bad chute! (look inside)

58
1 With DVD of Dave’s 10 Minute Workout WHY MOST AMERICANS FAIL WITH FITNESS DAVE HUBBARD

Upload: americas-fitness-coach

Post on 30-Mar-2016

233 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Why most Americans fail with fitness. Dave Hubbard's book on how he overcame the obstacles of getting and staying fit for life after the NFL and breaking his back in a near fatal accident.

TRANSCRIPT

1

With DVD of Dave’s 10 Minute Workout

WHY MOST AMERICANS FAIL WITH FITNESS

DAVE HUBBARD

2

3

BAD CHUTE!

Why Most Americans Fail With Fitness

Learn how and why people get fat unrelated to what they eat.

Learn how to overcome the obstacles

and excuses not to exercise.

Learn how to build and maintain strength with a bad back and aging joints.

Learn why a 10 minute workout can

accomplish more than an hour of exercise.

DAVE HUBBARD

4

BAD CHUTE! Why most Americans fail with fitness

© 2011 BAD CHUTE! Why most Americans fail with fitness All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the author. Published by Mill City Press Photos of Mr. Hubbard taken by Drew Stauss All pictures property of the author. All rights reserved America’s Fitness Coach LLC 1000 Whitlock Ave, Suite 320-118 Marietta, Georgia 30064 www.AmericasFitnessCoach.com Printed in the United States of America Revised edition formally titled: FAT to fit First printing: August 2009

5

Medical Disclaimer: The exercises and advice given in this book and on the accompanying DVD are in no way intended as a substi-tute for medical advice and guidance. The author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical advice. Because of the differences from individual to individual, your doctor and physical therapist should be consulted to assess whether these, or any exercises are safe for you. Consult your doctor and physical therapist before start-ing this, or any other exercise program. The author and publisher will not accept responsibility for injury or damage occasioned to any person as a result of participation, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book or DVD. Results from using the exercises explained or recommended vary. Exercise and proper nutrition are necessary to achieve and maintain weight loss and muscle definition.

6

This book is enthusiastically dedicated to all who have taken personal responsibility,

regarding their health and fitness, by setting aside at least ten minutes a day to build strength, lose fat, and stay healthy.

7

"Dave Hubbard’s book recommends the perfect solution for getting in shape and staying fit. I am losing weight, gaining strength, and getting in good cardio shape in the same amount of time as it takes to shower or brush my teeth. This plan is a no brainer!" -Trey Pope, author, Barbecue On My Mind "Dave's fitness solution takes away all my excuses. I made a commitment to exercise every day, and have been doing so now for years." -Barbara Hemphill, Au-thor, "Taming the Paper Tiger" "I started using Dave's exercise methods, lost 50 pounds, and have finally mastered fitness for life!" -Charles Web-ster "With 7 children, I needed to get back into shape. My problem is time, Dave's fitness solution is the answer." -Linda Chambers "I endorse Dave Hubbard's fitness methods, and have found them to be a great solution for my patients." -Dr. Joe Phillips, M.D. OG/Gyn "I've never felt so good, physically or mentally, than I do today, thanks to what Dave has taught me about exer-cise." -Anne Potoma "Sharing Dave's exercise method with my patients is a joy and a privilege. This type of exercise is do-able, safe, af-fordable, fun, and it works." -Dr. David Kamnitzer, DC "Dave Hubbard's fitness solution really works!" -Robby Robertson, Navy Seal "My husband and I have been using Dave's recommended exercises and we love it! Thanks for making exercise quick and fun." -Judy Nelson “I have lost 35 pounds and am now wearing a 36" pant! Dave's fitness methods are by far the simplest, most ef-fective I’ve used!” -Mark Metcalf

8

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In 1979, Dave Hubbard moved from the active world of professional foot-ball into a sedentary job. His playing weight as an offensive tackle, combined with a serious back injury

made it difficult to get and stay physically fit. One day he was startled to read that the average life span of an ex-NFL athlete was only 53 years of age. Right then he made a commitment to get serious about his health. Today, in his mid 50s, fit and feeling great, Dave's very glad he stuck with that decision. Following his serious back injury, he discovered a method of exercise that allowed him to build strength without hurting his back. Using this exer-cise technique, he regained his strength and fit-ness by only working out for a short period of time each day. Dave then began to explore why so many people were failing to reach their fitness goals, including those who were exercising several hours a week. He discovered that the missing ingredient in most people's exercise was strength (or muscle mass). More and more people were spending a lot of time doing aerobic exercise but were still ten to twenty pounds overweight, and frustrated.

9

Dave went on to focus on developing an everyday workout that would virtually eliminate everyone’s excuses not to exercise. Dave’s unique formula of exercise allows anyone, at any age, to lose fat and get fit by changing to a vigorous anaerobic workout that is done every day and in less than fifteen minutes. The added bonus of this method is that it takes a fraction of the time most think they need to spend exercising, with much better results. Today Dave is known as America's Fitness Coach®. Since 1989, he has presented to hun-dreds of businesses and organizations, challeng-ing busy professionals to take better care of their most valuable asset - their body! Dave is a frequently published author in maga-zines and online, and has been featured on radio, television, infomercials, and QVC. Dave lives with his wife Melinda in Marietta, Geor-gia. They have two adult children.

10

CONTENTS

Introduction CHAPTER 1 Jumping to Conclusions A fitness crisis begins CHAPTER 2 Get Out and Go Our bodies are miracles in motion CHAPTER 3 Bad Chute The real cause for concern CHAPTER 4 No Sensation of Falling So gradually established it's not apparent CHAPTER 5 Brain Lock Why diets don't work but everyone's on one CHAPTER 6 Tunnel Vision America’s obsession with aerobic exercise CHAPTER 7 A Better Approach The “S” factor CHAPTER 8 Taking Responsibility That part of truth no one wants to hear

11

CHAPTER 9 No Pain, No Gain? Denial—still alive and well in fitness fantasy world CHAPTER 10 There's Got to Be Another Way If you don't have ten minutes there's no hope for you CHAPTER 11 Overcoming the Obstacles The tyranny of the non urgent CHAPTER 12 Why a Brief Workout Everyday is Better Than a Long Workout Every Few Days A track to run on CHAPTER 13 More Motivation to Exercise Exercise is about total health and wellness CHAPTER 14 What About Nutrition? The Greek word for diet means lifestyle CHAPTER 15 More Helpful Information on Healthy Living The latest scientific research on staying healthy CHAPTER 16 My 21 Day Fitness Challenge Making fitness a daily habit for life POSTSCRIPT

