3 Simple Hacks For An Injury-Free And Safe Workout

Obesity Australia Report Findings… Isn’t that interesting?

We just finished reading the Obesity Australia Report which can be read by clicking here.

After reading it, we have 4 MASSIVE points to make.  Here they are:

90% of Aussies are predisposed to obesity?

10% can eat whatever they want and do nothing physical, and not gain weight.  Skinny fat.  These people have no gauge, no way of telling how dangerous their diet and lifestyles are.  They are at the same risk of death as their obese friends, but nobody would know until it was too late… Maybe we ought to feel sorry for them, rather than call them “lucky”.  It’s not about looks, it’s about health.

So, do not read this is “I’m in the 90%, so no matter what I eat, I’m going to become obese – let’s get takeaway and watch the Simpsons.”

Instead read it as “90% of us will become obese, if we eat junk and don’t exercise.”

So the salient point is if I eat junk and don’t exercise, not no matter what I eat.

This is a very important distinction to make.

Is genetics a good enough excuse?

90% of the population is genetically predisposed to obesity, but only 63% of the population is actually overweight or obese.  This means that (90-63)=27% of the population is actually overcoming their own genetic predisposition.  Beating their own genetic code.  Can you believe this?

$58.2 Billion per year cost? 

$58.2 Billion per year.  This is double what it costs us to defend our country from outside attack. (defence budget = $25billion in 2013/14)

Let’s do some maths.

There are 11.5 million workers in Australia.  $58.2Billion divided by 11.5million = $5,060 per year that it costs the average worker.

On an average salary of $30 per hour, that means that for 4 ½ weeks of your working year are for obesity.  That means for one whole month, every single working person in Australia is not working for themselves, or the government or their families; they are working to pay for our obese population.

OK, so 63% of us are costing the economy.  Seems like the people who are costing, are also the people who are working to pay the bill.  Work harder, work longer = less time to prepare meals and less time to exercise.  It’s a chicken before the egg scenario.  The only way out of this is personal responsibility – what is your priority?  Money over health?

Money over health soon becomes money to pay for health.

Labelling obesity as a disease?

Obesity Australia is saying that labelling obesity as a disease will reduce the stigma associated with obesity.  I’d like to get some input into this; but my understanding is that having a disease carries with it an underlying stigma. Not externally but internally “why me?”

But before we go there, wouldn’t reducing stigma (by whatever means) automatically make it OK to be obese.  It absolves anybody of personal responsibility.  This did not work for smoking.  What did work?  Shame campaigns, banning smoking in public, showing people what their choices are doing to them.  Making people painfully and personally aware of their own responsibility.

Smoking a cigarette is a choice, just like eating a burger is.  Both carry the same addictive qualities, but Aussies have all but beaten smoking.  So we can beat overeating.

What’s the payoff?

Secondly, why label it a disease?  What’s the payoff.  It seems odd that so much research money would be spent to soften people’s feelings.  Does this sound odd to you?

It just didn’t sit well with me.  It never made any sense.  All this money, and the scientific conclusion is “let’s reduce the stigma of obesity, that’ll cure it.”

Well, a little research uncovers something pretty, pretty interesting…

The research was funded by a company called Novo Nordisk.  Novo Nordisk is the world’s largest manufacturer of insulin.  Why would Novo Nordisk, a diabetes drug manufacturer be so interested in obesity, why would they fund research into obesity in Australia?

Well, a little research uncovers a press release by Novo Nordisk in May last year for one of their drugs (called liraglutide) proudly informing investors and shareholders that liraglutide is in phase III clinical trials as a weight loss drug.

How wonderful.  But Novo Nordisk is publicly listed company; one which recently (2010) took an FDA slapdown because they didn’t disclose side effects of Victoza.  Victoza is the brand name for liraglutide; currently used for diabetes, but with side effects that include thyroid tumours and pancreatic cancer.

The box warning on Victoza says: “Because of the uncertain relevance of the rodent thyroid C-cell tumor findings to humans, prescribe Victoza only to patients for whom the potential benefits are considered to outweigh the potential risk”

In 2013, Novo Nordisk had to pay back 3.6Billion DKK ($716Million AUD) to the Danish tax authorities for transfer mispricing.

If we go back to the press release, we find Novo Nordisk bragging that liraglutide therapy will earn them $20 per user per day.  Reword that to say it will cost $20 per user per day.

