Ch 10 - Spiritual Health (4th Aspect)

Living a spiritually healthy life means living a life full of meaning and purpose. It means living in harmony with your own values and with the values of like-minded people you’ve surrounded yourself with. According to many, spiritual health brings the most joy of all other aspects of health. 

I’ve always envied folks who find deep meaning and comfort in the belief of something that cannot be quantified scientifically. For me, it used to be hard to believe in something which cannot be seen or heard with my physical senses. But experiences I’ve had raise some fairly important questions. Questions like: Are we able to measure every aspect of human experiences? Do we even know all of the human senses? 

I’m not sure we do. I pose a case in point. 

There is a phenomenon that happens too frequently at my gym to be dismissed as utter coincidence. I’ve been pointing it out so often, for so many years everyone who comes to the gym knows about it, laughs about it, and looks for it. They all agree it’s super weird, but none who have witnessed this phenomenon would deny it happens.

It seems people who are like-minded function in like-minded ways. I’d go so far to say it appears we are all connected somehow. There are a lot of ways this manifests itself I could tell you about, but the most interesting manifestation of this phenomenon is how people dress. On many days, folks who come to work out at our gym at the same time of day will be dressed the same. For example, Kristen and Hillary are workout buddies. They both come to the gym around 0900. Too often to be a coincidence, they’ll show up at exactly the same time, wearing exactly the same outfit. Like, they’ll arrive within 1 minute of each other wearing the exact same shirt, from the exact same store, in the exact same color. They’ll even be wearing the same color of pants. But that’s not the weirdest thing. They’ll meet at the door and laugh at each other for a minute, then they’ll walk into the gym to see 7 other people wearing the same color combinations. 

Coincidence right? I don’t think so. I mean, what are the odds of 9 out of the 12 people in a room wearing the same color combinations? Maybe it’d happen once, but this phenomenon happens almost every day. And it’s different with every class time. Like, one class will be wearing all black and gray. The next class will all have camo pants and purple tanks. The next class will all be wearing blue shirts. I’m not kidding you. It’s weird. 

So what’s my point?

My point is there is obviously a connection between people we aren’t fully aware of on a conscious level. We can’t name it. We can’t measure it. And even though scientifically this phenomenon doesn’t officially exist - it’s there. 

This pans out doesn’t it? Billions of people worldwide attribute feelings of connection, deep meaning and comfort to phenomena that doesn’t yet scientifically exist, right? Can they all be wrong? 

Steps for Improving Spiritual Health

Spiritual health isn’t about religion—it’s about meaning. It’s about feeling connected to something bigger than your daily to-do list.

Here’s how you build it:

Slow Down and Reflect
Take a few minutes each day to think. What do you actually believe? What matters to you? What kind of person are you trying to become? Most people never ask—so they drift.

Create Quiet on Purpose
Meditation, breathing, prayer, sitting in silence… doesn’t matter what you call it. Just give your mind a break from noise long enough to hear yourself think.

Get Outside (Regularly)
Nature has a way of putting things back into perspective. Go for a walk. Sit in the sun. Look at something bigger than your problems.

Practice Gratitude (Even When You Don’t Feel Like It)
Write down a few things you’re grateful for every day. This isn’t fluff—it trains your brain to see what’s working, not just what’s missing.

Do Things That Actually Matter to You
Not what looks good. Not what gets likes. What feels meaningful. If your daily actions don’t line up with your values, something’s off.

Find Your People
Surround yourself with people who are trying to grow, not just survive. Conversations matter. Energy matters. Choose wisely.

Be a Decent Human (Consistently)
Kindness. Empathy. Patience. Not just when it’s easy—but when it’s inconvenient. That’s where the real work is.

Here's my take: not everything's meant to be dissected under a microscope. There's a vast, uncharted territory—let's call it the non-physical realm. It's where spirituality touches each of us individually. Some folks find it within church walls, while others seek it in the quiet whispers of meditation or the embrace of nature.

When we nurture spiritual health, we are charting the universe within. It's where we find and nurture our core values. That’s where we can find clarity and peace of mind. And guess what? It’s not just good for US; it ripples outward. On some level our choices, our actions and our intentions are all interconnected. I believe this. Suffice it to say, I believe what’s good for you, is ultimately good for me. That means we all benefit. I’m down with that. I hope you are too. 

Ch 11 - Financial Health (5th Apect)

Poor financial health can deteriorate our ability to take care of ourselves, become educated, find work, maintain relationships and plan for our future. 

By winter of 2020, like many around the world, our business was failing. The pandemic was particularly rough on our tiny gym. Right off the bat, we were forced to close our doors for 4 full months. For the next six months we were limited to only 6 people per hour. Our 10 year old gym was decimated. We lost 50 members in the first week. Most of them were older and when the CDC warned that older members of society were most at risk of dying from COVID-19, most of our clients over 50 were gone. Losing fifty members wouldn’t do much to the mega-gyms in our area, but our membership numbers always hovered around 150-200 members. 50 members quitting was a very big deal and was an extremely big hit to the gym financially. We were used to 20-30 members coming at a time. Scheduling a workout became a nightmare for our clients. Most of our members found this inconvenient. Many showed support and were generous beyond measure. Many more quit.

Struggling financially caused us to work extremely hard. Those hours weren’t productive. This caused me to stress out, think badly of myself and work even harder. This went round and round until, eventually the wheels came off.

Linds and I held the gym together by a thread until the summer of 2021. But then something broke inside of me. I just snapped. 

At the time, I had been going through a bit of a revival of my soul. I had been studying spirituality and advocacy for a couple of years. Sparked by the equality movement in the summer of 2020 I became convinced I needed to speak up and start voicing my support of injustice as I saw it. Problem was I didn’t know how to get involved. Plus I never really had the guts to jump into the fight before.

All at once, I found the guts. Suddenly, in the summer of 2021 I decided to become a voice in the race for equality. 

Let’s just say I wasn’t the most eloquent advocate. My choice to speak out added to the financial unraveling of our gym. 

My very public actions alienated people. Alienating people caused relationships to end.  These were relationships I cherished. Some of these I’d fostered and cared for over 20 years. Despite my apologies and attempts at reparations many of my cherished relationships were abruptly and unceremoniously ended. This had an even more damaging effect on my psyche and the gym. I lost 44 friends that day. Our gym lost 44 members and a lot of good will in the community. 

I’m not sure why I allowed myself to be such an ass. All I can say is, poor financial health has far-reaching consequences. Financial instability can be a severe source of stress and is likely to show up negatively in many facets of our lives. 

How to Improve Your Financial Health

Let’s keep this simple—because complicated is usually what got people into trouble in the first place.

Know Where Your Money Is Going
If you don’t have a handle on your cash flow, nothing else matters. Sit down and map it out—income, expenses, everything. Most people aren’t broke… they’re just unaware.

Kill the Bad Debt First
High-interest debt is financial quicksand. Credit cards, especially. Attack it aggressively. Every dollar you free up here is a dollar that can actually start working for you.

Build a Real Safety Net
Life happens—cars break, bodies break, jobs change. Have 3–6 months of expenses set aside so one bad month doesn’t turn into a bad year.

Make Saving Automatic
Don’t rely on willpower. Set it up so money moves into savings, retirement, and investments without you thinking about it. Boring wins here.

Invest Like You Plan to Live a Long Time
Because you probably will. Learn the basics or get help—but don’t sit on cash forever. Time is your biggest advantage, even starting later than you’d like.

Stop Trying to Look Rich
This one stings a little. Most people stay broke trying to impress other broke people. Live within your means. Quiet wealth beats loud spending every time.

Check In Regularly
Your finances aren’t “set it and forget it.” Review them. Adjust. Stay engaged. What worked 5 years ago might not work now.

Leading a healthy, happy and secure life inarguably has financial elements so we must pay close attention to it. I’m paying closer attention to my financial health these days. It has helped. The gym is bouncing back and our future looks much brighter than it has in a few years. I have become a better advocate too. For me, I have learned positivity is a much more effective way to affect the changes I'd like to see in the world and in my community.

Ch 12 - Intellectual Health (6th Aspect)

Intellect is the ability to learn, reason, create, know and understand. 

You can’t know it all, but every little thing helps, right? I believe our intellect holds the key to the limits of our own development and life satisfaction. Becoming educated either formally or informally and following other intellectual goals and pursuits contribute to our lives substantially. This is especially true of health and fitness.

