I love experimenting with and learning lots of new things. I appreciate having 'range', and I'm very open-minded to that which may be valuable. I consider myself a renaissance man. Some deep focuses for me though are being an all-time dad, being fit, and exploring the arts.
Tonight, on New Year’s Eve, I sat alone in my old, creaky New Englander. I had walked the dog, made myself dinner, and crashed down into my worn and beloved love seat. It wasn’t as if this was a unique occurrence. Actually, I told myself that in 2024, I better turn things around and start being more… productive.
But tonight, I was to grasp on to this last chance of this year to find a good movie, and relax. What happened though, was anything but that.
You see, instead of watching the rest of the movie, I was drawn and pulled to start writing. It’s not that the movie was bad. I was actually into it! But about 10 minutes in, a scene took place that stirred me to my core. Now I’m full of anxiety and desire to somehow get this feeling, and these thoughts, out of my head and into written words. This happen to anyone else?
It’s New York City. I can’t tell you what movie. It doesn’t matter. I think it would trivialize my point here. And this scene has happened in a million movies. But tonight, it brought out of me first a sadness and appreciation for the city, as well as a guttural urge to say something. Weird, I know.
The scene was a ‘following shot’…camera following a main character up and out of the stairway of an underground New York City subway station….bringing her directly into the heart of Midtown where…well where Everything is. Then the camera pans up and away from the character it was following, to gather and accept the vast scope of the surrounding street energy, and the ever-reaching buildingscape.
When this scene happened, I found myself quickly inhaling to catch my breath…I was getting emotional. My eyes welled, but no tear. But yes, a sadness. And this, I knew, was my way in to understanding the city.
I was in the Big Apple a couple of weeks ago, experiencing Christmas in the city with my 10-year-old daughter. It was in a word… Magical. On the train ride down, and then, throughout my time there, I kept asking myself, ‘what is it about this city that is so special?’
You see, I have been coming to questions like this very often during this past year. I’m lately much less interested in certainty, with pushing forward with statements and answers. Most of my thoughts have been lead by questions. I urge you to try this. Of course, when we ask ourselves a question, it’s only natural that we begin to consider answers.
Well this scene in this movie was the spark that finally encouraged me to pursue some of those answers. But I can’t call them answers actually. That makes me uncomfortable. I’d rather simply call them my opinions. I could be wrong. You could feel totally different than me.
New York City is where Everything is happening. It’s where ‘it’ is happening. I’ve been to other places around the world, but when I myself step up and out of that subway stairwell, I recognize that, ‘Ohhh…everywhere else is nice, unique, great…whatever. But THIS place…this is THE place. Why is that? What does that even mean? More questions.
I’ve been feeling this for the past couple of years, after visiting NYC a few times, and then even more so after this recent holiday trip. But I haven’t been able to articulate it…haven’t been able to, nor really tried to put words to my feelings. The movie scene did it for me though.
The breath that was taken away from me, told me that this place was about potential. Potential makes me emotional. Unfulfilled, or in this case, fulfilled. This epicenter of a city is absolutely and maximally living up to a beautiful potential that is unreachable anywhere else. It makes up the buildings. And it’s in the air. It’s a buzz, and it can make you dance.
I’m now remembering that when my daughter and I took our train back to Boston, and as we looked around for a bit, she said, ‘Dad, Boston is cool…but it’s not New York.’ She recognized it too!
The other feeling I had during that movie scene…that sad feeling? My eyes welled up because I considered how hard the city is working. Constantly and forever. For all of us. It’s the city that never sleeps, we know that. But it’s more than that. It keeps chugging along, worn at its edges, though still providing a certain sufficiency. It’s like that sled dog that keeps pulling into the oncoming storm, never even looking back at you for approval. It knows it’s doing what it necessary. And it asks for nothing in return. Well that’s not all the way true.
