Sunday Story…the 9 Save Your Life Reasons to Work Out (not exercise)

Sunday Story…the 9 Save Your Life Reasons to Work Out (not exercise)

I often rant and rave about the benefits of working out. You notice I said working out not exercising. I exercise my rights, I exercise my math skills, I ride an exercise bike but I don’t exercise. I work out. I get moving, get moving fast and intentional, and do things I haven’t done before and sweat and pant and effort.

The other day my little tiger class (4 &5 year olds) was doing push-ups and I asked them why push-ups were important. I got a lot of interesting answers, most of which were related to the things we all know…to be strong, to get bigger muscles, to be in shape, to exercise, even to get good at doing push-ups. Then after a bit more prodding and having them watch the student instructors move a bin of sparring gear to reach something else I finally got the answer I was looking for…to be able to lift heavy things! Are all those other things true? Of course they are. But in the final analysis the only real reason I want to work out is so that I can lift heavy things, move heavy things, run fast, climb stairs, help my invalid relative out of a chair, or work in my garden all day. In other words when I work out I need it to serve me in my life.

So here are the 9 Save Your Life Reasons to Work Out (not exercise)
1. Fresh Air, sunshine, and earth are all healing and contributory to your spirit. Hamsters run on wheels, not people. You don’t need to spin your wheels for 45 minutes going nowhere just to sweat. Get outside and see the world, even if it just your own neighborhood. You will be amazed at the changes over the course of a year.

2. Lifting heavy things builds muscle but it also builds will. When you set up or get under a weight you have never lifted before your mind is going to work against you. Your mind is going to say no, is going to want to stop, to quit. Your will, your drive, your desire is what has you step up and go where you have never gone before. This part of your body is under-developed and the only way to get it bigger is to challenge yourself with things that are seemingly impossible to your former self.


3. Sprinting empowers you. Remember the old saying about not having to outrun the bear, just outrun the slowest camper? If you sprint you won’t be the slowest camper. And in this day and age it more likely you will need to outrun the taxi cab barreling down at you than a bear but still…

4. Use it or lose it. Sitting around doing nothing is like watching a car rust in the rain…it is going to fall apart sooner rather than later. Doing the usual exercise pattern you have done for years is like watching the same car die of neglect. It needs new stuff to keep that shiny new look and feel. So does your body. You need to challenge yourself by doing different stuff, by creating some interest in what you are doing…it is body AND mind after all not just body.


5. Play more, work less. When you were little you played a lot. As a matter of fact it may be all you did. Working out is play. Exercise is drudgery. Play more, work less.

6. You are a miracle. Never before in history have you existed here. You have been gifted an absolute marvel of bio-mechanical engineering. Man has never been able to create the machine that rivals the sum of all your parts working together. If we were to try to reverse engineer your biology and mechanics that allow you to be alive we would be faced with an impossible task. Appreciate the how and why and wherefore of even the simplest movement let alone your ability to run fast, play hard and drip sweat.

7. Look better naked. However good you look now, you can always look better. Enough said.

8. Sleep. Sleep enough that you don’t get fired or divorced but sleep a lot. You will need 8 or 9 hours if you work out. If you exercise, well watching TV while you exercise might as well be sleeping right?

9. Eat more and eat better. When you work out…when the sweat is pouring off of you and drenching the floor, you legs are shaking, your heart is pounding, and your breath is strangling in your throat…you know you are going to be slicing fat off your frame for hours. Eating will be a little piece of heaven that drink of water will be like the nectar of the gods. And because #7 is true you will want to put premium fuel in the tank.

10. You will be an inspiration. Let’s face it we all want to be looked up to. We all want to be famous in some way, even if it is to the 5 people in our lives we see every day. Getting in great physical condition, eating right, sleeping a bunch, looking great, feeling great, having an amazing attitude and a sense of wonder are all contagious. The people around you are going to want to get some of what you got. And you get to be their hero. And that may be reason #1.

Run fast, lift heavy stuff, learn new ways to move, play, sleep, eat, inspire. Work out. Have fun. A simple recipe for honoring yourself and the amazing vehicle you inhabit. It’s never too late to start unless you are already dead.

