Health Clubs

I should start out by saying that I'm not a health professional or even a fitness professional. I have no degrees or specific training. I just do a ton of research and experimenting and I like to blog about my ideas and experiences. I should also confess that I'm terrible at going back and adding the links and annotations to the scholarly sources I use. You'd think that a couple decades of college would make it habit but instead its made it loathsome.

Anyway, the topic of today is health clubs. The best form of exercise for anyone is the form they find interesting. That could be playing basketball, or golf, or skiing. Whatever you find entertaining is best, but honestly you need something year-round, that exercises your whole body, and builds strength, agility and endurance. Hopefully you can find something like that you don't hate. I think for writers, the perfect activity is swimming--it's low impact, near perfect resistance, full range of motion and also builds endurance.

Of course, swimming pretty much means a health club unless your living space has one. I have a couple beefs with health clubs. They are expensive, full of thieves, and often germs. I haven't had anything stolen from me in quite awhile, but two of the four years that I had gym memberships were the sickest years of my adult life.

Recently, my wife and I decided to ditch our membership until the end of summer. She had to go in to do it in person, where she learned that the fine print of the contract stated changes must take place 5 or more days before the end of the pay period. We paid first and last, so we have membership through the end of March now. We're NOT happy with that crap.

Anyway, having recently lost 44lbs I'm wanting to continue that trend and maintain it, both. I know it but it seems like if you're still dropping weight you don't have to stress about keeping it off. But I want to make sure I'm covering all bases. I've tried and tried to refind the article I read recently that said 7 out of 8 people who kept weight off worked out at home. So here's some resources.

 Here's an article about keeping the weight off from Health.com.

Here's an article on working out without equipment.

Fun with Hugging!

Original Post

• Hugging increases levels of the “love hormone” oxytocin, which is beneficial for stress levels, heart health, and more
• A 20-second hug reduces the harmful physical effects of stress, including its impact on your blood pressure and heart rate
• A 10-second hug a day may fight infections, boost your immune system, ease depression and lessen fatigue
• The giver of a hug receives just as much benefit as the receiver, but some research suggests the healthiest hugs must come from someone you trust (as opposed to a stranger)

This post is stolen from Craig Ballantyne's site Early To Rise. I love what Craig's doing and wanted to share some of his insights on a topic close to my heart. So click through to this article at his website and poke around. It'll probably ask you to sign up for his newsletter. I enjoy it, but if comes often so be sure to chose weekly digest if you feel overwhelmed.

Anyway, the topic is rules to live by. I pursued this for many years and became quite frustrated with my lack of will power. So I want to modify this a little with my own experience. I've mentioned Jack Canfield's formula on the responsibility thing before (E + R = O) where the Event and your Response to it determine the Outcome. All the Gurus lately are harping on taking responsibility for everything and I think it's true to an extent. However, some events are so traumatic or we're so unprepared that no matter how we respond we aren't going to get a desirable Outcome.

We need to realize the limitations of taking on responsibility for EVERYTHING. Let me take the focus off the E part of the equation without shining the light on the R part. Let's look at O. If you live for outcomes you'll find it zap's your joy just as much as making excuses does when you should place the blame on your responses. Dissecting outcomes is a great way to realize that your consistently making certain responses to common events. (2 happens and I always end up with 4 when I want 5, I'd better figure out how to respond differently than I have been.) But living for outcomes, which is a natural consequence of taking all responsibility, takes the focus off the journey.

For example I've noticed recently that when I'm completely dissatisfied with my life the answer is that I'm looking at the outcomes I'm not getting. What fixes the problem is to stop looking at me entirely for a bit and look around at others. Who needs help? What can I do to encourage, console, or listen? Those things always make me feel better. If I except that I'm always responsible for everything then I need to focus on outcomes and decide how to squeeze a little more effort out of my responses. Or worse, if I stop looking at me then I become responsible for everyone else's issues too.

I don't think that's what the Gurus are saying, but you'd be surprised by the absolute crap conclusions that will hang out in our brains sometimes, so I have to state it for the record. That's how we break unspoken agreements. We say them aloud and they become laughable.

