I wonder if our human nature often works against us. We are programmed to move toward pleasure and away from pain. That programming in our DNA has worked well for Homo sapiens sapiens (humans) for over 200,000 years. But I pose the question, has the modern technological age made us soft? I believe it has. Pleasure and comforts are every where around us. For most humans, the true pain they feel is emotional, not physical. For those who do feel physical pain, an increasing percentage of that pain is due to overconsumption of food and lack of physical training. Perhaps it’s time to rewrite our human software and embrace pain or discomfort.
By embracing discomfort, putting yourself in situations that are uncomfortable physically and emotionally, we are more apt to grow and develop our true potential. Growth is a human need. Growth and contribution are the only two needs that fulfill us emotionally, yet humans work so hard to avoid pain and discomfort that we are limiting our ability to grow. By putting yourself in painful situations (situations that cause discomfort, not physical or emotional injury) you will develop a greater tolerance and soon those types of situations will not be uncomfortable. In other words, you force emotional growth. You develop your potential. By lifting progressively more weights in a proper movement pattern, your muscles are triggered to grow. The pain of muscle fatigue and soreness will lessen over time as your training frequency increases.
So start today! Don’t try to always avoid pain. Embrace it instead. Make a call that you know will cause discomfort. Instead of doing 12 repetitions of bicep curls, do 20. Or increase the weight and try 12 more. Do something everyday that scares you or makes you uncomfortable. Work against your human nature to avoid pain and force yourself to grow. Soon, you’ll find what used to be painful may become something that you are strong at. I never used to like conducting meetings. I talk loudly, I am very direct and I was afraid that people would be put off. Now I’ve done so many meetings, I’ve refined my craft and worked at it so many times that I find great pleasure in leading them. I also used to hate the Squat exercise. I have a fused spine, so it caused my great physical pain, plus it was physically exhausting. Once I saw my peers pack on pounds of muscle, and become faster and more flexible after being able to squat, I decided that I was going to make my weakest exercise one of my strongest. Now I can squat over 400 pounds without pain and I’m more flexible than I have been in years. So let me ask, what makes you uncomfortable? Confront your fears and make your weakness a strength by living in a state of discomfort- a state of constant growth.
Do you ever notice how certain people have excellent body parts? It could be their biceps, chest, back, shoulders, butt. Let’s be honest, 2014 was the year of the butt. There’s even a new term “belfie” due to the phenomenon of people posting pictures of their firm butts on social media. Maybe you have a body part you’re really proud of. Maybe there are a few you don’t want to talk about. Today, we’ll talk about the best way to truly sculpt the body parts you want to improve.
The secret to building up stubborn body parts is one word: Contraction. While many lift weights and perform exercise they think will help sculpt their body, the likelihood is they are not contracting the target muscle for a long enough time to build it up. The other problem is likely the muscle is not fully shortened during the exercise. What’s fully shortened mean? Let me explain.
Fully shortening a muscle, like the triceps for example, would be pulling your elbows back behind your body and fully extending your arm. You see most people do triceps pushdowns with the cable in front of them and then extend down. They may feel their triceps, but they haven’t fully shortened or contracted the muscle. This process forces your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers because the muscle is very weak when fully shortened. So let’s start by laying out what you need to do to get maximum contraction.
Learn the Muscle’s Range of Motion:
A key to this process of properly contracting a muscle is to learn the true range of motion of the muscle itself. As with the example of the triceps, the full range of motion is when the bicep is contracted (the triceps are fully stretched) and when the elbow is pulled all the way back and the arm is extended. With the chest, maximum contraction comes when your hands are pulled in towards each other. With the calves, point your toes up towards your knees as far as possible, then extend your toes down as far as possible (like a ballerina). Getting the idea? Take the time to figure out your body’s full range of motion!
Start by Contracting:
With any exercise, begin by contracting the muscle you intend to engage first. So, when doing a seated row for example, pull your hands away from each other first, thereby engaging the lats immediately. Then, follow throw with the movement by focusing on driving your elbows back and down. This will shorten the muscle and take it through its full range of motion, ensuring constant tension and stimulating your body to repair it bigger and stronger.
