Mobility for Weightlifting

Disclaimer: This may not be for the novice reader/exerciser. However if you are truly looking to invest the time to learn your body, this will help you. Brace yourself for a deep dive as what follows is sure to lead you down the proverbial rabbit-hole toward better mobility and improved body mechanics both in and outside of the gym
“Imagine having a punch that could knock out a rhino in front of you…but you have a piece of thread between your knuckles.  Now imagine there is an eye of a needle in front of that beast’s face.  You not only have to have the power to put him down…but you have to thread the needle at the same time.” – Donny Shankle USA National Champion (YouTube him)
Above sums up weightlifting perfectly explaining the needs of becoming efficient weightlifter. Galen, Steve and I, along with the early Motown folks, had a giant-sized man-crush on Donny and the Cal Strength team. They are probably the main reason we dug deep into weightlifting as a sport. To date, we’ve qualified over 15 people to national level competitions and have gathered many medals locally and nationally (Shana and Trevor) plus having gain full rides to ETSU for weightlifting. Amazing how a YouTube video can change the course of your life so much, but back to the article..
Having the “power to knockout the rhino”, can be found in  strength training.  Having the skill to “thread the needle”, you get from practicing the skill of weightlifting. Simple right? But what if you can’t get in the positions needed to maximize your lifting? You suffer. Either from the kilos/pounds not reaching potential OR from the discomfort of not being able to get in the positions and feeling like you back, shoulder, elbow, knee, and/or ankle is hot hot hot from stress.
We recently had a weightlifting workshop and said I would send mobility for everyone to do if they would write their names down. Simple words turned into a ton more work than I had anticipated due to the complex nature of the human body and the rhino punching. 🤦‍♂️  This is my attempt to break it down and educate you on how to find the best way to do so.
Kelly Starrett said, “All human beings should be able and willing to perform basic maintenance on themselves.” at 10EX, we agree. It sounds like a lot, but it’s true. It can be as simple as PVC rolling, stretching, smashing or seeing a PT. Below we will go over 3 things. Positions which you have problems with, what the problems may look like to give you an idea and some possible fixes for the problems. Regarding the fixes and the person, just like optimal health, it all depends on the individual’s body and needs. There is NO one size fits all to this. There may be a one size fits most, but not all.
Before we dig in, quiz time: What should be the minimum time spent in a mobilizing position to induce change? Also, what should you do if you go numb? Think about it and the answers will be at the end.
  • Overhead Position – We will define this as having the bar over in anyway. Overhead squat, jerk, press, push press, or anything else with a load overhead.
    • Common Problems: may look like, but not limited too: Not being able to lock the arms with the bar overhead, the bar drifting forward when the descent happens in the OHS, not being able to get the bar locked out with the head through aka catching or pressing in front, the limbo affect with a bar overhead, and many others but these are the basics.
    • Fixes: Here is the tricky part and why it took me so long to put this together. If you can’t do one of the things above, you may think “well my shoulders are tight and I need to fix that” and you could be right! Could be wrong as well. Damnnit. It could be your lats, shoulder, pecs (which pull your shoulders forward into a bad position), muscle weakness, spine, scapula and/or could be anything that attaches to the to the upper body could be causing the problems. What should you do? Find the spots. Work upstream and downstream from the joint or sport you’re having trouble with. Find the tender spots, the non-tender ones and everything in between. Smash, stretch, work static holds (squat therapy) and check for improvement in that position. This applies to everything in the future too. One to get you started: Simple trap smash with a plate. You will need a lacrosse ball and a 25-45lb plate. Lay on the ground, place the lacrosse ball on your trap. Next, set the 45lb plate edge on your sternum like a tire rolling over you. Hug the plate and rock side to side with the lacrosse ball under you. Do 2min per side. This is the Rx version. Scaled: hug yourself without the plate and rock side to side on the ball.

    • Resources – Absolute Tx (Zac and Maria), Kelly Starrett from Ready State, GoWOD, and ask a coach. How to search Youtube example: Overhead Squat Mobility Fixes, Overhead Shoulder Mobility, Scapula Mobility, Overhead Squat Kelly Starrett. Basically add Kelly Starrett to anything and you should have multiple videos on each thing you’re having a problem with.

  • Front Rack Position – Defined as a bar resting in the front rack position for receiving a clean, prepping for a press or front squat.
    • Common Problems: Low elbows, wrist pain, finger tips under the bar not allowing to grasp, bar hovering above the shoulders not resting at all, or anything that causes problems in that position. Ideal Position: Bar in the front rack with full grip and upper arm parallel to the ground.
    • Fixes: Could be anything from the wrist to arm to shoulder to back muscles. Sensing a pattern? Like a someone who never got over their previous relationship’s status, it’s complicated. Start with the shoulder and work your way out, upstream and downstream. Same as above, smash, stretch, static front rack hold, etc… One to get you started: banded front rack stretch. Youtube it. Easy and can be adjusted to make harder or easier by the band size. Spend 2min per side. DON’T GO NUMB.

    • Resources – Absolute Tx (Zac and Maria), Kelly Starrett from Ready State, GoWOD, and ask a coach. How to search Youtube example: Front rack mobility Kelly Starrett, Improve front rack mobility, how to front squat better, best stretches for front rack position. Ask a coach! Remember to always mobilize and then retest to check progress.

