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Feb 23, 2004 Ever think that the government spends a lot of its time and your money looking for new and improved ways to make us all feel bad about ourselves? Well you don’t have to because I have done all the thinking for you. Recently a friend (a skinny annoying friend) encouraged me to check my BMI. BMI stands for your body mass index. Supposedly it’s a much more accurate measurement of your over all health than a good once over in the mirror naked (my preferred method). Plugging you personal stats into a BMI calculator is easy, just your height and weight then return. The real pain begins when you see just how bad off you are. I usually consider myself to be in fairly good, if somewhat roundish shape. I run a few times a week or hit the gym. I am also an active fencer (the pointed end into the other guy kind, not the keep the cows from roaming one), and to top it off I used to be a professional wrestler in a two different, albeit minor federations. My BMI strongly disagrees with my assessment. At the moment my BMI is 31.5, which makes me obese. Not the best news to get on a Monday morning. Going back to my preferred method I stood in front of a mirror naked for a few seconds and did not see an obese man looking back at me. I saw a stupid looking, insecure but relatively in shape guy staring back. I decided to plug in the numbers of someone that I have always thought of as the epitome of “in shape” Chris Benoit. Chris Benoit started his career in arguably the most intense training facility in the world, the Hart Dungeon. He made his debut in Calgary Stampede Wrestling. His style at the time and to this day reflects his early influence, most notably the dynamite kid. He went on to wrestle in as Kid Pegasus in Japan and Mexico. His debut in WCW was remarkable and he definitely stood out to the fans if not the company’s management. He went on to barbwire city (ECW in Philadelphia) where he and fellow cruiserweights Eddie Guerrero, Dean Melanko and Psychosis changed the way American audiences thought about wrestling. He has earned the reputation among fellow wrestlers as one of the hardest working men in the business, and the respect of true fans of the sport. Now he has the chance at Wrestle Mania XX to become the world heavyweight champion in the WWE. Now for the bad news, Chris Benoit’s BMI is 31.3. According to our government he is in the obese category, with me. When I wrestled I would have done almost anything to have more in common with the rabid wolverine, and now I do. Granted his body fat content is a 10th of mine, and he could fold me up faster than the flash on laundry day, still it’s nice to know that the surgeon general considers us to have the same body type. I’d write more but the pizza guys here and I’m in training. ------------ Email T.H. Davidson: thdavidson@freelancewriters.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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