12

INTRODUCTION

Sadly many American's today are in declining health and out of shape physically. Our evolution from an agricultural society, to an industrial soci-ety, to a technological society has left our bodies behind. Most baby-boomers, now approaching retirement, appear to be equally concerned about their future-financial-health, and their future-physical-health. Yet, statistics show they invest much more in their future-financial-health. Most people take much better care of their financial portfolio, and the ma-terial things they own, than they do their most valuable asset—their body! Have you ever wished your body came with in-structions? In 1989, when I began lecturing around the country on health and fitness, I could not believe how uninformed most people were about the fundamentals of exercise and fitness, especially as it relates to its effects on the body. After giving it a lot of thought I realized that the vast majority of people have (A) very little scien-tific knowledge about the actual effects of exercise on the body, and (B) very little practical knowledge of the benefits of maintaining strength. I discov-ered this was especially true for anyone who has never participated in a competitive sport that re-quired them to consistently push their body to ex-tremes physically, in order to achieve peak per-

13

formance. I realized that I was taking a lot for granted. I grew up on a ranch. I learned how to work hard at a very young age. I had two older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister who were extremely athletic. They constantly pushed me to compete against them physically in any, and every activity imaginable. I just assumed that everyone went through a similar situation growing up. I came to realize, however, that only a very small percentage of people fit into that category. And, to make matters worse, P.E. (physical education) classes-that used to be mandated as part of one's basic education-have, for the most part, been dummied down, and in some cases completely eliminated. This has left a huge portion of our population now taking better care of their cars and pets than they do their own body. If you're like me you have probably tried to pro-gram the old VCRs to record a TV program with-out reading the instructions. If so, you found out that it's virtually impossible. In a way that's what's happening with most people today as it relates to their health and fitness. Since they've never read their body's instruction manual, their attempts to get and stay physically fit have been met with frus-tration, causing them to eventually give up. As an ex NFL athlete I have been at both ex-tremes with my health and fitness. I've been in phenomenal shape physically, and I've been over-weight and out of shape physically. This book is about what I've learned both at, and between,

14

those two extremes. For the last twenty plus years I have enjoyed good health, and am in great shape physically. It should interest you to know that I only workout for ten minutes a day. Do I have your attention now? I strongly believe that if your workout takes longer than 10 minutes a day, you may be wasting your time! The key word in that statement is workout. In my opinion there is a big difference between get-ting some exercise, and getting a "workout". A workout is that scheduled period of time during a given day, week, or month, that you set aside specifically to do what is necessary to get and stay physically fit. And, in my opinion, a workout should involve intense anaerobic exercise to build strength. Generally speaking, a workout is not fun. Exercise, on the other hand, can be any type of activity that gets your body moving. In this sense, and only this sense, exercise can actually be en-joyable. Here's an example: I love to take my dogs Maggie and Darlene for a long walk at the National Park that boarders our subdivision. We are usually gone 30-45 minutes. I throw sticks for them to re-trieve, and we have a grand old time. There is no question that during that time I'm getting some exercise, but it's not a workout. If that's all I did, to give my body what's really required to be physi-cally fit, I would fall far short. Another example would be doubles tennis. I love

15

to play tennis; it is an enjoyable form of exercise. But it takes much more than playing doubles ten-nis every once in a while to maintain my strength and fitness. It takes a workout! From this point on I will use workout and exercise interchangeably. Just understand that unless specified, when I talk about exercise, I'm really referring to a workout. I grew up working out. We lived on a working ranch. We raised our own beef, and for many years grew our own fruits and vegetables. I got up early everyday to milk the cows before going to school. There where chores to do every day. On the weekends there were more chores and typi-cally a project or two that required hard work. Because I grew in height so early (I'm 6' 7"), I was not as mature physically as my peers. Conse-quently, I learned to compensate by spending hours in the weight room. I venture to say I worked out more than most. In fact, I was lifting weights before it was popular, or even mandated for an athlete as it is today. Eventually it paid off for me in a big way. Years later, when I stepped out of professional football, I felt like I had worked out enough for sev-eral lifetimes. Married and with children—in a sed-entary job—my fitness began to decline. Then, after a serious back injury, it really went south. I found myself in a place I had never been before—out of shape physically, and with little time or moti-vation to turn things around.

16

This book is the story of what I have learned through that experience, and what I did to get back on track physically. On my journey I discov-ered something about me and others as it relates to the conventional approach to exercise and fit-ness. You may ask what qualifies me to be called Amer-ica’s Fitness Coach? Here’s the way I see it. I consider myself the everyday-normal-person-fitness-guy. In other words, when I pull my shirt up you will not see washboard abs! I do not look like the fitness fanatics that you most often see asso-ciated with getting fit. I am, however, in great shape for someone in his mid 50s, with a bad back and bad knees. I like to draw a distinction between myself and Tony Horton. Tony is the famous fitness guy at-tached to a popular series of exercise infomercials called P90X. Tony is everything you would expect from a fitness trainer on TV−extra lean with chis-eled muscles and a 6-pac. I’ll be the first to admit that I am not as fit as Tony. To look like Tony I would have to exercise differ-ently, and much longer. And, even more impor-tantly, I would have to be extremely careful about what and how much I eat. Tony Horton’s fitness programs are great, but they involve a much greater time commitment (60-90 minutes a day), and a lot more exercises than I do. I was looking to create a method and formula of exercise that would get me off the every-once-in-a-while-when-I-could-get-around-to-it approach.

17

That was clearly not working! The other thing that wasn’t working was the weekend-warrior ap-proach. One day I had an epiphany. What if the approach most people were taking was not the best? Could there be a radically different and ultimately much better way for people to get and stay physically fit in the 20-21st century? What follows is the secret to my success, and since 1993 the success of thousands. Since 1989 I have been motivating and educating people to get fit for life. I enjoy teaching people the truth concerning how their body works—either for or against them—depending on how they exer-cise. I believe it's best to first exercise your mind before you exercise your body. Comedian Emo Phillips once said, "I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this." Very funny! But seri-ously, it is your brain that tells you what to do. So if you expect your brain to instruct you accurately, it must receive accurate information. Whether you realize it or not your brain is filled with hundreds of thousands of sound-bites of in-formation on health, fitness, exercise, nutrition, etc. These bits of information have entered over many years of reading and watching so called "experts" give their advice on the latest greatest technique or discovery. Is it possible everything you've learned about ex-

18

ercise is wrong? Probably not everything, but a lot of what you've learned may be incorrect. Why does it matter? Because many people are wasting time doing things their brain is telling them to do to get fit, and it's not working. Over the years I developed a formula that I be-lieve is essential for anyone wanting to develop a new habit. Especially a habit they intend to con-tinue for the rest of their life. The formula is as fol-lows: Education + Motivation x Application = Results. Get any of those out of order and you're likely to fail. As it relates to exercise, typically people become motivated to make a change because of an up-coming reunion, etc., and then quickly jump onto the current fad solution. Then, after several fail-ures, they give up. It is my hope that the information in this book will challenge your thinking and change your life re-garding how, and how often, you exercise. The old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." That's true, but you can salt his oats! I begin my oat-salting with a true story of a near death experience that happened to me many years ago. The key points of this story will hope-fully serve as hooks—hooks on which you can hang the truths that you will learn about exercise and fitness. Using this method I'm betting you will

not soon forget them. ─Dave Hubbard

19

CHAPTER 1

JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS "If you live to be one hundred, you've got it made. Very few people die past that age." -George Burns It was going to be an absolutely gorgeous day, typical for the month of September in Napa, Cali-fornia. I was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, as if the thrill and danger of professional football had not proved enough for me. This was something I had wanted to do since I was a small child. I'm not exactly sure why and to this day I find myself groping for an answer when someone asks. I was always sort of a daredevil. I have always been willing to take risks to do some-thing different or unusual. At least that used to be the case. I find myself far less willing to take chances, as I get older. Early that morning I waited in my car at the church parking lot for the others to show up. I emotionally worked through what I thought were my final, "are you really sure you want to do this?" second thoughts. As I saw the others pull into the parking lot, I quickly regained the strength of my resolve to follow through with what I had told myself and oth-ers I would someday do. This day I was to go parachuting. We all piled into two vehicles and set out for an

