A bold statement, yeah?

Maybe so.  But I’m not here to pull punches. I’m here to change lives.

I’ve never worked with anyone who was “addicted” to anything that I couldn’t crack. No habit or limiting belief I couldn’t alter.

The caveat being, the client actually had to want to change. For themselves, first and foremost. And they had to have skin in the game. Meaning, they had to “ante-up” in a way that loss with no return would be painful.

And no, that doesn’t always have to be money. I’ve worked with kids where I worked out a trade of chores for their parents or church. Money is just the easiest form of energy transfer, but I don’t let that limit my creativity or who I choose to work with.

Physical addiction?  Bullshit. And yeah, it’s usually the first element of pushback I get from those I’m working with, or from those who say these transformations are not possible.  Do you engage in the activity while you’re sleeping? No? Then this is a temporary mental/emotional attachment, nothing more.

I’m not saying it’s not strong and destructive, I’m AM saying it’s not physical.

Once an addict, always an addict?  More bullshit. For the same reasons above.

Unfortunately the “physical addiction” and  “once an addict, always an addict” lie are perpetuated by those who would profit on that lie being perpetuated.  The mantra of marketing and business being that repeat business is where it’s at. All cool if we’re talking about a widget or product. Seriously unethical if we’re talking about a human life.

I don’t work that way. It is, as I said, unethical.  I charge what I’m worth up front (which is rolled into the “skin in the game” aspect), elicit the change and move on.  Believe me, there is plenty of need out there and few who can provide it.  So no need for client retention.  Referrals come without asking because once a person is optimized, they want *everyone* to feel the same.  The optimized human doesn’t know scarcity, and so he shares freely.

“Addiction” to any substance – and I don’t care what that substance is (food, porn, smoking, alcohol, street drugs of any sort, lying, cheating gambling… whatever) – is a coping mechanism for a deeper issue.  The action (or shitty habit) didn’t just spring up out of nowhere.

Same thing with limiting beliefs.  In other words, the “I can’t X because Y” mindset.  Excuses supported by a bullshit story the client has chosen to believe.

Quite simply, it’s a story the afflicted chooses to tell themselves to get beyond that deeper issue. Typically reinforced by the environment.  Change the environment, change the habit. Then rewrite the story.

The key to ridding the person of the addiction (or shitty habit or limiting belief)?  It’s a simple two-step process:

1. The coach has to unrelentingly call bullshit on the story and rewrite the client’s internal subconscious programming, and

2. The client has to be all in.  Willing to take full responsibility for the past (which may require forgiving – self or other) , rewrite the story, and move forward.

Simple, yes.  But not easy.  This is why so few are successful in changing their own habits, and why coaches generally suck at driving compliance.

The problem? Few coaches have the intestinal fortitude to challenge a client, face the emotional blowback (yeah, it can be intense), and bring out that client’s excellence. 

And, too, few coaches know how to deal with the subconscious mind, where the change has to be made. There’s art and science there as well.

There can be no “savior” or “guru” complex involved on the part of the coach. The entire goal is to get the client to fully stand, unsupported, on their own.  The coach is teaching the client to save themselves.  And, ultimately, not need the coach.  See the potential blind spot here on the part of the coach?  Yes, this is a real thing. The coach isn’t a bad person, just blind to their own issues.

There is excellence and genius within EVERYONE.  I’ve seen this in every client I have ever worked with, every kid I have ever coached.  It’s just not been *expected* of everyone.  And so often I am the first one who will accept *no less than* excellence (in an effort > outcome kind of way) from the client.  That in itself is a game-changer.

And, too, many clients have “secondary gain” around their condition.  This is often woven into the low expectations trap.  That is to say, their identification is wrapped up in being an “addict” or the “struggling dieter” or the victim of (fill in the blank), or whatever.  Here too, the coach has to be strong in calling out the bullshit.

So you can see there is a lot of “calling out bullshit” involved in this process.  There is, and it’s crucial if the end goal is to actually elicit permanent change in a client.

Or, you can be “nice” and enable an on-going habit change circle jerk. That’s a thing, for sure.  And both parties can feel good about that arrangement.  I’m just not about that.

