This isn’t a flippant sentiment. I mean “love” in the agapē sense of the word. My life is coaching. And it’s pain for me when I can’t break through to people to help them avoid something easily preventable. I want the best for them. It doesn’t poison me. I don’t live in regret. I can detach better than anyone. What’s done is done. I make my peace. BUT, when I do reflect on lost people in my network, it breaks my heart to see something totally preventable come to be.
In this post, we have something totally preventable and in very stark contrast. The top screen shot is part of an email from a former client who shot me an update this week. She lost an inch of height from lean tissue loss. Totally preventable. This is a big percent when you take into account she was only about 5 feet tall to begin with. She is very active, but began reducing her strength training some years ago. Below, I included part of my physical from Saturday. I gained at least a half inch of height. Normally, with shoes, I clock in just under 6’2”. This time, without shoes, I was just over 6’2.5”. I educate about strength training a lot, because I am trying to help. There’s nothing in it for me. If you don’t take care of yourself, it doesn’t directly affect me. I simply love to help. People forget that the battle for lean tissue is real and isn’t relegated to muscle. Without referencing skeleton, there are 24 intervertebral discs, a meniscus, and labrum which contribute to height. Lose only 2 millimeters in each and you’ll be at least 2 inches shorter altogether. Lift heavy weights, placing a high load on them, and the body will set in motion growth factors which work to maintain them. It’s always heartbreaking watching someone choose to get worse. I’ve seen it with with so many preventable outcomes, and not just in health and fitness. I see it in career blunders, professional mistakes, life management. All you can do is reach out. Some would rather drown than take your hand. But if you genuinely love to help, move onto the next swimmer. Don’t burn up life staring at the bodies on the ocean floor.
0 Comments
I once had left side paralysis after Lyme disease. The leftover damage debilitates some people and only impairs others. For me, I had searing pain through my arm, shoulder, back, and neck mostly on left side starting September 2014. All joints felt like fire. My knees and hips set into inflammatory shutdown. It worsened for a year and a half, along with other issues too innumerable to cover here. In March of 2015, two weeks after my daughter was born, I completely detached my right pectoral muscle from the bone. The left arm was my only arm for months and it was already not great. In physical therapy one day it spontaneously lost 99% of strength. I couldn’t control it. No grip. Nothing. Down to A HALF of a functioning arm and one-and-half functioning legs was brutal. I was plagued with wondering if even normal function would again be possible. Would I be able to pickup my kids? Would I be able to get in and out of bed? Would I get better from permanent disability? And the answer seemed resoundingly clear: NO. Never. Not even close.
This was the backdrop for being the first person on earth over 240lbs to do a zero momentum muscle up (videos here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIX9ivsHliL/). It was the runway for playing with 150lb dumbbells on pressing (scroll through the pages in prior link). It was the context for a 505 floor press. There’s a grand list of performances which I could not do in my 20s, long prior to injury, long before Lyme, which all came about in these past 3 years. Hitting a point lower than most people go before suicide was the bedrock upon which I’ve been building. Where many injury-free athletes are poor shadows of their former selves with regard to capability, some injured people overshadow their former selves in the present. This is why I often share stories of amputee athletes/paraOlympians/older whose lifts and accomplishments far outstrip what we even think is possible for someone with no challenges. I share them because I know I need them. I figure someone somewhere is going through hell and needs evidence to keep going. I know I do. What’s possible? We don’t really know. It’s more than you think. It’s more than you believe. It’s more than you know. It’s more than you hope. Now go out and find it. That’s a measuring 1/3 cup. As you can see, I wouldn’t even notice this as a very tiny handful of dried cranberries. Yet, that little serving would be well over 30 grams of sugar. I could throw back 4 or 5 without thinking anything of it. 120-150 grams of sugar without a mental note. Meanwhile, the average person needs over 150 grams of protein to have a shot at fitness. In lean meat, that’s one and a half pounds. I mention lean meat, because there is no additional wasted space or calories. Still, the volume of that, though it varies a little, is well beyond 3 measuring cups packed tight. Think about that. NINE times the volume of the cranberries. Never mind the purchase, prep, chewing, clean up. To get that same 150g of protein from plant-derived sources, like seeds and nuts, it would take over 6 cups; and you would also invite over 450 grams of accompanying dietary fat (4,000+ calories) to do so.
This is why, if I catch you saying, “we eat pretty well” or “I did pretty good on my protein last week” or “I only had a little of _____”, I have to tell you that you’re grotesquely lying to yourself. If you're in a time of maintenance, sure. Estimate. Approximate. Cruise. But if you're trying to change, estimation is dishonest. If your mind and body are wired to be fat, you will never intuit or estimate the correct eating for progress. Never. I have been a professional at this for close to 20 years, thinking about nutrition for 30, and I can’t do it well. Don’t you dare. 200 grams of sugar will look like nothing to you. 50 grams of protein will look excessive. That wiring isn’t getting reprogrammed any time soon. Sorry, not sorry. You have to be precise. I have to be precise. Estimation kills dreams, goals, motivation, drive, progress, trajectory, improvement, growth, benefit. Estimation kills. You May Not Know This, But You Can Fast.