  • Squat Position – Defined as the bottom of the squat, whether front, back or overhead squat.
    • Common Problems: Not able to keep the heels down throughout the whole movement, knee pain, ankle pain, feels like you’re doing a good morning instead of a squat, caving of the knees, hear us saying LOWER LOWER LOWER LOWER LOWER LOWER and you reply with a  I AM! or dirty words, hip pain, takes you 30min to air squat below parallel, and others.
    • Fixes: Could be anything from the hips, hamstrings, ankles, quad, thoracic spine, achilles or many other things. I know, it sucks. We want you to explore and find what’s right for you. We can help along the way too. Ask us and we can give you some stuff to try. We will take a picture, mobilize you, take a picture and see if it improves. Simple. If it does, do it. If not, don’t and try the next thing. One to get you started: Banded 3-position Lunge. Similar to a 3-position lunge, but you use a band attached to an upright to help pull the front knee out more.
    • Resources: Same as above. Youtube: Kelly Starrett Squat Mobility (Maybe even try his 10min squat test and see what happens), Improve squat mobility, etc..
I know it’s taken a lot to get to this point and thank you for sticking around. To recap, do some digging and find what works best for you. We will guide you and you can work on it. Bring ideas to us and we will do the picture test to see if you improve.
Minimum effective time is 90sec to 2min.  If you go numb, you stop. That’s the nerves, leave those bad boys alone. Now go couch stretch.
As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”, and it definitely goes along with fitness. Come in early do 30 jumping jacks then grab a roller, lacrosse ball, a band or hop on the wall for some squat therapy. You will feel and move better, I promise. Invest in yourself.
Take care and I hope this helps to guide you on a healthier path.
-Justin

2021 Outlier Challenge

Make one decision that makes a thousand. SIGN UP NOW – by clicking the image above.

With each new year at 10 Experience, we aim to challenge our members and ourselves to sharpen our minds, our habits and our lifestyles. To whittle away at a #10exlife.

The Outlier Challenge provides precisely that structure. Like previous challenges, this year’s version takes a fresh approach to the general blueprint we know to be effective. So, it’s our hope to bridge the gap between 2020 and 2021 by building upon the words printed on the most recent 10 Experience hoodie:

Easy choices, hard life.

Hard choices, easy life.

What does this mean? 2020 has been an unpredictable collection of events, where up equals down and inside means out. Normal routines suffered as we tossed, turned, and braced for daily impact. The structure of our day – in particular our healthy routines – suffered as a consequence. This year’s Outlier Challenge centers its design on rebuilding those lost structures. How? By making a ‘hard choice’ to be uncomfortable every day.

If the uncertainty of this year’s pandemic taught us anything, it’s that optimal health offers the best protection from a non discriminative virus. It also acts as a shield defending us against stress, anxiety and the unknown. Be it a viral infection or any other life-threatening situation, sound lifestyle habits – healthy eating, adequate sleep, daily movement, and fellowship with friends and family – can only improve our life.

The 2021 Outlier Challenge offers everything mentioned above. It comes with more purposefully designed rigidity and more intentionally sturdy guidelines. It promises rigor:

  • MOVEMENT – specific daily requirements
  • NUTRITION – specific nutrition with each meal
  • SLEEP – enough
  • FELLOWSHIP – encourage accountability with those specifics

Don’t scowl. A marine much tougher that us once quipped, “discipline equals freedom.” We tend to agree. Stick to the rules of the Outlier Challenge and find yourselves liberated from 2020’s long shadow. It’ won’t be easy, but that’s precisely our point. If your 2020 was successful and doesn’t actually resemble ours – a year laced with frustration and self-sabotaging behavior – keep at it! For the rest of us needing motivation to start again or looking for a bridge to cross the COVID chasm, the Outlier Challenge is sure to answer that call.

‘Choose hard’!

Ready, yet!? REGISTER HERE!

-10ex

(Don’t worry, you’re not on your own. Coaches…participants…near or far and just like the hurricane of 2020, we’re ALL in this together.)

10 Rules for Gym Life

Lessons from the Book of Our History

The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding. – Will Durant

In 2010, two bonehead kids leapt from a plane without much of a parachute or any real understanding of how to safely land. By a stroke of luck, they survived the fall. Some think that ‘fortune favors the bold’; others, that ‘diligence is the mother of good luck’, but not me. I’m not here to make argument for either. In fact, I stake no claim over undiscovered veins of truth. I’m simply thankful to be here.

And, here we are – 10 years into “J and G’s fitness experiment.” It is with our sincerest hearts and our deepest gratitude that we offer thanks to each of you, our fellow travelers. To our friends and family, the friends that became family, and all those who lent support from the pink dawn of our earliest days – cheers! Without you, we would still be a sputtering idea, a seed lying dormant, a ship with no sails. To this day 10 Experience is just an idea #10exlife. You animate that idea. You give it life and legs. You are its breath. You are its pulse. And you alone permit us to continue into the great unknown brimming with hopeful hearts.

 

I haven’t always been, but I’m a sucker for curious books and interesting thoughts. And I’m especially romantic for language that can sketch an idea into a neat picture. If a decade of our gym’s history were a book, that book would be filled with uncountable lessons. But, how would it read and what’s the premise? That line of thought – considering the gym as a book – swept me up and plopped me down, once more at the keyboard in an attempt to capture my thoughts like lightening in a bottle.

Here’s where I landed: my sense is that a proper gym is somewhat equivalent to the live version of a self-help book. A proper gym offers lessons of all brand in real time and in real terms. If we really pay attention, the gym teaches us principles of the scientific process, psychology in part and parcel, how to invest (in anything), and more than a little about morality. Lessons by the metaphorical handful. Each of these ‘rules’ might fill entire chapters or whole books. Billy Shakespeare once wrote that brevity is the soul of wit. So with what wit I might muster and little more adieu, here’s my best stab at paring down the most potent lessons from spending the past decade in the fitness trenches.

