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The Link Between Training And Performance For Athletes (Part 1)

The Link Between Training And Performance For Athletes (Part 1) ​Athletes are constantly looking for the best training system to improve performance and the healthiest diet to maximize their game in the sport they play. They are bombarded with so much information on training methods, programs, healthy food choices and the list goes on. It’s quite confusing and similar to tossing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. This is a very inefficient path to optimal performance, a path I use to be on myself and only led to shortcomings and minimal results. The obsession with diet and exercise is a half-truth pedaled by poorly guided trainers and coaches that rarely understand the root cause of poor performance. Before I go into the link between performance and training I’ll be making a couple assumptions and if any of these don’t correlate with your own beliefs then this information is irrelevant for you. I am assuming that any coach or trainer looks to; develop a sustainable athlete without compromising their health in the long term, develop an efficient athlete with an integrated structure with little to no dysfunctional patterns and won’t sacrifice structural integrity or biological health for short term results because they understand their job is to develop competent athlete’s as the number one priority not their own careers. Now that this is cleared up, let’s get to the link between training and performance, which is environment. Our environment is more critical then ever with the advances of technology and the hidden assault from blue light and EMF exposure. The emissions of this type of radiation are at the root of why training is so hit and miss and my performance is so inconsistent with the training systems performed. Why is blue light and EMF exposure limiting performance and is so dangerous for athletes? This answer lies in the reason single cells became complex and why we were able to survive several extinctions during our short time here on earth. The answer is mitochondria and blue light and EMF exposure has devastating effects on how efficient mitochondria are. Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell and you have hundreds in each one (More in Brain and Heart cells). One of the effects of blue light and EMF exposure is that it dehydrates the cell leaving people chronically dehydrated. You can drink all the water you want but if you have an environment that is blue light toxic you will be chronically dehydrated. What happens in the mitochondria if the cell is dehydrated? Water is critical for electron chain transport (ECT) and the less you have the more inefficient this process is. Lack of water stretches the respitory proteins that need to be close together for efficient ECT. Over time this has massive effects to the human structure triggering a domino effect of compensations and inefficient mitochondria. (More in depth look into mitochondria read “Power, Sex, and Suicide – Mitochondria and the meaning of life by Nick Lane) How does this relate to training and optimal performance? The best metaphor to illustrate this situation would be to imagine putting a steak in a microwave. When you pull the steak out the steak has formed into hard shoe leather and almost impossible to eat. Now imagine that the steak is your muscles and fascia and that the microwave is blue light and EMF. Over prolonged exposure to this light frequencies and radiation leads to your muscles and fascia becoming like shoe leather which is incredibly inefficient when your looking to optimize performance for any athlete. Muscles and fascia should work like several elastic bands integrated in a balanced structure respecting the principles of tensegrity. If your environment is basically like a microwave then the cells will be dehydrated triggering the stretching of the cell, poor electron flow and develop rigidity in the muscles and fascia. You can do all the stretching, mobility and MFR releasing you want but if you live in a microwave your results will at best be short term but eventually the structure will collapse. The human body is an incredible structure that has learned to become a master compensator but as our environment becomes more toxic (Hint - 5G Wi-Fi coming) our structures will start to fail earlier and earlier in athletes careers. Instead of addressing this root issue of poor results, coaches and trainers push athletes to train harder in the gym and practice their sport even more. Although at a superficial level they look fitter and their skill may develop slightly, an underlying compensation brews beneath he surface. I bet if you take baseline labs of these athletes blood you’ll find trashed hormone panels and imbalances of critical vitamins like A and D. The significances of these trashed panels are the development of inefficient mitochondria and running them down until you eventually crash. It’s similar to hammering the gas pedal while driving in first gear. Eventually the engine will fail similar to the human body. With this constant pushing of athletes to train harder on and off the field or rink, athletes are running their mitochondria down which is leading to prolonged pain, injury and dysfunctional patterns. Looking at the superficial surface is dangerous and irresponsible because as I have illustrated, there is so much more to the story. When looking to really develop a sustainable, efficient athlete you must look at it from a fundamental level when analyzing their performance. Environment is everything and understanding it at the root level will help you maximize performance and develop better results with your training of athletes. Part 2 will discuss the issues with traditional training in these environments, movement biomechanics and how functional patterns is linked to mediating these toxic environments. Part 3 will discuss the three principles to optimal health and a couple techniques for you to start mediating your environment.

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Sling Shot Engaged

Sling Shot Engaged ​When you hear someone talk about functionality in training the first thing that should come to mind is efficient movement. Efficient movement is defined as maximizing the most amount of work for the least amount of energy. Moving in an efficient way always for minimal compensations and you’ll be less likely to develop dysfunctional patterns. Efficient movement promotes sustainability of an particular movement you’re performing in your environment. Sustainability should be the name of the game when you’re talking about training for optimal health or maximizing performance in sport. Deductive reasoning would persume that the longer you can perform at a higher level with maximal efficiency will lead to increased performance in any particular sport and lengthen careers for athletes. However, sustainability seems to be out of the lens of anyone working to enhance performance or rehabilitate athletes. Strength and conditioning coaches tend to speak more of developing power, speed and explosiveness and physical therapists treat the symptoms stemming from dysfunctional movement or injury rather then looking at the root cause. It’s apparent that these fields struggle to see that body for what it is leaving gapping holes in their practices and only offering short term fixes. The reality is there is no money in building a competent structure that doesn’t need to come in for an adjustment or frequent training sessions. Moving on, the human body is an integrated structure built around fascial slings to propel human movement. Developing horizontal force vectors allows the body to move in a sling shot fashion and propel the body with the lowest amount of energy. Through the use of associative memory practices, you’ll find these sling shot patterns engrained allowing for maximal efficiency in your movement. Efficiency promotes sustainability, which leads to higher performance long term and longer careers for athletes. ​Traditional training methods function in a way that promotes vertical force vectors which leads to compression of the spine, compensations and dysfunctional movement. Movement is done in a horizontal or parabolic manner so developing horizontal force vectors is priority number one for efficient movement. Slings in our body dictate the efficiency of our movement such as anterior oblique sling, posterior oblique sling and several others that can be found in the anatomy trains book. To maximize the efficiency of these slings you must develop them to function eccentrically, concentrically and reset to neutral. Dysfunction usually occurs when slings or muscles are stuck concentrically and have poor eccentric potential. The ability to maximize eccentric potential will dictate the slings potential to produce power. Another concept to understand is that, for each sling that is fully eccentrically loaded there is a contralateral sling that is concentrically loaded. This is called contralateral reciprocation and when you observe the human GAIT cycle you will see this in action in structurally integrated bodies. This requires precise timing also known as biorhythm where the body works off of for maximal efficiency. When the bodies biorhythm is functioning efficiently, the human structure is able to work off of “free energy”. The easiest way to explain free energy is by talking about a sling shot. The amount of force a sling shot can produce is dictated by how far you pull it back (eccentrically loaded) and when you release it, it contracts and comes back to neutral. Now picture that the slings in your body function in this fashion and that there is a contralateral sling shot that works opposite to the original sling shot mentioned. When the biorhythm is timed properly, the only energy required will be to load the sling from neutral to fully eccentrically potentiated and the rest of your movement will work of elastic energy or also known as free energy. These are the type of variables that need to be looked at when developing any athlete rather then developing muscles in an isolated or bilateral way. Traditional methods are outdated and don’t take into account these variables which leads to poor movement, compensations and injuries. ​The only way to develop the human structure, as of right now, is through associative memory. The environment we put ourselves through leads to poor associations that are dysfunctional and destructive to the human structure. An easy example is when you sit at work for long periods of time. This seated position promotes locked hip flexors in flexion, a kyphosis in the ribcage and then associates stress from work to further deepen this dysfunction. Now the default setting in the body is set to this dysfunctional position when coping with stress and you create an association with this pattern. The only way to break that is through developing the proper associations by inducing physical trauma to the human structure. This trauma can be in the form of multivariable correctives that account for all dysfunctions or MFR techniques to break up the dysfunction like an eraser. This means eccentrically loading the right muscles while concentrically loading the opposite and creating a stress association to a functional pattern that respect human biomechanics. Stress got you into this mess and only stress can get you out. This is where physical therapist theories collapse because they work on firing isolated muscles in positions that don’t relate to human movement. Developing tspine mobility means nothing if you function with a lumbar hyperextension or with improper sling connectivity. They put athletes through hip circles to help with hip mobility in positions that aren’t relevant to human biomechanics. It’s about developing slings with clean eccentric and concentric potential and associating movements with these slings. The default setting in our brains must change for maximal efficiency. ​If you read my first blog post about bipedalism, you would understand the importance of your GAIT for human movement. Any time I refer to human biomechanics it’s in relation to the human GAIT cycle and throwing mechanics. Contralateral reciprocation is embedded in the ancient movement pathway and training must relate to this for maximum efficiency. The code to human movement was developed in our brains when we evolved from swinging in trees to walking, running and throwing. It all comes back to this, which is why traditional training methods and physical therapists fall short in erasing dysfunctional patterns. The human body needed to move from making muscles the priority for energy to our brains for evolution. This meant that humans needed to maximize efficiency in their movement to properly meet the brains new energy needs. The development of contralateral reciprocation through our slings and creating proper associations through our GAIT cycle led to the codification of human movement in the brain. This allowed humans to use free energy to propel movement and minimize the energy needs for the rest of the body. ​After hearing all this I pose a couple questions to you to dig deeper into this issue in training in society. Any trainers you know talking about training like this? Anyone talk about efficiency and/or sustainability? Anyone train athletes with respect to contralateral reciprocation, free energy and/or human biomechanics? Does your trainer or physical therapists develop or treat using multivariable approaches in relation to human biomechanics? If the answer is no to any of these then you have an issue. You’re most likely dealing with someone or an organization that don’t understand human biomechanics or are only looking to turn a profit off you. The human body functions in a sling shot manner and training must relate to our origins, which is codified in our brains through our GAIT and throwing mechanics. Developing the right associations will get you back to neutral and properly eccentrically and concentrically loading slings for maximum efficiency. The name of the game is efficiency and sustainability in relation to human movement. This will lead to the development of functional patterns in movement, elevated performance in sports and an increase in the length of athlete’s careers. Engage the slingshot, which are your slings through the functional patterns protocol for maximum efficiency and sustainable movement. References Functional Patterns Dr. Jack Kruse

