Myth Busting 

An Excerpt From Bill Crimi's  "Basic Health & Fitness'

     In this section I would like to touch upon the false beliefs we sometimes carry which, tend to prevent us from accomplishments. As a child, we are filled with magical powers of the imagination. We dream big dreams and act them out in play with ourselves or other children. Most of us believe that we can achieve anything our heart desires, because we see the evidence of possibilities in the movies we watch, on television, in books that we read and, in other forms of communication. Children envision themselves as great explorers of the universe, captains sailing tall ships across the mighty sea…they ride in spaceships to Mars and Jupiter…ride the great plains of the West rounding up cattle. A child plays at being a doctor and heals the sick, they run marathons, jump hurdles, raise to the cheers of the crowd in a stadium after hitting a home run…When you were a child, you knew that you could be anything you wanted to be…what happened? Who stole the dream from you? How did your possibilities become impossible?

     Well, in part, we did it to ourselves but, the negative inputs of others also serve to slowly kill our dreams. The examples given above are just a few in our belief system which, mutable factors such as family and friends actions, serve to decry as illusionary. Often, those in a position to have a dramatic affect upon the growth of our mind are quite oblivious to their negative influence with clicks of the tongue, disparaging glances and remarks. “Get real…” a young child might hear from a friend after telling them that you plan to be an astronaut and fly to the moon one day. They will fill your head with all sorts of reasons why it is a silly, wasted thought. I remember a day in my third grade class when after reading a poem I wrote entitled ‘The Man on the Moon’, my teacher praised me for its structure but, red-lined the word ‘on’ and replaced it with ‘in’. Her explanation was that I must have been referencing the common observation that, it appeared as if there was an image of a face on the moons surface because, it wasn’t possible to go to the moon. Years later, television stations around the world displayed images of American astronauts planting a flag upon the moon and playfully hopping along its surface.

     That teacher propagated a myth to the young, receptive minds in her classroom. She made a false statement of incurred fact, when in reality a man could go to the moon. Some myths sound completely ridiculous when heard; others seem plausible enough to give consideration to. One day, a young man came to my gym and began to offer his “take” on bodybuilding. He pointed to a poster on the wall in which Arnold Swazennaeger was striking a pose. The kid then proceeded to inform me that bodybuilders couldn’t swim because their heavy muscles would cause them to sink like a rock. When I asked him whom he had heard that from, he responded, his father had told him that. That poor child seemed so interested in exploring the health benefits of weight training yet, initially carried a fear associated with it due to a myth planted within his fertile, young mind.

     People hear all sorts of hindering statements throughout their lives, and embrace them. We may even develop a few negative myths on our own. A common myth is that beyond a certain age, it is impossible to dramatically affect a change in ones health and fitness levels. This is pure bunk…I have trained people from many age groups and have never saw a hint of truth in that myth. Also, I have met numerous older individuals at training facilities who have expressed amazement over the results they have achieved in a relatively short period of time. It is only the doubters or those who give up too soon that fail.

     I met a man named George at my gym during the early 1970’s. He was originally from Rumania, had a Greco-Roman wrestling background and was about 52 years of age at the time. George appeared to be about fifteen years younger and attributed his good health to exercise, a healthy diet and avoidance of drugs (both legal and illegal) Though he didn’t join my gym, we became friends and would meet every now and then in the neighborhood. He had purchased an Olympic weight set at some point and a pair of squat racks that he would carry out of his apartment into the hall, to train. George was a regular sight seen jogging along the street or in the park on a regular basis also.

     After a while, George would keep me posted on his progression of poundage used for squatting. It wasn’t long before he was able to perform a full squat with over five hundred pounds and eventually progressed to 605 lbs. Shortly after, I moved to another state and didn’t see him for a few years. One day while visiting ‘the old neighborhood’, I saw George…he was still training at sixty-seven years of age and looked like a very fit fifty year old, still youthful in appearance and built like a bull. I mentioned as to what he attributed his health and ability to, above, but in thinking about him now, I realize that another factor came into play. He completely disregarded any limiting myths concerning age. George continues along his path connected to the truth of his limitless spirit.

Beyond your physical self, beyond your thoughts and emotions, there lies a realm within you that is pure potential, from this place anything and everything is possible. __Deepak Chopra (The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire)

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A Thought About Happiness

by Bill Crimi

     ‘Happy’…people seek to be happy, often waddling in self-pity, hate, envy, depression and a host of other negative feelings as their search for happiness drags along. It is a sad, miserable existence when we find ourselves grieving about the things which we feel are missing from our lives, yet exceedingly important…worse, imperative.

     How many of us arrive at such a self-defeating state of turmoil is obviously, multi-dimensional. Often, the seeds of defeat have been steadily planted into our psych from the earliest stages of development by the hands of external influence. Parents, teachers, siblings, friends, neighbors, celebrities, strangers, politicians…and on, and on it goes; a seemingly endless source of distorted views and actions to lead us away from a treasured existence rather than towards it. Some of these influential individuals are well meaning, others are not. Those who may hold some resemblance of ‘good’ intention have often not transcended enough to be in a position to pass along superior wisdom. Other people we encounter offering a handful of seeds of despair, plant within our young fertile minds, acres of hopelessness.

