Sunday Story...Success

Sunday Story…Success

The other day I was talking with a friend about my fitness goals and she asked a very good question…”what is your motivation for pursuing that goal? What is the driving force behind doing what it takes to get there?”

This is an interesting inquiry and one that speaks deeply to me. We can have goals, dreams, and aspirations for things bigger than ourselves. But to get to those goals we have a motivation to get there. Knowing what that motivation is will help get you through the “dip” (as Seth Godin calls it).

How you define success is up to you. You get to decide what success looks like to you. You get to decide what markers and what metrics will be used to sign post your success. It really doesn’t matter what area of your life we are talking about either. Pick one and define it. Then take that definition and stick with it. Decide how you are going to know you are successful using objective measurements but most of all start the inquiry as to why.

Why does that definition of success work for you? What is the outcome you are looking for when you can finally say I am successful? This is the motivation key we are looking for. What is going to motivate me to be successful? It isn’t going to be a straight line to the goal. There are going to be challenges. There are going to be setbacks, injuries, failures, disappointments all along the road. What will have you pick yourself up, brush off and get back on the road? Because it won’t be the pie in the sky…it will be the deeper force, the one that drives you on that path.

This is the problem with ill defined goals and no clear guidelines for success. I want to lose some weight. I want to have more money. I want to eat better. All good. And none of those statements contain what is needed to get to those goals. There is no definition. There is no timeline; there is no metric that will prove to you when you have gotten to the goal.

When I say I want to be home by 4PM, I am very clear about where and what I am doing. What isn’t clear is the why. I want to be home by 4PM so I can provide my children a healthy nutritious snack and let them know I love them we are getting closer to the motivation. We could also say it this way…I am motivated to make sure my children know their Father is there for them, that he cares about their health both physical and emotional and that he is willing to do what it takes for that to happen…so I am going to be home at 4PM. Now, that is clear and precise motivation, goal, and action.

What’s your goal? What are you trying to do? And Why are you doing it?

I want to live a life of optimal health and fitness. My motivation for doing that is to provide a living example to my students, friends, and family of what is possible in your life when you eat the way you are supposed to eat, train the way you are supposed to train, when you dedicate your life to living completely in health and fitness. One of the measurements, the metrics, is to compete regularly in various types of physical events over the course of the year and do well, without specifically training for those events. Like a triathlon, or swimming a mile in Lake Tahoe, or the Tough Mudder, or the Crossfit Open Games. So when I say I want to compete in the Open and do well my motivation is to be that example of what is possible for anyone at any age to do if they just decide, and act in a clear and concise way.

That’s one of mine. What’s yours?


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

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Sunday Story...The Biggest Growth Lie

Sunday Story…The Biggest Growth Lie

All you have to do to attract more (fill in the blank here)______________is ask for it. Use affirmations, write it down on a 3x5 card and look at it every day, read your goals out loud, in the mirror and SHAZAM all your dreams will come true.

What a load of crap. Getting healthy won’t happen just by wishing it so. Being more fit won’t happen because you say to yourself every day …”I am fit, healthy and strong.” Your bank account won’t swell because you believe you are a millionaire, act like a millionaire, or even live like a millionaire. Sorry, not going to happen. You won’t become more conscious, you won’t be a nicer person, and you won’t magically become enlightened just because you say it or think it.

This lie, this myth has been especially prevalent over the last 4 or 5 years but it has been around a long long time. I can remember being told to write my affirmations down and carry them and read them every day waay back in the dark ages (the 80’s), And I get all the stories about building a vision board and then “poof” the vision comes true. Life is not an I Dream of Jeannie episode where all someone does is nod and all your dreams come true. I wish it was like that but it isn’t.

That being said, it also isn’t rocket science or brain surgery. If you want to your life to look a certain way you have to do at least 3 things:
1. Decide what it is you really really want. What really lights you up? What gets you up in the morning, springing out of bed like someone just poked you with a cattle prod and your feet on the ground running excited? Decide what it is you want…more fitness, better health, more success, more time, more of something. Whatever it is, make a crystal clear choice.
2. Be that. “Be the change you want to see”---M. Gandhi. Want to have more fitness…start being more fit…in other words you are going to DO something. Get to the gym, hit the road, Jack. If you want to go back to school start being a student. Want to have more money? Start being more successful, work harder, find people to emulate, get your resources focused on success.
3. Commit. The map is already laid out for you. It is right here, right under your feet. If you aren’t there yet you may not be 100% committed to your decision. Go back to step #1 and make sure the decision is really what you want. Then back to step #2. Be the thing you want to be. Then get off the couch, off your butt and get moving. The anticipation of pain is always worse than the pain itself. You can’t win this race sitting on the sidelines or bemoaning all the setback and things you don’t have to make it work. Get committed and get going. As someone once said…”Hard work beats Talent when Talent doesn’t Work hard.” Or this one…”When you want to be successful as much as you want to breathe you will be successful.” You can substitute the word success for any of your decisions.

