Today’s post assuredly hasn’t gone to “The BIRDS”, although I used this BYRDS album title as my lead-in.
And, I tribute that raspy poet Bob Dylan for these iconic lyrics which the BYRDS sang so well:
“…but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now…”
Self-realizations, as we gain life experiences just, might include youthful or childish reexaminations of what is important.
I ask rhetorically – isn’t it fun to be silly or child-like every so often? Dylan reportedly thought that waaaaay back in 1964!
I’ve conveyed the importance of simple yet hard things like:
Playing on the ground as children and Blue Zone centenarians tend to do. One darned good longevity marker is one’s ability to rise from the ground without using hands or support objects! Do check your own SIT to RISE capacity, please!
Or challenging our PROPRIOCEPTION (spatial awareness) to stand on one straight leg with eyes closed. Please wear a helmet if you want to scoot around like Marty McFly in his time travels to show your Proprioception!
Or avoiding stress while investing in one’s physical bank account as much as one’s fiscal savings.
*** Please note the relevant Muddy Waters lyrics too.
BACK PAGE, you ask?
Think of your BACK PAGE as those personal artifacts of your journey. What do you want your BACK PAGE to convey to future reviewers?
KABOOM.
Should you desire regular hints and hacks for adding to your BACK PAGE – please text WP40 to #41259.
Right – – – just 4 hydrocarbon rings with a few oxygen molecules and presTo Change-o for oaken hardwood…maybe.
Tim Ferris offers a simple and hopefully hard equation in his compiled Tools of Titans,
“To Increase T – DECREASEC(ortisol).” We’ll save that letter “C” for another post.
I commend to you this very credible articleabout NATURAL ways to improve bodily Testosterone (aka “T“) levels over time. I like this science-backed article by Simon Slavvsen for several reasons. A prominent one is that KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into your 90s objectively addresses the benefits of “normal” Testosterone levels for folks like me in our encore years. So, Simon and I are like-minded…
KABOOMER also addresses MANOPAUSE condition with the acronym A D A M for an unhealthy condition that too many gents in my boomer generation suffer.
As I wrote on page 98 of KABOOMER:
“Wither not on your uber-important strength journey to party past 90 years young.”
And then on page 251,
“all of us should produce “T” until we stop breathing, though in diminished levels as we age…”
We want all KABOOMERS to be normal or better PRODUCERS!
I share my KABOOMER bad-boy list about ADAM so that you can readily compare that to Simon’s natural BIGBOY checklist @ Testosteronerd.com.
Here are 16 danger signs and possible ADAM symptoms:
Adverse changes in physical appearance
Body fat gain, particularly abdominal weight gain
Loss of lean muscle tissue
Bone deterioration
Loss of hair
Wrinkling and drying of the skin
Fatigue
Poor sleep quality or insomnia
Decreased libido, possible erectile dysfunction (ED)
Hot flashes (yup), blushing, and sweating
Aches and pains
Mental functions decline
Reduced motivation/apathy
Nervousness, anxiety, and irritability
Memory lapses
Depression.
You undoubtedly grasp how ADAM (aka Andropause or Manopause) can adversely impact one’s quality of life. If one lets it DROP.
Circling back to Simon’s counterpunches – Go Natural, as far and fast as you can,IF your regular LAB readings for Testosterone at your age are “low.”
Or, to be a bit profane yet true for Guys between regular blood draws; consider Tim Ferris’ interview with Dr. Kelly Starrett in The Tools of Titans,
“if you wake up and you don’t have a boner, there’s a problem. Yes or No?”
Don’t become a “T”-dropper! KABOOM.
For more, just reach out via the form below…
Or Text WP-40 to Text #41259 to OPT-IN for regular tips and tricks to stay hard past forty.
And, remember that Testosterone is very important for KABOOMER ladies to thrive and strive as well!
Assuming that I caught your attention with this Good versus EVIL theme – the topic for today’s post is INFLAMMATION.
As you may know, I’ve been an author of monthly NFPT blog posts for almost a year…
My addressal of bodily inflammation as this good news / bad news is summarized in this image- – –
Isn’t it ironic that we desire the “right stuff” of just enough muscular inflammation from exercise to stimulate our cyclical process of repair and growth? As your Koach, I argue that motion to sweat and musculoskeletal motion against resistance to create muscular “micro-tears” are fitness and wellness imperatives for one’s optimal GYM-SPAN. I operationally define GYM-SPAN here for emphasis:
“Gym-span is the expression for extended “gym age” or adjusted fitness age… clients can gain and maintain impressive Gym-spans by stimulating the “just right” degree of inflammation in workouts.” Then, conditional wellness steps can support that restorative process after induced short-term inflammation:
Adequate Rest
Appropriate absorption of macro-and micronutrients
Hydration, and
De-stressing to lower “drip-drip decay” caused by cortisol when cytokine messengers do NOT trigger a restore and grow process :(.
