Contemplative Fitness

10/28/2026

If you are a scientist, you can’t be a social media influencer, in particular, one who makes a lucrative profit from that influence. I’m not going to name names, but the reality is, regardless of your intelligence and your intentions, using your scientific credentials to make money via a social media platform not only undermines your credential as a scientist, and it undermines science in general.

I’m a science-minded guy, and put a lot of stock in much of the recent research on strength training. However, if you’re one of those researchers and you sell your data results to prop up a course, an app, or a series of online events to participate in, and you’re making money from that, I find you much less credible as a scientist — especially if you fail to disclose conflicting data which has also been peer reviewed.

Scientists are born to publish. As the saying, goes, publish or perish. There’s a difference, however, in publishing research or even publishing a book related to your research and making money off of that. Totally acceptable. But to take individual studies, and quickly convert them into fast dollar subscription programs on social media, with a statement suggesting that it’s the only way to get results, is an overreach, at least in my opinion.

When it comes to strength training — volume, frequency, load, and intensity, the differences between high frequency, low frequency, high volume, low volume, high intensity, and medium intensity, are all separated by small fractions of a percentage. If any one of those were the exclusive way to make progress in musclular hypertrophy, nobody would have success getting there by any other method. Clearly, this is not the case.

Research notwithstanding, if you train consistently with near any volume, higher volume, lower volume, higher frequency, lower frequency, and you train with a reasonable amount of intensity, and you support that training with proper nutrition and good rest, you’re going to make progress — hard stop.

I don’t know, I guess I just felt like saying all of that — mostly, because it’s all true…

rc

10/27/2026

Early work sets the tone for the day…

I often post a similar picture to this in my regular feed and on this page. Really, it’s not so small-minded. I do it to share reminder that what a person does early in the day, often sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Long before this omelette is eaten, and these days still in the dark and now getting colder, I find my way to the gym to do 30 minutes on the stationary bike. It’s really not what I want do at 5:30 AM, but I know the choices I make with regard to my health and fitness later in the day will reflect off of that 5:30 AM cardio session. So I do it.

When I get home, I don’t sit down and rest. I get a couple of household chores done to keep the momentum going. They don’t have to be huge chores, they just need to keep me off the recliner.

After the chores, and with hunger starting to build, I make the same breakfast every day unless I’m on the road — an omelette, with five egg whites, a variety of vegetables (usually cabbage, spinach, and sometimes some mixed frozen vegetables), and I serve it with sliced tomatoes.

I use egg whites only, not because there’s anything wrong with yolks, but it’s a matter of calorie control. If I throw out the yolks, that gives me enough calories later in the day that I can sneak in a couple pieces of candy, a handful of crackers, or maybe some non-specified treat. Again, nothing wrong with egg yolks, just a matter of calorie control.

After the omelette, I rest for a while, do some busy work on my computer and return any calls or emails that are pressing.

Somewhere between 11 AM and 1 PM, I returned to the gym for an hour strength training, stretching, and balance work.

If I’ve accomplished all of that before the mid-afternoon, every decision I make with regard to my fitness and eating for the rest of the day will likely be good ones. You can’t build up that much momentum and squander it.

Like the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm. And yeah, the worm was up early too, but he was moving way too slow…

rc

10/25/2026

Dentures: And now, the rest of the story…

My teeth haven’t always been the best advertisement for a gleaming smile.

10/21/2026

Thanks, Rupe…

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Detz80tx3lI/?obrf=aGplY3N0YzBzdnV2

10/20/2026

Howdy, all y’all…

If you’re reading this, then you’re a part of the only generation of human beings who will ever live to have experienced life before and after the advent of social media.

10/18/2026

I hear this far too often, usually accompanied by a frown, a sigh, or silence…

“Getting old sucks…“

Actually, that’s not true. At least in my case. The older I get, the more I seem to enjoy and appreciate my life.

Getting older shouldn’t suck.

What actually sucks, which gets blamed on age for too often, is getting unhealthy over the course of a lifetime. Becoming less healthy over time, though, has far less to do with aging than most people realize. Becoming less healthy over time is directly related to the decisions we make as we age. Getting less healthy is tied to the adaptations we make as we age, relative to the environments that we live within and navigate each day.

Getting old doesn’t have to suck. It shouldn’t suck.

In evolutionary terms, throughout human history, it’s only recently that getting old has become a problem. If a person keeps active, and continues to do so as they age, the aging curve flattens out — considerably. Yes, one‘s abilities will decline as they age, and some dings, pings, and aches may manifest over time, but not at the same level they will if one is less active as the age.

