Sunday Story...I'm FINE

Fine…Freaked Out, Intense, Neurotic, Emotional

Stress is a funny thing. We need stress to perform well. Too much stress will degrade our performance. There is a fine line between too much and not enough. This is true in so much of our lives.

Pressure creates diamonds from coal. Stress gives us champions and heroes, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. As the old saying goes…when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Stress helps us by giving us deadlines and standards to measure ourselves against. Living a life with no stress would be boring and mundane.

Stress will also kill you. In a very bad way. Heart attack, stroke, or mental breakdown can easily be imminent in high stress situations. At the very least stress will cause you to do and say things you would not do or say under normal conditions. Too much stress affects your life negatively across all aspects…sleep suffers, exercise is less effective, food doesn’t digest well, your mental attitude is confused, and you are prone to getting sick (which adds even more stress).

So what to do about stress? How do we know when enough is enough and too much is over the top? Most of us don’t have built in stress meters. Or do we? When you aren’t sleeping well your stress meter is going off. When the food you eat all tastes like sawdust your stress meter is hitting the redline. When you catch a cold at the drop of a hat or you seem to be sick too often your stress levels are getting out of hand. If the simplest things create a huge off the hook reaction in you…ding ding ding!

So whatcha going to do Willis? Because if you don’t get out of that funk, that funk is going to kill you. I recently went through one of the most stressful times of my life. It was one of my own doing, but that’s a story for another time. Stressor #1… I moved my business after 5 years in the same location (moving is always stressful). Stressor #2… I put people in charge of that business since I was going to move to Dallas TX. This was a sudden decision for everyone. Stressor #3…I moved 1600 miles out of the area I had lived in for 25 years and the house I had lived in for 5+ years (that whole moving thing again). Stressor #4…I was opening a brand new business in a new town in a new way with a business partner I had never worked with before. Stressor #5…in the month leading up to the move my diet got worse due to time constraints, my rest fragmented, again, due to time constraints and finally my workout program started to break down. Stressor #6…I drove for 3 days, eating the best I could on the road but it wasn’t good. This is a fair bit of stress, all at once. When I arrived in Dallas I was sick, really sick. My digestion was a mess. I needed a root canal. I was tired, bone tired. I was off balance, I didn’t feel grounded. It took 3 weeks to get things under control. It has taken about 3 months to get back to where I feel 100% and back to myself.

How did I do it? By doing exactly what you would expect. I started eating right…good quality food, consistently. Getting to bed at a decent time. Getting my workout program back on track. I am fortunate enough to know that I re-charge my internal batteries by spending time alone. I also got back to my Tai Chi K’ung practice…a meditative movement practice I use to balance my breath and body into harmony ( I have a dvd available if you want it). I can’t imagine how long it would have taken to come back without these practices. This is why you must do these things now, in times of low stress so that they become habits. Then, in times of high stress, you will fall into good patterns because you are habituated to do so.

I keep my stress levels as low as I can. There are things I can’t control that cause stress, granted. But poor diet I can control. Drinking too much I can control. Not sleeping well I can control. Exercise and training I can control. Staying in balance and recharging my batteries I can control. Stress management comes down to this: Control the things you can control. Let the rest go, you can’t control them anyway.

I wish you a stress-free holiday season. Love people where they are. Wanting them to be something else isn’t going to work anyway. If you need nutrition or exercise help reach out to me and let’s get you on track in person or remotely.

Namaste
John
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
john@crossfit-odyssey.com

Sunday Story...The Aging Athlete

I will admit it…I am an aging athlete. I am fighting tooth and nail to maintain muscle mass, improve speed, get healthier, move more easily, and do what I can to slow the aging process. What I am about to tell you is a distillation of what I have learned so far. This by no means the gospel according to John, it is what works for me and I believe it will work for you. That being said, listen to your own body, take into account the damage you may have done over the years, and above all, don’t do anything stupid. As a matter of fact that is #1…

Don’t do Stupid Stuff.
As much as I would love to get one of those flying squirrel suits and base jump off a cliff somewhere it probably isn’t going to happen. About 25 years ago I went scuba diving with a friend in Bodega Bay California. I had never been scuba diving before. The sea was rough and it took more than 15 minutes just to get past the swells and into the water. The visibility was about 3 feet and I had no idea what I was doing. Stupid. And if I wasn’t such a strong swimmer who knows what might have happened. Not a runner? Don’t try a marathon next Saturday. Assess your abilities, get help when you need it and think a little bit ahead. It will go far.

Get Some Sleep.
Many of us, me included, grew up thinking sleep was for sissies. I used to brag about being able to function on 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I also drank a couple pots of coffee every day. I was wound so tight I am lucky I didn’t explode. You need 7-9 hours of sleep every night. It is a habit and one that is easy to develop.

Work Your Butt Off.
In the gym. As I age I am fighting a couple different battles simultaneously. These are things that will happen if we don’t do the work. Hormonal changes and the declining muscle mass are battles waged both here and in the kitchen. The work in the gym is critical to maintaining both muscle mass and bone density…use it or lose it. And the 30 minutes on the treadmill at 40% of your max heart rate sort of work isn’t going to cut it. You need to get your heart rate up, your blood pumping and your breath gasping. You need to pick up heavy stuff. You need to move large loads over long distances quickly.
Mind what you eat and eat what you mind.

Eat real food.
It is simple. Don’t eat processed crap. If you eat in a restaurant eat in one where they source real food…this means non-gmo, no pesticides or herbicides, no added hormones or antibiotics, food grown in its’ natural state (do chickens live in small cages with no beaks or pigs with no tails?) This isn’t real hard but it does take some consciousness. When you eat, be mindful. Take your time concentrate on the food as it contributes to your health and well being. Stop texting and emailing for a few minutes and enjoy the company you are in…even if you are alone.

Learn new Stuff
Your brain is a tool to be used. You need to exercise it just like you exercise your muscles or it is going to atrophy and be less useful (can you spell dementia?) Spend time learning new stuff…new games, new skills, and new languages (no, you aren’t too old), make new friends, do things you have never done before (see rule #1 though!) Turn off the T.V., it is not your friend and it is not going to help your brain be healthy.

You are choosing, right now, how you are going to age. You are making decisions that will show up in 10 or 15 years in your quality of life. When you are 60 or 70 years old it is going to be exponentially difficult to make the changes and it is going to take a lot longer to have those changes be effective. On the bright side doing something at any age is better than doing nothing!

Get started today. Call me for class time or to get going with a remote coaching program!

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com