In the late 90s, I worked at a very popular and large gym in Northern Utah. Every day around noon the gym would slow down and one particular guy would come in for his workout. 

You could tell he was a bit out of his element. Often he’d wear dirt encrusted boots over his soiled and greasy jeans. I hate when people wear jeans to the gym. It’s not a fashion thing (who’d take fashion advice from me?). Rivets on jeans rip vinyl seats. So do belt buckles, so do dangling multi-tools - he was wearing all of them. The first time we pointed out his belt buckle ripped the bench he was lying on he seemed genuinely sorry, but it didn’t stop him from doing his next set.

His workouts were - strange. He had a thing with his neck. It’s all he worked on. He’d come into the gym several times per week and walk down the rows of exercise machines trying to do things the machines weren’t designed to do using his head and neck. For example, you are supposed to sit on the leg extension machine and put your legs behind the pad then lift the pad by extending your legs out in front of you. He’d kneel down beside the machine, put the side of his head on the pad where your feet are supposed to go, and push it around with his head using the muscles of his neck. He’d sit there on all fours, head on the footpad doing head/neck exercises for sets of 50-60 reps. Then he’d walk over to the cable machine and try to hold the handle of the cable under his chin while he did chin-tucks. Dozens of them. The weirdest one I saw was where he padded a barbell in a squat rack, stood underneath it placing the top of his head in the middle of the barbell, then stood up with it trying to balance it on top of his head. He’d do a set where he stood there balancing the barbell, shaking incredibly, for 20-30 seconds then put it down. Then he’d pack on more weight and do it again. The dude could pick up an enormous amount of weight on his head.

After weeks of watching him do this, I decided I’d hit him up about it. While his workout didn’t make much sense to me, maybe I was missing something. 

I had a really nice conversation with him. Such a nice guy. He said he really admired people with thick necks and profound jawlines. He said he was rather embarrassed by his comparatively skinny neck and weak jawline. He explained a friend told him working out would help with this. So he joined the gym. 

I asked him “why only do neck stuff?” He said he was really happy with the rest of his body. He didn’t think he needed to work on anything else. I asked him if he was open to some other points of view on this. I even offered some training. He said, “No, thank you. I think I’ve got this.” With that, he gave me a wry smile and he was off to the next neck thing. 

There was so much I could have done to help this guy. Turns out, I wasn’t the one missing something. It was totally him. Thick necks and profound jawlines from lifting weights come as the result of heavy compound lifts. Lifts like squats, deadlifts, presses and pull ups. Working the neck directly isn’t very effective for building neck muscles. This is because it’s hard to apply direct resistance to the head, which is why he was on all fours at the leg extension machine. People who work their necks usually do so as a type of therapeutic or preventive program. My dude needed a little more knowledge and I was sad he wasn’t open to it. 

How to Improve Intellectual Health

If you’re over 40 and not actively sharpening your mind… you’re drifting. And drift is the enemy.

Here’s how to stay dangerous:

Stay Curious
Start asking better questions. Why does this work? What don’t I understand? Curiosity keeps your brain young—and most people lose it because they stop using it.

Never Stop Learning
You don’t need a classroom. Read. Watch. Study. Take a course if you want—but don’t confuse “done with school” with “done growing.”

Read Outside Your Bubble
If everything you read just reinforces what you already believe… you’re not learning—you’re hiding. Mix it up. Different viewpoints force your brain to work.

Think, Don’t Just Consume
Stop blindly accepting information. Question it. Break it apart. Decide what actually makes sense. That’s where real intelligence is built.

Create Something
Write. Build. Draw. Teach. Creating forces you to organize your thoughts—and exposes what you don’t actually understand yet.

Have Real Conversations
Talk to people who think differently than you. Not to win—but to understand. That’s how your perspective expands.

Clean Up Your Inputs
Your brain is only as good as what you feed it. Less junk content. More substance. Be intentional with what you watch, read, and listen to.

All of our thoughts and decisions are influenced by our experiences, academic knowledge, creativity, general knowledge and common sense.

Intellect truly holds the key to the limits of our own development. In this case, had my new neck-flexing friend understood more about the limits of his weird programming, he’d have gotten a lot more out of his workouts. He likely would have actually accomplished his goals. Predictably he didn’t. He went away after a few short weeks after our discussion, his neck none the thicker. 

You can’t know everything, but every little thing helps, right? Maybe the best thing to know, is the fastest way to improve the intellect is simply to know there is always more to know. It appears to me, with intellectual development, it’s not always about how much you know, instead it’s more about how much you don’t. French philosopher Albert Camus probably said it best. He said, “An intellectual is one whose mind watches itself.” 

Ch 13 - Environmental Health (7th Aspect)

Embarrassingly, this extremely important aspect of health was the last one to make the list. Considering the state of our planet this seems about right, doesn’t it? 

A few years ago I attended a fitness retreat in Essex, Massachusetts. Essex is a charming little New England town about a half-hour north of Boston. It’s known for seafood, tourism and antiques. My wife and I had an unforgettable time there. Every morning we’d have our coffee on the steps of the quaint shingle-style inn, then take walks through the mossy forests down to the bay at low tide and wade through tidal pools. If you’ve never been there you really must go. It was beautiful and, for a country boy from the high desert mountains, it was momentous to see the lush greenery and diversity of life in the Essex bay.

The retreat was held in an adorable bed and breakfast where the owners and management of several gyms throughout the Boston area met to discuss the state of their gyms, their staff and the fitness world in general. It was a truly remarkable three days. 

It was remarkable because the main owner of the gyms was a former hippie who moved from Salt Lake City to Boston in the late 60s to get more involved in the civil rights movement. Since the 60s, like most baby boomers, he left his nonconformist roots in the dust to become a ragingly successful capitalist. However, he hung on to certain aspects of his former free-spirited beginnings, like loud shirts and rollerblades. He was also a very active environmentalist.

What struck me most about the retreat was how environmentally conscious and aware the New Englanders were. We carpooled everywhere, doubled up in rooms, recycled everything, and left no trace when we were out in the forest. At one point in the retreat, we discussed the environment in ways I had never fully considered. Since it was a fitness retreat the speaker's related environmentalism directly to health in all ways. 

That weekend sparked the thought in me that “environment” must be on the list of “8 Aspects of Health.” What I learned since that weekend was that our environment has three major components. 

1. The human component - is composed of individuals, families & communities. 

2. Nature component - which is air, water, land, and all living things.

3. Human-made components - which is a combination of many things both natural and human-created, like buildings, parks, bridges, roads, etc.

We are products of our environment. If any aspect of our environment is polluted, this will be reflected in our personal health as well as the health of our community. For example, if our human environment is polluted by toxic negativity then our personal health will suffer. If nature becomes polluted, either by us or other natural elements, our personal health will suffer. If human-made components like power lines, dams and roads overpower the natural elements of the earth it creates imbalances in the environment and our personal health will suffer. 

How to Improve Environmental Health (Without Becoming a Full-Time Activist)

The goal isn’t perfection—it’s awareness and better choices.

Conscious Consumption
Start paying attention to what you bring into your life—food, products, even information. If it’s low quality, toxic, or disposable… it’s probably costing you somewhere.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (In That Order)
Recycling is fine. But the real win? Buying less junk in the first place. Use what you already have. Most people don’t need more—they need less.

Simplify Your Daily Habits
Use less water. Waste less energy. Cut down on single-use plastics. You don’t need to overhaul your life—just stop being careless with it.

Get Outside—Regularly
Walk. Hike. Sit in the sun. Touch grass (literally). Your body and brain still expect nature… even if your lifestyle forgot.

Be Part of Something Bigger
Join a cleanup. Support local efforts. Care about your community. Environmental health isn’t global theory—it’s local behavior.

Think Before You Choose
How you get around. What you buy. Where you spend money. These decisions add up fast. Start acting like they matter—because they do.

Clean Up Your Space (and Your Circle)
Clutter drains you. So do negative people. Build an environment that supports your health instead of quietly working against it.

Often we underestimate the importance of the environments we live in. Sometimes the smallest change to our environment can have a major impact on our positivity and outlook. I once had a client tell me she became successful with weight loss by making her bed each morning. She claimed the simple act of organizing her environment by making her bed set her on track to making more healthy changes throughout her day. 

