I won’t be adding much new content to this site, but I’ll keep the archives up for posterity’s sake.  Thanks for stopping by, and again, check out my new personal development blog at myCreativeEvolution.com.

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photo courtesy of Squeaky Knees

On the heels of the great Roger Federer’s recent and utter silencing of any critics, with major championships number 14 and 15 at Roland Garros and the All England Club, I revisited a 2006 New York Times article by David Foster Wallace, “Roger Federer as Religious Experience.” If you’re a tennis fan in general, a Federer fan specifically, the entire article is worth reading. Its 5 pages are full of astute observations, but there is something said in the first several paragraphs I found incredibly interesting on this particular reading. I thought I might comment on it in this blog entry.

Wallace asserts, “high-level sports are a prime venue for the expression of human beauty. The relation is roughly that of courage to war.” It’s not that courage is the object or purpose of war. Obviously, conquering the enemy is the goal, but the courageous tend to rise to the top. You might say, courage in war is often rewarded with victory. Likewise, in the uppermost tiers of competitive sport, it seems, beauty is often rewarded with victory.

This might seem a strange statement since most sports fans flock around their big-screen televisions with thoughts of beauty far from the fronts of their minds. However, what we’re talking about here is, as Wallace pointed out in his essay, “beauty of a particular type; it might be called kinetic beauty.” He goes on to say,

“Its power and appeal are universal. It has nothing to do with sex or cultural norms. What it seems to have to do with, really, is human beings’ reconciliation with the fact of having a body.”

When I first read this observation, I found it strikingly astute. In his footnote to this remark, he really hits home the idea, right out of Becker and even Kierkegaard, that there’s something truly frustrating and even grotesquely unfair about being a self-conscious being looking out from the vantage point of a human body. But even just witnessing world-class sport can suspend this frustration. According to Wallace, the elite athletes of the world “seem to catalyze our awareness of how glorious it is to touch and perceive, move through space, interact with matter. Granted, what great athletes can do with their bodies are things that the rest of us can only dream of. But these dreams are important — they make up for a lot.”

YES … YES! That’s what I’m talking about! Those dreams are critical.

It’s been right there under my nose this whole time – the resounding reason I eagerly continue to watch world-class athletic competition of all kinds – tennis, basketball, golf, gymnastics, dancing, among others. The power, grace and precision with which these athletes move serve as reminders that the human body can indeed be a vehicle for sublime experience. Why is this important, you might ask?

We are in the modern West, surrounded by messages of physical frailty. Speaking as an American, health care costs are hemorrhaging out of control, waistlines beyond the age of 25 are expanding as steadily as Roger Federer’s trophy case, and it seems joint pain and other discomforts are an accepted part of aging beyond 40. But it’s not just here in the states.

The reality of physical mortality is a cruel condition all human beings must confront. We all will one day make our way, some more reluctantly than others, to our organic homes in the crust of Earth.

Yet in spite of our impending doom, the human spirit remains somehow untouched. It manages to persevere in the face of the daunting discouragement of death. The spiritual experience often happens in spite of the body, in spite of our physical circumstances, but this level of euphoria can be brought about by the body, through the body, specifically through the beauty and sovereignty of movement displayed by the world’s greatest athletes.

This reconciliation is crucial. We must find some peace in the fact that our limitless imaginations, our boundless intellects, are utterly bound to the fate of our sorely limited physical bodies. Athletes like Roger Federer remind us that, while we may never move like he does, somebody actually cracked the code. He reminds us in his fleeting moments of brilliance that the human spirit can inspire the human body to greater heights than we ever imagined, just as the human body, with its kinetic beauty can inspire the human spirit. For this reminder we all owe Roger Federer and the other elite athletes of the world a huge, humble Thank You!

