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!

We Don't Play Enough

We don't play enough. Play is essential for health and vitality. It keeps you young, mentally sharp and energized. A life without play is a life that is lacking, well,  life. 


Playing nourishes your brain and your body. I think it literally keeps the ravages of time away. Have you ever noticed the joy illuminating from children? That spark that is in their eyes? Children are constantly playing. You can see this same spark in adults who engage in regular play. 


This observation was really highlighted for me on my family vacation. I spent a whole week on a paddleboard. Everyday I was playing on that board. That was the most awesome vacation I have had, as far as energy and joy goes. Well, the Disney vacation was great too, but that was full of all kinds of play. Anyway, I also noticed that every adult who got on those paddleboards was filled with joy and that "spark" of excitement and youth. I watched people their twenty's to their seventies engage in play on a paddleboard for a week and they were all filled with life! 


Yes, maybe the paddleboard gave them a new challenge to conquer, but isn't that what play is? Engaging in something new to learn, explore, and overcome? Exploration and creativity are a huge part of play. Exploring new experiences, new movements, or forgotten movements. Maybe creating movements, or making games to conquer. All of this keeps your brain engaged and your body healthy. 


Play encourages healthy, whole body movement and coordination. It encourages new thoughts and even the growth of new neural connections. If you are constantly growing and developing your brain, how can you grow old? You can't!


We need to play. The moment we decide we are too grown, or too old to play is the moment we decide to grow old. Choosing not to play is like choosing to decline in health and vitality. Don't do this! Find things you like to do, games you like to play, monkey bars you want to climb, hills you want to conquer. 


Don't put away all childish things. We can learn so much from children. Not only can we learn from how they move and develop, we can learn from how they approach life. They live. We should be living too. Go outside and play!

Pictures say a lot, but not everything

Don't believe everything you see. It is easy to do. I know. I've done it and do it often. I'm a work in progress though. Anyway, there is a wonderful picture floating around about a child squatting. It is a great picture, no doubt. In the picture there is a child squatting with a perfect squat. His knees are over his feet, his hips are well below parallel, his spine is straight, his torso is upright and his neck is in a neutral position. It is a perfect squat - for fitness. 


This picture is used to illustrate how adults are supposed to squat. Babies squat this way, and you should too! That is a partial truth. The picture is not telling the whole story. For example, do you think maybe the babies neck was in a neutral position because his gaze was fixed on his hands? 





I think that is a strong possibility. How about that back? Well, it is perfectly straight. That lumbar is strong. 


But check this out:

This is my nephew. He is adorable. He moves perfectly. This is a pretty good squat. His back is not that straight though. His lumbar is still strong, but he has some rounding going on. Not much, but a little. When he wants to, he straightens his spine when he squats. I've seen him do it lots of times. When he is investigating something on the ground though, he rounds. Also, look at his head position, he is looking at me. Some extension and rotation in his neck. When he wants to, and depending on what he is doing, he does put his neck in a neutral position. But most of the time, his neck position is determined by whatever he is checking out with his eyes.

Here is another shot. His gaze is between his feet. His neck and head are down.


I am only saying that some pictures can only tell you what is going on at the instant they are taken. To take one picture and put a blanket statement out for all movement, or all squats is kind of like stretching the truth.


Here is one thing you can probably gather from all of these pictures: children move well in all sorts of ways. Maybe we should too. 


The fitness world is funny. Small truths are stretched to make big truths. The whole point to this post is that we should not always believe everything we see, or everything we are told. We should investigate things on their own and in their own situations. The squatting baby is a great picture. It really is. But, to say we should always hold our neck in a neutral position when we are lifting based on a baby picture is a blanket statement that may not always be true. And, if we should follow the example of children and imitate how well they move and what they do to move, let me ask this last question: Have you ever seen a baby standup from a squat with a heavy bar on his back? 


Just asking.... ;)

It's a Trap!

That is probably one of the most famous lines in Return of the Jedi. Though, I really don't know why. That phrase is a very good word to keep tucked away in your head though. Today, the world we live in is full of traps. There are lies all around us. The health and fitness world, in particular, revolves around lies. 

Here's what I mean: We are told how we should look, how we should train, and what we should take. We are told how we should look if we want to be "fit", or attractive. We are told how we should train if we want to look the way we are told how we should look. We are even told what supplements we should take when we train how we are told we should train.  Does this make sense? We are told one thing so that we can be told another!

We are told a bunch of lies; lies that are woven to get us to be dissatisfied with ourselves. Why? Well, we are likely to spend money on solutions for these lies for one thing. And, we just simply live in a fallen world that operates on lies. 

We don't need to be told how we should look. You should look like you - the you YOU can be. Not the you, you believe someone says you should be. For example, magazine covers sale false images and false ideas about how we should look. Most people that are on magazine covers have been altered in some way. The person you are looking at on the cover of that magazine, probably doesn't even look like that! Air brushing abs and other digital enhancements are used to deceive you. The very cover of most magazines is a lie. You don't even have to open the magazine to read the lie - visually, it is right in front of you already. 

If, however, you do open up the magazine, you may read about some awesome new supplement you should take to look like the person on the magazine. Maybe there is even a picture of the person taking that great tasting new formula. Question: Do you believe that person actually used that product? If they did, it was probably only on the day the picture of them holding it was made. NO nutritional supplement will create the perfect physique you are lead to believe you should have. Only hard work and a sensible lifestyle-nutrition plan can get you lean and "perfect" looking.  