1. Make a single decision that makes a thousand others.

I’ll say it firmly. Decide to make your health a priority! It’s a simple 7-word declaration. That decision, once made, ‘pre-makes’ the thousand other daily decisions on your plate (entendre intended). What do I eat, should I join a gym, can I skip on sleep? Optimize. Streamline. Determine what is essential. Discover the meaning behind less but better. Invest your time, your energy, and your efforts working towards that end – health! It won’t be long before you notice the might of compounding interest.

2. Whatever you do, don’t pity the fool (hint: you are the fool).

Mr. T had it all wrong. The liar is a tyrant, because he cannot stand being a fool. Don’t be a tyrant. Freedom to be foolish IS one of the keys to success in the gym or elsewhere. In some form, exercise makes everyone feel foolish – weak, sluggish, and under prepared. All learning always involves certain indignities. But, that’s the rub! That’s humility – I am not yet what I could be but watch what I’ll become.

3. Understand what your ego IS (and can devolve into).

Pride blooms from our ego’s seed. It propels us towards virtuous ends today (back squat PRs and accomplishments galore). And tomorrow, it plays vice – striking us like a serpent when we least expect it (arrogance and hubris are it’s poison often leading to injury and failure). The sooner we acknowledge both sides of our ego’s coin, the sooner we might learn to better weld its spending power. Internalize this acronym, E.G.O. = embedded growth obligation. And take notice the next time your ego’s obligations serve you well…or run afoul.

4. Listen to fitness’ endless lessons on morality.

I don’t say this lightly. Each day exercisers are afforded an opportunity to meditate on subtle applications of the golden rule. Treat yourself like someone you’re responsible for helping. The pursuit of health/fitness isn’t a singular game. It doesn’t exist in a vacuum as a solitary lift, workout, or diet. It’s a set of behaviors that extend over the course of your life. We must all participate – winning some…losing some – so that we’re permitted to continue playing throughout the next 1000 games.

5. Examine your reasons for exercising.

In my best Socratic voice, I ask, “Why do you exercise?” Is it to qualify for the Boston Marathon? To compete on the Olympic Weightlifting stage? To pitch on opening night in the MLB? If no was the answer, perhaps it’s time to refine your attachment to specialized and often damaging training protocols. I repeat – why do you exercise? Particularly, what about exercise is fulfilling? Examine those thoughts and endeavor to train in ways that compliment that end. Then, embrace your inner Vulcan spirit – live long and prosper!

6. Defend moderation!

With my dying breath, I’ll cry, ‘moderation forever!’ Truly the habit of eating small, frequent meals is likely our culture’s way of ‘self-medicating’ to compensate for a broken metabolism. Instead, set your sights on nutritional moderation…metabolic flexibility. A metabolically flexible person possesses the ability to use both fat and carbs as sources of energy based on availability and need. They fast and they feast, and they live as vibrant models of nutritional efficiency.

7. Remember: it’s not your fault.

During your next diet foray, you’d do well to acknowledge the beautifully tragic design of human nature. You are literally hard-wired to eat professionally. We all crave tasty foods, we all gobble up that food, and, almost instantly, we all seek out the next interesting treat. That behavior is literally coded into our operating program. It’s in our software. What do we do? We recognize the fault. Then, become intentional about ‘rebooting’ the system. Eat proteins, veggies and fruits, herbs and spices, and some fat at every meal. Also, speaking of morality, you can’t ‘cheat’ on food or a diet – you simply eat food. Good or bad, learn to recognize the impact of your dietary decisions.

8. Conspire to greater things.

Find fellow conspirators. Then, together build a bright, shining lighthouse for others wandering through the darkness. Successful people find value in unexpected places. The best people in the world know this. Every great community is built around a secret that’s hidden from view. If these years have taught me anything, it’s that a group of gym-goers can be a conspiracy to change the world. Share your secret and the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.

9. Embrace the creative and constructive value of struggle.

Where is what you most want likely to be found? Where you are least likely to look. In the bottom of the well, deep within a cave…on the other side of that horrible sounding workout or undertaking an impossibly tough diet. I believe that we’re all better when employing practices of the ancient Stoics. Stuck in a rut? Find yourself wandering about aimlessly? Seek hardship. Take an extended fast. Be cold. Walk instead of drive. Deprive yourself of a daily luxury and notice the beautiful contrast of life. With a little luck, you’ll be surprised by your ability to turn suffering into achievement.

10. Carry the fire.

During any fitness pursuit, you’re sure to meet trial and tribulation. Temptation awaits at every turn. So too awaits an opportunity to play your particular part as hero or villain. To be sure, sometimes you will take the easy road. Sometimes you will be the bad guy. During those times, you’d do well to remember that it’s (your behavior) not permanent, nor is it definitive. It’s a simple action. Nothing more. You must endure a little burning if you are to give a worthy light. Then, find it much easier to resume living harmoniously, working on something greater. To choose good for goodness sake. Not just to live, but to live for something.

It’s my understanding that philosophers try to see the part in light of the whole. I’m no philosopher. But I’m quick to recognize the value in seeing this moment reflected in the light of the past decade. Boy, what a ride. Like a great book, you’ve taught us so much…and yet, there’s much more to learn. With each reread of our history, we might master ourselves at the margins. We observe flaws in judgement and notice faulty decision-making patterns. We treat ourselves respectfully. We gradually improve – slowly, inching our way to becoming less wrong. Ironic, isn’t it? That very process cuts right to the bone of self-improvement. Learning a touch more about our many different selves. I may be off here, but in its purest form, a genuine practice of self-improvement and personal growth has exceedingly little to do with superficial vanity. Jacques Maritain once wrote that a person achieves self-mastery for the purpose of self-giving. I tend to agree…and I used to bristle at the idea of self-help books.

An old tongue likes to wag.