If you’d like to learn more about appropriate levels of motion and resisted efforts to offset sarcopenia and grow – please reach out to me:
Syat well past forty,
Koach Dave
ps – TEXT this code WP-40 to #41259 to OPT-IN and receive daily tips and hacks to live longer and better.
Some of us may remember that our mathematics teachers labeled PI, or 3.1415… as an IRrational number.
Happy belated PI Day, by the way.
Credit: Bill Nye
And, on a public safety note, these first days after DAYLIGHT SAVING changes can be unhealthy ones. Do not underestimate the importance of circadian rhythms on your health!
The good folks at OURA Ring offer these very useful “DST” wellness hacks after the time machine tricks played by all states except Hawaii and Arizona.
… Please DO consider ’em!
Is it irrational for 48 states to extend this circadian-rhythm-busting artificiality? My tuppence is affirmative...
Energy saving for World War I efforts is a bit dated as a premise for 2021 energies.
We’ve always done it that way?!
This platitude is plainly IRrational for your physical banking efforts, too!
A rational, numbers-based plan to improve one’s physical banking account is simple, hard, YET eminently doable.
In a spirit of rational numbers – PLEASE reflect on your current FITNESS or GYM Age and these important longevity factors.
Can you walk a mile faster than your age-group peers?
How is your Sit-Reach Flexibility?
Can you balance on one straight leg with eyes closed for at least 15 seconds?
What is your measured Grip strength?
What is your lung capacity and how quickly can you exhale most of your inhaled air?
Can you Sit to Rise without using your hands?
If you ARE where you want to be- KUDOS!
If you are not in a rational and viable fitness place on your journey, please reach out to your fitness professional, or contact me for your complimentary fitness orientation. KABOOM.
Sadly, our American killing field of Heart Disease is unlevel. Two statistical [2018] examples of canted cardio-deaths are:
Males suffer more heart diseases than females.
African Americans die from heart disease more frequently than Whites.
#OurHearts
As your Koach, I try to set an example of healthy heart living, with NO Smoking, exercise, clean eating, and de-stressing as much as humanly possible whatever life throws me. Recall from KABOOMER that Diets are a leading cause of death in America, Double Oy.
Both my Mom had Dad had congestive heart failures which accelerated their funerals. It is very likely that you too know someone near and dear whose heart health was sub-par.
Simple to say, yet regrettably hard to change our inherited or ingrained ways. Yet, yes we can as this dual NIH graphic suggests!
Heart Health is critical to your KABOOMER physical Banking for increased stamina and “stayin’ alive.”
Perhaps you, like I occasionally enjoy natural peanut (or another nut) butter on whole-grain bread. Satisfying macro-and micro-nutrients!
Let’s consider another and very important PB&J – that is Protecting your Bones and Joints!
I commend to you this PB&J February 1st blog from the National Federation of Professional Trainers (NFPT). Yes, you may recognize that blogger :).
Though it was penned for certified personal trainers’ focus, the blog’s PB&J themes are directly relevant to us KABOOMERs who intend to thrive and strive into our 90s – right?
I quote,
“be aware of, and situationally suggest fitness and wellness steps to reduce older clients’ risks for joint pains, poor posture, “inflammaging“, or (a subclinical inflammatory readiness, manifested by elevated levels of pro-inflammatory factors) and potential broken bones. Heightened awareness is key, as this public health message stated, “At least half of the age-related changes to muscles, bones, and joints are caused by disuse.”
A client’s bone density is only one skeletal issue for “PB&J.” Another issue is to help improve a client’s biomechanics to reduce lifestyle-related risk factors while encouraging her or him to use motion, rather than lapse into “disuse.” Even an elder sneeze can cause a bone break if porous bones are weak.” Oy!
Keep up the appropriate impact exercise to maintain calcium density in those amazing “honeycomb” bones of yours. Do your best to maintain Collagen levels as you age.
Repeat after your Koach, “Disuse is an evil cause of “porous bones” aka osteoporosis. Be an “unbroken” outlier by protecting your bones and joints. KABOOM.
/s/
Koach Dave
ps – Vaccinations matter for our common good.
PLEASE keep your eyes and ears peeled for accessible opportunities to “get pricked.” Help counter that darned SARS virus.
And – learn from a most compelling test case of what works – the National Football League. From a WSJ article today, medical and public health experts report that these four defensive factors help to keep us safe by lowering viral exposure risk:
Ventilation
Distances
Proper masks
Exposure Time.
