Kettlebell Training, Z-Health, Martial Arts, Jeet Kune Do
Fat Loss, Strength, Pain Relief, Athletic Performance, Injury Prevention Serving the Aurora - Denver Metro area of Colorado and reaching across the globe
The sum total of who you are is a direct result of your daily habits. If you are skinny then you have skinny habits, if you are fat then you have fat habits. If you are full of pain when you move then you have crappy movement habits.
Yes, you are to blame. But that is ok, you are also to salute if you take responsibility of your life and make changes to your habits.
Here are a list of good habits that lead to awesomeness, the secret to life if you will...
Better Nutrition
Better Exercise
Better Sleep
Sunlight
Laughter/Fun
Better Beliefs/Attitudes
Ongoing Education/Coaching/Testing
Let's learn more about each...
Better Nutrition
Eating Healthy means more than just losing body fat and slimming your waist or seeing your abs. It also strengthens your immune system so you don't get sick, keeping your face looking young, growing your hair and nails thicker and stronger, faster, it also means feeling good.
Interestingly enough it has a lot to do with staying pain-free. Modern researchers believe that as much as 80% of musculoskeletal pain comes from your digestive system.
When it comes to fat loss I love this quote, "You can't out-exercise a doughnut." Technically you can but it takes a lot of kettlebell swings to burn off those calories.
Fun Math:
There are roughly 250 - 350 calories in a typical glazed doughnut, that would take about 15 minutes of kettlebell swings to burn off. Just pass on the office junk food unless you have hours per day to do kettlebell swings!
So clearly not overindulging in bad food is a part of being lean, but getting all of your nutrients for the other benefits listed above is another part of the equation.
These nutrients include but are not limited to:
Protein (amino acids)
Rebuilding tissues, detoxifying your system, immune system support and more
For fuel only, carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars that your muscles and brain can use for instant energy
Excess carbs are typically stored as body fat
Fiber
Slows digestion to prevent hyperglycemia, keeps you regular, cleanses your colon, etc.
Vitamins
Keep you from developing diseases, essential for all functions in the body
Minerals
You would be amazed at how a lack of minerals especially magnesium can cause a whole slew of health issues
Every function in the body relies on minerals and nearly everyone is short on several of these little guys
Phytochemicals
Plant-based chemicals that serve a wide-range of purposes such as preventing macular degeneration of the eyes and more
Water
The cleaner the better, free of toxins added by city sanitation such as chlorine and fluoride
Probiotics
Beneficial bacteria that live in your intestines and colon. Without these little guys you could not digest and absorb the food that you eat and you would die. Fun fact, 80% of your immune system comes from these beneficial bacteria!
Going into exactly what to eat is too large for this particular article but I highly recommend you look into Precision Nutrition by Dr. John Berardi for a good starting point. Also read my other articles on nutrition and recipes.
Eat less processed food from boxes, bags and cans and eat more natural foods from fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, seeds, etc. Also, drink lots of clean water and take any necessary supplements.
Better Exercise
I don't just mean exercise, I mean better exercise.
Exercise can come in a variety of ways, playing sports, going to the park and throwing a Frisbee, lifting kettlebells, gardening, Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, martial arts, cycling, etc. All of these have some benefits to offer but none of them give you the whole picture of fitness.
Complete Exercise Profile:
Each of these areas of fitness need to be trained to be maintained for your entire life.
Strength
Nothing beats strength. We use it every day and more of it makes life easier.
Make sure you pick heavy things up off of the floor and put them overhead, carry them, etc. Kettlebells are great for this!
Nothing tones muscles like strength training by the way.
Mobility / Range of Motion
I didn't put flexibility because people will automatically assume I mean stretching and that is not what I mean at all, I mean moving your joints through their full anatomical ranges of motion at various speeds. This is far superior to time-wasting muscle stretching.
I don't think there is anything better than Z-Health dynamic joint mobility for this. Beginners should start with the R-Phase DVD/manual before moving on to the I-Phase DVD/manual.
Agility
Agility to a competitive athlete is obvious. Cutting, changing directions quickly, etc.
To non-competitive athletes it might mean being able to get up off of the floor fluidly, easily, pain-free.
The Kettlebell Get-Up is a great agility drill for most people.
Vision
YES, you should be practicing vision daily!
Vision is a use-it-or-lose-it type of thing.
A Behavioral Optometrist is a better option if you think you need glasses. They will give you vision drills to strengthen your eyes so that you hopefully won't need glasses or so that you can throw them away.
Here is a quick visual drill to improve the speed at which you can focus on a near to far object... think driving... looking from rear view mirror to speedometer to car in front of you.
Cardiovascular
Frankly I think cardio training is overrated. Yes it is important and yes you should do it but often times you are getting cardio from your strength training.