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Barefoot Ted

So, for the past couple weeks, in addition to preparing for and rejoicing in the arrival of my first son, Ian Andrew Walter (YAY!), I have been researching various various forms of natural, barefoot running. There are many purists out there who would like us all to run, walk, and locomote everywhere barefoot. It appears this is not only honoring the elegant, evolutionary design of the human being, but it’s also great for your arches, knees, and calves, and it reduces your risk of ankle injury. Whatever your stand in this debate, I remain unwilling to run through my neighborhood feet completely unshod, given the various shards of sharp things that lie in wait.

This mixture of a fervent respect for nature’s design and a practical approach to training in the modern world lead me to Barefoot Ted and his huarache sandal kits. These sandals’ design were brought to Barefoot Ted’s attention by a few Tarahumara (Raramuri in their native tongue) Indians running Ultra-Marathons in the U.S. The Raramuri are natives of a rural area in northwestern Mexico called Copper Canyon. They are runners by lifestyle, trekking long distances from enclave to enclave in the rugged mountains of the region, all the while wearing this particular brand of sandal.

So I ordered a kit to make my own from Barefoot Ted and recorded the experiment to share with you guys. Please let me know what ya’ll think!

In terms of looks, these things are so cool I can’t stand it … always interesting to see people’s reactions. In the last couple weeks I’ve run 20 km (about 12.5 miles), mostly on pavement. The first 5k yielded significant DOMS in my calves that lasted most of 5 days or so, but the subsequent 5k outings have been much easier with recovery more in the range of 24-36 hours. I am considering grabbing another kit without the leather footpad to use in wet conditions, because the leather tends to get slick on me.

The sandals really are quite comfortable, but the secret to the comfort is in the proper tie. I did create two “hot-spot” rope burns on my left foot during the first two outings, but tweaking the tie job a bit alleviated that problem … plus, just getting my feet used to the new kicks helped as well. It’s kind of like pulling out my Tevas for the first float trip of the summer: they always leave a little mark or two on my ankles, but after a day or so it’s no big deal.

Overall, I am loving the experience and glad for the opportunity to make my own pair of minimal, traditional sandals. Something about the idea that this design has been working for millennia makes me a happy guy.

Reasons for pursuing minimal footwear:

• You Walk Wrong: It took 4 million years of evolution to perfect the human foot. But we’re wrecking it with every step we take. By Adam Sternbergh
• The painful truth: Are running shoes a waste of money? By Christopher McDougall
• The Running Shoe Debate: How Barefoot Runners are Shaping the Shoe Industry. By Tyghe Trimble
• ‘No evidence’ on running shoe safety. By Danny Rose
• The Men Who Live Forever. By Christopher McDougall

Fun things to do in your minimal footwear:

• Trail Running
• MovNat Training
• Primitive Movement Training (see also Scott Sonnon’s Animal Bodyweight Exercises)
• FlowFit Prasara Yoga Flow
• Toga Parties

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photo courtesy of maldiviandude

Alright, here’s the final installment of Do This Now - The Anatomy of Happiness. Over the past several months, Matt Krepps and I have had 4 conversations about the nature of happiness, and about what contributes generally to a state of unhappiness, or dissatisfaction in our lives. This is the fourth.

We begin with an exploration of deception techniques in the natural world. If you look around, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any species (ours included) that doesn’t employ some sort of deception in order to maximize its position in the food chain. This implies, particularly in humans, there may also be some advantage for those who evolve a proclivity for self-deception. How much more convincing are we when we believe our own lies? What role might this self-deception play in our day to day frustrations? If the spiritual traditions, in asking us to surrender our little lies for the honest business of existence, remove the powerful evolutionary advantage of deception, why have they stuck around so long?

These are a few of the questions we address in this installment. Here’s a point-by-point synopsis:

• Intro and recap of Parts 1-3
• Variations on Original Sin as The Fundamental Flaw
• Sin as a Disease of Perception, which has an Evolutionary Advantage
• Self-Deception as an Evolved Trait
• Why the Spiritual Traditions?
• The Disadvantages of Self-Deception
• The Most Difficult Thing About Religion
• The Toolbox of Spirituality
• The Nature of Fearlessness
• What It Means To “Stand At The Beginning”
• Distrust Your First Thought
• Surrender As The Final Destination
• What Do You Do When You Don’t Get What You Want?
• The Spiritual Traditions As Motive Clarification Techniques
• Final Thoughts

Here’s the audio file download link, and of course you can use the player below. It runs about 62 minutes.