Slow the Negative:
Super important! Slow down the negative part of the exercise. For example, after you do a bicep curl, control the weight slowly on the way down. Keep tension for as long as possible during a set of an exercise. Muscles only grow because of the tension placed on them. The weight you use should only be a tool to increase tension, but the truth is you can increase the tension just by activating the muscle, fully shortening it, and keeping it under tension through the duration of an exercise. In other words, leave your ego and attitude at home when weight training. You don’t need lots of weight to get amazing results.
Have a Vision:
Yes, the mind-muscle connection is very real. It’s your brain that send signals to muscle fibers to contract and extend. Therefore, it’s imperative that you focus on the target muscle and squeeeeeeeeeze it to maximize the connection between your mind and the muscle. It’s true—you must get your head in the game when bringing up lagging body parts. So, have a vision for the body you want and then train wisely and efficiently to go and get it!
Watching the news today, one would think that humanity is on the brink of Armageddon. Sinking global stock prices, ISIS, global unrest and just overall bad news. If you are thinking about what the future holds and are uncertain about what to do to survive this global crisis. I urge you to think inward. Very few things in life are within our control, but they are the most important. Among these are time and health. The only thing we truly have is the time left in our lives and the quality of our life in the form of our health. With this in mind, let all of us focus on increasing the quality and length of our lives with the hope of bettering the world around us. The following are recommendations to help cope with stress, gain strength and maintain a positive attitude. Take heed of this advice and send this article to everyone you know who could use some help.
Fear
All stress, worry and anxiety is fear. And there are really only two types of fear; 1. that you won’t be enough , 2. that no one will love you. Are you afraid of losing your job? Your wife? Your health? What if you did? What would happen. See, those fears really boil down to the fear that if something bad happens, you’re not enough or others won’t love you. These fears are easily banished by taking action. The problem is that taking action requires discipline. It takes the PAIN of disciplining yourself to confront fear and refuse to let it get a hold of you forever. Get better thoughts and emotions in your life. Decide to live in a great place whenever possible. And yes, it’s possible to live in a great state when the world is falling down around you. It just takes tremendous discipline. So let’s get moving!
Exercise
If you are feeling down or lethargic ask yourself, “Am I working out 4 times a week? Am I sweating? Am I combining strength training with cardio exercise?” If you answered yes to all of these questions, really look inside and be honest with yourself. We’re talking about your life and if you are living in denial or making excuses as to why you can’t exercise, you’re inherently sabotaging yourself. Be honest. You need to exercise vigorously at least 4 days a week. No excuses and no whining.
Why?
A recent article from the Mayo Clinic reports on the mental benefits from exercise. The release of endorphins via exercise can cause an elevation in mood and reduce stress. Regular exercise forces us to concentrate on ourselves rather than the situation of the world. In addition, working out can reduce the symptoms of mild depression. Perhaps the most important mental aspect of working out is the boost in self-confidence. There is a mind-muscle connection in which the mind controls the body. But this connection works the other way around as well. While many sit and complain about how they are “not in the mood to workout”, they forget that working out the body will improve the mood. Next time you’re not in the mood, go lift some weights and see if your attitude improves. I guarantee you will feel stronger, more energetic and more confident.
Bottom line: Stop sabotaging yourself! Go train your body and improve your take on life.
Diet
The food you are taking in could very well be causing your mood to sink. Fast food and restaurant food contain large amounts of sugar, flour, hydrogenation and trans fats, which cause an inflammatory response in the body. This will cause your mood and your body to sink faster than a rock (result: food coma). Moreover, intake of these types of substances is devastating to the liver and kidney, which filter out toxins and synthesize amino acids and other compounds. Fast food and highly processed foods are the equivalent of a tiny bomb going off inside your body. I point to Morgan Spurlock’s documentary film nside your body. I point to Morgan Spurlock’s documentary film “Supersize Me” as evidence of what can happen from constantly bombarding your body with these types of foods.
I can’t even tell you the amount of times I have heard clients say, “I don’t eat this stuff all the time.” What they really mean is, “I don’t have McDonalds for every meal.” Sometimes it’s McDonald’s for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch and Jack in the Box for dinner. Get the point? We must eat clean in order to properly manage our lives and our well-being. If we don’t prepare our own meals and eat nutrient dense foods, we are consuming large amounts of flour, sugar, alcohol, saturated fats and other elements that destroy the body. If so, we are THINKING WITH OUR TONGUES RATHER THAN OUR BRAINS! To maintain a healthy, positive attitude, we must think logically and give our bodies what they need, not what our tongues want.