G-

 

PS:

11. Wear a helmet.

This was the eleventh rule and, while it was a finalist, it didn’t quite make the cut. I’ve not formally written since October’s crash. Without the helmet, there’s a good chance I’d not be here attempting to sketch my own ideas into neat, little pictures. More importantly, without support from you, there’s a zero percent chance my wandering words would land on interested eyes, ears, and minds. That fact is not lost with me. You humor this bumbling, bike-wrecking fool. Thanks for that too! I’m learning to love my life’s version of fate – amor fati. But I need no lesson in loving each of you.

CrossFit at a Crossroads

Eric Roza, new CEO and owner of CrossFit Inc.

 

If you’re familiar with the original ideas behind CrossFit (the idea that we as a business fell in love with), you know about hard work, community, self-improvement, acceptance and all things the like. Charging towards health and wellness via voluntary hardship and sweat equity is the surface level idea. Look one layer deeper and you find themes involving the warm embrace of others, acceptance for who you are, and working collectively at improvement.

Since Greg Glassman’s disgusting misuse of a major platform hit the headlines, themes of community have seemingly been lost by the very man that for so long sat atop the brand. It is painful to observe that the man we once viewed as a revolutionary in the fitness industry has a heart so misaligned from that of the 10ex community. We never considered that the mind of our then hero, now antagonist, might be morally bankrupt. It is a tough pill to swallow.

Fortunately, the monstrous actions of one individual cannot bring the wholistic good of functional fitness to a halt. After a flood of emotion, a great deal of time spent hashing-out corrective action, and a commitment to a true change of course, CrossFit and its affiliates (us) have started rebuilding. Watching developments from afar, we are pleased to see CrossFit’s decision to remove the cancer that is Glassman. We’re also cautiously optimistic with the introduction of new owner and CEO, Eric Rosa. Rosa made his direction clear in his initial statement – “Racism and sexism are abhorrent and will not be tolerated in CrossFit. We open our arms to everyone, and I will be working hard to rebuild bridges with those whose trust we have lost.” As a 10 year CrossFit veteran, Rosa understands how to own and operate affiliates and knows the power that the CrossFit community has in Colorado, the United States, and worldwide.

10 Experience was born from an idea that encompasses a life lived to the fullest…mentally, physically and emotionally. A #10exlife is one grounded in fitness, but rooted much deeper. The 10 Experience is one designed to inspire those within our community to truly live, with or without the CrossFit name. A CrossFit affiliation is not permanent and we are in no position to guarantee that 10 Experience will wear the ‘CrossFit’ badge for life. What we will guarantee is our continual commitment to inspire through fitness. Our foundation rests firmly upon love and acceptance.

2020’s been a bumpy road for us all. Emotionally-charged decisions are tough. May our 10ex actions speak much louder than one “Glass man’s” words and may all of our members understand just how valuable you are. Very.

Thanks for holding the line and continuing to trust us with your fitness through the thick and the thin.

 

-10ex

April ‘s Outlook

Hope Floats and a 10ex Rolodex

What do you get when you combine a roller coaster, a cliffhanger drama, and murder mystery? You get the month of March 2020. And you can begin to encapsulate the last few weeks for planet earth. The emotional spectrum ran full-bore through all of us with a pulse. The times are strange. It’s a frightening time.
To be fair, our first reactions were centered directly on self. How can we maintain economic health throughout these dark days? How much will this affect our business’ future? If this lasts for months, can we even bank on a future? These challenges to our business are more than we’ve ever seen. With candidness, I dare say we’ve all experienced similar and numerous angst-filled, fearful moments.
Luckily, after a bit of silence, some time spent in reflection, and plenty of plain ol’ walking, we began to hear the song of our nature’s better angels. While we’re still wandering through the unknown, that terra incognita, we aren’t alone out here. In fact, ‘alone’ is the last word we ought use to describe this situation. We, all of you reading this, are in this together and together, we’ll  find our way through. It’s in the spirit of community and togetherness that we write.

With excitement, we present our idea to develop and maintain a 10ex Rolodex.



Why?


No matter what Dunkin Donuts says, America runs on small business. Whether you’re a small business owner or employed by a small business, the strain of COVID-19 lies unusually heavy upon your house. The 10ex Rolodex is a way for less-strained community members to offer their support directly to local businesses, restaurants, affected professionals and more. Afterwords, the 10ex Rolodex remains a way to ‘filter’ through all the unnecessary noise. Need to hire a trustworthy ______? Check the 10ex Rolodex. Looking for a medical professional, car insurance, banker, a mortgage, some HVAC repair, handyman, lawn service, etc? Check the ‘dex. We often speak about leverage when needing strength to move heavy loads or lifting weight. Is there a better way to leverage the strength of our own 10ex community? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.




Who?


Small business owners. Doctors. Restauranteurs. Professionals. Journeymen. Craftsmen. Anyone providing a useful service to others.




When?


ASAP. Ideally this is crowd-sourced (like wikipedia). It will grow and evolve and hopefully be quite useful. Send email to info@10exlife.com. Write a quick sentence or two. Give us your name and explain what it is that you do, you offer, how you can provide support to the community.




What’s the gym’s plan for April?


Almost 10 years ago, we opened our doors with the mission to help others. To move our world one degree to the better…to improve the lives of others through the medium of fitness. ‘Inspiration through fitness.’ – reads our tagline. For us, it’s never been about maximizing profits or making a bunch of money. We believe that to be clear. And while the next few weeks will certainly put us under a strain like never before, we will endure the trial. Over-prepare and under-react, remember?






We will take care of our coaches. We will pay salaries first and bills second. We will continue to serve you, the invaluable members of our gym, in every way we can. Each of you are an important part of our life and we hope your membership, the gym and the community within it remain a shiny, bright spot in yours.






