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It’s very difficult for any single individual to extricate themselves from the commitments, schedules and stresses of everyday life.  Rational employment slowly, over time, becomes wrong employment.  Natural gifts such as a free spirit, open-mindedness and physical play become too fettered and are soon abandoned because of our all too serious adulthood.  But one day we realize we’ve taken for granted the one thing that made us worth being who we are – the joy of physical adventure and physical play.  There are few who can exercise the strength of mind to dash the heavy load of reality and enjoy life again once supressed by the full weight of it – it can be a very heavy load indeed.  But the challenge for those who feel trapped in the quicksand is in achieving a study pace of mindful play again and bringing back to life what was once their’s in abundance – physical health.  Who do you want be?  What do you really want to do?  It’s a challenge worth defining and then pursuing in order to own your life again.

It’s my goal to blow into a potential fire, creating a spark that lay in all of us, for higher standards and better living.  I find that life and all it’s trials and tribulations tend to be very good at blowing fires out.  Take your motivation, no matter the depth, add a directional spark and see how hot your fire can burn.

Books become influential to someone not just for there content but for the timing of the information as well.  These 4 people, their ideas and/or biographies have had the most important influence upon me.

They are in No particular order:

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (biographies and his prose)

-Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (biographies and her philosophy).

-Jack Kerouac multiple biographies (did Not enjoy his books)

-Henry David Thoreau (biographies and prose)

Because I spend so much time reading health and fitness related subjects I make more than just an attempt to read other genres of material concurrently.  And although my love for health and fitness has provided well for me it certainly would create quite an imbalance if taken as the only ingredient to my daily thoughts.  I will continue to post my myriad books as for a show of balance and perhaps a bit of personal sharing and nothing more.

There’s been a lot of controversy in recent years on stretching and it’s proper protocol… so what is being said right now concerning the application of stretching by the leading institutions and organizations on physical activity, health and fitness? 

Here’s the current scoop!  Large and well-funded, well-conducted, randomized, controlled trials provide compelling evidence that pre-exercise and post-exercise stretching does NOT reduce the risk of injury or aid in recovery, nor does it increase the range-of-motion of the stretched joint or area.  Also, the available evidence suggests that pre-exercise stretching is detrimental to maximal strength, strength endurance, jumping height and sprinting time and can increase the risk of injuries as well.  In other words, stretching causes micro-trauma or minor injury to the related area of the body.  Do we really want to damage the necessary muscles right before an activity? 

Given this evidence… it seems only reasonable to conclude that stretching should not be performed before exercise or after for that matter. Instead, warmups should consist of aerobic activities related to the activities soon to be engaged-in which are more likely to prevent injury and improve performance (i.e. walking to jogging) while cool downs, if performed, are best suited by slowing down the very same activity in which  we were previously engaged (i.e. jogging to walking). 

What to do?  Joint-range-of-motion and joint health are best served by following a smart, balanced and consistently followed resistance training program engaging all sides of each joint or articulation throughout our bodies creating strength, balance and support for everyday functional movement.

Looking forward to the full marathon (26.2 miles) coming up in the next several weeks. 

They do a great job putting this one together… the energy and participation level is very high throughout the weekend!

And this year - the two highest profile American male and female runners are racing it – Ryan Hall and Deana Kastor!

This is a deceivingly tough course… it’s billed as a flat and fast venue, but it’s ever so slightly up hill much of the way. 

The last 6.2 miles reminds you that this is a full marathon!

Here’s the link to the half and full marathons:  http://arizona.competitor.com/

We cannot expect to have it all ways.  Life is full of choices and to choose one thing is to forgo another of course.  The dilemma for many is the cost of a truly high fitness level.   It comes down to a choice of liberty – throwing off the shackles of oppression created by others, as well as yourself.  There are numerous tasks throughout the day… some are for you, but many are for others.  I question that all these tasks we busy ourselves with daily are all necessary.  There are daily tasks that carry a true result for you, your family and your friends… so choose them wisely and perform them well - leave the others for another day.

At 451 degrees farenheit you create fire… 1 degree makes the difference between success and failure because at 450 degrees farenheit you get nothing but heat!  That’s it!  Now, take that same idea and lay it in the shadow of your life or fitness goals and look how close you can be to your goals and still not be successful.  All you have to do is push past that 1 degree threshold and you set the stage to enter into the gates of your personal goals or even meet them!  With a bit more perseverance and a bit more follow through… you will find yourself at the next level.  How close are you to starting a fire?

The 5 primary ingredients for success in life or sport are:

1. Purpose - what’s your goal?

2. Passion – a deep desire to achieve this goal once determined.

3. Planning – how to go about obtaining this goal.

4. Perspiration – work hard, consistently and smart to reach your goal.

5. Perserverance – make sacrifices and follow through daily to reach this goal.

*Sucess defined by the 5 P’s compliments of Joe Friel – author and coach for endurance athletes!

Look at your path closely and deliberately and do this frequently throughout your lifetime; going off course can be gentle and subtle without any awareness of your misdirection.  As Carlos Castaneda wrote… if your path has heart, then your path is good; but if your path has no heart, than your path is no good.  Careful consideration should always be given to the mere 24 hours in your day… not a day should be wasted or simply tolerated.  Make the most of it by choosing your path!

Give less credence to any thought or decision that was not born through exercise.  While moving about freely, engaged in adult play, in which your muscles and mind are free to celebrate and feast on pure and natural energy your mind is at its best.  Clear thinking develops over the duration of movement and good judgement is the product you enjoy when the moving has ceased for the day. 

Tap your potential and optimize your day through movement and exercise!

Written by Tim Noakes and updated frequently (currently on it’s 4th edition) this book is still the best physiology book on running ever written.  It’s digestable, interesting and comprehensive.  Much of the science in this book relates to all endurence sports - not just running.    

http://www.amazon.com/Lore-Running-4th-Timothy-Noakes/dp/0873229592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259762692&sr=8-1

Your purpose in life and everything in it - is a chosen direction.  It’s not something that happens to you - you decide something matters, you give it meaning and you pursue it consistently and with vigor.  From collecting diverse travel experiences, to exercising regularly… you give things meaning!   From the car you drive… to the space you live in… from the places you shop…. and the friends you spend time with, it’s up to you for those things to have meaning and to be special in your life.  Friends, careers, hobbies… they only have meaning when you apply focus and thought to what these things mean to you.  Make them special!  Appreciate what you have, appreciate making the most of it and give the things in your life meaning!