“The pain you feel today is the strength you’ll feel tomorrow” – Unknown

So this week I thought it would be a nice change, from me preaching, to bragging about my clients and how well they are doing.

But I also won’t bore you with every lift that every one of my clients is doing.  But I would really like to share some of the highlights.  Like Ricardo, who since June has gone from a 36 inch waist down to 33 inches.  I also started him with squatting 95lbs, and in his last session he did single leg squats with 100lbs of resistance.  His bench press has gone from 85 lbs for 17 repetitions to 135 for 12 in 16 work outs. Not too bad if you ask me.

Another client of mine, Emely, has gone from a size 4, to a 2 petite since she started training in May.  In just 9 work outs her squat went from 65lbs for 30 repetitions to 165lbs for 12.  During her last session she single leg squatted 115 lbs for 19 reps with her left leg and 20 with her right. Her bench press started out at 45lbs for 20 and got as high as 95lbs for 12 before we backed off because that was getting pretty heavy and she does enjoy the higher rep ranges. She also does Calf raises and in just 8 work outs she went from doing 85lbs for 20 all the way up to 155 for 15 reps.

Jorge went from deadlifting 165 for 15 reps to 225 for 12 in 8 work outs.  With Bicep Curls, he started out doing 25 kilograms for 20.  Now he is up to 50 kilos for 18 repetitions.

Jeane started in August with me. I had her start out doing single leg squats with the 45 lbs bar. 5 work outs later, she did 75lbs for 26 repetitions with her right leg and 27 with her left. Her deadlift was a conservative 45 lbs, but 9 work outs later she broke 100lbs and did 105 for 20.  Her pulldowns went from a feeling very heavy 45lbs to a strong 75 lbs.

Lastly my client Naiomi, who has been training with me since January has seen some great things happen.  Where we started learning squats with just the bar, she worked her way up to 160 lbs before we made the switch to single leg squats. When we did that we went back to just using the bar. But, very quickly, she worked her way up to 90lbs for 15 repetitions respectively. She also pulled that off in 10 work outs. In just 10 weeks she double her leg strength! This is pretty typical of all my clients. It is typical of most who train in this manner. So if you have been training and reached some plateaus and seem to have stopped making gains, you might want to consider taking a week or two off and let your body heal and recover.

It is true that even with this training, the improvements will come slower the longer you are training, but they still come, and they often come by spending even less time in the gym, not more.  Doing fewer exercises in a session, not more. An added bonus, for my beginners, is they do see their initial improvements in strength happen seemingly so quickly, that it creates a great reward mechanism to keep coming back and seeing those numbers continue to improve. As their body’s adapt and can handle more intensity, they push themselves even harder. They have more to give, and they do, and they love, despite not being able to feel their legs, how good it feels to give their best every work out.

“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” – Henry David Thoreau

This is a little late for my Canadian friends, but honestly, is it ever too late for Pumpkin Spice Lattes and other goodies? So I figured I would share a couple Thanksgiving dessert recipes we’ve tried and really liked!

Pumpkin Spice Latte:

In the Blender, throw in;

2-3 big teaspoons of Pumpkin Puree

2 table spoons of butter (yummmmm!) (Preferably grass fed butter.) You could use coconut milk or regular milk in a pinch, but I have found this being a very healthy choice and delicious!

Then add approximately 1 teaspoon of honey, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a couple drops of vanilla extract.

Of course you brewed a pot of coffee, or at least half a pot, whatever makes roughly 2 cups of coffee, so you will pour that into the blender. Then blend it all up so you get a great froth.  Serve and enjoy!

A Paleo Version  of Pumpkin Pie: (Although we did cheat with the pie crust)

Pie crust, (we cheated and used a gram cracker base that we purchased pre-made from the store.

In a food processor or blender:

3 eggs

1 can of Pumpkin Puree

½ cup of Coconut Milk

½ cup of honey

1 teaspoon each of; nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla extract

Pour mixture into Pie crust (of your choice and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Then allow to cool then refrigerate for 2 hours to set.

