Willpower Alone is Not Enough

March 11, 2010 landland Leave a comment

I recently returned from vacation and had a great time. Drank like a fish, ate like a pig. It was overindulgence deluxe. I worked out only twice. It was my first break from regimented workouts since May. I learned something about myself that I wasn’t really aware of previously that I think applies to a lot of people. Willpower is very very difficult. I think if willpower is the only thing making you do something, there is a high probability that you won’t be able to keep it up. Systems and routines trump willpower. This is why I’m such a fan of working out in the morning. You just go in there and get it done just like brushing your teeth. You don’t even think about it. Back when I started modifying my diet, I knew I had to eliminate all canned, sugary and processed foods out of my apartment or I would be tempted to eat them all. When I started sitting on an exercise ball as my office chair 3 years ago, I removed my real chair completely because if I didn’t then I would likely sit back on that chair eventually. Half my paycheque is gone before I even see it because my investment advisor yanks it from me so I don’t overspend. I never realized that it was actually the routines, the removal of choice and the systems I set up that bring me success until returning from vacation, the most overindulgent one I’ve ever been on. It is really easy to fall into that trap of gluttony, willpower be damned. This coming from a guy who thinks he’s got pretty good willpower.

Maybe this is why smokers smoke despite knowing it is bad. Actually, pick an addiction (food, porn, alcohol, gambling, etc.) and it probably has less to do with weak willpower and more to do with the system they have in place, the environment they are surrounded by, the routines and habits they have set up, and the amount of choices they have. For me, the vacation was a big fat fail in what I call conscious choice. Doing something knowingly, like making a big purchase for example without having buyer’s remorse afterwards, or enjoying a slice of pizza without feeling guilty afterwards. I do these things on occasion without any guilt or remorse because its conscious, i.e. I didn’t make an impulse buy, it was thoroughly researched or I am hanging out with friends at a pizza joint, of course I’m going to eat some.

Trying to save some money by cutting out your morning latte? You better make sure you take a different route to avoid that Starbucks, because your willpower isn’t going to do squat. Sure, you might be good for awhile but eventually I guarantee you its not going to last. Set yourself up for victory, not failure!

Me, Mindset

Conventional Wisdom is Many Times Very Wrong

February 8, 2010 landland Leave a comment

I am pretty sure conventional wisdom has been passed on for the sole purpose of keeping people in check. You know, don’t walk into oncoming traffic, don’t shower with poison ivy, don’t poop where you eat, if a cheetah is going to eat you you probably shouldn’t let it, etc. But conventional wisdom is often times wrong. Wrong because it keeps average people…well, pretty average. But awesome people don’t listen to conventional wisdom many times with great success. Here is some unconventional wisdom that has worked for me:

Honesty is not always the best policy – I learned this lesson at work. Remember, business is business, everybody is out for themselves, you should be, too. You don’t see poker players telling their opponents what they have or showing them their cards all of the time, why should you? Its not lying, its just not putting all your cards on the table at once.

Eat fat to lose fat – Low fat diets are crappy. Eat fat to lose fat, especially the saturated kind. Try it, it will work. Living proof right here.

Balance is overrated – Everybody who was ever successful at anything in life hustled. Pick a thing, pick a person who was good at this thing, and you’ll see it over and over again. Hustle. There was no balance, only meticulous obsession. Straight up hustle. Balance isnt always good. Many times, imbalance will send you into superstardom.

Moderation is for the mediocre – I hear this one all the time. Everything in moderation. Thing is, the people I hear it from arent exceptional in the thing they speak of to do in moderation. Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Burn bridges or blow them up completely – Burn them to a bloody hell. Cortez arrived in the new world and burned all the ships and went to war. Outnumbered by the natives 300 to 1, there was no other option but success. It was victory or death.

Be as selfish as you need to be – Who ever first said not to be selfish probably got beat up a lot as a kid. The most selfish people in the world are many times the most giving. But first, they had to be selfish enough to get ahead and look after themselves before they had the opportunity to give back. Tip: If ever stuck in an airplane low on oxygen, put on your oxygen mask first before putting on someone else’s so you don’t pass out and die. Selfish.

If you don’t have anything nice to say, say it anyways – That’s how progress is made. Unless you are being petty, then just punch yourself in the face and move on.

Other conventionally wise nuggets that are often full of it: Buy a house, its a good investment. Righto. Recycling is good for the environment. Righto. Don’t do that or you’ll go blind. Righto. Get married. Righto. Wear shoes to protect your fragile feat. Righto.

Updates on me: You ever feel like things are moving at the speed of light while simultaneously feeling suspended in time? Probably not, but that’s how I feel right now. Its like doing a billion things at once but not getting anywhere, kinda like the karate kid’s training with Mr. Miyagi. Since December I’ve been full throttle and progress has been minimal. But things are about to change really soon. I’m also in the middle of moving, finishing another workout program called RMAX BER, getting ready for vacation, selling all of my stuff, and a bunch of other stuff that is keeping me busy. I was on an all meat diet for a while but couldn’t keep it up and stopped. Currently, I’m still in ketosis and feel fine. I can’t tell how its affecting my mental and emotional state, there are too many changing variables in my life right now so its difficult to pinpoint exactly what is doing what. I can say I have absolutely zero tolerance for nonsense right now, am temporarily not going to play fair or honour my values, am putting myself first far ahead of everything else, and am in full on experimentation mode. Necessary evils.