20

hour's drive to Yolo County, near Sacramento. Our adrenaline was pumping just talking about what a great day this would be. All of us were do-ing this for the very first time so no one really had a good idea of what we were getting into, but we knew it would be great. I guess if I were to try and narrow down why I al-ways wanted to do this, it would be first of all, to push myself through the fear, and in so doing be-come a stronger human being. I was never one to turn down a challenge. I had already gone way beyond myself as an overachiever, surprising the wildest predictions of my coaches, my peers, and my family, by actually making it as a professional athlete in the National Football League. With foot-ball now behind me, I was ripe for a new chal-lenge. I knew this would give me all I bargained for. Secondly, always fascinated with the magnificent miracle of God's creation and having the desire to fly without the cumbersome confinement of an air-plane (which I have never been able to fit in com-fortably), I simply wanted to float over God's good earth and take it all in. I wanted to see what I knew most people would never see, from a unique vantage point. Plus, I knew that a potential side benefit could be another story I could use for illus-trations in my teaching. I had done my homework. I knew that statistically this was not at all dangerous. In fact, what we were going to do that day would actually be much safer statistically than our ride in the automobile to our destination. After all, I may be crazy, but I'm

Bad Chute

21

not stupid. When we arrived, I remember being taken back by the shabby appearance of the training center and drop zone. This was not at all what I had ex-pected. There was a condemned looking little one-story building sitting in the middle of an open field. Off to the side was a staircase that went up to a platform-there was no plane in sight. People coming from different areas of California to jump that day had begun arriving. Together we got out and approached the building. None of us dared admit it, based on what we were now look-ing at, that this did not seem like a real good idea. Be that as it may, now caught up in the group dy-namic of peer support and foolhardy commitment, each of us paid the $69 for our training and the one jump we had anxiously come all this way for. I didn't see anyone who really looked like they were in charge or knew what to do with this now large group of people who had gathered and paid to jump. We were all mingling and getting to know each other, standing on the patio next to the con-demned looking building, when we heard the rum-ble of a small plane high overhead. As we looked up, our eyes were drawn to a small speck that had jettisoned from the plane. As the speck got closer, we could see it was a person. Male or female, we did not know, but we were convinced of one thing, whoever this was - they knew what they were do-ing in the skydiving department. This ballerina of the skies did cartwheels and somersaults before opening that big umbrella.

Jumping to Conclusions

22

Then with the utmost predictability and precision, maneuvered in position and landed on tiptoe, smack dab in the center of the picnic table 10 feet away.

Pulling off his helmet, he said with a bit of comedy and conviction, "Hi, I'm your instructor."

He had long hair; an earring and a been-there-done-that wild look about him. It was obvious he had experienced a lot of life, and probably most of it flying through the air. Suddenly I didn't care any longer about the ap-pearance of this place. It didn't matter that the building looked dilapidated and the parking lot badly needed to be resurfaced. I didn't care any longer that I didn't know what I was getting into. This guy obviously did. This guy knew how to jump, knew how to fly and knew how to land, and I was absolutely convinced that he knew how to teach me to do the same. I was to later learn that he was an ex-Viet Nam jumper and had literally thousands of jumps be-hind him. Jumping was his life. He had been teaching people how to jump for six years, six days a week at this location. He had never had a mishap. That was good enough for me. I was ready. From that point on, my jump couldn't come soon enough. But, I was going to have to be patient. Because this was our first jump, there were some things we needed to know. It would take almost a

Bad Chute

23

full day of training for each of us to gain the knowl-edge and the confidence we would need to step out of that airplane. He began his instruction by telling us what, of course, I already knew, that the sport of parachut-ing was very, very safe. But he cautioned us that Murphy's Law was certainly in effect with para-chuting as it was in every other aspect of life. In other words, if something could possibly go wrong, it probably would go wrong. So in order to beat Murphy at his game, we would have to learn the steps necessary to get ourselves out of that seemingly fatal predicament should it occur. In other words, what do you do if the unthinkable, the unimaginable occurs, and your chute doesn't open? Most of our training was centered on our learning and becoming confident with a cadence. This ca-dence consisted of a very precise set of com-mands, each strategically following the other and in succession leading us through the steps neces-sary to open our spare chute. As an ex profes-sional football player I was not a foreigner to ca-dences; in fact, I'm willing to bet I was more famil-iar with a cadence than anyone else who had paid to jump that day. The first statement in the parachute cadence is "arch one thousand." The meaning of that first statement was twofold. Arch reminds you to throw your chest out and throw your arms out in a spread-eagle position. One thousand reminds you that in 3 seconds, the main chute will be open. As you say, "arch one thousand," you're to turn your

Jumping to Conclusions

24

head over your right or left shoulder and look be-hind you to watch the parachute open. The next statement in the cadence is "check two thousand," in which case you turn your head to the other side of your shoulder and look behind you again. Next you say, "Check three thousand," and turn your head once again to the other side and look for the last time. Three seconds has now passed. This is the longest it should take for that chute to be open. If it is not open after three sec-onds, what you will see is the chute trailing you, but empty of air and just flopping like a dishrag. You now officially have a serious problem! The next two words in the cadence are "bad chute". I couldn't believe my ears. Everyone just burst out laughing when he said it. It was a nerv-ous laughter. It seemed so silly, but those two words said it all. As the laughter died, the instruc-tor got very serious and explained to us why those two words were chosen. He told us that a bad chute is a very, very bad chute. "Naughty, naughty chute", he shouted, ex-claiming that, "a bad chute will never be a good chute—no, not ever!" The only thing to do with a bad chute, he said, was to "get rid of it". The temptation is to try and fix it. You might say to yourself it's just tangled a bit…it just needs to come loose…to unravel a little more. And so there you are wasting precious time trying to fix a bad chute that is unfixable. Yes, truly, the only thing to do with a bad chute is to get rid of it. At this point in the training, he made a statement