Pumpkin Spice Ice cream:

In a food processor or blender:

1 can of Pumpkin Puree

1 can of Coconut Milk

½ cup of real maple syrup

1 teaspoon each of; nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla extract

Blend really well in the blender and then place mixture into your ice cream maker, if you have one.  If not, just pour onto/into a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. Once it is fairly frozen, but hopefully more on the creamy side you can scoop it up and put into your serving bowls.

I am going to warn you, all three are delicious and it was a nice treat last weekend for my little Canadian Thanksgiving celebration.

Next week I’d like to brag about some of my clients and share the successes they have been having over the last several weeks. So I’ll be sharing some of the data so that you can see how they have progressed with strength training once a week.

 

Paleo pumpkin pie: http://elanaspantry.com/paleo-pumpkin-pie/

Paleo pumpkin ice cream: http://www.billyparisi.com/homemade-pumpkin-coconut-milk-ice-cream/

Vegan pumpkin spice latte: http://www.therisingspoon.com/2012/10/vegan-pumpkin-spice-latte.html

“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” – Helen Keller

So I was talking to a good friend of mine, who still lives in Korea, the other day and the conversation progressed, as it often does, to talking about fitness and diet. But I, just in passing, was telling him how I’m able to walk to work and that it takes about 8-10 minutes to get from my apartment to my studio.  Actually I’m pretty lucky, It is the third gig I’ve had where I have been able to walk to work.  I talked about how I walk in the morning to train my first client or two, then I walk home for a late brunch, then I’ll go back for the afternoon, then I sneak home again for my afternoon salad/snack.  Then I make another trip to the studio for my evening clients before finishing up and walking home for a later dinner and calling it an evening. So all in all I make about 6 trips on the average, which gets me pretty close, when all added up, to about an hour of walking every day.  It was at this point that it dawned on me that this is probably worth sharing.

We are made to walk. In fact, we have evolutionarily sacrificed a great deal in order to be able to walk as well as we do. Our brain has set up a whole rewards mechanism for when we do walk long distances. It’s why people feel so good after they have had to walk so far and why people go out of their way to go on hikes. I would even call it my first solution, if you have not been feeling so good and have felt a little down. Try seriously going on longer walks and see how you feel before taking more drastic steps. I won’t go as far to say there is a direct cause and effect, but it is hard to notice that depression keeps rising in the general population as walking seems to be less and less. Makes for an interesting correlation doesn’t it?

Now here is the good news. Fitness and movement adds up. You do not have to go for 1 hour in a straight shot, you can do it in spurts and you can do it throughout the entire day. Maybe you get 20 minutes at lunch.  Do it!  You can go again later after dinner again, or while the kids are doing their activity. You can park as far away from the store at the far end of the parking lot. It might only be a two minute walk to and fro, but like I said, movement is cumulative in a day. It all adds up. Take the stairs when you can instead of the escalator or elevator, it all helps. You may not live close to your job the way I do, so you will have to be a little more creative, but I ultimately want to finish with and reinforce that just because you don’t have a full hour or two for daily exercise, does not make it the excuse not to do something. We can find 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there, and before you know it you are crawling into bed feeling good from all the extra movement and feeling tired enough to really enjoy a nice restful sleep.

“South Africa have the greatest winning record in World Cup history. They are a massive physical team with plenty of experience. Japan have the least winning record in the World Cup and have the smallest team. But it’s a great opportunity and I am looking forward to it.”

• Eddy Jones, Japan Head Rugby Coach

On the second day of the Rugby World Cup, being hosted by England, the rugby universe was blessed to witness one of the greatest upsets in rugby history.  When Japan, a tier 2 rugby nation, beat South Africa, one of the world’s rugby juggernauts. Then four days later Japan, still battered and sore, took on Scotland.  And… were soundly beaten! So it would be easy to chalk up Japan’s victory over South Africa as a fluke. As just another very weird and unique upset in the sporting world, which happens. But then something interesting happened. Japan had 10 days between their game against Scotland and their next pool match against Samoa, who are a very good team in their own right. Japan looked great! Fit! Disciplined! And they earned a deserved, clinical, and convincing victory over the Samoans.

