In the previous post about whey protein I concluded that micro/nano-filtered whey mixed up with some hydrolyzed whey is my preferred choice of dairy based protein powder supplementation. But I also stated that I do have three serious health concerns about protein powder supplementation so in this article I’ll outline those and ask for your thoughts to help me make up my mind. It’s a genuine request for you to enlighten me because I am lost here.

Without further ado, here we go.

1. Fancy a “chem lab residue” shake? 
With my preferred mix of whey most of the lactose is removed but what else does whey protein contain?
A ConsumerReport from July 2010 tested 15 brands of protein powders for arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury and the results were not pretty. The report found levels of higher than the recommended intake in most of the products and the excessive intake of arsenic, cadmium and lead is of particular concern.

“When these toxic heavy metals are combined in a product that is marketed for daily use, that raises serious public health concerns, especially for pregnant women, children, and young adults,” says Burns, who has been a toxicology consultant to state and federal government agencies.

Toxic metals aside, what about all the hormones and antibiotics residue from the cows food?
It’s common practice among dairy farmers to use recombined Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) to boost the natural production of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) to boost milk production. IGF-1 is naturally produced by both cows and humans and is crucial for natural growth but it does promote growth of all cells and there’s a well established link between abnormally high levels of IGF-1 and accelerated cancer cell growth.

“The IGF signaling pathway has a pathogenic role in cancer. Studies have shown that increased levels of IGF lead to increased growth of existing cancer cells.” (Fernanda & Lee)

And this is just the toxic heavy metals and rBGH.
What about the antibiotics used in cattle farming and dairy production? To reduce disease, boost production and thus profitability cattle is injected with antibiotics and there’s a plenty of concern around antibiotic residue in diary and as a result in whey and antibiotic resistance in general.

1st question: Is there clean whey on the market and if so what is reliable brand?

2. Neutralize protein’s acceleration of osteoporosis?
I outlined my concerns about protein and osteoporosis in my post Milk your bones! last year. In short, while research is not conclusive, there are plenty of research confirming the linkage between high protein intake and osteoporosis. Protein is a collective name of amino acids so as the name says protein is acid leading to increased acidity in the blood. The blood has to stay in a narrow pH range so to compensate increased acidity the body is extracting calcium, which is alkaline, from the bone structure into the blood stream leading to acceleration of osteoporosis. Check my post Milk your bones! for a bit more science on how this works. This makes sense to me so I subscribe to this theory.

2nd question: Can acceleration of osteoporosis caused by blood level acidity spikes be prevented by eating alkaline food with the protein shake?

3. Sugar overload?
Eliminating the lactose from the protein removes a lot of sugar so if I go for a pure protein shake I should be fine. But it’s the recovery shakes that really gets me going, the 1:4 protein to carbs ratio remember. And it’s not just me, plenty of research support the 1:4 protein to carbs ratio in a post workout shake and the reason is that carbs are needed to restore glycogen levels in your blood. If you don’t eat carbs your body will use protein and worst case cause muscle break down to restore glycogen levels (to be honest I am not sure if the muscle break down part is true or a myth – so many articles that state different things).

The carbs in the protein powders are mainly sugars of various kinds and some argue that’s great because it goes quickly into your blood and restores glycogen. Slow carbs take long time to enter your blood stream and thus delays glycogen reloading.

The problem here is that I do not like sugar, I’d go as far as saying sugar kills. And to make things worse, most of the time it’s not even natural sugars but aspartame. The effect of aspartame is widely debated – some say it’s poison and other that the whole aspartame scare is a hoax. A health hazard or not – it’s as artificial as it gets and definitely to be avoided. No need to think about that one – any product with artificial sweeteners is out of question.

3rd question: Are there better ways (long-term health) to get the optimal 1:4 ratio than the recovery/gainer shakes loaded with simple carbs?

Protein supplement additives
My primary goal with diet is to eat clean – meaning eating food in a state as close to its original state as possible hoping that this will help me staying healthy both now and in the long-term. Reading the label of any of the top brand protein supplement is scary – I don’t really understand much of what it actually contains. So a 4th question would be around all the protein supplement additives but I’ll save that question until the first three are answered.

Help me out!
In summary, there’s primarily three question that really concern me about protein shake supplementation and I would love to hear your view on it.

