Strength for Life

The Miracle of Wiggling Your Toes

I need your help with this quick experiment.

Wiggle your toes. Shoes on is fine. Move them up and down or any way you can move them.

Now stop. Easy stuff, right?

Now, consider that your body is made up of over 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) cells and through some miracle of nature those trillions of cells have developed and organized in such a way that all you need do is think and your toes instantly wiggle.

The operative word here is “miracle,” not amazing, interesting, impressive, cool or astonishing. The fact that you can wiggle, wriggle or move your toes is nothing short of a miracle.

Now, let’s take this experiment to the next level and further revel in this miracle. Think about and see yourself doing 10 pushups, 10 sit-ups and jogging for 10 minutes—then do it. Act on the thought—bring the thought into existence, aka manifest it.

All you need do is generate a thought and your body moves. It’s not painful, nor particularly stressful or draining. You mind suffers no cramps or lactic acid burn from thinking your body to move.

Exercise is really nothing more than advanced toe wiggling. It’s that simple.

Ironically, millions of people are, at this very moment, waiting for a miracle to get them moving—to motivate them to exercise their bodies wisely. When in fact the miracle is already present—but like all miracles it’s of no value if you don’t see it, appreciate, let it in.

Knowledge Informs; Wisdom Transforms

In 1597 Sir Francis Bacon gave words to the belief that “knowledge is power” and for the last four decades man has sought knowledge, often in the service of power.

Can knowledge deliver? Few have thought to question these words.

I contend that today knowledge is both overvalued and overserved—and that it’s not actually knowledge we are after but something much more…something richer and more transformative.

In this information age, knowledge is as plentiful as fast food, wisdom as precious as a home cooked meal. Knowledge is mindlessly poured into troughs; wisdom preciously served one ladle at a time with delight. Knowledge is like grape juice, wisdom a fine wine. They share common roots but one is squeezed and frozen the other fermented in the finest oak.

Knowledge, after all, is quite literally “information” where wisdom is knowledge through the lens of real-life experience, concentrated to what matters—it has meaning and calls to action.

Recently, when asked what inspired my new book, Strength for Life, about why I was compelled to write this body of work, wisdom is at the heart of my answer. For certainly there is a considerable abundance of knowledge fitness, nutrition and transformation but a disturbing shortage of wisdom on the subjects.

You see, it’s knowledge we have, but wisdom we seek. Knowledge informs; wisdom transforms. Knowledge gives you the rules of the game—only wisdom empowers you to change it.

This sort of game changing impact—the difference wisdom makes—can be witnessed in a new service my friend Brian Johnson has just launched call, PhilosophersNotes.com.

Brian is a man on a personal mission of discovery which is shares by skillfully distilling wisdom from the leading leadership and personal development books of today and of any day. Rest assured it’s wisdom that you will find generously served here.

The sort of wisdom that could only be revealed by a true modern day Philosopher passionately pursuing greatness in service to the world. If you’ve ever wished you could read more, ever wondered how to keep up with the latest business and development books, PhilosophersNotes can change your life.

My advice? Step on! Take this ride of a lifetime with Brian and invigorate your own passionate search for truth and wisdom.

When Your Body is Wiser Than Your Mind

We humans do value our minds—that higher capacity and intelligence which separates us from animals. Why not… it’s at once our ego, our sense of control, our superiority, our world.

So captivated by our codependent relationship with mind, many (if not most) people have long sense relegated their body to a second grade citizen—akin to the crazy aunt we park in the basement. It’s handy for utilitarian uses but otherwise we ignore it in favor of the mental-monologue.

While this common approach to living from the shoulders up can fail us in many ways, none may be more readily visible and serious than in our eating. For the mind is tricky thing—it’s smart and it learns and when our sole relationship with life is via our mind we’re extremely vulnerable to its trickery.

When it comes to eating—fueling your life energy—my advice is to take a step towards freedom and tune in to your body and out of our mind when eating for your body craves nutrition, your mind stimulation.

