Today’s question is a great one from Jennifer! Here it is:

“Adam,

I have a question for you. I have been following Paleo for about a year pretty closely. I have been pretty frustrated lately and maybe your book will help me figure things out. I read/see peoples transformations and they seem to drop tons of weight/inches in 30-60 days. I started out doing pretty good but it seems like the more I get strict with Paleo the less I lose! I don’t have a lot left to lose so maybe its just it, but want to. Just wondering if they are the norm when it comes to Paleo or am I? Are those that are featured on blogs etc extreme cases? Or is that what should happen and I am doing something wrong?

I have watched some of your videos where you answer questions. In the one about fat burn pills, you talked about working out in the morning on an empty stomach and maybe with coffee. I was doing that when I saw the the biggest drop in inches. The past couple months I have been working out in the evening and then eating dinner after – 7:30ish. I know this is not good and have gone back to the 6am class. Your video reinforced something I knew and got me back to that early class. Its not as convenient but I was thinking that may have been part of my issue. Thanks for the video! It was just what I needed!

Blessings,

Jennifer”

Thanks for the GREAT question, Jennifer!

Here’s a link to a video I did in answer to another question where I talk more about taking a long-term heath focus as opposed to focusing just on scale weight and inches:

http://practicalpaleolithic.com/paleolithic-diet-blog/health-fitness-paleo-and-crossfit-a-long-term-view

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.

The first question in this video is from Carissa regarding Hemp Protein powder:

“Hi Adam!

I can’t seem to find the Q&A link on your site but I was wondering if
you know anything about hemp protein powder?

Any info would be great!

Thanks!

Carissa”

The second is from Dana about Fat Burners:

“Hey Adam,

Thank you so much for your response to my previous question
and for the downloads! They have been very helpful! I have another
question for you if you have the time!

My question is, along with my workout(right now just using Jackie
Warner videos & running 4x/week incorporating intervals), should I be
taking any supplements to boost fat loss? I’m not taking anything but
a mulitvitamin right now. I see various fat loss aids at the drug
store or GNC but just have no clue what to be looking for ingredient
wise.

Thanks!

Dana”

Thanks Carissa and Dana for the questions!

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.

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.

This answer is in response to Dana’s question below:

“I am 5’4” & 123lbs and I have always focused on eating healthy. SInce January I’ve been working out about 4x/week and since March more like 5-6x a week. I run every other day (anywhere from 3-6 miles) and the opposite days I do a 20-30 min video like 30 day shred (advanced level). I am also training for my first 1/2 marathon on May 1st so I’ve incorporated a few longer runs (8-10mile) in there the past month. BUT I am NOT happy w/the amount of body fat I have.

I tried something different today. It’s not something I haven’t THOUGHT of a million times or SAID I’d do a million times, but it’s something I really haven’t DONE before. I did yoga this morning. This morning. Not at noon, after 6 hours of drinking coffee and screwing around on Facebook, THIS MORNING. As in, around 8am.

What’s the big deal with yoga in the morning?

The big deal with yoga in the morning is that my stress level is WAY too high. Like, it’s off the charts high. Finishing my book didn’t really change anything. I barely felt any relief when I finished it and I just moved on to being stressed about all the other stuff I can be stressed out about – the stuff I was putting off so I could finish my book.

Enough is ENOUGH! I’ve had it with feeling stressed. I had a somewhat stressful situation that I had to deal with yesterday and it totally crushed me. My baseline stress level is WAY to high and I need to fix it. At this point, I feel like all my goals – especially the training ones – are getting held up here. If stress is high, digestion is compromised and cortisol will be high. Not good. Add to that, when I get really stressed I completely lose my appetite. Training progress is hard to come by when you’re under-eating. And, yes, my stress level is high enough that I consistently under-eat.

