FTF #83

🔎 In This Fit Tip Friday 

 Inside you'll find:

• Stories of Strength - Beowulf, the open water swimmer

• Lack of sleep and weight gain

• Something I've enjoyed 

• Quote for the Week

📖 Stories of Strength - Beowulf, the Open Water Swimmer 

Beowulf and his childhood friend Breca once challenged each other to a swimming match in the icy northern seas. I guess a regular cold plunge wasn't tough enough for these guys....The men swam in the icy seas for 5 days and nights. They swam while wearing their chain-mail suits with their swords strapped to their sides (for warding off sea creatures). But the wintery waves proved to be more of a challenge then they anticipated. The mountainous swells separated the two men, effectively ending their race. Breca was washed ashore while Beowulf was sent deeper out to sea. With the sun setting, Beowulf found himself now separated from his companion. But he was not alone. The darkness brought sinister sea creatures from the darker depths of the ocean. The monsters began encircling him. These vile vermin began attacking Beowulf in the icy water. One sea dragon in particular grabbed Beowulf and dragged him under to the ocean floor. But this dragon's success was short-lived. He was met with the colder tip of Beowulf's sword. That night, Beowulf killed a total of 9 monsters in the sea. When the sunlight eventually came the next morning, that "bright beacon of God", Beowulf spied the sea-cliffs, and found his refuge from his time at sea. 

💤 Lack of Sleep and Weight Gain 

Are you trying to lose weight? Maybe you've tried counting calories. Maybe you've tried a new exercise routine. But have you tried getting enough sleep? In this study, a group of 80 adults, who were overweight (BMI of 25-29) and habitually slept for <6.5 hours a night, were split into two groups. One group slept for 8.5 hours for two weeks, and the other was the control group with sleep extension. What did they find? The group that slept for 8.5 hours ate almost 300 less calories per day than the control group, but without any change in their diet or their energy expenditures. They were less hungry, with more energy each day.He gives to His beloved sleep (Psalm 127:2). 

📃 Something I've Enjoyed

Joe Rigney's 2023 article on DesiringGod - "First In, Last Out, Laughing Loudest".In the article, Rigney exhorts men to be defined both gravitas and joy. He looks at Psalm 19:4-5, pointing out that the sun is an imaginative picture of what it means to be a man. The sun is described as both a groom and a warrior, a lover and fighter, that runs its course with unconquerable joy. The article's title comes from one of Rigney's favorite quotes on masculinity, which he shares in the article, and which I'll relay in closing. The quote is from from C.S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy, where King Lune teaches his son Cor what kingship is:  

"This is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there's hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land". 

First in, last out, laughing loudest.  

📜Quote for the Week

"Again and again angry creatures rose up, lurking and lunging. I lashed with my sword, my battle blade served me, I bested them all. Dark things from the deep who would devour me happily on the sunken seabed, savaging my bones... how I lived to see the light the Lord only knows". 

-  From Beowulf