The Big Picture Few See

NOTE: Dave is in Boston at the end of his second 10-day book tour trip. In his absence, here's an excerpt from chapter two of Your Body Revival, an overview of the motivation behind his 33-city US tour. He'll be home in a couple of days; next week we'll get a glimpse of his current thoughts.

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We're slipping, and I'm troubled. We've strayed from healthy physical activity and have served up for ourselves a lifestyle of distractions from reality and oversized platters of greasy and sugary food. Certain I am not assuming a superior or judgmental position, I declare alarm for many of those around me. The majority of the folks across the land are soft, unconditioned and vulnerable. My emotional responses had an interesting order: at first, disappointment, quickly to be replaced by sadness mixed with compassion; anger was aroused at some point when irresponsibility was clearly reflected; and, finally, the fear of our weakness as a society loomed above the rest. The overweight condition is frightening.

I'm not a crusader and I don't envision myself fighting crime or the larger wrongs of the world. They're not acceptable, but they're inevitable. I leave them to the experts and authorities. However, in the battle against the wrong we do to ourselves physically on a daily basis, I take up arms. This is individual, personal and controllable. It's not illogical to say that to the degree that we neglect our health and fitness, we neglect one another. Take a close look. Beware lest we become weak; prone to illness, disease and injury; easy prey to resistance; ineffective and apathetic.

It's a matter of personal and national security to exercise and eat right for good. We depend on one another.

What shall we do?

Read Your Body Revival with confidence and commitment. The expanded version, outlined in the book, underscores the immediate need for the overweight to start moving. Action now. It helps to understand an adversary completely before we can wrestle it to the ground. We dig into the overeating issues. The foods we eat are examined, and we determine a food plan to vitalize the body and claim a healthy weight. Exercise is brought boldly to the foreground and we begin to build muscle and might.

You've probably heard it all before. We could spend the day together going through the local library and discover at least a hundred volumes dedicated to diet and weight loss. There is no shortage of good and bad information, ideas and fads in the written word. I'm quick to point out the day would be better spent lifting weights at the gym and eating protein, but sufficient review and organized thought is essential; there's a place for the written word.

My purpose is to stimulate, motivate, encourage, harass, pressure, caution and compel you to take the right steps in the right direction. The necessary facts are here in the book I see them and as I've lived them. My successes and errors and those I've observed in the world around me are evident in the pages. Nothing earthshaking; just simple truths.

Were the words of YBR spread before you as a fabric, they would not be a fine silk cloth, but more closely resemble a rough tapestry of reclaimed threads, a broad weave of experience and expression to clothe you from head to toe.

As a lifter I've never been overweight, though fat seems to haunt everyone I know, even the skinny. That obesity and poor conditioning are severe afflictions has become plain and clear to me through my years in the gym as a user and owner. I fight fat daily as I seek muscle and power. I prescribe regular weight training, sound eating and smart living to our gym members to achieve a healthy body weight and total fitness.

Life's a journey, full of detours and washed-out bridges. I'll help you overcome them -- I promise -- though sometimes I can be a nuisance. Throughout your travels to change your weight, strength and health, you'll be changing your life. Does change sound frightening? Getting stronger every day in every way is exhilarating. It grows on you and that, too, I promise.

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Taken from Your Body Revival, pages 22-23. If you're inspired and would like to pick up a signed copy of Dave's new book, $18.95, you can do that by clicking here.

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