Now the former rugby coach and the lover of John Gagliardi’s coaching philosophy, would love to talk about Eddy Jones and his approach and success to the game.  I’d love to talk about his success with Australia, then his success helping the South Africans, and then how he has seemingly performed a miracle with the Japanese. Then go I’d rant about how Canada, my homeland, needs to get its head out of it’s a$$ and get this guy on board.  How half our team seemly all attend the University of Victoria is still beyond me, and screams of a Politique that really holds us back.

But I am not a rugby coach at this time, nor an expert on Eddy Jones’s system. I am however an expert in training methodologies and recovery, and that is what I want to discuss.

Japan looked fantastic against South Africa.  Four days later they really struggled and my argument is not because they lacked fitness. On the contrary, they might be the fittest team at this World Cup. They did not have enough days to recover and heal. The proof is that 10 days later, where they did have time for plenty of healing and recovery, they went out against Samoa and looked great again. This was so obvious to everyone who has been watching, that the commentators, in both matches, discussed this at great length. (three days later when the Japanese were going through there run through, their captain as well as most of the players, were still limping around and feeling quite stiff and sore.)

If these guys are professionals, at the top of their game, at the peak of physical conditioning, are not recovered enough… What does that say about your training and recovery needs? This is the point of HIIT. Taking days off from the gym is not about being lazy, or looking for the ‘easy way out.’ Quite the opposite. It’s about going to the gym. Working extremely hard! Then get out of your own way and let your body heal!

For the athletes, it is critical to understand and remember that competition is intense training! Therefore adequate recovery after the competition is paramount as well. This is something “old school” coaches everywhere should know and remember. I’ll pick on hockey again because I grew up playing it and had more than my fair share of these types of coaches. But there was, on more than one occasion, where we would lose a game and did look pretty fatigued in the third period. Our coach’s solution… Skate us until we puked the next practice. Ludicrous! Fitness at that time in the season was not the issue. Recovery from the previous practice where he skated us to death was!  Or the previously hard fought game was the issue. We were tired and struggling not because we were out of shape, but because we had not adequately recovered from the previous work out.

I’ll finish with making it clear, there is a time and place for really hard skating sessions, or fitness sessions with any sports team. Generally pre-season. But good coaches, and you with your training program, can take a great lesson from the Japanese rugby team and the schedule they were dealt in this world cup, and recognize when the focus needs to shift from intense fitness, to proper recovery between those intense sessions.

The irony is we have recognized this for a long time, really!  American football games are played once a week. Virtually all rugby games around the world are once a week. Your most intense training sessions… Should be, on the average, once a week.

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

– Earnest Hemingway

There is a difference, and in my opinion it is one we too often overlook or miss. Some might say I’m simply dealing with semantics, and you would be right, but to me it is also a philosophical argument. When the difference is understood, I truly believe positive things can happen. So to illustrate my point, I would like to share with you my coaching experience and the epiphany I had during that time. It, like everything else, was not an original thought, but I have liked this point of view now for so long, I can’t remember where I had heard it first. But in sports, too often, the goal is to win. The expression, “Win at all costs!” comes to mind, but that leaves a lot of wiggle-room for players/people to cheat!

When I was coaching our youth rugby club in Maryland, it started to dawn on me that it wasn’t right to make winning the goal; that was obvious—of course we want to win, but rugby is a team game and a lot has to go right on the field, as a team, to win. So I started to break the game down into its component parts and stressed that if we achieve our goals of strong scrummaging, making our tackles, keeping the ball in hand and retaining possession…victory would be the result.