If you are after heart health with your cardio then heavy lifting forces your heart to get stronger to prevent a heart attack.
5 - 10 minutes of cardio should be plenty for most people. Cardio-holics often have unexplained pain because they over exercise and beat their bodies up too much.
By no means is this an exhaustive list of physical training options or needs but it is a great starting point.
One side note, when I say better exercise I also mean not pushing yourself too hard.
People that push too hard all of the time end up with pain, pure and simple, I see it all of the time in both fitness enthusiasts and fitness professionals. Don't push yourself into pain EVER!
Better Sleep
Sleep is so crucial yet so neglected.
Fun Facts:
One night of poor sleep can reduce your immune system by as much as 50%!!!
You will not be able to burn as much body fat if you are sleep deprived!
The cortisol levels in your blood is much higher on a poor night's sleep. Cortisol is a stress hormone that stores body fat around the midsection.
During deep sleep your brain goes on hyperdrive! Yes it speeds up and goes crazy. We aren't exactly sure why but we believe it is taking your day and placing memories and context to your experiences. This is often known as REM sleep where rapid eye movements can be observed.
This deep REM sleep is super important for your well-being and mental clarity, not to mention sanity. An experiment was done for lone sailors where they had them take hour-long naps every hour for several days instead of 8 hours of straight sleep. This was to see if they can stay hyper vigilant because 8 hours of not knowing where your small boat is moving could mean disaster. Well after 2 days the sailors were delirious, seeing hallucinations and going koo-koo. So much for that.
You need uninterrupted sleep for around 8 hours to reach all of the various sleep modes your body goes into, including REM sleep.
Sleeping in a pitch-black room increases deep sleep and you will awake far more rested.
Get some black-out curtains, cover any lights including alarm clocks with a time display and make your room as dark as possible.
Night time photo from a healthy bedroom
The darker the room the more growth hormone your body releases. Growth hormone is often referred to as your anti-aging hormone... want more of it? Sleep in pitch black for 8 hours per night.
Most people need between 7 - 9 hours of sleep per night.
When Terrell Davis, former Running Back for the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos was playing he would often get 12 hours per sleep per night.
Your Follow-Ups:
Go to bed earlier, shoot for a minimum of 7 hours sleep per night
Buy some black-out curtains and sleep in as close to pitch black as possible
Sunlight
Vitamin D is one of the most important compounds in your body, it boosts your immune system, fights diseases and according to emerging science may be the single best nutrient to fight cancer.
People in the northern hemispheres are frequently deficient in Vitamin D.
The easiest way to get it is from sunlight.
A super strong immune system is not the only benefit of sunlight. In addition to making your skin look healthier (from a light tan) the light going into your eyes helps to release certain neurotransmitters and hormones in your brain and body such as testosterone.
Bodybuilders have long used sunlight or tanning beds to get UVB rays which interact with cholesterol in the skin to create Vitamin D and testosterone.
Testosterone is the feel good hormone that gives you that "can-do" attitude and a more positive outlook on life, not to mention boosting libido.
Don't worry about developing skin cancer. You would need to let your skin burn over and over again over a number of years to even worry about that. Even then if you are healthy and have a strong immune system there is debate about whether you can even get skin cancer from the sun...
Yes, I know you have been brain-washed by the media to believe we will all die if we don't put on sunblock level 1,000 if we walk to the mailbox but the actual science would disagree.
Apparently people who wear sunscreen are 800 times more likely to develop skin cancer than people who do not. This is likely due to the chemicals in the sunscreen and the fact that your skin never develops melanin which absorbs the UV light and converts it to Vitamin D.
Whoops!!! Guess we didn't see that one coming.
Now premature aging of the skin is a legitimate concern so it would be advisable to put on an all-natural chemical-free sunscreen on your face or wear a hat if you spend more than an hour in the sun.
Guidelines for sun exposure:
Spend between 15 - 20 minutes per day getting sun on as much of your skin as possible
In the winter you can't get enough sun to form Vitamin D but you still get mood boosting benefits so keep it up.
Never let your skin burn. If you are pink then you were out too long.
Take time building up a base tan so you can spend longer periods outside without burning.
If you have to spend several hours in the sun without a base tan then use an all-natural chemical-free sunblock on areas that get burned easily like the nose, cheekbones, neck, etc.
Laughter & Fun
Nothing makes you feel better than relaxing, having fun and laughing with friends. Add some good food and I'm there!
Spending too much time in hussle and bussle and getting stressed out puts you in a poor state indeed.