Even the smallest changes to any of the three components can have an exponentially positive effect on our own health and the health of society. I challenge you to commit today to discover different ways of organizing and cleaning up the environments you live in. Becoming more environmentally conscious and making even the smallest healthy changes to our environment will pay dividends to our future and to, perhaps, just as importantly, to future generations.

Ch 14 - Physical Health (8th Aspect)

Physical health is the conduit.

Physical Health covers a lot of different areas. It covers your nutrition, fitness, measurements, body composition, etc. Really, anything having to do with the body itself should be considered part of your physical health. 

Physical health is special because all points of health intersect here. There is something inside of each of us that innately understands this. We all know tying a physical act with a mental or spiritual pursuit helps us grasp or command the mental or spiritual intention more fully. For example, why do we look up or to the side when we think deeply about something? Is the physical act of looking up really necessary to the thought process? It’s not, but linking a physical act (looking up) to a mental task can help with the mental task. Humans do this a lot. It is very natural. 

The first time I encountered this was 25 yrs ago. I was a personal trainer at an affluent gym in Salt Lake City. I had been hired by a very successful litigating attorney. He told me in our initial consultation he needed to lose weight for an upcoming trial. I understood the whole weight loss thing for the obvious health reasons, but why for an upcoming trial? 

“Juries don’t like fat lawyers. They think fat lawyers are lazy and dishonest. If I lose the weight they’ll like me and trust me more explicitly.” 

This blew me away. It was the first time I ever connected the thought that a physical appearance might somehow convey a mental capacity like honesty or an intellectual capability. It was also apparent to me he was hoping to use his physical appearance as an indirect means to strengthen his financial future. If he won the case he’d, no doubt, strengthen his position in the firm. Winning would improve his standing with his professional colleagues and ensure he’d get the biggest cases. Improving physical health as a means to improve his financial health was new to me. Remember, I was a total health nerd. Back then I couldn’t think of another damn reason to work out other than to improve fitness and health. But it turns out this isn’t so rare. It happens a lot, with more things than most people realize. 

Here’s another example. Once a lady told me she was joining the gym so her husband would look at her “THAT way” again. In other words, she wanted a romantic connection with her husband. She wanted him to want her the way he did back when they were first dating. She imagined if she looked the same way as she did after high school her husband might be more interested in her. This was going to be difficult because as a mother of 4 who was in her early 40s things will have permanently changed for her physically. This is neither bad nor good. It just is. Not to mention, I knew it wouldn’t really matter. I know her husband personally. He worships her body. There is no way her thought of getting into better shape originated with him. And even if it would have come from him, her problems were way bigger than attraction issues. In any case, hers was clearly NOT a physical pursuit, she was looking for an emotional connection with her husband. This is an emotional and social pursuit. So why then was she gravitating toward a physical aspect of health to gain non-physical benefits? 

I believe the physical aspect of health is the conduit to improving all aspects of health. I believe we all know this inherently. It’s why we naturally gravitate toward the physical. Humans intrinsically understand the more senses involved in a learning process, the faster and more completely we will master that process. 

The principles of learning are universal. Therefore, the skills and abilities we learn to improve our physical health will be the same as the skills and abilities needed to improve all other aspects of our health. It’s why we gravitate toward the physical.

For example, to improve your physical health you need to complete daily, consistent reps of an exercise over and over. Not too few. Not too many. Wouldn’t this principle apply to our emotional health? Wouldn’t the experience of completing daily, consistent reps of exercises like making eye contact while speaking, help to improve my emotional health in the same way? 

Here’s another. In order to improve my physical health, I have to learn to progressively overload my physical body in a way that initiates physical improvement. Not too little, but not too much. Wouldn’t learning to progressively overload my capacity for putting myself into unfamiliar social situations help me to become a more familiar and dependable member of my community? I am an extreme introvert. I hate social situations. My instinct is to avoid people and parties at all costs. Social situations cause me extreme stress. My initial instinct is to avoid them, but avoiding social situations makes me lonely. This causes me even more stress. This is a never-ending loop. I learned to cope with my crippling social anxiety by learning to become accustomed to the stress. I started small, by only socializing with individuals. From there, I progressively overloaded my capacity for interacting with people by expanding my social circle to couples and small groups. Over the years, I’ve become better at social interaction. I’ve become better at putting myself in social situations and also better at handling the social interactions I’ve put myself into. This took progressive overloading.

Learning to use our physical body to improve other aspects of our health is the fastest and most complete way to learn the skill we are seeking. It’s why many of us default to exercise when trying to get back on track after life throws us a few curveballs. 

Remember physical health is special because all points of health intersect here. The act of tying a physical act with another less tangible aspect of health (mental, emotional, social, spiritual) helps us learn. Using a physical act to learn a less tangible aspect of health helps us learn that aspect faster and more completely than if we didn’t use it in the first place. 

Exercise and using our physical bodies is magic. Increasing our strength, endurance, and ability to move increases our physical health in all of the most important ways. This is invaluable for all aspects of our health. 

Ch 15 - Minimalism

We are minimalists. 

Minimalists care primarily about efficiency and effectiveness. 

We refuse to do one more rep of one single exercise than is absolutely necessary to accomplish our goal of optimal health.That said, we realize nothing worth having comes easily. Therefore we are committed to doing whatever is required to get to optimal health.

Our approach is unique in the health and exercise world. Most programs are concerned with seeing how much people are capable of doing. We find this silly, misguided, and believe it wastes time, intent and effort. Truth is, NOBODY CARES about the highest achievements one can accomplish inside of a gym. 

I can prove this. What is the highest bench press ever recorded? Most people don’t know. Do you? Who performed that bench press? Who did he take that record from? What was the highest bench press before? 

Funny so many of us seem to place such high importance and emphasis on a thing like “hyperfitness” that has no demonstrable importance or meaning in our lives. If NOBODY knows the highest bench press in the world, then it’s not important to most people. Why then are so many people spending so much time, intention and effort (like I foolishly used to do) to accomplish something so unimpressive/unimportant? It’s baffling. 

Does this mean we shouldn’t bench press, squat or deadlift? No. All of these exercises are essential to our optimal health, especially when done right. We need them. We should do them if we can. But we should do them in a minimalistic manner. In ways that enhance our lives, NOT in ways that diminish our lives.

Remember, we know great functional capacity is useful only OUTSIDE of the gym. That’s where most of us find our true passions and purposes. The gym’s job is to give us the energy, strength and vigor needed to succeed in pursuits we have deemed important, such as being an attentive spouse, an engaged parent, a more creative and productive businessperson, a better employee, or a more inspiring boss. The gym’s job is to give us more energy to be happier and more cheerful, more active in our grandchildren’s lives, and to worship in the ways we feel are important. All of it and more in an unlimited fashion. This should be determined only by ourselves and not dictated to us by self-imposed limits on health or capacity. 

Get in the gym, get your health and vigor then get out. Don’t waste time doing more than is necessary. 

Maybe you are thinking “Minimalism is just an excuse to do less.” LOL. Anyone who would think this has never done one of our workouts. However, if you think this, I invite you to take the “ONE PRIDE BUCK” challenge. Here’s how that goes. You bring your bad-ass self to Centerville, UT and dazzle us all with your hardcore excellence. After you’ve signed all the appropriate waivers and such, Linds and I will lead you through one of our average workouts. We’ll even film it! After you kick ass and have shown us all how pathetic we are, I’ll stand corrected and pay you ONE single PRIDE BUCK. I will hand this to you with my forever respect and adoration. 🙂    

We don’t cut corners. Remember we are here to usurp all we can from our lives without being held back by self-imposed limits on our capacity. 

Yes, we will do all it takes in the gym, but NOT ONE THING MORE. Instead of doing more reps in the gym, I say we do more “reps” in life. Do them where they count. Do reps where it can benefit yourself, your family, your loved ones, your community, your country, and your God. There is no doubt the energy you put into these more important things will come back to you in more meaningful, important, and joyful ways. 

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...” 

- Henry David Thoreau

Ch 16 - The RWND Motto

“Without Strength, You’ve None to Give”

Let’s never forget the things that matter most to us now. Most of us start out with modest goals. We want better health. We want more energy. We’d like to show up better for our people. We’d like to look a smidge better, which is subjective and can change. 

Then the fitness world has ways of drawing us in. Just being a part of it exposes us to more meaningless pursuits. 