The quote of the conversation for me was Matt’s revelation that “the ability to be unsatisfied with style makes an adult with style … and panache.”

Feel free to comment below or e-mail me at philip(at)brickhousebodymind(dot)com if you have any questions, thoughts, etc.

I am closing the official Anatomy of Happiness dialogue, but we are planning more conversations in the near future. Is there anything else in particular you would like us to address? Do you think we’re crazy – are we wasting our time?

Please let me know.

Until next time, Peace be with you and yours.

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photo courtesy of abbamouse

So, in my day job, I produce videos and provide audio/visual support for Arkansas Children’s Hospital. As I make the rounds from one meeting to another, I come across more free food than you can shake a stick at, which is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. For example, this morning I was accosted by a tray full of ooey gooey cinnamon rolls. They were tempting to say the least. Heck, it was because of this very thing that I gained probably 15 pounds when I first started my job at the hospital.

Since then, of course, I have tamed those wildly hungry hippos, and this morning I was able to avoid temptation as well. I did this largely because I have goals set in front of me, and I have a specific plan in place to reach those goals. This is paramount going into a situation like the one I faced this morning. Had I not had those goals in mind and the specific strategies in place to reach those goals, it would have been much easier to cave into temptation.

Most of my goals at the moment revolve around getting my book as perfect as I can get it before its release next month. My physical strategy going into taking pictures next weekend has been a combination of Intermittent Fasting and strength training. I first came across this strategy in Brad Pilon’s fantastic eBook, Eat Stop Eat. If you’re interested in building muscle and burning fat, follow the link below and pick up a copy for yourself. Plus, if you get one in the next 48 hours, he’s got a FREE GIFT for you: his newest book on the truth about protein.

Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat + The Truth About Protein for FREE

All that said, the idea of having goals and strategies in place certainly doesn’t apply just to physical fitness. I have gone to great lengths to include emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual strategies in my new book as well. For a few tips on setting goals across the board, click below to read the rest of this article.

So, the best way to think about setting goals in my book is to consider the conditions of the flow experience. If going for your goals feels like a game you can really get into, you’re more likely to keep them in mind as you go about your day. Here are a few tips I consider when setting my own goals.

• Be Specific - One of the conditions of flow is that whatever your going for must provide you with ongoing feedback. This means your goal must be specific enough to allow you to gauge your progress on a regular basis. Therefore, I set goals on an almost daily basis. Instead of saying, “I’m going to eat better this week,” I’ll say something like, “Tomorrow I’m going to IF it in the morning, then eat healthy the rest of day, being sure to finish dinner 3 hours before bed.” That way I know at the end of the day if I hit my goal or not. Another example might be, instead of saying, “I’m going to be a better father to my son,” say, “I’m going to make time to play catch with my son 3 out of 5 nights this week.” The more specific the better.
• Write Them Down – Writing down your goals is a simple way to hold yourself accountable. In my forthcoming book, I suggest something called Programmer’s Progress Notes. This is basically an ongoing journal of sorts to help you reprogram the parts of your life you want to change. By keeping a daily log of your 3-5 most important goals, you hold yourself accountable for making those changes. When one of those goals becomes habitual behavior (which is what ultimately happens as you reprogram your operating system for a healthier lifestyle), then it’s time to add another goal to the list.
• Don’t Shoot Too High – I’m all about going for broke, and I even think there is something to the whole idea of failing forward. However, another condition of flow is that the activity challenge but not exceed our current capabilities. By insuring that your goals stretch the outer limits of what is currently available to you without going way outside your comfort zone, you make frustration and burnout less likely.
• Find A Community - Join a club, internet forum, or at the very least share your goals with someone you care about. They can help you stay accountable, and if they’re striving for similar goals, you can both help each other stay motivated.
• Keep A Modest Number – Don’t try to do too many things at once. In my book, I suggest having no more than 5 specific goals going at a given time. This will hopefully keep you from being stretched too thin, which is not good for anyone.

