Sunday Story...Tough Mudder

Last Sunday I completed a challenge called the Tough Mudder. It isn’t a race, it is a challenge. We (me and about 10,000 of my closest friends) ran up a mountain about 6 miles and back down about 6 miles. Starting elevation was about 6,500 feet and at the top we were around 9,000 feet. So just that part of it was pretty big in itself. Remember, I have not run any significant distance since 2008 after my last 50 mile race. So that was the first real challenge. I have run 2 or 3 miles at a stretch but nothing significant as this. Mentally I had to get my head around running for distance again.

The Tough Mudder was designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental toughness, and camaraderie. Over 500,000 people have participated across the world and almost 4 million dollars have been raised for the Wounded Warrior Project (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ ). The idea of this challenge is to discover, within you, reservoirs of strength and mental grit you did not were there. Along the way you will discover how working as a team gets everyone home and home with an amazing sense of accomplishment.

To get to the starting line you have to climb over an 8 foot wooden wall. It is the first of many. After the National Anthem the crowd begins to move up the hill. The day is chilly; it is September in the Sierras after all. The first obstacle has us crawling in the dirt under a barbed wire barrier. Raising your head or your butt would be hazardous to your skin but no big deal. When we hit the next wall and have to climb about 15 feet and jump into a pond of murky looking cold water it is obvious this is not going to be a nice hike in the mountains. The day before I heard over 20,000 people ran the course. This water looks nasty and it is cold.

Luckily for me we rarely have to run more than 2 miles at a stretch and on the uphill portion some of it is so steep you have to walk anyway. I remember at mile 4 thinking…”this is bad. I would have put this at 6 or 7 miles.” This is not your boring marathon…there are rocks and dust and shale and crowds to avoid. At one of the worst obstacles for me I finally start getting it. This is really about looking at your fear of ____ and going ahead anyway. I am looking down at a vat filled with green water and ice…enough ice that you have to push it out of the way before you duck under the barrier and come up on the other side to push your way through to finally get out of the vat. It is cold, super cold and when I get out I have a couple body parts I am afraid have suffered permanent damage. The mental part is worse than the physical part but at least the mental is over quickly. Now I am cold and wet and the temperature outside is not helping.

That being said it is obvious that this is fun…hard, yes but fun and not to be taken too seriously. Yes, you signed a death waiver. Yes getting shocked by 10,000 volts of electricity may be outside the normal definition of fun. But people have brought their children and parents and friends and they are wearing costumes, working together and completing things that if you asked them 6 months ago were probably viewed as impossible. That is, if you even considered doing them…I know I have never really considered crawling under barbed wire through mud and water while the risk of getting an electrical shock is imminent. And, by the way, when you put your hand in just to check you get, yep you guessed it, shocked.

I did not do this alone. I had a partner, Ellie McKenzie, with me. She was doing this in celebration of her 43rd birthday. She had been training all year along with me and 4 other people in my gym (Rebecca Woosley, Linda & Brian Pike, Natasha Pierre). We worked together, we helped other people, other people helped us and everyone found out something about themselves. Maybe they found an inner reservoir of physical strength and ability that they weren’t aware of before. Maybe they discovered a fear of heights or of tight places that had to be faced and overcome. Maybe they found the mental fortitude to finish something that looked impossible yesterday.

At the end after you have run the 12 miles, faced 20 or so military style obstacles you are looking at the finish line and the last barrier is the electro-shock treatment…about 20 or 30 feet of mud puddles, hanging electrical wires and the finish line. And as in life there are lots of ways to get to the end.

But most of all, as in life, the only way through is the way through. When you reach your finish line you want to be sliding in, muddied, bloodied, smiling, laughing and proud of your life.

You are living your tough mudder…are you facing your obstacles and going through or are you shirking them, turning around, letting those scary things defeat you? Don’t…you are bigger than that. You are better than that. You can do this…whether it is a vat of ice cubes, a electrical shock, a divorce, a loss of a loved one or anything else life puts up for you. You can do this.

So face your fear and go ahead anyway. Get muddy, have fun, be scared for a minute or two, and then smile at how much you can do, how amazing you really are.
You are going to love it!