New York City does ask for something. It asks me to be there. It’s asking you the same. It asks us to come be part of it all. Along with its humble nature of ‘chop wood-carry water’, we know that its ego is unrelenting and unwavering. Call it narcissism. It wants and needs our attention. All of it. Everything is happening there. And therefore, the city thrives off of a continual throng of locals and visitors. Because of its ultimate potential though, I can’t hold that attention-seeking behavior against the city. Whatever it beckons, it can back up!
If I asked YOU a question…a question about New Year’s Eve, I wonder how you’d answer. If you had the chance to be in the middle of Times Square, shoulder to shoulder with millions of others as the ball dropped, would you be there?
Each time I’ve discussed this with others, I usually hear that an experience like that would be too chaotic, too congested with people, and just…too crazy. Logistical nightmare! Why would anyone want to be somewhere like that? Not worth it. I actually held these same ideas myself. But maybe I was swayed by the feelings of others, not wrapped up in the potential of what New York City can provide and deliver. Just maybe, everyone in Times Square at that time, and even those New Yorkers sitting at home in their upper-westside brownstones, know something that we don’t.
They know that this place is the most beautiful and intense collection and presentation of human experience on earth. They know that those well-trodden subway stairwells will be ready for them tomorrow. And they know how fortunate they are to be sitting at the crossroads of the world. Thank you New York City, and Happy New Year!
What would happen if you asked your doctor to precisely prescribe you a fitness regimen for optimal health? Might they have an answer for you? Of course they’d have some sort of answer, but it would most likely be somewhat general…something like, ‘well yes, you should be doing some cardio throughout the week for your overall health, whether it’s biking, running, etc.’
Yes, but doc…what exactly should I do? Like, how many days per week, for how many minutes or for what distance? And when we say ‘cardio’ do I just hop on the elliptical at PF and go? Does it matter how hard I go? Should I do a slow jog…or an all out sprint?
Chances are, your doctor won’t be able to give you this. It’s not their fault. Our medical field is more set up for treatment of issues rather than slow and long-term prevention, with lifestyle interventions. However, this type of practice is central to our health, for right now and more importantly for our healthspan and longevity purposes.
Before we get to the details of ‘cardio’, we should mention that there are certainly other buckets to fill in order to optimize health. This isn’t the only work we have to do. We should also be taking careful consideration around nutrition/supplementation, strength training, sleep, and emotional/mental health as well. I’ll be writing about these (and have already written some about them) in future posts.
Zone 2
The first method in building up our cardiorespiratory health is to build the width and base of the pyramid. We do that by spending basically as much time as we can in zone 2. To access this cardiovascular Zone, we need to maintain a heart rate that allows us to hold a conversation while exercising, but one where our breath rate is certainly elevated. You can use running, biking (stationary bike is great as you can control the rate more effectively than you can with elevation changes, traffic, etc. on the road), or rowing as a few examples. If we are really out of shape or have been sedentary for a while, even a brisk walk will bring us into this zone. I can usually maintain nasal-only breathing in my zone 2 training. If my heart rate goes up too high, I have to start mouth-breathing…and then I know I’m out of zone 2. Here is a small chart to help illustrate the zones:
Zone 1 (recovery, very easy) 55-65% of max HR
Zone 2 (aerobic, base) 65-75% of max HR
Zone 3 (Tempo) 80-85% of max HR
Zone 4 (lactate threshold) 85-88% of max HR
Zone 5 (anerobic) 90-100% of max HR
Zone 2 training should take up about 80% of the time we spend on cardiorespiratory work. This broadens and widens out the base of our pyramid. All sorts of good things are happening in the body when we sustain a heart rate in this zone. The main benefit is the overall improvement of our metabolic health…that is to say how effectively we use fuel in the body. How do we use glucose and fat to fuel us? Aerobic training improves the health of our mitochondria. These little friends are the workhorses inside our cells that create energy (in the form of ATP) for us to then go function throughout our lives.