I hope you guys got something out of this. There will be a lot more specifics in my upcoming book, The Brickhouse Bodymind Blueprint, so sign up for my Integral Fitness Newsletter to insure you’re among the first to get a copy!

Talk to ya’ll soon!

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photo courtesy of photo credit: Julio Ignacio / away !

When I woke up this morning, I was good and sore. You know that feeling when it hurts so good? It’s not so bad that you feel like you overdid it, but you know you did some work, you challenged your body in some way. That’s how I felt this morning – particularly in my core musculature. Because of that, I think I’ve hit on the best core workout you can get … and the best part is there’s not a single crunch, sit-up, or other abdominal isolation exercise in the entire workout.

See, your ab muscles are really stabilizers. They aren’t designed to do a lot of work in terms of lifting or crunching or pushing or pulling. No, your abs are stabilizers, which means they are here to keep your spine in proper alignment while other muscles do their jobs. So when you squat down and lift some heavy object, it appears you’re working only working your legs, but your abs are doing a lot of work too, just in keeping your trunk erect and in maintaining a healthy lumbar-pelvic rhythm.

This explains why the workout described below made me so sore in my core – all the exercises (save the bench press) require a good deal or core stabilization, which is what your abs are designed to do. So throw out the endless crunch routine and try the following workout sometime, then let me know if you’re abs aren’t talking to you the next day.

• 5 Minutes of Dynamic Joint Mobility Warmup - Check out Scott Sonnon’s Intu-Flow Program for some ideas
• Bench Press – 1 set of 15 at a light weight, followed by 2 sets of 8-10 at a more challenging weight, resting 30-45 seconds between
• Chin Ups – 3 sets to failure
• Bent Over Rows - 1 set of 15 at a light weight, followed by 2 sets of 8-10 at a more challenging weight, resting 30-45 seconds between
• Squats – 1 set of 15 at a light weight, followed by 2 sets of 8-10 at a more challenging weight, resting 30-45 seconds between
• Overhead Presses – 1 set of 15 at a light weight, followed by 2 sets of 8-10 at a more challenging weight, resting 30-45 seconds between
• Compensatory Yoga

This is of course not the first time I’ve sung the praises of these exercises (check this post out for more), but they’re just so good for developing core strength I couldn’t help writing another quick entry about them. And girls, please don’t be afraid of these exercises. Yes, they require you going into the weight room, but trust me, it’s worth it, and don’t worry about getting too big or bulky, it’s just not going to happen like that. For more examples of workouts I’ve done like this and a specific look at the compensatory yoga moves, check out the workouts in this cycle, particularly those on 1-13, 1-5, and 12-29.

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Matthew_Dutile

So which is it – yoga or resistance training? The two practices seem to indicate different paths to completely different destinations in terms of physique and functional ability. The yogi is the skinny guy or gal who can twist him or herself into a pretzel while calmly and annoyingly chanting AUM! The weight lifter is the meathead who spends too much time in the gym developing big muscles that may look good but are largely inflexible and non-functional.

Thankfully these two opinions are gross and inaccurate generalizations.

I personally think the research shows a combination of yoga posture practice and strength training is the best thing you can do for your body, aside from proper nutrition of course. This is not really a new concept. Health clubs all around the world have regular yoga classes in addition to their free weights and nautilus machines. We learned a few years ago in the book Real Men Do Yoga, that even football players can get a lot out of supplementing their heavy lifting with some rigorous posture practice.

But how well have yoga and strength training really been integrated in popular training regimes? Not too well in my opinion. The two practices remain separate things to do on separate days for separate purposes. Read on to find why recent discoveries indicate this should change.