Bad Chute

25

that all of us found extremely difficult to believe. He said with parachuting there is no sensation of falling—even in a free-fall. How could that be? All of us were expecting the sensation of our stomach coming up to our throat as in a big fall in a roller coaster ride. He explained that when you jump you're going almost the speed of the plane. Add to that the fact that you have no frame of reference. There is nothing you see that allows you to judge your speed or distance. Therefore, you don't feel like you are falling. You're so high over earth that you don't see the ground getting closer. You feel like you have all the time in the world. He made this point with great emphasis, knowing how important it would be should anyone find himself or herself with a bad chute. Feeling that you have all the time in the world there would be a tendency to take your sweet time dealing with the situation. After "bad chute", we're to say, "Cut away". Plac-ing our hands on the clasps, we were to open them and out would pop steel rings. We were to place our thumbs in the steel rings and pull. In do-ing so, we would have completed our assignment. Upon pulling those rings, the bad chute would be detached completely from the pack and would leave our body. As it leaves our body, a cord—attached from the bad chute to the aluminum handle on the spare chute—pulls the spare chute open. That spare chute (mounted on my chest) is spring loaded and would literally explode straight up into the air. Then, except for a brief and frightful interruption,

Jumping to Conclusions

26

we would glide down in just the same way that we would have had our original chute opened. Finally it was time to jump. We had practiced all day. We were more than ready to go. We each put on our jump suits with both main chute and re-serve chute loaded and ready. I was to be the first to jump that day. I heard the engines cut back—we were slowing down. That could only mean one thing. The moment of truth had arrived. I looked down immediately wishing I hadn't. Everything was so tiny, so far away. Then I heard a voice interrupting the silence. It was the pilot. In a calm and very confident voice he simply said, "Feet out." I remember muttering to myself, "Easy for you to say." Taking one last look at the assis-tant who promptly gave me a "thumbs up" and a wink of encouragement, I turned my body side-ways and swung my feet out. Immediately they flew up and almost hit the side of the plane. After all, we were going 90 miles an hour. I fought to get my feet on that little platform. I was not having a great deal of success due to the wind velocity. I finally overcame the resistance and settled my feet onto the little platform. No sooner had I ac-complished that task than I heard the pilot in a strong calm voice say, "Get out." I felt fairly secure with only my feet out of the plane. Getting out was a whole different story. At six-foot-seven it was very awkward for me to get out of the door and get myself positioned cor-rectly. They purposely make the platform only the size of a shoebox so that it forces you to dangle the other foot off into space. As I bent over under

Bad Chute

27

the wing I could feel the underside touch my back. Just at the moment I worked my body into posi-tion, I realized that this might just be the stupidest idea I had ever had in my life. Right at that mo-ment of fear and doubt, I heard the final com-mand. The pilot said with a loud voice and with just a hint of laughter, "Go!"

Without hesitation and with com-plete faith and dutiful obedience to the command of a pilot I didn't even know, I let go. It was an amazing feeling, impossible to describe.

All fear was gone as I quickly threw out my chest and arms and shouted, "Arch one thousand." Then looking over my left shoulder I shouted, "Check two thousand," then flipping my head to the other side, I shouted, "Check three thousand." I couldn't believe my eyes…I had a BAD CHUTE! They teach you that there are two things that hap-pen to most people in a shocking and highly stressful situation. I experienced both. The first is called BRAIN LOCK. Chances are you've experi-enced this—maybe you've been studying for a test or concentrating on something important, when all of a sudden your brain seems to lock up. You're stuck—stuck on one thing in particular and you can't get off it. I brain locked immediately on bad chute. I said it about 150 times. I said it over and over again, "Bad chute, bad chute, bad chute, oh shoot, bad chute!" The second thing that happens to most people in a stressful and shocking situation is what's called

Jumping to Conclusions

28

TUNNEL VISION. With tunnel vision you lose your peripheral vision. You can only see and focus in a very limited area. Your whole perspective is my-opic-you lose the big picture. This was the one that really got me off course. After singing all the verses of the bad chute chorus and getting over the fact this was not a dream but something actu-ally happening to me, I got to the next statement in the cadence—the most important one—"cut away." Here's where I really got off the cadence. I imme-diately began looking for the clasps but I could not see them. I reached up and grabbed the straps; I moved my hands up and down the straps until I found the clasps. I felt them in my hands. I was rubbing my thumb over the smooth metal of what could only be the clasps but I wouldn't open them. I was paralyzed by the fear that I might be pulling the wrong thing because I could not see what I held in my hands. It was a totally irrational fear but I was now off the cadence, confused and panick-ing. As the instructor had warned us, I had NO SEN-SATION OF FALLING, or at least no sensation of how fast I was falling. I felt like I had plenty of time to figure everything out and get back on track. What I didn't realize was that I was falling at 125 miles per hour and was quickly running out of time. Like seemingly every other situation in life, I had waited entirely too long before asking God for help. It was definitely time to pray! I remember my prayer was very short and to the point. I didn't risk

Bad Chute

29

using any words that might confuse the situation. I simply shouted, "GOD, HELP!" Immediately I heard God say, "PULL NOW!" I pulled and it felt as if I hit the ground immedi-ately. I hit with a tremendous force. I've hit and been hit very hard in the NFL, but I had never been hit that hard! At first I thought I had broken every bone in my body. Then the pain began to concentrate in one area and I realized I must have broken my back. Knowing it was important for me to lie perfectly still with a back injury, I did not at-tempt to move. The last thing I remember was people gathering around me. Most of them thought I was dead. I felt like I would be soon. I was only about 200 feet from the ground when I pulled.

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN RIGHT AS MY CHUTE OPENED

Jumping to Conclusions

30

Well, I didn't die. In fact, because of what I experi-enced, I began to live my life differently. I was flat on my back for some time. The old saying goes, "When you're flat on your back you only have one place to look; straight up." Let's just say that I be-gan living my life with renewed attention to what is really important. This horrible ordeal had given me a new perspective on living. The Allegory The dictionary defines the word allegory to mean a representation of ideas or principles, through the telling of a story. I'm now going to use the true story of my parachuting accident as an allegory, to help you better remember the health and fitness ideas and principles I have discovered and imple-mented successfully.

