Zac Efron Thinks We’re Stupid

His entire career is based on little more than his physical attractiveness. He garnered enormous publicity in recent years over his enviable level of fitness. These factors have earned him millions and millions of dollars. Now he wants us to believe that remaining in the top shape that got him all this is stupid.

Zac Efron is as tone deaf as they come, and that’s saying a lot, considering he lives the Hollywood Life. There are literally millions of men around the world who have achieved and manage to maintain an extraordinary level of physical strength and beauty each and every day who are NOT movie stars raking in the millions. They do it because its admirable, because reaching a certain level of excellence is what they believe they deserve and are willing to put in the work despite having little or no money, fame, visibility, or legions of swooning fans.

Looking quite bloated these days and obviously wanting to justify his falling off the wagon, Efron has taken the low road. Rather than confessing he’s hit a rough patch and is experiencing personal problems, he dismisses the obvious rewards, of which there are many in his case, of maintaining the machine that earns him his millions, and in the process puts down everyone else who despite their anonymity, financial struggles, and the many obstacles in their personal lives continue to maintain, by claiming that it’s “stupid.”

We see right through you, Little Buddy. But before you go shooting your mouth off next time you find yourself in crisis mode, dial up an appointment with your shrink first. Because none of us non-multi-millionaires are getting paid to stay in shape. We simply do it out of self respect.

Robert York: Cable Lat Pulls

Lower Your Living Costs By Negotiating Lower Rates

We all subscribe to various services that many will now find it difficult to continue with, such a health club, cable, extra data, monthly box deliveries of things like steaks or seafood, children’s or pets’ toys or clothing, and much more. 

I subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud which provides Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat Pro and more, but in a bind, because there are free alternatives — perhaps not as good but that can get the job done — I decided to check Adobe off my list. But I thought beforehand to contact them first as I continually receive “special offers” from Adobe that only apply to their NEW subscribers, leaving loyal years-long subscribers like me with no special pricing or rewards. Surprise: Adobe gave me the next 3 months for free, a savings of US$165.

Contact customer service on their website, or over the phone. Following are my suggestions for dealing with such companies and providers:

— Be polite. Stay calm. Choose your words carefully. Don’t criticize the company, but rather stress your financial situation.

— If you’ve always or “mostly” paid your bill on time in the past, stress this crucial point. If not, don’t mention it.

— Stress the loyalty angle - especially if there are competing companies offering the same or similar services. “I’ve been a loyal customer of yours for XX years…”

— Be forthright about your current economic situation, stressing that you can no longer afford the current price of the service.

— If you know this service offers a reduced rate for new subscribers, as Spectrum, Adobe and many others do, ask for that same introductory rate, or other accommodation. “If you can afford to give a reduced rate to new customers for an entire year, I’d like you to consider accommodating your loyal customers in the same way who now find themselves in a real financial bind.”

Good luck!

You Can’t Control THAT, But You Can Control THIS.

Even back when things were more or less normal, we all had our own negative issues that we couldn’t control, such as a thankless job, relationship problems, money problems, etc. The list is long for most of us because in truth we can’t control people, and people, directly or indirectly, are at the heart of all our issues.

That’s where fitness and bodybuilding come to the rescue. We get to control if and when we work out. We control the exercises we choose to perform to attain the goal we alone have set. Nobody else has any say or control over our workout or the goals that we set for ourselves, or our diet choices, or how many times a day or week we work out. And most people can immediately see results via a pump, as well and feel results the next day.

Now more than ever it’s vital for both physical and emotional reasons that we seize control wherever we can. YouTube is full of effective home workouts using minimal equipment such as the above video from AthleneX.

Why I Don’t Count Reps

Bob Paris

We’ve all heard the wise men lecture us that we need to do a specific number of reps in order for the exercise to be productive.

Except for a handful of fitness trainers who I follow on YouTube, nobody seems to understand that FEELING each rep completely overrides any arbitrary number of reps, be it 8, 10 or more.

Focusing complete attention on the muscle being worked, called the target muscle, is what builds and strengthens that muscle, not pumping out a preordained number at the cost of proper form.

Long ago I was impressed by something the great Bob Paris said about someone criticizing him (who in their right mind would criticize Bob Paris?) because, at his Mr. Olympia size, he was doing barbell curls with a “measly” 60 lb. weight. His reply, which I paraphrase here, was “If I can make a 60 lb. barbell feel like 120, who’s going to break the news to my biceps?”

I’m sure the critic didn’t have a clue about what he meant. Paris was performing deliberate, slow reps without any cheat—no rocking back and forth, no using momentum, fully extending the target muscle and flexing/squeezing fully at the top of each rep.

Next workout, try to slow down and totally concentrate, making the target muscle do 100% of the work with no cheating, no momentum, no rocking back and forth, or using other tricks to convince yourself into thinking you’re accomplishing a productive workout.

After all, there’s nobody around anymore to try and impress these days. Make the most of that.

Working Out At Home Benefits Us Mentally As Much As Physically.

For decades I’ve stated that working out keeps me sane. That’s not entirely an exaggeration.

Like most creatives —I’m a writer, a photographer, a fine artist as well as graphic artist— I freelance in most cases, and at various times in my experience work opportunities have more or less dried up, leaving me worried. I might have been worrying when I walked into the gym back then, but soon after, and for hours following my leaving the gym, much if not most worry evaporated because, “workout.”

Working out clears your mind. Working out is a great way to get out of your own head, but even more immediately rewarding is seeing the pump you get, the sweat glistening, and meeting the challenge of completing the workout.

I moved to a rural area in 2005 where the closest gym was an hour’s drive away. That’s when I resigned myself to working out at home 2 or 3 times a week as I could not hack every day spending 2 hours driving so as to complete a 90 minute workout. I bought a doorway chin-up bar, a pair of 20-lb. dumbbells and a $25 set of fitness bands. I scoured YouTube for videos to get ideas of how to adapt to the new (for me) dynamic of working out at home.

Because I had that skill set based on actively researching, then building a routine, I am not complaining as many gym addicts are during this crisis. I have the wherewithal to get in a good workout that approaches 90% of what I do in the gym.

I have long recommended YouTube for this but people in the past excused themselves for not having the time to wade through a lot of videos. The majority now do indeed have the time. If you don’t know where to start, go to Google and search “best home workout videos Youtube” “best fitness band workout videos Youtube” and similar such phrases to get a running start.