Let’s be grown ups and start playing like we were kids again!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...The 9 Big Butt Reasons

Sunday Story…The 9 Big Butt Reasons

The other day I was talking to somebody about food and why you shouldn’t eat certain things. And I was about half-way into my usual explanation about foreign proteins and anti-nutrients and sugars and such when she stopped me short. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said, “now give me the big butt reason.” I looked at her a little puzzled. And she said,”you know, why shouldn’t I eat something because it will make my butt big. That’s a reason I can really understand and stay with.”

So here goes The 9 Big Butt Reasons for eating certain foods and certain types of foods.
1. Why should I not drink soda? First (logically) there is too much sugar in them and the chemicals used to make soda leach calcium from your bones. BBR (Big Butt Reason): Too much sugar gives you too many calories and causes you to want even more sugar and makes your butt big(ger).

2. What about diet soda? First the artificial sweeteners are just chemicals and not good for you and your brain does not recognize the difference between fake sugar and the real thing, so you still release insulin and store fat. BBR: The more you drink the more you want and you want sugar even if you aren’t getting it so you eat more other crap to get it and that makes your butt big(ger).


3. You say not to eat gluten and wheat…why not? First there is the whole story about lectins and other proteins and the allergic reactions many people have with gluten but I won’t go there now (let me know if you need to hear this again). BBR: The gluten and wheat create an insulin reaction like sugar and cause you to eat more and more often , not to mention the calorie dense nature of the food makes it easy to over eat and that makes your butt big(ger).

4. Sugar? No Sugar? First it is addictive like crack or heroin or nicotine and the more you eat the more you want. BBR: it creates over time an insulin resistance that makes it harder and harder to lose weight because you aren’t processing sugar efficiently except to store it as fat and that makes your butt big(ger).


5. No pasta, no bread, no rice, no cake or pie, and no grains? First (after re-reading the gluten thing above) your digestive system does not process these foods in an efficient manner, they have almost no micro-nutrient value, and you can easily pile on more calories than you need. BBR: you eat too much, too often, and with no intention and that makes your butt big(ger).

6. No Processed food? First if it came out of a box it came out of a factory and it has been created to last a long time on the grocery shelf and will do the same thing in your body. BBR: there is little to no nutrient value except in the chemicals they put back in so you are eating calories that won’t increase your health and that makes your butt big(ger).


7. No peanut butter? No legumes, peas, beans? First (see the gluten thing above again) the allergic reaction many of us have and don’t realize it, the proteins are indigestible, the sugars create the same havoc with your insulin as the above. BBR: makes is hard for your digestive system to work properly, puts little holes in your intestines to let the proteins out and messes with your immune system and makes your butt big(ger).

8. No Alcohol? First sugar (see all the stuff before this) and gluten (beer) and then there is the toxic nature of alcohol in general and the ill effects it may have on your liver. BBR: if your liver isn’t working right it makes it hard to process sugar correctly, alcohol and most mixers we put alcohol into are full of sugar so you drink too many calories and that makes your butt big(ger).

9. No dairy? First your body does not have all the necessary tools to process lactase after the age of 2, it is more efficient to get calcium from other sources other than the chemicals producers have to add back in after pasteurization and the milk sugars and proteins act in your body like all the things we have already discussed. BBR: too many calories, too easy to eat too much of it, and that makes your butt big(ger).


The BBR bottom line? It is too easy to Over-eat these foods. They are calorie dense and nutrient weak, chemically dense and crowded with things your body was never meant to absorb, let alone try to process into a healthy body. On one hand the formula is simple…eat too many calories and it makes your butt big(ger). You can never exercise your way skinny. On the other hand the type of calories does matter…1500 calories of sugar will react differently in your body than 1500 calories of vegetables. Sugar provides no micronutrients and Vegetables are the best source of micronutrients.

The Standard American Diet consists of 60% processed food (CRAP in a box and yes this includes “diet” food, specially designed foods for weight loss), 30% meat, 5% white potatoes and rice, 5% vegetables. If you eat like this your butt will get big(ger). You should be eating something like 60% veggies, 30% meat, 10% or more fat (nuts, seeds, olives, avocados and the likes). If you do your butt won’t get bigger and if you add some exercise in your butt might even get smaller. And after all, isn’t that the real question you were asking anyway?

