Joe Gunter Activates His Abs

Teammates, Joe Gunter needs no introduction! He has been a Perfect Swim Buddy since 2008 -- and his life-changing journey can be summed up in one word: EXCELLENT! Bravo Zulu Joe! Thanks for sharing your story to date with the CHARLIE MIKE Teammates. AMM

The year was 2008 and the person was Alden Mills. I was reading a blog post he wrote, where he made reference to the transversus abdominis – the muscle below your belly button. (It gets hard as a rock when you do a sit-up.) Having recently studied a basic Latin course, and remembering my younger years when I worked as a landscaper and learned Latin botanical names, I had one of those Eureka moments when you don’t necessarily shout “Wow!” but you realize you just learned something very, very important.

I discovered my transversus abdominis. It was a good feeling. You have one too, of course.

From there, I had to face the cold hard fact of the matter: I had neglected my transversus abdominis for my entire adult life. Maybe we did some sit-ups in P.E. class when I was a boy, but that was long ago, and this important abdominal muscle was about as atrophied as atrophy can get.

“The pushup is an active plank.” I can hear Alden Mills’ YouTube-video words as I type. I already knew that the pushup alone was a super exercise, because practically every physical fitness program in every military and law enforcement unit in the world uses it extensively. But Mills perfected it by inventing the rotating handles. Any child can tell this after using the Perfect Pushup for about ten seconds.

Back to the Latin. Incidentally, if you hate Latin, join the club. Almost everyone hates Latin, except teachers. Still, if you want to study botany or anatomy, you are going to learn some by default, because muscles and bones and plants have Latin names, like the one mentioned above.

Look at any picture of the human body where the muscle groups are labeled, as in Gray’s Anatomy. Look at those Latin labels. Look at those muscle groups. Are you using them?

Most people are not using them.

Don’t be like most people.

Be smart. Be strong. Be ready.

Join the Enlightenment.

That’s my story

Joe Gunter