Now let’s average that out over the Australian Obesity population.

$20 per day x 6.3Million = 6.6 billion dollars per year that Novo Nordisk stands to gain from administering Victoza to people with obesity in Australia.  It can’t do that yet, though, because it need approval.

Approval can only be granted to drugs that help a disease.  Obesity is not considered a disease yet.

Isn’t that interesting that the conclusion of this report is that we need to “recognise obesity as a disease”?

Finally in the conclusion, of the report, we can read this:

Isn’t that INTERESTING…

You learn more from failure than from success, if you choose to see it that way.

Listening to the stories of the people who failed to complete the Kokoda Challenge, I am a bit jealous of what they have experienced.  In my opinion, the distance covered is irrelevant.  What is relevant is what you learn when you push your body to failure.

Some people fail at 5km, others fail at 100km, the Kokoda challenge was just a format that allowed as many people as possible to experience physical failure in its rawest form.  i.e. physical exhaustion, combined with sleep deprivation in the cold and dark.  To top it off, they make you compete as a team, so pulling out makes you feel as though you are letting your team down.

What does that do to you as a person?

I can tell you that it is emotional, this sort of thing brings grown men to sob.  But what comes out of this is a deep understanding of the human spirit.  Getting to that point is like living an entire lifetime in one event, from jovial beginnings to a bitter end, where you think you can go on, but your body is slowly dying on you.

Nothing can prepare you for the way that you will react when all your layers are stripped away.  Pride is the anchor for the soul.  In the hours preceding failure, the people around you know more about the real you than everybody else’s experience of your entire life so far.

You cannot hide, and having experienced this, both personally and now objectively, what is most interesting is that day to day, we are constantly trying to hide the best part of ourselves (without even knowing it  most of the time).

Seeing someone at their weakest, is seeing them at their best.  Their ego has been destroyed, exposing the magnificence of the spirit within.  And experiencing it first hand is like coming face to face with your own soul.

The paradox, however is that each time you reach this point, your ego grows back stronger, and makes reaching this point so much more difficult next time.  But you can rest, assured in the knowledge that you know you have met your god.  Next time you will know what to expect – and can better prepare yourself for the brief meeting.

If you know these brave soldiers, watch them in the coming weeks – they may have failed to complete their event, but in doing so, they have won the greatest prize.

That is why, in my humble opinion, true success is actually achieved only when you reach failure.

Be great, be powerful beyond measure

In life, it seems the older you get, the more excuses you hear.  If you listen to the excuses you tell yourself, 99% of them cover up laziness.  As a kid, we believe we can take over the world, or fly to the moon.  As an adult, we have given up on our “childish” dreams and work in the “real world”.  But if you, like me sometimes sit up at night thinking about how your life may have turned out a little differently here, a little differently there, then this video is for you.

The most common excuse we hear is “I played [insert sport here] in school, and got an injury in my [insert injury here], I can’t exercise anymore.

To put this into perspective, last week I heard a man tell me that he had rolled his ankle as a 6 year old boy, and had therefore not been able to exercise since then.  The man is in his 50’s.  the “injury” happened when he was 6 years old, and as a result, gave up on any sporting chance for his life!

This weekend we went down to watch our son Josh play rugby in Brisbane, and sitting on the hill in the sun within earshot of a couple of men in their early 50s I got a reality check that felt like a brick to the side of the head.  These two mates were listing off all the people they each knew who had died.

“you remember Jason, right?”
“yeah – he’s in the council?”
“Not any more, he died of a heart attack about 6 months ago”
“really, I thought that was Bill?”
Yeah mate, Bill was around the same time, so was big Kev.  You remember big Kev, married to Dawn who was the sister of Mike so-and-so?”
“No?”
“Dawn, the one who died of cervical cancer?”
“Oh yes, Dawn, now I remember”
“well big Kev died about 3 months after she did – the big fella’s ticker just gave up”

the conversation went on for about 10 minutes as these two men listed off everyone they knew who had died, and they were so nonchalant about it.  The scariest part of this story is that both of these men were overweight, eating a pie and coke at 11 in the morning!

Watch this video and hopefully you will be inspired.  inspired to cast away your pathetic excuses, inspired to risk a bit of discomfort to live a longer, healthier, more rewarding life.  Say “no” to your mundane existence and take steps to be who you’ve always wanted to be.  If everybody lived the life they wanted to with full confidence in themselves and terrific amouts of passion, we would not have a single problem in the world.