What the Guru's like Craig B. are speaking to is something I call learned hopelessness. Most homeless are only that way for a couple weeks. But when I say homeless, the image in our heads is the chronic homeless. What could bring someone so low? Obviously substance abuse plays a role, but under that is Learned Hopelessness. After trying everything they can think of and having their heart broken repeatedly, some folks give up. They don't quit trying because it's hard--it's hard to live on the streets. They quit trying because the more they try the worse it gets. Nothing works as it should.

This is another disease of hyper responsibility. If they are causing issues by trying they can end the issues by quitting. Homelessness is an extreme example, but learned hopelessness is common among all people everywhere. We've all got something we've stopped trying to fix. No matter how much we respond we don't get the outcome we want. Well sometimes the answer is counter-intuitive. Like accepting a different outcome or focusing on others for a time. Maybe it's counting your blessings. Maybe it's surrendering to God.

Enough of me rambling. Take a gander at Craig's post below.

Here's the original article

The one thing I admire about people who have strong nutrition beliefs is their dogmatic behavior.

For example, a vegetarian, under no circumstances, will ever eat meat. There is no, “well, everyone else is having a burger, so just this once, I will too.”

That’s not how it works.

Not when a vegetarian has a strong personal philosophy that they never, ever, ever eat meat.

And that strong personal philosophy guides them to guilt-free behavior that is congruent with their goals.

I’ve also taught my fat loss clients to develop their own personal philosophy – essentially a set of rules that dictate decisions, and I’ve also created my own rules that determine how I live my life so that I reduce guilt, stress, and wasted emotional energy.

Now the purpose of this email is not to say that my personal philosophies are wrong or right.

Instead, they are simply here to encourage you to adopt your own rules for the sake of living a better, more productive stress free life. 
You may have your own rules in your head, but I encourage you to put them in writing. And you can adopt a set of rules for every aspect of your life, from health to financial to family and business.

(NOTE: My rules have changed – slightly – since I first wrote them. Here is my updated approach to life.)

My 12 Rules

1. I go to bed and get up at the same time 7 days per week (8 p.m. and 4 a.m.) I stick to my diet, avoid caffeine after 1 p.m., and avoid alcohol within 3 hours of bedtime.
2. I write for at least 60 minutes first thing every morning.
3. I do not check email before 11 a.m. and I do not talk on the phone unless it is a scheduled interview or conference call.
4. I act polite and courteous, and I do not swear.
5. I create a to-do list at the start & end of every workday and update my daily gratitude & achievement journal.
6. I do not engage in confrontations with anyone, in-person or online. This is a waste of time and energy. If I have caused harm, I apologize and fix the situation. And then I take a deep breath, relax, breathe out, and re-focus my efforts back on my work and goals.
7. I am guided by these two phrases:
   a) “Nothing matters.” – I can only work towards the major, massive goals and my vision of helping others, while the opinions of others do not matter to my goals.
   b) “It will all be over soon.”
8.  Everything that happens to me – good and bad – is my personal responsibility. I blame no one but myself. These are the choices I’ve made – this is the life I’m living. I will accept the consequences of my actions.
9. I will help 10 Million men and women transform their lives.
10. I will not be the person I don’t want to be. I will not be petty, jealous, or envious, or give in to any other of those lazy emotions. I will not gossip or speak badly of others, no matter who I am with or what environment that I am in. I will not be negative when it is easier to be positive. I will not hurt others when it is possible to help. I will know the temptations, situations and environments in life that I must avoid, and I will, in fact, avoid them, even if it means loosening relationships with others who “live” in those environments. It’s my life and that matters more than what other people think of me.
11. “I will always keep the child within me alive.” – Ted Nicholas.
12. “I will write with honesty and feeling.” – Ted Nicholas. The opinion of others does not matter. What matters is the number of people that I can help by sharing advice and encouragement in my writing.

So that’s it. These 12 rules allow me to live my life with less guilt, more energy, and more productivity than if I did not have these personal philosophies outlined.

