Variables

There are many facets to becoming bulletproof. I often write about the physical variable. Today, and maybe on a few more posts, I thought I talk about another facet to becoming bulletproof: nutrition.

It does matter, but perhaps differently than you think. Nutrition, what you physically eat, plays a large role in becoming bulletproof. I clarify "what you physically eat" because I believe there are various forms of supplying yourself with nutrition - I'll explain this later perhaps. Anyway, what you put in your mouth matters. 

It is MY opinion that if we are fearfully and wonderfully made, then we should eat foods that are also fearfully and wonderfully made. What? We should eat natural, God-made, foods: Foods that were created naturally and perfectly. I would like to say this again: perfectly. For some reason, man has decided that we can create better foods than God can, or nature can. This is crazy! 

Why do we think that ingesting chemicals, and other things that we design - that we can't even pronounce, can possibly be good for us? Why do we think we need to enrich wheat flour? Why do we think if we strip the grains from all the things that make them nutritious, they will be better for us? It is almost as if we have gone mad with arrogance. How can we possibly design a food that is better for our natural bodies than the natural food that God creates? 

Even if you don't believe in God, you have to know that nature makes perfect food without our scientific help. I'm not talking about using science, or what we know, to grow food. I am talking about tinkering with our food through science, altering it perhaps by genetic manipulation, or chemical additives, or whatever else we do to alter our foods. 

We all know natural is better. When we make things complicated, when we tinker with things to make them better, we often take away the power and effectiveness that was right there in front of our eyes. We hamper and sabotage our own ability to be bulletproof.

Here are some examples of how we unwittingly outsmart ourselves:

enriched, stripped wheat flour
isolated soy protein powder
grain fed cattle
hormone fed cattle
preservatives in our meats, our canned goods
chemical pesticides
aspartame!
Splenda - because obviously God didn't know what He was doing when he made sugar
hydrogenated oils
perhaps the entire sports supplement industry (take this with a grain of thought, but use thought)
ultra-pasteurization and homogenization
"don't eat eggs!"
"don't eat fat!"
"don't eat meat!"
"don't eat fruits!"
"don't eat carbs!"

Look at those last five, do you realize if all of those were espoused at the same time in our history we would be in real trouble? That whole list wreaks of insanity and arrogance. We are too smart to see that we have all we need! 

As I am starting to say this a lot - Here is the deal: We don't have a man-made chemical deficiency in our body. We don't need chemicals to make things sweet and we don't need chemicals to preserve our food for a 6 year shelf life. We don't need chemically altered fats. 

We were perfectly made to consume perfectly made foods. We cannot fabricate better nutrition than God can. Have you ever noticed that the truest and most effective things in this world are also the simplest? The things right in front of us that we choose to ignore, or dismiss, because of their simplicity? 

If you want to become bulletproof, keep it simple. Go for natural, wholesome foods. Foods that you can spell and pronounce. Foods without a mile long ingredient list. Foods that you can prepare from the farm to your plate. 

Your body will operate so much better on these natural, non-man-made foods! Man's wisdom is often wrong. Just look at that list above. We know so much that we don't even know what we are doing. 

Keep your nutrition simple. I believe you were made to be bulletproof. Don't sabotage yourself with your food.


Hope your having a great weekend!
TA

Are you Aging?

It is a serious question that I think we all need to evaluate. I know this may not be a shock to you if you are a regular reader of this blog, but I don't beleive that people are supposed to age. I do think we are supposed to grow older, but not age. 

You may be asking yourself, "what is the difference?" Well, there is a huge difference. Growing older happens with time. Aging happens with lack of use.

Aging is the result of not living and moving the way we were meant to. As we grow older, we should still be able to move around much like we did when we were teenagers, or the way we did when we were in our twenties for those of you who don't think you can move like you did as a teenager. 

Think about it. We really are wonderfully made. What would be the point of growing older without vitality? We were meant to live and enjoy this life. We weren't meant to grow older only to lose our independence. That is not growing older, that is aging. 

Aging happens to us when we spend our lives being static. When we allow stress and fears to consume us. When all we do is work and not play. Aging is a result of using our bodies, or not using rather, for something other than what they were intended. We were meant to move, to play, to engage life. We need to get back to doing these things so we can grow old with vitality. 

And we can. We cannot reverse time. We will grow older. But we can reverse the aging process - to a degree. We can regain our vitality. We can enter our 90s with vibrance. We don't have to wonder if we will be bed-ridden by the time we are 70. 

Jack Lalanne is a man who understood this. He died at age 96 and he was still able to do finger tip pushups when he died. How many teenagers, or twenty-somethings do you know who can do that? Harrison Ford is another example. He lives and works on his ranch. Riding horses and feeding cattle keep his body young even though he is in his 70s. 

I am even learning this lesson from my own life. I am knocking at the door of 40 and yet daily I find myself engaging in new activities that I could have never done in my twenties. I certainly move better today and have more energy than I did when I was younger. 

So how do we stop aging? The answer is ridiculously simple. We move. We engage in life. We smile more. We believe we can become better than we currently are. When we imagine ouselves growing older, we imagine ourselves being vibrant and not achy, slow, crooked, or ancient. 

We get to have a huge say in how we grow older. We don't have to age. And, if we find ouselves aging, we can change and become vibrant again. 

If you want to grow old with vitality and you don't know where to start the anti-aging process, just start by spending about 5 minutes on the floor every day. Start rolling around like a kid. Start crawling on your hands and knees. It is amazing what a difference this will make in your body. It is so amazing that it is almost a miracle. Engaging in "child-like" movements is a great way to turn back the hands of time. And it doesn't have to be laborious, you can start with just 5 minutes a day. But do it every single day. Consitent engagement in these simple movements is an effective tool for regaining our vitality. If and when 5 minutes seems too easy, great, do 10 minutes - every day. 

Wonderful things happen when children learn to roll, creep, and crawl. Wonderful things can still happen when adults remember how to do the same thing. You can actually regain your vitality by simply spending time on the floor and moving like a child. 

If you are aging, stop. You're not supposed to. Wake up the kid inside of you and start moving. You are meant to grow old with strength and health. You are meant to be able to wrestle with your grandkids and go for long walks with your spouse. Growing older should be a wonderful process, not something to be dreaded and feared. Roll on!

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!

_________________________________________________________________________________

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!