Dr. Allen Sills offered, “We had to be more precise in our definition of high-risk close contacts because clearly transmission could occur outside those basic boundaries of time and distance.”
I am sincere in my offer to help you achieve your fitness and wellness goals, and to stay safe!
Test WP40 to # 41259 to “OPT-IN” for weekly KABOOMER tips.
Please Join our Physical Banking(PB) Movement by launching your entry to this Form:
Oh, the G O A T is old and gnarly… and brimming full of fight . . .
No, I didn’t select this blog title because of my college mascot (Navy’s Bill the Goat).
My First G O A T:
Like many others, I moan the recent passing of major leaguer Henry “Hank” Aaron into the eternal Field of Dreams. This gent and baseball Hall of Famer excelled, year after year, in those days of higher pitching mounds, and before the prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) that benefitted more recent sluggers like Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds. And, Henry Aaron surpassed the Home Run numbers of Babe Ruth while coping with too many death threats because of his skin color. God rest ye – Hank – as my Greatest of All Time hitter in America’s past time.
G O A T #2 – Tom Brady. I’ve only rooted for “TB12” three times in his unworldlyG O A T football career:
His rookie year upset of “The Greatest Show on Turf” – those St. Louis Rams in a Super Bowl win almost 20 years ago.
His veteran upset win in a later Super Bowl vs the Pete Carroll-led Seattle Seahawks. Why? My University of Southern California pride was damaged when Heisman trophies were removed from USC trophy rooms for NCAA misdemeanors when Carroll was the Trojans Head Coach.
Yesterday’s exciting game WIN vs. the home team Green Bay Packers and “All State’s” Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship game. TB12 wasn’t perfect, throwing 3 interceptions in 3-straight second-half possessions. Yet TB12 is leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Super Bowl LIV. Just Win, Baby, as Al Davis used to say…
Here is my chilly Foxborough Fist Bump with a larger than life Tom Brady:
As a long time liker/disliker of Mr. Brady – I call your attention to the SUSTAINED PEAK PERFORMANCE mantra in this image.
Sustained
Peak
Performance.
Here is one more – Argentina’s Lionel Messi – for sustained peak performance in our world’s most popular sport (futbol):
Lady KABOOMERs – contact me for my list of GREATESTs of your gender. In the Wayback time machine- I’d offer Babe Didrickson Zaharias as a bellwether GREAT. But wait, there are more!
For both Mars and Venus types – Why not refocus YOUR developed and persisting habits on YOU in 2021?
When your physical bank is robust – you can and will maintain a fitness age that is lower than your calendar age.
And please remember – you can slow down subversive senescence and sarcopenia – like Henry Aaron and Tom Brady, and your own Greatest of All Time (GOAT) heroes.
Be your own youthful, gnarly goat that is brimming full of youthful fight!
What better day to pen healthy thoughts about Leche or Lait or Dugdh or Halav [or Milk] than today as National Milk Day?
America’s dairy farmers will love us more :).
True Dat: We humans are alone among mammals; consuming milk after our baby and early toddler phases.
Obviously, Mamma’s milk is a WHOLE FOOD with macronutrients, micros, and water to help a baby or toddler grow. Think of two key proteins: whey and casein. And carbohydrates. Plus vital CALCIUM. Consider the table of nutritional information here:
Three quick comments about those main proteins in milk:
Whey is quicker for humans to digest.
Casein is slower-acting.
Each has about the same replenishment merit after a KABOOMER’s athletic performance.
Sadly, some infants, youths, teens, and adults have trouble digesting natural milk. Our National Institute of Health suggests that 30 million to 50 million Americans may have this difficulty. Lactose intolerance from cow’s milk and possibly other dairy products can be problematic. If a human’s small intestine [“gut”] produces insufficient amounts of an enzyme called Lactase – bloating, gas, diarrhea, and other side effects happen when milk’s sugar isn’t absorbed. Oy.
Intolerance is NOT Equal!
We have more trouble with lactase production and digesting milk’s lactose as we age. Some ethnic groups have it tougher. Some unfortunate folks with digestional problems, perhaps Crohn’s Disease have sadder experiences with dairy foodstuffs. And, some folks enduring cancer treatments may also have higher
I worry if folks think that “substitute” milk – such as almond or soy “milks” are relied upon for macronutrients. These “healthy” substitutes usually lack the quality and quantity of protein macros that the real thing offers. Micros – generally – yes. Macros – not so much… Please be a canny label reader to know what you’re ingesting.