1. Is there clean whey on the market and if so what is reliable brand?
2. Can acceleration of osteoporosis caused by blood level acidity spikes be prevented by eating alkaline food with the protein shake?
3. Are there better ways (long-term health) to get the optimal 1:4 ratio than the recovery/gainer shakes loaded with simple carbs?

FURTHER READING
Top 10 Post Workout Nutrition Myths
Are there hormones in your whey?
IGF, Insulin and Cancer
T argeting the IGF Receptor 1

This is a guest post by John Maddox.

How can we live longer and better in a world that is full of ailments, debt, and misfortune? Most people believe that money is the answer to all their problems. Whether or not you live a long and happy life depends on a number of different factors. The average age most people can expect to see is around 76 years. However, if you do certain things you will be able to live a great life well into your 90′s easy.

1 What’s Your Selfworth?
Believe in yourself and don’t let self-doubt destroy your confidence. When you begin to doubt your abilities you’ll have a hard time succeeding in anything, and experiencing success is an important key to living a better life. The best thing to do is set goals that you know you can accomplish in a short time. Start off easy and each time you accomplish a goal you will start to build more and more confidence in yourself.

When you start to believe in yourself other people will start to notice and try to knock you off track. Stay away from negative people that can kill your positive energy. If you allow certain people around you they’ll critique you to the point where negative thoughts start to hurt your confidence.  Once you really start to believe in yourself your mind will develop a successful image of yourself that will throw out anything that isn’t a positive thought. Try using affirmations to help boost your confidence and positive thinking each day.

2 How Healthy Are You?
If you want to live a longer and better life it makes sense to improve your health. How healthy you are depends on things like how active you are on a daily basis, what you consume in your daily diet, and if you smoke or use drugs. If you want to live longer and feel good doing it you need to get of the couch and start getting active. People who are physically active tend to live longer, have less stress, be physically and mentally stronger, fight of sickness easier, and have a healthy body weight.

Go to a local park and challenge yourself to run around the entire park. Run for 15 minutes intervals and take 5-minute breaks in between to catch your breath. Even if you just run for 30 minutes each day for 3 days each week you’ll be adding years to your life. You could join a gym and hire a trainer to help whip you into shape. The trainer will also be able to give you a plan to stick to that fits your lifestyle.

A fun way to get active is to have sex with your partner. Believe it or not, studies have shown that having sex at least 2 times each week can help you reduce stress and live longer. Your diet should include foods that help your body stay strong and in good shape.

As much as you can try to avoid food items that can cause a lot of different ailments if consumed too regularly. Some of the best foods you can eat are foods that will boost your immune system, which will help fight off illnesses. Green vegetables like broccoli have a high amount of antioxidants and anti-cancer properties. Simply add broccoli to your daily diet to naturally boost your body’s immune system and live longer.

Berries are also jam packed with antioxidants known to boost the immune system. Look for berries like cranberries, which can help you fight ailments like urinary tract infections and help flush bacteria out your body. Try adding a variety of berries to your oatmeal each morning and eat up to start your day off right. The oats in oatmeal are rich in calcium and fiber that can help you lower your cholesterol, which will reduce your chances of developing serious health problems later on down the road like a stroke or a heart attack.

Tomatoes should also be an important part of your diet if you want to live longer. Lycopene is the component found in tomatoes that make it such a great way to prevent common diseases and cancers. Adding tomatoes to your diet will also help you boost your immune system.

Start eating more whole grain foods like whole wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal. Whole grains will help protect you against diabetes and heart disease. To help reduce your chances of catching certain cancers and diseases you should eat very little processed foods and red meats. Instead of eating processed foods all day you should go to your local grocery store, and pick up some fresh chicken or fish. When you get home bake it and eat it with some rice and fresh vegetables to make it a meal.

Lean red meats aren’t too bad, but make sure you use moderation. Tea is also packed with a bunch of antioxidants that can help fight off certain cancers. Drink as much green tea as you can to decrease your chances of life threatening diseases. The tea will also help you increase your energy level, slow down aging, and increase your metabolic level.

3 Are You Protecting Relationships?
Developing relationships with other people and maintaining them plays an important role in living a long and better life. Some studies have shown that people with 4 or more close friends are happier in life than those with no friends. Without close friends or family you can hang out with you’ll begin to feel lonely. Loneliness, believe it or not, can lead to health problems, depression, and a feeling of emptiness. You need good friends so you can talk to them about stressful situations in life, because sometimes you got to let it out. If you want to live a better life then strengthen your network of family and friends, and keep these relationships healthy.