When the Scale is an Altar

Amidst the busyness of December, the holiday season offers a chance to reflect, and pay homage, to all that is good and meaningful in our lives.

Come January, it’s back to high-gear as we take control of the wheel of life again—and toss in a few well intentioned resolutions for improvement. And for most you can expect at least one of those resolutions to reference fitness—or to “get back in shape.”

That’s great! Really. Any focus on self improvement is helpful. What concerns me is the way in which it seems millions of people choose to measure their progress: the scale.

The Mechanics of Motivation

It’s 6 am… another late night, last thing I want to do is press a couple hundred pounds off my chest a few dozen times... not top of my list at the moment. No thanks!

Do you know the feeling? I tell you, I did this morning.

If you’ve been training for any length of time, you know there are times when you can’t be stopped and times when you can get going…

What’s the difference? Why is it so easy at times and so damned difficult to train others?

That really is the question… and you know, there really are some answers.

I’ve got good reason to think know a lot of the answers – both from years of experience and considerable studying in the area… Then of course there’s the obvious “movers” like Bill’s Body for LIFE. But even with something that works, like that, there’s a personal element to what makes it work so well for some and not so for others.

Alas, it’s not more of my answers I crave it's yours... I need your wisdom!

I want to know what makes you start strong, stay strong and keep going strong... That’s why I’m launching this: The WORLD’S Largest Real-World Study of Fitness Motivation.

The premise is simple… really.

My plan is to get 10,000, 20,000 up to 100,000 people to share their most powerful, most effective motivation tip or technique and then, using a lot of smart people and a scientific data collection engine, determine the 21 Most Effective Techniques For Creating And Sustaining Unstoppable Motivation.

With this wisdom I know you can become an unstoppable force for your fitness.

What do you think? Are you up for making your contribution to the study?

Go here now and share your insight – do it now, while the bonus is still good.

Check it out –  you’ll appreciate the reward.

Please Tell me: What Moves You?

A Strong Mind in a Strong Body

Love the Greeks!

Not only is it the birthplace of western civilization, medicine, mathematics, written language as we know it, the Olympic games... it's also the birth place of my wife's father.

Yes, my wife Angie is Greek and that makes my son part Greek too. Nice to have a connection to that amazing civilization -- there ample reason to have loads of pride for all Greeks.

But that leads me to share today's mystery... have you seen the following quote or reference?

“mens sana in corpore sano”

You probably know it's translation as "A sound mind in a sound body" or perhaps the other popular version, "A healthy mind in a healthy body."

Well, I know the quote is in Latin but everything I'd ever read attributed the origin as Greek. So, I've been living for years with the belief that it was the Greeks, at times even believing it was Socrates who said it...

Now I come to see that perhaps it's not from the Greeks! Hummm... Wikipedia is attributing it to a first century Roman poet, Juvenal.

Well, I liked it better when it was of Greek origin... and who knows, one can hope this is inaccurate but likely not. And heck, isn't it all pretty much of Greek origin any way... Either way, there's no doubt that the Greeks lived to this philosophy - they knew that a strong mind could only be found in a strong body.

Yes, that's my version of this still ancient quote, A Strong Mind in a Strong Body.

The time when health was enough has passed... if you want to excel, to achieve, to contribute in this world today you need more than passing grade of health -- it is a time for strength!

A Little Greek History

The word gymnasium is derived from gumnazo, meaning exercise, and gumnos, meaning naked or loin-clothed. The gymnasia were the ancient Greek equivalent of a sports centre, and several were located just outside Athens' city walls. The ancient Greeks regarded a healthy body almost as highly as a good education, and young men of wealthy background would spend a good portion of each day exercising there. Favourite sports included wrestling, javelin and discus throwing, and boxing.
For more Greek History from PBS, click here

Until next time... carpe diem!

How to Be Strong NOW!

This morning as I was “crawling” up the mountain behind my house on my mountain bike (right tool for the job) I had this thought… well, not exactly a thought. It’s more like an insight – complete with images.