Because here’s the thing: I love my clients enough not to let them lie to themselves.  I’d alert them if someone else were lying to them, why in the hell wouldn’t I do the same if they were doing it to themselves?

You are here for so much more than mere puttering and survival.  Love yourself enough to start thriving like it.

Thrive on,
Keith

The post Addiction is a Bullshit Excuse appeared first on Theory To Practice.

Check out that picture above and look at that scoop of a scar on my bicep. Almost where it meets my shoulder.

It’s more deformation than a scar I suppose.  The result of an old football injury. 

A muscle tear is a peculiar feeling.  It reminded me then of quartering a buck I’d shot a few years prior, my uncle chiding me for laboring through with a dull knife.

“You won’t make that mistake again,” he chuckled. His Jeam Beam breath lingering in the needling sleet.

I didn’t. Lesson learned.

And now – like today – when I catch a glimpse of that gouge in my arm a cascade of well-rehearsed… aphorisms?… issue forth.  Like momentos left scrawled on perfumed paper in some keepsake chest stashed away in my subconscious.  My own accumulation of wisdom and secrets. My own Art of War.

“One foot in chaos, one in stability.”

“To fully live means to risk death.”

“Security or freedom; pick one.”

But mostly it reminds me of what Annie Duke suggests in her brilliant book, Thinking in Bets.  That the game of life is not so much chess as it is Texas Hold ‘Em. 

In chess, for any given the situation on the board, there IS one best move.  Mathematically, THE best move. And that one best move can, given enough time and number-crunching power, be calculated.  This is why computers dominate even the best masters.

Not so with poker. A game that hinges on probability.  Psychology, intuition, and strategy.  A game where each participant’s flip-of-the-wrist sets the dealt hand careening headlong into unnavigated territory.  A game where the best dealt, drawn and tossed cards can lose to the worst.  A game where nothing is certain; where every outcome is measured only in the probability of its happening.

That gouge in my arm reminds me of the high-risk /high-reward chance I took on a must-stop down in a must-win game in my college years. And the free safety who covered my ass when I came up short and broken. It reminds me of young hubris; the sting of defeat and gratitude for tested-by-fire tribe.

It reminds me that nothing in life is a given.  That best-made plans can be sunk in an instant.

And it also reminds me of resilience.  The ability to dust-off, heal-up, and bounce back stronger than before. 

Scarred?  Certainly.  Disfigured?  In a way, absolutely. The years, if you live them right, will do that to you.

They’ll make you – if you work them right – (and as Nassim Taleb would say), “antifragile”.  Stronger having survived the battle.

Talk soon –
Keith

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Are you familiar with the Hegelian Dialectic?  It goes a little something like this:

1. The State creates a problem

2. The State monitors the public’s reaction to the problem (fear, panic, outrage, etc.)

3. The State provides the solution to the problem

4. The State becomes the savior to the masses

Those who are “awake” (snake energy in Incan mythology) recognize this pattern.  It happens repeatedly throughout history.  

And why?  Because it works.  The masses, over and over again, fail to notice the sleight-of-hand.  And step by step they become more entrenched in victimhood. Zoo animals at the mercy of their keepers.  

How do you break free of being a victim of this sequence?

Wake up. See the game for what it is.  Simply choose to become empowered. And the best place to start is with physical empowerment.  

Take back the keys to your own health and vibrancy from outside “authority”.  Who knows you better than YOU? Who has YOUR best interest at heart? You or some outside “authority”?

And know this: entering into co-creative partnerships with the intent of bettering your health is a totally different animal than turning over complete control. No captain sets sail without a competent navigator by his side.  The captain, though, knows the buck stops with him.

As does the navigator.  The chariot driver (Krishna) only sought to advise Arjuna.  There was no wish to control.

Truth and Love don’t seek to control, they wish only to be revealed.  Through you and by you.

Next, regain control of what you feed your mind.  You do have a choice in the matter. However, many are still lulled into peering through the nonsensical presentation of “reality” as presented by the mainstream media. 

Be aware that all of the mainstream media outlets are owned by a mere 6 companies which, in turn, are controlled by a handful of individuals.

Do you think they have your best interest at heart? Or do you think they might benefit more from controlling you than offering an objective picture on the state of things? 