According to Peter Attia, MD, ‘Healthy mitochondria are also important to maintaining the health of our brain, and to controlling potential bad actors like oxidative stress and inflammation.” Therefore, we can also be stoked that zone 2 training helps us with cognition and memory, producing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and helping us prevent neurodegenerative disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s. We oughta treat these little mitochondrial friends really well, as the payback is immense for us, and moreso as time goes on.
If we’re just starting out, we should strive to be in zone 2 for at least2 sessions per week of 30 minutes each. There is a huge benefit from going from being totally sedentary to getting your body into this type of movement each week.
If we’re already pretty active, athletic, or have already reached that level, we should strive for 3 hours per week…either 3 separate 1 hour sessions, or 4 separate 45 minute sessions. I know…that’s a lot. It’s a slog. BUT, what’s great about zone 2 is that you can make phone calls during these sessions. You can catch up on your podcasts and audiobooks. Hell, you can even put a treadmill or stationary bike in front of the TV and do it there. If 3 hours per week of Zone 2 sounds like a lot, we should ask ourselves how many hours per week of television we are watching…and whether or not that number sounds like a lot. Hmmm.
VO2Max
The other phase of training we benefit from practicing is a much more challenging activity. We will be breathing hard. Our heart rate will be elevated (up through zone 4 into zone 5), and we’ll need to spend time recovering. This is VO2Max training.
VO2Max is the Rate (V) at which your body can consume oxygen (O2) during exercise. Oxygen comes into the lungs, runs into the bloodstream where it flows through capillaries in the muscle fibers to help create movement. Well the higher the rate you can take in oxygen and process it through your body with movement…the higher VO2Max you have…and more importantly, the healthier you are as an individual.
A high rating in VO2Max generally provides us with a high capability to carry out anything physical. This number of course drops with age. And you can consider how hard it would be for a 90 year old to carry a bag up 2 flights of stairs. They cannot take in oxygen and process it into functional movement at the rate and efficiency as a 20 year old can. They of course may have other variables contributing to this, but their oxygen uptake and utilization is one of the main reasons. This is why it’s so important for us now to maintain, and continue maintaining a high VO2Max number.
Now, the zone 2 training will certainly help our VO2 max number…a little. But it’s more effective to think of that pyramid again, and the fact that zone 2 will slowly build that nice wide base. We can think of it more as giving us the opportunity, or platform to then use VO2Max training, to really raise up the peak of the pyramid.
‘Ok, so doc, how should I train this system?’ one might ask, sitting on the loud paper covering the exam table…feet dangling in the cool air. Well, the good news is that it involves waaay less time, and needs to happen less often than we should be training our zone 2.
For VO2Max training, we can use this easy to remember practice of a 4 by 4. We should use 4 intervals of 4 minutes each, going as hard as we can…with 3-4 minutes in between each interval in order to get our heart rate back down. I like using running for this…or an airbike…so that I can get my entire body involved and somewhat max everything out. Biking on the road or all out rowing is challenging for me to reach that peak exertion.
Now remember, we can’t necessarily ‘sprint’ for 4 minutes straight. Maybe we could absolutely sprint for a minute, but then the final 3 minutes of the first interval would be slow and sluggish. Knowing that we have to push against our maximum capacity for 4 minutes straight, and also knowing that we have to do this 4 times, we will somewhat subconsciously ‘pace’ ourselves through this. BUT, don’t pace too much. You NEED to be pushing up against that maximum output for all 4 intervals of 4 minutes in this exercise. You need to tell the body to use more oxygen…and use it better…more effectively! Tell those little mitochondria to fire up their little engines and get ready for a few drag races.
This is where the 3-4 minute recovery between rounds is very important. If you don’t recover enough, you won’t be able to push out your max in that next interval, and you won’t cause the adaptation to your system that you’re looking for. Use a very slow jog or ‘zone 1’ recovery for these in-between segments. Then go like hell when it’s time to fire it back up!
Oh, you only need to do this once per week to cause sufficient adaptation. If we are elite athletes, we could perhaps do this twice per week. But just once will do wonders.