Happy Valentine’s day, Happy Chinese New Years, and Happy Family day.

Health and Fitness

P90X Plus Workout Review

January 31, 2010 landland 8 Comments

I recently completed another excellent Beachbody program called P90X Plus. Its an extension of the extremely popular P90X series that you see on all of the infomercials. I’ll probably get around to writing a review of that program as well sometime in the future. P90X Plus, or sometimes referred to as P90X+, consists of a mix of the original P90X workouts in addition to five new workouts. These new workouts are Upper Body Plus, Abs Core Plus, Kenpo Cardio Plus, Total Body Plus and Interval X Plus, which are about 40-45 minutes in length except for Abs Core Plus. Like P90X, this program is a 90 day program (actually, a 12 week program) consisting of 3 phases, phase 1, 2, and 3 duh! There are 3 different calendars you can do, Classic +, Lean +, and X + Doubles. I did the Classic +, and I have to say, it is one hell of a program. I can tell you that it is tougher than P90X but also that the results for myself have been amazing. You should do this workout if you have already done P90X. You should not do this workout if you have not done P90X or if you do not have the original P90X workouts, as those are required on some days. The most used workout from P90X is the Yoga X workout, which is required quite a bit.

P90X+ Calendar
Each of the phases is basically 6 days a week, with an option for X-Stretch or rest on the 7th day. This is true for all of the calendars. For the most part, I decided to rest instead of doing the X-Stretch. I think I only did the X-Stretch 2 or 3 times during the entire program. Probably due to laziness, but I would say X-Stretch is a really good stretching program so don’t neglect it if you can.

Equipment Needed

The good news is you don’t really need a lot of equipment, much like P90X. All you really need is a pullup bar, water bottle, mat, pushup stands, and dumbbells. Heck, you don’t even really need a mat, water bottle, or pushup stands if you are on a budget or something.

Critique of the new workouts:

Total Body Plus

This is a very good total body workout. Its a lot of fun exercises, 20 in total, that focus on synergistic moves that work multiple body parts at once. Its a tough but fun workout and one of the better new workouts that come with P90X+. Its about 45 minutes with a warm up and cool down period, and by the end you’ll feel you had a good workout. You’ll need a mat, dumbbells, pullup bar, a water bottle and pushup stands.

Abs/Core Plus

This workout isn’t as intense as Ab Ripper X from the P90X series, but it does a decent job of working the abs and the core. It is a short, 20 minute workout and by the time you are done it you should be feeling your abs a little and worked up a light sweat. This is also the only workout where Tony Horton assumes you’ve already stretched a little bit and just goes right into the exercises. It does have a very short cool down period. Abs Core plus consists of 20 exercises, and the equipment required are a pullup bar, dumbbells, and a mat.

Kenpo Cardio Plus

What a joke, much like the original Kenpo Cardio X. This program doesn’t belong in the P90X+ series. I’m serious, I had a really hard time working up a sweat with this one. I barely even felt my heart rate go up. Some days where I was supposed to do Kenpo Plus I would replace this workout with an Insanity workout instead, because I know in those ones I have to bring my A game. Its similar to the original Kenpo Cardio X where you are throwing a lot of kicks and punches, but I would think for anybody already doing P90X+ they are in good enough shape where this program won’t really do much for them.

Upper Body Plus

This is the PLUS, in P90X+. It is an absolute monster. And the kicker? You do this workout twice a week for 10 of the 12 weeks, stacked on top of the Abs/Core Plus. Talk about a tough day! Upper body consists of tons of pushups, tons of pullups, lots of dumb bell curling for a grand total of 20 exercises. oi! But I can tell you, this is the toughest of all the workouts from this and from P90X. Near the end of phase 3 I was seriously dreading doing this workout, not only because I had an irritated bicep from a night of drunken debauchery going into phase 3, but also because I’m always trying to up my numbers from previous workouts, and since Upper Body Plus is done no less than 20 times in the calendar, you can imagine how difficult that gets at the end. There were days doing this workout where I literally could not type on the keyboard, brush my teeth, or put on a shirt, that’s how serious this one is. You’ll need a pullup bar, dumbbells, pushup stands, and a water bottle for this one.

Interval X Plus

This is a pretty good cardio workout. I would say its the most fun of all the workouts but isn’t used all that much compared to the other workouts in the Classic + calendar. It does a decently good job of getting your heart rate up. It is no comparison to any of the Insanity workouts in that department, but compared to the P90X cardio workouts like Plyo X it holds its own.

In Closing

Motivation was tough near the end. Mainly because I was dreading that Upper Body Plus workout, but also because I was getting pretty bored at the end with doing the same workouts over and over again. P90X did a much better job of mixing it up and thus keeping me motivated. This one, I really had to push through. I would still recommend this workout to P90X grads, as my results after this program have been excellent. However, I think after doing the calendar once you can take the workouts and start formulating your own workouts. I may try some of the other calendars, as they do look pretty interesting, but I don’t know for sure. Beachbody and Tony Horton have another excellent product in P90X+, I give it a thumbs up. You can get P90X Plus here.

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If you liked this review, you may also like my P90X2, Rip:60, Rev Abs, Insanity, GSP Rushfit, or RMAX BER reviews

The year of the FAIL. A look back. And forward.