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Goal Setting – The Prescription Drug For The Mind

Goal Setting – The Prescription Drug For The Mind ​One of the biggest fads of mental training seems to be the use of goal setting to try and reach a desired destination. Everywhere you go, goals are posted on white boards and walls making sure that everyone understands what they’re working for. Seems pretty harmless when someone losing weight has a weight they want to get to, a business having projects that they want to meet at the end of the quarter or a football team pursing the goal of winning the championship at the end of the season. Furthermore, it just seems natural that people have goals to aspire to or else it seems they will lack the motivation to improve there own life. This idea that if you don’t have goals you will become stagnate and go nowhere in life is pushed down our throats at such a young age. It seems so simple and if you don’t achieve your goals then you didn’t work hard enough. The problem with this way of thinking is that it doesn’t respect how the mind works. This need to set goals and purse them tend to be more of a crutch that only adds more thought to a cluttered mind. Goals are to be used very carefully and with caution like the pharmaceutical drugs used to save a life or kill an infection. Our creative brain doesn’t need structure but rather an open canvas to illustrate and innovate its ideas and thoughts. It’s just evident that this structure serves to keep humans from seeing everything around them and keep them in line. There’s a time and place for goals so understanding its actual value is important moving forward. ​The author Daniel Pink coined the phrase that goals should be used like prescription drugs so with caution and care. The problem with this obsession with goals is that it goes against the principles of how the mind operates. The mind works in an oscillating ebbs and flow pattern that regulates feeling through our state of mind. Essentially, you feel your thinking so the more you think the lower you feel and vice versa. So how does goal setting fit in this paradigm? Having a goal isn’t a problem but the overthinking nature that comes with this practice is damaging for anyone looking to reach that goal. When you’re constantly coming up with goals to reach you start to feed the engine of thinking, which clutters your mind. An extreme example is when I was younger, my coaches said that I should be thinking about hockey all the time if I wanted to be a great hockey player. Being the obedient player I am, I set alarms every 15 minutes so that throughout my day, I would always remember to think about hockey. What happened was that I thought about hockey more but ended up feeling exhausted by the end of the day and I could barely recall anything that happened that day while my game saw no improvements. I use this example to illustrate how one feels there thinking. Link that with goal setting being used for everything like business projects to team goals and all the way to a specific weight you want to reach. This type of practice only inhibits our minds ability to reach clarity where the most efficient way of functioning for our mind is. When you’re clear, you’ll find a bigger picture path you want to go down but you won’t need constant reminders of that because it will be what you really want. Similar to how prescription drugs are needed to clear a serious infections, a bigger goal you want to move towards will appear through clarity but be careful, the abuse of this practice is addicting and illusory at the very least. The path works itself out through the natural up and down flow of the mind. Once you accept that, you’ll find yourself spending more time living in the moment rather then setting and planning goals out. ​Goal setting destroys creativity, inhibits new ideas and creates tunnel vision, which leads to missed opportunities. When looking deeper into the problems of goal setting it becomes very clear the damaging effects it has to creativity and innovation. Up until the 1990’s, innovation wasn’t great and technology was advancing at a very slow rate. It wasn’t until Steve Jobs and others like him broke free from the status quo and technology exploded into what it is now. Places like Google promoted little to no structure in the work place and embraced this free-thinking nature that would bring the world some of the greatest innovations. Even during the crash of 2008, the businesses that survived were the ones that weren’t so rigid to adapt and were able to innovate through this time because they moved through this natural ebb and flow. Now you see almost every business has adapted to being more open to the thoughts of others and have loosen the structure they have had in the past. No longer does it seem that these companies run into tunnel vision that led them down the path of the eventual crash. When you’re on a path towards something you want there will be ups and downs but understanding that first it’s normal and second being able to see the opportunities around you might lead to what you want faster. Tunnel vision is a common symptom of the use of goal setting and you see it throughout the examples I have laid out. People with tunnel vision tend to be closed minded individuals or groups resistant to change and have a need to control everything around them. The ability to innovate comes from changing the old way and creating a more efficient way, which contradicts the practice of goal setting and tunnel vision individuals. These people will tell you to think outside the box but the reality is the box is there to keep you inline. Just like the social indoctrinations of many establishments of our time they have created this structure to lock you down but the truth is there, is no box. The box doesn’t exist and the only thing that does is this natural ebb and flow-oscillating pattern in the mind built in to maximize creativity and efficiency in your life. ​Invariably the idea of goal setting is better then the actual practice of it. I won two championships at school with two completely different teams with its own unique path towards a common goal. We knew the goal when we came to school but we never knew the path we would take to get it. There were highs and lows but we understood that making each person able to reset to clarity. Goal setting is a prescription drug to be used with caution because of side effects like inhibiting creativity and tunnel vision. Understanding the principles of the mind allows for innovation and creativity to flourish because the environment is clarity not cluttered thought. The mind works on this up and down oscillating pattern and the more we stay out of its way the sooner we will find our way back to clarity. References Driven – Daniel Pink The Path of No Resistance – Garrett Kramer ​

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Don't Get Jacked Get Stacked

