“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” 

~ Steve Jobs, Stanford University commencement speech June 2005.

I know that Steve Jobs tribute blog posts have been rampant since his death.  Hell, I even posted the video of his Stanford commencement speech myself.  And not to jump on the bandwagon of those who were truly touched by his death. . . but I was. 

There has never been the passing of a person in the public light that has made me think about my life as much as the death of Steve Jobs.

And here are the admittedly selfish reasons why his death hit me so hard:  he was rich, brilliant, and young.  And he still could not shirk death’s calling.  Steve Jobs was only 56 years old when he died.  I turn 40 in exactly 32 days.  I can do the math.  And so I ask myself. . .

What would I do if I only had 16 years to live?

This is different that the trite “live each day like it’s your last” cliche.  Sixteen years (or ten, or fifteen, or twenty, which ever number speaks to you is fine) is ample time to make a major difference.  But it’s not so far off that its end date is incomprehensible.  I can remember exactly where I was 16 years ago. . .

The year was 1995.  I just started my second year of law school.  I also just started a full-time internship with my local county prosecutor’s office.  My days were filled with sorting through crime scene murder photos and witness statements (and napping in my cubicle) and my evenings were spent trying to stay awake while professors droned on about contracts, search and seizure laws, and the rule against perpetuities.

The 1995 me would have never guessed that the 1998 me would end up in the U.S. Army Infantry to clear $65,000 in student loan debt.  The 1995 me might have foreseen the 2004 opening of Metro Martial Arts & Fitness but would not have expected the bankruptcy and life turmoil of 2010.   And the last thing 1995 me would have predicted was 2011 me making my living online, sweating my balls off in Austin, Texas, and having a golden retriever as my best friend.

Coda rests at my feet as I write this.  How many more years will he live?  Ten?  Maybe. . .

Let’s get this out of the way: Life is fucking short.  We lollygag and piddle like we’ll be here for ever, but we won’t.  Whether it’s a freak accident at a young age with a bus rolling at 60 miles per hour or the natural demise of expiring in our sleep at an age of 92. . . life is short.  The clock ticks.  And there are one of two ways you can look at the reality of the finiteness of life. . .

None of it matters.  Or all of it matters.

You can drink like a fish, eat garbage, make sure that your relationships remain superficial, and do your best to remain comatose for the few days that your meat-sack walks this earth.  Or you can respect your time as sacred and appreciate every moment as a gift.  Admittedly, I’ve swung to both spectrums. . .

When you’re riding in the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle being driven by an 18 year old kid who is looking through shitty night vision goggles as he runs on 48 hours without sleep and travels over rough terrain that could lead to a life-ending wreck at any moment. . . you kind of stop giving a shit.

When someone emails you with joy beaming from the pixels on your screen because they have lost 100 pounds following your program and they are grateful beyond what the words they typed can convey, you wonder how many more people you can help.

I’m not here to provide answers today.  No nice and neat pithy formula on “3 Steps To Make Your Shitty Life Better”.  I just thought I’d share how Mr. Jobs’ passing has me reflecting on life.  And with that, I’ll close with another quote. . .

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.”  ~ Steve Jobs, Stanford University commencement speech June 2005.

Does none of it matter?  Does every single scrap of it matter?  Why?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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It’s the goddamned holy grail of fitness. . .

Get strong, pack on muscle, and get lean all at the same time.

And like the holy grail, I usually tell people that it cannot be found.  In general, my experience from training myself and many clients shows that it is best to focus on one of those goals at a time.

But sometimes you have to challenge your experience. . .

Sometimes experience can lull you to sleep and convince you that your way is the only way.  And to break that mold, you have to challenge.  You have to experiment.

So that’s what I’m going to do with my diet and training in October.  I’m going for the holy grail: get strong, build muscle, and lose fat all at the same time.  I’ll be documenting my food intake and training daily at the tab above titled “The Experiment“.

