My belly....

Being unemployed (well nearly, that will happen in the next few weeks) gives you time to start thinking about your future.... and what you want out of life.... So after a good night of dreaming - I do some of my best thinking in dreams- I am of a firm belief that getting what you want out of life is a bit like starting a fire in your back yard.

Let me explain:

Suppose you have a magnifying glass and a backyard filled with dry grass. The sun is blazing when you walk outdoors. Your pitch a blanket and take out your magnifying glass. As you hold the magnifying glass in your hand, then you move it from one spot to the next.

Yes, you're trying to start a fire but due to lack of patience and focus, you can't stop changing the position the glass is in. After a few seconds in one spot, you move on to the next. Finally, an expert in the art of 'making fire' (in this case my uncle) comes to observe what you're doing. He tells you that you'll never make a fire the way you're trying to do it.

You then ask, 'Well, how should I do it, then?!'

The expert tells you to focus the magnifying glass in one spot and hold it there until the fire begins. You follow his advice and within a short time the back yard is blazing.

Now the disclaimer, I have to do this since I have a 13 year old son at home - the point of this story is NOT to encourage anyone to start a fire. The point is to suggest that people (me included) who set goals don't know how to start a fire.

They look at their list and try to make everything happen at once. They never stop to focus on the ONE goal that can generate so much heat that the other goals get accomplished, even with far less focus than the ONE.

Suppose your goals are represented by all the different places the magnifying glass was positioned. Yet, no fire from any of those place until the guy shined the glass in ONE place long enough to start the fire.

Then what happened.

After the fire began it quickly consumed the entire backyard (all the other goals got accomplished). This doesn't mean that you never focus on goal number 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. What it does mean is that you MUST focus on ONE goal long enough to start the fire in your belly. And once that fire gets going, you'll be amazed at the extra energy you'll have for the other goals.

Time to go into the backyard - Til next time....

Simple? Could be...

Health and fitness are usually made to seem too complex.

After being in this business for 25 plus years or If you read a lot of fitness magazines and blogs (as I often do), you’re told a confusing variety of complex advice. It makes your head spin.

You’re told that eggs, butter and meat are bad for you. Then another crowd will tell you those same things are actually good. Then you’ll hear running is good for you, and the bodybuilding and primal crowds will scoff at longer-distance running. You’ll hear that lifting weights is the best way to get into shape, and others will laugh at that. You’ll hear a million variations of the best workouts, of when to time your nutrition, of how to periodize your workouts, of how to measure fitness, of what supplements you need to take … ad naseum.

It’s enough to make you want to give up.

Fortunately, fitness doesn’t have to be that complex.

In fact, you can boil it down to two simple rules:

1. Get your body moving on a regular basis; and
   
2. Eat a moderate amount of real, whole foods (with occasional indulgences).
   

I believe if you stuck to those two rules, and stuck with them for awhile, you’d get fit. Doing one but not the other will result in an improvement in health for many people (not all), but it would be an incomplete health. Do both most days of the week and you’re on your way to health and fitness.

But what about specific macronutrient ratios (fancy way of saying the breakdown of protein, carbs and fats)? What about meal frequency and timing? What about workout frequency, splits, timing, reps, and more? You could add all these types of rules and many more, but the truth is, all the complexities are usually a way of masking some simple truths: if you want to lose fat or weight, you have to have a calorie deficit, and if you want to build muscle, you’ve got to use exercise to get stronger. The other stuff is mostly guesswork, and while these complicated programs probably work, they usually work because they promote one or more of the principles in this post, not because of their complexities.

The two rules above are all you need … however, most of us need a little more detail, so here’s a more complete set of simple fitness rules. As always, remember that 1) I only play an expert on TV but have been training people for nearly 25 years and this just seems to work for everybody and this is just stuff that’s worked for me; 2) this is for healthy adults — people with health problems should seek the advice of medical professionals.

1. Get moving. Try to do some kind of physical activity most days of the week (4 or more days if possible). If you have an aversion to exercise, don’t think of it as exercise. Just think of it as a way to get your body moving in some fun way. It can be dance, yardwork, hiking, a nature walk, a swim, basketball, rugby, cycling, even housework if you do it vigorously enough. And it doesn’t have to be the same thing each day. As a matter of fact I recommend that it isn't, just for the sake of simplicity, that you do find a regular time slot you could do your daily activity, most days of the week. I prefer mornings but others enjoy lunchtime or after work.