Don’t Get Jacked Get Stacked ​“Let’s hit the gym boys and get JACKED!!!” As a teenage boy this is a common phrase associated with getting healthy and going to the gym. Teachers would ask, “What’s everyone doing today?” and a couple boys in the back of class would yell ”GETTING JACKED”. I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t part of this culture growing up or one of the boys yelling the phrase out in class. The word jacked is usually associated with aesthetically defined males that are either athletes or fitness icons. The benefits of this mentality seemed great because with obesity on the rise this seemed as good incentive to motivate people to go to the gym and get healthier. Well defined aesthetics would be associated, in sports, as someone who put the work in but that’s being debunked now because it’s evident that those athlete’s may work hard but don’t have the right muscle associations to enhance their skill in any particular sport. In fact, those athletes tend to isolate a specific niche in their sports like a grinder and creating an identity for themselves that they struggle to progress out from because of this way of training. Furthermore, just like social media, the benefits of getting jacked blind use from the underlying damage that would only be known after a period of time. The physical issues arose a couple years after the advances of technology and the deformation of the human structure was evident with excess time spent of social media. The more interesting part of the story is the psychological side effects that only after ten plus years started to become known. The fitness industry is following this same trend but at a much slower pace simply because this issue runs much deeper than one could image. Jacked means well developed muscles which is literally what people do in gyms for the most part with no regard for clear cut science that supports that we are an integrated system that is suppose to work to move with maximal efficiency. Look into Thomas Myers book Anatomy Trains and that will open your eyes to that topic. On top of the physical distortions that are associated with getting jacked, the psychological side effects of this training are much more damaging then anyone anticipated. I coined this phrase, “Don’t Get Jacked Get Stacked” the first week I was at the functional patterns lab last year because once I learned to properly align my body, I understood that the start to efficient movement wasn’t in getting jacked but rather in getting stacked. ​So what does it mean to get stacked? Simply put it means stacking the joints on top of one another to allow proper support of the human structure and to minimize joint pain. The first step in stacking someone is by applying the three pillars of posture from, “The Power of Posture”. These three pillars are the t-spine, glutes and TVA all of which are critical for proper alignment. Correcting a persons posture is only the first step to functionality and shouldn’t be interpreted as the cure to poor human movement. From my last blog, “Is sports specific training is killing your career” I dive into the topic of neutrality and how critical it is for optimal human movement. Connecting the three pillars and correcting someone’s posture is the most effective way to teach them what neutral is. When you take a lateral view of someone it will become very clear if they are stacked or if they are being compressed by things like gravity and there “Jacked” training methods. When you see a person who is stacked you will see a straight line from the shoulders all the way to middle foot; the glutes activated with a full t-spine and an engaged TVA. If the hips moved forward or backwards, the t-spine flexed or in hyperextension, a kyphosis of the rib cage or any part of the body out of line would indicate that the structure is compromised. That means that specific fascial lines are stuck on one end of the movement spectrum (concentric or eccentric) leading to compensations and inefficiencies in movement. It becomes a slippery slope from this point if an individual doesn’t know how to get to neutral and stack their structure. Understanding how to stand with proper posture is the first step in becoming stacked. ​The two main environmental factors that have led to the human structure moving away from the three pillars are the advancements of technology and, more importantly, the traditional training methods from the past 150 years. Cell phones and desk jobs get blamed for our poor structural integrity when the reality is that this is only a piece of the story. The other side is the training methods people usually perform only feed the dysfunctional compensations that come about from excess cell phone use and desk jobs. The reason I see training as more dangerous is because people believe that the more they workout, the healthier they are and the less likely they will get any side effects from their life styles. An example, businesses want to promote healthy employees so they get them memberships or classes in the morning before work. Employee now gets up early, hits an hour spin class or workout then goes on to their 8 hour work day and eats a balanced breakfast and lunch. The problem lies in that while the employee is killing themselves either creating a stress association with hip flexion during the spin class or ripping through sagittal plane and bilateral movements, they are further feeding the dysfunctional patterns they are trying to avoid from their workplace and lifestyle. Sitting on a bike promotes the same glute deactivation from sitting, yoga stretches the whole structure making it unable to maintain structural integrity, excessive bilateral training with vertical loading leads to a kyphosis of the ribcage and inactivity in the tspine and all those isolated core exercises work the superficial layer of the rectus abdominals with no TVA activation which leads to poor low back support aka hyperextension. This is the same case with athletes but the only difference is they use fancy names for their exercises and add in Olympic movements, which only deepen dysfunctional patterns. The advancements in technology have supported the case that our bodies weren’t structurally integrated because when you have the three pillars engaged and your body knows what neutral is, then the side effects of cell phones and technology are minimized or eliminated for the most part. ​Not only is their physical dangers to being poorly structurally integrated (jacked) but the psychological effects look to be more destructive then the physical ones. A person with a structural integrated body will have a structure that is connected as one meaning brain and muscles working as a collective unit. Performing traditional training and getting “jacked” tend to be exercises and methods that are bilateral (humans move unilaterally) and/or in an isolated fashion. Workouts structured like having chest days, back days and leg days don’t respect the fact that the body is an integrated system of muscles working together. With these methods you see a disconnect of muscles from these kinetic chains and furthermore a disconnection from the brain. If you have a disconnection from your brain to your muscles that will lead to atrophy of particular parts of your brain and essentially decrease brain activity. The brain makes humans the most adaptable and advanced mammals on the planet and when you choose to disconnect it from our body, only consequences can follow after that. This is where you find poor stress adaptations with people who train this way and start to associate stress in a way that ingrains poor movement patterns. People who struggle to handle stress or insecurities will cope by training this way, which feeds dysfunctional patterns and moves tension into areas that lock down the fascia. Easiest example of this is high school teenagers who sit all day after hitting the gym before or after class. They have poor structural integrity while sitting all day in hip flexion and being stressed by teachers, peers or school work. The result is a stress association with hip flexion and now it’s hard to find anyone under the age of 18 without anterior or posterior pelvic tilt due to locked down hip flexors and posterior chain activity. Stress can be traced to almost every disease you can think off and the reality is traditional training methods disconnect the brain to the body, destroy structural integrity and develop poor stress response which is psychologically destructive for anyone especially younger individuals with developing brains. ​Becoming stacked means creating structural integration in the body, which leads to connecting the brain and body as one. If you don’t think they are connected talk to anyone in quantum physics and they will split your head up when you learn that everything is connected in the universe, not just that. Quantum physics is as scientific as it’s going to get so behaving in a way that doesn’t respect these mathematical certainties is mindblowing. The ability to achieve neutrality is in activating the three pillars and stacking those joints through proper posture. If you want to efficiently move from eccentric to concentric phases you must first be able to stack and get back to neutral. When you have structural integrity you’ll better be able to adapt to stress and handle your environment in a way that doesn’t lead to dysfunctional patterns. Interestingly enough, if you fix someone’s posture and correct there stress adaption you will find that their behavior will change for the better. So the next time your buddies come up to you and say let’s get jacked, remember don’t get jacked get stacked! References The Power of Posture – Naudi Aguilar Anatomy Trains – Thomas Meyers Dr. Jack Kruse ​ ​

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Be A Questioner – Peel Back The Onion Of Society

