Listen, Folks

What I am about to tell you is simply unconventional.  Your plight is my wheelhouse.  I’m a mechanic that works on poorly built human motors, transmissions (that’s your spine, or ‘core’ if you absolutely must), worn out bushings, suspensions, and fuel systems.  By the way, why is it that we simply can’t ‘eat less food’ and try to put premium fuel in the take to begin with?

Why are we trying to redesign the basic mechanics of how your body moves?  Do you really need that gym membership and the 24 pack of personal training sessions?

You’re fat.  All of the Pilates, Barre, Yoga interventions, running, lifting, praying (you should pray by the way), meditating, gluten avoiding, diet hopping, and other circus acts haven’t put a dent in the scale.  Fire your trainer, get out of the gym, and just simply, for goodness sake, ‘eat less today.’

You’re injured.  You have been promised that running 5 miles after performing 100 burpees would land you a 750 pound dead lift.  Haven’t you considered that when you slam your thumb under a hammer 100 times, it hurts?  You could put a bandage on your thumb, or, why not throw away the hammer instead?  You could get surgery, but why do you need surgery in the first place?  Now you have the extra burden and cost of dry needling, taping, scraping, burning, and other sadistic rituals to unscrew what shouldn’t have been screwed that way in the first place.

You’re old.  I know you carried a big stick around the field to beat all of the cheerleaders off of you when you were the star quarterback at your division III high school in 1971, but just because it was a good idea then, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea now.  Stop what your doing and repeat after me-‘Fiber, water, more vegetables, nose hair trimmers, stretch what is tight, and strengthen what is weak.’  These are words to live by, wise Sage.

Listen, Folks.  I’m a mechanic that works on poorly built human motors, transmissions, worn out bushings, suspensions, and fuel systems.  You need a mechanic who can diagnose, and fix your carriage.  You only have one, so you’d better start listening.  I have the tools, welcome in.

No More Excuses; Making Time For Exercise

We choose to make time for what we prioritize in our lives.  The number one excuse for why people don’t exercise is because of busyness.  With 168 hours in a week, there’s more than enough time for exercise, work, family life, recreation, volunteering, down time, and whatever else excites you.  The challenge isn’t enough hours in a day, it’s managing those hours carefully.

Three years ago, after I opened the Bunkhouse in Minturn, I went through a divorce, was still running a full-time fitness business, co-parenting my son, and still had to find time for things that brought peace into my life.  I was so overwhelmed, I often found myself sitting in my house not able to move; paralyzed by life, I didn’t even know where to begin, and sometimes I would sit for hours with my brain running 100 miles per minute, in 20 different directions.  A time management overhaul was imminent.

I was listening to an interview on the radio, and Dan John, a notable fitness coach was discussing productivity.  His message was simple, and it resonated with my streamlined approach towards life. Dan referenced shark bites and pirate maps.  Sharks don’t nibble or bottom feed, sharks attack with massive bites, annihilating their prey. Each day, take shark bites as you approach specific tasks.  Don’t open that email unless you’re going to own it, read it, and reply immediately. Finish each and every task to completion. Multi-tasking is a misguided waste of time.  Focus on one thing at a time, rinse, and repeat. If you can imagine a pirate map, they often resemble dots that lead along the path of least resistance to the treasure. Get to the point in life quickly, with a map.  Make grocery lists, lay out your clothes for the next day, write out to-do lists on Sunday night, clearly articulate your message throughout the day. Stop wasting time on social media, television, and other distractions that rob you of time that should be invested elsewhere.

Prioritizing exercise is no different.  You must have a plan, and make time for it.  Lately, I’ve been busy growing the Bunkhouse, so I’ve gotten creative with exercise.  Instead of going to the gym where I spend most of my daily working hours training others, I built a gym in my garage.  The gym is a distraction when it’s your place of business, and working out at home saves me time and potential wasted effort.  You don’t need fancy equipment, or any at all. I acquired all of my kettlebells that were collecting dust, hung a pull up bar from the garage ceiling, mounted some olympic rings, and I set my alarm for 4:30am every morning.

 

Here are a few of my routines, that take no longer than 20-30 minutes.