So just what will this experiment entail?  Some tried and true methods for sure, but also a few tactics that I usually don’t recommend (and have gleefully bashed on occasion):

Strength training will focus on the deadlift and the squat.  Repetition range used will be between 3 – 5 reps.  I’m tempted to also include overhead pressing here, but my shoulders have nagging injuries that leave them better suited for lighter weights.  Oh, and I’m coming off of a long lay-off of no strength training so my numbers will not be impressive.  But I’ll reveal them just the same.

Muscle building will be focused on the upper body, with super-sets of opposing exercises being the method of choice.  I’m also going to be using some (gasp!) machine exercises with cables and even some single joint movements for direct arm work.

Fat loss will be done primarily through diet as well as interval training sessions 2 – 3 times per week.  One of the workouts I have planned includes a recumbent exercise bike.  WTF?  Trust me, I’d rather use burpees but my shoulders are those of a damned near 40 year old man who has beaten them to the ground and I’m trying to reserve them for the muscle building workouts.

So those are the basics.  Evaluation of strength will be done through the numbers on the workouts (probably go with the 3 rep workouts as the standard).  Muscle building will be subjective through before and after pics.  Fat loss will be a combination of the numbers on the scale and before and after pics.  I suppose I could get fancy and make things more “scientific” but there is also practicality to be considered.  The above standards listed will be good enough.

Which are you most interested in accomplishing?  Building muscle, gaining strength, or losing fat?  What are you currently doing to accomplish that goal?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Below is an excerpt from a 6-page PDF report available for free at the end of this post.

Bruce Lee.  Muhammad Ali.  Morihei Ueshiba. . .

Although each of the above listed Warriors were well known for their combative skills, it is their contributions to life philosophy and the transcendence of kicks and punches that makes them most fascinating.  Please enjoy the few quotes I have selected as well as my commentary below.

Bruce Lee:

“Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being ‘wholly’ and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”

This state of relaxed readiness is difficult for many to achieve.  Whether it is the mental replaying of our mistakes from the past, or the constant checking of a cell phone in anticipation of an incoming call, staying in the present moment is a rare achievement.  Intentional time away from distractions, through practices such as seated meditation, walking in nature, and even playing with children and pets, can help us return to the moment of now.

Muhammad Ali:

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

We all have moments where we want to quit.  Where continuing down a path seems futile.  And perhaps the particular path we are on is futile.  But in our hearts, we know if the end result we seek is worthy and that is what we must not give up on.  The price of aspiration plus action always involves some degree of pain and sacrifice.  But it is these efforts of endurance that serve as gatekeepers for our worthy accomplishments.

Morihei Ueshiba:

“Progress comes to those who train and train. Reliance on secret techniques will get you nowhere.”

There are no secret techniques.  There are no short cuts.  No magic pills, potions, or powders will give you six-pack abs.  No crash-course will bring you Internet riches.  Nearly all things must be learned through the School Of Hard Knocks.  The journey, the falling down and then getting up, is the reward.

Much of life involves conflict and the facing of obstacles – sometimes from external forces, and often from ourselves.  And this is why looking to those who turned conflict into art can provide lessons that go far beyond the realm of physical combat.

Who else has turned conflict into art and left valuable life lessons as a result?  Examples of historical figures or those in the present are all welcome.  What lessons have they conveyed?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

And for more quotes from Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali, and Morihei Ueshiba, be sure to receive the free PDF report by entering your email address here:

“Pain is inevitable.  Suffering is optional.”  ~ Buddhist saying.

My brown t-shirt sleeve is rolled up to the top of my shoulder and I’m expecting the needle sting that I’ve become accustomed to though the regular rounds of inoculations and blood tests that all soldiers must endure.

But this is different.  This is my first of a scheduled series of six injections of an anthrax vaccine that is still in the experimental stage.  I am government property so today I’m a government guinea pig.  And the last thing I was expecting was a warning from the medic.