Reading
Turn off the news and read a book. This author used to work in the media early in life and my arthritis began to give him more trouble than ever. The constant flow of negative information and geo-political problems can cause people to wonder why they should even try to carry on. Turn off the radio and TV and stop listening to pundits and analysts who claim to be experts. Rather, pick up a copy of “Think and Grow Rich” or “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.” Learn how to heal yourself. The point is this: all the problems that you are facing in your life have been dealt with and written down by others. Take the time to read and learn how you can use the experience of others to improve your own life. The written word contains the secrets to life. All you have to do is be willing to seek the information out.
Supplementation
When we are under a lot of stress, particularly financial stress, we tend to cut back on purchases we deem are non-essential. Unfortunately, many of us will eliminate or cut back on the things we need the most to prepare us to deal with stressful times. Two things that come to mind are gym memberships and our supplement regimen. Stress left unchecked will eventually exhibit itself in the form of disease, both mental and physical. The best way to combat both is to give our body and mind the nutrition and proper exercise it needs to work towards developing a healthy mind/body relationship.
We all know there are times when we justify purchasing that 99-cent hamburger on the sweetened white flour bun in order to save money, rather than opting for something healthier, which may cost a little more. The problem with doing that is, once you have put that idea in your head, you will soon develop a lifestyle habit that will ultimately cost you much more in the way of compromised health. If you live the fast food lifestyle, it is even more important for you to maintain a healthy supplement regimen to make sure your body and your brain are receiving all of the nutrients they need, not only to run efficiently, but also to fight off disease and depression. A high quality multi-supplement containing nutrients like essential fatty acids, such as omega-3s from fish oil and B vitamins with powerful antioxidants like alpha lipoic acid and green tea extract, can go a long way toward nourishing and protecting your most valuable assets– your body and your brain.
If you are too busy to prepare or buy a healthy breakfast or lunch, you can at least add water to a healthy and delicious protein shake rather than consume a jelly doughnut. If you don’t know what supplements to take, look it up! The world is at your fingertips.
No one knows what the future holds, but it makes sense to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for whatever may come our way. If indeed we are headed for a long economic downturn, allowing ourselves to become physically and emotionally ill will only paralyze us in our own personal depression, making us even more of a victim. Remember, great things were accomplished during this country’s Great Depression era of the 1930s, such as building the Hoover Dam and the Empire State Building. Don’t let the worry about what might happen paralyze you into inaction. Take control of your thoughts—that, in turn, will lead to control of your actions. Prepare yourself to conquer worry and whatever challenges may come your way by exercising and nourishing your body and your mind. DOMINATE 2016!
People love lists, and for myself, they work to keep my mind steady and in proper working condition. Most lists are not useful to us because we usually don’t follow them, but certain lists belong in every human’s operating manual. The most important thing we can do with our time is to add value to another’s life. Nothing will yield more satisfaction in life by contributing to the brotherhood of man. Likewise, nothing can yield you more money in the marketplace than figuring out how to add value to another’s life. So, without further ado:
15 Ways To Add Value in the World
Always do more than you get paid for. Go the extra mile so that people speak nicely of you always.
Make people feel special whenever possible.
Focus on complimenting everyone you meet and spend time with by sharing something you admire about them.
Figure out their needs and try to deliver what they need. This is the foundation of both a fulfilling life and the free market.
Look them in the eye often and smile.
Keep fresh memories about all the positive aspects of that person and relay that information often.
Be lavish with praise and slow to criticize.
Think about life from their perspective and try to alleviate pain when possible.
Touch them physically or use words to communicate your love for them.
Let them know you think of them often.
Take a tone of voice that communicates respect and understanding.
Do something nice without expecting anything in return.
Go out of your way to deliver a moment of happiness whenever possible.
Do not let your imagination go wild with false, negative thoughts the person may have.
Silently say “Thank you, I love you” in your head before speaking with another human. Everyone is fighting a battle you may not know about. Remember that and you’ll always operate from a place of compassion instead of fear.