Excessive stress does the following:
Kills brain cells - yep, excessive stress makes you dumber by destroying dendretic connections in the hypothalamus and corpus callosum
Stores body fat - it raises cortisol levels which adds body fat to your middle
Hampers your immune system - stress decreases acidity in the stomach and digestion of food which means you can't absorb all of your food's nutrients
Ruins sleep - as your mind frantically struggles with the day's unresolved issues and dreads tomorrow's struggles
Makes you a grumpy curmudgeon - people won't like being around you and you won't like yourself either
To counter this I highly recommend you take a good honest look at your life and begin the process of removing unnecessary stress and changing the way you deal with the stress you can't remove.
In the mean-time you can combat stress with laughter and fun.
Get in the habit of watching comedies, comedians and enjoying fun conversations with friends. If your friends are not fun then get new friends. No one ever said you had to keep your friends... Bad friends are not worth keeping anyway.
Better Beliefs & Attitudes
I can speak from the heart on this one because I used to be a very negative person. I didn't like being around myself back then and I didn't know why.
Now, I am a natural skeptic so untamed that can manifest in negativity towards things that I have never given a chance to.
Well being a skeptic is fine, and good to some degree... but we must also have a proper perspective on the world and be willing to try new things, listen to new ideas and make good judgments.
Have you ever known someone who had it all, yet they were unhappy?
How about someone who had a hard life, yet always was upbeat and happy?
Well I've seen plenty of both, enough to know that our attitude is influenced by but not bound by our circumstances. Our attitude is formed by practicing being happy.
Now that may sound nebulous but I would start with 2 areas:
Appreciation for what you have, and
Make time to laugh, love and have fun!
When you exercise, have fun.
When you are with friends, have fun.
When you are alone, have fun.
Be goofy sometimes, for no apparent reason, make yourself laugh.
Listen to what is going on in The Ivory Coast, Lybia, Sudan and now be appreciative for what you have. You may be rich or poor but even the poorest American has more technology, cleaner water and cooler gadgets than any king from antiquity.
Even King Solomon, the richest king to ever live, didn't have a shower with warm water!
With the internet you have such a portal to learning, entertainment and more. Can you imagine back when people had to read books! just kidding, I still read books!
Ongoing Education, Coaching & Testing
Whatever it is that you want to be better at you need a coach. When it comes to your health you need ongoing education and coaching.
When I teach my kettlebell fitness classes I always try to educate my clients about nutrition, sleep, healthy habits, etc. I always strive to add more value than what they are paying for, which is kettlebell training, fat loss, athletic performance, getting sexified or whatever.
Likewise I have coaches in many areas.
I have coaches that I read, watch and train with on a regular basis in the areas of:
Martial arts / combatives
Fitness
Pain-relief / therapeutic work
Nutrition
General health
Religion
Politics
Science
and more
Some of these resources are free and some I pay a whole lot of money for.
"Pay any price to stay in the presence of extraordinary people."
In addition to education and coaching you need testing. Testing is simply a means to evaluate where you were and where you are in relation to where you want to be going.
For instance, if you want to "lose weight," what does that mean?
I want to be 200 lbs and 8% body fat, now that is trackable goal.
Or I want to be a size "xyz." That is a trackable goal.
Maybe your goal is a size 4 and you started as a size 10 and are now a size 8... this tells you that you are making progress and are doing the right things right.
Seek a coach who can provide you with education, coaching and testing.
I encourage all of my clients to keep track of where they are and what they want to become.
My fitness clients are encouraged to find a picture of a body that they want and look at it every day, track their calories, protein intake, weight and use a tape measure once per month.
My martial arts clients are encouraged to figure out what areas they are good at and what areas they need work on and spend 2 - 5 minutes per day in a Deep Practice mode working on those skills.
I do this myself and that is why I make progress. If you start doing it you will too.
Conclusion
So, ask yourself, "what am I going to do with this information?" "Am I going to go back to my same-old routine or am I going to begin making positive changes in my life?"
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over
and over
and expecting different results."
- Albert Einstein
Does it take too much time to start implementing the items below?
Better Nutrition
Better Exercise
Better Sleep
Sunlight
Laughter/Fun
Better Beliefs/Attitudes
Ongoing Education/Coaching/Testing
Well that comes down to motivation now doesn't it?
"Motivation = the choice between potential outcomes"
- Dr. Eric Cobb
Outcome 1 = don't change and keep getting what you have now
Outcome 2 = make changes, test results to see if you are going in the right direction and reap the benefits
I like to think of it this way...
Outcome 1 = don't exercise and eat like crap and this summer be afraid to take your shirt off at the pool
Outcome 2 = exercise and eat right and this summer at the pool take your shirt off and be a Greek god (or goddess for you ladies... and you probably shouldn't take your shirt off unless you are wearing a biking top... but if you are in-shape from doing Outcome 2 then you will look great!)
Ask yourself who you want to be and start acting like it. Get a little better each day and before you know it you will be there.
. 
, 
Spending too much time in hussle and bussle and getting stressed out puts you in a poor state indeed. 