The majority of what you see on mainstream news is now a propagandized depiction of reality spun for the benefit of those in a position to profit from that narrative.  In the same way that Hilter’s right-hand-man Goebbels used the German media during WW2 to direct the narrative and influence what the average German citizen believed.

True mainstream journalism is dead. This is unfortunate but true. So it’s important to seek information from independent sources.  And a variety of independent sources at that. We all have biases and blind spots, so it’s important we realize and compensate for that. 

Don’t assume any information being presented in the media is accurate. In this environment, “trust but verify” is not an adequate defense. It’s wise to challenge everything (including that of your favorite independent source). There are many well-intended independent researchers trying to figure things out. But then there’s a lot of intentional misinformation being fed into the market.

The intellectual ju-Jitsu game is strong, here. So you need to hone your critical thinking skills. Now is the time.

For example, the CDC accepts private funding, it’s not a purely government-funded agency, which should make everyone skeptical of the information it provides.

Remember that stats and numbers are easily manipulated.  Even if the originating data is 100% accurate.

The philosopher Jacques Ellul discusses these topics in detail in his landmark work, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes. He viewed the power of the media as another example of technology exerting control over human destiny. As a mechanism of change, the media are almost invariably manipulated by special interests, whether of the market or the state.

Ellul claims that:
“…it is a fact that excessive data do not enlighten the reader or the listener; they drown him. He cannot remember them all, or coordinate them, or understand them; if he does not want to risk losing his mind, he will merely draw a general picture from them. And the more facts supplied, the more simplistic the image”. 

And:
“…Thus the mechanisms of modern information induce a sort of hypnosis in the individual, who cannot get out of the field that has been laid out for him by the information”. 

So, what to do?

1. Remain vigilant.

We have been lulled to sleep by the illusion of safety and by our never-ending pursuit of creature comforts. This false sense of security lends to victimhood which leads to manipulation and control.  Vigilance and alertness are required for the times ahead.

2. Stay Strong.

Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially, relationally and tribally. These are the core 7 pillars of health and vitality.  This virus, like any virus, is harder on those that already have compromised health.

And too, there will be much less psychological safety in society in the years to come. Expect more and more Higailian Dialect from governments and mass media. This event is simply the entry point into the new-normal.

All of which means that it’s essential to focus on cultivating a strong internal structure and peak resilience in the above mentioned 7 pillars that can weather the storms to come. Negative emotions like fear disrupt the body’s immune system more than anything else.

But above all, this is a time of great opportunity.  A chance to become evermore resilient, evermore antifragile. 

This time is asking of you to become the optimized you that cannot be found without hardship.

It’s up to you to answer the call.

You got this. WE got this!

Talk soon –
Keith


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The post Three Card Monte, and the Propaganda Machine appeared first on Theory To Practice.

More to the point: whose reality are you living?

And who told you the stories you believe to be true? Those stories that mold the reality you’re living right now.

And about those stories you continue to tell yourself: are they serving or hindering you?

Are you living your reality, where your dream to become the best version of you is moving forward, every single day?

Or are you living the rest of the world’s reality?  Mass media’s reality. A numb-and-dumb reality where your dream is pushed aside as either insignificant, or too pie-in-the-sky.  

In times like these, you have to build your own reality—and live in it. That’s how greatness manifests.

And that reality begins with the stories you tell yourself.

I get it, though.  Boy, do I ever. One story I’ve told myself repeatedly is that I’m “not good with money”.

Just ask me: I can throw out all kinds of supporting evidence for that “fact”:

• I come from a blue-collar, working-class background
• I suck at math
• I absolutely hate accounting
• Money has never come easy for me
• I have to grind harder than the next guy just to keep my head above water

I even created elaborate methods to not even have to *think* about money.  In my visions of my future self, I saw the *lifestyle* I wanted to manifest — the ability to travel the world, seeking inner and outer Truth with my tribe of choice — I could feel the warm breeze atop Machu Picchu; I could smell the tropical rain.  

But when it came to how that lifestyle would be paid for?  The rubber-meets-the-road, nitty-gritty of where the “currency energy” would come from to support that lifestyle? I dodged the idea like Neo dodging a phalanx of bullets.

Which is total bullshit.