Be A Questioner – Peel Back The Onion Of Society ​A questioner can be defined as someone who questions all expectations and they will meet those expectations if they can justify, to themselves, that it makes sense to do. I was listening to a podcast where the author, Gretchen Rubin, of the book “The Four Tendencies” coined this phrase and I couldn’t help but notice that it described me. She talks about this tendency when assessing people’s personality to allow an individual to change their own habits faster and more effectively. I look to dive into this a little deeper and evaluate how being a questioner can help any person unveil the inconvenient truth’s around them. George Carlin, one of the best comedians/modern day philosophers, has talked about frequently that we must question everything. It’s something that is for the most part, looked down on. You see it in all aspects of life from politics, religion, all the way through to parenting, and fitness. No one likes to get questioned because it either challenges their authority or at the very least it challenges their intellect. In schools they like to say there isn’t such a thing as a bad question but in reality, kids still don’t ask questions because fear of alienation from there peers or fear of frustrating the teacher. In politics you see it all the time where politicians are questioned about topics that are influenced by them rather then answer questions that are relevant to the sustainability of the society. I digress but the point is that because people fear to ask questions, several dysfunctional patterns have developed in society that prevent the progress of the very things I blog about like sustainability, performance, health, medical, efficiency and the mind. The funny thing about questions is if you ask the right ones, it’s only a matter of time before the lies are unraveled. If someone is telling the truth, it’s only natural that eventually your questioning will lead to truth. Deceit has a way of deceptively hiding under many layers but just like an onion, the way to its core is by peeling those layers back. Ill describe a couple of those dysfunctional patterns in our society to help you become more aware of deception and pick away at those layers people so conveniently rap their lies around. ​When someone or a group becomes too dogmatic then you have a clear indicator that something is up. You might say that the group Functional Patterns (FP) could be considered dogmatic to a degree. I would say it doesn’t because dogmatic is defined as laying down principles that are incontrovertibly true. The principles at FP are linked to facts that connect to our origins and human biology that can be proven with our very eyes and scientific facts. Similar to quantum field theory, discovered by Albert Einstein and connected to our environment and diets by Jack Kruse, is backed with concrete facts. The concepts I blog about known as the inconvenient truths, once peeled all the way down, get to concrete truths not lies and deceptions like you see today. People and the environment change over time so it’s only natural that you grow with that evolution to allow for an effective practice of any kind. Dogmatic behavior rarely changes and if it does, it’s usually just to serve a monetary need to continue its practice of passing along its dogmatic knowledge. Typically you’ll see with groups or people that are very dogmatic is that they will always ask for money and look to keep you as a long time annuity for their cause. I’m not saying you shouldn’t get paid for your services because we all need it to survive in society. There is a price for all services but are the services you’re purchasing sustainable? When you peel the onion back of these dogmatic groups or people, you’ll find they’re looking to indoctrinate you with their beliefs to serve a monetary gain and doesn’t serve to benefit you at all. If these groups or people don’t promote sustainability and efficiency then you have another clear indicator of deception. Add that with dogmatic behavior and monetary gain and you have a compelling argument for a fraudulent group, business or person. ​People become emotionally invested in the investment of time they have to their practice. This is the next behavior you find when you keep peeling back the onion. Any time you see a leakage of emotions specifically the violent ones like anger, frustration, then beware. Society builds this habit of being invested in the time we spend on what we do. It’s like the theory of the American dream; work hard, pay your dues, stay in line and eventually you’ll be successful. Anyone with half a brain or some real world experience knows that the American dream is an illusion and the world doesn’t work in this systematic fashion. This is most prevalent behavior from people who have spent their whole lives working towards degrees, doctorates, certifications you name it. Then the second someone challenges these people, they flash this piece of paper in front of your eyes declaring that, “You don’t know shit, sit down and just let me do my job” I’m paraphrasing but that’s typically how that conversation goes. I’m not saying these people aren’t intellectual, smart or educated in what they do. The problem is that these degrees close the minds of these individuals leaving them unable to grow and see different perspectives. I have known many people who go through these doctorate programs where they cram as much information as possible and rarely retain any of the information. How is that an efficient way to learn? These degrees tend to develop dogmatic behavior in practice and people become overly invested with the time they put in making them unlikely to evolve or change. Another thing you’ll see is that these people will toss all these research and peer reviewed studies at you to support their way. Doesn’t this tactic seem familiar? Tobacco, drug and food industry do the very same thing because they know an overload of information confuses the individual. “Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts” – Sherlock Holmes This information overload is simply an attempt to twist facts to support theories that financial benefit the people in these practices. I’m not saying all people with doctorates and degrees behave this way, I’m just giving an example that illustrates how most people or groups in these situations behave. Some might say I have an investment of time towards what I do and that I would be emotional if I was challenged too. I have of course invested a great deal of time in what I do but when you peel that onion you won’t see deception or financial gain at the end. All you will find is one man, collectively with other like minded individuals, working to uncover the inconvenient truth’s that have been in our blind spots this whole time. But by all means question away I look forward to answering any questions you may have. Now, one great example everyone can understand to illustrate the fraudulent behavior in society. The medical field is a great example deceptive behavior with prescription drugs and diabetic patients. Diabetics get their daily prescription of pills and insulin every month paying these drug companies for their services but over the last decade, diabetes rises. Jack Kruse has shown with the implementation of his leptin prescription (process, not a drug) that you can eliminate or at the very least minimize the devastating affects of diabetes. The cost for this service is a certain amount at the beginning, which leads to a life style change and an education of your own body. Then you’re on your way to grow and explore your new body. No financial annuity for Jack and a sustainable human that has expanded there life without the side effects of drugs and their past disease. However, the indoctrination of the medical field constantly puts out conflicting evidence about how diabetes is developed and makes it clear that without these drugs you won’t live very long. Is that really the case or are they more worried about losing them as an annuity for life? It’s hard to believe they care about curing diabetes when it has increased in America to 24 million cases, which is 8 percent of the population. 90-95 percent of cases are type 2 and cases have increased 90 percent over the last ten years. In a society that is developing innovative technology every year in the medical field it’s hard to believe it’s possible for cases of diabetes to be increasing at this alarming rate. Regardless, people still invest money in these foundations for research for a cure that already exists. Of course that would mean that investment of time would be for nothing after all these years but once again, the indoctrinations of these social structure restricts us from progression. The investment of time shouldn’t matter and you shouldn’t leave the answer to a serious illness to people who only look to make money off of you and increase there bottom lines. A questioner is someone who acts intentionally not habitually (Naudi Aguilar) and looks for reason rather then faith for there actions. Society looks to silent questioners with these deceptive manipulations employed across every industry to keep the status quo. My objective is to open your eyes to the habitual behavior that you have been manipulated to do through these indoctrinations from all these industries. The tools are in your hands to peel the onion back and reveal the deceptive nature of society. Start to understand that being wrong doesn’t mean failure but rather progression and success. I have been wrong numerous times and I understand that it readjusts the course I’m on which is towards truth. Einstein spent 10 years working to just prove his theories to the scientific community because they were so invested and dogmatic. I’ve noticed people are uncomfortable around me because people who know me know I’m always scanning for little details, body language and other things during conversation. The truth is there is enough garbage in the world that I don’t need to subject myself to it anymore then I have too. I think though people aren’t uncomfortable with me but really it’s with them. There vulnerable self is something they have been hiding or don’t accept which makes them uncomfortable. It all comes back to peeling back those layers to find the true meaning of whatever you’re looking into. Ask the right questions and you’ll eventually find your way to the truth. References http://gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2015/01/ta-da-the-launch-of-my-quiz-on-the-four-tendencies-learn-about-yourself/ http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/11/18/new-diabetes-rate-up-90-percent-in-last-decade.aspx

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Is Sports Specific Training Killing Your Career?