4 Is Your Attitude Positive?
You have to always try to keep yourself in a good state of mind. When you keep faith and remain positive good things always happen. To help keep your mind in a positive state get rid of any stressful situation in your life. Go out with your friends and family and do some fun activities to keep your mind and body energized.

5 Is Your Lifestyle Safe?
Finally, you only have one life so be careful with it. Don’t put yourself in situations that can cause an accident or injuries. Set up smoke detectors and make sure all the stoves are off when done using them to prevent fires. Make sure you wear your seat belt at all times when in a motor vehicle on the road. If you know somebody has been drinking a little too much don’t get in the car with him or her. If you ride a motorcycle always wear a helmet and other protective gear.

These are 5 tips to help you live a longer and better life. Try to see your doctor on a regular basis so he or she can tell you what, if any, health problems you’re at risk of catching.

Most know they should exercise more. You hear it all the time, “I really need to exercise more”, “I wish I had the time to get to the gym” etc. Have you used excuses like this yourself? I know I have. In a world that moves faster and faster, time constraints often get the best of us. We want to be employees, partners, parents, friends, etc. Very often it comes down to choosing between family time or exercise time. I guess it comes as no surprise that the exercise time almost always loses.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am all for family time but I also believe in being a good parent and being there for your kids for a very long time. To be around for a long time you also need to take care of yourself. Well, with a little bit of planning and thinking you can do both. Turns out it is pretty simple as well.

I have already touched on the problem, we feel the need to choose either or. Either spend the time as a parent or spend the time exercising.

Exercise together
The solution is quite simple, combine the two, exercise together. It actually took an outside force to get me going in that direction. Not long ago there was an article in my local newspaper, people from the newspaper and a fitness coach were arranging a sequence of free training sessions in preparation for a 5k race. At first I didn’t think too much about it, but after discussing it with my wife we decided that it would be  a fun thing to do together as a family. A couple of hours later we had signed up for the first session!

A sunny but cold Sunday morning about two weeks later we joined another 80 people on a football field about 30 km from home. We spent the next 45 minutes running, jumping and cheering each other on with the support of three coaches and cooled down with a walk in a nearby forest. The coaches did a very good job of combining fun exercises with cheering the kids on. For my daughter it wasn’t all fun, she loved beating my wife and I in the runs but she didn’t like getting tired . Anyhow, driving back home we all agreed it was great way of spending time together and get moving so we’re looking forward to next time!

Get going
What does this mean for you then. Start by looking around in your area if there already is a parent-kid exercise group and if there isn’t one, get some friends together and form one. All you need is a little bit of time and some space to run on, a football field will do nicely. Work out a simple exercise routine (if you need help, drop us an e-mail, we’re happy to help) to follow.

Be a role model
As you can see the solution to having to choose between exercise and being a parent is to combine the two. The benefits of this goes way beyond not having to choose. By exercising together you are passing on good habits to your kids and once you have done that, half your job is done. For me it has meant that we now train together more than the designated Sunday time and we have fun doing it. In a later article I will share some unexpected other benefits I have found from exercising with kids.

What do you do to make sure you get your exercise?

It’s marketing war out there in proteinshakistan. Good luck trying to make an informed choice by reading the labels of all the brands of protein shakes available.
So let’s come together and try to bring some clarity to what the shakes actually contain and discuss if there’s any space for protein shakes in a clean diet.

If nothing else I hope you can help me to make up my mind: to supplement or not to supplement, that is the question.

This article is the first of two looking at protein supplementation and in the first part I’ll take a look at dairy based protein powders and whey protein in particular.

With age, turning 39 in June, and keep working out regularly and intensely I find that my recovery time is increasing. Over the past 20 years I have used protein shakes, mainly gainer products with 1:4 protein and carbs ratio, on and off in cycles of my heavy weight lifting phases, and I’ve experienced amazing gains. The key benefit has been improved recovery time allowing me to workout harder, more often and with full power, meaning a feeling that my body responds to load with a “kick-ass attitude”. And as a result good gains in muscle mass and strength.

Although I’ve experienced fantastic results from using protein supplementation I have  feeling that it’s not very healthy, neither in the short nor in the long-term, and I’ll talk more about that in the next article. I think it’s important to add that I’ve use protein supplements as a compliment to a paleo diet and plenty of good sleep. I strongly believe that a solid foundation of good habits is critical for gains and that supplementation is only that – supplementation. Supplements as food replacement is a convenient way of fuelling up your body on the run but I do not believe in protein shakes as core strategy for neither weight gain nor weight loss. Learning how to eat well is the foundation – eating clean is not a diet, it is a lifestyle.

