Dooley Noted: 12/23/2014 A few days ago, I decided to eat a few squares of pizza with my family. They eat very little, but they eat the local food more consistently than I. They ended up with mild bellyaches and nausea from the pizza. I ended up with the most violent version of food poisoning I’ve ever experienced. Two days later, I’m bouncing back to my normal self. But I was severely weakened by the … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/22/14 My mom used to be nervous to pick up heavy things from the ground. I heard her say things like this: “It’s too heavy to pick up. I’ll hurt myself.” And she’s right. Picking up heavy things without proper biomechanics can absolutely increase one’s chance of injury. So yesterday, my mother called me to talk about lifting a heavy car battery from the ground. She remembered what we talked about. She centered … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/20/2014 My mother is 65 years young. She doesn’t go to the gym, to my chagrin. But she walks and moves often, and she watches her nutrition. I am most impressed with the fact that I’ve never in my life heard her complain about back or knee pain. Then yesterday, I saw her fetch a skillet and bend like this: Although I want her body a bit more upright, she bends her hips … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/19/14 A few days ago, a popular website posted the following meme: “The best way to get better at pull-ups is 3 sets of stop being so fat.” Now, I hate the F-word and rarely use it. But the meme made me laugh. When I stopped laughing, I realized how the tongue-and-cheek comment hit home. My pull-ups would be infinitely easier if I weighed less. So, I put a band around my foot … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/16/2014 My business partner, Jason Kapnick, is an elite powerlifter. He deadlifts over 600 pounds. What’s special about Jason is that he isn’t condescending to people who are new to the strength world. He encourages people to be what he affectionately calls “animals.” In September, I deadlifted 225 pounds for one rep and felt a sharp pain in my left SI joint. That pain lasted for two weeks and ruined my training and … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/15/14 In order to be fit, sometimes you have to throw a fit. Dr. Anne Jeffres, a world renowned acupuncturist and herbalist, said something in my first herbs class that I won’t soon forget. “Stressed out people are like pressure cookers. If they would just throw a fit, they’d feel a lot better.” From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, stress starts to stagnate circulation inside of you. You feel it in ways … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/13/14 I don’t go a day without seeing people scratch lottery tickets. It’s at the deli. It’s on the subway. I see some of them win, just to give it right back for more tickets. I see others lose and aimlessly toss their tickets into the trash. I get the appeal. It’s fun to win. I hope every person who plays the lottery does it for fun. But most people do it because … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/12/2014 On Tuesday, the New York rain came at me in all directions for the entire day. I watched people’s umbrellas turn inside out. I observed as people were tossed around and lost their balance. We cannot fully prepare sometimes for what hits us. I watched as people grumbled and complained as their clothes got wet and their hair became tangled. I felt myself join them for a second. Then I had a … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/10/14 Yesterday in lab, the rain was pouring down heavily. But the room was full of brightness. The students are gearing up for finals time. For that 2.5 hours, I felt myself pulled in many directions, answering astute questions and helping students find hidden structures. These were no longer the nervous students I met in late October. They were more unsure of themselves then. Anatomy is hard. Anatomy is voluminous. But they braced … Read more
Dooley Noted: 12/9/2014 The best day of my life started with a migraine. I don’t get them thrice weekly, like I did at the beginning of this decade. Acupuncture and movement therapy knocked them down to once every other month or so. But it happens. And I can’t tolerate migraine medication. So, I don’t take it. I think I’ve been gifted with too much energy. Sometimes my body can’t focus it. It used to manifest … Read more