Bad Chute

31

CHAPTER 2

GET OUT AND GO “It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.” -Malcolm Forbes The parachuting story, absent crises, is short and simple. If all goes well, you simply jump out of the plane at the pilots command, and recite a brief cadence. The cadence is hopefully totally unnec-essary, as the jump itself does all that is really needed to deploy the parachute. Once the chute is open, you merely enjoy the ride, ultimately land-ing safely at your journeys end. Here's the allegory to health and fitness: I'm con-vinced the ordeal I went through to actually get out of the plane and jump, is very similar to what it must be like for each of us when we're born physi-cally. Think about it. We are folded up in the fetal position nervously waiting for the pilot (God) to give us the command to "get out" and "go". Obviously I do not remember whether I suffered the same fear and anxiety during my physical birth as I did getting out of that plane, but having per-sonally witnessed four human births, it's reason-able to assume that it's every bit as traumatic. Once out of the womb we spread our arms and scream, just as I did when I jumped. In case you

32

think I'm stretching things a bit with the similarities, think about this; in both physical birth and a static-line parachute jump there is a cord attached. How about that! From there, as it relates to health and fitness, if all goes well, a big parachute should open for every-one. That chute, in this allegory, represents good health and fitness, allowing for a great ride though life until we land gently at our inevitable death. George Santayana said, "There is no cure for birth and death, save to enjoy the interval." But as Jean Kerr so aptly put it, "The average, 'healthy, well-adjusted adult' gets up at seven-thirty in the morn-ing feeling just plain terrible." Because of many factors resulting from our mod-ern society—as it relates to health and fitness—many people today have a BAD CHUTE physi-cally. Most were not born with a bad chute—it went bad over time. Now, falling to a premature death with a bad chute, it is critical they follow each step of the cadence carefully in order to pull the spare chute (representing a fit and healthy body). The problem, however, is that the same things that prevented me from pulling my spare chute open, are preventing people from opening their spare chute to renewed health and fitness: BRAIN LOCK, TUNNEL VISION and NO SENSATION OF FALLING. Before I go on to explain what the BAD CHUTE represents in this allegory, let me make sure you understand that it is totally reasonable, and scien-

Bad Chute

33

tifically legitimate, to talk about fixing health prob-lems, in ways other than drugs. Most of us have grown up with the idea that we need not worry a great deal about our health issues because mod-ern day medicine will come to the rescue. What's the motto? "Better health through chemistry!"

Our bodies are miracles in motion. We are made up of over 100 trillion cells. We have over 650 muscles. Our body is covered with 4 million nerve endings with impulses traveling at 300 feet per second. Our body has over 60,000 miles of tubing just to carry the blood. In one 24 hour period…

Your heart beats over 100,000 times Your blood travels 186 million miles You breath 23,000 times Your kidney filters 42 gallons of liquid You speak over 25,000 words You exercise 7 million brain cells

(Some more and some less) Speaking of the brain; the brain, about the size of a softball, perched like a flower on top of the spi-nal column, is connected by the finest fibers and filaments to every nook and cranny of our bodies. Statistics say there are an estimated thirteen bil-lion nerve cells inside the brain, and most of these cells have junction with five thousand other nearby nerve cells. Some fifty thousand of these synop-ses, or junctions, exist in our bodies. The number of known cells in the brain far ex-

Get Out and Go

34

ceeds the number of stars we know about in all the galaxies. Take the skin, for instance: There are four million structures sensitive to pain. Five hundred thousand keep track of touch or pres-sure. Another two hundred thousand keep track of touch or pressure. Another two hundred thousand keep track of temperature. "The Body", wrote Theodore Herzl, "is a marvel-ous machine…a chemical laboratory, a power-house. Every movement, voluntary or involuntary, is full of secrets and marvels." Do you know that every minute millions of new cells are made in your body? Whether you are 6, 16 or 65, your body replaces 300 billion cells every day. That's the good news, but there's a catch. Beginning at about 30, the new cells are not as healthy as the cells they are replacing. Your body is made up of trillions of cells that live mostly for a few weeks or months die and are con-stantly replaced by new cells. Although people may think of their body as a fairly permanent structure, most of it is in a state of con-stant flux as old cells are discarded and new ones generated in their place. Each kind of tissue has its own turnover time, depending in part on the workload endured by its cells. The cells lining the stomach last only five days. The red blood cells bruised and battered after traveling nearly 1,000 miles through the maze of the body's circulatory system, last only 120 days or so on average be-fore being dispatched to their graveyard in the spleen.

Bad Chute

35

You replace about 1% of your cells every day. That means 1% of your body is brand-new today, and you will get another 1% tomorrow. Think of it as getting a whole new body every three months. Though not entirely accurate, it's pretty close. With that in mind, you are walking around in a body that is brand-new since three months ago—new lungs, new muscles, new skin, etc. Take a look at your legs and realize that you will have new ones in another few months. The key to staying younger longer is to keep pro-ducing healthy cells. Whether your "new body" is functionally younger or older is a choice you make by how you live! You choose whether those new cells come in stronger or weaker. Your cells don't care which choice you make, they just work with what you give them. Eat more "real" God-made-food, full of enzymes and nutrients, and less "fake" man-made-food, full of preservatives and void of enzymes and nutri-ents, and you can change your body. You can re-structure how you look, how you feel, how you perform, how you think, and how you age. It's not a miracle or a mystery. It's the biology that God gave you, and put you in charge of! Exercise, and your cells get stronger; don't exer-cise, and they decay. When you exercise, your muscles release specific substances that travel throughout your bloodstream, telling your cells to grow. Sedentary muscles, on the other hand, let out a steady trickle of chemicals that whisper to every cell to decay, day after day after day. An active lifestyle can tip the balance in your body

Get Out and Go

36

toward growth and renewal. This book is all about helping you become the new you, as it relates to your health and fitness. I think it is incredibly exciting and motivating to know that how I look and feel today can dramati-cally change in as few as 90 days! Plus, those changes can take place inexpensively and as a result of my own volition…I simply need to begin doing certain things differently. This book will teach you how you can do things differently, to get different and better results. The key is to take a reasonable and practical approach to turning things around, and to have a can-do at-titude. Too many people get discouraged, lose hope, and give up. By nature I am an optimist. I used to be an eternal-optimist, meaning there was nothing that could move me off my optimism, regardless of the cir-cumstances. My wife Melinda, by nature, is a pes-simist. We are perfect for each other because we balance each other out. George Will said, “The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.” It's not healthy to always think the worst will probably develop out of any given situation. But it's equally unhealthy to always think the best will result, regardless of the circumstances. In the middle of those two extremes lies a more rea-soned and practical approach to life. Here are my favorite pessimist and optimist jokes.

Bad Chute

37

First the pessimist: An optimist and a pessimist were best friends. One day they were fishing to-gether in a boat on a lake. The optimist had his dog along. Neither was catching any fish and both were bored. The optimist said to the pessimist, "Hey, did I ever tell you that my dog can walk on water?" The pes-simist said, "No, this I've got to see!" At that, the optimist took a bobber and threw it out on the wa-ter, and hollered, "Fetch." His dog jumped out and was walking on the water to fetch the bobber. Anxious to hear what the pessimist would have to say about this, the optimist turns to the pessimist and says, "What do you think about that?" To which the pessimist replies, "That dog can't swim can he?" Now the optimist joke: What did the optimist say, around the 50th floor of the 100 floor building he had just jumped off of? "So far so good!" Somewhere in the middle of those two attitude-extremes lies the best approach to improving your health and fitness. Is it possible to turn things around? Absolutely! Will it happen quickly? No! Will you be featured on the cover of Men's or Women's Health magazine when you've reached your goals? Probably not.