The fitness world would have us believe dumb shit like, “Six-pack abs are paramount,” or “you can never be too thin,” or “she who exercises hardest, exercises best.”The longer we are exposed to the fitness world the more negative the hold it seems to get on us. 

The fitness world builds its substantial profits in two main ways: (1) They prey on our insecurities by constantly telling us we aren’t good enough. (2) They make us believe our only worth is in the subjectively defined (and constantly changing) “beautiful body” we are building in the gym. 

Insecurity and vanity are the two worst reasons to eat right and exercise.

Loving our bodies and loving life gives health a deeper meaning, which makes succeeding with health more attainable. Strengthening our bodies helps us to strengthen others. Giving the benefits of our health to others makes those benefits more impactful and longer lasting for all involved.

Ch 17 - Sleep More

Want to know what Olympic athletes, Ironman winners, strongmen and the winner of Mr. Olympia have in common? They don’t work rotating night shifts. 

My friend Danny has worked overnight shifts for years. She’s a nurse. Like, for 20 years she’s been doing this. She’s also a mother, so she has to get kids to school in the morning. Right about the time she should be getting into bed to catch up on her sleep, she has to get kids ready and get them out the door. When the kids were young, she had to be back to school within a couple of hours to pick them back up. Then back to school a couple of hours later to pick the older kids up. Then it was soccer, dance and any other activity they were involved in. Not to mention she had to find time for her workout somewhere in there. Not long after she gets home from running kids around from activities, her husband is getting home from his job and it is dinner time for the family. She has a very traditional marriage and loves to cook for them. After dinner comes homework, then a little later it’s bedtime for the kids. About the time she puts them down, it’s time for her to start her shift on the phones. 

Danny does get sleep though. What she finds herself doing is catching sleep wherever she can throughout her day. But that’s not how sleep works. Gaining the healthy benefits from sleep requires 6-8 hours of downtime - in a row! She usually only gets about 3-4 hours sleep in a row. 

Danny is a tough chick, but over the years this sleep schedule has taken a toll on her health. Thank god she has taken the time to add exercise to her daily task list, otherwise her medical issues could be much worse. Messing with your body's natural circadian rhythms is one of the worst things you can do for your health. We’ll talk more about these health complications below, but first let’s cover circadian rhythms. 

Circadian Rhythms

We all have a built-in biological clock. It does more than you’d think. Among other things it controls:

• wakefulness

• sleep

• metabolism

• heart rate

• blood pressure

• body temp

• etc.

Our biological clocks are set to a circadian rhythm that cycles every 24 hours. If we disrupt this cycle by just a smidge, like 1-3 hours, we'll feel it. Some of us feel it immediately. Others of us get a lag of several days, or even weeks. Throwing your body out of its normal rhythmic patterns is known to cause problems.

We know the part of your brain where circadian rhythms live. It's in your suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). That's in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus seems to be fairly important to your health in that it regulates stuff like body temperature, fluids/electrolytes, hunger and hormone production. I'm not saying you couldn't get healthy without help from the hypothalamus; but if you were to fry the damn thing by screwing up your circadian rhythms hard and often, you might struggle a bit. 

The other thing we know is your SCN is connected to the retina of your eye. If it is dark, the SCN tells your body to secrete melatonin and make you peacefully sleepy. If it's light, the SCN inhibits melatonin production. Hint: if you are having trouble sleeping please ponder on the "darkness" thing you just learned. 

In the winter (assuming you live far from the equator), your SCN has developed a strange way of adapting to the longer periods of darkness. It produces melatonin in two stages. The first stage happens within a couple hours of sundown. Ever notice you get sleepy earlier in the winter? The second happens around 4 a.m. In the middle of these stages, there is a natural period of restful wakefulness. But there is a problem. In the developed world we don't go to bed earlier in the winter like our ancestors did. Instead of following our natural rhythms, most of us are just barely turning in right around our period of "restful wakefulness."By not turning in earlier when the first melatonin is released, it becomes more difficult to go to sleep.

Not getting enough sleep or enough of the right kinds of sleep throws us out of our natural circadian rhythm. This can be one of the reasons why (for some of us) our fitness goes to hell. It is also likely a contributing factor to weight gain, irritability (who doesn't get a little pissy about gaining weight?) and general lethargy. It can also be why so many of us get sick and depressed. 

Therefore, here is one of the most important keys to attaining good health and fitness: Don’t let your circadian rhythms get too far out of whack. If they do, get back on track ASAP. 

Problems with not getting enough high quality sleep

1. Memory problems. Lack of high quality sleep affects short term and long term memory. During deep sleep (REM) is where your brain forms memory and learning patterns.

2. Creativity and problem solving go out the window.

3. Emotional problems. Aren’t we hot tempered and moody enough? Lack of sleep is a leading contributor to anxiety and depression.

4. Weak immune system. Sleep is your frontline defense against infections that cause colds and flu. 

5. Car accidents and accidents at work. Lack of sleep causes lack of focus.

6. Increased risk of diabetes. Lack of sleep causes your body to produce stress hormones like cortisol. Cortisol production increases blood sugar levels in the body. This can lead to type 2 diabetes. 

7. Weight gain. Once again, stress hormones. Cortisol increases hunger and decreases satiety.

8. Decreases testosterone. Yep, stress hormones again. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone. This means it breaks down healthy tissue. It does this, in part, by suppressing testosterone and its effects. This lowers sex drive and vitality - in all people. 

9. Increases risk of heart disease and stroke. Sleep deprivation increases inflammation. Inflammation is one of the leading causes of heart disease and stroke.

10. Lack of recovery - from workouts, life, ect.

The takeaway? Get on a sleep schedule. Get more high quality sleep. Shoot for 6-8 hours. You need more if you are active, stressed or older. 

10 Tips for getting higher quality sleep after 40 (regulating circadian rhythm)

1. Go to sleep at the same time each night.

2. Get up at the same time each morning. 

3. No caffeine after noon.

4. Have only 1 glass of wine in the evening. It has a calming effect. 2 glasses undo this calming effect.

5. Do not eat within 2 hours of bedtime.

6. Limit fluid intake close to bedtime.

7. Do not exercise within 2 hours of bedtime.

8. Dim the lights 1 hour before bedtime (dim amber colored lights are preferable to blue or white lights).

9. Develop a pre-sleep routine which decreases stress and activity (read books, listen to calming music).

10. Don’t lie in bed awake. If after 20 min you haven’t fallen to sleep, get up and do something calming, like reading or listening to calming music. 

Humans can die faster of sleep deprivation than they can die of starvation. If you get less sleep than you need you’re just killing yourself slowly. He or she who wears 4 hours of sleep per night as some badge of honor, it’s time to re-think that. It’s time to take your health more seriously. Sleep deprivation (ie. slowly killing yourself) will wreak havoc with your body, mind and spirit. It’s unsustainable. If you pull it off short term, you’ll be lucky if you only experience temporary disruptions to your mood, memory or health. Long term sleep deprivation is dangerous and its side effects can be permanent.

Dieting and exercise don’t make any sense if you don’t get proper amounts of sleep. The fastest thing you can do to improve your health, like today, is to start getting enough high quality sleep! 

Ch 18 - Meditation

Stress is a bad thing. We all know this. The problem is, most of us over 45 aren’t taking deliberate steps to do anything about it. This is a mistake. If left unchecked, stress can become chronic and cause many serious health problems, including:

• Depression, anxiety and personality disorders

• Heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks and stroke

• Obesity, eating disorders

• Menstrual problems

• Loss of sexual desire

My First Meditation Experience

I had the weirdest experience once. It was a meditation experience. I’m not sure why I tried meditation since I was positive it wasn’t going to help. Meditation isn’t typically a 40+ thing, but it did help. It changed my life. It opened my mind to possibilities I had never imagined before.

I was going through a rough patch. Recently divorced. Broke as hell. Hungry. Wasn’t seeing my kids as often as I wanted. Love those damn kids. Missed them. Wasn’t sleeping much. I slept in the loft above my friend’s garage, but I pretty much lived out of my car. I kept everything in it. When it got stolen I lost almost everything. During this time I felt as lonely, worthless and hopeless as I have ever felt in my life. 

To calm my mind, I worked a lot. I’d get up around 04:45 every morning, get ready and drive 35 minutes to get to my gym where I’d work until about noon. To try and get on top of things, I took another job at another gym 35 minutes across the valley in the opposite direction. I had to be there at 1pm and stay until 8 every night. Rough hours. 

