What Your Body Does and Is — Is Amazing

In fitness and health, people have this tendency to despise what their body does, or what their body looks like. We want you to take a minute right here to remember that your body is incredible. Women and men alike have lots of self-confidence issues about how their body looks, or what their body does. It’s important though, that despite all of your perceived negatives, there’s a very specific reason your body does that.

If you are vascular (man or woman), it’s showing that your skin is tight to your body. Your muscles are firm. When you squeeze something and your veins pop out your strength is showing.

If you have fat, it means you have a surplus of food in your life and a surplus of energy to store. It means your body is properly storing energy as it believes it will need in the future.

If you are pale, you have been afforded a life where being in the sun all day with no clothes is an option, not simply a fact you live with.

If you have stretch marks, it shows the battles you have fought to earn them.
If you gained them from gaining muscle, you have grown so much and so fast from where you started that you have marks, showing how quickly you achieved significant results and progress.
If you have them ’cause of the weight you have lost then they’re showing how you managed to shape and mold your body so quickly.
If they’re from pregnancy, it’s showing that you have survived and gone through one of life’s most painful experiences, and out of it gained one of life’s greatest joys.
Even if you’re fat, hell it’s simply a distinguishing factor that makes your body unique.
And one day, if you want them to be, those will be your warrior marks too. They will remind you of where you started.

When you sweat be thankful that your skin and glands work properly to keep your body from overheating and damaging itself.

When you have “gross” bodily functions be glad your body uses those to expel toxins from itself.

If your thighs are large be glad you have large powerful legs.

If you have acne be glad that it probably means you have active hormones.

If you can’t lift a lot of weight, be glad you have realized this and are making efforts to change it. So many go their whole lives without ever  testing their body’s limits.

Your body is an incredible piece of art. It’s genuinely amazing what all it can do and how many little things simply go into you twitching your finger or clicking a mouse. Your body is so magnificent, so impressive and amazing in all regards.

However your body is as it is, it is there not because of a dysfunction, or some deficiency in your body. It is as great as it is and not worse because of your body’s amazing ability to adapt, to survive, to improve and to continue to function.

Don’t get down on yourself because you are the result of millions of years of evolution. You are made up of the same cellular material as the people you sit and envy.

It may sound cliche, but it’s the truth when we say that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

If you found this as inspiring as I did, please leave a comment, either here or there, and share it far and wide. Also, be sure to connect with Muscle Motivation on their blog, Tumblr and Facebook.

So when I tried moomiyo, and had a “WOW” effect, not just once, or twice, but three days in a row, it really got my attention. Full disclosure: after years of swearing I was never going to get involved with selling a nutrition product, I decided to become a distributor for a company that sells moomiyo. Keep reading and you’ll understand why. This is not a sales pitch, just me sharing my experience and research, because I want everyone I know and care about to at least look into moomiyo, maybe even give it a try. I owe it to you, and you owe it to yourself.

A little background

I weigh close to 400 lbs. Yes, really. It may not show in my headshot, or even in person, and I move around pretty well for a guy my size, but it does create some problems. And I’m working on it. I’m eating healthier, and less. I’m working with a nutritionist / personal trainer. I got a bike (well, trike). I’ve been going to the gym fairly regularly for several months.

When I first started taking cardio classes (boxing/kickboxing), I could only make it through about 10 minutes of class before I felt like I was about to have a heat stroke. My trainer told me to check my pulse, and it was hitting 180 beats per minute… way too high for cardio. I started taking 5-minute cool-downs whenever I needed, so I could continue working out and get more than just 10 minutes of cardio. I worked my way up to making it through about 40 minutes of class with three breaks, so about 30 minutes of actual workout. I’d finish out the hour with some weight training. I was making progress.

And then I took moomiyo.

My first moomiyo experience

About 10 minutes after taking it, there’s a noticeable effect – not a buzz, not a burst of energy, just… well, the best way I can describe it is that I felt like I was taking deeper breaths… not just that my lungs were, but that my whole body was. Maybe it was just placebo effect, but I have a history of being very resistant even to things that I want to work. And this stuff… well, I didn’t really care whether it worked or not – I was just willing to try it.

