This blog post is sort of a follow up to the discussion I had about yoga in this post: http://practicalpaleolithic.com/paleolithic-diet-blog/adding-yoga-to-a-strength-program

Yoga and meditation can have a central role in treating Adrenal Fatigue, depression, anxiety and a number of other disorders. The video above discusses some of these and points out a number of resources for further exploration.

ttys

Adam

IMPORTANT! Adam Farrah is not a doctor or medical professional. This information is based on my own opinion and is not meant to be medical advice or to treat, diagnose, cure or prescribe in any way.

Today’s question comes from Troy by email. Here it is:

“Hi Adam -

You mention your love of yoga and martial arts in a recent video. I’ve been a martial artist since I was seven years old. I started lifting weights two years ago, and I’ve very recently started Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program.

I’m taking yoga next semester. (For college credit!)

What have you found is a good time to do yoga in conjunction with 5/3/1? Would you do a strength workout and yoga on the same day or should I do yoga and karate on off days?

Thanks!

- Troy”

Thanks again for the question, Troy!

Here’s a link to Sara Ivanhoe’s site where you can check out here DVDs:

Sara Ivanhoe’s Site

ttys

Adam

IMPORTANT! Adam Farrah is not a doctor or medical professional. This information is based on my own opinion and is not meant to be medical advice or to treat, diagnose, cure or prescribe in any way.

I’m writing this on the little porch of my family’s summer cottage in Old Saybrook, CT. The screen door is cracked open, the sun is shining in the windows, I have a fresh cup of locally roasted, fresh-ground, organic coffee next to me, there are cats sleeping and exploring around me and birds singing outside. Sure, there are things I need to do and I have plenty of “problems,” but THIS MOMENT is lacking nothing. This moment is perfect…

As always, I’m being deeply affected by Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now.” This is my third time through the book in a year and EVERY time I read it I have a major shift in my thinking and approach to life. It’s that transformational. I think one of the greatest lessons I learned – and continue to learn – from that book is about being happy NOW vs. living in the future. In fact, there are a few passages in that book that connected with me on such a deep level I dropped the entire life I was living a year ago and changed virtually EVERYTHING I was doing.

Now is ALL You Have…

It’s a bit crazy to think about, but NOW is all you have. You don’t really “have” the future because it’s not here yet – you can only imagine it NOW. And you don’t “have” the past because it’s gone. The past is just a memory – a memory you’re having NOW. Yeah, the future is something we all strive to make better – especially us goal-focused athletes and over-achievers.

But, living in a miserable hell NOW, so we can get to some imagined place where everything is “great” later, is pretty nuts.

Sure, there’s delayed gratification and working toward goals and hard work. I talked about these in my post “I’ll Never Be Good Enough…” I’m not talking about that. What I’m talking about is NOT being happy NOW and looking toward a future – that you imagine NOW – where you CAN be happy.

Yes, we want the future to be better, but we MUST be enjoying the present – The NOW – while we’re working toward the future we believe will be better. If we’re living in constant struggle and misery NOW – so we can be happy LATER – we’re likely deluding ourselves. In MY past, the idea that the next job, the next promotion, the next relationship, the next car or motorcycle or the next degree would FINALLY get me to a place where I felt complete and happy created a PERPETUAL state of working and struggling and striving NOW to have something I wanted LATER. I did almost none of the things I LOVED and VALUED NOW because I was working so hard to create a life where I’d be able to do them later.

It’s really crazy when you see it in words. I was working myself sick, miserable and exhausted day after day, month after month and year after year so I could get my life to a place where I could do what I wanted and loved. And, of course, that life I was working for never came. There was always another repair on the house, another life catastrophe, another degree I needed, another layoff in a job when I was expecting a promotion, another crazy high-drama girlfriend when I thought I had met “The One.” IT NEVER ENDED. IT NEVER FREAKIN’ ENDED…

It only ended when I ended it and left that life behind. And I did THAT by following my heart and doing what I loved and valued NOW. Not later. NOW.