On top of all of this I’d caught a bug. This slowly turned into pneumonia. Now I was sick, depressed, overworked and desperate as hell.

On the way home from work one night, I was driving by a semi-famous yoga studio in my area. The place was packed. A sign said “Meditation Event Tonight.” I’m not sure what came over me. I hit the brakes in my rental, crossed four lanes of traffic, spun around and dipped into the parking lot. 

“Are you here for the meditation event?” the quirky looking tattooed lady with blonde beaded hair asked with a smile. 

“Yep.” I felt like an imposter. I was an imposter. She knew it too. 

“Have you ever been to a sound-bath meditation?” 

“Well, no, but I have meditated before.” I hadn’t. I didn’t want to lie, but I felt like she was trying to disqualify me. I wanted to pass the test. 

“Sir, this is a TWO HOUR meditation event.” She did a metaphorical mic drop and turned her back on me. 

“Do you guys take cash?” 

“Sir,” She sighed. “Most people have to work up to two-hour meditations. This is an advanced class. Maybe you’d be happier if you came back to our beginner series?” She pulled out a schedule and started pointing to boxes and lines with a pencil. 

“I’m good. I want this one.” 

She was frustrated with me but sold me a ticket. Triumphantly, I walked into the large room only to stand there dumbfounded and embarrassed. Everyone, like 100 people, had gear. By gear I mean, they had pajamas, blankets, floor padding and multiple pillows. I had nothing.

I asked the super authentic looking couple to my right if they knew where I could get a pad and pillow. The nice lady pointed toward the wall. With that, I was able to grab a pad, blanket and pillow from the extras the studio had lying around.

Like I said, the place was packed with people. Bodies everywhere. The only spot left big enough for me to spread out was right down in the front. I was cool with that. 

The stage was as awesome looking as you’d imagine. There were uniquely carved and decorated bowls made of wood, crystal and metal sitting on elevated platforms. They were in all different sizes and colors, many with elaborately decorated and carved decorations. There were lots of drums. Some were huge, some tiny. There were also lots of shakers, some of them were tambourine looking noisemakers, others were dried up gourds with white seashells and colorful beads draped over them. The gongs were the coolest, especially the large, brass colored one. It must have been 4-5 feet in diameter. Couldn’t wait to hear that one shake the air. All of this was sitting on top of multiple, traditional looking red and yellow Persian rugs which were backed by hanging tapestries with “ohm” signs and “peace” signs woven into them. Classic stuff! 

Then the lady came out. She absolutely looked the part. Dark dreadlocks flowing out from under a knitted, colorful beanie. She had a long, dry, sun-weathered face. Beads and stones draped around her neck and on her fingers. She wore light colored flowing robes and colorful scarves. 

She walked out meekly, palms pressed together, head bowed. She sat down cross legged and hit the big gong right off the bat. Money! Then she hit a few of the bowls. I was close enough to them I felt my skull vibrate. Awesome. She said only one thing all night. It was this: 

“If you are lucky enough to get a vision tonight, go with it. Go with it as far as you can.” 

Ok? 

Three minutes into the session I knew I had made a mistake. The chick was chanting, gonging and drumming her heart out. Meanwhile my ADHD had just checked in and I was already bored as shit. No way was I going to make it through two whole hours of this. I looked up toward the back of the room. There were several dozen people between me and the door. I’d have to interrupt the entire class and step over the top of them if I wanted to go. I was stuck. 

Shit.

Maybe I could just take a nap. I was pretty tired anyway. I laid back and surrendered to the moment. 

As I laid there, I started to drift deeper and deeper into my breathing. Then something cool happened. The lady started playing one of the bowls in a long continuous tone. It vibrated so loud it made my throat tickle and my skull just behind my ears was vibrating. Such a weird feeling. It helped me relax. I fell deeper and deeper into my breathing. As I was lying there relaxing with my throat and ears vibrating, the deepest, most violet light I have ever seen came on. 

“What a cool effect,” I thought to myself. It must have been right above me, it was so intense. The light changed colors with each different sounding bowl. From purple it turned blue, then green, then orange. After a few minutes of this I became super curious about how they were doing this. As it turned deep red, I popped my eyes open to see the light. There was nothing. No light. What a coincidence, they turned it off at the exact time I opened my eyes. Weird. Back to relaxing. After a minute the colors came back. Opened my eyes. Nothing, again. 

“What in the hell was going on? How are they doing this? 

Eventually I stopped trying to figure it out and just went with it. So glad I did. I went on a ride. That night I transcended. I saw things. I did things. I understood things like never before. 

It was such a beautiful experience. Maybe it’s not a story I could tell to folks near my age, though. They wouldn’t believe it. If it hadn’t happened to me I wouldn’t believe it either. 

This experience came to me at a dire point in my life. Had it not been there for me that night, I’m not positive I would be here today. It also came to me at a very pivotal time in my career. It has helped give me strength and calmness of mind to pursue a very different direction with my future. 

What I learned most from this experience is there is another side of life that warrants attention. The attention we spend on calming and controlling our inner selves is as critical to our health as anything else we can do.

The inner self can best be reached and influenced through calmness and quiet meditation. In the quietness of your calm mind is where you will find many answers. It’s where you transcend above the more primal thinking. It’s where you may wander around in pure cerebral thought not marred by negative emotions. That’s the most productive, meaningful and helpful type of thought.

Just like exercise, meditation should be done every single day. Just like exercise, start small with a minute or two then slowly build up. 

Mind clearing is the goal. A solid minute of a clear mind will work wonders for body and soul. 

To clear the mind and begin your first meditation session try this: 

1. Sit comfortably or lie down.

2. Close your eyes.

3. Take several slow deep breaths. No fewer than three.

4. On your last breath, inhale deeply and hold it.

5. Acknowledge thoughts and feelings as you let them drift by.

6. Hold it.

7. Hold.

8. Now let it out slowly.

9. Keep pushing it out.

10. Keep pushing …

11. Now hold. 

12. 5…4…3…2…1… Hold …

13. Now breathe in!

Feel that rush? Those are endorphins; actual drugs. People pay for that shit. BTW, you just meditated. You just improved your health! Repeat this as often throughout your day as necessary.

Ch 19 - Love Yourself

I know some of you are going to hate this chapter. A lot of people our age do. I challenge you to read it anyway. If you can jibe with it, it can help to keep you on the path. Not your cup of tea? No problem, friend. Just glance it over so we can all be on the same page.  

Health isn’t about …

Health isn’t about how you look. It’s about how you love. It’s about loving life, loving our people, and loving our circumstances. But none of this is even possible without first learning to love ourselves. 

Folks our age aren’t very good at loving ourselves. We learned instead to beat the hell out of ourselves. To gain fitness at our body’s expense. We patterned this after our heroes. Remember Rocky hoisting a log over his shoulders and running through hip-deep snow, in immense pain seemingly against his own will? That was the kind of stupid stuff we revered.

Unfortunately, I’ve watched a lot of people our age beat the hell out of themselves trying to become fit. There was a time when this worked, but these days you do it at the expense of health. The wrong workout is the fastest way to ruin your health.

Years ago I was forced to watch an egregious case of this. I don’t remember her name. I do remember the exact numbers. She was 5’5 and weighed 102 with a BF% of less than 12% (extremely unhealthy for most females). She was a mom of four VERY little ones. Every day she would relentlessly do an hour of step class followed by an hour on the StairMaster. ROUGH! 

One day she came to see me. She asked, “Can you help me learn to lift? I need to boost my metabolism and finally lose this fat.” She grabbed her hips. There was nothing there. Not even muscle. “Plus my doctor said I need to lay off my foot while it heals. So I figured I’d better start weightlifting since it’s lower impact.” 

It was no surprise she was wearing an orthopedic boot. Somehow, in my town, exercising your way into a microfracture of the fibula is a status symbol in the gym. 

Congratulations?

I told her I would love to help her, but to do that  I’d be reducing her exercise time and increasing her healthy calories. She smiled at me with a look that was equal parts “bless your heart” and “go make tender love to yourself.” Energetically, she said, “This sounds great!” then set an appointment for the next day.

She ghosted me. 

She thought she had found an exercise hack. The hack was beating the hell out of herself until her body began to look like the images of females she saw in the magazines and movies. 