Auld Lang Syne-(For Days of Old)
The New Year is upon us!!! What was awesome about your 2015? What didn’t work out so well for you? The questions you ask yourself and the evaluations you give to those questions will determine the quality of your life, not just for this new year, but forever. Most of us ask questions that trigger bad answers. Ask: Why am I fat? , your brain will say :“Because you’re lazy”. The reason for this, is because most of carry around our past failures with us. Instead, carry your victories with you. Ask better questions if you want better results. What are you proud of? What are you juiced about? What makes your feel good? Those questions will get you unbelievable results in the gym and in your life. In other words, feed the beast and starve the rats.
Sometimes it helps to think about areas of you life like fitness as if it were a car being driven along the road. What type of car do you want to drive? How fast are you reaching your destination? Do you have enough fuel? I like to remind people they are always driving somewhere, but often they’re looking in the wrong direction. While the rear view mirror is very useful, if that’s all you’re looking at while driving……CRASH!!!! Make sure you check it to see what’s behind you, but focus on the windshield so you can see what lies ahead. And what a bright future it can be if you let it.
Auld Lang Syne the tune many of us hear during the New Year was written in 1788 by a Scottish poet named Robert Burns. You know the tune, but do you know what it means? Auld Lang Syne means ‘for days of old’. The poet was talking about “talking a cup of kindness” for days of old. The song instructs us to think fondly of our past, not take our defeats with us. In other words, it’s good to reminisce, but only if you’re focusing on what was good and what you can be grateful for.
So let’s change your focus in 2016 to your victories and not your defeats. Focus on what you love and not what you fear. Focus on your goals, but focus more on the reasons you want to achieve them. Remember, success leaves clues. Find out what you want, then figure out who has done it before you and get some coaching. I’m here to help you reach those goals. But I have to know what they are? Post them to our Facebook wall and hold yourself accountable.
So what’s your real goals for 2016?
“I’m lazy.” “What the hell am I doing?” “Why am I so stupid?” “Why me?” Why did they leave me?” “Why does God let this happen?”
If you’re alive, you’re probably had one or more of these thoughts pop into your head. Maybe it even turned your stomach or turned your smile into a look of concern. Your brow may have been furrowed. Negative thoughts are something that everyone has almost daily and probably will forever. Aren’t you glad you’re reading this positive article? The point is, you cannot control every thought that pops into your head, but you can control both how you let it affect you and how long you allow it to stay in your mind.
“Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.” Revelation: 12:7
LIFE IS A BATTLE
Everyone has a metaphor for what life is to them. I have many. Life is a party. Life is a gift. It’s a Wonderful Life (my favorite movie). But, life is also a battle. There is a constant battle going on in the world and in your body. It’s not necessarily good versus evil, but it is a battle within nature itself. In your body, even at the cellular level, there are bacterium and viruses trying to invade and destroy your own cells. You even have precancerous cells that are trying to avoid your immune systems’ efforts to kill them. The negative thoughts you have daily and the battle you face to rid yourself of them are no different than your immune system trying to kill unwanted invaders. Therefore, the answer to a negative emotion is that you must attack it. Your enemies must be attacked or they will conquer. You must attack the weeds or they will take the garden. It’s a fight that we’re in, just as there was in heaven. Times haven’t changed.
YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS
The first way to attack negative thoughts is to face them head on and remember that you are not your thoughts. You are the one listening to them. The fastest way to attack the bad thoughts is to say out loud, “Thanks for sharing.” By saying that phrase out loud, you are actively reminding yourself that you have control. You get to choose where you live emotionally, but you must exercise control over yourself to make that happen. It’s no different than training in the gym. You must train yourself to attack your negative thoughts.
REPLACE THEM AND CHANGE FOCUS
You become what you think about most of the time. So, you must attack bad thoughts and replace them with good ones. What are you grateful for? Who do you love? Who loves you? Who makes you laugh? What was the best time of your life? Just by shifting your focus and asking better questions, you will flood your mind with incredible thoughts and memories. One way to think of thoughts is to think of light. Negative thoughts are like darkness. Positive thoughts are light. No amount of darkness can prevail if there is even a bit of light. The light will always win.