When I’m on my bike early like this and I take to climbing there’s a point where the resistance of the hill, the effort to push the pedals over rises to a level where my body would like not to respond. It’s the moment of engagement, a test of willpower challenging my intention. My body’s not warm yet, it’s still in a place of "efforting" - not yet in the engaged, higher intensity state of flow.

In the big-picture I’m no where yet...barely 10 minutes into my ride and just moving into an effective training zone. And yet I watch my mind looking for all sorts of outs…there’s always a time crunch. Maybe I could really do better later today?  You know, I’m just not feeling “strong” today. And then, dare I look up and see the top of the hill – way, high up there! That’s enough to stop a person in their tracks.

So here I am, my mind racing my heart pounding as I continue to pump out the pedal strokes and capture enough oxygen to keep moving. Right then, in an instant I just pulled myself in and took a piece of my own advice, borrowing from my “Focus Intensity Training” (F.I.T.) practice I got fully present in the moment.

Rather than trying to fight my mind, ignore the racing thoughts...rather than trying to psyche myself up to keep moving... I pulled everything in, placing 100% of my attention on the one simple act of pushing the pedal down. Not on moving the bike ten feet, not on a full rotation of the pedals but on the single stroke – left...then right...then left.

I didn’t forget my goal of reaching the top in 35 minutes but I let it float out there, not investing mental energy into it at the moment. I simply focused all my mental and physical effort on the one single act; one small stroke and only then, another. I can’t emphasize this enough – I completely isolated each down stroke of the pedal. At that moment there was no last stroke nor a next stroke – there was only this one, now.

And then a funny thing happened... I started moving, faster and faster. I felt stronger... my energy lifted and yet I remained very centered. The feeling of effort which had been overcoming me had been replaced by a sense of power...a feeling of strength.

"As a reached the top and took a few moments to reflect I could see the direct correlation between how I was climbing before focusing the energy of my mind and body and how most people strength train."

For many people each workout is a necessary means to the end – be that “a 12-week” or what have you. Each workout is for the most part a single “effort” – a start to finish expression of effort. It’s sort of a “have workout - get‘er done,” approach.

Then there are some people, usually those who’ve been training for some time, who see a little deeper. In addition to getting the workout done (the goal), they may focus on the specific exercises. For example they may focus on a strong bench press before they move on to the next exercise.

What I teach (and preach) in my F.I.T. practice (Focus Intensity Training) is the type of absolute, in the moment, focus that I experienced with each stroke of the pedal as I climbed the mountain. I’m talking about the type of concentrating presence that can instantly put you in a deep flow state – where you’re mind is silent and time seems to stop.

As I experienced on my bike ride, when you engage each moment with your full body and mind you discover reserves of strength you rarely tap into. Fully engaging your mind and body in the present moment awareness like this is truly transformative – taking your intensity to a level you’ve never before imagined and releasing a sense of joy where once there was pain.

In the weeks ahead I’ll be sharing more on F.I.T. in my blogs and will also share a brief How To Train with Absolute Focus and Intensity  guide. In the meantime you can begin a moment to moment strength practice by breaking your strength training workouts down to the smallest single element – and placing yourself 100% in the moment.

Like I said, we want to break it down beyond the workout, beyond the exercise and even beyond the set. That leaves you at the rep level – you know, where you’re counting, “1…2…3…” Are you with me? Now, let’s take it one level further… to the contraction and the eccentric phase of the rep. On the curl that’s the “up” and the “down.”

Breaking it down, seeing inside, seeing and being in the moment.

A) The workout
B) The Exercise
C) The Set
    D) The Rep
        1. The contraction < -- focus here
       2. The negative, eccentric  < -- then here
E) The Rest between the sets (as important as the set)

For the next few workouts, practice to see how single mindedly focused you can become on each, individual (and totally separate) contraction and eccentric – the lifting and lowering of the weight. You can maintain your count, but do each lift and each lowering as the one and only single thing you are doing – and give it your fullest attention and absolute peak of focused energy or intensity.