Now, let us apply this to weight loss and muscle gain. How many people do you know who lost weight, reached their “goal,” but not long after, being so successful, they slacked off and ended up gaining it all back, if not more? So I disagree with making weight loss the goal. I see it as being the result of reaching other key goals. Working out once or twice a week is a valuable goal to have and easy to stick to. Eating vegetables every day is a great goal and much easier to keep. These are also goals you can measure and check every day. Then, the result of reaching these goals will be your ideal body composition.

Looking at it from this point of view also helps make the planning/structure easier to sort out. Again, I know I am playing with semantics, but if I say I want to lose 20 lbs. by Christmas, the next question becomes, “How are you going to do it?” Well, you will then start listing all the steps and actions you have to take in order for this to happen. Now, wanting to lose 20 lbs. is a good thing and that is okay to want. All I am suggesting is shifting focus and looking at it as, rather than something to achieve one time, seeing it as the result of achieving the smaller steps (goals) and placing more emphasis on those goals.

“The great thing about McDonald’s is that they have a lot of different things on the menu. I love their salads.” – Beyonce Knowles

(?????)

Yes.  I was hungry, have not had a burger from there in over a year.  So me and my lady had a burger, and some french fries, and I even added salt to a box of fries, that already come salted, but just not enough in my opinion. It was delicious! I even had a second quarter pounder! And a second a milkshake, cause I honestly can’t remember the last time I had one.  But, I also honestly do not know when, I will actually be there again, and that is the point of this particular blog post. I do not think of ‘McDonald’s’ as inherently evil, I know the founders were not. They made and sold hamburgers.  How dangerous can you be? But times change, and so do business practices.  Am I a fan of factory farming, nope! I think permaculture is where it’s at. Am I a fan of their massive ad and marketing campaigns? Not so much. Do I like the notion that the shareholders run McDonald’s more so than the franchise owners, not in the slightest. At the end of the day there is honestly very little I do like about McDonald’s and yet there I am really enjoying a quarter pounder, with cheese.  A “Royal with Cheese!” (Pulp Fiction)

Did I betray my principle’s?  Nope!  I drink beer! I am not going to lambaste a company that sells crap and behave all hoity toity hipster that is out right against it. But I will tell you this. There is a reason, why they have become so powerful, and have been able to get away with so much. We all eat there! I also believe that too many people eat there too often. Going once a year as an individual is not really going to contribute to them being able to do what they have done, quite the opposite. Too many, go there, too often. That is why they have been able to do so much, and not all of it positive. But I really can’t blame them. For the same reasons I can’t go after big tobacco, or big alcohol. On occasion, I like a good cigar! I like a good glass of beer!  And sometimes damn it… I like me a BigMac! But I can get away with it because 90% of the time, I eat really well. Lots of vegetables, nuts, beans and legumes, and some fruit. I eat a nutrient rich diet, this leaves me with rarely wanting such a cheap (not really that cheap) cheat meal.  And when I do cheat and there, over the long term, will have very minimum effect on my waistline, heart health, insulin, etc.  So I’m not here to tell you not to eat McDonald’s, because prohibition never works. But I will stress, it is not ideal to eat this stuff on a regular basis, this holds true for all fast food. My meal yesterday was almost 1700 calories (including the second burger.) That’s outrageous!  I will say shame on them, but I ate it!  So shame on me too! Ultimately at the end of the day, their business success is honestly based on being very popular and quite often abused by the general public. If we as a population do not like factory farming, Monsanto, sustainance farming, big corporate having its way. Then we have to stop supporting them with our pocket books! The McDonald’s I went to was packed! Lots of parents, lots of kids, lots of people who struck me as people who go there quite often. You are allowed to indulge, but the habits you have in this life should not include fast food, smoking, and rum. Our habits should consist of eating right the majority of the time, exercising, sleeping enough, meditating, if you so desire, etc. If more of us did that, these companies would not have so much power. Again, I don’t mind they exist, I do mind the power they have accrued, but we’ve allowed that to happen/created it.