“I’m not going to lie, this is going to fucking hurt.”

Since I was used to being treated like cattle on an assembly line during Army injections, this medic’s thoughtful warning was alarming.  For him to take a moment of kind caution was significant.  I braced myself for the worst.

But the pain was not bad.  It was certainly far less painful than the penicillin shot they gave me in my right ass cheek during Basic Training.  But the pain lingered in a way that no other injection had. . .  I could feel the foreign substance coursing through my arm and down to my fingertips.

I would receive three more anthrax vaccine injections before the Army mysteriously stopped issuing them.  Two short of my scheduled six injections, I’ll always wonder why the shots were abandoned.  And perhaps it is the wondering that is most painful.

Experimental anthrax injections aside, pain is part of life.  Or rather, pain is part of growth.  No significant undertaking – whether in business, relationships, physical improvement, or some other realm – will be devoid of pain.

Nor should it be.

The cramped hands of the aspiring pianist.

The bankruptcy of the entrepreneur.

The broken heart of the one who dared to love. 

It is the battle scars that serve proof that we have paid the cost and are deserving of the spoils of our efforts.  It is not so much the teeth-gritting endurance of pain as much as the acceptance of pain (dare I say the welcoming of pain),  that allows admittance to the fast-track of the learning curve.

The medic was right – it’s going to fucking hurt.  It’s going to suck.  It’s going to push you to the point where you feel like you’re going to snap or puke or collapse or otherwise submit in a pile of agony.

But that moment will pass. 

When you least expect it, when you think you cannot bear another step, the pain will subside.  And your moment of temporary relief will make the journey worthwhile.  The beacon of success will be warm and bright because you have earned its spotlight.  And then the pain will return.

It returns because you don’t stop.  The aspiring pianist is now an accomplished pianist who steps on stage in front of a crowd of thousands for the first time and it scares the shit out of her.  The bankrupt entrepreneur starts another business and succeeds to the point where he must now deal with lawyers and investors and mergers and acquisitions.  The broken hearted loves again, and finds the first love still lingers in hidden cracks and crevices despite his best efforts to move on.

Pain is constant.  So why not embrace it?

To be clear the pain I speak of is pain of passage.  Pain that is necessary for the bridging between the unknown and the known.  It’s not the idle entrapment of social violence or the private violence of cutters and self-abusers attempting to remind themselves that they are still alive.

It is currency.  It is the exchange rate of getting from where you are to where you want to go.  It is the inevitable by-product of aspiration plus action.

You will stub your toe on the way to the top of the mountain.  Truth be told, you’ll probably sprain your fucking ankle (or worse).  But did you really want your summit to be a piece of cake?  Did you not want it to be warded by the golems of effort and struggle and pain?

Otherwise, everyone would reach the apex and all significance of your accomplishment would be lost.

What is your experience with pain?  Do you feel it is necessary for accomplishment?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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This isn’t some woe-is-me self defeatist crybaby bullshit.  This is fact. 

The barbell across my shoulders as I bend at the hips and knees until my ass is as far down as I can possibly take it and then return to a standing position is lighter than the barbell I used well over a year ago.

That’s as objective as it gets.  The numbers don’t lie.  And neither does the barbell.

Losing my gym and going bankrupt meant losing my barbells and other equipment.  As a result I’ve been away from heavy strength training for about 18 months.

Oh, I’ve been training.  I’ve cranked some pretty brutal dumbbell circuits, flipped tires under the blazing summer sun, and had several rounds of soul searching with my old heavy bag.

But none of that is like getting under the barbell.

Few things in life will be as black and white as barbell training.  Either you can pick that barbell up off of the ground or you can’t. Either the bar goes overhead or it doesn’t.  Grey areas, yellow lights, and maybes don’t fucking exist.

Combat sports training might be the closest cousin.  Either you got punched in the face or you didn’t.  Either you knocked the other guy out or didn’t.  But even in that realm there are split decisions, low blows, and subjective calls of judges, fans, and even the participants.  There is none of that bullshit with a barbell.