In the real world, lifestyles have to be funded by the energy of currency. AKA, money. So I’d better come to terms with that.

No different than my wanting to be fit means nothing unless I actually do the work to produce that outcome.

So I have a choice: I can continue to have my life dictated by my old, crippling money stories…

Or — I can choose to create my own stories around money.  Stories in which I am an absolute money wizard. Who the fuck is going to tell me I can’t?

The only one who CAN tell me I can’t?  Me.

So what’s YOUR story? 

Who told you that story?  And why do you believe it?

Does it help or hinder you?

There’s only ONE person between you and the stories you choose to live by.

Being the change you want to see in the world begins with a story. 

Choose wisely.  

Live your dream. Starting today –
Keith

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The post Whose Story Are You Living? appeared first on Theory To Practice.

I totally dig what Mark Rippetoe is saying here.  I truly do.

And yet….

I love the trap bar.  It has served me well, and I think it’s a great tool.  

So the question you have to ask is this: what’s your ultimate goal?

If your goal is to deadlift as much as possible with a *barbell*, then I think Mark is (mostly) spot on. 

But if the goal is to be an all-’round strong and functional human being, then the trap bar is just another tool in the toolbox.

Would a rock be useless?  A tree trunk? Any manner of strongman implement? One might ask: what came first, the human or the barbell?  Or any tool for that matter.

There are no “bad” exercises (or tools), only bad applications.

Critical thinking. N=1 experimentation. Take what is useful; discard what is not.

Talk soon –
Keith


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The post Is the Trap Bar Useless? appeared first on Theory To Practice.

When I was a kid growing up in south Texas, the lunch week at my public elementary school always followed a predictable pattern:

Wednesdays meant Mexican food day.  The enchiladas were off the friggin’ chain good.  And the dessert was the best chocolate cake you ever tasted.

I can still remember the smell wafting into the classroom through the open windows.  Yeah, the school I went to had no air conditioning. Just a bunch of sweaty, stinky, south Texas kids and a teacher who was probably wondering what-in-the-natural-hell she signed up for.

And Friday was fried fish day.  With the most awesome yeast rolls you could ever imagine.

This was back in the day when the cafeteria ladies actually made this grub by hand.  And it was hella good.

Now no one really gave a single rat’s ass about Monday, Tuesdays or Thursdays.  No one was jazzed about Salisbury Steak, “mystery meat” or whatever else might be on the menu.  Mostly we just flew through lunch in like 5 minutes so we could get outside ASAP and play kickball.

But I can tell you this: rare indeed did I or anyone else miss school on a Wednesday or Friday.  Oh hell no!

A silly story, yeah.  And yet – what does this have to do with navigating clients (or yourself) around the idea of “cheat days” as a diet motivator? 

I’ll tell you this: it’s a damn slippery slope.  Because the problem with the “cheat day” as a motivator is that every other day is NOT a “cheat day”.

In other words, could you/would you enjoy “the now” if the thought of something better – or in this case, insanely more delicious – lay just on the horizon?

If you establish *any* lifestyle factor as good/bad, work/reward, sacrifice/return dichotomy, you’re relying on willpower to get you from one “cheat day” to the next.

And we know that willpower is a finite resource.  Even the bad-ass Archilochus thought so, 2700 years ago:

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”

So for you, when the stress volume redlines or you’ve got decision fatigue from a ball-buster day at work, you’ll revert to that child-like part of you that just wants to be soothed by the fastest hyper-palatable food you can have Uber-Eats drop in your lap.

And if that weren’t bad enough, those “cheats” won’t reduce the want, but rather send it into orbit.

In the words of Dr. Robert Sapolsky (Behave):

“Food evokes dopamine release in hungry individuals of all species, with an added twist in humans. Show a picture of a milkshake to someone after they’ve consumed one, and there’s rarely dopaminergic activation—there’s satiation. But with subjects who have been dieting, there’s further activation. If you’re working to restrict your food intake, a milkshake just makes you want another one.”

I don’t want to wax all eastern thought / woo here, but this is like trying to grasp and hold onto happiness.  Or dodge pain. Both are impermanent and ethereal. And to treat them otherwise is to create a continuous loop of suffering for yourself. 

