ZenLand

Taming the Mental Committee

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:48:00 +0000

We've all been there. We have all done or said something and immediately a voice in our head said, "That was stupid!" Or how about that wonderful voice that always seems to speak up just as we are about to put knife and fork to work saying, "If you eat that you'll get fat!" My personal favorite is the voice that yells after a mistake, advising "You are absolutely worthless!" With so much love and support in our heads it is no wonder so many suffer from low self-esteem!

In this article I am going to describe some very simple and yet very powerful techniques for working with these voices. However before we can get to that I have to first drop a bit of a bombshell: All that stuff in your head - the voices, the pictures, even the memories - none of it is real.

"But wait", you say. "I was there. I remember it like it was yesterday. When I was 10 years old I set fire to the living room carpet and my father yelled at me for half an hour." Certainly you were there and certainly you remember getting yelled at. But can you really remember 30 minutes of yelling? Of course not. What you remember is a re-telling of a filtered and edited version of the story. A highlights clip, if you will. You see, as amazing as our brains are as computing machines, reality is just too information-rich for us to perceive all of it all the time.

What we perceive around us on a day to day basis is not reality in the absolute sense ("objective reality"). What we perceive at any given moment and then remember later is called "subjective reality." This means that our reality is personal. The world around us is constantly being filtered, evaluated, categorized and filed away and the two mechanisms in charge of this process are our past and our attention. Attention functions like a spotlight focusing on the things that are important to us and our past provides the judgments for how we evaluate those things.

However, just like a computer, data can be stored incorrectly (has your dog ever received a credit card offer?) and programs can be old and out of date. Negative mental voices are an excellent example. Perhaps as a child you had a parent who, in trying to make sure you lived up to your potential, would comment on homework mistakes by calling them stupid and saying you could do better. After hearing that message enough times you now, as an adult, have a "program" that tells you when you've done something "stupid" just like your mother used to. This program probably even has your mother's voice. The thing is, you are an adult now and you do not need the disembodied voice of your mother passing judgment on everything you do. "So what can I do about it," you ask. Good question - let's find out.

Here is an experiment for you:
Find one of those voices - it should be easy enough, just remember the last mistake you made in your life.
As it is listing your character flaws or detailing what you've done wrong notice how you feel as you listen.
Now, add a soundtrack behind the voice. Make it something silly, like circus music or something from a cartoon.
Notice how this simple addition changes your experience of that voice. Odds are the voice and it's words became completely silly.

Whatever you do, don't keep that music behind the voice unless you are completely willing to make a lasting change for the better in your mental state!

Here's another one for you. Many times the voices have power because of who they represent. Admit it, the critical voice your mother used had much more importance to you and some random stranger's. Again, find one of those internal voices and this time make the voice itself something silly. Try a few things like Mickey Mouse, Moe from the Three Stooges, or your best friend after inhaling some helium. Notice again how your relationship to this voice has changed. As an added bonus, add the circus music soundtrack and try to keep yourself from giggling!

In addition to being a person's voice you'll also notice that each distinct voice always comes from the same place - behind you, to the side, whatever. Try moving the voice. If it usually comes from behind and to the left, move it to the right. If it comes from the back, try putting it in front. These voices exist totally and completely within your own mind - figments of your imagination. Take control and imagine something different for a change!

Finally, while the previous techniques are amusing and certainly useful, how much better would it be to turn that critical committee into a cheering section? Imagine for a moment how powerful it would be to have a positive voice that always notices the good things you do and compliments you. How many aspects of your life would suddenly become a thousand times easier?

A very useful assumption is to say that every behavior has some positive intent. The effect of the behavior may feel negative, but the intent will generally be for the good. The trick is to find that intent. Here is a suggestion which I'm sure will shock and amaze many of you - talk to the voice! I think we are all used to yelling at the voices, telling them to shut the #$@! up, but how many times have you actually tried to talk to them in a reasonable manner? I bet none.

