Local bodybuilder pumped for competition
By Jesús Ibarra, Sept 29, 2006

A healthy mind in a healthy body is a common aspiration, but relatively few work hard to achieve it. We all know we should include physical exercise in our daily lives, no matter our age, combined with a proper diet.

Sanmiguelense Ramiro Ramírez Reynoso, better known as “Lobo” (Wolf), has dedicated his life to bodybuilding, complemented by good nutrition. Lobo explains that his nickname came about because his mother was very pretty and his father had a lot of hair on his body, so people used to say of them: “There goes Little Red Riding Hood with the wolf.”

On July 30, Lobo, age 61, took second place in the veterans category at a bodybuilding competition sponsored by the National Federation of Bodybuilding (Federación Nacional de Fisicoculturismo). On September 10, he competed in the Mr. Mexico competition, held at the Ferrocarrilero Theater in Mexico City. He also took second place in that contest. 

Lobo explained that the judging is based on the definition, shape and volume of the competitors’ muscles, along with symmetry.

In his age category, Lobo was the only outstanding bodybuilder from Guanajuato. In a few weeks, he will participate in an international competition in Guadalajara. 

Lobo has been a bodybuilder since he was 32. As a very young man he boxed, but when he became a lawyer he decided to practice a less violent sport and took up bodybuilding. 

“I began to read books about the sport, but there was not a gymnasium in San Miguel. I had to open my own,” said Lobo, who opened Lobo’s Gym at Potrero 8, Colonia San Antonio, in 1977. For his own benefit and that of his clients, he went to Santa Monica, California, to study nutrition. He has left behind the practice of law and concentrates on his gym and his bodybuilding career. 

After years of constant training, in 1985, when he was 40, he won the Mr. Mexico competition, and in 1986 and 1987 he was named Mr. Guanajuato. Following his success he retired from competitions, but he continued training and working in his gymnasium. 

His sons carry on their father’s tradition of bodybuilding. “They are both professional trainers, and they help me in the gym,” said Lobo. He tried to convince his sons to participate in the Mr. Mexico competition, but they refused. “They say that these days it is more difficult to win than it was in my time.” In order to show his sons that anything is possible, he decided to participate again in the contest. “I began my training on January first of this year,” said Lobo. “Age does not matter. There is a category for people older than 70 and one for competitors younger than 15.”

“Everybody believes bodybuilding is a very hard sport, but it is not,” said Lobo, who added that in the hands of a good trainer and with proper nutrition anyone can see results.

Blowing the shofar, part II

Yom Kippur is the “Day of Atonement,” the annual Jewish observance of fasting, prayer and repentance. Congregation Shalom San Miguel’s observance of the holiday begins on the eve of Yom Kippur, Sunday night, October 1. This is Kol Nidre night in which six Shalom members representing the congregation will stand, cradling Torahs in their arms, while listening to three solemn repetitions of that ancient prayer. 

Buenos Aires-born Alicia Rappoport will chant the Kol Nidre as well the Avinu Malkenu and other parts of the liturgy on Sunday evening and the next day, Yom Kippur proper. For Rappoport, singing for the high holy days is now a source of blessing and inspiration. “Every year I discover a new deepening. As I sing the ancient prayers, I experience a transcendent sense of the spirit and the glory of creation.”

The origins of Yom Kippur were common to many cultures throughout the Near East in ancient times—an annual ritual to purge the accumulation of communal sins from the holy places, the sacrificial shrines and the people. Leviticus, Chapter 16, describes how the high priest was to bring a bull and two goats as a special offering. The bull was offered as atonement for the acts of the priest and his household, and one of the goats, chosen by lot, was sacrificed to purge the shrine of the defilement caused by the sins of the people. The other goat is then released into the wildderness. 

No goat will be exiled from the Quinta Loreto on Sunday, but the story of Azazel and the goat being sent out to the wilderness will be chanted by men and women of the congregation in the distinctive holiday “trope,” a melody used only on these special days. They will read the Hebrew text from a Torah scroll, handwritten in kosher ink on an animal skin. 

Yom Kippur is a communal expression of remorse and reconciliation.

Sunday, October 1 

Kol Nidre night, 7pm eclectic service

Monday, October 2

9:30am–2pm, Shacharit (includes Torah service and Yizkor)

2–3:30pm, Musaf (includes Avodah and Martyrology)

5–6:30pm, Minchah (Torah reading and Hebrew schoolchildren present Jonah play)

6:30–8:10pm, Neilah (Havdalah and break-the-fast follow)

All services are held in the TV Salon of the Quinta Loreto and are free of charge and open to the public. To attend the community break-the-fast, please call Ellie Shuman at 152-7850 or Francine Vogel at 154-4979 to make reservations.

Free pet sterilization campaign in the community of Marroquin

The veterinarians of the College of Veterinarians of San Miguel who participated in the recent sterilization program in the community of Marroquin were Drs. Alma Miranda, Deborah Loredo, Rolando Tellez, Octavio Capitán and Tulio Patlán. Josué was the general helper.

Congratulations to the community of Marroquin for its participation, organization and willingness to make the program a success.