It’s just you and the barbell.  Even if you’re a Power Lifting or Olympic Weightlifting competitor, it’s still just you and that barbell.  The crowds and the judges be damned the only thing that matters is if you moved that weight through the required range of motion or not.

Such clear truth in life is rare.

Where in your life do you find black and white clarity?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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The split personality of who we are compared to who we want to be permeates our modern mythology.  It’s a goddamned cliché.

But what holds us back from being The Hulk or Tyler Durden or even the monstrous Mr. Hyde?

Fear.

Just little old panic inducing, pants soiling, almost always unjustified FEAR.

But it doesn’t stop everyone.  There are people who are bad ass to the bone and don’t need alter egos to propel them to new heights.  They quit their job, travel the world, build homes in rural Alabama, and generally do the impossible.

And they’re just fine in their public persona.

But not all of us are – at least not initially.  And sometimes it can be useful to take up the archetype of the Monster to give us freedom – to give ourselves permission – to be who we really are.

It wasn’t me. . . it was the Monster who did it.

If that’s what it takes for you to do what you want need to do then I say bare your fangs, raise your claws, throw your tattered fury mane back, and release a blood curdling roar that will make fear want to wake up mommy and daddy from their midnight slumber because YOU are hiding under the damned bed.  Because you are the one with the eyes of a killer and the gaping maw ready to attack your work, your play, your life with a frenzy normally reserved for the villains of B-grade slasher flicks.

But how?  How do you go from Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk with no gamma rays?

The answer to that question will be different for everyone, but below are a few suggestions that you might want to try.

• Leave your space.  More often than not, it’s the prying eyes of others and the fear of their judgment that keeps your Monster locked in a cage.  Leaving your normal area of operation can go a long way to making you feel at ease to push your limits.  But leaving your space doesn’t have to mean a literal physical relocation. . . It could mean cranking your iPod to music that makes you feel unstoppable or allowing yourself to get lost in inspiring literature.

• Come to terms with the worst.  What is the worst case scenario?  And can you accept it if the cards happen to fall that way?  If so, proceed like a bat out of hell and don’t stop until you get what you’re after.

• Place others before your self.  King Kong was one bad monster but he didn’t start climbing sky scrapers and smashing the shit out of airplanes until his blonde lady friend was threatened.  If you’re a parent, I’m sure you’ve experienced the monstrous adrenaline rush of feeling that your children were threatened.  But you don’t have to be a parent or a giant ape to tap into this – get outside of yourself and set your goals so that they impact people that are important to you whether that be customers or community.

The Monster I’m referring to is not an evil creature of the night. . . It’s a side of us that we all have, a primal instinctual animal, that can be directed toward accomplishing what we want to do, be, and have but are too afraid to move on in our common shell.

There is a dichotomy between who you are and who you want to be. . . Close the damned gap.

What do you do to bring out your inner Monster?  How has it helped you or others?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough.”

~ Miyamoto Musashi, The Book Of Five Rings

I didn’t bring much with me when I moved to Austin.  No bed, no couch, no furniture of any kind.  Just me and my dog in our 400 square foot studio apartment and an old camping bedroll to sleep on.  Admittedly, that might have been a little extreme.

I now have a bed.  And a stool to sit on.  I’ll probably get a couch in the not too distant future.  But my mind has shifted to where I consider these things luxuries and not necessities.

If we are existing with a base level of good health, then all of our necessities are being met. Luxuries for purposes other than the enhancement of health or our work hamper our fluidity of movement and thought.  Even the tools we use for health and our work can often be scaled back to a level of the “minimum effective dosage”.

Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary swordsman of Japan, defeated countless opponents with a wooden sword.  He didn’t need a steel blade when the wooden sword served his purpose.

