Don't Live to Train

I'm a work in progress. The me of yesteryear lived to train. All I could focus on was my workout session. My days and thoughts actually revolved around how I was going to train. I truly lived to train. I was simply missing the forest because I was focused on a really big tree right in front of my face. I was missing the point. I'm guessing there are other people out there who do the same thing with their training. If so, this post is for you. 

Training should simply be used to enhance our lives; whether is is strength training, skill training, endurance training, or whatever kind of training. If our life is a particular sport that we play and our livelihood depends on that sport, then training obviously should be used to enhance our livelihood in that respect as well. Training should be used to make us better so we can enjoy our lives more fully. Training should not be our lives, however. There is so much more to life than how many snatches we can perform, or how many times we can bench press 315 pounds. In the long run, these things do not matter. What matters are things like: How did you spend your day? , Did you make someone else's day better? , Where you able to climb those stairs pain free today? , Did you hug your children today - twice, for good measure? Our training should, if anything, enhance our ability to make our days and the days of those around us better. 

Don't get me wrong, it is okay to enjoy and look forward to our training sessions. They can be the some of the best self therapy sessions we can engage in. However, they should not "make or break" us. We are more than what we do to get stronger. I am not a kettlebeller, or a crawler, or a lifter. I am a husband, a dad, a son, a neighbor. YOU are those things too. 

Again, my world used to revolve around my training. I would go to bed excitedly anticipating the next day's session. The quality of my day was actually determined by the quality of my training session. I was SO shallow. I could only see that tree (my training session) and I never saw the forest (the world around me). 

Thankfully, I am wiser today than I was yesterday. Not that I am wise, mind you. I'm still learning and growing. However, today, I know that there is more to life than training. If anything, training is, or should be, a tool that we use to make our lives better. It is a great tool. I know that my life is truly better because of the way that I train. I thank God for Becoming Bulletproof almost every single day. Sometimes, multiple times in a day. I truly believe I can conquer any physical activity I set out to accomplish. There is no mountain I cannot climb. However, and more importantly, my life is better because I see the forest around me - the people, the lives, the world. I want to make all of that better now, not just make me better. 

If you're still with me, I'm sorry for the random post. Just remember, training should enhance your life, not be your life. There is so much more to our lives than the 30 to 90 minutes we spend each day training. 

Thanks so much for reading!

TA

Today's training: 

A spontaneous notion to perform 100 yard sprints - up hill! x 8 sprints. Felt great!

What an awesome way to train "the X"! 

A Case of the AMS

I owe this one to a client of mine who came in one day and said he was suffering from Adult Movement Syndrome. Yes, he was having a case ot the AMS. 

I thought that was clever when he said it. And then I thought about it. That is absolutely the problem with most people today: they have the AMS. Adult Movement Syndrome is running rampant throughout our country. If you are unsure if you've witnessed AMS, or even have AMS, here are some of its signs:

lethargy,   huntched over posture,   head enters the room before the body does,  
person may waddle from side to side when they walk,   peson may have a hard time climbing up one flight of stairs before they give out,   person avoids getting down on floor for fear of net getting up off floor,   person cannot run but instead they shuffle,  etc.

There are many other signs that accompany Adult Movement Syndrome, but they can all be summed up by being viewed as a general lack of vitality. AMS happens to us when we chose a sedentary life over an exhilarating life. It is sad really, contracting the AMS can be 100% avoidable. All we have to do is stay engaged and move often - deliberately with purpose. 

There are many factors that can lead to getting a case of the AMS: We are taught to sit still for 6 to 8 hours a day at a young age, we are surrounded by a plethora of technology that makes our lives so easy, we rarely need to move, we think it childish to engage in childish things like play, and we fill our daily calendars to the brink without much time for our own well being. 

If you think you, or someone you know, may suffer from the AMS, take heart! There is a cure. AMS can be reversable if you act today. All you have to do is engage in life! 