With a little coaching, time and intention you can learn to engage your training with this kind of full presence. Only when you’ve been there, to the furthest edge of your intensity, will you truly know how different it is.

Be strong now!

Freedom from the Prison of Dieting

Diets are the nutritional equivalent of day care (or prison for adults).

Based on an old, outdated model of human motivation featuring limitations, deprivation and pain, they focus almost exclusively (some intentionally others unconsciously) on what NOT to do, how not to eat. These are not the training grounds for emotionally mature adults who value freedom and mastery.

The antithesis of the restriction centered diet is the absolute freedom that results from a balance of knowledge and emotional maturity that makes “right eating” as natural and effortless as saying “Thank you,” when someone opens a door for you.

This level of personal mastery, and positive relationship with food and our bodies does not arise from the archaic, imprisoned approach of dieting – as much as many may like you to believe it does.

Right eating is not something we have to force ourselves to do, it’s in our nature to feed our bodies with the right balance of healthy nutrients – it’s not a learning that is required but rather an unlearning (or better yet, relearning), replacing “bad” habits with habits/rituals that support our best self and free us from an addictive relationship with food.

When you reconnect with your inner strength and natural intent to eat great, when you refuse to be a follower of the fad and reject the term “diet” all together you’re not only supporting your freedom but helping to bring an end to dieting forever.

Motivation! If only…

I recently read an article which talked the number of people who own home gym equipment and don’t use it. They somewhat humorously referred to the Bowflex and similar machines as $2,000 clothes hangers.

While the article had some interesting facts (like a recent survey found that 47% of Americans own home exercise equipment) it fell flat on solutions when the author made the all too common error of identifying motivation as the solution to growing problem.

Most people acknowledge the need to exercise, go so far as to invest hundreds or even thousands of dollars in equipment, yet lack the motivation to get started or stay with the program.

http://www.ocmetro.com/metro052605/health052605.html

Motivation! If only I had it…

We seek the elusive, mysterious motivation as Indiana Jones went after the ark of the covenant; at great peril to our wellbeing and most always in the dark.

If the evil that was unleashed upon the discovery of that much sought after treasure is any indication – lord help us if we do find what we are looking for! But seriously, If only we could take a hint form the movie and recognize that that which we seek is not really “out there” but right here with us, inside the entire time.

The good news is that providing many opportunities to stay healthy and strong it’s become clear that the environments and tools alone are not sufficient – that motivation is essential. The problem is that motivation is being confused with a lot of even more shallow things – goals, wants, needs, etc… connected it is but motivation is more.

If you think that’s getting deep get ready for this one: Motivation itself is fleeting – it’s a terrific push but it’s not enough in itself to sustain the wheel in motion. We do all get motivated – some for only 10 minutes others for 10 weeks. But what happens when the motivation fades? Where does it go and how do we get it back?

I’ve asked some big questions here and can not even begin to clean up the mess I’ve made in the space of a BLOG – but I can and will offer some things to think about:

First, motivation is essential to getting you and I moving, active and engaged. Yet the most common motivators tend to be of the external nature – things outside ourselves. Motivational structures like the transformation challenge is a great example – as is the summer vacation at the beach, etc. These are goals, wants, needs, etc.

These types of motivators are great – but oh, so fleeting. They start strong and fade because they are outside – they act “upon us” rather than come “from us.” There’s a more lasting motivation that comes from inside – from our own deepest wants, fears, desires too. In many cases this is a subtle difference – we may use the goal of the twenty year reunion to get in shape but when we think about it we don’t see how others will be impacted by seeing us but experience how we will feel about looking great.

Another example of an internal motivation is the motivation to be well when one’s been suffering from an illness. This is not at all about others or goals but really a deep desire to be healthy and strong again. I use this example for it can truly relate the difference which you can see can be quite subtle in many instances.

Once you’ve translated an external motivation to an internal motive you’ve created some staying power. This motivation is likely to stick with you much longer – perhaps even years. It may not be as “desperate” as some of the fleeting motives that can fly by our grasping minds but it’s a steady source of drive.

