The David Boles Bells Blog.
Ring Them Boles Bells!
“Ring them bells
from the sanctuaries
’Cross the valleys
and streams”
Pressing Kettlebells Over the Age of 50!
Manage A1C with Kettlebells
Hello, my delightful BolesBells.com Kettlebell friend! You're here because you probably already know, exercise is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. But did you know it can also have a direct impact on your A1C levels if you're dealing with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes?
Hydro Homies Unite!
Hydro Homies Unite! Yes, water is the way of the world. We often don’t value the swallow that follows us from birth to the grave. Some folks never drink water! They don’t like the taste — because, they feel, water has no taste. We’re here to turn that idea around — water is life! Our bodies are pretty much just a big puddle of water. We are 60% wet stuff!
Vitamin D Pinnacles and Pitfalls
Vitamin D is known to modulate the immune system, enhancing innate immunity by promoting the production of antimicrobial peptides. It also modulates adaptive immunity by inhibiting the production of proinflammatory cytokines. This immune-balancing act may help the body to respond more effectively to infections, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for COVID-19
How I Blew Out My Anus By Lifting, Bro
However, the next day, in the shower, while I was washing all my private parts — and if you are not washing your anus and testicles, and the bottom of your feet every time you shower, you’re not doing it right, you must always gently scrub and check for things that don’t belong or feel out of place — and I was lucky in that as I was washing my delicate bits I felt something really out of place anally and out of the ordinary rectally.
CoQ10 and Niacin for Lowering Blood Pressure
In our ongoing effort to stay alive, relatively young, and prosperous of mind and heart health, we examine today the rumored positive effects of combining CoQ10 and Niacin to help lower our blood pressure. Beware that none of this is medical advice, and if you are on a formal medication system, don’t add any supplements before you consult your doctor.
Long Covid and Adverse HRV
We don’t yet understand much about the incoming perils with Long Covid. It appears there is growing evidence that Long Covid is already adversely affecting people’s lungs, and hearts, and the need for urgent emergency transplantation — and we have to be cautious, and careful, about moving forward in a safe way that leads to longevity and conservative recovery!
Alcohol and Exercise
There’s an old rumor out there — spread by the person who is the topic of the rumor — that a certain bodybuilder would get protein more quickly absorbed into his system by using vodka instead of water to mix heavy scoops of protein powder for the drinking!
HRV Revolution
Don’t compare your HRV with anyone else’s — that is a problem many of us have, we want to know how we add up to others in our community, or age group — well, with HRV, we only compare ourselves to our own readings over time. That’s why it’s important to record our HRV in a reliable way for memory and reference.
Do Not Mix Weights and Stretching
I was doing deep stretching while also lifting heavy weights in the same workout session. That is completely dangerous for a myriad of reasons, mainly because it confuses the muscles in your body: “Are we stretching, or are we compressing?” Fair question, and my answer was always failing.
High Caffeine Consumption Disrupts Heart Rhythms
Sometimes, we cannot avoid caffeine. It is in our beans. It is in our medications. Caffeine is even part of a lactated ringer — if you ever need to have an IV stuck in your arm. So, what to do? Do we create a hard line against ingesting any and all free will caffeine, or do we try to go with the flow, and evaluate each moment of acceptance as if it’s our first?
Beware of Adjustable Dumbbells
Adjustable dumbbells and Kettlebells may appear to be money-saving and time-salvaging — but they are not what they appear to be; you cannot just look at that type of Bell and know its weight and size and that isn’t a good thing when you are working out.
Covid Related Athlete Deaths
As Monkeypox takes over health headlines from Covid-19, the long term aftereffects of Covid on the body — and the body politic! — are still lurking among us, and within us, and athletes appear to be at higher cardiac risk of future Covid damage to the heart than the rest of the population.
Time-Restricted Eating is Ineffective
For years, I have often been a fan of intermittent fasting as a weight loss method. I would often recommend eating all your daily calories before noon, and then fasting until the next morning when you woke up and started the cycle all over again.
Covid-19: Overfat Syndemic
By considering the big picture view of Covid-19 as a Syndemic, we see that susceptibility to disease would not occur, or would become less serious, if the vulnerabilities to infections and spreading of disease were reduced by proactive measures.
Smart Wearables Beating Your Heart
I am a big fan of wearables that give you delicate insights into the complicated status of your heart health. As we age, we become slower, and fatter, and more unsubstantial in what we are able to accomplish. If our wearables can help track us, and get us up, and moving — then, just perhaps, we will be able to enhance our lives with the help of some amazing technology.
Oura Ring 3 Generation Failure!
There are some moments in a well-worn life when you don’t want to have to be forced to take the next, fateful, step off the pyramid and into the pitfalls of death; but now I fear, is the time for that tasking in finally reviewing the Generation 3 Oura Ring.
Cardio Health Comes From Strength, Not Cardio
Good cardio health, to me, means lowering your blood pressure. You lower your blood pressure by working your heart in the right, most efficient, way. Weightlifting can build muscle, but just lifting heavy things is not always the best way to keep a predictable cardio result.
Gaining Grip Strength
If you use Kettlebells to build arm, torso, and shoulder strength, please know you are building up your grip strength, too! Grip strength is important because it determines how many grocery bags you can carry at a time, how long you can hold onto your perilously hanging friend over the rocky cliff, and how many pounds of pressure your hand can create to crush a can, cut some tin, or shake a hand!
Sleep Your Way to Strength
Sleep is vital. I never used to believe that when I was younger because I worked a lot, I went to school a lot, and I was fine — or so I thought — sleeping 4-5 hours a night for decades. There was work to be done, I can sleep in my grave. However, now that I am older, and more brittle, and maybe just a wee bit wiser, I accept the importance of sleep now as non-negotiable.
Your Poop and You!
There’s nothing worse than starting a Kettlebell routine, and then feeling that recognizable call of nature when you have to park the bell, and then go park yourself on the porcelain throne! Then you have to clean up, and return to your workout, and then worry about building up a bit of swamp ass in the gym, or stinking up your home gym.