It’s Not Just About Stretching

Yoga has kind of a double benefit. It’s great for stretching and recovery, but it’s also great for your MIND. It not only connects your body and mind in a different way than hard training, it calms the mind too. It can slowly help shift your consciousness out of the past and the future and into the present moment. Life is moving faster and faster for everyone and a practice like yoga is becoming more and more essential just to keep from losing our minds. I’ve talked before about how fast things move in modern life. It’s not good and I’m damn sure it’s not Paleo…

It’s amazing to me how you can lose hours or even DAYS pointing and clicking and texting and checking and Facebooking and Tweeting and whatever else. IT’S SCARY! I LOVE technology and I LOVE Facebook and all my friends on there. What I don’t love is that the online world NEVER SHUTS OFF. If you don’t set clear boundaries AND get them integrated into a SOLID routine you’re going to have problems. I’m currently having problems…

A NEW Routine and A New Beginning…

So, this morning, I got up, fed Scamper and sat down with my coffee – AND my copy of “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. I’ve read that book several times and, EVERY TIME I read it, I have a major shift in my perception. It’s been that great for me. I’m hoping this time I have the same fortunate experience…

Slowly, Gently and CALMLY make things better…

I want things to be better. I want to be better. I have so many goals and things I want to learn and do and get better at. Not too long ago, I wrote about some of these things and my struggle with the process in “It’s Always Right There…” What I’m working on doing currently is getting better at stuff in a more calm way. Avoiding what you should be doing is ONE form of resistance. Charging off into what you should be doing like a mental case is another form of resistance. Yeah, you’re doing what you should be doing, but you can’t sustain that energy long term. It’s just another ego deal when you get all wound up and motivated and go after something with a vengeance. Why? Because very little happens in life or training as the result of one heroic effort. From what I can see, the heroic effort is putting in the SMALL efforts day after day, month after month and year after year. You don’t nail a PR or build a business or create an outstanding life by getting all caffeined out and angry and making a HUGE effort ONCE. Maybe a little of that is good at certain points in the journey, but there is A LOT of calm, patient preparation and “showing up” that goes on before that big, angry push is needed to get the goal. The big, angry push is the little bit that puts you over the top – it’s not where you need to live to really make things happen…

If you don’t believe me or don’t think I’m qualified to tell you this, please know that my LIFE was one big, angry push up to about a year ago. It can get you some short-term results and can even work OK for you when you’re young and can recover more easily, but it’s NOT the way to go long term. Even if it worked really well in the long-term, I think the results vs. the energy expenditure would make it uneconomical. But, it DOESN’T work long term…

So, today is about creating a new routine that I live every day.

Here is my new routine:

• Wake up and have some fresh-ground, organic coffee
• Read something, while enjoying the coffee, that focuses my mind on The Now – No computer books, no Facebook, no “how-to” books. ONLY something that makes me feel thankful for being here, now. Nothing that makes me feel edgy and needing to “get to later” or get to some other time period besides the one I’m in.
• Do a yoga DVD or a yoga routine I already have down, some qigong, joint mobility and/or meditation – I’m not going to be super strict on what I actually do yet, the main thing is to do something that helps recovery, is nurturing and focuses my attention in the moment
• Drink AT LEAST a liter of water after practicing
• Do this routine DAILY

I don’t think there’s any other way to do this. If I start writing or get on the computer first thing, I get all spun up and stressed and it’s extremely hard to pull myself away and do yoga later. It’s like, I HAVE to do it while most of the world is still asleep. If I don’t, it’s like I can’t tear myself away from all the “important” stuff that’s happening. In fact, I was supposed to start this routine yesterday and checked my email right before – and there was a mess I needed to deal with that I was alerted to and that was the end of yoga and nurturing myself… For God’s sake, don’t check email before yoga – EVER!

