Fitness Philosophy - Brant

This post is a quick and dirty breakdown of my philosophy and stance on certain fitness topics.  This is not the post that supports or argues my positions, that will come in later, more specific posts.  This is merely to inform readers about my current stance on these subjects.  My views will probably evolve as I continue to educate myself.


Diet, (somewhat) in order of priority:
1. Eliminate trans. fats (partially hydrogenated whatever-oil )
2. Eliminate grains except for white rice
3. Eliminate seed and veggie oils
4. Minimize your refined sugar intake

5. Increase saturated fat intake, greatly reduce polyunsaturated fat intake (this would incline one to choose pastured eggs, grassfed dairy)
6. Fast Intermittently.  This is not hard if you train your body to be able to switch to fat metabolism (ketosis) effectively. 
7. Eat foods with live cultures (raw dairy, kombucha tea, etc).
8. Eliminate pasteurized dairy.

Exercise:
1. Safety first! Avoid acute injury by practicing proper form and appropriate amounts of weight/volume with whatever exercise you are performing. 
2. Safety second!  Avoid chronic injury by proactively working on your alignment and posture issues...'cause you probably have some.  Zac and I do.
3. Safety third!  Allow your body ample time to heal between workouts.  Remember, you can't train if you're hurt!
4. Safety...okay, you get it.  This one will help your performance, too: warm up before going hard.  My understanding is that you will increase your blood flow, stimulate a better response from your nervous system, and enhance nutrient uptake due to warmer blood temperatures.  
5. Stress intense exercise over slow and steady.  Lift heavy weights with proper form for fewer reps.  Sprint up a hill instead of going for a jog.
6. Stress the big, functional lifts: deadlifts, squats, benchpress, hangcleans, pullups, military press, rows.  These have beneficial hormonal effects that other exercises don't, in part because they target huge muscle groups.  They also teach your muscles to work in conjunction, as you would use them in sports or real life.  An example of a lift I avoid would be the bicep curl, which isolates a muscle that you really never use by itself outside of the gym.  Train like a caveman.
7. Incorporate sprints and other explosive athletic movements into your workouts.
8. Don't use machines.  They will train you to develop artificial strength that doesn't really convert well to real world strength.  When the weight is on a predetermined track, you really aren't forcing your core to engage or supporting muscles to help out.  Real life isn't on a track. 

Sleep:
1. Get plenty of it, do it when it's dark.  Listen to your body's circadian rhythm.  Get outside so that your body can get in sync with the sun's cycle. 

Sunshine:
1. Get outside and let your body naturally produce vitamin D.  Don't get too burnt. 

Alignment:
1. Consider a program like Rolfing or the Egoscue Method.  It's a slow process, and there's not much research of which I'm aware in this field, but it could potentially prevent chronic and acute injury and improve performance.
2. Start rolling out big muscle groups before a workout with a foam roller or something like this.  I use a lacrosse ball for my shoulder blades sometimes.  This process is called myofascial release, and it can be very painful at first, but like all this stuff, you can learn to love it.
3. Stretch your hip flexors and psoas muscles.  These two groups in particular seem to be chronically tight in the vast majority of clients I had when I trained. 
4. Train barefoot or with minimalist "zero-drop" (<< no elevated heel) shoes.  Start off slow, and let your body grow accustomed to using neglected lower-leg muscles and utilizing new movements.


Meditation:
1.  Simple zazen meditation for 10-15 minutes a day has been something I've enjoyed for the past 6 years.  My personal experience has been that a solid meditation practice is utterly transformative.  I believe it's helped me regulate emotions and get a handle on my ADD among other things. 

As I mentioned before, I fully intend to delve more deeply into ALL of these topics

...and have fun!  Life is meant to be enjoyed, that's what this blog is all about.  If you want to make a change, but this is just too much for you right now, take it one step at a time!  Educate yourself and then do what feels right.  This is all a process.

Thanks for reading.

-Brant

Till death do us part, fitness for life

Over the past few years I have been able to experience a big chunk of the fitness industry. I have coached hundreds of clients in wide populations, managed teams of personal trainers and  24/7 gym facilities, and battled with my own pursuit of fitness glory (despite my nasty hip dysfunction).

Through these experiences, I have found that these ideas always shone true: Fitness is a life-long endeavor, it is a bridge between puny you and ultimate you, and it is a marriage and a bond that will bend but never break. Sure there will be fights; a few years ago I hurt my lumbar dead lifting with an overused and not-properly-warmed-up body.  My back felt like it had cracked in half as the weight slammed to the floor. (It was a 365lb dead lift, I was on my first date.)

I was out for three weeks, but I came back and learned from my mistakes, and I was better for it. Like all long-term relationship evolution, fitness evolves over time.  Our mindset changes as our bodies change.  We learn from our mistakes, and in the end, we are more sound psychologically and physically.

I see so many people who want the short term fix, the overnight savior.  I tell them this one statement: "The most worthwhile endeavors in life are the one's that take years of blood, sweat and tears to accomplish." Til death do us part, so should our relationship with fitness be.   Fitness is forever, and it is the most worthwhile endeavor one can ever undertake.

-Zac