Fashion

I just read an article in Vogue entitled "Forever Young".  Apparently the latest fashion for aging beauties (people over forty) is an exercise program that makes one age gracefully without looking "ropey" (like Madonna).  The recommendation is to exercise with light weights and engage in activities that do not create an overabundance of muscle.  This article depressed me for a number of reasons.

The piece was written about a select population in our culture.  Its focus was the one percent of the one percent of women who make their living acting or posing in front of the camera, which we know adds ten pounds to your appearance.  Unfortunately the other ninety nine percent of Vogue's readers are not stars but they are looking for guidance and approval for how they look and how they can make the best of what they have.  Of course you can respond to the whole notion of a fashion magazine as a vehicle that promotes sexism and sets women up for failure, so what should I expect from this health and beauty article?

 Most of Vogue's readers cannot afford the clothes they peruse in its pages or haven't been dealt the genetic royal straight flush required to fit into them, but it remains a standard because people want ideas about how they can be perceived as attractive; unfortunately, society's norms have changed little in this regard since the magazine was first printed in 1892.  Will Conde Nast ever launch a magazine that shows strong beautiful women who are jacked from lifting weights, climbing mountains, rowing rapids and eating lots of healthy food? Probably not, but it is fun to think about. I would love to see a woman with well muscled calves in Jimmy Choos or a competitive swimmer's back in a Versace strapless dress.  But I guess I would be swapping out one ideal for another and supporting another version of objectification.  Since we all objectify and we are a visual species the least we could do is promote a healthy body image based on activity, good food and intelligence (more compelling articles between the pictures).  

Not surprisingly the new physique for the midlife woman looks much like the old one for the below thirty model.  It is disturbing that being fashion fit continues to require women to look like emaciated prepubescent boys or heroine addicts.  And if you want to be attractive as an over forty woman you must look like people who are in their thirties.  This stereotype, which crosses the gender line drives me nuts.  People tell me (although not often enough) that I look great for being fifty.  I always pause before I respond because I don't know whether to thank them or say "fuck you."  Everyone should be encouraged to age healthily no matter what that looks like.

Men have their own issues with body image and are equally obsessed about their appearance but for some reason a guy with a prominent beer gut hanging over his stained cargo shorts is often accompanied by a woman who appears to be living a much healthier life style than he.  He probably has beautiful eyes, a good sense of humor or a fat wallet.  That last sentence was inappropriate on many levels but my point is that men can look (or act) any way they want but women can't.

So let's set the bar a little higher for ourselves.  Let's be confident about who we are, what we look like, what we think and how we choose to spend our money and maybe someday Madison Avenue will take notice - or not.

vacation

I just flew in from Canada and boy are my wings tired... give me a break, I live in the Catskills.  Actually I drove to Canada and canoed on Lake Champlain and east along the Saint Lawrence River in an attempt to follow Samuel Champlain's route along a portion of Canada's north shore.  My arms, surprisingly aren't tired but my quads, after a week of driving and my first day back at the gym, are a bit sore today.
 
My wife and I took our T@B (a small camper or roulotte), the dog and the canoe up to Quebec.  I will spare you the details about close encounters with whales, mosquitoes and chiggers but I would like to share with you the benefits of taking a vacation.  I have discussed the importance of changing routines in past posts but a vacation should be a significant game changer.

If you go on a holiday but insist on finding a local gym where you can continue your routine you are not taking advantage of a new setting.  Vacations provide an opportunity to try something different or regain an appreciation of an activity you used to engage in more often.  Gyms are a training ground and today training for the sake of training is popular, but why not use your improved aerobic capacity, wash-board abs and dynamite calves to go hiking when you are in terra incognita?  Why not alter your diet to experience the pleasures of a new taste sensation or an old forgotten favorite?  And why not use the time to reflect on how you are exercising when you are not on holiday?