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Practice

Sunday Story…Practice

Over the years, I have found the answer to a lot of questions to be: Practice. If you want your performance to be mistake free: Practice. If you want to get good at something, anything: Practice. If you want to be a master, a virtuoso: Practice.

There is also the practice of doing something. I may have a yoga practice or a medical or dental practice. This is to say that I am doing that thing repeatedly on a daily basis. So I have, in essence, a yoga habit. I have a medical habit; I do it repeatedly on a daily basis. I have a work out habit, a work out practice.

We become what we do repeatedly. No you are not going to become down dog or crow pose but you might become a yogi or yogini (someone who practices yoga). But then not everyone who does yoga has a yoga practice and not everyone who does yoga is a yogi or a yogini. So what separates the doer from the practitioner? What makes the difference between the fighter and the martial artist, between the painter and the artist, between the horseman and the equestrian?

In a word: Intent.

What do you do every day? You live. You get up, go do something, then some more things, then some more things, eat a few times, maybe relax a bit and go to bed. Tomorrow more of the same. Lather, rise, repeat. Go to the gym today…it’s Thursday and I must go get on the bike for 45 minutes. That’s what “they” say will keep me healthy so I go grab a magazine or my iPod and zone out for 45 minutes on the exercise bike, treadmill, whatever you hamster wheel is. “They” told you that was what was needed so there you go. Friday, something else”they” told you to do. Eating food “they” told you to eat. This week no carb, next week, no fat, next week cabbage soup, next week pineapple. No intention, no motivation…is it a habit, sure. So is brushing your teeth or putting on clean socks but that doesn’t mean you are actually practicing brushing your teeth, or eating with intention, or working out with intention or dressing with intention.

Intention changes everything. So does the awareness of what it is you are doing. Because if you are practicing mindless, by the numbers stuff your life will become a mindless by the numbers sort of life. Maybe you are OK with that…just going through and taking whatever life gives you and just doing whatever you can to get through until tomorrow.

So what are you practicing today?
Are you practicing eating good quality meal prepared with love and care or are you practicing throwing some junk down your pie-hole standing in front of the sink?
Are you practicing increasing your health and fitness through working out or are you practicing by exercising in some mindless robotron way?
Are you practicing living intentionally or are you practicing living by default…whatever you get handed?

You don’t have to have an intentional intention. You are creating intention by practicing what you are doing everyday…surfing the web and wasting time…or intentionally seeking out new knowledge? Your tomorrow’s are being determined right now…by how intentional you are doing what you are doing right now. Wonder why you aren’t in better shape? How is your intention when you exercise? Do you approach every workout with the intention to be better than the last one---faster, stronger, better? Wonder why your nutrition plan isn’t working? Do you approach every meal with the intention to fuel your body with the healthiest, cleanest food you can possibly put in your body? If not, why not?

Why not, indeed? What is stopping you from having intention? You are going to love this…you can guess, I know you can guess…what is the thing that is stopping you from living and intentional life, from intentional building the body, the fitness, the health you want, from having the nurturing, kind and loving relationships you desire?

Practice.

That’s right you must practice intention. I can practice leaving dirty dishes in the sink or I can practice cleaning up after myself immediately. I can get up in the morning and start running after all the mundane tasks and jobs that come up with no intention or plan. Or I can get up intentionally and practice eating with mindfulness, doing my work with the intention to provide my employer and clients with the best possible experience possible, and practicing living my life with intention.

How are you going to do this? How are you going to shift into an intentional life? Start by deciding to be intentional. Then become aware of what it is you are doing. Do you really want that 3rd cup of coffee? Do you really need to stay up an extra ½ hour just to watch that program? What is the intention, what will you get, how will doing that activity move you forward toward your intentional life? After the decision and the awareness we can begin to hone our intentionality. Is it possible to be intentional about brushing your teeth? Yes. Is it possible to be intentional every time you walk into your office? Yes. Is it possible to take every meal with intention? How about every bite? What would happen, how would your life be different if everything that passed between your lips was the result of intention or had conscious intention behind it? Every word going out was intentional, every drink, every bite of food intention as to its purpose? What would life look like if that was your practice?