December 31, 2009 landland Leave a comment

Failed projects. Failed relationships. Rejection letters. More FML moments than I care to admit. Mugged in my investments. Brick walled in my career. Death of friends. Stolen identities and hacked accounts. I look around and see broken glass everywhere, and I can’t help but smile. In a year of more failure than I can shake a stick at, I’m on the right track. As Tyler Durden would say, self improvement is masturbation, but self destruction…

In a year where I’ve had money stolen from me, lent money out that I’ll never see again, and money that I’m still chasing down, I feel great. Shady business dealings, bad business partners, treachery, backstabbery, betrayal. I’ve bled more for sure, but I’m better off for it. Stronger, wiser, smarter. I definitely didn’t leave this year unscathed, but battle scars make character. And character makes men. But all was not evil and terrible. I invested significantly in myself, spending thousands on genetics testing for me and my family. I climbed one of the world’s largest free standing structures. Against 12,000 others, not feeling 100% and without any running or stair training, I probably had a top 5/10 fastest time. Now that’s street. Should I ever decide to climb the tower again, I’m gunning for the fastest time. I wrote the GMAT, and unlike some others who spend thousands on courses and books and study for months on end, I borrowed some books, downloaded some content, crammed for a month and scored in the 95th percentile. Street. I had the absolute honour to listen to Al Gore talk about something that is near and dear to my heart: Climate change. I had the pleasure to hear Bill Clinton talk about other subjects dear to my heart: Giving, poverty, overpopulation, and health care. I spent an entire weekend with the best performance coach in the world in Tony Robbins, who not only made me walk on blazing hot 1000+ degree Celsius coals in my bare feet, but lit a fire under my ass. And of course, I did some travelling, met some super cool people, and made some new friends. Hiked a trail wearing barefoot shoes, getting altitude sickness but refusing to take pills, in one rewarding adventure. Good times, good times. And I challenged many of my beliefs. I flip flopped back and forth about some things and I’m sure I’ll continue to do so. I’m a lot more thick skinned, a lot less idealistic. My bullshit detector is more highly fine tuned. I have much better control over my emotions and no longer worry about things that are outside of my circle of influence (except I do, as you’ll see below). I’m much better at not overestimating the competition and underestimating myself. I also got into a lot of interesting topics including genetics, survivalism, health, fitness, nutrition, and so on.

Most people quit too early. My problem is I don’t know when to quit. That’s why I stay on a rock climbing wall for hours on end, hands shredded to a bloody mess, but I finish. That’s why I workout 6, 7, 8, 9 times a week and haven’t missed a beat since May because the calendar says so. But it’s also why I stay in relationships that are harmful to both parties, why I can’t get up from a movie even if it’s terrible, why I finish my plate even if I’m super stuffed and why I have a hard time putting down a crappy book. I hate quitting. My hatred of quitting got me through university, but it also has kept me at a job I lost the passion for. This is an important skill that I need to work on. When to stick it out and when to abandon ship when the potential return on investment just isn’t worth it. Persistence isn’t the problem for me, quitting is. Some things that I’ve pondered about this year include the following:

To blog or not to blog
My love/hate relationship with blogging continues. This is because I’m of the firm belief that if you can’t do something right, then don’t do it. And I really don’t do this right, since it’s on a low list of priorities for me. But Gary Vaynerchuk convinced me to keep at it, if only to preserve my brand. If you think about it, your entire life is being recorded on the internet, so you may as well embrace it. One day, your children’s children will see your trail. What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

Single or get in a relationship
I prefer being single. My best thoughts, my best ideas, my most creative moments are when I’m alone. There is a difference between loneliness and aloneness. For those feeling lonely, there is a road to actualization that needs to be walked first, otherwise even in a relationship something will always be missing. The disadvantage of being single is you don’t get sexy time. But I would argue that neither do people in marriages and long term relationships, so eat it! The advantages are plenty. More focus, more money (yes I said it!), more free time, less responsibility and accountability to others. This allows you to be lean, mean, and hungry as all hell. Obviously I don’t intend on staying single forever, but right now it’s the best thing for me without a doubt.

Organic vs. Non organic foods
I’ve been eating organic foods for years now, and to be honest I believe it’s overrated and overpriced. It isn’t nutritionally superior, nor does it taste better despite what organic eaters preach. Blind taste tests will show this (and have). Just like 99% of wine drinkers can’t tell the difference between a good wine and bad wine, people can’t tell the difference between organic and non organic foods. It tastes better because they THINK it tastes better. As for no pesticides, that is incorrect. Better for the environment? Not if you consider the sheer volume of land that needs to be used over non organic for the same output (good luck feeding the planet with that). Is organic truly organic? As a multibillion dollar industry, you’re damn right big agra is on this money train and are cutting every corner imaginable and doing just enough to get an organic certification. Did you know that 20% of our organic produce comes from CHINA (no offense to my people)?! Even still, I support our local farmers and will continue to eat organic foods, because overall I believe it is better than the alternatives. However, organic foods aren’t going to feed the planet, genetically modified foods are. It is a LUXURY for me to even have the choice to choose between the two, most people are not so fortunate.