2. Enjoy yourself. Whatever activity you choose, it has to be fun. If you don’t like it, move on to something else. Focus on the fun part, not the hard part. Or learn, as I have, to enjoy the hard stuff! Again, make it fun, or you won’t keep it up for very long. To make sure it’s not too hard, start easy. Focus on just getting moving and enjoying the activity. Start small, and build up with baby steps.

3. Slowly add intensity. Once you’ve been doing an activity for a little while, and you’re in decent shape, it’s good to add some intensity. But slowly — if you add intensity too quickly you’ll risk injury or burnout. So let’s say you’ve been doing some walking for a couple months — you should be ready to add a little jogging or fast-paced walking, in small little intervals. If you’ve been running, try some faster-paced intervals (take it easy at first) or hill workouts. If you’ve been strength training, be sure to add weights (safely) or decrease rest time or add more reps or sets. If you’re playing a sport, really speed things up, or focus on explosive movements. Intensity is a great way to get yourself in shape and have an effective workout in only 20-30 minutes. Here’s a great way to do bodyweight exercises with intensity: do a circuit of bodyweight exercises (such as pushups, pullups, squats, burpees, Hindu pushups, lunges or others) and do as many circuits as you can in 10 or 15 minutes. Next workout, see if you can do more circuits. It’s great!

4. Minimal equipment. There are a million different exercise gadgets out there, from ab machines to elliptical trainers to a whole slew of weight machines at the gym. My rule is: keep it simple. You can do amazing things with bodyweight exercises — in fact, if you are a relative beginner, you should start with bodyweight exercises for at least 2 to 4 months before progressing to weights. You don’t need cardio machines — just go outside and walk, run, bike, do hills, climb stairs, sprint. Even if you do weights, a barbell or dumbbells are all you need — stay away from the machines that work your body at angles it’s not meant to use (although cable machines aren’t bad). Even better, get outside and do sprints, pushups, jump over things, pick up big rocks and throw them, do pullups from a tree, climb up rocks, swim, do a crabwalk or monkeywalk, take a sledgehammer or pick and slam it into the ground, flip tractor tires, and generally get a great workout with very little equipment.

5. Just a few exercises. Bodybuilding routines will have you doing 3-4 different exercises per body part. That’s too complicated for most people. Keep it simple in the weight room: squats, deadlifts, presses, chinups or pullups, rows. You can do a lot with just those lifts. Of course, you’ll want to mix it up eventually with some variations, but no need for 10 different ab exercises or things that focus on your rear deltoids or use swiss balls. If you’re doing bodyweight exercises, I love things like pushups, burpees, squats, lunges, pullups, dips, planks. Pick a few and do some circuits with little rest.

6. Eat real foods. One of the most important rules on this list, because if you don’t eat right (most of the time), it doesn’t matter how much exercise you do — you’ll get fat and unhealthy. Aim for real, whole foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. That means stay away from processed, refined, fatty, sugary foods. Veggies, fruits, lean meats, dairy, nuts, beans, whole grains, eggs, seeds. Prepare them yourself if possible — convenience foods often have added ingredients, as well as extra salt, fat, sugar and preservatives. If you follow this diet — with the plant foods making the bulk of the diet — it’s hard to go wrong.

7. Eat less. Most people eat too much, and eventually it shows up as fat. To lose that fat, we need to eat less — it’s really that simple. Of course, if you eat the real foods mentioned above, you’ll probably consume fewer calories, but even so, it’s smart to reduce how much you eat overall, at least until you reach a healthy level of body fat (and even then, you shouldn’t let it all go). One way to do that is by eating slowly and mindfully until you’re just satiated (not stuffed). Another way is to eat smaller meals and watch the portions. A third way, which I’ve been experimenting with lately, is intermittent fasting (see Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat ebook for a great explanation of the science behind fasting). However you do it, be sure to consume the real food in moderate amounts, and reduce your calorie intake if you’re looking to lose fat.