On one of the biggest feast days, it’s not really on people’s radar; but another time, certainly, you can and perhaps should. Two years ago, I fasted six days. I’m not talking about this en vogue “fasting” where people are sipping BCAAs, or smoothies, or some other not-fasting. I’m talking water, b vitamins, minerals, and some caffeine. That included Thanksgiving Day. To be fair, my in-laws had some schedule issue which landed our celebration on the following Friday late afternoon. But if I had intended on seven days or more, I would’ve gone through that too. Attached is a photo from my metabolic test results that morning. Pay extra close attention. My metabolism went UP. That’s right. Take away food, and just by walking and being on my feet, I was burning over 4,500 calories per day. People will lose 1-2lbs of fat PER DAY. I did replete blood work and lab testing as well during that week. All bio markers improved. The more health problems someone faces, the more this may need to be their tactic. I do a lot of nutritional coaching, programming, and health troubleshooting with clients. So I have discovered caveats. Some people in over stressed environments need nuanced recommendations here. Ultimately, though, it’s now medically proven that type 2 diabetes and heart disease risk is cured/reversed in one to three weeks of fasting or other fasting-mimicking interventions: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6520897/ For the average person who is desperate to change body comp, you’ll need to know three things: 1.) you are more than capable to do it 2.) the more addicted to food you are, the harder the first three days will be (and this is not exaggeration, expect an intensity of withdrawal that you might only think hard drug users go through) 3.) be fully prepared with aids (vitamins, minerals, sea salt, caffeine of choice) and with expectations (remember what I said about drug withdrawal symptoms) and with whatever social support you honestly will need Imagine busting your rear for years and you qualify for Olympic trials. You make it. You go. You get 23rd place. In the world? Pretty good. Afterward, you slave for your sport for 4 more years, show up again, get 35th. Hmm. Seems to be going in the wrong direction. Not a lot of payoff for 1,400 workouts. That’s right. ONE-THOUSAND FOUR-HUNDRED training sessions, YEARS, and you got WORSE. “I’m not getting any younger,” you say to yourself. What do you do?
I’ll tell what the average person does. They dip their toes for 6 weeks to 6 months, become infuriated because they didn’t turn into one of the X-Men, and begin actively shooting themselves in the foot. Make all the rationalizations you like. Make all the equivocations and excuses. But do you have any idea what it must feel like to train at the absolute limit of human potential for A DECADE only to get a worse result? “Yeah, Jonathan, but he knows he’s still one of the best in the world,” you may pipe back. Really? You’re telling me that as time goes on, while getting a worse outcome, the human mind will logically place advantages and gratitudes in the right context? No way. Get real. Being a literate English speaker in the modern world, do you persistently acknowledge your great privilege and abilities? Absolutely not. That just isn’t how people operate. That is, until they get their heads right. Then, all of a sudden, duty, honor, responsibility, obligation, and purpose rise above our impatience, our childishness, our unrealistic expectations. In the prime of his life, as a young stud, this athlete couldn’t get near the podium. But as a silver-haired mid-30s athlete in an explosive sport (specifically the category of sport we “KNOW” people CAN’T do as “they age”) he finally donned a gold medal (video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIAyOhmnznP/). Everyone thinks they know what’s impossible before they try. Everyone thinks an effort is pointless; and so they quit. They make the lie into truth. What if someone told this guy it would take 12 more years and no guarantee that he’ll get to that gold? What if someone told you it’ll take 12 more years to get a shot at your goal? A shot. Not a guarantee. Gut check. Get your head right. Along with many other conditions which some people errantly call “impossible.”