No matter how hard we try, we will lose muscle mass, we will lose bone density, we will lose flexibility, we will lose balance, and we will lose energy over time. That said, all of those losses can be kept in check and minimized through regular activity. As long as we are active, those will all decline at a much slower pace than if we just choose to be old and avoid activity, including regular exercise.

An hour of moderate strength training done twice a week, and 20 minutes of continuous walking done 4 to 5 days a week, can flatten out the aging decline significantly. And the truth is, regular exercise isn’t as hard or time-consuming as you might think…

10/09/2026

Don’t Aim To Gain More Muscle — Improve On What You Already Have…

It’s rare when a week passes by that I don’t read, see, or hear something about the importance of gaining muscle over the age of 60. Whether it’s from social media influencers, conversations I overhear in the gym, or questions from clients reflecting what their doctors suggested to them, it’s apparently been established by those in the know that it’s important to gain muscle over the age of 60. Now here’s the thing…

Gaining muscle isn’t easy. In fact, it’s a chore. I’ve worked with male athletes who produce high levels of testosterone, workout two hours a day, and eat everything but the family cat, and they still struggle to gain muscle. For the casual strength trainer over the age of 60, male or female, gaining muscle shouldn’t be the primary goal. The goal should be to take the muscle you already have and get better at using it — don’t focus on building a bigger machine. Focus on learning how to use the machine you already have.

I don’t think training to gain muscle over the age of 60 is a bad goal, but to benefit from strength training, gaining muscle isn’t necessary. Gaining tangible muscle comes with a higher price than most people realize or are prepared to pay. Getting more familiar with your muscular skeleton and learning how to use it better can have life-changing effects, and with the right approach, can improve your health as well as your overall state of being. No need to gain an ounce of mass.

Training your muscles regularly to better perform the jobs that are required of them in everyday life is more sustainable for most casual strength trainers, and the results can be observed in just a matter of weeks from the time you begin astrength training program. Regular strength training, even without the intention of gaining muscle, will help slow down the inevitable loss of muscle tissue that begins at the approximate age of 35. Training with moderate weights will also slow down the loss of bone density.

I’m in my mid 60s. I’ve been training with weights since I was 12 years old. I still strength train for roughly an hour a day, 5 to 6 days a week. But what I’m training for these days isn’t more muscle mass. What I’m training for is to have an absolute awareness and complete command of my muscular skeleton, so that when it gets called into action to perform any function, I’ll be able to do it to the best of my ability, and hopefully without any help. I think that’s a good goal, and if you’re over 60, if I’m being honest, I think that should be your goal too…

rc

10/06/2026

It’s sad to me, in this era of Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, that so many people get their fitness and exercise advice from those platforms, and the so-called influencers who dominate those platforms. It’s something I pay attention to regularly, and I have no problem saying this — the ridiculous advice offered on social media on exercise and nutrition far exceeds any good advice.

Once upon a time, and before social media, maybe 15 to 20 years ago, a person had to use the process trial and error, over periods of time, to explore what techniques worked, and which ones didn’t. You tracked your workouts, you tracked your eating, you took notes, and you correlated that information over periods of time, and adjusted accordingly. People sought advice where they could, applied it, and if it didn’t work, they moved on.

For most everyone, it was all trial and error — the process of learning on one’s own self, by experimenting in the gym and at the dinner table. Personally, I learned a great deal through that process, and it’s a process that still continues. The knowledge and experience I gained has helped make me very good at what I do for a living.

When I look at fitness and fitness influencers on social media, with very few exceptions, I shake my head. In-part, because I see how ridiculous their advice usually is. But I also shake my head, knowing that millions of people will try the most ridiculous things, before they move onto the next ridiculous thing offered by the next influencer, never stopping to consider for themselves what may and may not work, and why.

Experimentation, both in the gym and at the dinner table should be the foundations of learning, and in my opinion, is the best source of knowledge one can hope for in changing and improving their body….

Jhciacb

PS: Oh, and if you dress like the Eddie Vedder of 1989 in the gym, people avoid you, and that’s a beautiful thing… 

10/05/2026

Pro Tip:

If you want to set a personal record for 30 minutes on a stationary bike, the best thing to do is take three days off prior, and during those three days, eat nothing but bread and candy. Worked for me anyway… 

09/30/2026

Good morning…

This page is now nearly 20 years old. When I went to post a link for my blog this morning, Meta notified me that I can only post two links per month. If I wish to post more than two links per month, of my own intellectual property, for my own page, Meta wishes to now charge me $49 a month. No joke, $49 a month.

If you’d like to read my blog, please check out my main page, Roy Jhciacb Cohen.

And to you, Meta, you can go f**k yourself with all the f**k you’re capable of f**king yoursrlf with.

If it’s possible to f**k yourself with more f**k than that, that’s how much you can go f**k yourself…!!!