Try this - when one of the voices is haranguing you for some supposed mistake, ask it what is its positive intent behind saying the things it is saying. It may take a bit of time to open a meaningful dialogue - if you had been yelled and cursed at for years I imagine you would be a bit sullen as well. However, usually with a bit of apology and interest most voices are willing to talk. Typically the intent behind the voice will be something you are also interested in - eat the proper amount, appear respectable in public, show respect for authority, etc. The intent may come in the form of a negative such as "don't hurt people's feelings." Try turning these into a positive and ask if that says the same thing.

Now, here is the key to the whole process. Ask the voice, "If we could find a way to accomplish this intent that would be positive and uplifting and work even better than what you are doing now, would you be willing to try it for a while?" It may take a bit of reassurance that this would only be a trial, if it does not work things can always go back to the way they used to be.

After you have agreement, the real fun can begin. Start brainstorming with the voice. Try turning things around to a positive as much as possible, for example, "Instead of telling me 'That comment was really stupid!' how about suggesting a different way of saying it next time?" Work with the voice and find things to say and ways to say them that will accomplish the purpose and yet leave you feeling good at the end. Remember, even though these voices sound like other people, they are still a part of you. Treat the voice exactly as you would want to be treated and you will make good progress.

It may take a bit of time and some trial and error but the end result is well worth it.

Product Review - TRX at the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:34:00 +0000

When I bought my TRX, one of the selling points for me was that it is portable. I had visions of taking my workout equipment with me when I visit the in-laws in Japan, particularly, where I can't run, can't swim, can't lift and can't ride my bike.

The test of portability came on a recent vacation to the lovely island of Kauai. We have a timeshare on the island and try to get there every year or so.

The first workout was done in the comfort of the master bedroom. It was stormy outside and I'd been cooped up all day and needed some activity so I slipped on the door attachment and told my family to knock loudly before entering the room. True to form, the TRX worked very well anchored to the door. I felt a bit constrained in the different environment, having walls so close, etc. but it would be very easy to get used to.

The second test came later in the week when the family decided to head to the beach for an afternoon. As we drove into the parking lot I was scanning for likely places to anchor and as luck would have it, this tree just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I wrapped the strap a couple of times around a limb and got down to business.

Aside from getting odd looks from locals and tourists alike, the system again performed to expectations. Easy to set up, easy to anchor and easy to use. I got in a great workout and then played on the beach with my family.

It is very rare that we get to travel with the same exercise equipment we use at home. My bicycle costs $100 to fly it one way, and I've never seen a hotel exercise room that can offer a wide range of resistance training equipment. At best they usually have some pathetic old machine which looks like it could be hazardous to one's health. With the TRX I have finally found my solution to exercise on the road.

As always, if you found this post to be helpful or informative, please use my link to get back to Fitness Anywhere. It costs you nothing but if you buy, I get a bit of a perk. Thanks!

Fighting Cancer - You Can Help!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:29:00 +0000

Those of you who read my Thanksgiving post will remember that my mom has been diagnosed with a malignant mass in her lung and has only a short time left on this earth.

Because of this, I've decided to join the Lance Armstrong LiveSTRONG Foundation fundraising event this year. The LiveSTRONG Foundation provides tools and resources to those surviving cancer as well as taking an active part in treatment research and prevention.

It is an excellent cause that suddently means a lot more to me than ever before. Please consider stopping by my donation page and contributing. $5 - the price of a morning latte - is a huge step in this fight.

Thank you.

My donation page

One of Kaua'i's More Colorful Residents

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:26:00 +0000

Poipu Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:11:00 +0000

Tree Tunnel Road

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:59:00 +0000

Best Burgers on Kaua'i

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:15:00 +0000

Haena Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:12:00 +0000

More Kevin on the beach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:54:00 +0000

Kevin enjoying the ocean

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:55:00 +0000

Tribal Markings

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:21:00 +0000

We just don't know which tribe.

Making a New Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:31:00 +0000

Or getting dinner? You decide:

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:13:00 +0000

At $75 a head you are allowed to blow your own horn.

Mud Ride!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:46:00 +0000

The first year we came to Kauai, we won an ATV tour in a raffle. It was dirty, muddy and Kevin loved it. This year he begged to do it again:

The only Monday Morning I like

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:29:00 +0000

Here comes the sun...

