A Huge Congratulations to Joe Klotz, editor of “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” which was nominated for an Oscar.
While this does not surprise me or others at all given his talent, I’ve been smiling all day because of this and I am so glad that your creativity, hard work and positive persistence has been acknowledged.
On behalf of the staff of everyday athlete®
You are a true gentleman, scholar and athlete with the best vertical leap of anyone I’ve trained. I know I speak for everyone in the 6:30AM crew when I say:
- We all are incredibly happy for you. Your presence with us is always positive and thoughtful and we look forward to working with you every day no matter how early in the morning!
On a personal note:
Joe, you have always been a big fan of everyday athlete and supported the development of the studio’s programs and all or my video content. You, along with Trevor King, were pivotal in providing the creative, practical and inspirational advice I needed early on and in the darkest hours that every project experiences. Your no nonsense approach and simple, direct and intuitive editing style are the backbone to liquid fitness®’s how to and follow along material.
Your generosity, commitment and creative vision continues to inspire me. I admire you immensely and feel very honored and happy to count you as one of my friends and strongest clients.
Here’s one of the many segments Joe helped cut for me at a time when I needed his help the most:
I recently read a New York Times report on (Phys Ed: Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS). While interesting, the article supports what has already been studied elsewhere in other areas including Positive Psychology or the study of Flow. We are just beginning to understand the relationship between physical health and emotional well-being in many respects. So, while I understand the need for simplification in studies to produce solid data and exploring new areas of science, I am convinced that it is essential for you and I proactively try to do our own “hypothetical research” in order to find what makes us less stressed out and anxious. Specifically, I’m interested in ways to design and implement creative solutions for reducing and controlling the inevitable anxiety and stress we encounter in life. Moreover, I would go one step further and suggest that you look to other areas of scientific study specifically the areas of:
- Positive Psychology; the study of optimal experience / flow
- Expert Performance
- Intelligent Training (i.e. functional training: training focused on improving how you move.)
- Play
Optimal Experience
In the early 1990’s, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, released a book titled Flow based upon his studies of over two decades. In this profound and thoughtful work, the ideas and basis for much of what will become the positive psychology field are revealed and examined. And even though many other popular titles have since been made available, I believe that Flow is still the most revolutionary and provocative. Perhaps the most important questions that this book discusses is: “What are the inner experiences that make life worthwhile?”
Since then you can find numerous titles that share more specific insights and methods to create the proper environment in your life for optimal experience to thrive. One such title is: The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky. Starting on page 244., she describes in great detail how to take care of your body and why physical activity makes people happier. In the one of the most revealing and important parts to this chapter she describes how each person must customize and select what makes them feel best. Simply running or engaging in aerobic exercise for some is not enough. In fact some people feel worse doing this.
The implications for this are profoundly more important than suggested here. While it’s great to find scientists suggesting we all should exercise more to improve our happiness, what they seem to fail at is taking it to the next level.
Positive Psychologist and other scientists should leave the “how to exercise” in the hands of people who know how to help people functioning optimally and ultimately with you. What is right for you based upon what brings a sense of play, joy and challenge may be significantly different from others. Moreover, research has shown that generic exercise prescription is less effective than customized and personalized programming. Specifically, any exercise prescription needs to address variations from individual to individual in all both aerobic vs anaerobic systems as well as kinesthetic skills (I include proprioception in my definition of kinesthesia here for a more detailed debate about the differences between these two terms look here: Proprioception vs. kinesthesia.
What should be apparent is that simply moving more but not in a thoughtful or intelligent way is not ideal. Given the demands of modern life and the complex decisions you are asked to make every day, you need better information and advice on how to move better that is connected to who you are, what you love and ultimately gives you the best that science can offer. If I had an objective for this blog I can honestly say it would be fulfill this mission for you:
to be your source for information on fitness, play and improving your experiences using the best science available.
A short note on the idea behind this blog
I hope you find the material authentic and transparent in purpose. I am committed to teaching and not simply marketing. I am also very dedicated and passionate and open to new ideas. I continually search for information, ideas and methods enable us to make better decisions and create positive experiences. While I am a firm believer in the idea that you learn more from mistakes, I don’t believe that we all have to make the same ones but rather can learn from others.