To follow up, the burgers tasted great! But later, I did not feel so good. I paid for it! Which is why, again, it is going to be a long time before I go back. Again it is okay to splurge once in a while, but if the majority of us splurged on occasion, not all the time, a lot of things would change for the better. So think global, act local, and things will change for the better, both for your waistline and for the planet.

“Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

Countless studies are coming out showing that actually, dairy milk does not do the body good. In fact it does the opposite. It turns out milk is a very pro-inflammatory food, and as you might be aware, it is having constant/chronic inflammation in the body, that is one of the leading causes to so many of the chronic diseases that we are dealing with today. Now aside from the lactose content that many of the world’s population is intolerant of (lactose intolerance). Also the main protein in milk is casein, which has been demonstrated to promote cancer growth when initiated by carcinogens.

Now something else I just learned is milk contains very high levels of D galactose, which is itself, very pro-inflammatory.  It is this pro-inflammatory agent that is given to create aging models in animals. So I don’t think its takes a rocket scientist to start piecing this all together to conclude milk ages us, rather than helping keep us young and vibrant for as long possible.

From a personal stand point, I use to drink milk as a kid.  Without realizing it at the time, or knowing milk was one of the major contributors. I use to have troubles.  My allergies were far more severe, now I don’t seem have allergies at all. I had quite a bit of acne as a teenager, now I just don’t seem to have any skin problems.  (I live in the tropics now and sweat a lot I might add.)  As a kid, and we’ve discussed the other factors of over training, I was far more injury prone. Now-a-days, unless I tackle with my face, I just don’t seem to get hurt. Aside from my nose two years ago in Korea, I haven’t broken a bone since highschool.

But Glenn, where will I get my calcium? From just about every other plant food. They don’t tell you this but there is just as much, if not more, calcium in a cup of broccoli as there is in milk. Plus you get a whole lot of other essential nutrients in that cup of broccoli, that you just won’t find in milk.

Also by cutting out milk, you cut out a host of calories, so it will help with weight loss and weight stabalization. There are also alternatives to dairy milk like coconut and almond, (note I didn’t mention soy) but you should be aware that as milks they are refined foods to, so as opposed to the whole food versions, you get a surge of fats and calories that will digest faster than if consumed in whole food form. You will also need to be aware that as the ‘alternative’milks become more popular on store shelves, competition increases, and so do the additives of sugars and perservatives to “improve taste” and improve shelf life. They are still better than Dairy, but the commercial products may not be as good as we are being lead to believe.  Just something to be aware of.

http://nutritionstudies.org/12-frightening-facts-milk/

 

“Shift focus from calorie counting to nutritional value for heart health, say experts.                      “Clinicians have failed to act for far too long, but human and economic toll make this unaffordable, they argue.” – ScienceDaily

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150826204214.htm

I’ve included the link to this article and took it directly from ScienceDaily.com. What I would honestly like you to do is go to that link, and read what it has to say, as it breaks down, how just a couple of key changes in your diet can have a huge positive impact on your health. Especially how fast that impact can be. In this you’ll will also be able to see the costs, and expected costs, that have been, and will be placed, on our health care systems on a nationwide scale.

But to sum it up here are a couple quotes.

“Shifting the focus away from calories and emphasising a dietary pattern that focuses on food quality rather than quantity will help to rapidly reduce obesity, related diseases, and cardiovascular risk,” they insist.”

“Obesity costs the NHS over £5 billion a year, while the costs of type 2 diabetes add up to more than £20 billion and are predicted to double over the next 20 years. Similarly, the cost of diabetes has risen 40% in the past five years in the US, adding up to $245 billion in 2012, they say.”

Now to tie it all in. You alone, all by yourself, can make a huge difference, both for yourself, and for the nation you call home, pay taxes to, etc. You see by choosing to eat a nutrient rich diet, you will be choosing the right foods. Thereby creating an extraordinarily healthier you, as well as not being a future drain on the state, requiring a lot of care, treatment, and medications, for your chronic disease.