Misty Mountains

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:39:00 +0000

Out on a little walk in the late afternoon.

Kauai Vacation '09

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:24:00 +0000

For the next week we are vacationing at our timeshare on the island of Kauai. I will be updating the blog with pictures and videos as well as posting pictures to TwitPic. I also brought my TRX along and will post pictures and thoughts about taking the system traveling with me.

Our first day is turning out to be gray and chilly, but that's ok. Kevin is excited about getting to spend the day indoors watching TV :). He also likes playing in the rain:

Hanalei Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:21:00 +0000

I think Kevin and I will try surfing here this week.

Giving Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:04:00 +0000

Today is Thanksgiving and I'm doing what I do many holidays - sitting in a (mostly) empty office covering the phones so others can enjoy their holiday with their families. Many of you may think that is strange because I have a family and I should be enjoying my day off with them. However one of the things with which I am blessed is a spouse with a strong work ethic who understands when I want to cover six hours in a quiet office to get two free comp days in compensation.

I've been having some problems today. You see, as I was growing up my mom raised me to be fairly independent. Over the years we stayed in contact but it could easily be months between phone calls. I generally tried to call on the holidays, like today, but if I was a day or two late it was no big deal. Until this year.

You see I got a call late last week from mom's husband that in a recent physical they found a mass in her lung and given some of the other things going on with her health, they are certain it is malignant. Due to other health complications, mom isn't strong enough to survive either surgery or chemotherapy. They give her between three and six months to live.

So I thought today might be a good time to reflect on the things I'm thankful for about my mother:

I am thankful for that independence she gave me. I have friends for whom the feeling of familial obligation is an absolutely crushing load. I, on the other hand, was able to break free of that fairly early in my adulthood.
I am thankful for the sensitivity my mother recognized in me and especially thankful for her teaching that it is OK to be a male and to be sensitive and sympathetic while still being "manly."
I am thankful for the long talks we had as I was growing up. For much of my childhood she was practically bed-ridden with migraine headaches and depression and I would spend hours talking with her or listening to music. We would talk about everything from books and TV to sex and drugs.
I am thankful for the empathy I learned, watching someone I love being in so much physical and emotional pain constantly.
I am thankful for the critical thinking my mother taught me. Through those long talks mom taught me how to read a book and analyze what it was saying. She taught me to read newspaper and magazine articles and find the slant. She taught me to listen to others and hear what was behind the words.
But mostly, I am thankful for having a mother that loved me and supported me and always told me I could do whatever I wanted to do in life.

I hope I can do half as well as a parent to my son as she did with me.

A NEAT Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:54:00 +0000

A few days ago I explained where daily caloric expenditure comes from:

BMR + TEF + TEA + NEAT = Daily Caloric Expenditure.

As I was researching that formula one thing I noticed is that NEAT is highly variable from day to day and person to person. That means the amount of calories burned is variable as well!

Let's take an example - say we have a 200 pound, 30 year old man with 15% body fat. We would expect that guy to have a BMR around 2000 calories a day. I hope it is fairly obvious that this guy would burn more calories working heavy construction than sitting at a computer all day. Most daily calorie requirement calculators try to capture this with a "lifestyle" modifier of sedentary through highly active.

As a matter of fact NEAT can account for 15% to 50% of daily calorie expenditure! What does that mean in real numbers? Our sedentary computer jockey would need an extra 300 calories a day to maintain his weight. The construction worker, on the other hand, could need as much as 1000. This is all through the virtue of how much they move in normal day-to-day life, before exercise is calculated.

What does that mean? GET UP AND MOVE! Park your car in the farthest space from the front door. Take the stairs, at least part-way. If you are a cube dweller like I am, get one work surface set at standing-height and give your butt a break. Try replacing your office chair with a stability ball - not only will it help strengthen your core and improve your posture, it can burn an extra 100 calories a day - just for sitting! How about doing some exercise during the commercials as you watch TV at night?

If you could raise your NEAT just 100 calories a day, that is burning an extra one pound per month (OK, 35 days) which equates to 10.5 pounds per year. 10 pounds just for taking the stairs and walking farther to the front door - not a bad trade, eh?