If you’re happy for a *reason*, you can be sure you’re still operating from a baseline of suffering.

So back to the question at hand: can cheat days be used as a successful dietary lever?

If you happen to be someone who hasn’t learned to moderate well, even planned flexibility (i.e., a cheat day) is dangerous because it ignites all the subconscious fireworks that led to the bad habit in the first place.

This is made even more insidious because those caught in the loop will deny up and down that it’s even a thing for them. And, like the “ABSOLUTELY NO TRESPASSING” signs on the fences surrounding the limestone quarry near where I grew up, tell someone that they *cannot* have something and it automatically places that something in the forefront of their attention and amplifies its value.

Ding! Ding!  Challenge accepted!

On Language

You, me, and every other human being walking the planet are highly susceptible to languaging.  And if you think you’re not, you’re even MORE susceptible.

The term “cheat” implies shame, judgment and hiding.  And it’s completely disempowering. The exact opposite of what you want.  Not just in managing your diet (and more broadly, lifestyle), but in ALL aspects of your life. An empowered individual makes smart decisions consistently over the long haul. Maybe not all the time, but more times than not.

Life is lived in probabilities, not extremes.

The same empowered individual can *choose* to have a bite or two of a bad-ass dessert, set the fork down and be satisfied. There’s no dichotomy, no shame/judgment, no win/lose situation.

There are consequences associated with every decision we choose, with those consequences being skewed relative to the “dose” and frequency of the choice.  And I am fully in control of those decisions.

I am, as it were, the captain of my own ship.

For a disempowered individual, unplanned goal deviations feel like failures and thus set off a “fuck it all” cascade that finds them elbows deep in a gallon deep in Hagen Daz before they even know it.  

Guilt, shame, hiding and self-loathing rush in. It’s a feed-forward loop to be caught in. And rarely does it end well.  Physically and emotionally.

Empower yourself today.  You CAN have anything under the sun to eat.  Now, what do you CHOOSE to eat? And why?

Is this a simple, verbal, sleight-of-hand?  Of course it is. And it works.

Try it for yourself and you’ll find it makes all the difference in the world in your dietary and lifestyle behavior modification.

You got this.  You ARE empowered.  

Health thyself, hone thyself, change the world –
Keith

PS – Looking for a free, no-obligation, health assessment to support a hyper-personalized nutrition program? Look no further. Click HERE NOW

The post Pitfalls of the “Cheat Day” Mentality appeared first on Theory To Practice.

Even the most Keto /Carnivore / Paleo / GOMAD / IIFYM whatever among you must know that caloric load DOES account for something in the fat loss game. 

I get it.  I too know that the body is more chemistry lab than bomb calorimeter, and yet… gross energy surplus or deficit over time does matter.

Why is this so tough for most people to swallow?

It reminds me of the global warming debate. And I use the term “debate” loosely, here. It’s more a battle of wits between two unarmed sides.

“It’s man-made!”

“It’s a natural phenomenon!”

I dunno… what if it were the result of a natural climate swing made even worse by man-made effects?

We’ve all heard of those who have famously lost weight (including hella muscle mass) on the Tweenkies diet.  Otherwise known as the concentration camp diet (Holocaust deniers and Flat Earthers need not apply). And we all know the Keto evangelist cousin “carbz kill” Bill who hoovers fat on fat on fat and (still) weighs a cool… 3 bills. 

Diet, like religion (and conspiracy theories), are crazy things. 

Our society DEMANDS things be black and white.  Sharp dividing lines. I win you lose. But few things are ever that way.  Especially diet.
And no wonder our culture thinks like this; our entire fucking school system is set up to train people to retain and regurgitate the single RIGHT answer. 

We push out graduates with the efficiency of a Ford assembly line.  Graduates trained to be little more than cogs IN an assembly line….

…in the fucking digital age.  What kind of lunacy is this?

There IS nuance involved here.  There is always nuance involved.  So how best to navigate that?

I don’t care how experienced you are, what tricks you use (one serving = 1 palm!) or whatever –  if you go out to eat you will fail miserably at accurately assessing the nutritional content of what you just devoured.