I’m dumbfounded by the percent of clinical experts who don’t read their own journals. Scientific inquiry is a constant pursuit with an unending forward march. Yet, I’ve met incredibly well-respected and very highly paid professionals who are unaware of the current state of science, even in their own field. I once shadowed a revered cardiologist who didn’t seem to have read a single publication in Cardiology, JAMA, the Annals of Internal Medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine, or really anything notable since maybe the late 70s. What do you even say to someone who is avoiding the input of his own peer group? With regard to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, I run into this far too often. Even though there are peer-reviewed papers and numerous case studies PROVING the reversal of type 2 diabetes, there is a prevailing belief among specialists and the lay audience that it’s hopeless. On the rare occasion that someone has any interest in evidence and legitimate science, I might forward them the three pages of citations for studies showing the reversal of diabetes: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/.../Web%20list%20of%20reversal... Unfortunately, as we’ve all witnessed over the past 4 or 5 years, however, individuals are increasingly unwilling to acknowledge the very evidence and reality directly in front of all our faces. So, I’m not particularly hopeful that beliefs based on facts and repeatedly verifiable testing will prevail. Nonetheless, here are ample examples of shifts in the very well-understood functions of glucose intolerance and insulin sensitivity. When you have tons of former type-2 diabetics who have no measurable evidence of the disease 2 years later, it’s time to let go of the ill-informed fairytale that people can’t improve health once they’ve obtained a label that we consider a “diagnosis.” I’ve mentioned this before: https://www.elev8wellness.com/wellblog_best_nutrition_training_coaching_experts/diabetes-reversal Also here: https://www.elev8wellness.com/…/clinical-results-in-the-rev… And here: https://www.elev8wellness.com/…/type-2-diabetics-become-les… Here: https://www.elev8wellness.com/…/youre-on-the-diabetic-spect… And a few other times: https://www.elev8wellness.com/…/257-former-diabetics-5-year… And in books... and in real life?
Because they’re experienced. And with experience you learn that almost no one is ready to learn. Readiness to learn involves humility and putting aside ego. That is so rare that unwillingness to learn is held up as a badge of honor. The more incorrect their beliefs, the more resistant they are to changing them.Think of how commonly we hear people pridefully proclaim they know the answer before examining evidence. In fact, recently, we've all observed an instance of many people believing something without any evidence and refusing to change their opinions as endless counterevidence mounts, as 100% of their own party's election officials shutdown the conspiracy thinking, as 100% of conservative judges shutdown the baseless fraud claims, as every single expert without a vested interest affirms the security of the election. When I was a kid and I’d watch these movies wherein sensei or Buddhist monks turn away ardent students, I’d always wonder, “why are they being such jerks?” I always wondered why people who hold so much knowledge would be so reluctant to share, even when it appears there are dedicated learners ready to soak up the lesson. Now we know. People have absolutely zero interest in changing their faulty and fictional beliefs. In Star Wars you see Yoda refuse to take on Luke. Mr. Miyagi is hardly enthused about Daniel. And most everyone has read a story involving seekers of truth being laughed at, scorned, and scoffed right out of the ashram, monastery, school, remote retreat. TRUE seeking is done over a lifetime, not a day, a week, a month, or even a year. And after being in an area of expertise for nigh 20 years, I finally get it. Most people ask a question not really wanting the genuine answer. They want a shortcut. They want a sound byte. They want a meme. They want a hashtag. They want a slogan, a logo, a superficial empty answer that really won’t get anyone any farther. They don’t want to slave for the answer. They eschew the work it will take to understand. They do not have any interest, in fact, in gaining an understanding of the very system they say they want to understand. Mostly, they just want an affirmation for all of the incorrect things they already believe. Challenge them on any portion of their fiction, and they get angry. People ask for a tip, a trick, an outline, a plan, a program, a consolidation of millions of hours of research into a trite sentiment one could place on a bumper sticker. No. The people with the answer won’t answer you. They are the reluctant sensei UNTIL you are willing to suffer in the rain, wait in the cold, fail and fail and fail and still not look for a shorter/easier way. Systems which govern an entire subject, a total physical path, all of the universe cannot be shortened into a catch phrase. Wellness, health and fitness is not able to be abbreviated into an app, a tracker, a mindless single-word diet. Remember this. Remember this when you go to slap a single pejorative political word on hundreds of millions of different individuals who you know very well don’t all think the same thing. Remember this when you ask a specialist to take their 60,000 hours of professional experience and turn it into a “4 week plan”. Remember this when you ask a skilled craftsman for “a little help”. Remember this when you ask a genuine artist to “come up with a logo.” Remember this when you ask master teachers anything. The simplicity of your question shows your lack of resolve, your lack of seriousness, your lack of earnestness, your unwillingness to grow. And you will be answered in kind. Last week someone in my network said they’d had a revelation: “I just need to feel motivated.”
Ouch. No. Feelings come and go. Commitments rise above emotion. Discipline supersedes all. Some may push back: “I need to see progress.” You can’t always have progress, sweetheart. I think of elite athletes who slave for their sport for years to never get an iota better. Can you imagine training day in and day out for a decade and becoming slower than you used to be? Usain Bolt’s 200m in 2009 Worlds: 19.19. Usain Bolt's 200m in 2016 Olympics: 19.78. His 100m in 2009: 9.58. His 100m in 2016: 9.81. He never got one hundredth of a second faster that whole time. Michael Phelps’ 2016 200m butterfly 1:53.36. In 2008 he hit 1:52.03. Do you really think it’s motivating to grind through when you’re getting slower? Do you really think elite athletes are always motivated? Or always seeing progress? I mean, clearly they aren’t. We don’t need to remake the wheel. If you don’t build the skill to follow-through precisely WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT, might as well just call the funeral home now, because you aren’t cut out for life. Work. Marriage. Relationships. Parenting. Chores. Business. Investing. Education. Life. If you are operating on “I only do this when I feel like it or when the excited whim hits me,” forget fitness. You’re better off getting your affairs in order. No one is always feeling motivated. But everyone can be always disciplined. Though we all might initially scoff at the far-fetched stories of mythology, the reality is that most people worship the Fates to this day. Watch people and listen to them closely and you’ll find that regardless of people’s claimed religion or lack thereof, they are devout, practicing Fatalists above and beyond all else in their beliefs. Ancient pagan religions are more prevalent today than any other belief system.
