Why Weight?

When I was about 14 years old, my Dad purchased for my brother and I a set of weights and a bench. I had aspirations to put on some muscle. I never really followed up with lifting. There were some limitations. Our house didn't have a basement so the weights and bench had to be stored in either the attic or garage. Depending on the time of year, the attic was too hot or too cold. The garage had the same issue plus all the clutter of lawn mower, tools, bikes, and etc. 

Far from ideal. Yet, I could have made it work had I been devoted. I was looking for excuses and it is easy to find them if looking. Sure, the equipment wasn't the best. The temperatures far from optimum. So, the weights and bench sat unused. As I got older, I did transport the bench and weights to my post-college housing. I developed some consistency with lifting and then I would drop off yet again. I had poor technique and created back issues, which impaired my ability to play rugby. I'd get back spasms and wonder why, hobbling down the field like an old man. Well, my bench was not set-up to be a military press. So, my back got strained through inadequate support. I never established a consistent pattern of lifting weights and this became a source of frustration and futility.

Tools and Techniques...that is always the twin-battle...

About a decade ago, my neighbor at the time, gave me his old bench. He looked like Rambo and had spent years lifting. The bench was designed for the right type of support for my back. I cobbled together my old barbells and dumbbells and put the bench in my bedroom. My basement was too convenient to avoid. My exercise bike is in my spare bedroom. Since I am single, I don't give a rip what people think.

I finally had created the conditions besides one major consideration. I still had to lift the weights (aerobic has always been easier for me to do). At some point all the planning is going to have some purposeful pain to make it happen.

I instituted a morning work-out plan where I'd wake up about 20 minutes earlier each day. One day lift, one day ride the exercise bike. 6 days a week. No excuses. After a year of this new pattern, I can confidently state that I have finally reached a goal that had eluded me since the age of 14. I work-out as a matter of habit.  Habits will either make or break a person. For me, I had to create the conditions to do the right thing. Routines can be ruts for good or for ill.

This principle also plays out with my Diet and Reading segments of my life. I have never enjoyed eating vegetables. So, I bought a Vitamix Blender and make a 10 day supply of what I have termed E-8 (E is for Eric, 8 is the combination of vegetables and herbs). I slam it down every morning, shudder, and move on. No thought. Habit. I read Moby Dick every day for months. Not a lot. I harpooned that White Whale of a book once and for all. Now, I am 50% through Les Miserables.

A lot of evangelicals wish to read the Bible from cover to cover. Very few ever do. A chapter a day will get you through the Bible in less than a year. I have done it twice and am richer for it.

The bodies of the faithful are scattered all through Leviticus. They never develop a plan that is doable so it never gets done. Then, the self-recrimination and condemnation cycle up. We beat ourselves up for failing once again, without recognizing that we were doomed from the start. Our goals were to audacious and unrealistic--and I think we knew this even before we started.

- Do you find that you are not eating healthy foods? Keep the crap out of the house. The American diet has far too much simple carbs and sugar in it. It is the reason for our health problems to a large degree.

- Nix soda and keep cold filtered water in the fridge. I keep my cold water in old Pellegrino glass bottles. For whatever reason, I dig drinking cold water out of a glass bottle.

- Do you eat out too much? Cook a protein ahead of time that can be put in a series of dishes throughout the week. Stir-fry is great. Some carbs, some vegetables, some protein, some seasoning.  Cooking protein is what takes time. Use the oven.

- Drink too much alcohol? Don't start imbibing until later in the day. I find sundown to be the best time to commence.  Day drinking is a trait of losers.

- Watch too much mind-numbing and soul-killing television? Cancel the massive cable subscription and pick up a book (a lot of classics are out of copyright and are free).

- Find a consistent and fun exercise plan that involves both aerobic and weight-bearing exercises. I am not a big fan of commercial gyms. Buy good equipment and save the back and forth time. 

I wish someone had explained these principles when I was a young man. They are certainly obvious yet it is not in the understanding where we falter but in the execution.  Or, maybe a better way of stating this is that understanding and execution are wedded. A lack of execution means we have to go back and consider our understanding.