• Learn to play
• take frequent "movement" breaks at work (remember, not too long ago it was acceptable for people to take frequent smoke breaks!) 
• avoid the gravitational pull of the chairs that surround you at every turn
• learn to get down on the ground so you can get up off the ground (this one is huge - don't miss this one!)
• make time for yourself, then take it
• explore your world, the beautiful world around you, and break out of all the walls that hide you day in and day out

Again, no one has to suffer from the AMS. The human body is more than just a lump of flesh, to treat it as such is a crime against God and nature. Our bodies are perhaps the most amazing creations that have ever been. You were made to be amazing, man! Its true. Now, Get Up and go eradicate the AMS!

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It has been a while since I have posted any training on this site. Sorry, I do still train. Though mostly I play around a lot. Anyway, here is what I did today:

A1 - Reverse lunges with 2-24k kettlebells in each hand: 5 right, 5 left x 4 sets
A2 - Get-ups while holding a 60 slosh ball! : 5 right, 5 left  x 4 sets
B1 - More reverse lunges with the 2 -24ks: 5 right, 5 left x 6 sets
B2 - Naked Warrior Pushups (Team Pavel! ;) - small joke there to those that know): 5 right, 5 left x 6 sets 

Hope you have a great week!

TA

Sacrifice

I am fortunate. No, I am blessed. The people I train, my clients, become my friends. So, I go to work, and train my friends. What a blessing!

One of my clients recently asked if I would share a link on facebook. It is about an 8 year old girl who is going to shave her head in order to raise money for cancer research. Think about how beautiful that is. An 8 year old girl who is selfless enough to give her hair away so that others can have hope and fight for a cure. That is truly amazing to me. 

I have an 8 year old son and to even try to rationalize and understand what goes on in his mind would make my head pop off my shoulders! To know that an 8 year old can be moved so much with love and selflessness to want to shave her head for someone else is truly beautiful. 

I read once that there is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. For an 8 year old to shave her head for someone else, she is displaying that same "greater love." Again, it is simply beautiful. Inspiring. And Convicting. 

What does this have to do with training, you might ask. Absolutely nothing. But really, at the same time, it has absolutely everything to do with training. The purpose of training should be to improve and enhance our lives, to make our lives better. But not just our lives, the lives of others around us. As I wrote in an earlier post, your life effects the lives of those around you. 

At some point, if your training is really effective, it should improve your life. If your life is improved, that should improve the lives of others around you. What is the point of living life if it is not to make life better for everyone? When you die, no one will care about how much weight you could lift off the ground. They will care though, about how you impacted their lives - good or bad. 

All I'm trying to say is that if we are building the bodies we were meant to have, we should be living the lives we were meant to live. Taylor, an 8 year old girl, is living the life she was meant to live. She is loving others and making life better for everyone. 

If you want to see her page, it is here: https://www.stbaldricks.org/donate/participant/572485

Here is the post from my client - I mean friend: 

Paul McDaniel

Taylor is an 8 year old girl who has chosen to do something very brave this Friday in support of cancer research. She is participating in a St. Baldrick's event and having her beautiful long hair shaved. Our daughter Melanie is living proof of the successes of cancer research so please support Taylor if you can.

Hope you have a great week. Get out and crawl! 

TA

Make Time - Take Time

If I told you that you would have millions of dollars and never have one financial worry for the rest of your life if you would only baby crawl for 30 seconds everyday, would you do it? Of course - you probably would. 

What if I told you that you that you would have strength and health well into your 90s if you would only baby crawl for 30 seconds everyday? Would you do it? Would you really? Be honest. Most of us would let that slip by, not too intentionally, but we would fail to crawl everyday. 

Why? Most of us would strive for financial security before we would strive for our health. But why? There are few things more precious in life than being healthy enough to actually enjoy life. Ask a person in a rest home if they would rather have money or if they would rather have their health. Guess what, if they are in a nice rest home, they probably do have money. They don't have health. 