Is a protein shake a protein shake a protein shake?
No. People talk about protein shakes as a collective name for two different things: protein shakes which is only that – protein powder mixed with a liquid, or a gainer shake which is a mix of proteins and carbohydrates (sugar) plus a liquid. The established rule for optimal ration between protein and carbs in a gainer is 1:4. And to complicate things further there are many different types of proteins used in the shakes – read on!

My whey, high whey or some other whey?
I have strong reservations against dairy as food for humans and outlined some of that in my article Milk – our favorite poison?. The biggest immediate concern I have is about casein and my longer terms concern is about the disease and medication that cattle may carry through to humans.

I could go non-dairy based protein supplementation such as pure egg protein or vegan protein supplementation but I’ll leave that discussion for a future article.

Casein makes up approximately 80% of the protein in cow milk and is frequently used in protein supplements and is positioned as a very beneficial ”slow release protein”. The “slow release” is correct and according to some research also the key reason one should avoid it – the body can simply not digest casein and it forms mucus that clogs up your digestive system reducing uptake of nutrients. It’s actually so great at clogging up the system that casein is used as glue. While casein does break down and is slowly absorbed in intestines it’s never completely absorbed and leaves approximately 10% residue in adults. A residue that keeps your immune system busy and diverted from protecting you from illness.

The other 20% of the protein in cow milk is whey. It’s actually a waste product from cheese manufacturing that very successfully has been turned into the most praised (legal) sports supplement around. Whey contains the branched chained amino acids (BCAA) leucine, isoleucine and valine which are essential to building and maintaining lean muscle. However it’s also loaded with lactose, unprocessed dry whey as much as 70-80%. Approximately 65% of the western population suffer from lactose intolerance causing a range of annoying issues such as flatulence, bloating and digestion issues.

However, whey protein as a food supplement comes in many forms, from the cheapest high lactose version of dried whey powder to purer whey protein isolates to the purest and “fastest” form of hydrolyzed whey protein. For a in-depth explanation of the different types of whey protein check out the two articles I linked to at the bottom of this post.

For now, let’s agree that micro/nano-filtered whey has the best combination of purity (5% lactose) and a high percentage of essential BCAAs intact. If possible with some hydrolyzed whey mixed in as research shows that it’s an effective and clean way of boosting blood amino acids and insulin levels pre and post workout.

So, if I go with dairy based protein powder supplementation I have narrowed it down to micro/nano filtered whey mixed with hydrolyzed whey.

This seems pretty good so far…. BUT I have some major concerns about protein powder supplementation. Stay tuned for the second part of this series on protein powder supplementation to learn about my 3 top health concerns using protein powder supplementation.

What are your thoughts on protein powder supplementation in general and whey protein in particular? Share your thoughts in comments!

If you enjoyed the read I’d really appreciate if you help us reach a wider audience by sharing the article on your favorite social media! Cheers!

FURTHER READING
Are All Proteins Created Equal? No WHEY!
Show Me the Whey: Concentrates vs Isolates vs Hydrolysates

Wouldn’t you just love to get paid to do what you love?
Very few people would answer no. There is a big trend online today where people offer their expertise to help you turning what you love into a business. How to go from a hobbyist to a well paid expert. There is of course nothing wrong with this and sharing what your expertise at the same time as getting paid (huge amounts of course). It is the holy grail of online business.

Many people have succeeded and many people continue to go that route, never before have the odds been more in your favor. But before you get worked up about it, quit your job and set up your new business there are a few things to consider. Sorry to rain on your parade, just trying to help.

The problem occurs when you realize that what is a great hobby may turn sour when  you turn it into a business. A hobby you do for your yourself  and you do it no matter what. Changing that can make you hate what you previously loved. The power of the hobby is that is does not have to support you at the same time as it gives you pleasure.

Business vs Hobby
The things you need to do for a business are different from a hobby. Your feelings may totally change when you HAVE to produce. Also running a business means you have to make time to take care of taxes, advertising, customer support, employees, legal matters etc etc etc.

What you need to do is be honest with yourself, find out what really drives you, find out why you love what you love. Try to visualize what would happen if you build the business you’re thinking of. How does it make you feel? Excited? Scared? Sick? Happy? All of this are hints to what really drives you.