This also becomes much easier to stick to.  Personally I no longer think about calories, because for the most part I can eat as much as I want. Because I’m eating the right foods now. Deprevity never works as a long term solution, but swopping the bad for the good does work.

You alone could do this! A few friends will ultimately join in, because they will be super jealous of you looking and acting so darn awesome, and that’s when we will trigger, what I like call, the “Wayne’s World” effect.  You know, you tell two friend, who will tell two friends, etc.

The reason why Monsanto, and others in the “big agri” are able to get away with what they are doing, is because, we are idiotically buying their crap! If you do shift focus and eat a plant based diet, they won’t be able to do that. Infact, if enough of us could make the switch, a lot of good things could really start to happen.

Have you heard of Permaculture? I hadn’t until a few weeks ago. I highly recommend you do a little homework on the topic. Instead of being farmers, we become “hardcore” Gardeners.  Able to grow all of the right foods, that are best for us, which turns out to be the best for the soil, all the way up the food chain. When this is done right, an acre of land can sustainably support as much as 10 people if done right. The current methods of farming can only feed 4 per acre at best.

Also, if you stop eating the “not so good for us” foods, a boat load of money, and oil, will be saved. You would be astounded to learn how much it costs in energy, to both farm, pesticide, and ship, those very same foods, that are not good for us, to your dinner table. So it may come off as “hippyish,” but it is also just simple, sound science, and good economics. You will be healthier, and our planet will be healthier, but it does require us making the choice with our pocket books, and let’s be honest, money is the only thing that really talks if you want big changes to happen. But it can start with us. It can start with you.

I’m not a religious bloke, but maybe, just maybe, with our intelligence and modern gardening know how, we could get back to that mythical “Garden of Eden.” Or return to a grand form of hunter-gatherer with a bit of science and reason to help us along.

 

 

 

 

“If you want to reach a goal, you must see the reaching in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.” –  Zig Ziglar

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”  – Michelangelo

I want to start off with visualization because it is the one I think most of us do anyways, even if we don’t realize it. Thus, it is hopefully the easiest to relate to and the easiest to begin with… because it’s daydreaming! But now we are daydreaming with intent and purpose. We are daydreaming with the intent of making that daydream a reality. That is the premise behind visualization.

Visualization is really what was behind Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and the most recent book, The Secret.  You can apply this to just about anything or everything in your life! There is no real magic behind it, except that it can feel pretty magical as your success grows. The results are rarely instantaneous. But if applied regularly, you might be impressed with what you can truly accomplish. Mainly because if you cannot see it in your own mind’s eye, then how on earth is anyone else going to be able to see it? If you can’t see yourself being successful, how is anyone else supposed to see you being successful?

I could give many examples greats in history who have been quoted in some shape or form, the one that best fits a health and fitness blog would be Arnold Schwarzenegger, “The mind is more important than the body!” He is also featured in a Tim Ferris pod cast where he talks a little about this and if I recall correctly he dives into it a bit in the movie “Pumping Iron” about visualizing the muscles growing and becoming massive in response to training.  Many Olympic champions and other greats have described rehearsing over and over again the perfect shot, or perfect serve, or simply having a perfect performance. Michelangelo, as it pertained to his sculptures, said “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

So, I want to share my journey as it relates to visualization, because, although it hasn’t been my only ‘mental tool,’ it has been a big one in helping me achieve more, from both my sports and training, and life. Plus my examples and experiences will hopefully be more “down to earth” and relatable rather as opposed to one of the ‘barons of industry, or artists of the Renaissance, or Einstein for that matter, who is famously known for his “thought experiments” and daydreaming about light and gravity.