Next week on April 1st, memberships renew. Now, with any luck, the governor’s mandated gym closure ends for good on 4/6. But, in the case that it doesn’t, our plans to provide you with the best 10 Experience possible changes not. Nonetheless, we hope you’re satisfied with your investment in us. However, in the case that the coronavirus craze has any of you in a financial pinch or a position in which you don’t feel comfortable making your usual payment, we will take care of things until you’re on your feet again. We simply ask that you let us know within the next couple of days.






None of us can be certain that things will change for the better soon. But, it is Spring! The weather signals a change. It signals hope. We too are confident, hopeful and moving forward with the same budding spirit. Let us not give up on each other. Let us not give up on our fitness. Instead, together, let’s step boldly towards the future. Like C. Caine wrote, sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but actually you’ve been planted. 






G and J and Steve and Taryn






		

	

		


	




	

		
Donuts + Decision Fatigue: A Secret Success Formula
	


	
	

		

			

		


 


SCENE: A local artisan donut shop buzzing with happy patrons. Sweet and savory smells fill the air accompanied by the grate of freshly roasted coffee beans. It’s a place engineered specifically for the sensations. It’s a foodie’s dream.


Enter: HEALTH-MINDED COUPLE, DONUT SHOP ATTENDEE


DONUT SHOP ATTENDEE: (speaking to newest patrons) Hi! Welcome to our donut shop, home of the city and the state’s most award-winning donut creations. How can I serve you?


HEALTH-MINDED COUPLE: (with stars in their eyes) I think we need a minute to decide. My, what an impressive selection you have. What’s YOUR favorite donut here?


DONUT SHOP ATTENDEE: (grinning) Probably the peach fritter or our salted caramel and whiskey – we’re actually sold out of it. But, the blueberry cream is delicious. So is our pumpkin spice cake…the tiramisu…the Boston Maple bar…toasted coconut…PB&J…(he prattles on)


HEALTH-MINDED COUPLE: Ahhhhhh…so many delicious-sounding choices. I guess I’ll have the peach fritter, says one…and I’ll have the cream cheese and apple pie, the other adds.


DONUT SHOP ATTENDEE: Excellent choices. What else? You can buy half a dozen for the price of 3 donuts today.


HEALTH-MINDED COUPLE: (internally debating about the remaining capacity of their stomachs…having just eaten burgers, fries and more) Errr…well, we were only planning for a single donut each.


DONUT SHOP ATTENDEE: Are you certain? Our donuts are just as tasty tomorrow morning…especially after a long day of travel.


HEALTH-MINDED COUPLE: (rationalizing) Well, we’re already having a donut. What’s the harm in enjoying a few more? And, since you offered….and the deal sounds so great. We’re in!


‘Guilty Remnants’


 


If you believed this story to be hypothetical to help me better illustrate my point, you’d be wrong. While it might not fit the classic “Decision Fatigue” model outlined by Roy Baumeister, it does well at highlighting a more subtle lesson we aimed to bake into the 10ex Back-to-School Challenge cake. Did you notice?


Classically defined decision fatigue occurs when we lose ability to decipher between what is important and what’s not. In other words, the more decisions we force ourselves to make, the more the quality of those decisions deteriorate. And, more fatigue leads to even more irrational trade-offs when making decisions. Car dealerships offer the most obvious place to witness decision fatigue. After the push and pull, after all the negotiation of sales price, and finally after the decision to purchase is made, what happens? Buyers are asked to make handfuls of other ‘bolt-on’ purchase decisions. This warranty, that coverage, this service, that product…how much quicker (less carefully) do buyers rationalize a glut of hundred-dollar decisions after deciding to spending thousands? I dare say, it’s often. The cumulative spend after agreeing upon final vehicle price is often much more than the consumer realizes. But, they rationalize it all away after a ‘win’ at the bargaining table.


Anyway, some of you likely considered the general nature of our 10ex Back-to-School Challenge to be simple – maybe even elementary. No performance metrics? No body measurements? No counting calories or macros? Why nothing complex? Simple. Because we like to see you succeed. And in our view, the success formula looks something like this:


good + good = EXCELLENT


The rules of the game were easy (we’re playing a game, right?). Be sure to train every day – without the added pressure to ‘perform.’ When you eat, eat from a broad list of approved foods. The challenge aimed to leverage success precisely in your favor. By making one very important decision, you made hundreds of other future decisions. Sneaky, eh? The single, important decision was simply to participate. All remaining challenge-based decisions were made for you…and guess what that did? It absolved everyone from the inevitable pits of decision fatigue. The “WHICH SINGLE DONUT DO I EAT?” question never occurred to you (hopefully). Nor did the “Should I exercise today?” doubt.


good exercise habits + good eating habits = EXCELLENT results


The body rewards execution, not ideas. And, while being a fan of ideas, adding complexity (confusion) for its own sake, only shines light on the fool. It cheapens the nature of what works. We believe proper diet and exercise not only yield better health, but often times frees up bandwidth to make us smarter, psychologically braver, more creative, more energetic and much more influential. That’s the kernel of what we’re truly after here. Simplicity is a worthy long-term pursuit that leads to sustainable health…wealth…and relationships. We hope that making the single decision to join us makes a thousand other decisions substantially easier.


 


G- aka a wannabe Donut Boy in TN


 


References:


McKeown, G. (2014). Essentialism the disciplined pursuit of less. New York, NY: Crown Business.