But let’s talk about more concrete results…

When I walked into the gym, I headed straight for the dual adjustable pulley machine, which I use for most of my workout. I was feeling… strong. So I decided to test it. I put the selector on the bottom of the stack – ?? lbs. resistance – and started with a tricep pulldown. Now, that weight for me is normally really difficult – liftable, maybe not quite my max, but certainly not something I could do 15-20 reps with. I pulled. And it felt like… nothing. I cranked out 30 reps — it was effortless.

For the entire workout, I was lifting about 25% more weight than usual.

Not only that, as I came back around to my 2nd and 3rd sets, I was able to keep the same weight, whereas before I usually dropped it down a notch with each set.

And, I do my 3rd sets to failure, which usually for me was a few less reps than I had been doing the previous sets. With the moomiyo, I found myself actually doing more reps to get to failure, and, as I said, at the same weight as the previous sets.

I figure that between the additional weight and additional reps, I increased my total workout by close to 50%! Probably the most intense workout of my life.

Well, you can imagine my excitement. Of course, I was also worried that I would wake up the next morning in severe pain.

Didn’t happen. I could tell I’d worked out, but I didn’t have one sore muscle, cramp or aching joint. Not one.

Moomiyo, day 2 and on

Cardio kickboxing usually kicks my butt. This day, I barely broke a sweat during the warm-up. 10 minutes into class… no problem. Heart rate is good. No feeling like I’m about to have a heat stroke. 20 minutes… still good.  30 minutes… break time. Break? Seriously? I did need the water, but came back ready to go. 40, 50, 60 minutes – amazing!

I made it through the entire hour, with only the same breaks as everyone else in the class. Combine that with the fact that I was working out at higher intensity too, and I nearly doubled my cardio workout.

Now, I can’t imagine going to the gym without taking moomiyo first. Not only am I getting more intense workouts, I feel better while I’m doing it, am less exhausted when I’m done, and pain-free in the morning (and, of course, much more motivated about going to the gym). I’ve got plenty of witnesses at my gym that can attest to the dramatic changes both my son and I have shown from taking moomiyo.

In fact, after learning all the other benefits of moomiyo, I’ve just started taking it every day, whether I’m working out or not.

What exactly is moomiyo?

In short, it’s a mysterious goo that oozes out of the mountains and no one’s quite sure exactly how it’s formed, though there are several theories. According to Wikipedia:

Shilajit, also known as shilajit, silajit, mumijo, and momia [and mumie and moomiyo], is a thick, sticky tar-like substance with a color ranging from white to dark brown (the latter is more common), sometimes found in Caucasus mountains, Altai mountains and Tibet mountains.

It is used in Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine. The composition of Shilajit has been investigated numerous times in both India and the former USSR, and depends on the location where it is found. It has been reported to contain at least 85 minerals in Ionic form, including triterpenes and aromatic carboxylic acid, as well as humic acid and fulvic acid. A similar substance from the Caucasus Mountains, and Altai mountains is called Mumijo (Russian).
[…] It is still unclear whether it has geological or biological origin as it has numerous traces of vitamins and aminoacids. » Read more

Moomiyo history

Shilajit has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries.

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union incorporated moomiyo as a core part of the training regimen for Russian athletes and cosmonauts. It’s also been used by the Chinese acrobat team, many other top Asian athletes, and a growing number of athletes worldwide.

It’s also been used for 50 years in Russian hospitals to accelerate the healing of bone fractures.

What all does moomiyo do?

Moomiyo/shilajit has been the subject of hundreds of controlled scientific studies throughout Asia. Those studies have found moomiyo to have an astoundingly diverse range of potential applications:

• Accelerated healing (bones & wounds)
• Allergy treatment
• Altitude sickness
• Anti-aging
• Anti-anxiety
• Anti-inflammatory (arthritis, rheumatism)
• Anti-stress
• Antioxidant
• Aphrodisiac
• Athletic performance (improved strength & stamina, speeds recovery time)
• Burn treatment
• Cancer
• Diabetes treatment (lowers blood sugar)
• Energy
• Erectile dysfunction
• Fertility
• Immune system
• Learning and memory
• Pain relief
• Smart drug
• Ulcers
• Weight loss

References:

• Wikipedia reference list
• National Center for Biotechnology Information
• Huge Mumijo research bibliography

Now, before you get all excited (or skeptical) at this natural wonder-drug…

This product has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

What? What???