You think that line chef is measuring oil and portioning out your rice? Did you eat the fat on that steak or didn’t you? How big was that potato? How much butter went down your gullet and how much is left on the plate? How many chips did you motor through again?

And yeah, you won’t do much better cooking at home.

Don’t delude yourself. Subjective reality will not serve you here.   

You are no different than any other animal in the wild.  Except that you live in a massive fucking zoo of your own creation.

The zoo animal at least knows it’s caged.  You, however, will swear up and down that you have complete and utter free will.

If that’s the case, then why are you sick, fat and lazy?

Or drug dependent?

Or in a dead-end job? A shitty relationship? Depressed?

None of that is the natural human condition.

It’s not that we’ve lost the ability to accurately assess our calorie intake – we never had (or needed) that ability to begin with.  We didn’t need it because we evolved as obligate movers and opportunistic eaters. Our body took care of itself with a wisdom far greater than our calculating mind (or latest diet app) could ever hope to achieve.

The conscious mind is an excellent servant and a shitty overlord. It’s an even shittier arbiter of caloric intake or calorie burn. Not to mention macronutrient distribution. 

We’ve now created a zoo where no one has to move and food is ubiquitous and engineered to have no brakes. Our bodies are trying to make sense of a world made of funhouse mirrors.

I am not writing this to slam anyone. The game is stacked against you. Few profit from a healthy society. I can tell you as a serial entrepreneur that it would be a tenfold easier business model to sell you the next engineered shit food or slick device that prevents you from lifting a finger than it is to sell you restriction, periodic discomfort, self-discipline, and hard work.

To change the outcome you have to change the habit. And changing the habit requires changing the environment. And yeah, that means finding smart ways to add back in restriction, periodic discomfort, and hard work.

The obstacle IS the way.

Heal thyself, harden thyself, change the world –
Keith

PS – within your body is an innate wisdom that KNOWS how to be healthy. It can’t do that, though, if it’s lacking fundamental building blocks. That’s why I start and end my day with ID Nutrition. A hyper-personalized supplementation program built FOR ME. And you can do the same. Find out more, here.

The post Diet Noise appeared first on Theory To Practice.

Shifting on the fly from an explosive, HIIT-centric mindset to an endurance mindset is easier said than done. Especially when you’re “wired” for repeat explosive activities.

This was a little something I thought about during my 500-mile bike trek through Oregon.

…and Lord knows I had plenty of time to think. About this and a whole host of other things, lol…

But about that mental shift: even now, if I don’t watch myself during an extended training ride I find that I fall mindlessly into that zero-to-sixty, let’s-redline-this-mo-fo mindset. It’s my mind’s and CNS’s normal mode of operation.

Which makes sense. Both your mind and CNS are trainable systems too, and will “morph” depending on what you ask of them.

Or better said, they – like you as a whole system – do not “rise to the level of our expectations”, but rather “fall to the level of their training”.

So what does this mean as it pertains to training and performance?

It depends on how competitive you want to be in a certain endeavor. And how much time you have to train each modality.

In April 2019, Crossfitter Austin Malleolo pulled a 600 lb PR deadlift, then ran the Boston Marathon 2 hours later.

First, hats off to Austin’s effort. 

Secondly, there’s a big difference between being competitive and sucking it the hell up to finish. The latter is what Austin did. And it’s what I did in Oregon.

Could I hang with the top riders? Hell no. I was the caboose on just about every ride. And even at my slow pace I was completely decimated after each day.

But finish?  Yeah, I could do that. For an endurance event, it just takes being hard-headed enough not to quit.

AND it requires a mental shift. An awareness to keep an eye on the internal governor, keeping it dialed-back appropriately.

An unnatural act for those of us wired otherwise.

It’s a “skill” though that you’ll have master if you’re wired for repeat power, and want to play with the endurance kids.

Heal thyself, harden thyself, change the world –
Keith

Looking for a built-specific-to-you supplementation program? Look no further than ID Nutrition. It’s what I take on the daily. Take your FREE assessment, here.

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One of the major advantages of my version of HIIT (or “HIIRT” as I like to call it) is something that most wouldn’t necessarily consider an advantage: the ability to stay within striking distance of just about any sport I might want to concentrate on in the future.