USE YOUR BODY
Exercise is a must. It’s by far the most researched and best antidepressant there is. But there are other things I do to keep a mind of positivity. One way is to expose myself to intense cold. Every morning I start by taking a warm shower and then turn it to cold and force myself to focus on my breathing while the water races over my skin. I’ve learned to not only tolerate it, but I now love it. I realize there isn’t a negative though in my head when I’m near freezing. You don’t have time to be sad when your body is being pushed physically.
Another big weapon in my arsenal against negative thoughts is breathing. I forcefully breathe deep, hold it for a four count and then exhale. I try to repeat this thirty times in a row. By deeply oxygenating my body, my mind begins to flood with happy thoughts. It’s amazing how breathing differently can positively change your life. It changed mine. For more information on this, research Iceman Wim Hoff. The man is literally a superhuman.
The last thing I do to attack negative thoughts is to force extreme discomfort to my body. The effect is similar to cold therapy, but I choose to use deep tissue massage and lying on a spike mat. Yes, a mat with sharp plastic spikes. What deep massage and spike mats force me to do is to control my body through my mind. It forces me to control my breath and therefore my thoughts. I recommend the Spoonk mat for 10 minutes a day.
Remember, you want to be able to say you fought for what you loved and kept the faith. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in others. And remember, it’s a fight we’re in. Fight for your mind every day.
You do this 20,000 times a day, yet it is likely your weakest muscle.
STUMPED?
For something we do 20,000 or more times a day without thinking about, as soon as I ask people to draw attention and connection to their breath, a weird shift occurs. It’s as if they think they’ve signed on for a one-way trip to Hippy-Dippy land where they’re forced to burn incense, ball themselves up into pretzel poses, and spend hours praying incantations to a Buddha statue.
I sense the anxious energy in the room as we spend the first 2-5 minutes just settling in, focusing on the breath in hopes it can let the monkey mind unravel. The boredom and monotony strikes as our brain projects a million reasons to do ANYTHING else but focus on the simplicity and direction of our inhales and exhales.
I acknowledge that they are waiting for us to DO something. To stretch, strengthen, improve mobility and relieve some of the nagging pains that go along with being a human. This is the product that they are promised. This is why they’ve carved out the time to show up for Mobility|Gains.
So a part of me feels like I am not yet ‘selling’ my clients on WHY and HOW we use breath as our foundation and gateway into understanding and manipulating our bodies for better performance.
I think the fitness industry (especially CrossFit) has come a long way in their understanding that you can only be as strong as your mobility allows. More people now know WHY they need to stretch, strengthen weak links in isolation, and re-pattern their horrible movement mechanics. Every year more products pop up on the market about the new bulletproof way to knead out your sticky bits.
There is a whole industry now focused in on injury prevention, self care and myofascial release, but still no one is understanding and preaching the ultimate key to an effective and long-lasting mobility routine that results in improved performance and reduced injury.
The key, of course, is your breath–your life source that feeds you with oxygen, fills you up with space, and keeps you calm in the storm.
Story Time!
Mobility|Gains actually started as a result of complaints the owner at Brick CrossFit (JP) had received after I started incorporating breath work and “Movement-with-Breath” sequences as warm ups while teaching CrossFit. While some people really dug the change, some members were really uncomfortable with being forced to be alone with their breath for 2-3 minutes and find a way to sync their breath to their functional and explosive movements.
The complaints flooded in…
“I’m sorry did I step into a yoga studio or a CrossFit box today?!”
“I’m going for a run…I’ll be back after this whole “meditation” stuff is over.”
And my personal favorite:
“Emylee, now I know you went to Bali recently and love that whole ‘Namaste, shove incense up your asshole stuff’ but CrossFit classes aren’t the time or place for that.”
Clearly they didn’t get it.
So after some convincing, JP let me have a time and place to gauge interest and see if Mobility|Gains satisfied a demand for members at the gym.
I am proud to say that over 30 people showed up to the very first Mobility Gains class (then called CrossFlow) And from that moment on, a mobility monster was born.
Ever since, I have been trying to create a safe space to get connected and explore the inner functionality of your mind, body and spirit, and show you that if you can cultivate power over over breath, it bleeds into every facet of your life–from performance to relaxation.