That is it. Crystal clear hair on fire decision. Be who and what you decide (take action). Commit. Get out there, stay out there, work hard, and good things will happen.

So what are you deciding right now? Does your life look the way you want it to look? What are you doing about it? Do you even know what you want it to look like? Do you have any idea of what you really really really want…deep down in your bones? Do you? Get out there and be it. Get out there and stay out there. And if it doesn’t work the first time, pick yourself up and try it again, try it a different way, get some help but never give up on your dream. Never stop being who and what you want to be.

Approach this with great goals, a calm mind and driven purpose and you will win the day.

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

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Sunday Story...the Biggest fitness Lie

Sunday Story…The Biggest Fitness Myth

So…last week was the biggest diet myth…a calorie is a calorie is a calorie is a lie. All calories do not perform the same way in your body. The types of calories you are eating directly influence your body’s ability to perform and be healthy. So know you know that one!

The Biggest Fitness Myth…All movement is created equal. All you have to do is get up and move for 20 or 30 minutes a day and you too will be fit. And the movement doesn’t matter…walk, run, zumba, Tae-Bo, yoga, lift weights, blah, blah, blah…just get up and move. This is a lie. The quality of the movement matters.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t start moving, whether it is walking, riding your bicycle, or just getting off the couch. You need to move, that is clear. But we are talking fitness here. So the quality of your movement is going to determine your fitness. You can’t sleep walk through your 45 minute tread mill workout and expect to get fit. It isn’t going to work.

Ask yourself this question…does that world champion marathoner look fit? He is gaunt, thin, and has little to no muscle mass to speak of. Or how about this one…does that power lifter look fit? He is big, often has a huge belly and is strong as an ox but can’t move quickly. Why are there fat zumba instructors? Why are there too skinny yoga instructors? How is it that someone who dances for hours every week can still be weak and overweight? The answer is really very simple…when I do something (run, lift weights, and dance) I get good at doing those things. If I run a lot I get good at running. Notice I said I get GOOD (read efficient) at running. If I zumba every day I get good at zumba, or yoga if I yoga daily. Nothing about this says I will get fit and healthy if I do those things.

This is not meant to be an indictment against running, zumba, yoga or power lifting (put the pitchforks away, please). I have done, or do those things from time to time over my life. But I wasn’t “fit” when I was running 50 mile races. Yoga didn’t make me “fit” when I was doing it 4 days a week. And when I was squatting 500# I wasn’t “fit” either. It isn’t you or me it is the quality of the activity.

So what is “fit”? How are we going to define it and how are we going to get there and how are we going to know when we get there? Coach Greg Glassman of Crossfit defines fitness in 100 words or less (read it here: http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_Trial_04_2012.pdf ) but if you read fitness magazines you will rarely see a definition. Outdoor magazine declared the Ironman Triathlon winner the fittest man on earth one year. At the Crossfit games they declare the winners to be the fittest on earth (go here: http://games.crossfit.com/ ).

Fit may be best defined as the ability to move how, when and where you either choose to or are forced to. If you had to run around the block right now could you? If you had to pick up 20 100 pound bags of cement and walk them to your back yard could you? If your kid wanted to see who could climb a rope fastest, or could do the monkey bars, could you? If you had to walk from here to some place 20 miles away could you? If you had to spend the day moving dirt by hand all day could you and still be able to get up tomorrow and go water skiing with your friends? How about not being the slowest guy when the bear is chasing you?

Fitness isn’t about running 100 miles or being able to do down dog for 10 minutes, or power lifting 500 pounds or running circles around your aerobics instructor. Fitness is your ability to use your body on a daily basis in ways that get things done. This may best be characterized as “general physical preparedness.” You never know what life may throw at you. But being “fit” will give you a better shot at getting it done than if you aren’t “fit.”

You must specialize in not specializing. You must get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You must be ready to try and play and do different activities and games and things you have never done before. You must bring intensity and focus to your activity. This is the quality of movement we are talking about. But I can’t just be intense at the same thing every day. My body will adapt and get efficient at that activity. But it won’t be “fit” based on the above definition. The point is that we get fit by design. We get fit by using complex movements in intense environments. We get fit by moving large loads over long distances quickly and then moving them faster next time, farther next time, larger loads next time. We get fit and more fit through an unrelenting pursuit of being more fit.

This pursuit is going to be hard. You will have to sweat. You will have workouts where you wish you had stayed home. You will have days where you hurt and those are the days after the workouts. You will have sore muscles, skinned knees and shins, busted knuckles, torn calluses, and blisters. Getting fit, being fit and getting fitter is not easy. It is not for sissies, wimps, or the dilettante. You must decide that being fit is important to you, just like you did when you decided eating right was more important that eating cheap or eating poorly.

