@Randem

I saw a clip on CNN while I was at lunch yesterday saying that President Dubya had vetoed a bill that would have given healthcare to 10 million poor children in America.

I really want to believe that there’s more to it. I want to believe that there was some pork in the bill that Bush was trying to prevent. I always doubt that anything is as cut-and-dried hateful as the media makes it out to be, so I can’t really imagine that he’s just some evil tryant who want to prevent poor kids from going to the hospital.

But then I read this:

Bush stated that “this legislation would move health care in this country in the wrong direction. Under this bill government coverage would displace private health insurance for many children.”

And it really was that clear to me. This douche-bag has spent his entire presidency looking out for the best interest of the healthcare industry (in his free time, when he wasn’t busy making new terrorist enemies) at the cost of actual health care for real people. He’s been fighting to protect the bottom line for a big industry rather than looking out for the good of the American people. And this is no different.

This bill was not vetoed because it was bad for Americans… it was vetoed because it might encourage some of the affected families to take the free government healthcare instead of paying for the overpriced insurance plans they have now. In other words, it would have actually been good for Americans, but at a cost to the evil corporate empire.

Not on his watch. No way.

The Association for Psychological Science is reporting that sometimes, quitting may be good for you.

Miller and Wrosch suggest it may be more prudent to cut one’s losses in the face of an insurmountable obstacle. “When people are faced with situations in which they cannot realize a key life goal, the most adaptive response for physical and mental health may be to disengage from this goal,” write the authors.

This goes with a theme that I talk about a lot: knowing when to cut your losses. The example that’s easiest to use is that of an investor who buys stock in a company. He watches the stock go up and he gets excited. Then the stock goes down and he gets worried. The stock value goes up again and he gets confident that while it may fluctuate, it will keep going up.

But then it drops. Slowly, but steadily, it drops a little bit each week. Because he’s sure it’ll go back up, he doesn’t sell it. This loyalty to the sinking stock will end up costing the investor significantly.

There are many possible causes for this logic-defying loyalty to a thing, a person, or a cause in our lives. Sometimes it’s because that thing, person, or cause has given good things in the past and we’re hoping — indeed, expecting — that one day those good things will return. Other times it’s because the object of our loyalty is something we’ve invested in heavily with our money or time or energy, and we feel a need or expectation to get a return on that investment. And sometimes, that thing or person or cause has changed, and we’re really only hanging on to what once was.

This is not to say that perserverence is bad, or foolish. But a reality check is good from time to time. In the face of an unrealistic, unattainable goal, sometimes it’s better to cut your losses.

Many of us have tried weight training in hopes of reducing fat and gaining muscle. We all know that it’s the only way to put on muscle. And many of us are aware that the best way to lose weight is to increase the amount of muscle burning the fat we want to lose.

So if we all know that weight training is the best (or even the only) way to accomplish our goal, why is it that so few of us are ever able to stick to it?

People give up

If I talk about the painful experience of trying to cancel a gym membership, I’ll bet most of my readers will know what I’m referring to. And I’m willing to bet that damn near all of my readers have some exercise equipment from late night tv — the Gazelle, the Ab Lounge, the Bowflex, the Nordic Track, the Fitness Flyer, or that silly thing that Chuck Norris sells — sitting in the attic or the basement or the back porch, with a layer of dust and cobwebs on it.

So why do we all get hyped, and get serious enough about doing this that we spend money on memberships and machines, only to give up after a month or two? Most likely because we’re not getting the results we wanted. Convinced that we’re wasting our time, and that it’s never going to work or that it’s going to take too long, we give up.

If it’s hard, you’re doing it wrong

But it doesn’t have to be too much work. In fact, most bodybuilders will tell you that they made the most significant progress during their first two months. When done right, a weight training program should yield very exciting results right away — enough that you will have no problem sticking to it.

My motto in life is, “If it’s hard, you’re doing it wrong.” I don’t believe that anything has to be hard. When it is, you just need to find a better way.

It starts with common sense

You can’t get stronger if you don’t increase your weights. For some reason, people seem to think they can just use the same weight over and over, forever, and that they’ll somehow get stronger and stronger. They’re wrong.

You can’t get stronger until you know how strong you currently are. First you have to find your limit. Keep adding weight until you can’t lift it, or press it, or squat it, or whatever exercise you’re doing.

Expect exciting results

Once you’ve found your limit, you should find that you’re able to increase it by 5 lbs every week. That’s approximately 50 lbs over two months! In other words, if you start off only able to bench-press 150 lbs, you should be putting up 200 lbs (or close) by the end of your second month.

Those are exciting results, and you should be seeing them on all of your exercises. Seeing that improvement should be enough to motivate you by itself, but the development in your body over that time should be significant and exciting as well.

It all starts with common sense, though. You can’t get stronger if you don’t add more weight.