And if you want to see some pictures of me go here… http://www2.brightroom.com/email/98198/43768/146239043

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

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Sunday Story...Grandma and the Ham

This story has had poetic license applied to it! Once when my mother was making a ham for dinner, she got her pan out, got the ham out, cut the ends of the ham off and put it in the pan. I was watching closely as I often did (this is how I learned to cook after all). So I asked, thinking there was some magic kitchen secret in this procedure, “Mama, why did you cut the ends of the ham off?” She paused in her preparation and thought for a minute and said “Well, that’s the way my mother did it. Maybe we better call Grandma and ask her why.” So we called Grandma asked her why she cut the ends off the ham before she cooked it. And her answer was very simple…she said “the only way the ham would fit in my roasting pan was to cut the ends off of it!”

There is a ton of stuff in your life and mine that are being done because, like “Grandma and the ham,” it is the way it has always been done. Now there is no reason to cut the ends of the ham off unless it won’t fit in the roasting pan any other way. What else are you doing in your life because that is the way it has always been done?

There are lots of reasons to have “rules” in life. Washing your hands after using the bathroom, jumping out off airplanes with no parachute, or not looking both ways when you cross the street, for instance, are a good rules for safety, health and hygiene. Cutting the ends off the ham, not so much. Some rules you make up for your life when you are young based on your experiences. You are older now and it is time to look at those rules and get rid of some of them. You have more information now, more data points upon which to make an educated decision.

Sometimes we make rules to keep ourselves interested or to make an activity more fun. You might want to keep those rules. You can always change them based on the shifting situation or boredom. The problem is created when those rules get set in stone and begin to look immutable. Then you end up with things like “Grandma and the ham”. Except those are really dumb when you begin picking them apart.

Sometimes society makes rules that are equally dumb…interracial marriage, separate but equal schools, slavery, or women and children as chattel (owned property) just to name a few things that used to be the law of the land and have since changed. There are lots of things in our lives right now today that in 20 years are going to be looked upon as really dumb, backward, or asinine rules that no one in their right mind would ever follow.

You need to start inspecting and thinking and deciding for yourself which rules are a good idea and should be followed and which ones belong on the dung heap of bad ideas, rules, laws and policies. It’s your life and your choice of rules to follow. Do the research, investigate, think it through, cast a critical eye upon them no matter where they come from and make your own considered decision. Take charge of the rules in your life…it’s your life, it’s your movie and you should be the primary mover and shaker in your movie!

On the other hand sometimes when Grandma does stuff you should too!

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

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Sunday Story...It's all about You

I subscribe to a number of lists for lots of different things. Almost invariably I get “hit” on every day (several times) telling me that if I just buy this or that I will be more successful, have more students, be healthier, lose weight, build muscle, get more clients, keep more of my money, blah, blah, blah.

The fact is simple: none of that stuff will actually work. What works is you. Plain and simple…it is all about YOU. You have to work. You have to shift. You have to learn something else, something new. Just buying this or that won’t make you rich, skinny or healthy. You have to get up and do it.

There are a million and one things to buy that someone wants to sell that will be the answer to all our dreams. Just send your money and in 3 to 7 days you will be on your way. Sorry it just doesn’t work like that. But the answer really is simple:
YOU HAVE TO BE BETTER.

There it is. Want to be in better physical condition? Get better. Work harder. Want to be more intelligent? Read more. Learn something new. Want to lose a few pounds? Change your eating habits. Make real food your focus.
All of that stuff relies on YOU doing, being better. There is no magic pill. There is no secret book of knowledge, no double top secret trading strategies just discovered and withheld until you fork over you hard earned dollars. Someone has been selling snake oil as long as there has been commerce. Someone has always been willing to promise the sun and the moon and someone else has always been willing to buy that promise. Stop it. It doesn’t work. It won’t work. It never does.

What will work is You. The better You. Maybe the better you than that guy or girl over there. Maybe the better you than all those people over there. But most certainly the better you than you are now. This isn’t easy. Becoming a better you is going to take courage, commitment, drive, perseverance, and effort.


The problem isn’t the system or the product the problem is you. You aren’t good enough yet. You haven’t put the time and energy and effort into becoming good enough. You could be a smashing success, a hopeless failure or someone drowning in a swamp of mediocrity…the one thing we know is that it is you. Nothing else but you. So quit trying to find the magic pill. Quit searching for the Holy Grail that is going to shift heaven and earth and you to create the life you think you deserve.

Admit it…it is You. Admit that your life looks this way because of you and get off the crying stool and get to work on you. It is pretty scary when you think that everything in your life is about you and everything in your life is your creation.
Want more? Get better.
Go…now.