Now I know there will be two types of reactions to this content. First, some will dismiss it – and dismiss me.

But to those people, remember the point of the list is not for you to sit there and think, “Oh, what a total weirdo. I never want to hang around with this guy.”

Instead, the point of the list, the idea, the article is to simply stimulate your thinking.

And that’s the 2nd type of reaction you can have to this article.

This is the reaction of the people who I’m interested in – the people who will realize what’s holding them back is not a lack of knowledge (because the knowledge is out there and freely available), but instead, it is decision making.

Listen, I know that every week you make decisions that leave you full of guilt and remorse, but on the other hand you also make decisions that you know are correct – even though they are difficult to make.

Wouldn’t you be better off if you made MORE correct decisions with less effort?

Of course, and that is where you rules to live by, your personal philosophies, come into play.

With this post, I’ve given you a model so that you can create your own personal philosophies that will allow you to make the correct decision and fewer decisions that leave you with remorse.

As a result of making more correct decisions, you’ll move closer to your goals and suffer less frustration. Life will be simpler once you start adhering to your own personal philosophies – and not worrying about what others think.

I’d like to hear your personal philosophies and life rules. Just add your thoughts to the comments section below.

Journal Update.2/9/14

Well it's day 4 being housebound and the stir crazy has set in. My wife worked a half day on Thursday and we got some groceries Friday but she doesn't have the tolerance I do for spending long hours cooped up inside. As a writer and an INTJ personality where the I is almost an E, I have a love/hate thing with being housebound. I'll spare you further details and just describe this weekend in one paragraph.

I've been super productive. I caught up on the marketing class I'm taking (well, I was two weeks behind, now only one). I caught up on laundry, processed 150 out of 750 emails (I was caught up until Christmas and 3 weeks of the flu), and read/viewed 10 items in my read/view file (12 items remain). I mangled my beard, which is okay because not that many people are going to see it before I grow it back. I figured out how to use hootsuite and successfully did something with twitter for a change. I added a dozen lines to my marketing shortlist file (things I'm going to put into play the moment I finish this marketing course: 2/17/14) I caught up my massive project hopper and reorganized my "to do" lists. I finished and reviewed 2 awesome books by NIWA members. I also watched a heck of a lot of the Olympics, which is something I always want to do and somehow usually miss a lot of.

Must do items that remain: Organize my new office space (see pic), finish making excel spreadsheets to track my online and handsales of all my titles, watch the DVD I've had from netflicks for two weeks, and watch more Olympics. If I can I'd like to start the next novel I promised to read and review.

The challenge is this. We've reached the end of our ability to cope with the coop. Well, my wife has. While I'm blissfully trapped with my giant list of things I need to do, she's trapped away from everything. Don't get me wrong I'm feeling it too. My metabolism is slowed to a crawl. My spin and joints are stiff. And my mental focus is starting to wear thin. I have a hunch today, the most dangerous day of all of them (snow/slush is now freezing rain) is the day we must venture forth and DO SOMETHING! In hindsight, if we were going to have to get out there we should have done it yesterday, and I confess my wife brought it up several times. She's smart like that. I just was getting SO MUCH done.

I still am, but it doesn't matter. My efficiency is going down rapidly for two reasons. 1) I've been physically inactive for a bit too long and 2) my wife has begun breaking my concentration every 30 to 45 seconds. Seriously, she's pacing. So I think we're going to bundle up and walk over to the LA fitness and see if they are open. If they are, I'll feel extra sheepish because we could be full on working out this whole time. Such is life. Well I'm off to bundle up. Wish me luck.

Saturday Spiritual Post: Does what set's you apart make you alone?

Here's a great post by Gary Barkalow.



I strongly recommend his book.

A New Study on Coffee (Big Update!)