But she was already all the way there. Actually, beyond. What the magazines and movies didn’t reveal to her was the cost of getting there. Without kindness toward herself, her body would temporarily comply, but only at the expense of her self-esteem, her energy, and her health - thus, the boot.

Since we aren’t big on the expression of love for ourselves, “beating the hell out of ourselves” is tempting to us. It’s our unique way of exercising. 

Don’t do it. 

When was the last time you worked out just to feel the movement? Just to “feel the flow”? People over 40 don’t really do this. If we are going to work out, we believe we have to get MAXIMUM effect. Anything less than our greatest effort, to us, is unworthy. 

As we get older, despite our best intentions, this leads to skipping workouts more and more due to fatigue, soreness, and injuries.The negative effects of overtraining–a LOT more inflammation and damage–show up faster now. The pain causes us to skip more workouts. Skipping workouts makes us weaker and more unhealthy. This cycle spirals downward forever. 

The cure for this is more love. Love for ourselves and love for our bodies. Love for the experience of becoming healthy and fit. No hacks. No gimmicks. Just pure enthusiasm for loving life, loving our people, and loving our circumstances. 

No need to view our bodies as an enemy to be brutally hammered into submission. Instead, we should view our bodies as a blessing. We should view movement as poetry. We should see exercise as a flow of energy between the spiritual and temporal. This way of thinking puts us in touch with our truest selves and opens us to immeasurable joy. At 40+, this is the ONLY way lasting health and fitness can be found.

Ch 20 - Capture a Baseline

You will never know how far you’ve come unless you know where you started from. 

I can’t tell you how many people over the years have come to me after 6 weeks of hard work discouraged at their results. They’ll say something like, “I’m so disappointed in my progress.” 

If you ever say this to me, be prepared: I will argue with you. This is horseshit and impossible. Nobody ever works hard for 6 weeks without seeing remarkable progress. Nobody. So, you either didn’t do the work, or you skipped one of the most important steps when beginning a health journey. You skipped the step where we capture baseline data. In other words, you didn’t do any measuring, weighing or pictures. You didn’t document where you started out. 

Big mistake on two levels. On one level, you’ll see amazing progress with your body and soul. Others will remark at how great you are looking. They’ll ask, how far have you come? Maybe they are hoping for inspiration. Maybe knowing would continue to inspire you, but you won’t know. That’s frustrating. Not knowing will always be a bitter regret. 

On the other level, you might be very hard on yourself. Most of us are our own worst critics. Perhaps nobody said or noticed anything about your progress. Maybe you don’t really see it. Maybe you see it, but disbelieve. After 6 hard weeks of plowing you might want to know if another 6 weeks is worth the effort. It is, and you should do it anyway, but maybe you want backup. You won’t have it. This is even more frustrating. A lot of folks give up at this point, which is sad since they were already making incredible progress. 

Ch 21 - How to Capture Baseline Data

Measuring, Weighing and Documenting

To capture a baseline, RWND has devised a system of Measuring & Weighing yourself.

The scale alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Neither does measuring or photographic proof, but all of these methods combined (it’s in the APP) are a powerful gauge of progress and success, which is incomparable. When combined with regular logging and analysis of similar workouts, these tools are unparalleled for charting success.

Suggestions for Measuring and Weighing

• Measure weekly for those seeking dramatic changes.

• Measure monthly for those seeking to maintain health & appearance.

• Measure at roughly the same time of day. (Early mornings are best)

• Take note of clothing worn and wear the same clothes each time.

• Use the same tape measure.

• Use the same scale.

• Use the same person/trainer to measure. 

• Each person/trainer will have their own slightly different technique and pull the tape differently. 

• Measure to the closest quarter of an inch.

• Discuss and compare measurements immediately.

• Save to a place which CANNOT be lost.

• NEVER EVER CHEAT.
  
  

Weighing Yourself

Don’t get hung up on this step. If you and the scale have a bad relationship, ditch it. No prob. You don’t need to do this step. If you are cool with the scale and weighing yourself doesn’t trigger emotions of low self-esteem, go for it! 

We prefer capturing a 7 day average over evaluating any immediate result taken from a scale.To obtain a 7 day average follow these steps:

1- Record weight daily for 7 days

2 - Add the 7 days together

3 - Divide by 7

Example: 

Step 1 - Record weight for 7 days

wt. day 1 - 181
wt. day 2 - 179

wt. day 3 - 178

wt. day 4 - 181
wt. day 5 - 183

wt. day 6 - 180

wt. day 7 - 179

Step 2 - Add 7 days together = 1,261

Step 3 - Divide by 7 = 180.14

We encourage you to keep meticulous track of your progress by using scales (if you can stay emotionally healthy while doing so). It is easier and better information to keep track on the same scale, as there can be small variances between different scales.

Additional Recommendations for Capturing Scale Data

• Use digital scales with a “ZEROING” function.

• Use the same scale daily.

• Measure at roughly the same time each day.

• First thing in morning

• After bathroom

• Stripped

• If weighing cannot be done early in the morning you must take note of the following:

• Shoes/no shoes

• Clothes worn

• Recent food/beverage intake

• Recent exercise
  
  

Capturing Circumference Measurement Data

Consistency is KEY here. There are many methods for capturing measurement data. None quite as important as consistency. Being able to measure at the same spot using the same tension on the tape, time after time, will provide you with more valuable data.

When measuring, it pays to be bold. Just get in there and do it. Do it often. Those who develop a quick and efficient technique will inspire the most confidence in your numbers. It takes practice to develop good technique. 

Recommendations for Capturing Circumference Measurement Data

• Use 60” flexible tape with numbers on both sides

• Find and mark the same sites

• Measure 1 side of the body only.

• Right side is preferable.

• Using a 3 pull average is better than 1

• Large anomalies in measurement are indications of measurement error.

• Default to the narrowest, and/or widest points.

• If there are several widest points default to the “highest wide.”

• Wear the same clothes as last measurement.

• Where possible, measure bare skin.

• Even the smallest fabrics will alter measurements dramatically

• You must wait at least 1 hour after a workout before measuring.

• Exercising causes blood to pool in the extremities. It alters measurements.

• Exercising causes skin to swell (from sweat).
  
  

Recommended Measurement Sites and Suggestions

Neck

• Measure the circumference of the middle portion of the neck.

• Neck is a “litmus test” measurement. It is comparable to the upper arm.

.

Chest

• Arms should remain straight out from the sides.

• Take a medium breath in and hold.

• Use the slide technique using a slight upward pull.

Waist 

• Measure the narrowest point below the rib cage and above the hips.

• If no narrow point measure widest

• Measure the “highest wide.”

Hips

• Measure the widest point of your hips.

• Understand hips are 3D. The widest point may be on a spectrum from front to back.

• If there are two widest points, measure the “highest wide.”

• Hips measurements should occur above the groin.

Thigh

• Stand without weight on the measured leg.

• Bend knee to 90 deg.

• Measure 4” from the top, of the back, of the kneecap.

• Measure consistently with the entire tape above the mark you made.

Upper Arm

• Measure arm extended from the side, palm up.

• Measure 2” from the crease of the elbow.

• Many people have several creases. Measure from the highest one for consistency.

• Measure consistently with the entire tape above the mark you made.

• Compare to the neck.

• Changes made in the arm are usually comparable to those made in the neck.If they are not, you should suspect measurement error.

Capture Video or Photos

It is much easier these days to capture video or photographic data, but there are pitfalls. Remember, consistency is key to comparing data. It’s cool because the RWND app has this feature built in. Use it. If you don’t have it, get it. If you can’t get it, here are some general guidelines for capturing consistent data. Use the following suggestions: 

• Note the background. Make sure it is the same, or as close to the same brightness, color and texture as possible. 

• Less texture in your background is better. 

• Brighter colored backgrounds are better.

• Note the distance between you and your background. It should be the same. Closer to the background is better. 

• Note the distance between you and the camera. It should be the same. Closer to the camera, while still fitting in your entire body is preferable. 

• Note the camera angle. Be sure to take photos from the same angle (up, down, side to side).

• Note the aspect ratio. We prefer taller aspects to wider ones.

• The sun or a bright light should be shining from the front. 

• Brighter illumination is better. However, warmer “golden hour lights” make you look better. You see the muscle definition better!

• Use the same poses and facial expressions. 

• Capture photos/video from front, side and back. 

• Dress in the same clothes.

• Darker clothes are better.

• Tighter fitting clothes are better.

• Fewer clothes are better. 