So just in case anyone has any qualms about “wasting” 5 minutes doing what I now call “Respiratory Muscle Strengthening” (because strength appeals more to athletes than mindful meditation) here are the top 9 reasons a daily breath routine will improve athletic performance and make you a happier person.
…as if keeping you alive and oxygenated wasn’t enough. 😉
1. Last longer with Less Effort
You never think about breath until you’re neck deep in a workout huffing and puffing, wondering why can’t catch your breath to save your life. In terms of exercise, it’s no surprise that the body demands an increase in oxygen as well as breathing ventilation. This requires our respiratory muscles and intercostals surrounding the lungs to contract forcefully and rapidly as intensity increases. A stronger diaphragm and intercostals mean you can slow your breathing rate down whilst getting more oxygen to your muscles. Improve stamina and strength of your respiratory system, and breathing becomes more efficient, requiring less energy—which leaves more energy for you to put into the task at hand. This is a classic example of why it’s always better to work smarter instead of harder.
2. Ditch the Stitch
Cramping in the body is a sudden, involuntary contraction of one or more of your muscles that generally results from muscle fatigue and lack of oxygen to fill up the tissues. Breathing slower increases oxygen saturation in cells, fills up space against constricted muscles, and eases the stitch away.
3. Stand Taller and Lift Heavier
My personal favorite reason to cultivate a deeper breath is that the deeper you breathe, the taller you get. In general, the rib cage should expand in a 3D pattern–top to bottom, back to fro nt, and to the sides. When you breathe, your ribs should expand, creating more mobility and space through the rigid thoracic region of the spine and thereby lengthening it.
In addition, your breathing muscles are an integral part of the core stabilizing and postural control systems. This means when anticipating a load or an impact, it’s best to take a deep breath and then brace the core. Not only will this make us more difficult to knock over, it will also help protect the spine.
4. Relax, Damnit. You’ll recover faster.
Breathing deeply is the fastest way to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, aka the relaxation response, which makes you feel relaxed and jumpstarts your bodies natural ability to recover, restore and replenish.
Stress is at the core of most diseases and really attacks the body’s ability to function and recover. When we breathe shallowly, the body does not receive as much oxygen as it needs and it makes our muscles constrict. You can literally feel this when you are stressed–we wear the weight of our world on our shoulders, in our jaws, and through our hips. The sympathetic nervous system is triggered when we feel stress or anxiety and sends out spikes of cortisol and adrenaline. It is the parasympathetic nervous system which counteracts this. Breath is the gateway for these two systems to communicate.
You can learn to turn the switch on and off with little transition time and use your breathing practice to get back into the gym quicker after a killer workout that straight up shocks the central nervous system!
5. Panting Isn’t Sexy…Nor is it Intimidating.
Nothing is more of a mind fuck than your opponents staring you down with a cool and calm energy while you are hunched over panting like a dehydrated dog.
Panting = Weak
Belly Breathing = Strong
Inside you could be dying, but if you have the secret weapon that keeps you cool, calm, and collected, you will scare your competition and crush the game.
6. Don’t Pass Out
In class, I see people holding their breath. A lot. I always say, How you do one thing is how you do everything, and if you hold your breath in uncomfortable situations, you probably do it instinctively during exercise. Holding your breath increases pressure inside the chest (which is good for stability when explosively executing a lift), but holding it too long can impede the return of blood to the heart and raise blood pressure, causing you to feel light-headed and wobbly.
7. Sharpen Your Focus
Instead of letting yourself be distracted by the clock, the competition, or the myriad of thoughts that flood our monkey minds, when you focus on the simplicity of the inhale and exhale, you begin to clear out distraction and become narrowly focused. When you have total control and connection with your body through your breath, that’s when the task at hand becomes easy and clear, and your ability to adapt to a changing environment is vastly improved.
“Being in a relaxed state is important to achieving optimal performance in any endeavor, not just sports,” says Karlene Sugarman, M.A., author of Winning the Mental Way. “It’s a vital stepping stone to peak performance whether you’re working out, giving a presentation or dealing with your children. The individual that is mentally and physically relaxed and has ‘quiet intensity’ is the one that is going to come out on top.”
