlessly added for the strongman contest was coming off and I was getting stronger with each workout — nothing was going to ruin my day.

The proverbial famous last words. About an hour later my cardiologist called.

I answered the phone expecting good results. My jovial spirit was quickly gone. The voice on the other end told me there was an abnormality on my stress test, he didn’t understand it because everything else looked good. However, on the exercise portion there was a problem. I asked him my options and he told me that the best way to be sure was a cardiac catheterization. I said I would call him back. Those that saw me after the call tell me that my face was ashen. I could understand because I was quite shaken up.

“How could this be?” I asked myself. I just ran 3 miles and moved over one ton of weights. I had been having regular testing. My blood work showed improved cholesterol readings, a stress test, a coronary CT scan and an echo cardiogram were all good. I even had a test to look for calcium deposits in my coronary arteries which revealed the best reading of zero. After consulting with my medical doctor cousins I opted to have the procedure.

The test was scheduled for the following Thursday and I was not to exercise until we knew what was going on. My heart sunk and I went from being shaken to being down right scared. The health care provider in me knew that if it were very serious I would be going directly to the hospital, the human being in me suddenly felt like there was now a time bomb in my chest.

Pre-procedure testing revealed another baffling piece to the puzzle — my cholesterol levels had improved even more. According to the test results my risk factor ratio was 2.86; below 3.4 decreases your risk factor by one half. Anxiety filled days and nights passed until the morning of the procedure.

My skilled physician did his thing and told me that all looked good.

Relief!

Now I have to wait to heal from the procedure before I get back to exercise. I am chomping at the bit because, you see, I had been guilty of two of the seven deadly sins, gluttony and sloth. Now I am guilty of one; greed.

The greed to maintain my fitness, to spread the word and help as many of those who lost their way as I did.

Exercise is the fountain of youth and weight loss is a side effect of fitness. I want to help as many people as I can get fit.