Another thing to mention is that if you haven’t gone all out for a long time, you definitely risk injury doing so all of a sudden. Build your tissues up to this. Use a good 15 minute warm up, and some dynamic movement beforehand so that you’re not expressing maximum output on a cold, fragile body. This is where strength training, and building from the ground up…building up connective tissues in the joints, etc. play a huge role. Separate topic, but inseparable! After you’re done with your 4×4 VO2Max session, use a brisk walk or jog for 15 minutes or so as a cool down before totally stopping and hitting the shower. I like to stretch after my max outputs as well because the muscles have been tightened up and used…well, to their max. Therefore, stretching them out back into place leaves me feeling flexy, and not all rigid and tight walking around for the rest of the day.
Measuring our VO2Max
We could simply keep training these zone 2 and max output interval sessions, knowing that we’d improve our actual VO2Max number. But where is the fun in that? I love to gamify whatever I’m doing if possible. I love to find ways to compete with others, or compete with myself if I can. Therefore, knowing my number is important to me.
If we have a fancy smartwatch, like an Apple or a Garmin, we may be able to obtain our VO2Max number there. How convenient!
Well I don’t have those. And I actually like an old fashioned method of what is called the Cooper test. This consists of running as far as you can for 12 minutes straight. Take your exact mileage, plug it into an equation, and find your number that way. Here’s the equation:
(35.97 x (your distance in miles in the 12 minutes) – 11.29 = your VO2Max
The distance I ran last week was 1.66 miles. Therefore:
(35.97 x 1.66) = 59.71
59.71 – 11.29 = 48.42
You can also find online calculators for this. Here is an image of one that I used to check my number in another method…it came out exactly the same:
So now that I know my VO2Max number is 48.42, I’ll consistently use my zone 2 training (aim for 3 hours per week) in addition to my Max training (one 4×4 session per week) to try to increase that number.
I’d love to hear what your number is, and how much you’re using this type of training to improve it. Please write to me!
My parents visited this weekend. As we were chatting in the living room, I encouraged them to get down from the couch and come and join me for some mobility work.
One of the best ways to stay limber and stay out of joint pain is to practice moving our joints around gently on the floor, instead of sitting in the all-to-common 90 degree position that the couch and all other chairs throughout the day mold us into.
When we were down on the carpet doing some kneeling, some pigeon type poses, etc. I asked at one point, ‘where could we be 5 years from today with how our bodies move and feel?’ Most of us wake up tight and sore in the morning. Somehow we nudge ourselves through the day, dealing with a bum knee, a tight hip, a strained back…whatever it may be. Then when our day is done, we return to that couch or love seat, tightening everything back up.
Let’s think about this. If I have a bum knee now, and I simply continue on that path described above…where will I be 5 years from today? I’ll be tighter, in more pain, and probably have some other issues because of ignoring the knee.
But what if every night instead of that couch, I used the floor for some awesome mobility, moving everything from my big toe to my hips through a full range? I’d at least be putting my body to bed in a much better position. What if every morning after meditation (sitting criss-cross applesauce), I took a coffee and book back to the floor for some more mobility? What if I did that for 5 years? How would my body be different? Well, I could at least say that I’d be more mobile than today!
Sitting on the floor and squatting all the way down is much more commonly done in eastern cultures. In the west, we look for a chair as soon as we walk into the place. What gives?! With the exponential amount of knee surgeries and replacements in America, we can learn from these ancient cultures that getting down and up more often, sitting in a variety of ways on the floor, and squatting ass to grass will help us a ton. To be more scientific about it, moving our joints through a full range brings synovial fluid to the joint…which brings with it healing properties, and really simply a lubrication to those rusty and creaky parts.
It doesn’t matter the age. In fact, it matters more the older that we are. When it comes to our joints, it’s ‘use it or lose it’. We’re going to live this next 5 years anyway. Do we want to stiffen up, lose strength and mobility, and deal with more pain? Of course not?