Adams, S. (2013). How to fail at almost everything and still win big. New York, NY: Penguin Group


		

	

		


	




	

		
The Immortal Jellyfish and You: A Blueprint to Live Long and Prosper
	


	
	

		

			

		

Behold: Immortality (kinda)





In the past, we’ve discussed the difference between fitness as sport and fitness as a life-long pursuit – these are starkly different end games. If you find yourself in the ‘fitness as sport’ camp, these following opinions of mine (and others) are of lesser concern. However, should you find yourself in the ‘live long and prosper’ camp, I believe the subject quite relevant and worth the noodle. Want to live forever? Continue reading. 

Imagine, if you will, the ability to respond to a life-threatening injury, illness or stress by reverting to an earlier stage of your life. With little effort, you could snap yourself back to a more youthful you predating the condition and essentially start again, but with deeper knowledge. You could live forever. Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? It’s not! Through a rare, natural process called, transdifferation, this process actually happens. However, I’m sad to report that unless you share genes with the immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dorhni), the shadow of mortality still follows you (and me) everywhere.  

Now, while we may not be born with such transdifferation traits, we are armed with a slightly-different-but-somewhat-as-nifty process called autophagy. Rather than transforming the injured and stressed parts of our body into more youthful versions (like the immortal jellyfish), we’re instead able to live longer and increase prosperity with the aid of a process called autophagy (pronounced: aw-TAH-fuh-jee). In Greek, autophagy literally translates to ’self-eating.’ Lucky for us, the process is a bit more refined than the translation. In layman terms, autophagy is our body’s way of cleaning out the fridge. It rids us of damaged, injured, or otherwise useless cells and promotes the generation of healthy, replacement ones. In other words, it contributes not just to a longer life, but an increased health span too (health span is the portion of life that’s worth living).   





Mark knows about sleep, coffee, red wine….and lots of other ways to live long and prosper.





Want to stave off senescence? How do you live a life that enhances and optimizes longevity? Want to bio-hack your way to autophagy all-stardom? There are a number of basic lifestyle habits that appear to encourage the utilization of autophagy. We’ve learned these strategies by studying the Blue Zones. The term Blue Zones, coined by researcher Dan Buettner, are known as areas of the world where people live both the longest and healthiest lives. The good news: if you’ve followed some of our suggestions along the way, you’re well ahead of the curve. I’ve done my best to synthesize them into basic DO versus DON’T practices below:





ON RECOVERY 





  • DON’T: 
    • Be beholden to your stress  
    • Smoke (obviously) 
  • DO: 
    • Prioritize practices to minimize stress 
      • SLEEP! 7-9 hours seems to be the sweet spot for most of us. 
      • Implement mindful breathing practice through meditation, the Wim Hoff technique, box breathing or other similar approaches. 
      • Pay attention to the quality of air you breath. It’s true, we spend less time outside inhaling the ‘good stuff’ than did our ancestors. However, essential oil diffusers and HEPA air filters can bridge that widening gap. 





ON NUTRITION





  • DON’T: 
    • Eat processed, packaged foods 
      • Generally, these foods are pro-inflammatory and encourage glucose instability (blood sugar problems). And that’s bad news if we aren’t aiming at chronic disease and illness.  
  • DO: 
    • Restrict calories and periodically fast 
    • Eat to develop metabolic flexibility 
    • Eat seasonally. Eat resistant starches. Eat whole, unprocessed food. Eat wild plants and animals. 
      • These dietary practices are not only anti-inflammatory and promote glucose stability, they introduce us to another evolutionary beneficial process called xenohormesis. Xenohormesis explains how certain molecules such as plant polyphenols, which indicate stress in the plants, can have a longevity-conferring effect in consumers of plants (i.e. mammals). This is the idea of antifragility in real time.  
        • Need more simple terms? 
          • Drink red wine and black coffee…and eat wild plants like dandelion, various herbs, some mushrooms, and countless of other species. 





ON MOVEMENT





  • DON’T:

    • Exercise to complete exhaustion too frequently

  • DO:

    • Enjoy your athletic endeavors. Exercise shouldn’t always feel like a chore.

    • Develop strength

    • Incorporate low-level activity throughout the day






ON SOCIAL CONNECTION





  • DON’T:

    • Go at it alone. Do you know the worst brand of punishment for imprisoned felons? Solitary confinement. There’s a reason behind that. 

  • DO:

    • Prioritize your social connections. Belonging to, and being active in, a community is very important

      • Eat together. Celebrate together. 

    • Remain reproductively useful…

      • In 2 words: have sex!






ON LIFE’S PURPOSE





  • DON’T: 
    • Subscribe to a world view of hopelessness – don’t be a nihilist.  
  • DO: 
    • Commit to a lifelong pursuit of becoming more spiritually disciplined. There are a number of routes leading to the promised land on morality’s map, but the general ‘way’ is typically found in forms of religion and spiritual practices.  
      • The common threads that appear throughout all the spiritual disciplines are: 
        • Study and self-examination 
        • Silence and solitude 
        • Simplicity and gratitude 
        • Service and stewardship 
      • Consider writing a one sentence mission that describes the impact you aim to make with your life. 





Tennessee isn’t too far from the longitudinal mark of other Blue Zones.





Now, this simple idea of mine is already a bit long in the tooth. And clearly, each bulleted point deserves its own blog post (some have them already), but in brevity’s name, I opted to distill them as best I could. Like me, I believe you all subscribers to the 80/20 principle. Wherein, we might gain 80% of the understanding we seek by applying a mere 20% of the effort. This sort of approach allows us to glean the lion’s share of comprehension – the principles to live long and prosper – without committing to the masterful process of granular research. With that extra time and energy, we’re left to live our richer, more vibrant, and now extended #10exlife. As a bonus, we also afford ourselves a bit of space to work up a mental sweat – whittling away at the idea of our life’s mission.  





Can the immortal jellyfish do that?

