Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 3/21/14

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Alas, it’s our last day of vacation here in the Dominican Republic and words can’t express what an amazing experience it has been. While I could easily sit here and wax poetic about the beaches, the water, and the scenery in general (it would all be deserved), what really made this trip special was the people.

The people here are some of the kindest, friendliest, and most giving people I have ever met.  Coming from Boston where it’s rare if anyone makes eye contact with you – let alone says hello – you’d be hard pressed to walk more than ten feet without someone smiling and saying “hola! here.

Even more to their credit, everyone…..and I mean EVERYONE (as far as the locals are concerned) is “muy excelente.”

No one complains about mundane or trivial things like the WiFi being too slow; or that there’s only two choices of salad and not three; or that there’s, literally, only one highway, and that people drive like maniacs!

It’s been refreshing to see people appreciate the simple things in life.  To smile. To not take themselves (or things) too seriously.  In short: I love it here, and look forward to coming back soon.

On a somewhat related note, I petted a monkey yesterday.

Um, yeah, get your mind out of the gutter, people!  Literally, I petted a monkey.

Since it was our last full day yesterday, Lisa and I took an excursion to the Monkey Jungle to hang out with the monkeys. For those of you who follow me on Facebook you can see more of the cuteness over there.  For those that don’t, you’re stuck with the picture above….;o)

We have a few hours left to hit up the buffet and to soak up some more vitamin D.  I’m out, and will see you all once I’m back in Boston.

Okay, so lets get to the stuff you should be reading.

Premium Workout Group Update

Things are still chugging along with my Premium Workout Group over on WeightTraining.com.  All the feedback I’ve received from all the participants has been great, and seemingly everyone is busting through a bunch of personal records and having a blast with their training.

As it happens, right before I left for vacation I sent in the latest program update (Month 3), and I already warned everyone that they should prepare themselves for a shit-load (just a shade under a shit-ton) of squatting.

All of this to lead into a killer fat-loss phase starting in May.

For those who have no idea what the heck I’m referring to, I’d suggest going HERE to be filled in on the deets.

Note #1: Even if you haven’t jumped in on the fun from the start, don’t worry…….you can join today, tomorrow, next week, or when the cows come home and you’ll have access to ALL the programs (as well as all the additional videos).  This is so that everyone can go at their own pace and not feel too overwhelmed.

Note #2: For those who have been keeping up with the blog this week – even in my absence – Jen Sinkler’s Lift Weights Faster product has been a ginormous hit.  Unfortunately, the price will go UP starting tonight (3/21) at MIDNIGHT.

So you only have a few more hours to take advantage of the sale price.  After that the price will nearly DOUBLE. Ouch!

If that wasn’t incentive enough, here’s another.  For everyone who purchases Lift Weights Faster and then sends me a copy of their receipt, I’ll send you a coupon for HALF-PRICE off the first month in my Premium Workout Group.

1.  Purchase Lift Weights Faster

2.  Send me a copy of your receipt with the email titled “Receipt for Lift Weights Faster” to tgentilcore18@yahoo.com

3.  I’ll send back a coupon code for HALF-PRICE off the first month of membership in my Premium Workout Group.

4.  You’ll earn 15 points for Gryffindor.  It’s a win-win.

The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success – Megan McArdle

Knowing I was going to be spending a fair amount of time reading while on vacation, I picked up this book right before I left and dove in.

I’m a nerd when it comes to behavioral economics.  I don’t know why. I just am.  It’s like trying to explain The Force and midi-chlorians. They just……exist.

Anyhoo:  as the title suggest, this book is all about failing.  Not only failing, but why failing is good. What’s more, how we fail plays as much of a part in our success as anything else.  Drawing parallels from 9/11, the housing crash of 2008, the movie Titanic (and WaterWorld), as well as her own anecdotal life experiences, Megan McArdle makes a very strong case for why we should all strive to fail. And fail well.

1,200 Calories – Sophia Herbst

I don’t think I need to defend my stance on the topic of women and fitness and how the mainstream media vomits all over itself extolling a bunch of nonsense and gibberish.

I hate it.  And thankfully, a lot more people are starting to wake-up and understand the massive double-standard between what’s regurgitated towards women compared to men.

Men are told to be strong, yoked, and Alpha!