And, I have a crush on Sara Ivanhoe…

If you’re wondering where I do yoga, I do it at home and just about always have. I’m a big fan of the yoga DVD and I’m a massive fan of Sara Ivanhoe. I found her when I bought the DVD “Yoga for Dummies” several years ago. She’s an amazing teacher and is SERIOUSLY hot I know, not really necessary for a yoga DVD to be good, but it doesn’t hurt – especially if you’re a male… Actually, Sara’s “hotness” is more about her vibe and how patient and in the moment she is. It’s really inspiring to experience. SHE’S something inspiring to experience. I can’t really explain it. If you get one of her DVDs you’ll see what I mean, I’m sure.

Today I did the second practice on her “Yoga on the Edge” DVD. I can’t say enough good stuff about that DVD or her instruction in it. It’s a little more advanced that the “For Dummies” one, but most people with a little fitness can probably do it pretty well the first time.

BTW, Sara also writes a pretty cool column for The Huffington Post.

Now that I’m done crushing on Sara, I’ll get back to the important stuff. But really, my crush aside, her stuff ROCKS!

My favorite thing about Sara is that she coaches you to be in the moment and be where you are. She encourages you to just do the practice and not worry about being perfect. This is GREAT for me because I’m such a perfectionist mental case. Having someone continually give me permission to be not so good at something really helps. Probably in part due to Sara’s DVDs, yoga is one of the very few things I don’t demand perfection of myself in and don’t obsess about.  I got a yoga DVD from another popular yogini a while back. She was COMPLETELY different – all intense and mental about form and serious and rigid. YUCK!

OK, NOW I’m done crushing on Sara…

We’ll see what happens…

That’s pretty much it. I’m going to work on this for the next week or two – EVERY DAY – and see what happens. My hope is that I’ll feel calmer, more in control and my creativity will improve. I’m also hoping I can get – and stay – in the moment easier. And I really, REALLY hope the morning stressing and pointing and clicking and tweeting and checking nonsense goes away permanently and is replaced by a much healthier habit…

ttys

Adam

NONE of this would be here without YOU!

Here are the TOP posts and pages of 2010 on Practical Paleolithic. It’s incredibly humbling for me to look at the stats for my pages and posts and realize that EACH “visit” to a page or post represents a living, breathing person who took time out of their day to read something I wrote. For that, I am thankful and tremendously grateful. As much of a ranting, sarcastic jerk as I like to be at times, I never, EVER forget that all of you who read my stuff and share it and leave comments are WHY I’m here and why I do what I do. And for that, thank you!

And, “Strong is the New Skinny.” What can I say? Nearing 10,000 fans on Facebook, over 8,500 reads here and shared over 4,800 times. It’s a movement. And there aren’t even words to explain what THAT means to me

So, with that all said, here are the posts and pages YOU all liked the most this past year. Enjoy them and have a Happy, Healthy, and Successful New Year!

ttys

Adam

Is Strong the New Skinny? – What can I say about this one that hasn’t already been said? This is where “Strong is the New Skinny” happened and it’s had 8,533 reads since it was written!

Is Bodybuilding Relevant Anymore? – Humorous yet serious blog post attempting to answer the question: “Is Bodybuilding relevant anymore?”

Paleo Primer – A primer that lays out the basics of the Paleo diet including what to eat and why.

Don’t Train Like a Guy – A fun post about globo-gyms, ex-girlfriends and why women SHOULD “train like a guy.”

Marsha Tieken-Christensen Interview – Interview with Marsha Tieken-Christensen, the woman and the boobs behind “Strong is the New Skinny.”

Body Image, Food Addiction and “I’m not good enough…” – A post about male and female stereotypes, body image, food addiction and other light topics…

Where’d the science go? – A post asking where the science has gone in modern healthcare and offering some suggestions to get it back.

Are we Paleo Dieters CRAZY or smarter than all of ‘em? – A ranting look at a supposed eating disorder called “orthorexia nervosa” and it’s similarity to a Paleo diet.

Perfectionism and Self-Sabatage – Paleo Style… – A post about setting realistic and achievable goals on a “Paleo” diet and focusing on results instead of dogma.