Ch 22 - RWND Approach to Fitness

Sequential Training 

Most workout programs treat each day as a separate event. Monday is chest day. Tuesday is legs. Wednesday is cardio. Miss a day and nobody thinks much about it. RWND doesn't work that way.

Our training is sequential. Each workout builds upon the one before it. What you do on Thursday matters because of what happened on Wednesday. What you do on Friday matters because of what happened on Thursday. The week is a complete story, with each workout contributing something important to your overall health, strength, movement, balance, conditioning, resilience, and recovery. Nothing is random. Nothing is included simply to make you sweat, suffer, or spend more time in the gym.

By the time Friday arrives—assuming you've shown up and done the work—you are finished. Your body has received everything it needs that week to become stronger, healthier, more capable, and more physically prepared for life. Do this consistently and remarkable things begin to happen. You move better. You hurt less. You gain strength. You develop energy. Most importantly, you build a body that works.

RWND is not bodybuilding. It is not powerlifting. It is not yoga. It is not athletic training. Yet it borrows valuable lessons from all of them. We take the most useful principles from strength training, conditioning, mobility work, calisthenics, plyometrics, balance training, athletic development, and recovery practices, then combine them into a system designed for real people living real lives. Our only filters are efficiency and effectiveness. If something works, we keep it. If it doesn't, we discard it.

I recommend completing five RWND sessions each week. If you miss a day, make it up whenever possible. Each workout contains pieces of the puzzle. Skip enough pieces and eventually gaps begin to appear. Strength without mobility. Endurance without power. Balance without resilience. Over time those gaps can become weakness, dysfunction, or injury.

The goal is not perfection. The goal is consistency. Show up. Follow the sequence. Trust the process. Let the weeks stack on top of each other. The results will take care of themselves.

Ch 23 - RWND Programming Method

The Two Engines of RWND

RWND programming consists of two complementary systems working together to build a healthy, capable body.

1. GPP Conditioning Protocol

2. RWND Strength Training Protocol.

Think of them as the two engines that drive your results. One develops broad physical capability. The other develops strength. Together they create a body that is strong, conditioned, resilient, and capable of handling the demands of everyday life.

GPP Protocol

GPP stands for General Physical Preparedness. Simply put, its job is to make you better at being human. GPP develops many of the qualities people gradually lose as they age, including cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, balance, coordination, flexibility, movement quality, and resilience. While strength training tends to focus on specific movement patterns and muscles, GPP focuses on the body as a complete system.

A typical GPP session lasts less than twenty minutes and is performed two or three times per week. GPP helps keep the body balanced by exposing it to a wide variety of movement patterns. Throughout a week of training it addresses pushing, pulling, squatting, hinging, core stability, and cardiovascular conditioning. This variety helps reduce boredom, improve coordination, correct imbalances, and maintain athleticism. GPP can also be used as a warm-up before training or as active recovery between harder strength sessions.

Most importantly, GPP serves as your primary source of conditioning and cardiovascular health. It keeps you moving well, recovering well, and physically prepared for the demands of daily life. It helps strengthen the smaller muscles and connective tissues often overlooked by traditional strength programs while improving movement quality and overall work capacity.

RWND Strength Training Protocol

If GPP's job is to make you capable, the job of RWND Strength Training is to make you strong. The RWND Strength Training Protocol is specifically designed to produce maximum strength while minimizing wear and tear on the body. Unlike many traditional programs that rely on excessive volume, failure training, and endless sets, RWND strength training focuses on efficiency. We seek the greatest possible adaptation from the smallest effective dose of exercise.

This approach improves muscular strength, muscle density, coordination, bone density, tendon strength, ligament integrity, nervous system function, and overall physical capacity while reducing unnecessary stress on joints and connective tissues. The goal is not to do more work. The goal is to get more results from less work.

RWND Strength Training is typically performed three to five days per week depending on the specific protocol being followed. Its primary role is to stimulate strength, preserve muscle mass, improve bone health, increase metabolism, and maintain the physical capabilities required for a healthy and independent life.

Many fitness programs focus on conditioning or strength. RWND does both. Strength training builds capability. GPP preserves and expands it. Strength training helps you become stronger. GPP helps you move better, recover better, and function better. Neither is complete without the other.

Together they create a balanced approach to lifelong health and fitness.

A typical RWND training week might look something like this:

Monday: GPP and Strength Training.

Tuesday: Strength Training.

Wednesday: GPP and Strength Training.

Thursday: GPP and Strength Training.

Friday: Strength Training.

Daily workouts and programming can be found in the RWND App.

Ch 24 - What is the Perfect Warm-Up?

If you attend enough fitness conferences, you'll eventually hear experts arguing about the perfect warm-up.

One group advocates foam rollers. Another prefers dynamic mobility drills. Others insist on elaborate movement screens, activation exercises, corrective protocols, breathing techniques, stretching sequences, or highly specific routines that seem to take longer than the workout itself.

The problem is that nobody can agree on which warm-up is best.

For decades, warm-ups were believed to dramatically reduce the risk of injury during exercise. Yet despite thousands of studies and countless recommendations, researchers still struggle to identify a single superior method. Some approaches show modest benefits. Others show none at all. Most produce remarkably similar outcomes.

This mirrors what I've observed over more than three decades of coaching.

I've seen people spend twenty minutes meticulously warming up before suffering an injury during a relatively modest effort. We've also seen people walk into the gym, perform a few quick ramp-up sets, and complete enormous physical efforts without issue or injury.

This doesn't mean warm-ups are useless.

Far from it.

It simply means that many of the reasons people believe they need elaborate warm-up routines may not be as important as they think.

For adults over forty, the greatest value of a warm-up isn't protection. It's preparation.

Most of us arrive at the gym carrying something. A stiff shoulder. An achy knee. A cranky back. Tight hips. Sore feet. The accumulated mileage of a life well lived.

A good warm-up helps quiet those complaints.

Movement has a powerful analgesic effect. As blood flow increases and joints begin moving through comfortable ranges of motion, aches and pains often diminish. The body loosens up. The mind becomes focused. The workout becomes more productive.

That's why we warm up.

Not because we believe a magical sequence of exercises will make us injury-proof.

Not because we enjoy spending twenty minutes preparing for ten minutes of training.

We warm up because we feel better when we do.

And when we feel better, we train better.

The Proper Warm-Up

The solution to the warm-up question is remarkably simple.

Perform several lighter sets, rounds, or repetitions of the activity you're about to do.

If heavy biceps curls are scheduled, begin with a very light weight and perform the same movement. Add a little weight. Perform another set. Add a little more weight. Continue until your joints feel comfortable and your body feels ready.

That's it.

The warm-up should resemble the workout.

The warm-up should prepare you for the task ahead.

The warm-up should end the moment you feel ready.

For some people this takes two minutes. For others it takes ten or more. The goal is not to follow a complicated ritual. The goal is to arrive at the workout feeling comfortable, confident, and prepared.

As soon as your joints feel good and your movement feels smooth, your warm-up is complete.

Get after it.

Ch 25 - Push, Pull, Squat and Core

The Four Cardinal Movements

Before we can discuss how to train the body, we must first understand how the body was designed to move.

Human beings are remarkably complex creatures, but our movement patterns are surprisingly simple. Nearly every physical task we perform can be reduced to four fundamental actions: we push, we pull, we squat and hinge, and we stabilize through the core. These are the Four Cardinal Movements.

Every time you stand from a chair, place a box on a shelf, carry groceries, pull open a door, climb a hill, pick up a child, or get yourself off the ground, you are using one or more of these movement patterns. Your body was built to do them. And therein lies an important truth: the fact that your body can do something is often a clue that it needs to do it.

A body capable of pulling needs to pull. A body capable of squatting needs to squat. A body capable of pushing needs to push. A body capable of stabilizing itself needs to challenge its core. Ignoring any of these movement patterns for long enough eventually creates a gap in your physical capability.

Pulling will never replace pushing. Pushing will never replace squatting. Core work will never replace conditioning. And no amount of running can replace the strength-building benefits of a properly performed squat, push, pull, and core training program. This is where many exercise programs fall short.

Runners often run but rarely lift. Cyclists pedal thousands of miles but seldom challenge their upper bodies. Yogis become wonderfully mobile but may neglect strength and conditioning. Weightlifters build tremendous strength while sometimes overlooking mobility and endurance. Each activity provides valuable benefits, but none provides all of them.