This is why I started writing a blog in the first place and my intention is to live up to this ideal:
I’ve received a lot of inquiries asking about the studio lately from folks as far away as Santiago, Chile, Sydney, Australia and Wales, UK. Here’s a shot of the “test kitchen” before anyone has arrived.
I designed the studio to be warm, modern, organic and functional. It’s a fusion of a variety of aesthetic ideas about space from both Eastern and Western traditions. But most of all it is: handmade and derived directly from my memories as a child visiting the west coast of Canada, Japanese Gardens and the warehouse raw, open structures of New York.
how do you get the life you want?
If you know me or train with me, then you know that I’m obsessed with the idea that you can transform you life thru fitness and play. In the last year, I’ve been enthusiastically reading the works by numerous scientists who are leaders in their fields and whose research supports the idea that feeling great physically supports and creates the kind of emotional and intellectual confidence that will enable you to live a happier, healthier and more meaningful life.
To be clear here: I’m not talking about trendy self-help, personal coaching and popular fitness. It’s disappointing to read those, although I do anyway, because it’s all just a marketing scheme for the most part or simply another person looking to market themselves as opposed to their ideas. You see for me the world is full of great ideas and the application of those ideas is where true transformation can occur. I shy away from “celebrity” or personality driven books or instruction because I think that everyone knows that collaboration and teamwork is where true genius really shines.
However, there are folks who really lead instead of follow and their leadership is in their work not on the front page of a newspaper of tabloid. These are the folks that keep me thinking, curious and engaged.
Here’s a youtube interview of professor Fredrickson describing her research:
Positivity reveals how to re-structure your thoughts to create a more positive and flourishing life. The book includes a detailed methodology for measuring your your current positivity and a test to help you understand where you are now. In addition, Professor Fredrickson outlines and defines a mathematical ratio for effecting positive change in your life. She calls this the Positivity Ratio. The ratio of positivity to negativity turns out to be 3 to 1. The underlying research in this is fascinating and is based upon the study of evolutionary theory, nonlinear dynamic systems (chaos), and is supported by experiments. I find it particularly fascinating that both evolutionary theory and nonlinear dynamic systems are the basis for this discovery and as you will see in later blog posts these two areas of science will keep popping up in significant ways.
Professor Fredrickson spends a great deal of time describing in detail the foundation for her Positivity Ratio and the “core truths” behind why and how positivity effects our ability to ask good questions and focus outwards, to build resources for ourselves and with others, to bounce back from adversity. The Positivity Ratio (3:1) behaves as a “control parameter”, the key that determines the fate of your happiness, if you can achieve this ratio then you will flourish below this and you will experience cycles of languishing and failure.
So, how do you create a life where you experience a 3:1 positivity ratio?
The second half of the book goes into detail on how to apply the self-test and raise your positivity ratio. Here’s the positivity test:
________________
Positivity Self Test
Have you felt over the past twenty-four hours? (look back over the past day and, using the 0-4 scale below, indicate the greatest amount that you’ve experienced each of the following feelings.
0 = not at all
1 = a little bit
2 = moderately
3 = quite a bit
4 = extremely
1. What is the most amused, fun-loving, or silly you felt? ______
2. What is the most angry, irritated, or annoyed you felt? ______
3. What is the most ashamed, humiliated, or disgraced you felt? _______
4. What is the most awe, wonder, or amazement you felt?_________
5. What is the most contemptuous, scornful, or disdainful you felt? ________
6. What is the most disgust, distaste, or revulsion you felt? _______
7. What is the most embarrassed, self-conscious, or blushing you felt? ______
8. What is the most grateful, appreciative, or thankful you felt? _______
9. What is the most guilty, repentant, or blame-worthy you felt? ______
10. What is the most hate, distrust or suspicion you felt? ______
11. What is the most hopeful, optimistic, or encouraged you felt? _____
12. What is the most inspired, uplifted, or elevated you felt? _____
13. What is the most interested, alert, or curious you felt? ______
14. What is the most joyful, glad, or happy you felt? ______
15. What is the most love, closeness, or trust you felt? ______
16. What is the most proud, confident, or self-assured you felt? ______
17. What is the most sad, downhearted, or unhappy you felt? _______
18. What is the most scared, fearful, or afraid you felt? ______
19. What is the most serene, content, or peaceful you felt? _____
20. What is the most stressed, nervous, or overwhelmed you felt? _______
To compute your positivity ratio for the past day, follow these steps:
1. Go back and circle the ten items that reflect positivity. These are the ones that begin with the words:
- amused
- awe,
- grateful
- hopeful
- inspired
- interested
- joyful
- love
- proud
- serene
2. Go back and underline the ten items that reflect negativity. These begin with the words:
-Angry
- Ashamed
- contemptuous
- disgust
- embarrassed
- guilty
- hate
- sad
-sacred
- stressed
3. Count the number of circled positivity items that you have endorsed as 2 or higher.
4. Count the number of underlined negativity items that you have endorsed as 1 or higher
5. Calculate the ratio by dividing your positivity tally by your negativity tally. If you negativity count is zero for today, consider it instead to be 1, to sidestep the can’t divide by zeros problem. The resulting number represents your positivity ratio for today.
Obviously this is only a snap shot and your emotions are changing all the time. As Professor Fredrickson, admits this poses some difficulty for the science of emotions. One of the solutions to minimize the error is to take this test every day for two weeks at the same time of day preferably in the evening. After two weeks, count up your positive emotions, then calculate your ratio.
Professor Frederickson has also created a website (www.positivityratio.com) to help you compute your positivity ratio. The idea behind the site is to offer more tools and an easier way to track your positivity tests. You can opt in and share your data or not it’s up to you.
What I think is really interesting is that she suggests the idea of “benchmarking” your positivity. She compares it to weight loss and a scale I would argue that it is more like going through a Functional Movement Screening where you are assessed on multiple levels of fitness: – Flexibility, Balance, Core Strength, Strength, Speed, Agility, Quickness, Power
I will discuss how to do this specifically in future blog posts. The main take-away here is that you need to know “where you are” to chart any course in life: Emotional or Physical. Up until recently, there didn’t exist any science based tools quantify these things in a way that was both useful and efficient.
From Macro to Micro
Professor Frederickson argues further the two week positivity testing gives us a solid big picture view of our day to day positivity. However, we also need a daily view of how our positivity fluctuates throughout our day. To do this:
Divide your day into episodes or blocks lasting anywhere between 10 minutes and 2 hours. You will have to score yourself for each episode so it is recommended that you simplify this process by preparing your positivity test sheets before hand or use the online positivity ratio website (www.positivityratio.com). If you are interested I have created a PNF version of the positivity test for you to use.
Here’s an Example of a morning broken into episodes:
6:00 Get up and dress
6:15 Shower
6:30 Go to everyday athlete small group training class
7:30 Shower and dress for work
8:15 eat breakfast
8:30 leave for work
8:45 get subway
9:30 get to work
11:00 take a break
12:15 eat lunch
1. As before, circle the positivity items and underline the negativity items
2. Across all the episode reports you made, count the number of circled positivity items rated at 2 or higher.
3. Again, across all the episode reports, count the number of underlined negativity items rated 1 or higher.
4. Divide the day’s positive emotions by your day’s negative emotions. The resulting number gives you your positivity ratio.
To compute your positivity ratios by individual episode and locate negativity “land mines” and positivity “wellsprings”:
1. As before, circle the positivity items and underline the negativity items.
2. in each episode, count the number of circled positivity items rated at 2 or higher.
3. In each episode, count the number of underlined negativity items rated 1 or higher.
4. Divide the episode’s positive emotion tally by your episode’s negative emotion tally. (if you have a zero convert it to 1) The result will be your episode positivity ratio.
5. Using the short descriptive labels you gave to each episode, order your episodes from the least to most productive. This will give you insight into which – episodes or activities- are negative for you and will highlight the emotional details of your daily life.
Don’t be concerned if all of your ratios are below 3 to 1. It seems that 80% of the people tested were here. In fact, Professor Fredrickson argues that many people may find that they’re ratios are below 1:1 (essentially implying that they are depressed.) Having a ratio below 3:1 implies that you have a lot of untapped potential. However, if you consistently have a ratio that is less than 1:1 then she suggests that you seek support and help in getting through the challenges you face. She also reiterates that it is very common for people to suffer from some form of depression (1 in 5 people suffer from depression) and encourages you to get help if you need it.