 

  • Squat, Swing, and Push:  I’ll use two, equally weighted kettlebells and perform 5 double kb front squats, 10 double kb swings, and 20 pushups; rest 1 minute.  I’ll repeat this effort 5-10 rounds depending on how much time I have, and how heavy I go. So, that’s 25 squats, 50 swings, and 100 pushups; or 50 squats, 100 swings, and 200 pushups.
  • Squat and Pull: 10 bodyweight squats and 3 pull-ups; 20 bodyweight squats and 5 pull-ups; 30 bodyweight squats and 8 pull-ups.  Rest 1-2 minutes, and repeat for 3-5 rounds. Whatever works. That’s 180-300 squats, and 48-80 pull-ups.
  • Hockey Pushup Challenge: I love playoff hockey!  If the day’s gotten away from me, but I really want to watch hockey, I’ll perform a pushup ladder anytime the whistle is blown.  For instance, if the whistle blows, I’ll perform 10 pushups. The next whistle blow, I’ll perform 7 pushups; then 5, and then 3. I’ll do this the entire game.  It may add up to several hundred pushups. Perform this with a favorite TV show, or a movie when a specific word is said, during commercials, or other creative strategies you can think of.  Use burpees, squats, lunges, sit-ups, planks, side-planks, and other bodyweight calisthenics, too.
  • 5 Minute Morning Challenge: Perform this 5 days per week, and pick 1 bodyweight exercise per day.  Perform as many repetitions as possible in 5 minutes. It’s hard! But, who doesn’t have 5 minutes, and you need no equipment.  Again, use exercises such as pushups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, burpees, mountain climbers, getting up and down off of the floor, etc.

Life is busy, I get it.  But there’s no excuses for not getting exercise done on a regular basis.  OK, let’s keep talking about this stuff. Have a great week!

 

 

 

Are Your Exercises Working For You?

It was a rainy Saturday as we headed to Aspen to ski the legendary Highland bowl.  Paul Kulas, a tall and wiry gentlemen who rarely sits in silence has much to say about diet, music, business, the current political scene, and anything related to skiing.  Our conversation escalated as we considered diet and fitness culture.  What are we doing, how do we measure the effectiveness of our actions, and what are the longstanding consequences of our behavior?

Dietary Consequences

It became crystal clear for me as we considered our modern diet.  When you receive a teeth cleaning from your trusted dentist, you assume that her opinion to fill a few cavities is genuine.  But do you really know for certain it’s a requirement?  Do you really have any cavities in the first place?  Generally, I think dentists operate with integrity.  In other words, do we know that the food we buy is truly safe for us?  Are we giving the benefit of the doubt to Coca-Cola, and that maybe soda isn’t harmful to our health and waistline?

The long term consequences of poor dietary choices aren’t generally realized in the short term unless you have a food allergy or get food poisoning.  It can take years to realize the consequences of poor choices-type 2 diabetes and heart disease don’t take form over night.  This is largely why we ignore the popular ideology that processed foods are potentially dangerous to our health-we don’t immediately see or feel the potential harm, so we reason with ourselves that there isn’t any harm in the first place.  By the way, do we really know for certain that Aspartame is a neurotoxin, or that Doritos and Oreo’s are cancer causing?  Time will tell I suppose.

Immediate Feedback

On the other hand, the consequences of a specific exercise is usually, immediately apparent.  Even though it could take years to realize a degenerative knee injury caused by chronic running, the physical changes from exercise typically happen within weeks.  This is great news.  The effectiveness of a specific exercise will show it’s hand instantaneously.  This phenomenon serves many purposes.  First, if you have any outstanding injuries or movement problems, a specific exercise that doesn’t agree with you will usually cause problems, such as pain within a few hours post workout.  The immediate feedback will alarm you to consider alternatives.  Second, the physical changes of an exercise can be quickly quantified; if you squat for 3 weeks, and the load incrementally gets heavier during the training cycle, you can be certain that your strength increased.  Specific exercises provide very detailed evidence to be scrutinized quickly.

Consider that program design and execution will always give us personal, physical feedback almost instantaneously.  In order to maximize our fitness pursuits, we ought to keep a detailed journal of the exercise, load, sets, reps, and rest period.  More importantly, consider the objective and subjective physical feelings and changes that occur over several days to weeks.  This information is extremely valuable to make judgments and course corrections along your journey.  We’ll save the processed food conspiracies for another conversation.  Have a great week!

Embrace Activity And Improve General Fitness For An Active Lifestyle

I continue to learn lessons about fitness, and why people choose to engage in this activity. The majority of my supporters fall into the category of risk mitigation.  The burning problem that I solve every day for the engaged trainee is how to mitigate the risk of their ultimate death, and create enough fitness to minimize the inevitable process of aging and joint problems because of the environment we live in.

Mountain Lifestyle

The history of Vail has been richly immersed in mountain lifestyle.  At 8150 feet in elevation, Vail and Beaver Creek are 2 of the best ski resorts in the world, and our community embraces the activities that the landscape provides.  A friend said that ‘one must train extremely hard in Vail to be average.’  He is right on the money as this proving ground hosts a plethora of world class athletes that compete in skiing, adventure racing, running, cycling, snowshoeing, kayaking, and climbing.  Yet, most of these individuals are broken.  Sitting in the Vail Valley medical center 8 years ago was an eye opener for me.  As I was being discharged from a concussion caused by threading the needle a little too courageously skiing at Beaver Creek, I had this not-so special epiphany as I scanned the emergency room; I had never seen so many broken, healthy people sitting in a hospital.  Torn ACL’s, fractured wrists, dislocated shoulders, herniated discs, concussions, hip replacements, etc. Most hospitals host people who are pathologically sick. Not in Vail.  A bunch of fit and hearty mountain people who are beat up from activity.