Get Out and Go

38

CHAPTER 3

BAD CHUTE "It does not require half as much brains to find out something is wrong as it does to correct it." -David E. Matthews The BAD CHUTE in this allegory of my parachute story is fat. America is now the fattest industrial-ized nation on the planet. Obesity is now costing Americans $100 billion in health care expendi-tures, and causes more than 400,000 premature deaths each year. A number of studies have demonstrated links be-tween obesity and a whole host of serious medical conditions. Most people are motivated best by crises. A little chest pain, some angina, and off to the doctor they go. The only problem is for 53% of them it's too late! George Will said, "There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence.” Obesity now affects approximately 60 million peo-ple in the United States. Over one-third of women between the ages of 20 and 74 are obese. More than 108 million adults are either obese or over-weight. This means roughly 3 out of 5 Americans carry an unhealthy amount of excess weight.

39

With more and more processed food and less and less activity, the number of obese people in Amer-ica has steadily increased since the 1960s. In only a few years from now, if current habits do not change, obesity is predicted to be at epidemic lev-els in the U.S. Because I am physically fit, and by virtue of what I do, I am mostly around fit people, I tend to bristle at those statistics saying, "Come on now, it can't be that bad." When I start feeling that way I've learned a quick method to snap me back into real-ity—I go to the mall! In my opinion, the typical shopping mall is the best vantage point from which to view the "average American". Take my word on this. Next time you're at the mall, sit down on one of the side benches and watch the people go by. As you're watching, do the math. It doesn't take a huge gov-ernment grant research study to see that Ameri-cans, from very young to old, are fat.

The late (great) Erma Bombeck once said, "I've been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I've lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet."

Unfortunately, that describes far too many people who have struggled with their weight. Studies show that three out of every 10 men and 4 out of every 10 Women are trying to lose weight, and 3 out of every 10 adults are actively trying to main-

Bad Chute

40

tain weight. Most know they are overweight and many are trying to do something about it. But the problem continues to worsen. With obesity, comes the increased risk of dis-eases such as high blood pressure, Type II Diabe-tes, heart disease, and breast, colon, and prostate cancer. In addition, obesity has been linked to many mental health conditions. Health experts say that even losing 10 to 15 percent of your body weight can dramatically decrease the risk of de-veloping these serious conditions. Some years ago doctors in certain parts of the country asked pharmaceutical companies, "Please make the hypodermic needles longer and sharper so that we can get the medication through [all that American fat]!" Most people use the scale to determine if they are overweight. It's one thing to lose weight. It's some-thing else all together to lose fat! As it relates to fitness, your weight tells you at most very little, and at least, not enough. As I will explain in greater detail later on, the one thing everyone needs to know to truly evaluate their fitness is their percentage of body fat. For every extra pound of fat you carry, you have one to six miles of additional capillaries, for your blood to be forced through every day! The aver-age body fat for men in America presently is: 27%. The average for women is: 34%. What should it be? Men should be between 11-18% depending on age. Women should be between 19-24% de-pending on age.

Bad Chute

41

Twenty years ago, in my lectures on health and fitness, I predicted that the "Dumpling Decade" was coming. Much to my dismay I was correct—it's here big time! It was not, I must admit, a diffi-cult prediction to make based on even a casual observation of how kids eat, and how little they move. The health of our nation's children is in jeopardy. The prevalence of overweight young people has doubled in recent decades. Even at young ages, obesity is not just a cosmetic issue. Almost two-thirds of overweight youth have at least one addi-tional risk factor for heart disease, including high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Overweight kids also may suffer with sleep apnea or bone and joint problems, according to the CDC. If not dealt with, these obese, or soon to be obese, children will severely tax our already strug-gling healthcare system. The problem is both nu-tritional and fitness related. On the nutritional side, a large proportion of children's caloric intake comes from processed foods seriously lacking in nutritional value. Research shows that teenage boys spend on av-erage around 58 minutes a day playing video games. Girls were only slightly behind at 44 min-utes a day. USA Today reports that teens spend about 16 percent of their time each day surfing the Internet or e-mailing. And then there is television, that omnipresent invader of our lives. And let’s not forget Twitter and texting.

Bad Chute

42

Physically, many children are woefully inactive. With schools cutting back on physical education classes—and some eliminating them altogether—the prospects for children getting enough exercise during the day are not good. Over 55% of our chil-dren ages 5-8 are obese! Over 78% of elemen-tary through high school students flunk the basic fitness test given by the President's Council on Physical Fitness. This is tragic and totally unnecessary. There is no sensible reason why schools should cut-down or cut-out physical education classes or recess peri-ods that focus on high levels of physical activity. It only makes sense to increase physical activity for children when they live in a society that is increas-ingly more sedentary. When I was in elementary school, by the time I had finished two of any given day's recesses, I had exercised more than many kids exercise to-day in a month. With that said, however, I am not a proponent of our government solving this problem. One, be-cause the government cannot solve this problem, and two, because this is a parental issue! It begins in the home. It is the parent's responsibility to make sure their children are exercising and eating nutritionally. Without question the most powerful influence on children is the behavior they see modeled by their parents. If Mom and Dad are lazy and overweight, there is a very good chance the children will be also.

Bad Chute

43

As it relates to government solving problems through legislation, Barry Goldwater put it best when he said, "My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Con-stitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden." Anytime the government gets involved in an at-tempt to mandate that people "do this", or "don't do that", to be healthier, it; (A) seldom works, and (B) usually has the non-guilty-party footing the bill! Personally, I'm tired of having to pay for other peo-ple's lack of discipline and responsibility. This is one of many reasons why a government run health care system is a very bad idea. When healthcare is socialized it becomes a "right" verses a privilege. Do you have a right to health-care? Yes, just as you have a right to food, shelter and property. However, you have no "right" to force others to provide these things for you—all "free" medical care is paid for through taxes stolen from other people. Once healthcare becomes everyone's right, re-gardless, there no longer exists any kind of incen-tive to practice prevention! Think about it, if so few people today—with the high cost of healthcare—are doing so little to prevent obesity, diabetes, car-diovascular disease, osteoporosis, etc., what do you think will happen when someone else is pay-ing for their problems?

Bad Chute

44

That's not how my parents taught me! I grew up with the clear understanding that if I created a mess or caused a problem—it was solely my mess or problem to fix. What I never counted on, however, was one day finding myself fat, and out of shape physically. I just never thought it would happen to me.

Bad Chute

45

CHAPTER 4

NO SENSATION OF FALLING "The shortest distance between two points is un-der construction." -Noelie Altito One of the things that really worked against me in my near fatal parachute jump was what the in-structor had warned us about; I had NO SENSA-TION OF FALLING…or at least no sensation of how fast I was falling. I felt like I had plenty of time to figure everything out and get back on track. What I didn't realize was that I was falling at 125 miles per hour and was quickly running out of time. In essence the same phenomenon is happening today in America as it relates to movement of the body. Automation and technological conveniences have rendered us sedentary. 60% of Americans are sedentary, meaning they don't move unless they have to. 30% are sporadic, meaning they exercise when they get a chance, but for most it's not very often enough. That leaves only 10% that are physically fit! Which category do you fit in? It's insidious, like the frog in the beaker. You've probably heard the story—and it's true—if you put a frog in a beaker of water and heat the water up very, very slowly, the frog will boil to death before it realizes what's happening. It could have jumped

46

out at any time but never felt like there was a need to. What seemed like an innocent warm bath turned into sudden death.