Is Sport Specific Training Killing Your Career? ​The concept of sport specific training really started to get some headway in the late 1990’s and earlier 2000’s. It’s no coincidence that this is similar timing to the explosion of technological advancements in strength and conditioning. New ways to measure and test power, speed and agility with the birth of an idea that you can mold an athlete perfectly for the sport they play. I believe this fantasy came about when people started to move away from basic traditional lifting and were looking to increase overall performance in a shorter period of time. During this time, specifically in hockey and most likely for many other sports, off season turned from down time and partying to mastering your skills and getting ready for the season. Training camp was no longer a time to get in shape but rather a time to see how effective your training was during the summer. This change in sports culture was great from the perspective that performance would increase across the board and the level of the game would excel beyond any previous time. With this sharp increase in trying to increase overall performance, it seems that not many people have looked at the sustainability and the injuries that are occurring from these methods. Growing up, I rarely heard the term ‘overuse injuries’; it just wasn’t common during my early years in sports. Part of the reason, I believe, is that most athletes didn’t use much training to modify their biomechanics in the past. Now, strength and conditioning has drastically changed our natural biomechanics. There’s a wide variety of dysfunctional patterns and compensations arising which compromise the human structure. Sports specific training is feeding these poor movement patterns; leading to a vulnerable human structure, pain and most importantly, overuse injuries. Naudi Aguilar describes overuse injuries as, “simply a lack of muscle integration” and that disconnect invariable leads to the injury. I see these overuse injuries directly linked to sport specific training which creates overuse injuries that basically are the body’s way of showing the weak link in the kinetic chain. We use band-aids to fix these problems by firing the muscle in a given context that doesn’t relate to human movement and it temporarily masks the issue until it or another link breaks in the kinetic chain. I have been training young athletes and hockey players just over 6 years and the amount of overuse injuries I see today versus 6 years ago is alarming. It was never a case about doing too much, however, now I am constantly communicating with parents and the athlete about what they’re doing to avoid this from happening. Coaches are force feeding parents these requirements for sports specific training to get their young athlete to the next level while practicing their sport all day and night. This is a slippery slope down the compensation and dysfunctional pattern route, which will only lead to burnout and a shortening of any athlete’s career. Interestingly enough, if you listen to parents talk to strength and conditioning coaches, notice how they always ask if the training relates to the sport? This obsession with optimizing sports performance is short sighted and rarely leads to long-term success in any sports. Do you ever hear parents say, “Does your training integrate kinetic chains in the body or does it optimize efficient movement in a relevant context that is transferable to all environments?” My objective isn’t to bash other training systems that abuse this method of training, but rather to open the door on this topic that seems to be brushed under the rug. Overuse injuries will not happen if you have a well-balanced structure that can fire the right muscles during any particular movement. Does your training system promote this principle in its practice? Now with a good understanding of what happens with sports specific training generally, let’s look at what Functional Patterns does to prevent these issues from occurring. Neutral is word rarely used in strength and conditioning, the reason is most people don’t know how to get to neutral or what it is. In the Power of Posture, it dives deep into the three pillars that make up a structural balanced body. They are the TVA (deep core muscles), T-spine (Thoracic spine) and the glutes which are directly targeted to help anyone regain their own bodies and bring it back to neutral. This is simply the beginning on the path to efficient movement and only at FP, to this date, do they employ methods that get the body to move in a dynamic context without dysfunctional patterns or compensations. How is that? First, they see all kinetic chains in the body as slings that can eccentrically load(lengthen muscle chain) and concentrically load(contract muscle chain). To illustrate this think of a straight line, at one end is 100 percent concentric (full tense of the muscle chain) and at the other end is 100 percent eccentric (fully lengthen the muscle chain). At the middle of that line is neutral and when ever you execute a movement, muscle chains will move from one side of the spectrum to the other but always coming back to neutral. Here’s a visual illustration to help see this. 100% Ecc*--------N--------Conc 100% This spectrum is how FP understands how kinetic chains work within the body. Sport specific training glues muscles somewhere in the concentric phase and they don’t have the eccentric potential to get back to neutral. On the other end, things like yoga for sports, elongates muscles inhibiting that muscle or chain from properly firing in the future. Remember, I’m talking in terms of sport specific training, even if this may be relevant in other aspects of fitness and health, that is not the objective of this article. The main point is to have a strong structure that is well-balanced and can move dynamically, it must be able to come back to neutral. Neutral is the fundamental base for efficient and effortless power. This is the foundation to build real monsters in any sports and allow them to play for a long time! ​Now let’s look at how this would apply to a specific sport and since I’m a hockey player, I’ll use my body as the example. Hockey, like many other sports requires you to be dominate on a particular side. Over an extended period of time, practicing and playing games, naturally one side becomes strong then the other. Included with that, the rise of sport specific training and you’ll find a host of dysfunctions that no modern day training system, other than FP, can fix. I’ll be listing the dysfunctional patterns developed and if you search YouTube, you’ll be able to get a visual look at what they look like. Dysfunctional Patterns for left handed hockey player 1- Anterior pelvic shift 2- Hyperextension of lower back 3- Kyphosis (Ribcage pulled downward) 4- Internal rotated humerus (Right more then left) 5- Ribs rotated to the right / Pelvis rotated to the left 6- AOS concentrically glued (left pec to right oblique) 7- Hip flexors stuck in flexion / Glutes elongated / Hamstrings concentrically stuck 8- Left hip flexor excessively contracted/flexion and Psoas shortened on that side 9- Right hip hike 10- Right lateral shift 11- Right QL tight pulling upwards 12- Internal rotation of femur and external rotation of tibia 13- Left foot more externally opened due to tighter left hip flexor 14- Concentrically loaded adductors These are the dysfunctions that I have seen personally and the reality is that there are probably more that I can’t see. The real question is, “Does the sports specific clinics or trainers you go to talk in terms of this?” If not, then you’re not training in a fashion that will build sustainable movement patterns and maximize efficiency overall. These are real dysfunctions that trainers, parents and athletes miss on a daily basis that have grim consequences long term for the most part and short in many cases. The application of the foundations of a neutral base in your body will, over time, eradicate these dysfunctions and allow you to enjoy your spot pain free and at a high level. ​When you understand neutral, you are less likely to develop poor movement patterns that fire the wrong muscles or break the kinetic chains within the body. The body is an integrated system of myofasical slings that all work together for efficient movement within the movement spectrum I laid out. Once you see how the body moves along those lines then you’ll be able to see the implications of sports specific training and how dangerous it is for athletes. Naudi opened my eyes to this spectrum and it has expanded my view on human movement tremendously. Every step you take can either move efficiently through this spectrum or lock certain muscles or kinetic chains on one side of the spectrum leading to the collapse of the structure. Injuries are only increasing and the length of player’s careers in all sports are getting shorter each year. Change needs to happen to move athletes in a direction that is sustainable and will increase the overall level of game play in any sport. References Power of Posture - Naudi Aguilar https://youtu.be/B5sg3w4A2yU ​

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Diet E.E. - Electrons and Environment

