Health is Wealth

Remember, your health is the number one asset you have. Without it not much else matters. When it comes to exercise, do you do just enough to check the box or do you go above and beyond? Do you go above and beyond at work but fail to do so for yourself. When is the last time you were able to hashtag #treatyoself? I know a lot of people love the hustle, love the grind, whatever you want to call it, I honestly don’t care. Love to say work don’t stop, grind don’t stop. No one is saying that the hustle needs to stop but you must make sure you are taking care of yourself as well. Don’t you care about yourself? Certainly you have to value your health more than your job. But maybe not. The way I like to think of it is you don’t want to ignore your health until you have no option but to pay attention to it.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends strength training at least 2 times per week. They specifically state using a weight level heavy enough to tire the muscles. Are you doing enough to check the box that you think you are checking off? Remember, you have to put in work. Also, they recommend 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise. Both of these mean your heart rate needs to be elevated, it should not feel as if you are chilling at the park having a nice picnic. If you are just starting out then moving is obviously better than not moving. Building that habit first is far more important than just trying to go balls to the wall sporadically. Consistency is always going to be key.

I think the worst thing for killing progress is not working hard enough to ever achieve progress. Typically it is progress that keeps people motivated, that keeps the fire lit under their arse. Measuring progress in more than one way can be crucial to long term success. You can measure fat loss (which is different than weight loss), strength gain, speed of which you get through the work, or ability to do a movement better. All of these measurements are great and are very important to highlight.  

Now, innately we do not know how to strength train or do aerobic or vigorous exercise. Yes you can most certainly get results on your own but how sustainable are they or how confident are you with doing what you are doing. Many times when I visit corporate gyms such as planet fitness or equinox, there are many people who are all doing an awesome job of working towards their goals. However, many of them display movement patterns that are not the best for the body. Whether that is doing back squats with knees caving in towards each other, deadlifts with a rounded back and no tension or bench press with elbows flaring very wide. Again, I commend them for at least trying. However, this can usually lead to injuries especially as we get older which can cause us to stop moving, and generally when we are older and we stop moving, even more bad things start to happen. Suggestion: find a strength coach even if it’s only for a short duration and have them teach you how to move. Preferably a strength coach who is a StrongFirst certified instructor.

Something is always better than nothing, as I always say. This isn't meant to be taken to the extreme though, I still value effort. If your choice is nothing or something, obviously choose something, but effort needs to be a focus to truly reap all of the rewards of exercise. You can only know the Power of Strength if you work on building strength. There are so many valuable lessons that come along with strength training that help with life outside the gym.

Looking Ahead

The present is ever fleeting. Since what is done can’t be changed we need to always think about the next moment. How do we do better going forward, how do we be better going forward? So many times we are thinking about the right here right now. There is not much we can do about the present moment, it quickly comes and goes. Thinking about further down the road is more beneficial than trying to think right here right now. So many of us want results right now, want to be big and strong or small and strong or skinny and “fit” right now. Wanting these things without having put a lot of thought into what any of it really means and having no thought as to what that would mean for the future you. Since we can’t become physically strong in a moments notice, nor can we lose fat or become “fit” in a second, we need to plan for what we want in the future and start to take the proper steps needed to end up at that destination one day.

Whatever our current state is, it is all our doing. We must own up and take responsibility for whatever our current state is if we wish to ever change anything, whether we are happy about ourselves, frustrated, or content. Usually we have not taken the time to think about what our actual goals are and where we see ourselves, who we see ourselves with, what we will be like personality wise, physically, what problems may arise, what patterns keep showing up, and what we need to do to see these things come true, etc. Many of us run in essentially a zombie state and when we stop to think, we are somehow somewhere not really sure how we got there. Going forward we can choose to pick up certain practices to be more conscious of our daily tasks, interactions, behaviors, and moods. That way, when we wake up in the future, we know how we got there.