One issue though, is that we’ve let our bodies get pretty far from where we’d like them, and we wonder if there is a way back. Don’t get discouraged like that! No matter your age or situation, you can get a little bit better tomorrow.
Last year I was in constant knee pain. Waking up in pain, and not being happy about my first steps of the day. Today, I’m NOT in that constant pain…simply because of a dedication to movements and and a focus on nutrition. It was hard. It took a long time. And I still have a long ways to go. But doing the daily work beats the alternatives. Ask yourself, ‘where do I want my body 5 years from now?’ Then, start building it brick by brick.
Tonight…instead of the couch, take the floor. If you’re not sure what to do there…message me.
Spices and herbs – cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, oregano, cilantro, etc.
Fish – the smaller the better, and only packed in olive oil if canned. Some canned sardines for example are packed in cottonseed and rapeseed oil. Not allowed. No batter on fish allowed! Pan cook in olive oil. Or bake/broil
Bivalves – clams, oysters, mussels, scallops
Cheese – organic if possible – preferably goat, blue, feta, mozzarella, parmesan, 0 added sugars or additives
Whole grains – quinoa, farro, whole grain rice (no white rice allowed), plain oats (make your own oatmeal with ingredients above – no instant or packaged oatmeal)
Seeds – flax, hemp, pumpkin, sunflower, chia, sesame, etc. all great options.
I don’t eat meat but offer this for those that do:
Red meat – local, grass fed (grass finished if possible) No hormones, antibiotics, steroids, MSG or sugars
Pork or Chicken – local, free range, organic if possible, No hormones, antibiotics, steroids, MSG or sugars
Foods and drink that aren’t allowed:
Sugar – some foods like fruit and yogurt contain sugar naturally and that will be allowed. The main thing here is that we don’t consume any ‘added sugars’. Check labels. Dessert can be any fruit. Use this to satisfy the sweet tooth. Yogurt with cinnamon and fruit is very good.
Bread – this one will be hard for me. But this HAFDuh Diet has a focus on low sugar and low carb. Bread is one of my weaknesses. Ok, here’s a caveat: If you hafduh have bread, you can have up to 1 slice per day BUT, only if you make the bread from scratch yourself. That means either a sourdough starter, or a scratch recipe (containing zero sugar) with whole grain flour (NO white flour) yeast, etc. No bagged or boxed mixes allowed whatsoever.
Pasta – same as bread. Not allowed unless you make your own noodles (whole grain flour (no white), eggs, salt, extra virgin olive oil. No canned sauce allowed. Use lemon, garlic, e.v.o.o, oregano…or pesto…or fresh tomatoes etc.
White Carbs – zero refined or white carbs allowed
Most packaged foods – this is pretty much a whole foods diet, and most foods in packages have been processed, refined, and have other ingredients added. Not all, but most. We are looking for single ingredient foods here for the most part.
Questions I have for myself
Can’t I just have sugar on weekends? NO! At least for April, and hopefully longer…none! You know you’ll just binge for the weekend and ruin all of the progress you made all week. No.
What about my birthday, or some other special occasion? Ok, 1 dessert per month allowed if it qualifies for a special occasion. Just 1! Savor the hell out of that thing.
What about salad dressings? Duh…these are usually bad, and wash away all of the good we’re doing by eating greens and vegetables. Make your own, and have as much as you want: EVOO, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt. Done!
What about booze? No extra calories from booze allowed. What ingredients are in the beer or bourbon you’re drinking? You can’t tell me can you? Because…they don’t have to be listed…so we don’t know, which isn’t cool. CAVEAT: You can drink any organic wine up to 1 glass per day. Note: most benefit from wine is within the ingredient Resveratrol, which you’d need to drink gallons to obtain sufficient amounts, and which can more easily, and more soberly be consumed through supplementation (see below).
Why no cow’s milk or cream? Look, I actually see the benefit of unpasteurized, organic, local cream and cow milk…with no hormones, antibiotics, steroids, etc. I’m just not going to go through the trouble and expense of getting it. If I need a milk, I’ll use a sugar free oat or almond milk. If you Hafduh have cows milk, make it local and organic.
