Category: Health and Fitness

I just learned this fall season that I like pumpkin seeds.

I hadn’t really given them a fair shot up until this year, but for whatever reason with this go around of roasting and lightly salting the seeds scooped out of the Halloween pumpkins picked from the local farm, my taste buds were partying.

What I did with this newly found knowledge is swap them in place of the pretzels that I eat daily while working—which turns out to be a much healthier option that’s just as satisfying.

A small change, indeed.

But… compounded over the course of every workday that I snack throughout the year?

…Is actually no small change, indeed.

One of the guys I play basketball with is the type who pretty much walks into the gym, dribbles and shoots a few times, and then steps into full court, full speed games.

He’s been out for a few months because of a calf injury—which likely resulted from his above “warm-up” routine.

Today, when he came back for the first time, what did he do?

…Walked into the gym, dribbled and shot a few times, and stepped into our full court, full speed game. Not a stretch in sight.

The thing you have to understand about your body is that it doesn’t communicate with you via words—it communicates with you via aches, pains, injuries, and every other unpleasant (and pleasant) type feeling.

If you don’t listen to your body, you’re bound for much more of the unpleasant than pleasant.

If you pay attention, however, and really listen… and build habits around pains… routines in repeatedly targeted areas… and rituals for when communication happens… you’d be surprised how much more pleasant it’ll be to be in your body.

I like to think of myself as a healthy person with a strong immune system.

So much so that I’ve been known to say at times: “I never get sick.”

30+ hours in bed over the last two days has me humbly updating that motto.

It’s one thing to use confidence to create a sort of placebo effect on my immune system—as a sort of reverse Munchausen syndrome mentality.

And it’s another thing to allow confidence to replace best practices for supporting my immune system.

In retrospect, there are certainly a few things I could’ve done better to both a) prevent this sickness from even getting access to my body and b) better support my immune system so it was stronger and more prepared if/when it did.

This is my humble reminder to you to yes, be confident in yourself to create that sort of reverse Munchausen syndrome mentality, but two, to simultaneously be supportive and unwavering in your efforts to keep it *actually* ready.

I had a long talk with a student today about a plateau she was experiencing in her health and fitness journey.

The short of it was that she couldn’t figure out what to do next to continue making progress. Every idea she would mention, she would talk herself out of in the same breath. The things she had done in the past, didn’t feel like they would work again. And the things that she was leaning towards to try, felt clunky and out of place in her lifestyle…

And she was exactly right to feel confused because everything she was trying to do felt—both to her and me—forced.

…Like some alien habit idea that would be transplanted into her lifestyle that she’d awkwardly have to remember and reinforce until it somehow became second nature and unconscious.

…This isn’t how habit change works.

What we discussed was aligning with something that’s already integrated into her lifestyle and building slightly on that. For example, instead of trying to add a random 15-minute weight lifting session somewhere into her day… maybe she starts a new habit of staying after her normal martial arts classes that she already takes 2x per week (and has been for 2+ years), and does a little extra strengthening, stretching, or conditioning work?

Or instead of trying to not eat sweets at all anymore (yeah, right)… figuring out what the healthiest dessert-like thing for her was… and preemptively eating that at the end of a day—knowing the cravings are coming and attacking them head on…

The bottom line is: anything forced will fail.

Align with current habits… align with momentum… align with yourself.

A friend of mine was telling me how fruits and vegetables blended into a smoothie and then consumed is not the same as eating them raw… and how you don’t absorb as many of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

This made me not want to consume my fruits and vegetables in a smoothie anymore.

However, I quickly remembered: I’m not going to eat my fruits and vegetables raw as consistently as I’m going to drink them blended into a smoothie. It just doesn’t align with my current lifestyle and I know it’s not something I can make happen with my current kitchen discipline (or lack thereof).

…And not getting any fruits and vegetables is far worse than getting them in a blended form.

This is the mistake too many people make.

They have something good going… compare it to something they could be doing better… get discouraged with what they’re doing… stop… and fall back to something far worse.

Like… if I’m not consuming them in a blended form, and I default back to getting processed, packaged, or fast food instead… how does the above insight help?

…It doesn’t at all.

Even though it was intended to be helpful.

And this is where self-awareness comes into play. Sometimes, you have to smile, nod, say “thank you” for the insight, and keep doing what’s working for you.

A guy I was playing basketball with today tore his achilles and has an expected recover time of 6+ months.

In the aftermath, it reminded me of how crucially important it is to have a flexible, limber body.

And because of my increasing interest and time investment in playing ball, I kind of fell out of doing deep stretching on one of the days I used to stretch religiously. And I’ve slowly started to feel the effects of that decision.

No injuries (knock on wood), but just a more noticeable tightness.

And this isn’t a good trajectory.

Today’s reminder is simple: invest in flexibility.

Even though it can feel like eating raw broccoli, it’s precisely that raw broccoli that’s going to keep you out of the hospital one day.

Invest a little bit every day, on your time… or be forced to invest a boat-load of time on your body’s time (when it gives out)—which is never convenient.

The choice in how and when you pay your dues—either a little bit daily or all at once—is yours… but remember: there’s no avoiding dues.

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P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week here.