8. Breathing is the Simplest Form of Detoxification
Your body is designed to release 70% of its toxins through breathing. Oxygen travels through your bloodstream by attaching to your red blood cells and enriching your body to metabolise nutrients and vitamins. This strengthens your immune system and lessens your recovery time. Carbon dioxide is a natural toxic waste that comes from the body’s metabolic processes and it needs to be expelled from the body regularly and consistently. However, when our lungs are compromised by shallow breathing, the other detoxification systems in the body take over and have to work harder to expel this waste. Why make the body work harder than it already has to?
9. Massage your Organs and Tighten your Tummy
Yep, that’s right. I am arguing that the better you breathe, the thinner you’ll be.
The more oxygen you take in, the more fuel your digestive system has to function properly. Also, extra oxygen in the body will help to burn up excess fat more efficiently. When we are stressed (and most of us live day to day in a fairly stressed state) your body tends to burn glycogen instead of fat. Deep breathing triggers the relaxation response which encourages the body to burn fat instead. When you inhale, your diaphragm descends and your abdomen will expand. This action massages vital organs and improves circulation in them. As you deepen your exhale, you strengthen and tone the intercostals and deep abdominal muscles.
So there you have it. 9 reasons to incorporate more breath-strengthening work into your life! So where should you start? Click here to get the Mobility|Gains Beginners Guide To Breathing, a quick + easy way to strengthen your breathing engine.
Click here for more info:
—
Emylee Rose Covell
Health Coach XFlow Fitness
530-383-3178
Questions to ponder during the Holiday Season:
The following questions are for your consideration. There are no answers provided here. Only some intriguing questions that, depending on your answer, may be the key for you to fully enjoy this holiday season and thrive in 2016.
What if the holidays are really about gratitude for others and not receiving yourself?
What if the type of body you want and are committed to having will determine your attitude towards the holidays? What if the more fit your are, the happier you can become?
What if the cold weather can be your ally in reducing inflammation in your body and burning fat?
What if cold therapy can eliminate depression altogether?
What if Christmas and New Years are like any other day?
What if Christmas and New Years are magical days, if you choose them to be, but every other day can be as well?
What will you do if you do not receive any gifts this year?
What if the only gifts you accept from others are charitable donations to a charity of your choice?
What if your actions can light up the face of someone else this season?
What if you can be a hero to a child this season?
What if you open your heart and destroy your limiting beliefs this season?
How will that affect everyone around you?
How will it affect you?
What if you could give to others all year?
What if your family receiving a heartfelt written letter of love this Christmas?
What if you didn’t eat desserts this holiday season and instead donated the money you would have spent on them to charity?
What would happen if you believed your loved ones who have passed are really still with you this season because all humans are made of energy and energy cannot be destroyed, only transferred?
What if the reason for the season is “to go out and love others as I have loved you.”
What if New Years resolutions mostly never happen because people have limiting thoughts keeping them from achieving them?
What if discipline is freedom and your rituals, including holiday rituals determine your life’s outcome?
What if you could carry Christmas in your heart every day?
There’s another Presidential debate tonight. More politicians or wannabe politicians talking about all the things they’ll give us—with others’ money of course. In celebration of this event, (not that it’s worth celebrating due to fact there is only one pro-liberty candidate in the running) I decided to post my top ten books about Liberty. I hope you enjoy and take the time to read some of them.
Our Enemy, The State by Albert Jay Nock. This quick read spells out very clearly why the state is a problem for those seeking a free society. Nock also heavily influenced Rothbard and other heavyweight Libertarians.
The Real Lincoln by Thomas DiLorenzo. This work blew my mind and changed my perception of “America’s Best President.” Much of where we stand as a country now, in terms of excessive federal power, stem from Lincoln and his ideas about what government should be. Oh yeah, he was a racist and had no regard for the Constitution. I wasn’t taught that in school.
Theodore and Woodrow by Andrew Napolitano. A complete dissection of the roots of progressivism and how evil and authoritarian the followers of this brand of politics were. Forces the reader to rethink what he learned in school about certain Presidents.
Socialism/Human Action (Tie) by Ludvig von Mises. Mises is considered a heavyweight in Austrian free market Economics and classic liberalism. Though these two books are difficult to read, the wealth of knowledge given to us by this master is worth the time put in.