Tea? yes, totally fine.
Honey and Maple syrup? I don’t know…that’s a slippery slope. I want to find contentment without satisfying that sweet tooth. I know that these can be local, organic, 1 ingredient healthy sweeteners…but I need more discipline, so no.
Peanut Butter? So I know that there are two ingredient peanut butters (nuts and oil) that could be ok. But, what kind of oil is being used? Probably some crap oil. Well, I suppose if it’s organic it’s ok. 2 ingredient organic peanut butter is fine.
Jelly? No, it’s too sweet and yummy, even if it’s only made with fruit and organic. I might find myself late at night with a spoon and a jar of peanut butter and jelly. This is not ok.
So why don’t you give yourself a time like 8pm to stop eating? That’s a good question. Although this is already going to be hard for me, and that might make it something I can’t sustain for month. I have dabbled in intermittent fasting, only eating between 12 noon and 8pm…but I’m not ready to commit to working within times yet. Maybe next month.
Supplementation
These are the supplements I’ve been taking, and will continue to take throughout the HAFDuh diet:
Beta Carotene – eye and skin health
Vitamin C – helps in collagen building (connective tissues, skin, etc.), immune system, blood pressure, antioxidant support, many more
Vitamin D – bones, inflammation, covid/sickness mitigation, maybe cancer prevention
Creatine – muscles, muscle function, neuromuscular, cognition, maybe help prevent parkinson’s and other neurological disease,
Omega 3’s – inflammation, blood pressure, aging, cognitions, eyes…too many to list! This is my number 1 recommended supplement. If you had to choose just one, this would be it!
Resveratrol – metabolic and cardiovascular health, longevity, hypertension, glucose sensitivity, etc. This supplement is another ringer.
Collagen – connective tissues (joint health), skin, pain, arthritis, hypertension, diabetes…bone broth would be a good relative to this that I’ve used before.
Electrolyte Mineral Drops – I use a triple osmosis filtration system at home. This effectively removes toxic metals like lead, arsenic, etc. but also potentially removes all desired minerals. Therefore, I add them back in. Spring water probably doesn’t need this.
Back Story and the Why behind The HAFDuh Diet
I woke up this morning very hungover. It wasn’t from booze though…it was from sugar. That’s more forgivable right? I’ve had an ongoing problem or ‘addiction’ with sugar actually. But that’s it! I hafduh do something about it.
I actually do a pretty good job with diet overall. I’ve been able to maintain what I think is a healthy weight and BMI. I eat a pescatarian diet, consuming mostly fruit, vegetables, eggs, and whole grains. However, I have a sweet tooth. And it bit me in the backside this weekend.
You see, I’ve been on a good streak as of late, not having too many sugary treats. But last night, I brought my daughter to the movies with some family. We love the movies! And we love to sneak in lots of boxes of dollar store or supermarket candy, knowing that I saved a fortune, not purchasing at the theater. A couple of boxes for my daughter, and a few for me…no harm right? Typical Friday night experience.
I ended up eating a lot of M&M’s, a bunch of Milk Duds, and a LOT of Sour Patch Kids. It was so good. The mouth feels, the sweet, the sour…the fruity and then the chocolate. Oh my. I was in heaven, tilting back in my puffy recliner seat. Everything was great. Until the next morning. When I woke up all of my teeth and gums were really hurting. It was like the pain of having your braces tightened. Remember that? I mean, I brushed my teeth after the candy-fest…so I’m not sure what happened. Anyway, really painful grill for a couple of hours.
To add to that? A searing headache, with pain directly above my eyebrows right in the forehead area. I’ve had these sugar related headaches before, so this was familiar. But it was direct, more over my left eye…and not fun. Lastly, my mouth was terribly dry. I felt dehydrated and also lethargic to say the least. I guess I got what I deserved right?