Diet E.E. – Electrons and Environment ​When you hear the word diet people usually think about food and nutrition. Everyday thousands of posts, articles, and research papers come out talking about the dangers of certain foods and the importance of a well balanced diet. The morning news is filled with the latest “research” about what you’re probably missing in your diet or some afternoon talk show has some cooking tips to keep you on the right track. Even if this is well-intentioned effort to help people to be healthy, it’s sadly for the most part either garbage or a bunch of half-truths. I say this because I have lived through these different diet plans and the reality is none of it gets to the root cause of illness and wellness. Diet shouldn’t only encompass food; it should include your whole environment. When you include everything when examining your life for what really is holding you back towards optimal performance, then you will start to see results. Jack Kruse taught me to look at food and my environment from a quantum perspective and here I’ll break down food and your environment to the level of understanding you need to be able to make some serious changes in your life. ​Majority of people when talking about nutrition and food will talk in terms of macro nutrition like protein, carbs, and fats. Anyone that only sees food from this perspective only knows a piece of the story. They are working under the wrong assumptions and do not get deep enough into what food is. Food, in simplistic terms, is electrons that feed electron transport chain in our mitochondria to make energy. Particular types of foods are more electron dense than others and the more electron dense the food the more nutritious that food is for your mitochondria. Our mitochondria are delicate supercomputers working off an electromagnetic current and feeding off electrons to create energy to sustain life. The interesting thing is that food isn’t on top of the list for electron sources for humans. What’s even more interesting is that the top two electron sources are free and readily available to anyone. They are full spectrum light from the sun and the earth’s electromagnetic field. Electron sources are listed like this from most important to least; 1- the sun, 2- the earth’s magnetic field and 3 – food. Looking at which foods is more electron dense, it’s clear by looking at which foods grow year round. Proteins and fats were Homo sapiens only food sources during the ice age and were critical for survival. These foods provided the electron punch needed for limited meals during those cold years. People who live in colder climates tend to have a rich seafood and fat diet for this very reason. Carbs can only grow in warm climates and are more electron poor because they are suppose to be consumed with long light cycles. The light fills the gap of electrons in carbs so people can eat them and get what they need. This is why in Brazil they can eat beans and rice year round and have limited health problems because they spend a lot of time in the sun. The problems start to arise when you have a mismatch with how you eat and your environment. Most people spend more time inside in front of their computers and less time outside in the sun and connected to the earth. If you eat excess carbs while spending most your time indoors you create a mismatch within our body which will lead to disease and sickness. This means that people aren’t taking advantage of the free electrons, while creating a higher electron deficiency in their bodies. How do I know this? People are getting sicker faster then ever before. Cardiac and brain diseases have gone up even with the billions of dollars pumped every year into both foundations. Also notice that the two most mitochondrial dense areas in the body are the brain and the heart. Coincidence, I believe not and it will only get worse in the future. ​Why aren’t people taking advantage of this abundant electron source that doesn’t cost a cent? It’s because the food industry has taken a page out of the tobacco industries playbook. They understand it’s bad for business if people are eating in the context I’m proposing and if people stop believing that nutrition is the ultimate path to good health. If this were the case people wouldn’t be so committed to investing so much at the supermarkets. The tobacco industry built this perception that if you smoked you were “cool” and that you would be accepted more by your peers if you would participate in smoking. They would pay off doctors and researchers to project this image that smoking was fine for your health and that illnesses like lung cancer weren’t linked to this habit. By creating controversial research, regulation of smoking slowed down confusing the public on whether it was bad for you or not. The first signs that smoking was causing cancer was in the 1950’s and it wasn’t until 50-60 years later that it would finally be pushed out as a social norm. Over 50 years for public perception to change about smoking and I think it will be much longer until people realize this about food. Food is a half-truth that continues to thrive in today’s society because of overwhelming information being pushed down our throats. Everyday there is a new study contradicting another, Netflix documentaries popping up about how amazing a particular diet is and just an overwhelming amount of data that is incredibly hard to go through. The reality is, it’s all happening for a reason and that reason is to keep you in the dark about what food actually is. My objective is to clear the air about what food really is and help people make better decisions for better health. Forget about what’s being pushed in the papers, magazines and TV and look at food for what it is, electrons! Once you start switching your perspective from food to electrons, you’ll be able to make more effective decisions to change your life faster then any fad or diet ever could. It’s up to you to educate yourself on this and learn what is appropriate for your body but at the quantum level. ​When looking at environment the first thing to assess is your technology usage because of blue light and EMF’s which are both none native EMF. None native EMF is toxic to humans because we haven’t adapted to this frequency and it has major consequences to our mitochondria. Native EMF would be light wavelengths and the earth’s magnetic field and they are critical for human life because from my first post, life came about from these two sources and water. Interestingly enough none native EMF dehydrates the cell’s making it very hard for the mitochondria to be efficient and effective at it’s job. Bad mitochondria function leads to poor health, performance and living period. In society, you see an alarming amount of people talk about genetics being the problem and that their isn’t much they can do to change what’s going on in there bodies. This is total BS because most diseases that are labeled genetic aren’t actually like many brain and heart conditions and by employing this way of thinking you can live a more optimal life regardless of your genetic condition. Why is that the case? When you think from an electron perspective and manage the environment you’re in, you create more efficient and healthier mitochondria and that means more energy aka better life! Other then Jack Kruse and a couple other parties, not many people talk about “diet” or your environment like this. So, when looking at our blue light exposure through technology you have to look at how much you use your phone, computer, TV, LED/fluorescent lights and any artificial light in your environment. EMF exposure in your environment would look like microwaves, Wi-Fi, outlets, Bluetooth’s, and anything with an electrical current can potential leak out none native EMF. The higher your exposure to any or all of these devices the more you need to do to balance your mitochondria. You can eat the perfect diet but if you live under a blue sun (Blue light) and excessive EMF, you will never be healthy. ​What your latitude, longitude and elevation tells you is the potential for natural sun light exposure during a full year. The way to balance out your blue light and EMF exposure is through natural sunlight. The sun gives you that photonic energy you need to live and balances the harmful effects of none native EMF. Elevation will determine how far you are from the earth’s magnetic core which means the higher you are the harder it will be to see the effects of grounding. However, if you live at higher latitude and have access to higher elevations, you’ll be able to get natural sunlight that most people at higher latitudes can’t. When you know your latitude and longitude, you’ll be able to determine the level of UV light you can get at any particular time. The problem with this is, the higher your latitude and the more toxic your none native EMF exposure is and most likely means you have to move. Nothing can supplement the sun and if your job requires you to sit in 8-10 hours of none native EMF and you live in a high latitude where you only get quality sun 3 month’s out of the year, you will most likely get sick or live sub optimally as the price tag for this way of life. Jack Kruse moved his whole practice and family further south because he knew that the toxic life style he lived could not be counteracted by the sun exposure he was getting in Nashville. He’s a brain surgeon and he was able to do it. It comes down to how committed you are to your health! ​Population size is one part that most people miss when analyzing their environments. Research shows the people on average have 7-10 devices that emit none native EMF each and check those devices about 150 times a day. So when your comparing a population size of 250,000 to 3-4 million the exposure becomes drastically more severe. The smaller population gives you a potential exposure of 1.75 million devices versus 21 million devices in the bigger one. That is over ten times more exposure to none native EMF and that’s not including the Wi-Fi frequencies of that particular area. This means that the larger the population density in a particular area the more chronically dehydrated you will be which will lead to poor mitochondria function. Speaking of hydration, the last but probably one of the most important aspects to optimizing your life is water. Tap water is full of halogens that demagnetize your body and kills the electric current in your mitochondria. This will lead to a poor redox potential meaning that even if you get good light you won’t be able to assimilate it because your have no charge or simply put, a bad battery in your body. A car can’t work without a good battery and our bodies are the same. Putting things in your body that kill your battery will lead to you stranded on the road aka sick. The best type of water you can get is from a spring that way it’s charged by the earth’s magnetic field and it comes directly from the earth. Don’t trust bottles in the store that say natural spring water because if it sits under blue light all day, you guessed it, it loses it’s natural charge and is a good as all the other water sold. The next best thing is reverse osmosis water and if your worried about the lack of minerals you can add it back to the water. Filtered water gets the fluoride out for the most part but it misses other halogens like chloride. Water is critical for human life, which is why you can only survive three days without it. When you think about it, we can live with out food for 30 days but only without water for 3, it makes you wonder where our priorities are when it comes to nutrition. We get so caught up on organic, GMO free and gluten free foods and we constantly settle for somewhat filtered tap water served under blue light. ​Your head is probably exploding like mine first did after spending over 20 hours listening to most of Jack Kruse’s podcasts. The crazy thing is once I started researching the science behind it and reading his blog’s, my head almost split open. However, it’s understandable to feel that way because we have been taught so drastically different from these concepts. We were never taught to question what was taught to us and we have been disconnecting from nature at an alarming rate. Electrons and environment are only two areas I have mentioned to maximize the efficiency of your performance and life. Other areas that I have and/or will be writing articles about is efficiency of the human structure (FPBaps), the mindset (last article) and the Wim Hof method/ CT cold thermogenesis. Society has created this perception that you’re only a quick fix away from your dream life style. That’s all garbage and it’s time to wake up before it’s to late. Last note before I end this; remember how I said none native EMF leaves humans chronically dehydrated? The more dehydrated you are the more likely you are to eat more and eat poorly because your disconnected from nature. So the more none native EMF exposure the more food you end up buying. It’s easy to deduce that restaurants and supermarkets understand this. These spots tend to be none native EMF hell holes dehydrating people, which leads to people buying more. My next article will cover connecting back with nature and understanding the dark side of technology. ​https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/02/21/us-life-expectancy-will-soon-be-on-par-with-mexicos-and-croatias/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_KH4bxJNNeY9yId02Y-sfafMaE8lX_EiyS1plxUN23YTZVGK4Jlcaq5T9ua5fk22wglmSLV6cxImys_4ba5GI6Gm3P6nft1xgm3yHO4EYCRcyTDdc&_hsmi=43123198&utm_campaign=KHN%3A+First+Edition&utm_content=43123198&utm_medium=email&utm_source=hs_email&utm_term=.d2829565ed3f https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/artificial-blue-light-dehydrates-your-cells-jack-kruse https://www.jackkruse.com/emf-4-why-might-you-need-carbs-for-performance/

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You Feel Your Thinking Not Your Circumstances