I’m typing on a MacBook that is over three years old and has it’s occasional spurts and sputters.  But it has never failed me for my work of writing, processing refunds online, and audio and video editing.  As much as I’d like to scrap this plastic old laptop for a shiny new aluminum bodied high-speed latest and greatest MacBook Pro, it would be unnecessary while this computer still works.

“Do nothing that is of no use.” ~ Miyamoto Musashi, The Book Of Five Rings

Do you have a fancy home gym with pulleys and weight stacks and pieces and parts?  All you really need is a pull up bar.

Do you spend hours per day in your car for your commute to and from work?  Move closer to the office.  Maybe even so close that you can get rid of your car (I swear getting rid of my car was one of the best decisions I’ve made in years).

Do you have rooms in your home that you almost never use?  Relocate to a house or apartment that is just big enough for your needs.

Do you have more than one television in your home?  Why?  Of course my thought is to get rid of all of your televisions, but I know that will not be met receptively by many people.  But do you really need more than one?

Perhaps you feel the objections rising – perhaps even passionate objections – as to why you cannot reduce your “things”.  Let them go.  You don’t need any of it.  If you are existing with a base level of good health, then all of your necessities are being met.

What material possessions do you feel like you cannot live without?  Is there a happy medium without throwing out your television and getting rid of your car?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Are YOU training?  Why or why not?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Oh yeah! Burpee-pullups, pistol squats, and water ball clean and presses. . . I’m a freak like that.

How do you get freaky with your workouts? Share your craziest training methods in the comments below.

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Two weeks earlier I was taking the Ohio bar exam to be a lawyer.  Now I was standing in a heel-to-toe line with about 100 other guys that were all about 10 years my junior.  We were on the threshold of Army Basic Training.  And we were all scared.

I remember the needle going into my arm.  The fourth needle out of a scheduled series of six needles of anthrax vaccinations that were standard for all soldiers going to Korea.  But I never received the fifth and sixth doses.  They mysteriously stopped giving the anthrax vaccine at that time.  And I was scared.

Next Tuesday morning I start my road trip to Austin, Texas.  I’ll be driving an eleven year old Jeep with well over 150,000 miles on the engine, and a docile golden retriever as my co-pilot over a three day trip.  I’ve never been to Texas, let alone Austin.  I’ve connected with a few people online, but otherwise I don’t really know anyone in Austin.  I’ve never seen the apartment I’ve rented except for a few online pics.  Yep, I’m a little scared.

But goddamn does the fear feel good!

Fear is ingrained in our DNA.  It keeps us on our toes, it heightens our senses, it reminds us that we are alive.  It used to save us from becoming lunch for a saber tooth tiger or meeting the unfriendly end of a spear from a member of a neighboring tribe.  But now, too often, we are devoid of fear.

Oh, there is plenty of stress.  But stress is not necessarily fear.

True fear includes the risk of loss of life or injury.  Or a simulation of events that may cause the loss of life or injury.  A roller coaster, bungee jumping, or sky diving can cause fear even though the chances of dying or being injured are relatively small.  But the means – the speed, the free fall – are normally conducive to death or injury and so our bodies respond with fear. . .

The pupils dilate, heart rate increases, adrenaline pumps, cortisol is released, and blood flows to the extremities ready to fight or flee.  We are jacked!  We feel ready for anything. . .

Why the hell else would we jump out of a perfectly good airplane?

Or move to an unknown city.  Or start a business venture on a shoestring budget.  Or risk the rejection of the cute young woman in the coffee shop.

Because it makes us feel alive!  Regardless of if we succeed or fail, exposing ourselves to the crap-shoot possibilities heightens our senses to a point that can only be described as “alive”.

When is the last time you felt alive?

When is the last time you risked?  Or simulated risk?  Or even just broke out of your normal day-in-day-out routine?

When is the last time you scared the shit out of yourself?

Fear is good.  Share your experiences with fear in the comments below.  And for future updates via email, be sure to click here.