Practice intentionality. It’s simple, really, just not easy.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Expect More

Sunday Story…Expect More

Expect More of yourself. Way too often we don’t. We don’t expect more of ourselves. We don’t set the bar high enough. I am not talking about doing more, or being more efficient, or getting more done, or having more. I am talking about being more. Living larger. Living life in ways that confront the status quo and state unequivocally…”I am bigger than this.”

Over the years you have had teachers, coaches, maybe even your parents who expected more from you. And well they should expect more. They saw, in you, the potential for greatness, the potential for excellence, the potential to live your life on the edge of More.

But what do you see? Are you living with big expectations? Or are you just doing enough to get by. Are you just doing whatever life throws at you and trying not to get “out”? Or are you swinging for the seats? Are you living your life Expecting More of Yourself? No? Why not? I mean really why not?

Are you scared? What are you scared of? Are you afraid you might fail? Maybe you are already failing. Maybe the way you are living is a failure in itself. Maybe the way you are running your life…afraid of really trying, afraid of really reaching and stretching, afraid of being who you were really meant to be…running your life that way is the failure. Not trying to Be More is the failure. Not expecting more is the failure.

What does this mean, what is this attitude that you can be more, that you should and can Expect More from Yourself. What I am talking about is an thought process that says I can…I can improve my body, I can improve my mind, I can improve my attitude, I can improve my fitness, I can improve my nutrition, I can improve my relationships, I can improve my spirit, I can, simply, improve. I can be better, I can get better, I am better. This is in opposition to what appears to be the prevailing idea in our modern world…that it is OK to be mediocre, it is OK to be average, it is OK to be just another cog in the machine, and it is OK to muddle along. Well it’s not OK. You need to Expect More of Yourself. Never mind what I expect. Never mind what you spouse expects, never mind what your boss expects. You need to expect More of Yourself.

You do not have to settle for mediocrity. But you must decide not to settle. You must decide you are going to step up and step out into the spotlight. You must decide you are going to risk the slings and arrows that may come your way when you start to improve, when you start to Expect More of Yourself. You will change your expectation of what you can do physically. You will change your expectation of what you can do mentally, intellectually. You will change your expectation of what your relationships can look like. You will change you’re your expectation of what you can deliver, what you can bring to the table. You will change your expectation of what and who you can be. All of this stems from Expecting More of Yourself.

Then what? Let’s say for a moment that you embrace this attitude of More, this attitude of higher expectations, this concept that you can be, that you are one of the great ones. Then what?

Your life will change. That is it in a nutshell…Your life will change. Maybe you will finally lose that last 10 pounds. Maybe you will run that marathon, ride that century, or get that promotion at work. Maybe you will finally start that charity you have been dreaming of, or get started on learning that new language. I don’t know what your life will look like when you start Expecting More of Yourself. And neither do you. But of this one thing I am sure…Your Life will Change.

So, if you are happy with mediocre, if you are happy with average, happy with just going through the motions then don’t start Expecting More of Yourself. But don’t expect me to do it either. I mean why should I? If you don’t? Your parents and coaches, and teachers had an obligation in many ways to expect more of you. It was kind of built into the job. I don’t and, honestly neither does anyone else. We are not obligated to expect any more of you than you expect of yourself. So, if you want me to expect more of you than You Need to Expect More of Yourself. It is your job, your mission should you choose to accept it. You don’t have to, you can reject the mission. But this message is not going to self destruct. It is going to stay right here for you. It is going to come up again in some other form. And you can choose to keep ignoring it. It is your life.

