Pencil Necks and Pot Bellies

Thanksgiving Day: the fourth Thursday in November observed as a legal holiday in the USA for giving thanks for divine goodness. A festive American celebration established in 1640 AD.

Thanksgiving is not the day Americans begin a new diet. More likely, it is the day they terminate the old one. The comments I hear on the street and in the gym tell me Thanksgiving is in many small and personal ways the most popular holiday on our list. Less sensationalized and exploited than other occasions, we have the opportunity to wrap our arms around it and hold it close. We enjoy "thanks giving" because it's enjoyable, whether at the mission or at home with the gang. Of course, there's the food in abundance, in variety, everywhere: candied yams on the front burner, guilt on the burner in the back.

I'm struck as I write that I forget how many of our friends and neighbors, though a minority, are seriously trying to gain healthy weight day-by-day and greet Thanksgiving through the New Year season as the bounty months for their hard-pressed endeavor. While the masses surrender their discipline and struggle with shame and ever-growing waistlines, the thin muscle-growing population gleams and thrives. A lot of food is good, more is better and all you can eat is best of all.

That's life. It's time for the overweight to apply the ole self-control or pay the hefty price and it's the day for the underweight to pack in the food and grow. The perfect climate for gaining muscle weight is realized when a person is eating large amounts of good food in frequent servings throughout the day and training hard with resistance exercise, weight training being by far the most effective mode. Add plenty of rest and you are in get-huge heaven.

We have embarked on a long and festive season.

Here's some advice for both camps of eager holiday consumers:

The larger group of larger people has a headstart on wild weight-gaining delirium when they stop and think of the dreadful consequences of no-holds-barred devouring and apply a simple plan of action. The plan is as old and as clear as a windy winter sky; allow yourself some slack but do not abandon your sensible eating routine to irresponsible excess. Be mature, show some forethought. Weed out and trim your daily menu before and after those maximum celebration occasions (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Hanukkah, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and a limited assortment of parties in between). Be courageous, show some restraint: No gulping, no stuffing, no hyperventilating. Whatever you do, don't allow yourself to fall without picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and going on with resolve. Should you hang with those who eat for comfort and share it as a burden of joy, don't conform to their sluggish ways. Be the stabilizing role model. Introduce them to tuna and water and long jogs after dinner... crunches and leg raises… the Scottish Games. Be the life of the party.

Let your exercise program falter and fall and you might not see it again until February or March of next year. Exercise is one of your best friends and should not be neglected; to the degree you neglect exercise, you neglect yourself. Wisely alter your training to accommodate the scattered days and nights ahead. I have some ideas on that and I'll lay them out in forthcoming articles to keep you pumping. Promise.

Now, to the grinning minority who seeks muscle growth and added weight I say, "eat, eat and eat." Logically, you want to eat in approximately three-hour intervals to gain the most from your food as fuel and muscle-building ingredients. You don't want to stuff yourself at any one meal as this will over-tax the system and provide surplus calories that might store as fat. And, you want to accent the protein, beware of sugary and excessive carbs and avoid fat overload (skin poultry, no fried foods or fatty meat, watch the butter intake etc).

The months ahead, though offering less sun and daylight to vitalize and inspirit us, are favorable for working out and making aggressive gains in power and muscle density. Less of our day is consumed with busy outdoor activity and the nights are conducive to training sessions, eating and relaxing. Winter cover-up eases our desire to be lean, permits more body weight, affording strength and energy for intense training input and an awarding release of stress -- an anabolic environment friendly for hormonal health. Once adapted, we find comfort in the winter months.

The only snag we face is getting too comfortable for comfort, but lazy does not describe the reader of this dot com. Here's a combination of exercises for you that will contrast well with last week's superset program: the dumbbell deep-knee bend (squat) and the stiff-arm dumbbell pullover -- warm up plus 3-5 supersets x 10 -12 repetitions, same weight or 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, incrementing weight.

The combo is designed (rather, picked out of my hat) to work -- #1 -- the heart and lungs as it conditions and empowers the legs, strengthens the entire back and builds gripping might and -- #2 -- continues deep breathing as it stretches the torso muscles, accents the lats, biceps and triceps and works the abs. Overall, a systemic activity.

This neat and appealing pair of exercises can act as a complete routine (post-aerobic and mid-section), when approached with devotion and intensity. It can be combined with the curl-and-press superset recommended in the last newsletter to complete a comprehensive workout. It can be added as link from one muscle group to another where lower body stimulation is a welcome adjunct. Or it can serve as a change of pace in place of the familiar exit door.

Eat right, train hard. Be happy.