The Weekly Word: December 6th

​News & Notes
We checked a pretty cool school this week for my daughter. It is called United Friends School located in Quakertown, PA. This school is located in an appropriate town as it uses Quaker principles as the framework for their teaching. These principles are "integrity, equality, simplicity, community, stewardship of the Earth, and peace. They arise from an inner conviction and challenge our normal ways of living." We are looking for a unique learning experience for our daughter and this school seems to fulfill that. For pre-school aged kids, they grow vegetables and flowers, have butterfly gardens, outdoor kitchens, and more. For my daughter who loves life on the farm, all of these things were wins!

Needless to say, I picked up a book titled Quaker Writings: An Anthology, 1650-1920. If you see me wearing one of those Quaker Hats in the near future then you'll know I am drinking the kool-aid!

In addition to that, we made some progress on setting up an additional outdoor training area with turf this week. After putting in some work on the tractor trying to create a stone pad, we will lay some turf on top of that. The turf will be about 15 yards long and 5 yards wide giving us some good space to train outdoors, and more importantly, push sleds!

What I've Been Thinking About...
Band-aid solutions cannot fix gaping wounds.
Over the past couple years I have been reading the statistics on the health of our country in regard to those overweight and obese. From this viewpoint we are not a healthy country. This lack of physical fitness can lead to things like high blood pressure, type II diabetes, heart disease, and more. When you look at what the CDC lists as who is high risk for COVID complications, all of these are risk factors. 

Over the years the solution for some of these metabolic conditions came in a bottle. The emphasis on physical fitness was vague and to defend the medical community, the short term fix may best come from a bottle but if we want to cure some of these issues over the long haul, I believe physical fitness must be emphasized. So, after the past few decades over emphasizing medication and under emphasizing physical fitness, we now have a population not equipped to handle a pandemic. I hope in the future that we hear more about taking care of body but at this moment, it does not seem to be the case. 

Fitness Tip of the Week...
The value of using timed sets. As I approach week three of a new program I have been starting to realize the value of performing timed density sets. The focus of these sessions is to increase the total workload per session. So lets say you are going to perform a timed workout that lasts 20 minutes. You choose two exercises, for this example we will use a Squat + Press (aka Thruster) for 10 reps and 5 Chinups. Over the course of 20 minutes, you perform as many rounds as possible of the two exercises with the prescribed reps. If you complete less than 5 rounds I would say the weight is too challenging. If you perform more than 10 rounds of each then I would say the weight is light. This exact workout totally wiped me out yesterday. So much so that after coming into the house 10 minutes later Marisa asked "Are you ok?". Other than a little muscle soreness today the answer to that is yes, I am okay 

What I've Been Reading...
I hope you all get used to this because I will be citing examples from the Alexander Hamilton biography on the regular as I try to make my way through this 700+ page book. At one point in this book it discussed Hamilton's greatest paradox which was his optimistic view of America's potential that coexisted alongside an essentially pessimistic view of human nature. 

Let me start by saying that I know that every individual can be swayed or swindled into believing something that may not align with who they are. History has taught us this and at times, led to catastrophic events. World War II being the prime example.

On the flip side, I also have an optimistic view of America because I live here and believe in the end, things will be okay. I have this view because I don't believe being pessimistic is going to get us anywhere good. Feeling down about our current state of affairs may lead us down a path that we do not want to follow like mentioned above. It may leave us vulnerable to things we don't stand for. There has been ebbs and flows throughout our entire history in this country but in the end, things have turned out to be okay. We are a country of individuals and just like every individual, we are a work in progress. So to is our country. 

Quote of the Week
"As the general marches at the head of his troops, so ought wise politicians, if I dare use the expression, to march at the head of affairs; insomuch that they ought not to wait the event, to know what measures to take; but the measures which they have taken ought to produce the event." -- Demosthenes

I hope you all have an awesome week!
Chris Fluck