Fitness isn’t a thing you do once in awhile; fitness is a way of life, a mind set, a way of being. When you put it together with proper nutritional support you are on the way.
In the end…eat high quality natural food and move like your hair is on fire.


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

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Sunday Story...The Biggest Diet Lie

Sunday Stories…The Biggest Diet Lie

Are you ready? Here it is…A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. This is the biggest lie in the diet and nutrition industry today. And it is a lie that continues to perpetuate through ads, news and even dietary education.

For those of you who don’t know a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of water by 1 degree Celsius. So when we say there are 4 calories in a gram of protein or 9 calories in a gram of fat that means there is enough energy in that gram of food to raise the temperature of water by 4 or 9 degrees, respectively. Pretty simple on the face of it, yes? So how is it that there is any difference between calories?

Guess what? Your body is not a pot of water, nor does your body treat all of those calories in the same way. Everything you eat or drink creates a number of metabolic and hormonal changes as those things get digested in your body. How many times have you said or heard someone say…everything I eat goes right to my (pick one) hips, butt, legs, belly? The facts are simple different foods evoke different responses from your metabolic system. And sugar in all of its forms may be one of the worst caloric inputs you can have. Your body treats sugar the same way it treats other toxins like alcohol, to the point of doing serious damage to your liver and other organs.

Obesity isn’t just about how we look. Obesity is a marker, a sign of a greater disorder, Metabolic Dysfunction. Not only does this threaten the health and longevity of the people who experience it these diseases that are related to Metabolic Dysfunction account for an amazing 75% of the health care costs in the United States. We know most of the major diseases:
Type 2 Diabetes
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
High blood pressure (hypertension)
Polysystic ovarian syndrome
There are several others (heart disease) that obesity is blamed for as well but the fact is simple: Obesity is not the Cause of these diseases. Obesity is a symptom of metabolic dysfunction. These diseases all flow from that dysfunction.
You are not fat because you are lazy. We often hear this: just work out more and you will lose the weight. Sure, being sedentary is not helping you. You are obese because your metabolism is out of whack. It is not functioning properly. Believe it or not, there also people with normal weight (about 40%) that have some sort of metabolic dysfunction. However 80% of obese people suffer from this dysfunction. This is a huge problem.

So how did we get here? How is it that we have obese infants? They aren’t lazy. If the problem with obesity is metabolic dysfunction how do you get it? Because it isn’t something that you just pick up, it isn’t something that just happens. It turns out that the major culprits may be societal influences and changes. We have covered many of these before:
Lack of time to make and eat good healthy nourishing foods.
Changes in mass food production, primarily the changes related to eliminating saturated fats and increasing sugar content (so the food would taste good).
Changes in the way we feed the animals we eat.
Increased stress (cortisol is the stress hormone that tells our body to not burn fat)
Reduced sleep
Reduced nutrients content in the soil

When we add all of these things (and some others) up we have what may be considered a “perfect storm” to create an epidemic of epic proportions. This epidemic is affecting 60% of Americans health and 100% of Americans pocketbooks.

The primary villain in all of this is sugar. Sugar (especially high fructose corn syrup) is added to virtually all processed food. Even those things listed as healthy, natural or organic have added sugars in the form of brown rice syrup or cane syrup or any number of others. And herein lies the calorie is not a calorie rub…a calorie from fat does NOT impact your metabolism the same way a calorie from sugar (especially fructose) does. Different nutrients evoke different hormonal responses and these responses determine how much and where you accumulate fat.

This is why simply counting calories to lose weight doesn’t work. After fructose, other sugars and grains (another form of sugar) are the most heavily consumed food items that promote weight gain, chronic disease, and metabolic dysfunction. These food stuffs affect your insulin in very bad ways, and insulin is one of your primary fat regulators. These “bad” foods include high fructose fruits and fruit juices, both of which appear healthy but can easily throw your insulin “switch” into high gear. So it isn’t just that you are eating too many calories, you are eating the wrong kind of calories. As long you keep eating the wrong kind of calories (fructose and grains) you are telling your body to keep getting fat and fatter.

So what is the answer? Simple…replace sugars (fructose and grains as well) with healthy fats. Restrict/limit/ cut back on carbohydrates and increase healthy fat intake will create a healthy metabolic response. This will help your regulatory hormones keep everything running smoothly. Remember a few weeks ago when we talked about how hard it can be? Well fructose is in everything including baby formula (which may be why we have obese infants) so how are we going to be moderate in taking that stuff in? Vigilance my friends and creating satiation with fats like:
Avocadoes Coconuts and coconut oil Olives and olive oil
Raw Nuts Grass fed meats Butter from raw pastured milk Palm oil
Organic free range Egg Yolks Unheated nut oils
Your body needs these fats for proper functioning. Just look around you and see what the low fat prescription has gotten us. Every year we consume more sugars and every year we are sicker, fatter and unhealthier. Change your life style around this. You will be glad you did!

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

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