Mindconnection eNL, 2010-01-24

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The one that really riles me due to its recent over-use is the "If A = B, then C = D" one. This is what's called a non-sequitor, which literally means it "does not follow."

It doesn't matter that A=B. That relationship proves nothing about C and D.

There are several ways to reveal this logical fallacy. For example, just look for a single exception. If there's an exception, then the logic fails.

The fallacious reasoning involved in racial and ethnic slurs are examples where the exception disproves the conclusion. That's not the only way to disprove a non-sequitor; there are many others.

I would recommend to everyone to get a book on logic (or reasoning) and read it for half an hour a day until you've read it completely. Then, repeat this about a month later. It is very likely you will experience a profound improvement in your ability to process facts to reach correct conclusions.

If you already have this down pat, I congratulate you. And if that's the case, then please encourage someone you know to do this exercise in brain-building.

It is the proverbial elephant in the living room. Worrying about the ant in the kitchen just doesn't make sense with that elephant in your financial living room.

Most of government spending is on wealth transfer schemes. Douglas Casey once remarked of foreign aid that it's "a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries."

A similar thing can be said of 90% or more of the money spent by the various governments that collectively suck up most of our earnings. Look at military spending, which is mislabeled "defense" spending. The Pentagon burns $21 million per hour on "acquisitions" but only 5% of the money results in anything actually being acquired. The other 95% is simply a wealth transfer scheme.

When a burglar raids your home, that's a wealth transfer scheme, too.

What can you do about this? Well, if you care about the money you work so hard for, you can do plenty. Here are some basics:

• Join the National Taxpayers Union. www.ntu.org. This organization concerns itself with how your tax dollars are spent. I can't imagine why anybody would not care where most of their earnings go and what's done with them.
• Get to know your local city council rep(s) for your district or ward. There are many ways to do this, and remember that person is your neighbor. Stress the importance of reducing spending.
• Get to know your neighbors. Stress the importance of reducing spending at the city, county, and state level. When a referendum comes up for any new spending or taxes, encourage people to say no. The reason doesn't matter, just no.
• Meet your CONgressman. This person is not your friend and does not work for you. This person is a hired hand whose job is to transfer your money to people who already have more money than they know what to do with. Let your CONgressman know you do not appreciate being robbed. Not all members of CONgress steal equally, so you may be able to influence your member of CONgress to steal a few million dollars less this year. It's worth a try.
• Write to your senator once a month, and always note that the federal government is vastly overspending and you would like to see some semblance of financial responsibility and ethical behavior in the Senate. You can find your senator's Website easily enough. It has a mail submittal form right on it.

Sure, proper mechanical technique for shoveling helps prevent shoulder injury (vs. hyperextended shoulder with load placed outside its planes of strength). But the real problem is improper shoulder development.

Women are vulnerable due to a lack of training the rear delts. So are men, but men who lift weights usually compound the problem by overtraining the front delts. They do this by using too much weight on the bench press and moving that weight with their front delts in the exercise. This defeats the purpose of the bench press (train the pecs) and creates a shoulder imbalance.

Both men and women need to train the rear delts. There are several good exercises for doing this. Pick up a "how to" book at your library, or buy one, and learn those exercises. Or ask a qualified weight trainer.

Approach the bench

What about men and that bench press?

The reason for that "shoulder forward" way of pressing is men (typically) have an ego problem and want to push more weight to impress other men or not be seen as wimpy. As soon as you convert to this method of training, your bench press stops being an effective way to build your pecs.

Women do this too, but to a lesser extent. And typically not because of ego but because of not knowing the correct posture for the exercise.

Typically, a man pressing 180 lbs the typical way can't press 90 lbs when made to do it in correct form. I can press 50 lbs over my body weight in correct form, though I train with less than that. I stopped caring what other people think about how much I can lift, and I just train the way I need to. It works.

So, here's my suggestion. Forget about how much weight you "should" lift. Start from Square One. Using just the bar, nothing on it, you'll have 45 lbs to lift. This isn't a lot, but don't worry. In a few months, you will double your bench press if you've been doing it the typical way.

Benchmarking (no pun intended)

Begin by forcing your shoulder blades together, while lying on the bench. It may help to have someone press them down. It will probably hurt to have someone push them down. If so, make this your exercise until it no longer hurts (no pressing). That would be 4 sets of 6 pushdowns. You can do this with another person, and whoever is pushing down should also keep his/her elbows back.

Once you can actually get your body into the proper posture, see how much you can actually lift. Start with only an empty bar, because this is about the max for most people. If you can lift it in proper form, try adding some weight. Focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together. Have someone push your shoulders back. Rest 2 to 3 minutes between each attempt.

Record your results. If it's above 90 lbs, be suspicious about your form. I've seen big guys (220 lbs) who "bench" their own body weight but can't bench 90 lbs in proper form. Cheating with your delts and legs doesn't make you strong, it just defeats the exercise.

Benching for results

Have someone push your shoulders back, and start training on that empty bar. Keep it empty, until you can do 6 good sets of 4 to 6 reps. After you can do an empty bar with proper exercise, add some weight. Then remove it after the first set. Keep progressing this way, slowly increasing the weight with each bench press workout.

For optimum results, allow at least four days between bench press workouts. There is a reason top athletes and bodybuilders don't do circuit training and don't try to work their whole body in one day. It's called intensity, and intensity is what creates the adaptation response you are after.

If your true bench press started at 70 lbs (which is fairly typical), you will probably be benching twice that in 3 months. And you'll continue to see gains from there. If you stay disciplined and consistent, your true bench will actually be higher than the apparent bench of cheating people who are about your size.

People who bench incorrectly do not see an increase in their bench press strength without using a new way of cheating even more in the exercise. Their true bench remains the same or actually declines. Plus, they get muscle imbalances and injuries. Like rotator cuff injuries.

Here's an article that explains more about the topic:

http://www.supplecity.com/articles/rotatorcuff.htm

As regular readers know, I was 48 years old in the picture (above, right), taken in December 02 2008. I don't diet down for summer. I don't have good genes for maintaining a lean body, either. I really have to be conscientious and disciplined about it. That doesn't mean I suffer, eat bland foods, or starve myself.

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

Nor does it mean being hungry all the time (you are less hungry on six small meals a day than three large ones), being weak from hunger (on a proper dietary regimen, you will have much more energy than otherwise), or "giving up pleasures" (I have no idea where this concept comes from, unless a person considers being sick a "pleasure.")

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