Wellblog - elev8 wellness

Just When You Thought Parkinson's Was An Excuse

5/31/2019

I updated about this client a few weeks back, having reintegrated weighted squat in safely via this Hatfield variant. I had a Facebook post about him once (swipe left) which ended catching around 10k views and 300k reach. That was a few years ago. He’s still kicking, CLEARLY.

Now, as I predicted, first he repped out 170lbs (his max effort was 150 just a few weeks ago) and tried 200 on for size, as you can see, fairly nonplussed. video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv6dJl6jXIx/

Whatever you think is impossible is likely just difficult in disguise. There are many people without Parkinson's who are so weak they can't do this; BUT they could train to if they just put the excuses aside. And many more yet might think that someone with a neurodegenerative disease couldn't PROGRESS athleticism to do this. Well, reality is staring you in the face.

Fitness Isn't Just One THing

5/26/2019

I spent the last 4 months with a focus on regaining lower body size and strength. At the park with the kids today, I wondered if I could still do some calisthenics tricks carrying the extra weight. It’s definitely harder. But I’m overall stronger; so it’ll be interesting to see how much easier things are once I’ve cut down this summer.

One of the mistakes people make is they think of fitness as one idea. After 6-12 weeks of trying “fitness,” they’re burned out and quit all healthy behaviors. Instead, be dynamic. Focus on maximal strength for 3 months. Maintain that while you focus on composition for 3 months. Maintain as best you can while you work on hypertrophy or speed. Maintain while you work on the splits or a backflip. And so on. Fitness is many things. It doesn’t have to be ON or OFF.

Lean in 16 (Minutes) Continued

5/25/2019

When you embark on an intensity-as-defined-by-more-work-performed-within-the-same-or-less-time protocol:

• Watch variables closely
• Control variables
• Recover enough to outperform
• Focus
• Bring it

When people walk to lose weight, they have no model in place to ensure success. As you get lighter, you will perform less work even in longer walking workouts. If you’re relying on walking or even running, every ten pounds lost needs to be made up for with a weighted vest.

Again, this is why I prefer the recumbent bike. In fact, I will always enter my weight in as 225. Though I was up to 255, I was still entering my weight on the machine at 225. I’m about 245 now. I still enter my weight as 225. I want to know that the effort on the bike always objectively outdoes the prior. While seated, sure, I’m bearing some of my body weight. But all I care about is if the athletic performance has increased. Once you dink around with the weight and age settings on the machine, you’ll mess up the calculation.

Similarly, when you don't adjust for the loss of bodyweight AS YOU LOSE WEIGHT, you will REDUCE intensity. Or, if you prefer, we can talk calories. You will burn fewer calories as you weigh less. Your metabolism slows down as you become a smaller animal. Therefore, you must make up for it with a commensurate or supra-commensurate output.

Why Surgery When You Can Just Get Stronger?

5/24/2019

video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvwX1wcD-HQ/

Due to a variety of issues, I started to fall prey to the delusion that certain ranges of motion and angles “would never be possible again.” The classic I-have-bad-knees-so-I’m-an-invalid thinking was starting to creep it’s way in after a few years of what many clinicians would describe as “requires surgery.”

Through some advanced stabilization techniques, I began to really restore both knees a year and a half ago. Now, not only can I squat heavy again, but I squat rock bottom again. And I can even sissy squat again. But each behavior reinforces the other. They cannot independently exist in a vacuum. Eat anti-inflammatorily. Eat sensibly. Move well. Restore function. Build strength. None comes before the other. They each in a figure 8 loop influence the other. With more function comes more tissue capacity. With more capacity comes more function and so on.

The majority of surgical interventions for orthopedic problems occur only because the patient is unequipped to handle the multi-faceted approach to restoring health. If they continue to shoot themselves in the foot with garbage eating, then yes, a joint replacement surgery is probably prudent. But if people are willing to revise lifestyle, there is no limit to the rehabilitation of ability which could be done.

Looking to Gain Size? Just Follow The WeightLoss Recommendations of Famous Fitness Influencers

5/24/2019

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe it’s because I never paid attention to famous people before and this has just always been a thing. But in the past few weeks I’ve made an effort to share some more posts, and consequently I saw reposts or posts of people with 200k to 1 million followers. To be fair, I’ve never looked closely at someone like that before. But there are at least a few who are out of their dang minds even though they have credentials, apparent experience, and suffixes. •

To find out what’s going on, read the full post here:
https://www.facebook.com/100009969602888/posts/817918501883796?sfns=mo

Your Stated Problem Is Someone Else's Stated Solution

5/23/2019

- In the exact same day -
client A: I can’t make nutrition work because of what’s in the house for the whole household.
client B: I can’t make nutrition work because I’m on my own on the road.

Being with people makes it impossible. Being without people makes it impossible.
Fill-in-the-blank makes it impossible.
Opposite of Fill-in-the-blank makes it impossible.

Modernity. It came. Humanity faced incalculable odds, intractable problems, and... solved those suckers. It was the hallmark of modernism: create solutions to ostensible impossibility. We sought to understand so we could do what the gods of myths once did only in stories. Mankind sent the summit. We fly. We control objects with our minds.