But alas, even this motivation has a shelf-life. Rest assured (sparing the case studies here) that this motivation will too fade. So then, what is the answer to staying strong and healthy for life? I’m so glad you asked – safe to say it’s going to take more than motivation. 

A lifetime practice of health and fitness is not sustained by motivations but the higher, ever radiant energy of true inspiration. How one moves from a life of motivations; stringing one to the end of the other to keep things going, as most people do, to thriving on a steady, inspired practice is the million dollar question – and one that I threaten to have an answer to. As you might get by now that answer certainly exceeds the scope of this already extended discussion but once again, some ideas on this I will share…

To move from motivation to inspiration takes time, intention and awareness. That means first you have to have some awareness around the fleeting nature of motivation. It does not mean you skip the motivation but that you use it’s intense energy but rather than just expending it in the search you capture some it’s energy to embed the great pleasure of pure practice in your soul. To move from “doing” fitness to “being” fit. It’s a path to mastery – from the difficulty and struggles of the budding artist (or martial artists for that matter) to the artist who is the living embodiment of the his art or practice.

At this level of inspiration one no longer searches for the energy required to “do” the training they are that energy – it’s ever present and they actually suffer if they do not expend this energy in their practice. One is no longer “pushed” by the energy of motivation but “pulled” to the inspiration.

There’s clearly a lot more to this but it’s a fascinating subject to me – and I hope provides you some insight into the superficial yearning that the seeking for motivation initiates in all who partake. Once motivation gives way to inspiration you’ve tapped into the perpetual source of infinite energy and your questions about “how” will all vanish – along with your ego.

News, Reality and Numbness

I don’t watch much television news. Long ago I concluded that what we take in through our eyes and ears is as much a diet for our soul as what we take in our mouth is for our body.

For the same reason, I do not watch any “reality TV” – not at all sure where they get off using the term “reality” to describe the crap that’s beamed to our homes any way. I’ve seen a lot of reality in my life but nothing quite like this schlock.

That said, I did catch a few clips today on the recent apprehension of the BTK killer as I passed a generally innocent morning show on in my home. Then I was hit with a second, much heavier dose of news-reality regarding this story as I tuned in a station on Sirius satellite radio. As immune as like to believe I am to the news, I found myself in a sort of trance listening to the story of an innocent victim of this horrific crime.   

Once I began to regain my footing (by quickly executing a “grounding” practice that I use in my training) rather than remaining mired in the emotional darkness of the story, my thoughts stepped up, above the specific incidence, and began to ponder why we (Americans) are so heavily addicted to intense, dramatic news stories and the over-drama of reality TV.

Why do we take in (I’d go so far to say, embrace or even desire) so much polluted, graphic information and stories? NUMBNESS!

"I beleive that in large part, people have become numb inside and this manifests in a feeling of disconnection from others, and from life."

When a human being loses connection with their deeper Self, the part of our coconsciousness that is in touch with the ever present connection with all other humans, the result is a numbness- an internal dead-zone. On a simple level, the loss is often seen in a lack of empathy for others, a subtle disconnection that enables one to ignore the plight of others, to react with fury when “wronged” and a plethora of other symptoms I’m sure you can identify.

This internal state, the emotional equivalent of being tone-deaf, is such an unnatural state (for good reason) that people crave some sort of connection, to break-through to a state of feeling and empathy again. This is where the intensity of dramatic news stories and reality TV come in to play – so “loud” that they literally pierce through and evoke a deep emotional feelings. Various feelings but ultimately, at the bottom of all the horror is a connection to and empathy for a fellow human, and for all humans involved in this journey called life.

I could go on to debate which came first, the numbness or the “junk TV” but that’s not the point here. Safe to say together they are a system and like any addiction the more that is “used” to break through, to get “the feeling” the greater the barrier to feeling becomes – and the further we disconnect from our true nature. 

Be as aware and selective of what you take in through your eyes and ears as you are your mouth – for it’s all part of your diet. Be it food or news, junk is junk that only serves to weaken your body, mind and your spirit.