Climate change – man made or natural?
I think it’s safe to say that climate change is happening (or not). The question then becomes, are we causing it? And man, I’ve spent more hours on this then I’m willing to admit, and I can tell you whole heartedly that I do not know. I can also say that Al Gore isn’t the saint that people are preaching him to be (he is making a lot of cheddar on this), but at the very same time I support the man and what he’s doing. “WTF, make up your damn mind!” you say? The reason is simple; we are terribly inefficient with energy. In Ontario, where I live, our power infrastructure is aging, and if we don’t find some alternatives soon there is going to be some serious implications. I’m all for more efficiency and effectiveness, because I don’t want to hear stories about families freezing to death in the cold because of lack of power. But it’s not easy to come up with these solutions. Ethanol fuel, for example, is not a good alternative energy because it takes a lot more energy and land to make and isn’t worth the hassle. Nuclear? Takes a wicked long time, a lot of energy, is terribly expensive and very complicated. Tidal? Only good on the coast lines. Clean coal? No such thing. What about solar and wind? Yes! But they have problems of their own. How are we going to provide energy for all of us? Which leads me to my next thought…

Overpopulation – to have a kid or not
There’s simply too many of us, consuming too much, too quickly. Our population is reaching 7 billion. 40 years ago it was less than half of that. Think about that for a second. Our population increased to the same amount in your parents lifetime in what previously took thousands of years. We are in the middle of a population explosion. Infinite growth, FINITE resources. How do we feed all these people? That’s why I have reservations of bringing a child into this world, even though I’ve always wanted to. I don’t want my kid growing up in an overcrowded world, and unless we come up with some solutions, that’s exactly what is going to be happen. I’m giving myself 15 years, and if we can’t make a crack at this then no kid for me.

Peak oil is mad sheisse…
We are too dependent on oil. Look around you, from the screen you are reading this on to the clothes you are wearing to the food you are eating, oil played a huge roll in its production. This is another reason I support Gore, we need alternatives. You are going to hear about the term ‘peak oil’ a lot more in the coming years. We are reaching the capacities of how much we are pulling from the Earth, which means, we are running the eff out. As population increases and oil quantity decreases, people are going to die. A lot of people. IF nothing gets done.

Vegetarianism no more
Vegetarians are misinformed. There’s no other way to put it. It CAN be healthier than the typical North American diet, but it’s not the healthiest. It is better for the environment than normal factory farmed foods, but it isn’t going to save the planet. Is it morally superior? Not if you consider the destruction of entire ecosystems for growing the crops. What about all those wild animals that no longer have food or homes, are they not sentient beings? I don’t have the answers here. I know our food industry is fucked. And I am completely and utterly disgusted by the cruel treatment of animals in CAFOs. Yes, I know it’s brutal, but vegetarianism isn’t the answer. It’s when I realized this that I made the switch back to (mostly clean) meat, and I am glad I did. Bigger, stronger, faster, happier and healthier.

Evolution and genetics versus Creationists and God
The science tells me that evolution is right, and creationism is wrong. I believe in evolution, right down to my diet and how our ancestors ate. And I believe our genetics have a role in how we are and what we become, and by optimizing health and nutrition we can optimize our gene expression. But I don’t think genetics predetermines our destiny, and I don’t believe we were created by the will of God. And yet, I still believe in God. I don’t have a logical explanation for this nor would I want to get into a debate with Christopher Hitchens about it; it really is purely blind faith. I don’t think we were divinely created nor are divinely observed/controlled/whatever, but where else am I going to get my source of strength to press on if shit really does hit the fan? Or if I’m skydiving and my parachute doesn’t open, or I’m jailed in a concentration camp or held at gunpoint, or my best friend is dying of a terminally ill disease, or some other unlikely event I have no control over? I can look within, but I can certainly look beyond as well. One thing that I don’t really understand about evolution is the idea of natural selection, Darwin’s greatest contribution. If natural selection helps the preservation of a species by improving genetic traits, how come humans are getting oh so stupid? How is that contributing to our survival? I need to speak with Richard Dawkins on this one (almost done his EXCELLENT new book).

The end is not near.
Yes, I’ve been learning more primitive skills and reconnecting with the outdoors. And I’ve been exercising like a fiend not to get bigger muscles, a six pack (though I must admit they are nice side benefits) and to look better but rather to BE better. To be more and need less, that’s my journey. As 50 Cent would say, to Get Rich or Die Trying. In my case, when I talk about getting rich, I’m not (only) talking about money. I honestly don’t believe disaster will come. Certainly not on December 21st, 2012 like some doomsayers say. And even if the Earth reaches a cataclysmic tipping point, and we get thrown into an ice age or massive earthquakes and tsunamis or World War 3 or hyper inflation causing economic meltdowns or a superflu or some other planetary destroying event(s), the human race will survive. Hell, if that little shit Frodo Baggins can save the world, then anything’s possible right? And you might be wondering, “Well what the hell can I do? I’m just a hobbit…err, human” there’s lots. Lots! If teaching is your thing, teach. If music is your thing, sing. If policing is your thing, protect. Do it so damn well that people won’t be able to picture you doing anything else. Problems in governments, in corporations, in society are plenty that’s for sure, but this will always be the case. There always were challenges and they were always overcome and there always will be challenges. What we need is a shift in human consciousness. But alas, it’s outside of my sphere of influence (for now…muahhaha). I think it’s an exciting time to be alive. I believe cancer and heart disease and AIDS will be cured in our lifetimes. I believe science will be good enough to let us live healthy lives well over 100 (I, for one, plan on living healthily until at least 150). And I’m not talking out of my ass on this. The science, medicine, and technology is happening in labs all over the world this very instant. As an individual and as a man, I cannot, in good conscience, continue down the path I was going. And so I’m not. Don’t worry about saving the world, worry about saving for retirement instead you overspending consumer whoring monkeys! Just be mindful that times are changing at a faster pace then ever before in human history, the ones who survive are the ones who can adapt. Newspapers are dead, the web made sure of that. Books are dead, Amazon made sure of that. That’s why old people suck (I love blanket statements). They are stuck in their ways. Fluidity, impermanance, and formlessness, like a NINJA. That’s how we do!