     We are groomed to regard the acquisition of happiness as something which revolves around a small set of achievements. These include monetary wealth, power over others, asserting such power, and a pompous display of expensive, material possessions. With these limited holdings, it is commonly believed that anything we desire outside of this arena is easily obtainable; we can demand, buy or lure happiness into our lives with the snap of the fingers and a wave of the hand. Many people fail to regard their achievements outside of the aforementioned, as great.

     Our sense of self-importance rests usually within what others have programmed into our heads. Few make a conscious effort to review these embedded notions in an effort to sort out that which has merit and, that which does not. Most of us go through a time of rebellion against certain implantations of the mind, but eventually we accept or compromise. This is true, for instance, if one examines the lifestyle choices of the sixties generation. Most of the ‘flower power’ children, went on to become a close facsimile of the society they originally rebelled against. They joined the corporate world, accepted corporate abuse and greed, for a small share of the wealth. All with the anticipation of a more enriched life; a happy life. Now, years later…we have millions of disillusioned baby-boomers, materialistically enriched or not, re-evaluating their choices.

     Happiness seems to be something of a gift. It is a receiving of that which we selflessly offered to others. It is the heart energy returning inward like a loving caress of a divine hand. Happiness is inner peace…it is sustainable with the ablution of a tarnished mind-set. Inner peace can arrive with a simple change of thought; the erasure of past, conflicting ideals set into place by others. It can be achieved and maintained by those who return to the knowing they once caught a glimpse of in their younger day. It is in a child’s eye…the sound of a bird in a tree…rain on leaves, the stroke of a pen in song…the brush to canvass…it is inside of us all, waiting to be made manifest.

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You Are What You Eat

by Bill Crimi - Health & Fitness Strategies, Excerpt

     Our dietary habits are critical to the health of our body and mind. In a sense, the old adage that, “we are what we eat” is true. If you begin to closely observe people who are familiar to you (know what their diets are like, including alcohol, drug and other intake habits) the apparent differences in their health will become obvious. We are able to see these differences in the texture and tone of their hair, complexion, nails and skin in general. Other, easily recognizable characteristics are in the way they carry themselves, the shape or proportion of their body mass, their gait and energy levels. Marked differences reflect whether they are baloney sandwich people or salmon salad types.

     Too often, we mistakenly believe that these remarkable differences between people lay solely within their genetic make-up. Studies have indicated that premise to be false. There exists huge distinctions in health, not only within same family members, but identical twins as well. Identical twins are known to have the same biological markers, right down to their DNA. Yet, twins do not continue on through life experiencing the same health and fitness levels unless of course, they lead the same lifestyles.

     I have worked at various eateries in my life which, have allowed me the opportunity to become fairly intimate with the lives and habits of regular customers. There existed an obvious distinction in health according to what regular customers food habits were. The absolute worse health appeared in those who came to eat at the establishments twice a day, and were the typical eggs and sausage or bacon for breakfast, with burger and fries for lunch. Most of these regulars would follow a similar selection for dinner…meat and potatoes. Many would opt-out of the salad appetizer, the vegetable side selection, and of course always choose…refined white bread. These were the people who suffered more maladies and took more medications than average. They would easily speak about their poor health conditions, medications, regular doctor appointments and operations. It was more apparent in the ‘senior’ meat and potato people, but indicative of younger patrons as well.

      People who perused the menu and ordered with questions and care, usually chose healthier dishes. They possessed an air of better health, were slimmer and spoke more about physical activity in their lives. The Health Club enthusiasts were by far, the most attentive to food selection, and the most energetic. These middle aged and seniors also spoke about going for walks, taking grandchildren to the park, working in the garden and other beneficial habits. Meat and potato types, spoke about watching television shows, videos, the bars, beer and spectator sports as activities…Sadly, when suggesting better food selections to the suffering, they would reject the advice usually with, ignorant statements such as “I don’t believe in all that hype about bad food” or “I’ve eaten this way all my life, I’m not about to change now.” Yet, these are the same people who lament about all the things they used to do and wish they could again, if their “conditions” would only improve.

     The same effects of dietary habits can be easily observed at the local marketplace. Scan the carts of people who have the fullest carts, loaded with huge bags of chips, two liter size sodas, franks and hamburger meat, multiple packages of cold cuts, boxes of Rice-A-Roni, macaroni and cheese, enormous bottles of cooking oil, cakes, cookies, ice pops and tubs of ice-cream. They are also the ones who buy gigantic boxes of sugar coated cereals, bags of frozen fries, pizza snacks, Hot-Pockets, potato puffs…etc. What will often be absent from the same carts are, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, whole grained products, legumes, nuts and seeds. After noting the food selections in their cart, gaze at their over-all shape and size, their complexions, hair tone and posture. Of course they will not appear very healthy on the surface, imagine what health issues they are carrying on the inside as well.

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