You Feel Your Thinking Not Your Circumstances ​ You feel your thinking, not your circumstance. A paradigm shift is occurring in mental health which is focused on an inside out (thinking causes feeling) versus an outside in (traditional belief circumstance causes feeling). This is how your mind works and once you grasp this principle your perception of the world will change forever. However, these seem to be the opposite route for many looking to treat mental disorders or mind blocks. Feelings are a huge area of examination in the mental health field because it’s been believed to be the link to answers within a person. Psychiatrists will dig deep into PTSD patient’s past to help them deal with the feelings they have associated with traumatic experiences such as war. Many patients believe that by examining their feelings, they will be able to uncover the underlying issues. There has been an incredible rise in attention deficit disorders in the last 30 years with illness such as OCD and ADHD. The path to treatment of these illnesses has been either through strong medications or therapy that gives them strategies to combat these issues. Sports teams will spend big dollars on sport psychologists to keep their top players focused and to help athletes out of slumps. Another example that comes to mind is how people deal with their emotions on a daily basis. Whether it is a woman annoyed at a man for not calling her or a man disappointed after getting rejected at a bar, typically either person will blame their feelings on the situation. Techniques to handle each situation is where I differ from main stream mental health therapy. I aim to get at the root cause to any disorder mental or physical. The field of mental health is a business, geared towards financial profits rather than lasting sustainable healthcare. ​Doesn’t it seem that every apparent successful host, business person, athlete, trainer, coach, doctor and so on has a book out about how get ahead? It seems like everywhere you look, someone has a new technique to get past PTSD, beat mental disorders, increase mental strength, or how to get in the zone. About 15 years ago, when I started reading these types of books. They were interesting and seem to be the right approach to increasing my mental game. In hindsight, I should’ve known that these books weren’t focused on helping me to achieve mental clarity. Most books like this are simply a money-making strategy for authors and not helpful to readers. Self-help is booming market because people will pay lots of money to read or hear success stories. People start to make connections between their own life and a person’s story, initiating the thought that they could be successful too. This leads to that same person practicing the same techniques until they either fail or plateau. Then, they move on to the next success story, following the exact same cycle, and still hoping that the author’s story can lead them to achievement. This behavior only feeds into what the mental health industry wants and that’s for people to keep coming back! Mental health therapy is similar to how doctors treat diabetics. Rather than finding a plausible treatment, they treat the symptoms. By treating just the symptoms, doctors and pharmaceuticals now have a life-long customer. ​If you have read many of these books, you may wonder, “Why there isn’t much of a difference between all the techniques?”. Well, the answer is simple, it’s because there isn’t much of a difference at all. All these mental strategies are half truths built on half truths which only get you minimal results. This process of recycling mental strategies is killing the creative process that we inherently possess. We no longer strive to find what works for us, but what works for others that may rely on to help us. This is another vicious cycle that we’ve followed blindly for the profit of the few in power with hidden agendas. People fear the unknown more (due to excess thought) because of the internal dilemma within their minds which leads to poor choices. Those choices are self-help books, mental techniques, and mental therapy because they offer an illusion of comfort. Many people don’t know but what they are feeling is normal; it will pass. This is the direct result of thinking and not any circumstance. The simplest way to understand that you feel and internalize thoughts instead of circumstances is to understand this basic principle. If you are feeling insecure, angry, or anxious; then you have excess thought and a low state of mind. If you are feeling confident, happy, and motivated than you are in a high state of mind. The final pieces is accepting that it’s normal to feel both. When you understand how your state of mind is generated and that it’s normal to feel both; you will spend less time thinking and more time in a high state of mind. It’s simpler than any system out there and it accounts for all situations. Most people’s next question is usually, “What should I do to reach a high state of mind?” And here is the kicker, NOTHING. When you understand these principles, you start to spend less time in a low state of mind and more time in clarity. Why? Well that’s because instead of blaming the external world for the feelings, know that it’s a direct result of your thinking. Do you control what pops in your head? No but you can feed what causes those low emotions by thinking more and compounding on the problem like a snowball down a hill. Instead of jamming your head, let it do what it’s naturally able to do; which is clear on its own. The reason this is so hard to grasp is because we live in a society that dictates that you need to control everything to control your life. Control obsession is usually a sign of insecurity which is a sign of a low state of mind. Decisions made from a low state of mind are subjective and irrational. It’s like a paradox, the more you give up trying to control your mind the more in control you behave as a human who functions out of intuition and rationality. Let’s look at the examples I started this blog post with and see how you feel your thinking not your circumstance in each situation. PTSD patients have gone through a traumatic event that has caused the patients brain to press replay on particular events that happened or are triggered by similar events in their new environment. What’s causing them to feel this way is their excess thought in their mind, not the event itself. Once they start to grasp this concept they start to look within for the answers instead of blaming an external event. Mental disorders like OCD and ADHD are the perfect examples of thought feeling connection. Their minds have been pushed towards this excessive thought and they blame everything around them for their attention issues. The common one is, “I can’t focus on this paper because I have ADD”. They blame the diagnose instead of understanding that they feel anxious because of excess thought. Athletes love their superstitious behavior and routines but what they don’t know is that they could be working from a less than optimal state of mind. A classic example is when athletes are in a slump, trying all these different techniques when in reality those anxious feelings during the game are from their own thinking. Athletes in a slump blame everything around them for what’s not working when the answer lies within. The last situation was the female upset about the male not calling her and the male upset about being rejected. We all know times when we got rejected and we let it bounce off us, unfazed by it all. Then there were times when we never got a call back and sat up all night thinking about why they didn’t call back. The first time you were in a high state of mind so you moved on and the second time you were in a low state and gave into that feeling by thinking which jammed your head up more. All different situations but they fit within the principles of the mind. Anything outside those principles is typically trying to make money of your low state of mind decisions. I didn’t come up with these principles, they were always here since the beginning of the human brain around 5-7 million years ago. I believe the industry of mental health, like many other industries are exploiting people by preying on their insecurities (low states of mind) to fill their own pockets. Make decisions from clarity and during those low states, don’t trust your thinking because it stems from insecurity. This is a process and once you change the default setting to clarity, things will come together for you.

References

The path of no resistance - Garret Kramer

Stillpower - Garret Kramer

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The Ancient Movement Pathway

Bipedalism - The Ancient Movement Pathway What is the ancient movement pathway? The answer might surprise you because it’s something you attempt to do every single day of your life. This pathway consists of three fundamental movements; walking, running and throwing. Most people would ask what’s so hard about walking and throwing and why is it important? Walking is a skill that can either propel you forward or slowly destroy you with each step you take. Modern day robots struggle to take a couple smooth steps and babies take several months to a year before slowly understanding how to stand let alone walk. My objective is to show people what the ancient movement pathway is,where it came from and the benefits to getting back to this way of life. Now to really understand the importance of these movements we must go way back to the beginning. How far you might ask? Well to the very beginning, the Cambrian explosion, where life began for us all. All mammalian eukaryotic cells require mitochondria to sustain life because it is the powerhouse of the cell. Mitochondria allowed for multicellular organisms to exist and without them advanced life would have never came to be. During the Cambrian explosion, eukaryotic life exploded due to the increase in overall electrons and energy on the earth during the formation of the atmosphere. At this point I theorize that the earth was hit with excessive UV radiation, which supercharged this explosion of life. Combined with the development of the Schumann resonance frequency and you have a recipe for life. This frequency is defined as the earths natural magnetic field. The photonic energy from the sun plus the constant electron source from the earth would have provided the pieces needed for mitochondria in these eukaryotic cells to sustain life and allow evolution of all species from this explosion of life. Several major extinction events would happen over time allowing for Darwin’s theory of natural selection to occur which then weeded out the most inefficient or low density mitochondria species. This is so important to understand because it helps set the foundation for the ancient movement pathway. First, it’s understanding that mitochondria are the key to sustaining life. Second, the explosion of life occurred because of a burst of energy from the sun and the development of the earth’s magnetic field. This would provide a constant source of electrons for mitochondria to create energy and develop the ancient movement pathway in humans. As time marched on an important evolutionary selection would occur that would lead to the ancient movement pathway. Our primate ancestors share many similarities but among some of the major differences such as intelligence and language skills, the biggest is with mitochondrial density specifically in the brain. Our primate ancestors have high mitochondrial density in skeletal muscle, which is why they will always be much stronger than we are. The ability to swing from tree to tree and live in the rigorous environment that they do requires a great deal of skeletal muscle and natural instincts. Sometime 6 million years ago, evolution selected humans would be more than instinctual animals. Natural selection decided we would evolve to think, rationalize, and develop intellectual skills never seen before. This gave birth to our pre frontal cortex and mitochondrial dense brains. Over the next couple million years primates would transition from mitochondrial dense muscle to mitochondrial dense brains and developing homo sapiens as observed today. This completely changed the whole ball game and would lead to the development of bipedalism and the ancient movement pathway! A mitochondrial dense brain requires a great amount of energy to function properly. Moving on all fours is terribly inefficient, just try it yourself. There’s a reason mindless trainers tell you to bear crawl in your circuits and it’s because it’s easy for them and harder for you. I am not suggesting bear crawls can’t be used in the right fashion but from what I have seen, they are implemented into workout regiment in the completely wrong context. With energy demands no longer highest in skeletal muscles like apes and monkey’s, humans would have to evolve past this movement to survive. Earlier humans had surplus of energy for skeletal muscle meaning their was room for inefficiencies. Since storages of energy were relocated to the brain, this meant humans would have to evolve a more efficient method of movement. Here is where the codification of human biomechanics occurred in the brain. These higher energy demands meant that humans would have to leave the trees to forge for more electron dense food. Humans no longer could survive on a diet similar to primates anymore. Notice how I mention electrons when it comes to feeding our mitochondria and creating energy. Macro nutrition like protein and carbs don’t matter to mitochondria, it’s all about electron density in foods but I’ll save the diet talk for another article. Bipedalism was now codified and humans could walk and run, leading to more far reaching exploration of their natural environment, in comparison to our primate predecessors. Bipedalism also meant that humans would spend the majority of their time connected to the earth and it’s magnetic field meaning a constant source of electrons. Humans would learn to hunt wild animals and fish meaning they would learn how to throw to help meet the demands of a high energy demanding brain. The oldest human spears were identified about half a million years ago. The human brain would codify throwing mechanics to the ancient movement pathway making up the three categories of human movement. Through deductive reasoning, bipedalism developed over the first 1-2 million years and throwing came along with it shortly after. Now these are movements that took millions of years to codify, refine and perfect for the survival of the human race and didn’t just happen over a couple hundred years. Now why do I call walking, running and throwing the ancient movement pathway? It’s simple, look around at our environment. It’s completely dissociated from our natural hunter gather roots which has increased the convenience of our lives but at what price? Over the last 100 years we have gone through an exponential growth of ridiculous fitness and performance training programs that have nothing to do with these three fundamental skills. Weight lifting could be dated back to, as early as 5000 years ago but for the most part its modern day roots lie within the last 100-200 years. What are the primary beliefs about weight lifting? It makes you stronger, bigger, faster, look better and feel better. Maybe to some degree it does but how much does this training respect the fundamentals of human biomechanics? It can’t because most of these training methods work to develop muscles in isolation, which destroys the kinetic chain connections within the body making it more inefficient. An example would the bench press which isolates the pecs and develops them in that context disregarding the slings the pecs connect too. The last 20 years have bred hybrid training systems that include Olympic lifting, FMS, primal movement, sports strength and conditioning, Ido Portal, Crossfit, pilates, yoga and the list goes on. The problem is all these systems and methods either train the body in isolation, excessive eccentric loading and/or concentric phases and most importantly with no fundamental training that respects human biomechanics. What are these training methods doing to the human structure? Slowly these systems are degrading the human structure and plateauing human performance. They are breeding and feeding this vicious circle of dysfunctional movement that we see everyday now. There are more treatment facilities like physiotherapy, chiropractic therapy and so many more to account for all these dysfunctions created from all the training systems listed above. Have I used these systems before? Of course my body has been through the ringer because I did all these training systems and they led to the same result, pain and subpar performance. How many of these treatment facilities work to fix the root problem in the human structure? I haven’t heard of any because none of them work to develop the movements from the ancient movement pathway. They don’t understand that the root of the majority of people’s pain is a poor connection to the ancient movement pathway. If we or these methods taught people to walk better, develop their GAIT cycles and work on throwing mechanics and you will see a pain free body but I guess you wouldn’t want a pain free body long term because that would just be bad for business…. What’s the solution? The only training system that respects human biomechanics is Functional Patterns. The fundamentals in their training system are built around walking, running and throwing. Functional Patterns understands that the average human takes 10,000 steps a day. Over ten years, the average human will take about 36 million steps. It’s safe to say that efficient walking is one of the underlying skills needed for pain free movement. Testing is not built around your 40 yard dash, how much weight you can lift or how flexible your hamstrings are. The Functional Patterns paradigm is concerned with your GAIT cycle and the efficiency of your running. The body is a well-integrated muscular structure built on the principles of tenesgrity (Body built around right amount of tense throughout the structure) and ordinates movement in a sling like fashion (slings are the myofascial lines with in the body to propel movement). The amusing thing is, once you develop your GAIT you will excel at the basic testing systems that you see today. The only difference is your body will be able to bounce back from the destruction most these tests cause and you’ll be able to function in an efficient manner again. I believe training should seek to optimize movement. Now a days you find so many injury preventative drills that accompany traditional and Olympic lifts to attempt to balance the damage being done to your body. If you need to do injury preventative, activation and mobility drills than the training your doing is basically like spinning your tires in the mud. The exercises and movements you do, if done in respect to human biomechanics, should have the right muscles firing or at least attempting to do so already. You should not need a mobility drill to counteract the ankle stiffness presented in the exercise you are performing. Strength and conditioning today lacks the growth any system needs to correct its mistakes. People in this field tend to be content with the knowledge they have and simply telling you to “go harder and lift heavier” instead of addressing the root issue. Optimal movement lives in this ancient movement pathway and if you’re an inefficient walker, runner and/or thrower it will leak out as poor performance or reoccurring pain. Ask yourself is my training system built on developing longevity, sustainability and adaptability to my environment? If the answer is no to either of these questions then I would suggest you start looking for a new place to train or else you will have a price to pay for that choice down the road. The vast amount of information available in todays world makes the task of distinguishing good and bad information difficult. Larger amounts of information combined with the general decreases in attention spans makes it difficult for anone looking to optimize their bodies. Our short sightedness blinds us to the root issues in the fitness industry which is making the human body weaker and more vulnerable than ever before. I don’t want you to take my word for it, I want you to look at the facts. Does your training system develop walking, running and throwing efficiency? Does your gym promote sustainability or rather just have you continue to buy those monthly memberships? Does your trainer push you towards a pain free structure or push you towards a bandaid fix for what he/she did to you like weekly rehab? For those of you looking for a way out of this vicious circle of train hard-injury/pain-rehab-train hard again, then, you must start asking these questions. It all starts with the ancient movement pathway because it’s directly connected to our biology. A written code in our brains for maximal efficient in movement to allow for our energy demanding brain to develop. To live any other way would mean to de-evolve because we no longer can meet the energy demands that our brain needs. We must respect the code our brain has laid out for efficient movement to live longer and optimize our lives. Let the information sink in and research what I have laid out throughout the article. The information is out there but you must learn to navigate through poorly done “evidence based studies” and companies looking to manipulate research to increase their own bottom lines. It’s time to connect back to the ancient movement pathway to cut through the “10 days to abs routine” and get back to living an optimized life. References http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-milestone-walking_6507.bc https://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100/2k4endosymb.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/schumann-resonance.html https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/course/zo150/mozley/humans.html https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121115141542.htm https://www.jackkruse.com/emf-2-einstein-meet-leptin/