8. Give it time. This is what gets many people — they expect to see results immediately, within the first month or so, because the magazines they read make it seem so instantaneous. But real fitness rarely happens this way — it’s a process and a lifestyle change. You didn’t gain the fat overnight, and you won’t lose it that way either. Learn to enjoy the process, enjoy the activities, enjoy the healthy, real food, and you’ll get healthy and fit almost as an afterthought to this new, amazing lifestyle.

Let me know if you have any questions - Til next time....

I've got the coolest job/life....

Last year when I was out in California working at the pro bike tour I had the occasion of meeting an incredible man. His name was Bjorn Eikrem. At the time he was 94 and spent his twilight years, biking, hiking and learning to mountain climb. He was a spectator at the bike tour and had a certain presence that drew you in and smile that was deeply infectious.

I had a chance to meet up again with him this year a few months ago at the Tour of California and met his sons, grand children and great grandchild. - I just found out that he passed away. The only reason I bring this up is that sometime the people we meet on the road of life can have a pretty profound affect on you. Even if our contact it is for a relatively short period of time.

I'll explain. While we were in Solvang, and he recognized me as I was walking by the finish line. He called out to me - he had remembered that I had helped his grandson get across the course last year to be with granddad for the end of the race festivities. A simple gesture, but one that made a difference to him.

Anyway, we had some time to kill and struck up a much longer conversation. He was holding court with a small group of spectators waiting for the festivities to be gin and told us of an old Norse tale.

You know, he started "Thor was know as the mightiest of the Norse gods. Once, when in the land of giants he challenged the giants to a wrestling match. But none of them would accept the challenge, so their chief called an old woman, who agreed to the wrestling match. After a violent struggle, she succeeded in bringing Thor down to one knee, and the giants called a stop to the match. Later the chief of the giants told Thor that he had done remarkably well, as that he was actually wrestling with Old Age, and there never was, and never will be, a man whom Old Age will not sooner or later lay low." The story made us all smile.

He further went on to say, "I think that this story tells us that old age and its consequences are inevitable to those who are lucky enough! And that "we all had best find ways to enjoy old age while it lasts!"

Pretty smart words for a Norseman I think... and probably why he really enjoyed his life until he was 95. My thoughts are with his very loving family.

Til next time...

My relationship with....

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately. I suspect that I will need to tweak, no reinvent myself to make me more marketable in these tough economic times. All the research suggests that IF one wants to get hired more easily, one should look the part - they should look fit, comfortable in clothes and actually project themselves into the position which they are vying for. So, my guess is that middle aged, "husky" and cynical probably aren't great selling tools. The middle aged thing can be fixed with various techniques but "husky" and my "moods" can be greatly enhanced by what I eat.

That started me thinking about the relationship that I have fostered with food. Seriously, have you ever stopped to consider what relationship you have with food?

It's funny I don't think we often think we even have a relationship with food, and yet we do — and it’s pretty intimate.

Think about this: if you’re like me, you spend as much or more time with food than you do with many of the loved ones in your life — several hours a day or more.

And consider this: technically, food is just fuel for living. That’s all — nothing else. And yet … it has become so much more to most of us:

- we use food for pleasure
- we use it for comfort
- we turn to food when we’re sad, depressed, hurt
- we use food to socialize
- we use it as a reward
- we do it when we’re bored
- food can also be a chore
- we use food as gifts
- we turn to food when we’re lonely
- food can be associated with sex
- food is equated to health
- sometimes, food becomes an obsession
- it definitely can be an addiction
- food can make us hate ourselves
- food is the center of many billion-dollar industries

In fact, the huge food-related industries are at the center of much of our relationship with food: restaurants, fast-food chains, convenience foods, agribusinesses, distributors, grocery chains, snack foods, bakeries, coffee shops, dessert chains, health food, diet foods, supplements, bodybuilding food, and many others. They spend billions upon billions every year trying to get us to eat more and more food — their food in particular — and the horrifying thing is that all this advertising really, really works.