I told myself no sugar at all today, but while out near the seacoast with my daughter, and my headache still raging, I figured a little ‘hair of the dog’ would do me some good. You see, us sugar addicts, we find ourselves on this wheel of needing a little more sugar just to feel better, but then over-consuming and ending up feeling like crap. So there I was grabbing a chai-tea latte to get back on sugar road. Ahh, so warm and tasty…so sweet. This would surely do the trick! To no avail. I continued feeling terrible (headache, nausea, and lethargic) until about 5pm.
By the way, I did hydrate the hell out myself with water and electrolytes first thing in the morning, and eat some eggs with yellow peppers and greens hoping that I’d feel better. THAT wasn’t working, so back to the sugar I went.
All this to say, that I need some rules. I need some structure to follow for at least a short period of time. Some discipline. Because when I leave it up to myself…I’m pretty good for getting all of my nutrients, etc. within a day, but when it comes to after dinner time, sitting on the couch, I fall into addict mode, wondering what chocolate is in the pantry…will it be enough? What ice cream would act as a nice bed for that chocolate? What can be sprinkled or poured onto all of that? Then I’m gone. I end up consuming a huge amount of sugar directly before I go to bed. It’s the absolute worst thing to eat at the absolute worst time. Duh.
In lieu of wanting some rules to follow, I thought, ‘Duh, I know all of the rules that I should follow’. I know that sugar is pretty much as bad as cocaine when it comes to the science behind how addictive it is. A couple of years ago, I said okay I need a break, and I quit sugar cold-turkey. I had a constant headache AND crazy nightmares for the next 3 days! Nightmares! For 3 nights I was trying to escape this monumentally huge and rotating room, with no exits. Oh, there were monsters chasing me in said room. Then I googled it, and yeah nightmares is apparently one of the withdrawal symptoms for sugar. Go figure. If you’re wondering where you stand with sugar, try consuming zero for a day. It’s actually hard to do because so much of our foods have added sugars. After a day with zero sugar, assess your symptoms. Hopefully it’s not as bad as mine!
On top of that, I’ve completely torched my skin through the landscaping work that I do. About 5 years ago, I regrettably and embarrassingly went a couple of years in my work with no sunscreen or protection. That 2 years probably aged my skin about 10-15 years. It has seriously paid the price, and it’s time that I give it some TLC. Sugar actually hardens and breaks down collagen and elastin…the building blocks of our largest organ. I’m hoping that with this focus on avoiding sugar, and by using supplementation and other treatments, I’ll repair some of the damage I’ve done.
But when I leave it ambiguous, and up to ‘me’ during those after meal times? It’s an absolute catastrophe. Therefore, I figured I better create a plan. A diet if you must. And I’ll follow it for at least a month to see what happens.
It’s going to be hard as f*#k for me to do this. Avoiding sugar will not be easy. I’ll literally be having withdrawals for a couple of days. Nothing too serious though outside of headaches and nightmares. I can ease into this for the next week or so, then get really disciplined at the start of April. Please join me. I’d be happy to have someone to commiserate with. AND, I truly think this diet will be really beneficial for anyone who tries it. I’ve read and practiced a ton in regards to diets of the Mediterranean and Blue Zones (areas where the highest numbers of centenarians live), and I’d say this HAFDuh diet is close to some of those. I mean, it’s close to how I eat normally, just minus all of that addictive SUGAR!
It’s called the HAFDuh Diet because I hafduh do something about this ongoing issue of mine. It’s Duh because I already know what I should be doing…Duh! I know that 1 box each of 2 different chocolate candies, and a huge bag of fruity sour ones isn’t a smart decision. But I can’t control it. I Hafduh get help! And, a convenient acronym to go with this diet is that it’s going to be Hard as F*#k for me to follow! I’m sorry for the language. It just came to me in the morning car ride, my head pounding as I wondered what my next sugary fix would be.The Hard as F*#k Diet, or The HAFDuh Diet if the kids are around.
