First things first:
you’re invited!
Join me this Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 6:30 PM for our very first LIVE book club event! We’ll gather around the Zoom machine and chat with the one and only Vinnie Tortorich! I’ll ask him about his book Fitness Confidential, how it came to be, and how things have changed since he published it almost a decade ago. Plus, he’ll answer YOUR questions about health and fitness! Even if you haven’t had a chance to read the book, you’re welcome to join. Keep an eye on your inbox for a link!
now back to our regular program
If you’re like me, you’re spending today wallowing in a hangover of regret over the choices you made during the past several days. (No one? Just me? Dang!)
It’s a rainy Sunday after Thanksgiving here, and after several days of carb creep and several nights raiding my brother-in-law’s collection of hundred-dollar scotches, I find myself up several pounds and sluggish as all get-out. Just ask Ike Newton: inertia is real.
So it was a nice shot of motivation to return to Vinnie Tortorich’s Fitness Confidential for the last part of our November Book Club.
life into living
Part Three, “Life into Living” takes us through Vinnie’s own journey, from heavyish former football player, to ultra-endurance cyclist, to cancer survivor. It finishes with a meditation on people like Roger Bannister, the runner who first broke the four-minute mile and Bob Beamon, who shattered the world record in the long jump in 1968. What’s the thread that ties all this together? In Vinnie’s words, “we are not weak. We are strong.”
It’s a good reminder of what we’re all capable of, and a call to not let ourselves off the hook as easily as we’re often tempted to do. Which leads straight into part four…
cut the crap
This is my favorite section of the book. It’s where Vinnie goes into full-on trainer mode, hitting readers with a mix of inspiration, motivation and storytelling as only he can. Borrowing from John F. Kennedy’s famous speech on sending a man to the moon, Vinnie says that some things in life are worth doing, not because they’re easy, but because they’re hard. In other words, cut the crap.
Vinnie goes onto explain that Americans’ health is suffering the same problem as America’s economy: the shrinking of the middle class. In the sixties, he says, only 13% of Americans were obese. Most were at a healthy weight, even though very few of them belonged to a gym or played a sport — the so-called “fitness middle class.” Today, 2/3 of us are at a weight that’s considered unhealthy, and as a result, “We’re only left with couch potatoes and ultra athletes.” That middle class has all but disappeared.
The book closes with a story about an exchange that teenage Vinnie had with his mentor, Joe Dean, many years ago:
“Vinnie,” he said, “you ever go to throw away a soda can, and when you open the trash you see it’s full, so you try to teeter the can on top and close the lid so it’s someone else’s problem?”
“Sure, Mr. Dean,” I told him. “I’ve done that.”
“Next time you see that,” he said, “I want you to do something completely different. Don't wait for your parents to tell you to empty it. Take the initiative and do it yourself.” He ended by saying, “In life, whenever the trash can is full, don’t wait for someone else to deal with it. Just take it out.”
We’ve been neglecting ourselves for too long. For most of our lives, we’ve delayed getting the kind of healthy body and active life we want and deserve.
The trash can is now full, folks.
Let’s take it out.
Man, I love this metaphor. So many times, I find my trashcan overfull — whether it be my inbox at work, my laundry hamper at home, my errands list, that workout that I’ve put off several days... Delaying is always easier than getting started. Inertia is real. But in the end, there’s only one thing for it: take out the trash.
And with that, I’m off to workout. Thanks, and see you Wednesday!