We have been convinced that the answer to almost any problem is food. You truly love someone? Buy them chocolates, or take them to a restaurant, or bake them cookies. Want to lose weight? Eat diet food. Want to get fit? Take our supplements, eat our meat, drink our milk. Want to be healthy? Eat our healthy products. Want to reward yourself? There are too many options to name here. Having a bad day? We’ve got the food for you. Don’t have time? Our food will save time. Want to save money? Buy super size and “save”.

Food is the answer to everything, apparently.

And yet, we forget that food is just fuel. We need to eat a certain amount to live and maintain our weight. If we eat more than that, we will store some of that fuel as fat (or build muscle if we’re exercising). And how do we lose weight? By eating, apparently — eat diet food, drink diet shakes, eat Zone bars, eat vegetarian products, eat meat and other protein sources, eat low-fat products, eat our cereal, drink our diet soda.

But what if we … just ate less?

Despite what the food industries have convinced us, we don’t need to eat as much as we do to survive. Sure, maybe eating that much is fun, and pleasurable, and will stave off boredom, and is fun to do with friends and family, and so on. But we don’t need to eat that much. Actually, we need to eat less.

The problem isn’t that it’s so difficult to eat less. The problem is that we have a complicated relationship with food that started when we were toddlers and has become more and more complicated through the years, through endless amounts of advertising, of eating when we’re sad and lonely and happy and bored and at parties and going out and on dates and watching TV and dieting and so on.

Our complicated relationship with food makes it hard to cut back on how much we eat.

So in my effort to be healthier I am examining the following to start building a new relationship with food:

First, I need to start recognizing exactly why I eat — is it just for sustenance or is our hunger often triggered by other things (boredom, socializing, pleasure, etc.)?

When you start to change your mindset and really start to pay attention, you begin to notice the effects that advertising and the food industries have had on how we think about food and how we eat.

My big thing is that I have to stop eating when I'm bored, out of habit, as a reward, for pleasure, or comfort, etc. I need to only eat what and how much I need for fuel.

This convenient food habit is so entrenched, but I really need to find other ways to entertain and comfort myself. The notion that you can socialize without eating large amounts of food has been a foreign concept - let alone being in a business that obsesses so much about food.

It seems that most of us have some type of addiction with certain foods — sugar, for example, or starches. I have to watch those, I can still eat them, but certainly don’t need to eat them as much.

If you think about it; life would be so much simpler IF I could end this complicated relationship with food! Just think of the possibilities that I might experience....

- I’d spend less time thinking about food.
- I'd spend less time preparing food.
- I'd spend less money on food. (A good thing for the soon to be unemployed!)
- I'd eat less.
- I'd get healthier.

How about Fasting?

I have to give credit to Brad Pilon and his excellent e-book, Eat Stop Eat, for inspiring some of this post. Brad shook up a few of my notions about eating, my assumptions about standard beliefs in the health industry, and about why we are conditioned to eat so much.

While I haven’t yet decided to try Brad’s super simple method for losing fat — fast 1-2 days a week and eat normally on other days, plus strength training — I definitely recommend his book as a way to challenge the ideas you might have read in magazines or fitness blogs.

But what’s most interesting is how he recommends 24-hour fasts as a way to transform your relationship with food. By fasting, you learn to give up your need to eat for reasons other than fuel.

You learn that hunger is often conditioned by other things, and you end that conditioning. You learn that hunger is OK, and after awhile the fasts don’t bother you at all. At least, that’s what Brad claims, and it sounds reasonable to me. I might try fasting for this reason alone.

Now, some might object to fasting on the usual grounds — it’s unhealthy, your body goes into starvation mode, it’ll slow down your metabolism, your body will start using muscle as fuel, your blood-sugar levels will drop too low, you won’t have energy. Those are the same reasons I objected. And I won’t try to refute these ideas — Brad’s book does a much better job. (Note: the links to his website aren’t affiliate links and I don’t make any money if you buy his book. Nor do I endorse his program, as I haven’t tried it. I do endorse the book for informational purposes.) Anyway, you don’t need to fast to transform your relationship with food. It’s one way, and I thought it was an interesting idea.

In the end... part of my remake is going back to and doing some simple things: food is just fuel. Most of us need to eat less. Food isn’t love or entertainment or anything else like that. It’s just fuel.

Til next time...