Creating a to do list can be very helpful for all of us especially in today's world filled with distractions. Creating a to do list makes it so we aren’t just moseying around doing a little bit of this and that. It keeps us regimented, it keeps us doing things that have a purpose. A to do list means you had to plan ahead and decide what order you need to get things done in. Often when we allow ourselves to do whatever we feel like doing we end up killing many minutes watching pointless videos or reading new articles about anything just because they're new. A to do list helps to outline how much we need to get done in a day and breaks it down to say when we will do what. An example of a to do list looks like this:

August 9th

   5:00 Wake Up! Get ready for work

   5:30 Make breakfast

   7:00-10:00 Work

   10:00-11:00 Write blogpost

   11:00-12:00 Work on Regis’ program

   12:00-12:30 Eat lunch (Chicken, rice, spinach, and avocado)

   1:00-1:45 Nap

   2:00-3:00 Strength Train

   4:00-8:00 Work

You get the idea. You want to plan all of the things you have to do or else the things you don’t need to do will find a way to suck up as much of your time as possible aka procrastination.

Another great option to help us be more conscious of our daily life would be to journal. Journaling is a great way to think about the day and to further create some long term memories. At the end of the day, you can spend anywhere from a minute to 5 minutes writing down any detail you can think of. From what you ate, to who you saw, what you did, how you felt, certain thoughts that may have plagued you all day etc. Writing down what you did can help your brain convert the information from short term to long term memory which will help you remember down the road how you arrived at your current location. One journaling trick that I have used in the past during some trying times was to write down the highlight of my day. This allowed me to start to appreciate more the smaller things in life or the things that you can’t put a number value on such as relationships. It also made every day a better day no matter how crappy it might have been.

This brings me to the next great option to enhance consciousness, meditation. Meditation has had a profound impact on my life. I do not practice every day but initially, I did and I feel it has had a huge carryover into the rest of my life ever since. Meditating allows you to be very present in the moment, becoming aware of your thoughts, mood, physical state, any tension, etc. These practices have allowed me to discover details in my daily life that normally went unnoticed such as acute allergic reactions to certain foods and how my mood differed on days I exercised and days I did not. It also allowed me to be more cognitive of my shoulders shrugging up towards my ears which is very common, especially for those who have to sit and work at a computer all day. The breathing and centering practice that comes along with meditation also allows me to stay calm in situations that would usually rile me up, as well as better enjoy every moment that I am in which helps me remember situations better. I have always been impressed by people who can remember situations and story-tell and this must be how they do it.

Our goal is to break free from being a zombie. In order to do so, we must take back control of our mind. Work to have a better understanding of how we work and why we do what we do, like what we like, and think about what we think about. Then we can start to feel the true Power of Strength.

Do What You Don't Want to Do

Oftentimes what people want to do and what would get them the results they are looking for are two completely different things. Completely different. For example, someone might want to become faster at running the mile so they keep running multiple long miles per day because that’s what they want to do. However, what would generally help them accomplish their goal would be to learn how to actually run since most people have never taken the time to learn this skill. I’ll be the first to tell you very few people naturally run well. So learning to run would be one huge improvement as well as working on interval sprints to increase foot speed. Doing more of what you are already doing and expecting different results, we’ve gone over this already, it’s insane. 

Sometimes what your body may need is completely different from what you want to do. You want to lose weight but don’t want to temporarily cut back on certain foods and are unwilling to create better food habits but instead want to keep adding more of whatever exercise you are already doing. Don’t get me wrong exercise is great but exercise with no adjustment to your diet is not the answer. We have to be able to do what we don’t want to do some of the time to get what we ultimately want. 