Exercise vs. Activity

Most of the people I train have limitations because of cumulative injuries from activity.  Ironically in our country, activity is promoted for a better quality of life and reducing disease and injury in the first place.  The implications of this has raised some really tough questions.  Why is it, that activity in our country has been exchanged for exercise?  As a country we are physically unwell, yet our gym culture is growing at an alarming rate.  Exercise is the structured planning and execution of physical movements that promote fitness.  Activity, is the engagement of a lifestyle or a sport that depends upon fitness, developed from structured exercise or the activity itself.

General Fitness and Activity

There are a few discussion points worth dissecting about this dilemma.  First of all, we have lost our ability to ‘play’ and recreate in the natural environment.  We have substituted play and lifestyle with Crossfit, Pure Barre, and 1-on-1 fitness training.  Exercise has become the activity.  On the other hand, I have seen too many people who lack fitness, and therefore have become injured from their chosen activities.  What is the solution?

We must develop and maintain general fitness qualities that enhance performance without interfering with our chosen activity.  Active, outdoor enthusiasts must aim for the minimum effective dose of exercise selections to reduce injury risk, promote joint health, and improve muscular and cardio-respiratory performance.  For the gym enthusiast, it’s imperative that they find sports and activities to allow for natural displacement of fitness to generate meaning and quality in their lifestyle.  What’s the point of being ‘fit and capable’ if there isn’t an outlet to display your abilities?  Most of us have chosen fitness as an outlet for stress relief, health development, and physical beauty.  There is nothing wrong with this.  However, gym exercises often take precedence over hiking because it’s chest day, and it would be a disaster to skip working out specific muscles on a given day.

I was at a conference several years ago when Gray Cook challenged the audience to consider authentic exercise training like climbing a tree.  A fitness professional from the audience said that she often takes her trainees outside and attaches bands, or other fitness equipment to trees for fitness training.  Gray said that was just fine, but why not ‘climb the damn tree instead.’

I Thought Superman Had Great Hair

I always suspected that Superman would have great hair, a bright cape, and large muscles.  Meeting your hero is often disappointing; they’re usually not as glamorous as you’d hoped.  Apparently Superman is a wiry 170 pounder, doesn’t have great hair, and his cape is a dull-blue, Marmot hard shell that glimmered years ago.  Shawn, that shell previously fit you a whole lot tighter around the gut, too.  That jacket’s getting dull, loose.

Shawn Jones, who is the best soldier in my army has Cancer.  I remember that autumn day when  Michael Warmuth called and asked if I had spoken to you, Shawn.  He sternly said, ‘call him.’  Unfortunately, my apathy hasn’t served me well over the years, and when you told me the news, my heart ached that day.  I cried, and I hadn’t cried in years, my friend.

Shawn and I started skiing together many years ago at Beaver Creek.  Shawn, a native to Eagle County is the best skier I’ve ever witnessed.  I’ll never forget that bluebird, cold powder day in January 08′.  I followed Shawn down Osprey at Beaver Creek, and during the last 2 steep pitches, Shawn drove the stick into 6th gear.  He skied through bumps the size of hay bails at an unreasonable, irresponsible speed.  He never faltered as I fervently chased;  I was sure to die as I gathered all of my resources to maintain a resemblance of postural integrity and mental clarity as my life flashed in front of my eyes.  By the way, you’re the only one I know who does that up-unweighting movement at really high speeds.  You surely know how to dance down the fall line.

Last week Paul Kulas and I drove to Aspen Highlands to ski with Shawn, a formidable patrolman on duty at the legendary ski area.  The past year has been challenging both personally and professionally for yours truly, and it was time to get out my own head and go ski with my friends.  I hadn’t seen Shawn in too long; embracing my friend for a moment put me into the right perspective.  We are skiers who delight in the majestic adventure of the hill and life.  I knew the day ahead would be special.

We ascended the Highland’s Bowl at a nerving pace.  Shawn, how are able to ski and hike with the same vigor of your healthier years?  During our second hike up the bowl, I will never forget that conversation we shared.  Shawn and I are men of the Christian Faith; for both of us, the redemptive love of God came through living a life of poor choices and painful circumstances.  My faith has faltered in the last several years.  Shawn, your uplifting words have re-ignited life into me.  I will never forget the miracle that happened atop the bowl on that last hike.  That was the most powerful moment in my life I have ever experienced.