G- 





Resources: 

Blue Zone. (2019, March 09). Retrieved April 22, 19, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone

Brett, and Kate McKay. “An Introduction to the Spiritual Disciplines.” The Art of Manliness, 28 May 2018, www.artofmanliness.com/articles/introduction-spiritual-disciplines/. 

Turritopsis dohrnii. (2019, April 14). Retrieved April 22, 19, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii 


		

	

		


	




	

		
The Threads of Ariadne: A Love Letter to End the Outlier Challenge
	


	
	

		

			

		






You made it! Only a few weeks of Winter’s gloom remain and the end of the Outlier Challenge is already upon us. Wasn’t it a quick 6 weeks? With each year’s Challenge, we attempt to deliver a fresh package of full-bodied human (10) experience. Likely, that meant a bit of mental and physical stretching for everyone. Whether it was noodling on the sophistication of Zone portioned meals or staring down an ice-cold shower, we hope you found yourselves properly tested throughout the journey. Moreover, maybe it goaded you into questioning what it really means to be fit and live a vibrant, healthy life. It’s that line of thinking and patchwork idea – what does it mean to live a proper life – that I hope to stitch together here.  

You’ve probably heard one coach or another mention the hero’s journey throughout your time at the gym – probably referencing a workout, a brand of metabolism, Jordan Peterson or maybe even Steve’s favorite – Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was that heroic thread that lead me into a mythological deep-dive as the years transitioned and the Outlier Challenge began. At best, my understanding of myths were shaky. These are the oldest stories we know and I wasn’t sure how to interpret them. Are they fact…fiction…a fiction more true than fact? To find out, I did the most ‘obvious’ thing: signed up to take a Greek and Roman Mythology class and plunged head-long into a Joseph Campbell book.  

To be clear, I’m not here to harangue you into reading Homer or Ovid, nor to virtue signal from atop an ivory tower. But, I do believe there to be a relevant mythological story worth sharing as we hem-up the end of this year’s Challenge. It’s the story of Ariadne’s precious thread and it’s a love story – kinda. Briefly, the girl (Ariadne) falls in love with the boy (Theseus). This boy is slated to be offered as sacrifice to a monster (Minotaur) living in a maze (the labyrinth). To save the boy she loves, the girl gives the boy a sword to slay the monster and a ball of thread in order to retrace his steps escaping the maze afterwords. Long-story-short: it works and the two sail into the setting mythological sun.





Snoozing on the idea of myth? Have you watched the Netflix hit, Birdbox? Thats Sandra Bullock clinging to a version of Ariadne’s thread trying to escape a mythological monster (something akin to the gorgon; think: Medusa). It’s in almost everything we watch.  





I can hear you already. Galen, how does all this even begin to relate?
  
Hopefully, like Ariadne’s gifts to Theseus, the Outlier Challenge armed you with genuine weapons to face your daily monsters. Swords like:





  • Nutrition – a functional understanding of various feeding/fasting strategies coupled with a quality, quantity, and nuance focus
  • Movement and Mobility – be active everyday and quickly find yourself enjoying the benefits of compounding effort
  • Sleep – maybe we can finally and literally put the “I’ll rest when I’m dead” mantra bed; every hero in every story enjoys a long sleep after their toils





Likewise, when the monsters of our personal fitness are slain, we hoped that the nonfitness related Outlier challenges would provide a guiding thread to find a way through life’s own version of the labyrinth. How does one best live a human life? That’s a riddle with no definitive answer, but we think it’s spun with one thread of quality, loving relationships and one thread of humble, self-discovery. Too often we look for great wealth to save us or a great authority to answer our questions when all we need is a lone piece of string.  

Wherein lies the truth of a myth? That answer is as deep as it is wide. But, I’ve tied myself to the notion that myth teaches what’s far below the surface of literature and art. It attempts to get at the gist of what it means to live a proper human life. Sounds a lot like philosophy, doesn’t it? Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. Perhaps the fabric of timeless philosophy is knitted on the frame of a mythological loom. Who knows. What I am certain is that like Ariadne’s love saved Theseus from the labyrinth, we hope that our admiration of you Outliers at 10Experience helps you to realize the same powerful potential available in your life’s unique maze. A fitness challenge is merely a challenge until it refines how you view yourself and updates the way you choose to live. When you acknowledge your inner hero, you recognize the greatness of your own strength…and leave that selfsame guiding thread for all to follow. In doing that, you not only enrich your own existence, but you nudge the world in a much better direction.

Still carrying fire (plus a ball of thread), 

G-










References:





Campbell, J., Moyers, B. D., & Flowers, B. S. (2012). The power of myth. New York: Turtleback Books. 

Online Courses From Top Universities. Join for Free. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2019, from https://www.coursera.org/learn/mythology/home/welcome 


		

	

		


	




	

		
Movement…The answer to Cancer?
	


	
	

		



		Whether you have dealt with this problem from a distance or up close, cancer has come up on your radar at some point in your life. Truth is, technically speaking, you have cancer right now. There are cancerous cells all in our bodies, that are only triggered/turned on when a fragmented version of our DNA is created and then replicated several times throughout the body. When it has been replicated over and over without being discovered, it may be too late for us to intervene. So, what can be done to prevent this from happening or what could someone do as a means of treatment for these diseases? Fortunately, I had the pleasure of listening to a man named, Daryll Edwards at the Ancestral Health Symposium to find out. Daryll is a Movement Coach, a Nutritionist and the creator of the Primal Play Method (a fun, functional fitness program for children and adults alike). I hope to disseminate his thoughts as well as he did at the symposium.