INSIDIOUS Developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent

That's a great illustration of exactly what has hap-pened to all of us as it relates to movement. Cranking a telephone to talk was way too much work, so we went to dialing…that became too much work, so we started pushing buttons…now we just talk to the phone. The same thing hap-pened with mowing the lawn. When the riding mower becomes too strenuous we simply hire someone else to do the work. It's called modernization, or the technology revolu-tion. It has permeated every facet of our life. As it relates to the daily business of living, we simply do not have to move our body's like we used to. Even when given a choice most people will choose to move less. In case you think I'm overstating this problem, next time you're at the grocery store, stand out front and watch someone wait five min-utes to park fifty feet closer! This is one of our biggest problems today—people are not moving on a daily basis in the way our bodies were designed to move.

Elevators, escalators, automobiles, golf carts, remote controls, gas fire-places…all these things make life

Bad Chute

47

easier but they are leaving our bod-ies behind.

I remember when I had to physically pull the ga-rage door open, get in the car and back it out, and then get back out of the car and pull the garage door closed. Then when I got back in the car, to cool off, I had to crank a handle to roll down the window. Today I can do everything I just de-scribed by pushing two buttons! Though they may seem like little things, they all add up. An article appeared on October 17, 2007 in a Lon-don newspaper titled: Obesity a result of modern life. The British Department of Health-sponsored project was the result of a two-year-long study into the causes of obesity involving almost 250 experts and scientists. Their consensus was as follows: "Our bodies and biological make-up are out of step with our sur-roundings…with energy dense, cheap foods, labor-saving devices, motorized transport and seden-tary work, obesity is rapidly becoming a conse-quence of modern life," said Sir David King, the British government's chief scientific adviser and head of the Foresight program." This lack of movement is now forcing us to regi-ment exercise back into our lifestyle or face the consequences of inactivity. Regular physical activ-ity, that we used to get throughout the day by how hard our body had to work, quite naturally reduces the risk of developing or dying from some of the leading causes of illness and death.

No Sensation of Falling

48

Regular physical activity improves health in the following ways:

• Reduces the risk of dying prematurely • Reduces the risk of dying from heart disease • Reduces the risk of developing diabetes • Reduces the risk of developing high blood

pressure • Reduces blood pressure in people who al-

ready have high BP • Reduces the risk of developing colon cancer • Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety • Helps control weight • Helps build and maintain healthy bones, mus-

cles, and joints • Promotes psychological well-being

Now let's reverse it to see the results of decreas-ing physical activity. Less movement Increases the risk of dying pre-maturely; increases the risk of dying from heart disease; increases the risk of developing diabetes; increases the risk of developing high blood pres-sure; raises blood pressure in people who already have high BP; increases the risk of developing colon cancer; increases feelings of depression and anxiety; makes it very difficult to control weight; weakens bones, muscles, and joints; and decreases psychological well-being. WOW! The choice seems pretty simple to me! Clearly, increasing your physical activity will make a huge change in your quality of life, not to mention your medical bills.

Bad Chute

49

Dr. Daniel Anen, author of the bestselling book, "Change your brain change your life", says, that as it pertains to your brain, exercise is literally the fountain of youth. Exercise consistently and you will change your brain. When you exercise, you think better, concentrate better, and your memory will be better. Exercise boosts blood flow to the brain. Exercise boosts growth factors in the brain that help you grow neu-rons! You say, "Wait a minute...I thought we were born with all the brain cells we would ever have." Well, here's some great news; ten years ago, sci-entists discovered that the brain can produce new neurons, and exercise makes it happen! And here’s more great news about exercise; exer-cise helps depression. A head-to-head study com-pared Zoloft (considered one of the best antide-pressants) with exercise. At the end of 12 weeks they were equally effective. At the end of 10 months, exercise blew the socks off Zoloft! So think about it…you can take Zoloft for 12 weeks and not be depressed-but keep in mind that 60-80% who take antidepressants suffer sexual side effects-or you can exercise for 12 weeks and not be depressed. And, have a better body and no sexual side effects! What's amazing is how much we adapt to either a proper amount of exercise or none at all. What I mean is this; for anyone who has worked out suffi-cient to what their body really needs—and done so consistently enough to experience all of the

No Sensation of Falling

50

wonderful benefits like, better sleep, increased energy, increased stamina, etc.—they seldom ever give it up. On the other hand, those who have not truly ex-perienced those benefits, or cannot remember what it was like when they did, often become con-ditioned to not exercising at all, or feeling like they need to. Dogs do the same thing. Though there are what's called low-demand-exercise-dogs and high-demand-exercise-dogs, all dogs will adjust down to virtually sleeping all the time, if their owner re-fuses to give them the exercise they need. The exact opposite is true, however, for dogs that are properly exercised. My dog Maggie is a great example. Maggie is a high-demand-exercise-dog. She is wired to run and jump! Maggie was without question the best birthday present I have ever been given. I'll never forget the day we went to the animal shelter and picked her out. It was really my step daughter, Mary Kent, who spotted her first. She was about the size of a large baked potato, cute as a button with more skin than body. The first thing I did when I took her out of the crate after getting back home was put her on the lawn. Imagine how wonderful it felt for Maggie to feel that cool soft, real grass under her feet and body after spending all those lonely days and nights in a steel cage. If dogs can grin, she was grinning!

Bad Chute

51

After rolling around in the grass awhile, she took off running, and she's been running ever since. At first she was tripping all over herself, with her head hitting the ground as often as any of her legs. But as she grew, she grew strong and very, very fast. Early on while she was still very young, Melinda and I would take her for a walk/run at the National Park that borders our subdivision. Though now a well behaved push-button-dog, she was nothing of the sort back then. She hated the leash, primarily because it prevented her from doing what she loves best—running. We discovered that if we went to the park at off peak times, or very early in the morning, there were rarely Rangers around. So, as just a little puppy, she got used to the park by having the freedom to run and play off the leash. Today, she knows that park like the back of her paw. Her favorite thing to do is chase things; squirrels, deer, Rangers (just kidding). For a long time her sole goal in life was to catch a squirrel. They were always too quick and trees were too close for them to scamper up quickly. One day—probably the proudest day of her life—she saw a squirrel right out in the middle of the big open field. He was chewing on a nut and was so preoccupied that he didn't notice Maggie coming his way at about 115 mph. I quickly did the math in my head on time and dis-tance, and realized Maggie was actually going to catch her first squirrel. I wondered what she would