Tools of the Trade

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:29:00 +0000

In the software engineering world we throw around a phrase, "You can't improve a process you can't measure" and in NLP we say "If you don't know where you are going, how do you know when you've gotten there?"

Leigh Peele of "The Fat Loss Troubleshooter" posted a fantastic article entitled "The Reality of Calories" which included a video that very graphically illustrates the point:

So what tools do I use to measure and keep track of my processes? As the video showed, a digital scale is essential. If you spend any time whatsoever logging food, you will notice that there is very little consistency in how portions are measured, if you are trying to use the English system. However almost every food label will show the serving size in grams, which is more accurate anyway. Spending a week or two measuring portions to the gram can be a very educational experience.

As far as software/online tools go, I have 3 sites I consider indispensable:

PhysicsDiet.com
TheDailyPlate.com
Gyminee.com

Physics Diet

Regular readers have seen me talk about this site before so I won't go into a lot of detail. Essentially, you enter a weight (and optionally other data like body fat, exercise calories, etc.) and it shows you over time what your weight is doing as well as averages your weight to help smooth out the panic over those day-to-day fluctuations we all have. The site will also use this data to show surplus or deficit calories for a given time period. This is an extremely important function because all intake and expenditure numbers are estimates and one never knows how accurate the estimates are until they have a few weeks of data.

TheDailyPlate

TheDailyPlate is a nutrition tracking site. If you read my post on figuring nutritional requirements, you understand how important it is to track the macro nutrients as well as calories. TheDailyPlate makes this process easy by having a very extensive database of foods, including the ability to search other user-contributed foods. Users also have the ability to create "meals" - a combination of foods eaten regularly such as bacon and eggs for breakfast.

TheDailyPlate will also track calories burned from exercise and automatically subtract those from amount consumed. It includes the ability to set calorie goals and track weight over time as well.

One very nice feature is the pie graph showing calories consumed that day. For those of us that are strongly visual-oriented it is a great way to see at a glance how the intake has been so far.

Gyminee

I was looking around for an easy to use workout log to take with me to the gym and happened to see this site mentioned for online logging on a bodybuilding forum. Aside from a well-designed printable log, the site has some nice features. When designing a workout, one has the ability to choose from a decent array of exercises, either cardio or strength, with the strength broken down by body part. There is the option to completely create your own workout or you can "join" workouts created by others. I saw a decent mix of upper/lower splits, Rippetoe's beginner workouts, 5x5s, etc.

Each exercise is either described well or has a video and as you progress you can look at total reps performed over time, total weight lifted or max weight lifted as a measure of checking progress from workout to workout.

Both TheDailyPlate and Gyminee have a lot of "social networking" options such as chats, blogs, forums, etc. Gyminee also will track weight and nutrition however I have not tried the nutrition feature yet.

As the diet and fitness industry continues to take greater advantage of the internet and online interaction, more and more tools become available to help us in our quest to ride that century or push the iron. I hope some of you will take advantage of these tools to realize your own goals.

Examining Daily Calorie Expenditure

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:31:00 +0000

I promised a couple of weeks ago to start posting about things I am learning in relation to nutrition and exercise and perhaps the best place to start is with figuring out where calories go and what the body does with them.

Thermodynamics are pretty clear:
calories in + calories out = surplus/deficit.

There are some cases where this formula seems to break down however they are outside the scope of this overview.

As one would imagine, the formula above is just an easy to remember simplification. The calories in part is of course the food we eat and seems fairly clear cut although I will have some thoughts on this at the bottom.

The calories out part of the equation is where things get really interesting. Caloric expenditure can be broken down as follows:

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - This is the base number of calories one's body needs just to stay alive. A quick and fairly accurate estimate is 10-11cal/lb of body weight.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) - Believe it or not, it costs energy to digest food. The amount of energy it takes is dependent on the type of food being processed. TEF can account for 20% of expenditure. More on this below.
Activity Thermogenesis - Calories burned through movement. There are two parts to consider:

Thermogenic Exercise Activity (TEA) - Calories burned through exercise.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) - Calories burned through moving, walking, fidgeting, etc. but not related to exercise. This value is highly variable and can account for as little as 15% to as high as 50% of caloric expenditure.