To begin, I should clarify that I have, at times, been very good at utilizing visualization and then, for whatever reason, have gotten away from it. In sports, when I used it with real purpose, I generally have been more successful. When I got away from it, well… I just haven’t been as successful. My first success came as a 13-year old playing rep hockey for my hometown. Now, as you can probably guess, I did not make it into the NHL, but I loved playing, and like all competitive kids, was always looking to try and get better. I don’t think I was ever a bad hockey player, but I certainly wasn’t the best on the team; compared to some of my teammates, I will say I was athletic, but some of my teammates just had soft hands and they had great hockey IQ. Then, when I was 13, we had a coach who helped out part-time and worked the door for us defensemen. He was my teammate’s uncle, and he gave me some of the best damn advice I have ever been given in my life. He told me to “think slow; move fast!” What he meant by this was that I should always know what to do with the puck before I ever get it. I should know where my opponent is going to be before he gets there. I should know… well, you get the picture. I should know what to do before I have to do it, then simply commit and execute.

It seems so obvious now, but back then this was a novel idea. Maybe most other kids were already doing this, but it was new to me. So, where before I had really never given or paid much attention to the mental side of hockey, I just played. Now I started following my coaches advice. At this time, I didn’t really know I was doing “visualization” as a researched technique. All I did was, on our way to the games, close my eyes in the car, and then imagine and mentally rehearse all the scenarios I would, or could, face in the game. Here is what started happening. I made fewer mistakes, I was much more consistent, and I was even making better passes and plays that were setting up my other teammates. As a result, I became a player my coaches could depend on and count on at key moments. At this point, nothing else had changed; I didn’t get faster or stronger, and my slap shot didn’t turn into a rocket. I just got better at anticipating where the puck or my opponent was going to be, making better decisions, and then executing those decisions. It was my best year of hockey and one I really enjoyed. But for whatever reason, I got away from the mental visualization in that way, and although I did well in most of my sporting endeavors, it was going to be a while before I put two and two together.

Putting two and two together:

My rediscovery of visualization would come as an adult, playing division-two rugby for a local men’s club where I was living in Maryland. I have always loved my rugby, but as you can guess, I am certainly not world class by any stretch. But even the first two or three seasons I was running with this club, I wasn’t happy with how I was playing. Athletically, I felt I had all the tools, but I wasn’t consistently starting and I would make some boneheaded plays that would have left you wondering “What is that guy doing?!” Now, football had always been easy. Especially as an offensive player, you know the play. So it was easy for me to know the play and know where I had to go. Rugby is much more free-flowing and much more like hockey than football. I wasn’t thinking slow and moving fast. I was just moving fast in the wrong direction, getting really tired and then moving slower.

The other thing was Dan Carter.  Around this time, he was the best rugby player in the world. But he wasn’t bigger than me, and I doubt he would have been much faster than me. How was he the greatest rugby player in the world, and I was just a guy who could barely start for a D2 club in the U.S.?  That was when I was able to make the shift from being obsessed with how fast I could be and how fit I could be (which—don’t get me wrong—is still hyper important) to focusing on playing the game of rugby. So before practices and games, I finally got back to what had helped me be successful all those years ago in hockey. I started visualizing better running angles and supporting the ball carriers. I would visualize catching every pass, making every pass, making every tackle, performing perfect technique in rucks and mauls…. All of it. If it is a skill in rugby, I would mentally visualize doing it perfectly. I also shifted my attitude to a belief that when I stepped on that field, I was the best player on that field. I would be a threat every time I touched the ball. I would also know what to do with that ball before it ever got passed to me, whether it be run, short pass, long pass, or kicking it for position. Again, we can keep it in perspective, but where before I’d had a really hard time finding my stride and place on this club, I went on to earn the team’s and coach’s respect, and won our club’s MVP for the back’s position two years in a row. I started almost every game as the club’s inside center for 5 years, and despite shifting my focus away from ‘how much I could bench,’ I was actually in the best shape I had ever been in up to that time.