Money can't buy happiness, and it can't buy health either. Money may not even lend itself to happiness, but Health does lend itself to happiness. Having good Health comes from taking time each day to make conscious, good decisions about how we move and what we eat. Being healthy is a daily, if not momently, choice. 

The good news is that the choices that lead to being healthy do not have to be difficult. It really can be as simple as taking 30 seconds out of your day to baby crawl. Yes - I really believe that, but only because it is true. Look around you. The true things, the effective things, are the simple things. Simply crawling like a baby a little bit each day can help you build reflexive strength throughout your entire body. It can even nourish your brain and develop new neural connections. Baby crawling is not just for babies. 

All we really have to do to be healthy enough to enjoy life as we age is to take a little time each day and apply deliberate thoughts and actions to becoming better. Health, Vitality, can really start with simply crawling around on the floor. 

Don't believe me? Try it for 30 seconds every day for the rest of your life. When you are 90 and still independent, able to climb stairs and feed yourself, send me an email. My email address is TA199@me.com. I'll be glad to hear from you. You'll be glad to reach out to me.

Do it. I'm waiting on you.

Don't Fill the Container!

Okay, I know I always preach on the horrors of sitting and being static, but I think I need to clarify lest you should think that I am an extremist. We were actually made to sit. -Gasp!- I know, it was actually hard for me to type that sentence out. But marinate on what I'm about to tell you. 


We really were made to sit - for short periods of time, on the ground, or on rocks or other "natural" things. We were made to learn how to move from the ground up. The ground is where all the developmental "magic" happens. It is where we grow and nourish both our brains and bodies. It is also where we rest, when we need to. 


Sitting, or resting, is a natural thing. Watch a child sit on the floor. They look comfortable, they have good posture, and they are still capable of moving in any direction at a moments notice. When a child sits on the ground, or floor, a child is still using his muscles. 


Now, think about how we sit in chairs. We don't really "sit" in chairs, we melt into them. We fill them. In the same way that liquids take on the shape of their containers, we too take on the shape of our chairs. We do not use our postural muscles when we sit in chairs - at least most of us don't. Not only that, we are prone to sit in chairs for hours. When is the last time you saw a child sit on the floor for hours without setting off on an adventure? Children don't sit criss-cross applesauce for hours unless they are made to. Yes, schools may actually be the lead cause to our movement demise. That is where our perfect little bodies are made to learn to sit motionless for hours - in a chair. 


Anyway, we actually fill the containers (chairs) that we sit in. We relax, or slouch. We rely on our fascia instead of our bones and muscles. In a sense, we are actually filling two containers at one time, our fascia and our chairs. 


Are you still with me? Our fascia is just meant to help keep us together and give us a little support. It is not intended to be our main structural support. When we melt into a chair for hours, we let our fascia become our main structural support system, at least it takes on a much larger role than it is meant to. With this new demand placed on our fascia and not our bones and muscles, the fascia decides to grow thicker to help hold our newly chosen lazy postures. After all, we are not using our postural muscles or bones effectively, so our body decides to reinforce the support system that is being used the most. 

This is one of the reasons sitting in chairs for long periods of time, for many years is a negative thing. Our bodies were meant to move. Even at rest in a sitting position, our muscles and bones are still meant to be used effectively. There is no container to fill when a child sits on the floor. If the child sits long enough and gets uncomfortable, or bored, or sees something shiny across the room, he moves. And even while sitting at rest, the child is still using his postural muscles - his body is still engaged. 


If you have to sit for hours a day. Use your bones and muscles and sit up "strong." Don't fill your container. If you muscles fatigue from sitting well, get up and move around. Take frequent walk breaks. Take frequent "marching" or cross-crawl breaks. Move around. Don't rely on your fascia to keep you in the chair. Regain your body. 


Oh, and spend more time playing around on the floor. It was good for you once and it is good for you now.


Have a great weekend!