Expect More of Yourself. Change your Life. Improve your expectations. Be one of the great ones. Leave a legacy of the highest order, the highest and best realization of human potential. Do this and I will Expect More of You as well.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Resolution 12

Sunday Story…Resolution 12

If you have been paying attention over the last few weeks we have talked about resolutions and goals, why they work, why they don’t and how to be proactive and honest with those things you want to do to improve your life. Honestly, most of your New Year’s resolutions are all about you. Maybe over the years your resolutions have sounded like one of these:
I’m going to quit smoking.
I’m going to lose weight.
I’m going to work out more.
I’m going to eat better.
I’m going to travel more.
I’m going to learn a new language.
I’m going to go back to school.
I’m going to make more money.
Any of that sound familiar? I’m sure it does because if you haven’t said at least one of those, someone you know has said one of them.
Maybe you have been paying attention over these last few years and your resolutions are smarter (Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Tangible) so your statements look like this:
I’m going to quit smoking on January 1st and I will use the patch to help me with the cravings and hire a naturopath to help me detox from the toxins in the smoke I have been consuming.
I’m going to lose 30 pounds by June 30th 2012. I will begin by cutting all soda out of my diet first. Then sugar. I will increase my vegetable consumption by 100%. I will start walking 45 minutes a day until I have increased the distance by 50% and then I will start jogging.
I’m going to increase my income by 30% this year. I will do this by planning my day the night before and my week on the Sunday before. I will increase my sales calls by 30% a day over 2011. I will find 1 additional source of passive income in 2012.
You get the picture, yes? It’s all about you. All about you improving yourself or some part of your life. All about how you can be more, better, or do something that you perceive will make your life easier, better, or more successful. Great, good on you.
BUT (you knew this was coming right?)…is that all there is? Is that all you are about? Is that all you can do with your life is to improve your own plight? Really? Really?

Should you do all of that? Should you stop smoking, eat better, exercise more, improve your mind, and make more money? Of course you should. It goes without saying, really. And how often do we try those things without success only to promise ourselves that this time it will be different. This year will be the year that it finally works. And here we are on December 31st, again.

SO…here is an all new idea. And idea you can get behind and one you can get in front of. And this is not my idea. Yep, this is one I am taking from someone else because it is such a great idea and so, so simple. I am sort of upset I didn’t think of this, actually.

This year, instead of making resolutions to improve yourself or your life in some way let’s make resolutions to do more good in the world. Let us turn all that internal motivation outward to the external world. Instead of resolving to make ourselves better, what can we resolve to make the world better? What can we do to help others? How can our resolutions improve the world?

Sounds pretty simple, right? And even more importantly it sounds like something I might be able to get behind and stay on task for twelve months or more. It doesn’t have to be complicated or massive like world peace or solving world hunger. It can be simple…remembering everyone’s birthday and sending them a card, paying a compliment to someone new every day, or maybe volunteering as a mentor, a big brother/big sister, providing fitness/diet/nutrition guidance to under privileged/underserved people.

How will you stay on task with this? And the answer is that it is a simple psychology, really. You are doing for others; you are committed to doing something outside yourself. Other people are counting on your contribution and you don’t want to let them done, you don’t want to disappoint them. For those reasons alone you will stay the course. And, after a while, you will find how much richer your life is from performing those simple acts. You will discover a well in you that is finally being filled. A well filled with human kindness. A well you filled yourself, with your own kindness. It doesn’t get much better than this.

As I said this is not my idea. I got the germ of this essay from daily good here:
http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=155
This is a really good idea. This is a very doable idea. This is simple, measurable, achievable, and tangible. You can do this. You can make this the year that your resolutions are achieved. The world is counting on you. If you go here:
http://resolution12.tumblr.com/
you can see what other people are doing. You can join some of them in posting yours. You can send them to me and I will post them…as a matter of fact if you send them I will produce a Sunday Story with nothing but your resolutions…how’s that? Send them here … utffernley@gmail.com and put resolution 12 in the header so I will track them.
Here are 2 or 3 I will do in 2012:
1. Produce 1 ton of food in the garden this year and give it away.
2. Give $52.00 a week for 52 weeks to various charities and organizations
3. Give 1 presentation every month to underserved communities about food, exercise, bullying, or kindness.