Here’s the rub:  Shawn knows who he is.  He knows what he stands for, and he stands in it.  Shawn is a man with an unshakable spirit.  His hope shines through the dark days ahead.  Shawn knows where he’ll end up.  Shawn Jones is unstoppable because of the outreach, love, support, and selfless generosity that has filled his family during this difficult time.  He is overwhelmed with the support.  I am humbled by the community of people that have surrounded his family at this time.  All of you are World Class.

Superman is without limits; he can fly; a light in a dark world; full of hope; girded in strength; bound with integrity; a wise counselor.  I wasn’t disappointed meeting my hero, I just thought he would’ve had better hair.  You’re the best.  We love you!

Train Authentically To Regain Your Fitness

Learning From Horology

Horology is a passion of mine.  Horology is simply the art and science of measuring time.  Clocks and watches of all types have peaked my curiosity since childhood.  Collecting watches is a frivolous hobby that is exciting and frustrating at the same time.  In my small collection, I have an old Omega Seamaster from the 60’s that recently stopped ticking.  The watch seems to have a problem with the drivetrain; the mainspring power is not reaching the balance, or a number of other reasons – dirt or debris in the drive train, a binding second hand, bent teeth, or poor lubrication.  The important consideration is that the movement will have to be disassembled and diagnostics will have to be used to fix the problem.  A failure of the smallest, most seemingly trivial moving part of the watch can cause the entire system to fail.  Some watches by the way, have an excess of 100 moving parts that manage the time.

The Body Is One Piece

Last week I tore, or badly strained the muscle in the back of my left leg.  The hamstrings are a critical, powerful, and overly important driver of all human movements.  It’s always a blessing and a curse the handful of times I have injured myself in the pursuit of fitness or athletic excellence.  What’s the lesson in the process of injury?

The body is just like the intricate movement of a fine Swiss watch.  The smallest mechanical failure of the least significant part can ruin the entire system.  Case in point—there’s not many authentic fitness movements that you can execute effectively in the presence of an injured tissue or joint in the body.  The body is one piece.  Try performing deadlifts, lunges, squats, or heavy rows with an injured hamstring.  It’s difficult, if not impossible because your body isn’t a box of random parts that are used only when needed.

Get Off Of The Machines

Here’s where it gets fuzzy.  I could sit on any of the Nautilus strength training machines that decorate gyms across the country, and grind away sparring my leg injury.  These machines purposely isolate muscles and create convenience at the expense of authentic movement.  Machine based exercise programs promote patterns of movement dysfunction which lead to injury in the first place.

First of all, what is authentic movement?  A natural, primitive movement execution that Mankind didn’t invent, that doesn’t discriminate against specific joints or muscle groups.  Crawling, rolling, climbing, getting-up off of the floor, yoga, squatting, bending, twisting, pushing, and pulling objects to name a few.  If you can learn to perform these activities in the wild without coaching, it’s likely as authentic as it gets.  What are un-authentic movement patterns?  Cycling, exercise machines, and Pilates reformers.

Un-authentic movements are analogous with a car.  A car is clearly a magnificent invention that creates invaluable luxury and convenience.  When a segment of a car breaks down, it doesn’t necessarily derail the system entirely.  You can drive a motor vehicle for thousands of miles on a bad alignment, without problems initially.  The complications arise when you realize you’ve cut your tire life in half, damaged the CV joints, and wore out the suspension bushings.

Fitness exercises that are performed on machines break down your body the same way a poor alignment breaks down the suspension on your car.  You will likely be fine for years, but at some point the convenience the machine brings will cost you dearly!  Here’s what I know; most people can survive quite well practicing poor movement patterns.  But if you attempt to create, and maintain fitness on these practices alone, it’s only a matter of time before you break down.  I have witnessed enough trainees who exclusively ski, ride a bike, or push the spring around on the reformer who have significant fitness limitations. I have witnessed 3 women in the last year who regularly practice Pilates on a reformer with a qualified instructor, yet can’t stand up from the ground in a half kneeling position.  I hope these women never slip on ice in a parking lot late in the evening without assistance.  I have recently witnessed 2 cyclists who are locked so rigidly, they can’t even touch their knees as they attempt to bend over.

Un-authentic movement patterns aren’t necessarily bad.  In fact, some of the best exercise strategies to correct pain and dysfunction are performed using bands, reformers, and cables.  The bigger point I’m making is that un-authentic movement patterns should never make up the exclusive cornerstone in your fitness program.

When in doubt, realize that there isn’t a better fitness teacher than the natural environment in which you have to move authentically.  Try climbing for once.  Go to a yoga class that you know has been eluding you for years.  Lift something heavy off of the floor.  Your cycling and skiing will thank you for it.  Have a great week!