For all of you athletes out there don’t think you are off the hook. You want to get better at your sport so what do you do? You do your sport year round. Leaving you with no time to work on imbalances or movement quality and putting yourself at a higher risk for overuse injuries. Put the football, baseball, soccerball down for a second and learn how to properly do a squat. Or how to properly do a plank or a deadlift or how to actually jump and land. Doing more of what you are already doing doesn’t mean you will get better at it. Many times fixing certain imbalances you may have in your hips shoulders ankles or feet is exactly what your body needed to be able to cut a little bit faster and sharper, or jump a little bit higher, or throw a little bit harder. Good strength coaches know the importance of post season training consisting of getting the body back into balance and allowing the tissues that have been strained for months a little bit of rest. You, the athlete, may not want to recover because you may feel that you are falling behind but in all actuality, rest and recovery are what allows your body to adapt so without it you will be stuck in a state of not getting better. There are other aspects of the sport you can practice that doesn’t involve being on the field such as the mental aspect. It might not be sexy but generally, that’s what separates the goods from the greats. 

My last rant goes to those who want to get stronger but habitually max out. Please stop. When you were new to lifting that probably worked for a little bit but now that you have hit the wall, constantly checking your max stopped “making you stronger”. I know the fun thing to do is to see how much weight you can move every time you are in the gym. It’s intense, it’s exhausting and it makes you feel like you did something. Problem is, for strength training, not every session needs to feel like the hardest thing you have ever done. It needs to undulate, both volume and intensity. It needs to be somewhat programmed and calculated. This will ensure that you don’t end up injured by constantly trying to lift as much weight as possible for as many reps as possible every session. Most of all your program needs to not be absolute. If you feel like crap one day maybe don’t lift heavy. Listening to your body and giving it rest when it needs it will allow you to have more healthy training days in the future. Ignore what your body is asking for and expect to be sidelined at some point in your future. 

We cannot always do what we want to do. Getting used to doing at least one thing per day that we don’t want to can help build mental strength. With mental strength and resilience, it allows us to accomplish whatever we put our minds to. We will no longer look at obstacles as impenetrable walls. We will actually start to change and become the person we want to be. It will be uncomfortable at times. It may even feel boring at times. But taking the right steps to get you to your goals is always worth it in the end. 

DAMN.

BLOOD. We may not all be blood brothers/sisters but we need to treat each other as if we are. The knowledge you have, share it with the world. You see your brother/sister struggling, give them a helping hand. At the end of the day we all have the same human blood coursing through our veins.

DNA. We all have DNA that is 99% the same from one another. In that DNA we have the ability to be strong, resilient, intelligent, caring, curious, loving, and social. But we also have the ability to be weak, frail, ignorant, abusive, dismissive, and antisocial. It is up to us to choose what we are. To choose to be Strong.

YAH. For some of us it’s god/gods, for others it’s faith. Whatever you believe in it’s important to know that you have to believe you are capable of accomplishing whatever you wish to accomplish. If you do not believe, then you can not achieve. Belief is important and action is just as important. Faith without action is a dream not a goal because you cannot accomplish anything just by thinking about it.

ELEMENT. You have to battle the elements to reach your goals. The elements are anything that is meant to distract you from seeing what you are meant to see or from being who you are meant to be. At the same time you must be in your element, the world you see for yourself, don’t conform to try to fit in, be authentically you.

FEEL. How you feel about something is how you will see the world. You can either have negative or positive thoughts/views. The way you view the world will often shape your actions. Want to change your world? Then change how you feel about it which will then change your behavior. Controlling yourself is the only thing you can control.

LOYALTY.  We need to be loyal to ourselves. If we truly love ourselves then we need to treat ourselves that way. If you have certain goals you want to reach and constantly sabotage yourself, I would question your loyalty. Tell me who you loyal to.

PRIDE. Letting your pride get in the way of you becoming better is a common practice. Often we are so hardwired to not ask for help and to figure everything out on our own because our pride won’t let us admit that we need help. Ask for help, it does not mean you are weak, it means that you are strong and wise enough to know that you could use a hand.

HUMBLE. Remaining humble after accomplishing anything is key if you don’t want to be an a-hole. More importantly remaining humble allows you to continue to learn and grow in the future.