Do What You Love and Be Happy NOW…

Here’s the thing: You only have so much time, so much energy and so much LIFE. Delayed gratification is good but you MUST be enjoying the process too. Here’s Eckhart Tolle’s take on this from “The Power of Now:”

“Are you always trying to get somewhere other than where you are? Is most of your doing just a means to an end? Is fulfillment always just around the corner or confined to short-lived pleasures such as sex, food, drink, drugs or thrills and excitement? Are you always focused on becoming, achieving and attaining, or alternatively chasing some new thrill or pleasure? Do you believe that if you aquire more things you will become more fulfilled, good enough, or psychologically complete? Are you waiting for a man or woman to give meaning to your life?”

See how crazy it is? You can’t live in the future! You can ONLY live NOW! If your whole life is striving for goals and perfection and achievement you lose the only thing you truly have – the present. The past and future don’t exist, you only have the present. You only have this moment. You only have NOW. Will it be great to nail a new PR in the deadlift? YES! Will it feel awesome when you finally get a new belt in the martial art you’re training in? YES! SO many things will feel wonderful to accomplish and SHOULD be accomplished if they mean something to you. But you MUST be enjoying the process and the journey!

It’s the difference between someone who feels if they look better and perform better they’ll be happy and fulfilled – and they HATE working out, eating right is a miserable struggle and they’d rather be out drinking and partying and eating pizza with their friends. Every minute of their life is a hell they endure so they can be happy in the future… Compare that to someone who wants to look and perform better and LOVES to work out. Someone who looks forward to going to train, seeing friends at the gym, the warm up, the workout, the post-workout meal, going to bed sore and exhausted. Yes, you need to have a destination in mind, but you also need to focus on – and LOVE – the journey.

And, if you HATE the journey, you need to either do serious work on your attitude or seriously change your daily journey. Maybe both…

When You’re Training, You Have No Problems…

Here’s an easy illustration for you. Think about the last really good workout you had. That workout where you felt great, were pushing for a new PR and KNEW you’d get it. The workout where you ran a little further, pushed yourself harder or moved more weight than ever before. Remember it? Now, did you have any problems during that workout? I mean – in THAT MOMENT – were you thinking about your life problems? Were you thinking about the errands you needed to do after the workout? Were you thinking about what you were going to eat when you were done training? Were you thinking about your bills? NO! You were 100% “In The Now!” THAT is what Tolle is talking about and THAT is what Enlightenment is. When you’re training your sense of time changes and your noisy “thinking mind” shuts off. You just do – completely present, in The Now and focused.

It’s THAT simple. Of course, Eckhart is talking about LIVING with that type of consciousness as opposed to only visiting it rarely. And THAT takes a lifetime of practice…

That’s it for now. (Get it, “now” ). If you want to learn more about applying this type of thinking to training and day to day goal setting, check out my post “SINS Challenge Update – Setting Smaller Goals…”

ttys

Adam

On the plus side, Sara is WICKED HOT so it might be worth watching just for that reason

What does all this have to do with Adrenal Fatigue and Lifestyle?

So, a point that came up during Sara’s interview is how many of us are making so much effort in our lives that we finally become so exhausted that we have to stop. We essentially realize we have to find another way. (This gets discussed starting around 41:00min.) We are so exhausted from all the struggling and all the ego, we actually “give up” and it’s from this point we can begin to truly live.

Here’s why I think this is important and how it relates to Adrenal Fatigue:

If your lifestyle is unsustainable you will be in constant stress. If your training is unsustainable (meaning, not periodized and well programmed with varied intensity) you WILL eventually become exhausted because your physical resources have been spent. This is overtraining.

But while we think it’s working we keep doing whatever stupid behavior we’re doing. It isn’t until we completely crash and burn that we (hopefully) realize we were going down the wrong path, reevaluate and get back on track. I’ve been doing this in every area of my life – intensely – for a while now…

Pema Chodron talks about this in her book “When Things Fall Apart – Heart Advice for Difficult Times.” In Buddhist terms, she basically says we get so tired we can’t make any more problems for ourselves… The training interpretation of this is that we get so overtrained we have to take a week or two off from training to recover.