List them all strengths and weaknesses, ask friends who know, ask your family. Take stock. If you are truly honest is this you can find out if you should move forward or to hold back. Not only that, if you find out it is a good idea to move forward you will also have a good idea of what you need outside help with. You don’t have to do it all.

Another great way to find out is to start small, get into the business you’re thinking of and try it out. Start teaching your hobby on a small scale for example, try it out, does it make you happy or does it make you hate what you love?

Don’t be tricked!
The most important thing to take from this is, don’t be tricked into giving up a situation that works for you to start something that may cause you to hate what you love. If your hobby is meant for yourself and yourself only, turning it into a business is probably not a good idea.

For inspiration on what you can do read this post.

Have you ever considered turning your hobby into a business? If so, what was your conclusion?

Last Sunday saw the close of CrossFit Games Open 2013, the first round of qualifications that will take competitors via the regionals to the CrossFit Games held in California in July. CrossFit Games is the self-proclaimed world championships in fitness and the male and female winners walk away with the titles Fittest Man on Earth and Fittest Woman on Earth respectively. There’s no doubt that the CrossFit Games is an amazing display of the athleticism humans are capable of. But is it healthy? I am skeptical.

The CrossFit community has great responsibility (1) to have tougher requirements and continual candid peer review to ensure that the coaches are qualified, and (2) be very careful to not let CrossFit training take the form of CrossFit competition.

“The Open” is an innovative and hugely successful approach as it opens up the “the Games” to anybody anywhere. Motivated CrossFit athletes from around the world video themselves completing a prescribed series of workouts over 5 weeks and submit the video for review and scoring. Movement standards are strict and requirements on the video as well to ensure fair play. At the end of the 5th week the top athletes from each region around the world are invited to “the regionals” where they compete face to face for a spot in the CrossFit Games.

CrossFit’s tag line is “Forging elite fitness” and that is exactly what it is: Elite. And like in any other sport athletes at elite level push their bodies to their limit. When I started with CrossFit in 2008 it was still impressive to do 1 WoD a day and follow the 3 days on, 1 day rest schedule. Then Mikko Salo came out of nowhere and won the 2009 CrossFit Games.

CrossFit is great for fitness but has two fundamental pitfalls
I believe that the CrossFit movement has done great stuff! First of all CrossFit has brought back classic barbell work such as squats, deadlifts, cleans and snatches to the wider fitness community. Secondly, with strong emphasis on teaching proper form and by scaling back workouts to fit all ages and fitness levels CrossFit is a great entry point for general physical training.

The underlying philosophy of “preparing for the unknowable physical challenge” is great as it promotes fitness across all the 10 skills of fitness. Another often used phrase in CrossFit is “constantly varied high intensity functional movements over broad modal and time domains”. But combining this with the CrossFit principle of always measuring everything we’re getting closer to what I consider as the key issue with CrossFit. The pressure to always perform under time pressure – even in exercises where it’s outright idiotic to introduce time pressure such as in the Olympic lifts.

Moreover, CrossFit has grown rapidly from the first gym opened by Greg Glassman in 2000, to 13 affiliates in 2005, to around 5000 in March 2013, and as with any fast growing enterprise it’s challenging to maintain quality. It only takes a weekend course, a Level 1 Instructor certification, to be allowed to open an official CrossFit affiliate and YouTube is full of examples of the quality issues that entails. And I’ve seen many CrossFit branded individuals totally ruining much of what is great with CrossFit by demonstrating disastrous form.

One a day keeps the doctor away, three a day is insane?
Back to Mikko. His secret formula was Finnish sisu and 3 WoDs a day. In preparation for the 2010 CrossFit Games athletes across the world started following Mikko’s formula with a multiple WoDs a day, typically one strength biased, one metabolic conditioning (metcon) and one extra just to not lag behind. I have the out most respect for Mikko Salo, an amazing athlete and he seems to be a great guy, but I think he was the pivotal point that took CrossFit from healthy to crazy.

In the 2010 CrossFit Games Mikko placed 5th, mainly due to missing some skills, nobody doubted his work capacity. He had to withdraw from 2011 due to an injury in the first event and didn’t compete in the 2012 CrossFit Games due to knee surgery. Knee surgery. Makes me wonder if that has anything to do with his high volume, high intensity, 3 WoDs a day training regime?

