You only have to look at Arnold Schwarzenegger now to know that, eventually, all things come down. Even elite athletes when they´re not competing, tend to put on some weight. You could lose some of your belly fat and see your abs by just flexing: even the competitive type has to churn and flex their pecs, abs and biceps/triceps in order to truly exude their physique. And prior to any competition/show, a quick workout is in order to prop up the endgame. You too can take advantage of how gorged and swollen your whole musculature appears after conducting a strenuous workout; physical exertion on the short-term primordially pumps the blood and not only does it look but if feels great.
It takes far less of an effort to change your mind, all it takes is following through and keeping that promise, if you put the time now and push yourself to exhaustion sometimes, then you´ll get back however much you put it. Taking pride in knowing yourself capable of something most people only dream of: getting fit.
Americans are fat. That´s the truth. It probably has something to do with our sedentary lifestyles, heavy alcohol consumption, overeating (yeah, especially that) and, my favorite, genes. And just like genes, we turn on or off according to the stimulus, it´s either use it or lose it. So there´s always something we can do about it. Haven´t you heard already all the good reasons, the life lessons, the lifting of spirit, the becoming more feeling you get from an active lifestyle? By now, everyone should be motivated to shed some fat, tone that flabby midsection, look and feel oh so good. Why don´t we tackle those issues that most matter and let the urgent but inessential truly slide? It may seem overwhelming, but it has a domino effect: one good initiative always follows a good angle, even if you don´t get what you were looking for in a situation, a more direct approach saves time assumptions can be dispersed and a clear-cut, neat way of dealing with anything has emerged. Deal with what matters first and leave attention-seekers aside, literally. People will waste your time; it doesn´t belong to them, don´t let them.
Americans are fat. That´s the truth. It probably has something to do with our sedentary lifestyles, heavy alcohol consumption, overeating (yeah, especially that) and, my favorite, genes. And just like genes, we turn on or off according to the stimulus, it´s either use it or lose it. So there´s always something we can do about it. Haven´t you heard already all the good reasons, the life lessons, the lifting of spirit, the becoming more feeling you get from an active lifestyle? By now, everyone should be motivated to shed some fat, tone that flabby midsection, look and feel oh so good. Why don´t we tackle those issues that most matter and let the urgent but inessential truly slide? It may seem overwhelming, but it has a domino effect: one good initiative always follows a good angle, even if you don´t get what you were looking for in a situation, a more direct approach saves time assumptions can be dispersed and a clear-cut, neat way of dealing with anything has emerged. Deal with what matters first and leave attention-seekers aside, literally. People will waste your time; it doesn´t belong to them, don´t let them.
When you go to the gym, you see tons of people one week and then the next few weeks some of the new faces disappear and there still are some familiar ones. Not that you go there to study other gym-goers habits, but the reality is that most people do not have a detailed plan or even a concrete purpose to be there in the first place other than wanting to look good naked (men) or shed some undesired fat. So, it's not surprising that eventually most give up on their ambitions and settle.
They may, from time to time, go all out in their workouts but overall they´d much rather sit in front of the TV with a bowl of pop-corn. On their daily routines, some settle for a little less time at the gym by leading healthier diets, skip the ice-cream and the soda, do some jumps and a few push-ups, chin-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, jump rope and all in the comfort of home and never for more than the time it takes to break a sweat. You can also minimize the looming potential of injury this way; two or three different types of exercise daily, each lasting a few minutes and that´s that.
No gym was necessary for me either. Initially, I´d use the whole city as my gym, desserted children playgrounds would serve as pull-ups, chin-ups reps; pacing, walking, running, in no particular order. Intensity in short bursts. Keep active... rollerblading, maybe.
Life is hard, and leading an active lifestyle takes time, effort, dedication. In essence, it makes you disciplined. That´s where the pride comes, knowing that you do your thing, others see it, some may secretly admire you.