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/03/coffee-in-pregnancy.aspx?e_cid=20140203Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20140203Z1&et_cid=DM38952&et_rid=416726126


In the past I've posted about the benefits of moderate coffee drinking. I'm still a fan. However, all my digging into it for my wife's pregnancy revealed nothing to indicate it was harmful in small doses. Now, keep in mind that nearly every resource predicts dire consequences for anything (including breathing) during pregnancy. Few of them back that up with any sort of study, they just terrify first-time mothers because it's fun or something. The only study they did reference showed no problems for women consuming 2 or less cups of regular coffee a day. My wife and I talked it over and decided she's switch from a cup or two in the morning to one cup of decaf each AM. Immediately, the smell of coffee made her sick and she quit entirely.

Recently, coffee has become an option again, but she's still yet to exceed 2 cups of decaf in a day. Now of course I find a study that proves coffee is not a good idea for pregnant women at all. I still think she's safe at the level she's at, but I wanted to get the word out since I've been a vocal proponent of coffee.

• Research has shown that coffee—in moderation—may have a number of health-promoting properties. These therapeutic benefits do NOT apply to pregnant women, however
• A recent observational study looking at data for nearly 60,000 women found that coffee and other caffeinated beverages increased the odds of delivering a low birth weight baby and/or extended the time of gestation
• Every 100 mg of caffeine consumed by the mother per day equated to a nearly one ounce reduction in the baby’s weight at birth. Every 100 mg of caffeine also increased the length of the pregnancy by five hours. When the source of the caffeine was coffee, the length of the pregnancy was extended by eight hours for every 100 mg of caffeine
• In previous research, mice given caffeine during pregnancy produced embryos with a thinner layer of tissue separating some of the heart's chambers than the group that was not given caffeine. Long term, this resulted in a 20 percent increase in body fat in males, and a 35 percent decrease in cardiac function
• Basic dietary recommendations for pregnant women, and tips for non-pregnant coffee drinkers who want to use coffee for its therapeutic benefits are included

List of Upcoming Writing Contests

I'm going to try to list writing opportunities once a week on Friday's. This list is courtesy of  http://client.writersrelief.com/writers-classifieds/writing-contests.aspx

Deadline: 1/31/2014 Submit to: Creative Writer’s Notebook 2013 Short Story Contest. CWN 2013 Short Story Contest, 7043 SE 173rd Arlington Loop, The Villages, FL 32162. Or send via email attachment with CWN Contest in Subject line. Email Address Entry Fee: $15 First Prize: $200 plus publication in Journeys VII – An Anthology of Award-Winning Short Stories Type: Short stories (3,000 words MAX). No erotica. Email for guidelines. URL:

Deadline: 1/31/2014 Submit to: Tethered By Letters Quarterly Literary Competition. Online Form Entry Fee: $5 (poetry) or $10 (fiction) First Prize: $100 per genre plus publication Type: Poetry (3 pages MAX), flash fiction (500 words MAX), and short stories (2,000 to 7,500 words MAX) URL: Tethered By Letters Quarterly Literary Competition

Deadline: 1/31/2014 Submit to: The 46er Poetry Prize Online Form Entry Fee: $10 for 3 poems First Prize: $400 plus publication Type: Poetry (3 poems MAX) URL: The 46er Poetry Prize

Deadline: 1/31/2014 Submit to: The Iowa Review, 308 EPB, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Or send online. Online Form Entry Fee: $20 First Prize: $1,500 plus publication Type: Poetry (10 pages MAX, one poem per page) and prose (25 pages MAX) URL: The Iowa Review Awards

Deadline: 1/31/2014 Submit to: Gary Gildner Poetry Award, I-70 Review, 913 Joseph Drive, Lawrence, KS 66044 Entry Fee: $15 First Prize: $500 plus publication Type: Poetry (3 poems MAX, 40 lines/poem MAX) URL: Gary Gildner Poetry Award

Deadline: 2/1/2014 Submit to: Vine Leaves Vignette Collection Award. Online Form Entry Fee: $25 First Prize: $500 plus publication and 20 copies Type: Poetry (60 poems MAX) or prose (approx. 800 words per piece / 20,000 words MAX) collections (50 to 60 pages MAX) URL: Vine Leaves Vignette Collection Award