A note about identities
Many people spend their entire lives trying to find their identity. Some people go to find themselves, whatever that means, but never really do. When something comes along that they resonate with, there is a tendency to cling on to it and refuse to let go. Don’t be a clinger. There are a lot of survivalists who really think the end of the world is coming. Vegetarians and organic eaters have an elitist attitude. PETA, Greenpeace, and a whole whackload of others are terribly, terribly misinformed, slow the progress of the very science that can save exactly what they are fighting for, and do more harm than good. Tony Robbins runs a cult. He does, if you see what he does and suggests you do in person it is exactly that. Cult mentality. I still think he’s a pimp, but my identity isn’t wrapped up in it. Same with fitness, I believe in a certain type of workout and diet that makes sense to me, but I don’t identify it as being me. I don’t see that very often, usually I see the opposite. Then, when something comes along that shakes up his/her worldview, all hell breaks loose. Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t be a joiner. Its noble to try and save the world, but really understand what you are doing before actually doing it. What are you saving it from? People want to be a part of something, to connect, to be a part of a community and a tribe. This is evolution at work, this is how we survived. But times are different now. How absolutely rude and insensitive are you do criticize obese people because you lost some weight and are now part of the get fit tribe? Elitist. There are a lot of sharks out there trying to sell you snake oil. Some of these sharks have really nice boobs and wear miniskirts. Others, like Dr. Phil, think they can dissect and solve your life problems after meeting you for 5 minutes in front of millions of people who then proceed to praise him like a god. The Vatican, Monsanto, Google, these giants are not saintly, but they aren’t completely evil either. We are smarter than that. Just use that noggin of yours, put that fragile ego down, and go into the new year understanding that you are not your car, your job, what you believe in, and stop with the hero worship and herd mentality. That alone can take you very far.

A message to my friends and family
They say we are the average of our 5 closest friends. And therefore, for me to be better, I need YOU to be better. When I push you, it’s not just because I get a smile when you step up and prove me wrong, it’s also for my own selfishness. I can’t do this on my own. I need all of you more than you will understand. I know I’m a little unstable. I know I can be ridiculously unreasonable sometimes, but this is only because I despise second class behaviour in myself, and the people I choose to associate myself with. No snivelling, no whining, none of that garbage, it goes straight to autoignore. I know I drive you guys crazy sometimes (especially my family). And I’d like to say there’s a method to my madness, and there is. I just haven’t figured out what that is yet 😛 Your loyalty astounds me and I’m at your greatest honour. If I were you I wouldn’t be putting up with my shit, but you do. So thanks and stuff. *eHug*. Onwards, to a new year! Today, is the last day of the decade, adventure waits on the other side!

Influences this year include:
Bloggers: Ramit Sethi, Seth Godin, Tim Ferris, Derek Sivers, Mark Sisson, Leo Babauta

Books: The Primal Blueprint, The Vegetarian Myth, Born to Run, Emergency, A Whole New Mind, Power of Less, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Crush It, Ignore Everybody, The Paradox of Choice, The 4-Hour Workweek Expanded Edition, The Greatest Show on Earth, Blue Zones

Film: Food Inc, The World According to Monsanto, Collapse, Collision, A Crude Awakening, The Corporation, Fat Head, The Fog of War, King Corn, The Age of Stupid

Other: The Story of Stuff, TED.com, Penn and Teller’s Bullshit, Weston Price Foundation, Toronto Survivalism Group, The P.I.N.E Project, Beachbody

Mindset

Do you trust yourself? Ignore Everybody

December 6, 2009 landland 2 Comments

I read this book a little while ago called “Ignore Everybody” by Hugh MacLeod and its stuck with me for a while. Kind of a catchy title, but all he’s saying is when you are doing something new and original, people won’t understand so you really can’t listen to any advice someone might have to give. In my own life I’ve actually taken it a step further and ignore everybody pretty much by default now. I used to give everybody the benefit of the doubt but I find it is just far too time consuming to do that, since everybody these days is full of verbal diarrhea. The internet has given everybody and their mom a voice and opinion on every subject imaginable. Now you have people walking around who think they know everything. They’ll read an article on how organic food isn’t actually healthier to eat so they are smug knowing they never bought organic foods before. They’ll watch a documentary claiming climate change is a big sham and so decide its ok to drive through the city in their big hummer to show off their status. Backwards rationalization, that’s what I’ll call it and leave it at that.