Change your thinking and you will change your emotions
________ To be continued______________ I will continue my thoughts on Barbara Fredrickson’s book in my next post____
(Buy and Read: Barbara Fredrickson’s book: Positivity )
_____________________
Barbara Fredrickson, Professor, and Lead Researcher at University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill Department of Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab.
PEPLab Purpose Statement
You have — within you — the fuel to thrive and to flourish,
and to leave this world in better shape than you found it.
Sometimes you tap into this fuel – other times you don’t.
But the sad fact is that most people have no idea
how to tap into this fuel or even recognize it when they do.
Where is this fuel within you?
You tap into it whenever you feel energized and excited by new ideas.
You tap into it whenever you feel at one with your surroundings, at peace.
You tap into it whenever you feel playful, creative, or silly.
You tap into it whenever you feel your soul stirred by the sheer beauty of existence.
You tap into it whenever you feel connected to others and loved.
In short, you tap into it whenever positive emotions resonate within you.
—–
The Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill exists to answer a single question: ‘What good is it to feel good?’ Our purpose is to understand and to share the full significance of positive emotions.
We have three core ideals:
• To do high-quality science
• To answer questions that matter to humanity, and
• To have fun and feel good about doing it.
Our goal is to uncover the universal recipe for human flourishing and to give this recipe as a gift to the world. Our science to date tells us that genuine positive emotions may in fact be the single most important active ingredient in this recipe for flourishing. When this ingredient is lacking, or in poor supply – people get stuck. They lose their freedom of choice. They become stagnant and painfully predictable. But when this ingredient is in ample supply – people take off. They become generative, creative, resilient, ripe with possibility and beautifully unpredictable.
Our research team is working to show how it is that being moved by positive emotions can move you forward, and not only lift you to your higher ground, but also create a world that is worth giving to our children.
in the search for meaning and understanding there is no greater challenge for anyone than to spend a lifetime trying to answer the question:
why am I here?
Carl Sagan, Professor, Leader in Science and Human Exploration & Pulitzer Prize winning author, spent his life deciphering this question and connecting us to the Cosmos in ways previously unimagined and unexplored. His creativity, his unending scientific curiosity and ability to inspire others has effected millions worldwide.
Recently, iTunes has release his beautiful series Cosmos. I am watching it again for the first time in many years. It brings tears to my eyes. The music of Vangelis is timeless and haunting. It’s amazing to think that this series is over 25+ years old. I cannot wait to watch it with my daughter.
He reminds me of the awesome potential we have as a species that is often left unrealized.
I credit Carl Sagan for my keen interest in Science, my belief and connection to the natural world and Cosmos, and most pertinently, my obsessive desire to help others discover their potential.
H1N1 / Swine Flu, Seasonal Flu Facts and Vaccination Recommendations
For those of you who could not make it to the free talk on H1N1 last night at the everyday athlete’s home studio, I thought it might be helpful to summarize the talk and provide some of the medical details. The talk was given by:
Jordan Glaser, MD,
Infectious Diseases
Internal Medicine
Head of Infectious Diseases at Staten Island Hospital
Briefly:
H1N1 has been a relatively mild flu as flu go. It has behaved differently from the seasonal flu in the respect that it seems to infect young people more than the elderly. Compare to other seasonal flu virus it has not been as virulent. However, there are specific types of people who are at high risk of complications specifically: pneumonia
Here are some of the details:
The following people are at high risk and should get the H1N1 vaccine.
- Chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, hematological, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus)
- Immunosuppression (HIV/AIDS)
- Compromised respiratory function, including conditions which increase the risk for aspiration.
- Chronic Aspirin Use (common in for many males over the age of 50, some females)
- Pregnancy: This is due to the fact that pregnant women share some of the same characteristics immunological deficits present in people with HIV/AIDS Technical notes: both neuraminidase inhibitors and adamantanes are Pregnancy Category C medications).