In the 2011 and 2012 CrossFit Games Rich Froning Jr dominated the men’s competition and Annie Thorisdottir (Iceland Annie) the women’s. I truly believe they are the fittest man and women on earth and that no other training methodology could have prepared them to earn that title but I don’t think that fittest equals healthiest.

End of March 2013, a few weeks into CrossFit Open, Annie announced that she may need to pull out of the games due to hernia. She’s 23 yrs old. Hernia. After Annie’s 2nd place finish in the 2010 CrossFit Games at age 20 she immediately got into the closest circles of CrossFit with access to the best trainers in the CrossFit universe. And yet, at age 23 she has developed hernia. That does raise some questions about the CrossFit methodology.

Watching any top 10 CrossFit athlete perform is jaw-dropping. However, you’ll also see the that they push themselves to the max at the expense of correct form. When the competition is on it’s a matter of good enough technique to optimize your performance. Doing olympic lifts for time is a crazy idea and you see why watching CrossFit athletes in competition. Poor set-ups, loss of balance, curved spines, caving knees, overextended joints, etc. I know there’s much better form outside of competition but nevertheless, it’s these crazy performances that are being loaded to YouTube inspiring tens of thousands of CrossFitters.

In summary – there’s CrossFit and there’s CrossFit
I believe CrossFit has done great for fitness but, as with everything else, one has to approach it with common sense and ensure qualified supervision or CrossFit can wreck you – from novice to elite.

The CrossFit community has great responsibility (1) to have tougher requirements and continual candid peer review to ensure that the coaches are qualified, and (2) be very careful to not let CrossFit training take the form of CrossFit competition.

What do you think of CrossFit? Let us know in the comments!

If you enjoyed the read please share this post on your favorite social network to help us reach a wider audience!

And the results of the Open? Rich Froning 1st and Mikko Salo 2nd on the men’s side and Sam Briggs 1st and Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet 2nd on the women’s side. The Regionals start on May 17th!

WoD stands for Workout of the Day which is a published on CrossFit’s main page in a cycle of 3 consecutive days of training, one day off.

Have you ever experienced a sudden flash of insight? A sudden burst of creativity or productivity when you suddenly produce way beyond what you consider normal? It’s a nice feeling isn’t it? For a brief period you seem to have transformed into a genius. Have you also noticed that some people seem to experience this more often than others? All of the above is quite normal but the frequency varies A LOT. Wouldn’t it be nice to increase your frequency in a controlled way, to unleash your inner genius? Good news, you can.

What often happens when people have these sudden flashes of insight or bursts of creativity they try to find the reason for it. Often they find no reason and explain it with luck or divine intervention. Some people leave it at that but oh how frustrating it can be.

Not finding a reason is not the same as the reason not existing. We simply have not been taught what to look for. However the answer is right in front of us the whole time.

The components
There are two components always present before you get these flashes of insight or inspiration. What is even better is that both these components are within your control. When you understand how to handle these components you are in control. You have your own switch for turning on insight of inspiration. The two components are:

1. Priming.  This the fuel up phase where you bombard your brain with as much information as possible about the problem you are trying to solve.
2. Rest. A period of rest for your brain is vital for the “magic” to happen. This is the component most people overlook and as a result keep priming way beyond what is necessary but not allowing your subconscious to take over.

Putting the components to work
The process of using these components is quite simple, you simply go through the two components in succession. Start by forming a clear picture of the problem you have to solve or the desired outcome. When you know what you are looking for start thinking hard about the problem, look at it from different angles and submerge yourself in it. Find as much information as possible. This priming part is a kind of overload of your conscious mind and it is here a lot of people get stuck. There is no way you can consciously sort through all the information you store and this is why this step is not enough. It is very likely that you will quite overwhelmed. You are actually supposed to get stuck here. It’s a pre-requisite for the next step to work. You know you have reached this stage when you feel sick of thinking about what you want to achieve.

When you have reached the stage of information overload it is time to surrender. This is the rest part where you let your subconscious mind takes over. There is no hocus pocus in this, your brain is a marvelous parallel super computer. Do you have to think about breathing or digesting your food? No, your body and brain are maintaining looks of functions all of the time. Your subconscious mind is the computational power not controlled by your conscious mind, kind of like a co-processor or accelerator in a computer, you give it a job and wait for the result. So, when you reach the end of the priming, let go and stop thinking about what you want to achieve, not your subconscious takes over and all you have to do is wait for the result. Easy, isn’t it?

