Crisscrossing Paths of Happiness and Melancholy

Who among us still sees the signs detailing distances and destinations?

Who among us still travels down the paved road?

We who yearn for enlightenment are but explorers in this lush rainforest of life.  Who’s to say what trail we should take? Are we not all lost; searching for that fabled city of peace and paradise within the dense jungle of the mind?

Yes, we are all lost; our maps tossed aside as we stepped off the pavement and realized how outdated they’ve become.  The paths have all crossed, zigzagging unseen beneath the rainforest canopy, many leading to disappointment and despair.

How many have taken the wrong path, maybe following someone at a fork or wandering blindly to nowhere?  Or perhaps we’ve traveled knowingly down it; caught up in some novel feeling of love we walked hand-in-hand to a dead end of despondency.  And yet others ignore their instincts; unable to accept themselves they’ve pressed forward on a crash-course to ruin.

Not all of us will make it, in fact most will perish; some faltering but minutes from accomplishment, others falling prey to the beasts of the jungle, while the rest lose hope, give up, and fade away into the dense vegetation.

And where is this elusive path they speak of?  It is true many have crossed it without even knowing, but surely none of us actually followed it.   So should we turn about and seek the comfort of the paved roads?  Our paths constantly fork but who’s right is it to say which to take?  If it is not the beaten-path dug in by the dragging feet of others that leads to our Utopia, then should we perhaps yield to our will and follow a fresh, unblazed trail through the wilderness? 

Yes, that is to be my course of action.  To walk the path of my instincts: a path which, although uncut, flows as care-free as water down the stream bed.  Which leaves but one question: If we are courageous enough to follow our own path through the jungle of life, imagine what sweet fruits we are to taste along the way.

Jason Cholewa, Ph.D., CSCS

Of Woman or Beast?

And in the distance he saw a light

That illuminated the dark of night

And while he sat out in the field

His mind spun into a spiraling wheel

When in an instant all turned black

But the wheel still spun free of slack

And he saw a beast, or was it a shadow

Those red ember eyes had a hypnotizing glow

A figure emerged, fair of complexion

And he couldn’t stop staring in its direction

Still the figure came closer, hour glass in shape

And he kept on staring, he had taken the bait

He was highly intrigued by this creature he saw

It was satin soft, but equipped with tooth and claw

So he extended his hand and drew it near

Close to his skin ‘till it breathed in his ear

Now the wheel in his mind came to a sudden stop

While the button from his pants came off in a pop

And it laid him down beneath the starless skies

Where he looked up into its red ember eyes

And it placed a kiss upon his lips

And back and forth gyrated its hips

And their bodies rolled like waves on the sea

Their legs intertwined like vines on the tree

This beautiful fright, he knew what was to be

But he kept on thinking, how can this happen to me

And with its hand raised high it came crashing down

Through his chest and into the ground

Then the hand raised high holding his heart

But no my friends, this wasn't the worst part

Because when the beast rose the treaty was made

The infinite debit of love was the price he had paid

Jason Cholewa, Ph.D.

The Tale of the Cholewa, Part I

To what do I owe this fleeting glimpse into a distant reality?  Each new smell sparks the nostalgia of hazy memories that I cannot for sure say I have ever actually experienced.  Parallels can be drawn, but they twist and turn into a helix so complex it cannot be untangled.

Sights and sounds seem surreal; they flicker and buzz in a blurred web of fading nothingness.  But still there is something in these hills:  something very real about these trees and ferns, these rivers and valleys; something so real that it extends to the bounds of the universe then travels back again only to disappear.

How long has it been since I have seen another human face or pulled the sweet smell of pears roasting on the fire pit into my nostrils.  Days months and years merge seamlessly together into an eternal lifetime then revert back to a single moment before the spirit escapes the body for a brief tour of the universe.  And what fathomless secrets did my spirit uncover while it was on its grand exodus?  It cannot accurately remember – or maybe it just refuses to tell me!

Days and nights pass me by like the leaf fluttering in the autumn breeze.  I used to keep track of the winter seasons but have since lost count after the 20^th; I’ve seen at least nine more pass me by, then again it could have been 12.  Time seems to matter less and less when your only concern is finding dinner – or not becoming that of the wolves.  My old legs may not carry me as agilely as they once have, but my club arm is still powerful.  The wolves discovered that the hard way on one of their hunts; now it seems they check in on me every so often to see if I still stir.  Even so, the wolves have become my only companions as my old acquaintances fell through the disintegrating web of a distant past life.

But still, for how hard as I’ve tried to avoid it, I continuously find myself trapped in this memory web, struggling for freedom against the bonds of the past, disrupting the delicate webbing and letting loose the ghosts of forgotten faces and battles.  And now they’ve chased me across the plains into these hills where I’ve attempted to create my wooden sanctuary.  Ah, but this beautiful forest has become my forked palace; my retreat by day but my prison by night.  You see, each sunset the memories and ghosts return to terrorize me; coming back to life and playing out before my horror stricken eyes.  There is no escaping this nightmare, no wake from this horrible dream, no repose from these coercing illusions, for this is my reality and each evening it reoccurs.

