Smoking Is Just Fuckin’ Stupid

https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2019/09/30/vaping-epidemic-series-origins-gupta-pkg-vpx-newday.cnn

How does a person grow up hearing every day from birth onward that smoking maims and kills, yet at some point decides, “Yeah! I want to learn how to inhale burning poisoned shit without choking or puking because it looks like so much fun. It’ll take practice and dedication, and I’ll stink so bad a lot of people will be repulsed, but it’ll all be worth it. And inexpensive too!”

As a kid I was trapped with chain smoking parents in a little house that was sealed up for 8 months of the year against brutal winters. I was sick a lot, my eyes always itched and burned and although there wasn’t always money to buy meat on the 2 days preceding my father’s payday, there was always money for my parents' “sick-erettes,” as I nicknamed them. 

My mom nearly shit a brick when at about age 11 I refused to buy her cigs at the corner store any longer, where she’d send me with a note, which was how it was done in the olden days before laws were passed against adults using children as drug mules.

She died of lung cancer, as did my older brother and sister who were also allowed to smoke in the house.

Now the whole vaping thing is insane, but I can’t wring out one iota of sympathy for people so idiotic that they conclude inhaling burning garbage into their one and only set of lungs is logical, glamorous or cool. Organ transplants are not meant for people who have intentionally set out to destroy their own vital organs.

For Better Hamstring Development...

For better hamstring development try doing BOTH unilateral and bilateral movements on the lying hamstring curl machine, meaning use both legs for 3 sets, then one leg for 3 sets. I started doing this because when using both legs I noticed one side was stronger, and therefore doing more work, so to ensure more even development I did the single leg movement which allows me to concentrate on the weaker leg.

Try it and see.

Charles Eugster, The 97-Year-Old Bodybuilder

The story at Bodybuilding.com:

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/lessons-from-a-95-year-old-bodybuilder.html

The video (skip first half to get to the gym video):

Before & After: Glyn Harris

Glyn Harris

"I'm Sorry I'm Big And Strong."

This guy Oliver Bateman writing in The Atlantic is essentially  apologizing for his being a powerlifter-bodybuilder. 

So that’s what it’s come to now? Apologizing for not being fat and weak?

GQ Declares That Millions of Real People Actually Aren’t.

Whenever I read or hear from the whiny schlubs of this world, such as Gianluca Russo in the perpetually harebrained GQ Magazine, that the uncomplicated task of maintaining my one-and-only non-dad body is “unrealistic,” I wonder how does this poor dude not know how transparently insecure and inculpable he comes off? “Inculpable,” btw, is a fancy word that means “Hey, don’t blame me, it’s not my fault!”

I also quite enjoy being called “unrealistic” by an unaccomplished boy based on the fact that I respect myself enough to eat responsibly and exercise regularly. Because oddly enough, I realize that this body of mine has to last an entire lifetime. 

How is it we never read parallel pieces in GQ about how maintaining our designer wardrobe, our motor vehicle (car, ATV, boat, snowmobile, etc.), our apartment, computer or wristwatch collection is “unrealistic”?

"This is a fact: the vast majority of people put more energy, money, care and pride in their cars than they do their own body."

Endless hours are spent maintaining the steel vehicle that carries them through town, while zero hours are spent maintaining the flesh vehicle—their body— that carries them though life.

I have far more respect for people who, when it comes to living a healthful lifestyle, honestly state “I just don’t feel like it” than losers like Russo who write on and on—and on—trying to justify the unjustifiable. No one has to read between the lines to know that Russo feels awful about the self-neglect that gets triggered by his viewing photos of amazing physiques. Heads up, Russo: there are untold thousands upon thousands of males on Instagram and Facebook (and many more not on social media) who belie your screed about just how “unrealistic” it is to build and maintain a top-grade physique.

But I caution against your investigating these, as the sheer volume of "unrealistic" males on this planet might just send you into a tailspin.

SLATE: Nobody Likes Being Deceived

Clickbait has just about ruined what was once an enjoyable and formerly informative internet activity: browsing.

So often in more recent times I’ll see an interesting headline but then immediately move on without further investigation due to the deluge of lies and fakery of clickbait I’ve personally experienced. I can’t be the only one who’s insulted by the intentional misleading of clickbait, right? One key to a come-on is the use of the word  “secret.”

SLATE.COM has a department ironically entitled “An Honest Guide To Modern Life: Human Interest” under which the above screenshot for a podcast was listed:

The Secret Workout Actors Use To Get
Buff For Superhero Movies.

Smelling bullshit, and perhaps a pertinent item for my blog, I zoomed though it to hear the podcaster betray the cheezy headline by unequivocally stating, “There’s no secret workout that only Hollywood actors know.”

The moral of the story is that people desperately want a secret workout or magic pill because they recoil at changing the way they eat and adhering to any kind of challenging fitness regimen, thus they’ll reliably be suckered in by the promise of an easy fix offered by devious clickbait.

Germany's DW Network Documentary on Testosterone

Halloween Is The Only Time When A Disguise Is Appropriate

1915: In the Levi's Pavilion at the Pan American Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco, workers showed how Levi's were made over 100 years ago.

People looking to buy some new clothes fall into two categories: those who want to enhance their physique and those who want to disguise it. The majority are looking for a disguise, a cover up, a deflection from their physical flaws. But fact is, someone with a great body can wear virtually anything. Clothes look best on a fit body, a truth all the men’s magazines ignore for good reason: because they’re in the business of making money, and that means peddling clothes, especially expensive trendy “must-haves,” to the entire spectrum of body types.

My habit, save for a brief “trendy” period in my late teen years, has always been T shirts and Levi’s and basic classic American items. Astoundingly, many classic items that were around 100 years ago are still in fashion, such as Levi’s 501 jeans, Lacoste polo shirts, rugby sweaters, tank tops, military and cowboy-inspired looks, and much more. I really do get the attraction that the trendy and right-now have for us, but I’ve weathered enough decades to be able to look back and cringe at a lot of (formerly) hot fashion.

What I knew I looked good in were basic all-American fashion, which most of the time was cheaper than the latest trendy items. Yep, some fitness model guys do look good in skinny jeans, but in the 2020s we’re going to look back on everyday people wearing skinny jeans and cringe—maybe. Or maybe not, as I wrongly predicted in the early 90s that cargo shorts were so ugly that nobody will be still wearing them come Y2K. And yet here we are.

I currently own more clothing items found in thrift stores, vintage shops, garage sales and on eBay than I purchased new. The oldest item I have is 72 year old pair of Levi’s 501 jeans. Workmanship and quality these days is throw-away, but for around the same price, as I browse selectively, I can find beautifully made vintage wool shirts, sporting uniforms, Wrangler and Levi’s denim items, classic Lacoste shirts and more. While others are swiping thru Instagram, I busy myself referencing my curated list of bucket-list items and search for them on eBay, Etsy and the like. 

Most of us mourn a favorite clothing item that got worn out, ruined in the wash, or was lost. My tip for you is never use a clothes dryer. Line dry instead—your clothes will have 4X the lifespan. And wash fragile items by hand. Washing machines can destroy a beautiful item, but a clothes dryer will absolutely destroy a beautiful item, whether it be a vintage cotton T shirt or a new Brioni polo.

TRT Changes Men's Lives

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/09/my-energy-is-back-how-testosterone-replacement-therapy-is-changing-mens-lives