Final thoughts
As you can see, putting it together is a simple process, there is one thing you need to keep in mind though. There is no way for you to know when the result is delivered. The solution or sudden flash of inspiration can strike at any time so be prepared. Have a pen and pad beside your bed so that you can write down any ideas or why not use your smart phone to record your genius ideas.

Do you have tips to share on unleashing your inner genius?

I have had a food epiphany! Being a fairly strict paleoist/primalist I thought I had pretty good diet but I made one tweak to test taking it to the next level. The tweak? I went raw. Well…

I’ve come across the raw food movement many years ago but to be honest I dismissed it because a lot of the proponents of it have this dogmatic approach to it and as soon as I get feel of this “you’re either with us or the enemy” attitude I have an allergic reaction.

Fast forward to early January this year when I discovered a new restaurant in Prague called the Secret of Raw - a pure raw food restaurant – and it was a mind blowing experience.

The creativity in preparing the raw food meals, the flavor and colors of what they served astound me. I had the most creamy (thanks to cashew nuts) and tasty cauliflower soup as a starter, sun burger (based on sun flower and chia seeds) with fries (soaked and seasoned kohlrabi) and a delicious chocolate cake for dessert.

With this eye-opening experience I started experimenting with raw food at home as well and decided to make a 10 day test. I didn’t want to go 100% raw but decided to replace all my carbs with raw vegetables for 10 days. Being on 80% strict paleo already it basically meant to go 100% paleo and replace all steamed and boiled vegetables with raw vegetables and have a pint of fresh vegetables juice every morning. In addition, I cut out all beef and pork meat and reduced fish and chicken to approximately a fist full per day. And finally, plenty of nuts and seeds as a snack in between meals.

So what was the effect?

Energy levels soared!
It’s hard to isolate the impact of the diet but I did feel that I had much higher energy levels. Waking up naturally and rested after 4-5 hours sleep cycle. I did need my 7-8 hrs per 24 hrs but I took shorter naps throughout the day to accumulate my 7-8 hrs and I felt very rested and energized in between. It was a bit like the energy boost that came with going from a normal western diet to paleo diet – raw taking it to the next level. However, I do have a caveat here – keep reading.

Another benefit I did experience was improved skin quality. Probably a bit too short test period to see the full benefit of shifting to more raw but I did see that my skin did first get a little bit worse as it detoxed and towards the end of the 10 days it was cleaner and with more glow. Keep in mind that I am already on a good 80% paleo diet so if you go raw from a normal western diet your detox period will probably need to be longer to rid yourself of all the toxins but on the positive you’ll experience greater improvement.

Raw in the long run?
While I do believe it’s very healthy to eat raw, both in the now and for longevity, I have my doubts about going 100% raw.

Firstly, it requires knowledge to go raw and make sure you get your proteins, minerals and vitamins. Go deep into it and understand what you’re doing. It’s not for the pop-vegans out there.

Secondly, with an active life style it’s tough going raw as it would require enormous amounts of vegetables, nuts and seeds to provide your body with the fuel to recover. I can imagine that if you’re only doing light exercise, walking or yoga, you’ll be fine but don’t expect to keep up with anything more strenuous. I did this 10 day raw food challenge together with my wife and she couldn’t keep up with her twice a week kickboxing schedule and my weekly heavy squatting sessions become a joke – no power and really poor recovery.

Third, the daily vegetable juice is wonderful! We’ve had a juicer for a few years and made vegetable and fruit juices in periods but making it a daily routine was fantastic! During the 10 day challenge we kept to the raw food philosophy of not mixing fruit and vegetables except adding in some apples to the vegetable juice. Starting the day with a pint of juiced spinach, broccoli, carrots, celery, ginger, and more is like drinking pure energy, it’s tasty, filling and you really feel how your body is absorbing all the nutrients and instantly thanking you with an energy boost!

From now on
One day, in the far future, when my primary goal will be longevity I may shift to a stricter raw food diet but for now I love my heavy lifting – the squats and deadlifts – and I want to continue fooling around with kickboxing, kettlebells, gymnastics, rowing, running, yoga and more and my body needs the fuel to keep up and to recover.