Health requires a broader approach.

The goal is not to become exceptional at one movement pattern while ignoring the others. The goal is to remain capable across all of them. The body thrives on variety, balance, and challenge. It was not designed to perform one movement repeatedly while neglecting all others. To become healthy, resilient, and physically capable, all four cardinal movements must be trained in balanced and comprehensive ways.

There may come a day when injury, age, pain, or limitation makes one of these movements difficult or impossible. If that happens, don't abandon the pattern altogether. Find the closest version your body will allow and continue practicing it. A partial squat is still a squat. An assisted pull is still a pull. A modified push is still a push. The body rewards effort far more than perfection.

Everything else in fitness is simply a variation on these themes. Master the Four Cardinal Movements and you will possess the foundation upon which nearly every aspect of health, fitness, strength, and physical independence is built.

Ch 26 - We Differ by Degree, NOT Kind

“Frankly, Neil, I prefer a brisk morning walk and some light stretching to your stuff. Your stuff is hard and makes me sore. I like my stuff better.”

- Dumb people

I love your thoughts on this. Seriously, nothing appeals to me more than the notion we can become optimally healthy without doing all the shit we don’t like. Burpees? Fuck those things. Eating right? Nah. I just prefer some light walking, easy stretching, and twinkie munching. I hope more than anything else in life, these things are attainable. 

They aren’t.

The physical needs of all humans are the same. Preferences be damned. We all need to do the same things to become and stay “Optimally Healthy.” Understanding how your body works is the key element in developing a complete, balanced physique. It’ll also save you from wasting time and effort. 

The fact your body has the ability to do a thing MANDATES participation in that thing. 

This is true much to the chagrin of many a skinny runner, a fat bench presser and weak yogi. Nope, none of these participate in complete, balanced fitness routines. Most runners don’t use their upper bodies comprehensively. Neither do they perform strength movements for their lower bodies. Running alone leaves a lot of healthy components of exercise unaddressed. This makes running alone (and biking, walking, swimming) poor exercise. By that same mark, people who weight lift without doing cardiovascular exercise are also off the path when it comes to optimal health training. Yoga, I love you. I hate to pick on you, but your techniques stimulate neither the health benefits of strength training NOR cardiovascular exercise. 

What running, cycling, swimming, lifting & yoga done alone fail to realize is that not only are they poor choices for exercising, they are also inefficient. To get the MOST out of running, you’d need to do a LOT of running. You actually have to spend hours and hours running. If you were doing a balanced fitness method (RWND) you’d need to do a lot less of it. That’s the secret of proper exercise. When designed right, it’s efficient and effective. It takes less time to complete, not more and more. 

Your body will reward you with positive change and healthy improvements only with proper stimuli. But when you don’t give it stimulus it doesn’t just NOT reward you, it becomes diseased and unhealthy. IOW your cute little walk won’t give you the needed benefits and health of lifting weights. And you have to be careful because all unhealthy results are systemic. Letting one part of your body go to hell is usually quickly followed by many others. 

You can’t develop muscle, bone, and connective tissue in a place you aren’t stimulating. And your body hates homeostasis. You are always either becoming stronger or weaker. If you aren’t stimulating growth you are shrinking. When muscles shrink, connective tissues shrink. When connective tissues shrink, joints become less viable. When this happens you become weaker and less capable. In other words, if you don’t use it, you really do lose it! 

The needs of all humans differ by degree, not kind. All humans need the same kinds of exercise to become and stay “Optimally Healthy” - preferences be damned. It’s the same for young and old. The only difference is the degree of difficulty you can apply at different times of your life.

Ch 27 - Understanding Intensity

Learning the major movement patterns (push, pull, squat, hinge, and core) is a great start. But knowing how to move is only half the equation.

To get the most from your training, you also need to understand how hard to move.

Every activity you perform falls somewhere on an intensity spectrum. Walk around the block and you're working at a low intensity. Sprint up a hill and you're working at a high intensity. Most things fall somewhere in between.

Your body has three primary energy systems that support these different levels of effort.

Low Intensity (RPE 3-6)

The Oxidative System

This is the engine that powers walking, hiking, easy cycling, yard work, and other longer-duration activities.

Benefits include:

• Improved cardiovascular health

• Better endurance

• Increased recovery capacity

• Reduced risk of heart disease and stroke

Moderate Intensity (RPE 6-8)

The Glycolytic System

This system takes over when the effort becomes challenging but sustainable. Think of a hard conditioning circuit, a set of kettlebell swings, or carrying something heavy for a minute or two.

Benefits include:

• Improved muscular endurance

• Stronger bones, muscles, and connective tissue

• Better work capacity

• Increased metabolic fitness

High Intensity (RPE 9-10)

The ATP-PCr System

This is your body's "turbocharger." It fuels short bursts of maximum effort such as heavy lifting, jumping, sprinting, or explosive athletic movements.

Benefits include:

• Increased strength and power

• Improved nervous system efficiency

• Better athletic performance

• Preservation of fast-twitch muscle fibers as we age

Why This Matters

Many people spend all their time in only one of these zones. Some walk but never challenge their muscles. Others lift weights but neglect cardiovascular conditioning.

Neither approach is complete.

Each intensity level produces unique adaptations that the others cannot fully replace. If your goal is optimal health, longevity, and capability, you need exposure to all three.

The formula is surprisingly simple:

• Move your body through the major movement patterns.

• Train at different intensity levels.

• Allow adequate recovery.

• Stay consistent.

Do that week after week, month after month, and you'll build a body that is stronger, healthier, and more capable for life.

Ch 28 - Resting Between Sets

Most people think a workout is all about effort.

It's not.

A workout consists of two equally important parts:

1. The work.

2. The recovery between bouts of work.

The quality of your results depends on both. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes people make is rushing from set to set because they think more effort equals more results. It doesn't.

When you cut your rest periods too short, you don't just make the workout harder—you make the next set worse.

Imagine you perform a heavy set of squats. The muscles, nervous system, and energy stores that power strength are temporarily depleted. They need time to recharge.

If you begin the next set before recovery is complete, you won't perform at your best. Instead of lifting at 100% of your potential, you may only be capable of producing 70-80%.

In other words, you voluntarily left 20-30% of that set on the table.

That's not toughness. That's poor programming.

Many experienced exercisers make this mistake because they judge recovery by how they feel.The problem is that feeling recovered and being recovered are not always the same thing. You may feel ready after ninety seconds. The truth often reveals itself halfway through the next set when the weight suddenly feels heavier, the bar moves slower, and performance drops.

The opposite mistake can happen too.

After several weeks or months of training, some people begin taking far more rest than they need, especially during lighter workouts. In these situations, excessive rest can make a workout drag on without providing additional benefit.

The key is matching your rest periods to the intensity of the work.

Remember

The goal is not to be tired.The goal is to improve. Sometimes that means working hard. Sometimes that means resting long enough to work hard again. Rest isn't the absence of training.

Rest is part of the training.

Ch 29 - HOW Should I Rest?

The short answer is simple:

Actively.

Most people think rest means sitting down, staring at their phone, and waiting for the next set. In many situations, there is a better option.

Light movement between sets can help you recover more quickly and improve the quality of your workout. Activities such as walking, easy cycling, light jogging, or jumping rope at a relaxed pace can keep blood flowing and help clear metabolic byproducts produced during exercise.

A good example comes from interval training. Many cyclists use intervals to improve their ability to produce high levels of power. During these workouts, they alternate periods of intense effort with periods of recovery. Researchers discovered that cyclists who continued pedaling lightly during their recovery periods recovered more quickly than those who stopped completely. The light movement helped clear lactate and other fatigue-producing byproducts from the working muscles.

The result was simple: they felt better, recovered faster, and were able to produce more power during the next work interval.

The same principle can apply to your workouts.

If you are performing strength training, conditioning work, or interval training, consider staying gently active during your recovery periods. Walk around the gym. Pedal a stationary bike. March in place. Perform some light mobility work. The goal is not to create additional fatigue, but simply to keep the body moving.

Active recovery won't always be appropriate. During very heavy strength training, you may need to conserve your energy and focus on full recovery between sets. However, during most light to moderate workouts, gentle movement can improve how you feel, enhance workout quality, and speed recovery.

Remember, the goal of rest is not inactivity. The goal of rest is recovery. Sometimes the best way to recover is to keep moving.