OK, um, so what does all this mean? It means figuring caloric requirements is as much art as science. Let's look at an example:

I started bulking at 165 pounds. I was lifting 3 times per week and doing some swimming a couple of times, too. Let's use 10 cal/lb for BMR:

165 * 10 = 1650

That number is a guess at the number of calories I need to just lay in bed and breathe. Now, obviously I'm going to do a bit more than that - I'm also going to eat! I eat a lot of protein which has the highest TEF, so let's figure a full 20%:

(1650* .2) + 1650= 1980 calories for maintenance on rest days.

Now if we figure in either a half hour of swimming or an hour of lifting, we get

1980 + 500 = 2480 calories for maintenance on exercise days.

Using that number as a base, I can then watch my weight over a period of time using a site like Physics Diet and determine if those numbers are correct or need tweaking.

Thoughts on TEF

Just as different foods yield different amounts of energy when consumed, they also require different amounts of energy to process. Fats have the highest caloric value and the lowest TEF value at only 2 or 3% and protein gives the highest TEF at up to 30%. Fibrous vegetables provide so few calories and are so hard to process they can actually have a negetive energy contribution once TEF is included.

Thus it is reasonably easy to see why the MANS diet is so useful for gaining muscle while bodybuilding. High protein insures muscles have what they need for repair plus the veggies all give great bang for the TEF buck and the fat content serves to provide most of the non-exercise energy requirements.

I hope this overview will help everyone dial in their calorie requirements, whether bulking or cutting.

Zen vs. Cat Food

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:26:00 +0000

Speaking of progress, this morning I was getting cat food from the vet - our cat needs prescription food - and when I picked up the 40 pound bag, one handed, I was amazed how light it was. I had to check the size to make sure they gave me what I asked for. You see, I instantly flashed-back to a couple of years ago when I was 155 pounds and scrawny and a bag of cat food was an awkward burden.

You can see in the picture above from 2005 how scrawny my arms were and I had no pec development at all. At that time, I was concerned with "scale weight" with no regards to body composition whatsoever. I thought the pipe-cleaner arms looked good.

As I was remembering having to put the cat food over my shoulder because that is the only way I could transport it, I again had the thought, "Life is so much easier when you are strong." Day-to-day tasks like hauling in groceries, yard work, crawling around in the attic (a chore I've been blessed with lately as I fight a squirrel invasion) and even getting up off the floor all require less effort, which means that at the end of the day I'm less tired and in a better mood for my family.

Besides, lifting heavy stuff is cool!

Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:56:00 +0000

I was finishing my workout last night and caught sight of myself in the mirror and took a couple of pics. I'm really bad at taking before & after pics, but this time I happened to get lucky:

February 2008

October 2008:

Pretty good progress considering the entire summer was devoted to endurance cardio, don'tcha think?

Welcome MuscleHackers!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:41:00 +0000

A great big "Thank You!" goes out to Mark McManus for the opportunity to introduce his readers to my humble abode, and a hearty "Welcome!" to all of you who were intrigued enough to stop by.

By day I'm a computer geek and aside from my regular job I also teach graduate level computer science classes at Regis University. I am just starting the next class, "Enterprise Java Programming" so my posting may be a bit sparse as I'm working on grading assignments and preparing for classes.

In the meantime I thought I'd post some links to entries that might be of interest to the MuscleHack community while I work on new content.

What is This NLP Stuff?
Mexican Food - The Low Carb Way
Avocado and Kidney Bean Salad
Product Review - Sports Instruments Pro9 HRM
Review - TRX Suspension Training System
The Hits Keep Coming - TRX Training System Perspective
What's Cookin', Good Lookin'
TRX Suspension Training Review - Guest Follow-up
Nectar of the Gods?
MCT Oil - The Importance of Being Medium
Insulin, Glycemic Index and Low Carbing
It's All About the Sugars, Baby

That should be enough to keep folks busy for a bit :).

I'd be very interested in hearing what topic folks would like me to cover. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions or questions.