This little video encapsulates the messages of Rocky, Muhammed Ali, and Coach Carter.

Am I living my integrity? (Inspirational Video)

Good Monday to you all!

The past week has been an interesting insight into the world of mainstream media, city councils and publicity. Here are the stories if you missed them, there are still more to come.

Links to newspaper articles:
Business Owners Ordered to Leave
Council Softens Stance on Closures

We were also on all 4 radio stations, 7 local news and today/tonight!

It seems we couldn’t go anywhere without someone giving us their support or telling us their story. It is in weeks like last week that we both reassess and re-evaluate our position in life, asking the question:

“Am I making a difference in the world?”

Well, yes, every day we are making a positive impact on the health, fitness and inspiration of those around us. But the more important question when put in the spotlight to be scrutinised and opinionised (I know that’s not a word, but we have been the subject of so many conflicting opinions) would be:

“Am I living my integrity?”

After watching the following video of the amazing (now world famous) singer Jessie Jay, who sang to a crowd of strangers in Times Square NYC, it doesn’t matter who tries to knock us, or bring us down, if we live with integrity, we will always find a way to get our message across to the people that matter.

As a loyal reader and client of ours, we have a few surprises for you in the very near future; really, really exciting stuff – I just can’t wait to give them to you.

Please watch this video and tell me your thoughts in the comments below:

The 2011 Economic Collapse, and How You Can Avoid It.

It seems I can’t go anywhere without hearing the doom and gloom about the economy; and how it is going to affect us all when it hits; like its some kind of natural disaster, a tidal wave if you will –  heading for our shores to wash us away in its wake and leave nothing but grief and destitution behind.

I heard this same thing last year, and the year before.  Stinks a bit of “cry wolf”.

As a kid, our parents used to say to us “don’t cry wolf,” for we won’t believe you when the real wolf comes.  I understood it then, but I think especially now it has a more prevalent meaning.  “Dont’ cry wolf, ’cause if you do, and enough people believe you, the wolf will appear.”  The wolf will be manifested, not a real wolf but one that lives and feeds inside our own minds; this type of wolf is worse; because like any parasite, we need to kill a part of ourselves to kill this wolf.

Which makes me think, is it such a bad thing?

I’m wondering why so many businesses are going under, but then there are others that are growing and even thriving.  to my philosophical brain this could only mean that the economy is subjective;  You make your own economy. To say “the” economy is going to collapse would therefore mean that for the vast majority of the population, their own personal economies will collapse.  But then there are people that will still be making a lot of money.

We are so fortunate at Stripfit to have more than 80% of our client base as business owners, so it is with much interest that I listen to their tales of success or failure.  Granted, the success is not on the same scale as in the golden years, but still turning a profit none the less, some of them turning a very high profit. When I say same scale, what I mean is that it hasn’t come as easily.  5 years ago, there were people making 6 figures while only working half a day a week; times were good, money was flooding the streets; it was the time of the blue collar millionaire.

Right now, for every successful business owner we have training in our facility, we have seen 3 who have quit because they can’t afford training any more.  Can’t afford to look after their own health.  Some of these people only months ago bragging about how they bought the latest, greatest car or 3D TV, now riding a bicycle around, eating weetbix and 2 minute noodles as a staple diet.

So with this in mind, I decided to unlock the secrets of what the successful people were doing that the unsuccessful people were not; and I have narrowed it down to a few key points.

 Trade Real Value

The businesses that are thriving are the businesses that are providing a good, honest service at an equitable price.  They are giving real value.  Businesses that have shut down are businesses that were not providing value.  Consumers are wise now, they are looking for value; not some hypey rubbish that can’t be backed up.  It reminds me that a year ago I went to a business conference, and listened as a room full of business owners talk about how to increase their conversion rate, their number of leads and their upsell; we all ran around the room coming up with crafty ways to trick people into spending more.  I remember leaving thinking to myself how dirty it all felt.  Although we had come up with some crafty, clever ways of (for want of better words) ripping people off, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to implementing any of them.  “How could we extract the most amount of money from each lead we get in the door,” was the mentality.  A selfish mentality.  Now, only 12 months on; nearly half those people are out of business.  Those people had fooled themselves into believing that business was about them, how much money they could make.  Business is not about the business owner, business is about the client.  The only way someone is going to hand over their money to you, is if you give them something that is of equal or greater value to them.  It’s that simple.  Watch the quick video of Internet and Marketing genius rebel Frank Kern, who continues to make an absolute fortune in an apparent “dying” economy.  I love his honesty, and no bullshit approach to world issues.