Deadline: 2/15/2014 Submit to: Ruminate Magazine: VanderMey Nonfiction Prize. Online Form Entry Fee: $20 First Prize: $1,500 plus publication Type: Nonfiction (5,500 words MAX) URL: VanderMey Nonfiction Prize

Deadline: 2/28/2014 Submit to: Wag's Revue Winter Contest. Online Form Entry Fee: $22.09 First Prize: $1,000 plus publication Type: Poetry (10 pages MAX), short stories, and essays (10,000 words MAX) URL: Wag's Revue Winter Contest

Deadline: 3/1/2014 Submit to: Ginosko Literary Journal Flash Fiction Contest, PO Box 246, Fairfax, CA 9497. Or send via email attachment.Email Address Entry Fee: $5 First Prize: $250 plus online publication Type: Flash fiction (no more than 2 pieces, 800 words MAX each) URL: Ginosko Flash Fiction Contest

Deadline: 3/1/2014 Submit to: Palooka Press Chapbook Contest. Online Form Entry Fee: $10 First Prize: $100 plus publication and 20 copies of book Type: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction, drama, graphic narrative (b&w), or mixed-genre (any combination of genres) manuscripts (35 to 50 pages) URL: Palooka Press Chapbook Contest

Deadline: 3/7/2014 Submit to: Norton Girault Literary Prize. Online Form Entry Fee: $15 First Prize: $500 plus publication in Barely South Review Type: Short stories (25 pages MAX) URL: Norton Girault Literary Prize

Deadline: 3/15/2014 Submit to: The Southeast Review, Department of English, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306. Or send online.Online Form Entry Fee: $16 First Prize: $500 plus publication Type: Poetry (3 poems, 10 pages MAX), essays (6,000 words MAX), and flash fiction (250 words MAX) URL: The Southeast Review Contests

Deadline: 3/15/2014 Submit to: The Tusculum Review, PO Box 5113, 60 Shiloh Road, Greeneville, TN 37743. Mark envelope either "FICTION CONTEST" or "POETRY CONTEST." Entry Fee: $15 First Prize: $1,000 plus publication Type: Poetry (5 poems, 10 pages MAX) and short stories (25 pages MAX) URL: The Tusculum Review Contests

Deadline: 3/15/2014 Submit to: The Willow Springs Fiction Prize, Willow Springs, 501 N Riverpoint Blvd, Ste 425, Spokane, WA 99202. Or send online. Online Form Entry Fee: $15 First Prize: $2,000 plus publication Type: Short stories URL: Willow Springs Fiction Prize

Deadline: 3/21/2014 Submit to: Glass Woman Prize. Be sure subject line reads: Glass Woman Prize Submission. Send via pasted-in text. Email Address Entry Fee: None First Prize: $500 plus possible online publication Type: Short stories or creative nonfiction (5,000 words MAX), of interest to women URL: Glass Woman Prize

Deadline: 3/25/2014 Submit to: New Ohio Review, Attn: [Genre] Contest, English Dept., 360 Ellis Hall, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701. Or send online. Submission Link Entry Fee: $20 First Prize: $1,500 plus publication (for each genre) Type: Poetry (5 pages MAX) and short stories (25 pages MAX) URL: New Ohio Review Contest

Deadline: 4/1/2014 Submit to: Blas Falconer, Acquisitions Editor. Zone 3 Press, First Book Award for Poetry, Austin Peay State University, P.O. Box 4565, Clarksville, TN 37044 Entry Fee: $20 First Prize: $1,000 plus publication Type: Poetry (48 to 80 pages MAX) URL: Zone 3 Press--First Book Award for Poetry

Deadline: 4/15/2014 Submit to: Passager, 1420 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201-5779 Entry Fee: $20 First Prize: Publication Type: Poetry (5 poems, 40 lines MAX per poem). ONLY writers over 50 URL: Poetry Contest

Deadline: 4/30/2014 Submit to: Noemi Press 2014 Contest. Online Form Entry Fee: $25 First Prize: $1,000 plus publication Type: Poetry (70 pages MAX) and fiction URL: Noemi Press Contest