What is cool about visualization, especially from a sport’s performance perspective, is that they have done studies and have confirmed that even just by imagining doing a task, the same motor-neural programs/synapses fire. This firing reinforces those patterns, helping to make them more automatic. So, even if you actually are not moving, simply by rehearsing that skill, the mind-body connection is strengthened, thus improving the skill the next time you are doing it. It is important to understand that consistency is a necessity for this to be truly successful, but if you are an athlete and not doing this, you are limiting yourself and making it very difficult to reach your true potential.

Visualization is also not limited to sports. You really can apply it to virtually all facets of your life. All it requires is taking a few minutes a day, or once a week (weekly habits), going through a short relaxation ritual, and then dreaming big. The more vivid you can make it—the more senses you can involve in the visualization—the more benefit you will be able to gain from it.

In the case of weight loss, visualize how you want to look! Imagine that is how you look today, and see yourself having fun, eating all the right foods, and feeling great! As you keep at this, your subconscious will make the appropriate changes to help you realize your dreams and goals.

Sweet dreams!

“. . .fasting gives me singularly happy afternoons.” ― Adalbert de Vogüé

Fasting, specifically intermittent fasting, is garnishing great attention in biohacking and other health circles. I like it, and therefore recommend it as the final piece to our weekly habits for super-human success. To be clear, fasting, in any form, is not starvation! Starvation is by definition, starvation, and is usually followed by death. Fasting is a calculated length of time where the individual abstains from food, or greatly restricts calorie intake, to experience certain benefits that result from short periods of time without food. And yes I said benefits! There are some really cool things that can occur when the body goes more than 12 hours without food. I am also not advocating week long hunger strikes with this approach either. Recent studies have concluded the majority of the benefits kick in after about 12 hours. So you can go 12 – 24 hours without food to trigger these positive changes before rewarding yourself with your next meal.

So what are the benefits? Well from a survivalist point of view, if you go too long without food, your body has to be able to obtain it. As a result, your body will trigger the appropriate changes, so that you can solve the “where can I get food” problem. Hormones reset and regulate better. Your body goes into DNA repair because it starts thinking longevity rather than reproduction. Your five senses will heighten. Fasting also improves brain function. It boosts the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF.) BDNF activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons, and triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health. “This protein also protects your brain cells from changes associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.” (www.lifehack.com ‘10 benefits of fasting that will surprise you’ Nathan Hewitt)

Aside from BDNF being produced a host of other neuro-transmitters kick in, basically making you momentarily smarter, in order to help you solve the task at hand, finding food.

Research in mice shows huge increases in longevity, up to 40%.  In humans the latest research shows reduced risk for cancers, heart disease and other inflammatory chronic diseases.  Insulin sensitivity improves, which also leads to being able to better access your fat stores. Which, from the survivalist perspective would give you the energy boost to go find your food.

But let me remind you that these benefits are short term and are dependent on you ultimately finding food.  Go to long, and your body then actually switches to starvation mode, which flips everything into energy conservation.  So now you won’t burn fat and you won’t have improved metabolic rates.  In starvation mode your body shuts down, which is why starving yourself as a weight loss protocol backfires so badly on those who try and use it.

So because I have included this in our weekly habits series this is something you could try and implement one day out of the week, and it does not have to be a full 24 hours, but it could mean from sunrise to sunset. Or, not “breaking fast” until later in the day and only having a late lunch and dinner. Or, instead of fitting it into a weekly schedule, you could do it every 3 months on a quarterly basis, or time it with certain holidays in the year. Those preferences will be up to you to experiment with, some of you may find your faith has set times in the year for fasting that you might, now knowing the benefits, enjoy following.  I will also add that trying this on the days you work out may not be the best time, especially when starting out, but preferably on a day that you can spend relaxing. Like on a Sunday, just as an example off the top of my head.

With this, all the pieces for our weekly habits are put into place. Each one by itself is good, but is by no means a silver bullet. However, in combination, I think you’ll find the combined effects of all of them really something extraordinary! In this way the whole is greater than the parts and being super-human will become your new normal.