Blog

By: Michael Beiter

Uncanny Valley by Ana Wiener was an enjoyable read I had a hard time putting down. Memoirs seem to be that way. This one reminded me of Hillbilly Elegy and Educated. 

Wiener describes her time in Silicon Valley during the tech boom of the early 21st century. This place churned out new millionaires daily. Billionaires were also made from new software offerings. That fact was wild to me. Billionaires, which Wiener says "Shouldn't be a level of wealth that is attainable."...

By: Michael Beiter

Every now and then my timing is good. I finished Wintering by Katherine May as we were blanketed with snow during a blizzard warning in my native Iowa. 

I sat by the window of my apartment on the end cushion of my couch and watched out the window as snow started falling calmly. Then the wind picked up and made it into the aforementioned blizzard. 

First the gray sidewalks and streets disappeared under a blanket of white. 

Then the trees and siding of...

By: Michael Beiter

Maybe I'll stop saying it. Because my clients have to be tired of hearing it. I hope it doesn't come off as a jockeying of sorts - a kind of way to establish that I'm higher up on the fake hierarchy of books read. But this woman was holding back tears as she said "I don't know how to handle boredom. I don't now how to not do something." 

My response: "I read a book on that." 

Followed by advice to 'Be a human being, not a human doing.'

The opportunity was almost too...

By: Michael Beiter

What is a sustainable rate of fat loss? 

This question, like all others concerning fitness and nutrition has a lot of variables that contribute to the answer. I know many people who respond to questions like this with 'it depends' and then go on to complicate the matter so much the questioner is left more confused than when they asked. 

Our answer: 1-2% of your overall body fat percentage lost per month is a sustainable rate to lose. Sustainable in that once you lose...

By: Michael Beiter

The U.S. Department of Agriculture along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publish a new set of Dietary Guidelines for Americans every 5 years. 

The newest edition just released. 

Not much has changed despite the advocacy of several committees to reduce the suggested sugar and alcohol intakes by halving the recommendations. They proposed, based on the latest scientific research that the daily allotment for sugar drop from 13% to 6% of their total...

By: Michael Beiter

Cathy was a client who came from a diverse background in fitness. She has been a member at a big box gym before called Aspen where she worked with a trainer and occasionally went to fitness classes. She also go into Crossfit for a while where she learned to lift weights more and use barbells. There was a short while where she joined a women's only facility that offered classes throughout the day. 

Each of her endeavors provided some insight and slightly different...

By: Michael Beiter

"The average North American adult now sleeps approximately 6.5 hours per night. Which is an erosion from 8 hours a generation ago and 10 hours in the early 20th century" says Jonathan Crary in his book 24/7. 

This is a startling find. I will use this quote to support my stance that sleep is sacred and valuing it places you in the upper echelon of intelligence in what is otherwise an increasingly ignorant 'hustle' culture. 

Much like the statistics for obesity...