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

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Sunday Story...Change is going to come

Or not. It is up to you. No one can make you change. I can’t nag you into change although it may feel like it. You can’t be dragged kicking and screaming into change.

It’s that whole lead a horse to water thing. I can show you why it makes sense. I can give you the scientific articles, the scholarly works proving that change is worth your while. I can show you anecdotal evidence of why change is going to work for you. I can be a living example of what change could do for you.

And none of that matters one whit. It just doesn’t matter until YOU decide to change. It can show up as a good idea, it can show up as great advice, it can show up as the right thing to do but until YOU make the decision that change is what you want it will never manifest into reality.

It really is that simple. Once you decide to change you will find all the evidence you need for change to be in your best interest. That really is the easy part. The hard part is change itself. Remember the old saying…”we have nothing to fear but fear itself?” Well we could just as easily say…”we have nothing to fear but change.” You are afraid of change. If you weren’t you would change. If you knew what was behind door #3 (the change door) you would bust that bad boy down. Instead you sit, cowering, in front of change trying to get up the courage to change. And most of the time your fear wins. Your fear conquers your desire to change.

Ever wonder why people with heart attacks go right back to the bad habits that got them there in the first place? Or the liver transplant recipients who continue drinking alcohol? Or the smoker with the oxygen tank attached to them? All of those people have been given really good reasons to change yet they don’t. Just like the thirsty horse standing in front of the trough staring at the water and not drinking. You are sitting right in front of the life you want, the body you want, the bank account you want, the education you want or the relationship you want and you are staring at it…frozen, unable to act. Maybe that isn’t what you really want? Maybe that “thing” is someone else’s dream, someone else’s life? Maybe you should figure out what it is you really want in life. Then maybe you will get off your duff and change. I don’t know what the answer is but I do know that when you get the right motivation, the right passion, and the right fire in your belly you will change.

It still won’t be easy. It still won’t be a walk in the park. It will still have setbacks and challenges and obstacles. You just won’t be deterred from getting where you want to go.

Change is simple:
Decide what you want.
Believe you deserve it.
Figure out how to get it.
Go get it.
Not easy though.

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

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Sunday Story...Validate This

We live in a world where it appears to be more important to be right, to get our ideas and beliefs validated than it is to be right. We spend an inordinate amount of time proving we are right, pursuing other stories and anecdotes that prove our case. And we do so in the full light of factual evidence to the contrary.


A case in point: the F.D.A. food pyramid has been around for about 40 years. The F.D.A. puts this pyramid forth as the answer to the question...What should i eat to be healthy. yet in the same 40 years the rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other nutritional diseases and disorders have skyrocketed. But then maybe those aren’t facts. Maybe we can just ignore the facts and go on believing what we are told and not worry about the dis-ease in our bodies. You know it isn’t working but the “authorities” are telling you otherwise.


The facts are simple...too many people have a dog in the food fight. The governments, the food companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the various alphabet soup groups of bureaucrats are all fighting to keep their piece of that pie. Even the average person whose health is being harmed using that pyramid really doesn’t want to the truth to win out...if it does he will have to admit that he needs to change and change is hard and scary (of course, so is a heart attack but...)


You have a specific set of beliefs and “customs” that you employ to help you make sense and help you maintain a facade of control over your own life. When it looks like those beliefs and customs may be wrong we will fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo.


This is the validation we seek. We look for the proof that we are right, ,that we are doing the right thing. The stories that validate our position, the experts who agree with us. And we will do it in the face of evidence to the contrary. It is much easier to do this than it is to change our position and our belief system.


Then there are results. The empirical proof, the what happens when the actual benefits and detriments, the consequences of our actions. results are what counts. You can deny the results. you can say they don’t count especially when they conflict with your validation but you can’t deny their existence.

We really need to get out or own way on this one. Look at the results the same way a scientist does...objectively without expectation of validation. We should want to know what the reaction to the action is. We should crave the real knowledge that arises from knowing the results of our actions.


Results count. Validation is an ego massage. Validation might feel better but results create growth and movement. And isn’t that what you are really after?