Women are told to tone.  And to eat 1200 calories.  It’s BS.  And this is probably one of the best “rant” pieces I have ever read.

If I could (non-creepily) hug the author, I totally would.

Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.

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Comments for This Entry

  • Kevin Styles

    Damn, that article for women brought a tear to my eye....so refreshing

    March 21, 2014 at 11:39 am | Reply to this comment

  • KS

    Thank you for the link to the 1,200 Calorie post! Could not come at a better time for me. For the last 2 years my primary goals have been muscle building and getting my lifts up. I have definitely gone through some body composition changes [for the better!], but not particularly gotten any smaller. I have the propensity to build muscle easily in my lower body, so, in some ways, my butt/thighs have actually gotten BIGGER, albeit leaner, stronger and rounder. I was at a GREAT place mentally during all this time and finally let go of a lot of my disordered eating issues and "OMG I HAVE TO BE SKINNY!" mentality. Then... I don't know what happened.... I decided to get on the dreaded scale about 2 months ago and realized that I am about 8 lbs heavier than I was at this very time last year. Do my clothes fit different? No. Am I leaner? Yes. Have I built some thickness in my lower body? Yes. My husband loves it! And yet... that damned number on the scale! It's like all the hard work of the last two years, both physically and psychologically went out the window because of one ridiculous number. It was in that single moment, once again I was "fat," and "I need to lose 10 lbs!" Pay no attention to the fact that my lifts have SKYROCKETED the last 12 months and that I'm leaner and meaner even though I haven't really gotten much smaller. I am aware of the ridiculousness of it all, but I've been experiencing such cognitive dissonance with my goals right now. Tuesday I had a BRUTAL leg workout and was loving every second of it... realized I could see my quad definition very clearly through my yoga pants... felt sexy and strong. Weighed myself the next day and wanted to cry on the way to work and vowed to lose weight! SO STUPID. Anyways, I think it's back to not letting myself weigh myself, and blocking out all stupid media/blogs/women's fitness magazine type stuff that tells us we must be "skinny." /rant :)

    March 21, 2014 at 2:28 pm | Reply to this comment

    • KG

      So nicely said-- and the "cognitive dissonance" and constant body image struggles are definitely shared thinking (unfortunately!) I think that is the importance for me personally in seeing these types of articles=reassurance that our mindset growing up is inadequate, inaccurate, and limiting! I have never felt or looked better than in the past couple of years from hard work and heavy lifting... And yes-- lots of eating! It's just a shame that the message of this article isn't the mainstream norm so that we as women could avoid all the BS from airbrushed magazine covers and be completely happy with feeling powerful and strong ... Glad I read the article and the above comments :o)

      March 21, 2014 at 8:51 pm | Reply to this comment

    • TonyGentilcore

      KS - Thanks for sharing your story, and it's definitely not uncommon. The scale can be a mindfuck to say the least. I think the important thing is for your to understand (and acknowledge) that all the hard work you've put in the past two years IS NOT A WASTE!!!!! You stated yourself that you feel amazing, you're stronger, and you love the way you look. That's saying something and has A LOT more credence than what some number tells you. A number DOES NOT equal healthy. I think you know this, and it's just a matter of getting out of your own way. I LOVE that you know you're being a bit hard on yourself. So long as you're cognizant of it, and know it's silly, I think you'll be fine. Head over to Molly Galbraith's site and check some of her posts out. I know she just published a VERY popular blog post on women and body image not too long ago. If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly encourage you to do so. Keep up the GREAT work. Seriously.

      March 22, 2014 at 8:56 am | Reply to this comment

      • KG

        Tony--have been following your blog for a couple of years now and as usual I find your advice/posts interesting, logical, understandable, and completely humorous (just the right levels with each post! :o) Your advice lead me to resources like The New Rules of Lifting for Women,Strong Curves, Nia Shanks and many others who I find informative and inspiring--I read your post above (1200 calories) and commented on the very honest reflection of KS post above and felt like it was all the kind of information/reassurance I needed to keep me focused on goals, being healthy and getting stronger. I wanted to thank you for responding and offering the insights of Molly Galbraith and her site---once again you have directed the public to an amazing wealth of information that every woman should be forced to read--her posts/articles are tremendous reads and sooo worth the time to read! Thank you again!

        March 23, 2014 at 8:41 pm | Reply to this comment

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