As I pointed out in a recent paper, biotensegrity represents a new way of looking at the organization of the human body. It’s based on the architectural principles of tensegrity structures. While this idea is still largely up for debate, early research seems to support it.

Tom Myers has shown through a series of compelling dissections that global tension lines (he calls these lines Anatomy Trains) indeed run throughout the body. Dr. Stephen Levin proved during arthroscopic surgery that our bones never actually touch each other (not under normal circumstances, as least). Furthermore, research by Donald Ingber at Boston Children’s Hospital has shown how even at the cellular level biological systems behave in a way consistent with tensegrity structures.

Based on this evidence, it seems to me that the overall health of the physical body, at least in terms of comfortable, efficient movement, boils down to the maintenance of tensional integrity. I say this because the word tensegrity itself is a contraction of the phrase, “tensional integrity.” This indicates to me a full integration of strength training and yoga posture practice is essential for maintaining a body that can move with strength and grace in any situation.

Resistance training, whether by picking up dumbbells, barbells, or even your own bodyweight, takes care of the tensional part, while yoga practice takes care of the integrity part. If you’re interested in creative ways to integrate yoga posture practice with strength training in your own practice, subscribe to my Integral Fitness Newsletter using the form below. Also, keep an eye out for my new book, The Brickhouse Bodymind Blueprint, set for release March 21. In it you’ll find high-quality pictures detailing my own methods for achieving tensional integrity through the integration of yoga and strength training.

In the mean time, also check out Scott Sonnon’s Circular Strength Training system, and The Bodyweight Exercise Revolution e-book. As always, please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail at philip(at)brickhousebodymind(dot)com if you have any questions about content or if you have suggestions for future content.

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photo credit: KansasPhoto (Patrick)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! My wife and I are winding down celebrating Christmas with our families and looking forward to ringing in the New Year together. It’s a great time for getting inspired, of course – the week of the New Year’s beginning – so I thought I would share with you all an inspiring story I heard recently on NPR. Consider it your NPR Driveway Moment of the week. I know I haven’t kept up with posting them much, but I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Jason Crigler - Hope and Recovery

It is a story about a musician – a New York City guitarist named Jason Crigler – who suffered a brain hemorrhage during a concert in Manhattan in 2004. His wife, pregnant at the time with their first child, and the rest of their family were devastated by the grim prognosis given by Jason’s doctors. Even so, they refused to give up on him, and what ensued was an 18-month odyssey, the vast majority of which, Jason has no memory.

During that time, he spent more than a year in the hospital, but finally, thanks to the dogged hopes of his loved ones, he recovered from his injury. The whole saga is documented in an inspiring film called Life. Support. Music. Hearing this story on the way home from work affected me deeply and reminded me of several things we would all do well to keep in mind during the coming year.

1. Life – particularly a human life – is as precious and multifaceted as the rarest of diamonds. We take far too much for granted, never knowing how much more we will be given. Every moment is a blessing and to pass even the most unpleasant of them without acknowledging its wonder is an opportunity sorely missed when the end draws near. So, don’t sweat the small stuff, as they say, and give thanks for every day.
2. The need for hope and recovery is universal. Whether from a traumatic physical injury, the emotional setbacks of ego-attachment, or from a lifetime of selling yourself short, recovery remains a necessary and ongoing process in everyone’s life. Accept the fact that you can’t go it alone. Embrace the process of recovering your innate flow - physically, relationally, and personally - and know that hope is what moves us all forward in our journeys.
3. Passion is the fire that drives the engines of hope and optimism. This is why it is so important to follow your bliss and to love as much as your heart will allow. If you are passionate about life, if you deeply love those who share life with you, you are more likely to look to your future with a sense of purpose. This sense of purpose translates into a belief that you live in a world of limitless possibilities, and that to sell yourself short is morally reprehensible. With this belief, you will always have hope, even in the darkest of storms.
4. A strong, deeply rooted support network is every bit as important as a robust, healthy environment. Particularly in today’s unstable socio-economic/political climate, a non-toxic emotional ecosystem is of the utmost importance. If families and meaningful friendships evaporate, there will be little left to maintain our collective emotional well-being. Always let your loved ones know they are loved, and never fear forgiveness, for these are the keys to a life well lived.
5. Understanding your True Self unlocks the door to eternal happiness. Things are rarely what they seem to be at first glance, and if you expect them to be such, life is a struggle. However, if you take time to ask yourself the tough questions, to dig deeper than the surface, you can find true contentment. You can free yourself in this way to be whatever it is you are meant to Be, without fear or shame.