To reiterate the recommendation is that anybody in the above a category should actively pursue getting vaccinated for both H1N1 and Seasonal Flu.
Prevention:
- Hand hygiene
- covering coughs
- stay at home when ill
- Other considerations : High risk individuals who have no need to travel via air should avoid travel until vaccinated or take above precautions specifically hand washing.
- Appropriate use of Pneumovax. (pneumoncoccal Vaccination see: cdc website: CDC Vaccination Website
This would be as a preventive measure to avoid infection if individual was high risk.
Technical data:
Seasonal human:
H1N1,H1N2,H3N2
Orthomyxovirus
Each year: Contracted by
5-20% of U.S. population,
200000 hospitalized, 36000
deaths
H1N1 swine
Orthomyxovirus
Since 4/09: 1 U.S. million
cases, 1000 deaths, including
76 children, often from
complicating bacterial infection
In 1918: Killed 50-100 million worldwide
H1N1,H1N2,H3N2
Vaccine Indications
Over 65 years old
HCWs
Nursing Homes
Over 6 months &
immunocompromised
Household members of groups
at risk
H1N1 swine
Pregnancy
HCWs
Over 6 months old
Immunocompromised
Rx Target Groups (Seasonal and H1N1)
DM
COPD
Heart Disease
HIV
Transplants,
Renal Dysfunction
Long term
Aspirin Use
H1N1,H1N2,H3N2 Rx (used 48 hours after exposure/infection)
Amantadine,
Rimatidine,
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) 75mg
PO q12h or zanamivir
(Relenza)
H1N1 swine Rx (used 48 hours after exposure/infection)
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) 75mg
PO q12h or zanamivir
(Relenza)
Other data points and notes
Endemic in pigs & humans: H1N2, H3N2
- Manufacturing of Vaccine: Virus grown in hen’s eggs, purify it, treat it with chemical that inactivates it. No adjuvant added (substance that enhances immune response). Since the 1930’s an
ethyl based mercury preservative (thimerosal) has been used in multi-dose vials to prevent bacterial & fungal contamination. Infants can safely receive 8x the amount
used. ^ ~1 case per one million doses
- Hand hygiene, covering coughs & stay at home when ill. Appropriate use of Pneumovax.
- Smart use of antivirals to prevent emergence of resistance. Antivirals most effective when started within 48 hours of symptom onset.
TYPE B INFLUENZA in humans & seals
TYPE C is rare
____________________
I hope that this information will help each of you make more informed decisions.
If you have any further questions, or comments, don’t hesitate to contact me.
It seems to me that one of the biggest problems in trying to figure out how to get fit stems from the fact that most of us aren’t that knowledgeable about what exactly fitness is. Since this is a broad topic I will begin by saying that in this first post, I will not try to give you more than a summary of what I see as the key elements that make up fitness. In any event, I thought it would make sense to define fitness a bit with the goal of demystifying some of the elements so you could start to think about which of these elements are your strengths or areas where you need help improving on.
Mobility – otherwise know as flexibility, your ability to move you joints freely through a full range of motion (we will come back to the “range of motion” definition later.
Stability – the powerful cousin to mobility, essentially it is the ability to maintain control of your joints through a full range of motion and at different velocities.
Balance – the most overlooked and essential part of fitness because it is necessary for everything we do. balance is simply our ability to maintain our center of gravity under control whether we are standing still or moving rapidly.
Strength – the most misunderstood and most studied element of fitness. Our strength is simply our ability to produce & REDUCE and RESIST force. We’ll define this further later on.
Agility – similar to coordination, agility is our ability to move in a coordinated and precise way
Speed – easiest to define, hardest to practice and get better at.
Power – power is the ultimate expression of athleticism, a fusion of strength and speed. It is what all of us desire to experience and it is possible to attain with the right mix of training.
These are the elements of fitness.
I have purposely left out endurance and cardio not because they are not important but, simply put, they are not elements in and of themselves so much as expressions of a combination of the elements above.
So which of these elements are things that you may already possess or have you experienced before? Knowing what you may have been good at earlier can help us in finding out what could work for you today.
I’ll be posting again soon including a glossary on some of the terms that will keep reappearing like “range of motion”.
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