Now there are those you rarely see at the gym regularly, and then there the ones who obsess over their physique. These are the kind you see very often. They have their own routines, their specific set of rituals, and they go about following their plan. And many may have a ¨plan¨, but fail to have a purpose. A plan to follow through in order to see ¨gains¨ in your daily routine, it isn´t the same as having a higher reason, a purpose, for you to strive to and get better at this fitness thing. What I do know is that is, in part at least, for vanity. I also enjoy the elated feeling of well-being that derives from it, how it makes you proud because you do precisely what others only think of doing but never get around to. It shows character and it says a lot about you. Character isn´t the same as attitude. Many have the attitude but few cultivate character. Character is follow-through, it is the pride that comes from know that you truly are capable of change and that things can and should always be better. Not necessarily ¨perfect¨, not nearly so... just right.
My purpose is to build slightly more than I´m losing given my years. Though I maintain in good shape, I feel I can still improve. I´m not competing; I go to the gym three or four days a week, twice a day; each time less than an hour. I rest two full days, and I don´t work myself to exhaustion. My body is not that of a teenager; I work smarter, not harder. I don´t want to put too much stress on it; I want to maintain what I got and reverse the inevitable decline of muscle due to my years. I´ve never been in better shape than I am today. It´s been a year since I quit smoking, and I´ve spent more time with my older son Stephan and his mom, Beth. My other boy lives in Michigan and I see him once or twice a year, sometimes more, rarely less. His mom and I have a very good relationship, considering she´s Irish and American Indian. Go figure.
My purpose is to build slightly more than I´m losing given my years. Though I maintain in good shape, I feel I can still improve. I´m not competing; I go to the gym three or four days a week, twice a day; each time less than an hour. I rest two full days, and I don´t work myself to exhaustion. My body is not that of a teenager; I work smarter, not harder. I don´t want to put too much stress on it; I want to maintain what I got and reverse the inevitable decline of muscle due to my years. I´ve never been in better shape than I am today. It´s been a year since I quit smoking, and I´ve spent more time with my older son Stephan and his mom, Beth. My other boy lives in Michigan and I see him once or twice a year, sometimes more, rarely less. His mom and I have a very good relationship, considering she´s Irish and American Indian. Go figure.
The little Irish-Colombian is ridiculously cute. And smart. And I can´t get enough of him. He loves his older brother, Stephan, and Jules always asks to see him on Google hangouts. I´ve tons of pictures of them playing together. I love those times.
Today, as I got a haircut, the barber asked me if I was living back in the Bronx again. ¨Yes¨ I said. ¨I had fun while away, tons of fun but now I feel like spending time with my older son and helping out with his upbringing since Beth has been diagnosed and treated for severe depression. She cannot possibly deal with my son who is autistic and demands a lot of attention. A home attendant helps her out. But I think I could play the part of the father and I am loving it. I decided to take a vacation from love. I will instead focus on a few personal goals, including changing this place around and pimping the crib. I want to continue to do a good job. A really good job.
Today, as I got a haircut, the barber asked me if I was living back in the Bronx again. ¨Yes¨ I said. ¨I had fun while away, tons of fun but now I feel like spending time with my older son and helping out with his upbringing since Beth has been diagnosed and treated for severe depression. She cannot possibly deal with my son who is autistic and demands a lot of attention. A home attendant helps her out. But I think I could play the part of the father and I am loving it. I decided to take a vacation from love. I will instead focus on a few personal goals, including changing this place around and pimping the crib. I want to continue to do a good job. A really good job.
I respect those who choose to dedicate their lives to their physique. That´s not the path I choose. Instead, I want to do so because it makes me stronger. Nothing spells confidence like being fit at this time and age, when I´m forty two years old and feel not a day older than 27. I even look a lot younger than the average thirty year old guy. It´s not that I´m bragging, as my sister hash-tagged me on my birthday on Facebook, ¨thinks himself the youngest when he´s in fact the oldest.¨ I don´t consider myself younger or older than anyone else. I try to keep what I have through physical workouts that seldom push the limits. I chase the elated feeling of having worked out for no more than forty minutes, sometimes a little more, sometimes less. I do not want to dedicate myself to my physique; so long as I look above average and feel good about myself and keep building more than I lose as the years come along. Also, meditation, reading, writing, and sometimes, watching TV. Roku, of course. Haven´t had cable in more than a decade.