Man, Economy and State by Murray Rothbard. A disciple of Mises, Rothbard gives epic analyses of how the free market works, what motivates mankind and how government interferes with it. Easier to read than Mises.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Rand and her writings have possibly turned more people to the concepts of self-ownership and entrepreneurship than anyone else. Although she herself was not a Libertarian, and possibly even spearheaded a cult movement, her writings should not be ignored.
The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli. This book is the antithesis to Liberty. It promulgates the notion of the “noble lie”. It spells out how to be a dictator. So why read it? Because all modern political parties embrace Machiavellian thought about the populace. It’s vital to understand how the opposition thinks.
Liberty Defined by Ron Paul. Paul takes on important issues and offers a libertarian response to subjects like immigration, gun control, war, privacy. Absolutely changed my viewpoint regarding politics.
The Law by Frederich Bastiat. This quick read was recommended by Ron Paul for a book all people should read. What is law? It is force. Nothing more, nothing less.
For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard. This book is a manifesto for the Libertarian movement. It defines clearly what the state is, and why a libertarian should work to limit or abolish it. Truly groundbreaking work.
(Disclaimer: I am going to be very blunt in this article. The aim is not to offend, but rather to get us thinking about uncomfortable topics. I have a degenerative disease, and battle chronic pain. I have had bouts of depression after the onset of my disease. I write from my own experience and from the experiences of hundreds of others whom I’m had the privilege of training.)
“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.” — Jim Rohn
What is pain exactly? Depending on who you ask, the answer varies greatly. For some, pain is merely its technical definition, a feeling of distress or disturbance caused by the nervous system. Usually pain indicates an injury or inflammation. For others, pain is much more. It is a familiar foe–something they know intimately and live with daily. Some have such intense emotional pain that it manifests itself into intense physical pain. For many, this pain is too much to bear and they choose to end it all. Whatever your relationship is with pain, everyone experiences it to a certain degree. It’s inevitable.
In fact, both pain and pleasure determine what we do in life. All of us, as humans, try to move toward what we believe is pleasure, and move away from pain. This trait is inherent in all of us, so it’s a wonder why nearly everyone experiences pain on a regular basis. I believe the reason for this is due to the fact that humans tend to confuse short-term pain with long-term pleasure and short-term pleasure with long-term pain. Some see exercise as pain rather than long-term pleasure. Some see cigarettes as pleasure rather than long-term pain. People use depression as short-term pleasure to either gain attention or avoid going through the discipline of gratitude, rather than living in a great state–something that requires the pain of discipline. Make no mistake, you can only be depressed if you are only focused on yourself. If you are grateful for others and take an active interest in them, depression is not possible. (Stated differently, depression only serves the person who is depressed. It doesn’t serve anyone else. Gratitude, on the other hand, serves others as well as the person expressing gratitude.)
So where does this leave us? We confuse pleasure with pain, we live in shitty emotional states and we constantly have pain. Terrible! What do we do about it? We cannot fully escape pain, but there are two antidotes to immense pain, both physical and emotional. The first goes back to our Jim Rohn quote about discipline. Discipline is a pain that must be endured so that we can avoid immense long-term pain. The disciplines of health, physical activity, smiling or expressing gratitude on a daily basis are all necessary to keep away the immense pain of obesity, immobility, and depression. Small disciplines, practiced daily, will result in success.
The other antidote to immense pain is conscious living. Living with intent and being conscious of yourself, your thoughts, and others will stave off the immense pain of depression and fear. This requires that you must decide everyday to live in a great state, regardless of your external circumstances. You may be thinking, “But Sean, you don’t know what type of pain I’ve been through. You don’t live where I live. You don’t make what I do. You don’t have my negative relatives…” C’mon. We’ve all experienced massive pain in our lives both physically and emotionally. The only difference between people who move forward and those who don’t is where they decide to live. Those who carry on make the conscious decision to live in a different emotional space than those who carry pain with them. Whatever has happened in your life, it’s your choice how you let that shape your emotional and physical state. Decide today to live in gratitude and not fear. Strength and not timidity. Energy and not depression.
We cannot escape pain, for there will always be at least the pain of discipline. But that pain is much less than the massive pain of living a lifetime of regret. Decide to live an incredible life regardless of what is happening to you. And remember, it’s not what happens to us, but rather what we do about it, that makes all the difference in our world.
Liberty & Pain 