Let’s make 2012 the year of Kindness. Happy NewYear!
Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday story...the Question

Sunday Story…the Question

I get the question every week if not every day. It really isn’t the question that someone is asking. Because the question they are asking is rarely the question that needs to be answered.
Usually the question is:
What do I need to do to lose 20 pounds?
How can I get in better shape?
What can I eat to enjoy better health?
How should I work out?
How do I communicate better with my spouse/child/significant other?
What do I need to do to be better at my job/career/school?
How can I make more money?

There is nothing wrong with these questions. They are perfectly valid and they do need to be answered. But almost each one is not asking the question that needs to be answered before the answer to these questions can be validated.

The reason for this is simple. Each of these questions simply does not make sense until we start measuring where you are in the light of how you live your life. And where you are in terms of the commitment to getting where you want to go?

Context Covers a lot of Area
If we look at context, or the availability your life is going to allow you to do the things necessary to get the goal done we start realizing that certain limitations exist.
Want to make a million dollars?
Want to bench press 300 pounds?
Want to date a super model?
How is that going to work in the context of your life? If I live in say, Fernley Nevada, which is not exactly the entertainment capital of the world, nor is it part of the fashion industry in any way shape or form, the likelihood of me even seeing a super model is pretty darn slim, let alone being able to date one. The “context” of my life is such that the possibility of that outcome taking place is just not going to happen. In another (maybe more realistic example) if I want to lose 50 pounds but I work 2 jobs, raise 3 kids by myself, eat crap food from fast food joints every day, don’t sleep well and have never worked out in my life and I think getting up from the couch for a glass of water is real exercise losing weight is simply not in the “context” of my life.

The bottom line on context is that if I have goals or quests that I want to achieve but they do not fit into the context of my life then they are not real and they are not achievable. We call things like this “dreams”. If I want to win the lottery but I never buy a ticket then winning is only a dream and not even a remote possibility. I have not made the changes in the context of my life to win the lottery. So if you want to do certain things you are going to have to shift some element of your life to get them done…you are going to change or shift or transform the context of your life to make room for getting the goal done.

Commitment is Compliance

You are going to hate this one. You must be committed to not just the goal or the quest. You have to be committed to the everyday, to the plan, to the nitty gritty, down and dirty daily work of implementation. You have got to do the work! Every day. Every moment. Unerringly committed to doing what must be done each and every day. If you want to lose 50 pounds but every Sunday you eat a large pepperoni pizza to reward yourself you have lost sight of your commitment. Yes I understand the psychology of rewards and all the rest of that blah blah blah. Guess what? I don’t care. Get a plan. Stay on task. Do the things every day the plan calls on you to do. Don’t cheat. If the plan needs to be modified, modify it but don’t quit, don’t take your eyes off the prize at the end of the quest.

So what’s the question?

If the question you are asking is not the question you should be asking then what is the correct question? Let me put it this way…The magic is not in the plan. It is not in the perfect diet, plastic surgeon or career, or work out plan. There is no magic pill. The magic is in how much you care. The magic is in how much you are willing to do the 2 things you must do to complete your quest…shift your life to make the quest fit into it AND commit to doing what needs to be done to move forward everyday toward the goal.

SO…the question is this: Are you doing or Have you done Everything you can do with what you have already? When you read all the words before this we come down to this: Are you doing enough with what you already have? If you are not then get after it first. Do the research, do the plan you already have. Then if you can say yes, I am doing all I can with what I have then we can start there. That is our jumping off point. When your commitment and your context have shifted to accommodate the quest then we can get to work. Want to lift 300 pounds off your chest? We can make a plan for that if you have the context and the commitment. Date a super model? Same thing. Lose weight? Enjoy better health? Same same.

I can help but only to the degree that you are willing to work. Not to the degree that I am willing to listen to your reasons for not being committed and contextual.
Want help? Call me.


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Couch Potato

Sunday Story…Couch Potato?

The other morning, after kickboxing class several of us were having a conversation about various exercise methods. The fact of the matter is that there are many ways to become more fit, especially if you are starting from zero, or less than zero (yes that is possible). I know of one example of over 100 pounds lost by riding a bicycle. We have all heard of people who lost weight and improved their physical fitness by running, swimming, walking, dancing, p-90x, zumba, crossfit, aerobics, tae-bo, or any of a number of other things. All of these things have one thing in common: they require you to get up and start moving. It is impossible to get fit lying on the couch bemoaning your health and fitness.