Not too much but not too little, as it is taught in Buddhism´s Middle Path. In this respect, we should aim for balance in life; not too much of something good, but not denying ourselves either. Having a few drinks from time to time, enjoying friends, forgiving family. I´m not well-known for my smile, but I´ve been practicing smiles, and they work magically. People open up and that´s the way it should be. Once you put aside your sexual agenda (no ¨girlfriend¨ or ¨ex¨ or any other stereotype), you recognize that there might be tension. How you manage that energy, that ¨tension¨, it´s critical. People come at you from all walks of life, with their lifelong intravenously-fed dilemmas, dividing them into three categories. The antisocial, the semi-social, the ultra-social, and the just the barely social kind. All of them I encounter daily, in many ways I prefer the social but I can live with being ignored or just the casual chat. Those who dare come closer see other shades of me, nothing too macabre, just plain fun friend stuff, no drama, always on a way to doing something, just a little more than the next guy, improving daily, keeping good hygiene and clean clothes, well shaved, all the little details that make that very first impression.
Not too much but not too little, as it is taught in Buddhism´s Middle Path. In this respect, we should aim for balance in life; not too much of something good, but not denying ourselves either. Having a few drinks from time to time, enjoying friends, forgiving family. I´m not well-known for my smile, but I´ve been practicing smiles, and they work magically. People open up and that´s the way it should be. Once you put aside your sexual agenda (no ¨girlfriend¨ or ¨ex¨ or any other stereotype), you recognize that there might be tension. How you manage that energy, that ¨tension¨, it´s critical. People come at you from all walks of life, with their lifelong intravenously-fed dilemmas, dividing them into three categories. The antisocial, the semi-social, the ultra-social, and the just the barely social kind. All of them I encounter daily, in many ways I prefer the social but I can live with being ignored or just the casual chat. Those who dare come closer see other shades of me, nothing too macabre, just plain fun friend stuff, no drama, always on a way to doing something, just a little more than the next guy, improving daily, keeping good hygiene and clean clothes, well shaved, all the little details that make that very first impression.
As I´ve said before, there are all kinds of people. Those who want to be left alone, those who may be just a little reserved but still open to forfeit their ego, downplay the persona and reflect back some of that spark you shine upon them. Imagine yourself a star, for a moment.
Like stars, we come across much dirt, shinning your way through will only brighten the path you cross, leaving behind a fluorescent trace for others to follow if ever lost in the darkness of mind. You cannot find anything other than the mind behind every scene depicted in life out there. There´s no ulterior motive outside of here, inside each one of us, so instead of new horizons, eyes reborn and
Not that I consider myself anything less than a star, stars are far more common a phenomenon and much less interesting than human beings. These beings that surround us really make our day, and so long as you lower your expectations and really focus on being there to serve others, and to take the drama out of any equation, then that´s time well spent. That we find ourselves here and now only adds to the mystery of it all. How lucky we were that among hundreds of millions of sperms, you got to fertilize your mom´s egg. That´s how it all began.
Your dad inseminated your mom´s egg, and the likelihood that it would create ¨you¨ were much more astronomical than playing the lottery.
Anger, resentment, back-stabbing, gossip, all these ailments wreak havoc in the lives of others. It takes a lot to hate others, to live on guard because this person may take a decision that may not be in your best interest. What you do is, serve well and set limits. You cannot overdo it, but that´s not reason enough to slack off. What I figured is, resentment and rancor, and all of these feelings based on anger, really take a toll on the individual. Of course, you don´t want to become the nice guy. Life is not nice to those who insist on playing nice, but play nice you should, to a point. Besides, as I´ve said before in one of my digital books (save the trees!), Nice is boring.
Naughty is a different kind of nice. You play nice in a way that can be cunning, intriguing, so much so that it keeps them guessing. You want to play an enticing role, a character with substance, not just another extra in other people´s lives. Of course, not everyone can be swayed by your charm. Let those who resist you to themselves and focus on following through the things you said you would. It´s the only way you create character. You do what you said you would do. You don´t take too many days off, and you don´t sleep on it. You get on with the plan and the plan was that we´d get fit (and by ¨we¨, meaning ¨me¨, not escaping the ego, as in Everyone´s Got One, Boris, I and a few other voices inside my head), agreed. We will see our body transform and it will be an achievement comparable to having quit smoking cigarettes cold-turkey over a year ago.
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