I was in the car and driving to Strongsville to join Don Alexander in watching the Second Inning of the Ken Burns baseball documentary. I gave him a call to tell him on was on my way, knowing we’d then talk for the entire 40-minute drive. “John…got a special dinner for you,” he began in his normal, machine-gun pattern of speaking. “I’ve gone vegan and we’re having soup with all kinds of great stuff that a ‘Paleo’ guy would love.” He told me about the beans…and I explained that legumes were not part of a paleo diet since they raised the glycemic (blood sugar) index…something I always tried to avoid.
“But its low in calories…it has to be good,” he said…this coming from a 56-year old man weighing in around 120 pounds and a body fat of 10%.
“Seriously…Don…why are you following this diet?” I asked. Not that there was anything wrong with it…in fact it was good for anyone, but I wanted to know his motivation. He’s a total hypochondriac and certifiable obsessive compulsive, so I had to hear him say it…because I knew it would make me laugh.
“Well…my total cholesterol is hovering around 200 and every once in awhile I’ll take my blood pressure and its above 120. I don’t want my doc putting me on cholesterol and blood pressure medication,” he said.
Now…this might make some sense if it was coming from a complete medical novice…but that’s not Don. He’s spent the last 25 years working as a pharmaceutical salesman and knows more about cholesterol and blood pressure medication…and when it truly ought to be prescribed…than any doctor. When I confronted him with this information…and the fact that his good cholesterol numbers…HDL’s…were fabulous…he chuckled a little and admitted to his OCD behavior taking over his thinking…again.
The soup was good and the Second Inning was even better. It was fun to see how excited Don got when they aired the first footage either of us had ever seen of both Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson playing the game of baseball. They were two of the most dominant players ever to grace a baseball diamond, both making their debuts in the first years of the 1900’s when film making was in its infancy. “Walter Johnson throws from the side!” Don exclaimed as he watched him deliver one of his overpowering fastballs. “I’ve always pictured him throwing overhand (who pictures a man who’d thrown his last pitch 50 years before you were born to begin with? Only Don)…and he came from the side…this…is…amazing!” I had to agree…it truly was.
I’d sacrificed workout time earlier in the day to help my brother-in-law and nephew move heavy, metal shelves. They were opening a marine supply sales store in downtown Fairport and had about four truckloads of abandoned retail shelves they’d been storing at my nephew’s farm (the same one who’s in training for the World’s Strongest Man competition) which needed to be relocated to the store. As we were finishing the second load, Jonathon reminded us we needed to save some space for the bar in the basement, which was to be used as a sales counter in the new store. "We might need Nathan to help us," he said. There were already four of us there...so this comment got me to thinking...and worrying
“How heavy is this thing if a guy who can flip an 800-pound tire for forty yards down a football field needs ANYone else to move it?” I inquired.
“It’s just a little awkward, Uncle John, or I’d have you lay down on it while I brought it up the stairs,” my nephew replied...only half-joking.
They let me do all the climbing in and out of the trucks as we loaded and unloaded the shelves…part of my workout and the other two guys were older…physiologically speaking. I also found that the previous leasers of the space had been a karate group and they’d left behind all kinds of fitness stuff, including two heavy bags, a speed bag, boxing and striking gloves, exercise mats and balls and other miscellaneous exercise stuff that no one had any interest but me…which I gladly loaded in my car before leaving. I’m willing to sacrifice workout time to help friends and family…particularly when it involves manual labor…which is kind of like a workout.
Shelf moving Workout: 5 hours.
Training Heart Rate: Maybe 80.
Calories burned: 1,000 or so.
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