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

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Sunday Story...Please Mr.Sandman

Bring me a dream. For many people sleep is an elusive moment. They can’t get there and then when they finally do they can’t stay asleep or get back to sleep once awakened. This is so bad for your health and here is why (and yes these are drawn from scientific studies):

Sleep deprivation:
Wreaks havoc on your immune system. Ever notice you are more likely to get sick or sniffle or couch when you have not been getting enough rest? This is why! This is also why you feel the need to sleep and rest when you have a cold, flu, or something else.

Make you less intelligent. Our ability to think clearly and reason and problem solve lessen when we are tired. If you want to be more efficient the answer is not more caffeine, its more sleep.

Your ability to handle stress is impaired. And this then becomes a maelstrom you get sucked down into since the more stress you have the harder it is to sleep.
Your risk of psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety is going up exponentially the longer you are sleep deprived.

Just one night of decreased sleep leads to systemic inflammation and insulin resistance. And in case you don’t know it almost all disease begins with one or both of these two things. That’s right, lack of sleep is making harder for you to lose weight (as if it wasn’t already a struggle).

At its most extreme you can go longer with no food than you can with no sleep. Yes no sleep will kill you.

Why?

Way back before the turn of the last century (1900) the epidemic proportions of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and others was unheard of. So what changed?
Very simply we are now living in the cycle of endless summer. Our bodies think it is summer all year long. We have artificial lights telling us to stay up later. We have lots of berries and fruits available all year long. Longer days and shorter nights, an abundance of carbohydrates (fruit) and lots of stress tell our bodies it is still summer. So we want to eat more, pack on the fat and prepare for the coming winter…which never comes.

Back around 1900 we used to sleep on average 9-10 hours per night. Today that average is less than 7 and a lot of that is not restful rejuvenating sleep. The sales of sleeping aids (pills) have passed 5 billion dollars and are increasing every year. We have lost touch with the natural rhythm of our bodies and the annular cycle of the earth. And it is killing us as sure as I am sitting here. Granted it takes a while and your headstone is never going to say”died of lack of sleep” but it is affecting the quality of your life every day.

The Fix

We have covered many of these before but it is well worth re-doing:

1. Turn off the electronic devices: T.V., computer, phone, ipad 2 hours before you go to bed. Yes that means no T.V. in the bedroom. This especially true of show that might over excite you (horror, suspense, the news).

2. Turn off the lights! Sleep in a pitch black room and use black out shades to keep the ambient light out. There are a lot of lights on in our world and any amount coming through will tell your body it’s time to wake up. This includes all the digital lights…the clock, the phone charger, all of them.

3. Eat less before going to bed. This is my bugaboo. I have a tendency to eat late and go to bed full. It turns out that when I do that my body is digesting food when it should be tending to repair and rejuvenation.

4. Try to get in touch with the rising and setting of the sun. Get up at dawn and go to sleep as close to sunset as possible. Too tough for most of us I know but get aware of this and give it a shot.

5. Wake up and get up at the same time every day. You will find a rhythm here and get to sleep at the right time each night.

6. Try magnesium as a sleep aid. It has a calming effect and is very good for other (digestive) processes.

7. Start meditating every day to help handle stress. Even 2 or 3 5 minute breaks during the day to just sit and breathe. Breathe in and breath out, let the stray thoughts pass through without judgment or holding on to them. This practice will help you calm your mind when it comes time for sleep at night.

8. Turn the lights down, use softer indirect lighting and candles.

9. Turn the heat down in your bedroom. Use blankets to make a nest but keep the room under 68 degrees.

10. Exercise every day. Get up get moving and get sweating. It is the natural way of our people folks. You were born to move. Do Crossfit for functional intense movement.

11. Eat a diet full of quality protein, lots of vegetables and good fats. Stop eating inflammatory processed and refined foods. Some of us call this paleo…it doesn’t matter what you call it just stop eating CRAP. (Calorie Rich And Pathetic).

12. Stop watching and reading so much news. It is toxic to your mind and creates a mental state of confusion and chaos. You won’t sleep well that way.

13. Get outside. Spend some time in nature every day. Nature has an ebb and flow and you are part of it. Being in touch with nature is good for your soul Get out there and enjoy it.

14. And last but not least and my personal favorite: Take a cold shower every morning. Try to get in the shower within 2 minutes of waking and try to get 3 minutes of cold water on you. You will jumpstart your cortisol production, kick your immune system up and awaken you Chi energy. Try doing it within 2 min of waking up for at least 3 min. And of course, do it without screaming like a little kid!


There you have it…your recipe for a good night’s sleep. Now go out there and get one!