It only takes 1,000… – A post explaining the significance of approaching 10,000 members to the SINS movement and why everyone has a role to play in spreading the idea.

MY Perspective on What “Strong is the New Skinny” Means – What “Strong is the New Skinny” means to me personally.

CrossFit Goes Globo-Gym? – A post about the recent CrossFit/Reebok merger and how it might affect the Linchpins in the CrossFit community.

Fitness, Health, Money and LIES – A blog post about media images of health and fitness and some of their implications.

‘Tis the season to focus on your diet and training – A post about getting in shape during the holidays as opposed to turning November to January into one big screw up.

What’s YOUR Legacy Going to Be? – A blog post about the images and legacy strong women (and the rest of us) are leaving for the generations to follow.

This is My Journey – Guest Post by Linda McFeeters – A guest post by female bodybuilder and powerlifter Linda McFeeters.

CrossFit Workouts and Becoming More Efficient – Blog post commenting and expanding on Robb Wolf’s prescription for improving efficiency in CrossFit exercises to increase speed and power.

Healthy is the New Skinny, Too? – A post about the importance of local and organic foods and how they relate to the “Strong is the New Skinny” movement.

I woke up pissed off today. Not sure why. I could venture a few guesses but that would be a waste of good, ranty writing time

My friend Robb Wolf posted a great story on his blog today. It was by a girl who calls herself “Fat Girl.” I guess it struck a cord with me. “Fat Girl” went to doctor after doctor for migraines and about 20 other health issues for years. In the end, she fixed the problem herself with a ton of hard work and – you guessed it – a Paleo diet. The scenario plays out again and again. It’s almost become cliche: Someone has myriad health issues and goes to doctor after doctor, sees “specialists,” maybe even goes the “alternative” route and sees a Naturopath or 20 and gets absolutely nowhere. Then, in desperation they start doing their own research and their own “doctoring,” find Paleo and get better.

My prediction: This is going to happen more and more until our current “Healthcare” system – conventional AND alternative – implodes. There is too much information out there and too much freedom to access it. People are going to wake up and start taking responsibility for their health and finding out the truth. And this isn’t going to happen for any grand reasons – it’s going to happen because the current systems are USELESS when it comes to dealing with chronic disease.

I used to be a believer

I studied Chemistry in college. I was – still am in a way – a hardcore science type. And I still can’t believe I considered going to medical school. I had a the grades and a Chemistry undergrad degree – I even started the application process. I just decided not to go…

Being a “scientist” and young and kinda cocky (OK, A LOT cocky ) I was all into the “better living through science” thing. I guess, when you spend all your time in a lab with other geeks that’s pretty much the default mindset.

I’d also had a few run-ins with Naturopaths and found them to be useless, unscientific and more interested in selling overpriced supplements than actually helping anyone heal. I was hardcore science all the way. It probably didn’t help that I was working as a Research Associate in a Biotech lab…

I REALLY wanted to believe

When I was about 30 (I’m 38 now) I started having intermittent digestive problems. I was under incredible work stress, life stress, working out too much and too often, sleeping too little, taking night classes for another degree and all the other crap society tells us is required to be successful. I was eating a “healthy diet” low in fat and full of nice, whole grains though. At least I knew it couldn’t be a problem with nutrition…

But, I believed – and had been taught – that technology and education (mainstream, of course) was the answer to everything. Even if technology was screwing stuff up, all you needed was more technology to fix it…

Everyone is a Douchebag…

Someday, I’ll go into my whole story about how I almost died from Ulcerative Colitis and how I cured myself and got my health back on my own because there was NO – as in NO, ZERO, ZIP, NADA – help out there for me or anyone else with that illness or any other chronic digestive disorder. I STILL can’t get myself to delve into that whole story – the incompetence I witnessed from supposed health professionals in every area STILL enrages me.