So, in terms of practical training and lifestyle stuff, take a good hard look at what’s going on with you and decide if it’s actually sustainable and moving you TOWARD what you want and toward better health, performance and happiness. And, by moving toward I mean you’re already there on some level. How’s that for a contradiction? What I mean is, if you’re beating the crap out of yourself now so you can have something you want LATER, you better be seeing some indication that the work you’re putting in is working. If you’re working on health or happiness or performance NOW and aren’t at least seeing SOME positive movement TOWARD what you want, you better stop and reevaluate.

Are you consistently moving toward your goals?

Think about this one for a minute or two. Are you truly, TRULY moving toward your goals? Are you stronger and healthier today than you were last month? Last year? Are your relationships better? Does your life have less stress and more fulfillment? If these are goals for you – but you can’t answer “yes” to that question – you’re trying to live in the future and that won’t work. You need to create these things NOW so you know you’re going in the right direction.

Here’s a concrete example: Say your goal is to improve your health overall and take your deadlift from 365 to 405. Good, attainable goals, right? As long as you have measurable health goals like: improved sleep, better digestion, better mood, etc., you’ll be able to objectively tell if you’re moving toward your ultimate health goals. Add to that a good training journal with your poundage progression and you can tell pretty easily if you’re moving toward your goals or not.

If you’re NOT ON TRACK and consistently moving toward your goals in small increments you need to STOP and reevaluate your lifestyle and your goals and your methods. Don’t think you can keep doing what you’re doing and get different results than you’re getting now. There are no quantum leaps in health and training. Little improvements add up to create BIG improvements – and if you’re not seeing the little improvements you’re NOT going to see the big ones. Time to reevaluate…

I hope that makes sense – assuming I didn’t lose you a minute into the video

ttys

Adam

I already have heavy blankets hanging on my windows to keep out the light (my neighbors LOVE me). With the blankets I sleep in almost complete darkness even once the sun comes up. I’ve still hung on to a few things that aren’t optimal though:

• I like to fall asleep with the TV on. I KNOW this isn’t good for me, but I’ve been doing it forever. I set the timer to shut the TV off in 60 minutes and fall asleep with it on. I usually find that comforting for some reason.
• I have TWO digital clocks in my room FACING me. Actually, it’s one digital clock and one clock on the Cable box. There have been times I thought these might be bothering me, but I’ve refrained from making changes until now.
• There is a TINY green light on the smoke detector on my ceiling. Not a big deal, but it’s there.

So, yesterday here’s what I did:

• I didn’t go to sleep with the TV on. In fact, I took my friend Robb Wolf’s advice and got a good Sci Fi novel to read. I’m reading Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, BTW… I only got a few pages read and I started to get tired.
• I got rid of BOTH of the digital clocks. I’m lucky enough to not have to get up and be anywhere in the morning, so I really don’t even need a clock in the room. I also find that’s helpful if I wake up during the night because I just go back to sleep without thinking about the time. I think my body is going to learn to wake on it’s own a lot better if my brain doesn’t know what time it is. I also got rid of the Cable box. Don’t really need it if I’m not watching TV up there anymore…
• Last but not least, I covered up the little light on the smoke detector with a piece of duct tape. Problem solved.

Last night was the first night I slept with the new environment. I definitely felt like I slept heavier and better. I had a high fat Paleo meal around 8pm and went to bed before 10pm. I only woke up once for the bathroom and when right back to sleep after that. I woke up at 7:30am feeling pretty good. I also woke up with a raging… well… It’s a guy thing… I did feel I could have gone back again and slept more, but the sun was up pretty bright so I decided to get up and have some Paleo coffee

I’d say the first night of this sleep improvement thing worked out pretty well. I’m looking forward to seeing what a few weeks of it will bring.

ttys

Adam