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

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Sunday Story...Perfect Diet

In Search of the Perfect Human Diet is a documentary created by a C.J. Hunt who almost died at age 24 of a heart attack while running. He spent the next 22 years searching for what and how to eat in order to find perfect health. The movie is full of scholarly references, interviews with many knowledgeable people in the fields of nutrition, human evolution and many more. This is a movie everyone should see. This is a way of eating everyone should adopt. It isn’t a fad, unless you consider a fad lasting about 2 million years!

I am not going to recap the movie here. I will be hosting a viewing of the movie soon and I will invite all of you to join me. The bottom line is very simple: eat real food. Real food is the kind of food that is recognizable, close to the ground, and simple to prepare and eat. Real food does not have a nutritional label attached to it. The turnips I pulled out of the garden did not have a label on them. Real food does not have an ingredient list. The grass fed beef I bought this morning has only one ingredient: beef. This is really simple.

The hard part is doing it. We, as a society, have made it really easy and cheap to eat bad food. I was traveling recently and away from my own cooking and regular food sources. It was difficult to find food that I wanted to eat. I could eat lots of crap (Calorie Rich And Pathetic) food. I didn’t but it was everywhere. However, it is possible to eat healthy even in the face of airport food stands and fast food kiosks crying out. It just isn’t easy.

As with everything the question is how to start? It seems terribly radical to go into your kitchen and remove all the processed foods, all the sugars, the dairy, the grains, the legumes and replace them with natural meats, a variety of vegetables and sources of healthy fats. You could do it that way or you could take a more measured and gradual approach. Change one thing. Add another a week or a month later.

So here is a ten step approach to shifting your diet in a more healthful direction.
1. Drop the Soda, Gatorade, energy drinks anything over 1 cup of coffee or tea with water. Drink lots of water…if you normally drink 8 sodas a day 8 glasses of water of the same size should be a piece of cake. Drink coconut water or use Emergen-C if you are worried about electrolytes.Does this really need explaining? There is very little good in any of these drinks. A quagmire of chemicals and sweeteners (most of which don’t occur anywhere but in a laboratory) designed to make you want more of the same. Stop it now and back away from the bottle.
2. Dump the sugar. STOP adding sugar to your food. Sugar is addictive so when you stop using it you are going to have withdrawal symptoms just like any other drug like caffeine, alcohol, or heroin. And it is everywhere so this is going to be challenging. If you must use sweetener try to get closer to the real deal...honey, stevia, or ?. Minimal processing and no lab creations (high fructose corn syrup, aspartame).
3. Change your plate. Make sure there is a fresh green vegetable on the plate every meal. Just one. It’s a start and I don’t want you to freak out!
4. Increase your protein intake. Protein is a macronutrient (the other 2 are Fats and Carbohydrates) necessary to your survival. Notice there is no fried Twinkie necessary for survival. Eat meat, eggs, and nuts at every meal. The breakfast cinnamon roll is not doing you any good, even if you cover it in bacon.
5. Eliminate milk and replace it with… (guess) Water! Milk is not necessary for your survival despite what the dairy producers lobby would have you believe. Lactose is a sugar and we are going to eliminate added sugar from our diet.
6. Stop buying from the middle aisles of the grocery store. Stick to the produce section, the meat section. There are lots of different vegetable other than carrots and broccoli and lots of fruits other than bananas! The only reason to venture anywhere else is for a specific need…paprika or laundry detergent.
7. Go to www.Foodee.com and start using recipes from there. They are simple, healthy and don’t use any of the things we are trying to avoid for the most part. Learn to enjoy preparing food and eating flavorful delicious meals
8. Give up grain and legumes. Bread, pasta, cereal, and all the rest of the grain family. It is full of sugars and other things that don’t serve you in your quest for health.
9. Give up dairy...all of it…cheese (this one was the last thing to go for me), yogurt, and anything else dairy related. Except butter, especially butter from grass-fed cows...mmmm Butter! We won’t use a lot of it but we will use it from time to time.
10. Go to the clothing store and buy yourself new clothes that now fit because you are nearing your optimum healthy weight!

That’s it. All in all very simple and healthy way to get to the Perfect Human diet…meat, vegetables and fruit, some nuts and seeds. No sugar, no grains, no legumes, no dairy. You won’t be deprived, trust me. And you may just release yourself from the shackles of corporate food slavery!


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

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