Postmodernism. It came. We asked, “maybe there’s no truth?” Solutions created more questions. It seemed some questions weren’t valid or answerable.

Today: post-postmodern. “My situation is impossible”. There is no solution. Heck, we look to find ways to substantiate why clearly solvable situations are, in imaginary “fact”, impossible and hopeless.

People talk about the victim culture. But it’s bigger than that. We lost agency, efficacy, the hope of modernity. People just forget about problem solving; they’re too busy showcasing indignation at manufactured power systems which “no one can overthrow.” Or “here’s another uncontrollable injustice which can’t be righted, rectified, let alone solved.”

How about this: just seek solution. Solve. Don’t talk about how it can’t be solved. Talk solution. Don’t emphasize impossibility. Put on the mantle of modernity. Overcome problems; don’t be overcome by them.

Your stated problem is someone else’s stated solution.

I Don't Want to Change You

5/23/2019

Unless you want to change you, and only in the way you desire to change. I’ve seen these contrived moments on weight loss shows where the “trainer” is essentially guilting the person for being who they are. That’s crazy.

The absolute last thing on earth I want is more meatheads and gym rats. Be a techie. Be a Trekkie. Be a poet. Be a musician. Be whoever you are. Love food. Have a drink. Don’t be a fitness fanatic. Don’t care if anyone else wants you to either. Just do what you do.

That said, there is a way to INTEGRATE healthier living into the awesome person you already are. We don’t need to revise you from someone who enjoys pizza into a person who can’t ever let a single simple sugar touch her lips. That’s nonsense.

I want every fitness industry outsider to understand this and please share. Full post at the Elev8Wellness Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/476079849234836/posts/1206840462825434?sfns=mo

Reset Sleep

5/23/2019

1. No Big Meal 4 Hours Before Bed

2. Microdose Melatonin (0.1 - 0.7mg) 60 Minutes Before Bed

3. 5-HTP And Lithium Orotate Just Prior to Sleep

4. No Screens 1 to 2 Hours Before Bed

5. Into Bed at A Predicted/Consistent Time

6. Repeat 3 Nights in A Row

There are a lot of others that help like certain oils, cold shower methods, timed sprints, adrenal extract, adaptogens, 20-50g high glycemic index carbs 30 mins beforehand, 85% or darker dark chocolate, and many others.

Even Benadryl or anxiety or certain sleep aids can work, as long as there is a specified plan of down dosing and off. As long as you abide by the same sleep and wake times into and out of bed, and avoid napping during the reset, I’ve even helped addicted clients get off of high dose chronic sleep medication.

Sun exposure or sun lamps upon waking helps a great deal. Having caffeine on the night stand to do immediately upon waking can aid the reset for those who tolerate it well.

Going to an old fashioned alarm clock and turning off all WiFi and having EMF blackout is a good idea to boot. If you’re really having a hard time, make sure that screens don’t exist in your bedroom and they effectively don’t exist after a certain time of day.

Blackout curtains, white noise, and weighted blankets work for a lot of people.

Breathing techniques and meditation are legitimate, but too long a subject for this post.

Long Workouts Are for The Lazy (Mentally)

5/23/2019

check out this post and videos: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvhW-zQDcLC/

Take note of how this has progressed just in the past three or four days. I’m teaching the body that it is capable of doing more effort in the same or less time. Think about what this means. Over the course of a few months, my work capacity has essentially doubled on the bike. Carry it forward another few months, and even another 50% increase from here would be a tripling of my start point. Trust me. You want to really pause and dwell on this idea.

The typical strategy employed by any person who just doesn’t want to think very carefully about exercise science or physiology is simply do more and for longer. We sadly heap revere on these people. Don’t get me wrong. There is value in hard work. But “outworking” others because you’re not sharp enough to figure out intelligent modes of progression is literally a waste of time.

Lean in 16 (minutes, that is)

5/23/2019

One year I lost 70lbs never doing more than 16 minutes of recumbent bike cycling. I run a lot of experiments, including showing up untrained for a marathon this past Fall. But I figured it was about time to showcase this for people again. If you check the Instagram account @jonathan.watters, I have uploaded several videos and my actual workout files illustrating how one programs this.

The principle is simple: do not work out longer. Become objectively better. With more athleticism, you need not spend hours to be lean. You can be lean in 16 minutes with proper programming.

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We offer the highest quality in personal fitness, nutrition, and mindset coaching, helping you achieve your fitness, health, wellness and performance goals no matter the obstacle. With virtual online training and private, in-studio training we make it easier to reach your wellness goals safely.

No more can't. No more not good enough. If you compete in a sport, let your mind no longer hold you back from being the greatest. If you don't, let your mind no longer hold you back from being the best version of you that you can be.

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Photos used under Creative Commons from benzado, frankieleon, hatcher10027, Sterling College, OakleyOriginals, rawpixel.com, quinn.anya, allispossible.org.uk, wuestenigel, jeffdjevdet, Brian Legate