 You Control Your Economy

The key people in these successful businesses understand that the economy is about what you do in your business, not an external factor.  While it is important to be trading something of value, it is also equally important to believe in your product or service and continue to deliver it as best you can.  I’m absolutely adamant that there would be a lot more businesses still open and making money if their owners did not freeze themselves in indecision; the “what if” of the global economy.  it reminds me of the old saying that goes “you miss all the shots you don’t take.”  We just can’t sit around waiting for the economy to affect us, we control the economy, it does not control us.

 Work Hard

The people in these successful businesses work hard.  Here I am going to reference fitness.  there is no such thing as a get fit quick scheme with no work.  Your results directly relate to your effort.  Gone are the days of the “4 hour work week”  or the “business that works without me” pipe dream.  The people who still believe in that are now wondering why fame and fortune have not yet found them as they line up in front of Centrelink.  What you do in the dark gets exposed in the light.  If you play on Facebook every day, when you could be working; you’ll know about it.  If you spend those hours working on your business, on yourself, on your family, on your future; you’ll know about it.  Not only will you be financially successful, you will be spiritually fulfilled, because you know that you did everything you could.  You didn’t let naysayers and your bogun neighbours talk you out of having a go.

There you have it, 3 keys to success in a dying economy;

• provide great value,
• control your own economy and
• work hard.

I can tell you with absolute honesty that if it weren’t for these 3 thoughts pervading Sharny and my mind 6 months ago, Stripfit would be counted among one of those dead businesses.  Somehow, through luck or purpose, we caught ourselves out before it was too late.  That is why we are publishing our book, write this blog and created Indoor Bootcamp Australia.  Indoor Bootcamp Australia runs at a loss, and we write this blog in our spare time; late at night and on weekends because fitness and health are the most important commodities in your busy lives, followed closely by love and family. the external economy coming in a very far away last.  We LOVE what we do, we LOVE what we provide to the people of Stripfit, the gang at Indoor Bootcamp Australia, and the readers of our blog.  We LOVE giving the joy of fitness to people.

So next time someone tells you about this economy collapsing, you can quote this line from the movie Suckerpunch:

“Everyone has an angel. A guardian who watches over us. We can’t know what form they’ll take. One day old man, next day little girl. But don’t let appearances fool you; they can be as fierce as any dragon. Yet, they’re not here to fight our battles, but to whisper from our heart, reminding that is us, it’s every one of us who holds the power over the worlds we create.”

And if you still believe that the economy is out of your control, remember that we have warning, we can prepare for it at least.  I am however, going to hold onto my optimistic belief in my economy and fiercely defend my understanding of the economy as an idea, a thought, a collective manifestation birthed in greed and fed by fear.  A sheep in wolf’s clothing.  Nothing but a fairy tale to scare the weak among us.  I’m going to kill the wolf with hard work and value.

Times are great, I have my health, I love my family and they are safe from harm.  What else do you really need in life?

How to get rid of a stitch

Karen asked a great question, here it is:

A question for Julius i guess is I am reading the chapter about drinking til you wee clear,,,,great name by the way…i drink 2-3 litres everyday anyway but it talks about drinking during exercise…i find i get really bad stitches in my right side if i drink just before or during exercise….any helping hints?? The stitches get so bad i am doubled over in pain…i try to deep massage them out but they wont relieve for up to an hour or so….i try not to drink for an hour b4 exercise either as i find this also encourages stitches….

Here’s the answer:

Hey Karen, yeah stitches are definitely a result of your water. It’s a good idea to not drink too much before exercise, but long term, your performance may suffer if you are dehydrated. Usually, gastric emptying (when your stomach releases the water into your intestines) gets rid of the issue because your water is not sitting in one big “lump.” However, your fast weight loss has left you with so much extra space inside your frame (where the fat used to be) that your bowels essentially bounce around inside, which in turn stretches the muscles and tendons in your core, which then causes it to cramp.