I know that’s a lot to take from an 8-minute radio story, but like I said, it affected me deeply. I hope y’all enjoyed this little installment, and as always I would love to here your thoughts in the comments below.

Here’s to a great New Year!

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A Distillation of … what?

Photo credit: Pål Berge

So, the holidays are coming up, and as most of you probably know, I’ve been hard at work finalizing the recipes, workout plans, stress management techniques, and thought experiments that will make up my book, The Brickhouse Bodymind Blueprint.  That has unfortunately meant fewer posts here at the blog.  Things will return to normal as soon as the book is ready, which with any luck will be the end of January.

Anyway, until then I have started up a new little project.  In addition to being a fun challenge in the web design department, it should give me an outlet for less structured features than those found here, and keep me from becoming a total recluse while I finalize the book.

It will also serve as my workout log.  Those of you who are interested in seeing what my regular physical training regimine actually looks like can do that at this website.  Currently I am trying to shed a final few percentge-points of bodyfat before we take pictures of the exercises that will be featured in my book.  You can read a detailed description of the workout cycle here.

The new website is called A Distillation of Self.  I wrote an introductory post that explains the whole vision in a nutshell.  Also, you can find the best yet description of my personal transformative practice there.  Please don’t hesitate to let me know what ya’ll think of the new site by commenting here or there, or sending me an e-mail at philip(at)brickhousebodymind.com.

Peace and thanks for reading!

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photo courtesy of my wife, amy

One year ago yesterday I published the first ever post on BrickhouseBodymind.com. I can’t say the time has flown by, nor has it dragged particularly. Seems like it’s been a year. My goal was to publish one post a week, and I am pleasantly surprised to find I actually managed to hit that goal. This is post number 53, so that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

You are now part of a community of over 1,000 unique visitors who read this site every month, and that number continues to rise, so thanks to all of you for spending time reading my ramblings and watching my videos. Without you all, it would hardly be worth it.

It has certainly been an interesting journey. One that I’ve enjoyed very much indeed. This blog was supposed to do two things: 1) contribute to the growing conversation about the integral model and integral fitness, and 2) keep me motivated and on track toward finishing my book project. The first purpose seems to be fulfilling itself as more and more people stumble upon the site, and with a realistic publication date for my book sometime in January, it looks like the second purpose too is working itself out.

Along the way, one of my readers turned me on to the work of Scott Sonnon. I found my way to the RMAX community, and I cannot thank those guys and gals enough for making me feel so welcome and for helping me take my own training to a “whole … nubba … lebel.”

In other news, we found out in September that my wife is pregnant with our first child, so that is extremely exciting!

The next year certainly looks bright, as January will mark the publication of my first book, and at least two DVD’s should follow in the summer, along with the birth of my child. I am planning a return to BrickhouseBodymindTV after the book is off my mind. It’s just too difficult to produce those segments while writing, editing, and laying out the book. Another blog is also in the works, called MySelfPublishingAdventure.com. It’s not up yet, but I plan to use it to chronicle my experiences with self-publishing. There you will be able to track my successes and failures in the publishing world.

Anyway, I just want to take this moment to thank you all again for spending time reading my work. I encourage you all to comment or e-mail me at philip(at)brickhousebodymind(dot)com if you have any questions about content or if you have suggestions for future content.

Here’s to another great year, ya’ll!

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