I will stick to my paleo/primal diet including meat (but cut red meat to special occasions), eggs, fish, poultry and I’ll add in quinoa, wild rice, and other unprocessed carbs as I feel needed but I will replace my boiled and steamed vegetables with raw vegetables. And the juice….. the fresh vegetable juice – just short of magic – I’ll really make an effort to make it a daily habit.

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Running is one of the few forms of exercise most people think they don’t need to get instructions and don’t need coaching. I was under that impression for many years and that kept me from running. Now I know that running is a skill but I also know that thinking too much about running and trying too much can get you into trouble.

This leaves us with a bit of problem, if you can’t think about what you do, how can you know that you are doing the right thing? Are we left with pain or no pain after running? In my opinion not overthinking is good but you do have to allow yourself to check what you are doing every once in a while. The better runner you become the more you can rely on your body to do the right thing.

The idea I want to put forward to you now is that using your ears while running is a good way of checking your form in some cases that does not put you out of balance as would happen if you would look down at your feet for example. Using your ears has the big advantage of that you don’t have to change your posture to get information.

Not all running posture problems can be detected with your ears but overstriding and everything that relates to sliding your feet along the surface can be easily detected when running on a gravel path.

Here is a summary of a few potential problems and associated auditory cues:

1. Overstriding
Overstriding is when you put your foot down in front of your body which breaks your forward momentum. Simply going over to landing on the forefoot is not a guarantee for not overstriding. In fact a lot of people who change from heel striking to forefoot landing often overstride in their effort to make sure that they land on the forefoot, I know I did.

The auditory cue to listen for is if there is friction noise at the time of impact, this means that the foot land and then slides forward. The impact is not then straight down into the ground and a lot of energy is wasted.

The trick not to overstride is to not focus on placing the foot on the ground, just let it fall to the ground, the foot will place itself. Keep runing on gravel paths and make adjustments to get rid of that friction sound.

2. Dragging the back foot
After placing the foot on the ground a lot of people simply forget about it and leave it to take care of itslef. This is a bad idea as leaving a foot hanging behind your centre of mass means you are out of balance and that puts extra strain on your body and you have to put effort into getting back into balance.

The auditory cue is a long friction sound when you lift the foot, this means that your heel is not pulled straight up under your body but moves bakwards before going upwards. Focus on pulling your heel straight up and listen for the difference of sound.

3. Push-off
Pushing off with the back foot is quite common when people try to run faster, however it is not a good idea from an energy efficiency point of view. You will put too much strain on your calves.

The auditory cue for push-off is similar to dragging the back foot but is generaly very short distingushing it from the cue for dragging the back foot. Concentrate on not pushing off and listen for the cue disappearing.

What to do
Does this mean you have to run gravel all the time? Certanly not, what you do is make sure that your running route has some gravel along it or you do one run every once in a while on a gravel path to get feedback. It is as simple as that, not a big sacrifice, right?

Let me know how it works out for you!

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Move freely while you can, it may soon be too late. And too late may come very quickly – especially if your spend you days in an office chair. So… man up and yoga!

Yoga is for women right? Real men play soccer… hmm.. no boys play soccer, let’s try again… Real men play ice-hockey, rugby, do thai-boxing and lift very heavy weights with guttural sounds. Yes, that’s very manly but I’d say the manliest workout of them all is yoga. Hear me out on this one! There is more to yoga than meets the eye.

1. A real man moves freely
Few of the traditional “manly” sports appreciate full body mobility, martial arts being the exception. Runners, footballers, ice-hockey players are typically very stiff and have poor joint mobility beyond the sport specific movements.

Yoga will develop your balance, joint mobility and  functional strength, fitness skills often disregarded in the traditionally manly sports. With good balance, joint mobility and functional strength you are less limited in life and can fully enjoy playing with your kids, try new physical activities and just go about every day life easier.

2.  A real man lives consciously
A real man takes recreation seriously because that’s what gives him the power to cope with the stress of everyday life. If you don’t find time to disconnect from the world and give yourself full attention you will get edgy, irritated and in the longer perspective burned out. Not taking responsibility for a balanced life is plain stupidity. Yoga is a great way to totally disconnect from the world and to increase your physical and mental consciousness as it requires full attention on your breathing and on your body to develop your postures.

3. A real man age well
As you age it’s not your 1 rep max squat, your ability to score from the mid-field, or how fast your jab-cross-hook is but it’s your balance, joint mobility and functional strength that’ll keep you vital and independent. Prepare for those days now by complimenting your favorite physical activity with yoga.

How much of man are you?

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