I’ve had to become a hell of a lot smarter in my training over the years. Mostly due to the time constraints entrepreneurship and travel impose upon me. 

Truth be told, if I could wave a magic wand, I’d make it so that I could spend 2 hours in a gym every day. That’s pretty much how I lived from the time I was 12 until about 21. Yeah, I’m one of those guys who just loves the gym atmosphere. 

And even now, I’d enjoy spending 80% more time chasing that remaining 20% of strength, hypertrophy and “conditioning” that I leave on the table because I’ve made the conscious choice not to invest that time. Not now, at least. I have other things that are more important to me. That 16 hours a day (I won’t budge on sleep) has to get prioritized appropriately.

And so my time/cost evaluations have pushed me to create my own version of wave and weave + HIIRT system. It works great and I’m happy with it. And, too, I know that if I do find a sport in which I want to invest a bit more time, I can easily transition into the appropriate training.  Wave and weave + HIIRT create one hell of a foundation for that.

Enter the Central Oregon 500.

5 days, 500 miles of cycling 

Yeah, a century each day. About 7 hours a day in the saddle. With more climbs than you can shake a fist full of spokes at.

Obviously a different game than what I’ve been playing.  But here’s the thing: although I suffered mightily because I lacked the sport specificity training – just being in the saddle that long each day is a skill – at least I was able to participate. And establish over that week a cycling endurance foundation from which to build upon if I choose to do so.

Which is exactly what I’ve decided to do.

I really enjoy this sport. Even though I’m hardly built for it. But whatever – I dig all manner of cycling and the community and camaraderie of this particular endeavor is especially appealing.

So we’ll see how it goes.

Training tweaks
So if you follow the TTP Facebook page, you’ll begin to see a lot more longer-duration, road-bike-specific training sessions woven into the mix. That will, of course, displace some of the HIIRT sessions. 

BUT… I’ll still have to be mindful of time. So that added endurance work will have to be accomplished with some modicum of 80/20 sensibility.

I can’t say that I have that plan figured out yet, but I do have an overview in my mind.  As my training has been for my entire life, it will be “Five T’d” and tweaked as I go along.

I’m excited to dive into this new chapter.

Heal thyself, harden thyself, change the world –
Keith

The post Keeping within Striking Distance appeared first on Theory To Practice.

Beyond the rah-rah and glitzy motivational speak is this: It’s easier to captain a boat that’s moving. Even if, for now, that boat is purposely headed off course.

In sailing, this maneuver would be known as a “tack” or (the more extreme version), a “jibe”.  These zigzag maneuvers are used for reaching destinations upwind of the current location. The same weaving movements are employed when cycling up long, steep grades.

Yeah, it’s a less direct path. And sometimes that’s the only option.  Life is tough, and obstacles abound.

Keep moving. Because here’s the thing: the tack and jibe can only work if there is movement present.  It’s not the temporary travel in the wrong direction or the additional miles that scares the sailor or the cyclist; it’s the stall they fear.

Standing still in mediocrity.  Dead in the water.

Motion means additional feedback, more decision opportunity, more deal flow. Another roll of the dice.  All of which leads to more ways to learn and more ways to improve.

Is your current workout “perfect”?  Probably not; neither is mine (even though I’m the “workout guy”). Tweak it as you go.

Is your current diet perfect? Your lifestyle? Your environment? Not to worry. Nobody’s is.  Mine included.

Keep moving. But with a purpose.

And make those 1% improvements, every day, while doing so.  Eyes on the prize.

Forward momentum is what matters.  Continual improvement. Tack and jibe.

Lao Tzu said that “a  journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.   

It’s the secret sauce behind first wins; the first rotation of the flywheel.

And what then? After the first step?

What to do when the wind is at your face?  The mountain is in your path?

You have to keep moving.  Find a way.

The human zoo, after all, is designed to keep you dull and domesticated. No more than a brain-dead consumer.

You are so much more than that.

Keep moving and you’ll find your way, sooner or later, out of the zoo.

Be the problem child.  A pain-in-the-ass to the zookeepers.

Tack and jibe.  Wave and weave.

Do not settle for stillness in mediocrity.

Heal thyself, hone thyself, change the world –
Keith

The post Navigating Upwind appeared first on Theory To Practice.