[fpbaps-blog]

What is FPBaps?

I’m frequently asked, “What Does FPBaps stand for?”. This question sparks excitement because FPBaps is more than just a title, it embodies the core fundamentals of what I want to teach people about. ‘FP’ stands for Functional Patterns and ‘Baps’ is an abbreviation of my last name. Together, this title represents myself within the Functional Patterns community. Before sharing my story, I’ll briefly explain a little more about what Functional Patterns is. The Functional Patterns (FP) approach is an all-encompassing lifestyle approach which connects movements to human biology. Throughout my blog, I will explain the fundamental components of the Functional Patterns training system. Stay tuned for a post about what I like to call the ancient movement pathway. Some of the goals for FP is to fix the dysfunctions in the GAIT cycle, restore balance in the human structure, while also maximizing efficiency in all movements. Another question I often hear is, “How did you get involved in Functional Patterns?”. My journey began a year ago, (in 2016) when I traveled to the Function Patterns headquarters in Seattle. After eight days of mentoring by the elite FP practitioners, Johnny and Kathy; my body would no longer be the same. I was finally able to maximize my efficiency and optimize my performance, I had found the missing piece to my fitness puzzle. After experiencing these drastic improvements and profound results, I began to question my previous approaches to fitness… In previous experiences, teammates and I found ourselves scouring through sources to find information about fitness and functionality. Little did I know, that my teammates and I were blindly following a flawed training system that only resulted in poor movement patterns. I spent years working through different training systems which seemed promising at first but always led to pain or lack of results. As a lifetime hockey player, I was told that pain is normal. That’s a lie. Pain is not normal and it is not necessary. Looking back, I realized that the trainers didn’t know how to fix the dysfunctions or they were stuck in old dogmatic ways. This fostered an environment of building dysfunction on dysfunction. During these years and years of training, I was developing inefficient movement patterns. Due to the popularity of the traditional training system, especially for athletes; I believed that I was following the correct approach. As most people, including myself; we fail to see that this inaccurate training system also fails athletes. We can see the inadequacy of the training through injuries, inefficient movements, and shortened careers. With the overwhelming presence of technology and media, we are constantly being bombarded with ads or promotions the push old dogmatic systems. This fails to show people the other side of the issue at hand. The reality is that these traditional systems limit and yield lower success for the majority of athletes. Practically no one talks about the failures of these traditional systems. Since there’s practically no critique or judgments about this, people are unaware that it’s inefficient. Athletes need to evaluate and judge the effectiveness of these traditional system in order to see there dysfunctional side. Although FP is still developing, this approach is drastically innovative and efficient compared to traditional systems. After you’ve experienced FP, I dare you to find failures and dysfunctions. I’ll argue that there are hardly, if any, failures in this approach. FP isn’t just about fitness, it’s a lifestyle change. Making this change will lead to long term success mentally and physically. With this lifestyle change, you can build a solid foundation on human biology and efficient movements. I can attest to the results, with the shift to FP, I’m overall more efficient. Not only do I want to share the story of how I began, I want to educate people as I continue my journey towards achieving FP. Longevity, stress adaptation, sustainability, and maximal efficiency are what FP is all about. My goal is to bring this approach to the attention of both athletes and average people. Throughout my journey, I will be uncovering many inconvenient truths that are preventing people from maximizing potential and efficiency. This eye opening experience will shed light on many falsities that you’ve been led to believe. It’s not your fault, we’ve all been misled but now is the time for change. I hope to share many of the truths I have uncovered during my path to optimizing my own life. FP and other sources; Jack Kruse, Garrett Kramer, the cognitive rampage, have been major influencers along my path to unveiling these truths. Thank you for tuning in and I hope you’ll join me in the journey to discovering the inconvenient truth. I look forward to hearing your feedback and stay tuned for more informative articles.