But what is fitness, really? How do you define fitness? How do I define fitness? What makes up an athlete or a state of athleticism? Who is an athlete? Is there some independent measure or benchmark that we can say makes someone fit? After all we can say when someone is unfit, or ill, or unhealthy. There are some objective measurements for sickness or disease…blood pressure, pulse rates, blood markers, and more. And, yes, some of those markers would also indicate a fit person as well.

We can look across a spectrum of fitness and find lots of different examples. For example, an Olympic marathoner can run 26 miles in just over 2 hours (120 minutes). That means they are going to average less than 5 minutes per mile. I don’t know about you but I cannot run 1 mile in less than 5 minutes let alone 26 in a row. This is obviously an athlete of some repute. But is he really fit?
How about a Triathlete? One of the folks who can swim 2.4 miles (in the ocean), ride the bike for 112 miles and then run for 26 miles. One after the other and do it in less than 8 hours. This is a feat to be reckoned with.
What about a power lifter. I recently met a man who can squat (put weight on his back and drop his rear down below his knees and stand up with the weight) over 1000 pounds. That is a strength I don’t have but is he fit?
How about the body builders and fitness models…the people who get their body fat so obscenely low so we can see every striation and fiber in their flexed muscles? Must be fit right?

All of these examples are of athletes who can be considered to be in good shape, have a decent cardio vascular response to exercise, and the potential to excel in their sports. But they are each different and they each have made a similar fitness choice…they have specialized in their “thing”. An Olympic marathoner is never going to be a power lifter. He just isn’t made for it. And that power lifter is never going to outrun the marathoner once they get past about 50 yards. His fitness is not going to allow for that.

So how are we going to define fitness? Because the definition we use will determine the method of exercise we choose. And the method will create the level of fitness and health we are trying to achieve.

Most commonly we are looking for the following characteristics: strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, agility, power, accuracy, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance and stamina. The ability to have all of these things is what makes an athlete. Obviously if I am going to be really good at running 26 miles I am going to give up on a few of those fields in favor of my chosen sport. The same holds true for power lifting.

Fitness by my definition requires me to be good at all of those things. I must have power and strength. The other day a man asked me to help him pick up his motorcycle that had fallen over at the gas station. He couldn’t do it. I walked over and lifted it up…this is functional fitness. I must have endurance and stamina to run or swim or bike or row as I choose. Even if that is a 4 or 5 hour hike or walk in the amusement park. I have to have balance and flexibility…too many people as they age can no longer move the way they did years ago and the primary reason is that they aren’t flexible any more. It is a practice to stay flexible and balanced.

If I am going to be an athlete I must work on all those areas without prejudice or specialization. That means I have to do 2 or 3 things frequently…I must train, I must practice, and I must push my body when I practice and train. Doing 45 minutes on the hamster wheel just isn’t going to get it done. Knocking out 3 sets of 10 reps of a specific body part isn’t going to get it done. I have to train which means I am increasing my cardiovascular/respiratory response, strength and flexibility in the activity. Training is an activity that increases performance in a measurable way. I have to practice which means I am improving coordination, balance, accuracy and agility. This activity results in changes in the nervous system…I am getting better at the activity. Power and speed are improved through adaptations in both training and practice.

The definition of fitness I use says that no matter what I am tasked with…picking up a motorcycle, mowing the lawn, hiking up the mountain, sprinting across the road, sitting down without a chair and getting up without assistance, jumping over the fence, climbing up a tree, or???...I will be able to perform. You see I want to be a life athlete. I want to be an athlete that can do what we wants when he wants and be able to say when it was over I am glad I train and practice hard so I was able to get that done. It’s pretty simple really. But it is definitely not easy. It takes sweat, effort, thought and fortitude to push yourself hard. And then come back tomorrow for more.

Come on and get fit with me. Unleash your inner athlete (and bury your couch potato)…they are just sitting there waiting for you to put them in the game…the game we call life.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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