No Sensation of Falling

52

do with it once she caught it. Maggie didn't seem like one to hurt another animal unless it was trying to hurt her. I laughed as she pounced on it. The squirrel, shocked to have been caught, just froze. Maggie was now very frustrated because all she wanted to do was play. So here's Maggie, literally pushing the squirrel with her nose, in essence saying, "OK, you're it…now chase me!" Maggie and Darlene (our new rescued dog) chase the deer in the park all the time—of course they never catch them. Every once in a while someone witnesses them chasing some deer. Often they begin lecturing me; "How dare you let your dogs chase those poor deer!" Without flinching, I tell them that both Maggie and Darlene have been commissioned by the Chief Park Ranger, as the official Park Animal Fitness Directors, instructed to give the obviously sedentary deer a workout. I don't think anyone buys it. One Saturday morning (before we had Darlene), Melinda and I were walking—with Maggie off the leash—down a long straight part of the path, when a deer crosses in front of us (about 20 yards ahead). Of course Maggie immediately ran after the deer. Then to our complete shock, out of the woods shot Maggie, running for her life, because the deer was now chasing her! As she grew more used to the deer, and they to her, during certain times of the year—usually spring and fall—certain deer will play with her. They take turns chasing each other.

Bad Chute

53

Rarely is there a day that Maggie and Darlene goes without exercise, either running, or swim-ming at the lake. What is amazing to watch, how-ever, is what they do—of their own volition—on those days when they sense we are not going to be able to go to the park or the lake. Both of them get very frustrated and start fighting and squirming, begging to go outside. Once out-side, they crank up the speed and begin running laps around the house, hurdling shrubbery, and tearing up the earth beneath them. Maggie and Darlene continue circling the house, until they have gotten in their workout for the day.

Don't you find it amazing that dogs have figured out the extraordinary benefits of strenuous exercise, while so many humans have lost sight of those benefits, and are willing to settle into a sedentary life at the ex-pense of their own health and well being?

Most people today attempt to take the easy way out. They just go on a diet!

No Sensation of Falling

54

CHAPTER 5

BRAIN LOCK "Don't you wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There's one marked 'Brightness,' but it doesn't work." -Gallagher Most people have BRAIN LOCKED on diets as the solution to their lack of health and fitness. My all-time favorite diet product is SPRAY-U-THIN! Yes, it is actually a product, or at least it was. When I hold the box up at my seminars peo-ple go crazy. They think I've made it up. The real-ity is, however, that this type of silly—anyone with half a molecule of common sense should know this won't work—product is a dime a dozen. Many of these type products make millions of dol-lars. People are willing to buy it to try it, on the chance that it might work. Bottom line, people want a quick and easy fix, but there are none. In my seminars I ask the audience, "How many of you know diets don't work?"—virtually every hand goes up. Then later, when either measuring body fat or talking to people individually, I discover that everyone there is on a diet!

96% of everyone who goes on a diet will gain back all the weight they lost in one year. But don't think for a

55

second that that will stop them from trying the next diet that comes along.

It reminds me of one of my favorite stories about the moose hunters. Every year Jake and his best friend Bud head to Alaska to hunt moose. Where they hunt requires them to rent a seaplane to get in and then back out. Bud is a pilot. Due to the weight requirement of the seaplane they are restricted to only tagging one moose apiece. This particular year they each kill a moose but then come across another moose while on their way back to the plane. Jake and Bud argue about whether they should shoot the third moose knowing the risk of going over the seaplane's weight limit. Finally, Jake talks Bud into it, assuring him it will be OK. They proceed to pack all three moose onto the plane and prepare to take off. Due to the extra weight the plane takes a much longer time than usual to get off the water. Finally off the water and in the air it struggles greatly to fly straight. Much to Jake and Bud's dismay they realize they're not going to make it. Each of them prepares to crash into the water. Shortly after the crash, Jake and Bud awake—having both passed out briefly. Bud looks over at Jake and says, "How far did we make it?" To which Jake replies, "Oh, about 600 feet further than we did last year!"

Brain Lock

56

And there you have it—a perfect description of the insanity of people who continue to go on diets. Even though they know diets don't work, it never stops them from trying the next one that comes along.

"Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!"

"Block the absorption of fat, carbs, and calories with this pill!"

"Wear this and watch the pounds melt away." Whether you're flipping through a magazine, scan-ning the aisles of a health store, or watching late-night television, you're bound to see slogans like these touting the latest and greatest product de-signed to help you lose weight. The tragedy is that just like the moose hunters, people continue to purchase the latest "miracle diet product", in the hope that this time it will work. That's why diets are big business! Americans spend nearly 35 billion dollars a year on diet prod-ucts and programs. The famous statement that defined insanity as do-ing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, could not be more true than when applied to dieting! When I speak of diets, I'm referring to "fad diets". Any "diet" that requires you to eat in a way that you will not be able, or willing, to eat that way for the rest of your life, is (in my opinion) a fad diet. Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying that diet and nutrition has little to do with obesity. In fact, proper

Bad Chute

57

nutrition has a great deal to do with health and fitness. I personally believe that nutrition is 70% of the solution, and exercise is 30%. Some experts would go higher with the nutrition number, some lower. Though I have learned a lot about what, how much, and how often one should eat—this book is not about nutrition. This book is about exercise. What I am saying is that far too many people are trying to make it all about diet.

It's important to understand how your body reacts to you going on a diet. When you go on a diet your body doesn't know you're going on a diet—it thinks you're trying to commit suicide!

Picture in your mind what you consider to be your ideal weight, now add a zero. This number repre-sents your B.M.R. [basal metabolic rate] That number also represents the number of calories you need on a daily basis—just to stay alive. And that's assuming you are not doing any exercise! The maximum amount of fat your body can burn or metabolize in seven days, or one week, is 3.3 pounds—realistically two pounds. If you lost seven pounds in one week, you will have lost two pounds of water, two pounds of fat, and three pounds of muscle! I actually experienced this phenomenon, only I lost a lot more than seven pounds. Michel de

Brain Lock

To Buy this book go to www.BadChute.com

58

BOOK AND DVD $29.95

AmericasFitnessCoach.com HubbardSPEAK.com

Dave Hubbard

America’s Fitness Coach®

Dave Hubbard is the founder and president of

America's Fitness Coach LLC, a fitness consulting and communications firm, helping companies and organizations to improve the performance of their most valuable asset−their people. Dave has been

featured many times on radio and television, and is a frequently published author.

“This is almost too good to be true! We are both 63, and would recommend Dave’s method

of exercise to anyone.” -Marlene Koch

WHY MOST AMERICANS

FAIL WITH FITNESS

THIS BOOK IS FOR ANYONE WHO HAS EVER WISHED

THEIR BODY CAME WITH INSTRUCTIONS!

Dave Hubbard will forever change the way you think about exercise.

If you are exercising but still frustrated and not reaching your goals,

you need to read this book. If you are not exercising consistently,

for whatever reason, you really need to read this book.

Learn how to overcome the obstacles and excuses

preventing most people from getting and staying

FIT FOR LIFE!