The Fatalists’ tenets: Things are a certain way. Period. Change is an omen, not a consequent of our choices. Life happens to us. We are captive to a preset. Attempts to alter our paths will result in dire consequences and ultimately no substantive improvement in outcome. Genes/gods/the past made me this way. Those on hard times are playing out their appointed scenario. Those with riches are playing out their appointed scenario. I was reading through the scientific literature on type II diabetes recently trying to pinpoint the moment when people began to think it was an irreversible disease. I came up empty-handed. Even papers in the 50s, 60s, and 70s just plainly accepted that it is entirely reversible. But somewhere, out in common society, the Fate-worshippers are so piously intent on their religion that people came to view it as a disease, an affliction, ever-moving toward an impossible unchangeable endpoint. It, like all else, is simply the directive from the Fates. These ancient ideas are so pervasive that we don't even notice them. In a country whose founders were predominantly Protestants and whose tenets are founded in freedom, it's more common to hear statements of ancient Greek worship, or ancient Chinese ancestral worship, or ancient Indian concept, than it is to hear something based on modern Christian thought or non-religious contemporary scientific thinking: "Don't bother even trying." "Your hand has been dealt." "Your dice have been rolled." "Your caste or social standing in life is preordained." "Your parents handed down to you the lot you must live out." People sacrifice more to the Fates than anything else. They give their hope, dreams and lives as an offering to the almighty Fates. They accept that the Fates measured our cords. And they honor the Fates by accepting that this is just the way it is. As much as they might give lip service to free will, mercy, and forgiveness (all of which recognize the OPPOSITE of fatalism), the same people will ultimately circle back to their fatalist idolatry, talking about anointed leaders when it’s their guy and hardened hearts when it isn’t. They’ll talk about submitting to the will of the Fates when things are going their way, but they invoke the Oracle and prophetic rebuke when things aren’t. When their efforts work, it’s a “blessing.” When their efforts fail, it’s a “curse.” We are pawns without agency, subatomic particles without power, vessels without capability. People may claim all flavor of theism, deism, agnosticism, atheism. But really most are Fatalists in a very thinly veiled cloak. Greek mythology never died. It is alive and well. Johns Hopkins team determines that calcium is risky, and does not improve bone density:
http://www.newswise.com/.../calcium-supplements-may... 10 years of research failed to produce any substantiation of the meme, “calcium makes strong bones.” In fact, though I hear people parrot this television advertisement quote and others like it all the time, I’ve never found any legitimate science to support it. Moreover, expert consensus from the International Osteoporosis Foundation officially declared that protein sufficiency and super-sufficiency plays a far more vital role in bone health: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00198-018-4534-5 This makes more sense, as 50-60% of bone volume is comprised of protein. The entire 100% structural matrix of bone is protein. When people were/are declaring milk the champion of bones, it’s rather odd that they hone in on the measly 300 milligrams of calcium in a cup of milk instead of the massive 9,000.00 milligrams of protein in the same cup. This says nothing of the fat soluble vitamins (which support bone health) we find in full fat dairy but don't find in reduced fat dairy. More importantly, the societal fervor over calcium appears to increase risk of plaques and heart disease. Without fat soluble vitamins to direct calcium, there is no biological reason to believe calcium alone is beneficial. Calcium is a building block for atherosclerotic plaque buildup. Undirected in an unhealthy body, calcium is risky. The central thesis of the promoters of milk was always on shaky ground. In every large observational study, milk consumption had no association with improved bone density (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9224182/), and when researchers controlled for other variables, milk consumption from age 20 and on is associated with INCREASED risk of hip fracture (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8154473/ ). In global epidemiological research, we also find women in other societies with incredibly low incidence of osteoporosis have zero milk consumption. For a time, the crunchy granola community honed in on the "acid load" in milk to try to undermine it; but they weren't playing with a full deck, as protein is made of amino ACIDS, and the amino ACIDS are some of the only things right about milk. They were moving toward the right stance, but for the wrong reasons. Meanwhile, the general populace who believes in milk has the wrong stance and no reasons. So, maybe we should focus on the science instead of the slick marketing memes. |
Elev8 Wellness
|