Like the Gastrointerologist whose response to my very early discovery that I seemed to feel better if I ate only fruit smoothies and steamed vegetables was that I could have nutrient deficiencies on such a “limited” diet and I needed to eat “bread.” In addition to bread, this genius and supposed man of science (he was the HEAD of the Gastrointerology Department, BTW…) gave me enough prednisone to kill a large farm animal and insisted I’d need it for the rest of my life. Or, the Naturopath who insisted I drink HUGE amounts of raw cow milk as a “cure” for my colitis and chronic fatigue. When I told him my symptoms had increased DRAMATICALLY when I started drinking the milk he told me to drink MORE and that I was “detoxing.”

The point is, virtually EVERY health care option readily available to us IS BROKEN. I don’t care if it’s mainstream, alternative or something in between. They’re all pretty messed up in their current state.

The mainstream medical establishment is fixated – to the point of insanity or idiocy, I can’t decide which – on individual systems in the body. As far as they’re concerned, nothing is related to anything else. If you’re depressed, it means your brain is broken – it couldn’t have anything to do with your diet. I mean, look how “far away” your stomach is from your head. How could they be related? Anxious? Your brain is broken – but in a different way from the depression. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the speed of life and the volume of stress we endure every day is THOUSANDS of times faster than anything our equipment is evolved to handle. And, if you’re having digestive problems it couldn’t have anything to do with the coffee and donuts you have every morning. As far as the medical establishment is concerned, the body is just a dumb machine that can be manipulated with chemicals and man’s scientific genius. IS THIS NOT THE HEIGHT OF CONCEIT? A few hundred years of man and science are smarter than MILLIONS of years of evolution? This is man’s ego run amuck.

And, remember, I’m a trained scientist! I lived in that world FOR YEARS!

Lest you think this is going to be some tree-hugging alternative medicine rant, let me assure you that douchebaggary reigns supreme in the alternative field as well. In my experience, Naturopaths apply as much selective interpretation and foolishness in their practice. And they medicate symptoms just as much as allopathic doctors – they just use supplements and herbs that are a lot less powerful. Oh yeah, and they SELL you the herbs and crap they prescribe directly. At least the regular doctors profit from their prescriptions indirectly. Naturopaths have no such compunction to encourage them to hide their profiteering…

I suppose I should say here that, if I ever get hurt in an accident of some kind, I’d like to go STRAIGHT to an emergency room where medical technology can be applied in all its glory. Emergency medicine is one thing. It’s the chronic illnesses we’re missing the boat on…

One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small and the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all. Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall…

A few years ago I was convinced I had ADD. It couldn’t have been chronic exhaustion combined with work I found utterly unfulfilling or anything. Wanna know how they diagnose ADD? They give you a prescription for Adderall and if you feel better on it and can focus better when you take it – SLAM DUNK – you have ADD. I don’t have any data in front of me, but I suspect that the number of people who feel “better” and focus more readily when taking amphetamines like Adderall is pretty high.

What’s really cool though is that, after I started taking the Adderall, I started having really bad anxiety. Side effect of the Adderall? Nah! Panic Disorder – here’s some Xanax… So now I’m washing my Adderall down with coffee in the morning and taking Xanax to calm down in the afternoon and to sleep at night. I went down that track for about a month before I saw the insanity of what was going on. Better living through chemistry…

This light never turns green

There’s that whole thing about not complaining about the problem without offering a solution. I’d like to offer some solutions, suggestions and maybe point the way toward a better future. In effect, I’d like to issue a call to all of us…

Can we PLEASE pull our collective head out of our collective ass when it comes to health, healthcare, diet and healthy living?

Here are what I think are the most important points we need to keep in mind as we move into the SECOND DECADE of the 1st Century:

We have become VERY good at understanding the chemistry and minutia of the body. We still don’t know SHIT, but we know a lot. It’s probably time to start looking at the body as a whole as opposed to a bunch of isolated systems. This isn’t a car here, people! In a car, a problem with your brakes probably has no effect on the fuel injection system. The body is just a might more complex than a car  – yes, even the Escalade your doctor and Jesus drive. Can we PLEASE start treating the body as the complex miracle of evolution that it is?