Okay, enough of how we are told lies. The point is you need to be okay with who you are, and with who you can be. If you want to lose weight, great, lose weight. But do it because you want to be healthy, not because you want to conform to unrealistic lies you have been told. I do believe everyone should strive to obtain good health, it will only make your life, and the lives of your loved ones, more enjoyable. But, healthy or not, we need to learn how to be comfortable in our own skins. We need to learn how to tune out all the lies that surround us. I truly believe we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. What if we believed and focused on that instead of all the other noise we are fed? 

I chased crazy ideals for years. You know what? I will never look like Arnold Schwartzeneggar. Never. No amount of whey protein will ever be able to give me an 8 pack of abs! I will never be able to use a Norelco electric razor to shave, either. I can't grow a beard! (Is that too much information?) I can't turn my body into something that it wasn't created to be. I can maximize my mental and physical potential though, if I practice at it. I can take measures to stay as healthy as possible. I can learn to be comfortable with who I am regardless of all the lies the world says of who I should be. 

This is a very jumbled post, I know. I guess I'm just saying that there is a lot of deception out there. All those lies are used to keep us from knowing who we really are - we are wonderfully made. We can embrace who we are and maximize our potential. But we cannot become someone else, or something else. We don't need to chase after deceptions. If you are healthy and you feel good about who you are, that should be enough. You don't need to conform to unrealistic images and ideals. If your skin fits you well, wear it. You are perfect.

Be you. 

You Are Special

It is true. You are special. We all are. We don't always see it and we may not even believe it, but that doesn't make it not true. We really are special. Each of us matters. There is NOTHING that you do that does not effect someone else. Every action you make makes a difference somewhere in someone's life. We are all connected in someway. You are not insignificant enough to not make any change in this world! 

Our lives are perfectly mirrored by how the body works. Every single cell in your body is in someway tied to every-other-single cell in your body. There is simply nothing about your body that is not integrated to another part of your body. You are intricately woven together in a beautifully complicated way. In fact, even your thoughts elicit an impact on every cell of your body. NOTHING about your body is not affected by any part of your body. Everything about your body is tied together. 

Your life is the same way. You could look at the entire world's population as a whole body. Or, you could simply look at all of creation as a whole body. Everything you do with your life in some way affects the lives of others, the environment around you, and the course of history. You matter more than you think you do. So do your actions. 

I could write a book explaining this, but if you want more information, check out 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. I think this may do a better job than I ever could. 

Okay, what does this have to do with health? Great question. Your health affects the lives of others. More importantly, your health affects the lives of the ones you love the most. Do you have a spouse? Do you have children? Brothers? Sisters? Parent? Best friend? Yes, you do. 

You have a reason to be healthy. Does your health affect the lives of your children? You better believe it does. Can you play with them? Can you take them hiking, or go on a bike ride with them? Or, do you just watch them play? Or worse, do you set an example for them to follow in your footsteps, or lack of footsteps? Do your children see you always sitting around? Do they see you over eating? Do they see you exercise? Your children will do what they see you do. What kind of life do you want for your children? Be active! Move and play! Not just for you, but for your kids. 

Do you have a spouse? Do you love him/her? Do you want them to grow blissfully old with you, or do you want them to have to take care of you because you didn't take care of yourself? Worse, do you want them to grow old without you? 

My only point is this: you matter. Your health matters. You are special to someone. You should take care of yourself, not just for yourself, but because you also love the ones around you. 

Make time in your day to move around, to get some exercise. If you don't have time, get up 30 minutes earlier than you normally do and find an easy bodyweight routine you can do at home. Just do something. It doesn't have to involve a hyped up DVD, or an expensive gym membership. All you need is your body, a place to move, and a desire to change your health. This is crazy but it is true: if you improve your health and the quality of your life, you will probably also influence, if not improve, the health and quality of life of those people around you who love you. Again, you are special. You certainly matter. Take care of yourself.

Being Honest

Have you ever been lied to by someone close to you? It hurts. It makes you sad, it makes you angry. You feel betrayed. We hate being lied to. Especially by people that are close to us. Lying destroys trust, perhaps the most important thing in any relationship. 

I wonder why it is then, that we are such big liars? I'm not even talking about how we might lie to others, though it is odd that we would do that, especially given our own disdain for lies. We actually lie to ourselves. Think about this: if the closest person to you told you nothing but lies, you would be devastated when you found out. Why on earth would we then lie to ourselves? Yet we do it all the time! 

How many of us have said we are going to get up early so we can train, only to hit the snooze alarm three times and miss our training session? How many times have we had dessert when we told ourselves we were committed to losing that extra 15 pounds. How many times have we committed ourselves to exercising 3 times a week, yet we are lucky if we made it once. We simply lie to ourselves all the time. Why? If we lie to ourselves, how can we trust the very words that we speak or the very thoughts that we have? 

Lying destroys trust. 

Have you ever wondered why it might seem so hard to reach your goals? Why it is so hard to lose 20 pounds? Why you would rather not take medication for your blood pressure, yet you will settle on taking it because you just couldn't make yourself get up and move? Perhaps things are so hard for us because we simply just don't believe ourselves - or believe in ourselves. 

What would happen if you actually believed what you said? What would happen if you actually carried through with your thoughts? To keep this health related, i'll bet you could get into the best body you've ever wanted by simply following through with your promises. I'll bet if we were really honest with ourselves, we could find ourselves in tremendous health and vitality. 

Do you want to be healthy? Fit? Strong? Fast? Vital? Evaluate yourself: Your words, your thoughts, your actions. Just be honest. Start there. 

Disclaimer:

I am not perfect. I write about my own flaws and I usually don't write about anyone in particular. I am seeking growth, however. I am seeking more. Join me.

TA