It is a happy day today. My father-in-law is getting married today. Three years ago, his wife, my mother-in-law, passed away. I wrote a blog about that three Aprils ago. Anyway, today, a hero rises.
Two heroes actually. Our hero is marrying a wonderful lady, a lady who herself lost her husband some time ago. These two heroes are coming together today because they want to share their lives with each other. Its really a beautiful thing.
I am sure you're wondering, "what in the blue blazes does this have to do with health?" This has everything to do with health. In this life, things happen - good or bad. It is how we handle these things that determine our outcome, our health. We can shrink away when bad things happen, and then ultimately fade away. OR, we can dust ourselves off, rise back up and soar with wings like an eagle. Again, heroes rise.
We were all meant to be heroes. None of us - not one of us - was meant to do anything except soar through life like an eagle. We weren't meant to be knocked down for the count. We were made to stand. AND should we ever fall, we were made to get back up.
Don't miss this. This has everything to do with your health. How do you handle tough situations? Do you shrink in fear or depression, or do you dust yourself off and stand back up? Do you grit your teeth, hold your head up and resist defeat? Are you more like Rocky Balboa, or Chicken Little? Our attitude towards life greatly effects our physical health. Yes, mental health has a direct link to your physical health. If you think sick thoughts, your body will manifest those thoughts. If you think resilient thoughts, your body will manifest those as well.
I don't know if you are going through any hard times. And, if you have or if you are, I don't presume that I understand how you feel. I don't. But I do know this: you were meant to be a hero, a warrior, a victor. Whatever you are going through, you can overcome it. Don't stop standing. Rise up and strengthen your wings. Soar.
Life is meant to be lived. You were meant to live it.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Easy Health
Getting healthy, and staying healthy, may be easier than we think. At least I am starting to think it is easier than I used to think. For years I would spend at least an hour a day, sometimes every day, training. Of course, if the truth is known, I was training more out of a needless compulsion and my training had less to do with health than it did with asthetics. I have changed a great deal in the last 25 years, but I still try to train almost every single day.
But now, I train for my health. I just want to be healthy and capable. I want to move with ease and freedom. I want to be able to do what my kids do, and create adventures with my family. Basically, I want to be able to enjoy this life I have been given. What I am learning is that being healthy doesn't have to be all that hard. Training, I mean, doesn't have to be as grueling, laborious, fruitless, and time consuming as I once made it. I am starting to beleive that a person can achieve and maintain a healthy body in just 10 minutes a day.
Why 10 minutes? Because I am getting busy lately and I am learning how to train in 10 minute segments. Somedays, like today, I might train for 10 minutes in the morning. And then later in that same day, I might "play" or train for another 10 minutes. Or, I may only get 10 minutes in and that is it.
I think of this as sort of an Easy Health routine, much like Dan John's Easy Strength. Exept here, I just focus on moving - usually with bodyweight (mostly crawling stuff) - for 10 minutes instead of performing 10 reps with an exercise.
10 minutes isn't that long. I can sneak 10 minutes out of my day. And even though 10 minutes isn't that long, I can get in some quality, life enhancing movement. For instance, today I lateral Spider-man crawled for 10 straight minutes (crawling sideways on hands and feet, with butt down low - not a bear crawl). Do you know what a person is capable of if they can lateral Spider-man crawl for 10 straight minutes? Anything; not too much they can't do.
Maybe you don't like crawling. Maybe you like pushups. What if you carved out 10 minutes in your day to just do pushups? Maybe you do 10 pushups on the minute, every minute. That's 100 pushups in 10 minutes. Not too bad. Maybe you do 20 pushups on the minute, every minute. You could work as hard as you wanted to in 10 minutes. You could do some quality moving in 10 minutes. What if you felt so good, and it was so easy to find 10 minutes in your day, you found another 10 minutes later in that same day? Do you think you could find a way to get in some fairly constant movement for another 10 minutes? I'll bet you could. It's kinda easy.
Here is the cool thing. The body is pretty resilient. It will take the 10 minutes of movement we give it, and it will overcome several of the hours that we starve it from not moving. Even if the majority of your day is in a chair - and this has been shown to take years off your life - 10 minutes a day can restore and undo so much of the damage that we create by neglect. Your body knows exactly what to do with 10 minutes of easy, simple, quality movement: It heals and restores your health.
Is this too simple to work? Yes. That is why you might miss it. Just 10 minutes a day can restore and maintain your health. I'll bet on somedays you could find two to three 10 minute blocks throughout your day. You can get a lot done in 10 minutes - if you are intentional.
Be intentional. Crawl, walk, run, skip, squat, burpee, whatever for 10 minutes a day, at least once per day. Fill the 10 minutes with as much quality movement as possible. Rest as much as you need to, if you need to. This works.
But now, I train for my health. I just want to be healthy and capable. I want to move with ease and freedom. I want to be able to do what my kids do, and create adventures with my family. Basically, I want to be able to enjoy this life I have been given. What I am learning is that being healthy doesn't have to be all that hard. Training, I mean, doesn't have to be as grueling, laborious, fruitless, and time consuming as I once made it. I am starting to beleive that a person can achieve and maintain a healthy body in just 10 minutes a day.
Why 10 minutes? Because I am getting busy lately and I am learning how to train in 10 minute segments. Somedays, like today, I might train for 10 minutes in the morning. And then later in that same day, I might "play" or train for another 10 minutes. Or, I may only get 10 minutes in and that is it.
I think of this as sort of an Easy Health routine, much like Dan John's Easy Strength. Exept here, I just focus on moving - usually with bodyweight (mostly crawling stuff) - for 10 minutes instead of performing 10 reps with an exercise.
10 minutes isn't that long. I can sneak 10 minutes out of my day. And even though 10 minutes isn't that long, I can get in some quality, life enhancing movement. For instance, today I lateral Spider-man crawled for 10 straight minutes (crawling sideways on hands and feet, with butt down low - not a bear crawl). Do you know what a person is capable of if they can lateral Spider-man crawl for 10 straight minutes? Anything; not too much they can't do.
Maybe you don't like crawling. Maybe you like pushups. What if you carved out 10 minutes in your day to just do pushups? Maybe you do 10 pushups on the minute, every minute. That's 100 pushups in 10 minutes. Not too bad. Maybe you do 20 pushups on the minute, every minute. You could work as hard as you wanted to in 10 minutes. You could do some quality moving in 10 minutes. What if you felt so good, and it was so easy to find 10 minutes in your day, you found another 10 minutes later in that same day? Do you think you could find a way to get in some fairly constant movement for another 10 minutes? I'll bet you could. It's kinda easy.
Here is the cool thing. The body is pretty resilient. It will take the 10 minutes of movement we give it, and it will overcome several of the hours that we starve it from not moving. Even if the majority of your day is in a chair - and this has been shown to take years off your life - 10 minutes a day can restore and undo so much of the damage that we create by neglect. Your body knows exactly what to do with 10 minutes of easy, simple, quality movement: It heals and restores your health.
Is this too simple to work? Yes. That is why you might miss it. Just 10 minutes a day can restore and maintain your health. I'll bet on somedays you could find two to three 10 minute blocks throughout your day. You can get a lot done in 10 minutes - if you are intentional.
Be intentional. Crawl, walk, run, skip, squat, burpee, whatever for 10 minutes a day, at least once per day. Fill the 10 minutes with as much quality movement as possible. Rest as much as you need to, if you need to. This works.
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