Diet has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH EVERYTHING. There. I said it. What eat has EVERYTHING to do with our health and is the key to dealing with the chronic diseases we’re facing today. Pills need to be more of a last resort than a first one. And, medicating one issue and then medicating the side effects caused by the first medication is kind of silly. This kind of stuff has spiraled out of control in recent years and it will continue to spiral until it completely breaks and/or we fix it.

Lifestyle has something to do with it too. The average lifestyle is becoming more and more stressful, more and more complex and people are sleeping less and less. This is causing all sorts of problems and all sorts of misery. As a society we really need to acknowledge that doing “more” isn’t always the answer to everything and sometimes we need to slow down to go faster. Maybe, before you take that third job to help pay for your anti-anxiety meds, high blood pressure pills and Type II Diabetes drugs, you might want to look at your life as a whole and see if there are other changes to make. I know, sleeping that extra hour is going to be considered the height of laziness by society at large, but we already know what I think about them

Can we start to admit that this Paleo, Evolutionary Health thing might have something to it? Like, putting an organism that evolved to hunt and gather over millions of years in a car going 80 miles an hour while talking on a cell phone, texting, drinking coffee, eating a donut (or a Zone bar), swatting at the kids in the back seat and worrying about the three mortgages on the house – all at the same time – just might not be the most suitable environment for us. I know, this is radical, “fringe wacko” stuff here, but there just might be a possibility that some of the stuff we do isn’t the smartest.

Most importantly, can doctors and medical professionals PLEASE start thinking and acting like scientists again? There was a time when medicine was about science and looking for causes and solutions – not dispensing pills and prescriptions and doing routine tests because that’s all the insurance pays for. My Physical Chemistry Professor, Dr. Kumar, once told us that the people who make the best scientists are the ones who expect a certain result – don’t get it – and become intrigued and even frustrated by that and are compelled to figure out why they didn’t get the result they expected. Today, we’re prescribing more and more drugs, are more and more concerned about “health” and “diet” and spend more and more time with doctors and healthcare providers – AND WE ARE SICKER THAN EVER. We’re engaging in behavior that is supposed to produce a certain result – and we’re not getting that result – can we PLEASE ask WHY?

In short, can we PLEASE find the science again? This Paleo thing is working for A LOT of people. And “regular” healthcare ISN’T working for a whole bunch of people. How about if we ask “why?”

That’s about it for now. I think I’m ranted out at the moment. Go eat some bacon, read Robb Wolf’s book, join Strong is the New Skinny on Facebook and lift something heavy.

ttys

Adam

I figured I’d keep going on those topics and see if I can say what I meant a little more clearly and with less piss and vinegar. Or, at least less vinegar…

Darren’s first article – Fitness Today: How You Measure Up – is essentially a comment on the fitness standards we see all around us and how some of us can have a bit of an inferiority complex depending which side of the spectrum we look toward. If you assume MOST of us sit in the main part of the bell curve we can feel great or awful about ourselves depending which direction we look toward. I’ll argue that those reading this blog and Darren’s stuff will sit a bit further to the right than most, but the vast majority of us will be in that main distribution. If I recall my stats class stuff at all, the hot computer guy and Arnold are going to represent 0.1% of the population EACH and everyone else will be between them with about 70% in the thickest part of the curve – 35% to the right of the line and 35% to the left.

Thanks to JC for the Fat Guy pic!

I won’t go as far as Stuart McRobert and claim that anyone with a bench press of more than 135lbs is a genetic superman who’s also using steroids, but I absolutely will not downplay the genetics thing for a minute.