I used to try to persuade people to see things my way. Now, I don’t even bother. I just ignore. In fact, when I hear a fool speak, I don’t even answer them. Because if I did, it would just be two fools battling it out for ego validating supremacy. I do love to engage in thought provoking conversation, but I find it harder and harder to come by these days. My friend David said to me a little while ago after hearing me get heated up over something stupid people were doing (I don’t even remember what), “Martin, you know you are different from 99% of the people out there, so what are you going to do about it?”. I was stumped, I didn’t know how to answer that question. That’s when I figured out yeah, I have to ignore most of this stupidity. I am personally a huge fan of intelligence, but it is so hard to come by these days. There is a lot of misinformation being thrown out there by big corporations, misdirection even, to try and make you buy their product. In a ridonkulously consumerist world, its a very effective strategy if you are the average person. But let me ask you something, are you that person? Wouldn’t you rather trust yourself? Do you? Do you trust in your own intelligence? Do you trust in your own abilities? Do you trust your own instincts?

Don’t read one article and preach it as dogma (I would say never preach anything as dogma…always challenge your beliefs). Don’t even read two. Studies can so easily be manipulated and I would caution you to not be fooled. Never confuse correlation and causality. Pay attention to controlled studies, not observational studies which have enormous, enormous room for manipulation (The sky was cloudy on both days I got an A+ on my English paper, therefore to get an A+ the sky must be cloudy). Control studies can be repeated, over and over and over again with the same results. That’s when you say, “ok, this one might be legit”. This is why something like climate change is so hotly debated and difficult to tackle. Its a lot of fuzzy science. But is that fair to not do anything about it? I would think its more laziness and irresponsibility than anything else.

Don’t ever let somebody tell you that you are wrong at something, whether its to get a flu shot for your kid, or whether or not if its immoral to eat harmless animals or anything else for that matter. Just ignore it, and go with what feels right to you. That’s why I can’t even watch mainstream media anymore. TV just force feeds bs down your throat and you eat it and puke it back out like a bulimic who’s had way too much to drink. Apparently something is going on with Tiger Woods these days, and I’m thinking to myself, “Are you serious? Of all the ridiculously important topics in the world you care about this garbage?!?” (Don’t ever judge a man who’s shoes you’ve never walked in.) Am I misinformed by cutting out mainstream media? Hardly, I’m probably more informed than most people but that’s because I TRUST MY INTELLIGENCE to filter through the junk and ignore the rest.

I’m a confident individual. I believe in myself more than anybody will ever believe in me (there’s too many people in my life and yours putting labels and constraints and judgements and negativity on you, so why would you do that to yourself? everybody else is already doing it). And I fall, and I bleed, and I get pissed off at myself and I cry. But I always, always, pigheadedly persist and get up. As Michael Jordan would say, “I fail over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” I wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m super emotional. I’m a massive, major, over the top walking contradiction. But that’s me. I treat the CEO of a fortune 500 company the same way I treat a homeless person: with the same amount of respect that I would want to be treated with (at least at the beginning until you’ve either gained more or lost it all). Sometimes it works very well, other times I can get scorched. But I just have to trust that I was made of a combination of a billion million trillion factors through a remarkable chain of events in our evolution, ancestry, and time to be exactly how I am. You and I both are living examples of a breathing miracle. Trust it man, seriously. I see far too many of my friends and family who just don’t trust in themselves and listen to nonsense instead of ignoring it. If they only saw what I saw, they’d be killing it.

I want to say that nobody can possibly do everything on their own. I rely on a very select group of amazing individuals, and am always looking out for more. So I don’t want to say ignore everybody all the time. When is it a good time to listen? There are a few moments that come to mind. When you need to model someone who has already done it, then his advice on that topic would be worth listening to. I pay attention to friends who make a living running their online businesses, for example. When you are getting real, legit constructive feedback, positive or negative, that is a very good thing to listen to. I especially appreciate the brutal honesty, like when I was writing some essays for MBA applications, I had some friends put the hammer down (But they kept saying sorry, which drove me nuts. Don’t apologize, just let me have it.) When you are emotionally compromised, whether its love, anger, hatred, jealousy, or whatever, ask for some help from a neutral friend. I find this last one the hardest of them all. I had this happen to me recently, and my buddy really put things down logically for me. But emotion always overrides logic, so even though I knew he was right, I seriously struggled with the decision (happy ending: I took the advice). Shutting down my heart is the worst, most difficult thing I’ve ever done. It hurts more than betrayal and heart break by far. It just sucks, but when its the right thing to do, its the right thing to do.

Tune into your instincts by being hyper vigilant in your surroundings, fully engaged in what you are doing, and completely present in the moment. Killer instincts can be trained. Don’t do stupid things though that your untrained instincts would lead you to believe like being overly irrational because of paranoia. Good instincts will help reduce chronic stress, remove that nagging voice in your head and improve decision making. You don’t have to listen to someone who has a phd. In fact, ignore the labels completely. We live in a very interesting time in our history. Right now, we have something nobody has ever had that has evened the playing field. We have the Internet. With just a few keystrokes and the click of a button, you can be as knowledgeable as any ‘expert’ in the field (like I said earlier, after you’ve filtered through the junk). Put me in a room of health and nutrition gurus, and I’ll be fine. Throw me in any rock climbing gym, and I’ll hold my own. You get the point. Trust yourself, ignore everybody else. Its better that way.

Mindset

A belief is a belief is a belief…

November 9, 2009 landland Leave a comment

All my life I’ve had weird things happen to me. I don’t know how to describe them any other way. Some of it has been good, some of it has been bad, some neutral and just odd so I don’t know what to make of it. I’ll just stick with weird. Today has been one of those days.

