Tag: Exercise

My why in video format.

Yesterday I wrote about “concepts” and the two things that are constant in life. The first was, Change is constant and the second is things fall apart. Shortly after I posted that video I was looking at My Facebook page and my mom shared the following video. I know I ask you to do a lot of things but I really think this is the easiest and maybe the most impactful way to show you the message that I’m trying to get across. Watch till the end and grab some tissues.

Epic, right? It made me tear up a little bit as well. I could not have scripted a better advertisement of why I make the decisions that I do every single day and why I’m trying to encourage others to make similar long term life choices as well. Life has very few constants as I mentioned earlier, Things are going to change and eventually all things fall apart and don’t function quite like they used to. We have the power in our daily choices to slow down the progression of the later of the two constants, Were never going to stop the aging process with any amount of superfoods and kettlebell exercises but the choices you make today, tomorrow, and 30 years from now could keep you around and active for your loved ones.

What’s your why???

I want to open by saying I’ve written this blog post about 8 times already and I’ve thought it was good and then I would read it and think I hadn’t hit really hit the mark. I feel like this version might be the one that see’s the light of day.

Four years ago on a Monday I took the trash out and had a conversation with a neighbor that made me think about the choices I was making in life. It started me on my path to where I am today. Those early days had some bumps, detours and full on sabbaticals as my “why” was motivating but was a bit superficial and self serving. I don’t want to discount this why to much as it still drives me today but about a year into being a Dad the “Why” Epiphany hit me really hard again. It came in the form of 5 simple words formed into a question by Travis Manion –http://www.travismanion.org

“If not me then who?“

Those words got me thinking more about the way I was living and what would happen 20 to 30 years down the road if I stayed on the current path I was traveling. Who would take care of my my wife and children if I let my health go by the wayside and I passed away relatively young? Who’s going to go surfing my with my son and daughter when they are teenagers? Who will teach my children how to cook, look someone in the eye and grow up to be fine contributing members of society?

I knew the answer to those questions and it was me! And that’s when I found my “why” that has kept me going every day since I asked myself those questions.

After several thousands of hours of podcasts, audible and long runs I have reached something that I think is of value to this world.

“One of the best ways to to take care of the people who rely on you is to first take care of yourself.” Its a little wordy but I think the message is solid.

To elaborate I’m not telling you to become a self serving jerk who ignores their family in the search for a banging six pack at the gym. I’m asking you to squeeze in 15 minutes a day of exercise, eat more vegetables and less processed food and perhaps more importantly go see your doctor for an annual check up.

What’s your why

My why and your why to take control of our health may be completely different and that’s to be expected. My why isn’t better then yours, just like yours isn’t better then mine. what is important is that we find the thing or things that will keep us on the path to who we want to be when we grow up.

Which leads me to my question for you today. Who/what do you want to be doing 10,15, 20 and so on years down the road? I would be willing to bet those ideas are filled with hobbies, good health and time spent with the ones you love. Now ask yourself this question are the choices I am making today moving me closer or further away from that dream.

I hope that you answered that question with a resounding yes but if you didn’t that’s quite alright. It wasn’t that long ago that my answer was the opposite of what it is today. And if you remember back to the WHEN blog post from this series, the second best time to do something is right now.

There are so very few things that we have any control over in life and I feel like that’s more evident know then ever in the time of covid. The choices that you make today, tomorrow and the next day will have a collective impact on your life down the road. Having a why that is bigger then your self will serve you far better then trying to rely on fleeting hopes of motivation.

If your curious about who I want to be when I grow up send me a message and I will elaborate. https://www.instagram.com/brian_in_search/

Exercise is Where you find it…

A couple of weeks ago when the governor of Florida closed all the gyms in the state of Florida I thought my very rational wife was going to lose her mind. She went through all of the steps of grieving before accepting that it was going to happen by lunch the next day. The thing that sealed the deal was that her gym was going to offer classes over zoom.

So a few days later we were in the garage building a plyo box from a left over sheet of ply wood and she was headed to to gym to borrow a few pieces of equipment so that we could open up a modified Crossfit gym in garage.

The process we used to get to that final outcome is called an O.O.D.A loop. https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/OODA-loop or observe, orient, decide and act. The goal is to work through each phase and act with the information that you have at the moment, you will more then likely have to repeat the loop a few times before you reach the best out come.

So what did we learn as a byproduct of the gyms closing? Exercise is where ever you can find it. My wife loves her cross fit gym for the exercise and the community of friends and coaches shes built along the way. I, on the other hand love running and my daily routine of push ups, pull ups and squats. I enjoy the work out but I really enjoy the quiet time by myself to contemplate life’s mysteries. Most of the ideas for this blog come when my heart rate is well above 100.

OODA LOOP TIME..

Observe – take a few minutes and think about the things that you like to do and hate to do when it comes to exercise. Do you hate running with a passion, great that’s a start. Don’t do that one. Love gardening, swimming or golfing, awesome lets start there.

Orient – Now that we’ve observed the things that we like we need to orient them in how we can turn them into functional exercise. Lets use golf as our example in this one. Golf can be a great workout if you avoid the cart, hot dogs and cold beers. Think about it if you walk and carry your bag your going for at least a 3 mile hike with 20 lbs on your back. That sounds a lot like exercise to me while simultaneously having fun.

Decide – Now that we’ve observed and oriented our selves its pretty easy to decide that something we like could be turned into exercise. We still have a few decisions to make before we move onto taking action. Sticking with the golf theme here’s a few things to consider. Will the course let me walk, how often can I play golf and can I even walk 18 holes right now.

one of my good friends Peter https://www.instagram.com/szunyoghpeter/ (give him a follow for some drool worthy food ideas) shared with me something he read that was so simple and profound a couple of days ago that I had to share it with you. It was ” you can’t go from 0-100 fast but you can go from 0-10. Then once you are at 10 then go to 20 and so on, And enjoy the journey. Moral of the story set a reasonable goal and when that becomes easy create a new more challenging goal.

Act – The first three steps are mental exercises but the fourth step action is where the rubber meets the road. lets get out a pen and some paper and put down in writing how many times a week your are going to exercise. Once again set a realistic goal and hold yourself accountable to it.

If your looking for some motivation on when to start maybe the last post about a tree will help you decide that right now is a pretty darn good time.

https://subjects2change.food.blog/2020/04/05/when-how-about-right-now/

Here are some ideas on where you might find some exercise..

Walking the neighborhood, looking for a little more of a challenge add a ruck from http://www.goruck.com or borrow your kids back pack (they aren’t using it anyways) and throw whats ever heavy in there and head out.

pull ups, push ups, crunches, burpees – all of the work with no added equipment. https://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere

yoga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m756Gz8de4M

Resistance band – looking to make things a little more difficult. Here’s a complete gym for less then $20.00 https://www.amazon.com/resistance-bands/s?k=resistance+bands

BEFORE STARTING ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM PLEASE CONSULT WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN!!!!!