Regardless of genetics, however, I believe that LIFESTYLE is the single most important – and most overlooked and downplayed – factor in health, fitness, strength and performance. I think a great disservice that occurs in the fitness mainstream – and the media in general – is the downplaying of the importance of lifestyle in building an outstanding, “0.1%” body.

I can vividly recall Flex magazine running pics of Ronnie Coleman in his police uniform – working a claimed 80 hours a week of SHIFT work in the patrol car – while preparing for the Mr. Olympia. Bullshit. Or the old Muscle Media 2000 running pictures of “Dan Gwartny, MD” who supposedly did 100+ hours a week in the ER – while maintaining 4% bodyfat and working out 6 days a week “to relieve stress and stay energized.” Bullshit. Both of those scenarios are obviously impossible – unfortunately, at the time I was reading that stuff I didn’t know better. Some NEVER know better.

While I’m on this topic, I also recall the urban legend that circulated through the science and engineering circles I hung out in during college. Supposedly, there was some guy who worked a full-time job, had a family AND was going to engineering school full time. Of course, he was also pulling straight A’s. Now, no one ever actually SAW this guy. And no one actually KNEW him. They only knew someone who knew him or knew someone who knew someone who knew him… The fact is that MY senior chemistry classes ran pretty much 9-5 Monday through Friday (OK, Wednesday was a light day) and many nights I NEVER SLEPT because I had so much studying to do. Of course, some part of me felt like a loser because I should have also had a full time job and been 250lbs at 3% bodyfat while pulling straight A’s. “All” I managed was a 3.5 GPA with no job, living at home and little weight training and no sleep. What a loser…

I think the frustration of “the guy in the street” is that he thinks he should be able to have that 0.1% body AND do everything else in his life with no problem. This is the image we’re sold in the media. So many people feel inadequate because they think they’re falling short or not working hard enough. Then, they WORK HARDER at EVERYTHING and get even worse results because they get even more fatigued, more scattered, more cortisol, less clear thinking and on and on. I LIVED THIS FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS.

Seth Godin – who runs THE NUMBER ONE MARKETING BLOG IN THE WORLD – has said over and over again to pick one thing and become the best at it. Here he is saying it in an interview on Technorati.

If you truly are passionate about something, GO DO IT! Don’t believe for a minute that you’re going to be able to do everything all at once. Even Arnold couldn’t do it. He focused on being the best bodybuilder in the world – and succeeded – then he blew up the box office, then he went into politics. He never could have done all 3 at the same time. It would have been impossible. Many have probably tried but we’ll never know, because they never made it…

I think the media likes to promote the “you can have it all” idea for two reasons:

1. No one likes to think they might have to give up something to get something else
2. Many, many industries thrive on people being frustrated, misinformed and ready for a quick fix or magic pill

If I wanted to be generous, I might even say that many of the hardworking people who make up the mainstream media actually believe that they CAN have it all. They’re functioning under the same delusion. So the delusion just keeps spreading.

Darren’s other article asks the important question: Fitness vs. Money: What’s More Important?

I think this article and some of Darren’s points follow right along with my point on media conditioning. My current view is that you can – and should – have both health and fitness AND money. I think our current society takes an attitude that you can be healthy OR rich. And if you want to be rich you have to work yourself to death in hopes that “someday” you’ll have enough money to do what you REALLY want to do. If you think this way, read “The Four-Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss and see why the thinking is flawed. I bought into this flawed thinking for a long time and I’ve already ranted about it a lot

And, yes, some people are born into money and are able to follow their passion with no worries about paying the bills. But I think that they are few and far between (go back to the Bell Curve above) and that situation comes with it’s own problems.

I’ve read somewhere around 80 self-help/success books to this point and the general consensus is:

• Clearly define your values
• Live by them
• Find what you LOVE to do and figure out how to make money doing it

Tim Ferriss will add to that: Figure out how to make what you LOVE run on autopilot to the greatest extent possible while it’s making you money

ttys

Adam

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