And I know the final D in HAFDuh stands for ‘diet’ already…so saying HAFDuh Diet is saying diet twice. Look it just sounds better okay? The HAFDuh diet is my way to get myself on track for the next month, then maybe longer. With any luck, I’ll be in a healthy relationship with sugar at the end of April, and I’ll be on my way to that desired summer beach-body to boot. That’s why I’m following the HAFDuh Diet. Put a note in the post that you’ll join me…please?
This concept was popularized in the 1980s by Charles Poliquin. It basically states that in order for our bodies to perform optimally, and with less injury and pain…we should be pursuing a type of harmony within the size, strength, and weight distribution of our body.
To help illustrate this, let’s look at some examples of how we can be OUT of balance:
The most common and pertinent application for me and what I’m seeing in my work…is bodies that are top-heavy. This means a body is loaded with weight above the belt, without sufficient building of connective tissues and strength below the belt. This is just asking for foot, knee, and hip pain and problems. This is where building from the ground up is crucial.
Another example would be an athlete who has a very strong posterior chain (calves, hamstrings, glutes, etc.), but is very weak in front (anterior chain) with their tibialis, quads, and hips. This could pose problems for deceleration, approaching a jump, etc. or lead to shin splints and knee pain. We’re basically creating a body here that can’t absorb all of the force created by its own self.
If we build up a ton of muscle tissue, but don’t develop the tendons and ligaments along the way, we are asking for joint issues, tears, pain, etc.
It’s been very popular to train what’s called Triple Extension. ‘Triple’ is connected to extending the foot, knees, and hips. Think of being in a squat position and then jumping up into the air. Most athletes tend to train these movements separately. We could use a calf raise, a leg extension machine for the knee, and a squat or good morning for the hips. BUT, what about Triple ‘Flexion’? We rarely hear of athletes focusing on this…or at least focusing on it as much as on Triple extension. Triple flexion would be tibialis raise for the shin area, a nordic curl for the back of the knee and hamstring, and a reverse squat where we pull our knees up to our chest. What if we hooked our feet up to a cable and weight stack, and actually measured how much we could lift by pulling those knees to chest? It’s not to say ‘don’t squat’. It’s simply to say let’s also give incredible focus to reverse squatting. Athletes find when they do this, their legs feel so much lighter, instead of that heavy footed feel. Triple extension AND triple flexion leads to structural balance.
If we can push really well with chest and triceps, but can’t pull for crap with back and biceps, we aren’t structurally balanced.
If a softball pitcher or baseball player throws hundreds of times with one arm every week, but can’t effectively and safely slow that arm down with external rotation strength, they aren’t structurally balanced. On top of that, one side of their body is developing differently than the other, which can certainly lead to pain or injury.
Lastly, I’ll consider another issue with knees because that is my weakness. If we develop the outer quad muscles (vastus lateralis), but don’t address the inner VMO (vastus medialis) muscle, we are manufacturing and asking for knee issues. The VMO is rarely trained, but is most correlated with a stable and more pain-free knee. Therefore, leaving it out leaves us out of structural balance.
Well, how do we get structurally balanced then, one might ask? We seek out the weak links by trying a few exercises. It doesn’t take long at all! Then, we use our bodyweight, and our main lifts to calculate some ‘Standards’ for all of the other lifts. This lets us know where we stand, and what we should be at least pursuing. Without this information, a young athlete may just think more, more, more is the answer, but then blow out his knee or shoulder because of a clear weakness our imbalance in a noticeable area.
Now…we MUST say that even the most structurally balanced human could go out, play their sport, or do the activities within their day, and STILL get injured. This isn’t perfection that we’re striving for. Life is hard. Sports are dynamic. There are many unpredictables along the way. But a wise investment, putting money in the bank to make ourselves much more resilient, goes a long way in preventing a good amount of pain and suffering.
If you’re thinking you may be structurally ‘imbalanced’ in some way…if you’re in pain…if it hurts to play your sport…I’d love to have a conversation with you to see if I can provide value and get you on the right track.
jimmythorpe.com 