Yup, that’s right, the FDA hasn’t evaluated it, so no one in the U.S. can claim that it actually does any of the things listed above, regardless of the research, because it’s not American research. All we can say is that there have been studies done elsewhere that indicate these possible benefits.

If it’s this wonder-drug, why isn’t the FDA looking at it? Simply put, there’s no real money to be made at it.

The FDA approval process is long and expensive… for each claimed benefit. It would cost millions upon millions of dollars to get FDA clearance to advertise the product as a solution to any of the items listed above. And since no one holds a patent on it (Mother Nature was kind enough to open-source it), no company can monopolize the product to allow them to charge inflated prices to recoup the cost of the FDA approval.

In fact, not only does the FDA have no interest in making moomiyo available to you, they’re actually scheming to take away your access to nutritional supplements. Yup, that’s right – the FDA is working to take any nutritional supplement off the market that was formulated after 1994, i.e., most of them. As Natural News reports:

[T]he FDA can now position itself as the gatekeeper for all supplement approvals. Far from merely being a requirement to “notify” the FDA of the use of new ingredients, NDI rules essentially subject supplements to approval from the FDA.

As the FDA has proven time and time again, it can simply refuse to approve anything used in natural products. Even today, the FDA refuses to approve walnuts for preventing heart disease, or vitamin C preventing scurvy. The FDA won’t even admit that vitamin D can prevent rickets! Imagine the difficulty of trying to get the FDA to approve cherry extracts, or Chinese medicine herbs, or glucosamine for that matter. Nearly all the top supplements you’ve come to enjoy and value over the last two and a half decades are now threatened with being utterly outlawed and stripped off the shelves. » Read more

If you’re concerned about your continued access to life-enhancing and potentially life-saving natural nutritional supplements, learn more and take action at Health Freedoms, Life Extension and Alliance for Natural Health.

Want to try moomiyo?

Let’s put aside all those other potential medical benefits. What would it be worth to you to have a 25-50% increase in the effectiveness of your workouts, both strength training and cardio? Try a bottle. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a tiny investment to experience its benefits for yourself.

There are hundreds of sources for buying this stuff, and it goes by several names. You can start by doing a shopping search for moomiyo, mumiyo, mumijo, mumie, momia or shilajit.

From there, you need to be careful. Ironically, you have to be careful about this stuff just straight out of the ground. There have been some recent reports of contamination with heavy metals (lead, mercury and even arsenic). Health Canada reported in 2005 to have found these heavy metals in shilajit capsules manufactured by Dabur India Ltd. Of course, that was 6 years ago. Also, there have been cases of unscrupulous sellers passing off other substances as shilajit/mumiyo.

Point is, buy from a source you can trust.

Finally, one important note: there are no known side effects, but like any supplement or drug, moomiyo affects everyone differently. Trust your body. Also, whatever purpose you’re taking it for, if you don’t notice the effects within a month, you’re probably not going to. If it’s not working for you, don’t throw good money after bad. Talk to a health care professional and find something that will.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them as a comment or contact me privately. If you do try it, please do come back and leave a comment about your experience.

Images: the_green_squirrel, koraxdc

Most of us get ourselves into a “change is hard — big change is really hard” mentality. And all the things we read about how difficult change is don’t really help – they just reinforce our fears.

But does change really have to be so hard? Some changes are very simple. How hard is it to change a dollar bill into four quarters? Or to change a light bulb? Or to order a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a bacon cheeseburger?

What happens is that people focus too much on the change itself, and not enough on the process of change. It is ABSOLUTELY OK to do everything you possibly can to make the change easier on yourself. Trick yourself. Nag yourself. Put things in your attention and in your way, both literally and figuratively, that will remind you of the need to change and/or support the actions of that change. Post-It Notes on the fridge. Scheduling a recurring task in Outlook to meditate or get up from the computer and take a walk.