So as I wrote briefly in my last post, I recently switched from a vegan diet to one higher in saturated fats and lower in carbohydrates. I’ve been very interested in the subject lately and from all my reading and research have started to lean on the side that excessive carbs are not that great for you. One of the people I’ve been following, Mark Sisson, has been very influential in my beliefs. He talks about limiting carb intake to 100-150 g a day, and anything below 50 g will take you into a state called ketosis which will help burn fat faster. Today, I stumbled across an article written by Malcolm Gladwell written in 1998 titled ‘The Pima Paradox’. I was ready to skip it but for some reason decided to give it a read. Usually I give an article an a paragraph or two, and if it doesn’t catch my attention, I skip it. Since I’m a fan of Gladwell, I gave it three and was glad I did, because it was actually an article on diet and obesity. In it, he pretty much bashes the carb idea and the idea that ketosis has anything to do with weight loss and provides ‘science’ to back it up. Now Gladwell isn’t a health and nutrition expert by any means, but he is a highly intelligent, very interesting thinker. Which is exactly why I started his book ‘Outliers’ this morning on a whim even though I have a ton of other ones to go through. Weird that I would stumble across this article about a subject I’ve been highly interested in contradictory to what I’ve started believing written in 1998 by the very author’s book in which I just randomly started reading today.

I also have been highly interested in flu prevention and have had some interesting discussions with some people about it. Last week, AF sent me some notes on an info session he attended regarding fighting flu using natural remedies given by a Chinese herbal medicinal practitioner thingamabob. One of the herbs she suggests is Astragalus, which is the main ingredient found in a product called ‘Deep Immune’. Today I started to get a scratchy throat so I went to the natural food store and picked up a bottle of it, came back and popped a pill. As I was eating dinner, I was looking through some shows I have sitting on my computer and randomly decided to pick Derren Brown’s The System (for those of you who don’t know DB, check him out, he’s absolutely amazing). In this show, Derren Brown claims he has an unbeatable system for horse racing. He guarantees a win EVERY single time, the odds which are about 1 in 1.45 billion or something close to that. Its an amazing show and I don’t want to spoil it, but before telling you exactly how its done he says the secret is this…grabs a bottle of…yup you guessed it. Astragalus. I’m like WTF. Prior to today I didn’t even know what Astragalus was. He then goes on to talk about the medicinal benefits of it and how its actually a placebo. This is the secret to an unbeatable horse racing system? Yup, believe it or not, he says the secret is your beliefs… Awesome, just dropped $40 on a bottle of placebo. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t know it was a placebo. Now I have to convince my mind that DB is WRONG for the bottle to be more effective…Not going to be an easy task. But that’s the wicked thing, first contradictory beliefs on ketosis and carbs, then contradictory beliefs on Astragalus. Another cool thing DB demonstrates is flipping a coin randomly and getting 10 heads in a row. I’m like tripping out, because I just read about that the other day and before he reveals the secret I’m already yelling it out. Benford’s Law (I even shared it on my friendfeed)!! Weirddddddddddd.

Steve Pavlina talks about the time 11:11. He even wrote an interesting blog post on it. Pavlina is as crazy as they get, but I like him. Basically what he says is if you see the time 11:11, or some weird repeating number like that, the universe is trying to tell you something. All I can say is I’ve seen 11:11 no less than five freaking times today. I’ve lost track. First was this morning while doing my Upper Body workout (starting my second week of P90X+). I RARELY look at the time remaining while I’m working out and today I only did it twice. The first time was during the Upper Body Plus workout, the second time was after I came home from work and started Abs Core Plus. Guess what the time remaining each time was? 11:11. I also looked down at the clock at exactly 11:11 AM, looked at some logs that had timestamps of 11:11 AM, as well as emails and chat conversations with the same. Honestly though, who looks at the timestamp of an email? I never do and yet today I did and sure enough, 11:11 AM. The number just kept showing up, wherever I frigging looked it was there. I’m sure because I believed it was weird, my subconscious started to seek out the number hence why I saw it so many times today. Or maybe not. Who cares. Its still weird.

I don’t know what’s going on, but its cool just observing it happen. Strange things like this happen to me quite a bit. I wonder if anybody else has had these experiences?? Its kind of like deja vu, when it happens to you you are like woah. And maybe its my belief that weird things happen to me which causes weird things to happen to me? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Health and Fitness

Insanity Workout Review

November 1, 2009 landland 11 Comments

Claimed to be the hardest workout ever to be put on DVD, the Insanity workout is seriously, seriously intense. I just finished it and am satisfied with how I did. Below are my thoughts.

What it is:

Hardcore anaerobic exercises. Lots of interval training, lots of explosive movement, lots of bodyweight exercises, lots of power, resistance, plyometrics, core and balance work. Little rest.

What it is not:

Insanity is not an upper body workout. If you are looking to build up muscles in your arms, chest, and back, I would not do this workout. P90X would be a much more suitable alternative (another really good/intense program).

Who should do it:

Insanity is for people who are already in shape. Athletes looking to build their cardio, raise their VO2 Max, increase lung capacity, strengthen their core and legs. People in the video are Beachbody coaches, spinning instructors, marathon runners, army veterans, b-boys, that sort of thing.