Food vs Cancer

First of all, it is difficult to find out what will activate or helps cancer grow. Most people think that glucose (by-product of carbohydrates) is what all cancers feed on. In reality, cancer feeds on glucose (carbs), lipids (fat), and amino acids (protein). It obviously pays for us to research on particular cancers as much as possible, but don’t mistake this excerpt as a complete erasing of nutrition as a means to promote movement as the only cure. Nutrition is equally as important as exercise in this equation and is an additional proprietor to the prevention or debilitation of most metabolic diseases.


Movement vs Cancer

Hippocrates (the great Greek Scientist/Philosopher) might have once stated, “Walking is man’s best medicine”. So, how can movement be a tool against metabolic damage and the like? Is it really that simple? The better question is, are you really so far removed from your ancestors that you can’t treat cancers the same way they would? It is true that you are infinitely more advanced from a technological standpoint. However, from a physical standpoint, you and the caveman/cavewoman who possesses your genes are pretty identical. So, with that information, let’s jump into this situation from a fundamental vantage. Cancer reaches much further back in our known timeline than you may think. It predates mammalian life altogether! Furthermore, aging is a huge reason that we develop cancer in the first place. Our ancestors didn’t have to worry about this for the most part.


However, we have a secret weapon. Physical activity! Not the shiny, illustrious secret you expected? Sometimes, simplicity elicits the proper results for our problems without the need to be fancy. When it comes to physical activity, there are a plethora of benefits that come along. Decreased insulin resistance, reduced systemic inflammation, reduced fatigue, increased immune system function, increased mood and focus, as well as elongated telomere lengths and increased DNA repair capabilities.


Are these all of the benefits? Not by a long shot 😉 Physical activity provides us with a super-secret weapon. The name of this weapon is Irisin. Irisin (known as the “Exercise Hormone”) is a hormone that is incredibly effective in keeping us not only alive but thriving. It utilizes white adipose tissue (makes you leaner) as a means of energy while being 22x more capable of destroying cancer cells. No other hormone can do so.


So what do we have to do to activate this super hormone? According to the U.S. Surgeon General, the WHO (World Health Organization) as well as many other leading health authorities, it’s as simple as following this chart.




To take things even further, there are governmental entities who are implementing exercise protocols as a means of cancer treatment. One of them being COSA (Clinical Oncology Society of Australia). What are the results they are reporting? Decreased cancer-related fatigue, decreased psychological stress, improved quality of life across the spectrum of different cancers, decreased risks of adverse side effects, as well as reduced risk of CVD disease.


It’s safe to say that science, nutrition and exercise are all in their infancies. It is also safe to say that we do not have a fool-proof, 100% proven prevention plan for all metabolic diseases. However, we do have a SIMPLE, yet EFFECTIVE, approach to a long and healthy life. So what do we do? Here are the best protocols we’ve found: eat well (natural foods), sleep like logs (7-8 hours), form and keep meaningful relationships, and GET MOVING!


-Steve
		



	



	


	




	

		
Conspiracy in a Cabin
	


	
	

		



		


On a rainy weekend in the fall of 2009, a handful of unhappy kids stole away to a cabin to vacate their life. As you’d imagine, they followed standard Sevier County cabin protocols. They ate, drank and made general merriment. But as the day grew dark, so too did the color of their thoughts. They waxed a bit about philosophy, food and fitness, but mostly, it was a discussion peppered with resentment and despair.


They critiqued the world. Why hadn’t it fulfilled the promise of success they had so often heard? They resented their jobs. Weren’t’ they to be places of satisfaction? They resented their coworkers. Don’t they see how valuable we are? They resented the ‘man’ for holding them down. But more than those, they resented themselves for making so many unexamined and irresponsible decisions. Lucky for them, as they gulped down the final dregs of cheap wine, a fateful idea began bubbling it’s way to the surface. That idea turned those two kids’ lives upside down. It turned them into conspirators. And likely, if you’re reading this, it did you too.


Nietzsche said many, many things of remark, but the one most germane to this story reads, “Madness is rare in individuals – but in groups, parties, #423nations and ages it is the rule.” (This, ironically, written before he went mad. Let’s all hope we don’t soon suffer the same fate)


As I reflect again on the madness of the previous 8 years, I realized that thinking critically might be the most conspiratory thing of all. By my estimation, successful people (like you), find value in unexpected places; in thinking on the ‘known but not understood’ first principles. So I write today for a twofold reason. The first is to offer thanks for a debt not soon to be repaid – your trust in our fitness and lifestyle design. Happily, we are ever in arrears! Never can we praise you enough for joining this delicious conspiracy of fitness excellence.


The second, curiously enough, to reconsider the idea of a conspiracy. We all think of conspiracies in terms of lunar landings, Kennedy assassinations, and areas named ’51.’ Today, not much unlike that dark, rainy weekend so many years ago, our task is to find sustainable, ethical and real ways to not just make the world different, but better – to go from zero to 10ex ?…to inspire through fitness. Peter Theil, author of Zero to One, said that conspiracy is linked with intentionality, with planning, working towards longer-term goals…in a world where you don’t have conspiracies maybe those things disappear as well. Maybe we need more conspiracy than less. Maybe not.


I’m starting to believe that the best people in the world already know this. Every great community is built around a secret that’s hidden from view. If these years have taught me anything, it’s that a great  is a conspiracy to change the world. When we share our secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator. And to that, we again eat, drink and offer a cheerful toast for conspiring to move the world in a better direction. Conspiring to inspire…now, there’s a thought.


Kings to you,


G-


 


References:


Holiday, R. (2018). Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the anatomy of intrigue. NY, NY: Portfolio/Penguin.


Thiel, P. A., & Masters, B. (2015). Zero to one: Notes on startups, or how to build the future. London: Virgin Books.