One of the biggest ways to make change easier is to break a big change down into smaller pieces. If you can’t change everything, at least change something! I know from personal experience that this works especially well with the health/nutrition issue.

For example, I find it impossible to just jump immediately to the healthy lifestyle that I ultimately envision for myself. But I can (and have) switched to eating almost entirely organic, natural and locally sourced foods. And I’m finding I’m eating less because the food is richer and more satisfying. And I find it easier and easier to make healthier choices, even when eating out or having a late night snack.

And I’m not exercising every day yet, like I want to, but I am consistently going to the gym at least 2-3 times a week, and have sustained that for months, which I’ve never done before in my life. And the more I go, the more I want to go. I also found a nutritional supplement that makes my workouts more effective and keeps me from getting sore (contact me if you’d like to learn more about it). Now, I can’t imagine working out without it, and I want to go to the gym even more. And then that got me interested in other nutritional supplements, which I had previously avoided for years, and I’m doing very well on those.

Point is, take change in baby steps if you need to. Just keep stepping in the right direction and all the little changes will add up to bigger changes. A mountain is climbed one step at a time.

“I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars:
I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.”
– Warren Buffett

Image: Peter Gene

Triggers are emotional if you are eating enough. Hungry, Angry, lonely, tired..resentments whatever. It’s very very tough to connect to these feelings and when we eat, we don’t feel anything but the warmth of yummy food. it’s numbing and the rest remains unconscious almost I think

A lot of people are emotional eaters, particularly when they get angry or lonely. I’m not. And I’m not in denial about it. For me, “the warmth of yummy food” is reason enough. I find food really, truly pleasurable – tremendously so. It may have something to do with how my brain is wired, but it’s not some deep-seated psychological or emotional issue.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes food is just food, not a substitute for something else.

I’m not saying it’s rational. People make all kinds of seemingly irrational decisions in the name of seeking pleasure. I just make the choice to jump into a double bacon cheeseburger or a slice of cake instead of out of a plane or off a cliff. The problem is, once might be no big deal, but the consequences of repeatedly making that choice over time are unacceptable… like a thrill-seeker who ends up with multiple broken bones.

Delayed gratification… more on that later.

Image: udrossi

It doesn’t matter… you just start over. One day at a time. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve tried and failed, so long as you get back up and do it again. The final time starts with the same first step as all the other times – committing to do it.

I’m more self-observant now than I was even just a few years ago, and am able to reflect and see more readily where and how I get off-track. Here’s what I think I’ve discovered that will help me keep on track this time:

1. Remove your triggers. I didn’t think I have them, but I do. Going and picking up food for the whole family is one of mine – donut shop in the morning, Sonic for lunch or dinner, convenience store for a late-night milk run, etc. I just can’t do it any more – at least not ‘til I get this under control.
2. Make it easy to make the healthy choice. If I’m determined to eat, I will. I don’t have the willpower to not eat. I do, however, have the willpower to eat something healthy. I love healthy food – that’s not a problem. It just has to be available and convenient – as easy as Oreos and milk or a grilled cheese. The problem is, most healthy food doesn’t keep very well. In addition to fresh fruit & veggies, I need to find some healthy snacks that last a while. Suggestions welcome.
3. You can only change so much at once. Getting into the habit of regular exercise and consistently eating healthy is a huge change. If you try to take on too much else at the same time, e.g., becoming a morning person instead of a night owl, or adopting a very regimented schedule or meal plan, when you’re not a creature of habit, you’re setting yourself up for failure. In my case, I have to have a plan that’s flexible. And if I stay up til midnight or 1am, like I do, guess what? That “don’t eat after 9pm” rule isn’t going to work for me.
4. Accountability helps. Sure, it’s not going to be the end of the world if I publicly announce my intention to lose weight and then don’t do it, but it’s one little bit of motivation, and every little bit helps. Tell your friends, tell your family. Weigh on a regular basis. Blog. Journal. Whatever you can do to help keep it top of mind and give one more reason to succeed, DO IT!

So here I go again… for the last time!

Image: Alan Cleaver