Ben Dearman

AHA and ACSM

According to the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine if you’re younger (I like how they phrase this) than 65 you need “moderately intense cardiovascular exercise 30 minutes per day, 5 days a week and strength training exercises twice per week” in order to “stay healthy”.   They define “moderately intense cardiovascular exercise” as anything that “causes you to sweat without preventing you from carrying on a conversation.”   They also list climbing the stairs and calisthenics as “strength training exercises”.  

If those statements  don’t send a chilling message I   don’t know what would.   “Climbing” the stairs- they make it sound like you’re scaling Everest.   If you are so decrepit that climbing the stairs is a STRENGTH exercise…please call me…I guarantee  I can get you in better shape.   Don’t get me wrong, I get winded when traversing the stairs but it definitely is not a strength exercise.   How are we, as a society, classified as so fat and lazy that every day activities like talking while walking are classified as “exercise”?   And, I have yet to train someone  who doesn’t  need to get stronger in some way.   It’s not too often that a 60 year old is going to have to run in their life, however, they will have to pick something heavy up quite a number of times during the day.  

Why not working on getting stronger at an earlier age?   Your body can always get in better “aerobic” conditioning.    That’s easy.   However, it’s very difficult to build muscle and increase strength levels.   Do it while you’re young.   If you fall down when you’re 60 and break your hip, chances are it’s because your bones are FRAIL and FRAGILE because of your LACK OF STRENGTH.

These two brainiacs then go on to say if you’re over the age of 65 you should do “strength training exercises 2 to 3 times per week.”

Interesting.    Lift weights more when you’re older, not younger.   I guess they really want to lay down a good foundation of cardiovascular training so you can enter that 80+ triathlon you have dreamed about doing your whole life while trying to make carrying your laundry basket up and down the stairs as difficult as possible because of your lack of strength.

But hey,  at least  you will be an 80 year old with a six pack weighing 130 lb.   Which reminds me, make sure you stay inside if the wind gusts pick up to more then 10mph.   You  might get blown over and fracture your hip.

April 28th, 2008 Posted by bendearman | Uncategorized |

Kingdom of heaven

WAS A BAD MOVIE.   Let me explain why:

1.   The stuntwire stuff was a little too over the top.

2.   The main actor, some kid/man that they pulled off the street walked around the whole movie with a mullet style rat’s tail.   Unbelievable.   He also looked like he was somewhere between the age of 15 and 37.   Weird.

3.   All of the actors that had English as their 2nd language sounded like they were trying to impersonate daffy duck.

 4.   Jet Li should never be dressed up as a monkey…ever.

5.   Jackie Chan beats the hell out of this woman in the movie…what kind of message does that send to kids?

6.   And finally…it was about half way through the movie when i realized that recent  martial arts movies (from about 15 years ago up until now) are much like porno’s in that you always want to fast forward to the action and skip the acting.

April 28th, 2008 Posted by bendearman | Uncategorized |

Hard Gainers

Ok , this one is for all the hard gainers out there.   This message is coming from a  ”hard gainer” so listen up and heed the advice of someone who used to weigh 150 lbs and now weighs 195.  There are two things you must do in order to gain weight:  eat more and lift heavy.

Eat More -   A GENERAL guideline for getting enough calories in is to take your weight and multiply it by 2.   So if you weigh 180 multiply that by 2 and that would give you 360.    Now  add a zero and that  tells you  how many calories you need, i.e. 3600.   That should  give you a very basic idea of how many calories you should be getting in.   And yes, protein is important, but so are carbs and fat.   A lot of other trainers say that you can add size without adding fat…I agree,  you can.   However, it’s very difficult and who really has the time and energy to commit to planning out proper nutrient profiles for meals.  

The bottom line is your body does need protein, however, first it must have energy in order to shuttle the protein into the cells that need it the most.   So, eat some starchy carbs (not too much and try to limit intake to before noon) and eat some fat (again not too much and try to limit intake to after noon).

Lift Heavy -   You wanna be big?   Lift heavy weights.   Period, end of story.   Don’t lift to failure, switch your program every 3 weeks, hit your upper body twice a week and your lower body twice a week but use different sets and reps schemes on either day, i.e. if you do 8 sets of 3 for upper body day 1, do 3 sets of 8 for day 2.   But always have one day where you lift heavy weights for low reps for upper and lower.  

April 17th, 2008 Posted by bendearman | Uncategorized |

First Powerlifting Meet!!!

Team THC had their first PLing meet this past saturday in Barre, VT. It was a 100% RAW and AAU meet and a meet of firsts in more ways than one! Everyone who competed took home 1st place trophies with the women taking home 2 each! It was also everyone’s first meet. Congrats! We had a lot of great lifts and a lot of fun! I believe everyone PR’ed in all their lifts. Scott had an AMAZING DEADLIFT attempt at 540 but because of hitching was DQed. However, he got it off the ground and in a locked position so I give it to him! Great work everyone! Look for some articles (hopefully) from everyone about their experience and thoughts. The results are below.

Congrats to Bonnie who set New England records in the squat, bench and total. Congrats to Elaine and Nancy who set records in the squat, bench, dead lift and totals! I set New England records in the squat, bench, dead lift and totals.

April 14th, 2008 Posted by bendearman | Uncategorized |

Job Recommendation

“I wouldn’t give you a good reference”.

Ever heard that one?   It’s usually said by your employer.   The funny thing is that the bosses who say that rarely get asked for one, regardless  of whether  they have said that to an employee or not.   It’s always said by bosses too.   Like that matters in the grand scheme of things.   When I finally open my own gym, and it’s successful enough for me to hire on a manager I want to see letters of reference from his EMPLOYEES.

Think about it.   What the hell do I care if the person can interact with his boss well?   That’s required!   I mean holy shit, come on people!   It’s crazy to think that people in  hiring positions want job references for potential employees from people who oversaw them.   Why is that?   I know you worked well with your boss, or you would have gotten fired!   Plain and simple.

I want to see references from co-workers or better yet people that had to deal with the hiree in question in a less then optimal position, i.e. in a maintenance position.   Let’s face it, most people treat their bosses like gold and their co-workers like shit and the maintenance people with even less respect.   So show me a letter of reference from a maintenance person or a co-worker that has worked closely with the potential hiree.

Don’t show me a letter of reference from someone in a boss or “top” position who just had their ass kissed by the employee for the past X months of employment.

April 11th, 2008 Posted by bendearman | Uncategorized |

Mind your manners…

What’s up with people and everyday manners?

I mean seriously.   What ever happened to people saying “thank you” when a door was held open for them?   Or “excuse me” when trying to get by people.   Would it kill people to be a little polite now and then?   I have lived in a lot of places, but the people who live here are the most stuck up individuals I have ever come across.   The sheer audacity of some of these people just amazes me!

At first I thought it was just at the club  I worked at,   but after being here for a short time I realized that it’s pretty much everywhere in the Upper Valley.   People lack basic manners.

So here is something for you to work on.   Hold open the door for someone next time and see what happens.   If they say “thank you”, politely reply” you’re welcome”.   If they don’t say thank you, walk ahead of them and when you’re about 7 feet or so in front of them quickly bend over with your side to them and pretend to tie your shoe.   I almost guarantee they will trip over you.   You know why?   Because someone who is that self absorbed in themselves that they can’t say thank you when someone holds a door open for them will have no idea that you’re kneeling down in front of them like a large human rock.

When they trip over you and land sprawled out on their face, just look down and say “Geez, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there”.

April 7th, 2008 Posted by bendearman | Uncategorized |