Contact

Timothy M. Murphy
1749 W. Golf Rd. Box 319
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
Email: tim@cutofthemurphy.com


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

If It Feels Comfortable, You're Doing It Wrong

It applies to life, and everything in it.  For some reason, these days it seems that everybody wants things to be easy, comfortable, soft, and fun.  But no true satisfaction has ever come from that.  The only true happiness comes from continually challenging yourself to improve, conquer, rise above, and get better at everything you do.

First of all, it should be self evident that in order to really feel joy, you have to be "in the game," that is, an active participant in your life.  For example, think about that pleasure you feel when the Bears (or your team of choice) win a game.  Certainly, it pales in comparison to the joy felt by those men who went out there and gave there best for four, brutal, bone-crushing quarters, and came away victorious.

So, to really get the most from life, you need to be in the game, whatever game that is.  The second link in the chain should be equally obvious - losing sucks.  Sure, it is gratifying to give your best, and to push yourself - we all know this.  Still, find me one person, just one, who will say they prefer losing to winning.  Such a person does not exist, and if he did, I wouldn't want to know him.

Are we on the same page?  Life requires you to be an active participant, not sit around and player-hate from the sidelines.  But what to do when you've reached the absolute top in your particular game.  Most would suggest retire, and rest on your laurels.  This is wrong.  You must find a new game to dominate.  You must continually be trying to succeed, to get better, to improve, in some way.  In every way relevant to your life.

A moment's thought shows this all to be true, in every aspect of your life.  Did you finally get that promotion?  Now its time to be the best you can be in the new job, and start angling for the next promotion.  Has your relationship fallen into a comfortable, but somewhat boring routine?  Time to up your game, or you're looking at divorce court. Did you just complete a marathon?  The Ironman beckons.  There is always a next step to take, always a better time to run, always more you can do for the ones you love, always something new to learn and try to master.

Never be comfortable.  Always push yourself.

When you're failing, keep pushing until you succeed.  When you're succeeding, keep pushing more until you fail. Repeat until you die.


Thursday, November 28, 2013

Maria Kang and "Fat Shaming"

Recently, I had the opportunity to read about a young woman, very into fitness, who had her Facebook account banned as "hate speech," after being accused by many readers as having engaged in "fat-shaming."  Her website can be found at www.mariakang.com

Now, I don't want anyone kind enough to be reading this stuff I write to get their proverbial panties in a bunch.  I used to be very overweight, and at 40, decided to start taking better care of my health.  While I still have a way to go before running a marathon, I think reading my previous post will tell you how I feel fit vs. fat.  Fit is better for me, in every way, though I suppose, your mileage may vary.

What I want to talk about is the almost volcanic level of anger that spews forth from people when they feel they are, for any reason, being "shamed."  In my humble opinion, this is absolute nonsense.  Shaming is a tried and true technique, used by parents, teachers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and importantly, society as a whole, since time immemorial, to encourage those acting irresponsibly to straighten up and fly right.

In a world where we, as a culture, are celebrating mediocrity, permitting terrible behavior, and teaching that everyone has a right to "self-esteem" whether they have done anything to be proud of or not, we need to be willing to send out large doses of shame to all of those lacking responsibility and discipline in their lives.

Unearned self-esteem is a plague upon us, and leads to sickness, poverty, ignorance, sloth, criminality, and a host of other ills.  Earned self-esteem, on the other hand, is in short supply, and a sense of shame can encourage those who lack genuine self-esteem to go out and earn some.

Long live shaming, and long live Maria Kang, and others dedicated to helping us become the best we can be!




Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Building a Healthy Body

"Mens sana in corpore sano." - Juvenal

The above quote, "a sound mind in a sound body," expresses one of the core values one should have, if one hopes to lead a successful life.  Today I want to say something about the "sound body" portion of the equation.  There are really three keys to getting results while trying to build a sound body, which, if you read my previous post, you can see is something I am focusing on right now.  Results so far have been good, and I'm getting to the point where my opinion on the topic may have some value.  Anyway - three keys:

1) Train - every day - as hard as you can

I keep detailed records of my training activity each day, and I have been able to go through those notes, and offer some suggestions based on my experience. Lift weights every day - every day - until you can't lift any more.  I have dozens of different exercises to choose from each day, although the foundation of them are complex exercises that work the bigger muscles of the body, like deadlifts, farmer's carries and squats.  Change it up every day - some days I go for a smaller number of reps and sets lifting as much weight as I can, and some days slightly lower weight in as many sets and reps as I can do.  I never do the identical set of exercises on any given day, as giving your body a new and unexpected challenge each day seems to be the way to build useful strength and physical capability.  While weight lifting is by far the most important part of building a strong, fit, useful body (and I am now lifting for no less than two hours each day) it is also useful to work cardio, stretching, and various sports and activities into the workout schedule.  When your head hits the pillow at night, you should have nothing left.

2) "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." - Michael Pollan

This statement, I think, sums up a common sense eating plan.  As I noted in a prior post, for about a year I followed a pure vegetarian diet.  I no longer do this, as I'm not sure that it can support my nutritional needs while I am engaged in a very heavy amount of physical activity.  However, vegetables are still the vast majority of what I eat, especially the green leafies, and the legumes for protein.  I'll also eat eggs, and high quality meats from time to time, for the protein and the sheer enjoyment.  Most important is this - no fast food, nothing processed, nothing you didn't make yourself, as Mr. Pollan, from the quote above, said - "nothing your great-grandparents wouldn't recognize as food.  This is particularly important if you are training as hard as you should - because you will eat a lot more - a lot more - when lifting hard and heavy, you need to make sure that what you put in your mouth is only the highest quality fuel.

3) Get your ZZZZZZZs

There can be no doubt that getting adequate sleep allows your body to rebuild, develop, and grow, and that sleeping well is absolutely necessary to good health.  For years, I took pride in the fact that I only needed four or five hours of sleep per night, thinking that it allowed me to accomplish much more with my time.  The result, though, was that I was not as effective while awake, and lost a lot of time to illness and other manifestations of poor health.  Now, my body needs a solid eight hours, and I make damned sure I get it.  In doing so, I find that I have more than adequate energy for my work, my training, my family, and all the other things I love to spend my time on.

Train hard, eat well, rest up.  A simple plan that yields significant benefits.  Other than losing weight, increasing muscle mass, having more energy, normalizing my blood pressure, reducing my resting heart rate from 95 a year and an half ago to below 70 now (I am 43 years old), completely curing my acid reflux, I should also note - I haven't so much as suffered one day from even a cold or flu in months now.

Its never too late to start on the road to good health and strength.

Thank you for reading,

Tim