At first I thought I could contribute the madness to my old age; however only now in my self imposed exile have I been able to explore the deepest chasms of my infected mind - and my diagnosis reveals no cure.  I now understand I have been stricken with a disease that has manifested itself over my entire life.  But please, do not think of me as another mad old man, for I once was a very impressive individual.   I discovered in my 7^th year that I alone was different from all the rest. 

Perhaps it best if I start from the beginning:

Jason Cholewa, Ph.D.

The ideal female physique

Today we take a step back from pure strength and conditioning to discuss a more prevalent topic: aesthetics.  I am not a social scientist, nor will I pretend to be, but certain observations are hard to ignore. First, our society is bombarded with images of models and celebrities, and often times some sort of program to explain why they look the way they do. Second, while the herculean male figure has been growing over the past 30 years, the ideal feminine figure has been shrinking. When did we as a society decide that the photo on the right is more attractive than that on the left?

 

It never has. 60 years later, Marylyn Monroe possesses several folds the sex appeal of America’s Top Model. Based on my observations, the fact is that the media, and especially the media that caters to women, is out of touch with the ideal feminine figure. The figure portrayed above on the right promotes unrealistic expectations and unhealthy means to 99% of the female population attempting to achieve the “ideal feminine”.

To further this point, my wife has suggested Jason Cholewa Physical Performance take a poll and compile the results based on the photo below.  To the men reading this I ask: which physique do you find more attractive. To the women I ask: which physique do you feel is more feminine?  Please comment or email me the results.

 

Based on preliminary evidence, both men and women prefer the physique on the right. The question becomes, how do you as a women sculpt that physique?  Please, click follow this link to the official Jason Cholewa Physical Performance site to find out. 

Jason Cholewa, Ph.D, CSCS

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Post Thanksgiving Performance

Jason Cholewa

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Every year after high school my friends and I would organize a football game on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Every year I seemed to perform out of my mind.  I've spoken with other athletes, and many have the same experience: they have awesome workouts for a few days after Thanksgiving.  I always thought this was a result of the massive caloric intake around the Holidays; however, it appears there may be more to it than that.  I dug deeper into the phenomenon, and started asking what people ate on Thanksgiving and the days afterwards, and how they felt they performed. The more I asked, the more a trend came to light, and a quite unexpected one at that.  The people who felt they performed the best, were the ones eating the most pumpkin pie! 

Is pumpkin pie really ergogenic?  Sure, pumpkins contain a wealth of vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, iron, carotenoids, and nicotinic acid, but can it really enhance performance?  Well, it appears that pumpkin fruit extract may be beneficial for both endurance and strength performance, and may also improve recovery from exercise.  What's more, the process to create a pumpkin extract is quite inexpensive, and may in the future (after more research is conducted) be an interesting sport supplement.

Click here to read more about the Powers of Pumpkin

Chili peppers for performance

By Jason Cholewa , Ph.D.

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If you’ve been around the health and fitness world for even a few days you have no doubt hear the term “superfood”.  In fact, nearly every internet guru and magazine has a list of their super foods.  Dave Palumbo notes salmon, Charles Poliquin has avocados and blueberries in his top 10, Strong Lifts has a list of 20 including whole eggs and dates, and it goes on from there. There is no doubt these foods are nutritious and offer health benefits, but are they superfoods? I regress and consult Wikipedia: “Superfood is an unscientific marketing term used in various contexts. For example, it is sometimes used to describe food with high nutrient or phytochemical content that may confer health benefits, with few properties considered to be negative…”.  

Given the benefits of eating a wide variety of food, from here on the word superfood be left out of our vocabulary; however, there is a food with some impressive health and fitness benefits that has not received its due press in the fitness media. Benefits such as increased energy expenditure, fat oxidation, aerobic endurance, reduced inflammation, and even the ability to treat headaches. 

Before we dive into the science of this food, let’s first look at some anecdotal evidence. The Cholewa clan has gathered and consumed these for the past 50 years. How dominant is the Cholewa clan? Our patriarch, Mitch Cholewa, was still dead lifting 200 pound random objects in his 70’s. Mike Cholewa cycles 100’s of miles a day, in his late 50’s, in cold New England winters. Finally, there is the complete dominance of the third generation physical specimens.

All this by eating a few chili peppers! What’s that, you don’t like spicy foods? Blasphemy! Did you know that people living in developed countries who eat a large quantity of spicy foods (> 9 jalapeno peppers per day) are leaner than those living in developed countries who don’t (Wahlqvist & Wattanapenpaiboon, 2001)?

Click here to find out why its time to start!!