Who should not do it:

If you are looking to get into shape, stay far away from this program. You will not be able to handle it. The warm up itself is enough to knock you out. I know people who can’t finish the warm up and it only gets more insane. You better be damn sure you are already in good shape, P90X grads would fit into this category, people who workout 6 days a week hard would fit into this category. The New Years resolutioners will need to find something else cause they’ll get worked over. People with breathing conditions like asthma should stay away as well. Consult your doctor before doing this. The general rule of thumb is if you think you are even a little bit out of shape, then don’t do it.

What you should know:

The claim is it is a 60 day program separated by a month 1 workout plan and a month 2 workout plan, but it isn’t. There is a recovery week in between in which you do a recovery workout in between, so its actually 63 days (I previously said 67, but my math sucks). So be sure you are committed to 63 days or you won’t finish. I wouldn’t advise skipping any days. If its important to you, you’ll find the time to do it.

My thoughts:

For a program called Insanity, it was one of the few things in my life that kept me sane since returning from Peru. I felt pretty confident doing my first fit test. I was absolutely exhausted when I finished it, but the numbers I put up weren’t that far off from the two people who did it in the video. That was somewhat promising to me. The whole premise of the Insanity workout is you work as hardcore as you possibly can for extended periods, and then take a short rest for recovery (its like the opposite of traditional high intensity training where you work moderate for a few minutes then explode for 30 seconds). As they say in the videos, you really have to dig deeper to do these workouts. I would say 80% of this workout is mental. Proper technique is very important in this workout, otherwise you risk injury. If your form is gone, then stop and recover cause you are done.

The first month of workouts are not quite as long as the second month, and they aren’t as tough. It would feel awkward to call them easier though, because they are anything but. They still kick your butt hardcore, just for maybe 10 minutes less. Because of all the hard work involved in the first month, you are much better prepared for the hurting that month 2 brings. Also of note is I switched from a vegan diet after month 1 to a diet richer in saturated fats and lower in carbs. That, in and of itself, is probably worth a post sometime in the future. I’m not really ready to talk about it yet as I am still challenging some of my fundamental beliefs. How did it effect my performance by switching diets? It didn’t, I still got rocked every workout.

What kept me going was the idea of pushing myself hard. Shaun T really does a good job of motivating you. Focus is important, fire in the belly is important, a little bit of anger did me well, and competition helped keep me going. I was not only competing with myself, but the people in the videos. It was a very satisfying feeling to see all these super fit people dropping like flies in the video while I was still pushing through and going strong. It juiced me to know I was right in there with the best of them. P90X was a similar feeling. Speaking of which, coming from it I did lose some upper body mass and strength while doing Insanity, but I’ll just build it up again now that I’m done.

I worked out in the morning for virtually every workout, except maybe some weekends. Even though I am more energized in the afternoon and feel stronger, I made it part of my daily morning routine so I would not have any excuses not do it a day. There was no “I don’t feel like it today” days at all. Every day it was about getting it done and getting it done to the best of my ability. I remember one particular day I had two workouts to do (they stack ab work on some days), Yoga in the afternoon, then rock climbing afterward. That was a tiring day, but it needed to get done so it was done. Even today, I am going rock climbing very shortly but I put my best effort into the last fit test and put up some monster numbers which I’ll post below. It is like brushing your teeth in the morning, just part of a routine. I have found that to be the best way of sticking to the calendar.

In Closing:

I rocked the CN Tower climb last weekend. Close to 12,000 people climbed and I looked on Google, Bing, Facebook and Twitter, and could not find someone who posted a faster time then me. The unitedwayto twitter has me listed as the fastest time of the weekend. This is despite being tired, fatigued, not fully recovered, hungover, slightly sick, dealing with too many people on the stairs and without a single session of stair training or running. I would say Insanity had a huge part in that.

Would I ever do the Insanity workout in its entirety again? No. It has taken me to new levels but long term I think its too much on a person’s body to be doing it 6 days a week. The individual workouts themselves are world class, and I’ll be using them frequently as part of my routine. But as a regimentation and sticking to the calendar, I think I am done with. Would I recommend the workout? Depends on who I am talking to. I can’t suggest it to everyone because it is not made for everyone, but there is no denying the fact that it pushes you to the brink of exhaustion, and in turn, makes you better.

I have before and after photos, but they seem a little narcissistic so I won’t be posting them. So instead, here’s a picture of a very malnourished vegan me taken in 2007. Enjoy.

My Fit Test numbers:

Here are my numbers. I’m pretty proud of my progression. Because I don’t know how to make a table in email, I’ll just list my numbers in order for each exercise. It goes from Day 1, Day 15, Day 36, Day 50, Day 63. I don’t have the number recorded for the low plank oblique on day 1, probably because i was too tired to lift up my body and forgot.

Switch Kicks: 120 – 132 – 130 – 136 – 137
Power Jacks: 54 – 63 – 67 – 75 – 80
Power Knees: 93 – 120 – 126 – 127 – 128
Power Jumps: 60 – 82 – 83 – 89 – 91
Globe Jumps: 14 – 15 – 15 – 15 – 15
Suicide Jumps: 17 – 21 – 24 – 28 – 32
Push-Up Jacks: 33 – 40 – 44 – 48 – 54
Low Plank Obliques: ??? – 100 – 100 – 107 – 131

Get Insanity here.