LUST. We all have our vices. Usually those vices can get us into “trouble”. Whether it’s cookies, chips, or whatever we like to over consume. Learning to flee from lust can be pivotal to feeling in control of ourselves again.

LOVE. If we truly love something than we need to work relentlessly for it. If we truly love ourselves than we need to show it in our daily actions.

XXX. We all grapple between decisions to make. We know some decisions to be good and some to be bad. However, sometimes it is in our minds to do the bad based on the conditions. Stressful day at work, someone cut you off in traffic, maybe you haven’t eaten in a few hours. These conditions are triggers for making the “bad” choices. Working to keep these triggers at bay will make it easier to make the “good” choices going forward.

FEAR. Allowing our fears to cripple us is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome and also one of the most common. Fears are often warranted, however using courage to face them can be the most rewarding things we do in our lives. Tackle a fear today.

GOD. Remembering that we are all a product of our environment is important to understand. We never accomplish anything on our own. We always need others and have always had others who have helped us get to wherever we are.

DUCKWORTH. Show everyone love and you never know how it can help you in the future. Everything in this world really is a butterfly effect, so any act that isn’t kindness has a chance to change the world for the worse.  

Click here to listen to Kendrick Lamar's latest album which inspired this post. 

Discover New Things

Try something new! That has been my theme this summer. I have paddle boarded for the first time ever. Parasailed in the Pacific Ocean, slept outside, slept on a beach, kayaked in the ocean, worked with a major magazine, plus many other firsts. Each experience has given me a different and new perspective. Every time you do something new you create new neural pathways. This means your brain essentially grew, not in size but in density. These neural pathways are like muscle development from resistance training. It is great for your brain and can go a long way towards keeping your brain healthy. The summer is the perfect time to try new ways of moving your body or experiencing new stimuli. I think it’s great to find a new way to move your body, stimulate your mind, and enhance your soul.

Finding a new way to move your body can be relatively easy or hard, depending on how adventurous you have been. Learning how to tumble, do a handstand or jump correctly can be fun ways to move your body around. If you do yoga and have never strength trained you can try learning how to do a goblet squat, kettlebell swing, or a turkish get up. If all you do is strength train you can try yoga or kinstretch. Another great way to move your body in a new way is getting out on the water and trying any of the water sports you have never done before, such as kayaking, paddle boarding, or canoeing. Also, you can learn to scuba or snorkel, these will give you a different perspective, as well as a new chance to express yourself through movement and to explore your environment.

Exploring new ways to stimulate your mind is very easy no matter what you have done in your life. Reading is one of the best ways you can stimulate your mind. There is an infinite number of books, articles, blogs that you can read to last you a lifetime. Each is written by a different person which instantly gives you a new perspective. If you are used to reading fiction you can try non fiction and vice versa. Another way to stimulate your mind is going somewhere new. Whether this is simply taking a different path home or actually taking a trip to a new place. Seeing something you have never seen before gives your mind new information to take in and process. Seeking out novelty can also help with creativity which may be just the spark you need in your life to finish a project or to begin one.

Enhancing your soul consist of doing something that stimulates both your mind and your body. Meditation is obviously one of the best things you can do for your soul. However, taking your meditation into the great outdoors can be a game changer. Having the sun on your back, ocean breeze on your face and hearing the sound of waves, birds and whatever else can really add to the experience. If you’ve already meditated in every place possible, you can try another form of soul enhancing such as doing a cold plunge or sitting in a sauna or steam room. On the surface both of these experiences seem like they are just physical. However, once you try the cold plunge you quickly realize it’s a mental game to stay in that frigid water for more than two seconds.

There are many other ways you can stimulate your mind, body, and soul. These are just a few options of things I have tried, some of which I have incorporated into my life. All of these stimulants are great, even if they are not new to you, you can still gain a lot from consistently doing any of these stimulants. Remember that taking care of your mind won’t happen on its own, you have to put forth effort to make sure it remains in good health much like you do with your body.