For the majority of baby boomers – Dairy products are wonderful nutrition. Think Bone Density, particularly for lady boomers. Think of Muscle metabolism. Think Energy Density of foodstuffs.
If you asked a National Team rower what is a near-perfect drink after a tough practice – you’d probably get the answer – Chocolate Milk. Guess what Koach Dave drinks after a tough session or between multiple daily workouts? Right you are.
You can choose a low-fat version of an excellent replenishment drink if wanted or needed. I enjoy my 2% fat chocolate milk – regularly. Low-fat milk has a great ratio of protein to carbohydrates. And, it tastes good to me.
What about raw, unpasteurized milk? I have trouble digesting raw milk. I believe that others, like author Mike Geary, can drink raw milk safely (without high alarm for bacterial infection). We got to now from forbears that drank raw milk before Louis Pasteur and Franz von Soxhlet did their “heated” magic 130 years ago.
Tuberculosis was a demographic killer!
My choice? I’ll stay with pasteurized milk that is WITHOUT added chemicals.
On the subject of other beverages: many folks have bought into a”DRY” Januaryfor possible health reasons. More power to those who choose to skip a social cocktail or a post-workout brew. Do Blue ZOME centenarians generally go DRY in their January months? I think not. The root question for each of us is this:
What is our motivation for imbibing?
If COVID and dark wintry days cause an adult to experience downward moodiness, then a Dry Month can help some skip alcohol and a coping crutch.
As Satchel Paige offered, moderate, moderate, moderate... I once read of an American centenarian’s approach:
Have one social drink a night. So make it a GOOD one :).
Your choice.
If you’re a podcast fan, here are some newaudio chats between some great hosts and yours truly.
Yes, the titles seem a bit eclectic.
Yet I’m still the same KOACH…
Aging Greatfully: Dispatch PAIN in the pASSt (Thank you Holley Kelley for a redux session)
Best Morning Routine Ever: Gracias, Dr. Louis for chatting about my M O R N I N G S action checklists.
We Travel There: Thanks, Lee Huffman for allowing me to share my experiences from Capetown, S.A. – The Mother City!
Thinking of December sixteenths in history – I can pinpoint two extraordinary anniversaries that still impact our topsy-turvy world…
Brewer patriots had their Boston Tea Party in 1773. We know what those rebel yells led to!
The Battle of the Bulge began on this date in 1944 around the quaint town of Bastogne, Belgium. When life was precarious for our fabled, yet outmanned and outgunned 101st Airborne, General A. McAuliffe offered one of the mojo mottos of all time – “Surrender? NUTS!”
That, as we look in our rearview mirrors, is history. Now, a rhetorical query time . . .
Is there a Better time spot to start our own EXTRAordinary history channels?
Think of these pandemic Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Festivus days as best ever times to establish the important differences between ordinary and extraordinary performance.
If not me, who? If not now, when?
Recall how I differentiated between two notional Baby Boomers – Decent Deb and Great George in KABOOMER.
Sure, Decent Deb did her minimum and hoped for better days. Great George stretched for a little bit EXTRA to stay EXTRAordinary.
George’s Gym or Fitness Age is far lower than his calendar age. And that can be exciting personal history.
Many of us can stretch out to build our extraordinary physical banker portfolios too! Trust your Koach.
Listento your Koach, too, finding discretionary time to invest in an information-rich podcast or two. We could be seeing an added DECADE of your personal history – and a quality-filled history – as your Physical Bank Portfolio grows. KABOOM.
This podcast is also available on other major podcast portals – Apple, Google Play…
My analog calendar advises me that we’ve got just eight days and a wake-up until Christmas 2020. What better time will there be to write your non-fiction greatness?
Be a KABOOMER EXTRAordinaire! Strive to be a Great George. Find your “NUTS” chutzpah like McAuliffe did. Yes, You Can!
With luck, skill, and timing – many of us can and will keep our hearts glowing!
Here’s a public service reminder for pain avoidance to help us calibrate Physical Banking steps to take both seriously and whimsically this Holiday season:
Credit: Harvard Health
Motion is Good Medicine!
Good folks at Harvard Health say so, as do I as your Koach. No matter how cold and dark your days and night may appear, you can mitigate or avoid creaky joints with judicious and habitual movements.
Laugh often as part of your Immunity Boosts!
And, you definitely want to avoid #COVIDIOTS – right?
Move your joints through their best ranges of motion to stay limbered up for whatever physically distanced festivities you can muster!
KABOOM!
Consider me “on-call” for these Holidays to help you in your Most Wonderful Times of the Year!
Mister T
IF your 
Credit: Bill Nye
Credit: 
Tuberculosis was a demographic killer!
Credit: Harvard Health