Some of the conclusions I reached when I was away are that I need to brush-up on my French,  I love espresso (but I can't drink it every day) and I could eat smoked sockeye Salmon, fresh local lamb chops and halibut until I am sick.  I also learned that I could travel the world sampling micro brews but I would end up like the former Michael Jackson - not "Jacko," the other one and that I need to change my exercise routine.

I like training because it makes me feel good but for the past few months my goals have been vague.  Before vacation I would ask myself why am exercising today? And the answer was usually because I don't want to lose what I have gained and I need my daily dose of endorphins.  Now that my interest in canoeing and climbing have been rekindled I want to train for these activities specifically.

To increase my climbing strength I will perform more pull-ups and climb more.  To improve my rowing (I have a row-rig for my canoe) and paddling abilities I will perform more back and core exercises and get out on the water at least once a week.

Today I am feeling weak in the quads from yesterday's numerous squats I performed at the gym and the thousands of pounds I lifted clearing an acre of quartzite conglomerate boulders from a field.  For me it is more important to train for life and my activities of daily living than to train for the sake of training.

fun

I have climbed more this summer than I have in the past four years because I am having fun.  For a decade I spent the majority of my time climbing.   My passion for the sport waned after I did too much of it.  I developed a skewed perspective of cragging that has taken me several years of not climbing to figure out.  My love became an obsession which then morphed into frustration.  What had been my raison d'etre became onerous.  Towards the end I felt like I was going to work at a factory:  I had to get in my laps, bag my endorphin high and get home in time to make dinner.  This scenario was played out every afternoon after work, if it wasn't raining, and on weekends when all day attendance on both Saturday and Sunday was mandatory.  The only reason for a break was bad weather or, God forbid, an injury.  After a season of preferring yard work to climbing, my partners stopped calling and I was free to pursue my new passion - CrossFit.

I have been a CrossFit instructor for four years and have enjoyed working with clients and learning new fitness modalities.  Because CrossFit is the latest exercise craze that has taken the country by storm it has been the subject of much debate in the fitness community.  Overall I have benefited from the CrossFit model.  I have always cross-trained and I was excited to learn that there was an organization devoted to that activity.

CrossFit has been faulted for its use of kipping pullups and box jumps due to a significant occurrence of shoulder injuries in the former and ruptured Achilles tendons in the latter.  Every sport has risks that are unique to that particular discipline and dangers that are shared across all training modalities.  Over training and burnout are hazards common to all sports (even curling).

The other discipline that CrossFit has popularized in the fitness community is the Olympic lifts.  Olympic lifts are poetic in their grace, speed, accuracy and power (not to mention the classical implications of overcoming one's demons by lifting them over one's head and then dropping them on the ground).  The challenge is to educate clients so that they can perform these lifts safely.  When new clients see people snatching in the gym their jaws drop.  They soon discover that there is a long steep learning curve involved in gaining lifting proficiency and many try to shorten this process.  This can lead to injury.  I am not a fan of performing multiple repetitions of these or power lifts in a short period of time.  This gets back to earlier posts focusing on discretion.  If you engage in workouts that include a hundred snatches in 20 minutes, make certain that you are throwing the weight that is correct for you.  What is written on the board is a suggestion.  If you are uncertain about how much weight to use ask the coach for advice.

My enthusiasm for CrossFit has waned on occasion and in all of these cases the reason was the same - I was over-training because my expectations were not realistic.  CrossFit workouts can be brutal and if you are not eating enough (wholesome) food, sleeping well or are training too frequently you will burn out.  The problem I see with new CrossFit clients is that they quickly become enamored with the routines, so they try to train every day.  You can work up to Cross-fitting every day (although I don't recommend this) but you should never throw yourself into a demanding exercise routine of any sort until you have been ramped up to a high level of performance.

Learning to set yourself up for success is probably the best concept you can take away from any sport, so  keep experimenting within the frame-work of honesty.  Challenging yourself only works when you set realistic goals, otherwise you are entering the world of masochism (which is o.k. if you are 21 or older).  Pace yourself and then you can have fun!