Solution part 1: tightening your core muscles will definitely help, as a flat tummy will mean your abdominal muscles are tight around your organs.

Solution part 2: put a bit of himalayan rock salt on your food (you can get the best from Cyndi O’Meara at changing habits – www.changinghabits.com.au). Here’s why: on an empty stomach, drink a litre of really cold water as fast as you can, you should feel your stomach (under your sternum) go cold, then a few seconds later, you will feel the cold pass further down your insides, as it reaches your gut. At this point, it should (in theory) cross the intestine wall and enter your blood. If you feel it sitting there, however, you are not absorbing the water fast enough; this means that you are therefore low on electrolytes (found in real salt). When you exercise, you sweat out a lot of sodium (an electrolyte replaced through real salt – not that fake chemical crap woolies will sell you), and it is essential to replace this. So put a bit of real salt on your food, and try the exercise again a few days later. If you feel the water disperse into you blood, then you are right to try exercising with water

Hope this helps ya!

who tamed running?

ke a child to an open space and watch what they do. In fact, do the same with a dog. Dogs and children don’t think about injuries or how sweaty they will get, or how tired, or that they might get a stitch. When let loose in an open space, kids and dogs without fail do the same thing. Run.

We’re not talking tame running (called jogging). They go as fast as they possibly can. They don’t even seem to pick a direction, they just go and go at full speed until they can’t. At which point they fall over (kids) or sniff something (dogs). Once they are tired of this, they pick another seemingly random direction, and go full speed again.

If they see something they stop and look at it without concerning themselves with split times and pausing heart rate monitors. If they see a trail that looks interesting, they go down it. Not knowing where it goes does not mean “I’ll look it up on google maps next week and calculate whether my per km pace will get it done within a few split seconds of my allotted time before I have to get back to my schedule.” It means adventure. Discovery. Fun.

When did running become so mundane, so boring. A chore?

Maybe it was in the 70’s when jogging became a craze. Maybe it was when we decided it was too dangerous (or embarrassing) to run outside, so we built a machine for it.

Unleash your inner child. Your inner adventurer. Find a path or fire trail and run down it. Stop when you are tired. Walk when you have to. Start running again when you feel like it. If it is dark: perfect. If it is raining: even better. If there is a puddle in your way, don’t tip toe around it – smash through it. Get muddy – get dirty. Just run, explore, discover.

As you discover nature, you will discover parts of yourself. The parts that have been suppressed by deadlines and targets. The part that makes you dance, sing or fart when you are alone. The part that dreams of having superpowers. The part that skips. The part that pulls faces in the mirror. The part that loves swimming. The part that buys gifts for kids that you actually want to play with.

Let it out. Let it be free. Let YOU be free.

Be inspirational.

If you liked this article, you’ll LOVE FITlosophy 1. Named the most inspirational fitness book of all time – you can get it here: https://sharnyandjulius.com/fitlosophy

Get your book on Amazon from Australia

Get your Ebook on Amazon from Australia

ebooks are the future of books, don’t fight it, just join in for another avenue to book sales earnings.

Here’s how to do it in as little time as possible:

Step 1:

Sign up to Kindle Direct Publishing

Step 2:

Get a copy of your book in word format.  change the very first page and very last page to say:

To get the hard copy of this book, please go to: [input your website, making sure you start with http://]

this will provide you with a high ranking backlink (don’t worry if you don’t know what that means) and it will also make people go to your site to buy your book rather than the bookstore or amazon.

make sure that when you control-click the link, it goes to your site.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT

Step 3:

upload it to KDP, they will render it into kindle format and epub format.

Step 3:

Get a copy of your front cover in .png format and upload it

Requirements for the size of your cover art:

• At least 500 pixels horizontally and 800 pixels vertically
• Ideal height/width ratio of 1.6
• Maximum of 2000 pixels on the longest side is preferred
• Save at 72 dots per inch (dpi) for optimal viewing on the web

Step 4:

Set your price point.  At this stage, it has to be below 10 bucks.

Step 5:

KDP will make your book into a kindle ready format and distribute it automatically.  Cool

Step 6:

if you have your own shopping cart and it has digital security, upload the document they gave you to check, and BAM! you’ve got an ebook version of your book on your own website, and you can charge more than 10 bucks.  Bonus!

Other Useful Articles:

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